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ILLINOIS 

THE  HEART  OF  THE  NATION 


BY 


HON.  EDWARD  F.  DUNNE 

FORMER  JUDGE,  MAYOR,  AND  GOVERNOR 

Author  and  Editor 


ILLINOIS  BIOGRAPHY 

Gratuitously  Published 
By  Special  Staff  of  Writers 


Issued  in  Five  Volumes 
VOLUME  V 


ILLUSTRATED 


THE  LEWIS  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

CHICAGO  AND  NEW  YORK 
1933 


Copyright,  1933 
The  Lewis  Publishing  Company 


•  Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign 


http://archive.org/details/illinoisheartofn05dunn 


::&■'  *:t&.:',«« 


iiiiiii:, 


.    !■ 


HISTORY  of  ILLINOIS 


Joy  Morton  has  had  a  career  which  would 
make  him  conspicuous  in  any  group  of  Ameri- 
can financiers,  industrial  leaders  and  men  of 
affairs.  It  is  not  unlikely,  however,  that  his- 
tory will  take  chief  note  of  the  activities 
which  he  has  classed  as  his  avocation  and 
hobby.  Like  his  father  before  him  Joy  Morton 
has  found  his  chief  pleasure  in  setting  in  mo- 
tion a  train  of  experimental  work  which  will 
continue  long  after  his  own  generation  and 
will  add  something  to  the  permanent  well 
being  and  beauty  of  the  world. 

Joy  Morton  was  born  at  Detroit,  Michigan, 
September  27,  1855,  son  of  J.  Sterling  and 
Caroline  (Joy)  Morton.  In  the  paternal  line 
he  is  a  descendant  of  Richard  Morton,  one  of 
the  early  members  of  the  Plymouth  Colony 
of  Massachusetts,  where  he  arrived  in  1625. 
In  the  maternal  line  Mr.  Morton  is  a  descend- 
ant of  Thomas  Joy,  who  built  the  first  town 
house  of  Boston,  in  1650.  J.  Sterling  Morton 
was  a  territorial  governor  of  Nebraska,  and 
up  to  1896  was  the  dominant  figure  in  the 
political  life  of  that  state.  In  1893  he  was 
made  secretary  of  agriculture  in  the  cabinet 
of  President  Cleveland.  In  Nebraska  in  1872 
he  originated  "Arbor  Day,"  an  arbitrary  date 
for  setting  out  trees,  which  thus  became  an 
established  custom  in  a  state  where  arbori- 
culture was  a  primary  necessity  and  a  prac- 
tice which  has  since  extended  to  nearly  all  the 
other  states  in  the  Union.  The  home  of  Gov- 
ernor Morton  was  a  short  distance  west  of 
Nebraska  City.  On  that  beautiful  estate  he 
personally  superintended  his  hobby  of  grow- 
ing native  and  other  trees,  and  among  other 
picturesque  features  of  the  state  today  is  a 
dense  grove  of  lofty  pine  trees.  This  place 
he  named  "Arbor  Lodge,"  and  in  1923  Joy 
Morton  donated  the  homestead  to  the  State 
of  Nebraska,  and  it  is  one  of  the  real  show 
places  of  the  state. 

This  country  home  was  the  boyhood  en- 
vironment of  Joy  Morton,  and  the  labels  on 
several  of  the  fine  specimens  of  trees  that 
adorn  Arbor  Lodge  today  indicate  they  were 
set  out  by  Joy  Morton.  He  finished  his  edu- 
cation in  Talbot  Hall  at  Nebraska   City. 

Joy  Morton  since  1879  has  been  a  resident 
of  Chicago.     The  next  year  he  became  a  part- 


ner in  E.  I.  Wheeler  &  Company,  a  business 
which  was  the  successor  of  the  firm  of  Rich- 
mond &  Company,  which  as  early  as  1848  was 
bringing  salt  from  New  York  State  around 
the  lakes  for  distribution  in  the  West.  Out 
of  these  early  companies  has  developed  the 
Morton  Salt  Company,  of  which  for  many 
years  Joy  Morton  has  been  president.  The 
Morton  Salt  Company  in  1923  celebrated  its 
seventy-fifth  anniversary.  It  is  the  largest 
organization  in  America  manufacturing  and 
distributing  salt  and  has  plants  in  Michigan, 
Kansas,  California,  Texas  and  other  states. 

Since  1885  Mr.  Morton  has  also  been  senior 
member  of  Joy  Morton  &  Company,  financiers. 
Mr.  Morton  is  president  of  the  Standard  Office 
Company,  which  built  and  owns  the  Railway 
Exchange  Building  in  Chicago,  and  in  1926, 
largely  through  his  own  personal  finances,  he 
erected  the  twenty-three  story  building  at 
Wells  and  Washington  streets.  Mr.  Morton 
is  also  director  of  the  Chicago  &  Alton  Rail- 
way, of  the  Western  Cold  Storage  Company, 
and  of  the  Equitable  Life  Assurance  Society 
of  the  United  States.  During  the  World  war 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Inland  Waterway 
Transportation  Committee  of  the  Council  of 
National  Defense. 

His  country  home  for  many  years  has  been 
in  DuPage  County,  near  Lisle,  where  he  owns 
about  two  thousand  acres  of  the  rolling  land- 
scape along  the  DuPage  River.  On  part  of 
this  estate  he  has  set  aside  and  developed  the 
Morton  Arboretum,  a  great  experimental  lab- 
oratory for  the  cultivation  and  propagation 
of  trees,  shrubs  and  plants,  established  not 
only  as  a  hobby  but  for  a  valuable  economic 
purpose  to  encourage  practical  forestry  and 
to  demonstrate  the  types  of  native  and  exotic 
trees  and  shrubs  which  can  be  grown  in  these 
climatic  surroundings  for  ornamental  and 
commercial  purposes.  Mr.  Morton  has  wisely 
insured  the  perpetuity  of  the  arboretum  by 
placing  it  under  the  management  of  a  special 
trust,  thus  "creating  a  foundation  to  be  known 
as  the  Morton  Arboretum,  for  practical,  scien- 
tific research  work  in  horticulture  and  agri- 
culture, particularly  in  the  growth  and  cul- 
ture of  trees,  shrubs  and  vines,  by  means  of 
a   great   outdoor   museum   arranged   for   con- 


ILLINOIS 


venient  study  of  every  specie,  variety  and 
hybrid  of  the  wooded  plants  of  the  world  able 
to  support  the  climate  of  Illinois,  such  museum 
to  be  equipped  with  an  herbarium,  a  reference 
library  and  laboratory  for  the  study  of  trees 
and  other  plants,  with  reference  to  their  char- 
acters, relationships,  economic  value,  geograph- 
ical distribution  and  their  improvement  by 
selection  and  hybridization;  and  for  the  pub- 
lication of  the  results  obtained  in  these 
laboratories  by  the  officials  and  students  of 
the  arboretum,  in  order  to  increase  the  gen- 
eral knowledge  and  love  of  trees  and  shrubs 
and  bring  about  an  increase  and  improvement 
in  their  growth  and  culture." 

Mr.  Morton  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
Historical  Society,  American  Forestry  Asso- 
ciation of  Washington,  D.  C,  Art  Institute  of 
Chicago,  Chicago  Club,  Chicago  Plan  Com- 
mission, Chicago  Zoological  Society,  Commer- 
cial Club  of  Chicago,  Field  Museum  of  Nat- 
ural History,  Chicago,  and  of  numerous  other 
clubs  and  organizations.  He  married  in  1880 
Carrie  Lake,  daughter  of  Judge  George  B. 
Lake,  of  Omaha.  She  died  in  1915,  leaving 
two  children,  Jean,  who  was  married  in  1904 
to  Joseph  M.  Cudahy,  and  Sterling,  an  official 
in  the  Morton  Salt  Company.  Sterling  Mor- 
ton married  in  1910  Preston  Owsley  and  has 
one  daughter,  Suzette.  In  1917  Mr.  Joy  Mor- 
ton married  Margaret  Gray,  daughter  of 
James  Gray. 

Morris  Birkbeck  was  an  English  immigrant 
who  settled  in  Edwards  County  in  1818.  He 
was  very  earnestly  opposed  to  slavery  and 
came  into  Illinois  to  settle  because  he  thought 
the  Ordinance  of  1787  would  forever  pro- 
hibit slavery  in  this  state.  Mr.  Birkbeck  was 
a  fluent  writer  and  a  fine  conversationalist, 
but  he  seems  not  to  have  been  a  public 
speaker.  His  writings  were  published  in  the 
Illinois  Gazette,  edited  by  Henry  Eddy,  at 
Shawneetown. 

Joseph  E.  Gary,  who  was  on  the  bench 
forty-three  years,  a  record  of  unprecedented 
length  in  the  history  of  the  Illinois  judiciary, 
was  born  at  Potsdam,  New  York,  July  9,  1821, 
and  died  in  1906  at  the  age  of  eighty-five. 
He  read  law  in  St.  Louis,  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1844,  and  for  several  years  practiced 
at  Springfield,  Missouri,  but  on  the  termina- 
tion of  the  war  with  Mexico  and  the  discovery 
of  gold  in  California,  he  went  over  the  Santa 
Fe  trail  to  New  Mexico.  There  he  met  Murray 
F.  Tuley,  and  they,  destined  both  to  become 
prominent  figures  and  distinguished  jurists 
in  Chicago,  practiced  law  in  the  land  of  the 
herder,  the  trader,  the  teamster,  the  rancher. 
From  there  he  went  on  to  California,  practiced 
three  years  at  San  Francisco  and  in  1856 
established  his  home  in  Chicago.  In  1863  he 
was  called  from  the  private  practice  of  law 
to  the  bench  of  the   Superior   Court  of   Cook 


County.  Under  successive  elections  he  con- 
tinued a  judge  of  that  court  until  his  death 
in  November,  1906.  He  held  the  office  of  judge 
of  the  Court  of  Superior  and  General  Juris- 
diction for  a  longer  period  than  any  other 
person  so  chosen  in  the  United  States.  On 
four  occasions  he  received  the  nomination  of 
both  political  parties.  In  November,  1888,  he 
was  transferred  by  appointment  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  to  the  Appellate  Court  of  the 
first  district  and  became  its  chief  justice. 

In  all  his  long  experience  on  the  bench 
Judge  Gary  never  flinched  from  his  responsi- 
bilities. It  became  his  duty  to  preside  in  the 
famous  trial  of  the  "anarchists"  for  throwing 
the  bomb  in  Haymarket  Square  on  March  4, 
1886.  It  was  inevitable  that  his  decision 
should  arouse  a  storm  of  controversy  in  press 
and  public  opinion.  The  terse  words  used 
some  years  later  in  referring  to  the  trial 
illustrate  both  the  integrity  of  his  character 
and  his  clear  vision  of  the  law  and  an  indi- 
vidual's responsibility  under  the  law:  "In 
law  and  in  morals  the  anarchists  were  rightly 
punished,  not  for  opinions,  but  for  horrible 
deeds." 

Elbert  Henry  Gary.  His  dominating  posi- 
tion in  American  industry  as  chairman  and 
chief  executive  officer  of  the  United  States 
Steel  Corporation  overshadowed  the  fact  that 
Judge  Gary  was  for  many  years  a  Chicago 
lawyer.  In  1893-94  he  was  president  of  the 
Chicago  Bar  Association. 

The  Gary  family  were  among  the  first  set- 
tlers of  Wheaton,  and  Elbert  H.  Gary  was 
born  in  that  Illinois  village  October  8,  1846, 
son  of  Erastus  and  Susan  A.  Valette  Gary. 
A  number  of  years  ago  Judge  Gary  built  the 
Gary  Memorial  Church  as  a  memorial  to  his 
parents.  He  attended  Wheaton  College  and 
the  old  University  of  Chicago,  graduating  from 
the  Law  Department  of  the  latter  institution 
in  1867.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar 
in  October  of  that  year  and  to  the  bar  of  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  in  1878.  For 
many  years  Judge  Gary  had  his  home  in 
Wheaton,  where  he  served  as  president  of  the 
village  three  times  and  was  the  first  to  hold 
the  office  of  mayor  of  the  incorporated  city  of 
Wheaton.  For  two  terms  he  was  county  judge 
of  DuPage  County.  He  was  in  active  practice 
of  the  law  in  Chicago  for  twenty-five  years. 
Much  of  his  practice  was  incorporation  law, 
and  he  was  general  counsel  for  several  rail- 
way companies,  manufacturing  and  other  cor- 
porations. 

It  was  largely  his  mind  that  conceived  and 
formulated  the  plans  for  the  organization  of 
the  United  States  Steel  Corporation.  Prior  to 
that  he  had  retired  from  law  practice  to  be- 
come president  of  the  Federal  Steel  Company, 
which  he  assisted  in  organizing.  As  chairman 
of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  United  States 
Steel  Corporation,  and  later  as  its  president, 


ILLINOIS 


the  corporation  gave  Mr.  Gary  an  opportunity 
for  accumulating  great  wealth,  but  through 
this  position  he  also  exercised  a  stabilizing  in- 
fluence on  business  throughout  America  and 
the  world.  He  served  as  president  of  the 
American  Iron  &  Steel  Institute  from  its  be- 
ginning in  1909.  Judge  Gary  was  a  trustee 
of  Northwestern  University.  He  died  August 
15,   1927. 

Richard  Teller  Crane.  The  Crane  Com- 
pany of  Chicago  has  had  much  the  same  rela- 
tion with  the  iron  and  steel  business  as  the 
Swift  and  Armour  companies  to  the  packing 
industry.  The  founder  of  the  Crane  Company 
was  the  late  Richard  Teller  Crane,  who  came 
to  Chicago  in  1855.  He  was  a  nephew  of 
Martin  Ryerson,  another  significant  name  in 
Chicago's  industrial  history. 

Richard  Teller  Crane  was  born  in  New 
Jersey  in  1832  and  died  January  8,  1912.  The 
Crane  ancestors  had  come  to  Plymouth,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1620.  R.  T.  Crane's  mother, 
Marian  Ryerson,  was  a  sister  of  Martin 
Ryerson.  It  was  through  the  influence  of  his 
uncle  that  Richard  T.  Crane  learned  the  trade 
of  brass  and  iron  worker.  Martin  Ryerson  in 
the  meantime  came  to  Chicago  and  engaged  in 
the  lumber  business,  and  when  Mr.  Crane 
arrived  in  1855  he  was  furnished  means  by 
his  uncle  to  establish  a  small  brass  foundry. 
His  brother,  Charles  S.  Crane,  came  soon 
afterward,  and  the  two  brothers  established 
the  firm  of  Ryerson,  Crane  &  Brother,  manu- 
facturing finished  brass  goods.  About  a  year 
later  they  erected  a  building  on  Lake  Street 
and  in  1858  began  the  manufacture  of  steam 
heating  apparatus,  and  in  1860  established  an 
iron  factory.  By  the  close  of  the  Civil  war 
their  business  included  a  malleable  iron  foun- 
dry, a  factory  for  malleable  and  cast-iron 
fittings,  and  a  general  machine  shop.  Subse- 
quently their  business  was  incorporated  as 
the  Northwestern  Manufacturing  Company, 
with  R.  T.  Crane  as  president  and  Charles  S. 
Crane  first  vice  president.  In  1872  the  name 
was  changed  to  Crane  Brothers  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  but  Charles  Crane  soon  retired 
and  after  that  the  head  of  the  business  was 
R.  T.  Crane.  This  company  was  the  first  in 
Chicago  to  manufacture  freight  and  passenger 
elevators  operated  by  steam  power,  and  in 
1874  they  began  the  manufacture  of  hydraulic 
elevators  under  the  name  of  the  Crane  Ele- 
vator Company.  However,  the  chief  business 
of  the  company  for  a  long  period  of  years  has 
been  the  manufacture  of  pipe,  steam  fitting 
and  plumbers  supplies,  and  in  that  line  the 
name  Crane  is  a  synonym  of  highest  quality 
in  a  world-wide  trade. 

In  other  ways  Richard  T.  Crane  was  a  con- 
tributor to  the  broader  welfare  of  Chicago. 
He  was  one  of  the  original  subscribers  to  the 
fund  for  the  building  of  the  Chicago  Manual 
Training  School  and  for  many  years  did  much 


to  encourage  the  extension  of  manual  training 
to  other  public  schools.  He  was  one  of  the 
largest  contributors  to  the  fund  which  made 
possible  for  many  years  the  expositions  held 
on  the  lake  front. 

A  son,  Charles  Richard  Crane,  who  was 
born  in  Chicago  in  1858,  spent  many  years 
with  the  Crane  Company  and  was  its  presi- 
dent after  his  father's  death  for  two  years. 
He  was  vice  chairman  of  the  finance  com- 
mittee of  the  Woodrow  Wilson  campaign  of 
1912.  In  1917  he  was  a  member  of  the  Presi- 
dent's special  diplomatic  commission  to  Russia, 
was  American  commissioner  on  mandates  in 
Turkey  in  1919,  and  from  May,  1920,  to  June, 
1921,  served  as  American  minister  to  China. 
His  son,  Richard  Crane,  a  vice  president  of 
the  Crane  Company,  was  private  secretary 
to  Robert  Lansing,  Secretary  of  State  from 
1915  to  1919,  was  United  States  minister  to 
the  Republic  of  Czecho-Slovakia  in  1919-21, 
and  is  a  recognized  authority  on  government 
economics  and  international  relationships. 

Another  son  of  the  founder  of  the  Crane 
Company  was  Richard  Teller  Crane,  Jr.,  who 
died  November  7,  1931,  and  had  been  presi- 
dent of  the  Crane  Company  since  1914. 

Elias  Kent  Kane,  a  graduate  of  Yale  Uni- 
versity, came  from  New  York  to  Kaskaskia 
in  1814,  at  the  age  of  twenty  years.  He  was  a 
lawyer  of  excellent  preparation,  and  was 
gifted  with  the  characteristics  of  a  high-bred 
gentleman.  He  acted  as  a  United  States  dis- 
trict judge  a  short  time  before  Illinois  was 
admitted  to  the  Union.  He  took  an  active 
part  in  securing  the  admission  of  Illinois  into 
the  Union.  He  is  said  to  have  written  much 
of  the  Constitution  of  1818  before  the  meet- 
ing of  the  convention.  He  was  an  eloquent 
public  speaker,  was  the  first  secretary  of 
state  for  Illinois,  under  Governor  Bond,  served 
in  the  Legislature,  and  was  elected  to  the 
United  States  Senate  in  1824.  He  was  re- 
elected and  died  while  at  Washington  in  1835. 
He  was  an  able  lawyer,  an  uncompromising 
champion  of  slavery. 

Hon.  Sumner  Simpson  Anderson,  of 
Charleston,  has  for  many  years  been  a  recog- 
nized leader  in  the  bar  of  Eastern  Illinois. 
He  achieved  a  state-wide  reputation  during 
the  Lowden  administration  as  assistant  attor- 
ney general.  He  was  one  of  the  able  lawyers 
called  to  the  assistance  of  the  state  govern- 
ment during  that  period,  which  included  the 
World  war.  Much  high  and  well  deserved 
praise  has  been  given  him  for  the  able  and 
conscientious  manner  in  which  he  discharged 
his  duties. 

Mr.  Anderson  is  a  native  of  Coles  County 
and  descended  from  one  of  the  distinguished 
pioneer  families  of  that  part  of  the  state. 
His  parents  were  James  M.  and  Dorothy 
A.    (Leitch)    Anderson.     His  maternal  grand- 


6 


ILLINOIS 


father  was  Robert  Leitch,  a  native  of  Virginia, 
who  served  as  one  of  the  first  county  judges 
of  Coles  County. 

Sumner  S.  Anderson  grew  up  on  a  farm, 
made  the  most  of  his  school  advantages,  quali- 
fied as  a  teacher,  and  began  the  study  of  law 
in  the  office  of  his  uncle,  Samuel  M.  Leitch. 
For  three  years  he  attended  special  courses 
at  the  University  of  Michigan,  where  later 
he  graduated  with  the  LL.  B.  degree.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  before  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Michigan,  later  was  admitted  to  the 
Illinois  bar,  and  has  practiced  at  Charleston 
for  many  years.  Mr.  Anderson  is  a  member 
of  the  board  of  governors  at  large  of  the 
Illinois  State  Bar  Association  and  has  served 
on  many  of  its  important  committees.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  the  Coles  County  and  Amer- 
ican Bar  Associations. 

His  home  community  has  many  times  hon- 
ored him  with  positions  of  trust  and  respon- 
sibility. He  was  for  many  years  president 
of  the  Charleston  Public  Library  Board.  He 
was  for  some  years  a  director  of  the  Second 
National  Bank  of  Charleston.  Mr.  Anderson 
is  a  prominent  Presbyterian  layman,  and  has 
served  as  delegate  to  the  Synod  of  Illinois 
and  to  the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly. 

His  public  and  political  service  has  been 
a  notable  one.  As  a  young  lawyer  he  served 
as  corporation  counsel  of  Charleston,  and  later 
was  elected  county  judge.  At  the  time  he 
was  supposed  to  be  the  youngest  county  judge 
in  the  state.  Of  twenty  cases  appealed  from 
his  decisions  to  the  Supreme  Court  all  but 
two  were  affirmed.  At  the  end  of  his  term 
he  declined  reelection  in  order  to  give  his 
full  time  to  his  splendid  volume  of  private 
law  practice.  He  was  assistant  attorney  gen- 
eral from  1917  to  1921.  In  this  capacity  he 
handled  work  from  all  parts  of  the  state. 
He  wrote  many  important  opinions  for  the 
attorney  general  and  represented  that  depart- 
ment of  the  state  government  in  more  than 
400  cases  before  the  State  Court  of  Claims, 
handling  claims  involving  over  two  million 
dollars.  Mr.  Anderson  is  a  former  chairman 
of  the  Republican  Congressional  Committee, 
and  in  1916  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
advisory  committee  to  the  Republican  State 
Central  Committee.  In  the  presidential  cam- 
paign of  1928  he  acted  as  state  chairman 
for  the  state  outside  of  Cook  County  of  the 
Hoover-Curtis  Lawyers  Association,  organized 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Republican  National 
Committee. 

Mr.  Anderson  married  in  1895  Miss  Mary 
Piper,  who  at  the  time  was  a  teacher  in  the 
city  schools  at  Des  Moines,  Iowa.  Mrs.  Ander- 
son is  a  woman  of  fine  culture,  is  a  graduate 
of  the  Central  Illinois  Teachers  College  at 
Normal.  Her  father,  Rev.  James  A.  Piper, 
was  for  over  a  quarter  of  a  century  pastor  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Charleston, 
was  a  graduate  of  Princeton  University,  and 


was  twice  elected  moderator  of  the  Synod 
of  Illinois.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Anderson  had  three 
sons.  The  oldest,  Julian  Piper,  volunteered 
at  the  age  of  nineteen  and  was  in  the  Navy 
Hospital  Corps  from  the  beginning  to  the 
close  of  the  World  war,  making  thirty  trips 
across  the  Atlantic.  Twice  his  ship  encoun- 
tered submarines.  After  the  war  he  graduated 
from  the  University  of  Chicago,  is  now  a 
resident  of  Evanston  and  is  head  credit  man 
for  George  H.  Burr  &  Company,  bonds  and 
commercial  paper,  of  New  York  and  Chicago. 
Julian  P.  Anderson  married  Miss  Mldred  Den- 
nis, daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  H. 
Dennis.  Mr.  Anderson's  second  son,  Irving 
Gray,  was  a  sophomore  in  the  United  States 
Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis  when,  at  the 
age  of  nineteen,  he  was  accidentally  killed 
in  the  line  of  duty.  Sumner  Morgan,  the 
youngest  son,  graduated  from  the  University 
of  Illinois  in  June,  1925,  having  specialized 
as  a  geologist,  and  is  now  engaged  in  his 
profession  as  a  geologist,  with  headquarters 
in  New  York  City.  He  married  in  1927  Kath- 
erine  McKibbin,  of  Staten  Island. 

John  Mason  Peck  was  a  Baptist  preacher 
who  had  come  from  Connecticut  into  Illinois 
about  1817  and  had  been  very  active  in  re- 
ligious matters.  He  worked  mostly  along 
missionary  lines.  For  nine  years  he  rode  up 
and  down  in  Illinois  and  Missouri.  In  1820 
Mr.  Peck  settled  at  Rock  Springs,  eight  and 
a  half  miles  north  of  Belleville,  St.  Clair 
County.  Here  he  founded  the  Rock  Springs 
Seminary  in  1826  which  later  became  Shurtleff 
College.  Mr.  Peck  organized  a  sort  of  anti- 
convention  society  in  St.  Clair  County  im- 
mediately after  the  passage  of  the  convention 
resolution  by  the  Legislature.  This  St.  Clair 
County  society  came  to  be  known  as  the  par- 
ent society,  and  fourteen  other  societies  were 
organized  in  as  many  other  counties.  Per- 
haps Mr.  Peck's  chief  value  to  the  cause  of 
freedom  in  this  great  struggle  was  along  the 
line  of  organization  of  the  anti-convention 
forces. 

William  E.  Hinchliff  was  a  citizen  of 
Illinois  whose  character  and  influence  must  be 
estimated  by  other  measures  than  those  appli- 
cable to  material  achievements.  In  material 
affairs  there  stands  to  him  in  Rockford  a  mon- 
ument in  the  shape  of  the  largest  plant  of  its 
kind,  the  Burson  Knitting  Company.  That 
may  be  taken  as  a  symbol  of  his  business  suc- 
cess. More  important  than  this  was  the  man- 
ner in  which  his  ability  as  an  executive,  his 
masterful  control,  his  kindliness  and  sympathy 
permeated  throughout  the  personnel  of  that 
great  organization.  It  is  doubtful  if  there  has 
been  an  organization  of  workers  and  producers 
in  Illinois  with  a  greater  sense  of  loyalty  and 
effective  cooperation  to  the  business  and  the 
head  of  the  business  than  the  Burson  Knitting 


ILLINOIS 


Company.  Though  intensely  democratic  in 
all  his  relationships  with  his  employees,  Mr. 
Hinchliff  also  exemplified  the  culture  and  the 
intellectual  breadth  of  the  true  English  aristo- 
crat, a  type  which  has  been  described  as  the 
direct  antithesis  of  snobbery,  but  in  which  the 
motives  and  action  spring  from  the  inner 
nature  and  not  from  rules  and  convictions. 

As  one  of  his  friends  and  associates  has 
said:  "Mr.  Hinchliff  had  an  unusual  hered- 
ity of  strong  and  sterling  qualities.  His  Eng- 
lish blood,  of  the  Yorkshire  variety,  gave  him 
a  combination  of  the  qualities  of  mind,  of  hon- 
esty, dependableness  and  sustained  purpose 
that  were  unusual.  To  these  were  added  a 
broad  and  comprehensive  intelligence  and,  to  a 
certain  extent,  a  tendency  to  artistic  expres- 
sion in  all  he  had  to  do.  With  these  moral 
and  intellectual  endowments  was  combined  a 
robust  physique  that  enabled  him  to  carry 
them  into  exercise  and  effect.  There  never 
was  anything  in  his  life  record  that  would 
even  remotely  suggest  the  speculative,  the 
sensational  or  the  spectacular  in  his  make-up. 
But  along  the  lines  of  honest  work,  thoroughly 
done  and  effectively  carried  out,  he  was  as 
unvarying  as  the  sun.  These  basic  qualities 
of  his  heredity,  which  he  confirmed  by  their 
use,  made  him  appreciative  of  others  who 
achieved  in  the  same  way.  This  gave  him  a 
democratic  interest  in  others,  even  in  the  hum- 
blest walks  of  life,  who  achieved  in  the  same 
way." 

His  parents,  William  and  Clemewell  (Col- 
lins) Hinchliff,  were  born  in  Yorkshire,  Eng- 
land, and  coming  to  America,  settled  in  Chi- 
cago in  March,  1850.  His  father  became  one 
of  Chicago's  foremost  mason  contractors.  He 
built  Chicago's  first  Congregational  Church 
and  constructed  the  original  buildings  for  the 
Elgin  National  Watch  Company.  He  erected 
for  himself  the  first  brick  residence  in  the  city. 

The  sixth  child  of  the  family  and  the  second 
son  was  William  Elias  Hinchliff,  who  was  born 
at  the  family  home  on  May  Street  in  Chicago, 
December  27,  1857.  A  few  years  later  his 
father  bought  a  farm  of  eighty-five  acres, 
eighteen  miles  north  of  Chicago,  at  what  is 
now  Glenview.  William  E.  Hinchliff 's  earliest 
recollections  were  of  this  home.  He  assisted  in 
farming  activities,  and  there  commenced  his 
love  for  horses  and  riding.  He  attended  school 
there,  but  his  interest  in  good  literature  was 
chiefly  aroused  by  student  pastors  who  some- 
times visited  the  Hinchliff  home.  About  1867 
the  family  returned  to  Chicago  and  there  he 
continued  his  education  in  the  Skinner  School 
and  in  1877  was  graduated  from  the  West  Chi- 
cago High  School.  Soon  afterward  he  entered 
Amhurst  College.  He  showed  much  proficiency 
in  public  speaking  and  other  literary  exercises, 
winning  the  Kellogg  prize  in  his  sophomore 
year.  Because  of  his  marked  oratorical  and 
literary  ability  the  late  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott  ad- 
vised him  to  enter  the  ministry  or  political  life. 


He  was  a  member  of  the  Beta  Theta  Pi  fra- 
ternity. 

Soon  after  leaving  college  in  1881  he  became 
private  secretary  of  Franklin  McVeagh,  but 
about  a  year  later  became  president  of  the 
William  E.  Hinchliff  Company,  manufacturers 
of  brick,  with  yards  at  Porter  and  Hobart, 
Indiana. 

His  first  meeting  with  Miss  Harriet  Eliza- 
beth Emerson  was  in  1878,  while  he  was  a 
student  in  Amhurst  and  she  at  Wellesley.. 
Friendship  and  mutual  attraction  ripened 
through  subsequent  years  and  on  December  31, 
1885,  they  were  married. 

Miss  Emerson's  home  was  at  Rockf  ord,  where 
her  father  was  active  head  of  Emerson,  Talcott 
&  Company.  Her  grandfather,  Rev.  Ralph 
Emerson,  was  a  Congregational  minister  and 
a  professor  in  Andover  Theological  Seminary. 
Ralph  Emerson  was  born  at  Andover,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1831.  He  settled  at  Rockford 
in  1852.  For  a  time  he  was  interested  in  the 
hardware  business,  but  later  he  and  his  associ- 
ates developed  the  water  power  on  the  Rock 
River  and  thus  laid  the  foundation  for  Rock- 
fords'  industrial  power.  Ralph  Emerson  gave 
to  Rockford  its  first  electric  light  plant,  was 
the  promoter  of  the  Rockford  Life  Insurance 
Company  and  supplied  capital  and  his  per- 
sonal direction  to  a  number  of  banks  and  man- 
ufacturing undertakings. 

The  mother  of  Mrs.  Hinchliff  was  Adaline  E. 
Talcott,  daughter  of  Wait  Talcott.  Of  their 
eight  children  two  of  the  sons  died  in  infancy, 
and  another  son,  Ralph,  lost  his  life  by  a  fall 
while  acting  as  a  volunteer  fireman,  August 
25,  1889.  Ralph  Emerson,  Sr.,  died  August  19, 
1914,  and  his  wife  on  the  3rd  of  May  of  the 
following  year. 

It  was  the  death  of  Ralph  Emerson,  Jr.,  that 
caused  Mr.  Hinchliff  to  dispose  of  his  manu- 
facturing interests  in  Chicago  and  move  to 
Rockford  in  the  spring  of  1890.  Here  he 
became  actively  associated  with  Emerson,  Tal- 
cott &  Company.  Upon  the  perfection  of  the 
Burson  knitting  machine  and  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Burson  Knitting  and  Burson  Manu- 
facturing companies  he  became  secretary  and 
treasurer,  and  after  the  death  of  Ralph  Emer- 
son, Sr.,  was  made  president. 

"His  success  in  the  manufacturing  business 
for  many  years  was  due  in  no  small  degree 
to  his  ability  to  hold  the  allegiance  of  his  em- 
ployees. These  same  qualities  of  mind  and 
character  entered  into  the  products  of  the  fac- 
tory with  which  he  was  so  long  identified. 
They  were  dependable  articles  and  of  stand- 
ard make.  The  public  learned  to  appreciate 
them  as  such  and  to  rely  upon  their  merit. 
The  growth  of  the  Burson  Knitting  Company 
to  its  present  supremacy  was  due  as  much  to 
the  fact  that  it  held  its  trade  as  to  its  aggres- 
sive policy  in  extending  it.  In  this  particular 
it  reflected  the  special  characteristics  of  the 
mind  that  so  long  supervised  it." 


8 


ILLINOIS 


In  1916  he  gave  up  all  active  business  re- 
sponsibilities. He  died  at  his  home  in  Rock- 
ford  February  19,  1921. 

Of  his  many  personal  interests  only  a  brief 
account  can  be  given.  From  boyhood  he  en- 
joyed horseback  riding  and  hunting,  and  went 
to  all  parts  of  the  country  hunting  game.  In 
later  years  he  enjoyed  motoring  and  golfing. 
One  of  his  daughters  has  written:  "A  culti- 
vated taste  and  training  in  music  and  litera- 
ture, equalled  by  skill  in  horsemanship,  fenc- 
ing and  shooting,  and  at  golf,  furnished  him 
with  a  diversity  of  interests  and  an  all-round 
development  that  is  seldom  found  in  this  age. 
And  not  only  did  he  possess  this  culture,  but 
he  was  eager  to  share  it  with  his  family,  for, 
in  spite  of  extremely  heavy  business  responsi- 
bilities, he  read  to  us,  sang  with  us,  rode  and 
drove  with  us,  and  even  took  us  to  the  'shop' 
whenever  his  presence  was  required  there  on 
Sunday  mornings.  He  loved  the  out-of-doors 
(we  had  one  of  the  first  sleeping  porches  in 
Rockford)  and  spent  long  afternoons  driving 
into  the  country  where  we  frequently  had  fam- 
ily picnics.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  equally 
happy  in-doors  with  a  book  or  at  a  concert. 
Grand  and  light  opera  and  the  old  English 
songs  were  often  on  his  lips  until  we  learned 
to  appreciate  good  music.  Shakespeare, 
Homer,  Dumas,  Victor  Hugo,  Kipling,  he  read 
aloud  until  literature  opened  before  us  to  an 
extent  seldom  afforded  children." 

To  quote  the  words  of  Dr.  John  Gordon, 
pastor  of  the  Second  Congregational  Church: 
"Mr.  Hinchliff's  religion  was  a  religion  of  use- 
fulness. He  joined  the  church  in  Chicago  that 
his  father  built,  and  he  never  joined  another, 
but  he  was  a  man  whose  religion  was  not  con- 
fined to  any  church  or  any  creed  or  any  cere- 
mony. It  was  a  religion  that  we  term  'en- 
largement of  life  and  fullness  of  service.'  He 
was  a  man  reverent  and  most  devout. " 

Mr.  Hinchliff  was  survived  by  Mrs.  Hinchliff 
and  seven  children:  Mrs.  Harriet  Coverdale, 
Ralph,  Mrs.  Jeannette  Belle  Parker,  Emerson, 
Mrs,  Dorothy  Williams,  Miss  Mary  Clemewell 
and  Edward  C. 

Today  the  office  of  president  of  the  Burson 
Knitting  and  Burson  Manufacturing  Compa- 
nies at  Rockf ord  is  filled  by  Mr.  Ralph  Hinch- 
liff. He  was  born  in  Chicago,  but  through 
most  of  his  life  has  lived  at  Rockford.  He 
was  educated  at  Cornell  University  and  in 
preparation  for  active  association  with  his 
father's  business  attended  a  textile  school  at 
Lowell,  Massachusetts.  Mr.  Hinchliff  is  a 
member  of  the  Second  Congregational  Church, 
is  a  Kappa  Sigma,  member  of  the  B.  P.  O. 
Elks,  University  and  Country  Clubs  of  Rock- 
ford,  Arts  Club  of  Rockford,  Arts  Club  of 
Chicago,  and  City  Club  of  New  York,  and  his 
chief  recreation  is  golf. 

He  married  Miss  Hortense  Devore,  who  was 
born  at  Berea,  daughter  of  E.  A.  Devore, 
distinguished  educator  connected  in  its  early 


days  with  Berea  College  in  the  mountains  of 
Eastern  Kentucky,  and  for  many  years  Trus- 
tee of  Antioch  College.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ralph 
Hinchliff  have  four  children,  Ralph,  Jr.,  Wil- 
liam Emerson,  Rockwell  and  Patricia. 

Ralph  Emerson  established  his  residence 
at  Rockford,  Illinois,  in  1852,  about  the  time 
of  attaining  to  his  legal  majority,  and  it  is 
certain  that  no  other  man  made  greater  and 
more  cumulative  contribution  to  the  civic  and 
industrial  advancement  of  the  city  than  did  he. 
He  was  the  leader  in  manifold  movements  that 
resulted  in  continuous  progress  and  by  his 
splendid  ability  he  achieved  much  for  the  city. 
He  was  largely  instrumental  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  water  power  at  Rockford  and  its 
first  electric-light  plant,  was  financially  inter- 
ested in  banking  enterprise,  insurance  com- 
panies, and  in  the  upbuilding  of  many  of  the 
leading  manufacturing  industries  of  his  home 
city,  including  the  Nelson  Knitting  Company, 
the  Burson  Knitting  Company  and  the  Burson 
Manufacturing  Company,  mention  of  which 
is  made  in  the  memoir  dedicated  to  his  son-in- 
law,  the  late  William  E.  Hinchliff,  in  the  pre- 
ceding sketch  of  this  publication. 

Ralph  Emerson  became  greatly  interested  in 
the  development  of  the  agricultural  implement 
industry,  to  which  he  devoted  the  major  por- 
tion of  his  life.  The  Emerson  Manufacturing 
Company,  of  which  he  was  head,  was  one  of 
the  leading  manufacturers  of  farming  imple- 
ments in  this  country. 

Ralph  Emerson  was  born  at  Andover,  Mas- 
sachusetts, May  3,  1831,  and  was  eighty-four 
years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  death,  August 
19,  1914,  his  wife  having  died  on  the  3d  of  the 
following  May,  which  was  his  birthday  anni- 
versary. Mr.  Emerson  was  a  son  of  Rev. 
Ralph  Emerson,  who  was  a  clergyman  of  the 
Congregational  Church  and  a  member  of  the 
faculty  of  Andover  Theological  Seminary, 
the  oldest  Congregational  divinity  school  of  the 
United  States.  Joseph  Emerson,  a  brother 
of  the  subject  of  this  memoir,  was  for  over 
fifty  years  professor  of  Greek  at  Beloit  Col- 
lege, Beloit,  Wisconsin. 

Ralph  Emerson  was  reared  in  a  home  of 
distinctive  culture  and  refinement  and  received 
in  his  native  state  the  best  of  educational  ad- 
vantages. Mr.  Emerson's  initiative  and  ad- 
ministrative ability  came  into  play  in  the 
developing  of  some  of  the  most  important 
manufacturing  industries  of  the  West,  and 
he  was  loyal  in  his  stewardship  as  a  citizen, 
supported  measures  and  movements  tending 
to  advance  the  general  welfare  of  his  home 
city  and  was  liberal  in  his  contributions  to  re- 
ligious work,  both  he  and  his  wife  having 
been  zealous  members  of  the  Congregational 
Church.  His  political  allegiance  was  given  to 
the  Republican  party.  In  addition  to  financial 
aid  given  to  many  institutions  of  learning  his 


ILLINOIS 


personal  intellectual  attainments  made  his 
counsel  invaluable  to  those  engaged  in  educa- 
tional administration.  Among  the  many 
schools  thus  benefited,  special  mention  might 
be  made  of  Rockford  and  Beloit  Colleges,  Wel- 
lesley  College  and  missionary  schools  in  many 
parts  of  the  world. 

Mr.  Emerson  wedded  Miss  Adaline  E.  Tal- 
cott,  daughter  of  Hon.  Wait  Talcott,  and  of 
the  eight  children  of  this  union  two  died  in 
infancy,  while  the  son  Ralph  was  killed  by 
falling  from  a  building  in  1889,  on  the  occa- 
sion of  a  severe  fire  at  the  water-power  plant 
in  Rockford.  The  daughters  who  survived  the 
honored  parents  were  as  follows:  Mrs,  Ada- 
line  E.  Thompson,  Mrs.  Harriet  E.  Hinchliff, 
Mrs.  Mary  E.  Lathrop,  Mrs.  Belle  E.  Keith 
and  Mrs.  Dora  E.  Wheeler.  In  April,  1900, 
Mrs.  Emerson  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Tanner  a  commissioner  to  the  great  exposition 
in  Paris,  France.  She  was  long  a  gracious 
figure  in  the  social,  cultural  and  church  cir- 
cles of  Rockford. 

Ralph  Hinchliff  is  president  of  the  Bur- 
son  Knitting  Company  and  the  Burson  Manu- 
facturing Company,  industrial  concerns  of  na- 
tional importance,  with  headquarters  in  the 
City  of  Rockford,  judicial  center  of  Winnebago 
County.  In  this  connection  and  in  his  civic 
attitude  Mr.  Hinchliff  is  well  upholding  the 
prestige  of  the  family  name,  and  as  executive 
head  of  the  two  companies  mentioned  he  is 
the  successor  of  his  honored  father,  the  late 
William  E.  Hinchliff,  to  whom  a  memorial 
tribute  is  dedicated  on  other  pages  of  this 
publication,  so  that  further  review  of  his  ca- 
reer and  the  family  history  is  not  here  de- 
manded. 

Ralph  Hinchliff  was  born  in  the  City  of 
Chicago,  Illinois,  on  the  20th  of  March,  1889. 
He  attended  Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  New 
York,  and  Lowell  Textile  School  at  Lowell, 
Massachusetts.  He  has  from  his  youth  been 
associated  with  the  companies  of  which  he 
is  now  the  president.  The  Burson  Knitting 
Company  is  one  of  the  world's  leading  con- 
cerns in  the  manufacturing  of  hosiery,  and  its 
trade  extends  throughout  the  United  States 
and  Canadian  provinces,  with  a  large  export 
business  in  virtually  all  foreign  lands.  The 
Burson  Manufacturing  Company  manufac- 
tures machines  for  the  making  of  hosiery,  and 
this  corporation  likewise  has  contributed  much 
to  the  industro-commercial  precedence  of  Rock- 
ford. The  stock  of  the  two  companies  is  held 
by  representatives  of  the  Emerson  and  Hinch- 
liff families. 

Mr.  Hinchliff  is  found  loyally  aligned  in  the 
ranks  of  the  Republican  party,  he  and  his  wife 
are  members  of  the  Second  Congregational 
Church  of  Rockford,  and  he  is  affiliated  with 
the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks 
and  the  Kappa  Sigma  college  fraternity.    He 


has  membership  in  the  local  University  Club, 
the  Rockford  Country  Club,  the  Arts  Club  of 
•Chicago,  the  Arts  Club  of  Rockford  and  the 
City  Club  of  New  York.  His  chief  recreations 
are  golf  and  tennis. 

In  1915  was  solemnized  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Hinchliff  to  Miss  Hortense  DeVore,  who  was 
born  at  Berea,  Kentucky,  a  daughter  of  E.  A. 
DeVore,  a  prominent  educator  and  publisher. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hinchliff  have  four  children*. 
Ralph,  Jr.,  William  Emerson,  Rockwell  and 
Patricia. 

In  1925  Mrs.  Hinchliff  established  in  Rock- 
ford a  small  hosiery  shop  to  earn  money  for 
her  charities.  From  this  enterprise  she  has 
developed  a  unique  series  of  shops  known  from 
coast  to  coast.  Her  modern  and  metropolitan 
establishment,  grouping  an  exclusive  apparel 
shop  for  women,  a  gift  shop  and  decorative 
arts,  and  a  restaurant-lounge,  is  known  as  the 
Guest  House  Importers.  This  unique  estab- 
lishment now  controls  an  annual  business 
amounting  to  $100,000,  is  situated  at  508-14 
North  Main  Street,  and  has  received  recogni- 
tion in  special  articles  in  national  papers  and 
periodicals. 

Edward  Coles,  a  Virginian  of  education 
and  culture,  came  into  Illinois  in  1819.  He 
was  conscientiously  opposed  to  slavery.  He 
freed  some  twenty  slaves  on  his.  way  from 
Virginia  to  Illinois.  He  was  registrar  of 
the  Land  Office  at  Edwardsville,  was  elected 
governor  in  1822  against  Judge  Phillips,  Judge 
Browne,  and  General  James  B.  Moore.  It 
was  known  that  Coles  was  opposed  to  slavery, 
but  not  much  emphasis  was  put  upon  the 
slavery  question  in  the  election  of  August, 
1822.  Mr.  Coles  gave  his  entire  salary  as 
governor,  $4,000,  to  help  carry  on  the  con- 
vention fight.  Following  his  term  of  office  as 
governor  Edward  Coles  tried  unsuccessfully  to 
"come  back"  into  politics  in  Illinois,  and  in 
1833  he  removed  to  Philadelphia. 

Isaac  N.  Arnold.  The  first  clerk  of  the 
city  of  Chicago  was  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  who  at 
the  time  of  his  election,  in  March,  1837,  was 
a  young  lawyer  who  arrived  in  Chicago  the 
previous  fall  and  had  earned  his  first  fees 
by  drawing  up  real  estate  and  general  con- 
tracts. He  soon  resigned  the  city  clerkship, 
and,  associated  with  Mahlon  D.  Ogden,  rapidly 
acquired  a  foremost  position  among  the  Chi- 
cago bar.  "In  that  persuasive  style  of  address 
which  tells  most  effectually  on  the  average 
juror  he  had  no  superior."  He  was  con- 
nected with  many  important  cases,  being  the 
principal  attorney  in  the  case  carried  to  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  in  1843,  when 
that  court,  by  Chief  Justice  Taney,  held  uncon- 
stitutional the  statute  of  Illinois  providing 
that  unless  the  property  of  a  judgment  debtor 
should    realize    two-thirds    of    its    appraised 


10 


ILLINOIS 


value,  it  should  not  be  sold  under  execution. 
Perhaps  the  greatest  service  he  rendered  in 
the  public  affairs  of  his  state  was  his  per- 
sistent defense  of  the  public  credit  during  a 
time  when  many  men  favored  the  repudiation 
of  debts  incurred  by  the  state  under  the  sanc- 
tion of  a  reckless  Legislature.  Mr.  Arn- 
old had  a  long  and  active  career,  both  in 
state  and  national  affairs.  He  was  elected 
to  Congress  in  1860  and  served  till  near  the 
close  of  the  war.  His  active  hostility  to 
slavery  had  brought  him  into  prominence  with 
many  movements  before  the  war.  A  friend 
and  admirer  of  Lincoln,  and  a  close  student 
of  his  life  and  work,  he  devoted  himself,  im- 
mediately upon  his  return  from  Congress,  to 
the  task  of  writing  a  life  of  Lincoln,  which 
work  is  one  of  the  authoritative  histories  of 
the  war  president.  Mr.  Arnold,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  brief  season  after  the  fire,  when 
he  was  compelled  to  resume  active  practice, 
during  the  closing  years  of  his  life  devoted 
himself  to  literary  labors.  He  was  born 
November  30,  1813,  in  Otsego  County,  New 
York,  supported  himself  by  teaching  and 
other  work  while  gaining  an  education,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  his  native  county  in 
1835,  and  died  at  Chicago,  April  24,  1884. 
At  all  times  in  all  places  he  was  a  gentleman. 

Hon.  Paul  B.  Lauher,  long  prominently 
identified  with  the  legal  profession  and  with 
public  affairs  in  Edgar  County,  is  a  resident 
of  Paris  and  has  recently  completed  two  terms 
as  county  judge. 

Judge  Lauher  was  born  near  Oakland  in 
Coles  County,  Illinois,  November  13,  1887,  son 
of  Evan  and  Cynthia  Ann  (Lane)  Lauher.  His 
father  was  born  in  Symmes  Township,  Edgar 
County,  Illinois,  February  22,  1841,  and 
devoted  his  active  life  to  farming.  He  died 
June  24,  1917.  His  wife  was  born  in  Pike 
County,  Ohio,  March  21,  1844,  and  passed 
away  January  29,  1923. 

Paul  B.  Lauher  was  educated  in  the  gram- 
mar and  high  schools  of  Edgar  County,  grad- 
uating from  high  school  at  Paris  in  1906. 
In  the  interval  from  the  time  he  left  high 
school  until  he  entered  upon  his  chosen  career 
he  clerked  for  two  years.  In  1912  he  was 
graduated  LL.  B.  from  the  University  of  Illi- 
nois, was  admitted  to  the  bar  the  same  year 
and  soon  afterwards  became  associated  with 
his  brother,  James  K.,  in  a  general  law  prac- 
tice  at  Paris. 

Judge  Lauher  enlisted  April  29,  1918,  and 
was  member  of  Headquarters  Company  of  the 
Three  Hundred  and  Tenth  Field  Artillery,  Sev- 
enty-ninth Division.  He  was  at  Camp  Dix, 
New  Jersey,  Camp  Meade,  Maryland,  and  on 
July  14,  1918,  sailed  for  overseas.  He  was 
in  France  until  May  13,  1919,  and  after  coming 
home  was  discharged  with  the  grade  of  cor- 
poral, June  5,  1919. 

After  the  war  he  resumed  his  practice  at 


Paris  with  his  brother,  but  in  November,  1922, 
was  elected  county  judge,  and  by  reelection 
filled  that  office  for  eight  consecutive  years. 
Judge  Lauher  is  a  Democrat  in  politics,  is 
a  thirty-second  degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason, 
member  of  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks,  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  Improved  Order  of 
Red  Men.  He  is  a  charter  member  of  Paris 
Post  No.  211  of  the  American  Legion. 

He  married,  June  4,  1922,  Miss  Gladys  G. 
Bond,  who  was  born  in  Coles  County,  daughter 
of  Jerome  N.  and  Georgia  Ann  (Mcintosh) 
Bond.  Her  father  was  born  at  Circleville, 
Ohio,  and  her  mother  in  Shelby  County,  Indi- 
ana. Judge  and  Mrs.  Lauher  have  one  daugh- 
ter, Virginia  Ann,  born  November  23,  1925. 

Ruben  George  Soderstrom,  of  Streator, 
printer,  labor  leader,  has  consecutively  for 
fourteen  years  been  a  representative  of  La 
Salle  County  in  the  Illinois  Legislature. 

Mr.  Soderstrom  was  born  in  Wright  County, 
Minnesota,  March  10,  1888.  His  father,  John 
S.  Soderstrom,  a  native  of  Sweden,  learned 
the  trade  of  cobbler  or  shoemaker  and  on  com- 
ing to  America  in  1866  located  in  Chicago, 
where  he  was  in  the  shoe  business  until  the 
great  fire  of  1871.  Soon  afterward  he  entered 
the  ministry  of  the  Swedish  Mission  Friends 
Church,  and  devoted  many  years  to  those 
labors  at  St.  Paul  and  other  portions  of  the 
northwestern  states.  In  1902  he  moved  to 
Streator,  Illinois,  and  was  in  the  shoe  business 
there  until  his  death  in  1912.  Rev.  John  S. 
Soderstrom  married  Anna  G.  Erickson,  also 
a  native  of  Sweden.  She  resides  at  Kankakee, 
Illinois.  Of  their  six  children  four  are  living: 
Ruben  George;  John  Paul,  of  Streator;  Lafe 
E.,  of  Chicago;  and  Mrs.  Olga  Rebecca  Hodg- 
son, of  Kankakee. 

Ruben  George  Soderstrom  spent  the  first 
fourteen  years  of  his  life  in  Minnesota,  where 
he  had  his  common  school  education.  When 
the  family  moved  to  Streator  he  became  self- 
supporting,  and  for  two  years  was  an  em- 
ployee of  the  American  Bottle  Company,  in 
the  capacity  of  "carry-in"  boy.  He  left  the 
bottle  making  trade  to  become  a  devil  in  the 
office  of  the  Independent-Times  of  Streator 
and  has  been  connected  with  this  old  and  well 
known  newspaper,  now  known  as  the  Duily- 
Times-Press,   for   many   years. 

Mr.  Soderstrom  has  taken  an  active  part 
in  organized  labor  in  Streator  since  reaching 
his  majority.  In  1912,  when  he  was  twenty- 
four,  he  was  made  president  of  the  Streator 
Trades  and  Labor  Council.  Mr.  Soderstrom 
is  an  old-time  linotype  operator.  For  a  time 
he  was  editor  of  the  Illinois  Valley  Tradesman 
and  also  edited  the  Streator  page  for  the 
Peoria  Labor  Gazette. 

Mr.  Soderstrom  in  1916  was  elected  one  of 
La  Salle  County's  representatives  in  the  Illi- 
nois Legislature,  and  has  been  reelected  for 
every  term   since  then.     He  has   been  chair- 


ILLINOIS 


11 


man  of  the  utility  and  transportation  com- 
mittee and  in  1929  was  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  education.  He  has  been  a  prominent 
figure  in  the  Legislature,  and  has  been  espe- 
cially influential  in  forwarding  legislation  for 
the  welfare  of  organized  labor.  He  is  a  former 
president  of  the  Printers  Union  of  Streator,  is 
affiliated  with  the  Odd  Fellows  and  B.  P.  0. 
Elks  and  is  a  Republican  in  politics. 

Mr.  Soderstrom  married,  December  2,  1912, 
Miss  Jeannie  Shaw,  of  Streator.  They  have 
two  children,  Carl  William,  born  in  1915,  and 
Rose  Jean,  born  in  1918. 

Thomas  C.  Browne,  a  Kentuckian,  was  a 
conspicuous  public  man  in  early  Illinois  his- 
tory. He  came  to  Shawneetown,  having 
studied  law  in  his  native  state.  Reynolds  says 
before  they  had  a  courthouse  or  any  public 
hall  where  court  could  be  held,  they  impro- 
vised a  courthouse  by  pulling  two  flatboats  up 
to  shore  side  by  side,  one  being  used  by  the 
grand  jury  and  the  other  by  the  trial  court. 
Mr.  Browne  is  supposed  to  have  practiced  in 
this  court.  He  served  in  the  Legislature  in 
1814  and  was  for  a  time  prosecuting  attor- 
ney for  the  counties  along  the  Ohio.  In  1816 
he  was  elected  to  the  Council  (or  Senate)  of 
the  Legislature,  which  position  he  held  when 
the  territory  was  admitted  into  the  Union.  He 
was  chosen  one  of  the  members  of  the  Supreme 
Court  in  1819.  This  position  he  held  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century.  In  1822  he  was  one  of 
four  candidates  for  governor.  The  other  three 
were  Chief  Justice  Joseph  Phillips,  Maj.-Gen. 
James  B.  Moore,  and  Edward  Coles.  Phillips 
and  Browne  divided  the  slavery  vote  and 
Coles  was  elected.  Browne  was  brilliant  but 
not  a  hard  student,  and  for  this  lack  of  appli- 
cation he  was  severely  criticised.  "Honor,  in- 
tegrity, and  fidelity  were  prominent  traits  of 
his  character." 

Thomas  Church,  who  was  the  first  mer- 
chant on  Lake  Street,  and  was  one  of  the 
pioneers  whose  courage,  enterprise  and  per- 
sistent labor  gave  Chicago  its  position  as  the 
metropolis  of  the  West,  was  born  in  New 
York  State  November  8,  1801.  His  early 
youth  was  one  of  labor  and  for  several  years 
he  worked  hard  to  develop  a  tract  of  wild 
land  in  Western  New  York  into  a  farm.  Farm- 
ing was  his  first  occupation,  but  shortly  after 
his  marriage  he  abandoned  farming  and 
opened  a  small  store  at  Buffalo,  New  York. 
In  1834,  with  a  capital  of  about  $2,500  which 
he  had  acquired  as  a  Buffalo  merchant,  he 
came  to  Chicago,  and  being  unable  to  purchase 
a  location  on  South  Water  Street,  then  prac- 
tically the  only  commercial  thoroughfare  in 
the  village,  he  ventured  beyond  what  many 
regarded  as  the  limits  of  prudence  by  acquir- 
ing a  lot  on  Lake  Street.  On  this  he  built 
his  house  and  store,  and  his  store  was  the 
first    business    structure    fronting    on    Lake 


Street.  He  opened  his  store  the  following 
spring,  and  in  the  same  year  the  United 
States  Land  Office  was  established  in  this 
frame  building.  This  was  a  means  of  attract- 
ing trade  to  his  establishment.  The  business 
of  Thomas  Church  was  one  of  the  few  that 
escaped  disaster  in  the  financial  panic  of 
1837.  He  was  one  of  the  first  owners  of 
property  along  Lake  Street  to  substitute  brick 
and  stone  for  wooden  construction,  and  thus 
minimized  risk  by  fire. 

After  ten  years  as  a  merchant  Thomas 
Church  retired  with  a  small  fortune,  and  sub- 
sequently was  engaged  in  real  estate  develop- 
ment. At  one  time  he  was  one  of  the  most 
extensive  property  owners  in  Chicago.  He 
was  one  of  the  founders  and  in  1855  was 
elected  the  first  president  of  the  Chicago  Fire 
Insurance  Company.  At  one  time  he  was 
Whig  candidate  for  mayor  of  Chicago  and 
was  one  of  the  earliest  recruits  to  the  Repub- 
lican party  and  a  stanch  friend  and  admirer 
of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Hon.  Anton  J.  Cermak.  As  one  of  the 
most  significant  political  figures  in  Illinois  in 
recent  years  Judge  Dunne,  on  other  pages, 
has  presented  an  estimate  of  the  political 
career  of  Anton  J.  Cermak.  What  follows  is 
therefore  just  a  brief  statement  of  the  con- 
ventional facts  of  biography  which,  as  has 
been  well  said,  "has  withstood  all  the  elements 
of  political  attack  and  come  out  of  each  politi- 
cal battle  stronger  than  before." 

Anton  J.  Cermak  was  born  at  Prague, 
Czechoslovakia,  May  9,  1873.  In  1874  his 
parents,  Anton  and  Catherine  (Frank)  Cer- 
mak, came  to  the  United  States  and  settled 
in  Illinois.  Anton  J.  Cermak  attended  public 
schools  at  Braidwood,  Illinois,  completed  a 
high  school  and  business  college  course  in 
Chicago,  and  the  foundation  of  a  career  of 
earnest  and  hard  work  was  laid  in  his  experi- 
ence in  Illinois  coal  mines.  In  1892  he  moved 
to  Chicago,  and  during  the  next  sixteen  years 
carried  on  a  growing  business  as  a  coal  and 
wood  dealer.  In  1908  he  organized  the  real 
estate  firm  of  Cermak  &  Serhant,  and  for 
many  years  has  been  a  prominent  figure  in 
the  business  life  in  Southwest  Chicago.  He 
has  been  a  director  of  the  Lawndale  National 
Bank  and  since  1907  president  of  the  Lawndale 
Building  &  Loan  Association. 

Mr.  Cermak  was  at  one  time  secretary  of 
the  United  Societies  and  Liberty  League,  and 
president  and  director  of  the  Twenty-sixth 
Street  Business  Men's  Association.  He  was 
elected  one  of  the  representatives  from  Cook 
County  to  the  Illinois  Legislature,  serving 
in  the  Forty-third,  Forty-fourth,  Forty-fifth 
and  Forty-sixth  General  Assemblies.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  City  Council,  1909  to  1912, 
bailiff  of  the  Municipal  Courts,  1912  to  1918, 
and  again  a  member  of  the  City  Council  of 
Chicago  from  1919  to  1922.     In  1922  he  was 


12 


ILLINOIS 


elected  president  of  the  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners of  Cook  County,  reelected  in  1926  and 
in  1930  was  again  reelected.  In  1931  he 
received  the  full  support  of  the  Democratic 
party  for  nomination  for  mayor  of  Chicago, 
and  had  the  support  of  citizens  of  all  classes 
in  the  fight  for  the  overthrow  of  the  Thomp- 
son machine.  His  election  in  April,  1931, 
accomplished  by  the  largest  majority  ever 
given  a  Chicago  mayor,  brought  to  the  head 
of  the  city  government  a  man  qualified  by 
business  and  public  experience  to  lead  the 
community  out  of  a  maze  of  financial  and 
administrative   confusion. 

Mr.  Cermak  married,  December  15,  1895, 
Mary  Horejs,  of  Chicago.  He  has  three  daugh- 
ters: Lillian,  Mrs.  Richey  V.  Graham;  Ella, 
wife  of  Dr.  Frank  J.  Jirka;  and  Helen. 

John  Wentworth  was  a  native  of  New 
Hampshire,  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  College, 
and  arrived  in  Chicago  in  1836,  shortly  after 
reaching  his  majority.  He  became  a  writer  of 
editorials  for  the  Chicago  Democrat  and  soon 
earned  a  reputation  as  a  vigorous  speaker 
on  public  questions.  He  was  one  of  the  loyal 
supporters  of  William  B.  Ogden's  administra- 
tion as  mayor.  In  the  meantime  he  studied 
law,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1841,  and  in 
1843  was  elected  to  Congress  from  the  Fourth 
Illinois  district,  and  was  re-elected,  serving 
for  three  terms.  While  there  he  set  in  motion 
the  organizations  and  the  primary  legislation 
which  resulted  in  the  improvement  of  the 
Chicago  harbor  and  river.  Later  he  served 
another  term  in  Congress,  and  in  1857  was 
elected  mayor  on  a  fusion  ticket.  He  became 
mayor  in  a  period  of  depression  and  financial 
panic,  and  he  inaugurated  radical  economies, 
though  his  administration  as  a  whole  was 
one  of  wholesome  progress.  He  introduced 
the  first  steam  fire  engine  in  1858,  and  started 
the  paid  fire  department.  In  spite  of  a  bitter 
contest  he  was  re-elected  and  stood  by  his 
promise  to  enforce  the  laws,  and  he  person- 
ally took  charge  of  the  police  department  in 
cleaning  up  some  of  the  disreputable  districts 
of  the  city. 

Mr.  Wentworth  left  the  mayor's  chair  with 
a  reduction  of  current  expenses  and  the 
municipal  debt  to  his  credit,  and  with  the 
honor  of  having  instilled  a  wholesome  respect 
for  the  law.  With  the  coming  of  better  times, 
the  citizens  petitioned  the  state  Legislature  for 
better  police  protection  through  an  expansion 
of  their  existing  system.  This  was  obtained 
in  February,  1861,  by  the  passage  of  a  legis- 
lative law  creating  three  commissioners  of 
police,  to  be  first  appointed  by  the  Governor 
and  afterward  elected  by  the  people.  In  1861 
Mr.  Wentworth  refused  a  renomination,  with- 
drew from  the  newspaper  field,  acted  as  a 
delegate  to  revise  the  state  constitution,  was 
chosen  a  member  of  the  city  board  of  educa- 
tion,  and  after   serving  in  that  capacity  for 


three  years  was  appointed  a  police  commis- 
sioner. He  afterwards  served  another  term  in 
Congress  and  for  four  more  years  on  the 
board  of  education,  and  throughout  his  entire 
career,  until  his  death,  in  1888,  was  one  of 
the  most  picturesque  figures  of  physical  and 
mental  energy  and  massiveness  which  Chi- 
cago and  the  West  have  ever  seen. 

William  H.  Mitchell,  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Illinois  Trust  &  Savings  Bank,  of  Chi- 
cago, was  born  in  Belmont  County,  Ohio, 
March  9,  1817,  and  his  first  commercial  ven- 
ture was  transporting  merchandise  down  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi.  In  connection  with  this 
business  he  moved  to  Illinois  in  1848,  and  for 
a  number  of  years  was  a  prominent  resident 
of  the  city  of  Alton  and  a  promoter  of  early 
packet  lines  and  railroads.  He  was  one  of 
the  principals  in  the  old  Alton  Packet  Com- 
pany which  operated  steamboats  between  St. 
Louis  and  Alton.  Subsequently  he  became 
one  of  the  contractors  in  building  the  Alton 
and  St.  Louis  Railroad,  now  part  of  the  Chi- 
cago &  Alton  Railway.  He  helped  organize 
and  later  became  president  of  the  First  Na- 
tional Bank  of  Alton.  In  the  spring  of  1873 
he  became  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Illinois 
Trust  &  Savings  Bank,  and  soon  afterward 
moved  from  Alton  to  Chicago.  In  November. 
1895,  he  was  elected  first  vice  president  of 
that  institution  and  was  its  active  head  when 
the  company  erected  the  classic  building  across 
the  street  from  the  Board  of  Trade,  subse- 
quently torn  down  to  provide  part  of  the  site 
for  the  towering  structure  now  the  home  of 
the  Commercial  Illinois  Bank  and  Trust  Com- 
pany. His  son,  John  J.  Mitchell,  became 
president  of  the  Illinois  Trust  &  Savings  Bank 
in  1880,  and  continued  until  the  consolidation 
of  that  bank  with  the  Merchants  Loan  &  Trust 
Company  and  the  Corn  Exchange  National 
Bank. 

John  F.  Farnsworth,  a  native  of  Eaton, 
Canada,  was  born  of  New  England  parentage 
and  removed  with  the  family  to  Livingston 
County,  Michigan,  in  1834.  There  he  assisted 
his  father  in  surveying,  studied  law,  and  was 
admitted  to  practice.  He  read  in  the  office 
of  Judge  Josiah  Turner,  at  Howell,  in  1842-43, 
and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  1843.  He 
pushed  at  once  for  a  new  field  in  which  to 
begin  his  professional  labors,  locating  in  the 
same  year  at  St.  Charles,  Kane  County,  Illi- 
nois, Previous  to  1846  Mr.  Farnsworth  was 
a  Democrat  in  politics,  but  in  that  year  left 
the  party  and  assisted  in  the  nomination 
of  Owen  Lovejoy  for  Congress.  In  1856  and 
1858  he  was  elected  to  Congress  by  large 
majorities,  on  the  Republican  ticket,  from 
what  was  then  called  the  Chicago  district. 
His  speeches  were  widely  copied  by  the  news- 
papers, and  he  swept  all  opposition  before 
him.     In  1860,  at  the  Chicago  convention,  he 


'M 


jflll 


ILLINOIS 


13 


assisted  in  nominating  Abraham  Lincoln  for 
president.  In  October,  1861,  he  left  St. 
Charles  in  command  of  the  Eighth  Illinois 
Cavalry.  It  was  one  of  the  finest  regiments 
which  entered  the  service  during  the  War  of 
the  Rebellion.  In  November,  1862,  Colonel 
Farnsworth  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
brigadier-general,  and  commanded  the  First 
Cavalry  Brigade  until  after  the  battle  of  Fred- 
ricksburg,  in  December  following.  By  being 
almost  constantly  in  the  saddle  he  had  con- 
tracted a  severe  lameness,  and  was  obliged  to 
obtain  leave  of  absence  for  medical  treatment. 
Having  been  again  elected  to  congress  in  the 
fall  of  1862,  he  resigned  his  commission  in 
the  army  March  4,  1863,  and  took  his  seat. 
In  the  fall  of  1863  he  was  authorized  to  raise 
the  Seventh  Illinois  Cavalry,  and  carried  out 
the  plan.  By  successive  elections  he  was  re- 
turned to  congress,  term  after  term,  until 
1872,  when  he  was  defeated  in  the  convention. 
In  Congress,  where  he  served  for  fourteen 
years,  General  Farnsworth  was  active  and 
prominent,  and  held  numerous  important  com- 
mittee chairmanships  and  positions.  After  his 
defeat  in  the  Republican  district  convention, 
in  1872,  he  espoused  the  Greeley  cause,  and 
about  1879  removed  from  St.  Charles  to  Chi- 
cago. He  was  several  times  a  candidate  for 
office  after  1872.  He  removed  to  Washington, 
D.  C,  where  he  had  a  fine  legal  practice,  and 
where  he  died  in  the  summer  of  1897. 

Joseph  Phillips  was  a  Tennesseean  who  as 
a  young  man  was  a  captain  in  the  United 
States  Rangers  in  the  War  of  1812.  He  be- 
came a  lawyer  and  was  secretary  of  the  Illi- 
nois Territory  when  it  was  admitted  as  a 
state.  He  was  the  first  chief  justice  of  the 
state.  In  1822  he  was  a  candidate  for  gov- 
ernor and  in  the  campaign  on  the  convention 
he  was  a  pro-slavery  champion. 

William  B.  Ogden  came  to  Chicago  in  1836, 
just  as  the  village  was  merging  into  the  city, 
and  was  appointed  the  first  fiscal  agent  of  the 
town  to  assist  in  securing  loans  for  needed 
public  improvements  and  municipal  equip- 
ment. William  B.  Ogden  was  a  native  of 
New  York,  and  was  thirty-one  when  he  came 
to  Chicago.  He  had  served  a  term  in  the 
legislature  of  the  Empire  State,  and  at  Chi- 
cago he  represented  a  number  of  eastern  capi- 
talists who  were  making  large  investments  in 
western  lands.  His  success  as  fiscal  agent 
was  followed  by  his  election  as  mayor,  and  he 
entered  the  office  in  1837,  just  as  the  great 
financial  panic  of  that  year  spread  its  blight 
over  the  entire  country.  It  was  in  that  crisis 
that  the  financial  judgment,  great  courage  and 
personal  integrity  of  William  B.  Ogden  under- 
went the  tests  which  have  ever  since  kept  the 
name  Ogden  as  one  of  the  oldest  and  most 
honored  in  the  history  of  Chicago.  He  served 
one  term  as  mayor  and  subsequently  became 


the  dominant  railway  king  of  the  Middle  West, 
virtually  founding  the  forerunner  of  the  Chi- 
cago &  Northwestern  Railway.  Again  in  the 
panic  of  1857  he  was  the  chief  factor  in  sus- 
taining this  railway.  He  retired  from  its 
presidency  in  1868  and  retired  to  his  estate  in 
New  York.  He  came  back  to  Chicago  and 
assisted  in  the  rehabilitation  of  the  city  after 
the  fire  of  1871.  He  died  in  August,  1877. 
Many  great  men  have  been  engaged  in  the 
building  of  Chicago  and  the  West,  but  William 
B.  Ogden  will  remain  through  all  time  as  the 
man  who  gave  the  city  its  first  broad  outlook 
into  the  field  of  public  improvement  and  estab- 
lished it  on  a  high  and  enduring  plane  of  civic 
honor. 

Thomas  Diven  Huff,  of  Chicago  and  Evans- 
ton,  graduated  from  the  Northwestern  Uni- 
versity Law  School  in  1895.  At  that  time 
the  outstanding  problem  in  the  business  world 
was  the  aggregation  of  capital  under  corporate 
organization,  and  corporate  control  rather  than 
individual  management.  Mr.  Huff's  father  had 
been  a  successful  railroad  attorney  in  Iowa, 
and  the  term  "corporation  lawyer"  in  the  early 
days  referred  almost  entirely  to  attorneys  for 
the  railroads.  Mr.  Huff  recognized  the  broad- 
ening scope  of  corporation  methods  and  at  the 
outset  of  his  practice  determined  to  become  a 
corporation  lawyer  in  the  larger  view-point  of 
the  term.  He  was  one  of  the  pioneers  in 
that  branch  of  the  profession  in  Chicago;  and 
years  have  brought  him  a  record  of  such 
success  that  his  name  belongs  among  the  fore- 
most American  corporation  lawyers  of  the 
present  generation. 

He  was  born  at  Eldora,  Iowa,  January  9, 
1872,  son  of  Hon.  Henry  Lewis  and  Elizabeth 
(Diven)  Huff.  His  father  was  born  in  Penn- 
sylvania, was  left  an  orphan  at  the  age  of 
twelve  years,  had  to  fight  the  battles  of  life 
alone,  and  did  so  with  eminent  success.  He 
served  in  his  youth  as  an  apprentice  to  the 
tailor's  trade,  but  soon  left  that  trade  to 
study  law.  On  coming  west  he  located  in 
Hardin  County,  Iowa.  For  many  years  he 
was  counsel  for  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern 
Railroad,  later  for  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road; and  was  one  of  the  promoters  and 
builders  of  the  Iowa  Central,  now  the  Minne- 
apolis &  St.  Louis  Railroad.  He  also  became 
a  leader  in  the  Republican  party  of  his  state. 
For  two  terms  he  served  as  a  member  of 
the  Iowa  General  Assembly  and  in  1880  was 
a  delegate  to  the  National  Republican  Con- 
vention that  nominated  Garfield  for  President. 

Thomas  Diven  Huff  was  one  of  a  family 
of  eight  children.  He  was  given  the  usual 
educational  opportunities,  but  from  boyhood 
was  inspired  with  the  ambition  of  carrying 
on  his  father's  career. 

He  attended  public  schools  in  his  home  town 
and  later  the  Iowa  Academy  and  College  at 
Grinnell.     During  vacation  periods  he  studied 


14 


ILLINOIS 


law  in  his  father's  office.  In  1893  he  entered 
Northwestern  University  Law  School  at  Chi- 
cago, graduating  in  1895.  Since  graduating 
he  has  been  continuously  a  member  of  the 
Chicago  bar,  with  over  thirty-five  years  of 
successful  experience  to  his  credit.  He  was 
associated  with  Thomas  J.  Diven  in  business 
until  1903,  during  which  time  he  was  also 
a  member  of  the  law  firm  of  Huff  &  Cook, 
which,  by  the  admission  of  Joseph  Slottow 
in  1911,  became  Huff,  Cook  &  Slottow.  Horace 
Wright  Cook,  his  partner,  died  June  7,  1930. 
His  legal  associates  at  the  present  time  are 
his  brother,  Hon.  Herbert  A.  Huff,  Henry  L. 
Blim,  Chauncey  M.  Millar,  C.  C.  Jarvis,  Orman 
I.  Lewis,  Leonard  A.  Scholl  and  Benjamin 
Gould.  Mr.  Huff  has  offices  at  29  South 
LaSalle  Street  and  also  an  office  at  1612 
Orrington  Avenue  in  Evanston.  In  both  his 
Chicago  and  Evanston  offices  he  has  one  of 
the  most  complete  law  libraries  owned  by  any 
member  of  the   Chicago  bar. 

Mr.  Huff  is  a  recognized  authority  on  cor- 
porate organization,  management  and  financ- 
ing, as  well  as  taxation  law.  He  is  Illinois 
editor  of  the  Corporation  Manual,  a  compila- 
tion of  the  statutory  corporate  laws  of  all 
of  the  states  and  territories  of  the  United 
States  and  provinces  of  the  Dominion  of  Can- 
ada, annotated.  He  is  also  recognized  as  one 
of  Chicago's  most  resourceful  attorneys,  being 
equally  gifted  as  a  counselor  and  as  a  trial 
lawyer.  He  has  been  retained  in  many  notable 
cases.  He  has  contributed  to  the  judicial 
interpretation  of  the  Illinois  revenue  laws. 
He  has  frequently  acted  as  counsel  for  bond- 
holders and  reorganization  committees  of  pub- 
lic utilities  and  industrial  corporations.  He 
is  western  counsel  of  the  United  States  Cor- 
poration Company  of  New  York,  which  has 
offices  not  only  in  America  but  in  Canada, 
Latin  American  countries  and  in  Europe.  Mr. 
Huff  is  chief  counsel  of  a  land  trust,  and  in 
that  connection  has  personal  direction  of  the 
prosecution  of  claims  before  the  United  States 
Mexican  Mixed  Claims  Commission,  involving 
approximately  $375,000,000.  In  the  course  of 
investigations  necessary  to  prepare  for  the 
trial  of  such  matters  before  the  commission, 
Mexican  church  records  of  marriage,  births 
and  deaths  have  been  searched  and  photo- 
stated, official  records  of  land  grants  and  real 
estate  transfers  have  been  reproduced  and 
translated  into  English.  The  commission,  it 
is  expected,  will  soon  render  a  decision  on 
these  cases,  and  everything  points  to  a  decision 
favorable  to  the  claimants. 

Mr.  Huff  is  a  director  and  stockholder  in 
many  corporations,  including  the  Victor  Manu- 
facturing &  Gasket  Company  and  the  Central 
Cold  Storage  Company,  both  of  Chicago.  In 
his  home  city  he  has  served  as  assistant  cor- 
poration counsel.  He  has  never  sought  public 
office  and  has  consistently  refused  the  requests 
of  his  friends  to  permit  his  name  to  be  used 


for  such  purpose.  He  is  a  Republican,  a 
member  of  the  Chicago  Law  Institute,  Chicago, 
Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  Associations, 
the  Hamilton  Club  of  Chicago,  and  of  numer- 
ous social  and  civic  organizations. 

He  married  Miss  Ethelyn  K.  Allen,  of 
Helena,  Montana,  on  August  18,  1903.  There 
were  born  to  them,  three  children,  Emorie 
Cannon,  Lewis  Stevenson,  deceased,  and  Curtis 
Allen.  Mr.  Huff  resides  at  624  Noyes  Street, 
Evanston,  Illinois. 

Samuel  D.  Lockwood  had  held  minor  offices 
in  New  York  State  where  he  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1811,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two. 
In  1818,  in  company  with  William  H.  Brown, 
he  came  down  the  Ohio  River,  landed  at 
Shawneetown  and  walked  to  Kaskaskia.  He 
was  attorney-general  in  1821  and  when  the 
convention  fight  came  on  he  was  one  of  the 
staunchest  supporters  of  Governor  Coles.  He 
held  many  positions  of  honor  in  the  state.  He 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court 
in  1824-25.  In  later  life  he  lived  in  Jackson- 
ville, where  he  was  a  warm  friend  of  Illinois 
College.  Judge  Lockwood's  contribution 
toward  the  defeat  of  slavery  in  Illinois  has 
been  universally  acknowledged.  He  was  a 
vigorous  contributor  to  the  press.  His  death 
occurred  in  1874. 

Nathaniel  K.  Fairbank,  one  of  Chicago's 
most  constructive  business  men  and  most  gen- 
erous citizens,  was  born  in  Wayne  County,  New 
York,  in  1829.  He  began  his  career  as  an 
apprentice  brick  layer,  later  became  book- 
keeper in  a  flouring  mill,  and  in  1855  was  sent 
to  Chicago  as  western  representative  for  a 
firm  of  grain  merchants.  About  the  close  of 
the  Civil  war  he  provided  capital  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  lard  and  oil  refinery  and  after 
several  years  of  development  the  business 
took  the  name  of  N.  K.  Fairbanks  &  Com- 
pany. During  the  first  twenty  years  the  pri- 
mary output  was  lard  and  lard  oil.  Later 
the  facilities  of  the  business  were  adapted  for 
the  manufacture  of  soaps,  and  for  at  least 
two  generations  the  name  N.  K.  Fairbank  & 
Company  has  appeared  on  labels  of  laundry 
and  toilet  preparations  familiar  in  nearly 
every  American  household. 

N.  K.  Fairbank  was  a  generous  benefactor. 
He  donated  the  land  and  he  and  his  wife 
were  among  the  most  liberal  supporters  of  St. 
Luke's  Hospital.  He  was  president  of  some 
of  the  May  Festival  organizations  in  the  early 
'80s,  and  throughout  the  rest  of  his  life  was 
a  generous  supporter  of  the  musical  activi- 
ties which  came  to  a  climax  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Symphony  Orchestra  under  Theo- 
dore Thomas.  While  his  friend  George  B. 
Carpenter  conceived  the  plan  of  constructing 
a  hall  particularly  adapted  for  music,  it  was 
N.  K.  Fairbank  who  conducted  the  campaign 
and   aroused   the   generous    financial    support 


ILLINOIS 


15 


needed  for  the  construction  of  Central  Music 
Hall,  which  served  an  entire  generation  of 
Chicagoans  as  the  home  of  music  and  other 
arts.  He  was  one  of  the  devoted  members  of 
the  church  resided  over  by  Prof.  David  Swing, 
and  he  followed  Professor  Swing  in  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  Independent  Church  which 
held  its  services  in  Central  Music  Hall.  He 
helped  finance  the  Chicago  News  Boys  Home, 
for  a  time  assumed  the  entire  financial  re- 
sponsibility of  building  the  home  of  the  Chi- 
cago Club.  These  were  some  of  the  more 
familiar  institutions  that  exemplified  Mr. 
Fairbank's  eminent  public  spirit,  but  there 
was  no  time  in  his  life  as  a  Chicagoan  when 
he  failed  of  either  personal  initiative  or  gen- 
erous response  in  any  movement  character- 
izing the  best  ideals  of  the  community. 

William  J.  Calhoun,  who  died  in  Septem- 
ber, 1916,  was  at  once  a  distinguished  Chicago 
attorney  and  a  man  upon  whom  had  devolved 
at  various  times  heavy  responsibilities  and 
honors  in  the  public  service  of  the  nation. 

He  was  born  at  Pittsburgh  October  5,  1848, 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1875,  and  after 
thirteen  years  of  practice  in  Danville,  Illinois, 
moved  to  Chicago,  where  from  1904  he  was 
head  of  the  law  firm  of  Calhoun,  Lyford  & 
Sheean.  He  was  western  counsel  for  the  Bal- 
timore &  Ohio  Railroad  Company. 

Mr.  Calhoun  spent  some  of  his  early  years 
in  the  same  district  with  William  McKinley, 
and  in  1897  President  McKinley  designated 
Mr.  Calhoun  as  special  commissioner  to  Cuba. 
He  served  as  a  member  of  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission  from  1898  to  1900.  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  appointed  him  a  special  com- 
missioner to  Venezuela  in  1905.  From  De- 
cember, 1909,  until  August  1,  1913,  Mr.  Cal- 
houn was  the  American  minister  to  China. 

Chauncey  B.  Blair.  Blair  is  one  of  the 
oldest  and  most  distinguished  names  on  Chi- 
cago's financial  history.  Chauncey  Buckley 
Blair,  of  the  first  generation  of  his  family  in 
Chicago,  represented  the  fifth  generation  of 
this  Scotch-Irish  family  in  America.  Chauncey 
B.  Blair  was  born  in  Massachusetts  in  1810, 
and  in  1835  came  west  and  engaged  in  locat- 
ing public  lands  for  settlers  in  Michigan,  In- 
diana and  Illinois.  Later  he  and  his  brother 
Lyman  engaged  in  the  grain  business  at  Mich- 
igan City.  He  was  a  prominent  promoter  of 
the  old  plank  road  from  Michigan  City  south 
to  LaPorte,  also  became  president  of  a  bank- 
ing company,  and  was  one  of  the  incorporators 
of  the  Northern  Indiana  Railroad,  which  be- 
came a  part  of  the  Michigan  Southern.  In 
1861  he  removed  to  Chicago.  He  became  in- 
terested in  a  private  bank,  and  in  1865  organ- 
ized the  Merchants  National  Bank,  becoming 
its  president.  His  action  in  insisting  upon 
full  payment  of  all  depositors  after  the  fire 
of  1871  helped  establish  the  credit  of  Chicago 


at  a  critical  period.  During  the  panic  of  1873 
he  also  resisted  all  demands  and  proposals 
that  the  prominent  Chicago  banks  should 
adopt  any  other  course  than  that  of  prompt 
payment  of  all  demands.  Chauncey  Buckley 
Blair  died  January  20,  1891.  He  was,  accord- 
ing to  one  of  the  many  tributes  to  his  life  and 
character,  "ready  to  give  his  last  dollar  to 
meet  a  bit  of  paper  or  an  obligation  in  which 
his  honor  was  involved  in  the  faintest  de- 
gree; his  whole  business  career  was  one  of 
protest  against  the  rapid  methods  adopted 
by  men  of  few  years  and  less  honor." 

He  retired  from  the  presidency  of  the  Mer- 
chants National  Bank  in  1888,  at  which  time 
he  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Chauncey  J. 
Blair.  Five  years  later  the  Merchants  Na- 
tional Bank  consolidated  with  another  insti- 
tution and  became  the  Corn  Exchange  National 
Bank.  Chauncey  J.  and  his  two  brothers, 
Henry  and  Watson,  were  all  identified  with 
the  Corn  Exchange  Bank.  Chauncey  J.  Blair 
was  born  at  Michigan  City,  Indiana,  in  1845, 
and  died  May  10,  1916,  after  a  service  of 
many  years  as  president  of  the  Corn  Exchange 
Bank. 

A  son  of  Chauncey  J.  and  Mary  A.  I. 
(Mitchell)  Blair  is  Chauncey  B.  Blair,  who 
was  born  August  18,  1886,  graduating  from 
Yale  University  in  1909,  and  for  over  twenty 
years  has  been  an  active  Chicago  business  man 
and  financier.  During  the  World  war  period, 
except  for  the  time  he  was  at  the  Great 
Lakes  Naval  Training  Station,  he  was  cashier 
and  a  director  of  the  Chicago  Morris  Plan 
Bank.  He  has  been  an  official  in  several 
financial  and  industrial  organizations. 

Samuel  McRoberts  was  a  native  of  Monroe 
County.  He  was  well  educated.  He  served 
in  minor  offices  and  became  a  lawyer  and  a 
judge.  He  served  in  the  Legislature,  was 
United  States  district  judge.  He  was  a 
solicitor  of  the  general  land  office,  and  served 
as  United  States  senator. 

Jean  Paul  Clayton  was  educated  for  the 
profession  of  mechanical  engineer,  and  his 
work  has  brought  him  steady  advancement  in 
public  utility  circles.  For  over  ten  years  he 
has  been  vice  president  of  the  Illinois  Public 
Service  Company,  with  headquarters  at 
Springfield. 

Mr.  Clayton  was  born  at  Sterling,  Illinois, 
October  3,  1888,  a  son  of  Gilbert  O.  and  Mary 
A.  (Robinson)  Clayton.  His  father  was  a 
native  of  Freeport,  Illinois,  and  his  mother 
of  Willoughby,  Ohio.  His  grandfather,  O.  S. 
Clayton,  for  many  years  conducted  a  jewelry 
business  at  Aurora,  Illinois.  The  maternal 
grandfather  was  Rev.  Dr.  J.  B.  Robinson,  a 
native  of  Ohio,  who  for  a  number  of  years 
was  active  in  the  Illinois  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Church.  Gilbert  O.  Clayton  is  now 
connected  with  the  Bemis  Brothers  Bag  Com- 


16 


ILLINOIS 


pany  and  lives  at  Burlingame,  California.  He 
is  a  Republican  and  he  and  his  wife  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  Church.  They  had  a 
family  of  five  children,  four  of  whom  are 
living:  J.  Paul;  Mrs.  L.  L.  McMillan,  in  Cali- 
fornia; Earl  Robinson,  owner  of  the  New 
Comer  Trailer  Company  at  Los  Angeles;  and 
Mrs.  Leroy  H.  Dart,  of  San  Luis  Obispo, 
California,  where  her  husband  is  a  banker. 

J.  Paul  Clayton  completed  his  education  in 
Tulane  University  at  New  Orleans  in  1909 
and  from  that  fall  took  special  technical  work 
in  the  University  of  Illinois  until  1912.  After 
leaving  college  he  became  commercial  engineer 
for  the  Union  Gas  &  Electric  Company  of 
Cincinnati,  remaining  there  two  years,  and 
then  entered  the  service  of  the  Central  Illinois 
Public  Service  Company  as  power  engineer. 
He  became  manager  of  the  commercial  depart- 
ment and  in  1917  went  to  Chicago  as  commer- 
cial manager  for  the  Middle  West  Utilities 
Company.  In  1919  he  returned  to  Springfield 
and  has  since  been  vice  president  of  the  Illinois 
Public  Service  Company.  In  January,  1932,  he 
was  elected  vice  president  of  the  Middle  West 
Utilities  Company  and  resigned  as  vice  presi- 
dent of  the  Central  Illinois  Public  Service 
Company. 

Mr.  Clayton  married  in  1915  Helen  E.  Bur- 
bank.  She  was  born  at  New  Orleans,  and 
was  educated  in  the  Newcomb  College  in  that 
city.  Her  father,  Maj.  J.  A.  Burbank,  was 
a  sugar  planter.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clayton  have 
three  children:  Jean  Paul,  Jr.,  born  in  1916; 
Hugh  Burbank,  born  in  1919;  and  Helen  Ruth, 
born  in  1922. 

Mr.  Clayton  is  a  Methodist,  while  his  wife 
is  a  Catholic.  He  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  is  a  Republican  and  is  a  member 
of  a  number  of  prominent  civic  and  commer- 
cial organizations.  He  is  president  of  the 
Illinois  State  Chamber  of  Commerce.  He  has 
been  president  of  the  Springfield  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  and  while  vice  president  of  the 
Illinois  State  Chamber  of  Commerce  he  was 
chairman  of  its  industrial  committee,  and  has 
also  done  some  valuable  work  in  Springfield 
as  chairman  of  the  committee  for  the  elimina- 
tion of  grade  crossings.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Lake  Springfield  Committee,  comprising 
a  group  of  Springfield  citizens  working  out 
plans  for  the  constructions  of  a  large  lake 
near  the  capital  city.  Mr.  Clayton  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Illini  Country  Club  and  Sangamo 
Club  and  the  Union  League  Club  of  Chicago. 

Thomas  Carlin,  governor  of  Illinois  from 
1838  to  1842,  was  not  surpassed  by  any 
pioneer  in  bringing  Illinois  up  to  statehood. 
He  did  not  begin  his  labors  as  early  as  some, 
but  he  was  continually  serving  the  people  and 
the  state  in  some  commendable  way.  He  came 
on  the  scene  in  1811.  He  was  of  Irish  extrac- 
tion and,  like  many  young  men  of  that  people, 
he  was  poor  and  without  friends — two  very 
serious    handicaps.      His    education   was   very 


meager.  He  was  a  private  with  Capt.  William 
B.  Whitesides  in  the  War  of  1812.  In  1813 
he  marched  under  the  orders  of  General 
Howard.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  located 
near  the  present  city  of  Carrollton,  in  Greene 
County.  He  was  the  first  sheriff  of  Greene 
County.  While  living  on  his  farm  in  Greene 
County  he  was  often  selected  to  serve  in  the 
Legislature.  He  also  was  receiver  of  public 
moneys  at  Quincy,  which  position  he  filled 
with  great  credit  to  himself  and  with  perfect 
satisfaction  to  the  Government.  In  the  Black 
Hawk  war  he  served  as  captain  of  a  company 
in  the  Spy  Battalion,  commanded  by  Maj. 
James  D.  Henry.  As  governor  he  favored 
state  construction  and  state  ownership  of 
natural  resources. 

Hon.  Joseph  Burns  Crowley,  who  for 
three  terms  represented  the  Nineteenth  Illi- 
nois District  in  Congress,  had  a  career  of 
notable  distinction  in  the  law  and  in  public 
affairs.  Mr.  Crowley  was  a  resident  of  Rob- 
inson, and  had  practiced  law  in  that  city  for 
nearly  half  a  century.  However,  for  about 
twelve  years  most  of  his  time  was  given  to 
the  Federal  Government. 

Mr.  Crowley  was  born  at  Coshocton,  Ohio, 
July  19,  1858,  and  died  at  Robinson,  Illinois, 
June  25,  1931,  age  seventy-three  years.  He 
was  the  son  of  Samuel  B.  and  Elizabeth  (Wil- 
liams) Crowley.  The  Crowley  family  is  of 
Irish  ancestry.  His  maternal  grandfather 
Williams  was  of  Holland-Dutch  ancestry  and 
spent  his  active  life  in  New  York.  His  pa- 
ternal grandfather,  John  Crowley,  was  born 
in  Ohio  and  lived  to  be  ninety-four  years  of 
age.  Samuel  B.  Crowley  was  born  at  Coshoc- 
ton, Ohio,  and  in  1859  came  to  Illinois,  settling 
in  Jasper  County,  on  a  farm.  In  1868  he  was 
elected  sheriff,  at  which  time  he  removed  to 
Newton,  the  county  seat.  He  was  sheriff  two 
terms,  1868-72,  and  on  retiring  from  office 
moved  to  Robinson.  He  was  a  soldier  in  two 
wars,  the  Mexican  war  and  the  Civil  war.  He 
was  a  captain  in  the  Union  army.  After  the 
war  he  was  loyally  identified  with  his  com- 
rades in  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  He 
was  a  Mason,  a  Democrat  and  a  Presbyterian. 

Joseph  Burns  Crowley  received  his  early 
education  in  the  schools  of  Jasper  County,  and 
also  attended  school  at  Robinson  after  he  was 
fourteen  years  of  age.  Five  years  of  his  early 
manhood  were  spent  in  the  retail  grocery  busi- 
ness. While  thus  employed  he  took  up  the 
study  of  law  and  in  1883  he  was  given  a 
license  to  practice.  At  that  time  he  opened 
his  law  office  in  Robinson.  Mr.  Crowley  was 
always  recognized  as  one  of  the  ablest  men  in 
the  Democratic  party  in  Eastern  Illinois.  He 
enjoyed  a  wide  fame  as  an  orator,  not  only  in 
political  campaigns  but  on  general  occasions. 
For  two  terms  he  was  judge  of  the  County 
Court  of  Crawford  County.  He  resigned  this 
office  to  accept  an  appointment  during  the 
second     Cleveland    administration    as    special 


^-mu»^   y<     flAsSC^lvLj , 


ILLINOIS 


17 


agent  to  the  Treasury  Department,  under 
John  G.  Carlisle,  secretary  of  the  treasury. 
From  1893  to  1898  he  devoted  all  his  time  to 
this  work,  being  chief  of  the  force  of  inspec- 
tion in  connection  with  America's  interest  in 
the   seal   industry  in   Alaska. 

Mr.  Crowley  was  first  elected  to  Congress 
in  1898.  He  represented  the  Nineteenth  Dis- 
trict three  terms,  until  1907.  After  his  career 
in  Congress  he  resumed  his  private  law  prac- 
tice. In  1912  he  was  elected  state's  attorney 
of  Crawford  County.  In  a  period  of  half  a 
century  sixty-two  men  have  been  convicted  in 
Crawford  County  and  sent  to  the  penitentiary. 
Fifteen  of  these  convictions  were  secured 
during  the  vigorous  administration  of  Mr. 
Crowley  as  state's  attorney.  He  held  that 
office  four  years. 

He  was  a  campaigner  in  the  Democratic 
party  from  the  age  of  twenty  years.  For 
more  than  forty  years  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Democratic  County  Central  Committee, 
and  during  that  time  attended  many  state 
conventions.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the 
national  convention  at  St.  Louis  when  Alton 
B.  Parker  was  nominated  for  President.  Mr. 
Crowley  was  a  member  of  the  Crawford 
County  Bar  Association,  was  a  Knight  Tem- 
plar Mason,  member  of  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks, 
and  Modern  Woodmen  of  America  and  the 
Presbyterian  Church. 

He  married,  December  1,  1889,  Miss  Alice 
Newlin.  Mrs.  Crowley  was  born  in  Robinson, 
daughter  of  Alexander  Newlin.  The  Newlin 
family  came  to  Illinois  from  North  Carolina. 
Mrs.  Crowley  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  and  has  been  well  known  in  the  social 
life  of  her  home  city.  They  have  two  children. 
The  daughter,  Emily  J.,  was  educated  at  Rob- 
inson and  at  Washington,  D.  C,  is  the  wife 
of  Charles  Everingham,  a  Robinson  oil  man, 
and  has  four  sons,  named  Charles,  Joseph, 
Richard  and  Robert. 

The  son,  Joseph  B.  Crowley,  was  educated 
in  the  Robinson  High  School  and  is  a  graduate 
of  the  Culver  Military  Academy  of  Indiana. 
He  is  in  the  loan  business  at  Robinson  and 
one  of  the  successful  younger  men  in  the  life 
of  that  city.  He  married  Miss  Fay  Werner, 
of  Robinson,  and  has  a  son,  Joseph  B.  III. 

Sabin  D.  Puterbaugh  was  a  native  of  Ohio, 
but  had  come  with  his  parents  to  Illinois 
when  he  was  five  years  old.  His  early  edu- 
cation was  obtained  at  the  common  schools 
of  Tazewell  County.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  January,  1857,  and  at  once  became 
partner  of  Samuel  W.  Fuller,  then  state  sen- 
ator from  that  district.  After  the  removal 
of  Mr.  Fuller  to  Chicago,  Mr.  Puterbaugh 
formed  a  partnership  with  John  B.  Cohrs, 
which  continued  until  1861.  Mr.  Puterbaugh 
then  entered  the  army  as  major  of  the  Elev- 
enth Illinois  Cavalry,  and  remained  in  the 
service  until  November,  1862,  when  he  re- 
signed  and   removed   to   Peoria.     In   1868   he 


formed  a  partnership  with  E.  C.  and  R.  G. 
Ingersoll,  the  former  of  whom  was  then  a 
representative  in  congress.  This  firm  con- 
tinued until  June,  1867,  when  he  was  elected 
to  the  office  of  circuit  judge.  He  held  this 
office  until  March,  1873,  and  then  resigned  to 
resume  the  practice  of  his  profession.  As  a 
judge  he  was  upright,  painstaking,  diligent 
and  correct  in  his  decisions,  and  discharged 
the  duties  of  his  office  with  ability  and  fidelity. 
He  is  perhaps  best  known  to  the  profession  as 
the  author  of  Puterbaugh's  Common  Law 
Pleadings  and  Practice  and  Puterbaugh's 
Chancery  Pleadings  and  Practice,  both  of 
which  works  are  accepted  as  standard  au- 
thority. 

Judge  Puterbaugh  also,  in  1877,  took  a  con- 
spicuous part  in  the  measures  before  the  Legis- 
lature for  the  reorganization  of  the  judiciary, 
and  the  creation  of  the  appellate  courts.  To 
his  efforts  probably  more  than  to  those  of  any 
other  one  man  the  state  is  indebted  for  the 
adoption  of  those  measures. 

In  politics  he  was  a  democrat  until  the  out- 
break of  the  Rebellion,  when  he  identified  him- 
self with  the  republican  party,  and  he  was 
one  of  the  presidential  electors  in  1880,  at 
which  time  he  cast  his  vote  in  the  electoral 
college  for  James  A.  Garfield  for  president 
and  Chester  A.  Arthur  for  vice  president.  He 
continued  in  the  practice  of  the  law  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  on  September  25,  1892. 

Hon.  Robert  Virgil  Fletcher,  a  former 
attorney  general  and  member  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State  of  Mississippi,  has  since 
1911  been  a  resident  of  Chicago,  where  he  is 
now  a  vice  president  and  general  counsel  for 
the  Illinois  Central  Railway  Company.  He 
was  promoted  to  the  office  of  vice  president 
January  1,  1931,  with  the  title  of  vice  presi- 
dent and  general  counsel,  this  being  a  new 
position  and  Judge  Fletcher  the  first  to  hold  it. 

Judge  Fletcher  was  born  near  Williamstown, 
Grant  County,  Kentucky,  September  27,  1869, 
son  of  John  M.  and  Mary  (Luman)  Fletcher. 
His  father  was  born  in  Tennessee  and  was  a 
child  when  the  family  moved  to  Southern  Illi- 
nois, at  Shawneetown,  where  he  grew  to  man- 
hood. John  M.  Fletcher's  mother  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  McClain  family,  well  known  steam- 
boat operators  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
rivers  in  the  early  days.  After  leaving  South- 
ern Illinois  John  M.  Fletcher  located  on  a 
farm  across  the  Ohio  River  in  Grant  County, 
Kentucky,  where  Judge  Fletcher  was  born. 

His  early  life  was  spent  in  rural  surround- 
ings. After  the  high  school  at  Williamstown 
he  attended  a  small  college  at  Taylorville, 
Kentucky,  known  as  the  Spencer  Institute, 
where  he  was  graduated  in  1886.  When  he 
was  twenty-three  years  of  age  he  moved  to 
Mississippi,  taught  school  in  Chickasaw  and 
Pontotoc  counties,  and  carried  a  post-graduate 
course  in  the  University  of  Mississippi,  at 
Oxford.     He  studied  law,  was  admitted  to  the 


18 


ILLINOIS 


bar  at  Pontotoc  in  1899,  and  during  the  next 
seven  years  was  a  member  of  the  law  firm  of 
Mitchell  &  Fletcher. 

On  January  1,  1906,  he  was  appointed  assist- 
ant attorney  general,  his  official  duties  causing 
him  to  remove  to  Jackson,  the  state  capital. 
On  the  death  of  Attorney  General  Williams 
in  April,  1907,  he  was  appointed  to  fill  out 
the  unexpired  term.  In  the  general  election 
of  that  year  he  was  nominated  and  elected 
without  opposition  as  attorney  general.  In 
November,  1908,  the  governor  appointed  him 
a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Mississippi, 
to  serve  out  the  unexpired  term  of  Judge 
Calhoun,  deceased.  He  was  on  the  bench  for 
about  six  months,  and  in  May,  1909,  retired 
to  resume  private  practice  at  Jackson,  as  a 
member  of  the  firm  Flowers,  Fletcher  &  Win- 
field.  This  firm  besides  a  general  practice 
acted  as  Mississippi  attorneys  for  the  Gulf, 
Mobile  &  Northern  Railroad. 

Judge  Fletcher  came  to  Chicago  in  February, 
1911.  His  first  association  with  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  was  as  general  attorney.  He 
held  that  office  until  March  1,  1920,  except 
about  eight  months  in  1919,  when  he  was  at 
Washington  as  assistant  general  counsel  for 
the  United  States  Railroad  Administration. 
When  the  railroads  were  returned  to  their 
private  owners,  in  March,  1920,  he  became 
general  solicitor  of  the  Illinois  Central  system. 
On  December  31,  1927,  he  was  promoted  to 
general  counsel  and,  as  noted  above,  was  given 
the  additional  title  and  office  of  vice  president 
at  the  beginning  of  1931. 

Judge  Fletcher's  career  has  been  conspicu- 
ously enriched  with  honors  and  responsibilities. 
The  general  public  and  members  of  his  pro- 
fession have  come  to  know  him  as  an  able 
public  speaker  and  he  has  frequently  addressed 
the  bar  associations  of  states  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley  and  the  American  Bar  Association.  He 
is  an  honorary  member  of  the  Kentucky  State 
Bar  Association,  and  in  1930  was  elected  vice 
president  of  the  Illinois  State  Bar  Association. 
Mr.  Fletcher  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, the  Chicago  Club,  the  Union  League 
Club,  the  Gamma  Eta  Gamma  legal  fraternity, 
the  Long  Beach  Country  Club.  He  married, 
June  26,  1893,  Miss  Etta  Childers,  of  Corinth, 
Kentucky.  Their  children  are  Ernest  Lamar, 
Louise,  Robert  Julian  and  William  McClain. 

Marshall  Field  was  born  near  the  village 
of  Conway,  Massachusetts,  in  1834,  and  his 
English  ancestors  had  lived  in  that  locality 
for  nearly  two  centuries.  He  grew  up  on  the 
farm,  but  soon  became  clerk  in  a  store,  and 
in  1856,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  arrived  at 
Chicago  and  sought  and  obtained  a  position 
in  what  was  then  the  leading  dry  goods  house, 
Cooley,  Wadsworth  &  Company.  In  that  busi- 
ness he  became  associated  with  John  V.  Far- 
well  and  other  great  men  in  the  Chicago  mer- 
cantile  world    and   by    1860    had    achieved    a 


partnership.  In  1865  he  and  Levi  Z.  Leiter 
bought  the  dry  goods  business  of  Potter 
Palmer,  resulting  in  the  firm  of  Field,  Palmer 
&  Leiter.  After  January,  1867,  the  business 
was  known  as  Field,  Leiter  &  Company,  and 
in  that  year  the  firm  occupied  the  building  at 
the  northeast  corner  of  State  and  Washington 
streets,  which  for  so  many  years  has  been  the 
principal  site  of  the  retail  establishment  of 
Marshall  Field  &  Company.  The  business  was 
destroyed  by  the  fire  of  1871,  but  a  new  store 
was  completed  in  1873,  and  at  that  time  the 
retail  and  wholesale  departments  were  sepa- 
rated. Mr.  Leiter  withdrew  from  the  firm  in 
1881,  and  thereafter  for  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury Marshall  Field  was  the  master  and 
guiding  spirit  of  the  great  business. 

While  he  was  first,  last,  and  at  all  times  a 
great  merchant,  attending  strictly  to  his  busi- 
ness, such  was  the  volume  and  magnitude  of 
his  affairs  that  he  became  one  of  the  chief 
forces  of  some  of  Chicago's  most  valued  insti- 
tutions, best  known  among  them,  of  course, 
being  the  great  Field  Museum,  on  the  Lake 
Front,  which  he  endowed.  He  died  January 
16,  1906.  After  a  lapse  of  twenty  years  there 
is  justification  in  quoting  the  words  of  an 
editorial  tribute  written  at  the  time  of  his 
death:  "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  un- 
tainted by  wealth,  and  was  always  an  upright 
man,  fair  and  even  generous  in  his  dealings. 
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." 

Robert  Green  Ingersoll  was  born  at  Dres- 
den, Yates  County,  New  York,  August  11, 
1833,  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Livingston) 
Ingersoll.  His  father  was  a  Congregational 
clergyman,  well  known  in  New  York  State  for 
his  eloquence  and  broad  views. 

Having  completed  his  education  in  the 
schools  of  Illinois,  whither  his  father  had 
removed  in  1843,  Robert  G.  Ingersoll  studied 
law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  opened 
an  office  at  Shawneetown,  Illinois,  in  partner- 
ship with  his  elder  brother,  Eben  C.  Ingersoll, 
who  was  representative  in  Congress  from  Illi- 
nois (1864-70),  and  both  became  active  in 
law  and  politics.  In  1857  he  removed  to 
Peoria,  Illinois,  then  a  rapidly  growing  busi- 
ness center,  and  here  in  1860  he  was  an  un- 
successful candidate  for  Congress  on  the 
Democratic  ticket.  From  the  opening  of  the 
Civil  war  he  was  active  in  his  advocacy  of  the 
Federal  cause,  and  in  1862  went  to  the  front 
as  colonel  of  the  Eleventh  Illinois  Cavalry 
Regiment.  He  was  captured  and  held  prisoner 
for  several  months,  but  was  finally  exchanged. 


ILLINOIS 


19 


and  in  1864  resigned  from  the  army  to  resume 
the  practice  of  law. 

Having  changed  his  allegiance  to  the 
Republican  party  in  1866,  Mr.  Ingersoll  was 
appointed  attorney-general  of  Illinois,  and 
further  demonstrated  his  political  importance 
as  delegate  to  several  successive  national  con- 
ventions. In  the  convention  of  1876  he  pro- 
posed the  name  of  James  G.  Blaine  as  candi- 
date for  President  with  a  brilliant  oration  in 
which  he  originated  the  famous  title,  "Plumed 
Knight,"  as  a  designation  for  the  Maine  sena- 
tor. In  1877  he  declined  appointment  as  min- 
ister to  Germany.  He  appeared  in  several 
historic  litigations,  most  noted  as  counsel  for 
the  alleged  "Star  Route"  conspirators,  Brady 
and  Dorsey,  when  he  secured  an  acquittal.  On 
account  of  his  enhanced  reputation  he  re- 
moved to  Washington  City,  and  some  years 
later  to  New  York  City,  where  he  resided 
until  his  death. 

He  was  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  power- 
ful orators  of  the  day;  he  had  few  equals 
before  a  jury,  and  was  equally  acceptable  as 
a  campaign  speaker  and  on  the  lecture  plat- 
form. His  widest  reputation,  however,  rests 
on  his  many  attacks  on  certain  popular  forms 
of  Christian  teaching,  as  well  as  on  the  divine 
authority  of  the  Bible,  and  which  abounded 
in  sarcasm  and  humor.  His  lectures,  which 
were  published  complete  in  1883,  contain  such 
titles  as  "The  Gods,"  "Ghosts,"  "Skulls,"  and 
"Some  Mistakes  of  Moses."  Some  of  the  best 
sayings  were  issued  in  book  form  in  1884, 
under  the  title,  "Prose  Poems  and  Selections." 
He  also  lectured  repeatedly  on  the  life  and 
work  of  Thomas  Paine  and  on  Shakespeare. 

John  Wood  was  the  founder  of  Quincy. 
In  the  Black  Hawk  war  he  was  a  private  in 
Captain  Flood's  company  which  was  made  up 
in  Quincy.  He  served  in  the  Legislature,  was 
elected  lieutenant-governor  in  1856,  and  filled 
out  the  unexpired  term  of  Governor  Bissell, 
who  died  in  March,  1860. 

John  V.  Farwell,  Chicago  merchant,  was 
born  in  Steuben  County,  New  York,  July  29, 
1825,  representing  the  second  generation  of  his 
branch  of  the  American  family.  At  the  age 
of  thirteen  he  accompanied  the  Farwell  family 
to  Ogle  County,  Illinois,  and  grew  up  and 
completed  his  education  there.  He  is  said  to 
have  arrived  in  Chicago  in  1845  with  only 
three  dollars  in  money,  He  became  a  book- 
keeper and  salesman  for  a  dry  goods  house, 
and  by  1850  had  achieved  a  partnership  in 
the  firm  of  Cooley,  Wadsworth  &  Company. 
This  was  logically  the  beginning  of  the  great 
house  of  John  V.  Farwell  Company.  In  1862, 
with  the  retirement  of  Elisha  S.  Wadsworth, 
the  firm  of  Cooley,  Farwell  &  Company  com- 
prised Francis  B.  Cooley,  John  V.  Farwell  and 
Marshall  Field.  Mr.  Cooley  retired  in  1864, 
and  Levi  Z.  Leiter  and  S.  N.  Kellogg  entered 


the  partnership  of  Farwell,  Field  &  Company. 
Field  and  Leiter  soon  withdrew,  and  in  1866 
W.  D.  and  Charles  B.  Farwell  joined  the  older 
brother,  thus  resulting  in  the  familiar  name  of 
John  V.  Farwell  &  Company.  The  John  V. 
Farwell  Company  was  incorporated  in  1891, 
and  Mr.  Farwell  continued  as  president  until 
his  death,  on  August  20,  1908. 

John  V.  Farwell  was  a  conspicuous  figure 
in  the  work  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  at  Chicago,  and  through  his  per- 
sonal influence  and  financial  backing  did  much 
to  vitalize  the  great  religious  movement  under 
Dwight  L.  Moody.  The  first  lot  in  Chicago  he 
donated  as  the  site  for  the  home  of  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A. 

Gustavus  Koerner  was  one  of  the  justices 
of  the  Illinois  Supreme  Court  from  April  2, 
1845,  until  he  retired  in  September,  1848,  upon 
the  reorganization  of  the  judiciary  under  the 
new  constitution. 

Judge  Koerner  was  one  of  the  earliest  of 
those  German  patriots  who  fled  from  the 
fatherland  on  account  of  revolutionary  upris- 
ings and  sought  refuge  in  the  New  World. 
He  was  born  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  No- 
vember 20,  1809,  graduated  in  law  at  Heidel- 
berg University  in  1832  and  was  wounded 
during  a  revolutionary  outbreak  on  the  part 
of  a  society  of  university  students.  Coming 
to  America,  he  located  in  St.  Clair  County, 
Illinois,  and  remained  a  resident  of  Southern 
Illinois  until  his  death,  at  Belleville,  on  April 
9,  1896.  He  was  in  partnership  at  first  with 
Adam  W.  Snyder  and  later  with  James 
Shields.  Subsequently  his  associate  in  the 
practice  of  law  was  his  son,  Gustavus  A. 
Koerner.  His  legal  lore  is  said  to  have  cov- 
ered every  department  in  the  science  of  juris- 
prudence, and  he  won  distinction  at  the  bar 
among  men  of  national  reputation,  including 
Lincoln,  Douglas,  Trumbull,  Breese  and 
Palmer.  While  he  was  on  the  Supreme 
bench  it  was  customary  for  the  judges  to  hold 
Circuit  Court,  and  he  presided  over  a  session 
of  the  Circuit  Court  at  Belleville  when  a  fugi- 
tive slave  was  brought  before  him,  and  though 
the  jury  three  times  decided  that  the  plaintiff 
was  a  slave,  Judge  Koerner  promptly  set  aside 
the  first  two  of  these  verdicts  in  the  face  of 
the  popular  prejudice.  He  soon  afterward 
broke  with  his  party  on  the  question  of 
slavery,  and  subsequently  was  one  of  the 
strongest  supporters  of  Lincoln.  He '  first 
attracted  the  attention  of  Lincoln  during  his 
term  in  the  Legislature  in  1842,  and  in  1862 
Lincoln,  then  President,  appointed  him  United 
States  minister  to  Spain,  a  post  which  he 
resigned  in  January,  1865. 

He  served  as  lieutenant  governor  of  Illinois 
from  1853  until  1857,  and  at  the  beginning  of 
the  war  was  instrumental  in  raising  the 
Forty-third  Illinois  Regiment,  and  for  a  time 
served  on  the  staff  of  General  Fremont.     He 


20 


ILLINOIS 


was  one  of  the  delegates  at  the  Chicago  con- 
vention nominating  Horace  Greeley.  In  1867 
he  was  appointed  president  of  the  board  of 
trustees  that  organized  the  Soldiers'  Orphans' 
Home  at  Bloomington.  In  1870  he  was  presi- 
dent of  the  first  board  of  railroad  commis- 
sioners of  Illinois.  He  was  a  master  of  many 
languages,  and  was  the  author  of  several 
books  and  many  individual  articles.  At  the 
time  of  his  death,  April  9,  1896,  he  was  one  of 
the  oldest  practicing  lawyers  in  Illinois. 

Isaac  Funk  was  truly  one  of  the  founders 
of  Illinois'  greatness  as  a  state.  In  the  domain 
of  agriculture  his  achievements  were  fully  as 
impressive  and  important  as  those  of  Pullman 
and  Armour  in  the  field  of  industry  and  only 
less  notable  than  those  of  Lincoln  in  states- 
manship. It  is  possible  to  assert  that  the  full 
significance  of  the  phrase  "The  Illinois  Corn 
Belt"  would  never  have  been  realized  without 
the  leadership  and  the  constructive  and  cre- 
ative ability  of  Isaac  Funk  and  his  descend- 
ants. 

In  1924  the  Funk  family  of  McLean  County 
celebrated  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of 
its  establishment  in  Illinois.  Isaac  Funk,  the 
founder,  was  born  in  Clark  County,  Kentucky, 
November  17,  1797.  He  arrived  in  Illinois, 
coming  from  Ohio,  in  1824;  and  at  that  time 
was  burdened  with  a  debt  of  some  two  thou- 
sand dollars.  His  place  of  settlement  has  long 
been  known  as  "Funk's  Grove."  The  only 
capital  he  possessed  was  industry,  persever- 
ance and  integrity.  In  1826  he  married  Cas- 
sandra Sharp,  of  Peoria,  who  had  come  from 
Maryland.  He  soon  formed  a  partnership 
with  his  brother  Absalom  and  engaged  in  the 
business  of  buying  cattle  and  horses  and  sell- 
ing them  at  various  markets,  chiefly  Chicago. 
After  1841  Isaac  Funk  continued  the  business 
alone,  and  was  one  of  the  largest  drovers  of 
his  time,  sometimes  driving  as  many  as  1,500 
cattle  and  1,000  hogs  to  Chicago.  From  the 
profits  of  his  dealings  in  live  stock  he  invested 
in  land  on  a  large  scale.  Long  before  his 
death  he  was  the  foremost  live  stock  raiser 
and  dealer,  and  one  of  the  largest  land  own- 
ers in  Illinois.  He  never  speculated  in  land, 
since  he  bought  for  use  and  not  for  sale.  His 
purchases  between  1829  and  1853  aggregated 
25,000  acres,  and  most  of  that  land  is  still 
comprised  in  the  various  Funk  farms  around 
Bloomington.  Many  larger  areas  of  land  have 
been  held  by  a  single  family  in  the  United 
States,  but  no  land  anywhere  surpasses  it  in 
value  for  purely  agricultural  purposes. 

Isaac  Funk  was  a  pioneer.  He  grew  up  on 
the  frontier  of  the  middle  west,  and  had  only 
the  simplest  literary  advantages.  His  dis- 
tinguishing virtues  were  his  remarkable  en- 
ergy and  industry,  his  rugged  integrity  and 
his  exemplification  of  the  simple  fundamentals 
of  private  and  public  life.  He  was  elected  a 
member   of   the   Legislature   in    1840,    and    in 


1862  was  sent  to  the  State  Senate,  serving 
during  the  Civil  war.  He  made  a  speech  in 
the  Senate  in  February,  1863,  that  has  been 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  memorable  of  all 
war  speeches.  President  Lincoln  ordered  the 
speech  read  before  every  Union  regiment  then 
in  the  field.  The  occasion  of  the  speech  was  the 
critical  time  in  the  Illinois  General  Assembly, 
when  the  war  and  emancipation  policy  of  Pres- 
ident Lincoln  was  being  bitterly  arraigned.  A 
few  sentences  from  Senator  Funk's  speech 
are  best  quoted  in  Smith's  "Student's  History 
of  Illinois:"  "I  can  sit  here  no  longer  and  not 
tell  these  traitors  what  I  think  of  them;  and 
while  so  telling*  them,  I  am  responsible,  my- 
self, for  what  I  say.  I  stand  upon  my  own 
bottom,  I  am  ready  to  meet  any  man  on  this 
floor  in  any  manner,  from  a  pin's  point  to  the 
mouth  of  a  cannon  upon  this  charge  against 
these  traitors — I  came  to  Illinois  a  poor  boy; 
I  have  a  little  something  for  myself  and  fam- 
ily. I  pay  $3,000  a  year  in  taxes.  I  am  will- 
ing to  pay  $6,000  a  year;  aye!  $12,000.  Aye! 
I  am  willing  to  pay  my  whole  fortune,  and 
then  give  my  life  to  save  my  country  from 
these  traitors  that  are  seeking  to  destroy  it. 
Yes,  these  traitors  and  villains  in  the  Senate 
are  killing  my  neighbor's  boys,  now  fighting  in 
the  field.  I  dare  to  say  this  to  the  traitors 
right  here,  and  I  am  responsible  for  what  I 
say  to  any  and  all  of  them.  Let  them  come 
on,  right  here.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  must  beg  the 
pardon  of  the  gentlemen  in  this  Senate  who 
are  not  traitors,  but  true,  loyal  men,  for  what 
I  have  said  I  only  intend  it  and  mean  it  for 
secessionists  at  heart." 

Isaac  Funk  and  his  good  wife  Cassandra 
both  died  on  the  same  day,  January  29,  1865. 
They  were  survived  by  eight  sons  and  one 
daughter:  George  W.  (1827-1911);  Jacob 
(1830-1919);  Duncan  M.  (1837-1910);  Lafay- 
ette (1934-1919);  Francis  M.  (1836-1899); 
Benjamin  F.  (1838-1909);  Absalom  (1841- 
1915);  Isaac,  Jr.,  (1844-1909);  and  Sarah 
Funk  Kerrick  (1846-1907),  wife  of  Hon.  L.  H. 
Kerrick.  The  careers  of  these  children  might 
be  regarded  as  the  greatest  glory  and  honor  of 
Isaac  and  Cassandra  Funk. 

Norman  B.  Judd.  In  many  ways  the  name 
of  Norman  B.  Judd  was  closely  linked  with 
Illinois  and  national  life  during  the  period 
from  1850  to  1870. 

Born  at  Rome,  New  York,  January  10,  1815, 
he  was  admitted  to  practice  in  New  York,  and 
was  a  schoolmate  and  friend  of  John  Dean 
Caton,  on  whose  invitation  young  Judd  came 
to  Chicago  in  1836,  and  the  two  young  lawyers 
began  a  partnership  which  continued  until 
Mr.  Caton  removed  from  Chicago,  in  1838. 
Later  Mr.  Judd  was  associated  in  practice 
with  J.  Young  Scammon  until  1847,  then  with 
John  M.  Wilson  until  Judge  Wilson's  election 
to  the  bench,  in  1853.  While  much  of  his 
later  career  was   identified  with   politics   and 


fw 


ILLINOIS 


21 


with  public  affairs,  he  always  had  a  distinc- 
tive place  in  his  profession.  He  was  particu- 
larly eminent  as  a  railroad  lawyer  and  had 
extensive  practice  in  that  department  of  the 
law. 

He  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  old 
literary  association  which  founded  the  present 
Chicago  library,  and  was  a  leader  in  many 
of  the  civic  movements  of  Chicago.  In  his 
early  years  he  was  a  Democrat,  and  in  1844 
was  elected  to  the  State  Senate  and  served 
continuously  in  that  body  until  1860.  He 
separated  from  his  party  in  1854  in  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  question,  and  was  one  of 
the  men  who  helped  to  elect  Lyman  Trumbull 
to  the  United  States  Senate  in  1855.  He  be- 
came identified  with  the  Republican  party,  and 
was  a  steadfast  and  loyal  adherent  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  and  nominated  that  Illinois  lawyer 
for  the  presidency  in  the  wigwam  convention 
of  1860.  He  accompanied  Mr.  Lincoln  on  his 
journey  to  Washington  in  February,  1861,  and 
a  few  weeks  later  his  nomination  was  con- 
firmed by  the  Senate  as  minister  to  Berlin,  a 
post  he  held  for  four  years,  being  recalled  by 
President  Johnson.  After  his  return  to  Chi- 
cago, Mr.  Judd  was  elected  to  Congress,  and 
was  in  that  body  until  he  declined  a  reelection, 
in  1871.  In  1872  President  Grant  appointed 
him  collector  of  the  port  of  Chicago,  an  office 
he  held  until  his  death. 

John  A.  McClernand  was  an  editor  in 
Shawneetown  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Black 
Hawk  war.  He  was  assistant  quartermaster- 
general  in  Posey's  brigade,  was  acquainted 
with  Lieutenant  Jefferson  Davis,  and  remem- 
bered with  great  pleasure  his  days  about 
Dixon's  Ferry.  He  served  in  the  Legislature 
and  in  Congress  and  was  a  presidential 
elector.  He  was  made  a  brigadier-general  in 
the  Civil  war,  and  soon  rose  to  major-general 
of  volunteers.  He  held  high  civil  positions 
till  late  in  life. 

William  M.  Springer  was  born  in  Sullivan 
County,  Indiana,  May  30,  1836.  When  twelve 
years  old  he  moved  with  his  parents  to  Jack- 
sonville, Illinois.  He  entered  Illinois  College, 
but,  owing  to  some  difficulty,  was  dismissed 
from  the  institution,  and  went  thence  to  the 
State  University  of  Indiana.  In  1858  Mr. 
Springer  returned  to  Illinois,  and  after  study- 
ing law  in  Lincoln,  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1860.  The  same  year  he  was  a  candidate 
on  the  democratic  ticket  for  representative  in 
the  state  legislature,  for  the  district  composed 
of  Logan  and  Mason  counties,  but  was  de- 
feated by  Colonel  Robert  B.  Latham.  In  1861 
he  settled  in  Springfield,  and  soon  formed  a 
law  partnership  with  Hon.  N.  M.  Broadwell 
and  General  John  A.  McClernand,  the  latter 
of  whom  retiring  some  years  afterward,  the 
firm  continued  as  Broadwell  &  Springer.  In 
1870   Mr.    Springer  was   elected  to   represent 


Sangamon  County  in  the  legislature.  Sev- 
eral sessions  were  held  and  a  complete  revi- 
sion of  the  statutes  of  Illinois  was  made  while 
he  served  in  that  body. 

For  twenty  consecutive  years,  he  repre- 
sented the  Springfield  district  in  Congress,  be- 
ing first  elected  in  1874  and  serving  until 
March,  1895.  He  became  one  of  the  recog- 
nized leaders  of  his  party  and  was  especially 
influential  while  the  democrats  had  control  of 
the  House.  In  1895  President  Cleveland  ap- 
pointed him  United  States  district  judge  for 
Indian  Territory.     He  died  December  4,  1903. 

Col.  George  D.  Gaw,  president  of  the  Gaw- 
O'Hara  Envelope  Company,  is  one  of  the 
most  interesting  figures  in  Chicago's  com- 
mercial affairs.  It  was  his  unique  and  original 
personality  and  methods  of  doing  business  that 
brought  him  a  position  which  has  made  his 
name  and  title  familiar  all  over  the  Middle 
West.  In  July,  1931,  he  took  the  office  of 
Chicago's  commissioner  of  hospitality,  a  title 
more  appropriately  called  by  the  press  and 
public  as  Chicago's  "official  greeter,"  a  payless 
post  created  for  him  by  Mayor  Cermak.  As 
the  hospitable  representative  of  the  city  he 
meets  notable  guests  on  their  arrival,  not  only 
public  dignitaries,  domestic  and  foreign,  but 
convention  delegates  and  others  who  represent 
formally  and  informally  outside  communities 
and  organizations. 

Colonel  Gaw  is  a  Kentuckian  by  birth.  He 
was  born  at  Owensboro,  January  15,  1889, 
son  of  Mattison  and  Louise  M.  Gaw.  His 
father  died  when  George  was  four  months  old. 
Mrs.  Louise  M.  Gaw  still  resides  at  Owensboro, 
and  when  she  visited  Chicago  in  the  summer 
of  1931  Colonel  Gaw  met  her  in  his  combined 
capacity  as  official  greeter  and  loyal  son.  Col- 
onel Gaw  credits  no  small  measure  of  his 
individual  success  to  his  earnest  and  self- 
sacrificing  mother,  who  after  her  husband's 
death  clerked  for  several  years  in'  a  store 
in  order  to  rear  and  educate  her  children. 
Colonel  Gaw  at  Owensboro  attended  parochial 
schools  and  was  also  a  student  in  St.  Mary's 
College  of  that  state,  a  school  that  afterwards 
conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts. 

His  first  ambition  was  for  the  stage.  He 
had  some  real  talent  in  that  direction.  When 
he  was  seventeen  years  of  age,  having  com- 
posed a  vaudeville  sketch,  he  started  for  Nash- 
ville, having  a  few  dollars  in  his  pocket.  In 
Nashville  he  hoped  to  have  the  opportunity 
of  presenting  his  sketch  on  the  stage.  At  that 
time  a  road  company  was  performing  George 
M.  Cohen's  "Little  Johnny  Jones,"  and  Mr. 
Gaw  was  given  the  title  role  with  the  company. 
He  accompanied  it  on  the  road  from  coast 
to  coast.  While  with  the  company  at  Kansas 
City  he  started  to  return  to  Chicago  and  take 
up  a  business  career  instead  of  the  uncertain 
life  of  an  actor. 


22 


ILLINOIS 


It  was  in  1913  that  he  located  in  Chicago, 
which  became  his  permanent  stronghold  and 
center  of  operations.  His  first  job  was  as 
bookkeeper  in  an  envelope  manufacturing  com- 
pany. Later  he  was  given  the  opportunity 
to  make  some  sales  calls,  and  then  decided 
to  become  a  salesman.  In  the  meantime  he 
had  met  and  had  known  Thomas  O'Hara.  They 
finally  decided  to  combine  their  talents  and 
other  assets  and  set  up  in  the  envelope  business 
for  themselves.  Colonel  Gaw  once  remarked 
that  they  started  business  "with  a  capital 
of  five  hundred  dollars  and  a  million  dollars 
worth  of  ignorance."  Both  of  them  were  the 
company's  salesmen,  and  in  their  modest  plant 
the  envelopes  were  made  as  rapidly  as  they 
could  get  the  orders.  The  goods  were  delivered 
at  first  from  a  push  cart.  Super-salesmanship 
as  well  as  original  methods  of  manufacturing 
were  responsible  for  the  early  success  of  the 
Gaw-O'Hara  Envelope  Company.  Colonel  Gaw 
in  reminiscing  concerning  his  early  office  as 
a  salesman  remarked  that  he  "turned  every 
door  knob  that  might  lead  to  a  sale,"  and 
while  building  up  the  business  he  demonstrated 
the  qualities  that  have  caused  him,  to  be 
spoken  of  as  one  of  the  best  salesmen  in 
America. 

The  Gaw-O'Hara  Envelope  Company  has 
grown  into  the  largest  direct-to-consumer  man- 
ufacturing concern  of  its  kind  in  the  country. 
The  business  today  occupies  a  modern  indus- 
trial plant  at  the  corner  of  Sacramento  and 
Franklin  boulevards.  This  building,  with  its 
equipment,  represents  an  investment  of  over 
two  million  dollars.  Not  only  the  manufac- 
turing of  envelopes,  but  all  of  the  art  printing 
and  art  work  for  their  product  are  done  at 
the  plant.  The  plant  is  arranged  especially 
for  the  comfort  and  health  of  the  employees, 
and  welfare  work  has  been  an  important  fea- 
ture  of   the   concern's   development. 

In  one  respect  Colonel  Gaw  has  set  a  new 
precedent  in  what  might  be  called  constructive 
welfare  work,  a  unique  plan  which  he  insti- 
tuted as  a  permanent  feature  of  employee 
relationship  and  which  in  its  practical  opera- 
tion has  attracted  attention  all  over  the  coun- 
try, winning  the  especial  praise  of  the  National 
Association  of  Real  Estate  Boards.  A  number 
of  years  ago  Colonel  Gaw,  realizing  the  sta- 
bilizing benefits  of  home  ownership  among  his 
employees,  proposed  a  plan  in  which  he  offered 
a  bonus  of  five  hundred  dollars  to  every 
individual  in  his  factory  who  had  saved  a 
similar  amount,  for  the  purchase  of  a  house 
and  lot.  The  feature  of  the  plan,  which  would 
appear  to  the  conservative  business  owner 
as  progressive  almost  to  the  point  of  being 
radical,  may  best  be  described  in  Colonel  Gaw's 
own  words:  "I  have  always  figured  that  any 
employe  who  owns  his  own  home  is  worth 
five  hundred  dollars  more  than  one  who  does 
not.  Home  owners  are  more  satisfied  with 
life  in  general  than  renters.     They  pay  more 


attention  to  the  education  of  their  children, 
which  tendency  I  consider  very  important  to 
the  future  of  our  nation.  I  thought  they 
might  be  better  workers.  I  found  they  were. 
There  are  no  strings  to  the  bonus.  A  man 
who  draws  it  can  quit  next  day  if  he  wants 
to.  Only — they  don't."  The  plan  has  now 
been  in  operation  for  over  ten  years  and 
during  that  time  many  of  the  employees  have 
availed  themselves  of  its  unique  provisions 
so  as  to  acquire  homes  of  their  own.  The 
plan,  as  expected,  has  worked  in  two  ways, 
contributing  something  to  the  great  American 
ideal  of  home  ownership  and  all  the  satis- 
factions and  values  which  that  entails,  and 
also  in  improved  efficiency  and  value  of  the 
worker  in  the  Gaw  plant. 

There  are  branch  offices  of  the  Gaw-O'Hara 
Company  in  all  the  principal  cities  of  the 
United  States.  The  building  up  of  such  a 
business  has  been  accompanied  throughout  by 
salesmanship  of  a  high  order  and  a  large 
amount  of  annual  investment  in  public  prop- 
erty. Colonel  Gaw  has  not  confined  his  orig- 
inal methods  to  the  sale  of  his  products,  but 
was  one  of  the  first  business  men  to  develop 
friendly  relations  with  his  competitors.  As 
a  result  of  his  genial  personality  and  sincere 
desire  for  cooperation  he  has  brought  envelope 
manufacturers  into  an  informal  organization 
where  they  regard  themselves  not  as  competi- 
tors but  as  associates  in  business. 

For  several  years  before  Mayor  Cermak 
created  him  Chicago's  commissioner  of  hos- 
pitality, Colonel  Gaw  had  been  one  of  the 
individual  business  men  putting  forth  effort 
in  a  determined  way  to  promote  desirable 
publicity  concerning  Chicago.  This  has  taken 
much  time  from  his  business,  but  he  has 
considered  the  time  well  spent.  In  his  program 
of  education  he  has  made  many  radio  speeches, 
addresses  to  local  civic  clubs  and  organizations, 
and  has  also  written  articles  for  newspapers 
and  magazines,  and  has  delivered  a  number 
of  addresses  in  other  cities.  The  emphasis 
in  all  these  talks  has  been  on  the  positive 
factors  in  Chicago's  greatness,  factors  not 
as  generally  understood  and  appreciated  as 
some  of  the  minor  undercurrents  that  have 
produced  the  cynical  reputation.  He  has 
assembled  a  great  array  of  facts  and  figures 
to  show  that  there  is  actually  a  smaller  per- 
centage of  crime  in  Chicago  than  in  many 
other  cities,  and  that  Chicago's  advantages 
more  than  offset  the  adverse  elements  in  its 
life.  Colonel  Gaw  in  his  public  speeches 
knows  how  to  dress  up  his  array  of  facts 
with  a  happy  oratorical  style,  and  any  one 
who  hears  him  carries  away  a  deep  impression 
of  the  city's  educational  facilities,  its  churches, 
ethical  movements,  welfare  organizations,  its 
wonderful  systems  of  parks,  boulevards,  its 
famous  lake  front,  which  is  the  asset  that 
causes  many  travelers  to  call  it  the  most 
beautiful  city  in  the  world,  its  great  library 


ILLINOIS 


23 


facilities,  the  extraordinary  percentage  of  peo- 
ple who  patronize  the  libraries  and  read  good 
books,  and  hundreds  of  other  things  of  which 
all    Chicagoans   are   proud. 

Colonel  Gaw  gained  his  military  title  from 
the  State  of  Kentucky,  Governor  Morrow  hav- 
ing made  him  a  colonel  on  the  governor's 
staff.  Colonel  Gaw  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
Association  of  Commerce,  the  Illinois  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  Chicago  Rotary  Club,  Chicago 
Yacht  Club,  Kentucky  Society  of  Chicago, 
Illinois  Athletic  Club,  Evanston  Golf  Club, 
and  the  Lincoln  Park  Track  Club.  He  is  a 
sportsman  and  patron  of  sports,  enjoys  outdoor 
recreations  and  is  one  of  the  city's  noted 
yachtsmen. 

Augustus  C.  French,  governor  of  Illinois 
from  December  9,  1846,  to  January  8,  1849, 
when  he  began  his  second  term  under  re- 
election under  the  Constitution  of  1848,  serv- 
ing until  January,  1853,  began  his  public 
career  with  his  election  to  the  Legislature  in 
1836. 

He  was  born  in  Hill,  New  Hampshire, 
August  2,  1808;  was  educated  in  the  common 
schools  and  pursued  a  partial  course  in  Dart- 
mouth College.  He  studied  law  privately  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1831.  He  died 
September  4,  1864,  at  his  home  in  Lebanon, 
Illinois. 

During  his  term  as  representative  in  1836, 
he  was  elected  prosecuting  attorney  for  the 
Fourth  Judicial  Court,  and  in  1839  was 
appointed  receiver  of  the  United  States  Land 
Office  at  Palestine.  He  had  so  succeeded  in 
establishing  himself  with  the  people  that,  in 
1846,  he  was  considered  as  a  candidate  for 
representative  in  Congress  to  succeed  0.  B. 
Ficklin,  who  had  represented  the  district  for 
many  years.  Ficklin,  as  a  method  of  dispos- 
ing of  French,  suggested  that  he  be  made  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  governor,  having 
little  idea  that  he  could  either  be  nominated 
or  elected,  but  believing  that  this  would  take 
the  attention  of  French  and  his  friends  from 
the  office  of  congressman.  The  counties  in 
French's  circuit  were  unanimous  in  their  sup- 
port of  his  candidacy  for  governor,  but  the 
two  leading  candidates  were  Trumbull  and 
Calhoun,  neither  of  whom  had  a  majority. 
After  many  ballotings,  French  was  fully  nomi- 
nated and  later  elected,  and  served  until  the 
adoption  of  the  new  constitution  in  1848,  when 
he  was  reelected  for  a  full  term  of  four  years. 

As  governor  he  is  described  as  possessing 
"those  qualities  of  prudence,  economy,  good 
judgment  and  integrity,  which  enabled  him  to 
fill  the  executive  office  with  credit  to  himself." 
This  description,  however,  does  not  give 
French  full  credit,  for  he  was  largely  instru- 
mental in  securing  the  legislation  necessary  to 
establish  the  credit  of  the  state,  and  when  he 
retired  from  the  office  in  1852,  conditions  were 
vastly  improved  because  of  his  administration. 


After  the  expiration  of  his  term  as  governor 
he  served  as  professor  of  law  in  the  law 
school  of  McKendree  College  at  Lebanon.  His 
only  appearance  in  public  life  from  that  time 
was  as  a  member  of  the  constitutional  con- 
vention in  1862. 

Melville  W.  Fuller  was  born  February  11, 
1833,  at  Augusta,  Maine;  graduated  at  Bow- 
doin  College  in  1853;  read  law  for  a  time  in 
his  uncle's  office  at  Bangor;  entered  the  Har- 
vard Law  School;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of 
Maine  in  1855,  and  entered  upon  the  practice 
of  law  in  1856.  In  the  same  year  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  council  in  Augusta, 
chosen  president  of  that  body  and  elected  cor- 
poration attorney  for  the  city.  He  removed 
to  Chicago  in  the  same  year,  1856,  where  he 
continued  to  reside  until  the  time  of  his  ap- 
pointment as  chief  justice,  in  1888.  He  died 
July  4,  1910,  at  Sorrento,  Maine.  Before  leav- 
ing Chicago  for  Washington  to  accept  his 
appointment  to  the  position  of  chief  justice 
of  the  United  States  Court,  Mr.  Fuller  had 
been  actively  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law 
in  Chicago  since  1856,  and  during  much  of 
the  time  in  litigation  of  wide  interest.  Shortly 
after  his  arrival  in  Chicago  he  entered  the 
office  of  S.  K.  Dow  at  a  salary  of  fifty  dollars 
a  month,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  entered 
into  a  partnership  with  Dow,  which  terminated 
in  1860. 

His  interest  in  public  affairs  is  evidenced  by 
his  election,  in  1861,  as  a  delegate  to  the  con- 
stitutional convention;  in  1863,  to  the  State 
Legislature;  in  1864,  '72,  '76  and  '80,  as  a 
delegate  to  the  Democratic  national  conven- 
tions. In  1882  he  was  appointed  attorney  for 
the  South  Park  Commissioners,  and  at  the 
time  of  his  appointment  to  the  chief  justice- 
ship, in  1888,  he  had  participated  in  the  trial 
of  over  2,500  cases.  He  was  appointed  chief 
justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court 
by  President  Cleveland  in  1888,  and  exercised 
with  wisdom  and  ability  the  functions  of  that 
office  up  to  the  time  of  his  death. 

William  H.  Herndon  was  born  in  Greens- 
burg,  Kentucky,  December  25,  1818,  and  came 
to  Illinois  in  1820,  and  to  Sangamon  County 
in  1821,  in  company  with  his  parents.  As  op- 
portunity offered,  he  attended  the  schools  of 
Springfield  until  1836,  when  he  entered  Illi- 
nois College,  at  Jacksonville,  but  only  at- 
tended one  year,  being  removed  by  his  father 
in  consequence  of  the  abolition  excitement  then 
pending.  The  elder  Herndon  was  inclined  to 
be  pro-slavery  in  his  views,  and  did  not  care 
to  have  his  son  have  abolition  sentiments  in- 
stilled in  his  mind  by  the  professors  in  the 
Jacksonville  institution.  After  his  removal 
from  the  college,  he  clerked  in  a  store  for 
several  years,  and  in  1842  entered  the  law 
office  of  Lincoln  &  Logan,  where  he  read  two 
years  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in   1844. 


24 


ILLINOIS 


The  partnership  of  Lincoln  &  Logan  now  be- 
ing dissolved,  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Herndon 
became  partners,  a  relation  which  was  never 
formally  dissolved,  and  which  existed  until 
the  death  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  though  other  tem- 
porary arrangements  were  effected  by  Mr. 
Herndon  after  Mr.  Lincoln  entered  upon  the 
duties  of  the  presidency.  His  permanent  fame 
is  due  to  repeated  references  to  his  name  and 
acts  in  every  Life  of  Lincoln. 

In  the  days  of  the  old  whig  party,  Mr.  Hern- 
don was  an  advocate  of  its  principles,  and 
the  "hard-cider  campaign"  of  1840  was  the 
first  in  which  he  participated.  He  was  always 
an  opponent  of  slavery,  and  on  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  republican  party  he  became  one 
of  its  strongest  advocates.  Mr.  Herndon  was 
never  an  office-holder,  and  the  public  posi- 
tions that  he  held  came  to  him  unsought.  He 
held  the  offices  of  city  attorney,  mayor  of 
Springfield,  bank  commissioner  for  the  state, 
under  Governors  Bissell,  Yates  and  Oglesby, 
besides  other  minor  offices. 

John  Hardin,  a  lawyer  of  Jacksonville, 
was  inspector-general  on  the  staff  of  Gen. 
Joseph  Duncan,  during  the  Black  Hawk  war. 
Later  he  was  advanced  to  colonel  and  in- 
spector-general. He  was  a  member  of  the 
Legislature  and  a  member  of  Congress.  He 
served  as  Colonel  in  the  Mexican  war  and  was 
killed  at  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista,  February 
27,  1847. 

John  R.  Eden  was  born  in  Bath  County, 
Kentucky,  February  1,  1826,  and  died  at 
Sullivan,  Illinois,  June  9,  1909,  after  having 
spent  fifty-seven  years  as  a  lawyer.  John  R. 
Eden,  whose  father  died  in  1835,  grew  up  in 
Rush  County,  Indiana,  with  very  limited 
privileges.  He  came  to  Illinois  on  horseback 
in  1852  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  after 
examination,  at  Shelbyville,  by  a  committee 
consisting  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Usher  F. 
Linder  and  Samuel  W.  Moulton.  His  home 
was  at  Sullivan  from  August,  1853,  until  his 
death.  He  practiced  over  the  circuit  with 
other  pioneer  attorneys,  and  rose  to  front  rank 
among  the  lawyers  of  his  time.  He  was 
elected  state's  attorney  in  1856,  serving  four 
years,  and  in  1862  was  elected  to  the  Thirty- 
eighth  Congress,  beginning  his  service  at  the 
height  of  the  Civil  war.  In  1872  he  was 
elected  to  the  Forty-third  Congress,  and 
served  three  consecutive  terms.  In  1884  he 
was  elected  for  another  term  by  the  Seven- 
teenth District.  In  1868  he  was  Democratic 
nominee  for  governor.  A  brief  and  worthy 
tribute  paid  to  him  after  his  death  read  as 
follows:  "He  was  a  member  of  the  bar  and 
known  far  beyond  its  boundaries  as  an  honor- 
able politician,  a  prudent  statesman  and  an 
able  lawyer.  It  will  be  long  before  his  life  is 
forgotten  and  it  has  left  its  imprint  on  other 
lives,  making  them  nobler  and  better  for  their 
association  with  him." 


Edward  P.  Ripley,  for  many  years  presi- 
dent of  the  Atchison,  Topeka  &  Santa  Fe  Rail- 
way Company,  was  born  at  Boston,  Massa- 
chusetts, October  30,  1845,  and  died  February 
4,  1920.  He  graduated  from  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  Chi- 
cago, 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  gen- 
eral freight  agent  with  headquarters  in  Chi- 
cago. In  1887  the  office  of  traffic  manager 
was  created  by  the  management  of  the  Chi- 
cago, Burlington  &  Quincy  Railroad  Com- 
pany, and  Mr.  Ripley  chosen  to  fill  the  posi- 
tion. 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  to  be- 
come president  of  the  Santa  Fe  system,  and 
continued  in  that  position  until  his  death.  One 
service  for  which  Chicago  especially  values  his 
memory  was  in  securing  the  adoption  of  that 
city  as  the  site  for  the  World's  Columbian 
Exposition,  and  he  was  one  of  the  leading 
members  of  the  committee  on  ways  and  means 
and  transportation. 

Eugene  Field  was  born  in  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri, September  3,  1850,  son  of  Roswell  Mar- 
tin and  Frances  (Reed)  Field.  His  mother 
died  in  1856  and  he  was  brought  up  by  his 
cousin,  Miss  Mary  Field  French,  of  Amherst, 
Massachusetts. 

In  1865  he  entered  the  private  school  of  the 
Rev.  James  Tufts  at  Monson,  Massachusetts, 
and  matriculated  at  Williams  College  in  1868, 
but  left  on  the  death  of  his  father  in  1869 
to  accompany  his  guardian,  Professor  John 
William  Burgess,  to  Galesburg,  Illinois,  where 
he  attended  Knox  College  for  two  years.  He 
afterward  studied  for  one  year  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Missouri.  In  1872  he  visited  southern 
Europe,  and  in  May,  1873,  he  became  a  re- 
porter on  the  St.  Louis  Evening  Journal. 
He  was  city  editor  of  the  St.  Joseph  (Missouri) 
Gazette,  1875-76;  editorial  writer  on  the  St. 
Louis  Morning  Journal  and  St.  Louis  Times 
Journal,  1876-80;  managing  editor  of  the 
Kansas  City  Times  1880-81;  managing  editor 
of  the  Denver  Tribune,  1881-83;  and  special 
writer  on  the  Chicago  Record  from  1883  un- 
til his  death. 

He  wrote  and  published  his  first  bit  of  verse 
in  1879,  entitled  "Christian  Treasures."  Ten 
years  later  he  suddenly  began  to  write  verse 
frequently,    meanwhile   having   written    many 


ILLINOIS 


25 


short  stories  and  tales.  In  1889  ill  health 
compelled  him  to  visit  Europe,  and  he  spent 
fourteen  months  in  England,  Germany,  Hol- 
land and  Belgium.  He  died  at  Buena  Park, 
Chicago,  Illinois,  November  4,  1895. 

Burton  C.  Cook  was  born  in  Monroe 
County,  New  York,  May  11,  1819,  and  died 
at  Evanston,  Illinois,  August  18,  1894.  He 
was  educated  in  the  East,  came  to  Illinois  in 

1835,  practicing  law  at  Hennepin  and  later 
at  Ottawa,  and  in  1846  was  chosen  by  the 
Legislature  state's  attorney  for  the  Ninth 
Judicial  District.  He  was  elected  by  the  peo- 
ple under  the  Constitution  of  1848.  He  was 
state  senator  from  1852  to  1860,  and  in  1861 
was  one  of  the  peace  commissioners  from 
Illinois  in  the  conference  at  Washington.  He 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Republican 
party  in  Illinois,  being  a  member  of  the  State 
Central  Committee  appointed  in  1856,  and 
chairman  of  the  State  Central  Committee  in 
1862.  In  1864  he  entered  Congress,  serving 
four  consecutive  terms.  From  1871  to  1886 
he  was  solicitor  for  the  Chicago  Northwestern 
Railway.  He  presented  the  name  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  for  re-nomination  at  the  National 
•Convention  of  1864. 

John  L.  Beveridge  was  born  in  Washing- 
ton County,  New  York,  July  6,  1824,  and  died 
May  3,  1910.  His  father's  family  moved 
to  DeKalb  County,  Illinois,  in  1842.  He  began 
the  practice  of  law  at  Sycamore  in  1851,  and 
in  1854  in  Chicago.  He  was  major  of  the 
Eighth  Illinois  Cavalry  in  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  and  in  the  winter  of  1863-64  re- 
cruited and  organized  the  Seventeenth  Illinois 
Cavalry  and  was  commissioned  colonel  and 
served  in  the  department  of  Missouri.  He 
was  mustered  out  with  the  brevet  rank  of 
brigadier-general.  He  was  elected  sheriff  of 
Cook  County  in  1866,  state  senator  in  1870, 
succeeded  General  John  A.  Logan  as  con- 
gressman in  1871,  and  in  1872  was  elected 
lieutenant-governor,  and  when  Governor 
Oglesby  entered  the  United  States  senate  in 
January,  1873,  became  governor  and  served 
all  but  ten  days  of  the  regular  four  year  term. 

Usher  F.  Linder,  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing characters  appearing  in  public  affairs  of 
the  state,  took  up  his  residence  in  Illinois  in 
1835  at  Greenup,  in  Coles  County.  He 
traveled  the  circuit  and  served  in  the  Legis- 
lature with  Abraham  Lincoln,  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  Archy  Williams,  Ninian  Edwards, 
John  J.  Hardin  and  Sidney  Breese,  and  served 
one    term    as    attorney-general,    beginning    in 

1836.  During  this  period  occurred  the  Love- 
joy  riots  in  Alton,  when  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy 
was  killed.  Linder  was  in  sympathy  with  the 
pro-slavery  element,  and  his  actions  prior  and 
subsequent  to  the  murder  of  Lovejoy  caused 
him  to  be  subjected  to  severe  criticism  and 
censure. 


Linder  was  probably  one  of  the  best  trained 
lawyers  of  his  day,  and  while  his  fame  is 
largely  due  to  the  fact  that  he  tried  success- 
fully many  cases  in  all  of  the  southern  coun- 
ties of  the  state,  still  it  is  also  doubtless  true 
that  it  is  due  in  part  to  his  reputation  as  a 
wit,  orator  and  story  teller.  His  volume  of 
"Reminiscences  of  the  Early  Bench  and  Bar 
of  Illinois"  relates  entirely  to  men  with  whom 
he  was  acquainted  and  who  were  prominent 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  state  at  a  critical 
period  in  the  history  of  the  state  and  nation, 
and  forms  a  valuable  contribution  to  Illinois 
history. 

Mr.  Linder  was  born  March  20,  1809,  at 
Elizabethtown,  Kentucky,  near  the  birthplace 
of  Lincoln.     He  died  in  Chicago,  June  5,  1876. 

John  P.  Altgeld  was  the  first  foreign  born 
citizen  to  hold  the  office  of  governor  of  Illi- 
nois. He  was  born  in  Prussia  in  1848,  was 
brought  to  America  when  a  boy,  and  at  the 
age  of  sixteen  enlisted  and  served  until  the 
close  of  the  Civil  war  with  an  Ohio  regi- 
ment. He  studied  law  at  St.  Louis  and  Savan- 
nah, Missouri,  and  in  1878  located  at  Chicago. 
In  1886  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  Superior 
Court  of  Cook  County,  resigning  in  August, 
1891.  In  1892  he  was  nominated  for  governor, 
and  was  the  first  democrat  elected  to  that 
office  since  1852.  His  administration  was  a 
stormy  one,  in  part  due  to  the  fact  that  he 
was  governor  during  a  time  characterized  by 
great  financial  depression  and  wide-spread 
labor  troubles.  The  story  of  his  career  is  the 
subject  of  a  book  by  Waldo  Brown.  He  was 
candidate  for  reelection  as  governor,  but  was 
defeated  bv  John  R.  Tanner.  Governor  Alt- 
geld died  March  12,  1902. 

John  Eldridge  Northup.  One  of  the  most 
famous  cases  in  the  history  of  litigation  in 
Cook  County  was  brought  to  a  close  when  in 
January,  1932,  after  two  and  a  half  years  of 
investigation  and  about  two  months  of  actual 
trial  in  the  court  room,  Mr.  John  E.  Northup, 
first  assistant  state's  attorney,  won  the  deci- 
sion under  which  four  former  Sanitary  Dis- 
trict officials  were  given  penitentiary  and  jail 
sentences  and  fines  in  punishment  for  their 
connection  with  the  colossal  expenditure  and 
misappropriation  of  the  District's  funds  dur- 
ing their  administration.  This  trial  brought 
out  a  story  of  extravagance  and  waste  of 
public  money  that  was  truly  startling,  giving 
a  shock  to  the  entire  community,  involving,  as 
it  did,  not  only  the  parties  directly  on  trial, 
but  many  others,  "buccaneers,"  as  Mr. 
Northup  termed  them,  who  were  illegal  re- 
cipients of  huge  salaries  and  fees  for  which 
they  rendered  no  services  whatever.  Mr. 
Northup  performed  this  arduous  work  under 
severe  handicaps,  including  the  lack  of  neces- 
sary funds  for  carrying  on  the  investigation, 
and    he    advanced    his    own    money   freely   to 


26 


ILLINOIS 


bridge  over  this  difficulty.  This  notable  civic 
duty  so  efficiently  carried  out  on  the  part  of 
one  man  can  perhaps  be  better  recorded  by 
quoting  an  editorial  from  the  Chicago  Daily 
News  of  February  6,  1932,  under  the  head  of 
"John  E.  Northup,  Able  Prosecutor." 

"There  are  times  when  events  produce  and 
clearly  indicate  men  whose  services  a  com- 
munity needs  for  bigger  undertakings  and 
higher  responsibilities,"  said  the  News.  "The 
successful  conclusion  of  the  trial  of  former 
trustees  and  officials  of  the  Sanitary  District 
is  an  event  which  points  unerringly  at  John  E. 
Northup,  assistant  State's  attorney,  singularly 
courageous  and  able  prosecutor.  That  indica- 
tion of  a  man  qualified  by  character,  expe- 
rience and  capacity  to  defend  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  the  people  against  crime  and  cor- 
ruption, despite  political  obstruction  and  dis- 
suasion, comes  at  a  time  when  Republican 
leaders  are  seeking  a  candidate  for  the  office 
of  state's  attorney.  Mr.  Northup's  masterly 
handling  of  the  Sanitary  District  case,  his 
persistence  in  spite  of  all  subtle  efforts  to 
discourage  him,  and  his  defiance  of  politics 
and  politicians  in  the  interest  of  public  justice 
make  him  a  logical  candidate  for  that  high 
office.  To  him,  more  than  to  any  one  else, 
belongs  the  credit  for  the  successful  issue  of 
a  case  that  has  occupied  the  public  mind  for 
more  than  two  years.  Unless  the  Republican 
leaders  in  Cook  County  are  blind  to  all  that 
events  have  made  obvious  to  the  voters  they 
will  quickly  recognize  that  Mr.  Northup  has 
displayed  in  high  degree  the  qualities  of  a 
winner.  Not  to  do  so  would  be  to  defy  that 
law  of  selection  which  operates  most  surely 
to  demonstrate  fitness — the  hard  test  of  cir- 
cumstances." 

John  Eldridge  Northup  was  born  in  Mar- 
shall County,  Iowa,  August  28,  1868,  son  of 
James  Eldridge  and  Ippoletta  (Eastman) 
Northup.  He  graduated  from  Drake  Univer- 
sity at  Des  Moines  with  the  degree  A.  B.  in 
1891,  and  studied  English  and  history  on  a 
fellowship  at  Vanderbilt  University  at  Nash- 
ville, Tennessee,  in  1891-92.  From  1892  to 
1894  and  during  1895-96  he  was  a  graduate 
student  at  the  University  of  Chicago  in  the 
subjects  of  political  economy,  sociology  and 
history.  From  1896  to  1899,  inclusive,  Mr. 
Northup  was  principal  of  schools  at  Elmhurst 
in  DuPage  County,  during  which  time  he 
studied  law,  and  graduated  in  1900  from  the 
Illinois  College  of  Law  (now  DePaul  Univer- 
sity). He  was  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar 
in  1899  and  has  had  a  career  of  over  thirty 
years  in  law  practice  and  public  service.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  law  firm  of  Pringle. 
Northup  &  Terwilliger  from  1902  to  1904,  of 
the  firm  of  Northup,  Arnold  &  Fairbank  from 
1912  to  1916;  the  firm  of  Northup,  Burnham 
&  Fairbank  in  1916-17;  of  Northup,  Fair- 
bank  and  Klein  from  1917  to  1922;  and  was 
employed    as    a   trial    lawyer   by   the  firm   of 


Mayer,    Meyer,   Austrian   &   Piatt  from   1922 
to  1926. 

Mr.  Northup  from  1906  to  1912  was  assist- 
ant state's  attorney  of  Cook  County,  and  in 
1913-14  was  special  state's  attorney  of  the 
county.  In  1921  he  was  appointed  special 
assistant  to  the  attorney-general  of  the  United 
States,  and  served  in  that  capacity  until  1922. 
During  this  time  he  investigated  and  prose- 
cuted some  big  mail  robbery  cases,  ending 
with  the  conviction  of  Timothy  Murphy  and 
others.  He  was  first  assistant  United  States 
district  attorney  from  1926  to  1929,  and  in 
the  latter  year  was  appointed  as  first  assistant 
state's  attorney  of  Cook  County,  from  which 
he  resigned  in  May,  1932,  to  resume  private 
practice.  He  is  now  a  member  of  the  firm 
of  Northup,  Beardsley  &  Seyfaith,  in  the 
Foreman  Bank  Building.  Many  significant 
endorsements  have  been  given  of  his  ability 
and  service  as  a  public  official,  but  none  that 
has  carried  so  much  of  the  concurrence  of 
approbation  on  the  part  of  the  public  who 
think  in  terms  of  civic  righteousness  as  in 
the  case  which  was  concluded  in  1932.  As 
the  Chicago  Tribune  said  in  one  of  its  power- 
ful editorials:  "The  public  will  be  especially 
grateful  to  First  Assistant  State's  Attorney 
John  E.  Northup,  who,  with  great  professional 
ability  and,  better  still,  with  splendid  courage 
and  resolution  has  fought  the  cause  of  the 
people  through  to  this  victory  in  the  teeth 
of  bitter  and  powerful  resistance.  He  will  go 
down  in  history  as  a  fighting  champion  of 
official  responsibility  and  integrity. 
We  have  only  to  recall  other  instances  in 
which  the  powers  of  politics  that  prey  upon 
the  community  have  been  able  through  the 
exercise  of  subterranean  influence  to  dis- 
appoint justice  and  insure  the  profits  of  official 
robbery  to  realize  the  importance  and  benefit 
of  Mr.  Northup's  labors  and  success." 

Mr.  Northup  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago, 
Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  Associations, 
the  Art  Institute  of  Chicago,  the  Royal  League 
and  the  Glen  Oak  Country  Club.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  a  Re- 
publican in  politics,  and  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  Order.  His  recreations  are  golf  and 
motoring.  He  married,  December  26,  1894, 
Mary  Elizabeth  Chisholm,  of  Albia,  Iowa. 
They    have   a    daughter,    Dorothy. 

Marvin  Hughitt,  railroad  man,  for  many 
years  president  of  the  Chicago,  Northwestern 
Railway  Company,  was  born  on  a  farm  in 
New  York  State,  August  9,  1837.  He  left 
the  farm  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  learned  teleg- 
raphy at  Auburn,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen 
was  an  expert  operator,  being  one  of  the  first 
in  the  United  States  to  receive  messages  by 
sound.  He  came  to  Chicago  in  1854  and  was 
employed  by  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  Tele- 
graph Company,  and  subsequently  as  tele- 
graph operator  and  trainmaster  for  what   is 


ILLINOIS 


27 


now  the  Chicago  &  Alton.  He  was  train- 
master for  the  Illinois  Central  and  earned 
high  commendation  for  his  work  in  forward- 
ing troops  during  the  Civil  war.  On  March 
1,  1872,  after  having  in  the  meantime  been 
with  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  and 
the  Pullman  Palace  Car  Company,  he  was 
made  general  superintendent  of  the  Chicago 
&  Northwestern  Railway,  four  years  later 
became  general  manager,  serving  as  vice 
president  and  general  manager  from  1880  to 
1887,  and  then  became  president  and  finally 
chairman  of  the  board  of  directors  of  that 
railway  system,  and  was  president  of  a  num- 
ber of  its  affiliated  lines  and  branches.  He 
was  responsible  for  the  institution  of  the 
pension  system  for  employees  which  went  into 
effect  in  January,   1901. 

Orville  H.  Browning  was  a  lawyer  of 
marked  ability,  a  distinguished  citizen  of  Illi- 
nois. He  had  served  in  the  Black  Hawk  war 
and  in  the  Legislature.  He  helped  in  the 
organization  of  the  Republican  party.  Was  a 
personal  friend  and  advisor  of  President 
Lincoln,  and  was  one  of  the  hard  workers  who 
brought  about  the  nomination  of  Lincoln  for 
the  presidency.  Served  as  United  States 
Senator,  succeeding  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and 
in  1866  as  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  and  for 
a  short  time  acted  as  Attorney  General  in  the 
term  of  Andrew  Johnson.  Mr.  Browning  was 
a  delegate  from  Adams  County  to  the  Con- 
stitutional Convention  of  1870  to  which  he 
brought  a  vast  fund  of  experience  and  knowl- 
edge. He  was  one  among  the  influential  mem- 
bers of  the  convention.  He  died  in  Quincy  at 
the  age  of  seventy  years. 

Edward  Dickinson  Baker,  born  in  London, 
England,  February  24,  1811,  came  to  America 
with  his  parents  when  about  three  years  of 
age,  and  he  was  still  young  when  brought  to 
Illinois.  He  studied  law  and  practiced  at  Car- 
rollton,  in  Greene  County,  until  1835,  then 
removing  to  Springfield,  where  he  was  asso- 
ciated with  Josephus  Hewitt  and  later  with 
Stephen  Logan  and  Albert  T.  Bledsoe.  His 
first  appearance  in  public  life  was  in  1837, 
when  he  was  elected  to  the  General  Assembly 
from  Sangamon  County,  and  from  this  time 
until  his  removal  to  California,  he  was  a 
force  in  political  and  legislative  affairs  in  the 
state. 

He  was  elected  to  Congress  in  1844  and  was 
a  member  of  that  body  at  the  time  of  the 
beginning  of  the  war  with  Mexico,  when  he 
returned  to  his  home  in  Springfield,  raised  a 
regiment  and  was  commissioned  colonel.  He 
fought  throughout  the  war  and  at  its  close 
returned  to  Springfield  and  was  shortly  there- 
after, because  of  his  military  record  and  his 
known  ability  as  a  campaigner,  considered  as 
a  Whig  candidate  for  Governor.  Baker,  how- 
ever, believing  that  a  Whig  candidate   could 


not  at  that  time  be  elected  Governor,  did  not 
accept  the  opportunity,  and  shortly  after 
removed  to  Galena,  from  which  district  he 
was  elected  to  Congress  in  1848,  from  a  dis- 
trict in  which  it  was  not  believed  any  Whig 
could  be  elected. 

He  was  an  intimate  associate  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  from  the  campaign  of  1838,  in  which 
Carlin  was  elected  Governor  over  Edwards 
when  Baker,  Hardin,  Lincoln  and  Stuart 
were  the  principal  operators  for  the  Whigs 
against  Douglas,  Lamborn,  Calhoun  and 
Linder,  who  championed  the  Democratic  cause. 

October  7,  1839,  he  was  appointed  president 
pro  tern  of  the  first  Whig  state  convention, 
to  be  held  in  Illinois,  and  with  Abraham 
Lincoln,  J.  F.  Speed,  Richard  Barrett  and 
A.  G.  Henry  was  appointed  to  constitute  the 
State  Central  Committee.  At  this  convention 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  nominated  as  a  presi- 
dential elector. 

John  Dean  Caton,  one  of  the  great  names 
in  Illinois  jurisprudence,  was  born  in  Orange 
County,  New  York,  March  18,  1812,  and  died 
in  1895.  He  had  a  youth  of  hardship  and 
struggle,  laboring  on  a  farm  and  became  a 
harness  maker  and  a  wagoner  and  peddler. 
While  studying  law  he  supported  himself  by 
teaching  and  farming.  Coming  west  in  1833, 
he  was  licensed  to  practice  law  and  in  1842 
was  appointed  one  of  the  first  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  under  the  new  system  by 
which  each  of  the  nine  Supreme  Judges  pre- 
sided over  one  of  the  Illinois  circuits.  He 
was  re-elected  under  the  constitution  of  1848, 
providing  for  three  Supreme  Court  judges 
without  circuit  duties.  He  resigned  from  the 
Supreme  bench  in  1864,  after  having  been 
chief  justice  during  the  last  seven  years.  It 
is  claimed  that  Judge  Caton  brought  the  first 
suit  in  the  Circuit  Court  at  Chicago,  tried  the 
first  jury  cases  in  Cook,  Will  'and  Kane  coun- 
ties, and  had  the  first  law  office  in  •  Chicago, 
sharing  it  with  Giles  Spring.  One  of  the  his- 
toric cases  in  which  he  presided  was  the  trial 
of  People  vs.  Lovejoy  in  Bureau  County,  at 
the  conclusion  of  which  he  instructed  the 
jury  that  "if  a  man  voluntarily  brings  his 
slave  into  a  free  state  the  slave  becomes  free." 

Timothy  B.  Blackstone,  who  was  one  of 
the  ablest  railway  executives  of  the  Middle 
West,  was  born  in  Connecticut  March  28, 
1829,  and  died  May  21,  1900.  On  account  of 
ill  health  he  left  school  to  join  a  railway 
surveying  corps,  was  rapidly  promoted,  and 
in  1851  came  to  Illinois  to  take  charge  of 
construction  of  a  line  between  Bloomington 
and  Dixon,  part  of  the  Illinois  Central.  For 
several  years  he  lived  at  LaSalle  and  was 
chosen  mayor  of  that  town.  He  became  chief 
engineer  for  the  construction  of  a  railroad 
between  Chicago  and  Joliet.  The  road  was 
completed  in  1857   and  was  one   of  the   links 


28 


ILLINOIS 


of  a  system  comprising  several  other  roads 
reaching  from  Chicago  to  Alton.  Mr.  Black- 
stone  was  elected  president  of  the  Joliet  & 
Chicago  Railroad  in  1861  and  conducted  its 
affairs  successfully  while  the  other  portions 
of  the  system  were  in  the  hands  of  receivers. 
In  1864  the  Joliet  &  Chicago  was  leased  to 
the  newly  organized  Chicago  &  Alton  Railway 
Company,  and  soon  afterward  Mr.  Blackstone 
was  elected  president.  He  soon  extended  the 
line  to  St.  Louis,  and  it  was  under  his  able 
direction  that  the  Chicago  &  Alton  was  de- 
veloped into  one  of  the  large  railway  systems 
of  the  Middle  West,  and  for  many  years  under 
his  presidency  enjoyed  an  uninterrupted  pros- 
perity. He  was  president  until  April  1,  1899, 
and  from  1864  to  1868  was  president  of  the 
Union  Stonk  Yards  Company  at  Chicago.  Two 
notable  institutions  of  Chicago  commemorate 
his  name,  one  a  great  hotel,  the  other  the 
Blackstone  Memorial  Library. 

William  H.  Bissell,  governor  of  Illinois 
from  January  12,  1857,  to  March  18,  1860, 
when  he  died,  was  born  near  Painted  Post, 
New  York,  April  25,  1811.  He  studied  medi- 
cine, and  on  coming  to  Monroe  County,  Illi- 
nois, practiced  for  several  years.  He  then 
took  up  the  study  of  law  and  became  inter- 
ested in  politics,  was  elected  as  a  Democrat 
to  the  Legislature  in  1840,  and  was  colonel 
of  a  regiment  in  the  war  with  Mexico.  After 
the  war  he  was  elected  two  terms  to  Congress, 
and  in  1856,  as  candidate  of  the  Republican 
party,  was  elected  governor. 

Bissell's  campaign  for  governor  was  made 
about  the  time  of  the  beginning  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  and  was  extremely  bitter,  and  the 
bitterness  did  not  cease  with  the  election. 
Probably  in  the  history  of  the  state  no  public 
man  up  to  the  time  of  Bissell's  election  at  any 
rate,  had  been  subjected  to  more  gross  abuse, 
or  been  fought  with  more  malice. 

Victor  F.  Lawson,  who  brought  the  Chicago 
Daily  News  to  the  acme  of  its  prestige  and 
service  as  a  great  newspaper,  was  a  native  of 
Chicago,  born  September  9,  1850.  He  died 
August  19,  1925,  after  having  been  publisher 
of  the  Daily  News  for  almost  half  a  century. 
His  father  was  one  of  Chicago's  pioneer  real 
estate  men,  and  Victor  Lawson's  first  work 
after  completing  his  education  in  the  East  was 
to  take  charge  of  his  father's  estate.  The 
Chicago  Daily  News  began  publication  Janu- 
ary 1,  1876.  Its  first  owners  soon  sold  out  to 
Melville  E.  Stone,  who  in  July,  1876,  sought 
an  ally  in  the  financial  responsibility  of  con- 
tinuing the  publication  in  the  person  of  Mr. 
Lawson.  Mr.  Stone  continued  in  charge  of  the 
editorial  department  for  several  years,  and  it 
was  left  to  Mr.  Lawson  to  build  up  the  busi- 
ness side  of  the  newspaper.  In  1881  they 
began  the  publication  of  a  morning  edition, 
first  known  as  the  Morning  News  and  after- 


wards as  The  Record.  After  the  retirement 
of  Mr.  Stone  in  1888,  Mr.  Lawson  became  sole 
proprietor,  and  directed  the  editorial  policy 
as  well  as  the  business  department  of  the 
two  newspapers.  In  1901  he  sold  The  Record, 
and  after  that  devoted  his  attention  to  making 
The  Daily  News  the  outstanding  evening  paper 
of  the  city.  Among  the  many  public  and 
political  causes  which  Mr.  Lawson  advocated 
through  the  Daily  News,  one  was  for  the 
establishment  of  government  savings  banks, 
and  he  became  known  as  the  "Father  of  the 
Postal  Savings  Bank  in  America."  He  was 
also  the  founder  of  the  Daily  News  Fresh  Air 
Fund,  which  in  later  years  maintained  the 
Lincoln  Park  Sanitarium  for  sick  poor  chil- 
dren. 

George  Manierre,  _From  1855  until  his 
death,  in  May,  1863,  the  judge  of  the  seventh 
judicial  circuit,  comprising  Cook  and  Lake 
counties,  was  George  Manierre.  As  a  historic 
figure  in  the  public  life  of  the  city  and  state 
during  the  middle  period  of  the  past  century, 
he  has  been  honored  as  a  statesman,  journal- 
ist, lawyer  and  jurist.  Originally  a  Democrat, 
he  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  resolu- 
tions in  the  famous  Aurora  Convention  of 
September,  1854,  presented  the  party  plat- 
form and  suggested  the  name  "Republican" 
for  the  new  party.  In  Chicago  affairs  he  is  to 
be  remembered  for  the  part  he  took  in  the 
establishment  of  Lincoln  Park,  as  a  member 
of  the  board  of  regents  of  the  old  Chicago 
University  in  1859,  one  of  the  creators  of  the 
Law  Institute  and  Library,  a  founder  of  the 
Chicago  Historical  Society,  and  a  devoted 
friend  of  public  education,  in  token  of  which 
a  school  on  the  north  side  bears  his  name.  At 
one  time  he  was  editor  of  the  Chicago  Demo- 
crat. He  was  born  in  Connecticut,  began 
studying  law  in  New  York  City,  came  to  Chi- 
cago in  1835,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1839, 
and  from  that  time  until  his  death  was  con- 
stantly in  some  official  service.  As  city 
attorney  during  the  early  '40s,  he  prepared  a 
digest  of  the  original  charter  and  municipal 
ordinances  which  was  the  standard  of  author- 
ity until  1853. 

Albert  G.  Spalding  in  his  younger  days 
was  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the  American 
game  of  baseball.  For  more  than  thirty  years 
he  was  head  of  the  house  of  A.  G.  Spalding 
&  Company,  one  of  the  largest  manufacturers 
of  and  dealers  in  sporting  goods  in  the  world. 
Mr.  Spalding  was  a  native  of  Illinois,  born  at 
Byron  September  2,  1850,  and  died  September 
9,  1915.  From  early  boyhood  he  had  been  a 
baseball  enthusiast,  and  attained  local  promi- 
nence as  a  player  at  the  age  of  seventeen. 
Joining  the  Forest  City  Club  of  Rockford  he 
did  much  to  place  that  organization  at  the 
head  of  the  amateur  clubs  of  the  West.  He 
gained  national  fame  as  a  pitcher.     In  1871 


ILLINOIS 


29 


he  joined  the  Boston  Club  of  the  National 
League,  and  for  four  years  was  its  star 
pitcher  as  well  as  captain.  In  1876  he  became 
a  member  of  the  Chicago  "White  Stockings," 
and  remained  with  it  as  manager,  secretary 
and  president  until  1891.  During  this  time  the 
Chicago  Club  won  the  pennant  six  times,  twice 
in  succession. 

In  1876,  soon  after  joining  the  Chicago 
Club,  Mr.  Spalding  associated  himself  with 
his  brother,  J.  Walter  Spalding,  and  his 
brother-in-law,  William  T.  Brown,  in  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  house  for  the  manufacture 
and  sale  of  sporting  goods.  Later  it  was  in- 
corporated with  A.  G.  Spalding  as  president, 
and  still  later  the  manufacturing  branch  was 
added.  It  is  one  of  Chicago  business  houses 
with  a  continuous  record  of  more  than  half  a 
century,  and  branches  of  A.  G.  Spalding  and 
Company  were  during  the  lifetime  of  Mr. 
Spalding  established  in  New  York  and  other 
cities. 

A.  G.  Spalding's  nephew,  Albert  Spalding, 
son  of  J.  Walter  Spalding,  has  attained  world 
fame  as  a  violinist.  He  was  born  in  Chicago 
in  1888,  and  made  his  American  debut  in  1908. 

John  A.  Logan  lived  among  the  Shawnee 
and  Delaware  Indians  in  Missouri  near  Grand 
Tower.  During  the  Black  Hawk  war  he  vol- 
unteered in  the  Ninth  Regiment  in  1831.  In 
1832  volunteered  again  and  was  a  surgeon's 
mate  in  Col.  Jacob  Fry's  regiment  and  later 
was  colonel  of  the  Forty-fourth  Regiment, 
States  Militia.  He  graduated  in  medicine.  At 
the  opening  of  the  Civil  war  he  was  Colonel 
of  the  Thirty-second  Regiment,  Illinois  Volun- 
teers and  was  later  breveted  brigadier  gen- 
eral. He  became  United  States  marshal  for 
the  Southern  District  of  Illinois,   1866-70. 

Samuel  Hubbel  Treat  was  born  in  Otsego 
County,  New  York,  June  21,  1811,  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  that  state,  and  coming 
to  Illinois  in  1834  settled  in  Springfield,  where 
he  entered  upon  the  practice  of  law.  On  May 
27,  1839,  he  was  appointed  circuit  judge  by 
the  governor  to  fill  a  vacancy  and  was  elected 
by  the  Legislature  January  31,  1840.  Febru- 
ary 13,  1841,  he  was  elected  by  the  Legislature 
one  of  the  associate  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  which  office  he  held  until  March  23, 
1855,  when  he  resigned  to  accept  the  position 
of  judge  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United 
States  for  the  Southern  District  of  Illinois, 
which  position  he  held  until  his  death,  March 
27,  1887.  At  his  death  he  had  served  as  a 
judge  in  Illinois  continuously  for  forty-eight 
years,  a  longer  period  than  any  other  judge 
in  the  state  up  to  that  time. 

As  was  the  case  with  most  of  the  early 
judges,  Treat  had  only  a  brief  experience  as 
a  practicing  lawyer  before  his  elevation  to 
the  bench,  and  his  reputation  rests  upon  his 
administration  of  the  judicial  office.  His  opin- 
ions were  usually   short  and  clear.     He  was 


favorably  known  for  promptness  in  his  deci- 
sions and  was  generally  liked  by  the  bar  and 
the  public.  The  one  work  of  public  service 
with  which  he  was  connected  aside  from  his 
judicial  duties  was  as  coeditor  of  the  revision 
of  the  statutes  with  Scates  and  Blackwell  in 
1857. 

The  Most  Rev.  F.  E.  J.  Lloyd,  D.  D.  Many 
unprejudiced  students  of  modern  life,  observ- 
ing the  confusion  and  diffusion  resulting  from 
the  hundred  odd  sects  that  mar  the  body  of 
Christian  unity,  urged  as  the  great  solvent  a 
reconstitution  of  religious  activities  on  the 
basis  of  the  Christian  doctrine  "pure  and  un- 
dented." One  of  the  most  interesting  and 
promising  of  the  definite  movements  toward 
this  great  objective  had  its  origin  in  Chicago 
when  in  1915  was  founded  the  American  Cath- 
olic Church.  It  is,  as  the  name  implies,  a 
religious  organization  primarily  adopted  to 
American  principles,  and  thus  a  national 
church.  In  the  words  of  the  Primate,  "We 
want  a  church  in  this  land  truly  Catholic, 
disciplined,  adventurous — not  Latin,  yet  claim- 
ing its  full  share  of  its  great  Western  herit- 
age; not  Eastern,  yet  holding  fast  to  the  faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints;  not  Puritan,  yet 
humbly  ready  to  learn  anew  the  graces  we 
have  lost  through  our  separations;  but  Cath- 
olic, instinct  with  the  spirit  of  our  Divine 
Lord,  broad  as  the  inhabited  world,  and  deep 
as  the  mysteries  of  God." 

While  the  American  Catholic  Church  is  from 
the  standpoint  of  its  founding  new,  it  has  a 
very  ancient  heritage,  in  fact,  "is  of  an  apos- 
tolic lineage  more  venerable  than  that  of  any 
religious  body  in  the  land."  Again  quoting 
the  words  of  the  Primate,  "Her  Orders  issue 
from  Saint  Peter,  Patriarch  of  Antioch,  and 
the  line  has  been  continued  to  this  day.  But, 
since  a  valid  ministry  is  not,  of  itself,  suffi- 
cient for  Christian  or  Catholic  unity,  the 
American  Catholic  Church  maintains  the 
necessity,  complete  and  absolute,  of  holding 
inviolate  the  faith  once  for  all  delivered  to  the 
saints  (St.  Jude),  and  because  that  faith  is 
enshrined  therein,  she  accepts  the  Nicene 
Creed  without  addition  or  subtraction,  quali- 
fication or  amendment.  She  also  acknowl- 
edges the  dogmatic  decrees  of  the  Seven 
Ecumenical  Councils,  not  merely  in  themselves, 
but  as  the  fundamental  basis  of  unity.  In 
common  with  Catholic  Christendom  she  be- 
lieves in  Seven  Sacraments,  as  being  a  clear 
and  concise  statement  of  the  doctrine  always 
held  therein.  In  agreement  with  St.  Augustine 
she  teaches  and  holds  that  anything  new  in 
Christian  doctrine  is,  therefore,  false.  She 
recognizes  the  five  Patriarchates  of  Christen- 
dom, from  one  of  which,  that  of  Antioch,  she 
herself  has  come,  and  thence  deriving  as  well 
her  mission  as  her  Apostolical  Succession  on 
behalf  of  the  Americas." 

The  metropolitan  Archbishop  and  Primate 
of  the  American  Catholic  Church  is  The  Most 
Rev.  Frederic  Ebenezer  John  Lloyd,  who  has 


30 


ILLINOIS 


had  a  most  interesting  and  distinguished  ca- 
reer  as   a    scholar,   churchman   and   religious 
leader.    He  was  born  at  Milford  Haven,  South 
Wales,  June  5,  1859,  was  educated  in  England, 
attending  the   Dorchester   Theological   College 
of  Oxfordshire,  and  in  1882  was  ordained  to 
the  ministry  of  the  Church  of  England  by  the 
Lord  Bishop  of  Oxford.    He  immediately  came 
to  America,  held  a  number  of  pastoral  posi- 
tions  in  his   church   in   Canada,   and   labored 
in  Labrador  for  some  years.     He  has  been i  a 
resident  of  the  United  States  since  1893.     He 
is  president  of  the  Intercollegiate  University 
of   Chicago   and  London,   and  for  four  years 
was    superintendent    of   the    Grace    Episcopal 
Church   Parish   House.     He   declined   ejection 
as  bishop  coadjutor  of  Oregon  and  in  1906  re- 
signed from  the  Episcopal  ministry.  _  On  June 
18    1915,  he  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  o± 
the  American  Catholic  Church  and  was  conse- 
crated Bishop  of  Illinois,  December  29  of  the 
same  year.     Since  1920  he  has  been  archbishop 
and  primate  of  the  church. 

Those  who  know  Archbishop   Lloyd   appre- 
ciate not  only  his  great  sincerity  of  purpose 
and  ability  as  a  religious  leader,  but  nis  rare 
culture  and  versatility.    Besides  his  degree  as 
a  Doctor  of  Divinity  he  has  degrees  as  a  Doc- 
tor of  Music,  Master  of  Arts,  Doctor  of  Let- 
ters     He  is  author  of:     Years  in  the  Regions 
of   Icebergs,    published    in    1885;    Six   Easter 
Carols,  Anthems  and  Settings  for  the  Mass, 
acted  as  editor  of  Lloyd's  Clerical  Directory 
from  1898  to  1913,  editor  of  Lloyd's  Church 
Musicians'  Directory  in  1910,  and  was  editor 
of  Church  Life,  the  Ohio  diocesan  organ,  from 
1901  to  1903.     In  1902  he  founded  the  Society 
of    Saint    Philip    the    Apostle    for    Mission- 
preachers.    Doctor  Lloyd  married,  February  7, 
1917,  Mrs.  Peabody,  widow  of  Hiram  B.  Pea- 
body,  of  Chicago.    He  has  also  interested  him- 
self in  politics.    As  a  Democrat  he  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  Forty-eighth  General  Assem- 
bly of  Illinois  from  the  Third  Senatorial  Dis- 
trict in  1912.    He  was  a  member  of  the  Curran 
Commission    for    the    investigation    of    home- 
finding  institutions  of  Illinois.    An  interesting 
tribute  to  both  his  character  and  his  activities 
is  found  in  the  words  of  Illinois'  distinguished 
statesman  and  orator,  J.  Hamilton  Lewis,  who 
acclaims  him  "one  of  the  men  who  has  been 
ardent  as  a  citizen,  one  of  the  important  men 
in  our  civic  life,  a  distinguished  member  of 
the  Legislature,  ever  regarded  as  one  of  the 
first  men  of  letters;  and  in  the  long  life  you 
have  lived  here,  esteemed  as  a  gentleman  rep- 
resenting the  highest  ideals  of  honor,  citizen- 
ship and  integrity." 

Walter  B.  Scates  was  a  lawyer  of  consid- 
erable prominence  and  was  a  judge  of  both 
the  Circuit  and  the  Supreme  Court.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention 
from  Jefferson  County.  Judge  Scates  was  a 
major  in  the  Civil  war,  and  held  important 
offices  under  appointment  by  the  President. 


Luther  L.  Mills,  lawyer,  orator,  reformer 
and    Christian    citizen,    was    born    in    North 
Adams,    Massachusetts,    September    3,    1848, 
and  died  in  1909.    He  was  brought  to  Chicago 
when  one  year  old,  was  educated  there  and  at 
the  University  of  Michigan,  and  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1871.     The  splendid  work  done  by 
him  therefore  belongs  to  that  period  of  Chi- 
cago   history    following    the    great    fire.      As 
state's  attorney  of  Cook  County  from  1876  to 
1884,  he  established  his  reputation  as  one  of 
the  foremost  criminal  lawyers  of  the  country. 
He    was    thoroughly    feared   by    the    criminal 
element,    and   accomplished   much   in   correct- 
ing an  outside  impression  that  as  a  city  Chi- 
cago was  unstable  and  unsafe.    He  was  called 
upon  to   assist  in  many   noted  trials   outside 
the  state  and  was  one  of  the  prosecutors  in 
the  Doctor  Cronin  trial,  one  of  the  most  fam- 
ous in  criminal  annals.     Along  with  the  work 
and    profession    of    an    attorney    he    took    an 
active    part    in    Republican    politics    and    be- 
came  one   of   the   noted    orators    of   his    day, 
having  a  national  reputation  in  that  field. 

John  B.  Murphy,  surgeon,  achieved  national 
and  international  distinction  as  an  original 
investigator  and  as  an  eminent  operator.  He 
was  born  at  Appleton,  Wisconsin,  December 
21,  1857,  and  died  August  11,  1916.  He  at- 
tended public  schools  in  his  native  city  and 
began  the  study  of  medicine  there.  In  1879  he 
graduated  from  Rush  Medical  College  of  Chi- 
cago, and  thereafter  Chicago  remained  his 
home,  and  Chicago  claims  him  as  one  of  its 
most  famous  men.  He  held  chairs  in  Rush 
Medical  College,  the  old  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  and  the  Post  Graduate  Medical 
School,  and  was  on  the  staff  of  several  hos- 
pitals. He  was  president  of  the  National 
Association  of  Railway  Surgeons  in  1895,  and 
in  1902  Notre  Dame  University  of  Indiana 
selected  him  as  the  recipient  of  the  Laetare 
medal,  conferred  for  eminent  scholarship  and 
practice  in  surgery.  He  was  a  contributor  to 
the  standard  literature  of  surgery  and  had  a 
world-wide  reputation  in  surgery  of  the  ab- 
dominal tracts.  His  invention  and  wonder- 
fully successful  application  of  the  anastomosis 
button  greatly  reduced  the  fatalities  incident 
to  injuries  to  the  intestines. 

John  G.  Shedd  after  the  death  of  Marshall 
Field  in  1906  became  president  of  Marshall 
Field  &  Company.  He  had  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  Field,  Leiter  &  Company  on  August  7, 
1872,  and  he  was  with  that  institution  and  its 
successors  forty-four  years,  until  his  death  on 
October  22,  1926.  As  president  of  Marshall 
Field  &  Company  he  attained  his  greatest  am- 
bition, which  was  to  be  "simply  a  merchant." 
Marshall  Field  once  said  of  him:  "I  believe 
him  to  be  the  best  merchant  in  the  United 
States." 

John  G.  Shedd  was  born  in  New  Hampshire 
July  20,  1850,  and  like  Mr.  Field  started  in  a 


ILLINOIS 


31 


country  store,  where  he  learned  the  funda- 
mentals of  merchandising.  From  Rutland, 
Vermont,  he  came  to  Chicago  in  1872.  Among 
other  things  in  the  career  of  this  great  Chi- 
cago merchant  which  should  be  remembered  is 
the  fact  that  he  originated  and  insisted  in 
putting  in  force  the  Saturday  half  holiday 
among  the  wholesale  establishments  of  Chi- 
cago. As  chairman  of  the  citizens  committee 
he  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  construction 
of  the  new  County  Building  for  Cook  County 
in  1906. 

A  number  of  years  before  his  death  Mr. 
Shedd  remarked :  "Too  many  men  have  made 
fortunes  in  Chicago  and  while  making  them 
have  left  the  city  to  grow  as  it  would.  If 
some  of  these  had  found  a  little  time  for  au- 
dience 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  more  beautiful  and  more  ripened  environ- 
ment." In  speaking  of  means  by  which  he 
|  might  contribute  in  largest  measure  to  making 
Chicago  a  center  of  culture  as  well  as  busi- 
ness, he  tendered  in  January,  1924,  a  little 
over  two  years  before  his  death,  a  donation  of 
two  million  dollars  to  the  South  Park  System 
with  the  understanding  that  the  money  was 
ito  be  used  in  establishing  an  aquarium  in 
Grant  Park.  The  following  year  the  necessary 
legislation  was  obtained,  and  in  1926  Mr. 
Shedd  added  another  million  dollars  to  the 
donation.  From  this  fund  has  since  been  built 
the  Shedd  Aquarium. 

Benjamin  F.  Taylor  was  born  at  Lowville, 
New  York,  July  18,  1819,  and  died  February 
24,  1887.  He  graduated  from  Madison  Uni- 
versity at  Hamilton,  New  York,  in  1838,  and 
in  1845  came  to  Chicago  and  was  on  the  staff 
of  the  Chicago  Evening  Journal  until  1865, 
during  the  greater  part  of  that  time  as  lit- 
erary editor.  He  was  also  a  war  correspond- 
ent and  wrote  probably  the  most  famous  de- 
scriptions of  "The  Battle  Among  the  Clouds" 
and  the  "Storming  of  Mission  Ridge."  After 
leaving  daily  journalism  at  Chicago  he  spent 
much  of  his  time  in  travel,  and  his  death 
occurred  at  Cleveland,  Ohio.  He  was  a  con- 
tributor of  prose  and  poetry  to  the  Atlantic, 
Harpers,  and  Scribners,  and  attained  high 
jrank  as  a  poet.  His  most  popular  poems 
iwere:  "The  Isle  of  Long  Ago,"  "Rhymes  of 
the  River,"  and  "The  Old  Village  Choir." 

John  Crerar,  Chicago  merchant  and  philan- 
thropist, was  born  in  New  York  in  1827  and 
died  October  19,  1889.  In  New  York  he 
earned  a  partnership  in  a  large  mercantile 
Ihouse,  and  while  in  that  city  was  president 
of  the  Mercantile  Library  Association.  He 
moved  to  Chicago  in  1862,  as  representative 
lof  his  firm,  a  railway  supply  house,  and  subse- 
quently became  head  of  Crerar,  Adams  &  Com- 
pany and  engaged  in  the  same  line  of  busi- 


ness. Under  his  direction  this  became  one 
of  the  largest  concerns  of  its  kind  in  the 
Middle  West.  He  also  assisted  in  the  develop- 
ment of  such  institutions  as  the  Pullman  Pal- 
ace Car  Company,  the  Chicago  &  Alton  Rail- 
way, the  Illinois  &  Joliet  Railroad,  the  Illinois 
Trust  and  Savings  Bank,  and  the  Liverpool, 
London  and  Globe  Insurance  Company. 

During  his  lifetime  he  gave  generously  to 
many  causes  and  at  his  death,  being  without 
wife  or  children,  he  bequeathed  a  million  and 
a  half  dollars  to  various  institutions  of  a 
religious,  historical  and  literary  character, 
also  the  great  sum  of  four  million  for  a  free 
public  library.  The  Crerar  Library  has  be- 
come one  of  the  great  libraries  of  the  Middle 
West  and  for  some  years  past  has  been  housed 
in  the  splendid  Crerar  Building,  opposite  the 
Chicago  Public  Library. 

Orson  Smith,  who  died  March  3,  1923,  was 
born  m  Chicago  December  14,  1841,  son  of 
Orson  Smith,  Sr.,  and  member  of  one  of  the 
early  pioneer  families.  Orson  Smith  at  the 
age  of  thirteen  became  a  bundle  boy  in  the 
retail  dry  goods  store  of  Potter  Palmer.  The 
following  year  he  went  to  work  in  the  bank- 
ing house  of  F.  Granger  Adams,  an  institution 
that  later  became  the  Traders  Bank  and  sub- 
sequently the  Traders  National  Bank.  In  1870 
Mr.  Smith  became  cashier  of  the  Corn  Ex- 
change National  Bank,  and  continued  with 
that  institution  when  it  became  a  state  bank 
as  The  Corn  Exchange  Bank  until  1884.  In 
1884  he  became  vice  president  of  the  Mer- 
chants Loan  &  Trust  Company,  was  president 
from  1898  to  1916,  and  after  that  chairman  of 
the  board  until  his  death.  Orson  Smith  mar- 
ried in  1871,  Anna  M.  Rice,  daughter  of  John 
B.  Rice,  distinguished  in  the  early  history  of 
Chicago  as  an  actor,  theatrical  manager  and 
mayor.  In  1847  he  opened  Rice's  Theater  on 
Randolph  Street.  He  was  elected  mayor  in 
1865  and  again  in  1867,  and  in  187%  was 
elected  to  Congress. 

John  Deere  was  born  at  Rutland,  Vermont, 
February  7,  1804,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen 
was  apprenticed  to  learn  the  blacksmith's 
trade.  At  the  end  of  four  years  he  was  a 
thorough  mechanic,  an  expert  in  all  branches 
of  iron  making.  In  1837  he  came  west  and 
settled  in  the  Village  of  Grand  Detour,  in  Ogle 
County,  Illinois.  He  soon  gained  a  reputation 
by  improvising  a  rude  equipment  by  which  to 
forge  a  pitman  shaft  which  had  been  broken 
and  which  interrupted  the  work  of  a  sawmill 
only  two  days.  He  repaired  and  made  a  great 
many  of  the  iron  implements  and  appliances, 
including  plows.  At  that  time  Illinois  farmers 
broke  the  prairie  with  an  iron  plow  with 
wooden  moldboard.  It  was  his  experiments 
and  mechanical  genius  that  perfected  the  steel 
plow.  In  1838  the  first  two  of  his  improved 
plows  were  made,  and  by  1840  the  output  of 


32 


ILLINOIS 


his  shop  had  increased  to  forty  plows.  The 
great  difficulty  was  to  obtain  steel  or  proper 
dimensions  and  quality,  and  American  manu- 
facturers being  unable  to  supply  that  demand, 
shipment  was  made  from  the  steel  mills  of 
England  to  Illinois.  By  1846  the  Deere  fac- 
tory produced  a  thousand  plows,  and  in  1847 
he  moved  his  business  to  Moline,  Illinois,  the 
city  which  has  ever  since  been  the  home  of 
the  great  Deere  Plow  industry.  John  Deere 
in  1858  took  in  his  son,  Charles  H.,  as  one  of 
his  partners.  The  business  was  conducted  as 
Deere  &  Company  until  1868,  and  was  then 
incorporated,  John  Deere  serving  as  president 
of  the  industry  until  his  death,  on  May  17, 
1886. 

Emery  A.  Storrs  was  born  at  Hinsdale, 
New  York,  August  12,  1835,  began  the  study 
of  law  with  his  father,  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1853,  and  in  1859  moved  to  Chicago. 
He  was  a  delegate  at  large  from  Illinois  to 
the  National  Republican  Conventions  of  1868, 
1872  and  1880.  He  died  suddenly  while  at- 
tending the  Supreme  Court  at  Ottawa,  Sep- 
tember 12,  1885. 

"But  of  all  those  who  have  been  distin- 
guished for  oratory  at  the  Chicago  bar  none 
perhaps  can  compare  in  brilliancy  and  versa- 
tility with  Emery  A.  Storr.  No  one  whom  I 
ever  knew,"  said  John  M.  Palmer,  "was  so 
ready  on  all  occasions  to  respond  to  the  popu- 
lar demand  as  he,  and  no  one  ever  surpassed 
him  in  his  ability  to  adapt  himself  to  any  oc- 
casion or  any  emergency,  however  sudden  or 
unexpected  it  might  have  occurred.  Nature 
had  endowed  him  with  gifts  of  the  very  high- 
est order  and  he  had  a  genius  for  eloquence 
as  marked  as  Cicero  himself.  His  memory 
was  tenacious  and  his  powers  of  description 
were  wonderful.  He  was  as  great  in  the 
forum  as  he  was  on  the  stump.  As  a  political 
speaker  he  was  not  only  effective,  but  fascinat- 
ing. As  a  jury  lawyer  he  stood  without  a 
rival.  He  was  one  of  the  readiest  men  at 
repartee  I  ever  knew,  and  his  witticisms  would 
fill  a  volume." 

Lyman  J.  Gage  was  for  forty  years  closely 
identified  with  the  financial  life  of  Chicago, 
chiefly  with  one  institution,  the  First  National 
Bank,  and  later  became  a  national  figure  as 
secretary  of  the  treasury  in  McKinley's  and 
Roosevelt's  cabinets.  He  was  born  in  Madison 
County,  New  York,  June  28,  1836,  and  began 
his  banking  apprenticeship  at  the  age  of 
seventeen.  In  1855  he  came  to  Chicago, 
clerked  in  a  planing  mill  for  several  years, 
and  in  1858  entered  the  Merchants  Loan  & 
Trust  Company  as  bookeeper,  being  promoted 
to  cashier  in  1861.  In  1868  he  was  made 
cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank,  served 
that  institution  as  vice  president  from  1882 
to  1891,  and  then  as  president  from  1891  to 
1897,  when  he  resigned  to   become   secretary 


of  the  treasury.  He  resigned  that  office  in 
February,  1902,  and  for  several  years  was 
president  of  the  United  States  Trust  Company 
of  New  York,  and  in  1906  retired  to  San 
Diego,  California,  which  has  been  his  home 
for  twenty  years. 

Wm.  S.  Hamilton,  a  son  of  Alexander 
Hamilton,  was  a  cadet  at  the  West  Point  Mili- 
tary Academy,  but  resigned  in  1817.  He 
settled  in  Sangamon  County  in  this  state  and 
was  engaged  in  surveying  the  public  lands. 
He  served  in  the  Legislature  in  1824-25  and 
became  military  aide  to  Governor  Coles  with 
the  rank  of  Colonel.  He  took  part  in  the  recep- 
tion to  La  Fayette  in  1825.  In  1827  Colonel 
Hamilton  went  to  the  lead  mines  and  was 
there  when  the  Black  Hawk  troubles  occurred. 
When  Governor  Reynolds  reached  Dixon's 
Ferry  he  found  among  other  prominent  people 
Colonel  Hamilton,  who  offered  his  services. 
Fort  Hamilton  was  erected  at  the  "Hamilton 
Diggins"  on  Pecatonica  River  just  in  the 
edge  of  Wisconsin.  Colonel  Hamilton  was  as- 
sociated with  Colonel  Dodge,  who  was  a  sort 
of  whirlwind  in  Indian  fighting.  Colonel 
Hamilton  commanded  a  company  of  Indians 
and  rendered  most  acceptable  service  to  the 
cause  of  the  Government.  When  gold  was 
discovered  in  California  he  went  to  that  El 
Dorado  where  he  died  in  1850. 

James  Semple  was  a  lawyer  in  Edwards- 
ville.  He  volunteered  for  service  in  the  Black 
Hawk  war  and  was  adjutant  of  the  Old  Bat- 
talion commanded  by  Maj.  Nathaniel  Buck- 
master.  Later  he  was  aide  to  General  White- 
side. He  volunteered  as  a  private  under  Cap- 
tain Snyder  for  the  campaign  to  Kellogg's 
Grove  and  he  later  was  appointed  brigadier- 
general.  He  had  a  long  and  honorable  public 
life,  having  served  in  the  Legislature,  as 
attorney-general  of  Illinois,  as  minister  to 
Granada,  and  as  United  States  Senator. 

Francis  Stuyvesant  Peabody,  who  entered 
the  retail  coal  trade  in  1884,  was  for  many 
years  before  his  death  one  of  the  foremost  coal 
operators  of  the  middle  west,  founder  and 
head  of  the  Peabody  Coal  Company. 

He  was  born  in  Chicago  July  24,  1859,  at- 
tended the  Exeter  Preparatory  School  and  later 
the  Sheffield  Scientific  School  of  Yale  Univer- 
sity, from  which  he  graduated  in  1881.  In 
1884  he  began  his  business  career  as  a  retail 
coal  merchant,  but  his  attention  was  soon  at- 
tracted to  the  operating  and  production  side 
of  the  coal  industry  and  he  founded  the  Pea- 
body Coal  Company,  which  under  his  direction 
became  one  of  the  largest  operating  companies 
in  the  coal  fields  of  Illinois  and  other  sections 
of  the  Middle  West.  He  was  for  many  years 
president  of  the  company  and  at  the  time  of 
his  death  was  chairman  of  its  board  of  direc- 
tors.    He  was  also  president  of  the   Federal 


i  ■"*'J;;i' 


c 


^•v.      ^-t^^^^O^^^ 


ILLINOIS 


33 


Coal  Company  and  was  chairman  of  the  board 
of  the  Sheridan,  Wyoming,  Coal  Company.  He 
had  many  other  business  and  financial  connec- 
tions. 

During  the  World  war  he  was  made  chair- 
man of  the  coal  production  committee  of  the 
Council  of  National  Defense  and  assistant  to 
the  director  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  in  charge 
of  explosives.  In  1920  he  was  decorated  by  the 
King  of  Italy  as  Knight  Commander  of  the 
Crown  of  Italy.  • 

Mr.  Peabody  died  August  27,  1922.  His 
capacity  for  enjoying  life  was  not  measured 
by  his  business  achievements  alone.  He  was 
deeply  read  in  literature,  and  had  many  asso- 
ciations with  literary  men  and  organizations, 
being  a  member  of  the  Stevenson  Society,  and 
owned  a  notable  collection  of  the  works  of 
Robert  Louis  Stevenson.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Western  Society  of  Engineers. 

He  married  November  23,  1887,  Miss  May 
Henderson  of  Utica,  New  York,  and  after  her 
death  he  married,  February  12,  1909,  Mary 
Gertrude  Sullivan. 

His  son,  Stuyvesant  Peabody,  who  was  born 
in  Chicago,  August  7,  1888,  has  been  president 
of  the  Peabody  Coal  Company  since  1917,  and 
is  also  president  of  The  Consumers  Company 
of  Chicago.  He  was  a  first  lieutenant  and 
later  a  captain  in  the  World  war.  He  married 
Anita  Healey. 

Elijah  Ikes,  an  early  settler  in  Sangamon 
County,  became  the  first  postmaster  at  Spring- 
field, and  was  also  state  Senator.  In  the  Win- 
nebago war  he  was  a  major.  At  the  outset 
of  the  Black  Hawk  war  he  was  a  private,  but 
was  advanced  to  the  rank  of  captain  and  it 
was  in  his  company  that  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  a  private. 

Alexander  Legge.  In  June,  1929,  Con- 
gress passed  the  agricultural  marketing  act, 
vesting  the  powers  and  functions  of  the 
measure  in  an  administrative  body  known  as 
the  Federal  Farm  Board.  Soon  afterward 
President  Hoover  appointed  the  first  members 
of  the  board,  one  of  whom  was  a  prominent 
Chicago  business  man,  Mr.  Alexander  Legge, 
who  upon  the  organization  of  the  board  was 
made  chairman.  Of  this  board,  which  has 
been  the  center  of  so  much  controversy  in  the 
economic  discussions  of  the  past  four  years, 
Mr.  Legge  continued  as  chairman  until  March, 
1931. 

Mr.  Legge  understands  the  agricultural 
viewpoint  of  the  Middle  West  as  few  other 
men.  He  was  born  in  Dane  County,  Wiscon- 
sin, January  13,  1866,  and  when  ten  years  old 
went  with  his  parents  to  Nebraska.  In  1891 
he  became  a  collector  for  the  McCormick  Har- 
vester Company,  three  years  later  was  made 
collection  manager  of  the  company,  in  1898 
branch  manager,  and  in  1902  was  made  as- 
sistant manager  of  domestic  sales  of  the  In- 


ternational Harvester  Company.  He  was  pro- 
moted to  assistant  general  manager  in  1906, 
to  general  manager  in  1913,  and  in  1922  be- 
came president  of  this  great  corporation. 
After  retiring  from  the  Federal  Farm  Board 
he  resumed  his  position  as  president  in  1931. 
During  the  World  war  Mr.  Legge  served  as  a 
dollar  a  year  man,  and  was  vice  chairman  of 
the  War  Industries  Board  and  head  of  the 
Requirement  Division  of  that  board,  and  also 
manager  of  the  Allied  Purchasing  Commis- 
sion. 

Hon.  John  Dill  Robertson,  for  all  his 
splendid  public  services  as  former  commis- 
sioner of  health  and  former  president  of  the 
West  Park  Board  of  Chicago,  was  first  of  all 
an  eminent  physician.  The  phases  of  public 
service  which  chiefly  attracted  him  were  those 
marking  new  safeguards  for  human  life  and 
setting  up  new  standards  and  institutions  by 
which  the  health  and  sanity  of  the  people  of 
Chicago  might  be  conserved. 

Doctor  Robertson  was  one  of  the  storm 
centers  in  Chicago  politics  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  the  publicity  given  him  on  that 
account  doubtless  obscured,  in  the  minds  of 
many  citizens,  his  longer  and  more  incessant 
devotion  to  the  happiness  and  welfare  of  the 
people  about  him  and  his  community  in  gen- 
eral. His  individual  aspirations  and  efforts 
enabled  him  to  climb  the  ladder  to  success. 
He  was  born  in  Indiana  County,  Pennsyl- 
vania, March  8,  1871,  son  of  Thomas  Sander- 
son and  Melinda  M.  (McCurdy)  Robertson. 
Eighteen  months  later  his  father  died.  After 
attending  local  schools  for  a  few  years  he 
started  out  to  make  his  living.  Eventually 
he  became  a  railway  telegrapher,  also  studied 
and  qualified  as  a  bookkeeper.  In  1893  he 
came  to  Chicago  and  enrolled  as  a  student  in 
the  Bennett  Medical  College.  He  was  grad- 
uated as  an  M.  D.  in  1896  and  for  many  years 
remained  a  most  loyal  alumnus  of  an  institu- 
tion which  subsequently  became  the  medical 
department  of  Loyola  University.  He  was 
president  of  the  college  for  ten  years,  also 
professor  of  practice  of  surgery.  He  was 
successful  in  private  practice,  but  always  rec- 
ognized the  call  of  duty  to  the  larger  interests 
of  his  profession.  He  was  attending  surgeon 
at  the  Cook  County  Hospital  from  1898  to 
1913.  From  1904  to  1915  he  was  surgeon-in- 
chief  of  the  Jefferson  Park  Polyclinic  Hos- 
pital, and  his  home  in  later  years  was  a  bun- 
galow on  the  roof  of  the  institution.  After 
retiring  from  the  West  Park  Board  he  be- 
came medical  and  safety  director  of  the  Mo- 
torists Association  of  Illinois,  and  much  of 
his  time  was  devoted  to  the  study  of  traffic 
conditions  and  the  elimination  of  its  hazards. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Traffic  Safety  Com- 
mission which  met  at  Washington  under  call 
from  President  Hoover. 

Early  in  his  career  he  became  interested 
in  politics.     He  was  one  of  the  earnest  sup- 


34 


ILLINOIS 


porters  of  W.  H.  Thompson  in  his  early  cam- 
paigns for  mayor,  and  under  appointment  of 
Mayor  Thompson  served  as  health  commis- 
sioner from  1915  to  1922.  In  1922  he  was 
made  head  of  the  Chicago  School  Board,  but 
resigned  a  year  later.  Governor  Small  then 
made  him  president  of  the  West  Park  Board 
and  he  served  in  that  office  for  almost  a  year 
after  Governor  Emmerson  was  inaugurated. 
In  1927  he  was  candidate  for  mayor  and  in 
1930  he  supported  the  aspirations  of  Judge 
Lyle  in  the  Republican  primary  campaign. 
Altogether,  in  the  course  of  sixty  years,  his 
activities  summed  up  a  notable  career  and 
justify  his  appraisal  as  one  of  the  notable 
citizens   of  his  generation  in   Chicago. 

Doctor  Robertson  died  at  his  summer  home 
in  Wisconsin,  August  20,  1931.  He  married, 
June  15,  1898,  Miss  Bessie  M.  Foote.  By  this 
marriage  he  left  one  son,  Dr.  Thomas  Sander- 
son Robertson,  of  Chicago.  Mrs.  Robertson 
died  February  9,  1930.  On  May  2,  1931,  Doc- 
tor Robertson  married  Miss  Helen  Remy 
Hughes. 

From  a  public  tribute  given  to  Doctor  Rob- 
ertson while  he  was  president  of  the  West 
Park  Board  it  is  possible  to  construct  a  more 
satisfactory  statement,  with  considerable  de- 
tail, regarding  his  eminent  public  services. 
Doctor  Robertson  arrived  in  Chicago  during 
the  World's  Fair  year  of  1893.  After  grad- 
uating from  medical  college  he  was  appointed 
an  interne  in  the  Cook  County  Hospital  by 
competitive  examination.  Next  followed  his 
fifteen  years  of  constructive  service  with  the 
Bennett  Medical  College  and  the  Cook  County 
Hospital.  He  was  the  originator  of  the  plan 
and  had  much  to  do  with  the  building  of  the 
Frances  Willard  Hospital,  and  later  he  built 
the  Jefferson  Park  Hospital,  of  which  he  be- 
came  surgeon-in-chief. 

Doctor  Robertson  was  commissioner  of 
health  of  Chicago  from  April  27,  1915,  to 
February  1,  1922.  As  commissioner  he  estab- 
lished the  system  of  chlorination  of  water, 
established  a  bureau  of  water  safety  and  ty- 
phoid control,  forced  by  executive  order  the 
pasteurization  of  all  milk  and  cream  in  the 
city,  and  by  these  and  other  measures  secured 
a  notable  reduction  in  the  death  rate,  and  all 
but  eliminated  typhoid.  It  was  Doctor  Rob- 
ertson who  presented  to  the  City  Council  and 
had  passed  the  so-called  food  covering  ordi- 
nance, as  a  result  of  which  bakery  goods  and 
other  foods  are  no  longer  exposed  to  handling 
and  other  sources  of  contamination.  He  or- 
ganized the  Municipal  Tuberculosis  Sanato- 
rium field  work,  established  eight  municipal 
tuberculosis  clinics,  free  dental  clinics  for  tu- 
berculosis sufferers,  conducted  a  school  sur- 
vey for  the  examination  of  children  for  symp- 
toms of  tuberculosis,  established  the  Municipal 
Tuberculosis  Sanatorium  Vocational  Training 
School — these  and  other  measures  going  far 
toward  providing  effective  control  over  the 
"white  plague."     No  less  noteworthy  was  his 


effort  for  the  control  of  venereal  diseases.  He 
started  a  municipal  venereal  disease  clinic  at 
the  Iroquois  Memorial  Hospital,  and  five  other 
clinics  over  the  city,  and  introduced  and  had 
passed  by  the  City  Council  the  first  venereal 
disease  ordinance  passed  by  any  city  in  the 
United  States,  specifying  such  diseases  as  con- 
tagious and  requiring  that  they  be  reported 
to  the  health  department. 

As  a  result  of  the  influenza  epidemic  he 
organized  the*  Chicago  Training  School  for 
Home  and  Public  Health  Nursing,  in  which 
more  than  11,000  women  took  the  eight-weeks 
training  course.  This  school  was  financed  by 
the  "Health  Show,"  held  at  the  Coliseum,  and 
he  was  also  a  prominent  factor  in  the  several 
pageants  of  progress  held  in  Chicago  in  suc- 
cessive years.  Doctor  Robertson  inaugurated 
the  practice  of  immunizing  Chicago  children 
against  diphtheria.  During  his  administration 
municipal  bath  houses  were  built,  the  first 
municipal  laundry  established,  a  division  of 
mental  hygiene  created,  a  public  health  maga- 
zine published,  and  in  many  ways  new  and 
increased  powers  given  to  the  health  depart- 
ment. 

In  1924  Doctor  Robertson  was  appointed  by 
Governor  Small  as  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
Park  Board  and  was  subsequently  elected  its 
president.  He  undertook  a  careful  study  of 
improvements  that  would  eliminate  traffic 
dangers,  and  inaugurated  the  West  Chicago 
Park  Safety  Commission,  to  which  he  ap- 
pointed more  than  a  hundred  prominent  citi- 
zens of  the  West  Side.  This  commission  car- 
ried on  an  intensive  educational  campaign 
whereby  motorists  were  induced  to  cooperate 
with  the  police  and  other  authorities  in  re- 
ducing traffic  hazards.  Doctor  Robertson  in 
1922  served  as  president  of  the  Chicago  Board 
of  Education.  It  was  a  stormy  time  in  the 
history  of  the  board,  but  his  brief  administra- 
tion is  marked  by  the  beginning  of  construc- 
tion of  twenty-six  new  school  buildings. 

Even  from  this  brief  sketch  it  must  be  evi- 
dent that  Dr.  John  Dill  Robertson  was  in  the 
best  sense  of  the  term  a  conspicuously  useful 
citizen  of  his  community. 

Catharine  Waugh  McCulloch,  lawyer  of 
Illinois,  was  born  at  Ransomville,  New  York, 
June  4,  1862.  She  received  the  Bachelor  of 
Arts  and  Master  of  Arts  degrees  from  Rock- 
ford  College.  In  1886  she  was  graduated  from 
the  Law  Department  of  Northwestern  Univer- 
sity and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  by  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  Illinois.  Twelve  years  later 
she  was  admitted  to  practice  before  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States.  Mrs. 
McCulloch  practiced  law  in  her  home  city  of 
Rockford  until  her  marriage  in  1890  to  Frank 
H.  McCulloch  and  since  then  has  been  asso- 
ciated with  him  in  the  practice  of  law  in  Chi- 
cago. Their  three  sons  are  lawyers.  Their 
home  is  in  Evanston.  She  was  twice  elected 
justice  of  the  peace  in  Evanston.     From  1917 


ILLINOIS 


35 


to  1925  she  served  as  Master  in  Chancery  in 
the  Superior  Court  of  Cook  County. 

Mrs.  McCulloch  was  Democratic  nominee 
for  presidential  elector  in  1916.  She  is  a 
member  of  the  Chicago  Woman's  Club,  Con- 
gregational Church,  Woman's  Democratic 
Prohibition  Enforcement  League,  the  League 
of  Women  Voters,  Woman's  League  for  Peace 
and  Freedom,  and  a  trustee  of  Rockford  Col- 
lege. 

She  was  the  author  of  several  bills  extend- 
ing the  rights  of  Illinois  women,  among  them 
the  large  suffrage  bill  of  1913,  which  had 
gradually  gained  friends  through  the  twenty 
years  she  carried  it  to  Springfield.  When 
Governor  Dunne  signed  the  bill,  Illinois  thus 
gave  more  suffrage  rights  to  women  than  did 
any  other  state  east  of  the  Mississippi. 

John  M.  Robinson,  who  became  an  asso- 
ciate justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  on  the 
14th  of  January,  1843,  did  not  long  survive 
to  exercise  the  duties  of  his  important  office, 
his  death  occurring  at  Ottawa,  the  seat  of 
the  court  over  which  he  presided,  on  the  27th 
of  April  following.  He  was  born  in  Scott 
County,  Kentucky,  in  1794,  and  emigrated  to 
Illinois  about  1818,  taking  up  his  residence 
in  Carmi,  White  County,  where  he  entered 
upon  the  practice  of  the  law.  Being  well 
known  as  a  thorough  lawyer,  he  was 
appointed  by  the  governor  as  prosecuting  at- 
torney for  his  district.  He  was  a  brother  of 
James  F.  Robinson,  at  one  time  governor  of 
Kentucky.  In  1831  he  was  elected  by  the  state 
Legislature  as  United  States  senator,  to  fill 
the  unexpired  term  of  John  McLean,  deceased, 
his  opponent  being  D.  J.  Baker,  the  govern- 
or's choice.  In  1834  Judge  Robinson  was 
reelected  for  a  full  term,  which  expired  March 
3,  1841.  After  his  death  his  remains  were 
taken  to  Carmi  for  interment.  He  was  a 
man  of  ability  and  left  his  impress  upon  the 
history  of  the  state. 

Harold  L.  Ickes,  whose  name  in  the  politi- 
cal history  of  the  present  century  primarily 
suggests  Rooseveltian  principles  and  ideals, 
has  been  a  Chicago  lawyer  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century  and  has  taken  part  in  many  cam- 
paigns for  reforms  in  municipal  and  state 
government. 

Mr.  Ickes  was  born  in  Blair  County,  Penn- 
sylvania, on  March  15,  1874,  of  pre-Revolu- 
tionary  stock  on  both  sides  of  his  family.  He 
came  to  Chicago  in  the  summer  of  1890.  He 
attended  the  Englewood  High  School  and  then 
entered  the  University  of  Chicago  where  he 
took  his  bachelor's  degree  in  1897.  For  sev- 
eral years  he  was  a  reporter  with  Chicago 
newspapers.  In  1907  he  graduated  from  the 
University  of  Chicago  School  of  Law  and  im- 
mediately engaged  in  practice.  In  1905  he 
managed  the  mayoralty  campaign  of  John  M. 
Harlan.     In  1911  he  was  manager  of  the  cam- 


paign of  Charles  E.  Merriam  for  mayor.  He 
was  an  enthusiastic  supporter  and  follower  of 
Roosevelt  during  these  years  and  became  one 
of  the  most  earnest  of  the  Progressives  in  the 
campaign  of  1912.  For  two  years  he  was 
chairman  of  the  Progressive  County  Com- 
mittee of  Cook  County  and  was  chairman  of 
the  Illinois  Progressive  State  Committee  in 
1914-16,  and  a  member  of  the  Progressive  Na- 
tional Committee  and  National  Executive  Com- 
mittee in  1915-16.  He  was  a  delegate  at  large 
to  the  Progressive  National  Convention  in  1916 
and  delegate  at  large  to  the  Republican  Na- 
tional Convention  in  1920.  In  1916  he  took  a 
place  on  the  National  Campaign  Executive 
Committee  for  the  Republican  party.  In  1924 
he  was  the  Illinois  manager  for  Hiram  W. 
Johnson  for  the  Republican  nomination  for 
President.  He  is  a  member  of  the  National 
Roosevelt  Memorial  Association  and  vice  pres- 
ident of  the  Roosevelt  Memorial  Association  of 
Greater  Chicago. 

Mr.  Ickes  is  a  member  of  the  board  of  the 
Chicago  Government  Planning  Association, 
member  of  the  National  Conservation  Commit- 
tee, and  in  1929  became  chairman  of  the  Peo- 
ple's Traction  League. 

During  the  World  war  he  was  chairman  of 
the  Illinois  State  Council  of  Defense  Neigh- 
borhood Committee  during  1917  and  a  portion 
of  1918,  and  from  April,  1918,  to  January, 
1919,  he  was  engaged  in  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work 
in  France  with  the  Thirty-fifth  Division.  Mr. 
Ickes  married  in  1911  Anna  Wilmarth  Thomp- 


Lawson  A.  Parks  was  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina, April  15,  1813.  He  learned  the  printing- 
trade  in  his  native  state,  moved  West  to  St. 
Louis  in  1833,  and  in  1836  became  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Alton  Telegraph.  He  was  in 
the  Presbyterian  ministry  for  some  years,  and 
in  1854  resumed  his  connection  with  the  Tele- 
graph as  its  editor.     He  died  March  31,  1875. 

William  A.  Richardson  was  one  of  the 
prominent  figures  in  Illinois  politics  as  a  con- 
temporary of  Douglas  and  acquired  distinction 
in  his  home  district  and  also  in  Congress.  He 
was  born  in  Kentucky  and  came  to  Illinois 
in  1831,  living  for  a  time  at  Shelbyville  and 
Rushville.  He  served  as  state's  attorney  for 
the  Fifth  Judicial  Circuit  and  in  1836  was 
elected  to  the  Legislature  from  Schuyler 
County,  in  1838  was  chosen  a  member  of  the 
senate,  and  in  1844  became  speaker  of  the 
Lower  House.  When  the  Mexican  war  broke 
out  he  raised  a  company  and  led  it  to  the 
front,  and  for  gallant  conduct  at  Buena  Vista 
was  made  a  lieutenant-colonel.  While  yet  in 
Mexico  he  was  nominated  as  a  candidate  for 
Congress  and  on  his  return  home  was  selected 
to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  resigna- 
tion of  Senator  Douglas  and  served  in  that 
representative   body   for   ten   years.      In   1856 


36 


ILLINOIS 


he  was  given  the  Democratic  nomination  for 
governor  and  in  1857  President  Buchanan  ap- 
pointed him  governor  of  Nebraska.  In  1860 
he  was  returned  to  Congress  from  the  Quincy 
district  and  in  1863  was  chosen  to  fill  the 
vacancy  in  the  United  States  Senate  caused 
by  the  death  of  Judge  Douglas.  Colonel  Rich- 
ardson  died   December   27,   1875. 

James  V.  Blaney,  Chicago  physician,  was 
born  at  Newcastle,  Maryland,  in  1820,  and 
died  at  Chicago  in  1876.  He  graduated  from 
Princeton  University  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
and  at  twenty-one  from  Jefferson  Medical  Col- 
lege. In  1843  he  accepted  the  chair  of  chem- 
istry and  materia  medica  in  the  first  faculty 
of  Rush  Medical  College,  and  that  was  the 
beginning  of  his  long  residence  in  Chicago. 
In  connection  with  his  work  at  the  college 
he  carried  on  a  private  practice.  He  was 
editing  chief  of  the  Illinois  and  Indiana  Med- 
ical Journal,  the  first  medical  periodical  pub- 
lished in  this  section  of  the  West.  He  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  County  Medical 
Society  and  as  one  of  its  delegates,  in  1850, 
helped  in  founding  the  Illinois  State  Medical 
Society,  of  which  he  was  later  president.  Dur- 
ing the  Civil  war  he  was  medical  director  and 
medical  inspector  at  Fortress  Monroe,  and  in 
1864  was  made  medical  purveyor  with  large 
responsibilities  at  Chicago,  a  service  which 
gained  him  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel.  He 
succeeded  Daniel  Brainard  as  president  of 
Rush  Medical  College.  He  was  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society. 

Joseph  Medill  was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent, 
born  in  St.  Johns,  New  Brunswick  in  1823.  He 
was  educated  for  law  which  he  entered  in 
1846,  but  in  1849  he  entered  the  newspaper 
business.  He  was  a  Whig  and  later  a  free 
soiler.  He  came  to  Chicago  and  purchased 
an  interest  in  the  Chicago  Tribune  and 
was  editor-in-chief  of  the  Tribune  dur- 
ing the  war  and  warmly  supported  President 
Lincoln. 

Mr.  Medill  discovered  the  need  of  better 
facilities  for  news  gathering,  and  it  was  upon 
his  initiative  that  a  meeting  of  newspaper 
men  was  held  in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  Novem- 
ber 22,  1865,  where  they  organized  the  West- 
ern Associated  Press.  Mr.  Horace  White, 
managing  editor  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  was 
a  member  of  the  executive  committee.  Mr. 
Medill  helped  to  organize  the  Republican 
party  and  was  a  constant  friend  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.  Mr.  Medill  through  the  influence  of 
the  Tribune  urged  the  issuing  of  the  emanci- 
pation proclamation.  He  was  selected  as  a 
delegate  from  Cook  to  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention of  1870  where  he  brought  forward 
and  championed  the  principle  of  minority 
representation.  His  friends  wished  to  honor 
him  by  electing  him  the  president  of  the  con- 
vention but  he  declined.     For  the  last  twenty- 


five  years  of  his  life  he  was  the  editor-in- 
chief  of  the  Tribune.  A  school  for  the  teach- 
ing of  journalism  at  Chicago  University  was 
named  for  Mr.  Medill  the  "Medill  School  of 
Journalism."     Mr.  Medill  died  in  1899. 

Louis  H.  Sullivan  was  a  Chicago  architect 
whose  work  was  accorded  the  highest  distinc- 
tion by  discriminating  critics.  He  was  a  mas- 
ter of  the  intricate  problems  involved  in  com- 
mercial building  and  also  succeeded  in  working 
out  features  in  mass  and  line  which  distin- 
guished Sullivan  buildings  wherever  found. 

He  was  born  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  Sep- 
tember 3,  1856,  and  died  April  14,  1924.  After 
an  education  in  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology  and  the  School  of  Fine  Arts  at 
Paris,  he  came  to  Chicago  in  1880  and  during 
the  following  fifteen  years  was  associated 
with  Daukmar  Adler  and  after  that  alone. 
Mr.  Sullivan  was  architect  for  the  Trans- 
portation Building  at  the  Columbian  Exposi- 
tion of  1893.  He  was  architect  for  the  Audi- 
torium Theater  Hotel  and  office  building. 
Much  praise  has  been  accorded  his  architec- 
tural treatment  of  the  retail  store  of  Carson, 
Pirie,  Scott  &  Company.  He  was  also  archi- 
tect for  the  Stock  Exchange  Building,  and  of 
many  buildings  in  other  cities. 

Daniel  Brainard,  founder  of  Rush  Medical 
College,  was  born  in  Oneida  County,  New 
York,  in  1812.  He  graduated  from  Jefferson 
Medical  College  in  1834,  and  in  the  fall  of 
1835  arrived  in  Chicago.  He  achieved  an 
international  reputation  in  his  profession,  but 
his  great  ambition  was  to  found  a  medical 
college  worthy  of  the  name  in  the  Middle 
West,  and  in  1843  his  purpose  was  fulfilled. 
He  named  the  college  in  honor  of  his  old 
preceptor,  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush  of  Philadelphia. 
In  the  first  faculty  of  the  college  he  occupied 
the  chair  of  professor  of  anatomy  and  sur- 
gery. Doctor  Brainard  died  of  cholera  in 
Chicago,  October  10,  1866,  at  the  early  age  of 
fifty-six. 

Cyrus  Hall  McCormick  was  born  at  Wal- 
nut Grove,  Virginia,  February  15,  1809,  and 
died  in  Chicago  May  13,  1884.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  common  schools,  worked  on  his 
father's  farm  and  worked  up,  and  at  the  age 
of  twenty-one  invented  two  ploughs.  The  date 
of  his  chief  invention  is  1831,  when  with  his 
own  hands  he  built  the  first  practical  reaping 
machine  ever  made.  His  father  had  tried  to 
construct  a  reaper  as  early  as  1816,  and  the 
son,  working  on  a  different  line,  finally  real- 
ized his  successful  solution.  He  patented  his 
reaper  in  1834,  and  in  1847  moved  to  Chicago, 
where  he  built  large  works  for  the  construc- 
tion of  his  invention.  Numerous  prizes  and 
medals  were  awarded  for  his  reaper,  and  in 
that  connection,  in  1878,  the  French  Expo- 
sition  gave    him    the    rank   of    Officer    of   the 


*'*w"" 


,,v.*-,  ..;^?:5>vi-«*y;.;F.,.;: 


ILLINOIS 


37 


Legion  of  Honor.  One  of  his  early  business 
partners  at  Chicago  was  William  B.  Ogden. 
William  H.  Seward  once  said:  "Owing  to 
Mr.  McCormick's  invention  the  line  of  civili- 
zation moves  westward  thirty  miles  a  year." 
Cyrus  H.  McCormick,  during  the  '60s,  ac- 
quired the  ownership  of  the  old  Chicago  Times- 
Herald.  In  1859  he  gave  $100,000  to  found 
the  Presbyterian  Seminary  of  the  Northwest  in 
Chicago,  later  known  as  the  McCormick  Theo- 
logical Seminary  and  now  known  as  the  Pres- 
byterian Theological  Seminary. 

Walter  L.  Newberry  was  born  in  Connecti- 
cut, September  18,  1804,  and  in  1828  removed 
to  Detroit,  and  in  1833  settled  in  the  Village 
of  Chicago.  He  was  one  of  the  early  mer- 
chants there,  later  took  up  banking,  and  his 
name  is  closely  identified  with  the  commer- 
cial history  of  the  city  up  to  about  the  time 
of  the  Civil  war.  He  was  for  several  terms 
president  of  the  board  of  education,  and  for 
six  years  president  of  the  Chicago  Historical 
Society.  His  name  was  closely  associated  with 
many  of  the  earliest  aspirations  of  Chicago 
for  art,  education,  sanitation  and  civic  enlight- 
enment. He  was  one  of  the  first  board  of 
trustees  of  the  old  Merchants  Loan  &  Trust 
Company.  A  large  part  of  his  work  con- 
sisted in  judicious  investments  in  real  estate, 
and  when  he  died,  November  6,  1868,  he  left 
half  of  the  estate  for  the  purpose  of  founding 
a  reference  library.  Nearly  twenty  years 
later,  in  1887,  the  library  was  opened,  and  in 
1893  the  first  unit  of  the  great  Newberry 
Library,  on  the  North  Side,  was  completed. 
This  is  one  of  the  great  reference  libraries  of 
the  country,  and  in  some  departments  is 
unsurpassed. 

Eugene  J.  Buffington  has  been  a  prominent 
figure  in  the  iron  and  steel  industry  for  almost 
half  a  century  and  in  many  respects  has  been 
the  leading  executive  in  building  up  the  great 
industrial  concentration  around  the  Lake  Mich- 
igan shore  from  Chicago  to  Michigan  City, 
Indiana. 

Mr.  Buffington  was  born  in  West  Virginia 
March  14,  1863.  He  acquired  a  liberal  and 
technical  education,  attending  the  Chickering 
Institute  at  Cincinnati,  and  Vanderbilt  Uni- 
versity at  Nashville.  In  1884,  after  leaving 
college,  he  was  made  treasurer  of  the  Amer- 
ican Wire  &  Nail  Company  at  Anderson,  In- 
diana. In  the  process  of  the  consolidation  and 
merger  of  the  many  independent  iron  and  steel 
works,  Mr.  Buffington  in  1898  was  made  secre- 
tary and  treasurer  of  the  American  Steel  & 
Wire  Company,  and  in  1899  became  president 
of  the  Illinois  Steel  Company.  He  has  also 
been  president  of  the  Indiana  Steel  Company 
and  the  Gary  Land  Company,  a  director  of  the 
U.  S.  Steel  Corporation  and  many  affiliated 
and  kindred  organizations. 

Mr.  Buffington  has  been  a  generous  contrib- 
utor to  the  cultural  as  well  as  the  industrial 


life  of  the  Chicago  district.  He  is  a  trustee 
of  the  Community  Trust  of  Chicago,  is  a  trus- 
tee of  the  Chicago  Sunday  Evening  Club,  and 
of  Vanderbilt  University.  His  home  is  in 
Evanston.  He  retired  from  the  presidency  of 
the  Illinois  Steel  Company  and  of  the  Indiana 
Steel  Company,  June  30,  1932. 

Swan  Gustus  Swanson,  one  of  the  honored 
and  substantial  citizens  of  Hancock  County, 
was  loyal,  honest  and  generous  in  all  the  rela- 
tions of  life  and  his  character  was  the  positive 
expression  of  a  strong  and  noble  nature.  He 
held  firmly  to  the  idea  that  anything  worth 
doing  was  worth  doing  well,  and  he  exempli- 
fied this  principle  in  his  work,  in  his  home 
and  in  his  public  service.  He  made  of  suc- 
cess not  an  accident  but  a  logical  result,  and 
his  personal  advancement  and  prosperity  were 
worthily  won.  He  was  always  ready  to  use 
his  influence  and  to  cooperate  in  the  support 
of  movements  tending  to  advance  the  public 
welfare,  so  that  he  ever  commanded  the  fullest 
measure  of  public  confidence  and  good  will. 

He  was  born  November  3,  1845,  near  Walde- 
marsvik,  Trysarum,  Sweden.  He  reached  New 
York  City  July  3,  1869,  and  Augusta  on  Au- 
gust 13,  1869. 

He  took  up  farming,  specializing  in  fine 
driving  horses  for  the  eastern  markets.  When 
this  became  unprofitable,  during  the  depres- 
sion of  1893,  he  turned  to  other  branches  of 
farming  and  by  hard  work  and  good  manage- 
ment placed  himself  in  the  ranks  of  tihe 
extensive  and  progressive  exponents  of  farm 
enterprise. 

For  many  years  he  was  school  director  and 
road  commissioner  and  was  county  supervisor 
for  two  terms,  1910-11  and  1912-13.  Though 
ever  progressive  in  his  ideas  of  development 
he  always  insisted  that  every  dollar  of  public 
money  should  be  well  spent  and  when  he  felt 
he  was  not  justified  in  spending  public  money 
for  a  project  he  paid  for  it  himself. 

He  sold  his  farming  interest  in  1912  and 
moved  to  Augusta. 

In  1914  he  was  appointed  by  Gov.  Edward 
F.  Dunne  to  the  Road  Congress  at  Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin,  and  there  became  so  interested  in 
the  hard  road  movement  that  he  accepted  the 
office  of  mayor  of  Augusta  in  1927  and  again 
in  1929  that  he  might  more  effectively  assist 
in  bringing  route  99  through  the  town  and 
secure  the  viaduct  under  the  C.  B.  &  Q.  Rail- 
road. So  earnestly  did  he  desire  to  see  a 
viaduct  under  this  dangerous  crossing  that 
he  paid  for  the  right  of  way  on  both  sides 
of  the  road,  thus  fulfilling  the  requirements 
of  the  C.  B.  &  Q.  officials  for  the  building  of 
the  viaduct. 

Fraternally  he  was  a  Mason,  being  a  mem- 
ber of  J.  L.  Anderson  Lodge,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.; 
Augusta  Chapter,  R.  A.  M.;  Almoner  Com- 
mandery,  Knights  Templar.  In  the  Scottish 
Rite  his  affiliation  was  with  the  Consistory  in 
Quincy  and  as  a  Noble  of  the  Mystic  Shrine 


38 


ILLINOIS 


he  was  a  member  of  Mohammed  Temple  at 
Peoria.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  of  Augusta  and  of  the  Republi- 
can party.  His  death  occurred  August  4, 
1930. 

At  River  Falls,  Wisconsin,  on  October  24, 
1874,  he  was  united  in  marriage  with  Ann  E. 
Hickok,  of  Augusta  Township,  Illinois. 

Ann  E.  Hickok  was  the  daughter  of  Nelson 
Hickok,  son  of  Amos  and  Anna  (Foote) 
Hickok,  who  was  born  at  Charlotte,  Ver- 
mont, February  18,  1811,  and  died  in  Augusta 
Township  January  11,  1878,  and  Amy  E. 
Powell,  daughter  of  William  and  Lucy 
(Newell)  Powell,  who  was  born  at  Madrid, 
New  York,  May  14,  1812,  and  died  in 
Augusta  Township  August  11,  1881.  Her  par- 
ents were  married  at  Carthage,  Illinois,  Sep- 
tember 10,  1841,  each  having  come  from  their 
eastern  home,  her  father  in  1835  and  her 
mother  in  1839,  by  way  of  the  Great  Lakes  to 
Chicago  and  then  by  covered  wagon  to  Me- 
chanicsville,  Augusta  Township.  This  town, 
founded  in  1835,  had  a  wagonshop,  employing 
over  forty  men,  a  blacksmith  shop,  flour  mill, 
store,  Congregational  Church  Society  and  Sun- 
day School,  with  a  good  Sunday  School 
Library  given  by  Amy  Powell's  father  and  a 
school  where  Amy  Powell  was  the  first 
teacher.  When  the  depression  following  the 
panic  of  1837  closed  the  shops  some  of  the 
families  returned  to  the  East.  Others  moved 
to  the  surrounding  prairie  farms. 

The  Hickoks  moved  to  the  northeast  quarter 
of  section  nine  in  1844  and  there  on  the  un- 
broken prairie,  where  the  Indians  had  been 
driven  out  but  twelve  years  before,  began  the 
pioneer's  struggle  to  develop  by  hard  work 
and  thrift  a  comfortable  home.  They  were 
following  in  the  footsteps  of  their  ancestors 
who  had  left  their  homes  in  England,  Ireland, 
Scotland  and  Wales  to  become  the  first  settlers 
of  New  England.  Each  generation  having 
gone  farther  west  took  an  active  part  in  the 
civic,  social  and  religious  affairs  of  its  com- 
munity in  peace  and  war.  Dr.  Samuel  Hickok, 
William  Powell  and  Nathaniel  Newell  were 
Revolutionary  soldiers.  Rev.  Abel  Newell, 
valedictorian  of  his  class  at  Yale  University 
1751,  took  an  active  part  in  the  religious  free- 
dom of  Connecticut.  Other  families  were  the 
Baldwins,  Beaches,  Blakesleys,  Blakemans, 
Harts,  Hurlburts,  Gridleys,  Moores,  Nortons, 
Omsteads,  Parmlees,  Plumbs,  Scotts  and  Sey- 
mours. 

Into  the  home  of  these  pioneers  who  had 
taken  the  long  move  to  the  "Illinois  Country" 
Ann  E.  was  born  July  5,  1847.  In  1857  the 
family  moved  to  River  Falls,  Wisconsin,  where 
she  attended  select  school  and  the  River  Falls 
Academy. 

In  1865  they  returned  to  the  old  Illinois 
farm.  She  taught  school,  then  cared  for  her 
parents  and  reared  her  family  in  the  old  home. 
A    devoted    daughter,    wife    and    mother,    she 


gave  her  life  for  others  and  in  giving  this 
lovely,  cultured  woman,  with  high  ideals  and 
sturdy  independence,  at  all  times  a  true  friend, 
delightful  companion  and  good  neighbor,  ex- 
emplified that  to  preside  over  a  real  home 
which  her  work  and  good  management  had 
helped  to  make  and  maintain  was  woman's 
highest  goal. 

She  passed  to  the  great  beyond  August  1, 
1924,  at  Bay  View,  Michigan. 

The  oldest  daughter,  Luella  Ann  Swanson, 
born  July  3,  1877,  interested  in  history  and 
genealogy,  organized  the  Martha  Board  Chap- 
ter, Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution, 
and  through  this  organization  established  the 
Augusta  Township  Public  Library. 

Amy  Elmira,  born  October  2,  1880,  was  a 
graduate  of  the  Western  Illinois  Teachers  Col- 
lege and  became  a  talented  artist  in  china  and 
water-color  painting.  She  died  August  12, 
1930. 

Minnie  Mabel,  the  youngest  daughter,  born 
December  4,  1882,  is  a  graduate  of  the  West- 
ern Illinois  State  Teachers  College  and  the 
University  of  Chicago  and  has  made  a  record 
of  successful  service  as  a  teacher  in  the  pub- 
lic schools.  Now,  as  librarian  of  the  Augusta 
Public  Library  and  secretary  of  its  board,  she 
is  lovingly  and  capably  directing  the  reading 
of  the  young  people  as  well  as  serving  the 
public. 

The  Augusta  Public  Library  is  one  of  the 
most  active  and  constantly  growing  institu- 
tions of  the  pretty  little  village  of  Augusta, 
Illinois.  It  is  a  Township  Library  and  has 
gradually  built  up  an  exceptionally  good  ref- 
erence section  on  a  wide  range  of  subjects  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  young  and  old,  from 
the  lowliest  needs  to  those  of  considerable 
culture — a  source  of  knowledge  for  the  un- 
schooled as  well  as  for  the  college  bred. 

The  Library  had  its  inception  in,  was  vir- 
tually founded  by  the  Martha  Board  Chapter 
of  the  local  Daughters  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution Society,  under  the  leadership  of  Miss 
Luella  Swanson.  After  donating  the  initial 
fifty  dollars  and  collecting  books  and  equip- 
ment during  the  summer  and  autumn,  the 
Chapter  opened  the  Library  with  708  volumes 
in  the  Town  Hall  on  December  18,  1915,  and 
free  to  the  public.  The  Chapter  continued  to 
carry  on  and  enlarge  the  institution  for  a  year 
and  a  half,  by  which  time  the  number  of  vol- 
umes had  increased  to  1,038  and  other  neces- 
sary equipment  had  been  added. 

In  April  of  1916,  the  people  of  Augusta 
Township  voted  a  mill  township  tax  by  one  of 
the  largest  majorities  of  any  township  propo- 
sition placed  before  the  people.  In  May,  1917, 
the  Library  received  its  first  public  money 
of  which  the  first  portion  spent  was  for  refer- 
ence books  and  this  policy  of  building  up  its 
reference  section  has  continued  to  be  the  pol- 
icy of  the  Library,  hoping  to  provide  a  means 


ILLINOIS 


39 


of  education  for  those  who  otherwise  had 
small  opportunity. 

In  December  of  1918,  a  small  room  for 
strictly  library  purposes  was  rented.  Shortly 
thereafter  the  Library  was  opened  Tuesday, 
Thursday  and  Saturday  afternoons  and  eve- 
nings and  soon  outgrew  its  quarters.  In  Au- 
gust of  1923  the  four  small  but  pleasant  rooms 
now  occupied  by  the  Library  were  rented  giv- 
ing it  a  loan  room,  a  reading  room,  a  stock 
room  and  a  children's  room  with  a  small  his- 
torical corner  where  old  and  rare  books,  pic- 
tures, old  deeds  and  manuscripts,  curios  and 
anything  of  historical,  educational  or  general 
interest  is  being  collected. 

Friends  of  the  Library  have  greatly  as- 
sisted the  Library  by  gifts  of  books,  large 
and  small,  and  gifts  of  money,  pictures,  rec- 
ords, etc.  Mrs.  Fredericka  King,  who  is  al- 
ways vitally  interested  in  all  progressive  un- 
dertakings in  the  community,  deeded,  in  mem- 
ory of  her  husband,  the  late  Mr.  F.  M.  King, 
a  lot  in  the  business  section  of  town  for  a 
Library  site — a  most  desirable  location,  as  it 
is  easily  accessible  by  all  of  the  most  active 
centers  of  communal  life  of  the  village  and  is 
located  on  the  state  highway  which  is  the  old 
Cannon  Ball  Route. 

At  present,  November  3,  1931,  the  Library 
possesses  10,515  books,  of  which  the  greater 
percent  are  reference  books,  many  of  which 
are  valuable  standard  works.  There  are  also 
many  pictures,  records  and  pamphlets  of 
value.  The  magazine  department  receives 
fifty-four  art,  historical,  literary,  business, 
story  and  children's  magazines.  All  past 
magazines  are  kept  on  file  and  are  proving 
valuable  reference  material.  The  yearly  loan 
has  passed  the  13,000  mark,  which  places  the 
Augusta  Public  Library  above  the  average  of 
libraries  in  its  class  of  libraries  who  have  less 
than  2,000  population  to  be  served. 

The  present  library  board  consists  of  Mrs. 
M.  J.  Holt,  president,  Mr.  Glenn  Jones,  Mrs. 
S.  E.  McAfee,  Mrs.  Earl  Robison,  Miss  M.  M. 
Swanson  and  Mrs.  Aaron  Weinberg.  The  two 
past  presidents  were  Mr.  George  Catlin  and 
Dr.  A.  F.  Henning.  Miss  Minnie  M.  Swanson, 
librarian,  and  Miss  Luella  A.  Swanson,  assist- 
ant librarian,  who  have  been  active  supporters 
of  the  Library  since  it  was  started,  give  their 
services  that  all  available  funds  may  be  used 
for  the  enlargement  of  the  Library.  Miss 
Ethyl  Bacon  was  the  first  librarian. 

Louis  F.  Swift  in  1903  succeeded  his  father 
as  president  of  Swift  &  Company  and  until  he 
retired  in  1932  had  an  active  part  in  guiding 
the  destinies  of  that  great  Chicago  corporation. 

Mr.  Swift  is  the  oldest  son  of  the  late  Gus- 
tavus  F.  Swift,  founder  of  Swift  &  Company, 
who  from  his  arrival  in  Chicago  in  1875  until 
his  death  in  1903  was  one  of  the  city's  most 
forceful  business  men,  sterling  citizens  and 
philanthropists.       Gustavus    F.     Swift    repre- 


sented old  New  England  ancestry  and  was 
born  at  Sagamore,  Massachusetts,  in  1839, 
representing  the  seventh  generation  in  the 
Swift  family  in  New  England.  The  initial  cap- 
ital on  which  the  business  of  Swift  &  Company 
was  developed  was  twenty  dollars  given  him 
by  his  father.  He  used  this  to  buy  a  heifer 
which  he  killed  and  dressed  and  sold  in  the 
home  neighborhood.  He  soon  had  a  growing 
business,  buying  and  selling  and  slaughtering 
hogs  and  cattle  to  supply  the  residents  of  Cape 
Cod  with  fresh  meat.  In  1872  he  became  mem- 
ber of  a  Boston  firm,  acting  as  its  buyer  of 
cattle  and  hogs.  This  business  took  him  as  far 
west  as  Buffalo,  and  he  soon  realized  the  neces- 
sity of  connecting  himself  with  the  primary 
market  in  Chicago.  Thus  in  1875  he  trans- 
ferred the  cattle  buying  department  of  his 
business  to  the  Chicago  Union  Stock  Yards. 
In  1877  he  entered  the  local  meat  packing  busi- 
ness and  about  the  same  time  he  secured  the 
reluctant  consent  of  a  railroad  company  to 
operate  refrigerator  cars  which  Mr.  Swift  had 
built.  Only  ten  of  these  cars  were  built  and 
put  into  initial  use,  but  during  the  next  quar- 
ter of  a  century  such  cars,  bearing  the  name 
of  Swift  &  Company,  grew  into  the  thousands. 
Soon  after  coming  to  Chicago,  Gustavus  F. 
Swift  brought  his  brother  Edwin  C.  Swift  into 
partnership,  under  the  style  of  Swift  Broth- 
ers, and  in  1885  the  business  was  incorporated 
as  Swift  &  Company. 

Gustavus  F.  Swift  was  one  of  the  original 
subscribers  to  the  fund  for  the  founding  of 
the  University  of  Chicago,  and  in  after  years 
the  Swift  family  have  been  one  of  the  largest 
contributors  to  the  growing  work  of  that  in- 
stitution. The  benefactions  of  the  Swift  fam- 
ily to  Chicago's  education,  religion  and  char- 
ity might  be  continued  indefinitely. 

Louis  F.  Swift,  oldest  son  of  Gustavus  F. 
and  Annie  Maria  (Higgins)  Swift,  was  born 
at  Sagamore,  Massachusetts,  September  27, 
1861,  and  from  early  boyhood  was  educated 
and  trained  with  a  view  to  entering  the  busi- 
ness of  his  father.  On  his  father's  death  in 
1903,  he  became  president  of  Swift  &  Com- 
pany. He  held  that  office  until  1931,  and  for 
another  year  was  chairman  of  the  board.  Mr. 
Louis  F.  Swift  married  Ida  May  Butler. 

John  Henry  Wigmore,  Dean  Emeritus  of 
the  faculty  of  the  Northwestern  University 
Law  School,  has  for  many  years  been  regarded 
both  at  home  and  abroad  as  one  of  the  fore- 
most authorities  on  jurisprudence.  He  has 
achieved  great  eminence  as  a  teacher,  author 
and  editor. 

He  was  born  in  San  Francisco,  California, 
March  4,  1863.  He  completed  the  classical 
course  at  Harvard  University  in  1883,  and  four 
years  later  was  graduated  with  the  degrees  of 
Master  of  Arts  and  Bachelor  of  Laws.  Sev- 
eral institutions  have  since  bestowed  upon  him 
the  honorary  degree  Doctor  of  Laws.     He  be- 


40 


ILLINOIS 


gan  the  practice  of  law  in  Boston,  for  a  time 
was  professor  of  Anglo-American  Law  in  Keio 
University  at  Tokyo,  Japan.  In  1893  he  was 
made  professor  of  law  in  the  faculty  of  North- 
western University  Law  School.  He  served  as 
dean  of  the  faculty  from  1901  to  1929. 

Doctor  Wigmore  was  president  of  the  Amer- 
ican Institute  of  Criminal  Law  and  Crimin- 
ology in  1909-10,  and  in  1916  president  of  the 
American  Association  of  University  Profes- 
sors. In  August,  1916,  he  was  commissioned 
a  member  of  the  staff  of  the  judge  advocate 
general's  department  with  the  rank  of  major, 
and  in  June,  1918,  promoted  to  colonel  and  was 
awarded  the  distinguished  service  medal.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  United  States  section  of 
the  Inter-American  High  Commission  from 
1915  to  1919.  From  1908  to  1924  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Illinois  Commission  on  Uniform 
State  Laws. 

Some  of  the  fruits  of  his  many  years  of 
study  and  research  are  the  following  works: 
Digest  of  the  Decisions  of  the  Massachusetts 
Railroad  Commission,  1888;  The  Australian 
Ballot  System,  1889;  Notes  on  Land  Tenure 
and  Local  Institutions  in  Old  Japan,  1890; 
Materials  for  Study  of  Private  Law  in  Old 
Japan,  1892;  Treatise  on  Evidence,  four  vol- 
umes, 1904-05;  Pocket  Code  of  Evidence,  1909; 
Principals  of  Judicial  Proof,  1913,  and  has  also 
been  editor  of  numerous  standard  works  found 
in  law  libraries. 

Adam  W.  Snyder  was  an  early  comer  to 
Illinois.  He  was  a  protege  of  Jesse  B. 
Thomas,  and  through  Mr.  Thomas  he  became 
a  lawyer.  Earlier  he  was  a  wool  curler,  or 
roll-maker,  in  a  fulling  mill  in  Cahokia,  as 
early  as  1817.  Was  a  member  of  the  Legis- 
lature, and  enlisted  in  the  Black  Hawk  war, 
serving  first  as  adjutant  of  the  First  Regi- 
ment and  later  as  captain  in  Colonel  Fry's 
regiment.  Captain  Snyder  fought  a  battle  in 
the  vicinity  of  Kellogg's  Grove.  After  the 
war  he  was  elected  to  Congress.  He  was  the 
democratic  candidate  for  governor  but  died 
before  the  election  and  Judge  Ford  was  put 
upon  the  ticket  and  was  elected. 

Edward  E.  Ayer,  Chicago  business  man, 
benefactor  of  the  world  of  arts,  anthropology 
and  science,  was  born  at  Kenosha,  Wisconsin, 
November  16,  1841.  His  father,  descended 
from  the  old  New  England  family  of  Ayer, 
went  to  what  is  now  Kenosha  in  1836,  and  in 
1856  acquired  land  in  McHenry.  County,  Illi- 
nois, and  laid  out  and  founded  the  town  of 
Harvard. 

Edward  E.  Ayer  in  1860  crossed  the  plains 
to  the  mining  districts  of  Nevada,  and  to  San 
Francisco,  and  in  the  summer  of  1861  enlisted 
in  the  northern  army  in  California,  being  the 
first  man  sworn  in  on  the  Pacific  Coast  as  a 
member  of  Company  E,  First  California  Cal- 


vary. He  was  in  campaigns  in  the  Southwest, 
among  the  Navajo  Indians  of  California  and 
other  tribes,  and  was  finally  promoted  to  sec- 
ond lieutenant  of  the  First  New  Mexico  Vol- 
unteer Infantry.  He  resigned  his  commission 
at  Fort  Craig,  New  Mexico,  in  May,  1864.  On 
returning  north  he  became  a  partner  in  his 
father's  store  at  Harvard,  but  soon  engaged  in 
contracting,  particularly  in  the  supplying  of 
ties  and  other  timber  to  railroads.  This  de- 
veloped into  the  chief  business  of  his  active 
career.  He  became  widely  known  as  a  railroad 
contractor  and  in  1894  joined  in  the  founding 
of  the  notable  business  known  as  the  Ayer  & 
Lord  Tie  Company  of  Chicago,  probably  the 
largest  concern  of  its  kind  in  the  country.  In 
1900  he  retired  from  active  responsibilities, 
though  he  remained  a  director  in  the  Ayer  & 
Lord  Tie  Company. 

Mr.  Ayer's  early  experience  with  the  wild 
Indians  of  the  West  developed  a  study  and  in- 
terest in  the  American  Aborigines.  About 
1880  he  began  the  systematic  collection  of  ar- 
ticles characteristic  of  the  arts  of  the  wild 
tribes.  The  Ayer  collection  has  long  been  one 
of  the  most  notable  features  of  the  exhibits 
in  the  Field  Museum  of  Chicago.  He  also 
gathered  probably  the  most  extensive  library 
of  works  on  the  American  Indian,  which  he 
donated  to  the  Newberry  Library.  Mr.  Ayer 
served  as  president  of  the  Field  Columbian 
Museum  from  1893  to  1898,  and  after  that  as 
one  of  its  directors.  For  many  years  he  was 
also  a  director  of  the  Newberry  Library,  of  the 
Chicago  Art  Institute,  a  life  member  of  the 
American  Historical  Association.  He  married 
September  5,  1865,  Miss  Emma  Burbank. 

Julia  C.  Lathrop.  When  in  1912  Congress 
provided  for  the  creation  of  a  Children's  Bu- 
reau, which  in  the  following  year  became  a 
bureau  in  the  Department  of  Labor,  in  filling 
the  post  of  chief  of  the  bureau  President  Taft 
conferred  a  worthy  honor  upon  a  distinguished 
humanitarian  and  social  worker  of  Illinois, 
Julia  C.  Lathrop. 

Miss  Lathrop,  who  died  April  15,  1932,  was 
born  at  Rockford,  Illinois,  in  1858.  She  was  a 
contemporary  and  for  many  years  a  close  asso- 
ciate of  Jane  Addams.  Miss  Lathrop  like  Miss 
Addams  attended  Rockford  College.  In  1880 
she  graduated  from  Vassar  College.  In  1893 
Miss  Lathrop  was  made  a  member  of  the  Illi- 
nois State  Board  of  Charities,  and  served  on 
that  body  altogether  for  twelve  years.  From 
1899  much  of  her  time  except  while  in  Wash- 
ington was  spent  as  a  volunteer  resident  at 
Hull  House  in  Chicago.  Miss  Lathrop  made  a 
special  study  of  the  care  of  the  insane,  and 
was  in  many  ways  the  outstanding  authority 
on  children's  welfare  and  on  the  subject  of 
laws  providing  for  the  care  of  juvenile  delin- 
quents. She  was  the  author  of  many  reports 
and  articles  on  these  subjects. 


V 


ILLINOIS 


41 


Vincent  Bendix,  one  of  the  men  who  have 
contributed  in  large  measure  to  the  advance- 
ment of  automotive  technique  in  recent  years, 
is  both  a  native  of  Illinois  and  during  the 
greater  part  of  his  active  business  career  has 
been  a  resident  of  Chicago. 

He  was  born  at  Moline,  in  1881.  His  father 
was  a  minister  of  the  Gospel.  Vincent  ran 
away  from  home  when  sixteen  years  of  age, 
and  went  to  New  York  City,  where  he  first 
took  up  railroad  work.  He  was  fascinated 
by  the  automobile  as  soon  as  it  became  popu- 
lar, and  for  years  he  studied  and  experimented 
in  the  effort  to  solve  one  of  the  most  difficult 
problems  in  the  way  of  making  the  automobile 
capable  of  universal  use.  This  was  the  prob- 
lem of  the  electric  self  starter.  The  name 
Bendix  is  almost  a  common  noun  in  the  de- 
scriptive catalogues  of  automobile  accessories. 

Mr.  Bendix  is  president  and  manager  of 
the  Bendix  Corporation  and  of  the  Bendix 
Brake  Company,  manufacturers  of  starters 
and  brakes  for  automobiles,  and  is  also  presi- 
dent of  the  Bendix  Aviation  Corporation. 

William  J.  Tuohy  represents  the  third  gen- 
eration of  a  pioneer  Chicago  family.  The 
Tuohy's  came  from  Ireland  more  than  eighty 
years  ago,  and  members  of  the  family  in  its 
different  branches  have  had  many  prominent 
relations  with  the  city.  Mr.  William  J.  Tuohy 
is  a  former  assistant  corporation  counsel  of 
Chicago  and  is  now  engaged  in  private  prac- 
tice. 

He  was  born  at  Bloomington,  Illinois,  March 
23,  1897.  His  grandparents  were  natives  of 
County  Limerick,  Ireland,  and  settled  in  Chi- 
cago about  1848.  Mr.  Tuohy's  parents  were 
Daniel  S.  and  Julia  (Marshall)  Tuohy.  His 
father  was  born  in  old  Saint  Patrick's  Parish 
in  Chicago,  in  1857.  During  the  '80s  he  moved 
his  family  from  Chicago  to  Bloomington.  Wil- 
liam J.  Tuohy  grew  up  at  Bloomington,  at- 
tended public  and  parochial  schools  there,  and 
in  1918  Columbia  College  of  Dubuque,  Iowa, 
awarded  him  the  A.  B.  degree.  Before  he 
had  formally  graduated  he  left  school  to  enlist 
for  service  in  the  World  war.  He  was  a  private 
in  the  infantry  in  the  Eighty-eighth  Division, 
receiving  his  training  at  Camp  Dodge,  Iowa. 

Mr.  Tuohy  after  his  army  service  applied 
himself  to  the  study  of  law.  He  attended  the 
law  department  of  the  University  of  Chicago, 
and  later  the  law  department  of  Illinois  Wes- 
leyan  University.  The  training  which  he  has 
regarded  as  of  the  highest  practical  value  to 
him  in  his  career  was  that  acquired  in  the 
offices  of  the  venerable  Joseph  Fifer  of  Bloom- 
ington, one  of  Illinois'  most  distinguished  citi- 
zens, former  governor,  and  for  over  half  a 
century  a  great  lawyer.  Mr.  Tuohy  was  an 
associate  in  the  offices  of  Governor  Fifer  for 
three  years,  from  1922  to  1925. 

Mr.  Tuohy  came  to  Chicago  in  1925  and 
has  made  rapid  progress  to  success  in  the  city 
where  his  family  were  pioneers.    He  served  as 


assistant  corporation  counsel  from  1925  to 
1927.  In  that  office  he  had  charge  of  matters 
relating  especially  to  public  utilities.  This 
has  been  the  branch  of  the  law  in  which  he 
has  specialized.  He  is  now  associated  with 
Mr.  Patrick  J.  Lucey,  former  attorney  general 
of  Illinois,  with  offices  at  10  South  LaSalle 
Street. 

Mr.  Tuohy  is  a  resident  of  Rogers  Park.  He 
is  active  in  the  civic  life  of  his  community 
and  is  one  of  the  Democratic  party  leaders  in 
the  Forty-ninth  Ward.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  American  Legion.  His  home  is  at  1100  Co- 
lumbia Avenue.  Mr.  Tuohy  married  Miss 
Helen  O'Connor,  of  Bloomington.  They  have 
two  children,  Alice   Clare  and   Patrick. 

Mildred  Jeffress  Bunn,  of  1660  Leland 
Avenue,  Springfield,  has  the  heavy  business 
responsibility  of  looking  after  the  estate  of 
her  late  husband,  Jacob  Bunn,  who  passed 
away  May  10,  1926.  He  had  for  many  years 
been  one  of  the  most  active  and  wealthiest 
business  men   of   Springfield. 

He  was  a  son  of  Jacob  Bunn,  Sr.,  who  was 
born  in  New  Jersey,  in  1814,  and  came  to 
Springfield  in  1836.  In  1840  he  set  up  in 
business  as  a  grocery  merchant,  and  at  an 
early  date  became  a  stockholder  in  the  Spring- 
field Watch  Company.  In  1879  that  business 
was  reorganized  as  the  Illinois  Watch  Com- 
pany, and  he  was  its  president  until  his  death 
in  1897.  He  was  also  president  of  the  Marine 
Bank  of  Springfield.  Jacob  Bunn,  Sr.,  married 
in  1851  Elizabeth  Ferguson,  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 

Jacob  Bunn,  Jr.,  was  one  of  a  family  of 
seven  children  and  was  born  October  21,  1864, 
at  Springfield  and  passed  away  May  10,  1926. 
He  was  president  of  the  Illinois  Watch  Com- 
pany and  was  a  leader  in  politics  and  public 
affairs.  He  was  also  president  of  the  Marine 
Bank  and  the  Sangamon  Electric  Company. 
He  attended  the  National  Republican  Conven- 
tion at  Cleveland  in  1924.  He  had  been  lib- 
erally educated,  and  was  a  man  of  thorough 
culture  and  gave  liberally  to  many  civic  and 
charitable  undertakings.  During  his  lifetime 
he  built  the  beautiful  home  at  1660  Leland 
Avenue  and  he  and  his  family  have  occupied 
it    from    1917. 

Mildred  Jeffress  Bunn  was  born  at  Edwards- 
ville,  a  daughter  of  Edward  Jordan  and  Mel- 
vina  (Dugger)  Jeffress.  Her  father  was  a 
native  of  Virginia  and  her  mother  of  Illinois, 
and  they  were  married  at  Edwardsville.  Her 
father  died  in  1924  and  her  mother  in  1915, 
Mrs.  Bunn  being  the  youngest  of  five  children. 
Her  father  was  a  farmer  and  grain  dealer, 
being  one  of  the  extensive  land  owners  in 
Madison  County,  Illinois.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Christian  Church  and  a  Prohibitionist 
in  politics. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bunn  were  married  October 
25,  1913.  She  has  three  children.  Jacob,  born 
September  9,   1914,   and  Henry,  born  August 


42 


ILLINOIS 


28,  1916,  both  attended  the  Choate  School  at 
Wallingford,  Connecticut.  Jacob  is  now  in 
the  Valley  Ranch  School  at  Cody,  Wyoming, 
and  Henry  is  at  the  Lawrenceville  Preparatory 
School  at  Lawrenceville,  New  Jersey.  Mildred 
was  born  April  6,  1924.  Mrs.  Bunn  is  a  direc- 
tor of  the  Sangamon  Electric  Company. 

Lucius  Teter,  who  was  president  of  the  Chi- 
cago Association  of  Commerce  in  1918,  has 
been  a  Chicago  banker  for  forty  years.  He 
was  born  in  Bowling  Green,  Indiana,  Septem- 
ber 23,  1873,  and  was  nineteen  years  old  when 
in  1893  he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Conti- 
nental National  Bank  of  Chicago.  In  1902  he 
was  one  of  the  men  who  organized  the  Chicago 
Trust  Company,  of  which  he  was  cashier,  vice 
president,  president  and  chairman  of  the  board 
during  the  following  thirty  years.  Mr.  Teter 
is  chairman  of  the  board  of  Baird  and  Warner 
Corporation. 

In  1907  he  was  president  of  the  savings  bank 
section  of  the  American  Bankers  Association, 
and  in  1920  president  of  the  Trust  Company's 
section.  He  has  been  president  of  the  Eco- 
nomic Club  of  Chicago,  of  the  Chicago  Athletic 
Club,  and  for  many  years  was  president  of  the 
Infant  Welfare  Society  of  Chicago.  He  mar- 
ried in  1900  Clara  Hahn  Lodor. 

Clifford  W.  Barnes,  founder  and  president 
of  the  Chicago  Evening  Club,  is  a  man  whose 
name  would  be  readily  connected  by  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  citizens  throughout  the  Mid- 
dle West  with  that  organization.  However, 
in  Chicago,  where  he  has  lived  for  forty 
years,  his  service  record  embraces  a  score 
or  more  of  worthy  activities  in  the  fields  of 
religion,  education,  social  work  and  business. 

He  was  born  at  Corry,  Pennsylvania,  Oc- 
tober 8,  1864,  took  the  Bachelor's  degree  at 
Yale  University  in  1889  and  the  Bachelor's 
degree  in  Divinity  in  1892.  During  the  first 
year  he  was  in  Chicago  he  took  work  at  the 
University  of  Chicago  and  gained  the  Mas- 
ter's degree  in  1893.  Mr.  Barnes  was  a  resi- 
dent worker  in  the  Hull  House  Social  Settle- 
ment and  from  1894  to  1897  was  pastor  of  a 
Chicago  church.  During  1898-99  he  was  di- 
rector of  the  Student  Christian  Movement  at 
Paris,  France,"  and  at  the  same  time  acting 
president  of  the  American  Art  Association 
in  Paris.  He  was  instructor  in  sociology  and 
director  of  the  university  settlement  work  at 
the  University  of  Chicago  in  1899-1900.  From 
1900  to  1905  Mr.  Barnes  was  president  of  Illi- 
nois College  at  Jacksonville,  one  of  the  old- 
est institutions  of  higher  learning  in  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley.  He  left  there  to  become  gen- 
eral secretary  of  the  Religious  Education  As- 
sociation of  America,  and  during  1906-07  was 
in  Europe  as  a  special  commissioner  to  in- 
vestigate moral  and  religious  training  in 
schools.  In  1907  he  became  honorary  secre- 
tary and  chairman  of  the  executive  committee 


of  the  international  committee  on  moral  train- 
ing. Mr.  Barnes  founded  the  Chicago  Sunday 
Evening  Club  in  1908. 

His  name  has  been  closely  associated  with 
organizations  for  better  government  as  well 
as  moral  reform.  He  served  as  chairman  of 
the  executive  committee  of  the  Legislative 
Voters  League  from  1907  to  1924,  and  dur- 
ing most  of  that  time  was  its  president.  In 
1908  he  founded  and  became  president  of  the 
Committee  of  Fifteen.  Since  1915  he  has  been 
chairman  of  the  Chicago  Community  Trust, 
is  a  former  president  of  the  Chicago  Church 
Federation,  former  vice  president  of  the  Chi- 
cago Association  of  Commerce,  in  1931  was 
made  vice  president  of  the  executive  and  budg- 
et committee  of  the  Joint  Emergency  Relief 
Fund  of  Cook  County.  Mr.  Barnes  is  honored 
both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  several  foreign 
governments  have  given  him  orders  and 
decorations. 

Frederick  A.  Stock,  conductor  of  the  Chi- 
cago Symphony  Orchestra,  has  been  identified 
with  that  organization  continuously  since  1895. 
Doctor  Stock  was  born  at  Julich,  Germany, 
November  11,  1872,  and  acquired  his  early  mu- 
sical education  at  Cologne.  When  he  came  to 
Chicago  in  1895  he  entered  the  ranks  of  the 
Chicago  Orchestra  as  a  viola  player.  Theodore 
Thomas,  the  conductor,  did  much  to  encourage 
his  evident  genius,  and  for  several  years  he 
was  assistant  conductor  under  Mr.  Thomas. 
On  the  death  of  that  renouned  musician  in 
1905,  Mr.  Stock  was  chosen  as  director  of  the 
Theodore  Thomas  Orchestra,  which  subse- 
quently became  the  Chicago  Symphony  Or- 
chestra. 

Doctor  Stock  has  composed  many  major  and 
minor  works  for  symphony  orchestras  and 
other  compositions.  Doctor  Stock  has  been 
chosen  as  the  general  supervisor  and  director 
of  orchestral  music  for  the  Chicago  Century 
of  Progress  Exposition. 

Edward  A.  Cudahy  was  born  at  Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin,  on  February  1,  1860,  the  youngest 
of  five  sons  of  Patrick  and  Elizabeth  Shaw 
Cudahy,  natives  of  Ireland,  who  settled  in 
Milwaukee  in  1842.  At  the  age  of  thirteen 
Edward  left  school  and  began  his  packing 
career  with  the  John  Plankinton  Company, 
one  of  the  earlier  firms  of  that  city.  After 
four  years'  service  with  the  Plankinton 
Company  he  came  to  Chicago,  where  he  en- 
tered the  employ  of  Armour  &  Company,  in 
which  firm  his  brother  Michael  was  a  partner. 

After  ten  years'  service  in  the  Armour 
Chicago  plant  Edward  Cudahy  in  association 
with  his  brother  and  Phillip  D.  Armour  or- 
ganized the  Armour-Cudahy  Packing  Com- 
pany at  South  Omaha,  Nebraska,  and  bought 
the  packing  house  which  had  been  built  in  that 
city  by  Thomas  Lipton,  afterwards  interna- 
tionally famous  as  a  yachtsman.     Thus,  four- 


ILLINOIS 


43 


teen  years  after  beginning  his  career  in  the 
packing  industry  as  a  boy,  Edward  Cudahy 
had  become  a  leader  of  an  important  unit  of 
the  packing  industry.  In  1890  the  Cudahys 
bought  the  Armour  interests  in  the  South 
Omaha  plant  and  organized  The  Cudahy  Pack- 
ing Company,  with  Michael  Cudahy  as  presi- 
dent and  Edward  A.  Cudahy  as  vice  president 
and  general  manager. 

Mr.  Cudahy's  biography  is  written  in  his 
achievements.  Under  the  inspiration  of  his 
leadership  and  that  of  his  brother  his  com- 
pany developed  from  a  comparatively  insigni- 
ficant institution  operating  one  packing  house 
and  a  few  distributive  branches  to  one  of  the 
largest  industries  of  its  kind  in  the  world, 
with  producing  and  distributing  units  through- 
out the  United  States,  foreign  connections  in 
Central  and  South  America,  the  West  Indies, 
Europe  and  Australia. 

On  the  death  of  his  brother  Michael  in  1910 
Edward  Cudahy  became  president  of  his  com- 
pany and  served  in  that  capacity  until  Janu- 
ary, 1926,  when  he  retired  in  favor  of  his  son 
Edward  A.  Cudahy,  Jr.,  to  become  chairman 
of  the  board.  In  1884  Mr.  Cudahy  married 
Miss  Elizabeth  Murphy,  of  Milwaukee.  Be- 
sides their  son  Edward  A.  Cudahy,  Jr.,  their 
family  consists  of  four  daughters,  Helen,  Flor- 
ence, Alice  and  Eugenia. 

As  a  founder  and  a  guiding  spirit  of  his 
company  Mr.  Cudahy  has  achieved  a  high 
place  in  the  history  of  American  industrial 
and  commercial  accomplishment.  Among  the 
members  of  his  own  organization,  many  of 
whom  have  been  in  the  service  of  the  company 
almost  since  its  inception,  he  is  known  for 
his  kindly  nature,  his  humanity  and  his 
loyalty  to  the  men  who  have  worked  with  him 
in  building  up  the  establishment  that  bears 
his  name. 

Edward  A.  Cudahy,  Jr.,  succeeded  his 
father  as  president  of  The  Cudahy  Packing 
Company  in  January,  1926.  The  younger 
Cudahy  began  his  career  in  the  packing  in- 
dustry as  a  youth.  Under  the  tutelage  of  his 
father  he  received  a  thorough  training  in  the 
fundamentals  of  the  business.  Through  actual 
experience  he  became  versed  in  the  intrica- 
cies of  live  stock  buying,  the  production  and 
merchandising  of  meats  and  allied  commodi- 
ties and  in  packing  industry  finance,  so  that 
when  he  was  called  to  the  presidency  of  his 
company  he  was  adequately  equipped  to  as- 
sume the  responsibilities  of  that  position. 

With  E.  A.  Cudahy,  Jr.,  as  president  The 
Cudahy  Packing  Company  has  continued  to  de- 
velop and  has  maintained  its  place  as  one  of 
the  largest  establishments  of  its  character. 
Apart  from  his  accomplishments  as  a  business 
executive  Mr.  Cudahy  has  distinguished  him- 
self in  promoting  the  interests  of  the  com- 
pany's employees.  At  his  personal  direction 
numerous  welfare  plans,  including  insurance, 
recreation,    education,    health    and    employee 


conference  boards  which  deal  with  the  man- 
agement of  the  company  on  all  points  of  mu- 
tual interest,  have  been  initiated  and  main- 
tained to  the  lasting  advantage  of  all  con- 
cerned. 

Notwithstanding  his  heavy  burdens  as  a 
leader  of  a  great  business  institution  Mr. 
Cudahy,  an  ardent  sportsman,  is  a  close  fol- 
lower of  boxing  and  all  other  forms  of  ath- 
letics. With  his  wife,  who  was  Miss  Margaret 
Carry,  of  Chicago,  and  their  three  children  he 
lives  in  Lake  Forest,  Illinois,  where  with 
other  members  of  the  family  the  younger 
Cudahys  hold  a  prominent  place  in  the  social 
life  of  the  city. 

John  D.  Hertz,  founder  of  the  Yellow  Cab 
Company,  has  lived  in  Chicago  since  boyhood, 
but  was  born  in  what  is  now  Czecho-Slovakia, 
April  10,  1879.  At  one  time  Mr.  Hertz  was 
sporting  editor  for  the  old  Chicago  Record. 
His  organizing  genius  led  him  to  bring  order 
out  of  chaos  of  the  local  transportation  sys- 
tem, consisting  of  a  motley  array  of  horse- 
drawn  vehicles  and  taxicabs,  and  in  1915  he 
founded  the  Yellow  Cab  Company,  which  from 
the  first  emphasized  a  standard  of  service  and 
equipment  which  won  the  patronage  of  the 
public  until  the  company  had  thousands  of 
their  distinctive  cabs  in  operation  on  the 
streets  of  Chicago.  Then,  in  1922,  Mr.  Hertz 
organized  the  Chicago  Motor  Coach  Company, 
and  in  1924  established  the  Omnibus  Cor- 
poration of  America  through  the  merger  of 
the  Fifth  Avenue  Coach  Company  and  the 
Chicago  Motor  Coach  Company.  He  is  now 
chairman  of  the  board  of  the  Omnibus  Cor- 
poration of  America.  From  the  operation  of 
a  system  of  taxicabs  and  motor  buses  in  lead- 
ing cities  of  the  country,  he  also  turned  to 
the  manufacturing  side,  effecting  a  merger 
of  the  Yellow  Cab  Manufacturing  Company 
and  the  General  Motors  Truck  Division. 

As  a  man  of  wealth  and  business-  prom- 
inence Mr.  Hertz  has  been  a  generous  patron 
of  sports.  He  has  helped  build  up  racing  in 
and  around  Chicago,  and  his  own  stables  at 
his  farm  have  contained  some  of  the  fastest 
horses  in  America.  Another  diversion  of  his 
interest  has  been  in  the  motion  picture  field. 
He  became  chairman  of  the  finance  committee 
of  the  Paramount  Public  Corporation.  He  is 
a  member  of  many  clubs  in  Chicago  and  else- 
where. Mr.  Hertz  married,  July  15,  1903, 
Miss  Frances  Kesner,  of  Chicago. 

Andrew  MacLeish,  who  was  the  founder  of 
the  retail  business  of  Carson,  Pirie,  Scott  & 
Company  at  Chicago,  was  born  at  Glasgow, 
Scotland,  June  28,  1838.  His  parents  gave  him 
a  thorough  academic  education  and  at  the  age 
of  seventeen  he  began  his  apprenticeship  as  a 
merchant.  In  1857  he  arrived  in  Chicago, 
spending  the  first  six  years  as  an  employee  and 
in  1864  was  made  a  member  of  the  dry  goods 
firm  of  J.  B.  Shay  &  Company.    In  1867  he  be- 


44 


ILLINOIS 


came  associated  wth  Carson,  Pirie,  Scott  & 
Company,  and  after  founding  the  retail  store 
continued  as  its  active  manager  for  over  forty 
years.  Mr.  MacLeish  was  vice  president  of  the 
board  of  trustees  of  the  University  of  Chicago 
and  trustee  of  the  Rush  Medical  College,  and 
of  the  Chicago  Manual  Training  School.  His 
son,  Bruce  MacLeish,  since  1919  has  been  sec- 
retary of  Carson,  Pirie,  Scott  &  Company.  An- 
other son,  Archibald,  has  won  distinction  in  the 
field  of  literature,  particularly  as  a  poet. 

Herman  A.  Eisenmayer,  postmaster  of 
Trenton,  represents  one  of  the  old  and  sub- 
stantial families  of  Southern  Illinois. 

He  was  born  at  Trenton,  February  22,  1880. 
His  grandfather,  Andrew  Eisenmayer,  was 
born  in  Germany.  He  left  the  fatherland  at 
the  age  of  eighteen,  and  on  arriving  in  the 
United  States  worked  for  a  short  time  on  a 
plantation  in  Louisiana  and  then  came  up  the 
Mississippi  River  and  settled  at  Mascoutah, 
Illinois.  In  order  to  get  a  start  he  worked  as 
a  teamster  and  in  a  mill,  and  later  became 
one  of  the  pioneer  millers  of  Trenton  County. 
He  also  conducted  a  general  grain  business. 
Andrew  Eisenmayer  married  Christine  Sauter. 

John  C.  Eisenmayer,  father  of  the  Trenton 
postmaster,  was  born  at  Mascoutah,  Washing- 
ton County,  Illinois,  and  completed  his  edu- 
cation at  McKendree  College,  where  he  was 
a  schoolmate  of  Senator  Deneen.  Later  for 
a  number  of  years  he  was  a  member  of  the 
board  of  trustees  of  the  college.  He  had  his 
early  training  in  the  milling  business  with 
his  father  and  was  a  dealer  in  grain  and 
for  many  years  an  official  of  the  State  Na- 
tional Bank,  until  his  death.  He  was  one 
of  the  organizers  of  the  Trenton  Mills  and 
one  of  the  outstanding  business  men  of  this 
section.  He  was  an  active  Methodist,  served 
as  church  treasurer  and  trustee,  and  was 
treasurer  of  his  school  district.  John  C.  Ei- 
senmayer married  Gussie  Steinmetz,  and  they 
had  a  family  of  five  children:  C.  W.  Eisen- 
mayer; Herman  A.;  Homer  C;  August;  and 
Amelia,  wife  of  James  Henry. 

Herman  A.  Eisenmayer  after  graduating 
from  high  school  spent  two  years  in  McKen- 
dree College  at  Lebanon.  He  had  two  years 
of  experience  as  an  electrical  worker  at  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  later  was  in  the  milling  business 
at  Springfield,  Missouri,  and  after  the  death 
of  his  father  he  took  over  the  management 
of  the  farms  and  other  properties.  He  has 
been  prominent  in  Republican  politics,  serving 
as  state  and  county  committeeman,  has  been 
president  of  the  Community  High  School  board 
at  Trenton,  is  a  member  of  Trenton  Lodge 
No.  109,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  and  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church. 

Mr.  Eisenmayer  married  Ina  Leonhard, 
daughter  of  Frank  and  Elizabeth  (Emig) 
Leonhard.  Her  father  was  a  merchant  at 
Trenton.    The  children  in  the  Leonhard  family 


were:  Adolph,  Lewis,  Edwin,  Elmer,  Kathryn, 
Arnold  and  Mrs.  Eisenmayer.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Eisenmayer  have  two  children:  Allan  L.,  who 
graduated  from  high  school  in  1932;  and  John 
K.,  who  is  in  the  public  schools. 

Judge  Mary  M.  Bartelme,  one  of  Illinois' 
women  most  distinguished  in  her  profession 
and  in  the  broad  realm  of  social  service,  is  a 
native  of  Chicago  and  took  her  law  degree  at 
Northwestern  University  Law  School  in  1894. 
In  her  practice  she  early  became  interested  in 
juvenile  cases,  and  on  March  3,  1913,  Judge 
Pinckney  of  the  Juvenile  Court  appointed  her 
as  his  assistant  to  try  the  cases  of  delinquent 
girls.  For  sixteen  years  under  appointment  by 
successive  governors  she  served  as  public 
guardian  of  Cook  County.  On  November  6, 
1923,  she  was  elected  a  judge  of  the  Circuit 
Court  and  in  1927  was  reelected  for  a  term  of 
six  years.  Her  judicial  assignments  have  been 
in  the  juvenile  court  division. 

George  Walter  Underwood  has  been  a 
member  of  the  Illinois  bar  since  1887  and 
has  made  a  long  and  commendable  record 
in  his  profession  at  Chicago.  He  has  held  a 
number  of  important  public  offices,  and  sup- 
plemented his  professional  knowledge  by  ex- 
tensive excursions  into  the  field  of  general 
literature  and  culture. 

Mr.  Underwood  was  born  at  Belleville,  St. 
Clair  County,  Illinois,  September  22,  1860, 
and  represents  an  old  and  prominent  family 
of  Southern  Illinois.  His  parents  were  Jos- 
eph Brown  and  Mary  Letitia  (McKee)  Under- 
wood. His  father  was  also  an  Illinois  lawyer, 
and  served  as  the  first  mayor  of  Belleville 
and  as  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Legislature. 
Mr.  Underwood's  uncle,  William  H.  Under- 
wood, was  one  of  the  luminaries  of  the  Illinois 
bar  during  the  middle  of  the  past  century. 
He  served  for  eight  years  in  the  State  Senate, 
for  six  years  was  circuit  judge,  was  a  member 
of  the  Illinois  Constitutional  Convention  of 
1870,  when  the  present  organic  law  was 
framed,  and  is  also  remembered  for  his  anno- 
tations of  the  Illinois  Statutes. 

George  Walter  Underwood  was  brought  to 
Chicago  by  his  parents  in  1867.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools,  and  spent  five 
years  of  his  early  manhood  with  two  of  Chi- 
cago's old  real  estate  organizations,  the  E.  A. 
Cummings  &  Company  and  William  Hale 
Thompson,  Sr.  In  1887  he  was  admitted  to 
the  Illinois  bar.  Subsequently  he  completed 
his  legal  training  at  the  Chicago  Law  School, 
where  he  took  his  LL.  B.  degree  in  1901. 
He  organized  the  law  firm  of  Underwood, 
Harding  &  Manning,  and  later  Underwood, 
Manning  &  Treacy.  After  the  death  of  Mr. 
Manning  the  firm  became  Underwood,  Ste- 
vens &  Timm.  Mr.  Underwood  still  con- 
tinues in  the  general  practice  of  the  law,  with 
offices  at  30  North  LaSalle  Street.     Between 


...■;.....  ;:   :.;  ■■:.  .......  ..:.    .  ::.-.:-.:. 


CJb^o4  V\,  tO^to^M 


ILLINOIS 


45 


1894  and  1906  he  served  six  years  as  a  police 
justice,  under  the  system  of  minor  courts 
superseded  by  the  Municipal  Court  system. 
As  a  police  justice  some  notable  cases  were 
brought  before  him,  including  a  case  against 
the  owners  of  the  Iroquois  Theater  growing 
out  of  the  fire,  on  a  charge  of  manslaughter, 
the  Muscagni  case,  and  the  Brandenburg  forg- 
ery case.  Mr.  Underwood  was  an  assistant 
state's  attorney  of  Cook  County  from  1908  to 
1910.  During  that  time  he  had  sole  charge  of 
the  indictment  department  and  grand  jury. 
He  was  for  several  years  village  attorney  for 
the  village  of  Elmwood  Park,  and  success- 
fully withstood  an  attack  upon  its  charter. 
He  is  president  for  1932  of  the  Chicago  Law 
Institute  and  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
and  Illinois  Bar  Associations.  During  the 
World  war  he  was  designated  at  Washington 
by  President  Wilson  and  acted  as  member 
of  the  Legal  Advisory  Draft  Board  Division 
No.  2,  at  Mosely  School  in  Chicago.  He  has 
contributed  articles  on  current  topics  to  the 
Hamiltonian,  articles  on  war,  death  and  life 
thereafter  to  London  Light,  has  been  a  con- 
tributor to  the  Chicago  Law  Bulletin  and 
the  Chicago  Daily  News  on  questions  of  adop- 
tion of  the  Municipal  Court  act,  legal  prac- 
tice and  procedure,  and  against  abolishing  the 
grand  jury  system. 

Mr.  Underwood  has  been  a  delegate  to  many 
Republican  conventions  and  for  many  years 
was  a  member  of  the  executive  committee 
of  his  home  ward  organization.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  National  Geographic  Society, 
the  American  Society  for  Practical  Research, 
Illinois  Historical  Society,  and  is  a  Knight 
Templar  Mason  and  Shriner.  He  is  one  of 
the  charter  members  and  a  life  member  of  the 
Hamilton  Club.  He  married,  February  3, 
1892,  May  Terhune,  of  Chicago.  Their  three 
children  were  George  W.,  Jr.,  deceased,  Mae 
T.,  now  Mrs.  T.  Hansen,  and  William  Edward. 

William  Penn  Nixon,  for  many  years 
associated  with  the  Chicago  Inter-Ocean,  was 
born  in  Wayne  County,  Indiana,  March  19, 
1833.  He  graduated  in  law  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania  in  1859,  practiced  at 
Cincinnati  for  several  years,  and  was  business 
manager  of  the  Cincinnati  Chronicle  from 
1868  to  1872.  In  1872  he  took  the  business 
management  of  the  Chicago  Inter-Ocean, 
which  had  only  recently  been  established.  His 
associate  in  journalism  in  Cincinnati  had  been 
his  brother,  Dr.  0.  W.  Nixon,  and  Doctor 
Nixon,  in  1875,  also  became  interested  in  the 
Inter-Ocean.  The  brothers  acquired  control 
of  the  property  and  William  P.  Nixon  was  its 
editor-in-chief  during  the  years  the  Inter- 
Ocean  enjoyed  a  prosperity  and  influence  that 
gave  it  rank  as  one  of  the  great  newspapers 
of  the  country.  William  P.  Nixon  was  at  one 
time  president  of  the  Lincoln  Park  Board,  and 
served  two  terms  as  collector  of  court  of 
Chicago. 


Col.  Edward  Norris  Wentworth.  In  Chi- 
cago's famous  Stock  Yards,  and,  indeed,  in 
live  stock  circles  throughout  the  country,  no 
man  is  more  highly  esteemed  for  knowledge 
of  his  calling,  integrity  in  his  dealings  and 
all-around  good  citizenship  than  Col.  Edward 
Norris  Wentworth,  director  of  the  Live  Stock 
Bureau  of  Armour  &  Company. 

Born  at  Dover,  New  Hampshire,  January 
11,  1887,  a  son  of  Elmer  Marston  and  Eliza- 
beth Tilton  (Towne)  Wentworth,  he  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  famous  Wentworth  family  whose 
name  is  inseparably  linked  with  the  history 
of  Chicago  through  John  Wentworth.  The 
latter,  a  native  of  Sandwich,  New  Hampshire, 
came  to  Chicago  in  1836  as  a  young  Dart- 
mouth College  graduate,  and  entered  upon  a 
career  as  editor,  Congressman  and  mayor  that 
stands  out  as  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
and  eventful  ones  in  the  annals  of  the  city. 

John  Wentworth  was  descended  from  Eze- 
kiel  Wentworth,  while  Col.  Edward  N.  Went- 
worth is  descended  from  Ephraim  Wentworth, 
a  brother  of  Ezekiel,  these  brothers  being  the 
sons  of  Elder  William  Wentworth,  who  was 
the  founder  of  the  family  in  America.  Elder 
William  Wentworth  was  born  in  England  and 
came  to  America  some  time  during  the  1620s, 
settling  first  in  Massachusetts,  where  there 
is  a  record  of  his  having  received  deeds  to 
Indian  lands  in  1629.  The  Wentworth  clan 
was  powerful  in  England  as  far  back  as  1066, 
and  in  this  country  members  of  the  family 
were  prominent  in  Colonial  and  Revolutionary 
history.  One  of  the  early  ancestors,  John 
Wentworth,  represented  the  British  Crown  as 
lieutenant-governor  of  Massachusetts  and  as 
governor  of  New  Hampshire.  His  son,  Ben- 
ning  Wentworth,  for  whom  the  City  of  Ben- 
nington, Vermont,  was  named,  was  Royal  gov- 
ernor of  New  Hampshire  from  1740  to  1767, 
and  donated  the  500  acres  of  land,  upon  which 
Dartmouth  College  was  originally  built.  Sir 
John  Wentworth,  a  nephew  of  the  John  Went- 
worth mentioned  above,  was  graduated  from 
Harvard  University  in  1755  and  later  was 
made  Crown  Governor  of  New  Hampshire  to 
succeed  Benning  Wentworth.  He  provided  one 
of  the  endowment  funds  for  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege, and,  remaining  a  Royalist,  during  the 
War  of  the  Revolution  was  appointed  governor 
of  Nova  Scotia.  However,  the  Wentworths 
who  joined  the  patriot  cause  during  the  Revo- 
lutionary days  were  numerous,  and  Colonel 
Wentworth  of  this  review  had  five  paternal 
ancestors  in  the  war  as  soldiers,  while  on  the 
maternal  side,  the  Townes,  there  were  six. 
Many  of  both  of  these  families  also  fought 
bravely  in  the  earlier  Colonial  wars. 

The  father  of  Colonel  Wentworth,  Elmer 
Marston  Wentworth,  came  to  the  West  from 
New  Hampshire  with  his  family  and  located 
temporarily  at  Chicago  in  1893,  the  year  of 
the  Columbian  Exposition,  better  known  as 
the  World's  Fair.  He  had  a  home  at  6815 
Calumet   Avenue,   on   what   was   then   mostly 


46 


ILLINOIS 


prairie  land.  He  was  traffic  representative 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  and  his  busi- 
ness connection  in  this  direction  caused  him 
to  move  in  1894  to  Iowa,  where  his  first  home 
was  at  Marshalltown.  About  two  and  one-half 
years  later  he  took  his  family  to  State  Center, 
where  he  established  a  dairy  herd  and  became 
one  of  the  leading  citizens  and  business  men 
of  his  community.  He  served  as  president 
of  the  Iowa  Live  Stock  Breeders'  Association 
and  of  the  Iowa  State  Fair.  For  many  years 
he  was  a  prominent  and  influential  figure  in 
Iowa  state  politics  as  a  Republican,  and  was 
an  active  factor  in  the  movement  that  caused 
the  election  of  Albert  B.  Cummins  as  governor 
and  Jonathan  Dolliver  as  United  States 
senator. 

Edward  Norris  Wentworth  received  his  for- 
mal education  in  the  public  schools  and  at 
the  Iowa  State  College  of  Agriculture  and 
Mechanic  Arts,  from  which  he  was  graduated 
with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  in 
agriculture,  followed  by  the  degree  of  Master 
of  Science.  After  this  he  had  post-graduate 
courses  at  Cornell  and  Harvard  universities, 
in  addition  to  which  he  had  an  extended  aca- 
demic career.  In  1907  he  became  assistant 
professor  of  animal  industry  in  Iowa  State 
College,  and  in  1909  became  associate  professor 
of  the  same,  a  seat  which  he  held  until  1913. 
In  the  latter  year  he  came  to  Chicago  to 
become  professor  of  zootechny  in  the  Chicago 
Veterinary  College,  remaining  until  1914,  and 
during  this  period  was  also  associate  editor 
of  the  Breeders  Gazette.  In  1914  Colonel 
Wentworth  went  to  the  Kansas  State  Agri- 
cultural College,  at  Manhattan,  Kansas,  where 
he  was  professor  of  animal  breeding  until 
1917. 

Volunteering  for  service  in  the  World  war, 
in  April,  1917,  Colonel  Wentworth  went  to 
Fort  Riley,  Kansas,  where  he  was  commis- 
sioned captain  of  field  artillery,  United  States 
Army,  August  15,  1917,  and  was  assigned 
to  the  Three  Hundred  and  Forty-first  Field 
Artillery,  Eighty-ninth  Division,  September  1. 
He  went  overseas  with  this  division  in  May, 

1918.  His  artillery  command,  which  was 
moved  about  frequently  to  different  sections 
and  with  different  divisions,  was  for  the  major 
portion  of  his  service  attached  to  the  One 
Hundred  and  Sixty-fourth  Field  Artillery 
Brigade.  Colonel  Wentworth  participated  in 
the  major  engagements  of  St.  Mihiel,  and  in 
the  last  phases  of  the  Argonne-Meuse,  and 
following  the  armistice  joined  the  Army  of 
Occupation,    being    transferred,    in    January, 

1919,  to  G-5,  General  Headquarters,  and  sta- 
tioned at  Paris.  Subsequently  he  was  made 
military  director  of  the  College  of  Agriculture 
in  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces  Uni- 
versity at  Beaune,  France,  and  for  his  services 
in  this  connection  was  decorated  as  an  Officer 
du  Merite  Agricole  by  the  French  Government. 

Returning   to   the    United    States   after   his 
war  service,   Colonel  Wentworth  became  con- 


nected with  Armour  &  Company,  Chicago, 
and  was  associated  with  the  Public  Relations 
Department  of  this  great  firm  during  1919  and 
1920,  in  the  latter  year  being  transferred  to 
the  Bureau  of  Agricultural  Research  and 
Economics  of  the  same  concern,  a  capacity 
in  which  he  served  until  1923.  He  was  then 
appointed  director  of  Armour's  Live  Stock 
Bureau,  and  has  served  in  that  relationship 
to  the  present,  in  addition  to  which  he  has 
been  a  lecturer  in  his  several  specialties  at 
the  University  of  Chicago  since  1923. 

Colonel  Wentworth  has  continued  to  take 
a  very  active  part  in  military  affairs.  He  holds 
the  rank  of  colonel  in  the  Reserve  Officers 
Corps,  United  States  Army,  in  command  of 
the  Three  Hundred  and  Thirty-first  Field 
Artillery,  and  is  past  state  president  of  the 
Department  of  Illinois  Reserve  Officers  Asso- 
ciation of  the  United  States,  having  also 
served  as  vice  president  and  director  of  the 
Chicago  Chapter  of  this  organization,  as  well 
as  national  councilman  for  the  Sixth  Corps 
Area.  He  is  also  a  prominent  figure  in  the 
Military  Order  of  the  World  war,  of  which 
he  was  one  of  the  early  members,  and  is  now 
commander  of  the  Department  of  the  State 
of  Illinois  in  this  organization,  and  junior  vice 
commander-in-chief  of  the  national  organiza- 
tion of  this  body. 

Colonel  Wentworth  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Clydesdale  Horse  Breeders  Associ- 
ation, of  which  he  is  vice  president;  American 
Farm  Economics  Association;  American  Soci- 
ety of  Animal  Production;  American  Associ- 
ation for  the  Advancement  of  Science; 
National  Research  Council,  in  which  he  is  a 
member  of  the  Committee  on  Animal  Breed- 
ing; American  Society  of  Zoologists;  Ameri- 
can Society  of  Naturalists;  American  Eco- 
nomic Association;  American  Statistical  Asso- 
ciation; American  Academy  of  Political  Sci- 
ence; Illinois,  Iowa  and  Kansas  Academies 
of  Science;  and  Sons  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion. He  belongs  also  to  the  Sigma  Alpha 
Epsilon,  Alpha  Zeta,  Alpha  Psi,  Sigma  Delta 
Chi,  and  Phi  Kappa  Psi  fraternities,  and  to 
the  following  clubs :  Union  League,  University, 
Saddle  and  Sirloin,  Army  and  Navy,  Beach- 
view  and  Lincolnshire  Country,  all  of  Chicago, 
and  the  Cosmos,  of  Washington,  D.  C.  Colonel 
Wentworth,  in  the  midst  of  his  many  other 
activities,  has  found  time  to  do  considerable 
literary  work,  being  the  author  of  Portrait 
Gallery  of  the  Saddle  and  Sirloin  Club  (1920), 
and  co-author  of  Progressive  Beef  Cattle 
Raising  (1920),  Progressive  Hog  Raising 
(1922),  Marketing  Live  Stock  and  Meats 
(1924),  Progressive  Sheep  Raising  (1925)  and 
Cattle  Breeding    (1925). 

On  June  14,  1911,  Colonel  Wentworth  mar- 
ried Miss  Alma  B.  McCulla,  of  St.  Ansgar, 
Iowa,  and  they  are  the  parents  of  one  son: 
Edward  Norris,  Jr.,  who  is  now  a  student  at 
Dartmouth  College.  The  family  residence  is 
at  5838  Stony  Island  Avenue. 


ILLINOIS 


47 


Saint  Philip  Neri  Parish.  The  Very  Rev- 
erend Monsignor  William  J.  Kinsella.  The 
confines  of  Saint  Philip  Neri  Parish  embrace 
the  districts  which  were  formerly  known  as 
South  Shore,  Bryn  Mawr  and  Jackson  Park 
Highlands.  Its  territory  lies  just  south  of 
Jackson  Park  and  its  eastern  boundary  is 
Lake  Michigan.  The  modern  church  was  dedi- 
cated October  7,  1928,  by  Cardinal  George 
Mundelein,  and  its  present  pastor,  the  Very 
Rev.  Monsignor  William  J.  Kinsella,  has  been 
in  charge  since  the  parish  was  organized. 

Before  the  coming  of  Monsignor  Kinsella  the 
territory  now  comprised  in  the  parish  of  Saint 
Philip  Neri  was  known  as  the  "churchless" 
community.  There  were  only  a  handful  of 
residents  in  Bryn  Mawr  and  few  foresaw  any 
great  future  development  for  the  sandy 
stretches  largely  given  over  to  garden  and 
tree  nurseries  in  what  is  now  the  South  Shore 
District.  Today,  however,  and  due  in  no 
small  measure  to  the  influence  of  Saint  Philip 
Neri  Church  and  School  and  Aquinas  High 
School,  what  were  several  scattered  communi- 
ties have  been  merged  into  one  compact  unit 
which  is  equally  well  known  as  South  Shore 
and  Saint  Philip  Neri  Parish,  which  merger 
is  commemorated  in  the  beautiful  church  of 
Saint  Philip  Neri  at  the  head  of  Merrill  Ave- 
nue on  Seventy-second  Street.  The  style  of 
architecture  is  a  modern  adaption  of  Tudor 
Gothic,  an  adaption  which  is  so  strikingly 
fitted  to  the  needs  and  environment  of  this 
district  that  it  has  been  familiarly  named 
"South  Shore  Gothic,  1926." 

The  close  of  the  International  Eucharistic 
Congress  held  in  Chicago  in  June,  1926, 
marked  the  beginning  of  the  new  Saint  Philip 
Neri  Church.  During  the  late  summer  and 
early  fall  excavations  and  ground  work  were 
carried  on.  The  cornerstone  was  laid  Novem- 
ber 7,  1926,  by  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  E.  F.  Hoban, 
and  from  that  date  on  the  structure  progressed 
rapidly.  On  Easter  Sunday,  1927,  the  first 
Mass  was  celebrated.  After  having  taken  care 
of  the  needs  of  the  congregation,  the  people 
realized  the  discomforts  of  the  clergy  in  their 
old  home  and  in  a  spirit  of  good  will  sub- 
scribed in  full  sufficient  to  erect  one  of  the 
most  serviceable  and  at  the  same  time  beau- 
tiful rectories  in  the  country.  This  rectory 
is  in  a  pure  college  Gothic  style,  constructed  of 
seam-faced  Plymouth  granite  and  trimmed  in 
sandstone. 

However,  the  parish  had  been  in  existence 
for  some  years  prior  to  the  above  development, 
as  it  was  organized  on  the  first  Sunday  of 
Advent  in  1912,  under  the  direction  of  the 
late  Most  Rev.  James  Edward  Quigley,  Arch- 
bishop of  Chicago.  Rev.  Father  William  J. 
Kinsella,  then  pastor  of  Saint  Joseph  Church, 
Libertyville,  Illinois,  was  called  upon  to  lay 
the  foundations  of  the  newly  organized  parish. 
In  taking  up  this  task  Father  Kinsella  re- 
turned to  the  scenes  of  the  labors  of  his  early 
ministry.      For   fourteen   years    he   had    been 


assistant  pastor  at  Saint  Patrick  Church, 
South  Chicago.  He  was  born  and  reared  in 
the  old  Town  of  Lake,  and  attended  Saint 
Gabriel  Grammar  School,  so  therefore  he  was 
on  familiar  ground  when  he  returned  to  the 
South  Side  of  the  city.  As  a  result  of  this 
the  pastor  of  the  newly  organized  parish  had 
an  exceptional  knowledge  of  and  acquaintance 
with  his  parishioners,  an  acquaintance  not 
only  with  the  families,  but  often  their  ante- 
cedents, and  this  intimate  and  personal  rela- 
tionship of  priest  and  people  has  been  account- 
able in  no  small  way  for  the  wonderful  spirit 
that  has  characterized  the  parish  from  the  be- 
ginning and  which  has  drawn  together  in  an 
exceptionally  well-knit  unit,  the  priests  and 
people  of  Saint  Philip  Neri  Parish.  Father 
Kinsella  has  shown  remarkable  executive  abil- 
ity in  handling  the  affairs  of  the  parish. 
Among  other  innovations  he  organized  the  men 
to  take  charge  of  all  the  finances  and  business 
affairs,  thus  leaving  the  women  free  to  devote 
themselves  to  the  spiritual,  educational  and 
social  phases  of  the  parish,  which  departure 
has  worked  out  most  admirably. 

The  foundations  of  the  old  church,  which  ad- 
joins on  the  west  of  the  new  structure,  were 
laid  in  May,  1913,  and  the  first  Mass  was  cele- 
brated Christmas  Day  of  that  year.  The 
building  was  formally  dedicated  April  26, 
1914,  the  parish  then  numbering  on  its  roster 
some  sixty  families.  Though  there  were  at 
that  time  few  children  of  school  age,  Father 
Kinsella  made  immediate  preparations  for 
opening  a  parochial  school,  two  rooms  of  which 
were  used  as  a  rectory.  His  judgment  was 
soon  vindicated,  and  the  school  grew  so  rapidly 
that  about  five  years  later  it  was  found  neces- 
sary to  enlarge  the  building  to  make  provision 
for  sixteen  classrooms.  This  is  all  the  more 
remarkable  in  view  of  that  fact  that  a  new 
parish,  Our  Lady  of  Peace,  was  organized 
to  the  south  of  Saint  Philip  Neri. 

The  Sisters  of  Saint  Dominic  of  Adrian, 
Michigan,  took  charge  of  Saint  Philip  Neri 
grammar  school  and  also  opened  Aquinas  High 
School  for  girls.  The  progress  and  develop- 
ment of  the  latter  has  kept  pace  with  the  par- 
ish, and  the  present  fine  high  school  building 
is  one  of  the  best  in  the  city. 

The  architecture  of  Saint  Philip  Neri  com- 
mands the  admiration  of  artists  as  well  as  of 
the  general  public,  and  the  credit  for  its  great 
beauty,  as  well  as  practicality,  is  due  Father 
Kinsella,  who  traveled  abroad  and  made  an 
exhaustive  study  of  European  architecture.  As 
is  generally  recognized  the  design  of  a  modern 
parochial  church  calls  for  beauty,  economy  and 
practically,  an  abundance  of  the  latter  require- 
ment. Hence,  in  viewing  old  monuments,  the 
architect  must  consider  his  work  from  all 
angles  and  choose  those  features  that  best  suit 
the   problem   before   him. 

In  designing  the  church  of  Saint  Philip 
Neri,  while  in  general  the  Gothic  style  was 
followed,  the  ground  floor  plan  was  designed 


48 


ILLINOIS 


around  the  pew-arrangement.  This,  of  course, 
is  the  modern  surrender  to  practicality.  This, 
with  the  accoustical  treatment,  allows  that  all 
may  see  and  hear. 

In  viewing  Saint  Philip  Neri  Church,  built 
of  Plymouth  seam  face  granite  with  limestone 
trimmings,  capable  of  seating  approximately 
1,700  persons,  one  cannot  help  but  be  con- 
fronted with  the  thought  of  the  unselfish  ambi- 
tion of  the  churchman  who  sacrifices  all  per- 
sonal aims  to  express  in  a  mighty  monument 
his  devotion  to  the  faith  he  professes.  It  is  this 
ambition  which  forms  the  nucleus  with  which 
the  architect  is  inspired  and  from  which  he  de- 
velops the  material  expression  of  the  church- 
man's idea  of  glorifying  his  God. 

The  Church  of  Saint  Philip  Neri  is  there- 
fore a  temple  of  religion  and  a  monument  to 
the  clergyman  responsible  for  its  erection. 
Whether  or  not  it  is  in  pure  style  has  not 
greatly  exercised  the  public.  From  all  appear- 
ance they  have  accepted  it  as  a  satisfactory 
and  agreeable  solution  of  a  comfortable  and 
enduring  parish  church. 

Saint  Philip  Neri  Parish  was  among  the 
first  to  have  a  regular  boys'  choir  recruited 
from  the  boys  of  the  parish.  The  original 
Saint  Philip  Neri's  surpliced  chancel  choir 
was  formed  around  the  famous  old  "Paulist 
Choir"  which  Father  Finn  so  ably  directed. 
Horace  and  Mary  Anderson,  who  had  been  di- 
rectors for  Father  Finn,  are  in  charge  of  the 
choir  of  Saint  Philip  Neri,  but  most  of  the 
boys  in  the  choir  are  pupils  of  Saint  Philip 
Neri  School  and  the  majority  of  the  men  were 
formerly  Saint  Philip  boys.  Father  Kinsella 
is  proud  of  the  talent  he  has  gathered  in  his 
church,  not  only  on  account  of  the  beauty  of 
the  voices  which  add  to  the  religious  services, 
but  also  because  this  organization  is  a  splendid 
means  of  discipline  for  the  boys  and  a  help  in 
maintaining  the  morale  of  the  school  and  par- 
ish, and  in  developing  latent  possibilities  in 
the  boys  themselves.  A  boy's  conduct  in  a 
schoolroom  determines  his  standing  in  the 
choir  and  the  nun  who  teaches  him  is  the 
judge.  A  boy  who  misbehaves  in  school  can 
not  sing  in  the  choir  no  matter  what  his 
musical  qualifications  may  be.  The  choir  sings 
church  music  as  directed  by  the  "Motu  Pro- 
prio." 

Father  Kinsella  claims  that  pure  Gothic 
would  not  have  been  practicable  for  the  needs 
of  Saint  Philip  Neri  Church  because  of  its 
costliness,  but  that  Tudor,  because  of  its  elas- 
ticity and  suppleness  lends  itself  to  a  variety 
of  conditions.  He  also  claims  that  modernly 
developed  Tudor  Gothic,  or  Tudor  Gothic 
adapted  to  modern  conditions,  is  a  perfectly 
legitimate  style,  since  God  meant  all  things 
to  be  subject  to  the  laws  of  development.  This 
is  evident  in  the  fruits  of  nature,  in  art,  in 
personal  attainments.  Even  in  religious  mat- 
ters, while  the  Faith  itself  cannot  change,  we 
can  get  greater  light  on  it.     Set  amid  fir  trees, 


Saint  Philip  Neri  Church  is  a  fine  example  of 
medieval  ideas  applied  to  modern  needs,  and 
it  seems  to  offer  a  welcome  to  all  who  draw 
near  to  its  beautiful  portals. 

Within  the  church  there  is  an  effect  of  light, 
of  space,  of  warmth,  of  which  Father  Kinsella 
speaks  at  times  as  satisfying  human  nature 
in  northern  climates  through  its  warmth, 
which  is  an  outstanding  characteristic  of 
Tudor  architecture. 

The  first  principle  in  the  building  of  the 
new  church  was  that  of  service  to  God,  and 
for  the  people.  An  attempt,  which  is  emi- 
nently successful,  was  made  to  reproduce  the 
atmosphere  of  devotion  found  in  little  chapels 
and  so  often  found  lacking  in  large  churches. 
The  church  is  cruciform,  so  that  the  body  or 
the  congregation  is  near  the  Altar.  The  stat- 
ues on  the  church  are  two  of  our  Lord  at  the 
front  and  rear  inviting  the  people  to  come  in; 
that  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  overlooks  the  school 
on  the  west  side  of  the  building;  while  on  the 
east  is  that  of  Saint  Philip  Neri,  the  patron 
of  the  parish. 

Saint  Philip  Neri  Church  has  been  the  reci- 
pient of  many  very  valuable  gifts,  the  first  of 
which  was  a  donation  of  Saint  Anthony 
Shrine.  Others  include  the  Shrine  of  the 
Little  Flower,  donated  by  some  of  the  ladies 
of  the  parish;  two  Sisters,  Margaret  and  Anna 
Mary  Ewerts,  donated  Stations  11  and  12;  the 
Stations  of  the  Cross  were  made  by  D'Arch- 
ardi  of  Rome.  This  artist  has  been  selected 
by  both  the  Holy  Father  and  the  Roman  gov- 
ernment to  restore  the  Mosaics  of  Rome.  They 
have  already  received  the  approbation  and 
have  been  exhibited  in  Rome  by  the  Italian 
National  Art  Commission.  The  furnishings 
for  the  sanctuary  were  donated  by  the  Wo- 
man's  Club. 

The  method  of  financing  the  parish  has  been 
from  the  first  based  on  the  budget  system, 
changing  in  application  to  suit  the  times,  the 
main  principle  of  which  is  that  the  men  con- 
secrate themselves  and  the  gifts  which  have 
made  for  their  success  in  the  world  to  the 
service  of  God.  The  problems  are  then 
threshed  out  in  the  fall  of  each  year.  Not 
only  is  Saint  Philip  Neri  Parish  one  of  the 
flourishing  ones  of  the  Catholic  Church,  but 
it  is  a  powerful  force  for  good  in  the  com- 
munity and  a  builder  of  good  citizenship  and 
noble  Christian  womanhood  and  manhood. 

John  R.  Tanner  was  born  in  Warrick 
County,  Indiana,  April  4,  1844,  and  died  May 
23,  1901,  shortly  after  the  close  of  his  term 
as  governor.  He  grew  up  in  the  vicinity  of 
Carbondale,  Illinois,  and  in  1863  entered  the 
Ninety-eighth  Illinois  Volunteers,  serving  un- 
til after  the  end  of  the  war.  His  father  and 
all  of  his  brothers  were  soldiers.  After  the 
war  John  R.  Tanner  followed  farming  in  Clay 
County,  also  engaged  in  the  milling  and  lum- 
ber  business,   served   as   sheriff,   clerk   of   the 


ILLINOIS 


49 


Circuit  Court,  and  as  a  member  of  the  State 
Senate.  In  1883  he  was  appointed  United 
States  marshal  for  the  Southern  district  of 
Illinois,  serving  until  1885.  He  was  elected 
state  treasurer  in  1886,  and  in  1891  became  a 
i  member  of  the  Railroad  and  Warehouse  Com- 
mission. During  1892-93  he  was  Assistant 
United  States  Treasurer  at  Chicago,  and  in 
1894  managed  as  chairman  the  Republican 
state  campaign  of  that  year.  He  was  nomi- 
nated for  governor  in  1896  and  elected  over 
Governor  Altgeld. 

Charles  E.  Jack,  prominently  known  as  a 
lawyer  and  citizen  of  Waukegan,  is  a  native 
|  of  Ohio,  but  has  lived  most  of  his  life  in  this 
Lake   County  community  of  Illinois. 

He  was  born  at  Mason,  Ohio,  August  15, 
1893,  son  of  James  B.  and  Anna  (Riker)  Jack. 
His  parents  were  also  natives  of  Ohio.  Both 
his  grandfathers  were  Ohio  farmers  and  both 
gave  service  to  the  Union  cause  during  the 
Civil  war.  James  B.  Jack  is  a  carpenter  and 
is  still  active  at  his  work,  with  home  at 
i  Waukegan.  He  is  a  Republican  and  a  member 
of  the  Christian  Church.  The  grandfathers 
of  Charles  E.  Jack  were  John  R.  Jack  and 
I    N.  S.  Riker. 

Charles  E.  Jack  was  the  second  in  a  family 
|   of   six  children.     He   attended   public   schools 
in   Ohio,   completed   his   high   school   work   in 
'   Waukegan,  and  in  1917  was  graduated  from 
't  the  Chicago  Kent  College  of  Law.     Mr.  Jack 
•  from  1915  to  1925  was  secretary  of  the  Lake 
1   County    Title    &    Trust    Company.      In    1925 
'  he  resigned  in  order  to  devote  his  attention 
to  his  private  law  practice,  which  has  been 
steadily  growing  in   volume  and   importance. 
Mr.  Jack  married  in  1923  Lueen  Doud,  who 
1  was  born  at  Turin,  New  York,  and  was  edu- 
cated in  that  state  and  was  before  her  mar- 
!  riage    a    teacher    at    Waukegan.      They    have 
f  one  son,   Charles  E.,  Jr.,  born  in  1927.     The 
family   are  members   of  the   Methodist   Epis- 
!|  copal  Church.     Mr.  Jack  is  a  York  and  Scot- 
'  tish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  has  been  secre- 
i  tary  of  his  lodge,  and  is  also   affiliated  with 
|  the  B.   P.   0.   Elks.      He   enjoys   outdoor   life, 
his  favorite  sport  being  fishing  in  the  waters 
1  of  the  lakes   and   streams   of   Northern   Wis- 
I  consin  and  Minnesota.     A  Republican  in  poli- 
j  tics,  Mr.  Jack  was  defeated  by  a  very  narrow 
I  margin  for  the  office  of  county  judge  of  Lake 
I   County  in  1930.     For  fifteen  years  he  served 
as  town  clerk  of  Waukegan. 

Wilbur  F.  Storey,  one  of  the  notable  names 
!  in  the  history  of  Chicago  journalism,  was 
!  born  in  Vermont,  December  19,  1819,  and  died 
I  at  Chicago,  October  27,  1884.  He  learned  the 
printer's  trade  as  a  boy,  and  at  the  age  of 
|  nineteen  was  part  owner  of  a  Democratic 
I  paper  at  LaPorte,  Indiana,  and  was  subse- 
quently identified  with  papers  at  Mishawaka, 
I    in   that    state,    and    at    Jackson    and    Detroit, 


Michigan.  In  January,  1861,  he  became  the 
principal  owner  of  the  Chicago  Times.  This 
was  the  chief  Democratic  paper  then  pub- 
lished in  Chicago,  and  subsequently  became 
the  recognized  mouthpiece  of  the  Anti-War 
party  in  the  Northwest.  The  Times  was  sup- 
pressed by  military  order  in  June,  1863,  but 
the  order  was  revoked  by  Lincoln.  Mr.  Storey 
and  his  newspaper  sustained  heavy  losses  dur- 
ing the  fire,  and  in  1872  he  resumed  the  pub- 
lication and  continued  as  its  editor  until  he 
retired. 

Justus  Chancellor  has  practiced  law  as 
a  member  of  the  Chicago  bar  since  1886.  To 
say  that  he  has  long  been  a  leader  of  the 
Chicago  bar  is  only  the  statement  of  a  com- 
monplace fact  well  appreciated  and  understood 
by  his  fellow  attorneys.  Mr.  Chancellor  has 
not  only  been  a  successful  lawyer  but  a  con- 
structive figure  in  advancing  the  standards 
of  the  bar. 

He  was  born  at  Oxford,  Indiana,  October 
12,  1863,  son  of  John  Cooper  and  Elizabeth 
Jennie  (Justus)  Chancellor.  He  graduated 
from  high  school  at  Vincennes  in  1881,  then 
came  to  Chicago  and  entered  the  Union  Col- 
lege of  Law,  now  the  Law  Department  of 
Northwestern  University.  He  took  his  Bache- 
lor's degree  there  in  1886.  In  1923  the  Chi- 
cago College  of  Law  conferred  upon  him  the 
degree  Master  of  Laws.  Mr.  Chancellor  for 
forty  years,  from  1888  to  1928,  was  a  law 
partner  of  Charles  S.  Thornton,  in  the  firm 
of  Thornton  and  Chancellor. 

Mr.  Chancellor  is  a  past  president  of  the 
Chicago  Law  Institute.  He  served  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Ameri- 
can branch  of  the  International  Law  Asso- 
ciation, served  as  chairman  of  the  Illinois 
branch  of  the  American  Bar  Association,  is 
a  member  of  the  Chicago,  Illinois  State  and 
American  Bar  Associations  and  also  a  mem- 
ber of  the  International  Law  Association. 
Since  1921  he  has  been  president  of  the  Law- 
yers Association  of  Illinois.  Among  the  im- 
portant achievements  of  this  association  was 
inaugurating  the  "Bar  Primary"  for  the  se- 
lection and  endorsement  of  candidates  for 
judicial  offices  and  the  obtaining  of  the  present 
"Lion  Law,"  protecting  attorneys  in  their 
fees.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Historical  Com- 
mittee of  the  Illinois  State  Bar  Association. 
Mr.  Chancellor  is  a  recognized  authority  on 
corporation  and  real  estate  law,  and  for  a 
number  of  years  he  has  been  active  in  the 
Chicago  Real  Estate  Board  and  the  Cook 
County  Real  Estate  Board.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Civil  Legion  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Chancellor  drew  up  and  perfected  the 
legal  and  corporate  plans  for  organization 
of  A.  Booth  &  Company.  This  was  the  only 
Chicago  "trust"  which  stood  the  test  of  the 
anti-trust  prosecutions  before  which  so  many 
other  corporations   such  as  the   Standard   Oil 


50 


ILLINOIS 


and  the  packers  were  compelled  to  reorganize. 
The  basic  principles  which  had  been  so  care- 
fully worked  out  by  Mr.  Chancellor  in  the 
Booth  company  enabled  it  to  stand  the  ordeal 
before  all  the  courts,  including  the  Supreme 
Court.  Mr.  Chancellor  also  successfully  de- 
fended a  prominent  case  a  number  of  years 
ago  in  which  the  state  prosecuted  Charles  R. 
Williams  for  embezzlement.  He  also  success- 
fully represented  the  Ayers  Estate  in  a  com- 
plicated title  litigation. 

Mr.  Chancellor  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
Association  of  Commerce,  Illinois  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  is  a  Republican,  a  Knight  Tem- 
plar and  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner. 
His  hobbies  are  farming  and  motoring.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Playgoers  Club  and  the 
Pistaqua  Heights   Country  Club. 

He  married,  May  2,  1889,  Hattie  Theodocia 
Lincoln  Harper,  of  West  Virginia.  They  have 
two  children.  Their  daughter,  Leola,  is  Mrs. 
Neil  H.  Gates,  and  the  mother  of  seven  chil- 
dren. Justus  Chancellor,  Jr.,  took  his  Bache- 
lor's degree  at  Yale  University  and  subse- 
quently obtained  the  degrees  of  Civil  Engineer 
and  Doctor  of  Jurisprudence  at  the  University 
of  Chicago.  He  is  now  associated  with  his 
father  in  law  practice  at  6  North  Michigan 
Boulevard.  Justus  Chancellor,  Jr.,  married 
Dorothy  Hellar  and  has  five  children,  one 
of  them  being  Justus   Chancellor  III. 

Richard  S.  Folsom  was  admitted  to  the 
Illinois  bar  in  1896  and  has  been  in  practice 
in  Chicago  for  over  thirty  years.  On  the 
score  of  his  professional  associations  and  the 
prominent  positions  held  by  him  he  has  en- 
joyed and  deserved  a  notable  place  in  the  Chi- 
cago bar  and  community. 

Mr.  Folsom  was  born  in  Chicago,  August  5, 
1872,  son  of  Charles  Antoine  and  Sarah  T. 
(Sweet)  Folsom,  his  father  a  native  of  Maine 
and  his  mother  of  Norton,  Massachusetts.  The 
Folsoms  were  Colonial  Americans  and  some  of 
Mr.  Folsom's  ancestors  participated  in  the  Co- 
lonial wars.  His  father  during  the  Civil  war 
was  a  captain  in  the  Twenty-fourth  Massachu- 
setts Infantry,  and  soon  after  the  close  of  the 
war  established  his  home  in  Chicago. 

Richard  S.  Folsom  came  to  the  bar  with  a 
liberal  education.  He  attended  public  schools 
in  Chicago,  took  his  freshman  year  in  Colum- 
bia University,  and*  in  1894  was  graduated 
with  the  A.  B.  degree  from  Williams  College. 
His  law  studies  were  pursued  in  Northwestern 
University.  A  few  years  of  work  were  suffi- 
cient to  prove  his  fitness  for  his  chosen  voca- 
tion and  he  has  not  only  been  honored  with  a 
large  and  important  law  business,  but  has  been 
considered  an  invaluable  ally  to  other  eminent 
members  of  the  Chicago  bar.  Mr.  Folsom  from 
1910  to  1915  was  a  member  of  the  law  firm 
Louis,  Folsom  &  Streeter,  of  which  the  head 
was  Senator  James  Hamilton  Lewis.  He  re- 
sumed his  connection  with  Senator  Lewis  from 


191.8  to  1924,  and  then  after  a  brief  inter- 
ruption returned  to  active  work  with  Senator 
Lewis  in  1927. 

Mr.  Folsom  served  as  master  in  chancery  to 
the  Circuit  Court  from  1911  to  1915,  by  ap- 
pointment of  Judge  Edward  O.  Brown. 
Probably  the  public  service  from  which  he  has 
derived  the  greatest  measure  of  satisfaction 
was  in  the  capacity  of  general  counsel  for  the 
Chicago  Board  of  Education,  from  1912  to 
1915.  Those  familiar  with  the  record  of  edu- 
cational affairs  in  Chicago  will  recall  that  this 
was  a  period  notable  for  the  honest  and  effi- 
cient administration  of  the  school  system. 
During  the  year  1915,  by  appointment  of 
Mayor  Thompson,  Mr.  Folsom  was  corpora- 
tion counsel  for  the  city.  During  the  World 
war  he  was  chairman  of  the  Legal  Advisory 
Board  for  District  No.  2,  under  the  Selective 
Service  Act. 

Mr.  Folsom  is  a  member  of  the  University 
Club,  the  Chicago,  Illinois  State  and  Ameri- 
can Bar  Associations.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Loyal  Legion  and  the  Society  of  Colonial 
Wars. 

Mr.  Folsom  married  Miss  Dorothy  E.  Moul- 
ton.  Her  father,  Gen.  George  Mayhew 
Moulton,  who  died  July  24,  1927,  was  a  Chi- 
cago citizen  whose  memory  will  long  be  cher- 
ished. He  was  conspicuous  in  the  Illinois 
National  Guard  and  held  many  of  the  highest 
honors  in  Masonry.  At  the  time  of  the  Span- 
ish-American war  he  was  colonel  in  command 
of  the  Second  Illinois  Regiment,  which  served 
in  Cuba.  The  Cuban  government  in  recent 
years  has  erected  a  monument  to  the  memory 
of  Colonel  Moulton  and  his  regiment  at  Co- 
lumbia Barracks  in  Havana.  Colonel  Moulton 
in  1903  was  advanced  to  the  rank  of  brigadier- 
general  in  the  Illinois  National  Guard,  and  in 
July,  1907,  was  made  a  major-general,  serving 
until  his  retirement  in  November  of  the  same 
year.  He  held  nearly  every  office  in  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  including  that  of  grand 
master  of  the  Grand  Encampment  of  the 
Knights  Templar  of  the  United  States  of 
America.  He  was  president  of  the  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution  and  commander-in-chief 
of  the   Spanish-American  War  Veterans. 

Julian  M.  Sturtevant  was  born  in  Litch- 
field, Connecticut,  July  26,  1805,  and  died  at 
Jacksonville,  Illinois,  February  11,  1886.  He 
graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1826,  from 
Yale  Divinity  School  in  1829,  and  in  the  same 
year  came  to  Illinois.  He  superintended  the 
erection  of  buildings  and  was  the  first  instruc- 
tor of  what  has  since  been  Illinois  College  at 
Jacksonville.  In  1844  he  became  president  of 
the  college  and  held  that  office  over  thirty 
years.  He  resigned  in  1876,  but  continued  a 
member  of  the  faculty  for  ten  years  longer. 
Altogether  he  gave  to  Illinois  College  fifty-six 
years  of  his  life,  and  it  is  properly  regarded  as 
a  monument  to  his  labors  and  character. 


ILLINOIS 


51 


Frank  Posvic,  city  attorney  and  corpora- 
tion counsel  for  the  City  of  Berwyn,  is  a 
Chicago  man,  and  for  twenty  years  has  carried 
on  a  successful  law  practice  there,  his  office 
being  at  139  North  Clark  Street. 

Mr.  Posvic  was  born  in  Chicago  in  1884. 
He  was  educated  in  grade  and  high  schools 
and  in  1909  graduated  from  the  Chicago  Kent 
College  of  Law  with  the  LL.  B.  degree.  In 
the  same  year  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and 
has  gone  steadily  ahead  with  his  routine  and 
special  work  and  practice  and  has  achieved 
recognition  as  one  of  the  real  leaders  of  the 
bar.  Mr.  Posvic  for  a  number  of  years  has 
resided  in  the  attractive  suburban  community 
of  Berwyn.  He  acted  as  attorney  for  two 
of  the  Berwyn  banks,  and  all  the  legal  business 
of  the  city  goes  through  his  hands  as  city  at- 
torney and  corporation  counsel.  During  the 
World  war  he  was  a  member  of  the  Legal 
Advisory  Board. 

Mr.  Posvic  is  a  thirty-second  degree  Scot- 
tish Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  being  a  member 
of  Medinah  Temple  of  Chicago.  He  married 
Miss  Irene  Chocol,  of  Chicago,  and  they  have 
one  daughter,   Dorothy. 

John  H.  Donovan  was  a  small  boy  when 
he  fixed  his  resolution  and  choice  of  a  pro- 
i  fession.  He  determined  to  be  what  his  father 
i  was  before  him,  an  earnest,  high-minded  and 
!  successful  physician.  Doctor  Donovan,  him- 
!  self,  was  graduated  from  medical  college  more 
I  than  thjrty  years  ago  and  the  community  in 
|  which  he  has  practiced  his  profession  through 
all  the  years  since  has  been  Windsor  in  Shelby 
i  County. 

He  was  born  at  Cornishville,  Kentucky,  Sep- 
i  tember   14,   1867,  son  of  J.   B.   and  Nancy   C. 
i  (Driskel)   Donovan.     His  father  practiced  for 
many  years  at  Cornishville,  Kentucky,  but  in 
1883   moved   his   home   to    Lovington,    Illinois, 
where  he  continued  his  work  with  ever  grow- 
ing popularity  and  success  until  his  death  in 
I  1920. 

John  H.  Donovan  received  his  first  educa- 
cational  advantages  in  Kentucky.  He  at- 
tended school  at  Lovington  and  soon  after 
leaving  high  school  entered  the  Missouri  Med- 
ical College  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri.  He  was 
graduated  M.  D.  in  1889  and  in  the  same  year 
located  at  Windsor.  The  people  of  Shelby 
County  have  long  learned  to  look  upon  him 
as  a  physician  whose  skill  and  devotion  are 
out  of  the  ordinary.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
the  Shelby  County  and  Illinois  State  Medical 
Association,  votes  as  a  Republican  and  is  affil- 
iated with  Windsor  Lodge  No.  322  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity. 

Doctor  Donovan  married,  December  21, 
1890,  Miss  Mary  C.  Guinee,  of  Tower  Hill, 
Illinois.  Her  parents,  Mikael  and  Mary 
Guinee,  came  from  Ireland  to  the  United  States 
in  1856,  and  her  father  was  an  Illinois  farmer. 
Doctor   Donovan   has   one   son,   Howard,   born 


November  12,  1895,  who  has  made  a  name 
for  himself  in  the  American  consular  service. 
Howard  Donovan  was  educated  in  public 
schools  in  Illinois,  and  in  1917  graduated  with 
the  highest  honors  and  as  gold  medalist  from 
the  Missouri  Military  Academy.  He  had  also 
attended  the  Smith  Academy  in  St.  Louis  and 
has  to  his  credit  a  year  and  a  half  of  work 
in  the  medical  department  of  Washington  Uni- 
versity at  St.  Louis.  In  1920  he  took  his 
Bachelor  of  Science  degree  at  Yale  University, 
where  he  completed  four  years'  work  in  three. 
On  graduating  he  was  appointed  to  a  position 
in  the  consular  service  of  the  American  Gov- 
ernment at  London,  where  he  remained  two 
years.  In  1922  he  was  sent  as  consul  to 
South  America.  After  four  years  he  returned 
home,  but  in  1928  was  appointed  American 
consul  at  Kobe,  Japan,  where  his  attainments 
and  brilliant  work  have  attracted  favorable 
commendation.  He  has  a  promising  diplomatic 
career  before  him. 

Capt.  Henry  A.  Blair  has  come  to  well  de- 
served prominence  in  Chicago  affairs,  both  as 
a  lawyer  and  an  executive.  He  is  vice  presi- 
dent and  chief  counsel  for  the  Motorists  Asso- 
ciation of  Illinois. 

Captain  Blair  was  born  in  New  York  City. 
As  a  boy  he  attended  public  schools  there,  is 
a  graduate  of  the  Washington  Irving  High 
School  of  that  city,  and  in  1912  came  to  Chi- 
cago. Here  he  studied  law  in  the  Hamilton 
College  of  Law,  was  graduated  LL.  B.  in  1915 
and  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar  the  same 
year. 

The  next  year  he  entered  the  claim  de- 
partment of  the  Yellow  Cab  Company.  In 
fifteen  years  of  active  professional  experi- 
ence he  has  come  to  be  recognized  as  an 
expert  authority  on  automobile  litigation.  He 
left  the  Yellow  Cab  Company's  service  early 
in  1917  and  after  attending  the  Officers  Train- 
ing Camp  at  Fort  Sheridan  was  commissioned 
a  second  lieutenant  of  infantry.  He  was  as- 
signed duty  with  the  Three  Hundred  and  Fif- 
tieth Infantry,  Eighty-eighth  Division,  was 
with  that  division  at  Camp  Dodge,  Iowa,  was 
promoted  to  first  lieutenant,  went  overseas, 
and  on  October  31,  1918,  was  promoted  to 
captain  of  infantry  by  special  order  of  Gen. 
John  J.  Pershing.  Captain  Blair  was  in 
France  a  year,  and  after  being  released  from 
military  duty  resumed  his  connection  with  the 
Yellow  Cab  Company. 

In  1921  Captain  Blair  took  charge  of  the 
legal  department  and  claims  department  of 
the  American  Automobile  Insurance  Company 
at  Chicago.  Two  years  later  he  took  charge 
of  the  legal  department  of  the  Illinois  Auto- 
mobile Club,  which  later  became  the  Motorists 
Association  of  Illinois,  of  which  he  is  now 
vice  president  and  chief  counsel.  The  chief 
service  of  the  Association  is  the  protection 
of  its  members  through  insurance  and  expert 


UBRART 


52 


ILLINOIS 


handling  of  claims  for  damages,  and  Captain 
Blair  has  developed  a  staff  and  an  organization 
which  gives  this  Association  an  enviable  stand- 
ing among  similar  organizations  throughout 
the  country. 

Captain  Blair  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Legion,  helped  organize  the  Motorists  Post, 
of  which  he  was  elected  judge  advocate,  is  a 
member  of  the  Beachview  Club  and  of  a  num- 
ber of  fraternities. 

Arthur  B.  Storm  is  a  physician  and  surgeon 
whose  kindly  manner  and  capable  skill  have 
brought  him  a  place  of  special  honor  in  the 
community  of  Windsor,  Shelby  County,  where 
he  has  practiced  his  profession  for  a  third  of 
a  century. 

The  Storm  family  were  among  the  pioneers 
of  Shelby  County.  Doctor  Storm  is  a  descend- 
ant of  Peter  Storm,  who  came  from  Germany 
and  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  army 
during  the  war  for  indepenence.  One  of  the 
sons  of  this  Revolutionary  soldier  came  from 
Crab  Orchard,  Kentucky,  to  Shelby  County, 
Illinois,  where  he  was  the  first  minister  of  the 
Christian  Church.  The  grandfather  of  Doctor 
Storm  was  David  L.  Storm,  who  was  born 
in  Ash  Grove  Township,  Shelby  County,  was 
a  farmer  and  died  there  in  1872,  at  the  age 
of  fifty-six. 

Doctor  Storm,  himself,  was  born  in  Ash 
Grove  Township,  January  29,  1871.  His  par- 
ents, William  A.  and  Mary  A.  (Curry)  Storm, 
were  also  natives  of  Ash  Grove  Township, 
where  his  father  was  born  in  1844  and  his 
mother  in  1848.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
Nathan  Curry,  who  came  from  Tennessee  to 
Illinois  when  a  young  man  and  spent  the  rest 
of  his  life  as  a  farmer  in  Shelby  County. 
He  died  in  1895.  William  A.  Storm  was  a 
highly  respected  and  industrious  farmer, 
served  several  terms  as  assessor  of  his  town- 
ship and  as  trustee  of  the  local  schools.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows  and  the  Christian  Church.  He 
died  in  1925  and  his  wife  in  1918. 

Thus  the  community  where  Doctor  Storm 
has  done  his  professional  work  is  one  in  which 
the  name  Storm  has  been  honored  and 
respected  since  pioneer  days.  Doctor  Storm 
grew  up  on  a  farm,  and  after  the  advantages 
of  the  local  schools  attended  Valparaiso  Uni- 
versity in  Indiana  and  Austin  College  at 
Effingham,  Illinois.  For  five  years  he  was 
a  teacher  in  the  schools  of  his  home  county. 
In  1898  he  was  graduated  from  the  Barnes 
Medical  College  of  St.  Louis,  and  in  the  same 
year  he  located  at  Windsor,  where  he  has 
long  held  ranking  position  as  a  physician  and 
surgeon.  He  has  a  very  extensive  practice. 
His  college  training  and  private  experience 
have  been  supplemented  by  contact  with  many 
of  the  distinguished  men  of  his  profession. 
He  has  attended  clinics  under  the  Mayo  Broth- 
ers  and   under  the   famous   surgeon,   the   late 


Doctor  Ochsner,  of  Chicago.  Doctor  Storm 
is  a  member  of  the  Central  Illinois,  the  Illi- 
nois State  and  American  Medical  Associations. 
He  has  been  health  officer  at  Windsor  and 
is  examiner  for  all  the  leading  life  insurance 
companies  doing  business  there.  In  various 
ways  he  has  given  his  time  to  local  affairs 
and  for  twelve  years  was  a  member  of  the 
Windsor  School  Board.  He  is  a  director  of 
the  Windsor  Mutual  Telephone  Company  and 
the  Windsor  Mutual  Building  and  Loan  As- 
sociation. Doctor  Storm  is  a  past  grand  of 
the  lodge  and  a  past  chief  patriarch  of  the 
encampment  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows  and  for  ten  years  was  district  deputy 
grand  master  in  Shelby  County. 

He  married,  November  7,  1899,  Miss  Ora  B. 
Harrell  of  Windsor,  daughter  of  Rev.  A.  H. 
and  Lurane  (Porter)  Harrell.  The  Harrell 
family  came  to  Illinois  from  Virginia.  Her 
father  was  one  of  the  prominent  ministers 
of  the  Christian  Church  in  Shelby  County. 
Mrs.  Storm  attended  the  Windsor  High  School. 
She  is  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Their  only  child,  Gladys  I.,  died  when  twelve 
years  old. 

Miller  H.  Pontius,  a  prominent  figure  in 
bond  and  investment  banking  both  in  the  East 
and  Middle  West,  came  to  Chicago  and  in 
May,  1927,  established  the  Chicago  branch  of 
G.  L.  Ohrstrom  &  Company,  a  bond  house  with 
headquarters  in  New  York  City,  of  which  Mr. 
Pontius  is  vice  president  and  director. 

Mr.  Pontius  was  born  at  Circleville,  Ohio, 
in  1891,  son  of  George  H.  and  Ora  E.  (Hall) 
Pontius.  The  Pontius  family  is  of  Holland- 
Dutch  ancestry.  Members  of  the  family  set- 
tled in  Ohio  about  1804,  only  about  two  years 
after  the  first  state  was  carved  out  of  the 
Northwest  Territory. 

Miller  H.  Pontius  attended  school  at  Circle- 
ville and  is  a  prominent  alumnus  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan,  where  he  graduated  from 
the  law  school  with  the  LL.  B.  degree  in  1914. 
Mr.  Pontius  was  one  of  the  outstanding  foot- 
ball men  in  the  university  and  was  end  on  the 
teams  of  1912-13,  and  in  1913  had  the  honor 
of  being  selected  for  ail-American  honors  in 
his  position,  and  in  both  years  was  on  the 
all-Western  team.  After  the  close  of  his  uni- 
versity career  he  did  coaching  work  at  the 
University  of  Tennessee  and  the  University 
of  Michigan. 

For  a  short  time  before  the  war  Mr.  Pon- 
tius practiced  law  with  his  father  at  Circle- 
ville, Ohio.  In  1917  he  entered  the  First  Of- 
ficers Training  Camp  at  Fort  Benjamin  Har- 
rison at  Indianapolis,  taking  with  him  to  camp 
a  previous  military  training  gained  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Ohio  National  Guard.  Taking  one 
of  the  provisional  commissions  in  the  regular 
army,  he  entered  the  artillery  branch  and 
was  sent  to  Fort  Sill,  Oklahoma,  where  he 
acted  with  the  instruction  corps  in  the  School 


^^SSs&jSEK 


w^> 


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ILLINOIS 


53 


of  Fire.  He  was  made  a  first  lieutenant  in 
the  regular  army  and  was  kept  on  duty  at 
Fort  Sill  until  after  the  armistice. 

Mr.  Pontius  after  the  war  joined  the  staff 
of  the  National  City  Bank  of  New  York  and 
in  a  short  time  was  put  in  its  foreign  service. 
He  spent  about  four  years  in  Latin  America, 
in  Mexico  and  Central  and  South  America,  and 
for  some  time  represented  the  Home  Insur- 
ance Company  in  South  America.  After  his 
return  to  New  York  he  was  associated  with 
the  management  of  the  Latin  American  busi- 
ness of  the  Home  Insurance  Company. 

One  of  his  college  mates  at  the  University 
of  Michigan  was  Mr.  George  L.  Ohrstrom, 
who  while  Mr.  Pontius  was  with  the  Home 
Insurance  Company  had  risen  to  the  position 
of  vice  president  of  P.  W.  Chapman  &  Com- 
pany of  New  York.  At  the  invitation  of  Mr. 
Ohrstrom,  Mr.  Pontius  joined  him  in  the 
Chapman  Company,  and  when,  in  1926,  Mr. 
Ohrstrom  organized  G.  L.  Ohrstrom  &  Com- 
pany, Mr.  Pontius  became  vice  president  and 
director  in  charge  of  the  middle  western  terri- 
tory. This  firm  has  a  large  business  in  in- 
vestment securities  and  public  utility  bonds, 
and  is  one  of  the  sound  and  solid  names  in 
the  investment  banking  field. 

Since  coming  to  Chicago  Mr.  Pontius  has 
become  a  member  of  the  board  of  governors 
of  the  University  of  Michigan  Club,  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Attic  Club,  University  Club  of  Chi- 
cago, the  Knollwood  Club  of  Lake  Forest.  He 
is  a  resident  of  Evanston.  Mr.  Pontius  is  an 
Alpha  Delta  Phi.  He  married  Miss  Mildred 
C.  Taylor,  of  Port  Huron,  Michigan.  She 
was  educated  in  Smith  College  and  in  the 
University  of  Michigan.  They  have  a  son, 
David  Taylor  Pontius. 

Harry  M.  Kilpatrick.  In  the  late  Harry 
M.  Kilpatrick,  Elmwood,  Peoria  County,  pos- 
sessed a  citizen  who  prior  to  his  demise  had 
established  a  record  for  industry,  integrity 
and  fidelity  that  will  keep  his  memory  green 
for  many  years  to  come.  Thrown  upon  his 
own  resources  when  he  was  but  fifteen  years 
of  age,  he  directed  his  activities  so  capably 
that  he  became  one  of  the  leading  furniture 
dealers  and  funeral  directors  in  the  state,  and 
subsequently  held  for  many  years  the  im- 
portant position  of  secretary-treasurer  of  the 
National  Funeral  Directors  Association. 

Mr.  Kilpatrick  was  born  at  Lafayette,  In- 
diana, in  1865,  a  son  of  Robert  and  Anna 
(Kleinhans)  Kilpatrick.  His  father,  a  native 
of  Indiana,  enlisted  in  the  Union  army  dur- 
ing the  war  between  the  states,  through  which 
he  served  with  gallantry,  and  immediately 
thereafter  brought  the  family  to  Illinois,  first 
taking  up  his  residence  at  Clinton,  later  mov- 
ing to  Brimfield,  and  finally,  in  1874,  settling 
at  Elmwood,  where  he  made  his  home  until 
his  death  in  1880,  although  he  traveled  to 
many   states,    seeing  the   world   and   working 


at  his  trade.  His  death  occurred  at  the  Sol- 
diers' Home  at  Danville,  Illinois,  whence  his 
family  brought  his  remains  for  burial  to  Elm- 
wood. By  his  first  wife  he  had  two  children, 
and  Harry  M.  was  the  only  child  of  his  second 
union. 

Harry  M.  Kilpatrick  at  the  time  of  his 
father's  death,  in  1880,  was  only  fifteen  years 
of  age,  but  gave  up  his  school  work  in  order 
to  assume  the  responsibility  of  taking  care  of 
his  mother.  At  this  early  period  in  his  ca- 
reer he  began  to  evidence  the  sincerity  and 
spirit  that  were  to  characterize  his  entire  life. 
After  working  as  a  bus  boy  in  a  restaurant 
and  as  clerk  for  a  grocer  he  took  a  position, 
at  three  dollars  per  week,  in  the  furniture 
and  undertaking  establishment  of  J.  F.  Cav- 
erly.  In  order  to  better  fit  himself  for  his 
chosen  business,  at  about  this  time  Mr.  Kil- 
patrick went  to  Chicago,  where  he  took  a  com- 
plete course  with  Carl  L.  Barnes.  Returning 
then  to  Elmwood,  he  rejoined  Mr.  Caverly, 
whose  partner  he  became  five  years  later,  and 
subsequently  became  sole  owner  of  the  busi- 
ness by  purchase. 

In  1896  Mr.  Kilpatrick  accepted  the  secre- 
taryship of  the  Illinois  Funeral  Directors  As- 
sociation. At  the  start  he  did  not  know  much 
about  association  work,  but  he  learned  so 
rapidly  and  gave  such  complete  satisfaction 
that  soon  he  was  readily  admitted  to  be  the 
best  secretary  that  association  had  ever  had. 
From  that  time  until  his  death  he  never  had 
serious  competition  for  the  office.  In  1898,  his 
ability  as  an  executive  having  been  recognized 
far  outside  of  the  boundaries  of  his  home  state, 
he  was  elected  secretary  of  the  national  asso- 
ciation, at  the  convention  held  at  Omaha,  and 
again  was  his  ability  acknowledged  and  but 
very  few  times  was  anyone  found  with  the 
temerity  even  to  suggest  an  opponent. 

Throughout  his  business  experience  Mr.  Kil- 
patrick's  slogan  had  been  "business,  first." 
This  gave  him  a  standing  almost  unparalleled 
in  association  history  and  won  a  host  of 
friends  who  admired  that  characteristic  and 
others  equally  worthy.  No  task  was  too  great, 
seemingly,  for  him  to  undertake  in  the  pur- 
suit of  his  routine  and  special  duties.  "Kil," 
as  he  was  affectionately  known  to  his  close 
friends,  was  a  smiling,  jovial  man,  thoroughly 
posted  in  his  business  as  an  association  man. 
Details  never  got  away  from  him,  and  his 
methodical  ways  made  him  invaluable  as  an 
official.  When  he  left  home  to  attend  a  con- 
vention he  was  fully  prepared  for  anything 
that  might  arise  in  the  way  of  discussions 
and  his  material  was  listed  and  filed  in  a 
capable  manner.  He  also  found  time  to  en- 
gage in  civic  affairs  and  was  the  organizer 
and  first  president  of  the  Kiwanis  Club,  while 
during  the  World  war  he  was  in  charge  of 
the  Liberty  Loans  in  his  district.  Fraternally 
he  was  affiliated  with  the  Masons,  Odd  Fel- 
lows, Rebekahs  and  Order  of  the  Eastern  Star. 


54 


ILLINOIS 


He  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Education 
and  was  its  secretary  for  twenty-five  years. 
His  widow,  who  survives  him,  belongs  to  the 
Rebekahs,  Royal  Neighbors,  White  Shrine, 
Eastern  Star  and  the  Ladies'  Oriental  Shrine. 
Mr.  Kilpatrick  died  after  a  third  stroke  of 
paralysis,  August  1,  1930. 

Mr.  Kilpatrick's  first  wife  was  Clara  Hep- 
tonstall,  who  at  her  death  left  four  children: 
Ralph;  Edwin  R.,  who  married  Frances 
Barnes;  John  R.,  who  married  Gaynell  Stone 
and  has  two  children,  Mary  and  Jack,  Jr.; 
and  Margaret,  who  married  Kester  Watson 
and  has  one  daughter,  Mary  Lorraine. 

Mr.  Kilpatrick  took  for  his  second  wife 
S.  Elizabeth  .Tones,  a  daughter  of  Samuel  A. 
and  Dorothy  (Ritson)  Jones.  Samuel  A. 
Jones  was  born  at  Farmington,  Illinois,  and 
for  many  years  was  engaged  in  farming  in 
this  state,  but  is  now  living  in  retirement  in 
Colorado.  He  has  five  children:  Oren  H., 
S.  Elizabeth,  Grover,  William  B.  and  Charles 
R.  The  grandfather  of  Mrs.  Kilpatrick  was 
Samuel  Atkinson  Jones,  who  came  from  Penn- 
sylvania and  several  of  whose  ancestors  were 
soldiers  during  the  Revolutionary  war. 

Oliver  S.  Turner  is  vice  president  of  Baird 
&  Warner,  Incorporated,  a  real  estate  and 
financial  organization  that  was  founded  in 
Chicago  in  1855  and  is  at  once  one  of  the 
oldest  and  best  known  of  the  city's  commer- 
cial organizations.  It  embraces  an  extensive 
organization  with  departments  of  property 
management,  cooperative  apartments,  bonds, 
mortgages  and  general  real  estate  investments. 
It  is  a  distinctive  honor  for  a  young  man 
barely  thirty  years  of  age  to  have  reached  an 
executive  position  as  vice  president  in  this 
firm. 

Mr.  Turner  was  born  in  England,  July  9, 
1899,  and  was  ten  years  of  age  when,  in  1909, 
the  family  came  to  Chicago.  Oliver  S.  Turner 
attended  grade  schools  and  the  Hyde  Park 
High  School,  and  his  first  regular  employ- 
ment was  as  an  office  boy  with  the  Consoli- 
dated Coal  Company.  An  opportunity  that 
meant  more  for  him  was  his  first  connection 
in  1915  with  the  real  estate  firm  of  McKey  & 
Poague,  one  of  the  old  real  estate  organiza- 
tions of  the  South  Side.  He  spent  thirteen 
and  a  half  years  with  McKey  &  Poague  and 
rose  to  the  position  of  vice  president.  In  1928 
he  joined  Baird  &  Warner,  Incorporated.  As 
vice  president  his  headquarters  are  at  646 
North  Michigan  Avenue,  and  his  time  is  de- 
voted mainly  to  the  company's  extensive  in- 
terests in  property  management. 

For  several  years  Mr.  Turner  has  had  a 
prominent  part  in  the  National  Association 
of  Real  Estate  Boards  and  was  chairman  of 
the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Property  Man- 
agement Division  for  the  year  1931,  an  honor 
that  has  seldom  come  to  so  young  a  man. 
Mr.   Turner  is   often   quoted   as   an   authority 


on  different  phases  of  property  management. 

He  has  served  as  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Governors  of  the  Chicago  Real  Estate 
Board,  and  is  chairman  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee of  the  Chicago  Homes  Economic  Coun- 
cil and  has  made  numerous  contributions  for 
the  improvement  of  practices  and  standardiza- 
tion of  methods  in  his  special  field  in  real 
estate.  He  is  a  member  of  the  South  Shore 
Country  Club  and  the  Chicago  Athletic  Asso- 
ciation. 

Mr.  Turner  married  Wilhelmina  Wagner,  of 
Chicago,  on  December  28,  1922,  and  they  have 
two  sons,  Stansfield  and  Janus  Twain  Turner. 

Nathaniel  Gardiner  Symonds  is  a  Chicago 
citizen  who  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century 
has  been  officially  connected  with  one  of  the 
nation's  greatest  industrial  organizations 
maintaining  offices  in  this  city,  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company,  and 
with  this  important  corporation  his  has  here 
been  a  record  of  consecutive  advancement  along 
major  executive  lines.  From  the  office  of 
the  Chicago  district  manager,  a  position  which 
he  assumed  in  1921,  he  was  promoted  in  June, 
1930,  to  his  present  administrative  office,  which 
had  been  created  by  the  company  a  short  time 
previously,  that  of  commercial  vice  president 
of  the  central  district,  the  local  offices  of  the 
company  being  in  the  Civic  Opera  Building, 
20  North  Wacker  Drive. 

Mr.  Symonds  is  an  electrical  engineer  by 
profession.  He  was  born  at  Ossining,  New 
York,  September  19,  1878,  and  is  a  son  of 
Henry  Clay  Symonds  and  Beatrice  (Brand- 
reth)  Symonds.  He  was  a  youth  at  the  time 
of  the  family  removal  to  California,  where  he 
pursued  his  high-school  course  at  Los  Gatos 
and  where  he  later  continued  his  studies  in 
Leland  Stanford  University,  in  which  he  was 
graduated  as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1901 
and  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in 
electrical  engineering.  His  has  been  marked 
loyalty  to  and  appreciation  of  his  alma  mater, 
and  he  has  served  as  a  member  of  the  official 
board  of  its  national  alumni  organization. 

Mr.  Symonds  has  been  connected  with  the 
interests  of  the  Westinghouse  corporation 
since  January  2,  1902,  the  date  on  which  he 
entered  the  service  of  the  company  in  New 
York  City.  He  came  to  the  Chicago  sales  office 
of  the  Westinghouse  Machine  Company  in 
1905,  and  in  1912  he  was  here  made  district 
manager  of  the  Westinghouse  Machine  Com- 
pany. When,  in  1915,  the  Westinghouse  Ma- 
chine Company  was  absorbed  by  the  Westing- 
house Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  he 
was  appointed  manager  of  the  power  division 
of  the  Chicago  office.  Three  years  later  he 
became  the  industrial  division  manager,  and  in 
1921,  as  previously  noted,  he  was  advanced 
to  the  position  of  central  district  manager,  of 
which  he  continued  the  incumbent  until  he  was 
given  assignment,  in  June,  1930,  to  his  present 


ILLINOIS 


55 


executive  office  of  commercial  vice  president 
of  the  central  district.  His  district  embraces 
an  immense  territory  in  the  West  and  North- 
west. Mr.  Symonds  is  a  director  of  the  Hins- 
dale State  Bank,  his  home  being  maintained 
in  the  beautiful  Hinsdale  suburban  district  of 
the  Chicago  metropolitan  area. 

As  is  well  known,  the  Westinghouse  corpora- 
tion had  much   of   pioneer   precedence   in  the 
development   of   the   radio   as    a    modern    me- 
dium of  communication,  and  Mr.  Symonds  de- 
rives much  personal  satisfaction  from  having 
been   officially  in  the   establishing  in   Chicago 
of  the  first  radio  broadcasting  station  west  of 
Pittsburgh,    Pennsylvania.      This    station,    the 
KYW,  broadcast  its  first  program  November 
11,    1921,    Armistice    Day,   from   the   stage   of 
the  Auditorium  Theater,  the  two  outstanding 
stars  of  the  program  being  two  distinguished 
members  of  the  Chicago  Civic  Opera  Company 
— Miss  Mary  Garden,  who  made  a  brief  speech 
to  her  unseen  audience,  and  Miss  Edith  Mason, 
who    sang.      When,    in    January,    1930,    KYW 
opened     its     powerful     transmitting     station 
twenty-three  miles  west  of   Chicago,   Mr.   Sy- 
monds recalled  this  pioneer  performance  and 
made    some    other    interesting    statements    on 
the    future    of    radio,    as    projected    from    the 
standpoint  of  an  experience  of  ten  years,  dur- 
ing which,  as  he  said,  the  radio  had  made  a 
place   for   itself  in  the  home   as   nothing  else 
has  ever  done  in  the  same  short  space  of  time. 
During   the   period   of   American   participa- 
tion  in  the   World  war   Mr.    Symonds   was   a 
|  member   of   the   Illinois   Reserve    Militia.      He 
is  a  member  of  the  Engineers  Club  of  Chicago, 
j  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers, 
j  the    local    Electric    Club,    the    Union    League 
Club,   the    Hinsdale    Club   and    Hinsdale    Golf 
j  Club,  the  University  Club  of  Pittsburgh,  Penn- 
!  sylvania,   and   the   Kappa    Sigma   college   fra- 
I  ternity.      His   political   allegiance   is   given   to 
;  the  Republican  party. 

December  25,  1901,  recorded  the  marriage  of 
I  Mr.  Symonds  to  Miss  Amy  Irene  Milberry,  of 
i  San  Francisco,  California,  and  the  four  chil- 
i  dren  of  this  union  are  Henry  Gardiner,  Na- 
!  thaniel  Milberry,  Cortlandt,  and  Amy  Irene 
j  (deceased). 

Ray  N.  Van  Doren,  vice  president  and  gen- 
eral counsel  of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern 
Railway  Company,  is  a  native  of  Wisconsin 
and  began  his  career  as  a  practicing  lawyer  in 
the  City  of  New  London.  He  was  born  at 
Oshkosh,  January  11,  1878,  son  of  Jacob  H. 
and  Anna   (Cook)   Van  Doren. 

His  father  was  a  very  prominent  Wisconsin 
business  man  and  citizen,  a  lumber  manufac- 
turer at  Birnamwood,  and  was  a  member  of 
the  State  Legislature  and  appointed  a  member 
of  the  First  Wisconsin  Highway  Commission. 

Ray  N.  Van  Doren  in  1895  graduated  from 
the  high  school  at  Birnamwood,  Wisconsin, 
and  took  his  law  degree  at  the  University  of 


Wisconsin  in  1898.  After  eleven  years  of 
general  law  practice  at  New  London  he  moved 
to  Merrill,  where  he  practiced  until  1916,  and 
then  for  a  year  was  with  the  Milwaukee  law 
firm  of  Flanders,  Bottum,  Fawsett  &  Bottum. 
While  at  New  London  he  served  as  city  attor- 
ney five  years. 

Mr.  Van  Doren  has  come  to  the  front  rap- 
idly as  a  railway  attorney.  In  1917  he  was 
appointed  Wisconsin  attorney  for  the  Chicago 
&  Northwestern  Railway  Company,  and  while 
the  railroads  were  under  the  United  States 
Railroad  Administration  he  acted  as  Nebraska 
attorney  for  the  company,  with  headquarters 
at  Omaha,  also  as  general  attorney  at  St. 
Paul,  and  later  was  returned  to  Milwaukee 
as  Wisconsin  attorney.  In  1921  he  became 
assistant  general  solicitor  at  Chicago,  was 
promoted  to  general  solicitor  in  1924,  and 
since  July  1,  1925,  has  been  at  the  Chicago 
general  offices  as  vice  president  and  general 
counsel. 

Mr.  Van  Doren  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Bar  Association.  He  is  a  Republican,  mem- 
ber of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  Knights  of 
Pythias.  He  resides  in  Evanston  and  is  an 
elder  in  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  of 
that  city.  He  married,  September  11,  1901, 
Miss  Grace  A.  Roberts,  of  Birnamwood,  Wis- 
consin. They  have  four  children,  Donald 
Wayne,  Helen  Grace,  Gerald  Ray  and  James 
Roberts.  His  oldest  son,  Donald,  married 
Betty  Parks,  of  Fort  Smith,  Arkansas,  and 
has  two  children,  Donald  Wayne  and  Gretchen 
Elizabeth.  The  daughter,  Helen,  is  the  wife 
of  J.  R.  Keach,  of  Evanston. 

Joseph  B.  Fleming,  Illinois  lawyer,  of  the 
law  firm  of  Kirkland,  Fleming,  Green  &  Mar- 
tin, at  33  North  LaSalle  Street,  Chicago,  was 
born  in  Dairy,  Scotland,  February  4,  1881. 
Six  months  later  his  parents  came  to  America, 
locating  in  Grundy  County,  Illinois.  He  was 
educated  in  high  school  at  Carbon  Hill,  at- 
tended the  Northern  Illinois  Normal  School 
and  Illinois  Wesleyan  University,  receiving  the 
honorary  degree  of  LL.  D.  from  that  institu- 
tion in  1925.  In  1903  he  became  a  resident 
of  Chicago,  and  entered  the  law  office  of  Hemp- 
stead Washburne,  a  former  mayor  of  the  city. 
Later  he  was  graduated  in  1905  from  the  John 
Marshall  Law  School  and  also  pursued  studies 
in  the  Northwestern  University  School  of  Law, 

Mr.  Fleming  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1905.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Kirkland,  Fleming,  Green  &  Martin  since  Jan- 
uary, 1918.  The  name  and  reputation  of  the 
firm  bespeak  his  successful  standing  in  the 
Chicago  bar. 

Some  of  his  professional  work  has  been 
vested  with  considerable  public  interest.  He 
became  chief  assistant  United  States  district 
attorney  at  Chicago  in  1914.  During  the 
World  war  he  was  special  assistant  to  the 
United  States  attorney  general  in  the  prose- 


56 


ILLINOIS 


cution  of  war  cases,  among  the  more  notable 
of  which  were  those  of  Victor  Berger  and 
other  leaders  of  the  Socialist  party  for  vio- 
lation of  the  Espionage  Act,  the  I.  W.  W. 
cases  and  the  India  Revolution  cases.  Mr. 
Fleming  also  acted  as  attorney  for  the  Illinois 
Building  Commission,  a  commission  created  by 
the  State  Legislature  for  the  investigation  of 
building  conditions  in  the  City  of  Chicago. 
He  has  also  served  as  attorney  for  the  Board 
of  Election  Commissioners  of  the  city. 

Mr.  Fleming  is  married,  has  a  family  of 
five  children,  and  resides  at  Lake  Forest, 
Illinois. 

Joseph  Z.  Klenha  has  more  to  his  credit 
than  his  successful  achievement  as  a  repre- 
sentative member  of  the  Chicago  bar,  for  his 
executive  and  constructive  powers  have  had 
large  and  potent  influence  in  furthering  the 
development  and  progress  of  the  Town  of 
Cicero,  of  whose  municipal  Board  of  Trustees 
he  has  served  as  president  more  than  fourteen 
years.  He  has  a  law  office  in  Chicago,  at  33 
South  Clark  Street,  and  his  professional  activ- 
ities also  touch  closely  and  effectively  the 
vigorous  community  of  Cicero,  where  he  main- 
tains his  home  at  1837  South  Austin  Boulevard. 

Mr.  Klenha  is  of  sterling  Bohemian  ancestry 
and  was  born  in  Chicago  in  the  year  1875. 
He  profited  by  the  advantages  of  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  city,  and  his  thorough 
fortification  for  his  chosen  profession  was 
gained  through  the  medium  of  the  Chicago 
College  of  Law,  in  which  he  was  graduated  as 
a  member  of  the  class  of  1899,  his  reception 
of  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  having 
been  forthwith  followed  by  his  admission  to 
the  Illinois  bar  and  by  his  initiation  of  the 
practice  of  his  profession  in  Chicago,  where 
he  has  in  the  intervening  years  built  up  a 
large  and  important  law  practice.  He  has 
been  in  the  most  significant  sense  the  archi- 
tect and  builder  of  his  own  career  and  for- 
tunes, and  his  host  of  friends  honor  him  for 
his  large  and  worthy  achievement. 

Mr.  Klenha  has  maintained  his  home  in 
the  important  Cicero  community  of  the  Chi- 
cago metropolitan  area  since  1914,  and  has 
proved  one  of  its  most  honored  and  influential 
citizens  of  progressiveness  and  unfailing  pub- 
lic spirit.  He  was  first  elected  president  of 
the  village  Board  of  Trustees  in  April,  1917, 
and  by  successive  reelections,  that  stand  in 
evidence  of  popular  confidence  and  approval, 
he  has  been  retained  as  the  executive  head  of 
this  municipal  government  to  the  present  time, 
each  successive  election  having  tallied  for  him 
a  larger  majority  than  the  preceding,  and  his 
present  term  having  been  the  sequel  of  his 
elections  in  1928.  Mr.  Klenha  is  retained  as 
attorney  for  the  Lawndale  National  Bank  of 
Chicago. 

When  he  was  first  elected  mayor  or  presi- 
dent  of   Cicero   the   nation   was   just   making 


its  preparations  for  participation  in  the  World 
war,  and  thus  his  first  term  was  marked 
principally  with  patriotic  movements,  he  hav- 
ing served  as  a  four-minute  speaker  in  fur- 
thering the  campaign  for  sale  of  Government 
war  bonds  and  for  the  support  of  the  Red 
Cross  and  other  benignant  agencies,  besides 
which  he  was  a  member  of  the  Legal  Advisory 
Board  and  did  loyal  and  constructive  service 
in  all  patriotic  activities  in  his  section  of  the 
metropolitan  area.  From  a  newspaper  article 
that  appeared  in  September,  1929,  is  repro- 
duced the  following  initial  paragraph:  "Fa- 
vored by  a  central  location,  excellent  trans- 
portation, wide  streets,  good  schools  and  low 
taxes,  Cicero  is  today  Chicago's  fastest  grow- 
ing suburb,  as  well  as  the  largest  town  in 
Illinois." 

Cicero  was  chartered  as  an  independent 
community  March  25,  1869,  and  has  retained 
its  village  form  of  government,  with  full 
metropolitan  advantages  but  without  the  en- 
cumbrances of  a  chartered  city.  At  this  junc- 
ture may  consistency  be  perpetuated  the  fol- 
lowing slightly  modified  extracts  from  an  ap- 
preciative newspaper  estimate  that  was  pub- 
lished in  September,  1929:  "One  figure  stands 
out  in  prominence  and  sharp  outline  when  the 
story  of  the  phenomenal  growth  of  Cicero  is 
told — one  man  whose  guiding  hand  has  held 
sway  over  the  destinies  of  the  town  for  the 
past  decade,  administering  the  government 
during  the  period  of  the  community's  greatest 
growth,  Joseph  Z.  Klenha,  now  serving  his  fifth 
term  as  president.  To  have  served  as  chief 
executive  for  over  fourteen  years,  to  have  seen 
his  town  grow  in  that  period  from  a  scattered 
population  of  20,000  to  a  modern  well  knit, 
finely  ordered  community  of  70,000  souls,  with 
Cicero's  largest  and  widely  known  industries 
growing  by  leaps  and  bounds  and  attracting 
the  highest  class  of  mechanics  and  laborers; 
to  have  been  the  guiding  spirit  for  more  than 
a  decade  of  the  fastest  growing  industrial 
center  in  the  Middle  West, — these  are  the  bare 
outlines  of  the  career  of  President  Klenha, 
lawyer,  banker  and  friend  of  the  working 
men  and  women  of  the  Town  of  Cicero,  the 
'Giant  of  the  Suburbs'  and  the  important  west 
gate  to  Chicago.  Without  doubt  the  greatest 
tribute  to  the  confidence  of  his  fellow  towns- 
men in  Mr.  Klenha  is  his  successive  reelections 
to  the  highest  office  in  the  community.  Here 
is  his  most  obvious  testimonial  to  his  eminent 
qualifications  for  the  office  and  his  successful 
administration  of  its  various  responsibilities. 
Cicero  residents  are  proud  of  the  record  of 
their  chief  executive  and  the  achievements 
of  his  administration.  For  well  into  a  second 
decade  now  President  Klenha  ....  has  pro- 
pelled the  progress  of  the  town  with  great 
foresight,  attended  by  well  chosen  and  able 
assistants.  To  this  keen  man  who  has  di- 
rected public  affairs  with  the  efficient  methods 
of   sound    business   must    be    given   the    lion's 


ILLINOIS 


57 


share  of  the  glory  in  the  interesting  tale  of 
the  civic  development  and  commercial  and 
industrial  advancement  of  Cicero." 

Under  the  resourceful  regime  of  President 
Klenha  Cicero  has  been  given  a  stable  gov- 
ernment, has  compassed  great  and  modern 
public  improvements,  and  has  been  made  free 
of  bonded  indebtedness,  while  its  tax  rate  is 
exceptionally  low  and  its  police  and  fire  de- 
partments maintained  under  civil  service 
provisions. 

Mr.  Klenha  has  no  minor  leadership  in  the 
councils  and  campaign  activities  of  the  Re- 
publican party  in  Cook  County,  and  he  is  a 
valued  member  of  the  Republican  Central  Com- 
mittee of  the  county.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity  and  has  received  the  thirty- 
second  degree  of  the  Scottish  Rite,  besides 
being  a  Noble  of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  and  he 
is  affiliated  also  with  the  Benevolent  and  Pro- 
tective Order  of  Elks,  Loyal  Order  of  Moose 
and  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  In 
Chicago  he  is  a  member  of  the  Hamilton  Club, 
and  he  has  membership  also  in  the  Butterfield 
Country  Club'. 

In  their  native  City  of  Chicago  was 
solemnized  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Klenha  to 
Miss  Mary  Friedl,  and  they  have  two  fine 
sons:  Robert,  who  received  the  advantages  of 
the  University  of  Illinois,  has  been  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  law  since  1925  and  is  now 
an  assistant  state's  attorney  for  Cook  County. 
Harold  J.  is  a  student  in  the  University  of 
Illinois  and  is  preparing  to  become  a  chemist 
by  profession. 

Leslie  Frank  Fullerton  as  proprietor  of 
the  Leslie  F.  Fullerton  Dairy,  at  303  Frorer 
Avenue  in  Lincoln,  is  continuing  under  his 
own  name  and  management  the  business  which 
was  founded  nearly  forty  years  ago.  The 
name  Fullerton  has  been  a  synonym  of  pure 
milk  products  to  hundreds  of  families  not  only 
in  Lincoln,  but  throughout  Logan  County. 

The  founder  of  the  business  was  the  late 
Benjamin  S.  Fullerton,  who  was  a  native  of 
Logan  County.  For  ten  years  he  conducted 
a  retail  milk  business  at  Atlanta  and  in  1893 
moved  to  Lincoln,  where  he  continued  his 
establishment  under  the  name  of  the  B.  S. 
Fullerton  Dairy  until  his  death  in  1923.  He 
was  a  dealer  in  milk  and  manufacturer  of 
dairy  products  in  the  county  for  forty  years. 
He  married  Mary  Layton,  who  was  born  in 
Logan  County  and  resides  at  Lincoln.  The 
two  children  of  these  parents  are  both  dairy- 
men, Ray  A.  and  Leslie  Frank. 

Leslie  Frank  Fullerton  was  born  at  Lin- 
coln September  5,  1894.  His  early  education 
was  acquired  in  the  grammar  and  high  schools 
and  from  boyhood  he  helped  his  father  in  the 
dairy.  During  his  father's  last  illness  he  took 
charge  as  manager,  and  later  he  bought  the 
business  and  changed  the  name  to  the  Leslie 
F.  Fullerton  Dairy.     Under  his  direction  the 


business  has  made  rapid  strides  in  many  im- 
provements. The  need  for  larger  space  com- 
pelled him  to  put  up  in  1926  the  thoroughly 
modern  plant  which  he  now  uses  and  which 
occupies  the  same  location  his  father  had  for 
many  years.  He  does  both  a  wholesale  and 
retail  business  in  milk  and  manufactured 
products. 

Mr.  Fullerton  married,  April  18,  1912,  Miss 
Emma  Mae  Pedigo.  She  was  born  at  Wil- 
liamsville  in  Sangamon  County,  but  grew  up 
in  Lincoln.  Her  grandfather,  Marcellus  Ped- 
igo, was  a  soldier  in  the  Civil  war  from  Ken- 
tucky. Her  father,  Marcellus  C.  Pedigo,  was 
born  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  carried  on  an  extensive  business 
as  a  dealer  in  horses,  at  first  at  Williams- 
ville  and  later  at  Lincoln.  He  died  in  1912. 
The  Pedigo  family  is  of  French  ancestry.  Mrs. 
Fullerton's  mother,  Sarah  Elizabeth  Conquest, 
who  was  of  English  ancestry,  was  born  at 
Williamsville  and  died  at  Lincoln  October  5, 
1928.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fullerton  have  one  child, 
Dorothy  Mae,  born  September  3,  1917,  and 
attending  the  Lincoln  High  School,  class  of 
1935.  The  family  are  members  of  the  First 
Methodist   Episcopal   Church. 

John  W.  Ellis.  A  member  of  the  Illinois 
bar  since  1894,  John  W.  Ellis  is  perhaps  best 
known  in  the  profession  in  Chicago  on  account 
of  his  many  years  of  service  as  a  master  in 
chancery.  Judge  Ellis  also  has  a  private  law 
practice,  with  offices  at  69  West  Washington 
Street. 

He  was  born  in  Kenton  County,  Kentucky, 
in  1871,  son  of  James  D.  and  Annie  (Weakley) 
Ellis.  He  grew  up  in  Kansas,  was  educated  in 
a  high  school  in  Clay  County,  that  state,  then 
studied  law  with  Attorney  General  Goddard 
of  Kansas,  and  in  1892  was  admitted  to  prac- 
tice law  in  Oregon.  In  1893  he  went  to  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  as  private  secretary  to  a  con- 
gressman, and  while  there  continued  his  law 
studies  in  Columbian  University,  now  George 
Washington  University  School  of  Law.  He 
was  graduated  in  1894  and  in  the  same  year 
came  to  Illinois,  and  from  1894  to  1900  was 
associated  in  practice  with  his  uncle,  the  late 
John  W.  Smith,  in  the  firm  of  Smith  &  Ellis. 
Later,  in  1907,  he  became  a  partner  of  Harry 
A.  Lewis  in  the  firm  of  Ellis  &  Lewis,  and  this 
firm  continued  until  1918. 

Mr.  Ellis  in  1909  was  appointed  master  in 
chancery  of  the  Cook  County  Circuit  Court, 
and  in  1918  he  became  master  in  chancery 
of  the  Superior  Court. 

Judge  Ellis  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
Athletic  Club,  the  Hamilton  Club,  South  Shore 
Country  Club,  Beverly  Country  Club,  the  Chi- 
cago and  Illinois  State  Bar  Associations,  is 
a  Republican  and  a  member  of  the  Baptist 
Church.  He  married,  November  19,  1897, 
Miss  Maude  Barnes,  whose  father,  John  A. 
Barnes,    was    at    one    time    American    consul 


58 


ILLINOIS 


to  Cologne,  Germany.  Judge  Ellis'  only  daugh- 
ter is  Mrs.  Gordon  A.  Granger,  of  Miami 
Beach,  Florida.  Mrs.  Ellis  died  in  October, 
1930,  and  Mr.  Ellis  has  since  remarried,  Mrs. 
Lillian  M.  Duffy  becoming  his  wife.  They 
reside  at  9357  Pleasant  Avenue,  Chicago. 

Frank  J.  O'Brien  is  a  native  Chicagoan,  a 
man  just  in  the  prime  of  his  years,  but  is 
regarded  as  a  pioneer  and  one  of  the  most 
constructive  forces  in  the  civic  and  business 
life  of  the  old  community  of  Woodlawn  Park. 
In  the  Woodlawn  district  Mr.  O'Brien  has  al- 
lowed his  loyalty  to  express  itself  in  many 
ways.  He  has  seen  this  district  develop  from 
a  suburb  in  what  was  once  the  far  South 
Side  until  it  is  now  linked  intimately  with  the 
commercial  and  civic  greatness  of  the  entire 
city.  Mr.  O'Brien  has  lived  in  Woodlawn  since 
1888,  or  about  five  years  before  the  old  "Alley 
L"  road  was  extended  out  to  that  section  to 
furnish  transportation  to  the  World's  Fair  at 
Jackson  Park  in  1893. 

Mr.  O'Brien,  who  in  a  business  way  is  best 
known  for  his  connection  with  the  prominent 
South  Side  real  estate  organization  of  McKey 
&  Poague  Company,  of  which  he  is  vice  presi- 
dent and  treasurer,  was  born  in  Chicago  Octo- 
ber 12,  1885,  son  of  J.  H.  and  Rena  (Miller) 
O'Brien.  His  mother  is  also  a  native  Chi- 
cagoan, having  been  born  at  the  corner  of 
Twenty-ninth  Street  and  Prairie  Avenue  when 
that  was  well  out  toward  the  southern  limits 
of  the  city.  J.  H.  O'Brien  was  brought  to 
Chicago  when  three  years  of  age  from  New 
York,  and  his  first  employment  in  the  city 
was  in  the  State  Street  store  of  Carson  Pirie 
&  Scott.  Later  he  became  a  successful  con- 
tractor. 

Frank  J.  O'Brien  was  educated  in  the  gram- 
mar schools  and  in  Englewood  High  School, 
and  spent  two  years  in  the  College  of  Com- 
merce and  Adminstration  at  the  University 
of  Chicago.  Mr.  O'Brien  was  in  the  interior 
decorating  business  from  1908  to  1920.  In 
the  latter  year  he  became  a  partner  in  McKey 
&  Poague  Company,  and  when  the  business 
was  incorporated  in  1922  was  made  vice  presi- 
dent and  treasurer.  As  an  official  of  one  of 
the  oldest  and  largest  real  estate  organiza- 
tions on  the  South  Side  he  has  also  had  a 
prominent  part  in  the  Chicago  Real  Estate 
Board,  serving  on  the  board  of  governors,  and 
for  two  years  as  a  director,  and  is  a  former 
secretary. 

Mr.  O'Brien  is  a  former  president  of  the 
Woodlawn  Business  Men's  Association.  He 
had  an  active  part  in  the  organization  of  the 
Greater  South  Side  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
This  is  more  than  a  business  organization,  in 
fact  it  represents  practically  all  the  impor- 
tant business  and  civic  organizations  of  the 
South  Side.  It  was  projected  in  1924,  after 
a  careful  survey  of  conditions  in  all  the  com- 
munities of  the  South  Side.     It  was  designed 


as  a  non-political,  non-sectarian  organization, 
concentrated  upon  a  program  to  unify  the 
scattered  communities  of  that  portion  of  the 
city,  and  by  organized  effort  develop  the  in- 
dustrial, mercantile  and  residential  interests 
of  this  great  territory.  The  Chamber  came 
into  official  being  in  January,  1926.  Mr. 
O'Brien  served  as  a  director  of  the  Chamber 
for  three  years  and  in  January,  1931,  was 
elected  its  president.  He  helped  organize  and 
was  the  first  president  of  the  Kiwanis  Club  i 
of  Woodlawn. 

In  1930  Mr.  O'Brien  was  also  appointed  a 
member  of  the  Citizens  Committee  of  Fifteen, 
an  advisory  body  cooperating  with  the  govern- 
mental agency  of  the  city  and  county  with  a 
view  to  solving  the  pressing  financial  problems 
which  have  so  seriously  affected  the  county 
and  city  in  recent  years.  Mr.  O'Brien  lias 
been  much  interested  in  the  great  institution 
maintained  at  Mooseheart.  He  is  a  member 
of  Woodlawn  Park  Lodge  No.  841,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  Woodlawn  Chapter,  Royal  Arch  Ma- 
sons, Woodlawn  Commandery  of  the  Knights 
Templar,  Jackson  Park  Consistory  of  the 
Scottish  Rite  and  Medinah  Temple  of  the 
Mystic  Shrine.  He  is  also  a  member  of  Chi- 
cago Lodge  No.  4,  B.  P.  0.  Elks,  is  a  Baptist, 
and  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Athletic  Asso- 
ciation, Quadrangle  Club,  South  Shore  Coun- 
try Club,  Olympia  Hills  Country  Club,  and 
Chickning  Club  at  Lake  Side,  Michigan. 

Mr.  O'Brien  married  Theo  A.  Leonard, 
daughter  of  W.  H.  Leonard,  of  Woodlawn. 
They  reside  at  6741  Euclid  Avenue.  Their 
three  children  are  Helen,  a  senior  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago;  James  Leonard;  and 
Frank  J.,  Jr. 

Joseph  Lustfield  is  one  of  the  well  forti- 
fied and  distinctly  representative  younger 
members  of  the  bar  of  his  native  City  of 
Chicago,  and  is  a  man  who  has  proved  his 
power  to  translate  ambition  into  definite  and 
worthy  achievement.  He  resides  in  the  vital 
Cicero  district  of  the  Chicago  metropolitan 
area,  and  that  district  claims  him  as  one  of 
its  most  honored  and  influential  citizens.  He 
controls  a  substantial  and  important  law  prac- 
tice and  his  Chicago  office  is  established  at 
33  South  Clark  Street. 

Mr.  Lustfield  was  born  in  Chicago  on  the 
1st  of  July,  1896,  and  his  public-school  educa- 
tion culminated  in  his  completion  of  a  course 
in  the  Harrison  Technical  Lligh  School,  in 
which  he  was  a  member  of  the  first  class  there 
to  be  graduated.  His  purposeful  ambition 
found  expression  when  he  entered  the  Kent 
College  of  Law  and  he  there  completed  the 
prescribed  curriculum  with  such  excellent 
powers  of  absorption  and  assimilation  that  he 
was  graduated  as  a  member  of  the  class  of 
1916  and  when  he  was  but  nineteen  years  of 
age — two  years  before  he  was  by  law  eligible 
for  admission  to  the  bar  of  his  native  state. 


ILLINOIS 


59 


He  utilized  a  portion  of  the  intervening  period 
by  continuing  as  a  graduate  student  in  the 
institution  that  had  accorded  him  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Laws,  and  through  this  appli- 
cation of  further  fortification  he  received  in 
1917  the  supplemental  degree  of  Master  of 
Laws,  while  he  had  the  further  distinction 
of  being  at  the  time  the  youngest  possessor 
of  that  degree  in  the  entire  State  of  Illinois. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1919,  but  in 
the  meanwhile  he  had  shown  his  intrinsic 
loyalty  and  patriotism  by  volunteering  for 
service  in  the  World  war.  In  the  earlier  part 
of  1917  he  enlisted  in  the  United  States  Navy, 
his  preliminary  training  having  been  received 
at  the  Great  Lakes  Naval  Training  Station, 
where  he  was  stationed  when  the  armistice 
brought  the  war  to  a  close.  He  received  his 
honorable  discharge  in  April,  1919,  and  since 
his  admission  to  the  bar  he  has  been  engaged 
in  the  active  practice  of  his  profession  in 
Chicago.  He  has  gained  state-wide  reputa- 
tion as  an  authority  on  election  and  municipal 
law  and  criminal-law  procedure,  and  in  these 
fields  he  has  specialized  in  his  law  practice. 
Concerning  him  the  following  consistent  state- 
ment has  been  written:  "He  has  been  a  party 
to  the  solution  of  the  most  intricate  cases  of 
the  day  and  has  represented  some  of  the  most 
important  business  and  political  leaders  of 
the  state." 

Mr.  Lustfield  is  a  stalwart  in  the  ranks 
of  the  Republican  party  and  in  the  campaign 
of  1918  he  was  retained  as  the  legal  represen- 
tative of  the  Cook  County  Republican  Com- 
mittee. His  marked  ability  has  led  also  to 
his  being  similarly  retained  by  Democratic 
committees.  In  1929  he  was  attorney  for 
the  Cicero  board  of  fire  and  police  commis- 
sioners, and  he  has  given  characteristically 
loyal  and  effective  service  as  counsel  for  many 
of  the  west  suburbs  of  Chicago,  including 
Cicero,  Lyons,  Bellwood,  Broadview,  Hillside, 
Melrose  Park,  Stickney  and  Forest  View.  He 
was  retained  as  assistant  corporation  counsel 
of  Berwyn  and  as  attorney  for  the  Cicero 
park  district,  as  well  as  for  school  districts 
Nos.  88,  98,  108  and  109.  By  President  Hard- 
ing he  was  appointed  Illinois  commissioner 
of  deeds  for  the  District  of  Columbia.  He  is  a 
stockholder  in  various  business  concerns  of 
Cicero,  and  is  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the 
Cicero  Tribune  Company  in  his  home  City  of 
Cicero. 

The  popularity  of  Mr.  Lustfield  is  well  at- 
tested by  his  membership  in  various  organiza- 
tions, including  the  Masonic  fraternity,  the 
Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  the 
American  Legion,  the  National  Union,  the 
Midwest  Athletic  Club,  the  Midland  Athletic 
Club,  the  LaSalle  Club  and  the  Twin  Orchard 
Golf  Club. 

Mr.  Lustfield  married  Miss  Gladys  Altschul, 
and  they  have  continuously  resided  in  Cicero, 
where  in  September,  1929,  they  are  occupying 


their  present  beautiful  and  modern  home, 
at  1823  South  Austin  Boulevard.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Lustfield  have  two  children,  Donald  Earl 
and  Betty  Joan. 

Stewart  Burton  Matthews,  who  rose  to 
the  rank  of  captain  with  the  American  Ex- 
peditionary Forces,  is  credited  by  his  friends 
and  associates  with  possessing  a  high  genius 
of  salesmanship,  and  for  several  years  has 
held  the  office  of  manager  of  sales  with  Baird 
&  Warner,  Incorporated,  at  Chicago. 

Mr.  Matthews  was  born  at  Alton,  Illinois, 
June  29,  1893,  but  since  1906  his  home  has 
been  in  Chicago.  He  is  a  son  of  Rev.  Dr. 
William  Albert  and  Delia  (Burton)  Matthews. 
His  father,  a  distinguished  minister  of  the 
Baptist  Church  and  widely  known  both  in  the 
Middle  West  and  far  West,  was  born  in  Eng- 
land. He  was  a  one  time  pastor  of  prominent 
churches  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  and  Chicago, 
Illinois.  For  several  years  his  home  has  been 
in  Los  Angeles,  where  he  is  president  of  the 
Los  Angeles  Baptist  Theological  Seminary. 
Delia  (Burton)  Matthews  is  a  descendant  of 
Elisha  Burton,  of  Vermont,  who  served  as  a 
captain  of  militia  in  the  Revolutionary  war 
and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  Dartmouth 
College. 

Stewart  Burton  Matthews  was  educated  in 
Aurora  and  in  Chicago,  being  a  graduate  of 
the  John  Marshall  High  School.  Later  he 
attended  Wheaton  College  and  the  University 
of  Chicago.  While  in  school  he  earned  money 
by  selling  books  magazines,  etc.,  and  from 
early  boyhood  it  has  been  evident  that  his 
main  forte  is  salesmanship.  For  several  years 
he  was  a  salesman  for  James  H.  Rhodes  & 
Company  of  Chicago,  manufacturers  of  indus- 
trial chemicals. 

He  was  one  of  the  first  to  enlist  when 
America  declared  war  on  Germany  in  April, 
1917.  He  enlisted  April  10,  1917,  as  a  private 
in  Battery  C  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Forty- 
ninth  Field  Artillery,  which  was  one  of  the 
units  in  the  Forty-second  or  Rainbow  Division. 
Later  he  attended  the  Second  Officers  Train- 
ing Camp  at  Fort  Sheridan,  was  commis- 
sioned a  second  lieutenant  and  was  recom- 
mended for  regular  army  service.  At  Fort 
Sam  Houston,  Texas,  he  was  assigned  to  the 
Twentieth  Field  Artillery,  a  part  of  the  reg- 
ular army,  Fifth  Division.  Early  in  1918  he 
went  overseas  with  this  division,  and  was  in 
combat  service  along  the  front  lines  in  France. 
Subsequently  he  was  transferred  to  the  Fifty- 
seventh  Field  Artillery  with  the  rank  of  first 
lieutenant,  and  eventually  was  promoted  to 
captain.  He  was  discharged  with  that  rank 
in  February,  1919,  and  after  his  return  to 
Chicago  was  for  several  years  engaged  in  the 
industrial  chemical  business. 

In  1925  he  joined  the  staff  of  Baird  &  War- 
ner, Incorporated,  one  of  the  oldest  real  estate 
firms  in  the  Middle  West.     He  was  assigned 


60 


ILLINOIS 


work  in  the  North  Shore  territory,  and  in  a 
few  years  had  run  his  sales  volume  up  to 
over  a  million  dollars  annually.  In  1929  he 
was  made  manager  of  the  firm's  branch  office 
at  4545  Broadway.  There  he  had  the  man- 
agement of  the  three  departments  of  the  office, 
sales,  renting  and  loans.  On  September  1, 
1930,  he  was  given  complete  charge  of  all  sales 
at  the  main  office,  134  South  LaSalle  Street, 
Chicago.  Mr.  Mattehws*  experience  has  in- 
cluded all  phases  of  real  estate,  property  man- 
agement, sub-divisions,  bonds,  mortgages  and 
general  investments,  and  his  record  has  been 
in  line  with  that  of  the  brilliant  staff  of  men 
whom  Baird  &  Warner  have  always  gathered 
about  them. 

Mr.  Matthews'  home  is  at  730  Milburn 
Street,  Evanston.  He  married  Miss  Joy  Vivian 
Keck,  of  Des  Moines,  Iowa.  Their  three  chil- 
dren are  Joy  Marimae,  Delia  Jane  Matthews 
and  Stewart  B.  Matthews,  Jr. 

Lieut.-Col.  W.  R.  Matheny,  of  the  law  firm 
Dodd  &  Matheny,  at  33  North  LaSalle  Street, 
Chicago,  is  the  youngest  of  a  notable  succession 
of  members  of  the  Matheny  family  in  the 
Illinois  bar.  Almost  continuously  since  the 
close  of  the  territorial  period  to  the  present  a 
Matheny  has  been  registered  on  the  roll  of 
Illinois  attorneys. 

A  very  conspicuous  pioneer  citizen  of  Spring- 
field was  Colonel  Matheny's  great-grandfather, 
Charles  R.  Matheny.  He  was  born  in  Loudoun 
County,  Virginia,  in  1783.  In  1786,  when  he 
was  three  years  of  age,  his  parents  moved 
over  the  mountains  into  Kentucky.  In  1805 
the  family  made  another  stage  of  pioneering 
when  they  established  homes  on  the  frontier 
of  Illinois,  in  St.  Clair  County,  where  Charles 
R.  Matheny  served  as  a  missionary  of  the 
Methodist  Church.  In  1817  he  was  appointed 
from  the  office  in  Washington  to  be  prose- 
cuting attorney  for  the  Illinois  Territory.  He 
was  a  soldier  of  the  War  of  1812.  In  1821 
he  came  to  Sangamon  County  and  served  as 
clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court.  He  is  also  credited 
with  having  erected  the  first  log  cabin  on  the 
site  of  the  present  capital  city,  and  this  cabin, 
which  during  those  pioneer  days  served  as 
the  first  courthouse  for  Sangamon  County 
and  also  was  used  for  services  as  the  house  of 
worship  of  the  Methodist  Church.  Upon  the 
organization  of  the  Village  of  Springfield  he 
was  elected  the  first  president  of  the  village 
board.     He  died  in  1839. 

In  the  year  1842  his  son,  James  H.  Matheny, 
was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  continued  in 
active  practice  for  nearly  half  a  century,  until 
his  death  in  1890.  James  H.  Matheny  was 
born  in  1818,  the  year  that  Illinois  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Union.  He  served  as  county 
judge  of  Sangamon  County  from  1873  until 
his  death.  During  the  Civil  war  he  served 
as  a  soldier,  being  a  member  of  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Thirtieth  Illinois  Volunteer  infantry. 


His  early  professional  career  was  contempo- 
raneous with  that  of  Lincoln.  He  was  about 
ten  years  younger  than  Lincoln  and  was  one 
of  the  groomsmen  when  Lincoln  married  Mary 
Todd  at  Springfield. 

The  next  generation  of  this  very  distin- 
guished family  was  represented  by  another 
James  H.  Matheny,  who  was  born  at  Spring 
field  in  1856,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1877 
and  practiced  his  profession  in  that  city  for 
over  forty  years,  until  his  death  in  1918.  He 
married  Fanny  French,  who  was  born  at 
Springfield.  Her  father,  Amos  Willard 
French,  an  early-day  dentist,  located  at 
Springfield  in  the  early  1840s. 

Lieut.-Col.  W.  R.  Matheny,  a  son  of  James 
H.  and  Fanny  (French)  Matheny,  was  born 
at  Springfield  April  10,  1890.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution.  His  eli- 
gibility to  that  patriotic  order  comes  through 
the  wife  of  his  great-grandfather.  Charles  R. 
Matheny  married  a  daughter  of  Joseph  Ogle, 
another  distinguished  Illinois  pioneer,  for 
whom  Ogle'  County  was  named.  Joseph  Ogle 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolution. 

Colonel  Matheny  first  chose  a  technical  pro- 
fession instead  of  the  law.  He  attended 
schools  at  Springfield  and  for  two  and  a  half 
years  pursued  the  course  of  electrical  engi- 
neering in  the  University  of  Illinois.  On 
coming  to  Chicago  in  1912  he  was  a  member 
of  the  engineering  staff  of  the  Chicago  Tele- 
phone Company  for  two  years.  In  1913  he 
became  connected  with  the  street  lighting  de- 
partment of  the  City  of  Chicago  and  by  1917 
had  been  put  in  charge  of  the  entire  street 
lighting  operations  of  the  city. 

He  left  this  work  in  1917  to  volunteer,  and 
attended  the  Officers  Training  Camp  at  Fort 
Benjamin  Harrison,  being  commissioned  a  first 
lieutenant  of  engineers.  In  January,  1918, 
he  was  promoted  to  captain  in  the  Signal 
Corps  in  the  army  and  later  went  overseas. 
He  remained  in  France  almost  a  year. 

Colonel  Matheny  after  returning  to  Chicago 
in  1919  took  up  the  study  of  law  in  the  John 
Marshall  Law  School  and  was  graduated  with 
LL.  B.  degree  in  1920.  He  has  been  in  active 
practice  now  for  over  ten  years.  He  was 
with  the  law  firm  of  Thorne  &  Jackson  until 
1922,  then  a  member  of  the  firm  Dodd, 
Matheny  &  Edmunds.  In  1923  Mr.  Edmunds 
withdrew  to  become  commissioner  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  and  since  that  time  Colonel 
Matheny  has  been  associated  in  practice  with 
Walter  F.  Dodd,  their  firm  having  enjoyed 
a  very  extensive  and  important  practice. 

Colonel  Matheny,  who  resides  at  5310  Fer- 
dinand Street,  married  Miss  Betty  Harnly,  of 
Sangamon  County.  They  have  two  sons,  James 
H.  and  David  H.,  who  represent  the  sixth 
generation  of  the  Matheny  family  in  Illinois. 
Colonel  Matheny  is  a  member  of  Brotherhood 
Lodge  No.  986,  Cicero  Chapter  No.  180,  Aus- 
tin Commandery,  K.   T.,  No.  84,   is  a  thirty- 


mmi 


•1:;.: 


ILLINOIS 


61 


second  degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  a  mem- 
ber of  Medinah  Temple,  A.  A.  0-  N.  M.  S. 
He  belongs  also  to  Chi  Psi  fraternity,  is  a 
past  commander  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  Post 
No.  627,  American  Legion,  and  is  avocat 
locale  of  La  Societe,  Des  Forty  Hommes  et 
Eight  Chevaux.  He  is  president  of  the  County 
Chapter  Reserve  Officers  Association  of  the 
United  States,  a  member  of  the  Society  of 
Mayflower  Descendants  and  belongs  to  the  Chi- 
cago, Illinois  State  and  American  Bar 
Associations. 

Frederick  Knox  Bastian  is  one  of  the  sub- 
stantial property  holders  in  the  City  of  Ful- 
ton, Whiteside  County,  where  he  is  now  liv- 
ing virtually  retired  from  active  business.  He 
was  long  and  prominently  identified  with  the 
newspaper  business  in  this  community,  has 
served  as  postmaster  of  Fulton,  and  has  been 
a  leader  in  the  councils  and  campaign  activi- 
ties of  the  Democratic  party  in  Whiteside 
County,  where  he  likewise  has  stood  as  a  loyal 
and  progressive  citizen  who  has  taken  deep 
and  constructive  interest  in  all  that  has 
touched  the  general  communal  welfare. 

Mr.  Bastian  was  born  in  the  City  of  Roches- 
ter, New  York,  September  23,  1856,  and  is 
a  son  of  Van  S.  and  Ann  Eliza  (Knox)  Bas- 
tian. Van  S.  Bastian  learned  in  his  youth  the 
trade  of  ship  carpenter  and  for  many  years 
was  in  navigation  service  on  the  Great  Lakes. 
He  later  followed  the  trade  of  cabinetmaker 
and  finally  became  a  contractor  in  bridge  con- 
struction, in  which  connection  he  built  the 
bridge  over  the  Rock  River  between  Sterling 
and  Rock  Falls,  Illinois.  He  established  the 
family  home  at  the  Town  of  Fairfield,  Bureau 
County,  in  the  year  1861,  and  passed  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life  in  this  state,  where  his 
death  occurred  in  June,  1874,  his  wife  having 
survived  him  a  term  of  years. 

Frederick  K.  Bastian  was  about  five  years 
of  age  at  the  time  the  family  home  was  estab- 
lished   in    Bureau    County    and    here    he    at- 
tended the  public  schools,  as  did  he  also  the 
high    school    of     Princeton,     Bureau     County. 
That  he  made  good  use  of  his  advantages  was 
I  shown  in  the  success  that  attended  his  service 
!  as   a   youthful   teacher   in   the   public    schools 
of  this  section  of  Illinois,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three  years  he  entered  upon  his  novi- 
tiate in  the  newspaper  and  printing  business, 
i  He  was  employed  one  and  one-half  years  in 
!  a   newspaper    office   at   Sterling,    Illinois,   and 
;  then  removed  to  Fulton  and  assumed  the  man- 
i  agement    of    the    Fulton    Journal,    a    weekly 
i  paper.     In  1881  he  and  his  brother,  Anthony 
.  W.  Bastian,  purchased  the  plant  and  business 
i  of   this   paper,   and   a   year   later   they   made 
I  the  paper  a  semi-weekly.     Under  their  effec- 
tive management  the   Journal  was   conducted 
I  with  marked  success  and  its  communal  influ- 
ence was  greatly  expanded.    In  1891  Mr.  Bas- 
|  tian   purchased   his   brother's   interest   in   the 


business,  and  he  thereafter  continued  as  indi- 
vidual   publisher   of    the   Journal   until    1898, 
when  he  sold  the  property  and  business  to  his 
brother.    Individually  and  through  the  medium 
of  his  newspaper  Mr.  Bastian  came  to  large 
influence    in    political    affairs    in     Whiteside 
County  and  gained  much  of  leadership  in  the 
local    affairs    of    the    Democratic    party.      He 
was    his    party's    candidate    for    the    National 
Congress  in  1895  and  for  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  Legislature  in  1898,  his  de- 
feat on  each  occasion  having  been  compassed 
through  normal  political  exigencies  representa- 
tive of  the  supremacy  of  the  opposition  party 
in  the  respective  elections.     He  attended  the 
Democratic  National  Convention  of  1892.    Mr. 
Bastian  served  as  postmaster  of  Fulton  dur- 
ing the  period  of  1896-98,  and  in  1915  he  was 
again  called   to  this   office,   of  which  he  con- 
tinued the  efficient  and  popular  incumbent  until 
1921.     While   actively   engaged   in   the   news- 
paper  business   he    served    also    as   city   mar- 
shal of  Fulton  during  a  period  of  three  years. 
Mr.  Bastian  became  interested  in  banking  en- 
terprise in  the  year  1899.     He  is  now  retired 
from  active  business  but  continues  to  give  a 
personal   supervision  to   his   various   property 
and    financial    interests.      He    continues    his 
active    interest   in   the    affairs    of   the    Demo- 
cratic party  and  has  served  as  a  member  of 
its  Illinois  state  central  committee,  as  well  as 
a   member   of   the   county,   congressional   and 
senatorial  committees.     He  is  at  the  present 
time  a  valued  member   and   counselor   of  the 
Democratic    central    committee    of    Whiteside 
County    (1931).     With   all   his  varied   activi- 
ties   Mr.    Bastian    has    found    opportunity    to 
indulge   in   travel   in   various   sections   of   the 
United    States    and    made    a    sojourn    of    two 
years   on  the   Isthmus   of   Panama,   where  he 
was  in  charge  of  a  printing  plant  connected 
with  the  building  of  the  great  canal. 

In  August,  1884,  Mr.  Bastian  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Nellie  J.  Barton,  of  Mendota, 
Illinois,  and  she  passed  to  the  life  eternal  in 
January,  1924,  no  children  having  been  born 
of  this  union. 

Holland  M.  Cassidy  in  winning  a  place 
among  the  representative  members  of  the  Chi- 
cago bar  had  the  ability  and  courage  to  face 
and  overcome  the  obstacles  that  almost  in- 
variably confront  the  young  lawyer  who  seeks 
success  and  prestige  in  a  great  metropolitan 
center.  He  has  won  high  standing  as  an  au- 
thority on  municipal  law.  A  large  part  of 
his  practice  is  in  an  advisory  capacity  to 
large  financial  organizations,  including  invest- 
ment, banking,  trusts  and  insurance  compa- 
nies in  connection  with  their  handling  of 
municipal  bonds  and  securities. 

Mr.  Cassidy  was  born  at  Flora,  Clay 
County,  Illinois,  November  3,  1889,  son  of 
John  J.  and  Edna  L.  Cassidy.  After  gradu- 
ating from  the  Flora  High  School  he  entered 


62 


ILLINOIS 


the  law  school  of  the  University  of  Illinois, 
where  he  graduated  Bachelor  of  Laws  in  1914. 
After  being  admitted  to  the  bar  he  became  an 
associate  and  assistant  in  the  office  of  A.  H. 
Baer,  a  prominent  attorney  at  Belleville,  with 
whom  he  continued  until  the  spring  of  1917. 
He  left  his  law  practice  to  enlist  as  a  private 
in  the  aviation  department  of  the  United 
States  Army.  He  was  promoted  to  first  lieu- 
tenant, and  during  the  latter  part  of  the  war 
was  stationed  at  Washington,  D.  C.  He  re- 
ceived his  honorable  discharge  in  1919,  with 
the  rank  of  first  lieutenant. 

During  the  war  his  former  associate,  Mr. 
Baer,  died.  After  his  discharge  from  military 
service  Mr.  Cassidy  formed  a  new  contact 
with  his  profession,  coming  to  Chicago  and 
becoming  an  associate  in  the  law  firm  of 
Chapman,  Cutler  &  Parker.  While  with  that 
firm  he  devoted  his  efforts  to  practice  special- 
izing in  municipal  obligations.  Immediately 
after  severing  his  connection  with  that  firm, 
in  1927,  he  engaged  in  practice  under  his  own 
name,  with  offices  at  231  South  LaSalle  Street. 
His  success  in  his  chosen  field  offers  the  most 
effective  recommendation  of  his  technical  abil- 
ity and  voucher  for  the  popular  confidence 
and  esteem  he  enjoys. 

Mr.  Cassidy  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago, 
Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  Associations. 
He  is  affiliated  with  the  Phi  Delta  Phi  and 
Acacia  college  fraternities  and  is  a  member 
of  the  Union  League  Club  of  Chicago.  He 
married  in  1922  Miss  Metella  Bjorn.  Their 
two  children  are  Helene  M.  and  Patricia  M. 

George  Walter  Kemp  joined  the  noted  old 
real  estate  organization  of  McKey  &  Poague 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  His 
remarkable  success  in  the  business  and  pro- 
fession of  real  estate  is  attested  by  the  fact 
that  he  has  had  steady  promotions  from  the 
ranks  in  this  organization,  of  which  he  is  now 
president. 

Mr.  Kemp  is  of  old  New  England  ancestry 
and  was  born  at  Colrain,  Massachusetts,  July 
28,  1884.  His  parents,  Walter  H.  and  Mae  S. 
(Martin)  Kemp,  are  still  living  at  the  old 
homestead,  which  is  a  New  England  dairy 
farm.  His  father  is  a  man  of  much  promi- 
nence in  his  home  community  and  has  served 
three  terms  in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature. 

George  Walter  Kemp  was  liberally  educated, 
attending  public  schools  at  Colrain,  spent 
three  years  in  the  Greenfield  High  School  and 
one  year  in  the  Arms  Academy  at  Sheldon 
Falls,  Massachusetts.  He  completed  his  prep- 
aration for  a  business  career  with  one  year 
in  the  Bliss  Business  College  at  North  Adams, 
Massachusetts.  During  1903-06  he  was  a 
salesman  for  a  grain  firm  at  Greenfield,  Massa- 
chusetts. Leaving  there,  he  came  to  Chicago 
and  since  1906  has  been  with  McKey  &  Poague, 
real  estate.  .  He  became  a  member  of  the  firm 
in  1915,  in  1922  was  made  vice  president  and 


treasurer,  and  since  January,  1929,  has  been 
president.  The  main  office  of  McKey  &  Poague 
is  at  1172  East  Sixty- third  Street.  Mr.  Kemp 
is  also  a  director  of  the  Woodlawn  Trust  & 
Savings  Bank.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Chi- 
cago Real  Estate  Board,  member  of  the  Chi- 
cago Art  Institute,  South  Shore  Country  and 
Olympia  Fields  Country  Clubs,  is  a  Repub- 
lican, a  Presbyterian  and  member  of  Wood- 
lawn  Park  Lodge  No.  841,  A.  F.  and  A.  M., 
and  Woodlawn  Park  Chapter,  Royal  Arch 
Masons. 

Mr.  Kemp  married,  October  19,  1914,  Miss 
Margaret  L.  Smith,  of  Chicago,  where  she 
was  born.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Mrs.  Char- 
lotte (Morgan)  Smith.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kemp 
have  two  sons,  George  Walter,  Jr.,  and  William 
Howard. 

Erwin  F.  Stolle  is  a  member  of  the  Illi- 
nois bar  who  has  practiced  both  in  Chicago 
and  Evanston  and  at  the  present  time  is  city 
attorney  of  Evanston. 

He  was  born  in  that  North  Shore  suburb 
January  13,  1897,  son  of  Louis  and  Jennie 
(Schramm)  Stolle.  After  the  public  schools 
he  attended  Evanston  Academy  and  completed 
his  legal  education  in  Northwestern  University, 
graduating  LL.  B.  in  1921. 

Mr.  Stolle  has  had  ten  years  of  successful 
experience  in  the  general  practice  of  law  in 
Evanston  and  Chicago.  His  Chicago  office  is 
at  105  West  Adams  Street  and  his  profes- 
sional aind  official  place  of  business  in  Evans- 
ton is  the  City  Hall.  He  has  been  city  attor- 
ney there  since  1925,  and  during  that  time 
has  handled  a  large  volume  of  important  and 
frequently  complicated  legal  work  for  the  city. 

Mr.  Stolle  is  a  Republican,  member  of  the 
Chicago  and  Illinois  Bar  Associations,  is  a 
Knight  Templar  Mason  and  Shriner,  being  a 
member  of  the  Medinah  Temple  at  Chicago  and 
the  Medinah  Athletic  Club.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Wilmette  Golf  Club.  Mr.  Stolle  mar- 
ried Miss  Evelyn  Park,  and  they  have  one 
son,  Erwin  F.,  Jr. 

J.  Henry  Aronson  is  senior  member  of  the 
law  firm  of  Aronson  &  Aronson,  at  11  South 
LaSalle  Street,  Chicago.  Mr.  Aronson  has 
made  an  enviable  record  in  the  practice  of 
the  law  and  is  especially  well  known  as  a 
specialist  in  cases  involving  the  application 
of  the  mechanic  lien. 

He  was  born  in  Chicago,  October  18,  1902, 
son  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Isaac  Aronson.  He  was 
born  on  the  South  Side,  attended  grammar 
school  there  and  was  a  student  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago,  but  graduated  from  the 
law  department  of  Northwestern  University 
in  1923. 

Mr.  Aronson  began  private  practice  in  Chi- 
cago. He  spent  a  portion  of  two  years  in 
the  South  looking  after  matters  under  his 
jurisdiction  as  vice  president  of  the  First  Na- 


ILLINOIS 


63 


tional  Title  &  Abstract  Company  at  Miami, 
Florida,  and  as  president  of  the  Asheville 
Title  &  Abstract  Company  in  North  Carolina. 
He  resigned  his  active  connection  with  these 
two  companies  in  1926  and  since  that  year 
has  devoted  his  full  time  to  his  practice  in 
!  Chicago. 

Aronson   &   Aronson   have   achieved   a  very 
notable    measure    of    success    in   their    special 
,  field  and  as  a  firm  have  a  practice  probably 
not  exceeded  by  that  of  any  other  organiza- 
tion   handling    matters    and    litigation    under 
the   mechanic  lien   law.     Mr.   Aronson   in   his 
,  practice    represents    a    number    of    important 
'  lumber  corporations  in  Chicago  and  also  mort- 
!  gage    and   investment   companies   in   chancery 
matters.      His   junior   partner   in  the   firm   of 
|  Aronson  &  Aronson  is  his  brother,  Leo  E. 

Mr.  Aronson  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
Bar  Association  and  has  been  admitted  to 
practice  in  the  Federal  courts.  He  belongs 
to  the  American  Judicature  Society,  which  was 
founded  by  Charles  Evans  Hughes  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  important  reforms  in  court 
procedures.  Mr.  Aronson  is  affiliated  with 
the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and 
is  a  member  of  a  number  of  charitable 
organizations. 

Oliver  C.  Heywood.  This  publication  con- 
sistently accords  personal  recognition  to  a 
goodly  quota  of  the  representative  younger 
members  of  the  Chicago  bar,  and  prominent 
among  the  number  is  Oliver  C.  Heywood,  who 
engaged  in  the  general  practice  of  law  in  his 
native  city  soon  after  he  received,  in  1919,  his 
honorable  discharge  from  the  World  war  avia- 
tion service  of  the  United  States  Army.  His 
law  office  in  Chicago  is  established  at  29  South 
LaSalle  Street.  He  served  as  village  attorney 
of  the  attractive  suburb  of  Berwyn,  where  he 
resides. 

Mr.  Heywood  was  born  in  Chicago  on  the 
13th  of  January,  1895,  and  is  a  son  of  Charles 
E.  and  Grace  May  (Tunison)  Heywood. 
Charles  E.  Haywood  was  reared  and  educated 
in  his  native  State  of  New  York  and  was  a 
young  man  when  he  established  residence  in 
Chicago,  he  having  been  for  many  years  prom- 
inently associated  with  the  steel  industry  in 
this  city  and  at  Joliet. 

After  completing  his  high-school  course  in 
Chicago  Oliver  C.  Heywood  entered  the  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan,  and  in  that  institution 
he  was  graduated  as  a  member  of  the  class 
of  1916,  when  he  received  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts.  He  had  been  prosecuting 
his  studies  in  the  law  department  of  the  Uni- 
versity, so  that  in  1917  he  received  therefrom 
his  degree  of  Juris  Doctor.  It  was  in  the 
spring  of  the  latter  year  that  the  nation  be- 
came formally  involved  in  the  World  war,  and 
thus  the  young  law-school  graduate  found 
patriotism  paramount  to  personal  interests  and 
forthwith  volunteered  for  service  in  the  United 


States  Army.  He  was  assigned  to  the  air 
service,  had  training  at  various  flying  fields, 
principally  in  Texas,  and  finally,  with  commis- 
sion as  second  lieutenant,  he  entered  overseas 
service  with  his  unit,  he  having  been  two 
months  in  France  and  having  returned  to  his 
native  land  after  the  armistice  brought  the  war 
to  a  close.  He  received  his  honorable  discharge 
in  the  early  part  of  1919,  and  he  has  since 
been  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession 
in  Chicago,  where  ability  and  close  applica- 
tion have  gained  to  him  rank  among  the 
representative  younger  members  of  the  bar 
of  his  native  city.  He  is  a  popular  member  of 
the  Chicago  Bar  Association,  his  political  al- 
legiance is  given  to  the  Republican  party,  he 
is  affiliated  with  the  American  Legion  and  in 
addition  was  a  member  of  the  Three  Hundred 
Seventeenth    Cavalry   Polo   and   Hunt   Club. 

The  year  1922  recorded  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Heywood  to  Miss  Dorothy  Smith,  and  their 
home  is  in  Berwyn.  They  have  two  children: 
George  and  Carol. 

Joseph  M.  Fiore,  member  of  the  Illinois  bar, 
has  won  the  rank  and  position  of  a  success- 
ful advocate  and  deserves  a  great  deal  of 
admiration  for  the  determination  which  he  has 
shown  in  his  effort  to  rise  above  circumstances 
and  qualify  as  a  member  of  one  of  the  most 
difficult  of  the  learned   professions. 

Mr.  Fiore  is  a  native  of  Italy.  He  was 
reared  and  educated  there  and  as  a  youth 
learned  the  trade  of  ladies'  tailor.  In  1905 
he  came  to  America,  first  locating  in  New 
York  City.  He  secured  work  at  his  trade  and 
one  of  the  first  goals  was  to  learn  the  Eng- 
lish language.  He  has  been  a  naturalized 
American  citizen  since  1914.  Mr.  Fiore  while 
working  laid  plans  to  win  a  better  education 
and  thus  advance  himself  to  a  place  of  use- 
fulness and  honor  among  his  fellow  men. 
During  1915-17  he  attended  the  College  of 
Arts  and  Sciences  in  the  University  of  Buf- 
falo, New  York. 

He  then  removed  to  Chicago  and  attended 
the  summer  quarters  of  the  University  of 
Chicago  in  1916  and  1917,  and  was  a  law 
student  in  the  law  department  of  DePaul  Uni- 
versity in  1917-19.  Mr.  Fiore  returned  east 
to  complete  his  legal  education  in  Buffalo 
University,  where  he  was  graduated  with  the 
LL.   B.   degree   in  the  class  of   1920. 

Returning  to  Chicago,  he  was  admitted  to 
the  Illinois  bar  in  February,  1921,  and  for 
ten  years  has  employed  his  time  and  talents 
in  a  growing  business  in  general  practice. 
His  law  offices  are  at  127  North  Dearborn 
Street.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago,  Illi- 
nois State  and  American  Bar  Associations,  the 
Justinian  Society  of  Advocates,  and  belongs 
to  a  number  of  civic  and  social  organizations. 
On  January  6,  1926,  he  married  Miss  Mary 
C.  Nigro,  of  Chicago. 


64 


ILLINOIS 


Ward  Farnsworth,  of  the  firm  of  Fred 
McGuire,  specialists  in  financial  and  building 
management,  was  born  in  South  Chicago,  in 
1892,  and  in  his  individual  record  has  meas- 
ured up  to  the  fine  traditions  of  one  of  Chi- 
cago's oldest  and  best  known  families. 

Mr.  Farnsworth's  grandfather  was  a  cousin 
of  Gen.  John  F.  Farnsworth.  The  Farns- 
worths  came  from  England,  settled  around 
Groton,  Massachusetts,  in  early  Colonial  days, 
and  a  later  branch  of  the  family  moved  west 
to  Michigan.  John  F.  Farnsworth  was  born 
at  Green  Oak,  Michigan,  in  1820.  He  studied 
law,  and  in  1852  located  in  Chicago.  His 
political  affiliations  turned  him  to  the  newly 
organized  Republican  party  and  on  that  ticket 
he  was  elected  in  1856  a  member  of  Congress 
from  a  district  embracing  all  the  counties  west 
from  Chicago  to  the  Mississippi  River.  He 
was  reelected  in  1858,  and  had  an  important 
part  in  the  turbulent  activities  that  distin- 
guished Congress  during  the  years  leading  up 
to  the  Civil  war.  In  political  campaigns  he 
was  an  orator  and  debater  in  great  demand, 
and  he  delivered  speeches  against  the  extension 
of  slavery  on  the  same  platform  with  Owen 
Lovejoy  and  other  distinguished  men  of  that 
day.  When  the  war  broke  out  he  raised  the 
Eighth  Regiment  of  Illinois  Cavalry,  was 
elected  its  colonel,  and  was  at  the  first  battle 
of  Bull  Run.  He  was  a  participant  in  many 
of  the  Virginia  campaigns,  with  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac.  In  November,  1862,  he  was 
promoted  to  brigadier-general. 

Ward  Farnsworth  is  a  son  of  William  and 
Eleanor  (Ward)  Farnsworth.  His  mother  was 
a  member  of  the  Ward  family  of  Detroit  and 
was  a  sister  of  the  late  Clara  Ward,  a  dis- 
tinguished American  actress  who  became  the 
Princess  Chimay. 

Ward  Farnsworth  attended  the  Hyde  Park 
High  School  and  for  two  years  was  a  student 
in  the  University  of  Chicago.  He  was  a  vol- 
unteer for  service  in  the  World  war,  joining 
the  United  States  Marine  Corps,  had  his  ini- 
tial training  at  Paris  Island,  South  Carolina, 
and  later  was  transferred  to  Quantico.  Vir- 
ginia. He  was  commissioned  a  second  lieu- 
tenant, and  in  June,  1918,  went  overseas  with 
the  Marines  as  a  member  of  the  Twenty-third 
Infantry,  Second  Division.  He  was  in  France 
until  after  the  armistice  and  was  discharged 
February  6,  1919. 

Mr.  Farnsworth  after  the  war  became  a 
traveling  salesman  and  in  1922  became  asso- 
ciated with  Gordon  Strong  &  Company,  prop- 
erty owners  and  managers  in  the  Loop  district. 
Col.  Gordon  Strong  and  his  firm  turned  out 
a  number  of  young  men  of  exceptional  capacity 
and  business  training.  It  was  under  such  cir- 
cumstances and  conditions  that  Ward  Farns- 
worth gained  his  knowledge  of  financial  and 
property  matters.  He  was  made  manager  of 
the  brokerage  department  of  Gordon  Strong 
&  Company,  and  remained  with  that  firm  for 


seven  years.  In  July,  1930,  he  resigned  and 
became  associated  with  Fred  McGuire,  with 
offices  at  327  South  LaSalle  Street.  They  have 
handled  the  management  of  important  proper- 
ties, particularly  those  owned  and  controlled 
by  Mr.  Harley  Clarke,  president  of  the  Utili- 
ties Power  &  Light  Corporation  and  the  Utili- 
ties Power  &  Light  Securities  Company.  The 
firm  specialize  in  the  sale  and  leasing  of 
downtown  Chicago  and  New  York  properties, 
having  an  eastern  office  at  100  Broadway. 
Mr.  Farnsworth  is  a  member  of  the  Union 
League  Club. 

John  Vincent  McCormick,  A.  B.,  J.  D.,  is 

dean  of  the  law  school  of  Loyola  University, 
one  of  the  old  and  representative  educational 
institutions  of  Chicago,  and  prior  to  assuming 
his  present  office  he  had  made  a  record  of 
successful  achievement  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession  in  this  city. 

Mr.  McCormick  was  born  at  Mineral  Point, 
Wisconsin,  July  24,  1891,  and  is  a  son  of 
John  and  Loretta  (Laverty)  McCormick.  In 
the  public  schools  of  his  native  city  he  con- 
tinued his  studies  until  he  was  there  graduated 
in  the  high  school,  in  1910,  and  he  advanced 
his  education  along  academic  lines  by  com- 
pleting a  course  in  the  University  of  Wis- 
consin, in  which  he  was  graduated  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  class  of  1914  and  with  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  From  the  law  depart- 
ment of  the  University  of  Chicago  he  received 
in  the  year  1916  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Law, 
and  October  of  that  year  marked  his  admis- 
sion to  the  Illinois  bar.  From  1917  until  1924 
he  was  engaged  in  the  active  general  practice 
of  his  profession  in  Chicago  as  a  member  of 
the  representative  law  firm  of  Fulton,  Mc- 
Cormick &  Fulton,  and  in  the  meanwhile  he 
served  as  attorney  for  the  Legal  Aid  Society 
of  Chicago,  in  which  connection  he  assisted  in 
framing  and  championing  the  legislative  en- 
actments the  law  curbing  the  activities  of 
loan  sharks  in  the  state.  In  1924  he  was  made 
secretary  and  acting  dean  of  the  law  school  or 
department  of  Loyola  University,  and  of  this 
dual  position  he  continued  the  incumbent  until 
1927,  when  he  was  advanced  to  his  present 
office,  that  of  dean  of  this  important  depart- 
ment of  the  university.  Mr.  McCormick  is 
known  for  his  comprehensive  and  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  science  of  jurisprudence  and 
has  proved  not  only  an  able  executive  but  also 
a  valued  instructor  in  the  educational  work  of 
his  profession.  He  has  membership  in  the  Chi- 
cago Bar  Association,  Illinois  State  Bar  Asso- 
ciation, American  Law  Association  and  Amer- 
ican Law  Institute.  His  political  allegiance  is 
given  to  the  Democratic  party.  He  and  his 
wife  are  communicants  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
In  addition  to  being  affiliated  with  the  Knights 
of  Columbus  he  has  membership  in  the  Chi 
Phi  and  the  Delta  Theta  Phi  Artus  college 
fraternities. 


ILLINOIS 


65 


On  the  17th  of  March,  1928,  was  solemnized 
the  marriage  of  Mr.  McCormick  to  Miss  Ade- 
line M.  Ulias,  of  Chicago,  and  their  winsome 
daughter,  Patricia  N.,  was  born  April  25, 
1929.  The  family  home  is  maintained  at  6151 
North  Talman  Avenue. 

Philip  R.  Davis.  Lawyer,  author  and  poet, 
collector  of  books  and  etchings,  and  a  promi- 
nent figure  in  the  American  Legion,  Philip 
R.  Davis,  of  Chicago,  is  a  man  of  varied 
interests  and  diversions.  A  member  of  the  bar 
since  1919,  he  is  engaged  in  general  practice, 
but  his  studies  have  brought  him  much  pro- 
fessional business  along  special  lines.  His 
inquiring  mind  has  brought  him  into  touch 
with  many  sides  of  life,  but  he  is  by  no 
means  merely  a  dilettante,  for  there  is  a 
strongly  practical  side  to  his  nature,  as  will 
be  shown  in  his  activities  as  an  attorney  and 
as  judge  advocate  of  the  Department  of  Illi- 
nois, American  Legion. 

Mr.  Davis  was  born  at  Milwaukee,  Wiscon- 
sin, January  17,  1895,  and  is  a  son  of  Henry 
James  Charles  and  Elizabeth  (Heerstburg) 
Davis.  His  father  was  a  business  man  of 
Milwaukee,  where  he  served  as  a  member  of 
the  City  Council,  but  in  1898  the  family  moved 
to  Kansas  City,  where  Henry  James  Charles 
Davis  became  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
First  Missouri  Volunteer  Infantry  for  service 
during  the  Spanish-American  war,  in  which 
he  was  commissioned  a  major.  In  1900  the 
family  came  to  Chicago,  where  Mr.  Davis  has 
since  made  his  home. 

After  graduating  from  high  school  Philip 
R.  Davis  entered  the  University  of  Chicago, 
where  he  received  the  degree  of  Associate  in 
Philosophy  in  1913,  subsequently  taking  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  from  Northwest- 
ern University  as  a  member  of  the  class  of 
1916.  Soon  after  the  United  States  entered 
the  World  war,  in  April,  1917,  Mr.  Davis  en- 
listed in  the  army  as  a  private  and  was  sent 
to  Camp  Logan,  Texas,  where  he  went  into 
training  with  the  Illinois  (Thirty-third)  Divi- 
sion and  was  commissioned  first  lieutenant. 
He  went  overseas  with  the  Ninetieth  Division 
and  saw  active  and  dangerous  service  on  sev- 
eral of  the  major  fronts  in  France.  After  the 
close  of  the  war  he  helped  organize  the  Ameri- 
can Legion  in  France  and  upon  returning 
home  his  Legion  activities  were  of  such  a 
character  as  to  warrant  his  appointment  by 
Gen.  Milton  J.  Foreman  as  the  first  judge 
advocate  for  the  American  Legion,  Department 
of  Illinois.  He  was  the  first  commander  of 
Chicago  Loop  Post,  and  again  served  as  its 
commander  for  the  year  1929.  He  has  been 
a  delegate  to  several  state  and  national  con- 
ventions of  the  Legion  and  was  chairman  of 
the  legislative  committee  of  the  Illinois  con- 
vention in  1929. 

Mr.  Davis  began  the  practice  of  law  in 
Chicago    in    1919,    and    has    been    successfully 


engaged  therein  since  that  time,  his  offices 
being  at  188  West  Randolph  Street.  His 
practice  is  general  in  character,  but  through 
study  and  research  he  has  become  known  as 
an  authority  in  various  special  branches,  such 
as  laws  relating  to  contractual  matters  in  the 
theatre  business  and  theatrical  productions, 
also  special  assessment  laws  and  in  medical 
jurisprudence,  as  well  as  psychiatry  as  used 
in  medical  practice.  He  has  contributed  arti- 
cles on  these  subjects  to  the  Illinois  Law  Re- 
view and  the  Medico-Legal  Journal.  He  be- 
longs to  the  American,  Illinois,  Chicago  Bar 
Associations  and  the  Chicago  Law  Institute. 
He  has  been  a  member  of  the  War  Veterans 
Committee  of  the  Chicago  Bar  Association,  and 
in  December,  1929,  he  drew  up  a  report  of 
the  work  of  that  committee  which  received 
the  commendation  of  General  Hines. 

Mr.  Davis  has  achieved  merited  recognition 
as  an  author,  poet  and  playwright.  He  is  the 
author  of  the  well-known  volume  of  poems, 
Purple  Plectron,  also  Acid  and  Honey;  and  co- 
author, with  Bartlett  Cormack,  of  the  play 
"The  Racket,"  which  has  been  produced  both 
on  the  stage  and  the  screen.  One  of  his  inter- 
esting diversions  is  the  collecting  of  etchings 
and  books,  both  rare  editions  and  first  edi- 
tions, and  he  is  the  owner  of  one  of  the  val- 
uable personal  libraries  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Davis 
is  a  member  and  a  former  director  of  the 
Auction  Bridge  Club  of  Chicago,  and  belongs 
to  the  Military  and  Naval  Intelligence  Asso- 
ciation, the  Army  and  Navy  Club,  Reserve 
Officers  Association,  Northwestern  University 
Club,  City  Club  and  is  the  official  orator  for 
the  National  Security  League,  broadcasting 
patriotic  addresses  over  stations  WMAQ  and 
WGN.  A  member  of  the  University  Golf 
Club,  Mr.  Davis  has  achieved  prominent  notice 
on  the  sporting  pages  of  the  newspapers. 

Hon.  Miles  J.  Devine  as  a  Chicago  lawyer 
and  Democratic  leader  has  had  a  career  of 
more  than  ordinary  success  and  influence, 
enriched  by  widely  extended  friendships  among 
prominent  men  of  the  city,  state  and  nation. 

Mr.  Devine  is  a  native  of  Chicago,  where 
he  was  born  November  11,  1866,  son  of  Patrick 
and  Elizabeth  (Conway)  Devine.  His  mother 
came  to  Chicago  when  a  girl  of  eight  years 
and  she  passed  away  in  1925,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-five.  She  was  a  sister  of  the  distin- 
guished ecclesiastic,  Vicar  General  P.  J.  Con- 
way, who  for  twenty-eight  years  was  pastor 
of  St.  Patrick's  Church  and  later  was  vicar 
general  of  the  diocese  and  pastor  of  the 
Holy  Name  Parish. 

Patrick  Devine  was  also  born  in  Ireland. 
He  came  to  America  when  about  seventeen 
years  of  age.  He  worked  his  way  through 
the  college  at  Emmitsburg,  Maryland,  and  on 
coming  to  Chicago  became  identified  with  the 
old  South  Side  City  Railway  Company.  He 
was    present    when    the    first    rail    on    State 


66 


ILLINOIS 


Street  was  laid.  For  twenty-one  years  he 
was  superintendent  of  what  might  be  called 
the  "Horse  Commissary"  of  the  company,  hav- 
ing- general  supervisory  charge  of  the  feeding 
and  housing  of  the  several  thousand  horses 
used  in  drawing  the  cars  over  the  tracks  ot 
the  company.  Just  before  the  great  Chicago 
fire  of  1871  he  bought  a  farm  at  Libertyville 
in  Lake  County,  and  that  was  his  home  until 
his  death  in  1908. 

Miles  J.  Devine  spent  most  of  his  youthful 
years  on  the  farm  in  Lake   County.     During 
1880-81   he  lived   with   his   uncle,   Rev.    P.   J. 
Conway,  then  pastor  of  St.  Patrick's  Church, 
and  attended   St.  Patrick's   School,  located  at 
Desplaines    and    Adams    streets.      His    early 
choice  of  a  career,  to  which  he  was  encouraged 
by  his  parents  and  his  uncle,  was  the  priest- 
hood.     With    that    in    view   he    attended    the 
St.  Francis  Seminary  at  Bay  View,  Wisconsin, 
for   two   years   and   spent  four   years   in   his 
studies  in  the  Seminary  of  our  Lady  of  Angels 
at  Niagara,  New  York.    Before  completing  his 
work  preparatory  to  ordination  he  decided  to 
become   a   lawyer.      With   that   idea   in   mind 
he  spent  two  years  at  Lake  Forest  University. 
Mr.  Devine  was  one  of  the  early  students  in 
the   Chicago   College   of   Law   and   among  his 
teachers  were  Judge  Bailey,  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  Judge   Thomas  A.   Moran,  of  the 
Appellate    Court.      He    was    granted    his    law 
degree  in  1890  and  admitted  to  the  bar  the 
same  year.     His   abilities   brought  him  early 
recognition  in  the  public  life  of  the  city.     He 
acted  as  city  prosecuting  attorney  through  the 
administrations  of  three  mayors,  Carter  Har- 
rison,  Sr.,    Hopkins   and    Swift.     In   1897   he 
was    elected   city   attorney   of   Chicago5<  when 
Carter  Harrison,  Jr.,  was  chosen  to  his  first 
term  in  that  office.     He  served  two  years  and 
declined  reelection  in  order  to  return  to  private 
practice. 

Mr.  Devine  declined  the  Democratic  nom- 
ination for  state  senator  from  the  Eighth 
District  in  1895,  and  he  also  declined  nomina- 
tion in  1896  to  represent  the  Eighth  District 
in  Congress.  That  district  was  then  Demo- 
cratic by  fully  8,000  majority,  and  a  nom- 
ination would  have  been  equivalent  to  election. 
In  1912  he  was  candidate  for  the  Democratic 
nomination  for  state's  attorney  of  Cook 
County.  His  friends  always  claimed  that  he 
won  the  nomination,  but  the  county  machine 
counted  him  out. 

Mr.  Devine  has  always  represented  the  clean 
element  in  politics,  and  of  all  the  honors 
conferred  upon  him  he  has  perhaps  appreciated 
most  that  of  being  president  of  the  Cook 
County  Democracy,  an  office  he  has  held  for 
nineteen  years.  This  organization  was  started 
in  1882,  fifty  years  ago.  Mr.  Devine  has 
frequently  been  on  the  stump  in  campaigns 
in  and  outside  the  city,  and  when  William  J. 
Bryan  was  candidate  for  President  he  cam- 
paigned in  several  states. 


During  his  forty  years  as  a  practicing  law- 
yer Mr.  Devine  has  been  retained  in  many 
famous  cases  in  Illinois  and  in  other  states. 
He  ranks  as  one  of  the  ablest  criminal  lawyers 
in  Chicago.  He  has  been  attorney  for  the 
defense  in  ninety-nine  murder  cases,  and  lost 
only  four  of  them,  the  severest  penalty  ever 
inflicted  on  one  of  his  clients  being  twenty 
years. 

Politics  and  the  law  have  not  bounded  his 
many  interesting  contacts  with  the  world  of 
men.  As  a  youth  he  was  noted  as  an  athlete, 
competed  with  some  of  the  fastest  runners 
in  the  United  States  and  at  one  time  held  the 
twenty-five  mile  walking  record  of  the  world. 
Before  he  was  twenty-one  the  late  Captain 
Anson,  the  immortal  baseball  figure  of  Chicago, 
asked  him  to  sign  a  contract  as  a  pitcher,  but 
Mr.  Devine  yielded  to  the  objections  of  his 
father  to  entering  professional  baseball.  Many 
older  citizens  of  Chicago  will  recall  the  old 
race  track  in  Garfield  Park,  which  finally  was 
removed  to  make  room  for  the  golf  links. 
Mr.  Devine  was  elected  president  of  the  old 
Garfield  Park  Driving  Association,  and  since 
that  organization  was  never  disbanded  he  still 
holds  the  nominal  title.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Chicago,  Illinois  State  and  American  Bar 
Associations,  the  Illinois  Athletic  Club,  Chi- 
cago Association  of  Commerce,  Citizens  Asso- 
ciation of  Illinois,  Columbian  Country  Club 
and  Knights  of  Columbus. 

Mr.  Devine's  home  is  at  5400  Washington 
Boulevard.  He  married,  March  17,  1884,  Miss 
Emma  Gamash,  of  Waukegan,  where  she  was 
born  and  reared.  Seven  children  were  born  to 
their  marriage:  Miles  J.,  Jr.;  Paul  P.,  who 
died  in  April,  1923;  Leo  Jerome,  who  while 
in  service  overseas  in  France  was  gassed,  and 
this  injury  later  caused  his  death;  Mable  Ruth; 
Raymond;  Mildred;  and  Carter  Harrison, 
deceased. 

Arthur  Perrow,  as  general  auditor  for  the 
Illinois  Bell  Telephone  Company,  has  been  a 
resident  of  Chicago  since  1922.  Mr.  Perrow 
is  an  interesting  personality  as  well  as  a  thor- 
oughly modern  type  of  the  business  executive 
His  career  illustrates  the  fact  that  accountancy 
is  not  merely  a  profession,  but  an  opportunity 
through  which  understanding  may  be  broad- 
ened to  reach  all  the  fundamentals  and  tech- 
nicalities of  a  great  and  complicated  industry 
He  possesses  an  immense  fund  of  technica 
knowledge  and  also  has  established  many  con- 
tacts with  his  fellow  men  not  only  in  his  owr 
business  but  in  others  as  well.  Though  i 
very  busy  man  he  has  acquired  an  extensive 
relationship  with  outside  interests  and  organ! 
zations,  and  has  written  a  number  of  articles 
and  made  public  addresses  on  subjects  of  vita 
importance  to  every  business  man. 

Mr.  Perrow  was  born  in  Boston,  Massachu 
setts,  February  17,  1888,  and  grew  up  in  th< 
cultured  atmosphere  of  that  city,  going  througl 


ILLINOIS 


67 


the  local  public  schools  and  as  a  matter  of 
course  entering  college.  The  family  suffered 
financial  reverses  in  the  panic  of  1907,  and 
then,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  left  college, 
went  to  work  at  a  salary  of  fifteen  dollars 
a  week  as  junior  accountant  for  a  firm  of  cer- 
tified public  accountants,  and  continued  his 
education  in  night  school,  specializing  in 
accounting.  After  completing  his  training 
apprenticeship  he  went  to  Dallas,  Texas,  to 
the  office  of  a  utility  corporation,  and  soon 
afterward  was  made  general  bookkeeper  for 
the  Southwestern  Telegraph  &  Telephone  Com- 
pany there.  Mr.  Perrow  spent  five  years  in 
Dallas  and  was  then  transferred  to  the  St. 
Louis  office  of  the  Southwestern  Belle  Tele- 
phone Company.  In  1916  he  was  transferred 
to  the  New  York  offices  of  the  American  Tele- 
phone &  Telegraph  Company,  on  the  comp- 
troller's staff.  On  accepting  transfer  to  Chi- 
cago in  1922  he  was  made  chief  accountant 
of  the  Illinois  Bell  Telephone  Company,  and 
in  1930  was  elected  general  auditor  for  that 
corporation.  In  his  work  for  this  corporation 
at  Chicago  he  has  had  charge  of  a  great 
variety  of  technical  and  executive  duties, 
involving  the  application  of  accounting  man- 
agerial and  financial  principles. 

Among  some  of  his  published  articles  are: 
"Salvaging  Man-Power/'  "Business  and  Edu- 
cation," "The  College  Man  in  Industry," 
"Functions  of  the  Chief  Accountant."  In  his 
addresses  before  many  representative  groups 
and  in  his  articles  he  has  emphasized  what  he 
believes  to  be  the  five  cardinal  principles  on 
which  any  successful  man's  life  and  conduct 
should  be  based:  Vision,  sincerity,  enthusiasm, 
perseverance  and  progress. 

Mr.  Perrow  is  also  vice  president  of  the 
Bell  Savings  Building  &  Loan  Association  and 
a  director  of  the  Central  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany. He  has  been  intensely  interested  in 
civic  and  educational  affairs,  and  many  of 
his  addresses  have  been  delivered  before  college 
audiences.  The  University  of  Illinois  Chapter 
of  Beta  Alpha  Psi  chose  him  an  honorary 
member.  He  is  vice  president  of  the  Midland 
Club  of  Chicago,  is  a  past  president  of  the 
Executives  Club  of  Chicago,  a  member  of  the 
Chicago  Association  of  Commerce,  the  Traffic 
Club,  the  Electric  Association  and  the  Masonic 
fraternity.  His  intense  and  direct  methods 
have  made  him  valuable  to  the  success  of 
movements  of  various  kinds  and  he  has  been 
sponsor  of  such  enterprises  as  the  Chicago 
season  of  the  American  Opera  Company.  While 
living  in  Dallas  Mr.  Perrow  became  a  member 
of  one  of  the  church  choirs ;  he  married  another 
singer  in  that  organization,  Miss  Gladys 
McEvoy.  They  are  the  parents  of  two  chil- 
dren, Arthur,  Jr.,  and  Gladys  Margaret. 
Arthur,  Jr.,  was  graduated  from  the  Morgan 
Park  Military  Academy  in  June,  1930,  and 
in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  entered  the  Uni- 
versity   of    Michigan,    where    he    intends    to 


specialize  in  the  law  course.  In  September, 
1931,  the  daughter,  Gladys,  entered  her  junior 
year  at  Northwestern  University. 

Werner  W.  Schroeder  has  exemplified  his 
professional  ability  and  resourcefulness  both 
in  direct  practice  and  in  connection  with  gov- 
ernmental affairs  in  his  native  State  of  Illinois, 
and  has  been  established  in  the  successful 
practice  of  law  in  Chicago  since  1922.  He 
maintains  his  offices  at  No.  1  North  LaSalle 
Street,  and  his  substantial  and  important  law 
practice  is  largely  with  probate,  chancery  and 
corporation  matters. 

Mr.  Schroeder  was  born  in  the  City  of 
Kankakee,  Illinois,  December  20,  1892,  and 
is  a  son  of  Rev.  Frederick,  now  deceased,  and 
Sophia  (Steinmeier)  Schroeder.  Rev.  Fred- 
erick Schroeder,  a  man  of  superior  intellectual 
ken,  had  prolonged  and  zealous  service  as  a 
clergyman  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  and  he 
maintained  his  residence  in  Kankakee  from 
1881   until  his  death  in   1916. 

Werner  W.  Schroeder  is  indebted  to  the 
Kankakee  public  schools  for  his  early  edu- 
cational discipline,  which  included  that  of  the 
high  school,  and  thereafter  he  continued  his 
studies  in  the  University  of  Michigan,  in 
which  he  was  graduated  as  a  member  of  the 
class  of  1914  and  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Arts.  In  1916  he  was  graduated  in  the 
law  department  of  that  great  institution,  and 
after  thus  receiving  his  degree  of  Juris  Doctor 
and  being  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar  he  was 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
his  native  city,  Kankakee,  until  1921.  In  that 
year  he  went  to  Springfield,  the  capital  city, 
where  he  remained  in  charge  of  the  legislative 
reference  bureau  during  a  period  of  two  years, 
under  appointment  by  Governor  Small.  Within 
this  period  Mr.  Schroeder  formulated  and' 
drafted  a  number  of  important  measures  that 
received  enactment  by  the  Legislature.  It 
will  be  recalled  that  various  attempts  had 
been  made  to  enact  primary  election  laws  for 
Illinois,  but  all  such  provisions  proved  futile 
until  the  bill  drafted  by  Mr.  Schroeder  was 
finally  presented,  proved  acceptable  and  was 
passed  by  the  legislative  bodies.  It  was  thus 
that  the  Illinois  primary  election  system,  by 
enactment  in  1927  and  duly  approved  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  state,  was  put  into 
force  and  well  regulated  commission.  He  like- 
wise drew  up  the  bills  covering  the  $100,- 
000,000  bond  issue  for  improving  the  roads 
of  the  state,  and  by  him  was  drafted  also 
the  bill  under  the  provision  of  which  the 
present  Illinois  boxing  commission  was  cre- 
ated. It  may  further  be  stated  that  Mr. 
Schroeder  loyally  represented  Governor  Small 
in  the  vexed  litigation  projected  in  the  latter 
period   of   the   governor's   administration. 

Upon  leaving  the  state  capital,  in  1922,  Mr. 
Schroeder  established  himself  in  the  practice 
of  his  profession  in  Chicago,  and  here  he  has 


68 


ILLINOIS 


won  prestige  and  success  of  constantly  cumu- 
lative trend.  He  is  eligible  for  practice  before 
the  Federal  and  Supreme  Courts  of  Illinois 
and  also  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.  He  has  membership  in  the  Chicago 
Bar  Association,  Illinois  State  Bar  Association 
and  American  Bar  Association,  is  a  stalwart 
in  the  ranks  of  the  Republican  party,  is  affili- 
ated with  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  and  the  Order 
of  the  Coif,  collegiate  fraternal  organizations, 
and  in  Chicago  he  has  membership  in  the 
Hamilton  Club,  the  Illinois  Athletic  Associa- 
tion and  the  Bunker  Hill  Country  Club.  In 
his  native  City  of  Kankakee  was  solemnized 
his  marriage  to  Miss  Elizabeth  More,  who  is 
the  popular  chatelaine  of  their  home,  at  1125 
Farwell  Avenue. 

John  Pierre  Roche  is  president  of  the 
Roche  Advertising  Company,  which  since  its 
founding  in  1926  has  become  one  of  the  largest 
organizations  in  Chicago  handling  national 
advertising  throughout  the  Middle  West.  Mr. 
Roche,  the  head  of  the  business,  was  born  in 
Aberdeen,  South  Dakota,  in  1889,  but  has  lived 
in  Chicago  practically  all  his  life. 

He  is  a  son  of  the  late  Edmund  H.  Roche, 
who  died  in  1929,  after  a  long  and  distin- 
guished career  in  business  and  public  affairs. 
He  was  a  native  of  New  York  City,  where 
he  was  born  in  1854.  During  his  early  years 
in  Chicago  he  was  a  distiller,  and  later  was 
engaged  in  the  general  insurance  business. 
Edmund  H.  Roche  was  a  close  personal  friend 
and  political  associate  of  Governor  E.  F. 
Dunne.  While  Judge  Dunne  was  mayor  of 
Chicago  Mr.  Roche  was  city  purchasing  agent. 
During  the  administration  of  Governor  Dunne 
Mr.  Roche  was  state  auditor.  These  positions 
gave  his  name  notable  distinction  throughout 
the  state  and  city,  and  he  was  an  able 
co-worker  of  Judge  Dunne  in  the  matter  of 
economy  and  efficiency  in  public  business.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Athletic  Club, 
the  Iroquois  Club  and  the  Westward  Ho  Golf 
Club.  Edmund  H.  Roche  married  Anna 
Dwyer.    Both  are  deceased. 

John  Pierre  Roche  was  reared  and  educated 
in  Chicago,  attended  St.  Ignatius  College,  and 
in  1911  was  graduated  A.  B.  from  Columbia 
University  of  New  York.  All  of  his  business 
experience  has  been  in  the  advertising  pro- 
fession. For  about  fifteen  years  he  was  associ- 
ated with  the  McJunkin  Advertising  Company. 
He  left  that  organization,  in  1926,  to  establish 
a  business  of  his  own,  the  Roche  Advertising 
Company,  of  which  he  is  president.  This 
company  handles  many  large  accounts  through- 
out the  country,  representing  a  general  line 
of  business  and  industry,  particularly  organi- 
zations having  a  nation-wide  sale  and  distri- 
bution. His  company  has  specialized  in  auto- 
mobile advertising. 

Mr.  Roche  is  a  World  war  veteran.  In  the 
spring    of    1917    he    enlisted,    at    first    in   the 


Thirty-third  or  All  Illinois,  Division.  He  was 
in  training  at  Camp  Logan,  Texas,  with  this 
division,  but  later  was  transferred  to  the 
Eighty-seventh  Division  at  Camp  Pike,  Arkan- 
sas. He  was  overseas  with  the  Eighty-seventh, 
and  held  a  commission  as  second  lieutenant. 
He  received  his  honorable  discharge  in  1919. 
Mr.  Roche  is  a  member  of  the  Union  League 
Club,  Chicago  Yacht  Club  and  Illinois  Athletic 
Club.  He  married  a  member  of  an  old  and 
prominent  Chicago  family,  Miss  Frances  Amb- 
ler, and  they  have  two  sons,  John  Kirby  and 
Pierre  Dwyer  Roche. 

George  Packard  has  been  a  member  of 
the  Chicago  bar  nearly  forty  years.  His  big 
work  has  been  accomplished  in  the  quiet  rou- 
tine of  his  profession,  with  no  important  excur- 
sions into  political  life,  and  it  is  his  fellow 
members  of  the  bar  who  best  appreciate  the 
eminent  qualifications  of  this  Chicago  attorney. 

Mr.  Packard  was  born  at  Providence,  Rhode 
Island,  May  27,  1868,  son  of  William  L.  and 
Mary  (Easton)  Packard.  He  received  his  early 
English  and  classical  education  in  schools  at 
Providence  from  1876  to  1885,  and  then  entered 
Brown  University,  where  he  took  his  A.  B. 
degree  in  1889.  Soon  afterward  coming  to 
Chicago,  Mr.  Packard  entered  the  law  depart- 
ment of  Northwestern  University  and  was 
graduated  LL.  B.  in  1891  and  admitted  to 
the  bar  the  same  year.  It  has  been  his  good 
fortune  to  have  been  associated  from  the 
beginning  of  his  career  with  some  of  Chicago's 
foremost  law  firms.  He  was  taken  into  the 
office  of  Peckham  &  Brown,  but  during  1892-93 
gave  most  of  his  time  to  his  duties  as  assistant 
attorney  for  the  World's  Columbia  Exposition. 
In  1893  he  returned  to  Peckham  &  Brown, 
with  whom  he  handled  a  general  practice.  In 
1897  this  firm  became  Peckham,  Brown  & 
Packard.  Mr.  Packard  was  closely  associated 
with  his  partner  Mr.  Brown,  who  was  acting 
as  attorney  for  the  park  board,  in  settling 
controversies  of  long  standing  involving  the 
questions  of  riparian  rights  in  Illinois.  These 
controversies  arose  in  connection  with  the 
development  of  Lincoln  Park.  Mr.  Packard 
had  much  to  do  with  that  litigation  through- 
out the  years  1896-99.  In  the  summer  of 
1903  Mr.  Brown  withdrew  from  the  firm  to 
go  on  the  Circuit  Court  bench,  and  at  that 
time  three  other  well  known  Chicago  lawyers 
came  into  the  firm,  Edwin  Burritt  Smith,  W. 
T.  ApMadoc  and  Vincent  J.  Walsh.  The  firm 
was  Peckham,  Smith,  Packard  &  ApMadoc 
until  the  death  of  Edwin  Burritt  Smith,  and 
about  that  time  Judge  Brown  retired  from 
the  bench  and  reentered  the  firm,  which  car- 
ried the  title  of  Peckham,  Brown,  Packard 
&  Walsh  for  several  years.  Later  it  was 
Miller,  Starr,  Brown,  Packard  &  Peckham, 
and  after  the  death  of  John  S.  Miller,  in 
1922,  became  Brown,  Packard,  Peckham  & 
Barnes.      At   the    present   time    Mr.    Packard 


ILLINOIS 


69 


is  senior  partner  of  the  firm  Packard,  Barnes, 
McCaughey  &  Schumacher,  with  offices  at  38 
South  Dearborn  Street.  His  partners  are 
Cecil  Barnes,  Russell  J.  McCaughey  and  Bowen 
E.  Schumacher. 

Mr.  Packard  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago, 
Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  Associations, 
is  a  Democrat  in  politics,  a  member  of  the 
Chicago  Literary,  University,  City  and  Cliff 
Dwellers  Clubs.  He  is  president  of  the  Soci- 
ety for  Ethical  Culture,  and  is  a  Phi  Beta 
Kappa. 

He  married,  January  23,  1893,  Miss  Caro- 
line Howe,  of  Chicago.  Their  three  children 
are:  Dorothy,  wife  of  F.  Farrington  Holt; 
Frank  H.;  and  Mary,  Mrs.  Fred  W.  Copeland. 

Pittsfield  Public  Library.  Nearly  twenty 
years  before  the  general  library  law  was 
passed  by  the  Illinois  Legislature  a  library 
movement  was  under  way  at  Pittsfield.  Pitts- 
field  was  the  early  home  of  many  cultured  and 
distinguished  Illinois  citizens,  and  the  library 
movement  was  in  part  a  reflex  of  their  activi- 
ties and  influence.  John  G.  Nicolay,  editor 
of  the  Pittsfield  Free  Press,  on  October  25, 
1855,  wrote:  "We  have  already  through  the 
liberality  of  a  few  persons,  who  ever  and 
always  lend  a  helping  hand  to  the  advance- 
ment of  the  public  good,  and  the  energetic 
efforts  of  others  with  their  means,  a  library 
of  three  or  four  hundred  volumes. "  The  library 
trustees  at  that  time  were  John  G.  Nicolay, 
John  J.  Weed,  Charles  C.  Warner,  Dan  J. 
Brown,  Marcellus  Ross,  D.  H.  Gilmer,  chair- 
man, and  Richard  M.  Atkinson,  secretary.  The 
secretary  of  the  board  stated:  "Our  library 
now  has  forty  members  and  400  volumes,  and 
free  from  debt." 

The  Illinois  Library  Law  was  passed  in 
1872.  In  1874  the  women  of  Pittsfield  organ- 
ized the  Pittsfield  Ladies  Free  Reading  Room 
and  Public  Library,  supported  by  subscrip- 
tions by  members.  In  1879  the  citizens  voted 
to  levy  a  small  tax  to  support  the  library 
and  its  usefulness.  There  were  about  a  thou- 
sand volumes  at  this  time,  besides  a  number 
of  papers  and  periodicals.  The  first  library 
was  located  upstairs  in  the  Matthews  Building, 
on  the  northwest  corner  of  the  Square.  It 
was  later  moved  above  the  Dickson  Building, 
on  the  north  side  of  the  Square,  and  it 
remained  in  that  building  until  moved  to  the 
present  library.  Among  the  patrons  and  trus- 
tees at  the  time  the  library  was  organized 
were  Ed  Binns,  Louis  Hirsheimer,  Albert 
Fisher,  Judge  Higbee,  Thomas  Worthington 
and  Thomas  Dickson.  Judge  Harry  Higbee 
wrote  the  constitution  and  by-laws  for  the 
library. 

In  1906  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie  made  a  dona- 
tion of  $7,500  for  the  erection  of  a  new  library 
building.  Judge  Harry  Higbee  and  his  mother 
gave  the  lot  where  the  library  stands.  Mrs. 
Higbee  also  gave  the  furniture,  pictures  and 


the  cork  carpet  for  the  children's  room.  Dedi- 
cation exercises  were  held  on  Thursday,  May 
9,  1907.  The  trustees  at  this  time  were: 
A.  Dow,  president,  F.  W.  Niebur,  secretary, 
Mrs.  Lizzie  Duffield,  Mrs.  Will  Bush,  C.  H. 
Harder,  R.  T.  Hicks,  Dr.  Humpert,  Mrs.  Ben 
Hirsheimer  and  John  E.  Vertrees. 

In  June,  1924,  the  work  of  standardizing 
the  library  was  completed,  the  old  system  of 
cataloging  being  brought  up  to  standard,  and 
all  books  and  material  discarded  that  were 
useless  to  the  library.  At  the  present  time 
the  library  contains  over  9,000  volumes  and 
the  statistics  of  circulation  show  that  that 
Pittsfield  is  a  reading  community. 

For  many  years  those  who  acted  as  librari- 
ans were  volunteers,  including  Maria  Garret, 
Emma  Hill,  Nellie  Rider,  Iona  Stanton,  Fanny 
Watson,  Sally  Graves,  Fanny  Quinby  and 
Lulu  Quinby.  Lulu  Quinby  was  librarian  for 
fourteen  years,  up  to  1919.  Since  September, 
1919,  the  librarian  has  been  Miss  Helen  S. 
Shadel.  Her  father  was  one  of  the  substantial 
German-American  citizens  of  Pittsfield,  who 
died  February  10,  1925.  Miss  Shadel  was  born 
and  reared  at  Pittsfield,  attended  high  school 
there  and  completed  her  library  training  in 
the  library  training  school  at  the  University 
of  Illinois. 

Dot  Dorsey  Swan,  as  publisher  of  the  Pike 
County  Republican,  at  Pittsfield,  has  a  position 
that  gives  her  special  distinction  among  Illinois 
women.  Prior  to  the  death  of  her  late  hus- 
band, Judge  Burr  Harrison  Swan,  her  knowl- 
edge of  the  newspaper  business  was  such  as 
the  wife  of  any  successful  man  would  have 
of  his  affairs.  When  she  took  over  the  per- 
sonal management  of  the  plant  she  determined 
that  the  destiny  of  the  business  would  rise 
or  fall  on  the  score  of  her  own  abilities,  and 
from  the  first  issue  she  placed  her  name  on 
the  editorial  page  as  publisher.  The  Pike 
County  Republican  is  today,  as  it  was  in 
former  years,  one  of  the  strongest  Republican 
papers  in  Southern  Illinois,  a  real  newspaper 
providing  a  literary  medium  for  contact  with 
the  great  happenings  of  the  outside  world. 
All  the  important  experiences  and  events  in 
Pike  County  find  weekly  publications  in  the 
columns. 

The  Pike  County  Republican  is  now  in  its 
ninetieth  year.  It  was  founded  in  1842,  by 
Michael  Noyes,  as  the  Sucker  and  Farmers 
Record.  It  was  Pike  County's  first  newspaper. 
About  1850  Zebulon  N.  Garbutt  acquired  the 
plant  and  changed  the  name  to  the  Free 
Press.  Then  came  John  G.  Nicolay,  foster 
son  of  Mr.  Garbutt.  John  G.  Nicolay  through 
the  columns  of  the  Free  Press  was  the  first 
to  propose  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln  for 
the  Presidency.  John  G.  Nicolay  controlled 
the  destiny  of  the  paper  in  Pike  County  until 
he  went  to  Washington  as  Lincoln's  private 
secretary.     Following  that  came  a  succession 


70 


ILLINOIS 


of  owners  and  editors,  and  after  the  war  the 
name  was  changed  to  the  Journal.  In  1868 
came  another  change  in  name,  to  the  Old  Flag. 
In  1894  the  name  was  changed  to  the  Pike 
County  Republican. 

On  March  1,  1901,  Burr  Harrison  Swan  took 
over  the  management  and  business  control.  At 
that  time  the  circulation  was  about  400.  Judge 
Swan  had  a  real  genius  for  newspaper  work. 
He  was  a  practical  printer,  and  he  often  set 
the  type  on  news  and  editorial  articles  without 
the  use  of  copy.  He  gave  the  Republican  a 
literary  quality,  gave  it  character  as  a  news- 
paper, paid  off  the  debts  and  made  it  a  suc- 
cessful business,  and  as  a  result  of  a  quarter 
of  a  century  of  hard  work  not  only  the  people 
of  Pike  County  but  Republicans  all  over  the 
state  and  newspaper  men  realized  that  his 
paper  and  his  personal  character  were  inte- 
grated as  one  of  the  most  important  institu- 
tions of  the  county. 

His  record  as  a  newspaper  man  and  as  a 
citizen  of  Pittsfield  was  well  and  briefly  told 
in  an  editorial  from  the  Quincy  Herald-Whig, 
which  said: 

"His  death  in  active  years — he  was  fifty-one 
years  of  age — recalls,  to  some  Quincy  men 
who  knew  him,  a  humble  and  obscure  beginning 
in  the  printing  and  publishing  business.  Leg- 
end says  Mr.  Swan  borrowed  enough  money 
to  get  his  start  on  the  Pike  County  Republican. 
It  had  a  circulation  of  500  or  600  in  those 
days.  Mr.  Swan  built  it  up  to  4,000  and  made 
it  by  far  the  best  advertising  medium  in  Pike 
County.  It  was  ably  edited,  its  news  of  the 
wholesome  sort,  it  made  a  welcome  entrance 
each  week  in  the  homes  of  its  readers  and 
it  had  a  human  touch  that  made  the  county 
seat  and  county  feel  that  they  were  all  good 
neighbors  and  friends. 

"The  list  of  enterprises  with  which  Mr. 
Swan  was  identified  almost  amazes  one.  He 
had  helped  raise  money  for  a  memorial  hall 
for  the  Legion,  had  served  a  term  or  two  in 
the  offices  of  the  commercial  organization  of 
Pittsfield,  helped  Pittsfield  get  her  new  high 
school  building  and  served  for  eighteen  years 
on  the  Board  of  Education,  and  twelve  years 
as  president  of  the  board.  This  was  com- 
munity activity  which  it  is  easy  to  shirk. 
It  seems  almost  impossible  that  any  one  man 
could  do  everything  that  is  credited  to  Burr 
Swan  and  still  carry  on  a  publishing  business, 
be  county  judge  and  later  postmaster,  and 
take  an  interest  in  lodge  and  church  work. 
But  that  was  his  record. 

"Burr  Swan  proved  that  there  was  oppor- 
tunity in  'the  old  home  town.'  He  was  suc- 
cessful. People  used  to  say  about  Ed  Howe, 
of  Atchison,  Kansas,  that  no  man  knew  or 
represented  Atchison  better.  Probably  the 
same  sort  of  an  epitaph  will  do  for  Burr 
Swan  in  Pike  County." 

Burr  Harrison  Swan  was  born  at  Chambers- 
burg,  April  30,  1876,  and  died  October  13, 
1927.     He  was   a   son  of   Christopher   Irving 


and  Cordelia  (Dunham)  Swan,  and  a  grand- 
son of  Burr  Harrison  Swan.  Christopher 
Irving  Swan  was  born  February  10,  1850, 
and  died  in  Texas  in  August,  1918.  C.  I. 
Swan  was  an  early  day  school  teacher  and 
later  county  superintendent  of  schools  and 
county  clerk  of  Pike  County.  He  was  a  Demo- 
crat and  at  one  time  published  a  Democratic 
newspaper,  but  his  son,  Burr  Harrison  Swan, 
was  a  resolute  Republican  and  through  the 
Pike  County  Republican  did  a  splendid  work 
in  building  up  the  party  in  the  county.  Judge 
Swan  was  county  judge  of  Pike  County  from 
1918  to  1922,  being  the  first  Republican  to 
hold  a  county  office  in  Pike  County  in  over 
forty  years.  During  the  Spanish-American 
war  he  was  a  sergeant  in  Company  A  of  the 
Fifth  Regular  Illinois  Infantry.  He  was  a 
Mason  and  member  of  other  fraternal  and 
civic  organizations,  and  he  worked  unceasingly 
for  the  upbuilding  of  Pittsfield  schools  and 
welfare  organizations.  For  twelve  years  he 
was  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School  of 
the  Christian  Church.  He  was  postmaster 
of  Pittsfield  from  1922  to  1925. 

On  March  29,  .1898,  Budd  Harrison  Swan 
and  Miss  Dot  Dorsey  were  married.  Mrs. 
Swan  is  a  daughter  of  Edgar  R.  and  Rachael 
(Chenoweth)  Dorsey.  The  Dorsey  family 
originated  in  France,  where  the  name  was 
spelled  D'Orsey.  A  branch  of  the  family 
moved  to  Scotland  and  from  there  came  to 
America.  The  Chenoweths  were  of  English 
and  Welsh  ancestry.  The  Dorsey  family  came 
to  Pike  County  in  1826,  just  three  years  after 
the  county  was  organized.  Edgar  R.  Dorsey 
was  widely  known  as  a  breeder  and  importer 
of  fine  hogs  and  horses. 

Mrs.  Swan  was  educated  in  the  schools  of 
Pittsfield  and  attended  the  Illinois  Woman's 
College  at  Jacksonville.  She  has  three  chil- 
dren. Her  daughter  Dorothy,  editor  of  the 
Pike  County  Republican,  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  Pittsfield,  attended  the  Penn- 
sylvania Woman's  College  at  Pittsburgh  and 
a  trade  school  at  Toledo.  She  was  in  the 
Government  service  at  Washington  when  she 
was  married,  September  1,  1925,  to  Mr.  Walter 
Preston  Miller.  Mr.  Miller  was  born  at  Wash- 
ington, but  his  family  came  from  Bristol, 
Tennessee.  Both  his  grandfathers  were  col- 
onels in  the  Civil  war,  his  maternal  grand- 
father being  in  the  Confederate  army  and 
his  paternal  grandfather  a  Union  soldier.  Wal- 
ter Preston  Miller  is  now  the  business  man- 
ager of  the  Pike  County  Republican. 

Mrs.  Swan's  second  daughter,  Maxine,  was 
educated  in  the  Chicago  Normal  College  in 
physical  education  and  was  an  instructor  at 
Denver,  Colorado,  until  her  marriage  in  1927 
to  Mr.  William  F.  Oatman,  of  Arpin,  Wiscon- 
sin. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Oatman  have  two  children, 
John   David  and  Rachael. 

Priscilla,  the  youngest  child  of  Mrs.  Swan, 
is  a  student  in  the  Pittsfield  High  School, 
class  of  1933. 


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ILLINOIS 


71 


C.  W.  Caughlan  is  editor  of  the  Pike  County 
Times,  one  of  the  most  widely  quoted  Demo- 
cratic journals  in  Illinois.  The  Pike  County 
Times  was  the  successor  of  the  Democratic 
Herald,  which  was  founded  in  1885,  and  in 
its  present  form  represents  a  combination  of 
jthree  earlier  papers.  Mr.  Caughlan  has  been 
(connected  with  the  Times  since  1895,  when 
he  purchased  the  Pike  County  Banner,  associ- 
ated with  A.  C.  Bentley,  and  the  name  was 
phanged  at  that  time  to  the  Pike  County  Times. 
The  Times  has  always  been  Democratic  in 
[politics,  and  has  been  one  of  the  staunch 
upholders  of  the  original  principles  of  the 
party.  It  has  a  circulation  of  2,500  copies, 
md  the  outside  mailing  list  includes  sub- 
scribers in  practically  every  state  in  the  Union. 

Mr.  Caughlan  is  a  veteran  in  the  newspaper 
business,  and  he  served  his  apprenticeship 
in  Kansas  City,  Missouri.  He  was  born  on 
a  farm  north  of  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  July 
>,  1860.  His  great-grandfather  was  Cornelius 
Caughlan,  a  follower  of  Robert  Emmet,  the 
[rish  patriot.  For  his  devotion  to  the  cause 
)f  Irish  freedom  he  suffered  imprisonment 
n  Ireland  and  after  being  released  came  to 
America  and  settled  at  Baltimore,  where  he 
ived  out  his  life.  His  son,  John  Caughlan, 
vas  an  educator  by  profession.  From  Balti- 
nore  he  moved  to  Virginia,  where  he  taught 
md  where  he  married  Mary  Byrd  Childress. 
She  was  of  an  old  Virginia  family  whose 
mcestors  were  members  of  the  original  colony 
)f   Jamestown. 

The  father  of  C.  W.  Caughlan  was  also 
lamed  John  Caughlan.  He  spent  most  of  his 
ife  in  Missouri,  where  he  died  in  1919,  at 
;he  age  of  eighty-seven.  John  Caughlan  mar- 
•ied  Nancy  Jane  Miller,  who  was  of  a  pioneer 
'amily  of  Northwest  Missouri.  Her  great- 
grandfather was  a  Revolutionary  soldier. 

C.  W.  Caughlan  had  only  a  limited  education 
;o  far  as  schools  were  concerned,  but  when  a 
)oy  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  employed 
>y  the  late  Colonel  Nelson  in  the  early  eighties, 
shortly  after  the  latter  founded  the  Kansas 
sity  Star.  At  that  time,  says  Mr.  Caughlan, 
Colonel  Nelson's  office  equipment  was  not  as 
arge  as  the  office  of  the  Pike  County  Times. 
That  was  over  fifty  years  ago.  Mr.  Caughlan 
vas  associated  with  every  newspaper  in  Kan- 
sas City  during  those  years  and  he  learned 
ournahsm  by  a  practical  experience  that 
>rought  him  in  contact  with  a  number  of 
he  great  names  in  American  newspaperdom. 
tfr.  Caughlan  has  always  been  a  temperance 
tdvocate,  and  he  asserts  that  contrary  to  the 
>opular  opinion  the  old  times  country  news- 
>aper  man  was  not  addicted  to  liquor  more 
han  other  of  his  contemporaries.  Once  Mr. 
Caughlan  attended  a  convention  of  newspaper 
nen  in  Florida,  where  drinking  was  the  least 
•f  the  recreations  of  these  busy  men. 

Mr.  Caughlan  married  Miss  Anna  Long, 
•f  Payson,  Illinois,  daughter  of  Henry  Long 


and  his  wife,  Lavina  Baker.  The  Baker  fam- 
ily came  to  America  in  Colonial  times.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Caughlan  have  a  family  of  children 
named  John,  Mabel,  Arthur,  Mary,  Helen, 
Ruth  and  Fred.  His  sons  are  associated  with 
him  in  the  Pike  County  Times,  which  is  pub- 
lished by  C.  W.  Caughlan  &  Sons.  Mr.  Caugh- 
lan is  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows  and  the  Illinois  Press  Association. 

Zealy  M.  Holmes  has  one  of  the  largest 
farms  and  is  one  of  the  outstanding  repre- 
sentatives of  the  agricultural  industry  of  Peo- 
ria County.  His  home  is  in  Medina  Town- 
ship, at  Mossville.  His  career  has  been  com- 
pounded of  hard  work,  enterprise,  foresight 
and  thrift,  but  he  also  is  indebted  to  the 
heritage  of  pioneer  forefathers. 

The  Holmes  family  has  lived  in  Peoria 
County  for  almost  a  century.  Zealy  M.  Holmes 
was  born  at  the  old  Holmes  farm,  February 
8,  1866,  son  of  John  and  Lydia  Ann  (Cham- 
bers) Holmes.  John  Holmes  was  born  in 
Londonderry,  Ireland,  in  1824,  of  pure  Scotch 
ancestry.  He  was  a  son  of  George  and  Nancy 
(Donaldson)  Holmes.  Nancy  Donaldson  was 
a  descendant  of  John  Donaldson,  a  staunch 
supporter  of  the  Crown  and  the  Protestant 
Church,  and  who  at  the  time  of  his  death 
was  master  of  seals,  an  office  in  which  he 
was  succeeded  by  his  son,  John  A.  Donaldson. 
George  Holmes  brought  his  family  to  America 
in  1827,  first  settling  in  New  York,  where 
he  was  connected  with  the  lumber  industry 
for  eight  years.  In  1835  he  came  to  Illinois 
and  settled  in  section  29  of  Medina  Township, 
where  he  lived  until  his  death  in  1873.  His 
wife  died  in  1847  and  they  were  buried  in 
the   Mount   Hawley   Cemetery. 

John  Holmes  was  about  four  years  old  when 
he  came  to  America  and  he  grew  up  from 
the  age  of  eleven  in  Peoria  County.  He  pros- 
pered as  a  farmer  and  he  and  his  wife  had 
a  large  family  of  twelve  children,  ten  of  whom 
lived  to  maturity:  Josephine,  Thomas  B., 
George,  Nancy  J.,  William,  John  C,  Zealy 
M.,   Charles,   Walter,   and   Lydia  L. 

Zealy  M.  Holmes  attended  a  grade  school 
at  Alta  and  a  business  college  at  Dunlap. 
From  earliest  recollection  he  had  some  duties 
and  chores  on  the  home  farm,  and  on  leaving 
school  started  his  life  as  a  renter,  his  father 
leasing  him  some  land.  Putting  the  accumu- 
lations of  one  year  with  those  of  the  next 
and  pursuing  a  steady  policy  of  work  and 
good  management  he  has  built  up  a  farm 
of  640  acres  in  Medina  Township. 

Mr.  Holmes  married,  February  15,  1888 
Nellie  M.  Frye,  daughter  of  Smith  and  Rebecca 
(Johnston)  Frye.  Her  father  was  a  suc- 
cessful farmer  and  stock  man  in  Richwood 
Township,  and  both  her  parents  are  buried 
in  the  Springdale  Cemetery.  Mr.  and  Mrs 
Holmes  have  three  children:  Maurice,  a  Peo- 
ria  County  farmer,  whose  career  is  sketched 


72 


ILLINOIS 


elsewhere,  Charles  W.,  who  married  Edna 
Scheilein  and  has  two  children,  named  Ellen 
R.  and  Zealy  M.;  and  John  S.,  who  married 
Frances  Wilhelm,  and  their  children  are  Nellie 
M.,  John  R.,  Jean  L.  and  Clifford  D. 

Zealy  M.  Holmes  has  been  a  prominent 
Democrat  and  citizen  of  his  township  and 
county.  He  was  elected  township  clerk,  was 
for  thirty-one  years  township  school  treasurer, 
was  elected  and  served  one  year  as  tax  col- 
lector, and  for  twelve  years  was  supervisor 
of  Medina  Township.  For  three  years  he 
was  a  vice  president  of  the  Illinois  Agricul- 
tural Association,  and  for  two  years  was  road 
commissioner  and  for  five  years  a  member 
of  the  executive  board  of  the  Agricultural 
Commission.  For  seven  years  he  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Peoria  County  Farm  Bureau  and 
for  the  past  ten  years  has  served  as  farm 
manager  of  Bradley  Polytechnic  Institute,  and 
has  been  a  trustee  since  the  foundation  of 
the  institute.  Mr.  Holmes  and  his  family 
take  a  prominent  part  in  church  and  social 
affairs.  For  seven  years  he  was  president 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  his  community.  He  is 
a  thirty-second  degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason 
and  member  of  the  Modern  Woodmen  of 
America. 

Robert  B.  MacDonald,  of  Moline,  has  had 
a  business  career  which  could  be  described 
in  a  few  words.  When  he  left  school  his  first 
work  was  with  a  public  utility  organization. 
Public  utilities  has  been  his  absorbing  occu- 
pation and  vocation  ever  since.  Mr.  MacDon- 
ald had  the  quality  of  concentration  which  is 
perhaps  derived  from  his  Scotch  ancestry  and 
that  has  brought  to  him  responsibilities  meas- 
ured by  important  relationships  as  president 
and  in  other  official  capacities  with  half  a 
dozen  or  more  of  the  best  known  electric 
power,  transportation  and  other  public  utility 
organizations  in  the  Mississippi  River  Valley 
between  Illinois  and  Iowa. 

Mr.  MacDonald  was  born  on  Prince  Edward 
Island,  Canada,  January  24,  1882,  while  his 
grandparents  came  from  Scotland.  His  parents 
were  James  Alexander  and  Alexia  (Morrison) 
MacDonald,  also  natives  of  Canada.  His  father 
was  a  carriage  maker,  and  spent  the  greater 
part  of  his  active  life  at  Monroe,  Iowa,  where 
he  died  in  1925  and  where  the  widowed  mother 
still  resides.  Both  parents  were  active  mem- 
bers of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  James  Mac- 
Donald was  a  Republican  and  at  one  time  was 
mayor  of  Monroe. 

Robert  MacDonald  was  the  third  in  a  family 
of  eight  children.  He  completed  his  education 
in  the  Monroe  High  School  and  at  the  age 
of  seventeen  went  to  work  for  a  public  utility 
company  at  Lincoln,  Nebraska.  He  was  at 
Lincoln  from  1899  to  1906,  then  with  another 
organization  at  Fort  Dodge,  Iowa,  until  1917, 
and  in  the  latter  year  came  to  Moline,  being 


made  president  of  the  People's  Power  Com- 
pany, a  subsidiary  of  the  United  Light  & 
Power   Company. 

Mr.  MacDonald's  official  relationships  at  the 
present  time  include  the  following:  President 
of  the  People's  Power  Company;  president  of 
the  Tri-City  Railway  Company  of  Illinois, 
the  Tri-City  Railway  Company  of  Iowa,  the 
Moline-Rock  Island  Manufacturing  Company, 
Riverside  Power  Manufacturing  Company, 
People's  Light  Company  of  Iowa,  the  Clinton- 
Davenport-Muscatine  Railway  Company,  Iowa 
City  Light  &  Power  Company;  is  vice  president 
of  the  United  Light  &  Power  Engineering  & 
Construction  Company;  director  of  the  United 
Light  &  Power  Company;  director  of  the  State 
Bank  of  Rock  Island;  and  vice  president  of 
the  Park  Board  of  Rock  Island. 

Mr.  MacDonald  married,  January  27,  1909, 
Miss  Margaret  H.  Koll,  who  was  born  and 
reared  at  Fort  Dodge,  Iowa.  They  have  four 
children,  all  of  them  in  school,  Robert  J., 
Margaret  H.,  Richard  P.  and  Norman  J,  twins. 
Mrs.  MacDonald  is  a  member  of  the  Catholic 
Church. 

Mr.  MacDonald  is  a  York  and  Scottish  Rite 
Mason,  member  of  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks,  Short 
Hills  Golf  Club,  Moline  Rotary  Club  and  is  a 
Republican  in  politics. 

Robert  T.  Sherman,  a  lawyer,  with  offices 
at  1  LaSalle  Street,  and  a  resident  of  Evans- 
ton,  is  a  great-grandson  of  Francis  Cornwell 
Sherman,  builder  and  owner  of  the  original 
Sherman  House  in  Chicago. 

Francis  Cornwell  Sherman  was  born  at  New- 
town, Connecticut,  in  1805  and  arrived  in 
Chicago  in  1834.  During  1836-37  he  put  up 
a  frame  building  on  Randolph,  between  LaSalle 
and  Wells  street,  eighteen  by  thirty-four  feet, 
twelve  feet  high,  in  which  he  opened  a  board- 
ing house.  It  was  the  original  Sherman  House. 
For  a  time  he  also  was  interested  in  a  pioneer 
wagon  transportation  business  between  Chi- 
cago and  Joliet,  Galena,  Ottawa,  Peoria  and 
other  places.  The  Sherman  Hotel  property 
remained  in  the  ownership  of  his  descendants 
until  1911.  Francis  Cornwell  Sherman  was 
long  prominent  in  politics  as  well  as  in  busi- 
ness. He  was  one  of  the  first  Board  of  Trus- 
tees of  the  Town  of  Chicago,  was  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  County  Commissioners,  in 
1843  was  in  the  Legislature,  served  in  the 
Constitutional  Convention,  and  in  1862,  during 
the  Civil  war,  was  elected  mayor,  serving 
three  terms,  1862-64.  He  died  November  12, 
1870.  His  wife  was  Electa  Trowbridge,  of 
Connecticut.  The  oldest  son,  Gen.  Francis  T. 
Sherman,  went  into  the  Union  army  in  the 
Civil  war  from  Chicago  and  rose  to  the  rank 
of  brigadier-general. 

Robert  T.  Sherman  was  born  at  Evanston, 
in  1898,  son  of  Edwin  and  Alida  (White) 
Sherman.  Edwin  Sherman  for  a  number  oi 
years  has  been  a  well  known  Evanston  bankei 


ILLINOIS 


73 


Robert  T.  Sherman  was  educated  in  public 
schools  in  Evanston,  graduated  A.  B.  from 
Princeton  University  in  1920,  and  from  the 
Harvard  University  Law  School  in  1922.  Dur- 
ing the  World  war  he  was  in  the  United  States 
Navy  from  May,  1917,  until  the  spring  of 
1919. 

Mr.  Sherman  has  been  engaged  in  the  prac- 
tice of  law  at  Chicago  since  1922  and  is 
member  of  the  law  firm  of  Miller,  Gorham 
&  Wales.  His  home  has  always  been  in  Evans- 
ton,  where  he  has  been  active  in  civic  and 
business  affairs.  He  now  represents  the  First 
Ward  in  the  Evanston  City  Council.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Glenview  Country  Club. 

He  married  Miss  Jean  Palmer  Dawes, 
daughter  of  Mr.  Rufus  C.  Dawes.  They  have 
one  daughter,  Alida  White  Sherman. 

Benjamin  J.  Kough,  director  of  Deere  & 
Company  and  manager  of  one  of  its  great 
manufacturing  plants  at  Moline,  started  with 
that  organization  as  one  of  the  humblest 
workers  on  the  payroll,  in  a  job  paying  ten 
cents  an  hour.  His  tremendous  enthusiasm 
and  interest  and  a  natural  capacity  for  execu- 
tive duties  in  modern  industry  have  brought 
him  through  a  succession  of  responsibilities 
to  his  present  rank  and  status  with  Deere 
&  Company. 

Mr.  Kough  was  born  in  Moorhead,  Minne- 
sota, March  13,  1886,  son  of  Benjamin  J.  and 
Silvia  (Bennett)  Kough.  His  mother  was 
born  in  Virginia  and  his  father  in  Huntingdon, 
Pennsylvania.  In  1852  they  moved  out  to 
Scott  County,  Iowa.  B.  J.  Kough  was  a  vet- 
eran railroad  man.  In  1872  he  entered  the 
service  of  the  Great  Northern  Railway  and 
was  a  conductor  on  that  road  until  his  death 
in  1914.  His  wife  died  in  1895,  and  of  their 
five  children  four  are  living.  Both  parents 
were  members  of  the  Episcopal  Church  and 
B.  J.  Kough  was  a  Republican  and  a  Mason. 

Benjamin  J.  Kough  attended  school  at  Rock 
Island  and  completed  his  high  school  course 
in  1904.  On  August  15  of  the  same  year 
he  went  to  work  in  one  of  the  Deere  Company's 
plants,  at  ten  cents  an  hour,  as  helper  in  the 
blacksmith's  shop.  From  helper  he  was 
advanced  to  clerk  to  the  foreman  of  the  black- 
smith shop,  during  1905  worked  in  the  stock 
department,  in  1906-07  was  in  the  master 
mechanic's  office,  in  1908-10  was  secretary 
to  G.  W.  Mixten,  the  superintendent  and  in 
1911  was  made  general  foreman  in  the  cul- 
tivator room.  In  1912  he  was  put  in  the 
piece  rates  department  and  for  several  years 
was  assistant  superintendent  in  charge  of 
production.  During  1916-17  he  was  at  East 
Moline  as  superintendent  of  the  Marseilles 
works,  now  the  John  Deere  Spreader  Works. 
He  was  advanced  to  manager  of  this  plant 
during  1918-20  and  for  the  past  ten  years  has 
been  manager  of  the  John  Deere  Plow  Works. 


In  June,  1924,  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  board  of  directors  of  Deere  &  Company. 

His  connection  with  Deere  &  Company  is 
both  work  and  play,  and  his  hobby  and  diver- 
sion is  the  experimental  work  by  which  the 
Deere  plowing  implements  are  adapted  to  cul- 
tivation of  different  soils  over  the  globe.  He 
has  accompanied  many  experimental  tours  for 
plowing  demonstrations,  spending  some  time 
in  Western  Canada,  around  Calgary,  in  1928, 
and  has  also  accompanied  the  Deere  demon- 
stration crews  to   Cuba. 

Mr.  Kough  married,  February  21,  1914,  Miss 
Emma  Peterson,  who  was  born  at  Orion,  Illi- 
nois, and  was  educated  in  the  Moline  High 
School.  They  have  one  son,  Benjamin  A., 
born  October  16,  1917.  Mr.  Kough  and  family 
are  members  of  the  Congregational  Church. 
He  was  president  of  the  Moline  Rotary  Club 
in  1926-27,  is  a  member  of  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks 
of  Moline,  a  member  of  the  Moline  Board  of 
Education  and  a  member  of  the  Short  Hills 
Country  Club. 

Franklin  Newton  Wells,  M.  D.,  is  a 
respected  and  well  loved  figure  in  the  citizen- 
ship of  Pittsfield,  where  for  twenty  years 
he  has  practiced  his  profession  as  a  physician 
and  surgeon  and  where  in  a  quiet  unostenta- 
tious way  he  has  rendered  that  service  to 
the  community  which  only  a  high  minded  doc- 
tor can  give. 

Doctor  Wells  has  spent  all  his  professional 
career  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  He  was  born 
at  Ionia,  New  York,  November  28,  1868.  The 
Wells  family  ancestry  has  been  carefully 
traced  out  by  students  of  genealogy.  It  orig- 
inated in  Normandy  and  was  founded  in  Eng- 
land at  the  time  of  the  Norman  conquest 
in  1066.  Members  of  the  family  were  associ- 
ated with  the  Royalty  and  many  of  them 
became  clergymen.  One  noted  character  was 
Bishop  Hugo  Wells,  who  led  the  Barons  to 
King  John  when  that  monarch  was  compelled 
to  sign  the  Magna  Charta.  There  were  three 
Wells  brothers  who  came  from  England  and 
settled  in  Connecticut  in  Colonial  times.  From 
Connecticut  they  went  to  Vermont,  and  Doctor 
Wells'  grandfather,  John  Wells,  was  a  native 
of  Vermont.  He  settled  in  Wyoming  County, 
New  York,  and  later  spent  many  years  at 
Arcade  in  that  state.  He  was  both  a  farmer 
and  merchant.  The  father  of  Doctor  Wells 
was  Simeon  Judson  Wells,  who  was  a  soldier 
in  the  Civil  war  and  spent  his  life  as  a  sub- 
stantial farmer  in  the  community  where  his 
son  was  born.  Simeon  Judson  Wells  married 
Ellen  Van  Voorhis.  She  was  a  direct  descend- 
ant of  one  of  three  Dutch  brothers  who  came 
over  on  the  Good  Ship  Spotted  Cow,  and  settled 
on  Manhattan  Island,  where  they  were  sub- 
jects of  the  famous  Governor  Peter  Stuyvesant. 

In  a  rural  community  in  New  York  Doctor 
Wells  grew  to  manhood.     He  was  educated  in 


74 


ILLINOIS 


the  common  schools,  attended  the  Canandaigua 
Academy  and  received  his  pre-medical  training 
in  the  University  of  Michigian.  In  1895  he 
was  graduated  M.  D.  from  the  Homeopathic 
Medical  College  of  Chicago.  Doctor  Wells  for 
seventeen  years  practiced  his  profession  in 
DeKalb  County,  Illinois.  In  1911  he  removed 
to  Pittsfield,  where  he  has  been  busy  with 
an  extensive  practice  ever  since.  When  Amer- 
ica intervened  in  the  World  war  in  1917  he 
volunteered  his  services,  and  was  commis- 
sioned a  captain  in  the  Medical  Corps.  He 
was  sent  to  Fort  Sheridan,  Illinois,  on  May 
29,  1918,  and  remained  there  until  December 
7,  1918.  He  is  now  a  lieutenant  colonel  in 
the  Medical  Reserve  Corps,  attached  to  the 
Three  Hundred  and  Eleventh  Medical  Reg- 
iment. 

Doctor  Wells  was  commander  of  the  Amer- 
ican Legion  Post  at  Pittsfield,  while  they  were 
constructing  their  fine  Legion  Hall.  He  has 
been  chairman  of  the  Red  Cross  and  through 
these  and  other  worthwhile  organizations  has 
given  a  great  deal  of  unremunerated  service 
to  the  community.  Doctor  Wells  for  several 
years  was  president  and  has  long  been  secre- 
tary of  the  Pike  County  Medical  Society,  and 
is  a  member  of  Illinois  State  Medical  Society 
and  American  Medical  Association.  He  served 
on  the  City  School  Board,  and  for  eight  years, 
from  1917  to  1925,  was  a  member  of  the  City 
Council,  during  which  time  many  of  the  most 
important  improvements  of  the  city  were  voted. 
In  1931  he  became  candidate  of  the  indepen- 
dent temperance  party  for  the  office  of  mayor 
and  was  elected  in  April,  1931,  for  a  term 
of  two  years.  Doctor  Wells  is  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows,  Modern  Woodmen  of  America 
and  the  Methodist  Episcopal   Church. 

He  married,  June  9,  1896,  Miss  Emma  Flor- 
ence Morey.  Her  father,  Andrew  C.  Morey, 
was  born  in  New  York  State  and  in  the  same 
community  where  the  Wells  family  lived, 
though  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Wells  were  not 
acquainted  with  each  other  at  that  time.  The 
Moreys  were  Quakers,  and  had  only  a  limited 
acquaintance  outside  the  circles  of  their  own 
church.  Andrew  C.  Morey  graduated  from 
the  Jefferson  Medical  College  of  Philadelphia 
and  for  many  years  was  a  prominent  Chicago 
physician.  Mrs.  Wells  grew  up  in  Chicago, 
is  a  graduate  of  the  West  Division  High  School 
there,  and  attended  the  Normal  University. 
She  taught  in  Chicago  until  her  marriage. 
At  Pittsfield  she  has  joined  in  many  cultural 
and  educational  movements.  Doctor  and  Mrs. 
Wells  have  two  talented  daughters,  Emma 
Gertrude  and  Mary  Louise.  Emma  Gertrude 
was  born  July  13,  1897,  is  a  graduate  of  the 
Pittsfield  High  School  and  took  her  Bachelor's 
degree  m  education  at  the  Illinois  Normal 
University  at  Normal.  She  is  now  a  teacher 
in  the  Pittsfield  High  School.  Mary  Louise 
born  November  22,  1898,  also  graduated  from 


the  Pittsfield  High  School  and  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois,  where  she  took  the  Bachelor 
of  Education  degree.  She  is  now  a  teacher 
in  the  University  High  School  at  St.  Louis, 
Missouri. 

Erwin  Perry  Ellwood.  Many  of  the  finan- 
ciers who  have  left  the  impress  of  their  ability 
upon  the  history  and  institutions  of  the  coun- 
try had  their  start  in  enterprises  of  another 
nature,  storekeeping,  manufacturing  or  per- 
haps one  of  the  professions.  In  the  case  of 
Erwin  P.  Ellwood,  however,  such  a  condition 
does  not  exist,  for  his  entire  career  has  been 
passed  in  connection  with  the  First  National 
Bank,  in  which  he  has  risen  from  assistant 
cashier  to  the  post  of  president.  Mr.  Ellwood, 
while  giving  his  principal  attention  to  his 
banking  business,  has  numerous  other  inter- 
ests at  DeKalb  and  elsewhere,  and  is  accounted 
the  wealthiest  man  in  DeKalb   County. 

Mr.  Ellwood  was  born  at  DeKalb,  Illinois, 
August  10,  1874,  and  is  a  son  of  Isaac  Leonard 
and  Harriet  Augusta  (Miller)  Ellwood,  and 
comes  of  Revolutionary  ancestry.  His  father 
was  born  in  the  State  of  New  York,  whence 
he  came  in  young  manhood  to  DeKalb  and 
was  variously  employed  until  1851,  when  he 
made  a  trip  to  California.  Returning  to  DeKalb 
with  a  modest  capital  of  $2,000,  he  embarked 
in  the  hardware  business,  and  from  that  time 
forward  his  career  was  one  of  repeated  suc- 
cesses in  several  fields  of  activity.  In  1873 
he  had  the  foresight  to  identify  himself  with 
the  manufacture  of  barbwire,  and  continued 
to  be  connected  therewith  until  his  death.  With 
John  Lambert  and  John  W.  Gates,  he  started 
the  manufacture  of  steel  wire,  and  their  com- 
pany was  later  .taken  over  by  the  United 
States  Steel  Corporation.  From  his  modest 
start  of  $2,000  Mr.  Ellwood,  through  great 
industry,  splendid  business  judgment  and 
insight  into  property  values  and  investments, 
realized  several  millions  of  dollars,  and  at 
the  time  of  his  demise  was  one  of  the  wealth- 
iest men  in  his  part  of  the  state.  He  was 
the  owner  of  much  valuable  Illinois  land,  but 
his  principal  properties  were  in 'Texas,  where 
he  had  extensive  cattle  interests.  He  was 
a  Republican  in  his  political  sentiments,  but 
never  sought  public  office,  although  it  is  prob- 
able that  he  could  have  secured  any  public 
position  to  which  he  aspired,  so  much  con- 
fidence in  his  ability  and  integrity  was  held 
by  his  fellow  citizens.  He  was  a  Mason  and 
a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church,  in  the 
faith  of  which  he  died  September  11,  1910, 
Mrs.  Ellwood,  a  native  of  Kingston,  Illinois, 
passing  away  July  16  of  the  same  year.  They 
were  the  parents  of  five  children,  of  whom 
four  are  living:  William  L.,  a  resident  of 
Lubbock,  Texas,  who  is  extensively  engaged 
in  the  cattle  business,  having  inherited  some 
of  his  father's  interests,  to  which  he  has 
added   by   his   ability   and   industry;    Harriet, 


.  •    ■'■■■: 


JM 


ILLINOIS 


75 


the  widow  of  Dr.  E.  L.  Mayo,  residing  at 
DeKalb;  Jessie,  the  wife  of  Doctor  Bonney, 
a  physician  at  Denver,  Colorado;  and  Erwin 
P.,  of  this  review. 

Erwin  P.  Ellwood  attended  the  DeKalb 
schools,  Beloit  Academy  and  the  Michigan  Mili- 
tary Academy,  and  after  graduating  from  the 
latter  entered  the  employ  of  the  First  National 
Bank  of  DeKalb,  in  the  capacity  of  assistant 
cashier.  Consecutive  promotions  have  elevated 
him  to  the  position  of  president,  and  under 
his  wise  and  energetic  direction  this  has 
become  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  reliable 
institutions  of  Northern  Illinois.  Mr.  Ellwood 
has  innumerable  other  interests  and  connec- 
tions of  a  business  and  financial  character, 
which  make  him  a  very  busy  man,  but  he  has 
always  found  the  time  and  inclination  to  take 
a  constructive  part  in  civic  affairs.  He  is  a 
Christian  Scientist  in  religion  and  is  frater- 
nally connected  with  the  Masons,  Benevolent 
and  Protective  Order  of  Elks  and  the  Knights 
jof  Pythias,  while  politically  he  is  a  supporter 
of  the  principles  and  candidates  of  the  Repub- 
lican party.  Saddle  horses  and  sailing  boats 
are  his  hobbies,  and  he  indulges  himself  fre- 
quently in  both  of  these  healthful  recreations. 

In  1898  Mr.  Ellwood  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  May  Gurler,  who  was  born  at 
DeKalb  and  educated  in  the  public  schools, 
land  is  a  daughter  of  H.  B.  Gurler,  a  pioneer 
dairyman  of  this  section,  who  is  remembered 
as  the  originator  of  what  is  now  known  as 
certified  milk.  To  this  union  there  have  been 
born  three  children:  Isaac  Leonard,  attending 
ithe  University  of  Illinois,  a  member  of  the 
Delta  Kappa  Epsilon  fraternity;  Patience,  who 
attended  a  private  school  in  New  York  City 
but  is  now  at  home;  and  John,  attending  the 
DeKalb  graded  school. 

East  Peoria  Community  High  School.  The 
rapid  growth  of  the  industrial  and  residential 
community  of  East  Peoria  is  well  reflected 
in  the  development  of  its  community  high 
ischool.  A  special  department  affording  high 
school  instruction  was  started  in  1919  and 
during  the  first  two  years  was  conducted  in 
.the  old  Central  School  Building.  In  1921  a 
(modern  three-story  structure,  containing  eigh- 
teen rooms,  was  completed  at  a  cost  of  $150,- 
jOOO.  In  less  than  eight  years  this  became 
(crowded  and  in  August,  1929,  the  district 
voted  bonds  to  provide  another  building  unit, 
which,  with  equipment,  cost  $105,000.  The 
isecond  unit  contained  fifteen  rooms,  and  made 
jpossible  a  great  broadening  of  the  curriculum, 
jWith  emphasis  on  technical  and  vocational 
instruction.  It  has  room  for  a  complete 
'machine  shop,  manual  training  facilities, 
domestic  science,  gymnasium,  cafeteria  and 
iserving  room.  The  entire  building  is  of  fire 
jproof  brick  construction.  The  Community  High 
'School  has  an  enrollment  of  247  students, 
with  a  teaching  staff  of  17.    To  a  large  major- 


ity of  boys  and  girls  in  East  Peoria  it  rep- 
resents the  ultimate  educational  opportunity. 
The  curriculum  has  been  arranged  with  a 
special  view  to  the  needs  of  the  pupils.  Excel- 
lent facilities  are  afforded  by  laboratories  for 
work  in  general  science  and  domestic  science, 
the  commercial  department  affords  instruction 
in  the  fundamental  business  training  courses. 
The  Community  High  School  if  it  has  empha- 
sized one  feature  is  notable  for  its  musical 
instruction.  It  teaches  both  vocal  and  instru- 
mental music  and  students  are  given  individual 
lessons  in  instrumental  music  without  extra 
cost.  The  school  maintains  an  eighty-two 
piece  band  and  a  twenty-five  piece  orchestra, 
and  the  band  has  won  contests  at  the  state 
fair.  There  is  also  a  boys  and  girls  glee 
club.  Several  football  players  of  champion 
class  have  come  from  East  Peoria.  The  ath- 
letic facilities  include  football  field  and  a  quar- 
ter mile  track.  The  school  grounds  comprise 
seventeen  acres,  the  buildings  being  located  on 
a  southern  slope  with  a  background  of  rolling 
hills.  In  1929  there  were  thirty-two  graduates, 
and  approximately  sixteen  per  cent  of  all 
the  graduates  so  far  have  gone  on  to  profes- 
sional schools  or  universities. 

The  members  of  the  high  school  board  are 
John  Dean,  president,  Wilbur  Defenbaugh, 
secretary,  Dr.  F.  L.  Stiers  and  Herman  Lubitz. 

About  the  time  the  pupils  and  teachers 
moved  into  the  new  school  building,  in  1921, 
the  new  principal  took  charge,  Byron  R.  Moore, 
who  has  completed  nine  years  of  very  suc- 
cessful work  there.  Mr.  Moore  was  born  at 
LeRoy,  Illinois,  January  18,  1900,  son  of  Ben- 
jamin C.  and  Myrtle  N.  (Search)  Moore. 
His  father  is  a  prominent  Illinois  school  man, 
served  sixteen  years  as  superintendent  of 
McLean  County  schools  and  is  now  principal 
of  the  Community  High  School  in  Eureka. 
Byron  Moore  has  two  brothers:  Wayne  Stew- 
art, born  March  15,  1898,  a  graduate  of  West 
Point  Military  Academy  and  a  first  lieutenant 
now  assigned  to  the  Rhode  Island  National 
Bar;  and  Donald  Clay,  born  October  7,  1910, 
a  student  at  the  University  of  Illinois. 

Byron  R.  Moore  graduated  from  the  LeRoy 
High  School  in  1917,  and  all  through  his 
high  school  course  snowed  a  keen  interest 
in  athletic  sports,  being  a  member  of  the 
football,  baseball  and  basketball  teams.  In 
the  fall  of  1917  he  entered  Illinois  Normal 
University,  but  the  war  interrupted  his  studies 
and  on  January  18,  1918,  he  joined  the  navy. 
He  was  on  board  the  SC-104,  went  across 
the  Atlantic,  later  was  transferred  to  the 
U.  S.  S.  Perry  and  was  in  the  South  Atlantic 
fleet.  He  was  discharged  at  Key  West,  Flor- 
ida, January  21,  1919,  and  soon  afterward 
resumed  his  studies  at  Normal.  During  1920- 
21  he  taught  in  the  high  school  at  Chenoa, 
Illinois,  and  came  from  there  to  East  Peoria. 
Nearly  every  summer  has  been  spent  in  the 
Normal   University   or   State   University,   and 


76 


ILLINOIS 


he  regards  education  as  his  permanent  life 
work. 

Mr.  Moore  is  a  Republican,  a  member  of 
the  Baptist  Church  and  teaches  a  class  in 
Sunday  School,  and  is  a  thirty-second  degree 
Scottish  Rite  Mason.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
State  Teachers  Association.  He  and  four 
other  students  organized  the  Varsity  Club  at 
Normal  University,  which  now  has  a  member- 
ship of  over  500.  While  at  Normal  he  played 
on  the  football,  basketball  and  baseball  teams, 
and  was  junior  class  president.  The  sport 
he  now  follows  as  his  diversion  is  golf. 

Mr.  Moore  married,  November  29,  1923,  Miss 
Louise  Hinton,  of  Normal,  daughter  of  Louis 
and  Agnes  Hinton.  She  is  a  graduate  of 
Illinois  Normal  University  and  taught  two 
years  at  Joliet.  She  has  been  active  in 
Y.  W.  C.  A.  work  and  is  chairman  of  the 
association's  industrial  board  at  Peoria.  She 
is  a  Republican  and  a  Methodist  and  is  fond 
of  golf  and  tennis.  There  is  one  son,  Louis 
Byron   Moore,  born  June   18,   1930. 

David  B.  Maloney  is  senior  member  of 
the  Chicago  law  firm  Maloney,  Wooster  & 
Whiteside,  at  1  North  LaSalle  Street.  Mr. 
Maloney  has  practiced  law  in  Chicago  since 
1914. 

He  was  born  at  Arcadia,  Wisconsin,  son  of 
Patrick  and  Margaret  Maloney.  Mr.  Maloney 
completed  his  education  in  the  University  of 
Michigan,  taking  his  LL.  B.  degree  there, 
and  in  a  general  law  practice  has  found  abun- 
dant satisfaction  in  realizing  his  ambition  and 
choice  of  his  profession.  His  law  partners  are 
Charles  C.  Wooster  and  Roy  E.  Whiteside. 

Mr.  Maloney  has  acted  as  attorney  in  Chi- 
cago for  several  other  municipal  corporations, 
but  has  not  been  otherwise  active  in  politics. 
He  has  supported  many  civic  projects  in  Cook 
County.  He  married  Miss  Mildred  Kromen- 
aker,  and  they  have  one  daughter,  Patricia. 
His  home  is  at  6418  Magnolia  Avenue. 

Berthold  A.  Cronson,  who  has  been  one 
of  the  most  valuable  members  of  the  Chicago 
City  Council  since  1925,  is  a  lawyer  by  pro- 
fession and  is  a  member  of  the  prominent  law 
firm  of  Darrow,  Smith,  Cronson  &  Smith, 
at  77  West  Washington  Street. 

Mr.  Cronson  was  born  in  New  York  City, 
August  24,  1895,  son  of  Leon  and  Bertha 
(Ettelson)  Cronson.  His  mother  was  a  sister 
of  Samuel  A.  Ettelson,  one  of  the  prominent 
political  figures  of  Chicago  and  present  cor- 
poration counsel.  Berthold  A.  Cronson  was 
seven  years  of  age  when  his  mother  moved 
to  Chicago,  his  father  having  died  prior  to 
that  time.  His  education  was  acquired  in 
grammar  and  high  schools  and  in  1917  he 
graduated  LL.  B.  from  the  Chicago  Kent  Col- 
lege of  Law.  He  took  up  practice,  and  had 
just  been  appointed  assistant  corporation  coun- 
sel when  he  was  called  to  the  service  of  the 


nation  at  the  time  of  the  World  war.  He 
was  with  the  navy  during  1917-18  and  a  few 
months  in  1919.  After  being  released  from 
military  duty  he  returned  to  Chicago  and 
resumed  his  duties  as  assistant  corporation 
counsel  until  1923.  Following  that  he  was 
in  the  state  attorney's  office  of  Cook  County 
until  1925.  In  that  year  he  was  elected  alder- 
man from  the  Fourth  Ward  and  was  reelected 
in  1927,  1929  and  1931. 

Alderman  Cronson  has  shown  a  great  capa- 
city for  intelligent  work  in  the  Council.  He 
has  been  on  some  of  the  most  important  com-, 
mittees,  including  finance,  transportation,  rail- 
way terminals,  gas,  oil  and  electric  light, 
judiciary  and  special  assessments. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago,  Illinois  and 
American  Bar  Associations,  is  a  thirty-second 
degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner  and 
a  member  of  the  Hamilton  Club.  His  home 
is  at  1036  East  Forty-eighth  Street.  Mr, 
Cronson  married  Ethel  Larson,  who  was  borr 
in  Chicago,  daughter  of  Edwin  Larson.  Theii 
two  children  are  Donald  Bert  and  Robert. 

David  Kipling  Cochrane.  For  more  thar. 
forty  years  a  member  of  the  Chicago  ban 
and  among  the  foremost  practitioners  of  the 
city,  David  Kipling  Cochrane,  member  of  the 
firm  of  Cochrane  &  George,  has  been  mastei 
in  chancery  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Cool 
County  since  1915.  In  addition  to  being  one 
of  the  leaders  of  his  profession,  Chancelloi 
Cochrane  has  large  business  interests,  is  prom- 
inent in  Republican  politics  and  has  many 
social  and  fraternal  connections. 

David  Kipling  Cochrane  was  born  at  Mil- 
waukee, Wisconsin,  March  23,  1865,  and  I 
a  son  of  Capt.  David  M.  and  Jane  (McManus) 
Cochrane.  His  father,  who  was  born  al 
Oswego,  New  York,  became  a  seafaring  max 
in  young  manhood  and  for  many  years  was; 
captain  of  a  steamboat  plying  the  Great  Lakes 
while  his  mother  was  born  at  Syracuse,  Ne\r 
York,  and  was  brought  as  an  infant  to  Mil- 
waukee, Wisconsin. 

David  K.  Cochrane  attended  the  publi( 
schools  and  the  high  school  at  Manistee,  Mich 
igan,  and  in  1888  received  the  degree  of  Bach1 
elor  of  Philosophy  from  the  University  oi 
Michigan,  at  Ann  Arbor.  At  the  same  tim< 
he  attended  law  school,  and  after  his  gradu 
ation  came  to  Chicago,  where  he  studied  law 
took  the  bar  examination  and  was  admittec 
to  practice  in  1889,  since  which  time  he  hat 
taken  part  in  much  important  litigation,  ane 
is  now  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Cochran* 
&  George,  with  offices  at  35  North  Dearbon 
Street.  In  1906  Mr.  Cochrane  was  appointee 
justice  of  the  peace  by  Governor  Yates  anc 
served  in  that  capacity  until  1910.  In  1911 
he  was  made  master  in  chancery  of  th< 
Superior  Court  of  Cook  County,  and  has  acter 
in  that  capacity  to  the  present.  He  is  •{ 
member  of  the   Chicago  Bar  Association,  th<; 


&*&Je~o 


-T^^^^^^^ 


ILLINOIS 


77 


Illinois  State  Bar  Association,  the  American 
Bar  Association  and  the  Chicago  Law  Institute. 
He  has  been  a  prominent  figure  in  Republican 
politics  for  many  years,  and  served  as  ward 
committeeman  and  as  a  member  of  the  sen- 
atorial committee.  Mr.  Cochrane  is  a  member 
of  the  Michigan  Alumni  Society  of  Chicago, 
the  Phi  Delta  Phi  legal  fraternity  and  the 
Beta  Theta  Pi  fraternity.  He  is  a  Knight 
Templar  Mason  and  a  member  of  the  Hamilton 
Club,  the  Lake  Shore  Athletic  Club  and  the 
South  Shore  Country  Club. 

Mr.  Cochrane  married  Miss  Angela  E. 
Noyes,  who  was  born  at  Chicago,  a  daughter 
of  Henry  C.  Noyes,  for  forty  years  a  prom- 
inent attorney  of  Chicago,  and  to  this  union 
there  has  been  born  one  son:  David  Kipling, 
Jr.  The  family  attend  the  Fifth  Church, 
Christian  Science,  and  reside  at  4734  Ellis 
Avenue. 

Hon.  Frank  H.  Bicek,  who  was  admitted 
to  the  Chicago  bar  in  1907,  is  best  known 
for  his  capable  service  as  master  in  chancery 
of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Cook  County,  an 
office  he  has  filled  since  1925. 

He  is  a  native  Chicagoan,  born  October  16, 
1886,  son  of  Martin  and  Marie  (Vanek)  Bicek. 
His  mother  resides  in  Chicago.  His  father, 
who  died  in  1910,  came  to  Chicago  in  1875 
and  for  many  years  was  in  business  as  a 
merchant  tailor. 

Frank  H.  Bicek  attended  public  schools  and 
parochial  schools  and  in  1907  was  graduated 
LL.  B.  from  the  Illinois  College  of  Law,  now 
DePaul  University.  He  has  built  up  a  suc- 
cessful private  practice  as  a  lawyer.  Mr. 
Bicek  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago,  Illinois 
State  and  American  Bar  Associations  and  the 
Chicago  Law  Institute.  He  has  been  prominent 
in  Catholic  organizations. 

John  Blase  Meccia,  prominent  Chicago 
attorney,  has  lived  in  that  city  nearly  all 
his  life  and  has  had  a  number  of  pleasant 
and  important  connections  with  members  of 
his  profession  and  with  other  organizations. 

Mr.  Meccia  was  born  in  New  York  City 
February  19,  1904,  and  a  few  months  after 
his  birth,  in  the  summer  of  1904,  his  parents, 
Ignatius  and  Grace  (Micali)  Meccia,  moved 
from  New  York  to  Chicago.  His  parents  were 
born  in  Italy  and  came  to  the  United  States 
soon  after  their  marriage.  In  Chicago  Igna- 
tius Meccia  was  engaged  in  the  banking  and 
steamship  agency  business.  He  died  in  1915 
and   his   wife   in   1914. 

John  Blase  Meccia,  after  the  death  of  his 
parents,  being  about  eleven  years  of  age,  lived 
with  an  aunt.  There  were  difficulties  to  over- 
come during  his  boyhood,  but  he  systematically 
worked  himself  through  school,  graduating 
from  the  Irving  Park  grade  school  in  1917, 
from  the  Carl  Schurz  High  School  in  1921, 
the  Crane  Junior  College  in  1923,  and  he  has 


two  law  degrees,  LL.  B.  and  J.  D.,  from 
Northwestern  University  School  of  Law.  He 
was  graduated  Doctor  of  Jurisprudence  in  1927 
and  was  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar  the  same 
year.  Mr.  Meccia  for  two  years  was  attorney 
for  the  Illinois  Retail  Coal  Dealers  Association. 
He  has  a  successful  general  practice,  with 
offices   at   160   North   LaSalle   Street. 

In  January,  1931,  Mr.  Meccia  was  honored 
by  election  as  president  of  the  Justinian  Soci- 
ety of  Advocates,  after  having  served  two 
years  as  secretary  of  the  organization.  This 
society  is  an  association  of  members  of  the 
Chicago  bar  who  are  either  of  Italian  birth 
or  extraction.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Chicago,  Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  Asso- 
ciations, belongs  to  the  Sigma  Delta  Kappa 
law  fraternity,  the  Northwestern  University 
Club,  and  is  a  past  advocate  and  now  treasurer 
of  St.  Francis  Council,  Knights  of  Columbus. 

George  Albert  Goodman.  The  general  man- 
ager and  superintendent  of  the  Peoria  County 
Home,  George  A.  Goodman  has  substantiated 
his  name  and  reputation  as  an  individual  who 
is  particularly  fitted  for  the  position  he  occu- 
pies. This  incumbency  is  one  that  calls  for 
the  possession  of  human  understanding,  kind- 
liness, tact  and  executive  ability,  all  of  which 
are  to  be  found  in  Mr.  Goodman's  character. 
Under  his  direction  the  institution,  situated 
in  Limestone  Township,  has  become  one  that 
serves  as  a  model  for  others  of  its  kind  and 
that  will  stand  as  a  lasting  memorial  to  his 
wise    leadership. 

Mr.  Goodman  was  born  at  Port  Royal,  Juan- 
ita  County,  Pennsylvania,  February  1,  1884, 
and  is  a  son  of  William  and  Carrie  (Reader) 
Goodman.  His  grandfather,  a  bridge  con- 
tractor, served  as  a  member  of  the  Union 
army  during  the  war  between  the  states,  in 
the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  William  Good- 
man was  reared  on  a  farm  and  as  a  youth 
learned  the  trade  of  carpentry,  which  he  fol- 
lowed in  conjunction  with  his  work  on  the 
farm.  He  became  very  proficient  in  both 
vocations,  and  by  reason  of  his  stalwart  char- 
acter earned  and  held  the  esteem  of  his  fellow 
citizens. 

The  second  in  order  of  birth  of  his  parents' 
fourteen  children,  it  was  necessary  for  George 
A.  Goodman  to  start  to  work  at  an  early  age. 
In  fact,  during  the  entire  period  of  his  attend- 
ance at  the  country  schools  his  vacations  were 
spent  in  manual  labor  on  the  home  place. 
When  he  started  his  independent  career  it 
was  as  a  section  hand  on  a  railroad  construc- 
tion "gang,"  but  after  one  and  one-half  years 
thus  employed  he  journeyed  to  Peoria,  in 
which  community  he  worked  for  a  year  on 
a  farm.  Returning  to  his  home  town,  he 
learned  the  trade  of  stone  masonry,  and  for 
about  two  years  was  employed  in  this  occupa- 
tion by  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  after  which 
he   went   back   to   Peoria   and   again   took   up 


78 


ILLINOIS 


farming  as  a  hired  hand.  Mr.  Goodman  then 
became  a  renter  of  farm  land,  and  continued 
as  such  for  some  fourteen  years,  at  the  end 
of  which  time  he  had  accumulated  sufficient 
capital  to  make  the  initial  payment  on  an 
eighty-acre  property  in  Trivoli  Township,  upon 
which  he  made  the  necessary  improvements 
to  make  it  a  paying  proposition.  He  con- 
tinued operations  on  this  property  until 
appointed  to  his  present  position,  in  which 
he  has  established  an  enviable  record.  In 
addition  to  his  present  position  Mr.  Goodman 
has  served  as  supervisor  of  his  township. 
He  is  a  Democrat  in  his  political  allegiance, 
and  fraternally  is  a  thirty-second  degree 
Mason  and  member  of  the  Modern  Woodmen 
of  America.  His  religious  connection  is  with 
the   Methodist   Episcopal   Church. 

Mr.  Goodman  married  Kathryn  Patton, 
daughter  of  William  Patton,  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania. Mrs.  Goodman  serves  as  matron 
of  the  home  and  is  active  in  the  work  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Goodman  are  the  parents  of  two  sons,  Lloyd 
Anderson,  who  has  a  son,  Lloyd  Anderson, 
Jr.,  and  Roy  Earl.  Both  of  these  boys  are 
high  school  graduates  and  bright  and  prom- 
ising young  men  of  their  community,  where 
they  are  greatly  and  deservedly  popular. 

Frank  Gates  Allen,  chairman  of  the  board 
of  the  Moline  State  Trust  &  Savings  Bank, 
has  had  a  widely  diversified  career  in  industry 
and  finance,  covering  a  period  of  nearly  half 
a  century.  Mr.  Allen  came  to  Moline  soon 
after  graduating  from  the  University  of  Mich- 
igan and  his  first  position  in  the  industrial 
affairs  of  the  city  was  as  an  assistant  shipping 
clerk  with  the  Moline  Plow  Company. 

He  was  born  in  Aurora,  Illinois,  February 
14,  1858,  son  of  Edward  Richards  and  Mary 
Ann  (Gates)  Allen.  His  grandfather,  Edward 
Allen,  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  a  black- 
smith by  trade,  and  died  in  New  York  State. 
The  maternal  grandfather  was  Lute  Gates, 
a  shoemaker  by  trade  and  a  native  of  Massa- 
chusetts, who  became  a  pioneer  settler  of 
Aurora,  Illinois.  He  married  Mary  Conant, 
a  direct  descendant  of  Roger  Conant,  the 
second  governor  of  Massachusetts.  Edward 
R.  Allen  was  born  in  Cortland  County,  New 
York,  and  his  wife  in  Dedham,  Massachusetts. 
They  were  married  in  Aurora,  Illinois,  where 
he  was  a  grain  merchant.  They  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Universalist  Church  at  Aurora 
and  he  was  one  of  the  main  pillars  of  the 
church  and  contributed  largely  to  its  building. 
He  was  a  Republican  in  politics  and  during 
the  Civil  war  period  served  as  state  senator. 
He  was  postmaster  of  Aurora  during  the 
administration  of  President  Pierce.  He  joined 
the  Republican  party  upon  its  organization. 
These  parents  had  a  family  of  seven  children, 
only  two  of  whom  are  now  living,  Lottie, 
widow  of  William   S.   Mack,  a  former  super- 


intendent of  schools  at  Moline,  and  Frank 
Gates. 

Frank  Gates  Allen  was  educated  in  the 
schools  of  Aurora,  completed  his  high  school 
course  in  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  and  then 
entered  the  University  of  Michigan,  where 
he  took  the  A.  B.  degree  in  1881.  While 
in  the  university  he  was  initiated  in  the  Sigma 
Phi,  the  second  oldest  college  fraternity.  Soon 
after  graduating  he  came  to  Moline,  and  spent 
five  years  with  the  Moline  Plow  Company, 
rising  to  the  position  of  treasurer.  In  1886 
he  established  a  branch  factory  of  the  com- 
pany at  Omaha,  Nebraska,  but  after  a  year 
in  that  city,  moved  to  Ottawa,  Illinois,  to 
complete  his  law  studies,  begun  some  years 
before,  in  the  law  office  of  Capt.  A.  C.  Little, 
of  Aurora,  Illinois.  In  1888  he  was  admitted 
to  the  bar,  practiced  for  five  years  at  Ottawa, 
Illinois,  and  then  returned  to  Moline  and  again 
joined  in  the  industrial  life  of  this  city,  becom- 
ing assistant  manager  of  the  Moline  Plow 
Company.  Later  he  was  president  and  general 
manager  of  the  company  and  held  those  posi- 
tions until  1919. 

Mr.  Allen  in  1902  secured  the  controlling 
interest  in  the  Moline  National  Bank  and  the 
State  Savings  Bank  &  Trust  Company,  and 
later  combined  the  State  Bank  &  Trust  Com- 
pany with  the  Moline  Trust  &  State  Savings 
Bank  and  was  president  of  the  Moline  State 
Trust  &  Savings  Bank  until  1928,  since  which 
year  he  has  been  chairman  of  the  board.  Mr. 
Allen  has  many  other  active  associations  with 
the  financial  and  industrial  organizations  of 
the  City  of  Moline. 

He  married,  June  8,  1882,  Miss  Minnie  Flor- 
ence Stephens,  who  was  born  at  Moline,  where 
her  father,  the  late  George  Stephens,  was  a 
pioneer  business  man,  owning  a  furniture  fac- 
tory and  later  was  connected  as  vice  president 
with  the  Moline  Plow  Company.  He  was  a 
native  of  Westmoreland  County,  Pennsylvania. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Allen  have  one  child,  Marjorie, 
wife  of  Otto  H.  Seiffert,  of  Davenport,  Iowa. 
Mr.  Seiffert  is  manager  of  the  Seiffert  Lumber 
Company  of  Davenport  and  is  vice  president 
and  member  of  the  executive  committee  of  the 
Moline  State  Trust  &  Savings  Bank.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Seiffert  have  two  children,  Allen 
and  Helen  Stephens.  Mrs.  Otto  H.  Seiffert 
graduated  from  Smith  College  in  1906,  and 
has  earned  rank  among  the  foremost  of  mod- 
ern American  poets,  three  books  of  her  verse 
having  been  published. 

Mr.  Allen  has  been  a  vestryman  in  the  Epis- 
copal Church  at  Moline.  He  has  received  the 
thirty-third  degree  in  Scottish  Rite  Masonry 
and  also  belongs  to  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Rock  Island  Arsenal  Golf 
Club,  the  Annandale  Golf  Club  and  Midwick 
Golf  Club  of  Pasadena,  California.  For  thirty 
years  his  hobby  has  been  the  game  of  golf. 
While  in  university  he  was  active  in  athletics 
and    won    his    letter    in   football.      Mr.    Allen 


ILLINOIS 


79 


is  president  of  the  Scottish  Rite  Cathedral 
Association,  which  recently  completed  a  cathe- 
dral at  Moline,  pronounced  one  of  the  finest 
examples  of  Gothic  architecture  in  the  Middle 
West.  Politically  he  is  a  Republican,  and 
while  active  in  the  party  and  civic  affairs 
has  never  sought  any  public  office. 

Harry  C.  Montgomery,  D.  C.  and  Ph.  C, 
is  the  popular  sheriff  of  Scott  County.  His 
home  is  at  Winchester,  where  he  was  born 
April  3,  1899,  and  in  that  community  every 
one  has  known  him  in  increasing  terms  of 
respect  since  he  was  a  boy. 

His  father  is  Mr.  Joseph  Montgomery,  a 
prominent  Winchester  business  man.  The 
mother  of  the  sheriff  was  Miss  Daisy  Lee, 
of  the  Virginia  Lee  ancestry.  Her  father, 
George  Lee,  is  now  past  eighty  years  of  age 
and,  like  all  typical  Virginians,  has  a  great 
love  for  good  horse  flesh,  and  he  finds  pleasure 
and  recreation  in  taking  care  of  the  several 
fine  horses  owned  by  Sheriff  Montgomery, 
whose  hobby  is  in  that  direction. 

Sheriff  Montgomery  grew  up  at  Winchester. 
While  in  high  school  he  learned  the  barber's 
trade,  and  for  one  year  attended  Millikin 
University  at  Decatur.  While  at  Decatur  he 
was  enrolled  in  the  Students  Army  Training 
Corps,  and  he  was  also  stationed  for  a  time 
at  Fort   Sheridan,   Illinois. 

While  he  went  to  the  university  at  Decatur 
with  the  intention  of  taking  a  pre-medical 
course,  his  attention  was  directed  to  the  newer 
science  of  chiropractic,  and  in  1922  he  gradu- 
ated from  the  Davenport  Chiropractic  College 
at  Davenport,  Iowa,  with  the  degrees  D.  C. 
and  Ph.  C.  After  graduating  he  practiced 
for  several  years  in  Winchester  and  also  had 
offices   at  Jacksonville. 

From  the  work  of  his  profession  he  answered 
the  call  to  politics  and  in  1926  was  elected 
assessor  and  treasurer  of  Scott  County.  The 
four  years  he  spent  in  that  office  were  a  source 
of  a  reputation  which  is  by  no  means  confined 
to  the  county.  He  saved  the  taxpayers  a 
large  sum  on  the  revaluation  of  their  property, 
and  he  reduced  the  valuations  twenty  per  cent, 
and  also  stopped  many  of  the  sources  of  illegal 
taxation.  When  other  officials  refused  to 
cooperate,  he  figured  out  the  taxes  himself, 
though  it  took  six  weeks  of  day  and  night 
work  to  do  it.  Then,  in  1930,  his  splendid 
record  followed  him  when  he  became  a  candi- 
date for  the  office  of  sheriff,  on  the  Republican 
ticket.  It  was  a  year  when  the  Democratic 
tide  ran  strong  and  though  Scott  County  is 
normally  350  Democratic,  he  was  elected  with 
750  majority. 

Sheriff  Montgomery  is  a  Knight  Templar 
and  thirty-second  degree  York  Rite  Mason  and 
a  member  of  the  B.  P.  O.  E.  at  Jacksonville, 
and  also  belongs  to  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows.  For  four  years  he  was  com- 
mander of  the  Julian  Wells  Post  of  the  Amer- 


ican Legion.  Mr.  Montgomery  has  always  been 
fond  of  athletics  and  while  in  college  made 
a  considerable  reputation  as  a  baseball  player. 
He  married,  December  26,  1924,  Miss  Louise 
Townsend.  She  was  educated  in  the  Illinois 
Normal  University  at  Bloomington  and  was 
a  teacher  before  her  marriage,  and  since  then 
has  found  an  outlet  for  her  culture  in  many 
civic  and  social  enterprises  at  Winchester. 

John  E.  Andrew,  former  superintendent  of 
the  Illinois  Soldiers  and  Sailors  Home  at 
Quincy,  is  a  retired  resident  of  that  city.  Mr. 
Andrew  came  to  Illinois  shortly  after  the  close 
of  the  Civil  war,  and  had  a  long  and  success- 
ful career  both  in  business  and  in  public 
service. 

He  was  born  at  Westboro,  Clinton  County, 
Ohio,  June  6,  1849,  son  of  John  and  Mary 
(Smith)  Andrew.  Clinton  County,  Ohio,  was 
one  of  the  important  centers  in  the  early 
Quaker  settlements  of  that  state.  Mr.  An- 
drew came  from  old  Quaker  stock,  the  fam- 
ily having  been  among  the  early  adherents  of 
that  faith  in  North  Carolina,  which  supplied 
thousands  of  valuable  settlers  and  pioneers 
both  to  Ohio  and  Indiana. 

The  founder  of  the  family  in  America  was 
his  great-grandfather,  William  Andrew,  a  na- 
tive of  Ireland.  He  came  to  America  in  1750 
and  settled  near  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina. 
The  name  of  his  wife  was  Hannah  Holiday, 
and  their  eleven  children  were  named  Jacob, 
Henry,  Samuel,  Robert,  Aaron,  Isaac,  James, 
William,  John,  Sarah,  and  Hannah.  The  first 
five  of  these  sons  and  the  two  daughters  all 
moved  to  Ohio,  while  the  others  remained  and 
founded  families  in  North  Carolina.  De- 
scendants of  those  who  remained  in  North 
Carolina  furnished  a  number  of  soldiers  on 
the  Confederate  side  in  the  Civil  war. 

The  grandfather  of  John  E.  Andrew  was 
Henry  Andrew,  who  married,  November  14, 
1805,  Jane  Mills,  in  North  Carolina.  They 
had  a  family  of  seven  children,  three  daugh- 
ters and  four  sons.  Among  them  was  John 
Andrew,  who  was  born  near  Fayetteville, 
North  Carolina,  November  3,  1811.  The  year 
after  his  birth  his  parents,  following  the  ex- 
ample of  many  other  Quakers  who  were  dis- 
satisfied with  the  institution  of  slavery,  left 
the  South  and  moved  to  the  new  region  north- 
west of  the  Ohio  River,  settling  near  Wil- 
mington, Clinton  County,  Ohio.  All  the  mem- 
bers of  this  family  became  farmers.  John 
Andrew  grew  up  in  Clinton  County,  and  died 
at  Westboro  in  that  county  February  12,  1849, 
before  the  birth  of  his  youngest  child,  John 
E.  Andrew.  The  latter's  mother,  Mary  Smith, 
was  born  near  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina, 
December  12,  1812.  Her  father  died  in  North 
Carolina  and  she  and  her  brother,  E.  B.  Smith, 
were  brought  by  their  mother  to  Ohio.  Mrs. 
Mary  (Smith)  Andrew  died  at  Champaign, 
Illinois,  July  14,  1894.     Her  four  oldest  chil- 


80 


ILLINOIS 


dren  were:  Caleb  B.,  who  died  in  service  dur- 
ing the  Civil  war  and  is  buried  in  the  National 
Cemetery  at  Memphis;  Mrs.  Sarah  Ellen  Van- 
derwort,  who  died  at  Middletown,  Ohio,  in 
1900;  Joseph,  who  died  in  Kansas,  in  1900; 
and  Mrs.  Nancy  Jane  Thornhill,  who  died  at 
Champaign,  Illinois,  in  1915. 

John  E.  Andrew  had  the  benefit  of  a  few 
terms  of  instruction  in  the  pioneer  schools  in 
Clinton  County,  Ohio.  He  was  not  yet  twelve 
years  of  age  when  the  Civil  war  broke  out. 
On  February  22,  1864,  before  he  was  fifteen, 
he  enlisted  at  Cincinnati  in  Company  C  of 
the  Seventy-ninth  Ohio  Infantry.  Many  years 
later  the  colonel  of  this  regiment  wrote:  "I 
knew  Andrew  personally,  we  were  both  of  the 
same  county.  When  he  came  to  the  regiment 
I  was  doubtful  by  reason  of  his  youth  of  his 
being  able  to  stand  the  hardships  of  war  with 
old  veterans,  but  it  afterwards  developed  that 

my  fears  were  groundless I  never  knew 

a  truer  or  better  soldier  than  he,  always  ready 
for  duty  under  any  circumstances  of  peril. 
At  the  battle  of  Peach  Creek  in  front  of  At- 
lanta, July  20,  1864,  Mr.  Andrew  received  a 
gunshot  wound  in  the  right  leg  below  the 
knee.  He  refused  the  direction  of  his  sergeant 
to  go  to  the  rear,  pleading  for  time  to  fire  a 
few  more  rounds.  He  continued  to  do  so  until 
exhausted  from  the  loss  of  blood  and  had  to 
be  carried  off  the  field.  Following  the  capture 
of  Atlanta,  Mr.  Andrew  recovered  sufficiently 
so  that  he  was  able  to  return  to  his  regiment 
on  November  1,  1864,  and  then  took  part  in 
the  march  to  the  sea,  up  through  the  Carolinas 
to  Goldsboro,  to  Raleigh,  thence  to  Richmond, 
and  on  May  24,  1865,  was  one  of  the  troops 
who  marched  in  grand  review  at  Washington. 
He  received  his  honorable  discharge  July  22, 
1865. 

In  September,  1866,  Mr.  Andrew  left  his 
Ohio  home  and  came  to  Piatt  County,  Illinois. 
He  worked  on  a  farm,  taught  school,  and  in 
November,  1882,  was  elected  sheriff  of  Piatt 
County.  This  county  was  strongly  Repub- 
lican. Mr.  Andrew,  though  he  had  been  a 
brave  soldier  of  the  Civil  war,  had  espoused 
the  Democratic  party.  He  was  elected  sheriff 
by  a  majority  of  twelve.  Locating  at  Monti- 
cello,  he  engaged  in  the  furniture  and  under- 
taking business.  Mr.  Andrew  had  the  satis- 
faction of  being  elected  mayor  of  Monticello 
for  four  terms.  When  he  was  first  a  candi- 
date one  of  the  opposition  papers  spoke  of  him 
as  a  tramp  and  outsider.  This  he  freely  ad- 
mitted, stating  that  he  had  walked  into  the 
town  and  that  he  had  worked  as  a  section 
hand.  The  effort  to  discredit  him  was  not 
successful,  and  his  popularity  with  the  mass 
of  the  people  was  shown  by  his  repeated 
reelections. 

Mr.  Andrew  retired  from  business  in  1912. 
In  May,  1913,  he  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Dunne   as   superintendent  of  the   Illinois   Sol- 


diers Home  at  Quincy,  and  he  served  in  that 
capacity  more  than  seven  years,  continuing 
during  the  greater  part  of  Lowden's  admin- 
istration. He  resigned  in  September,  1920. 
In  1922  he  received  the  great  honor  of  being 
elected  state  commander  of  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic,  and  at  that  time  was  pre- 
sented with  a  gold  and  diamond  studded  badge 
by  his  comrades.  Mr.  Andrew  is  a  member 
of  the  Lodge,  Royal  Arch  Chapter,  Knights 
Templar  Commandery  and  the  Scottish  Rite 
bodies  of  Quincy,  and  Ansar  Temple  of  the 
Mystic  Shrine  at  Springfield.  He  was  reared 
as  a  Quaker,  but  he  is  now  a  member  of  the! 
Grace  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Quincy. 

Parlin  Public  Library,  at  Canton,  repre- 
sents on  the  one  hand  the  literary  and  intel- 
lectual interests  of  one  of  the  state's  progres- 
sive communities  and  on  the  other  a  generous 
interest  and  cooperation  of  one  of  Canton's 
foremost  men  of  wealth  and  influence. 

It  is  named  in  honor  of  William  Parlin,  Sr., 
who  at  his  death  in  1890  bequeathed  the  sum 
of  $8,000  to  be  used  for  founding  a  public 
library  in  his  town.  By  modern  estimate  this 
was  a  small  sum,  but  at  that  time  was  an  usual 
gift  for  such  a  purpose  in  Illinois.  The  sum 
was  bequeathed  on  the  condition  that  the  citi- 
zens of  Canton  contribute  $5,000  more.  The 
trustees  names  were  Carroll  C.  Dewey,  N. 
Steven  Wright  and  David  Beeson.  The  citizens 
cooperated  with  the  spirit  and  purpose  of 
Mr.  Parlin's  will  and  as  a  result  in  1894  the 
Parlin  Public  Library  was  opened  on  a  lot 
at  the  corner  of  East  Chestnut  and  North 
Second  Avenue,  opposite  the  old  Parlin  home. 
The  library  started  with  a  collection  of  1,000 
volumes. 

The  sum  of  $13,000  proved  inadequate  to 
complete  and  equip  the  building.  Then  the 
Parlin  heirs  from  time  to  time  donated  further 
sums,  until,  when  completed,  the  building  rep- 
resented an  investment  of  $24,000.  This  by 
no  means  ended  the  generous  interest  of  mem- 
bers of  the  Parlin  family.  In  1918  they  gave 
$30,000  in  Liberty  Bonds  as  a  permanent 
endowment  fund.  Other  gifts  from  the  family 
include  many  valuable  works  of  art,  including 
copies  of  famous  paintings  and  sculpture  and 
also  thousands  of  volumes  of  reference  works 
and  other  books  found  on  the  shelves.  Another 
gift,  made  in  1924,  came  from  the  late  Alice 
Graham,  who  bequeathed  $1,000  in  money  and 
many  valuable  books.  The  Canton  Woman's 
Club  has  also  given  the  library  the  bronze 
busts  of  Shakespeare,  Lincoln  and  Emerson. 

Today  Canton  possesses  a  public  library 
which  in  point  of  equipment  and  facilities 
for  service  would  compare  favorably  with  that 
found  in  any  city  of  the  size  in  the  Middle 
West.  The  citizens  of  Canton  have  felt  the 
greater  interest  in  the  institution  because  it 
represents    almost    entirely    local    cooperation 


ILLINOIS 


81 


or  local  generosity.    The  library  today  contains 
15,000  volumes. 

Of  the  board  of  trustees  David  Beeson,  one 
of  the  original  trustees  appointed  under  the 
will  of  Mr.  Parlin,  served  as  president  from 
1894  until  his  death  in  1924.  Since  then 
the  president  of  the  board  has  been  Mr.  E.  A. 
Heald.  The  first  librarian,  selected  in  Sep- 
tember, 1894,  was  Mrs.  Josephine  Resor.  She 
served  thirty-four  years.  During  this  period 
Miss  Roberts  was  assistant  for  nine  years, 
Miss  Lida  Hicks  from  1903  to  1910,  Miss 
Louise  Slater,  1910-16,  Miss  Cecile  Anderson, 
1916-17,  and  Miss  Jeanette  Wallace,  1917-19. 
Mrs.  D.  E.  Houston  was  assistant  from  1919 
to  1929,  and  since  the  latter  date  has  been 
librarian.  Mrs.  Houston  was  born  and  edu- 
cated in  Canton  and  is  a  graduate  of  the 
Library  School  of  the  University  of  Illinois. 

Hon.  Edgar  A.  Eggleston,  who  is  police 
magistrate  at  Canton,  has  been  active  in  the 
citizenship  of  that  community  for  upwards  of 
half  a  century.  He  was  in  business  for  many 
years,  and  his  intimate  knowledge  of  local 
conditions  and  the  reputation  he  enjoys  for 
integrity  have  made  him  repeatedly  honored 
with  positions  of  trust  and  responsibility. 

Judge  Eggleston  was  born  at  Canton,  Jan- 
uary 26,  1862,  son  of  William  M.  and  Sarah 
(Rowley)  Eggleston.  The  Rowleys  were  a 
Colonial  family  of  New  Jersey.  William  M. 
Eggleston  was  born  at  Rochester,  New  York, 
and  came  to  Illinois  in  the  late  '50s.  He  was 
a  carpenter  by  trade,  and  for  many  years 
was  employed  in  the  shops  of  Parlin  &  Oren- 
dorf,  manufacturers  of  plows  and  farm  ma- 
chinery. For  several  years  before  his  death 
he  was  superintendent  of  the  entire  plant, 
which  is  one  of  the  largest  industrial  organiza- 
tions in  Canton,  now  part  of  the  International 
Harvester  Company.  He  gave  much  of  his 
time  to  public  duties,  holding  several  offices 
without  pay. 

Judge  Eggleston  has  always  felt  himself 
indebted  to  the  example  of  both  of  his  parents, 
and  he  owes  much  to  his  mother,  who  trained 
him  in  the  rudiments  of  citizenship  and  the 
principles  of  life.  He  attended  public  schools, 
and  immediately  after  leaving  school  became 
a  clerk  in  a  grocery  store.  Following  this  he 
clerked  in  a  dry  goods  store  for  two  years, 
for  sixteen  years  he  clerked  in  one  of  the 
leading  shoe  stores,  and  then  entered  busi- 
ness for  himself  in  1905,  conducting  a  grocery 
store  in  the  suburban  district  of  Canton.  He 
retired  from  business  in  1921,  due  to  the  ill- 
ness of  his  wife.  While  in  business  Mr.  Eg- 
gleston was  elected  an  alderman  of  the  city, 
served  as  deputy  coroner,  was  also  city  as- 
sessor, and  in  1921  was  elected  constable,  on 
the  Republican  ticket.  In  1924  he  was  elected 
police  magistrate  and  was  reelected  in  1928 
to  a  second  four  year  term.  Over  a  period  of 
eight    years    Judge    Eggleston    has    dispensed 


justice  with  an  even  hand,  his  tenure  of  the 
office  having  overlapped  several  city  admin- 
istrations. Judge  Eggleston  is  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  the  Modern  Woodmen 
of  America  and  in  political  faith  is  a  Repub- 
lican. In  church  affiliation  he  is  a  Presby- 
terian. 

He  married,  November  14,  1891,  Miss  Belle 
Dickey.  She  was  born  at  Farmington,  Illi- 
nois, her  parents  having  settled  in  Illinois 
from  Pennsylvania.  She  was  very  active  in 
the  social  and  civic  life  of  Canton,  where  she 
died  November  5,  1921. 

Godfrey  Wys.  For  many  years  the  late 
Godfrey  Wys  was  one  of  the  leading  merchants 
of  Peoria,  being  first  associated  with  his  father 
in  the  shoe  business,  of  which  he  became 
proprietor  in  1885  and  with  which  he  con- 
tinued to  be  identified  until  his  lamented  death, 
February  20,  1918.  During  this  long  period 
he  established  a  record  for  honorable  business 
dealing  and  superior  workmanship,  and  at 
the  same  time  was  recognized  as  a  good  citizen 
of  public  spirit  and  enlightened  views  who 
contributed  freely  of  his  time,  means  and 
ability  in  the  furtherance  of  worthy  public 
measures. 

Mr.  Wys  was  born  at  Berne,  Switzerland, 
March  23,  1856,  Easter  Day,  a  son  of  Urs 
and  Elizabeth  (Moser)  Wys,  natives  of  the 
same  country,  who  in  1857  embarked  on  a 
sailing  vessel  which  made  port  at  New  Orleans, 
whence  the  family  came  up  the  Mississippi 
and  Illinois  rivers  to  Peoria  County.  For  a 
time  Urs  Wys  was  employed  in  a  dairy  busi- 
ness, but  subsequently  moved  to  Peoria,  where 
he  went  to  work  at  his  trade  as  a  shoemaker. 
He  embarked  in  business  on  his  own  account 
on  Washington  Street,  making  shoes  and  boots 
by  hand,  and  the  excellence  of  his  work  soon 
gained  him  a  large  and  loyal  patronage.  Later 
he  moved  to  Adams  Street,  where  he  remained 
about  ten  years,  following  which  he  built 
the  present  brick  building,  at  2007  South 
Adams  Street,  where  the  business  has  since 
been  located.  Mr.  Wys,  who  was  born  Novem- 
ber 10,  1832,  married  in  1855  Miss  Elizabeth 
Moser,  and  died  August  3,  1902,  both  being 
buried  in  Springdale  Cemetery.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Peoria  volunteer  fire  depart- 
ment for  many  years  during  the  early  days. 
There  were  four  children  in  the  family:  God- 
frey, Arnold,  Eliza  and  Emma. 

Godfrey  Wys  was  about  one  year  old  when 
brought  by  his  parents  to  Peoria,  where  he 
attended  the  German  School  and  Brown's  Busi- 
ness College.  He  then  went  to  Chicago,  where 
he  was  employed  for  two  years,  at  the  end 
of  which  time  he  returned  to  Peoria  and 
became  associated  with  his  father  in  the  shoe 
business.  In  1885  the  elder  man  retired,  and 
from  that  time  until  his  death  Godfrey  Wys 
carried  on  the  business  in  a  highly  satisfactory 
manner.     He  had  an  excellent  reputation  for 


82 


ILLINOIS 


business  honesty  and  fidelity,  and  was  a  Repub- 
lican in  politics  and  a  member  of  the  Reformed 
Church.  For  some  years  he  was  a  member 
of  the  old  Crystal  Club  and  also  a  member 
of  the  board  of  park  commissioners.  He 
served  as  master  of  Schiller  Lodge,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  was  also  a  thirty-second  degree  and 
Knight  Templar  Mason  and  a  member  of 
the  Turners  and  the  Swiss  Society. 

On  October  27,  1891,  Mr.  Wys  was  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Mary  M.  Blaser,  a 
daughter  of  Jacob  and  Magdalene  (Bangerter) 
Blaser,  who  died  when  Mrs.  Wys  was  a  young 
girl.  She  was  educated  in  Europe  and  mar- 
ried Mr.  Wys  in  Nebraska.  They  had  three 
children:  Clara,  the  wife  of  Arthur  Hirsch; 
Irma    M.;    and   Arnold    W.,    deceased. 

Henry  Martin  Seymour.  Beginning  in 
1930  there  have  been  many  centennial  anni- 
versaries observed  throughout  Central  and 
Northern  Illinois,  on  the  part  of  communities, 
institutions  and  families.  In  1936  one  of  the 
oldest  families  of  Adams  County  will  com- 
memorate the  hundredth  anniversary  of  its 
arrival  in  Western  Illinois.  For  nearly  a  cen- 
tury the  Seymours  have  been  conspicuous  rep- 
resentatives of  the  wholesome  quality  of  New 
England  character,  industry  and  enterprise. 
Mr.  Henry  Martin  Seymour,  of  Payson,  is  in 
the  third  generation  of  the  Adams  County 
branch  of  the  family,  and  throughout  his 
active  life  has  been  engaged  in  farming,  stock 
feeding  and  the  growing  of  some  of  the  apples 
and  other  fruits  which  have  made  this  section 
of  Illinois  famous. 

Eight  generations  of  the  Seymour  family 
lived  in  Hartford  County,  Connecticut,  begin- 
ning with  the  first  American  ancestor,  Rich- 
ard Seymour,  who  came  from  England  in 
1639  and  settled  at  Hartford.  It  was  nearly 
two  centuries  later  that  his  descendant,  Mar- 
tin Seymour,  departed  from  the  environment 
of  his  ancestors  and  sought  a  new  home  in 
what  was  then  the  far  West.  This  Martin 
Seymour  was  born  in  Hartford  County  Au- 
gust 24,  1789.  On  June  29,  1814,  he  married 
Lucy  Butler,  and  their  family  came  to  num- 
ber nine  children.  On  May  28,  1836,  the  Sey- 
mour family  started  for  their  western  des- 
tination. In  the  absence  of  railroads 
west  of  the  Alleghanies  the  journay  was 
made  almost  entirely  by  river  and  canal. 
From  New  York  City  they  traveled  up  the 
Hudson,  crossed  New  York  by  the  Erie 
Canal,  went  along  the  southern  shores  of 
Lake  Erie  and  thence  by  canal  across  Ohio 
to  the  Ohio  River,  and  from  the  mouth  of  that 
stream  came  up  the  Mississippi,  arriving  at 
Quincy  June  28,  1836.  The  original  Sey- 
mour homestead,  located  by  Martin  Seymour, 
was  in  section  12  of  Fall  Creek  Township, 
Adams  County.  Martin  Seymour  died  there 
November  19,  1842,  and  his  wife  passed  away 
September  4,  1845. 


The  youngest  son  of  Martin  Seymour  and 
wife  was  Charles  Willard,  who  was  born  at 
West  Hartford,  Connecticut,  August  23,  1834, 
and  was  too  young  to  remember  any  of  the 
incidents  of  the  journey  which  brought  him 
to  Adams  County.  He  grew  up  on  the  farm 
now  occupied  by  his  son  Henry  Martin,  at- 
tended public  schools  at  Payson,  and  at  the 
age  of  sixteen  became  associated  with  his  old- 
est brother,  Edward  Seymour.  Edward  Sey- 
mour, who  died  July  15,  1904,  with  Charles 
W.  Seymour,  comprised  a  firm  known  as  Sey- 
mour Brothers,  as  farmers,  stock  feeders  and 
shippers.  They  were  in  business  for  nearly 
half  a  century  and  were  very  succesful. 
Charles  Willard  Seymour  died  at  his  home 
at  Payson  October  11,  1898.  He  married 
Emily  Cynthia  Kay,  who  was  born  at  Payson, 
Illinois,  March  4,  1844,  and  died  at  Quincy. 
Her  father,  Robert  Kay,  had  come  to  Illinois 
from  Virginia  in  1833.  The  children  of 
Charles  W.  Seymour  and  wife  were:  Henry 
Martin;  Lyman  K.,  who  was  born  in  1865  and 
died  in  1919,  married  Agnes  Jarrett;  Loren 
B.,  born  in  1869,  married  Susan  Jarrett  and 
lives  at  South  Pasadena,  California;  and 
Stella  May,  born  in  1871,  is  the  wife  of  Oliver 
Starr,  who  lives  at  Los  Angeles. 

Henry  Martin  Seymour  was  born  at  Payson 
June  9,  1864.  As  a  young  man  he  and  his 
brother  Lyman  realized  that  their  best  oppor- 
tunities for  a  useful  part  in  the  world  of 
affairs  was  in  following  the  lead  of  their 
father  and  uncle.  Thus  when  the  two  older 
Seymour  brothers  passed  away  these  brothers 
carried  on  the  business  under  the  same  firm 
name,  until  the  death  of  Lyman  Seymour  in 
1919.  Much  has  been  heard  in  recent  years 
of  chain  farming  and  corporation*  farming, 
but  the  Seymour  brothers  were  in  business  on 
a  scale  that  would  compare  favorably  with 
some  of  the  larger  enterprises  of  that  kind 
many  years  ago.  The  holdings  now  under  the 
direction  of  Mr.  Henry  M.  Seymour  comprise 
about  5,000  acres  in  Adams  and  Pike  counties, 
Illinois,  with  2,000  acres  in  Mississippi.  The 
southern  lands  are  devoted  to  cotton  grow- 
ing, and  those  in  Illinois  to  general  farming, 
stock  raising  and  fruit  growing.  The  Sey- 
mour apple  orchards  comprise  about  400  acres, 
and  some  of  the  highest  quality  of  Illinois 
choice  apples  come  from  the  Seymour  orchards. 
In  one  important  respect  the  Seymour  farms 
differ  markedly  from  methods  of  corporation 
farming,  which  is  almost  wholly  based  on  the 
single  crop  plan.  The  Seymour  plan  is  one 
of  an  interesting  diversification,  fruit,  live 
stock,  grain,  all  operations  being  dovetailed 
so  as  to  provide  a  maximum  of  returns  from 
labor  and  capital  invested. 

Mr.  Henry  M.  Seymour  married  at  Payson, 
August  9,  1895,  Miss  Lucy  W.  Nicholson.  She 
was  born  at  Payson  November  4,  1864,  daugh- 
ter of  John  and  Mary  Ann  (Gilbert)  Nichol- 
son.   They  had  four  children :  Charles  Willard, 


ILLINOIS 


83 


born  October  22,  1898,  and  died  May  22,  1915; 
Mary  Gaskin,  born  September  27,  1900,  wife 
of  Emil  A.  House,  and  they  have  three  chil- 
dren, Betty  Kay,  Barbara  Jeane  and  Susana 
Mary  House;  Elizabeth,  born  October  30,  1904, 
wife  of  Lowell  B.  House,  and  they  have  three 
boys,  Charles  C,  Henry  Seymour  and  Theo- 
dore Grant;  and  Emily  Kay,  born  September 
7,  1906,  wife  of  Vivion  A.  Johnson,  of  India- 
nola,  Mississippi,  and  they  have  two  boys,  Sey- 
mour Bennett  and  Lyman  Kay. 

As  a  memorial  to  his  only  son,  who  was  acci- 
dentally killed  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  while 
playing  ball  on  the  high  school  grounds  at 
Payson,  Mr.  Seymour  gave  to  the  village  what 
is  known  as  the  Charles  W.  Seymour  High 
School  Building  and  Gymnasium,  one  of  the 
most  attractive  units  in  Adams  County's  edu- 
cational system.  The  building  was  completed 
and  dedicated  December  30,  1916,  and  a  bronze 
tabJet  in  the  entrance  hall  reads:  "This 
building  was  erected  by  Henry  M.  and  Lucy 
W.  Seymour  in  memory  of  their  only  son, 
Charles." 

An  old  family  like  the  Seymours  are  in 
many  ways  one  of  the  most  important  assets 
of  a  community.  The  range  of  their  activities 
and  influence  is  not  confined  within  themselves. 
While  for  many  years  the  enterprise  of  the 
Seymour  brothers  has  provided  employment 
and  living  opportunities  for  scores  of  families, 
Mr.  Henry  M.  Seymour  has  also  accepted  many 
opportunities  to  use  his  wealth  for  the  welfare 
of  the  community  at  large.  In  1918  he  gave 
the  "Illinois  Centennial"  band  stand  to  Pay- 
son.  Later  he  made  provision  for  "Camp  Sey- 
mour," at  Decatur,  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  lodge. 
Another  gift  that  has  placed  his  name  among 
the  benefactors  of  higher  education  was  the 
"Henry  M.  Seymour"  Library  at  Knox  Col- 
lege, Galesburg.  The  Henry  M.  Seymour  Li- 
brary was  built  of  limestone  quarried  on  the 
Seymour  farm  and  shipped  to  Galesburg.  The 
beautiful  building,  which  was  completed  and 
dedicated  February  15,  1928,  has  added  to 
the  campus  a  generous  expression  of  sentiment. 

Homer  Whalen,  mayor  of  the  City  of  Can- 
ton, has  clone  an  important  part  for  setting 
new  standards  in  politics  and  local  government, 
and  while  many  political  storms  have  centered 
around  him  in  the  course  of  years  his  influence 
on  the  whole  has  been  in  the  direction  of 
making  the  industrial  and  civic  conditions  bet- 
ter and  more  wholesome. 

Mr.  Whalen  is  an  interesting  Illinoisan 
because  of  what  he  has  done  to  advance  him- 
self out  of  the  obscurity  of  poverty.  He  was 
born  on  a  farm  in  Schuyler  County,  July  9, 
1870,  son  of  William  A.  and  Elizabeth  (Sher- 
rill)  Whalen.  The  Whalen  family  came  from 
Ireland  to  Schuyler  County  as  pioneers.  Wil- 
liam A.  Whalen,  born  in  Schuyler  County,  was 
a  man  of  advanced  ideas  in  his  business  as 
a  farmer  and   as   a   citizen.      He   died   at  the 


age  of  eighty-two.  The  Sherrill  family  came 
from  North  Carolina.  One  member  of  it  was 
Colonel  Sherrill,  who  gained  distinction  as  a 
soldier  and  later  was  prominent  in  the  political 
life  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  Elizabeth  (Sherrill) 
Whalen  died  in  1876. 

Mayor  Whalen  lacked  many  of  the  oppor- 
tunities which  modern  boys  accept  as  a  com- 
monplace of  home  and  community  environment. 
His  education  was  the  product  of  a  few  winter 
terms  of  school,  and  when  he  was  thirteen  he 
left  school  altogether  and  applied  himself  to 
the  learning  of  a  trade.  For  four  years  he 
was  an  apprenticed  carpenter.  During  that 
time  he  was  paid  hardly  anything  beyond 
enough  to  fairly  exist.  At  the  close  of  his 
apprenticeship  he  was  given  the  customary 
suit  of  new  clothes  and  a  set  of  new  tools. 
He  remained  with  the  man  who  taught  him 
the  trade  and  for  twelve  years  was  a  journey- 
man carpenter,  for  seven  years  of  that  time 
being  foreman  of  construction. 

Out  of  this  long  period  of  working  for  others 
he  developed  a  means  and  the  resources  to 
go  into  business  for  himself.  With  Andrew 
Sandberg  as  partner,  he  established  the  con- 
struction firm  known  as  the  WThalen  &  Sand- 
berg Construction  Company.  Mr.  Whalen 
bought  out  the  Sandberg  interest  and  organized 
the  construction  firm  of  Homer  Whalen  &  Son. 
In  1926  Homer  Whalen  bought  out  the  interest 
of  his  son  and  since  that  year  the  business 
has  been  conducted  as  Homer  Whalen,  Con- 
tractor and  Builder.  This  is  an  important 
business  that  has  handled  construction  con- 
tracts over  a  large  area  in  and  around  Canton. 

Mr.  Whalen  has  accepted  many  opportunities 
to  advance  the  position  of  the  wage  and  salary 
earner.  He  organized  the  Carpenters  Union 
in  Fulton  County  and  served  as  president  sev- 
eral years.  He  also  organized  the  Musicians 
Union  of  Fulton  County,  the  Clerks  Union 
and  the  Federation  of  Laborers.  He  was  sec- 
retary of  the  Trades  Labor  Assembly  for  Can- 
ton for  four  years.  As  township  supervisor 
for  two  terms  he  also  served  as  overseer  of 
the  poor. 

His  interest  has  always  been  sincere  in 
behalf  of  the  man  who  toils  for  his  bread. 
It  was  this  practical  sympathy  and  his  earnest- 
ness to  help  the  under-privileged  which 
brought  him  into  the  ranks  of  the  Socialist 
party,  and  on  the  ticket  of  that  party  he 
was  elected  mayor  of  Canton  in  1914.  In  1918 
he  was  defeated  as  a  candidate  for  reelection 
by  a  combination  of  the  Democrats  and  Repub- 
licans, who  put  out  what  they  called  the  Inde- 
pendent Fusion  ticket.  Ten  years  later,  in 
1928,  Mr.  Whalen  again  appeared  as  a  candi- 
date for  the  office  of  mayor,  and  this  time 
he  was  chosen  by  a  substantial  majority  and 
was  reelected  in  1930,  without  opposition. 
Under  his  administration  the  city  has  under- 
taken and  completed  some  of  the  improvements 
that  make  Canton  an  outstanding  progressive 


84 


ILLINOIS 


town  in  Central  Illinois.  The  city  was  improved 
with  playgrounds,  ball  diamonds,  seats  for 
those  who  go  to  the  park  to  rest,  and  also 
many  improvements  have  been  made  in  line 
with  landscaped  architecture.  Perhaps  of 
equal  importance  has  been  his  policy  of  making 
the  city  government  open  to  the  approach  of 
all  classes  of  citizens  and  on  a  basis  of  friend- 
liness and  cooperation. 

Mr.  Whalen  is  a  member  of  the  Knights 
of  Pythias,  the  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men, 
the  Fraternal  Order  of  Eagles  and  the  Loyal 
Order  of  Moose.  He  married,  March  6,  1893, 
Miss  Cora  Tullis,  of  Fairview.  Their  first 
child,  Theresa  B.,  born  in  Canton,  was  mar- 
ried in  1923  to  James  Perrine,  and  they  live 
at  Portland,  Oregon.  The  son  Harry  A.,  born 
in  Canton,  is  in  the  glass  business  at  Canton 
and  married  Golden  Shearer.  Edward  A.,  the 
youngest  of  the  family,  is  in  the  electrical 
business  at  Hammond,  Indiana. 

The  Illinois  Odd  Fellows  Orphans  Home 
at  Lincoln  was  founded  in  1891,  through  the 
efforts  of  the  Daughters  of  Rebekah,  who  in 
collecting  subscriptions  for  the  purpose  and 
working  toward  their  end  organized  a  separate 
corporation.  Lincoln  secured  the  site  by  do- 
nating $10,000  and  forty  acres  of  land  in 
the  southeastern  part  of  the  city.  Today  the 
grounds  comprise  nearly  160  acres  and  there 
are  eight  buildings,  the  total  value  of  the 
physical  plant  being  nearly  a  million  dollars. 

More  than  1,200  boys  and  girls,  children  of 
deceased  members  of  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows,  have  been  reared  and  edu- 
cated in  this  home  since  it  was  founded.  It 
is  an  institution  which  has  more  than  justified 
the  aims  and  ideals  of  its  original  promoters. 
It  is  at  once  a  school  and  a  home,  and  boys 
and  girls  who  live  there  are  given  training 
that  prepare  them  for  something  more  than  an 
ordinary  share  in  life's  responsibilities.  In 
the  home  itself  instruction  is  given  through 
eight  grades,  and  from  the  home  school  chil- 
dren go  into  the  community  high  school  at 
Lincoln.  Instruction  is  thorough  and  well  or- 
ganized, and  includes  not  only  the  ordinary 
branches,  but  music,  manual  training,  domes- 
tic science  and  other  branches  of  vocational 
training.  The  farm  itself  contributes  a  large 
part  of  the  produce  consumed  and  affords  also 
a  valuable  means  of  instruction  in  farming 
practice  for  the  older  boys. 

During  the  forty  years  since  the  founding 
of  this  splendid  institution  it  has  had  just 
three  superintendents.  .The  first  was  Miss 
Lizzie  L.  Morrison,  who  served  until  her  death 
in  190G.  The  second  superintendent  was  Mr. 
John  A.  Lucas,  who  continued  at  the  post  for 
over  twenty  years,  until  his  death  in  1926. 
The  third  superintendent  is  Roy  Hillis  John- 
son, with  Mrs.  Johnson  as  matron.  The  pres- 
ent board  of  directors  comprise  Dr.  A.  G.  Neu- 
man,  president,  of  Chicago;  J.  Parker  Smith, 


vice  president,  of  Chicago;  W.  A.  Hubbard, 
secretary,  of  Carrollton;  S.  E.  Newell,  of 
Clinton,  and  W.  D.  Cooley,  of  Monmouth, 
Illinois. 

Roy  Hillis  Johnson,  formerly  grand  master 
of  the  Illinois  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows, has  since  1927  been  superintendent  of 
the  Illinois  Odd  Fellows  Orphans  Home  at 
Lincoln.  He  was  born  on  a  farm  near  Farmer 
City  in  DeWitt  County,  Illinois,  October  2, 
1882,  son  of  Solomon  and  Elizabeth  (Lewis) 
Johnson.  His  father  was  born  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, of  what  is  known  as  the  Pennsylvania 
Dutch  ancestry,  and  died  in  DeWitt  County 
in  1927,  at  the  age  of  ninety-seven.  Mr.  John- 
son's mother  was  born  in  Ohio,  of  French  an- 
cestry, and  she  passed  away  in  1919.  Solo- 
mon Johnson  was  a  soldier  in  the  Ninety- 
fourth  Illinois  Infantry  in  the  Civil  war  and 
was  wounded  in  the  battle  of  Pittsburgh 
Landing. 

Roy  H.  Johnson,  youngest  in  a  large  fam- 
ily of  twelve  children,  of  whom  nine  are  living, 
grew  up  on  a  farm,  and  was  prominently 
identified  with  educational  work  in  DeWitt 
County  until  he  came  to  Lincoln.  He  attended 
district  schools,  graduated  from  the  LeRoy 
High  School,  took  his  Bachelor  of  Science  de- 
gree at  the  Northern  Illinois  College  at  Dixon, 
and  subsequently  did  post-graduate  work  in 
the  Illinois  State  Normal  University.  Mr. 
Johnson  began  teaching  in  the  country  dis- 
tricts of  DeWitt  County.  For  seven  years  he 
was  principal  of  the  grade  school  at  Clinton 
and  for  four  years  principal  of  the  high  school 
and  superintendent  of  the  grade  school  at 
Weldon.  In  1918  he  was  elected  county  super- 
intendent of  schools  of  DeWitt  County  and 
was  reelected  to  the  same  office  in  1922.  From 
that  post  he  resigned  in  September,  1926,  to 
come  to  Lincoln  and  take  over  the  active  su- 
perintendency  of  the  Orphans  Home.  While 
teaching  he  organized  the  first  Parent-Teachers 
Association  in  DeWitt  County. 

Mr.  Johnson  since  early  youth  has  been  a 
devoted  member  of  the  great  organization 
known  as  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows. He  filled  all  the  chairs  in  his  home 
lodge,  was  elected  grand  warden  in  1923,  be- 
came deputy  grand  master  in  1924,  and  in 
1925  was  chosen  grand  master.  He  is  also  a 
past  president  of  the  Kiwanis  Club  at  Clinton, 
a  member  of  the  Lincoln  Rotary  Club  and  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Mr.  Johnson  married,  December  26,  1905, 
Miss  Icie  Foley.  She  was  born  in  Wilson 
Township,  DeWitt  County,  Illinois,  daughter 
of  Nicholas  and  Emma  Alice  (Thorpe)  Foley. 
Her  father  was  a  farmer  and  stock  buyer  in 
DeWitt  County.  Her  mother  still  lives  at 
Clinton.  Mrs.  Johnson  was  educated  in  Illi- 
nois Normal  University  and  for  nine  years 
was  a  successful  teacher  in  DeWitt  County. 
Since  coming  to  Lincoln  she  has  been  matroi 


:/$■■■ 


William  Gleason 


ILLINOIS 


85 


of  the  Orphans  Home.  They  have  two  chil- 
dren, James  Lewis,  born  November  25,  1915, 
and  Robert  Hillis,  born  July  2,  1920. 

Wesley  Curtis  Gullett,  secretary  of  the 
Canton  Chamber  of  Commerce,  came  to  this 
work  after  a  long  experience  in  the  field  of 
teaching  and  journalism.  The  community  of 
business  and  professional  men  represented  in 
the  Chamber  feel  that  the  interests  of  the 
city  have  been  vested  in  most  capable  hands 
since  Mr.  Gullett  became  secretary. 

Mr.  Gullett  was  born  at  LaFayette,  Indiana, 
August  16,  1871.  He  is  a  descendant  of  a 
French  family  who  spelled  their  name  Goelet. 
His  great-great-grandfather  lived  in  France 
and  after  living  for  several  years  in  England, 
where  he  married  into  an  Irish  family  by 
the  name  of  Leach,  came  on  to  America.  Mr. 
Gullett's  grandfather,  John  Gullett,  was  born 
in  North  Carolina,  in  the  closing  years  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  later  became  an 
early   settler   in   Southern   Indiana. 

At  New  Albany  on  the  Ohio  River  in  Indiana 
was  born  his  son  John  Wesley  Gullett,  Feb- 
ruary 27,  1841.  John  Wesley  Gullett  was  a 
young  man  when  the  Civil  war  broke  out  and 
he  served  in  the  Union  army,  in  Company 
M  of  the  Twenty-third  Indiana  Infantry.  He 
was  a  farmer  in  Indiana,  and  about  1880  he 
drove  across  the  country  with  team  and  wagon 
to  a  new  home  at  Marietta  in  Fulton  County, 
Illinois.  Just  before  leaving  Indiana  he  went 
to  the  polls  and  cast  his  Republican  vote  for 
James  A.  Garfield  for  President.  Having  thus 
performed  his  civic  duty  he  got  into  his  wagon 
with  his  family  and  proceeded  westward.  He 
was  active  as  a  community  man,  serving  as 
school  director  and  county  supervisor.  He  died 
at  St.  David  March  11,  1912. 

John  Wesley  Gullett  married  Miss  Mellie 
Parker,  who  was  a  native  of  Ross  County, 
Ohio.  Her  father,  James  Parker,  moved  to 
Indiana  when  she  was  a  young  girl.  James 
Parker  was  born  in  Virginia.  Mrs.  Mellie 
Gullett  died  February  27,  1917.  Her  two 
children  were  Wesley  Curtis  and  Minnie  Mae. 
Minnie  Mae,  who  died  in  January,  1931,  was 
the  wife  of  John  F.  Varner,  of  Bushnell, 
Illinois. 

Wesley  Curtis  Gullett  was  about  nine  years 
old  when  the  family  came  to  Illinois.  He  at- 
tended school  at  Marietta,  in  the  western 
part  of  Fulton  County,  received  some  of  his 
high  school  work  there,  and  in  1890  was  gradr 
uated  from  what  was  then  known  as  the 
Western  Normal  College  at  Bushnell.  Mr. 
Gullett  then  entered  upon  his  career  as  a 
teacher,  and  spent  eighteen  years  in  educa- 
tional work.  This  experience  was  consecu- 
tive except  one  year  in  newspaper  work.  In 
1897  he  had  established  the  Smithfield  Sun. 
When  he  retired  from  his  teaching  career  he 
resumed  newspaper  work  at  Canton,  and  for 
seventeen  years  altogether  was  connected  with 


the  Register  and  the  Daily  Ledger,  his  service 
alternating  with  these  two  papers,  and  he 
was  managing  editor  and  city  editor  of  both 
of  them  until  they  were  consolidated   as   the 

In  1927  Mr.  Gullett  accepted  the  office  of 
secretary  of  the  Canton  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
and  during  the  past  four  years  he  has  been 
able  to  coordinate  many  of  the  civic  and  com- 
mercial plans  undertaken  and  carried  out 
under  the  auspices  of  this  organization.  Mr. 
Gullett  is  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows,  the  Encampment  of  that 
order,  also  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  was 
state  commander  in  1929  of  the  Sons  of  Vet- 
erans. He  is  a  Republican  and  a  member  of 
the  Illinoins  State  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

He  married,  July  14,  1903,  Miss  Ethyl 
Deming,  of  Macoupin  County,  Illinois,  where 
she  was  born  June  5,  1885.  Her  father, 
Huffman  D.  Deming,  was  a  minister  of  the 
Methodist  Church.  Mrs.  Gullett  attended 
school  at  Rushville  and  taught  school  for  a 
year  before  her  marriage.  They  have  three 
children:  Glenn  E.,  born  October  4,  1904,  a 
resident  of  Peoria,  married  Miss  Dorothy 
Kelly;  Carl  E.,  born  July  15,  1906,  is  at  home; 
and  Faye  A.  is  a  graduate  of  the  Canton 
High  School,  following  which  for  three  years 
she  was  secretary  to  the  superintendent  of 
city  schools,  and  is  now  pursuing  her  advanced 
education  in  Northwestern  University  at 
Evanston,  Illinois. 

William  Gleason.  The  late  William  Glea- 
son  was  for  many  years  a  substantial  business 
man  of  Peoria,  where  he  spent  the  greater 
part  of  his  life  as  the  proprietor  of  a  suc- 
cessful grocery.  He  was  largely  a  self-made 
man,  for  his  father  had  died  when  he  was 
still  a  young  child  and  his  early  years  were 
ones  of  earnest  labor  and  of  difficulties  in 
securing  an  educational  training.  His  career 
eventuated  in  success  because  of  his  untiring 
industry  and  good  management,  and  at  his 
death  he  not  only  left  behind  a  substantial 
estate,  but  a  heritage  of  an  honored  name. 

Mr.  Gleason  was  born  in  County  Kilkenny, 
Ireland,  and  was  three  years  of  age  when 
he  was  brought  to  this  country  by  his  widowed 
mother,  his  father  having  met  an  accidental 
death  in  Ireland.  The  family  first  settled 
in  Wisconsin,  where  William  Gleason  attended 
public  school,  and  this  later  was  supplemented 
by  a  course  at  St.  Francis  School,  St.  Louis, 
Missouri.  He  had  been  reared  to  agricultural 
pursuits,  but  preferred  a  mercantile  career, 
and  upon  coming  to  Peoria  opened  a  modest 
grocery  establishment,  which  under  his  able 
and  industrious  direction  developed  into  one 
of  the  city's  successful  enterprises,  being 
located  on  Adams  Street.  In  the  later  years 
of  his  life  Mr.  Gleason  retired  from  active 
affairs  and  lived  quietly  at  his  home  until 
his   demise.     As   a  youth   he   worked  for  his 


86 


ILLINOIS 


uncle  on  the  farm  and  his  capital  was  acquired 
through  thrift  and  the  strictest  economy.  His 
first  modest  venture  was  located  at  First 
and  Munson  streets,  but  at  the  end  of  three 
years  his  business  had  grown  to  such  an 
extent  that  he  found  it  necessary  to  move 
to  larger  quarters,  and  he  accordingly  took 
over  the  Adams  Street  establishment.  During 
his  later  years  he  was  largely  interested  in 
real  estate,  and  proved  a  shrewd  and  capable 
dealer,  acquiring  a  large  amount  of  valuable 
property.  He  was  interested  in  civic  affairs, 
and  was  a  devout  member  of  the  Catholic 
Church  and  of  the  Knights  of  Columbus.  Mr. 
Gleason  died  in  1926,  and  was  buried  in  St. 
Mary's    Cemetery. 

Mr.  Gleason  married  Mary  Foley,  a  daugh- 
ter of  James  and  Mary  (Roche)  Foley,  natives 
of  Ireland,  who  were  educated  and  married  in 
that  country.  After  the  birth  of  their  two 
eldest  children  they  immigrated  to  the  United 
States  and  made  their  home  in  St.  Louis, 
where  both  parents  passed  away.  Their  chil- 
dren were:  Miss  Julia  Foley,  a  resident  of 
Peoria;  Mary,  who  became  Mrs.  Gleason;  and 
Bridget,  Patrick,  John  and  James,  all  deceased. 
Four  children  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Gleason:  William,  who  is  married  and  has 
three  children,  William,  Jr.,  Joseph  and  Pat- 
rick; Julia,  Catherine  and  Mary.  Miss  Julia 
Foley,  sister  of  Mrs.  Gleason,  is  one  of  the 
well-known  residents  of  Peoria  and  lives  at 
930  North  Glen  Oak  Avenue. 

Samuel  John  Tilton  Everett,  sergeant  of 
Cottage  22  of  the  Sailors  and  Soldiers  Home 
at  Quincy,  is  a  Spanish-American  war  veteran 
and  one  of  the  most  popular  citizens  of 
Quincy. 

He  was  born  at  Chillicothe,  Ross  County, 
Ohio,  February  28,  1874,  son  of  John  and 
Mary  (Horland)  Everett.  His  father  served 
in  the  Union  army  in  the  One  Hundred  and 
Fifty-sixth  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry.  He  was 
three  times  wounded.  In  1880  he  came  to 
Illinois  and  as  a  contractor  and  millwright 
built  many  of  the  buildings  and  much  of  the 
other  construction  work  in  the  mines  of  San- 
gamon County.  He  died  at  St.  John's  Home 
at  Springfield  in  1886  from  grief  as  a  result 
of  the  tragic  burning  to  death  of  his  mother 
and  two  of  his  sons  at  East  Springfield  thirty 
days  before.  His  wife,  Mary  (Horland) 
Everett,  died  in  1890.  She  had  four  brothers 
in  the  Civil  war;  Alex,  who  is  buried  at  the 
Soldiers  Home  at  Quincy;  David,  buried  at 
Milwaukee;  William,  buried  in  Oklahoma;  and 
one  who  was  killed  in  battle  in  the  war. 

Samuel  John  Tilton  Everett's  only  two 
brothers  met  their  tragic  deaths  as  noted 
above.  He  spent  his  boyhood  in  St.  John's 
Home  at  Springfield.  He  acquired  a  common 
school  education  and  was  still  young  when 
he  started  out  in  the  world  to  make  his  own 
way.      In    his   career   he   has    shown    a   great 


amount  of  initiative  and  energy  and  has  never 
been  at  loss  in  an  emergency.  As  a  boy  he 
sold  newspapers,  and  later  became  a  bell  hop 
in  the  old  Keokuk  Hotel  in  Keokuk,  Iowa. 
During  the  two  years  he  was  there  he  saved 
four  hundred  dollars.  He  had  heard  a  great 
deal  of  Steve  Brodie's  famous  place  in  New 
York  City,  and  on  leaving  Keokuk  he  bought 
a  ticket  to  New  York  and  satisfied  himself 
with  a  visit  to  the  Bowery,  where  Brodie's 
place  was  located.  While  wandering  up  and 
down  the  streets  of  New  York  City  he  one 
day  saw  a  beautiful  yacht  lying  at  the  dock. 
On  inquiry  he  found  it  belonged  to  Mr.  John 
Everett  of  Buffalo,  New  York,  head  of  the 
Everett  Piano  Manufacturing  Plant.  He  then 
explained  to  the  captain  of  the  boat  that  he 
was  a  relative  of  the  owner  and  was  taken 
aboard.  When  it  was  discovered  that  he  did 
this  as  a  ruse  to  inquire  for  a  job  the  captain 
was  going  to  throw  him  overboard,  but  the 
son  of  Mr.  Everett,  who  was  setting  sail  the 
next  day  on  a  two-year  honeymoon  trip,  made 
some  inquiries  and  concluded  the  matter  by 
employing  the  intruder  as  steward  and  body- 
guard for  the  ladies  when  they  went  ashore. 
Then  came  a  long  voyage  around  the  world, 
in  the  course  of  which  they  touched  the  ports 
of  Gibraltar,  Malta,  Colombo,  Singapore,  Hong 
Kong,  Hanchow,  Shanghai,  Sydney,  Australia, 
Luzon,  Honolulu,  went  through  the  Straits  of 
Magellan  and  around  to  Seattle.  The  end  of 
the  voyage  left  Mr.  Everett  on  the  Pacific 
Coast,  and  having  saved  considerable  money 
he  used  it  for  a  trip  to  Alaska. 

He  joined  in  the  gold  rush,  visiting  Fort 
Range  and  Chilcoot  Pass  and  had  more  than 
the  average  fortune  as  a  gold  prospector.  His 
earlier  habits  had  given  him  a  thrifty  and 
a  saving  disposition  so  that  he  broughWiome 
the  greater  part  of  what  he  had  won  by  his 
toils  and  adventures  in  the  far  North.  He 
invested  his  capital  and  has  never  been  at  want 
for  the  material  necessities. 

Soon  after  returning  from  Alaska  and  while 
in  Chicago  he  enlisted  in  May,  1898,  for  duty 
in  the  Spanish-American  war.  He  was  in 
Troop  H  of  the  First  Illinois  Cavalry  and 
served  until  discharged  at  Fort  Sheridan  in 
November,  1898.  After  the  war  he  took  up 
road  work  both  as  a  business  and  for  pleasure, 
and  his  travels  have  taken  him  to  every  state 
in  the  Union.  Some  years  ago  he  received 
an  injury,  and  having  never  married  and  no 
near  relatives  he  accepted  the  opportunity  to 
be  among  his  old  comrades,  and  in  1927  entered 
the  Soldiers  and  Sailors  Home  at  Quincy.  He 
was  soon  picked  out  as  a  man  of  ability  above 
the  average,  and  was  made  sergeant  in  charge 
of  the  largest  cottage,  with  150  people. 

He  is  commander  of  Camp  Funston  Post 
No.  101  of  the  Spanish-American  War  Vet- 
erans, and  he  raised  the  membership  from  six 
to  sixty  in  six  months  at  the  home.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  Lodge  at  Quincy,  the 


ILLINOIS 


87 


Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  is  regarded 
as  the  leading  power  in  his  ward  in  the  Re- 
publican party.  He  is  the  present  precinct 
chairman  of  his  ward,  and  in  the  election  re- 
ceived 450  votes,  while  only  twenty-one  votes 
went  to  his  opponent.  Mr.  Everett  married, 
December  4,  1929,  Mrs.  Ross  Bernard. 

Neill  M.  Saunders.  One  of  the  important 
industrial  concerns  of  Whiteside  County  is 
the  Fort  Dearborn  Manufacturing  Company, 
the  well  ordered  plant  of  which  is  established 
at  Rock  Falls.  Of  this  corporation  Neill  M. 
Saunders  is  the  secretary  and  his  father  is 
the  president. 

Mr.  Saunders  was  born  in  the  City  of  Chi- 
cago, Illinois,  and  is  a  son  of  George  F.  and 
Minnie  B.  (McNeill)  Saunders,  who  now  main- 
tain their  home  at  Sterling,  as  does  also  Neill 
M.  Saunders.  George  F.  Saunders  and  George 
Olson  organized  in  Chicago  the  Fort  Dearborn 
Manufacturing  Company,  in  1893,  for  the  man- 
ufacturing of  special  machinery  and  for  the 
production  of  metal  stampings.  Mr.  Saun- 
ders became  treasurer  of  the  company  and 
retained  this  position  until  the  death  of  his 
associate,  Mr.  Olson,  in  1916,  when  he  obtained 
controlling  interest  in  the  corporation  and 
became  its  president,  the  office  of  which  he 
has  since  continued  the  incumbent.  The  re- 
moval of  the  headquarters  of  the  business  to 
Rock  Falls,  Whiteside  County,  occurred  in 
1915,  and  the  plant  here  is  one  of  modern 
order  in  all  respects.  The  enterprise  has  be- 
come one  of  substantial  order  and  makes  defi- 
nite contribution  to  the  industrial  and  commer- 
cial prestige   of   Whiteside   County. 

In  the  public  schools  of  the  beautiful  Town 
of  Wilmette,  a  suburb  of  Chicago,  Neill  M. 
Saunders  received  his  early  education,  and 
later  he  continued  his  studies  in  St.  John's 
Military  Academy  at  Delafield,  Wisconsin,  be- 
sides which  he  was  for  two  years  a  student 
in  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  in  the  capital 
City  of  Madison. 

Mr,  Saunders  was  twenty-one  years  of  age 
when  the  nation  became  formally  involved  in 
the  great  World  war,  and  he  gave  prompt 
manifestation  of  his  youthful  patriotism  by 
enlisting,  in  1917,  for  service  in  the  United 
States  Navy,  his  training  having  been  received 
at  the  Great  Lakes  Naval  Training  Station 
and  he  having  continued  in  service  until  the 
armistice  brought  the  war  to  a  close.  As  a 
first  class  seaman  he  received  his  honorable, 
discharge  in  the  spring  of  1919. 

After  the  termination  of  his  World  war 
service  Mr.  Saunders  was  associated  four  years 
with  his  father's  business,  that  of  the  Fort 
Dearborn  Manufacturing  Company,  in  the 
office  of  which  he  served  as  secretary  during 
this  interval.  For  a  time  thereafter  he  was 
retained  as  a  salesman  for  other  concerns,  but 
in  1924  he  resumed  his  active  alliance  with 
the   Fort  Dearborn   Manufacturing   Company, 


of  which  he  has  since  continued  to  be  the 
secretary. 

Mr.  Saunders  has  taken  a  vital  interest  in 
political  affairs,  given  unswerving  allegiance 
to  the  Republican  party,  and  at  the  time  of 
this  writing,  in  1931,  he  has  the  distinction 
of  being  chairman  of  the  Republican  Central 
Committee  of  Whiteside  County.  His  Masonic 
affiliations  include  his  membership  in  the 
Commandery  of  Knights  Templar  in  his  home 
City  of  Sterling,  and  he  has  membership  also 
in  Sterling  Lodge  of  the  Benevolent  and  Pro- 
tective Order  of  Elks.  His  continued  inter- 
est in  his  World  war  comrades  is  manifested 
in  his  appreciative  affiliation  with  the  Ameri- 
can Legion,  and  he  and  his  wife  have  member- 
ship in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  their  home 
city,  where  likewise  they  are  popular  figures 
in  the  representative  social  life  of  the  com- 
munity. 

On  the  15th  of  June,  1928,  was  solemnized 
the  marriage  of  Mr.  Saunders  to  Miss  Lucille 
Nehrling,  daughter  of  Walter  H.  and  Eliza- 
beth Nehrling,  of  Charleston,  Illinois,  and  the 
one  child  of  this  union  is  a  winsome  daughter, 
Jeanne  Elizabeth. 

Jonathan  Young  Scammon  was  born  at 
Whitfield,  Maine,  July  27,  1812.  His  maternal 
grandfather,  David  Young,  was  a  soldier  in 
the  American  Revolution.  He  liked  to  be 
known  as  J.  Young  Scammon  and  grew  up  on 
a  farm  in  the  Pine  Tree  State.  He  attended 
the  Maine  Wesleyan  Seminary  and  the  Lincoln 
Academy,  spent  a  year  in  what  is  now  Colby 
University,  and  for  several  years  alternated 
between  the  study  of  law  and  teaching  school. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1835  and  shortly 
afterward  started  for  the  West,  traveling  by 
the  Erie  Canal  and  around  the  Great  Lakes. 
He  stopped  at  Chicago,  and  the  acquaintances 
he  formed  there  determined  him  to  become  a 
permanent  resident.  He  accepted  the  position 
of  deputy  in  the  Cook  County  Circuit  Court 
and  in  December,  1835,  was  admitted  to  the 
Chicago  bar.  In  1836  he  became  a  law  part- 
ner of  Morris  S.  Buckner  and  the  firm  of 
Buckner  &  Scammon  was  continued  until  Mr. 
Buckner  was  elected  mayor.  The  great  abili- 
ties Mr.  Scammon  displayed  as  a  lawyer -re- 
main an  honorable  tradition  in  the  Chicago 
bar.  What  is  now  known  as  the  Chicago  Law 
Institute,  the  second  largest  law  library  in 
the  United  States,  had  its  origin  in  his  home. 
However,  the  interest  of  his  career  for  modern 
readers  is  in  his  related  activities.  He  was 
one  of  the  creators  of  Chicago  as  a  great 
banking  center.  In  1837,  the  year  the  great 
panic  began,  closing  the  era  of  internal  im- 
provements in  which  Illinois  was  especially  in- 
volved, Mr.  Scammon  became  attorney  for 
the  Chicago  State  Bank.  Then  and  for  years 
afterward  he  labored  earnestly  to  secure  bet- 
ter banking  laws  for  the  state.  In  1851  he 
established  the  Marine  Bank,  and  became  its 


88 


ILLINOIS 


president.  During  the  Civil  war  he  became 
president  of  the  Mechanics  National  Bank. 
In  1864  he  offered  the  resolutions  adopted  by 
the  Board  of  Trade  pledging  its  members  to 
have  dealings  only  with  banking  houses  that 
conducted  their  business  on  the  basis  of  the 
national  currency. 

J.  Young  Scammon  was  one  of  the  citizens 
of  Chicago  who  sent  out  the  call  for  a  river 
and  harbor  convention  held  in  that  city  in 
July,  1847.  This  convention  was  attended  by 
10,000  delegates  from  eighteen  states,  and  out 
of  it  came  some  of  the  great  influences  which 
projected  and  brought  about  the  building  of 
railroads,  concentrating  upon  Chicago.  Mr. 
Scammon  was  one  of  the  organizers  and  finan- 
ciers of  the  old  Galena  &  Chicago  Union  Rail- 
road, which  started  the  construction  of  the 
first  line  of  steel  from  Chicago  westward, 
eventuating  in  what  is  now  the  Chicago  & 
Northwestern  Railroad  System.  For  four 
years,  beginning  in  1839,  he  was  reporter  for 
the  Illinois  Supreme  Court.  From  1838  to 
1847  he  was  a  partner  with  Norman  B.  Judd 
in  the  law  firm  of  Scammon  &  Judd,  and  in 
1849  he  and  E.  B.  McCagg  organized  the  firm 
of  Scammon  &  McCagg,  which  later  became 
Scammon,  McCagg  &  Fuller.  Mr.  Scammon 
retired  from  his  law  practice  in  1872. 

J.  Young  Scammon  was  one  of  the  organiz- 
ers of  the  Chicago  Swedenborgian  Church  and 
of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  of  which 
he  was  at  one  time  president,  was  one  of  the 
incorporators  and  president  of  the  Chicago 
Academy  of  Sciences,  was  instrumental  in  or- 
ganizing the  Hahnemann  Medical  College  and 
gave  to  it  the  land  for  the  site  of  the  Hahne- 
mann Hospital.  He  was  one  of  the  incorpora- 
tors of  the  Old  Ladies  Home.  He  was  made 
a  regent  of  the  Chicago  University  when  it 
was  founded.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers 
of  the  Chicago  Astronomical  Society  and  pro- 
vided the  fund  of  $30,000  for  the  equipment 
of  what  is  known  as  Dearborn  Observatory,  in 
memory  of  his  wife,  and  which  is  now  located 
in  Evanston  at  the  Northwestern  University. 
In  1872  he  was  one  of  the  committee  which 
prepared  a  bill  for  the  creation  of  the  Chicago 
Public  Library.  He  was  an  early  member 
of  the  Union  League  Club.  In  1844  he  was 
one  of  the  Chicago  citizens  who  established 
the  Chicago  Evening  Journal,  to  support  the 
candidacy  of  Henry  Clay.  In  1865  he  helped 
establish  the  Chicago  Republican,  and  after 
the  fire  of  1871  he  acquired  the  Associated 
Press  franchise  of  the  Republican  and  in 
March,  1872,  brought  out  the  first  number 
of  the  Chicago  Inter  Ocean,  in  support  of  the 
candidacy  of  Horace  Greeley.  He  made  pos- 
sible the  creation  of  the  Chicago  public  school 
system,  writing  the  ordinances  for  schools,  and 
from  1845  to  1848  was  president  of  the  Board 
of  Education.  One  of  Chicago's  public  schools 
bears  his  name.  J.  Young  Scammon  died 
March   17,  1890.     He  married,  in  1837,  Mary 


Ann  H.  Dearborn,  a  cousin  of  Colonel  Dear- 
born.    In  1857  Mr.   Scammon  took  his  family 
to   Europe,  where   they   remained  for   several 
years    and   while    at   Dresden    Mrs.    Scammon 
passed    away    in    1858.      Four    children   werej 
born  of  this  marriage:   Ellen,  who  died  in  in- 
fancy;   Charles    Trufant    Scammon,   who   was 
a  law  partner  of  Robert  T.  Lincoln;  Florence 
Ann  Dearborn,  who  became  the  wife  of  Joseph 
Sampson  Reed;   and  Ariana,  who  was  active, 
for  many  years  in  the  club  and  social  life  of] 
Chicago.      In    1869   J.    Young   Scammon   mar-J 
ried    Mrs.    Maria    Sheldon    Wright,    sister    ofl 
Mrs.    Mahlon    D.    Ogden.      Mrs.    Scammon    inl 
1901,  as  a  memorial  to  her  husband's  interest! 
in   the   old    Chicago    University,   gave   to   thel 
Univeristy  of  Chicago  the  land  comprising  the] 
site    of    the    School    of    Education,    known    asl 
Scammon   Gardens,   and   in  her  will   provided 
for  the  "Scammon   Lectures"   at  the   Chicago 
Art  Institute. 

Clark  Scammon  Reed  is  a  Chicago  attorney! 
with  many  years  of  active  and  successful  asso- 
ciation with  the  professional  life  of  his  com-v 
munity  and  also  with  public  affairs.     His  own: 
career    has    been    a    creditable    one    and    the! 
public  at  large  is  also  interested  in  the  fact! 
that   he    is    a    grandson   of    one    of    Chicago's! 
most   distinguished   citizens,   J.   Young   Scam-I 
mon,  a  list  of  whose  activities  in  Chicago  reads 
like  a  catalogue  of  all  the  constructive  under-' 
takings  that  made  Chicago  a  great  city.     Mr. 
Reed  is  also  the  great-grandson  of  the   Rev. 
John  Reed,  the  first  chaplain  in  the  Continental 
Navy. 

Clark  Scammon  Reed  is  a  son  of  Joseph 
Sampson  and  Florence  Ann  Dearborn  (Scam-j 
mon)  Reed.  He  was  born  on"*Ladies  Island, 
near  Beaufort,  South  Carolina,  February  14,{' 
1878.  His  father  was  a  cotton  planter  in 
South  Carolina  and  at  the  time  of  his  decease 
was  county  treasurer  of  Beaufort  County.  Ha 
was  a  native  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  a  grad-1 
uate  of  Harvard  University,  and  during  his* 
earlier  career  was  for  a  time  connected  with 
the   Marine   Bank  of   Chicago. 

Clark  Scammon  Reed  attended  school  in) 
Beaufort  and  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  and 
was  one  year  at  South  Carolina  College.  In 
1900  he  graduated  from  the  University  of  Chi- 
cago. In  1902  he  took  his  law  degree  at 
Northwestern  University  and  for  a  while  was 
associated  with  Holt,  Wheeler  &  Sidley  and 
soon  afterward  established  himself  in  private 
practice,  in  which  he  found  ample  satisfaction 
for  his  talents  and  ambition.  Later  he  was 
a  partner  of  Lynden  Evans,  the  firm  being 
known  as  Evans,  Reed  &  Sullivan.  He  was 
assistant  attorney  of  the  Chicago  Sanitary 
District  during  1910-12,  later  served  in  the 
county  attorney's  office.  During  the  war  he 
was  assistant  director  of  the  Bureau  of  Inves- 
tigation for  Illinois  in  the  United  States  food 
administration. 


ILLINOIS 


89 


On  June  21,  1905,  Mr.  Reed  married  Miss 
Mabel  Arvilla  Lewis,  a  native  of  Chicago  and 
daughter  of  Charles  W.  and  Mary  (Colahan) 
Lewis.  Two  sons  were  born  of  this  marriage: 
Charles  Lewis  Reed,  born  October  27,  1909, 
who  passed  on  in  infancy;  and  Clark  Lewis 
Reed,  who  was  born  July  11,  1914.  Mrs.  Reed 
passed  on  January  16,  1929. 

Mr.  Reed  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago,  Illi- 
nois and  American  Bar  Associations,  but  his 
chief  interest  in  professional  organizations  has 
been  in  the  Chicago  Law  Institute.  He  has 
served  on  its  board  of  managers  for  many 
years,  was  vice  president  and  in  1927  presi- 
dent, and  for  several  years  has  been  treasurer. 
He  is  a  trustee  of  the  Chicago  Junior  High 
School  at  Elgin,  a  school  for  wayward  boys. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution,  the  Chicago  Literary  Club,  Uni- 
versity Club,  Hamilton  Club,  the  Chi  Psi  fra- 
ternity, and  a  life  member  of  the  Chicago  Art 
Institute,  and  is  a  past  president  of  its  Alumni 
Association. 

Hale  C.  Scott,  insurance  broker  at  Polo, 
and  supervisor  of  "The  Pines"  State  Park 
east  of  that  city,  is  a  member  of  a  pioneer 
family  of  Ogle  County  and  he  is  widely  known 
and  respected  through  this  section  of  Illinois 
not  only  on  account  of  his  individual  activities 
but  for  the  record  of  the  family  in  general. 

Mr.  Scott  was  born  at  Polo,  November  25, 
1885,  son  of  Jasper  W.  and  Bessie  A.  (Law- 
son)  Scott.  His  maternal  great-grandfather 
came  from  Scotland  in  1825  and  after  two 
years  in  Canada  moved  to  Illinois,  where  he 
was  a  very  early  pioneer.  He  married  a  lady 
who  was  of  Yankee  stock  of  an  old  Rhode 
Island  family.  Mr.  Scott's  maternal  grand- 
father was  born  in  Ohio  and  in  early  age 
was  bound  out  to  a  farmer  who  lived  near 
the  Indiana  line.  Later  he  came  to  Illinois, 
and  was  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the  district 
around  Polo.  Jasper  W.  Scott  was  born  near 
Polo,  August  1,  1855.  He  became  a  farmer, 
and,  though  he  retired  in  1915,  still  has  many 
interests  and  is  very  active  in  their  super- 
vision. He  has  played  an  active  part  in  local 
civic  and  political  affairs  and  for  many  years 
was  a  supervisor  of  Lincoln  Township.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors 
when  the  first  Ogle  County  courthouse  was 
built.  His  wife  died  in  1929.  There  were 
three  children,  Robert,  who  lives  in  Minnesota; 
Hale  C;  and  Rena,  who  died  in  1892. 

Hale  C.  Scott  attended  public  schools  at 
Polo.  When  he  left  school  he  took  up  the 
life  of  a  farmer  on  the  old  homestead.  When 
his  father  retired  he  took  over  the  manage- 
ment of  the  farm,  and  continued  it  until  1924, 
when  the  homestead  was  sold  at  $250  per 
acre.  In  the  same  year  Mr.  Scott  opened  an 
insurance  office  in  Polo,  and  has  built  up  a 
successful  business  in  life  and  fire  insurance. 


When  the  State  of  Illinois  finally  took  over 
that  remarkable  tract  of  land  east  of  Polo 
which  contains  the  only  native  pine  forests 
in  the  state,  and  created  it  a  state  park,  Mr. 
Scott  was  appointed  the  supervisor  of  the  park, 
and  the  construction  of  roads  and  the  preser- 
vation and  maintenance  of  this  beauty  spot 
have  been  under  his  personal  direction  since 
1927.  Mr.  Scott  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
Lodge  and  Royal  Arch  Chapter  at  Polo  and 
the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He 
is  a  Methodist  and  is  a  member  of  the  Re- 
publican County  Central  Committee. 

On  July  8,  1908,  he  married  Miss  Grace 
Tice,  daughter  of  William  Tice,  of  Polo.  They 
have  four  children,  all  at  home,  Howard,  born 
March  31,  1912,  graduated  from  the  Polo 
High  School;  Myron,  born  May  25,  1914; 
Harold,  born  in  1916;  and  Hale  C,  Jr.,  born 
October  17,  1927. 

Alexander  V.  Capraro  is  a  Chicago  archi- 
tect whose  work  has  gained  him  not  a  little 
prestige  among  the  progressive  members  of 
his  profession,  and  he  has  the  further  dis- 
tinction of  being  the  first  licensed  architect 
of  Italian  extraction  to  practice  his  profession 
in  Chicago.  Mr.  Capraro  is  a  master  not 
only  of  the  complicated  technic  of  adapting 
the  fundamental  forms  and  masses  of  archi- 
tecture to  modern  demands  in  business  and 
domestic  structures,  but  has  also  done  some 
very  distinctive  work  in  the  application  of 
color. 

He  is  in  all  essentials  a  Chicago  man, 
though  he  was  born  at  Pietrabbondante,  Cam- 
pobasso,  Italy.  He  was  three  years  of  age 
when  his  parents  came  to  Chicago.  In  that 
city  he  was  educated  in  public  and  parochial 
schools,  is  a  graduate  of  the  Joseph  Medill 
High  School  and  had  his  technical  training 
in  the  Armour  Institute  of  Technology.  He 
studied  there  from  1912  to  1914  and  later 
continued  his  studies  in  the  Chicago  Art  Insti- 
tute and  Chicago  Technical  College.  Mr. 
Capraro  was  licensed  to  practice  as  an  archi- 
tect by  the  State  of  Illinois  in  1916. 

He  was  chosen  as  the  architect  of  the 
first  branch  library  building  erected  by  the 
Chicago  Public  Library  Board,  a  handsome 
structure  on  Crawford  Avenue  and  Twenty- 
seventh  Street.  During  the  past  fourteen 
years  he  has  been  designated  as  the  architect 
and  designer  of  a  notable  group  of  buildings, 
particularly  modern  apartment  houses,  where 
he  has  applied  his  original  ideas  in  design 
to  splendid  advantage.  His  creative  work  has 
been  widely  admired.  One  of  the  best  exam- 
ples in  completed  structures  is  the  Casa  Bonita 
Apartment  on  Ridge  Road.  The  financiers 
of  this  building  were  strongly  impressed  by 
the  designs  submitted  by  Mr.  Capraro  and 
his  associate,  Morris  L.  Komar,  as  offering 
a  wholesome  departure  from  the  commonplace 


90 


ILLINOIS 


in  architecture.  The  outstanding  feature  of 
the  Casa  Bonita  is  the  color  scheme.  This 
was  perfected  after  five  months  of  exhaustive 
experimentation  with  a  special  grade  of  terra 
cotta  of  which  the  entire  facade  is  constructed, 
including  all  the  court  exterior.  In  the  Casa 
Bonita  Mr.  Capraro  brought  to  Chicago  some 
of  the  striking  effect  that  have  been  achieved 
in  Florida  with  the  Mediterranean  type  of 
architecture.  At  the  same  time  the  Casa 
Bonita  has  incorporated  the  comfort  features 
required  by  northern  weather  without  loss  of 
the  color  and  mass  treatment  that  gives  charm 
to  the  southern  examples  of  this  type  of 
architecture. 

Mr.  Capraro  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois 
Society  of  Architects  and  the  Italian  Chamber 
of  Commerce.  He  is  affiliated  with  the  Knights 
of  Columbus,  the  Oak  Park  Elks  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Elmhurst  Golf  and  Country 
Club,  the  Frontenac  Athletic  Club,  and  the 
Alpine   Gun   Club. 

On  February  1,  1920,  Mr.  Capraro  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Maude  Pacelle, 
of  Chicago.  They  have  three  children,  Vin- 
cent Lincoln,  William  Columbus  and  Marion. 

John  J.  Logan  has  lived  a  very  busy  life 
since  he  was  a  boy,  learned  and  followed  two 
mechanical  trades,  and  in  later  years  took  up 
the  real  estate  business,  in  which  he  is  still 
active  at  Quincy. 

Mr.  Logan  was  born  in  Henderson  County, 
Illinois,  July  15,  1859,  son  of  Andrew  and 
Julia  (Joy)  Logan.  Andrew  Logan  was  a 
native  of  County  Galway,  Ireland,  and  as  an 
American  he  had  the  distinction  of  serving 
in  two  of  this  nation's  wars.  He  enlisted 
first  in  the  war  with  Mexico  and  shortly  after 
its  conclusion  he  participated  in  the  Cali- 
fornia gold  rush  of  1849.  He  then  went  back 
to  Ireland,  and  brought  with  him  to  America 
his  father,  who  died  at  Brooklyn.  While  in 
Brooklyn  Andrew  Logan  met  and  married 
Julia  Joy.  She  was  a  member  of  an  old  and 
prominent  family  of  New  York  State,  the  name 
having  been  identified  with  the  early  history 
of  the  ship  building  industry. 

Andrew  Logan  subsequently  came  west  to 
take  advantage  of  the  bounty  lands  in  Iowa 
for  the  benegt  of  Mexican  war  veterans.  He 
improved  a  claim  near  Fort  Dodge,  Iowa,  but 
that  town  was  then  close  to  the  Indian  frontier, 
and  after  about  three  years,  on  account  of 
Indian  uprisings  and  hostilities,  he  abandoned 
his  land  and  moved  to  Illinois.  He  established 
his  home  about  twelve  miles  east  of  Burling- 
ton, Iowa.  Burlington  at  that  time  was  the 
metropolis  of  all  this  region.  On  Andrew 
Logan's  farm  in  Henderson  County  his  son 
John  J.  was  born  just  before  the  Civil  war. 
When  John  J.  was  a  very  small  child  Andrew 
Logan  again  enlisted,  joining  the  Eighty- 
fourth  Illinois  Regiment.  After  his  second 
service    as    a    soldier    Andrew    Logan    devoted 


his  time  and  efforts  to  the  management  of  his 
accumulating  landed  interests  and  farms,  and 
he  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight.  Julia 
(Joy)    Logan  died  in  1887. 

John  J.  Logan  probably  possessed  too  much 
energy  to  be  patient  with  the  routine  of  a 
school  room.  He  went  through  the  grade 
school  at  Linnville  in  Henderson  County  and 
when  only  about  fifteen  years  of  age  came  to 
Quincy,  where  he  found  work  as  a  mason's 
helper  during  the  construction  of  the  Adams 
County  courthouse.  The  contractors  of  this 
building  were  unable  to  finance  themselves 
and  eventually  abandoned  the  contract.  This 
threw  the  boy,  John  Logan,  out  of  work  and 
he  then  turned  his  attention  to  another  trade. 
He  served  an  apprenticeship  as  a  cabinet- 
maker and  carriage  builder.  Andrew  J. 
Logan,  the  father  of  John  J.  Logan,  had  the 
distinction  of  having  built  by  hand  work  and 
skill  the  first  hearse  ever  constructed  in  Illi- 
nois. He  was  a  year  in  its  building.  The 
vehicle  is  still  in  existence  at  Oquaka,  Hender- 
son County.  In  1878  John  J.  Logan  went  out 
to  Colorado,  where  he  followed  mining  in- 
terests. In  1882  he  returned  to  his  father's 
farm  in  Henderson  County,  and  continued  with 
his  father  and  brothers  in  operating  their  ex- 
tensive farming  interest  until  he  married,  in 
1886.  Following  his  marriage  he  continued 
farming  until  1902,  when  he  went  on  the  road 
as  a  traveling  representative  of  tile  and  brick 
interests  in  the  buil^ng  of  silos.  This  con- 
tinued until  1918.  During  these  years  he 
bought  and  sold  farms  and  carried  on  a  gen- 
eral real  estate  business.  In  1918  he  moved 
to  Quincy.  While  not  as  active  now  as  in 
former  years,  he  is  a  keen  judge  of  real  estate 
values  in  his  home  city  and  consequently  has 
been  frequently  appointed  on  appraisal  boards 
and  committees  for  the  city  and  county  and 
also  by  private  interests  to  aid  in  determining 
the  value  of  real  estate  when  involved  in 
taxing  or  loan  matters.  Mr.  Logan  is  an 
active  Republican,  but  has  never  sought  or 
filled  office.  He  and  his  family  are  Presby- 
terians. 

He  married  in  1886  Miss  Minerva  Clark,  a 
native  of  Henderson  County,  where  her  people 
were  early  settlers.  She  passed  away  May 
12,  1919.  Mr.  Logan  has  a  large  family  of 
children  and  numerous  grandchildren.  His 
daughter  Julia  is  the  wife  of  Perry  Robinson, 
a  farmer  near  Colchester,  Illinois,  and  has 
three  children.  Myrtle,  deceased,  was  the 
wife  of  George  Van  Fleet.  Leo  M.,  the  oldest 
son,  lives  at  Macomb,  and  is  married  and  has 
two  children.  Louis  Luke  Logan  is  a  resi- 
dent of  LaGrange,  Missouri,  and  has  two  chil- 
dren. John  J.  Logan,  Jr.,  a  land  owner  at 
LaGrange,  has  three  children.  Andrew  M., 
whose  home  is  at  Macomb,  has  three  children. 
David  E.,  of  Tennessee,  Illinois,  has  a  family 
of  five  children.  Margaret,  wife  of  James  Mc- 
Cowan,  of  Mendota,  Illinois,  is  the  mother  of 


ILLINOIS 


91 


three  children.  Catherine  is  the  wife  of  Wil- 
liam McDaniels,  of  Peoria,  and  they  have  one 
child.  The  two  youngest  of  this  family  are 
Charles  V.  Logan,  of  Quincy,  Illinois,  and 
Frank  Logan,  of  Industry,  Illinois,  who  mar- 
ried Freda  Aden.  John  J.  Logan  married 
on  September  5,  1921,  Mrs.  Frances  Hughes 
Williams,  widow  of  Virgil  Williams,  and  she 
had  three  children  by  her  first  marriage:  Hur- 
ley and  Archie  Williams  and  Maude,  deceased. 
Mrs.  Logan  is  a  daughter  of  J.  J.  Hughes,  a 
native  of  Illinois,  and  Rozena  (Vanderlip) 
Hughes,  a  native  of  Canada. 

George  J.  Patterson,  postmaster  of  Genoa, 
represents  one  of  the  pioneer  families  of  De- 
Kalb  County.  The  Pattersons  were  early  set- 
tlers, and  their  name  is  one  that  has  been 
notable  in  the  affairs  of  the  county  for  many 
years. 

The  founder  of  the  family  in  Illinois  was 
his  grandfather,  Joseph  Patterson,  who  was 
born  in  Pennsylvania,  September  10,  1786. 
He  was  a  son  of  Joseph  Patterson,  Sr.,  a  sol- 
dier in  the  Revolutionary  war  with  Pennsyl- 
vania troops.  The  Patterson  family  is  of 
Scotch  ancestry  and  first  settled  in  New  York. 
Joseph  Patterson,  Jr.,  was  a  soldier  in  the 
War  of  1812.  He  came  to  Illinois  and  took 
up  an  eighty  acre  homestead  in  DeKalb 
County  during  the  administration  of  Presi- 
dent Jackson.  He  built  a  log  cabin  as  the 
first  shelter  for  his  family  in  the  West.  He 
married  Eleanor  Compton,  and  they  had  a 
large  family  of  sixteen  children.  Joseph  Pat- 
terson was  a  cooper  by  trade  and  followed 
that  work  in  connection  with  farming  his 
homestead.     He  was  buried  at  Genoa. 

The  father  of  the  Genoa  postmaster  was 
George  Patterson,  who  was  born  August  17, 
1836,  and  died  July  18,  1876.  He  was  born 
at  Meadville,  Crawford  County,  Pennsylvania, 
and  was  a  small  child  when  his  parents  came 
west  to  Illinois.  He  grew  up  on  the  homestead 
in  DeKalb  County  and  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
two,  in  1858,  married  Abigail  Brown.  He 
then  engaged  in  farming  for  himself  and 
before  his  death  had  accumulated  a  consider- 
able landed  estate. 

He  went  out  to  Nebraska  soon  after  that 
territory  was  admitted  to  the  Union  and  ac- 
quired land  in  Grant  County  in  August,  1868. 
After  living  in  Nebraska  about  seven  years 
he  returned  to  Illinois  in  1875,  where  he  died 
the  following  year.  The  record  of  his  children 
and  grandchildren  is  as  follows:  Hattie,  de- 
ceased, was  the  wife  of  Eugene  Griggs,  and 
left  a  son,  Leslie,  now  deceased;  another  son, 
John,  married  Lena  Tillery,  and  they  had  a 
daughter,  Lucile;  and  Jessie  became  the  wife 
of  Raymond  Helsdon.  Emma  J.  Patterson, 
the  second  child,  became  the  wife  of  Milton 
J.  Corson,  and  their  son  John  married  Velma 
Crawford  and  has  four  children,  named  Bar- 
bara, James,  John  and  Eleanor.     Joseph  Pat- 


terson, now  deceased,  married  Margaret  Peters 
and  had  two  children,  Dillon  and  Allen.  Mar- 
garet E.  Patterson,  also  deceased,  was  the 
wife  of  William  Stephens  and  had  two  chil- 
dren, Floyd  and  Abigail.  Jeremiah  L.  Pat- 
terson married  Bertha  Wharton  and  their 
children  were:  Irene,  wife  of  David  Burges 
and  mother  of  Bruce  and  David;  Evelyn,  who 
married  Ed  Nebergall;   and  Oliver. 

Mr.  George  J.  Patterson,  the  youngest  of 
the  family,  was  born  in  Nebraska  and  was 
a  child  when  his  parents  returned  to  Illinois. 
His  father  had  a  soldier's  record  in  the  Civil 
war.  He  enlisted  August  6,  1862,  in  Com- 
pany A  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifth  Illi- 
nois Infantry  and  served  with  General  Grant 
in  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  and  later 
was  in  the  fighting  around  Richmond.  After 
his  death  his  widow  took  her  family  to  South 
Dakota,  where  she  entered  a  homestead.  In 
South  Dakota  George  J.  Patterson  acquired 
some  of  his  early  education,  finishing  in  a 
high  school  at  St.  Lawrence  in  that  state,  and 
then  with  a  course  in  the  State  Agricultural 
College  at  Brookings.  On  returning  to  Genoa, 
Illinois,  he  took  up  work  in  some  of  the  local 
stores.  In  1903  he  first  come  into  the  post- 
office,  as  a  clerk,  and  later  was  commissioned 
postmaster.  He  served  in  that  office  until 
the  Wilson  administration,  when  he  turned  his 
attention  to  the  teaming  business. 

Mr.  Patterson  had  some  interesting  expe- 
rience during  the  World  war.  Though  past 
the  draft  age,  he  found  an  opportunity  for 
service  with  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  on  account 
of  his  previous  experience  was  given  postal 
work.  While  overseas  he  was  at  Paris,  and 
he  made  several  trips  with  convoys  back  and 
forth.  On  returning  to  Genoa  in  1919  Mr. 
Patterson  resumed  his  work  as  a  clerk  in  the 
postoffice  and  on  February  7,  1924,  was  ap- 
pointed postmaster  by  President  Coolidge  and 
has  been  at  that  post  of  duty  continuously 
now  for  the  past  seven  years.  He  is  one  of 
the  very  popular  men  and  reliable  citizens  of 
the  community.  He  has  served  as  a  member 
of  the  school  board.  Mr.  Patterson  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Masonic  Lodge  and  the  Eastern 
Star. 

George  W.  Nisley,  one  of  the  publishers  of 
the  Mendota  Reporter,  is  a  native  son  of  that 
city,  born  February  22,  1874. 

His  father,  the  late  Jacob  L.  Nisley,  was 
born  at  Chambersburg,  Pennsylvania,  and  was 
brought  to  Illinois  when  a  boy.  He  attended 
the  common  schools  of  this  state  and  Knox 
College  at  Galesburg.  For  over  thirty-five 
years  he  was  street  commissioner  of  Mendota 
and  was  a  splendid  type  of  the  public  official 
who  in  a  quiet  way  does  a  great  deal  of  work, 
more  than  most  citizens  ever  appreciated.  He 
died  in  1918  and  his  wife  in  1908.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows.     His  wife,  Isabel  Rife,  was  also  from 


92 


ILLINOIS 


Chambersburg,  Pennsylvania.  They  had  five 
children:  George  W.,  Edgar  P.,  Mrs.  Susie 
Haegquist,  of  Rockford,  Mrs.  Mabel  Blotch, 
of  Mendota,  and  Jacob  L.,  of  Oregon,  Illinois. 

George  W.  Nisley  left  his  work  in  high 
school  at  Mendota  in  1892,  at  the  age  of 
eighteen,  and  began  working  in  the  office  of  the 
Mendota  Bulletin,  where  he  learned  the  trade 
of  printer.  In  1895  he  was  employed  as  a 
printer  by  the  Mendota  Sun  and  in  September, 
1896,  when  the  Sun  and  Bulletin  were  con- 
solidated, he  became  an  associate  editor  of 
the  consolidated  paper  and  was  with  that 
establishment  until  1919.  In  that  year  he  and 
William  H.  Leiser  bought  the  Mendota  Re- 
porter, and  in  September,  1927,  they  also  ac- 
quired the  plant  and  circulation  of  the  Sun- 
Bulletin,  which  makes  the  Reporter  the  third 
largest  weekly  circulation  of  any  country  paper 
in  Illinois,  a  valuable  business  as  well  as  most 
influential  organ  of  public  opinion.  In  1930 
a  beautiful  new  modern  printing  office  was 
completed  in  the  heart  of  the  business  section 
of  Mendota  and  provides  a  home  of  exceptional 
appearance  and  appointments  for  the  Re- 
porter. In  this  new  building  has  been  in- 
stalled a  modern  Goss  Comet  press  and  other 
machinery  of  the  latest  type.  The  Reporter 
now  prints  5,000  papers  each  week  and  is 
amply  equipped  to  provide  for  the  growing 
circulation  and  job  work  for  some  time  to 
come.  Mr.  Nisley  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois 
and  National  Press  Associations,  belongs  to 
the  B.  P.  0.  Elks,  Kiwanis  Club,  the  Methodist 
Church,  and  is  a  Republican. 

He  married,  December  21,  1898,  Miss  Mae  O. 
Edwards,  of  Mendota.  They  have  one  daugh- 
ter, Miss  Hazel  May. 

Fred  Baber,  who  is  now  living  virtually 
retired  in  his  native  City  of  Paris,  the  judicial 
center  of  Edgar  County,  is  a  representative 
of  sterling  pioneer  families  of  this  county, 
on  both  paternal  and  maternal  sides,  and  both 
his  paternal  and  maternal  ancestors  of  the 
original  or  first  American  generation  came  to 
this  country  in  the  Colonial  era  of  our  na- 
tional history,  one  of  his  heritages  from  this 
source  being  his  eligibility  for  affiliation  with 
the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution.  Fred 
Baber  succeeded  his  honored  father  as  presi- 
dent of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Paris,  and 
since  his  resignation  of  this  executive  office 
he  has  lived  virtually  retired  in  this  city, 
though  he  finds  both  satisfaction  and  diver- 
sion in  giving  his  personal  supervision  in  a 
general  way  to  his  fine  farm  estate  in  this 
county. 

Mr.  Baber  was  born  at  Paris,  Illinois,  in 
1876,  and  is  a  son  of  Asa  J.  and  Sibby  Ann 
(O'Hair)  Baber,  the  former  of  whom  was  born 
in  Kansas  Township,  Edgar  County,  in  the 
year  1832,  and  the  latter  of  whom  was  born 
in  Sims  Township,  this  county,  and  both  hav- 
ing passed  the  closing  years  of  their  lives  m 


Paris,  the  county  seat,  where  the  former  died 
in  1916  and  the  latter  in  1928.  The  paternal 
grandparents  of  Mr.  Baber  were  born  in  North 
Carolina  but  as  pioneer  settlers  in  Edgar 
County,  Illinois,  they  came  from  their  former 
home  in  Indiana.  The  Baber  family  was 
founded  in  Virginia  in  the  Colonial  period,  and 
was  one  of  prominence  in  Culpeper  County, 
though  the  first  representatives  of  the  family 
in  Illinois  came  from  North  Carolina.  The! 
paternal  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this- 
review  was  one  of  the  substantial  pioneer^' 
farmers  of  Edgar  County.  His  wife  passed  1 
the  closing  years  of  her  life  on  their  old  home- 
stead farm  in  the  present  Kansas  Township, 
and  A.  J.  Baber  died  at  Paris,  Illinois. 

A.  J.  Baber,  father  of  Fred  Baber,  wash 
reared  and  educated  in  Edgar  County,  assisted 
in  the  varied  activities  of  the  pioneer  farm 
and  eventually  became  the  owner  of  a  valuable 
farm  estate  in  his  native  county.  He  was  long 
one  of  the  honored  and  influential  citizens  of  i 
the  county  and  served  in  1854  as  county  treas- 
urer. In  1861  he  and  his  brother  Adin  Baber- 
effected  the  organization  of  the  First  Na- 
tional Bank  of  Paris,  and  of  this  old  and 
substantial  financial  institution  he  remained 
the  president  until  his  death,  in  1916.  He  was 
a  stalwart  Republican  in  political  alignment 
and  he  and  his  wife  were  earnest  members  of 
the  Christian  Church.  Mrs.  Baber  was  a!:i 
daughter  of  Michael  and  Lucretia  (Tibbetts) 
O'Hair.  Michael  O'Hair  was  born  and  reared 
in  Kentucky,  and  came  to  Illinois  as  a  young 
man,  and  here  passed  his  entire  life,  his 
vocation  having  been  that  of  farmer,  and  his 
father  having  here  been  one  of  the  very  early 
pioneer  settlers.  The  first  American  repre- 
sentative of  the  O'Hair  family  was  Michael 
O'Hair,  who  was  born  in  Ireland  and  who 
made  settlement  in  Virginia  in  1775.  He  be- 
came a  patriot  soldier  in  the  War  of  the  Rev- 
olution, in  which  he  served  in  the  command 
of  Gen.  Nathaniel  Greene  and  took  part  in 
the  latter's  vigorous  campaigns  and  numerous 
battles  in  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas,  his 
service  having  continued  until  the  close  of  the 
war.  Thereafter  he  became  a  member  of  a 
colony  that  made  settlement  in  Jessamine 
County,  Kentucky.  This  Revolutionary  pa- 
triot was  the  great-grandfather  of  Fred  Baber 
of  this  sketch.  Michael  O'Hair,  Jr.,  died  at 
his  home  in  Edgar  County,  in  the  year  1875. 

After  completing  his  studies  in  the  Paris  • 
High  School  Fred  Baber  attended  a  collegiate 
preparatory  school  at  Lawrenceville,  New 
Jersey,  and  upon  his  return  home  he  took 
a  position  in  the  First  National  Bank  of  Paris, 
of  which  his  father  was  the  president.  He 
was  advanced  to  positions  of  constantly  ex- 
panding responsibility,  and  upon  the  death  of 
his  father,  in  1916,  became  president  of  this 
old  and  influential  banking  institution,  of  which 
he  continued  the  executive  head  until  1925, 
when   he    resigned.      Since   his    retirement    he; 


•' 


(7 


ILLINOIS 


93 


has  given  major  attention  to  the  supervision 
of  his  fine  farm  estate  of  760  acres. 

Mr.  Baber  has  in  all  the  relations  of  life 
well  upheld  the  prestige  of  a  family  name 
that  has  been  one  of  prominence  in  Edgar 
County  since  the  early  pioneer  days.  He  has 
been  a  staunch  advocate  and  supporter  of  the 
cause  of  the  Republican  party  and  was  a  dele- 
gate to  its  national  convention  of  1914.  He 
has  served  as  supervisor  of  Paris  Township, 
as  school  director  of  Paris  Union  District,  as 
trustee  of  the  public  schools  of  Paris,  and 
gave  one  term  of  administration  as  mayor  of 
his  native  city.  He  was  reared  in  the  faith 
of  the  Christian  Church,  which  he  still  at- 
tends and  supports.  He  has  received  in  the 
Masonic  fraternity  the  thirty-second  degree 
of  the  Scottish  Rite,  besides  being  a  Noble  of 
the  Mystic  Shrine,  and  he  is  affiliated  also 
with  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of 
Elks. 

The  year  1902  recorded  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Baber  to  Miss  Daisy  Lycan,  who  likewise  was 
born  and  reared  at  Paris,  Illinois,  and  who 
is  a  daughter  of  Hiram  and  Elizabeth 
(Thomas)  Lycan,  the  former  of  whom  was 
born  in  this  county  and  the  latter  in  Hamp- 
shire County,  Virginia.  Asa  James,  only  child 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Baber,  is  chief  room  clerk  of 
the  Stevens  Hotel  in  the  City  of  Chicago. 

William  L.  Carlin  has  been  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  his  profession  in  his  native 
City  of  Chicago  during  a  period  of  nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  is  one  of  the 
constituent  members  of  the  representative  law 
firm  of  which  the  distinguished  head  of  Clar- 
ence Darrow,  one  of  the  nation's  foremost  crim- 
inal lawyers.  Mr.  Carlin  was  born  in  Chicago 
on  the  16th  of  July,  1887,  and  is  a  son  of 
Dr.  Peter  S.  and  Mary  (McCarthy)  Carlin, 
his  father  having  long  been  a  representative 
physician  and  surgeon  of  Chicago.  Nellie  Car- 
lin, sister  of  Doctor  Carlin,  has  gained  dis- 
tinction as  one  of  the  influential  women  law- 
yers of  Illinois,  she  having  served  as  assistant 
state's  attorney  of  Cook  County  and  having 
held  the  position  of  public  guardian  under  the 
administration  of  Governor  Dunne. 

After  completing  his  studies  in  the  West 
Division  High  School  of  Chicago  William  L. 
Carlin  here  entered  the  Kent  College  of  Law, 
in  which  institution  he  was  graduated  as  a 
member  of  the  class  of  1914.  He  thus  received 
his  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws,  in  1915  he 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  his  native  state, 
in  the  month  of  April,  and  in  the  general  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  he  has  been  associated 
with  Clarence  Darrow  during  a  period  of 
twenty-two  years,  his  admission  to  the  firm 
of  Darrow,  Smith,  Cronson  &  Smith  having 
occurred  in  the  year  1925.  The  offices  of 
this  important  law  firm  are  established  at  77 
West  Washington  Street,  and  Mr.  Carlin  main- 
tains  his   home   at   323   Fourteenth    Street  in 


the  beautiful  suburban  City  of  Wilmette,  where 
he  has  membership  in  the  Breakers  Beach 
Club,  he  being  an  adept  in  swimming  and 
being  likewise  an  enthusiastic  devotee  of  golf. 
His  political  allegiance  is  given  to  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  but  he  considers  his  profession 
worthy  of  his  undivided  time  and  attention 
and  thus  has  manifested  no  ambition  for  politi- 
cal preferment  of  any  kind. 

Mr.  Carlin  enlisted  for  World  war  service 
in  the  United  States  Army,  was  stationed  in 
turn  at  Fort  McKinley,  and  Fort  Williams, 
near  Portland,  Maine,  he  having  been  assigned 
to  the  artillery  wing  of  the  service  and  having 
held  therein  the  rank  of  sergeant  major  at 
the  time  he  received  his  honorable  discharge. 
His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Rose  Azzato, 
likewise  was  born  and  reared  in  Chicago,  and 
she  is  a  daughter  of  John  and  Nora  Azzato. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carlin  have  two  children: 
Eleanor  Patricia,  born  April  10,  1924,  and 
William  L.,  Jr.,  born  December  22,  1926. 

Glenn  W.  Weeks,  postmaster  of  Tremont, 
represents  one  of  the  early  pioneer  families 
of  Tazewell  County.  When  much  of  the  land 
of  this  fertile  Illinois  district  was  still  owned 
by  the  Government  his  great-grandfather 
Weeks  came  from  the  East  and  exercised  his 
privileges  as  a  homesteader.  Not  long  after 
his  settlement  he  was  followed  by  his  son, 
John  Weeks,  the  grandfather  of  the  Tremont 
postmaster.  Both  of  them  were  homesteaders, 
and  the  patents  to  their  lands  were  signed  by 
the  President  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Weeks" 
great-grandfather  came  from  England. 

Glenn  W.  Weeks  was  born  at  Washington 
in  Tazewell  County,  July  26,  1893,  son  of 
William  A.  and  Nora  Blanche  (Payne)  Weeks. 
His  father  was  born  September  19,  1863,  and 
is  now  a  retired  farmer  at  Washington.  His 
special  interest  as  a  farmer  was  directed  to 
the  raising  of  live  stock.  He  is  a  man  of 
fine  character,  highly  respected,  but  has  never 
been  a  seeker  of  office.  He  votes  as  a  Repub- 
lican, and  for  many  years  he  and  his  family 
have  been  identified  with  the  St.  Mark's  Luth- 
eran Church  at  Washington.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  Modern  Wood- 
men of  American  and  has  always  enjoyed  hunt- 
ing and  fishing.  His  wife  was  born  at  Wash- 
ington, Illinois,  March  4,  1873.  The  Paynes 
were  likewise  among  the  early  settlers  of 
Tazewell  County  and  were  of  English  and 
Irish  descent.  Her  father,  Stephen  Henry 
Payne,  took  an  active  part  in  Democratic  poli- 
tics, holding  several  offices  in  Tazewell  County, 
and  his  daughter  follows  him  in  her  political 
affiliations.  Mrs.  William  Weeks  is  a  member 
of  the  Woman's  Club  of  Washington,  the 
American  Legion  Auxiliary  and  takes  an 
active  part  in  the  social  organizations  of  St. 
Mark's  Lutheran  Church.  Of  the  children  of 
these  parents  Glenn  W.  was  the  oldest.  Ber- 
nice,  born   December   13,   1898,  is  a  graduate 


94 


ILLINOIS 


of  the  Washington  High  School  and  the  Illinois 
Normal  University,  has  been  a  teacher  for 
ten  years  and  is  now  principal  in  the  schools 
at  Marseilles,  Illinois.  Gladys,  born  February 
20,  1900,  graduated  from  the  Washington  High 
School,  is  the  wife  of  Harlan  K.  Danforth, 
of  Cambridge,  county  farm  supervisor  of 
Henry  County,  and  they  have  a  daughter, 
Margaret  Weeks,  born  December  23,  1928. 
Myrvan  W.  Weeks,  born  July  25,  1904,  grad- 
uated from  the  Washington  High  School,  is 
cashier  in  the  office  of  the  Travelers  Insurance 
Company  at  Peoria,  and  married,  June  20, 
1928,    Clara   Frederick. 

Glenn  W.  Weeks  graduated  from  the  Wash- 
ington High  School  in  1911.  While  in  school 
he  played  basketball,  was  on  the  track  team 
and  president  of  the  junior  class,  and  organ- 
ized and  became  the  leader  of  the  local  high 
school  orchestra.  During  vacations  he  did 
work  that  gave  him  some  general  knowledge 
of  business  and  fitted  him  for  other  respon- 
sibilities. In  the  fall  of  1911  he  entered 
the  University  of  Illinois,  where  he  kept  up 
his  studies  through  three  semesters,  and  while 
there  was  a  member  of  the  University  Band. 
After  taking  a  course  in  Brown's  Business 
College  at  Peoria  he  joined  his  father  in  the 
garage  business  at  Washington,  and  this  chap- 
ter of  his  business  experience  covered  the 
years   1913-17. 

On  June  1,  1917,  he  enlisted,  was  sent  to 
Fort  Benjamin  Harrison  at  Indianapolis  and 
because  of  his  knowledge  of  mechanics  was 
made  a  sergeant  in  the  Motor  Transport 
Corps.  He  was  kept  on  duty  at  Fort  Benjamin 
Harrison  until  discharged,  March  1,  1919. 

After  about  a  year  with  the  Holt  Manu- 
facturing Company  in  East  Peoria  Mr.  Weeks 
in  1920  came  to  Tremont,  was  a  rural  mail 
carrier  until  July  1,  1922,  when  he  was 
appointed  postmaster,  under  the  Harding 
administration,  and  has  served  consecutively 
during  the  Coolidge  and  Hoover  terms.  He 
is  himself  a  steadfast  supporter  of  the  Repub- 
lican party.  He  retains  his  membership  in 
St.  Mark's  Lutheran  Church.  Mr.  Weeks  is 
a  member  of  the  Masonic  Lodge  and  Grotto, 
for  two  years  was  commander  of  the  Tremont 
Post  of  the  American  Legion,  is  a  member 
of  the  Tremont  Boosters  Club  and  was  for 
two  years  secretary  of  the  Izaak  Walton 
League.  He  has  been  very  much  interested 
in  the  wild  game  conservation  movement.  His 
hobby  of  growing  things  is  now  directed  to 
rabbit  raising.  His  reading  is  along  the  sub- 
jects of  science,  history  and  current  topics, 
and  since  leaving  school  his  chief  game  has 
been  golf,  and  he  seldom  neglects  an  oppor- 
tunity to  go  hunting  and  fishing.  Mr.  Weeks 
organized  the  local  Boy  Scouts  at  Tremont, 
and  his  interest  in  music  led  to  the  organi- 
zation of  the  Tremont  Band.  He  also  used 
his  influence  to  introduce  musical  instruction 
into   the   public   schools. 


Mr.  Weeks  married,  July  8,  1918,  Miss  Ruth 
H.  Sencenbaugh,  of  Washington,  Illinois.  She 
was  born  November  5,  1894,  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam and  Molly  Sencenbaugh.  Her  mother 
died  June  1,  1918,  and  her  father,  in  October, 

1919.  Mrs.  Weeks  is  a  graduate  of  the  Wash- 
ington High  School,  has  her  membership  in 
St.  Mark's  Lutheran  Church  there,  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Tremont  Woman's  Club  and  is 
president  of  the  Parent-Teachers  Association. 
She^  votes  as  a  Republican.  Music  is  the 
subject  in  which  she  is  most  interested  outside 
of  her  home  duties  and  her  talents  as  a  singer 
and  pianist  have  made  her  a  valuable  factor 
in  local  musical  circles.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Weeks 
have  three  children,  Nora  Jane,  born  May  14, 

1920,  Marilynn  Ruth,  born  August  28,  1922, 
and  Patricia,  born  May  21,  1924.  All  of  them 
are    attending   the    Tremont   schools. 

Warner  F.  Whipple  is  a  farm  owner  of 
Waltham  Township,  LaSalle  County.  The 
Whipple  family  were  pioneers  of  the  county 
and  Warner  F.  Whipple  was  born  on  the  old 
Whipple  homestead  July  15,  1894. 

The  Whipples  were  New  Englanders.  One 
of  its  early  members  was  William  Whipple,  a 
signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Warner  F.  Whipple's  grandfather  was  Warner 
W.  Whipple,  wlfo  was  born  at  Brandon,  Ver- 
mont, in  1804.  He  went  with  his  parents  to 
Zanesville,  Ohio,  and  in  1832  married  Phoebe 
Foster  Brown,  of  Brandon,  Vermont.  In  1851 
he  brought  the  family  overland  to  LaSalle, 
Illinois,  and  in  1853  established  the  homestead 
which  is  still  the  Whipple  home. 

Frank  H.  Whipple,  father  of  Warner  F. 
Whipple,  was  born  near  Zanesville,  Ohio,  July 
7,  1836.  For  eight  years  the  family  lived  at 
Wilmington,  Ohio,  where  he  secured  part  of 
his  early  education.  He  was  a  soldier  of  the 
Union  during  the  Civil  war,  enlisting  in  Com- 
pany H  of  the  Eleventh  Illinois  Infantry,  later 
attaining  the  rank  of  sergeant  major.  He 
served  under  General  Grant  at  Fort  Henry 
and  Fort  Donelson,  later  at  Shiloh  and  Vicks- 
burg,  was  wounded  near  Vicksburg,  and  finally 
was  with  the  Union  troops  that  captured  the 
forts  around  Mobile  Bay.  After  the  war  he 
returned  home  and  engaged  in  farming,  which 
was  his  work  and  occupation  throughout  the 
rest  of  his  active  years.  In  June,  1893,  he 
was  united  in  marriage  with  Charlotte  Jose- 
phine Fairfield,  daughter  of  Samuel  S.  and 
Josephine  (McVean)  Fairfield,  of  LaSalle. 
Mr.  Fairfield,  a  native  of  Maine,  was  engaged 
in  the  contracting  business  at  LaSalle  for 
many  years.  Their  two  children  are  Warner 
F.,  of  this  review,  and  Josephine,  born  Decem- 
ber 31,  1895,  who  lives  with  her  mother  at 
LaSalle.  Mr.  Frank  H.  Whipple  died  in  No- 
vember, 1919,  and  is  buried  in  Oakwood  Ceme- 
tery at  LaSalle. 

Warner  F.  Whipple  was  educated  in  country 
schools  and  attended  the  Township  High  School 


ILLINOIS 


95 


at  LaSalle.  His  education  was  completed  with 
two  years  in  the  University  of  Illinois.  After 
the  death  of  his  father  he  took  over  the 
operation  of  the  home  farm.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Farm  Bureau,  is  a  past  master  of 
Waltham  Lodge  No.  384,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  and 
a  past  patron  of  Waltham  Chapter,  0.  E.  S., 
and  he  and  his  wife  are  active  members  of 
the  Waltham  Presbyterian  Church. 

Mr.  Whipple  married,  October  15,  1919,  Miss 
Ida  Margaret  Monteith,  daughter  of  James  H. 
and  Agnes    (Riedy)    Monteith. 

In  1832  James  Monteith,  great-grandfather 
of  Mrs.  Whipple,  emigrated  to  Canada  with 
his  father,  John  Monteith,  from  County  Ty- 
rone, Ireland,  the  family  having  originated  in 
Scotland.  For  nine  generations  the  names 
James  and  John  have  been  alternated  in  suc- 
cessive generations  of  the  Monteith  family. 
Thus,  the  son  of  James  Monteith  above  re- 
ferred to  was  John  N.,  who  continued  to 
farm  his  father's  homestead  in  County  Perth, 
Ontario,  Canada,  but  his  son  James  H.,  came 
to  the  United  States  at  the  age  of  sixteen  to 
engage  in  business  at  Pittsburgh,  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  he  continued  in  the  mercantile 
business  until  the  panic  of  1893  and  after  1893 
he  was  a  division  manager  and  field  superin- 
tendent for  the  Prudential  Insurance  Company 
of  America.  He  now  lives  retired  at  Kansas 
City,  Missouri.  Mr.  Monteith's  grandfather 
James  was  a  cousin  of  President  Buchanan. 

Mrs.  Whipple's  mother  was  born  in  Lehigh 
County,  Pennsylvania,  of  Pennsylvania  Dutch 
extraction,  her  forefathers  having  immigrated 
from  the  borderland  of  Holland  and  Germany. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Whipple  have  three  children: 
Warner,  born  April  25,  1921,  Malcolm,  born 
February  27,  1925,  and  Phoebe,  born  July  8, 
1927. 

For  convenience  as  a  reference  the  following 
genealogical  record  is  here  included,  which 
is  the  basis  of  eligibility  of  the  Whipple  chil- 
dren for  membership  in  the  Sons  or  Daughters 
of  the  American  Revolution.  The  paternal 
grandmother  of  Mr.  Warner  F.  Whipple, 
Phoebe  Brown,  was  the  granddaughter  of  Cyril 
Brown,  who  served  in  the  War  of  the  Revolu- 
tion as  private  of  Smithfield  and  Cumberland 
Rangers,  in  Capt.  George  Peek's  Company, 
Col.  Richard  Fry's  Regiment.  Cyril  Brown 
was  a  great-great-great-grandson  of  James 
Brown,  who  in  1655  married  Lydia  Howland, 
daughter  of  John  Howland,  one  of  the  pas- 
sengers on  the  Mayflower,  who  landed  at 
Plymouth  Rock  in  1620. 

Robert  Howard  Patton,  president  of  the 
Old  Settlers  Association  of  Sangamon  County, 
was  born  on  his  father's  farm  in  Auburn 
Township,  that  county,  January  18,  1860.  He 
is  a  son  of  Mathew  and  Margaret  J.  (McEl- 
vain)  Patton.  His  father  was  born  at  Hop- 
kinsville,  Kentucky,  and  was  a  boy  when  the 
family  moved   to   Sangamon    County   in   1820. 


For  over  a  century  the  Pattons  have  lived  in 
Auburn  Township.  Mathew  Patton  attended 
pioneer  schools  and  devoted  his  active  life- 
time to  farming.  His  father  was  Col.  James 
Patton,  who  was  born  at  Baltimore,  Maryland, 
March  17,  1791,  and  lived  in  Virginia  and 
later  in  Clark  County,  Kentucky.  In  the 
early  days  of  Sangamon  County  he  was  called 
out  for  military  service  during  the  Black  Hawk 
Indian  war.  His  father  had  been  in  the  leather 
business  in  Baltimore,  and  he  supplied  har- 
ness, saddles  and  other  equipment  for  one 
of  Washington's  regiments.  Mathew  Patton 
was  the  father  of  six  children:  William  D., 
Elizabeth,  Samuel  S.,  Charles  M.,  Sadie  and 
Robert  H. 

Robert  H.  Patton  attended  country  schools, 
including  the  Patton  School,  and  is  a  grad- 
uate of  the  Auburn  High  School.  He  com- 
pleted his  education  in  1883  at  the  Illinois 
Wesleyan  University  at  Bloomington  and  in 
1885  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  has  been 
a  member  of  the  Springfield  bar  for  over  forty- 
six  years.  Over  the  state  at  large  he  is  best 
known  for  his  earnest  work  and  leadership  in 
the  Prohibition  party  and  at  one  time  was 
candidate  for  governor  on  that  ticket,  and 
on  two  occasions  refused  the  nomination  of 
the  party  for  President.  He  was  permanent 
chairman  of  the  Prohibition  National  Conven- 
tion at  St.  Paul,  Minnesota. 

Mr.  Patton  married,  September  23,  1886, 
Mary  E.  Gordon,  daughter  of  Benjamin  and 
Margaret  (Manning)  Gordon.  Mrs.  Patton 
died  June  8,  1923.  She  was  the  mother  of 
four  children;  Robert  G.,  deceased,  who  was 
in  the  wholesale  grocery  business  at  Spring- 
field; Howard  S.,  deceased;  Margaret  E.;  and 
Gordon  M.,  a  traveling  salesman.  Mr.  Patton 
has  always  been  active  in  the  Baptist  Church 
and  for  fifty  years  has  taught  a  class  in 
Sunday  School. 

George  A.  Rooney  represented  his  native 
City  of  Chicago  in  gallant  overseas  services 
with  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces  in 
the  World  war,  and  the  same  spirit  of  loyalty 
that  he  thus  manifested  has  been  exemplified 
also  in  his  professional  activities  as  one  of 
the  representative  younger  members  of  the 
Chicago  bar.  He  is  engaged  in  the  practice 
of  law,  with  offices  at  77  West  Washington 
Street,  and  he  resides  at  2152  East  Seventy- 
eighth   Street. 

Mr.  Rooney  was  born  in  Chicago  on  the 
23d  of  October,  1892,  and  is  a  son  of  Owen 
and  Rose  (Morris)  Rooney,  who  were  born 
in  Ireland,  where  the  respective  families  were 
neighbors,  but  whose  marriage  was  solemnized 
after  they  had  come  to  the  United  States, 
their  children  being  six  in  number:  Rose, 
George  A.,  Owen,  Jr.,  Mary,  Helen  and  Joseph. 

After  completing  his  studies  in  the  high 
school  of  St.  Patrick's  parish  George  A.  Roo- 
ney was   a   student  two   years   in   St.   Viator 


96 


ILLINOIS 


College,  where  he  took  a  prelegal  course. 
Thereafter  he  continued  his  studies  in  the  law 
department  of  Loyola  University  three  years, 
he  having  been  graduated  in  this  representa- 
tive Chicago  institution  as  a  member  of  the 
class  of  1920  and  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Laws,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Octo- 
ber of  the  following  year.  He  has  since  been 
established  in  the  active  general  practice  of 
law  in  Chicago,  and  enjoys  a  law  business 
that  shows  constantly  cumulative  tendency. 
Mr.  Rooney  is  serving  in  1931  as  vice  president 
of  the  South  Chicago  Bar  Association,  and 
has  membership  also  in  the  Chicago  Bar  Asso- 
ciation, Illinois  State  Bar  Association  and 
American  Bar  Association. 

Mr.  Rooney  was  a  student  at  the  time  of 
the  nation's  entrance  into  the  World  warand 
was  among  the  Chicago  boys  who  early  enlisted 
for  service  in  the  United  States  Army.  His 
enlistment  took  place  August  12,  1917,  and 
thereafter  he  continued  in  active  service  until 
the  armistice  brought  the  great  conflict  to  a 
close.  He  became  a  member  of  Company  L, 
One  Hundred  Thirty-second  Infantry,  which 
was  assigned  to  the  Thirty-third  Division  of 
the  American  Expeditionary  Forces  and  with 
which  he  was  nine  months  at  the  front  in  the 
great  overseas  battle  sectors,  where  he  won 
citation  for  gallantry  and  in  consonance  with 
which  he  was  decorated  by  the  Government 
of  the  United  States.  His  total  period  of 
military  service  was  of  twenty-seven  months' 
duration,  and  after  the  close  of  the  war  he 
returned  to  his  native  land  and  duly  received 
his  honorable  discharge.  While  still  overseas 
he  availed  himself  of  the  privilege  of  attend- 
ing the  special  vacation  term  at  Lincoln's  Inn 
at  London,  England,  in  1919,  and  upon  his 
return  to  the  United  States  he  completed 
his  course  in  law  school,  as  previously  noted 
in  this  review. 

Mr.  Rooney  is  one  of  the  gallant  young 
stalwarts  in  the  ranks  of  the  Democratic  party 
in  Cook  County  and  has  been  active  and  influ- 
ential in  party  affairs.  His  religious  faith 
is  that  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  in  the 
Knights  of  Columbus  he  is  a  past  grand  knight 
of  Santa  Maria  Council.  He  has  membership 
in  the  Lake  Shore  Athletic  Club,  and  finds 
recreation  in  golf.  Mr.  Rooney  is  an  ardent 
admirer  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  is  an  enthusi- 
astic collector  of  literature  and  souvenirs  per- 
taining to  the  Great  Emancipator. 

On  the  29th  of  October,"  1924,  was  solemnized 
the  marriage  of  Mr.  Rooney  to  Miss  Rita  M. 
Cracknell,  who  was  born  in  Chicago  and  whose 
parents,  Henry  and  Clara  (Argus)  Cracknell, 
were  born  in  the  State  of  Indiana.  The  names 
and  respective  birth  dates  of  the  children  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rooney  are  here  recorded:  Mary 
Alene,  July  21,  1925;  George  A.,  Jr.,  September 
26,  1926;  Terrence  J.,  June  28,  1928;  and 
Marjorie  N.,  February  16,  1930. 


Leslie  K.  Valentine,  postmaster  of  Hinck- 
ley, DeKalb  County,  is  a  World  war  veteran, 
and  was  over  the  top  five  different  times  while 
in   France. 

Mr.  Valentine  was  born  at  Paw  Paw,  Lee 
County,  Illinois,  November  1,  1890,  son  of 
George  and  Lena  (Dienst)  Valentine,  and  a 
grandson  of  Gary  C.  and  Fidelia  Valentine. 
Gary  Valentine  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania.; 
He  came  to  Illinois  in  the  early  days,  traveling] 
overland,  and  in  Lee  County  bought  land  out] 
on  the  prairie  and  made  himself  one  of  the! 
prosperous  general  farmers  in  that  district! 
His  death  was  the  result  of  an  accident  anJ 
he  was  buried  at  Paw  Paw.  He  was  a  charter! 
member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd! 
Fellows.  His  son,  George  Valentine,  was  borrj 
at  Paw  Paw,  was  a  farmer  in  early  life  and 
later  a  merchant,  a  business  he  followed  until 
he  retired.  He  and  his  wife  now  live  at 
Hinckley,  the  former  at  the  age  of  seventy-two, 
and  the  latter  at  the  age  of  sixty-six.  For] 
some  time  he  also  conducted  an  oil  station. 
He  acquired  his  early  education  in  country 
schools  in  Lee  County,  and  made  his  start  by 
renting  land,  subsequently  buying  a  farm  in 
Wisconsin,  where  the  family  lived  for  two 
years.  Abou1^1906  he  settled  at  Hinckley.  Hej 
was  a  carpenter  by  trade.  He  and  his  wifa 
are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal! 
Church.  They  had  three  children:  Etta,  wifa 
of  Merritt  Evans,  of  Aurora,  Illinois,  and] 
mother  of  a  daughter,  Leila,  who  is  now  in 
college  at  Aurora;  Leslie  K.;  and  Ruth,  wife 
of  Clarence  Dry,  of  Canton,  Ohio. 

Leslie  K.  Valentine  attended  school  at  Pawj 
Paw  and  after  completing  the  work  of  the 
grades  went  with  the  family  to  Necedah,  Wis! 
consin,  where  he  attended  school  for  two  years.1 
He  completed  his  high  school  work  in  tha 
Hinckley  High  School,  following  that  with  a 
business  course.  While  in  high  school  he  waj 
training  himself  for  a  business  career  by  worlJ 
ing  in  the  local  stores,  and  he  was  connected 
with  the  mercantile  business  in  Hinckley  until 
the  time  of  the  war. 

He  enlisted  in  1918,  was  assigned  to  thl 
Second  Regular  Division  and  after  a  briefl 
period  of  training  at  Camp  Gordon,  Atlanta! 
Georgia,  went  from  Camp  Merritt  overseas 
to  Brest.  He  went  direct  to  the  front  in 
St.  Mihiel,  and  soon  was  in  the  trenches  there! 
He  had  his  first  experience  going  over  thl 
top  in  this  sector,  and  he  and  his  comrades 
had  to  proceed  in  the  open  for  half  a  mill 
before  making  contact  with  the  Germans.  Hil 
next  assignment  was  the  Meuse  Champagna 
sector,  where  after  ten  days  in  the  Reserves 
he  again  went  over  the  top.  This  time  he 
was  with  the  shock  troops,  and  on  the  firsl 
day  they  took  their  objective.  During  thl 
advance  he  was  struck  on  the  leg  by  an  explod-j 
ing  bomb  and  knocked  down,  and  ascribes 
the   fact   of   further   injury   to   the   fact   that 


ILLINOIS 


97 


a  trench  knife  was  in  his  legging.  After  half 
an  hour  he  was  able  to  rejoin  his  company. 
While  in  the  great  Argonne  campaign  Mr. 
Valentine  was  over  the  top  three  different 
times.  After  the  armistice  he  spent  eight 
months  with  the  Army  of  Occupation  in  Ger- 
many and  on  returning  to  America  received 
his  honorable  discharge  at  Camp  Grant, 
Illinois. 

After  the  war  he  was  in  the  real  estate 
business  for  a  time  at  Aurora,  and  during 
the  Presidency  of  Mr.  Harding  was  appointed 
postmaster  at  Hinckley  and  has  made  the 
administration  of  that  office  his  chief  respon- 
sibility. He  has  always  been  more  or  less 
actively  interested  in  Republican  politics.  He 
is  a  member  and  a  past  commander  of  the 
American. Legion,  a  member  of  Hinckley  Lodge 
No.  301,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  and  the  Loyal  Order 
of  Moose.  Outdoor  sports  have  always  appealed 
to  him  and  he  especially  enjoys  hunting  and. 
fishing.  Mrs.  Valentine  is  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  active  in  the 
work  of  the  Sunday  School. 

Mr.  Valentine  married  in  1920  Miss  Emma 
Golden,  daughter  of  Benjamin  and  Anna 
(Weiser)  Golden.  Her  father  was  a  substantial 
farmer  in  LaSalle  County.  To  this  union  have 
been  born  two  children:  Gary,  born  January 
17,  1924,  and  Marylin,  born  May  22,  1928. 

Howard  Lee  Metcalf,  M.  D.,  formerly  med- 
ical director  of  the  Springfield  Life  Insurance 
Company,  has  practiced  his  profession  in 
Springfield  for  over  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

Doctor    Metcalf    is    a    native    of    Sangamon 

County,  Illinois,  and  his  people  on  both  sides 

were  early  settlers  in  this  section  of  the  state. 

His  parents,  Samuel  and  Mary  (Ray)  Metcalf, 

were  born  in  Sangamon  County  and  his  father 

spent  his  active  life  as  a  farmer.     They  were 

devout   members   of   the    Methodist    Episcopal 

Church,  his  father  voted  the  Democratic  ticket 

and  was  affiliated  with  the  Independent  Order 

of  Odd  Fellows.     Samuel   Metcalf  was  a  son 

t  of  Adam  Metcalf,  a  native  of  Virginia,  who 

made    several    trips    to    Illinois    on    horseback 

before  establishing  his  permanent  home  here. 

I  He  acquired  240  acres  from  the  Government, 

cleared  it  and  improved  it  into  a  good  farm, 

and  lived  out  his   life   in   Sangamon    County. 

Doctor    Metcalf's    maternal    grandfather    was 

J  Thomas   Ray,   a   native   of   Ireland,   who   also 

'  became  a  Sangamon  County  farmer. 

Doctor   Metcalf  was  the   second  in  a  large 

family  of  eleven  children,  nine   of  whom  are 

living.     He  attended  school  at  Mechanicsburg, 

and  went  to  Chicago,  where  he  was  a  student 

in  the  Lewis  Institute  and  the  University  of 

Chicago,   and  in   1904  graduated   M.   D.   from 

Rush   Medical   College.     He   at  once  returned 

!  to    Springfield    and    has   found    his    time    and 

j  energies    fully    occupied    with    his    increasing 

!  duties    as    a    capable    physician    and    surgeon. 

Doctor    Metcalf    has    been    honored    with    the 


office  of  president  of  the  Sangamon  County 
Medical  Society  and  is  a  member  of  the  Illi- 
nois State  and  American  Medical  Associations. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Xiwanis  Club,  the  San- 
gamo  Club,  is  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and 
Shriner  and  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church. 

He  married  in  1907  Elesa  R.  Mueller,  who 
was  born  at  Springfield.  Her  father,  Ger- 
hardt  A.  Mueller,  came  from  Germany,  started 
his  career  in  Springfield  as  a  poor  boy  and 
became  one  of  the  successful  and  highly  re- 
spected citizens  of  the  community.  Doctor  and 
Mrs.  Metcalf  have  two  sons:  Howard  Lee,  Jr., 
who  attended  the  Kemper  Military  Academy 
in  Missouri  and  the  Howe  Boys  School  in 
Indiana,  and  is  now  taking  a  business  col- 
lege course;  and  Robert  Kenneth,  a  member 
of  the  class  of  1930  in  high  school  and  now 
a  student  in  the  Lake  Forest  Academy  at 
Lake  Forest,  Illinois. 

Thomas  A.  Maguire  is  president  and  gen- 
eral manager  of  the  Servus  Rubber  Company, 
of  Rock  Island,  one  of  the  big  and  growing 
manufacturing  establishments  of  that  city.  The 
Servus  Rubber  Company  was  organized  Octo- 
ber 21,  1923.  It  is  incorporated  with  $1,200,000 
capital,  and  at  its  plant  in  Rock  Island  has 
facilities  for  the  manufacture  of  commodities 
that  have  an  increasing  use  in  modern  busi- 
ness. The  chief  output  is  waterproof  canvas 
and  rubber  soled  footwear.  It  is  an  industry 
employing  approximately  a  thousand  people, 
with  twenty-two  traveling  representatives  who 
carry  the  reputation  and  goods  of  the  Servus 
Company  to   all   parts  of  the  world. 

Prior  to  coming  to  Rock  Island  Mr.  Maguire 
was  a  successful  business  man  in  the  New 
York  metropolitan  district.  He  was  born  in 
Orange,  New  Jersey,  February  17,  1885,  son 
of  Thomas  D.  and  Mary  A.  (Cosgrove) 
Maguire.  His  father  was  born  in  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  and  his  mother  at  Holyoke,  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  she  now  resides  at  East 
Orange,  New  Jersey.  Thomas  D.  Maguire 
throughout  his  active  life  was  a  hat  manu- 
facturer. He  was  a  graduate  of  Halifax 
University  and  a  man  of  fine  character  and 
unusual  business  ability.  He  served  as  fire 
commissioner  of  East  Orange,  was  a  Repub- 
lican, and  he  and  his  family  were  Catholics. 
Of  the  four  children  three  are  living:  Bernard 
J.,  a  at  manufacturer  at  East  Orange; 
Katherine,  a  widow  living  with  her  mother; 
and   Thomas   A. 

Thomas  A.  Maguire  attended  public  schools 
at  East  Orange  and  was  graduated  in  1904 
from  Princeton  University.  For  about  a  year 
after  completing  his  university  career  he  was 
in  the  hat  business,  and  then  became  identified 
with  the  dry  goods  trade  in  New  York  City 
as  credit  man  for  A.  G.  Hyde  &  Son.  He  was 
with  this  organization  until  1909,  when  he 
was  made  president  of  John  Alden  Company, 


98 


ILLINOIS 


Limited,  of  New  York  City.  During  the  World 
war  he  served  with  the  rank  of  major  in  the 
supply  department,  cantonment  division,  at 
Brest,   France. 

Mr.  Maguire  married,  April  28,  1909,  at 
Orange,  New  Jersey,  Miss  Anna  E.  McGoey, 
who  was  born  at  Orange,  New  Jersey,  and 
attended  school  there  and  also  St.  Elizabeth 
College  in  New  Jersey.  They  have  two  daugh- 
ters, Muriel  Anna,  born  December  15,  1913, 
and  Nancy  Elizabeth,  born  July  1,  1922.  Both 
children  were  born  at  East  Orange,  New  Jer- 
sey. The  family  are  members  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  Catholic  Church  at  Rock  Island.  Mr. 
Maguire  is  a  fourth  degree  Knight  of  Colum- 
bus, member  of  Lodge  No.  980,  B.  P.  0.  Elks, 
of  Rock  Island,  the  Rock  Island  Arsenal  Golf 
Club,  the  Washington  Club  of  East  Orange, 
New  Jersey,  and  the  Wool  Club  of  New  York 
City.     He  is  independent  in  politics. 

Mr.  Maguire  came  from  the  East  to  Rock 
Island  on  February  1,  1927.  In  addition  to 
his  duties  as  president  of  the  Servus  Rubber 
Company  he  is  a  director  of  the  Manufac- 
turers Trust  &  Savings  Bank  of  Rock  Island, 
and  is  secretary  of  the  Nu-Way  Company,  a 
Rock  Island  industry  manufacturing  a  line 
of   oil   burners. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Ray  Grant,  postmaster  of 
Shabbona,  has  lived  in  that  DeKalb  County 
town  practically  all  her  life,  and  her  own  work 
and  activities  have  gone  to  increase  the  pres- 
tige by  which  her  family  have  so  long  been 
known   and   respected   in   that   community. 

Mrs.  Grant  is  a  daughter  of  the  late  William 
Henry  Ray,  who  was  the  first  railroad  station 
agent  and  first  postmaster  of  Shabbona,  a 
teacher,  editor  and  publisher,  who  spent  a 
long  life  in  useful  public  service  and  was  active 
almost  until  the  end.  When  he  died,  January 
19,  1930,  he  had  reached  the  venerable  age 
of  eighty-six  years,  two  months  and  six  days. 

William  Henry  Ray  was  born  at  Nassau, 
Germany,  November  13,  1843,  oldest  son  of 
John  and  Elizabeth  (Enders)  Ray.  He  began 
his  schooling  in  his  native  land,  but  in  July, 
1849,  when  he  was  about  six  years  of  age, 
the  family  came  to  America  and  for  several 
years  lived  in  New  York  State.  While  there 
he  attended  school.  On  coming  to  Illinois 
John  Ray  lived  for  brief  periods  of  time  in 
Kendall  and  LaSalle  counties,  and  then  settled 
in  DeKalb  County,  purchasing  a  farm  in  Shab- 
bona Township,  on  part  of  which  was  later 
founded  the  Village  of  Shabbona.  Here  Wil- 
liam H.  Ray  assisted  his  father  on  the  farm. 
After  the  rural  schools  he  attended  Clark 
(now  Jennings)  Seminary  at  Aurora.  He  was 
a  school  teacher  until  the  railroad  was  built 
and  then  became  first  station  agent  and  also 
first  postmaster  of  the  new  Village  of  Shab- 
bona. Later  he  became  editor  and  publisher 
of  the  Shabbona  Express,  now  the  DeKalb 
County  Express,  and  he  worked  daily  at  his 


editorial  desk  until  1914,  and  even  after  that 
for  about  ten  years  he  retained  a  desk  down- 
town, where  he  conducted  some  insurance  busi- 
ness, as  notary  public,  and  wrote  his  reports 
as  clerk  for  the  Modern  Woodmen  and  village. 
He  was  for  several  years  president  of  the 
village  board,  for  fifteen  years  was  a  member 
of  the  school  board,  and  for  nearly  a  score 
of  years  was  village  clerk.  His  many  years 
of  service  in  school  room,  railway  station,  post- 
office  and  print  shop  gave  him  a  wide  acquain- 
tance, and  his  friendship  and  contact  with 
people  seemed  to  interest  him  increasingly  in 
later  years.  As  an  editorial  at  the  time  ofj 
his  death  said:  "In  all  these  varied  capacities! 
certain  qualities  stood  out  in  bold  relief— 1 
absolute  faithfulness  to  the  office  with  which 
he  was  entrusted,  sincerity  and  candor.  Quite 
strongly  partisan  in  politics  and  positive  in 
his  convictions  on  all  civic  questions,  he  pos-1 
sessed  a  trait  many  might  well  emulate  to 
their  distinct  advantage.  He  could  maintain 
strict  adherence  to  any  policy  in  which  he 
believed  and  yet  avoid  criticism  of  or  rancor 
toward  those  who  differed  from  him." 

In  December,  1870,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
seven,  Mr.  Ray  married  Imogene  Loucks,  who 
was  born  r&  Oneida,  New  York,  February  27, 
1850,  and  died  at  Shabbona  February  19,  1922. 
She  was  the  oldest  daughter  of  Hiram  and 
Amanda  (Vosburg)  Loucks,  both  natives  of 
New  York  State,  who  later  brought  their  fam- 
ily to  Illinois  and  settled  on  a  farm.  Her 
father  owned  and  conducted  a  farm  near  Sand- 
wich until  he  retired  and  moved  into  the  City 
of  Sandwich.  He  was  interested  in  community 
affairs  and  served  his  district  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  at  Springfield  for  some 
years. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Ray  Grant  was  the  only  child 
of  her  parents.  She  was  born  at  Shabbona, 
November  13,  1871,  attended  grade  schools 
and  the  Shabbona  Community  High  School, 
where  she  was  graduated  with  the  first  class, 
in  1889.  Following  that  she  spent  two  years 
at  the  University  of  Michigan,  and  she  taught 
in  grammar  and  high  school  until  her  mar- 
riage. Afterwards  she  was  associated  with 
her  father  in  the  publication  of  the  Shabbona 
Express  and  continued  with  that  newspaper 
under  his  successor.  She  became  village  clerk 
in  1922,  and  since  1924  has  been  the  Shabbona 
postmistress. 

She  was  married  at  Shabbona,  June  6,  1900, 
to  Mr.  William  Wallace  Grant,  who  was  born 
at  Lenoir,  North  Carolina,  May  23,  1866,  and 
is  a  locomotive  engineer.  Mrs.  Grant  has  one 
son,  Ray  Kent  Grant,  born  December  1,  1905. 
He  was  educated  in  Shabbona,  graduating  from 
high  school  in  1923,  following  which  he  spent 
two  years  in  Iowa  State  College  at  Ames  and 
in  1926  graduated  from  the  Northern  Illinois 
State  Teachers  College.  Since  then  he  has 
been  a  teacher  in  the  manual  arts  department 
in  the  West  Aurora  schools. 


ILLINOIS 


99 


Mrs.  Grant  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Legion  Auxiliary,  has  worked  with  the  Red 
Cross,  the  Community  Council  and  the  Parent- 
Teachers  Association.  She  is  a  member  of 
the  First  Baptist  Church,  the  Order  of  the 
Eastern  Star,  the  Shabbona  Woman's  Club 
and  Community  Club. 

Edward  Patrick  Devine,  postmaster  at 
Somonauk,  is  one  of  the  most  popular  men 
of  that  community,  and  all  his  life  the  people 
of  the  locality  have  known  him  as  a  thorough- 
going business  man  and  an  alert,  high  prin- 
cipled citizen. 

Mr.  Devine  was  born  in  this  locality  of 
DeKalb  County  March  14,  1887,  son  of  Thomas 
and  Johanna  (Reidy)  Devine.  His  grandpar- 
ents were  Francis  and  Nancy  Devine.  Francis 
Devine  came  from  County  Antrim,  Ireland,  and 
from  New  York  State  made  the  journey  with 
his  family  overland  to  DeKalb  County,  Illinois, 
in  1835.  This  was  one  of  the  first  Catholic 
families  to  settle  in  the  vicinity  of  Somonauk, 
and  Francis  Devine  built  one  of  the  first  homes 
there.  He  became  a  land  owner  and  successful 
and  substantial  farmer,  and  as  a  man  of 
education  wielded  much  influence  in  the  early 
affairs  of  the  community.  He  and  his  wife 
had  a  family  of  eight  children. 

One  of  them  was  Thomas  Devine,  who  was 
a  small  child  when  the  family  came  to  Illinois. 
He  lived  in  the  old  home,  a  house  built  in  the 
timber  on  his  father's  homestead,  was  edu- 
cated in  country  schools  and  later  was  one 
of  the  first  students  to  enroll  at  Notre  Dame 
University  in  Indiana.  After  completing  his 
education  he  spent  five  years  in  Chicago,  as 
an  employee  of  the  Burlington  Railway,  and 
then  returned  to  DeKalb  County,  where  he 
followed  farming  and  stock  raising  until  his 
retirement.  He  and  his  wife  were  active  mem- 
bers of  the  Catholic  Church  and  both  are 
buried  in  Somonauk  Cemetery.  They  had  six 
children:  Frank  and  John,  both  deceased;  Mae, 
wife  of  James  Connelly  and  mother  of  James, 
Jr.;  Tom,  who  married  Lillian  Ulrich  and 
has  a  daughter,  Florence;  Josephine;  and  E.  P. 
Devine. 

E.  P.  Devine  was  educated  in  country  schools 
and  graduated  from  the  De  LaSalle  School  at 
Chicago.  After  his  education  he  returned  to 
the  farm  to  help  his  father  and  later  engaged 
in  the  mercantile  business  at  Somonauk.  For 
a  number  of  years  he  conducted  a  restaurant. 
He  is  also  a  carpenter  by  trade. 

Mr.  Devine  was  appointed  postmaster  of 
Somonauk  during  the  administration  of  Presi- 
dent Wilson  and  he  has  been  retained  in  the 

!  office  through  the  successive  Republican  admin- 
istrations, at  the  present  time  having  the 
distinction  of  being  the  only  Democratic  post- 

;  master  in  DeKalb   County,  which  is  evidence 

j  of  his  efficiency  and  the  high  degree  of  esteem 
in  which  he  is  held  by  all  classes  of  people. 

|  Mr.  Devine  gives  close  attention  to  his  duties 


as  postmaster.  He  has  been  active  in  his 
party,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
He  has  helped  keep  up  an  interest  in  local 
athletics  and  is  manager  of  the  local  baseball 
team. 

Mr.  Devine  married  Miss  Edna  Humbert, 
of  Somonauk.  They  have  one  daughter,  Char- 
lotte, born  June  6,  1925,  who  is  attending 
school. 

William  J.  McGah  is  making  his  native 
City  of  Chicago  the  stage  of  his  professional 
activities,  in  which  his  success  and  prestige 
mark  him  as  one  of  the  representative  younger 
members  of  the  bar  of  Cook  County.  Here  he 
has  been  established  in  the  independent 
practice  of  law  since  1915,  and  his  office 
headquarters  are  maintained  at  77  West 
Washington  Street.  He  is  also  attorney  for 
the  Chicago  City  Council  Committee  on  local 
industries,  street  and  alleys. 

Mr.  McGah  was  born  in  Chicago  on  the 
19th  of  January,  1891,  and  is  a  son  of  Patrick 
H.  and  Bridget  (Lyons)  McGah.  After  com- 
pleting his  high  school  studies  Mr.  McGah 
entered  St.  Ignatius  College,  in  which  insti- 
tution he  was  graduated  as  a  member  of  the 
class  of  1910  and  from  which  he  received  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  In  preparation 
for  his  chosen  profession  he  availed  himself 
of  the  advantages  of  the  law  department  of 
Loyola  University,  and  from  this  representa- 
tive Chicago  institution  he  emerged  with  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  in  the  year  1913. 
Mr.  McGah  made  also  a  record  of  successful 
achievement  in  the  pedagogic  profession,  he 
having  taught  in  the  public  schools  of  Chicago, 
and  having  been  a  teacher  of  English,  com- 
mercial law  and  bookkeeping  in  the  Burr 
Junior  High  School.  While  still  in  school 
work  he  gave  service  as  examiner  for  the 
Chicago  Civil  Service  Commission  for  several 
years.  He  was  active  in  student  athletics  in 
his  school  and  college  days,  and  he  is  now 
secretary  and  a  director  of  the  Frontenac 
Athletic  Club,  besides  having  membership  in 
the  Midland  Club.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Chicago  Bar  Association  and  the  Illinois  State 
Bar  Association,  and  within  the  fifteen  years 
of  his  active  professional  career  he  has  devel- 
oped a  substantial  and  important  law  business 
of  representative  order,  the  while  he  has 
proved  his  resourcefulness  both  as  a  trial 
lawyer  and  as  a  well  fortified  counselor. 

The  political  allegiance  of  Mr.  McGah  is 
given  to  the  Democratic  party,  he  and  his 
wife  are  communicants  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
and  he  is  affiliated  with  the  Knights  of  Col- 
umbus, in  which  great  fraternal  order  he  was 
retained  several  years  in  the  office  of  advo- 
cate. Mr.  McGah  still  retains  vital  interest 
in  athletics,  finds  recreation  in  golf  and  is 
an  enthusiastic  baseball  fan. 

In  the  World  war  period  Mr.  McGah  was 
in   service    in    the    United    States    Army,    but 


100 


ILLINOIS 


his  unit  was  not  called  to  overseas  duty.  He 
won  advancement  from  the  rank  of  private 
to  that  of  sergeant,  and  was  finally  made  a 
lieutenant,  his  period  of  service  having  been 
passed  at  Camp  Jackson  and  Camp  Sevier, 
South  Carolina.  His  continued  interest  in  the 
comrades  of  the  World  war  is  indicated  by 
his  affiliation  with  the  American  Legion. 

On  the  13th  of  April,  1918,  was  solemnized 
the  marriage  of  Mr.  McGah  to  Miss  Katherine 
Conlin,  daughter  of  Patrick  and  Katherine 
Conlin,  of  Chicago.  The  names  and  respective 
birth-dates  of  the  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
McGah  are  here  recorded:  Joseph  W.,  Feb- 
ruary 26,  1922;  William  J.,  Jr.,  May  5,  1924; 
and  Edward  R.,  September  9,  1925. 

Herbert  John  Campbell  came  to  the  bar 
in  1904,  and  his  individual  record  as  a  lawyer 
gives  additional  honors  to  a  name  long  and 
favorably  known  in  the  Illinois  bar.  His  father 
was  the  late  William  J.  Campbell,  who  between 
the  year  1873,  when  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar,  and  his  death  on  March  4,  1896,  accumu- 
lated many  fine  professional  distinctions  and 
also  the  honors  due  a  citizen  of  most  unselfish 
attitude  and  giving  worthy  service  in  politics 
and  public  affairs.  William  J.  Campbell  was 
born  at  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  December 
12,  1850.  A  year  after  his  birth  his  parents, 
John  and  Mary  Campbell,  came  to  Illinois 
and  settled  at  what  is  now  Chicago  Heights 
in  Southern  Cook  County.  He  was  educated 
in  the  public  schools  of  Illinois,  and  returned 
East  to  complete  his  literary  education  in  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  where  he  was 
graduated  in  1871.  In  1873  he  was  graduated 
from  the  Union  College  of  Law  at  Chicago. 
During  his  early  years  in  practice  he  was 
associated  with  Judge  W.  C.  Goudy.  He  and 
Jacob  R.  Custer  comprised  the  law  firm  of 
Campbell  &  Custer.  An  associate  of  this  firm 
for  some  time  was  John  M.  Hamilton,  who  was 
governor  of  Illinois  from  1883  to  1885  and 
spent  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life  after 
leaving  the  governor's  chair  in  law  practice 
at  Chicago.  William  J.  Campbell  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  was  general  counsel  for  Armour 
&  Company.  As  representative  of  the  Armour 
interests  he  took  a  prominent  part  in  the 
founding  of  the  Armour  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology and  served  on  its  board  of  trustees. 

William  J.  Campbell  for  seven  years  imme- 
diately prior  to  his  death  was  Illinois  member 
of  the  National  Republican  Committee.  In 
1878  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Senate 
in  the  Thirty-first  General  Assembly  and  was 
reelected  in  1882,  serving  two  terms,  eight 
years.  When  Lieutenant-Governor  John  M. 
Hamilton  succeeded  to  the  office  of  governor, 
William  J.  Campbell,  as  president  of  the  Sen- 
ate, was  acting  lieutenant  governor  of  Illinois. 
William  J.  Campbell  was  a  member  of  the 
Chicago,  Illinois  and  American  Bar  Associa- 
tions, was  a  member  of  the  Lawyers  Club  of 


New  York,  the  Chicago  Club,  Union  League 
Club,  Chicago  Athletic  Club,  and  was  a 
Presbyterian. 

William     J.      Campbell     married     Rebecca 
McEldowney,  who  was  born  in  Cook  County, 
Illinois,   October   8,   1851,   and   died   March  8,  .1 
1928,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven.     Both  the 
Campbells  and  McEldowneys  were  Scotch,  but 
they    came    to    America    from    the    North    of 
Ireland.     Her  father,  John  McEldowney,  immi-l 
grated  to  the  United  States  in  1833  and  was 
one    of    the    first    settlers    in    Southern    Cook 
County,  at  what  is  now  Chicago  Heights.     He[ 
and    his   wife  were   the   first   couple   married I 
in  Will  County,  Illinois.  i 

Herbert  J.  Campbell,  one  of  the  five  children! 
of   his   parents,   was   born   at   Blue   Island,    a| 
suburb    of    Chicago,    December    9,    1880.      He! 
attended    public    school    at    Riverside,   Illinois.! 
In  1897  he  was  graduated  from  the  Armour  j 
Institute  of  Technology,  in  1901  took  his  Bach- 
elor's  degree   at  the    University   of   Michigan 
and  then  entered  Northwestern  University  Law 
School   in    Chicago,   where   he   was   graduated 
in  1904.    The  successive  law  firms  with  which 
he  has  been  associated  have  been  Eddy,  Haley 
&   Wette$,   Jeffery,    Ott   &    Campbell,   Jefferyj 
&   Campbell,   Jeffery,   Campbell   &   Clark,   and 
Townley  Wild,  Campbell  &  Clark,  one  of  the} 
large   law   firms   having   offices   at   105    South 
LaSalle    Street. 

Mr.   Campbell  is  a  member  of  the  ChicagoJ 
Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  Associations, 
also    belongs   to    the    Law    Club,    Legal    Club, 
and  is  a  life  member  of  the  Art  Institute  and 
Field  Museum.     He  is  a  member  of  the  Chil  ' 
cago  Club,  University  Club,  Chicago  Literary} 
Club,  Racquet  Club,  Knollwood  Country  Club, 
and  is  a  member  of  Phi  Kappa  Psi  and   Phi 
Delta   Phi   college   fraternities.      He   married! 
October   6,    1921,   Nancy   P.   Lambertson,   wh(j 
was  born  at  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  and  they  now" 
reside  at  Lake  Forest,  Illinois. 

Hon.  Adolph  Elmer  Rouland,  Springfield 
real  estate  man,  has  his  name  closely  assotik 
ated  with  politics  and  public  service  in   San- 
gamon County.  His  is  the  record  of  the  loyal 
son  of  a  very  old  and  influential  Illinois  family. 

Mr.  Rouland  was  born  October  30,  1880, 
in  the  northwest  corner  of  Macoupin  County, 
within  a  mile  of  the  farm  taken  up  as  a  home- 
stead by  his  great-grandfather,  Jasper  Rou- 
land, in  1830,  just  a  century  ago.  Jasper 
Rouland  came  from  Kentucky  and  was  one  of 
the  first  settlers  in  Waverly  Township  of 
Morgan  County,  where  he  lived  out  his  life 
and  where  he  is  buried,  together  with  several 
of  his  descendants.  One  of  his  sons,  Alex 
Rouland,  spent  all  his  life  on  a  farm  a  short 
distance  from  the  original  homestead.  The 
oldest  son  of  Alex  Rouland  is  William  Porter 
Rouland,  whose  home  is  at  Litchfield,  Illinois. 
William  Porter  Rouland  married  a  daughter 
of  Thomas  Jefferson  Edwards,  who  came  from 


ILLINOIS 


101 


North  Carolina  and  settled  in  Morgan  County 
about  1850.  Mr.  A.  E.  Rouland  is  president 
of  the  Edwards  Family  Association,  made  up 
of  descendants  of  Thomas  Jefferson  Edwards. 

A.  E.  Rouland  attended  schools  in  the  rural 
neighborhood  where  he  grew  up  and  was  also 
a  student  in  that  institution  where  the  pupils 
pay  their  own  way,  Blackburn  College  at 
Carlinville.  While  a  student  at  Blackburn, 
in  1899,  Mr.  Rouland  became  acquainted  with 
the  late  Gen.  John  M.  Palmer  and  assisted 
him  in  writing  his  autobiography.  Among 
the  activities  for  which  he  is  to  be  remembered 
was  a  period  of  years  devoted  to  teaching 
school.  Mr.  Rouland  also  has  a  serviceable 
knowledge  of  law,  gained  during  three  years 
when  he  read  law  in  the  office  of  James  M. 
Mahoney,  then  state's  attorney  of  Macoupin 
County. 

His  business  headquarters  at  Springfield 
are  in  the  Reisch  Building,  where  he  has  built 
up  a  successful  organization  for  the  handling 
of  insurance  and  real  estate.  He  served  three 
years  as  secretary  and  treasurer  and  is  a 
director  of  the  Springfield  Real  Estate  Board, 
and  in  1929  was  elected  a  director  of  the 
Illinois  Association  of  Real  Estate  Boards, 
at  whose  annual  convention  in  October,  1929, 
he  was  awarded  the  silver  loving  cup  for 
the  best  speech  on  "My  Home  Town."  Among 
special  projects  which  he  has  been  instru- 
mental in  carrying  out  at  Springfield  should 
be  mentioned  the  Roselawn  Memorial  Park, 
just  east  of  Springfield.  He  is  vice  president 
and  one  of  the  stockholders  of  that  corporation. 

Mr.  Rouland  has  been  prominent  in  fraternal 
affairs,  particularly  in  the  Knights  of  Pythias. 
In  1929  he  was  chosen  royal  vizier  of  the 
Dramatic  Order  of  the  Knights  of  Khorassan. 

Members  of  the  Rouland  family  have  been 
identified  actively  with  the  Democratic  party 
since  the  time  of  Andrew  Jackson.  Mr.  A. 
E.  Rouland  was  making  speeches  for  the  party 
before  he  was  old  enough  to  vote.  He  has 
served  five  years  as  vice  president  of  the  Tri- 
angle Circle  Club,  the  Democratic  Club  of 
Sangamon  County.  In  the  1928  campaign 
he  was  a  member  of  the  executive  committee 
of  the  Democratic  County  Central  Committee 
and  made  over  thirty  speeches  in  behalf  of 
the  presidential  candidate.  During  the  1916 
gubernatorial  campaign  Mr.  Rouland  intro- 
duced Governor  Dunne  at  Maywood,  Illinois, 
to  the  largest  crowd  that  assembled  to  hear 
the  distinguished  jurist  in  that  year. 

In  1929-30  Mr.  Rouland  served  as  overseer 
of  the  poor  in  Capital  Township  of  Sangamon 
County.  He  was  elected  to  that  office  in  the 
spring  of  1929,  after  a  long  deadlock  ;in 
the  Board  of  Supervisors.  After  his  election 
the  Illinois  State  Register  spoke  very  highly 
of  his  qualifications  through  his  experience 
as  an  educator,  humanitarian  and  business 
man  for  the  duties  of  his  office,  and  his  record 
of  administration  fully  justified  the  expecta- 


tions entertained  of  his  giving  an  economic 
and  efficient  handling  of  the  office.  Mr.  Rou- 
land and  family  are  members  of  the  Laurel 
Methodist   Episcopal   Church. 

Mr.  Rouland  married,  May  7,  1902,  Miss 
Bessie  Maude  Clevenger,  of  Carlinville,  Illi- 
nois, where  she  was  reared  and  educated.  Her 
father,  John  R.  Clevenger,  was  for  many  years 
superintendent  of  the  Macoupin  County  Farm. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rouland  have  two  children. 
Ralph  R.  was  educated  in  the  Wilmette,  Illi- 
nois, High  School,  in  the  Atlanta,  Georgia, 
Technological  High  School,  and  had  one  year 
in  the  University  of  Georgia.  He  married 
Annie  Laurie  Jones,  of  Rutledge,  Georgia,  in 
1925,  and  has  a  daughter,  Patsy  Ruth,  born 
in  1928.  The  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rou- 
land is  Mary  Virginia,  wife  of  Hubert  Helmle. 

Henry  A.  Gano,  who  held  the  rank  of 
captain  in  One  Hundred  Thirty-first  Infantry, 
Thirty-third  Division  of  the  American  Expe- 
ditionary Forces  in  the  World  war,  and  who 
is  a  former  brigade  adjutant,  with  the  rank 
of  captain,  on  the  staff  of  Gen.  Abel  Davis, 
of  the  Thirty-third  Division,  is  a  prominent 
and  popular  figure  in  the  affairs  not  only 
of  the  American  Legion  but  also  of  the  Illinois 
National  Guard.  He  is  established  in  the 
successful  practice  of  law  in  Chicago,  with 
offices  at  100  West  Monroe  Street. 

Captain  Gano  was  born  in  Posey  County, 
Indiana,  February  25,  1884,  a  son  of  George 
W.  and  Anna  L.  (Hutchinson)  Gano,  the 
former  of  whom  is  deceased,  and  is  a  grand- 
son of  Henry  B.  Gano,  who  was  born  in 
Pennsylvania  and  who  became  a  pioneer  set- 
tler in  Posey  County,  Indiana,  whence  he 
went  forth  as  a  loyal  soldier  of  the  Union 
in  the  Civil  war,  he  having  been  killed  in 
battle  while  thus  serving.  The  Gano  family, 
of  French  lineage,  was  founded  in  Pennsyl- 
vania in  the  Colonial  period  of  American 
history,  one  branch  of  the  family  having  thence 
moved  to  Virginia,  and  among  the  representa- 
tives of  that  southern  branch  having  been 
the  late  General  Gano  of  Dallas,  Texas,  who 
was  a  distinguished  officer  of  the  Confederate 
forces   in  the   Civil  war. 

Capt.  Henry  A.  Gano  received  the  advan- 
tages of  the  Indiana  public  schools  and  as 
a  youth  he  learned  telegraphy  and  initiated 
service  as  a  telegraph  operator.  For  the 
Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railroad  he 
eventually  gave  service  as  train  dispatcher, 
and  subsequently  he  held  a  similar  position 
with  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  In  the 
meanwhile  he  perfected  plans  for  following 
the  course  of  his  ambition,  which  was  to  pre- 
pare himself  for  the  legal  profession,  and 
he  thus  became  a  student  in  the  Kent  College 
of  Law,  Chicago,  in  which  institution  he  was 
graduated  as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1910. 
He  thus  received  his  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Laws,  with  virtually  concurrent  admission  to 


102 


ILLINOIS 


the  Illinois  bar,  and  in  1911  he  assumed  the 
position  of  house  attorney  for  the  great  Fair 
department  store  of  Chicago.  Later  he 
engaged  in  the  independent  practice  of  his 
profession  in  this  city,  and  his  law  business 
here  continued  to  receive  his  close  attention 
until  the  nation  entered  the  World  war  and 
caused  him  to  make  quick  response  to  the 
call  of  patriotism.  In  April,  1917,  the  month 
in  which  the  United  States  became  formally 
involved  in  the  great  war,  Mr.  Gano  volun- 
teered for  service  in  the  United  States  Army 
and  enlisted  in  the  famous  old  First  Infantry 
Regiment  of  the  Illinois  National  Guard,  this 
command  having  been  inducted  into  the  Fed- 
eral service  as  the  One  Hundred  Thirty-first 
Infantry  and  having  been  assigned  to  the 
Thirty-third  Division.  With  this  division  Mr. 
Gano  entered  active  overseas  service,  and  the 
history  of  the  war  must  ever  give  high  recog- 
nition to  the  splendid  service  that  the  division 
gave  on  the  battle-torn  fields  of  France.  The 
subject  of  this  review  won  promotion  to  the 
rank  of  captain  and  with  his  command  he 
continued  in  active  service  at  the  front  until 
the  armistice  brought  the  war  to  a  close.  He 
was  then  assigned  to  the  department  of  the 
judge  advocate  general,  and  in  France  he 
received  his   honorable   discharge   October   31, 

1919,  he  having  soon  afterward  been  retained 
by  the  United  States  Department  of  State 
as  a  legal  adviser  to  the  Inter-Allied  High 
Commission,  in  session  at  Coblenz,  Germany. 
Captain   Gano   returned   to   Chicago   in   June, 

1920,  and  here  he  resumed  the  active  practice 
of  his  profession,  in  which  he  controls  a 
substantial  and  representative  law  business 
of  general  order. 

Captain  Gano  has  not  abated  his  deep  inter- 
est in  military  affairs  and  in  his  old  war 
comrades.  He  is  a  past  commander  of  the 
fine  Chipilly  Post  of  the  American  Legion, 
and  in  the  Illinois  National  Guard  he  is  now 
brigade  adjutant  on  the  staff  of  Gen.  Abel 
Davis,  of  the  Thirty-third  Division,  in  which 
connection  he  retains  the  rank  of  captain. 
In  the  Masonic  fraternity  he  is  a  past  master 
of  Kenwood  Lodge  No.  800,  A.  F.  and  A.  M., 
and  Woodlawn  Commandery,  K.  T.,  besides 
being  a  noble  of  Medinah  Temple,  A.  A.  0. 
N.  M.  S.  The  Captain  has  membership  in 
the  Chicago  and  Illinois  State  Bar  Associations 
and   is   a   Republican. 

Hon.  George  M.  Brinkerhoff  was  for  many 
years  a  power  in  Illinois  politics,  and  his  name 
was  closely  linked  with  public  affairs  and 
important  business  interests  in  the  City  of 
Springfield  from  the  close  of  the  Civil  war 
until  his  death  in  1928. 

He  was  born  near  Gettysburg,  Pennsylvania, 
August  20,  1839,  son  of  John  Brinkerhoff, 
also  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  who  after  the 
death  of  his  wife  joined  his  son  at  Springfield. 
George  M.  Brinkerhoff  married  at  Springfield, 


August  4,  1862,  Isabelle  Gibson  Hawley,  who 
was  born  in  Springfield  July  21,  1843,  daughter 
of  Eliphalet  Hawley.  The  later  was  born  in 
Albany,  New  York,  May  30,  1816,  and  came 
to  Springfield  with  his  parents  in  1822,  the 
journey  to  the  West  requiring  more  than  a 
year.  At  that  time  travel  to  the  West  was 
over  trails  and  by  river  courses,  there  being 
no  canals,  railroads  or  improved  highways. 

George  M.  Brinkerhoff  graduated  from  Penn- 
sylvania College  of  Gettysburg  in  1859,  and 
in  the  same  fall  came  to  Springfield,  Illinois, 
to  teach  Latin  in  a  college.  He  was  connected 
with  the  college  for  two  or  three  years,  and 
for  several  years  was  comptroller  of  the  City 
of  Springfield.  He  was  also  employed  in  the 
state  auditor's  office  and  afterwards  studied 
law  with  James  C.  Conkling  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar.  However,  he  made  little  effort 
to  enter  regular  practice.  While  in  the  state 
auditor's  office  the  Legislature  passed  the  first 
laws  requiring  insurance  companies  to  make 
regular  reports  to  the  state  auditor,  and  Mr. 
Brinkerhoff  had  charge  of  the  department 
handling  these  reports  and  drew  up  the  forms 
which  are  still  used  in  making  similar  reports. 
Mr.  Brinkerhoff  had  the  honor  of  handling 
in  the  routine  of  his  office  the  only  check 
ever  written  in  favor  of  General  Grant  by  the 
State  of  Illinois,  and  placed  his  O.  K.  upon 
that  paper.  It  was  for  pay  for  Grant's  services 
as  drill  master.  After  leaving  the  state  aud- 
itor's office  Mr.  Brinkerhoff  represented  eastern 
insurance  companies  in  loaning  money  in  Illi- 
nois, handling  loans  for  the  Aetna  Life  and 
Phoenix  Life  companies.  He  also  conducted 
a  general  farm  loan  agency  for  several  years. 
Mr.  Brinkerhoff  helped  organize  and  became 
the  first  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Spring- 
field Iron  Company,  which  became  the  largest 
organization  of  its  kind  in  Central  Illinois. 
After  resigning  his  active  connection  with 
this  company  he  gave  all  his  time  to  his  loan 
and  investment  business.  About  1886  his  health 
broke  down  and  after  recovering  he  turned 
his  attention  to  conducting  a  greenhouse  busi- 
ness, built  up  a  large  plant,  and  this  was 
his  line  of  work  until  he  finally  retired. 

Mr.  Brinkerhoff  was  a  delegate  to  several 
national  Republican  conventions  and  was  sec- 
retary of  the  Chicago  convention  which  nom- 
inated James  A.  Garfield.  He  was  one  of 
the  306  delegates  who  remained  loyal  to  the 
last  in  the  effort  to  give  President  Grant  the 
nomination  for  a  third  term.  Both  he  and 
his  wife  were  active  members  of  the  Second 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Springfield.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  George 
M.  Brinkerhoff  and  wife  had  six  children, 
four  of  whom  are  living:  John  H.;  Miss 
Marion  B.,  of  Springfield;  George  M.,  Jr.;  and 
Miss   Bessie   W.,   of   Springfield. 

John  H.  Brinkerhoff  was  born  April  28, 
1866,  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  Spring- 
field  and  then  joined   his  father  in  business. 


ILLINOIS 


103 


He  has  carried  on  the  Brinkerhoff  investment 
business  since  his  father  retired. 

He  married  Georgie  L.  Freeman,  a  native 
of  Springfield.  Her  father,  Norman  L.  Free- 
man, was  an  able  lawyer,  but  best  known  for 
his  services  as  Supreme  Court  reporter.  He 
compiled  101  volumes  of  Illinois  reports.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  John  H.  Brinkerhoff  have  two  chil- 
dren: George  Norman  and  John  W.,  who  are 
both  associated  with  their  father  in  business. 

Don  Garrison  in  a  business  way  has  been 
well  known  in  Central  Illinois  as  an  insur- 
ance man  for  a  number  of  years.  An  appoint- 
ment from  former  Governor  Small  brought 
him  to  Springfield,  where  he  is  assistant  di- 
rector of  the  department  of  public  works  and 
buildings  and  is  president  of  the  American 
Life  of  Illinois,  an  Illinois  life  insurance  com- 
pany located  in  Springfield. 

Mr.  Garrison  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Schuy- 
ler County,  Illinois,  June  2,  1884,  son  of 
Charles  and  Rosa  (Kinnear)  Garrison,  both 
natives  of  this  state  and  residents  of  Schuyler 
County.  His  father  is  a  retired  farmer,  with 
home  in  Rushville.  Mr.  Garrison's  paternal 
grandfather,  Henry  Garrison,  was  one  of  the 
early  settlers  of  Schuyler  County.  The  ma- 
ternal grandfather,  Aurelius  Kinnear,  came 
to  Illinois  from  Indiana.  Charles  Garrison 
is  a  Republican,  a  member  of  the  Baptist 
Church  and  his  wife  is  a  Methodist.  They 
have  two  children,  Floyd  and  Don,  the  former 
a  resident  of  South  Chicago. 

Don  Garrison  was  twelve  years  of  age  when 
he  left  the  farm  and  completed  his  high  school 
education  at  Rushville.  He  attended  the  busi- 
ness college  there  and  after  leaving  school 
was  clerk  for  six  years  in  the  Bank  of  Rush- 
ville, the  oldest  banking  institution  in  the 
state.  For  eleven  years  he  was  engaged  in 
the  general  real  estate,  loan  and  insurance 
business  at  Rushville  and  during  that  time 
took  a  special  interest  in  life  insurance  work, 
representing  the  Central  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany of  Chicago. 

Mr.  Garrison  for  ten  years  has  been  assist- 
ant director  of  public  works  and  buildings 
with  offices  in  the  state  capitol  at  Springfield. 
His  time  is  fully  taken  up  with  the  duties  of 
this  position.  In  1929  he  organized  the  Ameri- 
can Life  of  Illinois,  and  became  its  president. 
This  company  is  operating  on  a  full  reserve 
basis  and  writes  a  complete  line  of  standard 
policies. 

Mr.  Garrison  married  in  1912  Miss  Sarah 
Young,  a  native  of  Illinois,  who  attended 
school  at  Rushville.  They  are  members  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  He  was  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  keeper  of  records  and  seals  in 
his  Knights  of  Pythias  Lodge.  He  is  a  Re- 
publican, and  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Aldermen  while  living  at  Rushville  and  secre- 
tary of  the  County  Republican  Central 
Committee. 


Benjamin  P.  Epstein  has,  in  connection 
with  various  important  services,  proved  his 
exceptional  professional  ability  and  has  gained 
rank  as  one  of  the  distinctly  representative 
members  of  the  bar  of  his  native  city  and 
state.  In  the  practice  of  law  in  Chicago  Mr. 
Epstein  maintains  his  offices  at  110  South 
Dearborn  Street,  and  his  home  is  established 
at  5519  Hyde  Park  Boulevard. 

Mr.  Epstein  was  born  in  Chicago  on  the 
19th  of  July,  1888,  and  is  a  son  of  Louis  and 
Jennie  Epstein.  He  attended  the  public  schools 
of  Chicago,  graduating  from  the  Medill  High 
School  in  the  year  1905.  In  the  fall  of  1906 
he  enrolled  as  a  student  in  the  Northwestern 
University  School  of  Law  and  was  graduated 
as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1909,  his  reception 
of  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  having 
forthwith  been  followed  by  his  admission  to 
the  bar  of  Illinois.  From  1909  until  1914 
Mr.  Epstein  was  associated  in  the  practice 
of  his  profession  with  Jacob  Marx,  as  senior 
member  of  the  firm  of  Epstein  &  Marx,  and 
in  the  latter  year  he  was  appointed  assistant 
United  States  district  attorney  for  the  North- 
ern District  of  Illinois.  Of  this  office  he  con- 
tinued the  incumbent  until  1920,  and  within  his 
term  of  service  as  assistant  and  then  as  first 
assistant  district  attorney  of  this  federal  dis- 
trict he  made  a  record  of  success  in  connection 
with  several  cases  of  major  importance,  includ- 
ing the  famous  Pan  Motor  Company,  Blunt 
and  Dorsey  cases,  in  each  of  which  he  brought 
convictions.  Shortly  after  his  retiring  from 
this  office  Mr.  Epstein  was  appointed,  in  1921, 
special  counsel  for  the  United  States  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  Consumers  Packing  Com- 
pany and  its  officers,  the  result  being  the 
conviction  of  fifteen  defendants  for  the  fraud- 
ulent use  of  the  United  States  mails.  In 
1920  Mr.  Epstein  had  been  appointed  special 
master  in  chancery  of  the  United  States  Dis- 
trict Court  in  connection  with  the  receivership 
of  the  Aurora  &  Elgin  Railroad.  Within  the 
past  ten  years  he  had  a  large  and  important 
practice  in  the  federal  courts,  and  in  1929 
he  was  appointed  master  in  chancery  of  the 
Superior  Court  of  Cook  County. 

Mr.  Epstein  accords  loyal  allegiance  to  the 
Democratic  party,  and  in  1912  he  was  chair- 
man of  the  Woodrow  Wilson  College  Men's 
League.  He  holds  membership  in  the  Chicago 
Bar  Association  and  the  Illinois  State  Bar 
Association,  and  while  a  student  in  North- 
western University  he  became  affiliated  with 
Delta  Sigma  Rho,  the  honorary  fraternity 
whose  members  have  represented  their  respec- 
tive colleges  or  universities  in  inter-college 
debate.  Mr.  Epstein  is  a  member  of  the 
Standard  Club,  and  the  Collegiate  Club  of 
Chicago,  representative  organizations  of  the 
city. 

September  2,  1915,  recorded  the  marriage 
of  Mr.  Epstein  to  Miss  Gabrielle  Freschl,  who 
likewise  was  born  and  reared  in  Chicago  and 


104 


ILLINOIS 


who  is  a  daughter  of  William  and  Emma 
Freschl.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Epstein  have  two  chil- 
dren, William  F.,  born  at  Chicago  January  16, 
1917,  and  Robert  Louis,  on  the  5th  of  Novem- 
ber,   1920. 

John  J.  McMahon  has  given  to  his  native 
city  and  county  two  intervals  of  service  in 
the  office  of  state's  attorney,  and  since  his 
second  retirement  from  this  position,  in  1922, 
he  has  continued  in  the  successful  private 
practice  of  his  profession  in  Chicago,  where 
he  has  a  representative  clientele  and  a  secure 
vantage-ground  as  one  of  the  able  and  suc- 
cessful younger  members  of  the  bar  of  Cook 
County,  while  his  is  the  further  prestige  of 
having  represented  his  native  city  in  gallant 
overseas  service  in  the  World  war.  His  law 
office  is  established  at  77  West  Washington 
Street  and  his  home  at  222  East  Chestnut 
Street. 

John  J.  McMahon  was  born  in  Chicago  on 
the  25th  of  January,  1894,  and  here  likewise 
occurred  the  birth  of  his  parents,  John  J. 
and  Pauline  (Ferber)  McMahon.  After  his 
course  of  study  in  one  of  the  well  ordered 
Catholic  parochial  schools  of  Chicago  John  J. 
McMahon  attended  St.  Ignatius  College  of 
Chicago  until  1910,  in  which  year  he  was 
matriculated  in  the  law  department  of  Notre 
Dame  University,  South  Bend,  Indiana.  In 
that  institution  he  was  graduated  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  class  of  1914,  his  reception  of  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  having  been  fol- 
lowed, in  1915,  by  his  admission  to  the  Illinois 
bar  and  soon  afterward  by  his  appointment 
to  the  position  of  assistant  state's  attorney 
of  Cook  County.  His  service  continued  through 
the  ensuing  year,  and  in  1917,  within  a  short 
time  after  the  nation's  entrance  into  the  World 
war,  he  subordinated  all  personal  interests 
to  the  call  of  patriotism  and  enlisted  for  service 
in  the  United  States  Army,  he  having  gained 
the  rank  of  first  lieutenant  in  the  One  Hun- 
dred Thirty-first  Infantry,  with  which  com- 
mand he  went  to  France,  where  the  regiment 
became  a  part  of  the  Thirty-third  Division 
of  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces  and 
where  he  continued  in  active  service  until  the 
now  historic  armistice  brought  the  war  to  a 
close.  In  due  course  Lieutenant  McMahon 
returned  to  his  native  land  and  received  his 
honorable  discharge.  He  then  resumed  his 
professional  activities  in  Chicago,  where  in 
1919  he  was  again  appointed  assistant  state's 
attorney  of  Cook  County.  In  this  office  he 
continued  his  effective  service  until  1922,  and 
since  that  year  he  has  given  his  attention  to 
the  general  practice  of  his  profession,  in  which 
his  success  stands  as  the  best  voucher  for  his 
ability  and  for  his  hold  upon  popular  confidence 
and  esteem  in  his  native  city. 

Mr.  McMahon  is  found  loyally  arrayed  in 
the  ranks  of  the  Democratic  party,  his  religious 
faith  is  that  of  the  Catholic  Church,  he  is  a 


member  of  the  Lake  Shore  Athletic  Club, 
and  his  professional  affiliations  are  with  the 
Chicago  Bar  Association,  the  Illinois  State 
Bar  Association  and  the  American  Bar 
Association. 

On  the  19th  of  April,  1921,  was  solemnized 
the  marriage  of  Mr.  McMahon  to  Miss  Eleanor 
Probst,  and  the  two  children  of  this  union  are; 
Joan  Clare,  born  January  1,  1923,  and  John, 
born  January  12,   1930. 

Robert  W.  Johnson,  Springfield  attorney! 
is  a  native  of  Illinois,  a  son  of  a  physician! 
but  from  the  time  he  left  high  school  he  wal 
determined  to  make  his  own  way,  and  his  worlj 
brought  him  a  college  education,  paid  hil 
expenses  in  law  school,  and  when  he  begad 
practice  he  had  an  equipment  of  business] 
experience  such  as  few  men  have  when  theJ 
are  awarded  a  professional  diploma. 

Mr.  Johnson  was  born  at  Assumption,  119 
nois,  May  8,  1888,  son  of  Robert  W.  and] 
Augusta  A.  (Hinton)  Johnson.  His  father, 
was  born  at  Winchester,  Virginia,  and  hil 
mother  at  Oconee,  Illinois,  and  she  now  resides? 
at  Pekin  in  this  state.  Robert  W.  Johnson 
was  educated  in  Rush  Medical  College,  firs! 
practiced  at  Oconee,  Illinois,  for  two  yearsj 
and  from  1876  until  his  death  in  1921  lived 
at  Assumption,  one  of  the  best  loved  citizens] 
of  that  community.  He  was  an  able  doctor,; 
and  his  chief  thought  at  all  times  was  thj 
service  he  could  render  in  a  professional 
capacity  rather  than  the  rewards  of  a  pron 
fessional  career.  He  and  his  wife  were  earnest 
church  workers  as  Presbyterians,  and  he  was] 
a  Democrat.  Of  their  family  of  eleven  chil-j 
dren  ten  are  living,  Robert  W.  being  the  sixth 
child. 

Robert  W.  Johnson  attended  schools  at 
Assumption,  through  high  school,  and  during 
his  high  school  course  learned  the  printer's 
trade.  Altogether  he  followed  printing  as 
a  business  for  about  six  years.  When  he 
entered  Shurtleff  College  at  Upper  Alton  he 
planned  to  pay  all  his  living  expenses,  and 
part  of  the  time  he  worked  as  a  printer, 
waited  on  tables,  and  was  also  an  employee 
in  a  glass  factory  at  Alton.  He  made  a  cred- 
itable record  in  his  studies  and  was  gradu- 
ated in  1912,  after  which  he  entered  the  Law 
School  of  Illinois  Wesleyan  University  at 
Bloomington  and  was  graduated  in  1916.  Mr. 
Johnson  for  a  time  was  claim  agent  for  thj 
Illinois  Traction  Company  and  in  1918  began 
practice  at  Springfield,  with  A.  M.  FitzgeraU 
and  from  1922  until  1930  he  was  senior  part- 
ner in  the  law  firm  of  Johnson  &  Pefferle. 
He  is  now  senior  partner  of  the  law  firm  of 
Johnson  &  Davison,  with  offices  in  the  Reisch 
Building.  Mr.  Johnson  for  two  years  was 
assistant  state's  attorney  of  Sangamon  County. 
He  is  a  well  educated,  resourceful  lawyer, 
and  has  won  his  way  to  a  well  defined  leader- 
ship  in   his   profession.      He   is   a   member  of 


A-YlfdcLMce^  <&  9r^.  „ 


ILLINOIS 


105 


the  Sangamon  County  Bar  Association,  a 
Republican  in  politics,  a  member  of  the  Pres- 
'byterian  Church,  and  his  hobby  is  fishing:  and 
hunting.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Izaak  Walton 
League. 

Mr.  Johnson  married  Miss  Martha  Stevens, 
of  Sangamon  County.  Her  father,  William 
Stevens,  was  a  farmer  and  lawyer.  Mrs.  John- 
son died  in  1928,  leaving  four  children:  Robert 
William  and  Joseph  Frederick,  both  attending 
school  at  Springfield,  Martha  Ellen  and  Walter 
Edward. 

Josiah  R.  Balliet,  one  of  the  venerable 
and  honored  citizens  and  substantial  capital- 
ists of  Boone  County,  is  living  virtually  retired 
in  the  City  of  Belvidere,  judicial  center  of 
the  county.  Though  he  celebrated  in  February, 
1931,  his  eighty-third  birthday  anniversary, 
Mr.  Balliet  has  the  mental  and  physical  vigor 
of  a  man  many  years  his  junior,  gives  a 
careful  supervision  to  his  various  capitalistic 
interests,  continues  to  be  actively  interested 
in  communal  affairs  in  general,  and  vigorously 
applies  himself  to  his  favorite  game,  that 
of  golf.  He  was  born  and  reared  in  Illinois, 
a  representative  of  a  sterling  pioneer  family, 
and  much  of  the  civic  and  material  develop- 
ment and  progress  of  the  state  has  been  com- 
passed within  the  period  of  his  memory. 

Mr.  Balliet  was  born  in  DeKalb  County, 
Illinois,  February  26,  1848,  and  is  a  son  of 
(John  and  Hannah  (Sarver)  Balliet,  who  were 
born  and  reared  in  Pennsylvania,  where  their 
marriage  was  solemnized  and  whence  they 
came  to  Illinois  about  the  year  1845.  John 
Balliet  acquired  land  along  the  line  of  DeKalb 
and  McHenry  counties  and  there  reclaimed 
and  developed  a  productive  farm  estate.  He 
was  a  sterling  pioneer  who  did  well  his  part 
in  the  march  of  development  and  progress 
in  that  section  of  the  state,  but  he  and  his 
wife  were  revered  ctizens  of  the  State  of 
Iowa  at  the  time  of  their  death,  whence  they 
had  removed.  Prior  to  coming  to  Illinois 
Mr.  Balliet  had  been  a  stage-driver  in  Penn- 
sylvania, the  family,  of  French  extraction, 
having  been  founded  in  the  old  Keystone  State 
in  the  Colonial  era  of  our  national  history. 
Of  the  eleven  children  born  to  John  and 
Hannah  (Sarver)  Balliet  only  four  are  living: 
Monroe,  eldest  of  the  surviving  children,  is 
ninety-three  years  of  age  in  1931  and  resides 
in  the  City  of  Des  Moines,  Iowa.  He  was 
for  many  years  a  successful  carpenter  and 
builder,  and  in  earlier  years  was  a  teacher 
of  singing  schools,  his  musical  talent  having 
been  exceptional.  George,  next  younger  of 
the  surviving  children,  is  eighty-five  years 
of  age  and  is  a  retired  farmer  residing  at 
McGregor,  Clayton  County,  Iowa.  Josiah  R., 
of  this  review,  is  the  next  younger,  and  Eliza- 
beth is  a  widow  who  maintains  her  home  at 
Ames,  Iowa.  John  Balliet  eventually  removed 
from  Illinois  to  Iowa,  where  likewise  he  gained 


pioneer  prestige  and  where  he  became  the 
owner  of  four  large  and  valuable  farms.  When 
he  arrived  in  Illinois  his  material  possessions 
were  summed  up  in  seventy-five  cents  in  cash, 
a  team  of  horses,  one  ox  and  a  wagon.  He 
here  purchased  land  at  two  dollars  an  acre. 
Passing  years  marked  his  achievement  of  sub- 
stantial prosperity  through  his  assiduous  and 
well  ordered  activities  as  agriculturist  and 
stock-grower,  and  he  was  known  and  honored 
for  his  ability  and  for  his  sterling  attributes 
of  character.  He  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  Re- 
publican party  soon  after  its  organization  and 
ever  afterward  continued  a  loyal  supporter 
of  its  cause.  He  and  his  wife  were  zealous 
members  of  the  Congregational  Church.  His 
father,  Stephen  Balliet,  passed  his  entire  life 
in  Pennsylvania,  where  the  original  American 
representatives  of  the  family  made  settlement 
upon  coming  from  their  native  France,  and 
records  extant  show  that  members  of  the 
family  served  as  patriot  soldiers  in  the  war 
of  the  Revolution.  Maternal  ancestors  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  likewise  were  soldiers 
in  that  great  struggle  for  national  inde- 
pendence. 

The  youthful  education  of  Josiah  R.  Balliet 
was  acquired  mainly  in  pioneer  schools  at 
Woodstock,  McHenry  County,  Illinois,  and  that 
he  profited  by  the  advantages  thus  afforded 
was  shown  in  his  subsequent  three  years  of 
effective  service  as  a  teacher  in  the  public 
schools — mainly  rural  district  schools.  While 
teaching  winter  terms  of  school  he  had  found 
employment  in  the  intervening  intervals  as 
clerk  in  a  music  store.  He  eventually  assumed 
a  local  agency  for  the  Singer  Sewing  Machine 
Company,  at  Belvidere,  and  he  later  added 
musical  instruments  and  merchandise  to  his 
business,  which  is  still  continued  and  which 
gives  him  precedence  as  the  oldest  business 
man  of  Belvidere,  where  his  activities  have 
covered  a  period  of  more  than  sixty  years. 
He  is  now  a  heavy  stockholder  in  the  National 
Sewing  Machine  Company  and  was  mainly 
instrumental  in  obtaining  for  Belvidere  the 
large  factory  of  this  corporation,  of  which 
he  has  been  a  director  from  the  time  it  here 
initiated  business.  He  was  also  instrumental 
in  starting  the  first  electric  light  plant  in 
Belvidere  and  also  in  the  organization  of 
the  second  independent  telephone  company  in 
the  State  of  Illinois,  at  Belvidere,  of  which 
he  was  president  and  which  continued  in  suc- 
cessful operation  for  thirty-four  years.  He 
was  also  active  in  securing  the  location  at 
Belvidere  of  the  Gossard  Corset  Company. 
Mr.  Balliet  has  not  only  achieved  large  success 
in  his  business  activities  but  has  also  proved 
at  all  times  a  loyal,  liberal  and  progressive 
citizen,  his  being  secure  place  in  the  confidence 
and  good  will  of  all  who  know  him.  His 
political  allegiance  is  given  to  the  Republican 
party  and  his  religious  views  are  in  harmony 
with   the   faith   of   the    Presbyterian    Church, 


106 


ILLINOIS 


of  which  his  wife  likewise  was  an  earnest 
member  during  many  years  prior  to  her  death. 

On  the  4th  of  February,  1895,  Mr.  Balliet 
received  the  degree  of  entered  apprentice  in 
a  lodge  of  Ancient  Free  and  Accepted  Masons, 
and  in  the  same  he  was  raised  in  the  same 
year  to  the  sublime  degree  of  master  mason. 
He  served  four  years  as  commander  of  the 
Commandery  of  Knights  Templar  in  the  City 
of  Rockford,  and  he  is  an  honorary  member 
of  Commandery  No.  19  in  the  City  of  Chicago, 
where  likewise  is  maintained  his  affiliation 
with  the  Red  Cross  of  Constantine.  In  the 
Scottish  Rite  of  the  time-honored  fraternity 
Mr.  Balliet  received  in  1910  the  thirty-third 
and  ultimate  degree.  In  his  home  community 
he  is  a  member  of  the  Belmar  Country  Club 
and  on  its  links  finds  opportunity  to  indulge 
in  his  favorite  game,  golf.  In  former  years 
he  enjoyed  periodical  hunting  and  fishing  trips, 
and  he  has  traveled  extensively  throughout 
the  United  States.  Mr.  Balliet  is  one  of  the 
grand  old  men  of  Boone  County  and  is  emi- 
nently entitled  to  representation  in  this  history 
of  his  native  state. 

The  year  1874  marked  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Balliet  to  Miss  Mary  L.  Detrick,  who  was 
born  and  reared  at  Belvidere  and  whose  father 
was  one  of  the  honored  pioneers  of  Boone 
County.  The  devoted  companionship  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Balliet  was  continued  during  the 
long  period  of  fifty-six  years,  and  the  gracious 
ties  were  severed  only  when  the  loved  wife 
was  called  to  the  life  eternal,  her  death  having 
occurred   June   8,   1930. 

Frank  Nathaniel  Evans,  M.  D.,  came  to 
Springfield  in  1913,  and  in  his  profession  has 
won  enviable  distinction,  not  only  in  general 
practice  but  as  a  specialist  in  the  field  of 
internal   medicine   and  urology. 

Doctor  Evans  was  born  at  Emerson,  Iowa, 
May  11,  1888,  son  of  Marion  L.  and  Henrietta 
A.  (Tubbs)  Evans.  His  grandfather,  John 
Evans,  was  a  native  of  Ohio,  came  to  Illinois 
in  1834  and  in  1849  went  west  to  California. 
Later  he  returned  to  Illinois,  and  spent  the 
rest  of  his  life  as  a  farmer  and  cattle  man. 
Doctor  Evans'  maternal  grandfather,  L.  W. 
Tubbs,  a  native  of  Michigan,  was  also  a  Cali- 
fornia forty-niner.  After  his  return  he  settled 
at  Malvern,  Iowa,  where  he  raised  cattle  and 
conducted  a  farm.  Marion  L.  Evans  was  born 
at  Decorah,  Illinois,  and  his  wife  at  Malvern, 
Iowa,  and  they  reside  at  Emerson  in  that 
state,  where  the  former  is  still  active  in  busi- 
ness as  a  banker  and  cattle  breeder.  He  is 
seventy-two  and  his  wife  sixty-six  years  of 
age.  He  is  a  Baptist,  while  she  is  a  Methodist, 
and  fraternally  he  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity  and  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  and  has  always 
taken  a  deep  interest  in  civic  affairs  and  in 
Republican  politics. 

Doctor  Evans  was  the  third  in  a  family  of 
six    children,    five    of    whom    are    living.      He 


received  his  early  schooling  at  Emerson,  Iowa, 
and  in  1906  graduated  from  the  Shattuck 
Military  Academy  at  Faribault,  Minnesota. 
The  year  1906-07  he  spent  in  travel  in  Europe. 
In  1907  he  entered  the  medical  department 
of  the  University  of  Michigan,  where  he  was 
graduated  M.  D.  in  1911.  Following  his  grad- 
uation he  spent  a  year  as  surgical  assistant 
to  Doctor  Patton  at  Springfield.  In  order  to 
complete  the  most  thorough  training  possible 
before  engaging  in  private  practice  he  went 
abroad  and  during  1912-13  was  a  graduate 
student  at  Berlin  and  Vienna.  Doctor  Evans 
in  June,  1913,  returned  to  Springfield  and 
again  became  associated  with  Doctor  Patton. 
His  practice  is  now  largely  limited  to  internal 
medicine  and  urology.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Sangamon  County,  Illinois  State,  Missis- 
sippi Valley  and  American  Medical  Associ- 
ations. 

Doctor  Evans  married,  March  12,  1919,  Miss 
Gertrude  L.  Maw,  who  was  born  at  London, 
England.  They  were  married  in  England. 
Their  two  children  are  Mary  May  and  Wini- 
fred Marion.  Doctor  Evans  is  a  member  of 
the  Fir^t  Presbyterian  Church  of  Springfield. 
He  is  a  York  and  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and 
Shriner,  member  of  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  and 
the  Phi  Kappa  Psi.  In  October,  1917,  he 
was  commissioned  a  medical  officer,  receiving 
special  training  at  Camp  McClelland  at  Annis- 
ton,  Alabama,  for  four  months  was  on  duty 
at  Fort  McPherson,  Georgia,  and  went  overseas 
with  the  rank  of  captain  and  at  the  close  of 
the  war  was  chief  of  the  medical  service  of 
Camp  Hospital  No.  40  at  Liverpool,  England. 
He  returned  home  May  18,  1919,  and  was 
granted  an  honorable  discharge  on  May  22. 
Doctor  Evans  is  a  member  of  the  Illini  Coun- 
try Club,  the  Sangamo  Club,  the  Mid-Day 
Luncheon  Club  and  is  a  Republican.  His 
recreations  are  hunting,  fishing  and  golf. 

Rev.  John  Theophilus  Thomas,  pastor  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Springfield, 
is  an  eloquent  and  gifted  preacher,  earnest 
in  everything  he  undertakes,  and  possessing 
many  of  those  qualifications  for  leadership 
which  are  so  much  in  demand  today  in  the 
Christian  ministry. 

Doctor  Thomas  was  born  at  Bristol,  Ten- 
nessee, February  14,  1878,  and  in  the  paternal 
line  is  of  Welsh  ancestry.  His  great-grand- 
father, John  Thomas,  came  from  Cardiff, 
Wales,  first  locating  in  Baltimore  and  later 
going  to  Tennessee.  His  son,  Frederick 
Thomas,  was  born  near  Bristol,  Tennessee, 
and  owned  a  large  amount  of  land  in  that 
state  and  was  accounted  well-to-do.  John 
T.  Thomas,  Sr.,  father  of  Doctor  Thomas  of 
Springfield,  was  born  at  Bristol,  Tennessee, 
and  died  in  1916.  He  was  a  Confederate 
soldier  under  General  Price  and  was  slightly 
wounded  in  one  battle  and  for  a  time  was  a 
prisoner  of  war  at  Fort  Scott,  Kansas.     He 


ILLINOIS 


107 


was  a  great-nephew  of  Gen.  George  H.  Thomas, 
ithe  Virginian  who  remained  loyal  to  the  Union 
cause  and  was  one  of  the  most  perfect  exam- 
ples of  a  soldier  and  man  among  all  the  dis- 
tinguished leaders  of  both  sides.  The  mother 
of  Doctor  Thomas  was  Hannah  Stanley 
Thomas,  who  was  born  in  Athens,  Ohio,  and 
is  now  past  eighty -two  years  of  age,  a  resident 
of  Oklahoma  City.  Her  father,  Jacob  Stanley, 
was  born  in  England  and  was  an  early  settler 
in  Southeastern  Ohio  and  at  one  time  held 
the  office  of  judge  at  Athens.  John  T.  Thomas, 
Sr.,  was  a  stock  man  and  farmer,  a  Democrat 
in  politics  and  took  part  in  many  local  and 
(States  campaigns  in  Tennessee.  He  held  the 
office  of  county  assessor.  He  was  a  warm 
adherent  of  that  great  orator  and  statesman 
Bob  Taylor  of  Tennessee. 

Rev.  John  T.  Thomas  was  educated  in  the 
^Sweetwater  Military  College  at  Sweetwater, 
Tennessee,  in  King  College  at  Bristol  and 
Sin  1901  was  graduated  from  the  McCormick 
.Theological  Seminary  of  Chicago.  His  first 
active  charge  was  at  Canon  City,  Colorado, 
(where  he  remained  six  and  a  half  years  and 
jfor  two  years  of  that  time  was  assistant 
chaplain  of  the  Colorado  State  Penitentiary. 
Following  that  he  was  western  secretary  for 
Ithe  Federal  Council  of  Churches,  with  head- 
quarters at  Denver.  For  four  years  Doctor 
iThomas  was  pastor  of  Westminster  Church 
at  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  four  years  at 
|the  First  Church  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and 
then,  in  1918,  he  came  to  Springfield  as  pastor 
jof  the  First  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Spring- 
field is  one  of  the  oldest  churches  of  any 
denomination  in  the  state.  The  congregation 
Was  organized  in  1828.  It  has  never  been 
without  a  minister  and  in  104  years  only  eight 
pastors  have  served.  The  church  has  a  mem- 
bership of  1340  and  has  long  been  one  of  the 
most  flourishing  congregations  in  the  city. 
The  present  church  edifice  was  erected  in  1866, 
and  has  a  capacity  of  800  in  the  auditorium. 

Doctor  Thomas  married  in  1901  Miss  Ethel 
Scott,  of  Knoxville,  Tennessee.  She  was  edu- 
cated in  the  University  of  Tennessee  and  is 
|a  daughter  of  J.  Foster  Scott,  of  a  prominent 
(Tennessee  family.  Her  father  was  a  brick 
manufacturer.  Representatives  of  four  gen- 
erations of  her  family  are  buried  in  the  ceme- 
tery at  Knoxville.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Thomas 
had  four  children,  the  oldest,  Theodore,  grad- 
uating from  the  University  of  Illinois  in  1925. 
He  died  in  1926,  just  at  the  entrance  of  a 
promising  manhood.  The  son  Scott  was  edu- 
cated at  the  Univeristy  of  Illinois  and  is 
(now  with  the  Illinois  Power  Company.  Stanley 
[attended  the  University  of  Colorado  and  is 
now  a  student  in  Northwestern  University 
Law  School,  and  Robert  Lee  is  a  graduate 
of  the  class  of  1930  in  high  school  and  is 
now  a  student  in  the  University  of  Colorado. 


Doctor  Thomas  is  a  York  and  Scottish  Rite 
Mason  and  served  as  grand  chaplain  of  the 
order.  He  is  a  Republican.  At  one  time  he 
was  president  of  the  Optimist  Club  of 
Springfield. 

Henry  Abels,  of  Springfield,  is  one  of  the 
outstanding  men  in  insurance  circles  in  Illi- 
nois, being  vice  president  of  the  Franklin 
Life  Insurance  Company,  one  of  the  oldest 
and  largest  of  Illinois  old-line  companies. 

For  the  success  he  has  achieved  no  one  has 
been  more  directly  responsible  than  Mr.  Abels 
himself.  He  began  life  as  a  country  boy,  and 
his  industry,  perseverance  and  ambition 
enabled  him  to  turn  small  opportunities  into 
the  elements  that  constitute  a  successful  career. 
He  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Jasper  County, 
Illinois,  February  19,  1867,  son  of  Martin  and 
Emma  (Leurssen)  Abels.  His  parents  were 
born  in  Germany,  and  were  married  in  Jasper 
County,  Illinois.  His  father  came  to  this 
country  about  1858  and  a  few  years  later 
entered  the  Thirteenth  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry  and  fought  for  the  Union  cause  three 
years,  seven  months.  After  the  war  he  moved 
out  to  Kansas,  bought  a  farm,  on  which  he 
lived  for  six  or  eight  years,  and  returning 
to  Illinois,  became  an  employee  in  the  secre- 
tary of  state's  office  at  Springfield.  He  was 
a  staunch  Republican  and  a  member  of  the 
Lutheran  Church.  Of  the  nine  children  eight 
are  living,  Henry  having  been  the  second  in 
order  of  birth. 

Mr.  Henry  Abels  had  the  advantages  of 
the  common  schools  only  during  his  youth. 
After  school  he  clerked  in  country  stores, 
worked  in  woolen  mills,  was  for  four  years 
in  the  secretary  of  state's  office,  also  with 
Armour  &  Company,  served  as  pardon  clerk 
in  the  governor's  office  and  was  employed  in 
the  Illinois  National  Bank.  He  considered 
no  useful  work  beneath  him.  It  was  in  1893, 
when  he  was  twenty-six  years  of  age,  that 
he  first  entered  the  service  of  the  Franklin 
Life  Insurance  Company.  Later,  for  two  and 
a  half  years,  he  was  in  Philadelphia  with  the 
Fidelity  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company. 
Returning  to  Illinois,  he  again  joined  the 
Franklin  Company,  in  1898  became  its  auditor 
and  in  1901  became  its  secretary,  and  since 
1920  has  been  vice  president,  and  now  holds 
the  office  of  first  vice  president.  In  1913  he 
became  the  president  of  the  American  Life 
Convention,  an  association  of  life  insurance 
companies,  and  for  several  years  was  a  mem- 
ber of  its  executive  committee. 

He  married  in  1892  Miss  Eva  K.  Mooney, 
a  native  of  Illinois,  who  died  in  1928.  She 
was  the  mother  of  two  children:  Kathryn,  wife 
of  William  T.  Kimber,  who  has  charge  of 
the  advertising  of  the  Weaver  Manufacturing 
Company  of  Springfield;  and  Marian,  wife 
of  Ward  Montgomery,  of  the  Franklin  Insur- 


108 


ILLINOIS 


ance  Company  of  Springfield.  Mr.  Abels  in 
August,  1929,  married  Jeannette  M.  Reid,  who 
was  born  in  Springfield,  daughter  of  William 
Reid,  of  that  city.  She  is  a  Presbyterian,  while 
Mr.  Abels  is  a  Baptist.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Illini  Country  Club,  the  Sangamo  Club, 
the  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  and  is  a  Republican.  Mr. 
Abels  has  taken  much  interest  in  civic  affairs 
and  is  chairman  of  the  City  Shade  Tree  Com- 
mission and  president  of  the  Children's  Service 
League. 

Louis  Mead  Dixon,  treasurer  of  the  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  Insurance  Company,  is  a  great- 
grandson  of  that  John  Dixon  who  was  the 
founder  and  name  giver  to  the  City  of  Dixon 
in  Lee  County.  John  Dixon  came  to  Illinois 
in  1818,  the  year  the  territory  was  admitted 
to  the  Union,  lived  for  a  time  in  Sangamon 
County,  later  at  Peoria,  where  he  became 
clerk  of  court,  and  he  also  acted  as  mail  car- 
rier between  Peoria  and  Galena.  He  was  at 
Dixon  during  the  Black  Hawk  Indian  war  and 
rendered  special  service  to  the  Government 
at  that  time.  He  was  a  native  of  New  York 
State,  and  after  leaving  Peoria  he  acquired 
land  along  the  Rock  River,  on  part  of  which 
he  laid  out  the  Town  of  Dixon. 

Louis  M.  Dixon  was  born  at  Dixon,  March 
20,  1873,  son  of  Sherwood  and  Melissa  (Mead) 
Dixon  and  grandson  of  James  Dixon,  all  of 
whom  were  born  in  or  near  the  county  seat 
of  Lee  County.  Melissa  Mead  was  a  daughter 
of  Hiram  Mead,  an  Illinois  pioneer,  who  was 
of  Revolutionary  stock.  Sherwood  Dixon  read 
law  in  his  native  city  with  William  Barge 
and  became  a  man  of  high  standing  at  the 
bar,  and  was  United  States  district  attorney 
of  Northern  Illinois  at  the  time  of  his  death 
in  1894.  He  was  a  leader  in  the  Democratic 
party,  served  several  terms  in  the  Legislature 
and  was  a  member  of  the  committee  which 
brought  about  the  election  of  Governor  Palmer 
to  the  United  States  Senate.  All  the  facts 
about  his  life  indicated  a  high  minded  citizen- 
ship. He  was  a  member  of  the  school  board 
and  for  twenty  years  was  superintendent  of 
the  Sunday  School  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  His  three  sons  were  Henry  S.,  a 
Dixon  attorney  who  died  in  1928;  Louis  M.; 
and  George  C,  who  is  practicing  law  at  Dixon. 
Louis  M.  Dixon  attended  school  in  his  native 
city,  including  high  school,  and  the  Northern 
Illinois  Normal.  Instead  of  following  the  foot- 
steps of  his  father  in  the  choice  of  a  profession 
he  became  a  printer  and  worked  at  his  trade 
in  Dixon  until  the  spring  of  1898.  In  that 
year  he  located  at  Springfield  and  continuously 
has  been  associated  with  the  life  insurance 
business. 

Mr.  Dixon  married  in  1918  Emma  Brown, 
who  was  born  in  Sangamon  County,  daughter 
of  John  C.  Brown,  a  farmer  who  lived  at 
Mechanicsburg,  Illinois.  Mr.  Dixon  has  two 
children,    Louis    Mead,    Jr.,    and   John    Brown 


Dixon,  both  attending  school  at  Springfield 
Mr.  Dixon  by  a  former  marriage  has  a  son 
Paul  Goodrich,  who  was  educated  at  Spring 
field  and  in  Notre  Dame  University  of  Indiana 
and  is  now  married  and  has  three  children. 

Mr.  Dixon  is  a  Presbyterian,  is  a  Scottis] 
Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  member  of  the  Inde 
pendent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  B.  P.  0 
Elks.  He  is  a  Democrat,  member  of  tbl 
Kiwanis  Club,  Sangamo  Club  and  the  Grant 
View  Country  Club.  His  chief  interest  asioci 
from  his  business  is  his  home  and  family. 

Percy  Louis  Taylor,  M.  D.,  has  practice 
medicine  at  Springfield  for  over  thirty  year! 
His  is  a  general  practitioner,  and  his  sue 
cessful  standing  reflects  additional  credit  upo: 
a  family  that  has  long  been  identified  wiflt 
Sangamon  County. 

Doctor  Taylor  was  born  in  Sangamo 
County,  December  6,  1873,  son  of  Dr.  Isaa 
H.  and  Irene  (Constant)  Taylor.  His  patera* 
grandparents  were  Isaac  and  Sarah  (Elliott 
Taylor.  Isaac  Taylor  came  to  Springfield  froi 
Maryland.  Sarah  Elliott's  people  were  froi> 
Nonth  Carolina,  and  one  of  her  ancestors  wa; 
Henry  Kelly,  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  the  Revc 
lution.  William  Kelly  was  one  of  the  firs 
settlers  at  Springfield,  in  1818.  Doctor  Taylor 
maternal  grandparents  were  Rezin  H.  am 
Mary  (Halbert)  Constant,  who  came  froi 
Virginia  to  Illinois  at  an  early  date.  Cap 
John  Constant,  grandfather  of  Rezin,  wa 
an  officer  in  the  Revolutionary  army.  Rezi 
Constant  was  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Legii 
lature  when  it  met  in  what  is  now  the  oj> 
courthouse  building  at  Springfield. 

Dr.  Isaac  H.  Taylor  was  born  in  Sangamo 
County.  He  was  educated  in  Rush  Medics 
College  of  Chicago  and  practiced  medicir 
for  many  years  in  Sangamon  County,  retirin 
from  his  professional  work  in  1920.  He  : 
a  member  of  the  Christian  Church,  _  tt 
Masonic  fraternity  and  a  Democrat  in  politic 
His  two  children  are  Percy  Louis  and  Fann: 
Gertrude,  the  latter  the  wife  of  Dr.  Benjami 
Pickrell. 

Percy  Louis  Taylor  attended  the  Springfiel 
High  School  and  was  graduated  from  M 
Barnes  Medical  College  of  St.  Louis  in  189: 
He  began  practice  alone  in  Springfield  _  ar 
has  carried  on  his  work  as  an  individu) 
through  the  years.  The  only  important  inte: 
ruption  to  his  professional  service  came  durin 
the  World  war,  when  he  volunteered  in  Augus 
1918,  and  was  commissioned  a  captain  in  tlr 
Army  Medical  Corps.  He  was  sent  to  Fortri 
Monroe,  Virginia,  and  in  March,  1919,  t® 
discharged  at  San  Francisco  as  surgeon  ( 
the  Fifty-seventh  Regiment,  Coast  Artillei 
Corps. 

Doctor  Taylor  married,  September  29,  189 
Miss  Amelia  Seifert,  who  was  born  in  Sprinj 
field,  where  her  father  was  a  well  know 
physician.      They   have   two   children:    Gladj 


v    .:  :■■''*■-:.;■';;:■:,•■■, 


•*'«' 


ILLINOIS 


109 


Lucille,  wife  of  Gordon  Klein,  a  ceramic 
engineer  at  Newcastle,  Pennsylvania;  and  Lois 
Irene,  wife  of  Irwin  Rieger,  who  lives  at 
River  Forest,  Chicago,  and  is  a  representative 
of  the  Mead  Art  Manufacturing  Company. 

Doctor  Taylor  has  taken  an  active  share 
of  work  as  a  layman  in  the  Christian  Church. 
He  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason  and  Scottish 
Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  is  a  past  exalted 
ruler  of  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks  and  a  member  of 
the  Sangamon  County,  Illinois  State  and  Amer- 
ican Medical  Associations.  He  is  a  Democrat 
in  politics.  Doctor  Taylor  owns  considerable 
real  estate  in  Springfield. 

Hon.  Charles  F.  Carpentier.  In  the  labors 
allotted  to  men's  lives,  not  the  least  in  impor- 
tance or  the  most  insignificant  in  their  impress 
upon  character  are  those  which  minister  to 
our  esthetic  natures.  There  are  many  diver- 
sities of  art,  wide  variations  in  the  play  of 
artistic  gifts.  The  poet  has  the  rare  faculty 
of  couching  his  thoughts  in  rythmic  measure, 
the  painter  transfers  his  fancies  to  canvas 
and  the  sculptor  carves  his  inspiration  in 
living  lines  in  bronze  or  marble.  Yet  it  is 
given  to  the  player  to  "hold  the  mirror  up 
to  nature,"  and  reproduce  upon  the  stage  or 
silver  screen  the  emotions  and  passions  which 
make  our  lives  sad  or  joyous,  despondent  or 
hopeful.  To  the  comedian  is  given  the  task 
of  arousing  mirth  and  reviving  the  drooping 
spirits  by  jest  or  comic  act.  The  tragedian 
portrays  life's  graver,  sadder  side,  while  the 
singer  charms  the  ear  and  elevates  the  soul 
by  the  divine  notes  of  melody. 

The  aim  of  the  theatrical  manager  is  to 
place  before  the  patrons  of  his  house  or  houses 
alike  the  humorous  and  the  pathetic  aspects 
of  life — its  tragedy  and  comedy.  This  has 
been  the  successful  aim  of  Hon.  Charles  F. 
Carpentier,  who,  with  his  brother,  Emil  J., 
owns  and  operates  the  Strand  and  Majestic 
theatres,  the  only  two  establishments  of  their 
kind  at  East  Moline,  and  who  endeavors  not 
only  to  amuse  the  public  but  also  to  cultivate 
the  popular  taste  for  the  higher  forms  of 
the  talking  screen.  It  is  not  alone  as  a 
showman  that  Mr.  Carpentier  is  prominent, 
however,  as  he  has  for  years  taken  a  decidedly 
important  part  in  civic  affairs,  and  at  present 
is  giving  East  Moline  an  excellent  adminis- 
tration in  the  capacity  of  mayor. 

Mayor  Carpentier  was  born  at  Moline,  Illi- 
nois, September  19,  1896,  and  is  a  son  of 
Gregoir  and  Louise  (DeConnick)  Carpentier, 
natives  of  Belgium.  Gregoir  Carpentier  was 
educated  in  his  native  land  and  was  about 
seventeen  years  of  age  when  he  came  to  the 
United  States.  For  many  years  he  was  engaged 
in  the  retail  liquor  business,  later  also  enter- 
ing the  wholesale  field,  but  is  now  living  in 
retirement  at  East  Moline,  where  his  wife, 
who   came   to   this   country   with   her   parents 


at  the  age  of  three  years,  also  resides.  They 
are  members  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  Mr. 
Carpentier  is  independent  in  politics.  Charles 
F.  Carpentier  is  the  eldest  in  a  family  of 
six  children,  of  whom  five  are  living. 

Charles  F.  Carpentier  attended  the  public 
schools  until  he  was  twelve  years  of  age,  at 
which  time  he  began  to  work  in  order  to  secure 
a  more  thorough  education.  Through  his 
labors  he  was  able  to  pay  his  way  through 
St.  Mary's  School  at  Moline  and  St.  Ambrose 
College,  Davenport,  after  which  he  became 
associated  with  his  father  in  the  elder  man's 
business.  In  1918  he  entered  the  army  for 
service  during  the  World  war  and  was  sent 
to  Camp  Grant,  Illinois,  for  training,  and 
later  to  Camp  MacArthur,  Texas,  continuing 
in  the  service  for  eight  months  and  being 
honorably  discharged  in  1919.  In  1920  he 
built  the  Strand  Theatre,  a  motion  picture 
house,  at  East  Moline,  in  partnership  with 
his  brother,  and  subsequently  they  also  became 
the  owners  of  the  Majestic.  With  the  advent 
of  the  sound  or  "talkies,"  Mr.  Carpentier  at 
once  displayed  his  progressiveness  by  install- 
ing this  innovation  in  his  Majestic,  and  this 
was  the  only  picture  house  in  Moline  and 
East  Moline  to  secure  an  award  of  merit 
for  the  production  of  sound.  The  establish- 
ments are  conducted  in  an  orderly,  clean  and 
refined  manner,  and  Mr.  Carpentier  secures 
the  best  of  attractions,  displaying  unusually 
good  judgment  in  selecting  pictures  to  meet 
the  taste  of  his  patrons. 

As  has  been  noted,  Mayor  Carpentier  has 
been  active  in  politics  and  civic  affairs.  For 
five  years  he  served  capably  in  the  office  of 
alderman,  and  then,  in  1929,  became  the  first 
member  of  the  City  Council  ever  to  be  elected 
mayor  of  East  Moline.  He  is  giving  his 
fellow-citizens  an  excellent  business  adminis- 
tration and  during  his  term  has  worked  faith- 
fully for  constructive  civic  policies.  Mayor 
Carpentier  is  a  member  of  St.  Mary's  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  He  belongs  to  the  Knights 
of  Columbus,  Catholic  Order  of  Forresters, 
the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks 
and  the  Fraternal  Order  of  Eagles,  and  is 
a  past  commander  of  East  Moline  Post  of  the 
American  Legion,  being  also  a  member  of 
the  East  Moline  Rotary  Club  and  the  Short 
Hills  Country  Club.  Golf  is  his  hobby,  and 
he  is  known  as  one  of  the  best  amateurs  in 
the  county.  He  is  a  staunch  Republican  in 
political   faith. 

On  June  23,  1920,  at  East  Moline,  Mayor 
Carpentier  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Alta  Leona  Sarginson,  who  was  born  at  Rapid 
City,  Illinois,  and  educated  in  the  East  Moline 
schools,  where  she  was  graduated  from  high 
school.  She  is  active  in  the  work  of  St. 
Mary's  parish  and  takes  an  interested  and 
intelligent  part  in  club  and  civic  life.  Mayor 
and  Mrs.  Carpentier  have  a  son,  Donald  Dee. 


110 


ILLINOIS 


Emmett  Vincent  Poston,  head  of  one  of 
the  largest  brick  making  establishments  in 
Central  Illinois,  is  in  a  business  with  which 
his  boyhood  environment  made  him  familiar. 

Mr.  Poston  was  born  at  Nelsonville,  Ohio, 
June  23,  1888,  son  of  Irvin  G.  and  Josephine 
(Musser)  Poston.  His  parents  reside  at  Mar- 
tinsville, Indiana.  His  father  was  born  in 
Ohio  and  his  mother  in  West  Virginia.  Irvin 
G.  Poston  has  been  a  brick  manufacturer 
throughout  his  active  life,  and  is  now  living 
retired.  Both  parents  are  active  members  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  and  in  politics  are 
Republicans.  They  had  four  children:  Edwin, 
brick  manufacturer  at  Martinsville,  Indiana; 
Blanche,  of  Martinsville;  Bessie;  and  Emmett. 

Emmett  Poston  attended  school  at  Craw- 
fordsville,  Indiana,  and  was  graduated  from 
the  University  of  Illinois  in  1911.  He  is  a 
Beta  Theta  Pi.  He  learned  brick  manufac- 
turing with  his  father  and  in  1915  came  to 
Springfield,  where  he  organized  the  Poston 
Springfield  Company,  Incorporated,  of  which 
he  is  president,  W.  H.  Moseley,  vice  president, 
and  A.  N.  Reece,  secretary.  This  company 
operates  an  extensive  plant  manufacturing 
face  brick  and  paving  brick  of  standards  and 
qualities  well  known  in  the  trade.  The  product 
is  shipped  throughout  Illinois  and  adjacent 
states. 

Mr.  Poston  married  in  1914  Miss  Beryl 
Nutter,  who  was  born  at  Martinsville,  Indiana, 
and  was  reared  and  educated  there.  Her 
father,  Walter  Nutter,  was  a  flour  miller.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Poston  have  three  children:  Frances 
Joeella,  Walter  Dow  and  William  Emmett,  ail 
attending  school  at  Springfield.  The  family 
are  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Mr. 
Poston  is  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner 
and  a  member  of  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks. 

Mrs.  Grace  McKee,  postmistress  of  Kirk- 
land,  DeKalb  County,  is  a  granddaughter  of 
John  Murphy,  who  came  from  Ireland  and  was 
one  of  the  early  settlers  in  the  vicinity  of 
Waukesha,  Wisconsin,  where  he  took  up  Gov- 
ernment land.  He  developed  a  good  farm  and 
was  in  the  dairy  business  for  many  years,  a 
leader  in  community  affairs  and  reared  a 
large  family  of  children. 

The  father  of  Mrs.  McKee  was  Michael 
Murphy,  who  was  born  in  Wisconsin,  on  his 
father's  farm,  and  after  completing  his  work 
m  the  public  schools  entered  the  railroad 
business.  He  became  a  telegraph  operator 
for  the  Chicago  &  Milwaukee  Railroad  and 
was  appointed  agent  and  served  in  that  posi- 
tion at  Kirkland  for  forty  years.  He  married 
Cora  Eichholtz,  and  Mrs.  McKee  was  their 
only  child.  Her  father  was  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  fraternity  and  was  affiliated  with 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Mrs.  McKee  was  born  at  Bensenville  in 
DuPage  County,  Illinois,  July  2,  1886,  but 
has  lived  most  of  her  life  in  Kirkland.     She 


graduated    from    the    schools    there    in    U 
and  was  married  to  Mr.   Roy  McKee,  son 
John   and    Adah    (Ives)    McKee.      They   he  i 
one  son,  Donald,  born  March  9,  1921,  and 
school.     Mrs.  McKee  in  addition  to  her  dut 
as  postmistress,  takes  an  active  part  in  co  : 
munity    affairs.      She    is    a    Republican,    is 
past  matron  of  the  Eastern  Star  and  atter 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

William  M.  Montgomery  was  a  busim 
man  and  citizen  whom  the  people  of  Sprii 
field  learned  to  know  and  respect  during  t 
quarter  of  a  century  his  home  and  activity 
made  him  a  resident  of  the  capital  city. 

He  was  born  at  Petersburg,  Illinois,  in  18 
and  died  in  1925.  Mr.  Montgomery  rep: 
sented  a  pioneer  Illinois  family,  had  the  advs 
tages  of  public  schools  in  this  state,  and  1 
inclination  and  character  made  him  an  al 
business  man.  He  moved  to  Springfield 
1900  and  for  a  number  of  years  was  preside 
of  the  Springfield  Mattress  Company.  ] 
married  Ettie  M.  Wheeler,  who  was  born 
Caj^ollton,  Illinois,  daughter  of  Lyman  F.  a 
Mary  Louise  (Eldred)  Wheeler.  Her  fath 
was  born  in  Massachusetts  and  her  moth 
in  Carrollton,  Illinois.  Her  father  was 
early  settler  in  this  state  and  for  many  yea 
engaged  in  the  lumber  and  general  merchandi 
business.  Mrs.  Montgomery  was  one  of  fii 
children,  three  of  whom  are  living.  Her  fath 
was  a  Methodist  and  her  mother  a  Presb 
terian,  and  her  father  was  an  active  Repu 
lican  and  temperance  man  and  served  at  o: 
time  as  mayor  of  Carrollton. 

Mr.  Montgomery  belonged  to  the  Presb 
terian  Church,  as  does  Mrs.  Montgomery,  ai 
he  was  an  elder  in  the  Westminster  Presb 
terian  Church  of  Springfield.  He  was  affiliab 
with  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  was  a  Repu 
lican.  His  success  in  business  was  due 
his  well  directed  energies  and  good  judgmer, 
since  he  started  life  with  practically  nothin 
Mrs.  Montgomery  is  active  in  church  and  ch 
circles,  belonging  to  the  Springfield  Woman 
Club,  and  has  served  on  several  of  its  con 
mittees.  Her  home  is  at  809  South  Walro 
Street. 

John  S.  O'Donnell.  In  the  great  metro] 
olis  in  which  he  was  born  and  reared  M  ' 
O'Donnell  has  developed  the  ability  and  gaine 
the  success  that  mark  him  as  one  of  the  abi 
and  representative  younger  members  of  ty 
Chicago  bar,  and  in  the  practice  of  his  pi) 
fession  he  maintains  his  office  headquartfca 
at  110  South  Dearborn  Street. 

Mr.  O'Donnell  was  born  in  Chicago  on  tb  I 
29th  of  December,  1896,  and  is  a  son  of  Micha<  | 
F.  and  Katherine  (Queenan)  O'Donnell,  th 
former  a  native  of  Ireland  and  the  latter  c 
the  City  of  Chicago,  where  their  marriag 
was  solemnized  and  where  they  remained  unt 
their   death.      Michael    F.    O'Donnell   came  t 


ILLINOIS 


111 


Chicago  in  the  year  1892  and  here  he  gave 
prolonged  and  effective  service  as  chief  engi- 
neer for  the  city  water  department  and  pump- 
ing stations,  his  death  having  occurred  in 
1910,  and  his  widow  having  passed  away  July 
2,  1930.  Both  were  zealous  communicants 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  subject  of  this 
review  is  the  one  surviving  son,  and  the 
daughters  are  Mrs.  Mary  Markham,  Mrs.  Mar- 
garet Fitzgerald,  Mrs.  Catherine  Stepek  and 
Mrs.  Rose  Howe. 

After  profiting  by  the  advantages  of  Catholic 
parochial  schools  in  Chicago  John  S.  O'Donnell 
was  here  a  student  of  St.  Ignatius  Academy, 
and  in  1920  he  was  graduated  in  the  law 
department  of  DePaul  University,  from  which 
he  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws, 
the  degree  of  Master  of  Laws  having  later 
been  conferred  upon  him  by  Loyola  University 
and  his  admission  to  the  bar  having  occurred 
in  1920.  He  has  since  been  established  in 
the  general  practice  of  his  profession  in  his 
native  city,  has  membership  in  the  Chicago 
Bar  Association  and  the  Illinois  State  Bar 
Association,  has  membership  in  the  Hamilton 
Club,  is  active  in  the  local  councils  and  cam- 
paign work  of  the  Republican  party,  is  a 
communicant  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  is 
a  past  chancellor  of  the  Knights  of  Columbus, 
besides  being  affiliated  also  with  the  Pni  Alpha 
Delta  college  fraternity.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  famous  Black  Horse  Troop,  and  his 
hobby  is  represented  in  farming  and  horses. 
Prior  to  initiating  his  practice  of  law  Mr. 
O'Donnell  has  made  a  record  of  success  during 
his  two  years  of  service  as  a  teachei  in  the 
Austin  High  School.  In  the  World  war  period 
he  enlisted  in  the  United  States  Navy  and 
was  stationed  near  Chicago.  The  name  of 
Mr.  O'Donnell  remains  on  the  roster  of  eligible 
young  bachelors  in  Chicago,  and  he  maintains 
his  residence  at  2114  East  Marquette  Boule- 
vard. 

Harry  Pierce  Jones  is  secretary  of  the 
Security  Improvement  &  Loan  Association  of 
Springfield,  a  building  and  loan  association 
in  which  he  had  an  active  part  in  the  organi- 
zation twenty-six  years  ago.  It  is  the  largest 
building  and  loan  association  in  the  capital 
city. 

Mr.  Jones  was  born  at  Loami,  Sangamon 
County,  Illinois,  February  16,  1871,  son  of 
Joseph  and  Laura  E.  (Davis)  Jones.  Both 
parents  were  born  in  Illinois  and  his  grand- 
parents came  to  this  state  from  Kentucky. 
Joseph  Jones  was  a  soldier  in  the  Civil  war, 
being  a  member  of  the  Eleventh  Missouri 
Infantry.  He  was  wounded  in  one  battle  and 
after  leaving  the  hospital  was  unable  to  con- 
tinue active  service  in  the  field.  After  the 
war  he  followed  the  mercantile  business  in 
Sangamon  County,  was  postmaster  for  several 
years  at  Loami  and  held  the  office  of  justice 
of  the   peace.     He   was   a   Republican   and   a 


member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  both 
he  and  his  wife  belonged  to  the  Universalist 
Church. 

Harry  P.  Jones  was  the  second  in  a  family 
of  six  children,  four  of  whom  are  living. 
He  attended  the  public  schools  at  Loami,  had 
a  business  college  course  in  Springfield,  and 
his  active  commercial  career  had  as  its  foun- 
dation a  period  of  work  as  clerk  in  a  dry 
goods  store.  For  two  or  three  years  he  was 
bookkeeper  with  the  Springfield  Printing  Com- 
pany and  then  became  cashier  of  the  Spring- 
field office  of  the  Equitable  Life  Assurance 
Society.  He  was  with  this  company  for  twelve 
years  and  later  with  the  Franklin  Life  Insur- 
ance Company  until  1915. 

Mr.  Jones  organized  in  1906  the  Security 
Improvement  &  Loan  Association,  and  since 
1915  has  performed  the  administrative  and 
executive  duties  of  secretary.  This  com- 
pany as  the  largest  of  its  kind  in  Springfield 
has  total  resources  of  over  five  million  dollars. 
Recently  the  company  bought  as  its  home  an 
eight-story  office  building  on  Monroe  Street. 

Mr.  Jones  married  in  1900  Miss  Josephine 
H.  Fisher,  who  was  born  in  Henderson,  Ken- 
tucky, and  was  educated  there  and  at  Rockford, 
Illinois.  Mr.  Jones  is  an  elder  in  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic 
fraternity  and  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  the  Sangamon 
Club  and  Rotary  Club,  and  is  a  Republican 
in  politics. 

Hon.  John  Herman  Hallstrom.  It  is  too 
frequently  the  case  in  American  politics  that 
individuals  attain  high  rank  in  official  life 
through  personal  favoritism  or  by  reason  of 
the  system  of  personal  rewards  for  purely 
party  services,  where  fitness  for  the  place 
is  a  secondary  consideration.  Likewise  there 
are  instances  of  so-called  "accidents,"  where 
men  are  the  creatures  of  circumstance  and 
through  developments  that  could  not  be  fore- 
seen nor  anticipated  are  unexpectedly  elevated 
to  high  place.  There  are  notable  cases  where 
a  kindly  fate  seems  to  have  led  men  through 
experiences  that  prepared  them  for  the  able 
performance  of  the  duties  to  which  they  sud- 
denly were  called.  Finally  there  are  the  rec- 
ords where  the  man  chosen  for  the  office  has 
had  the  public  experience  and  training  neces- 
sary to  permit  of  his  rendering  the  people 
able  service,  and  at  the  same  time  has  cher- 
ished an  honorable  ambition  which  has  inspired 
his  every  effort  better  to  equip  himself  to 
serve. 

In  the  last  named  category  is  found  Hon. 
John  Herman  Hallstrom,  mayor  of  Rockford, 
whose  ability  and  personal  popularity  are 
above  question.  Mayor  Hallstrom  was  born  in 
Sweden,  November  18,  1888,  and  is  a  son  of 
Karl  and  Maria  (Carlson)  Hallstrom,  natives 
of  the  same  country,  both  of  whom  are  de- 
ceased. Karl  Hallstrom,  who  received  a  com- 
mon school  education,  passed  his  entire  life  as 


112 


ILLINOIS 


an  agriculturist  in  his  native  land,  and  in  his 
community  had  the  regard  and  esteem  of  his 
fellow-citizens  as  a  man  of  upright  character 
and  industry.  He  and  his  worthy  wife,  who 
also  passed  away  in  Sweden,  were  consistent 
members  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  and  the 
parents  of  six  children,  four  of  whom  are 
living,  all  in  Sweden  except  John  H. 

The  fifth  in  order  of  birth  of  his  parents' 
children,  John  Herman  Hallstrom  secured  his 
education  in  the  public  schools  of  Sweden, 
where  he  spent  his  youth  in  working  on  farms. 
Being  of  an  ambitious  nature,  and  seeing  no 
future  for  himself  in  Sweden,  at  the  age  of 
nineteen  years  he  left  the  parental  roof  and 
sought  the  broader  opportunities  offered  by 
the  United  States.  While  he  had  no  particular 
training  at  the  time  of  his  arrival,  he  was 
young,  strong  and  willing,  and  had  no  trouble 
in  securing  employment  as  a  building  laborer. 
This  brought  him  the  opportunity  to  learn 
building  and  the  brick-laying  trade,  and  the 
latter  he  followed  until  1920,  in  the  meanwhile 
carefully  saving  his  earnings.  In  1917  his 
career  was  temporarily  interrupted  by  the 
entrance  of  the  United  States  into  the  fierce 
conflict  raging  in  Europe,  and,  entering  the 
army,  he  was  sent  to  Camp  Grant,  Illinois, 
and  subsequently  to  Camp  MacArthur,  Texas. 
He  went  overseas  as  a  private  and  later  was 
promoted  corporal,  and  served  for  eighteen 
months  with  the  Thirty-second  and  Forty-first 
Divisions.  He  finally  returned  to  the  United 
States  and  received  his  honorable  discharge 
in  1919.  Upon  his  return  to  Rockford  he 
again  took  up  the  brick-laying  trade,  as  a 
contractor,  and  in  1921  was  elected  mayor 
of  Rockford,  subsequently  serving  two  other 
terms  by  reelection.  He  was  then  out  of  the 
office  for  one  term,  but  in  1929  was  again 
elected  to  the  mayoralty,  in  which  office  he 
has  done  much  for  the  benefit  of  Rockford 
and  its  people.  Mayor  Hallstrom  has  always 
maintained  an  independent  stand  in  politics 
and  has  given  every  measure  careful  and 
thoughtful  consideration  as  it  has  been  placed 
before  him.  In  1927  he  established  a  general 
insurance  agency,  and  this  has  grown  to  be 
a  large  and  important  enterprise,  covering 
all  manner  of  insurance  and  representing  some 
of  the  leading  companies  of  the  country.  He 
is  a  consistent  member  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  and  belongs  to  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Sveas-Soner  Society, 
the  oldest  singing  society  in  the  city,  which 
has  owned  its  own  building  since  1893.  He 
belongs  also  to  the  Scandinavian  Benefit  Asso- 
ciation and  the  American  Legion,  and  has  a 
number  of  other  connections  of  various  kinds. 

^  In  1922  Mr.  Hallstrom  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Ruth  Hammarstrand,  who 
was  born  in  Sweden,  and  to  this  union  there 
have  been  born  two  children:  Irene,  born  in 
1923,  and  Roy,  born  in  1924. 


George  David  Lockie,  M.  D.,  was  graduated 
from  medical  college  in  1901  and  has  given 
the  thirty  best  years  of  his  life  to  the  service 
of  his  profession.  For  twenty  years  he  has 
been  a  resident  of  Springfield,  where  he  is 
well  known  and  held  in  high  esteem  among 
the  representatives  of  medicine  and  surgery 
in  the  capital  city. 

Doctor  Lockie  was  born  in  Kankakee,  Illi- 
nois, October  24,  1870,  son  of  George  and 
Cynthia  (Bachelder)  Lockie,  and  is  of  pure 
Scotch  ancestry.  His  father  was  born  in 
Scotland,  son  of  Thomas  Lockie,  who  took 
his  family  to  Canada  and  in  1856  came  to 
Illinois  and  acquired  a  tract  of  land  in  KanB 
kakee  County.  George  Lockie  was  a  boy  when 
brought  to  Illinois,  and  was  a  farmer  and 
for  many  years  conducted  a  profitable  business 
importing  horses.  He  was  highly  educated, 
having  attended  McGill  University  of  Mon- 
treal, Canada.  In  politics  he  acted  as  a  Demo- 
crat, was  a  member  of  the  Masonic  Order 
and  the  United  Presbyterian  Church.  He  mar- 
ried, in  Kankakee,  Miss  Cynthia  Bachelder, 
who  w*as  born  in  Vermont.  Her  grandfather, 
Nathan  Bachelder,  was  a  native  of  Scotland, 
and  lived  to  be  ninety-four  years  of  age. 

Doctor  George  D.  Lockie  was  second  in  a 
family  of  five  children,  three  of  whom  are 
still  living.  He  was  educated  in  the  common 
schools  of  Kankakee  and  Will  counties, 
attended  the  University  of  Kansas  at  Law- 
rence, graduated  from  the  National  Medical 
College  of  Chicago,  and  in  1901  took  his  degree 
from  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 
now  the  medical  department  of  the  University 
of  Illinois. 

In  the  meantime  he  had  made  a  record  as 
a  soldier,  serving  two  years  with  the  volun- 
teers during  the  Spanish-American  war.  He 
was  in  a  camp  in  Florida  and  was  in  Cuba 
for  some  time.  After  graduating  from  med- 
ical college  he  practiced  ten  years  at  Pontiac, 
Illinois,  and  in  1911  moved  to  Springfield, 
where  he  has  continued  his  work  as  a  general 
practitioner.  Doctor  Lockie  has  had  post- 
graduate work  at  the  Mayo  Brothers  at 
Rochester,  Minnesota,  and  at  Chicago,  and 
in  no  small  degree  his  reputation  is  due  to 
his  unflagging  devotion  to  his  work,  his  great 
enthusiasm  and  his  scholarship.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Sangamon  County,  Illinois  State 
and  American  Medical  Associations.  During 
the  World  war  he  was  again  accepted  for 
military  duty,  this  time  as  a  medical  officer, 
and  was  attached  to  the  Walter  Reed  Hos- 
pital at  Washington,  D.  C,  serving  with  the 
rank  of  lieutenant.  He  was  discharged  in 
December,  1918. 

Doctor  Lockie  married  in  1900  Olive  C. 
Courson,  who  was  born  at  Abington,  Illinois, 
and  was  educated  in  Knox  College  at  Gales- 
burg.  She  taught  music  for  some  time.  Three 
children   were   born   to   their   marriage.      The 


ILLINOIS 


113 


oldest,  Ruth  Lockie,  died  in  1919,  while  in 
high  school.  Doctor  Lockie  awards  the  sum 
of  fifty  dollars  each  year,  called  the  Ruth 
Lockie  Memorial  prize,  as  a  memorial  to  this 
daughter.  This  prize  is  given  to  the  best 
essay  on  history.  The  two  living  children  are 
John  David,  who  was  educated  in  Eureka 
College,  in  Milliken  University  at  Decatur  and 
the  University  of  Illinois,  and  resides  at 
Springfield,  and  Clifford  Theodore,  who  is  at- 
tending school  at  Springfield. 

Doctor  Lockie  is  a  member  of  the  Christian 
Church,  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason,  member 
of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  the 
Spanish- American  War  Veterans,  the  Veterans 
of  Foreign  Wars,  American  Legion,  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Mid-Day  Luncheon  Club,  and  a  Re- 
publican in  politics.  He  has  some  interesting 
hobbies,  revealing  his  character  as  a  scholar. 
These  hobbies  are  collecting  old  books,  Indian 
relics,  and  the  study  of  birds  and  geology. 

Alexander  Henry  Penewitt,  of  Spring- 
field, has  the  distinction  of  being  the  oldest 
dealer  in  Buick  automobiles  in  Illinois.  He 
began  selling  Buick  cars  in  1908,  handling 
some  of  the  first  models  of  that  famous  car, 
and  he  is  familiar  with  every  mechanical 
change  and  improvement  that  have  represented 
the  steady  development  of  what  is  regarded 
as  one  of  the  most  perfect  automobiles,  one 
of  the  few  cars  to  retain  name  and  identity 
through  the  revolutionary  changes  that  have 
occurred  in  the  past  quarter  of  a  century. 

Mr.  Penewitt  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  born  in 
Clermont  County,  April  9,  1864.  His  parents, 
Joseph  and  Mary  (Boat)  Penewitt,  were  born 
in  Germany  and  came  to  the  United  States  in 
1863.  His  father  settled  in  Southern  Ohio, 
and  by  great  industry  and  thrift  made  him- 
self an  independent  farmer.  He  was  a  man  of 
unusual  intelligence,  always  interested  in 
reading  and  study  and  took  his  religion  very 
seriously,  having  been  reared  in  the  Lutheran 
Church  and  later  became  a  Methodist.  He 
was  a  Democrat  in  politics.  Of  the  ten  chil- 
dren of  the  parents  three  are  living:  John,  a 
farmer  in  Mason  County,  Illinois;  Josie,  wife 
I  of  W.  M.  Frank,  a  farmer  at  Felicity,  Ohio; 
and  Alexander  H. 

,  Alexander  H.  Penewitt  attended  school  in 
|  Ohio  and  up  to  the  age  of  twenty-one  his 
,  experience  was  bounded  by  the  farm.  Going 
I  west,  he  spent  three  years  at  Hutchinson, 
;  Kansas,  working  at  the  carpenter's  trade,  and 
I  on  coming  to  Illinois  he  followed  his  trade  in 
i  Mason  County  for  five  years.  With  an  initial 
:  capital  of  only  $300  he  started  in  the  hard- 
ware business  and  later  acquired  a  lumber 
|  yard. 

As  previously  noted,  Mr.  Penewitt  began 
selling  Buick  automobiles  in  1908  and  since 
1919  his  business  headquarters  have  been  at 
Springfield,    where    he    established    the    Buick 


agency  and  service  station  and  handles  the 
Buick  line  exclusively.  It  is  one  of  the  largest 
agencies  in  the  state,  his  territory  consisting 
of  Sangamon,  Menard,  Cass,  Schuyler  and  a 
part  of  Christian  County. 

Mr.  Penewitt  married,  September  4,  1895, 
Miss  Minerva  Towne,  who  was  born  in  Mason 
County,  Illinois,  and  attended  school  at  Easton 
in  that  county.  They  have  one  son,  Paul 
Slocum,  who  was  born  in  1903,  was  educated 
in  the  University  of  Illinois  and  studied  law, 
but  since  leaving  college  has  been  associated 
with  his  father  in  the  automobile  business. 
Paul  Slocum  Penewitt  married  Maza  Hall  and 
has  a  son,  Paul  Slocum,  Jr.  Mrs.  A.  H.  Pene- 
witt has  a  very  interesting  ancestry.  Her 
great-grandaunt  was  the  famous  Frances  Slo- 
cum who  was  born  in  the  Wyoming  Valley  of 
Pennsylvania  in  1773  and  on  November  2,  1778, 
was  taken  captive  by  the  Indians.  She  had 
a  distinct  recollection  of  her  capture,  but  she 
was  treated  kindly  and  adopted  by  an  Indian 
family  and  for  years  led  a  roving  life.  She 
married  a  young  chief  of  the  Nation,  going 
with  him  to  Ohio  and  was  so  happy  in  her 
domestic  relations  that  she  dreaded  being  dis- 
covered. After  the  death  of  her  first  hus- 
band she  married  one  of  the  Miami  tribe.  It 
was  in  1837  that  surviving  members  of  her 
family  learned  that  she  was  living  near  Lo- 
gansport,  Indiana,  and  had  no  difficulty  in 
establishing  her  identity.  At  that  time  she 
had  children  and  grandchildren  around  her. 
She  was  known  as  a  queen  of  the  Miamis,  and 
when  that  tribe  was  removed  from  Indiana 
John  Quincy  Adams  made  an  eloquent  plea  in 
Congress  so  that  she  and  her  Indian  relatives 
were  exempted  and  she  was  granted  by  Con- 
gress a  tract  of  land  ten  miles  square. 

Mr.  Penewitt  and  family  are  members  of 
the  Methodist  Church.  He  is  a  Knight  Tem- 
plar Mason  and  Shriner,  a  member  of  the 
Sangamo  Club,  the  Country  Club,  the  Kiwanis 
Club.  A  Democrat  in  politics,  he  served  as 
county  supervisor  while  living  in  Mason 
County.  His  hobby  is  hunting.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Central  Illinois  Hunting  Club, 
which  was  organized  twenty-two  years  ago 
and  has  a  splendid  game  preserve  on  the 
Illinois  River. 

Albert  William  Hillier  has  been  a  busi- 
ness man  of  Springfield  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  He  is  the  founder  of  the  Hillier 
Storage  Company,  which  during  that  time  has 
steadily  grown  and  prospered  and  now  pre- 
sents the  facilities  of  one  of  the  most  complete 
storage  and  transfer  organizations  in  the  State 
of  Illinois. 

Mr.  Hillier  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Macoupin 
County,  Illinois,  September  18,  1873.  His  par- 
ents, Edwin  and  Matilda  (James)  Hillier, 
were  natives  of  England,  coming  to  Illinois 
when  young  people  and  were  married  in  this 
state.     His  father  was  noted  for  his  thorough- 


114 


ILLINOIS 


ness  and  industry,  and  for  many  years  was 
one  of  the  leading  farmers,  stock  raisers  and 
traders  in  Macoupin  County.  He  was  a  Demo- 
crat in  politics,  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity  and  he  and  his  wife  were 
Methodists. 

Mr.  Hillier  attended  school  in  Macoupin 
County  and  later  the  Springfield  Business  Col- 
lege, and  also  took  correspondence  courses. 
After  his  father's  death  he  worked  out  for 
his  board  while  attending  country  schools.  For 
a  time  he  was  messenger  boy  in  a  jewelry 
store  in  St.  Louis,  and  had  several  other  em- 
ployments that  gave  him  opportunity  to  learn 
something  of  several  lines  of  business.  For 
two  years  he  conducted  a  storage  and  transfer 
business.  He  was  bookkeeper  for  the  LaFayette 
Smith   Grocery   Company. 

In  1927  the  Hillier  Storage  Company  opened 
its  new  home  and  storage  plant  at  413-419 
North  Fourth  Street,  and  at  that  time  one  of 
the  newspapers  gave  an  interesting  historical 
account  of  the  growth  of  the  business.  It  was 
on  April  1,  1906,  that  A.  W.  Hillier  pur- 
chased from  W.  A.  Pavey  the  business  of  the 
Springfield  Storage  &  Transfer  Company,  at 
1000  East  Monroe  Street.  The  plant  consisted 
of  a  building  three  stories  and  basement, 
40x100  feet,  with  15,000  square  feet  of  floor 
space,  used  for  the  storage  of  household  goods 
and  merchandise.  Soon  afterwards  a  moving 
outfit  was  installed,  consisting  of  a  blind  horse 
and  an  old  stake  wagon.  After  a  few  months 
the  rail  and  panel  type  of  wagon  was  added 
and  later  a  covered  van.  Due  to  the  rapiol 
growth  of  the  business  Mr.  Hillier  was  joined 
by  his  brother,  R.  J.  Hillier,  who  became  a 
partner  October  1,  1909.  They  owned  the 
business  jointly  until  April  1,  1926,  when  a 
quarter  interest  was  purchased  by  Russell  E. 
Hillier,  a  son  of  R.  J.  Hillier,  and  these  three 
men  are  the  proprietors  today.  The  facilities 
for  moving  and  transfer  have  been  added  to 
from  time  to  time.  About  1916  they  intro- 
duced a  large  horse-drawn  van.  In  1925  they 
bought  their  first  motor  van,  and  at  the  pres- 
ent time  they  operated  several  motor  vans  of 
the  most  modern  type  and  size. 

Mr.  A.  W.  Hillier  in  1909  acquired  a  fire- 
proof building  at  417-419  North  Fourth  Street, 
covering  half  the  ground  occupied  by  the  pres- 
ent storage  plant.  In  1911  his  brother,  R.  J. 
Hillier,  bought  a  half  interest  in  the  real 
estate.  In  1912  an  addition  was  made  to  the 
main  building  and  in  1914  another  increase 
was  made.  In  1922  the  company  bought  what 
was  known  as  the  Anheuser-Busch  Company 
property,  including  a  warehouse,  which  was 
remodeled  into  a  fire  proof  building.  Another 
unit  was  added  to  this  warehouse  in  1924 
and  in  1927  they  put  up  the  complete  new 
plant  at  a  cost  of  $70,000,  five  stories  in 
height,  with  basement,  a  reinforced  concrete 
structure,  rated  as   absolutely  fire   proof   and 


giving  the  company  a  total  of  55,000  square 
feet  of  floor  space. 

This  business  was  first  known  as  the  Spring- 
field Storage  &  Transfer  Company,  later  as 
the  Hillier  Fire  Proof  Storage  &  Transfer 
Company  and  for  a  number  of  years  as  the 
Hillier  Storage  Company.  As  the  result  of 
the  rapid  building  of  hard  surface  roads  this 
company,  like  other  large  organizations  of 
its  kind,  has  greatly  extended  its  service  be- 
yond the  limits  of  the  city,  and  transports 
by  motor  truck  merchandise  and  household 
goods,  frequently  to  points  hundreds  of  miles 
distant  from  Springfield. 

Mr.  A.  W.  Hillier  married,  December  10, 
1902,  Miss  Sophie  Barnett,  who  was  born  at 
Springfield,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Sarah 
Barnett.  Her  parents  were  born  in  England 
and  her  father  was  in  the  stone  business  and 
did  work  on  the  State  House  at  Springfield 
and  also  at  the  Reservoir  Park.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hillier  have  two  daughters,  Helen  Barnett, 
who  married  Charles  Terry  Lindner,  of 
Springfield,  and  Elizabeth,  now  a  student  in 
Stephens  College  at  Columbia,  Missouri.  The 
family  are  members  of  the  First  Christian 
Church  and  Mr.  Hillier  takes  a  prominent  part 
in  church  activities,  being  chairman  of  the 
board  of  elders  and  a  trustee.  He  is  a  York 
and  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  and  a 
past  master  of  St.  Paul's  Lodge  No.  500, 
A.  F.  and  A.  M.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Optimist  Club,  is  on  the  board  of  the  Spring- 
field Y.  M.  C.  A.,  a  member  of  the  Automobile 
Club  and  a  past  president  of  the  Springfield 
Chamber  of  Commerce.  Civic  work  is  his 
hobby. 

David  Lyman  Phillips.  Since  the  death 
of  his  brother,  John  L.  Phillips,  former  mayor 
of  Springfield,  has  carried  on  the  business 
of  the  Phillips  Printing  Company,  one  of 
the  oldest  and  largest  establishments  under 
one  name  in  Central  Illinois.  It  is  a  business 
that  was  founded  by  the  Phillips  Brothers 
nearly  half  a  century  ago. 

David  L.  Phillips  was  born  at  Mattoon, 
Illinois,  September  3,  1862,  son  of  William 
and  Margaret  (Pulliam)  Phillips.  His  father 
was  a  native  of  Kentucky  and  came  to  Illinois 
when  a  young  man,  becoming  a  carpenter  and 
contractor.  William  Phillips  after  attending 
the  funeral  of  Abraham  Lincoln  at  Springfield 
in  1865  decided  to  move  to  the  capital  city. 
David  L.  Phillips  was  at  that  time  only  three 
years  old,  while  his  brother  John  was  about 
fourteen.  The  two  boys  grew  up  in  Spring- 
field, having  only  the  opportunities  of  the 
local  schools.  John  L.  Phillips  had  his  first 
contact  with  printing  in  the  office  of  the  Illinois 
State  Journal. 

It  was  in  1882  that  the  Phillips  Brothers 
formed  their  partnership,  starting  with  a  small 
shop,      with      limited      equipment      and      few 


Q*(fci*%4*s--ffOi^r-oJr^  , 


ILLINOIS 


115 


employees.  The  business  has  been  in  existence 
now  for  nearly  half  a  century,  and  today 
the  plant  occupies  a  large  building,  40  x  160 
feet,  at  the  corner  of  Ninth  and  Adams  streets 
and  is  capable  of  handling  any  of  the  largest 
and  most  technical  commercial  and  general 
printing  jobs.  The  late  John  L.  Phillips  was 
mayor  of  Springfield  from  1901  to  1903. 

David  L.  Phillips  married,  November  11, 
1887,  Miss  Ida  Hatry,  who  was  born  at  Spring- 
field, daughter  of  Charles  and  Margaret  Hatry. 
Her  father  was  born  in  Germany,  and  came 
at  an  early  day  to  Springfield  and  for  many 
vears  was  an  engineer  and  conductor  with 
the  Wabash  Railway.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Phillips 
nave  three  children:  Lillian,  wife  of  Carlyle 
Machay,  a  resident  of  Hinsdale,  Illinois,  and 
was  general  manager  of  the  Rome  Company, 
manufacturing  the  de  luxe  springs;  Grace  is 
the  wife  of  Dr.  G.  Carruthers,  a  Springfield 
dentist;  and  Lyman  E.  is  associated  with  his 
father  in  the  printing  business.  The  mother 
of  these  children  passed  away  in  March,  1929. 
She  was  active  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
jChurch  and  in  several  woman's  organizations. 

Mr.  Phillips  has  filled  all  the  chairs  in  his 
Masonic  Lodge  and  is  a  member  of  the  York 
and  Scottish  Rite  bodies  and  the  Shrine,  also 
Ibelongs  to  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows  and  Knights  of  Pythias,  the  Country 
Club  and  is  a  Republican  in  politics. 

Martin  J.  Baum  by  his  enterprise  and  con- 
structive ability  contributed  to  the  prestige 
ilong  enjoyed  by  that  family  name  in  the  City 
pf  Springfield,  where  he  spent  practically  all 
his   active  life. 

!  Mr.  Baum  was  born  in  New  York  City,  in 
11857,  and  died  in  1917.  His  father,  Joseph 
Baum,  was  a  pioneer  of  Springfield  and  in 
1865  established  the  M.  J.  Baum  Monument 
&  Stone  Works.  He  carried  it  on  alone  for 
;wenty  years  and  in  1885  Martin  J.  Baum 
joined  him  as  a  partner  and  in  1895  acquired 
fhe  entire  business,  operating  it  until  his 
death.  This  is  a  business  which  has  been 
m  the  hands  of  three  generations  of  the  Baum 
family  and  the  present  manager  is  Elmer 
}Baum,  a  son  of  the  late  Martin  J.  Baum. 
JMartin  J.  Baum  married  in  1892  Nettie  Ram- 
jstetter,  daughter  of  Henry  and  Catherine 
(Mischler)  Ramstetter.  Henry  Ramstetter  was 
born  in  Bavaria  and  his  wife  in  Hesse-Darm- 
ptadt,  Germany.  She  was  only  a  year  old 
When  she  came  to  Illinois  in  1830.  The  Misch- 
vers  were  a  pioneer  family  of  Springfield  and 
Latherme  Mischler  as  a  girl  saw  a  great  deal 
pf  Abraham  Lincoln  during  the  early  years 
i;)f  his  struggling  law  practice  in  Springfield. 
Henry  Ramstetter  came  to  Illinois  when  nine- 
teen years  of  age.  His  father  had  owned  a 
pill  m  Germany.  The  son  entered  the  hotel 
'pusiness   in   Springfield,   conducting  the   Bril- 

■ ?^.Aouse  for  years  and  he  built  the  hotel 
it  fifth  and  Jefferson  which  is  still  standing 


as  a  landmark  in  that  section  of  the  city.  He 
came  to  America  with  a  liberal  education. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Martin  J.  Baum  had  a  family 
of  six  children,  five  of  whom  are  living :  Alice 
B.,  wife  of  J.  Clarence  Lukeman,  a  clothing 
merchant  of  Jacksonville,  Illinois;  Elmer  H., 
who  carries  on  the  stone .  business,  married 
Elizabeth  McGough;  Beatrice  B.  is  the  wife 
of  C.  A.  Fisher  Keller,  one  of  the  owners 
of  the  B.  &  F.  Toggery  of  Springfield;  Miss 
Dorothy  F.  is  at  home;  and  Catherine  is  the 
wife  of  Bert  S.  Taylor,  of  Akron,  Ohio,  con- 
nected with  the  Goodrich  Tire  Company. 

Mrs.  Baum,  who  resides  at  708  South  Fifth 
Street  in  Springfield,  is  a  communicant  of 
the  Cathedral  of  the  Immaculate  Conception. 
Mr.  Baum  was  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Columbus  and  a  Democrat  in  politics.  He  was 
a  successful  business  man  and  always  alive 
to  the  civic  interests  of  his  community.  As 
a  recreation  he  delighted  in  everything 
mechanical,  and  had  the  distinction  of  owning 
one  of  the  first  automobiles  seen  in  Springfield. 

Thomas  Arthur  Johnson,  M.D.  A  leading 
medical  and  surgical  practitioner  of  Rockford, 
Dr.  Thomas  Arthur  Johnson  has  been  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  his  calling  here  since  1917. 
Not  only  as  an  individual  physician  and  sur- 
geon has  he  been  prominent,  but  has  also  won 
distinction  as  chief  surgeon  of  the  Swedish- 
American  Hospital  of  Rockford  and  as  the 
head  of  a  clinic  with  three  assistants  and 
two  nurses. 

Doctor  Johnson  was  born  at  Malta,  DeKalb 
County,  Illinois,  November  7,  1885,  and  is 
a  son  of  Andrew  J.  and  Matilda  (Peterson) 
Johnson.  His  parents,  natives  of  Sweden, 
came  to  this  country  with  their  respective 
parents,  Mr.  Johnson  being  eleven  years  of 
age  when  the  family  took  up  their  residence 
in  DeKalb  County.  He  received  a  country 
school  education  and  as  a  young  man  adopted 
farming  for  his  vocation,  following  this 
throughout  his  life,  and  at  his  death,  in  1922, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-nine  years,  was  one  of 
the  substantial  men  of  his  community  and 
one  who  was  held  in  high  respect  and  esteem. 
Mr.  Johnson  was  a  lifelong  temperance  man. 
Although  normally  a  Republican,  as  an 
admirer  of  William  Jennings  Bryan  he  voted 
consistently  for  the  Nebraskan.  He  and  Mrs. 
Johnson,  who  died  in  1913,  were  consistent 
members  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  Of  their 
six  children  five  are  living,  Thomas  Arthur 
being  the  second   in  order   of  birth. 

Thomas  Arthur  Johnson  attended  the  gram- 
mar and  high  schools  of  Malta  and  DeKalb, 
following  which  he  entered  the  University 
of  Chicago,  from  which  he  received  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Science,  and  while  attending 
that  institution  became  a  member  of  the  Phi 
Beta  Kappa  honorary  scholastic  fraternity. 
In  1911  he  graduated  as  second  high  man  of 
his  class  from  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago, 


116 


ILLINOIS 


receiving  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine, 
and  was  a  member  of  the  Alpha  Omega  Alpha 
honorary  medical  fraternity  and  the  Phi  Beta 
Pi  social  medical  fraternity.  From  1911  until 
1913  he  served  as  an  interne  in  the  Cook 
County  Hospital,  following  which  he  com- 
menced practice  at  DeKalb,  and  during  his 
four  and  one-half  years  there  served  as  city 
bacteriologist  and  as  a  member  of  the  board 
of  health.  He  was  likewise  assistant  in  bac- 
teriology for  one  term  at  the  University  of 
Chicago,  and  while  a  resident  at  Cook  County 
Hospital  lectured  on  anatomy,  physiology,  bac- 
teriology and  chemistry  in  the  Illinois  Train- 
ing School  for  Nurses.  Doctor  Johnson  com- 
menced practice  at  Rockford  in  1917  and  has 
since  been  engaged  in  general  practice, 
although  he  devotes  the  major  portion  of 
his  time  to  surgery  and  also  does  consultation 
work  in  his  clinic  in  the  Swedish-American 
Bank  Building,  where  he  employs  three  assist- 
ants and  two  nurses.  He  is  also  chief  surgeon 
of  the  Swedish-American  Hospital.  In  1916 
Doctor  Johnson  received  Certificate  No.  2, 
among  the  first  five  physicians  who  took  the 
first  examination  of  the  National  Board,  whose 
certificates  are  recognized  by  forty  states  with- 
out further  examination,  and  also  in  Scotland, 
England  and  Canada.  Doctor  Johnson  is  a 
member  of  the  Winnebago  County  Medical 
Society,  the  Illinois  State  Medical  Society  and 
the  American  Medical  Association  and  a  fellow 
of  the  American  College  of  Surgeons,  and 
generally  attends  the  annual  conventions  of 
all  of  these  bodies.  He  has  been  an  extensive 
traveler,  having  been  through  Sweden,  Eng- 
land, Germany,  Italy,  France  and  Belgium 
as  a  visitor  of  the  hospitals  of  the  leading 
cities  of  those  countries,  and  also  attended 
the  International  Post-Graduate  Assembly  at 
London  in  1925.  While  fishing  is  his  principal 
hobby,  Doctor  Johnson  has  won  some  distinc- 
tion as  a  hunter  of  big  game,  having  bagged 
a  bear  and  a  deer  while  on  a  hunting  trip 
in  Canada  in  1928.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
governing  committee  of  the  Gorgas  Memorial 
Institute  of  Tropical  and  Preventive  Medicine 
and  writes  for  this  institution,  being  also  a 
contributor  to  various  medical  journals  on 
scientific  subjects.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Medical  Editors  and  Authors  Association,  the 
Harlem  Hill  Golf  Club  and  the  Benevolent 
and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  is  a  Republican 
in  politics,  and  belongs  to  the  Lutheran 
Church.  His  biography  is  included  in  the 
National  Cyclopaedia  of  American  Biography. 
In  1922  Doctor  Johnson  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Myrtle  Elizabeth  Swanson, 
who  was  born  at  DeKalb,  Illinois,  and  educated 
in  DeKalb  High  School,  the  Illinois  State 
Teachers  College  at  DeKalb  and  Northwestern 
University,  from  which  latter  institution  she 
was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Science  in  1920.  Prior  to  her  marriage 
she  taught  in  the  public  schools  of  Rockford. 


Doctor  and  Mrs.  Johnson  are  the  parents  of 
two  children:  Thomas  Arthur,  Jr.,  born  in 
1926;  and  Jerome  Linne,  born  in  1929.  Mrs. 
Johnson  is  active  in  club  circles  and  in  the 
work   of   Emanuel    Lutheran    Church. 

Edward  Everett  Staley  is  president  of  the 
Baker  Manufacturing  Company,  one  of  the 
largest  industries  of  its  kind  in  Illinois.  In 
fact  it  is  an  Illinois  corporation  with  a  national 
and  international  market  for  its  output  of 
road  making  machinery  and  snow  plows. 
Machinery  made  in  this  plant  is  sold  to  such 
distant  countries  as  Greece,  Turkey,  England, 
and  large  shipments  go  to  South  America 
and  even  to  Honolulu. 

Edward  E.  Staley  is  a  self-made  man  in] 
every  sense  of  the  word.  When  he  started 
earning  his  own  living  as  a  boy  in  Springfield 
he  had  the  clothes  he  wore  but  no  money 
and  no  promising  outlook  in  life  save  through 
his  own  ambition  and  energy. 

He  was  born  at  Springfield,  December  4, 
1871,  son  of  David  H.  and  Sarah  C.  (Curley) 
Staley.  His  parents  were  born  in  Maryland. 
His  father  was  a  carpenter  and  died  at  an 
early  age.  Edward  E.  Staley  was  a  small 
child  when  his  mother  died,  and  he  lived 
for  several  years  with  an  uncle  on  a  farm 
at  Chatham,  a  few  miles  south  of  Springfield. 
His  education  was  limited  to  the  common 
schools.  At  the  age  of  thirteen  he  returned 
to  Springfield,  became  a  bundle  wrapper  in 
a  shoe  store,  subsequently  improved  his  edu- 
cational equipment  by  taking  a  course  in  the 
Springfield  Business  College,  and  he  continued 
with  the  retail  shoe  business  of  Miller  &  Staley 
for  twenty  years. 

In  1917  Mr.  Staley  became  secretary  of 
the  Baker  Manufacturing  Company  and  two 
years  later  its  president.  The  first  order 
for  war  equipment  taken  by  the  Baker  Manu- 
facturing Company,  and  Mr.  Staley  took  it, 
was  signed  by  U.  S.  Grant,  a  grandson  of 
General  Grant.  This  order  was  to  the  amount 
of  $290,000.  The  corporation  is  incorporated 
for  $300,000  capital,  and  during  1929  they 
manufactured  $1,500,000  worth  of  snow  plows 
and  other  machinery.  Mr.  Staley  is  the  major- 
ity stockholder. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Sangamo  Club  and 
Illini  Country  Club  of  Springfield  and  the 
Central  Baptist  Church.  He  married,  June 
20,  1898,  Miss  Elsie  Converse.  They  have 
two  children,  William  Converse  and  Niana, 
the  latter  at  home.  The  daughter  is  a  graduate 
of  the  Briar  Cliff  Manor  School. 

The  son,  William  Converse  Staley,  was  bom 
at  Springfield,  December  28,  1899,  was  edu- 
cated in  the  Springfield  High  School,  in  Milli- 
ken  University  at  Decatur,  and  was  on  his 
way  to  the  training  camp  when  the  armistice 
was  signed.  He  entered  his  father's  business 
as  an  employee  in  the  blacksmith  shop  anc 
worked  in  different  departments  of  the  busi- 


I 


ILLINOIS 


117 


ness,  being  now  vice  president  and  purchasing 
agent  of  the  company.  He  married  Jennie 
Barnes  and  they  have  two  children,  Elsie  Jane, 
born  in  1922,  and  William  C,  Jr.,  born  in 
1923. 

Frederick  Putnam  Cowdin,  physician  and 
surgeon  at  Springfield,  has  been  a  member 
of  the  medical  fraternity  in  that  city  for  the 
past  twenty  years.  Doctor  Cowdin  is  a  very 
successful  physician,  and  his  career  is  a 
tribute  to  the  record  of  one  of  the  very  old 
and  influential  families  of  Southern  Illinois. 

He  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Morgan  County, 
Illinois,  in  1884.  The  Cowdin  family  is  of 
Scotch  origin.  In  1721  Thomas  Cowdin  was 
born  in  Ireland  and  about  1750  came  to 
America  'and  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  at 
Fitchburg,  Massachusetts.  He  conducted  a 
tavern  there,  known  as  the  Tavern  of  Thomas 
Cowdin,  Esq.  The  family  was  represented  in 
the  Revolutionary  war.  Capt.  Daniel  Cowdin 
was  lost  at  sea  during  the  war.  One  of  his 
sisters  married  Gen.  Israel  Putnam,  that 
rugged  military  hero  of  New  England.  Doctor 
Cowdin's  grandfather,  Putnam  Cowdin,  was 
born  at  Fitchburg,  Massachusetts,  in  1812, 
and  came  to  Illinois  in  1837,  settling  in  Mor- 
gan County,  where  he  bought  300  or  400  acres 
of  land  in  what  was  known  as  Joy  Prairie  or 
Yankee  Prairie.  He  developed  a  fine  farm 
and  lived  there  the  rest  of  his  life.  He 
passed  away  in  1872.  Charles  H.  Cowdin, 
father  of  Doctor  Cowdin,  was  born  on  the  old 
ifarm  in  Cowdin  County  and  during  his  active 
[life  was  well  known  for  his  success  in  the 
| live  stock  business.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Congregational  Church.  He  married  Minnie 
Porawski,  who  was  born  in  Saxony,  Germany, 
daughter  of  John  Porawski,  who  was  a  Pole 
as  a  youth  and  served  in  the  Polish  army. 
Doctor  Cowdin  is  one  of  three  children.  His 
'sister  Cora  died  in  1902,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one.  His  other  sister,  Mabel,  is  the  wife  of 
Dr.  H.  P.  Macnamara. 

Doctor  Cowdin  attended  country  schools  in 
Morgan  County,  high  school  and  Illinois  Col- 
lege at  Jacksonville,  graduating  from  the  oldest 
icollege  in  Illinois  in  1905.  For  a  year  he  was 
a  teacher,  being  principal  of  the  high  school 
at  Waverly.  In  1910  he  took  his  degree  in 
medicine  at  Washington  University,  St.  Louis, 
and  was  an  interne  in  the  City  Hospital  of 
St.  Louis  until  1911,  when  he  located  ait 
Springfield.  He  has  been  engaged  in  general 
practice,  with  considerable  surgery,  and  is 
especially  well  known  in  his  profession  as 
a  skilled  obstetrician. 

Doctor  Cowdin  married  in  1912  Margaret 
Barlow,  who  was  born  at  St.  Louis  and  was 
educated  in  the  schools  of  that  city.  Her 
father,  Stephen  Douglas  Barlow,  was  a  son 
lof  Stephen  D.  Barlow,  Sr.,  who  was  the  first 
president  of  the  Iron  Mountain  Railway  Com- 
pany.    In   1930    Mrs.    Cowdin   was   invited   to 


act  as  a  hostess  for  that  railway  company 
and  had  a  very  enjoyable  trip  to  New  Orleans 
and  other  parts  of  the  South.  Mrs.  Cowdin 
has  been  president  of  the  Springfield  Woman's 
Club  and  is  now  executive  secretary  of  the 
Springfield  Art  Association.  She  is  a  member 
of  a  very  prominent  family  of  Illinois.  A 
farm  implement  widely  used  many  years  ago, 
the  invention  of  one  of  the  family,  was  known 
as  the  Barlow  corn  planter.  Doctor  and  Mrs. 
Cowdin  has  a  daughter,  Lucy  Frances,  who 
was  born  March  9,  1918.  The  family  are 
members  of  the  First  Congregational  Church. 
Doctor  Cowdin  is  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and 
Shriner,  a  member  of  the  Sangamo  Club,  the 
Illini  Country  Club  and  golf  is  his  favorite 
diversion.  He  is  a  Republican  in  politics  and 
Mrs.  Cowdin  has  been  one  of  the  prominent 
woman  workers  in  the  party  and  toured  the 
entire  state  in  behalf  of  Governor  Emmerson 
during  his  campaign  for  governor  in  1928. 
Doctor  Cowdin  is  a  member  of  the  Sangamon 
County,  Illinois  State  and  American  Medical 
Associations.  He  has  worked  hard,  has  al- 
ways been  a  student,  and  has  accepted  many 
opportunities  to  attend  clinics  over  the  country 
and  has  taken  special  post-graduate  work  in 
Washington  University  at  St.  Louis. 

Henry  Clark  Riddle.  An  agriculturist  by 
vocation  and  a  member  of  a  family  long  iden- 
tified with  Sangamon  County  agricultural 
operations,  Henry  Clark  Riddle  is  also  known 
as  a  citizen  who  has  filled  a  number  of  public 
offices  with  credit  and  capability,  being  at 
present  deputy  county  treasurer.  His  career 
has  been  an  active  and  useful  one,  and  at  all 
times  he  has  so  comported  himself  as  to  win 
and  hold  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  his 
fellow  citizens. 

Mr.  Riddle  was  born  on  the  old  Riddle  farm 
in  Clear  Lake  Township,  Sangamon  County, 
and  is  a  son  of  Russell  O.  and  Sabra  (Con- 
stant) Riddle.  His  paternal  great-grandfather 
was  David  Riddle,  a  native  of  Virginia,  who 
first  moved  from  that  state  to  Ohio  and  then 
came  with  his  family  to  Sangamon  County, 
where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in 
the  development  of  a  farm.  Abner  Riddle  was 
born  in  1814,  in  Virginia,  and  accompanied 
his  parents  to  near  Urbana,  Ohio,  and  subse- 
quently to  Sangamon  County,  Illinois.  He  at- 
tended the  country  schools  of  his  day,  became 
a  farmer,  and  later  was  one  of  the  first  to 
start  stock  raising  in  the  county.  Mr.  Riddle 
took  his  family  to  Kansas,  where  his  wife, 
Mary  Clark,  died,  following  which  he  returned 
to  Illinois  and  passed  the  last  part  of  his  life 
in  retirement  at  Mechanicsburg,  where  his 
death  occurred  in  1905.  During  his  day  he 
was  a  prominent  citizen  of  his  community  and 
numbered  among  his  friends  Abraham  Lin- 
coln and  other  distinguished  men. 

Russell  O.  Riddle  was  born  on  his  father's 
farm  in  Sangamon  County,  November  17,  1848, 


118 


ILLINOIS 


and  was  educated  in  the  common  schools,  work- 
ing on  the  farm  during  his  entire  school  pe- 
riod. In  1867  he  accompanied  the  family  in 
a  covered  wagon  to  Kansas,  where  he  spent 
four  years,  but  returned  to  Sangamon  County 
and  took  up  farming  and  stock  raising,  in 
which  he  continued  to  be  engaged  with  suc- 
cess during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  In  Feb- 
ruary, 1872,  he  married  Sabra  Constant,  and 
they  became  the  parents  of  three  children: 
Mary,  the  wife  of  Clay  Hussey,  who  has  two 
children,  Stewart  and  Mary;  Luella,  the  wife 
of  Charles  P.  Hoke,  who  has  two  children, 
Evelyn  and  Russell;  and  Henry  Clark,  of  this 
review. 

Henry  Clark  Riddle  attended  country  school 
during  the  winter  months  and  worked  on  the 
farm  during  the  rest  of  the  year,  and  for  one 
year  after  completing  his  education  taught  the 
Bissell  School  in  Clear  Lake  Township.  He 
then  returned  to  farming,  to  which  he  devoted 
himself  for  about  ten  years,  and  is  still  the 
owner  of  a  productive  and  well-cultivated 
farm  in  Williams  Township,  to  which  he  gives 
the  greater  part  of  his  attention.  This  prop- 
erty is  improved  with  commodious  buildings 
and  modern  machinery  and  appliances,  and  Mr. 
Riddle  is  accounted  one  of  the  progressive 
agriculturists  of  the  county.  He  has  always 
taken  an  active  interest  in  public  affairs,  and 
in  1926  was  appointed  deputy  county  clerk, 
under  Oscar  A.  Becker,  a  position  which  he 
retained  until  December  1,  1930,  when  he  was 
appointed  to  the  office  of  deputy  county  treas- 
urer, which  necessitates  his  residence  at 
Springfield.  Mr.  Riddle  has  also  served  capa- 
bly as  school  director  and  commissioner  of 
highways  in  Williams  Township,  and  was  su- 
pervisor for  eight  years.  He  belongs  to  River- 
ton  Lodge  No.  786,  A.  F.  and  A.  M. 

Mr.  Riddle  married  Lela  Bell,  a  daughter 
of  Frank  and  Rachael  (Greer)  Bell,  and  to 
this  union  there  has  been  born  one  daughter, 
Lucile  Frances,  a  graduate  of  the  grade  and 
high  schools,  and  of  the  Illinois  College  at 
Urbana,  and  is  now  connected  with  the  Frank- 
lin Life  Insurance  Company  of  Springfield. 

Charles  Elton  Kalb,  a  former  president 
of  the  Illinois  Osteopathic  Association,  has 
practiced  his  profession  in  the  City  of  Spring- 
field for  the  past  eighteen  years. 

He  is  a  native  of  Sangamon  County,  born 
at  Round  Prairie  in  Rochester  Township,  May 
25,  1884.  In  the  paternal  line  he  is  of  Ger- 
man ancestry,  and  his  forefathers  were  of 
the  same  family  as  the  famous  German  engi- 
neer, Baron  De  Kalb,  who  rendered  such  ma- 
terial aid  to  the  colonies  in  their  struggle 
for  independence,  and  whose  name  has  been 
honored  in  scores  of  towns,  counties  and  other 
localities  in  American  geography.  Doctor 
Kalb's  grandparents  were  Andrew  and  Anne 
Kalb,  the  former's  father  being  a  native  of 
Germany  and  the  latter  of  Loudoun  County, 


Virginia.  Andrew  Kalb  was  born  January  12, 
1812.  The  father  of  Doctor  Kalb  was  George 
Emory  Kalb,  who  was  born  in  Loudoun 
County,  Virginia,  June  22,  1840,  came  to 
Illinois  in  the  spring  of  1851  and  spent  his 
active  life  as  a  farmer  in  Sangamon  County. 
He  and  all  his  family  were  devout  Methodists 
and  he  served  as  a  trustee  of  his  home  church. 
George  Emory  Kalb  passed  away  December 
6,  1920.  He  had  come  to  Illinois  in  1851,  as 
above  stated,  and  he  married  at  Clinton  in  this 
state,  February  22,  1881,  Elizabeth  Ann  Tay- 
lor. She  was  born  in  Sangamon  County,  Au- 
gust 27,  1851,  daughter  of  Phillip  Whitehead 
and  Anna  (Connelly)  Taylor.  Phillip  Taylor 
was  born  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  March  16, 
1826,  and  his  wife  at  Georgetown,  Maryland, 
March  21,  1835.  Doctor  Kalb  was  the  second 
oldest  of  four  children.  His  sister  Nellie  died 
July  11,  1917.  Georgiana  is  the  wife  of  Leon- 
ard J.  Howard,  in  the  gasoline  and  oil  business 
at  Springfield.  The  other  son,  Emory  Taylor 
Kalb,  is  auditor  for  the  Farm  Bureau  &  Pro- 
ducers Dairy  at  Springfield. 

Doctor  Kalb  was  reared  on  a  farm,  had  the 
advantages     of     country     schools     and     when 
eighteen  years  of  age  was  granted  a  teacher's 
certificate.     He  never  used  that  authority  to 
teach.     During   1902-03  he  was  a   student  in 
the    Springfield    Business    College.      For    two 
years  he  was  employed  by  George  W.  Hartnett 
in  the  wall  paper  and  paint  business.     In  Sep- 
tember,  1905,  he   entered   Northwestern   Uni- 
versity Academy  at  Evanston,  graduating  in 
1909,  then  spent  a  year  in  Northwestern  Uni- 
versity, a  member  of  the  Scribbler  Fraternity, 
and  in  1911  entered  the  American   School  of 
Osteopathy  at  Kirksville,  Missouri.    This  great 
school  is  now  the  Kirksville  College  of  Oste- 
opathy and  Surgery.     He  was  graduated  with 
the  degree  Doctor  of  Osteopathy  in  June,  1914. 
Doctor    Kalb    had    to    pay    his    way    through 
school  and  college  and  has  had  a  wide  diversity 
of  training  and  experience.     He  worked  on  a 
farm  as  a  boy,  and  was  a  farmer  on  his  own 
account  for  three  years.     After  graduating  at 
Kirksville  he  came  to  Springfield,  and  his  prac- 
tical   skill   and   his   fine   attitude  towards   his 
work  have  brought  him  a  constantly  enlarging 
sphere  of  service.    In  addition  to  having  servec 
as  president  of  the  Illinois  Osteopathic  Asso- 
ciation he  was  honored  with  the  same  office  » 
the  Springfield  Osteopathic  Association  and  is 
a  member  of  the  American  Osteopathic  Asso 
ciation.      He   is   a   member   also   of   the   Atlas 
Club,   the   national    osteopathic    fraternity ,#  v. 
a  Mason,  member  of  the  Springfield  Optimists 
Club  and  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

Doctor  Kalb  is  one  of  the  leading  member: 
of  the  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  a 
Springfield,  is  one  of  the  church  trustees,  '< 
teacher  in  Sunday  School  and  formerly  super 
intendent  of  the  Sunday  School.  His  hobb: 
since  early  youth  has  been  religious  work 
He  had  to  make  a  serious  choice  for  himsel 


ILLINOIS 


119 


between  becoming  a  Methodist  minister  or  a 
physician,  finally  deciding  that  he  would  pre- 
pare himself  to  treat  the  body  as  well  as  the 
soul.  By  inhertitance  he  is  a  Republican  in 
politics,  though  he  cast  his  first  vote  for  the 
Prohibition  party,  largely  as  a  matter  of  ex- 
pressing his  personal  sentiment  without  hope 
of  success.  His  recreation  is  automobile 
touring. 

Doctor  Kalb  married  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 
June  7,  1916,  Miss  Lulu  Elizabeth  Trower,  of 
Lincoln  County,  Missouri,  daughter  of  Henry 
A.  and  Margaret  Elizabeth  (Downing) 
Trower.  Her  mother  was  a  descendant  of  the 
famous  English  family  for  whom  the  great 
financial  thoroughfare  in  London,  Downing 
Street,  was  named.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Kalb 
have  two  children:  Pauline  Elizabeth,  born 
March  16,  1917;  and  Evelyn  Arlowynne,  born 
September  9,  1919.  Both  daughters  are  at- 
tending school  at  Springfield. 

Arthur  Edward  Walters,  physician  and 
surgeon,  has  been  a  leading  representative  of 
his  profession  at  Springfield  for  the  past  quar- 
ter of  a  century.  He  is  best  known  for  his 
attainments  as  a  specialist  in  eye,  ear,  nose 
and  throat.  His  offices  are  in  the  Prince 
Sanitarium. 

Doctor  Walters  was  born  in  Sangamon 
County,  Illinois,  April  15,  1882,  son  of  Wil- 
liam and  Sarah  (Green)  Walters,  his  father 
a  native  of  Kentucky  and  his  mother  of  Ohio. 
William  Walters  went  out  to  California  in 
1849,  had  some  success  in  the  gold  fields,  and 
with  what  he  made  there  he  purchased  a 
half  section  of  land  in  Sangamon  County, 
developing  a  farm  which  he  occupied  and 
worked  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  died  in  1896 
and  nis  wife  in  1923.  Of  their  nine  children 
5even  are  living,  Doctor  Walters  being  the 
Toungest.  Both  parents  were  Methodists  and 
;he  father  was  a  Democrat. 

Doctor  Walters  was  reared  on  a  farm,  and 
after  the  advantages  of  the  country  schools 
ie  attended  Valparaiso  University  in  Indiana 
md  was  graduated  in  medicine  from  St.  Louis 
University  in  1905.  For  several  years  he  en- 
gaged in  general  practice,  and  as  a  specialist 
ias  the  value  of  a  thorough  experience  in 
:ne  general  routine  of  a  physician  and  sur- 
geon. Doctor  Walters  took  work  at  the  New 
York  Polyclinic  in  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat 
and  for  twenty  years  has  been  a  recognized 
specialist.  He  has  attended  clinics  every  year 
and  has  kept  in  touch  with  the  leaders  in  his 
3Ja^h  of  the  profession.  He  is  a  member 
)i  the  Sangamon  County,  Illinois  State  and 
American  Medical  Associations.  He  is  chief 
oculist  for  the  C.  &  I.  M.  Railway  and  on  the 
>taff  of  the  Illinois  Terminal  Railroad. 

Doctor  Walters  married,  December  20,  1905, 
Miss  Blanche  Stockdale.  She  was  graduated 
^om  the  Illinois  Woman's  College  at  Jackson- 
ville in  1905,  is  a  talented  musician  and  taught 


music  for  several  years.  They  are  members 
ot  the  Westminster  Presbyterian  Church 
Doctor  Walters  is  a  York  Rite  Mason  and 
bnrmer,  member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias 
Loyal  Order  of  Moose,  B.  P.  O.  Elks.  He  was 
a  Democrat  in  politics  until  1928,  when  he 
supported  Mr.  Hoover.  For  two  years  he  was 
president  of  the  Springfield  Park  Board.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Sangamo  Club,  the  Coun- 
try Club,  Kiwanis  Club.  His  hobby  is  big 
game  hunting  and  he  has  killed  several  moose 
in  Canada. 

m  George  William  Peers,  mortician,  has  been 
in  business  at  Mattoon  for  the  past  twenty 
years.  Thousands  of  families  have  had  occa- 
sion to  appreciate  the  splendid  service  rendered 
by  the  Peers  organization. 

Mr.  Peers  was  born  at  Baraboo,  Wisconsin, 
November  20  1879  son  of  Reuben  H.  and 
Ada  M.  (Wilcox)  Peers.  His  grandfather 
Peers  was  a  native  of  England,  coming  to  the 
united  btates  when  a  young  man.  His  ma- 
ternal grandfather,  George  Wilcox,  was  a  na- 
tive of  New  York  State  and  went  to  Wis- 
consin at  an  early  day.  Reuben  H.  Peers  was 
born  m  Walworth  County,  Wisconsin,  spent 
many  years  of  his  life  there  as  a  farmer,  then 
came  south  and  was  on  a  farm  at  McMinn- 
Vi  ^V  Tennessee,  for  seven  years.  On  locating 
at  Mattoon  he  engaged  in  the  livery  stable 
business.  He  died  May  10,  1924.  His  wife 
was  born  in  New  York  State  and  died  Novem- 
ber 1,  1923. 

George  W.  Peers  was  a  Wisconsin  farm 
youth  was  educated  in  the  high  school  at 
Baraboo  and  attended  the  University  of  Wis- 
consin. For  a  number  of  years  he  was  asso- 
ciated with  his  father  in  farming  both  in 
Wisconsin  and  in  Tennessee.  They  were  to- 
fSi  oLm  ^he  livery  business  at  Mattoon.  In 
1912  Mr.  Peers  sold  his  interest  in  that  estab- 
lishment, and  on  September  1  of  that  year 
opened  a  new  undertaking  business,  which  he 
has  continued  under  the  title  of  George  W 
Peers,  mortician.  He  is  a  graduate  of  the 
Barnes  Embalming  College.  Mr.  Peers  has 
from  year  to  year  perfected  his  service  and 
has  maintained  it  at  a  point  of  perfection  in 
every  detail.  Motorized  equipment  is  the  rule 
including  hearses,  ambulances,  funeral  cars' 
Mr.  Peers  is  a  man  of  splendid  physique, 
pleasing  address,  and  has  the  finest  qualifica- 
tions for  a  man  in  his  profession.  His  as- 
sistant and  associate  through  all  the  years  he 
has  been  in  business  has  been  Mrs.  Peers  who 
is  a  graduate  of  the  Worsham  School  of  Em- 
balming, and  her  culture  and  business  ability 
have  been  an  important  factor  in  the  success 
ol  the  establishment. 

Mr.  Peers  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  and 
National  Funeral  Directors  Associations  He 
is  a  thirty-second  degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason 
and  Shrmer,  Knight  Templar,  is  a  past  chan- 
cellor commander  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias 


120 


ILLINOIS 


a  past  exalted  ruler  of  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks,  mem- 
ber of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
the  Eastern  Star,  White  Shrine,  is  a  past 
dictator  of  the  Loyal  Order  of  Moose,  mem- 
ber of  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  America,  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Country  Club.  He 
and  Mrs.  Peers  are  active  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  In  politics  he  is  a  Repub- 
lican. 

On  July  17,  1912,  he  married  Miss  Leora 
Adrian,  of  Mattoon.  They  were  married  at 
Baraboo,  Wisconsin.  Her  parents  are  Mel- 
ville M.  and  Mary  (Hughart)  Adrian.  She 
is  a  niece  of  Mayor  Hughart  of  Mattoon.  She 
attended  school  at  Mattoon.  Mrs.  Peers  is 
a  member  of  the  Eastern  Star  and  the  White 
Shrine  of  Jerusalem,  the  Business  Woman's 
Club,  the  Auxiliary  of  the  American  Legion, 
Pythian  Sisters,  Royal  Neighbors,  Rebekahs, 
Pocahontas  and  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps. 

Joseph  Bartlett  Perkins,  a  Springfield 
business  man,  a  specialist  in  real  estate,  is  a 
member  of  an  Illinois  family  that  has  been 
in  this  state  for  over  a  century.  Mr.  Perkins 
during  his  younger  years  studied  law  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  but  has  used  his  knowledge 
of  the  subject  chiefly  in  his  own  business. 

He  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Sangamon  County, 
August  20,  1867.  His  grandfather,  Edward 
Perkins,  was  born  March  15,  1791,  in  Wilkes 
County,  North  Carolina,  and  married  in  1812 
Miss  Anna  Pierce.  In  1820  he  came  to  Illi- 
nois and  was  a  pioneer  farm  maker  in  San- 
gamon County.  He  and  his  wife  had  a  family 
of  eleven  children.  Their  son  Joseph  B.  Per- 
kins was  born  in  Sangamon  County,  May  15, 
1824.  The  first  important  experience  in  his 
early  life  came  when  he  enlisted  in  Company 
A  of  the  Fourth  Illinois  Infantry  for  service 
in  the  Mexican  war.  After  his  return  he  en- 
gaged in  farming,  later  was  elected  sheriff 
of  Sangamon  County  and  for  a  number  of 
years  operated  a  livery  stable  and  was  in  the 
real  estate  business  during  the  latter  part  of 
his  life.  He  died  July  5,  1896.  He  was  at 
one  time  president  of  the  Sangamon  County 
Agricultural  Society.  He  was  always  a 
staunch  Democrat  in  politics,  and  he  and  his 
wife  were  devout  Presbyterians.  Joseph  B. 
Perkins  married  Ann  Mary  Price,  who  was 
born  near  Lexington,  Kentucky,  and  she  died 
May  5,  1931.  Her  father,  Rev.  Jacob  F. 
Price,  was  a  pioneer  Presbyterian  minister, 
widely  known  for  his  efforts  in  building  up 
churches  in  Kentucky.  He  was  born  in  Clark 
County,  Kentucky,  January  17,  1805,  and  died 
at  Brownstown,  Pennsylvania,  while  on  his 
way  home  from  a  Presbyterian  convention. 
Rev.  Jacob  F.  Price  married  Marie  Reed  Miles. 
Joseph  B.  Perkins  and  wife  had  a  family  of 
four  children,  and  the  three  now  living  are 
Joseph  B.,  Jr.,  Robert  L.  and  Reed  M. 

Mr.  Joseph  B.   Perkins  while  a  boy  on  the 
farm  attended  country  schools  and  later  grad- 


uated from  the  Springfield  High  School.     Fo» 
a  time  he  was  assistant  librarian  in  the  Su- 
preme Court  Library  and  for  two  years  was 
an  employee  of  the  Ridgeley  National   Bank. 
In   the   meantime    he    studied   law,    and   after 
being  admitted  to  the  bar  practiced  for  about 
three  years.     He  has  found  a  number  of  in- 
teresting  and   useful    activities.      For   a   time 
he  was  with  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation in  Springfield  and  for  eighteen  months 
was  assistant  reporter  of  the  Appellate  Court J 
For  twelve  years  he  had  charge  of  the   Ode 
Fellows  Building.     As  a  real  estate  dealer  hd 
makes  a  specialty  of  coal  mining  property,  ano! 
has  handled  an  important  volume  of  transac 
tions   throughout  the   Springfield  mining  dis^ 
trict.     His   brother  has  been   a   partner  witlj 
him  since  1919. 

Mr.  Perkins  is  unmarried.  He  is  a  membe: 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  is  a  Scottisl 
Rite  Mason,  member  of  the  Independent  Orde: 
of  Odd  Fellows  and  a  Democrat  in  politics. 

Jesse  Wilbern  Dugger,  Doctor  of  Chiro 
practic,  is  a  resident  of  Springfield,  is  a  man 
of  very  high  standing  in  his  profession,  has  an 
extensive  practice  and  has  also  given  a  grea 
deal  of  time  to  organization  work  amon; 
chiropractors  in  establishing  the  standards  o 
his  professional  group.  He  was  the  first  chirc 
praetor  appointed  a  member  of  the  Illinoi 
State  Examining  Committee. 

Doctor  Dugger  was  born  in  Greene  Countj 
Illinois,  August  16,  1874,  son  of  Elvis  ann| 
Sarah  (Jackson)  Dugger.  His  grandparent 
were  Simeon  and  Dillie  (Pritchett)  Duggei 
the  former  a  native  of  Virginia  and  the  latte 
of  County  Cork,  Ireland.  They  settled  i 
Illinois  in  1850.  Elvis  Dugger  was  born  s 
Jackson,  Tennessee,  March  12,  1848,  and  wa 
about  two  years  old  when  the  family  settle- 
in  Illinois.  The  Civil  war  broke  out  whei 
he  was  thirteen  and  he  had  the  opportunity  I 
getting  into  the  army,  joining  the  forces  und^ 
General  Sherman  at  Chattanooga,  and  server 
until  the  end  of  the  war.  After  the  war  I 
followed  farming.  He  was  a  Democrat  II 
politics  and  a  member  of  the  Methodiij 
Church.  Elvis  Dugger  died  in  1917.  His  wii 
was  born  in  Macoupin  County,  Illinois,  Se]{ 
tember  6,  1858,  and  died  in  1920. 

Jesse  W.   Dugger  was  educated  in  counti! 
schools  and  graduated  in  1893  from  the  Virde 
High   School   in   Macoupin   County.      For   tw 
years  he  took  the  liberal  arts  course  in  norniij 
school  at  Bushnell. 

Doctor  Dugger  had  an  interesting  and  even 
ful  experience  under  the  Arctic  Circle,  goirj 
to  the  Yukon  territory  as  a  prospector  in  tl: 
spring    of    1897,   when   the   first   rush   to   tl; 
gold  district  began.     He  remained  in  the  9 
North   for   six   years   and   in   1903   located 
Western   Canada,  where  he  bought  four  set 
tions  of  land,  comprising  2,560  acres,  and  wei 
into  wheat  ranching  on  an  extensive  scale.    J 


ILLINOIS 


121 


the  midst  of  a  busy  career  he  was  crippled 
by  an  accident,  and  for  a  time  faced  the  pros- 
pect of  being  a  helpless  invalid  for  life.  He 
was  paralyzed  from  the  waist  down.  Perma- 
nent relief  came  through  the  medium  of  chiro- 
practic and  because  of  the  wonderful  success 
attending  his  own  case  he  decided  to  take 
up  the  profession  and  make  its  services  avail- 
able to  others. 

In  1912  he  entered  the  Palmer  School  of 
Chiropractic  at  Davenport,  was  graduated  in 
1915  and  in  the  same  year  located  at  Spring- 
field, where  he  has  had  a  busy  practice  for 
fifteen  years.  In  1926  Doctor  Dugger  or- 
ganized the  Chiropractors  Society  of  Illinois 
and  has  served  four  consecutive  terms  as  presi- 
dent. Governor  Small  in  1923  appointed  him 
the  first  chiropractor  on  the  Illinois  State  Ex- 
>  amining  Committee  for  Medical  Practitioners, 
and  he  was  reappointed  to  the  same  position 
under  Governor  Emmerson. 

Doctor   Dugger   was   one   of   the   organizers 
and   is   president   of  the   General   Life   Insur- 
ance  Company.     He   is   an   active   Republican 
|  in   politics,    is    a   member    of   the    Knights    of 
:  Pythias,  and  a  Baptist.     His  hobby  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  has  been  fine  horses. 

Doctor  Dugger  married,  February  19,  1908, 
Miss   Elsie   Walters.      They   were   married    at 
Regina,    Saskatchewan,    but    she    is    also    an 
Illinois  girl,  her  father,  S.  J.  Walters,  having 
been  a  farmer  in  Sangamon  County.     Doctor 
jand  Mrs.  Dugger  have  one  son,  Wilbern  Wal- 
ters,  born   May   6,    1909,   at   Victoria,   British 
i  Columbia.      He   was   reared    and   educated    in 
Springfield,    and   for    several   years    has   been 
prominent   in   Boy   Scout   work   in    Sangamon 
County,  having  organized  the  Scout  Troop  for 
ithe  Kiwanis  Club. 

William  Patrick  Sullivan  has  devoted  all 
jhis  active  lifetime  to  the  cause  of  education. 
Several  Illinois  communities  have  known  him 
|as  a  teacher  and  school  administrator,  but 
ithe  place  of  his  longest  service  has  been  Illi- 
opolis, where  for  twenty-two  years  he  has  been 
principal  of  the  high  school  and  superintend- 
ent of  the  school  system  of  that  Sangamon 
;  County  community.  For  fifteen  years  he  has 
been  secretary  of  both  boards  of  education. 

Mr.  Sullivan  was  born  at  Noblesville,  Indi- 
ana, December  12,  1876.  His  father,  Patrick 
Sullivan,  came  from  Ireland  and  was  also 
for  many  years  a  teacher.  Patrick  Sullivan 
;  married  Jennie  Burdett,  who  was  born  at 
Noblesville,  Indiana,  in  1846. 

William  Patrick  Sullivan  attended  public 
schools  at  Indianapolis  and  completed  his  edu- 
cation in  Edgar  County,  Illinois.  In  1897  he 
entered  the  Illinois  State  Normal  University, 
and  in  1901  graduated  with  the  degree  Bache- 
;  lor  of  Pedagogy  from  Greer  College  at  Hoopes- 
ton,  Illinois.  In  1910  he  completed  work  and 
was  given  a  limited  state  certificate  by  the 
State  Teachers   College  and  in   1912  received 


a  state  high  school  certificate  from  the  normal 
department.  In  1920  the  Normal  University 
of  Missouri  conferred  upon  him  the  A.  B. 
degree.  During  1925-27  he  was  a  post-grad- 
uate student  in  the   University  of  Wisconsin. 

His  first  work  in  teaching  was  done  in 
Edgar  County.  He  was  principal  of  the  high 
school  at  Garland,  and  in  1906  became  principal 
at  Patoka,  remaining  there  until  1911.  He 
then  entered  upon  his  duties  at  Illiopolis, 
where  he  has  been  principal  of  the  high  school 
and  superintendent  o*f  the  grade  schools  for 
the  past  twenty-two  years.  In  1930  he  be- 
came a  candidate  for  the  office  of  county  su- 
perintendent of  schools  in  Sangamon  County. 

Mr.  Sullivan  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  member 
of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and 
has  taken  much  interest  in  the  Republican 
party  organization.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Lions  Club,.  His  hobby  is  fishing  in  Wis- 
consin and  the  streams  of  the  Ozarks.  Mr 
Sullivan  is  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church 
and  his  wife  is  a  Presbyterian. 

He  married  Miss  Mable  Simcox,  of  Patoka, 
daughter  of  John  L.  Simcox,  a  merchant.  Mr. 
Sullivan  has  two  sons  and  two  daughters: 
Robert  Patrick,  born  in  1904,  a  graduate  of 
Illinois  Wesleyan  and  who  spent  one  year  in 
Harvard  University,  married  a  Wisconsin  girl; 
Paul,  born  in  1906,  a  graduate  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois;  Iris,  born  in  1910,  a  stu- 
dent in  the  Wesleyan  Conservatory  of  Music, 
married  a  banker  at  Pontiac;  and  Dorothy 
May,  born  in  1914,  a  graduate  of  the  high 
school  at  Illiopolis  and  now  a  student  at  James 
Milliken  University. 

Henry  Blair  Davidson.  Standing  out 
prominently  from  a  long  life  crowded  with 
worthy  civilian  experiences  and  achievements, 
the  war-time  record  of  Henry  B.  Davidson, 
during  the  dark  days  of  the  '60s,  is  one  that 
is  well  worth  mentioning  in  any  history  per- 
taining to  the  accomplishments  of  citizens  of 
Illinois.  This  worthy  retired  resident  of 
Springfield,  who  for  nearly  half  a  century 
was  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  carriages 
and  wagons,  saw  some  of  the  hardest  fighting 
of  the  great  struggle  between  the  North  and 
South,  and  emerged  therefrom  with  a  record 
for  valor  and  fidelity  unsurpassed  and  seldom 
equaled. 

Mr.  Davidson  was  born  at  Edinburgh,  Scot- 
land, and  after  the  death  of  his  father  in  that 
country  was  brought  by  his  widowed  mother 
to  Virginia,  Cass  County,  Illinois,  where  her 
parents  resided.  He  received  his  early  edu- 
cation in  the  country  schools  and  worked  on 
the  farm  until  January  15,  1862,  when  he 
enlisted  at  Camp  Butler,  Springfield,  in  Com- 
pany G,  Twelfth  Illinois  Cavalry,  for  service 
during  the  war  between  the  states.  His  regi- 
ment was  assigned  to  the  Army  of  the  Poto- 
mac, under  General  McClelland,  and  he  was 
first   stationed   on  the  advanced  line   running 


122 


ILLINOIS 


from  Winchester,  Virginia,  to  the  new  State 
of  West  Virginia.     At  the  time  that  "Stone- 
wall" Jackson's  army  captured  Harper's  Ferry, 
Mr.   Davidson  was  at  Martinsburg,  Virginia, 
where  he  had  his  baptism  of  fire.     His  com- 
mand started  through  the  lines  at  night  via 
Sharpsburg  and  with  another  regiment  got  to 
Greencastle,     Pennsylvania,     and     afterwards 
joined    the    main    army.      Being    detained    at 
Williamsport,  Maryland,  for  thirty  days,  they 
missed  the  bloody  battle  of  Antietam   Creek, 
and  went  to  Dunfee,  Virginia.     At  this  time 
General     Burnside     replaced     McClelland     in 
command,  facing  the  Confederate  forces  under 
Stuart.      When    Burnside    was    relieved,    Joe 
Hooker   took   command,    Mr.    Davidson's   com- 
pany at  that  time  being  behind  the   Confed- 
erate lines,  and  were  within  six  miles  of  Rich- 
mond at  the  time  of  Stoneman's  Raid.     From 
that  point  they  went   to   Chesapeake   Bay   at 
Gloucester    Point,    opposite    Yorktown,    where 
they  were   allowed  to   rest  for   a   short  time, 
after   which   they   crossed   the    Rappahannock 
River    and   fought   their   way   back   to   Penn- 
sylvania.     Placed    under    General    Beauford, 
they  fought  two  engagements,  and  then  went 
to    Frederick,    Maryland,    where    Hooker    was 
replaced  by  George  B.  Meade.   General  Howard 
was  in  charge  of  the  left  wing,  of  which  Mr. 
Davidson  was  a  member,  in  advance  toward 
the  Confederate  forces.     General  Beauford,  in 
charge  of  this  advance,  had  about  4,000  men, 
but  Mr.  Davidson's  immediate  commander  was 
General    Reynolds.      After   twenty-seven   days 
of  almost  continuous  fighting  and  skirmishing 
this  brigade  reached  its  objective,  Gettysburg, 
June  30.     The  horses  were  in  poor  condition 
and  the  regiment  went  on  duty  on  the  Cham- 
bersburg   Road,   only   three   miles   from   Lee's 
army.      Subsequently    the    regiment    took    an 
active    and    distinguished   part   in    all   of   the 
cavalry    fighting    at    and    around    Gettysburg. 
During  his  eastern  service  Mr.  Davidson  took 
part    in    twenty-eight    engagements.      At    the 
close  of  his  first  enlistment  Mr.  Davidson  went 
to    Chicago,    and   the   regiment   was   recruited 
up  to  its  regular  strength.     Going  to  St.  Louis, 
they   embarked   on   a  boat  for   New   Orleans, 
and  went  up  the   Red   River,  where  they  re- 
mained for  about  three  months.     Subsequently 
they  made  their  way  to  Mobile  and  then  re- 
turned to  New  Orleans,  later  going  to  Mem- 
phis,    Tennessee,     from     which'     place     they 
operated   for   a   time,   being   then   transferred 
to    Natchez,    Mississippi,    where    they    consoli- 
dated with  the  Fourth  Illinois  Cavalry.     Mr. 
Davidson  was  located  at  Collinsville,  Tennes- 
see, at  the  time  of  the  assassination  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln.     He   served   another  year  after 
the  war  had  closed,  being  under  General  Cus- 
ter on  the  border,  and  was  mustered  out  at 
Houston,    Texas,    June    18,    1866.      Following 
the  war   Mr.  Davidson  took  up  his  residence 
at   Springfield,  where  he  secured  employment 
as    a    carriage    and   wagon    maker.      In    1873 


he  embarked  in  business  on  his  own  account 
and  continued  therein  for  forty-seven  years, 
or  until  his  retirement.  He  was  at  all  times 
known  as  an  exemplary  citizen  and  a  man 
of  the  highest  business  character,  and  won 
success  through  his  own  industry  and  good 
management. 

In  December,  1872,  Mr.  Davidson  married 
Margaret  Clasplill,  of  Springfield,  a  member 
of  an  old  and  honored  family,  and  to  this 
union  there  were  born  three  children:  Arthur, 
of  Detroit,  Michigan,  who  is  married  and  has 
one  son,  Allen;  Margaret,  who  married  Jesse 
Thomas,  of  Springfield,  and  has  three  chil- 
dren, Robert,  Francis  and  Catherine;  and 
Harry,  of  Springfield,  who  saw  service  at 
Camp  Taylor  during  the  World  war  but  was 
not  called  upon  for  overseas  duty. 

Mr.  Davidson  has  long  been  prominent  in 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and  at  one 
time  was  adjutant-general  thereof.  He  also 
served  as  commander  of  Stephens  Post  No.  30, 
Springfield,  of  which  he  was  adjutant,  in  1929- 
30  he  was  department  commander  for  Illinois 
and  under  Commander-in-Chief  Jewel  he  was  a 
member  of  several  committees.  His  residence 
is  at  121   North   Glenwood   Street. 

Berton  W.  Hole,  physician  and  surgeon,  is 
a  native  of  Illinois,  and  his  professional  ex- 
perience covers  a  period  of  nearly  forty  years. 
Doctor  Hole  is  one  of  the  popular  representa- 
tives of  his  profession  practicing  at  Springfield. 

He  was  born  at  Havana,  Illinois,  October 
11,  1870,  son  of  William  H.  and  Susan  R. 
(Dieffenbacher)  Hole.  His  grandfather,  Ste- 
phen R.  Hole,  was  a  native  of  Ohio,  lived  in 
Indiana  for  a  time  and  in  1854  came  to  Illi- 
nois and  settled  in  Mason  County.  Doctor 
Hole's  maternal  grandfather,  Daniel  Dieffen- 
bacher, was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania  and 
came  to  Illinois  about  1850,  taking  up  Govern- 
ment land  in  Mason  County.  William  H.  Hole 
was  an  Illinois  soldier  in  the  Civil  war,  serv- 
ing in  the  Eighty-fifth  Illinois  Infantry.  After 
the  war  he  devoted  his  labors  to  the  farm  in 
Mason  County  and  was  a  highly  respected 
and  useful  citizen  of  that  community.  He 
was  a  Republican,  was  affiliated  with  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  was  a  Pres- 
byterian, while  his  wife  was  a  Methodist. 
They  had  two  children:  Berton  W.  and  Gar- 
net, the  latter  the  widow  of  William  Chestnut 
and  a  resident  of  Mason  City,  Illinois. 

Berton  W.  Hole  at  the  age  of  eighteen  and 
a  half  years  graduated  from  the  Havana  High 
School.  He  prepared  for  his  profession  in 
Northwestern  University  at  Chicago,  graduat- 
ing in  1892.  During  the  next  twelve  years  he 
looked  after  a  general  town  and  country  prac- 
tice at  Talula,  Illinois.  From  there  he  moved 
to  Springfield,  but  two  years  later  went  to 
Okmulgee,  Oklahoma,  and  practiced  in  that 
old  Creek  Indian  town,  which  after  statehood 
came    to    Oklahoma    rapidly    developed    as    a 


ILLINOIS 


123 


city.  He  remained  there  until  1921  and  on 
returning  to  Illinois  established  his  home  and 
practice  at  Springfield.  He  is  engaged  in  a 
general  practice,  handling  considerable  sur- 
gery. Doctor  Hole  spent  the  year  1906-07  in 
the  New  York  Post-Graduate  School  and  has 
also  taken  special  work  in  the  American  Hos- 
pital in  Chicago  and  in  the  Barnes  Hospital  in 
St.  Louis  in  1921. 

He  married  in  1910  Miss  Nettie  E.  Fruits, 
a  native  of  Menard  County,  Illinos.  She  at- 
tended school  at  Petersburg.  Doctor  Hole  is 
an  elder  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church.  He 
is  a  York  and  Scottish  Rite  Mason,  member  of 
the  Knights  of  Pythias,  the  Grand  View  Coun- 
try Club  and  a  Republican  in  politics.  He 
enjoys  a  high  standing  among  his  profes- 
sional associates  in  the  Sangamon  County, 
Illinois  State  and  American  Medical  Associa- 
tions. 

William  M.  Carroll  has  won  distinct  van- 
tage ground  and  marked  professional  and 
civic  influence  as  one  of  the  representative 
lawyers  of  the  younger  generation  in  his  na- 
tive McHenry  County,  and  is  established  in 
the  successful  practice  of  his  profession  in  the 
City  of  Woodstock,  the  county  seat. 

The  fifth   in  a  family  of   seven   sons,   only 
one  of  whom  is  deceased,  William  M.  Carroll 
was  born  on  the  parental  home  farm  in  Hart- 
land    Township,    McHenry    County,    July    25, 
1894.     He  is  a  son  of  John  J.  and  Antoinette 
(Miller)    Carroll,    the   former    of    whom   was 
j  born  on  a  farm  near  Hebron  this  county,  and 
the  latter  of  whom  was  born  at  Seneca,  Mc- 
Henry   County.      John    J.    Carroll    was    long 
numbered  among  the  substantial  exponents  of 
farm  industry  in  his  native  county  and  was 
I  one  of  the  influential  and  highly  honored  cit- 
izens of  McHenry  County  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  in  1922,  his  widow  being  now  a  resi- 
dent of   Woodstock.     John   J.    Carroll   was   a 
Democrat  in  politics  and  was  a  leader  in  pop- 
ular sentiment  and  action  in  his  home  com- 
munity.     He    served    as    delegate    to    various 
conventions  of  his  party  and  was  efficient  and 
!   loyal  in  his   administration   as   road   commis- 
i   sioner  in  his  home  township.     He  was  a  zeal- 
ous  member    of    the    Catholic    Church,    as    is 
also   his   widow,   and   was   affiliated   with   the 
Catholic  Order  of  Foresters.    His  father,  John 
Carroll,   was   born   in    Ireland    and    gained    a 
goodly  measure  of  pioneer  precedence  in  Mc- 
Henry County,  Illinois,  where  he  made  settle- 
ment in  the  1840  decade  and  where  he  passed 
the  remainder   of   his   life   as   an   industrious 
farmer   and   loyal   and   public-spirited   citizen. 
The  maternal  grandfather  of  William  M.  Car- 
roll  of   this    review    was    born    in    Germany, 
where  he  received  the  best  of  educational  ad- 
vantages, and  he  was  a  youth  when  he  came 
to  the  United   States   and  found  employment 
in  the  customs  service  in  New  York  City,  he 


having  later  come  to  Illinois  and  having  here 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

William  M.  Carroll  completed  his  course 
of  study  in  the  Woodstock  High  School  and 
thereafter  prepared  himself  for  his  chosen  pro- 
fession by  attending  the  law  department  of 
fine  old  Notre  Dame  University  at  South 
Bend,  Indiana.  In  that  institution  he  was 
graduated  as  amember  of  the  class  of  1915, 
and  his  reception  of  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Laws  was  forthwith  followed  by  his  ad- 
mission to  the  bar  of  his  native  state.  The 
City  of  Chicago  was  the  stage  of  his  profes- 
sional activities  the  first  year,  and  he  then 
returned  to  McHenry  County,  where  he  has 
since  continued  in  the  successful  general  prac- 
tice of  law  at  Woodstock,  judicial  center  of 
the  county.  He  has  proved  his  powers  as  a 
resourceful  trial  lawyer  and  as  a  well  forti- 
fied counselor,  and  his  law  business  shows  a 
constantly  cumulative  trend.  He  has  given 
eight  years  of  service  as  assistant  state's  at- 
torney of  his  native  county  and  has  made  a 
record  of  equally  effective  service  as  city  at- 
torney of  Woodstock.  His  political  allegiance 
is  given  to  the  Republican  party  and  in  1930 
he  was  its  nominee  for  representative  of  Mc- 
Henry County  in  the  State  Legislature.  Aside 
from  his  professional  activities  Mr.  Carroll 
has  gained  much  of  prestige  as  a  vigorous 
and  entertaining  public  speaker  and  has  been 
called  upon  for  many  addresses  before  repre- 
sentative civic  assemblages.  He  has  mem- 
bership in  the  McHenry  County  Bar  Associa- 
tion and  the  Illinois  State  Bar  Association. 
He  is  a  communicant  of  St.  Mary's  Catholic 
Church,  and  here  he  maintains  affiliation  with 
the  Knights  of  Columbus,  the  American  Le- 
gion, of  which  he  is  a  past  commander  of 
Peter  Umathum  Post,  the  Benevolent  and  Pro- 
tective Order  of  Elks,  of  which  he  is  a  past 
exalted  ruler,  and  the  Loyal  Order  of  Moose. 

In  September,  1917,  the  year  that  marked 
the  nation's  entrance  into  the  World  war, 
Mr.  Carroll  enlisted  for  service  in  the  United 
States  Army.  He  received  preliminary  train- 
ing at  Camp  Grant,  near  Rockford,  this  state, 
and  in  August,  1918,  accompanied  his  com- 
mand overseas,  where  he  was  in  active  serv- 
ice when  the  armistice  brought  the  war  to  a 
close  and  where  he  remained  until  July,  1919, 
when  he  returned  to  his  native  land  and  in 
due  course  received  his  honorable  discharge, 
with   the  rank  of  second   lieutenant. 

In  1918,  prior  to  his  departure  for  overseas 
service  in  the  World  war,  Mr.  Carroll  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Dorothy  Lemmers, 
who  was  born  and  reared  at  Woodstock  and 
who  is  a  representative  of  one  of  the  old  and 
honored  families  of  McHenry  County.  Her 
father,  George  W.  Lemmers,  has  long  been 
engaged  in  the  abstract  business  at  Wood- 
stock, and  in  the  public  schools  of  this  city 
she    received    her    youthful    education,    which 


124 


ILLINOIS 


included  a  high-school  course.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Carroll  have  two  children:  William  M.,  Jr., 
born  March  5,  1922,  and  James  P.,  born  Jan- 
uary 30,  1927. 

William  Calvin  Shaffer.  The  superin- 
tendent and  general  manager  of  the  Sanga- 
mon County  Infirmary,  W.  C.  Shaffer,  has  held 
this  position  at  Buffalo  for  a  number  of  years, 
and  under  his  able  direction  it  has  flourished 
and  been  a  great  power  for  good  in  the  com- 
munity. He  is  a  man  of  high  intellectual  at- 
tainments, being  versed  in  the  law,  and  for 
some  years  was  a  school  teacher  and  a  min- 
ister of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  His  early 
life  was  such  as  to  give  him  the  necessary 
training  and  experience  which  he  put  to  such 
good  use  in  his  present  post,  in  addition  to 
which  he  has  never  lost  interest  in  his  church 
work  or  his  legal  studies. 

Mr.  Shaffer  was  born  March  27,  1872,  at 
Argenta,  Illinois,  and  is  a  son  of  Francis 
Shaffer.  His  father,  who  was  born  in  Ohio, 
enlisted  in  Company  H,  Ninety-ninth  Regi- 
ment, Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  for  service 
during  the  war  between  the  states,  and  dur- 
ing the  two  years  that  his  regiment  was  at- 
tached to  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  he 
saw  much  active  service,  including  Missionary 
Ridge  and  Murfreesboro  and  the  fierce  fighting 
that  marked  the  Tennessee  campaigns.  He 
was  finally  disabled  and  honorably  discharged, 
returned  to  his  home,  where  he  married  a 
Miss  Swander,  and  about  1865  left  Ohio  in  a 
covered  wagon  and  came  to  Argenta,  Illinois. 
Buying  a  farm  in  Macon  County,  he  spent 
the  remainder  of  his  life  in  agricultural  opera- 
tions and  became  one  of  the  substantial  men 
of  his  community.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  for  many  years 
and  always  took  a  great  interest  in  that  or- 
ganization, attending  its  encampments  when- 
ever possible.  He  and  his  worthy  wife  were 
the  parents  of  six  children:  Nora,  who  married 
Perry  Parr;  Anna  M.,  who  married  Charles 
Sellars;  Sarah  A.,  who  married  Frank  Ham- 
mond; W.  C,  of  this  review;  James  W.,  who 
married  Lena  Stroh;  and  Jessie  L.,  who  mar- 
ried Al  Pierce.  The  paternal  grandfather  of 
W.  C.  Shaffer  was  George  Shaffer,  who  came 
to  Illinois  in  late  life  and  died  here  on  a  farm. 
He  married  a  Miss  Boyer,  also  a  native  of 
Ohio. 

W.  C.  Shaffer  attended  the  old  Zion  School 
in  Whitmore  Township,  Macon  County,  fol- 
lowing which  he  pursued  a  course  at  Lincoln 
University  and  the  Lebanon  (Tennessee) 
Seminary.  For  four  years  thereafter  he 
taught  public  school  in  Tennessee,  following 
which  he  became  a  minister  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  for  nineteen  years 
was  pastor  at  Pleasant  Plains.  At  the  end  of 
that  period  he  was  appointed  to  his  present 
post  as  superintendent  and  general  manager 
of  the  Sangamon  County  Infirmary,  which  is 


located  on  a  tract  of  240  acres  of  land  ad- 
joining the  Town  of  Buffalo,  and  in  this  ca- 
pacity has  conducted  all  matters  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  inmates  and  of  the  general 
public.  He  is  still  interested  in  his  church 
work,  and  on  occasion  fills  a  pulpit.  In  his 
younger  days  Mr.  Shaffer  read  law  for  several 
years,  and  still  maintains  his  interest  in  this 
direction.  He  belongs  to  the  Blue  Lodge, 
Chapter,  Consistory  and  Commandery  of  Ma- 
sonry, and  is  a  Shriner  and  a  member  of  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the 
Modern  Woodmen  of  America.  He  was  for- 
merly supervisor  of  his  township  and  also  a  i 
member  of  the  school  board,  and  in  various 
ways  has  contributed  to  the  progress  and 
good  government  of  his  locality. 

Mr.  Shaffer  married  Miss  Ada  B.  Miller,  of 
Argenta,  Illinois,  daughter  of  M.  S.  and  Belle 
(McMullin)  Miller,  and  to  this  union  there 
have  been  born  six  children:  Francis  Miller, 
a  coach  at  Richland  Center,  Wisconsin;  Wil- 
bur Calvin,  attending  Milliken  University; 
Donald  Hand,  a  graduate  of  the  Illiopolis  High 
School;  Lena  Feme,  a  nurse  residing  at  St. 
Louis,  Missouri;  Ferry  Faye,  a  resident  of 
Los  Angeles,  California;  and  Miriam  Maxine,  , 
the  wife  of  Richard  Dunkle. 

Alfred  Booth  has  been  a  familiar  figure  in  I 
Springfield    business    circles    for    over    half   a 
century.     His  name  has  been  associated  with 
a   number   of   organizations.     Mr.    Booth   had 
the  distinction  in   1905   of   supplying  most  of 
the  capital  and  enterprise  for  the  erection  of  ij 
the  first  tall  building  in  the  down  town  dis- j 
trict  and  he  owned  the  building  for  five  years,  i 

He  was  born  at  Springfield,  November  15*  > 
1852,  son  of  William  and  Elizabeth  (Berri- 
man)  Booth.  His  parents  were  born  in  Eng- 
land  and  his  father  for  many  years  was  con- 
nected with  the  foundry  and  machine  shop 
business  at  Springfield.  He  spent  his  last 
days  in  Missouri.  Both  parents  were  members 
of  the  Church  of  England  and  the  father  voted 
as  a  Republican  and  was  a  member  of  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  Of  their 
three  sons  only  the  one  is  now  living. 

Alfred  Booth  attended  public  schools  in 
Springfield  and  was  only  a  boy  when  he  began 
work  and  laid  the  foundation  of  his  career  as 
a  clerk.  For  about  half  a  century  his  business 
experience  was  in  groceries.  He  started  work 
in  a  grocery  store  at  Eleventh  and  Monroe 
streets,  remaining  there  a  few  years,  then 
went  to  another  store  and  for  a  time  was 
with  the  business  of  Bunn  &  Company.  Dur- ; 
ing  these  years  he  was  accumulating  a  little 
capital  as  well  as  learning  the  grocery  business 
and  eventually  he  bought  a  store  of  his  own 
on  Adams  Street.  Mr.  Booth  was  a  grocery 
merchant  at  Springfield  for  a  period  of  forty 
years.  During  the  past  sixteen  years  he  has 
given  his  chief  attention  to  the  Springfield 
Auto  Sales  Company,  of  which  he  is  president. 


;i 


ILLINOIS 


125 


He  married  Miss  Annie  Burkhart,  a  native 
of  Springfield,  where  she  was  reared  and 
educated.  Her  father,  John  M.  Burkhart,  was 
a  pioneer  merchant  of  the  city.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Booth  have  one  daughter,  Elizabeth,  who  is 
the  wife  of  Edward  Clark,  auditor  of  an  oil 
company  at  Tulsa,  Oklahoma.  The  two  chil- 
dren of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clark  are  Edward,  Jr., 
and  Dorothy,  both  attending  school.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Booth  are  members  of  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  and  for  a  number  of  years  he 
was  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School.  He 
is  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason,  member  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  B.  P.  O. 
Elks  and  a  Republican  in  politics. 

Herbert  Bullock  Bartholf,  president  of 
the  St.  Nicholas  Hotel  Company  at  Spring- 
field, is  a  native  of  Illinois,  was  with  the 
Aviation  Corps  during  the  World  war,  and 
has  had  some  influential  connections  with  sev- 
eral large  financial  and  business  corporations 
both  east  and  west. 

Mr.  Bartholf  was  born  in  Chicago,  in  1895, 
son  of  Charles  S.  and  Grace  (Bullock)  Bart- 
holf. On  both  sides  he  is  of  Colonial  ances- 
try and  Revolutionary  stock.  His  grand- 
father, Gulliam  Bartholf,  was  a  native  of  New 
iYork  and  came  to  Illinois  at  an  early  date, 
becoming  a  farmer  in  this  state.  The  ma- 
ternal grandfather,  Milan  C.  Bullock,  was  a 
native  of  Vermont.  Mr.  Bartholf's  father 
was  born  in  Springfield,  Illinois,  and  his 
mother  in  New  York  City.  His  father  was 
ja  graduate  of  the  University  of  Michigan  and 
at  one  time  was  principal  of  the  Goethe  School 
in  Chicago.  Later  he  was  president  in  the 
Standard  Diamond  Drill  Company.  The  fam- 
ily were  Unitarians  in  religion.  Charles  S. 
Bartholf  was  a  thirty-second  degree  Scottish 
Rite  Mason  and  an  independent  voter. 

Herbert  B.  Bartholf  was  the  second  in  a 
family  of  six  children.  He  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  at  Glencoe,  Illinois,  completed 
his  work  in  the  University  of  Michigan  in 
1916  and  for  a  time  was  in  the  employ  of  the 
Austin  Company. 

In  May,  1917,  he  joined  the  colors  and  was 
(trained  as  an  aviator  at  Minneola,  Long  Island, 
reaching  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant  in  the  air 
service.  He  received  his  discharge  in  March, 
1919,  and  during  the  following  five  years  re- 
mained in  New  York,  where  he  represented 
the  American  International  Corporation  and 
the  Hayden-Stone  &  Company. 
:  Mr.  Bartholf  has  been  president  of  the  St. 
Nicholas  Hotel  Company  of  Springfield  since 
1924.  He  has  kept  up  a  keen  interest  in 
nymg.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Sangamo  and 
fllini  Country  Clubs,  the  Rotary  Club,  is 
independent  in  politics,  is  a  York  and  Scot- 
tish Rite  Mason  and  Shriner  and  a  member 
of  the  Beta  Theta  Pi  college  fraternity.  His 
wife  is  an  Episcopalian.  He  married,  June 
15,  1929,  Miss  Susan  H.  Pasfield,  daughter  of 


George  Pasfield  and  a  member  of  one  of  the 
old  and  wealthy  families  of  Springfield.  They 
have  one  daughter,  Carolyn,  born  June  1, 
1931. 

Hon.  Simon  Peter  Kinahan.  The  chief 
executive  of  the  Town  of  Illiopolis,  Hon.  Simon 
P.  Kinahan,  has  been  a  lifelong  resident  of 
Sangamon  County,  where  the  family  has  re- 
sided for  more  than  sixty-two  years.  Reared 
as  an  agriculturist,  he  began  renting  land  in 
his  younth  from  his  father,  later  became  a 
farmer  and  stock  raiser  on  his  own  account, 
and  finally  turned  his  attention  to  the  real 
estate  and  insurance  business,  in  which  he  is 
now  successfully  engaged. 

Mayor  Kinahan  was  born  April  7,  1870,  on 
his  father's  farm  in  Lanesville  Township,  San- 
gamon County,  Illinois,  and  is  a  son  of  Wil- 
liam and  Elizabeth  (Purdie)  Kinahan.  His 
father  was  born  in  Parsonstown,  Kings 
County,  Ireland,  in  1830,  and  lost  his  parents 
when  he  was  a  small  boy.  He  had  a  sister, 
Margaret,  who  never  left  her  native  land,  and 
a  brother,  who  went  to  New  Zealand,  where 
all  trace  of  him  was  lost.  William  Kinahan 
left  Ireland  as  a  young  man  of  twenty-two 
years  and  went  to  Melbourne,  Australia, 
where  on  October  17,  1855,  he  married  Eliza- 
beth Purdie.  In  1869,  they  went  to  Glasgow, 
Scotland,  but  after  a  short  stay  continued  on 
their  journey  and  arrived  at  New  York  City, 
December  6,  1869.  December  13  saw  their 
arrival  in  Sangamon  County,  and  shortly 
thereafter  Mr.  Kinahan  purchased  a  farm  in 
Lanesville  Township,  where  he  passed  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life  in  agricultural  operations. 
Elizabeth  Purdie  was  born  at  Glasgow,  Scot- 
land, January  6,  1833,  and  at  the  age  of 
eighteen  years  accompanied  her  family  to  Aus- 
tralia, where  she  met  and  married  William 
Kinahan.  She  visited  her  native  home  when 
she  was  eighty  years  of  age.  For  many  years 
she  was  a  member  of  the  Order  of  the  Eastern 
Star,  and  was  a  woman  of  many  sterling 
qualities  of  mind  and  heart.  She  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  Alexander  Purdie,  a  native  of  Scotland, 
who  immigrated  to  this  country  in  his  later 
life  and  died  here.  To  William  and  Elizabeth 
Kinahan  there  were  born  ten  children-  Mary, 
born  in  Australia;  Elizabeth,  also  born  in 
Australia,  now  deceased;  Margaret,  born  in 
Australia;  William,  Jr.,  born  in  Australia; 
John,  born  in  Australia;  Alexander,  born  in 
Australia;  Simon  P.,  of  this  review;  James, 
born  in  Illinois;  and  Ruth  and  Arthur,  both 
born  in  Illinois,  and  both  now  deceased. 

Simon  P.  Kinahan  attended  the  Smith 
School  in  his  native  locality,  and  worked  on 
the  farm  during  all  the  period  that  he  was 
gaining  his  education.  In  young  manhood  he 
began  renting  land  from  his  father,  and  when 
he  had  saved  sufficient  capital  from  his  earn- 
ings invested  it  in  land  in  Illiopolis  Township, 
where  he  carried  on  operations  in  farming  and 


126 


ILLINOIS 


stock  raising  for  many  years.  He  applied 
scientific  methods  to  his  labors  and  secured 
excellent  results,  built  commodious  buildings 
and  installed  modern  machinery,  and  was  ac- 
counted one  of  the  leading  and  foremost  agri- 
culturists of  his  locality.  He  still  has  large 
and  important  holdings  in  Sangamon  County 
but  his  farms  are  now  being  operated  by 
others,  Mr.  Kinahan  preferring  to  devote  his 
attention  principally  to  his  real  estate  and 
insurance  business,  which  has  grown  to  large 
proportions.  He  is  known  as  a  reliable  man 
of  business,  honorable  in  his  dealings,  and  has 
carried  through  to  success  a  number  of  large 
transactions  in  realty  and  insurance.  Mr. 
Kinahan  belongs  to  the  Masons,  is  a  Knight 
Templar  of  Springfield  Commandery,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Shrine,  and  has  passed  through  all 
the  chairs  in  the  Blue  Lodge.  Mrs.  Kinahan 
is  a  member  of  the  Eastern  Star  and  the  White 
Shrine,  and  she  and  Mr.  Kinahan  both  are  con- 
sistent members  of  the  Christian  Church.  Al- 
ways a  keen  and  willing  supporter  of  all 
worthy  civic  measures,  Mr.  Kinahan  has  taken 
a  great  deal  of  interest  in  public  affairs,  and 
has  borne  his  share  of  the  responsibilities  of 
citizenship.  He  served  for  several  years  as 
a  member  of  the  town  board,  and  at  present  is 
the  incumbent  of  the  office  of  mayor,  a  posi- 
tion in  which  he  has  set  an  admirable  record 
for  businesslike  handling  of  the  town's  prob- 
lems and  conscientious  attention  to  the  dis- 
charge of  duty.  He  has  won  the  full  confi- 
dence of  his  fellow  citizens  by  his  unfailing 
integrity,  and  his  friendships  are  numerous 
and  sincere. 

On  September  16,  1903,  Mr.  Kinahan  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Flora  B.  Council, 
who  was  born  in  Sangamon  County,  Illinois, 
daughter  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Hay)  Coun- 
cil. Her  paternal  grandparents  were  George 
W.  and  Jane  (Mitts)  Council,  the  former  of 
whom  came  from  White  County,  Illinois,  as  an 
early  settler  of  Sangamon  County,  where  he 
became  in  time  an  extensive  farmer  and  stock 
raiser  and  the  owner  of  much  valuable  land. 
John  M.  Council,  the  father  of  Mrs.  Kinahan, 
was  born  in  Fancy  Creek  Township,  Sangamon 
County,  where  he  received  a  common  school 
education,  and  for  some  years  was  engaged 
in  farming,  his  home  being  at  Illiopolis,  where 
he  had  come  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years. 
He  had  two  farms,  one  of  eighty  acres  ana 
the  other  of  120  acres,  when  he  sold  out  in 
1912  and  went  to  Kansas,  and  bought  land 
near  Nortonville.  He  died  at  Topeka,  Kan- 
sas, February  23,  1921,  and  was  buried  at 
Mechanicsburg,  Illinois,  and  his  wife  died  Au- 
gust 3,  1931,  at  Topeka,  and  was  also  buried 
at  Mechanicsburg,  Illinois.  He  was  the  father 
of  ten  children:  Flora  B.,  who  is  now  Mrs. 
Kinahan;  Robert  A.,  of  Topeka,  Kansas;  Mrs. 
Luella  J.  McFadden,  of  Buffalo  Hart,  Illinois; 
George  W.,  deceased;  Jesse  E.,  of  Oskalusa, 
Kansas;  and  Lena,  Irena,  Olive,  Benjamin  F. 


and  Percy  H.,  all  of  Topeka.  Mr.  Council 
was  one  of  the  substantial  men  of  his  com- 
munity and  was  highly  esteemed  by  those  who 
knew  him  in  Illinois  and  Kansas.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Kinahan  have  no  children. 

Samuel  Porter  Headrick.  The  automobile 
industry,  than  which  none  other  has  ever  en- 
joyed a  more  rapid  or  consistently  successful 
growth  and  development,  has  attracted  to  its 
ranks  men  from  all  walks  and  occupations  of 
life.  Many  there  were  who  had  no  definite 
knowledge  of  this  new  industry  which  they 
were  just  entering,  but  all  of  those  who  have 
made  a  success  therein  have  had  the  abil- 
ity to  shape  their  talents  to  the  needs  of  their 
calling,  and  all  have  been  men  who  undoubt- 
edly would  have  succeeded  in  other  lines  of 
activity.  In  Sangamon  County  the  agency  for 
the  Ford  Motor  Sales  Company  is  owned  and 
managed  by  Samuel  P.  Headrick,  general  man- 
ager, who  conducts  his  business  under  the  name 
of  S.  P.  Headrick  Company,  at  Illiopolis.  He 
learned  the  business  in  a  practical  way,  and 
has  made  himself  a  leader  therein  by  con- 
sistent study  and  industry  and  practical  ex- 
perience. 

Mr.  Headrick  was  born  in  Blount  County, 
Tennessee,  December  8,  1884,  and  is  a  son 
of  James  H.  and  Rowena  (Clark)  Headrick, 
and  a  grandson  of  John  Headrick,  a  farmer, 
sawmill  man  and  thresher,  who  was  also  in-] 
terested  in  live  stock!  James  H.  Headrick  was 
born  in  Tennessee,  where  he  followed  farming 
and  stock  raising  and  also  owned  land,  and 
never  left  his  native  state.  Although  too 
young  to  take  the  field  during  the  war  between 
the  states,  he  performed  Home  Guard  duty, 
and  while  thus  serving  was  captured  by  the 
enemy,  but  made  his  escape  in  a  desperate 
swim  across  the  Mississippi  River.  He  and 
his  wife  were  the  parents  of  a  large  family 
of  children,  as  follows :  Catherine,  John,  James, 
William,  Edward,  Ollie,  Ernest,  Samuel  P., 
Dolly  Omega,  Nora,  Bertha,  two  children  who 
died  in  infancy  and  Alice. 

Samuel  P.  Headrick  attended  the  country 
schools  of  Blount  County,  Tennessee,  in  the 
meanwhile  working  on  the  home  farm  until  he 
was  sixteen  years  of  age,  at  which  time  he 
went  to  Jacksonville,  Florida,  where  he  secured 
employment  in  a  nursery.  Subsequently  he 
came  direct  to  Buffalo  Hart,  Illinois,  where 
one  of  his  elder  brothers  had  already  located, 
and  for  about  two  years  worked  on  a  farm. 
His  next  venture  was  in  the  pure-bred  cattle 
and  hog  business,  in  which  he  held  two  large 
public  sales  of  Shorthorn  cattle  and  Duroc- 
Jersey  hogs  per  year,  but  after  a  time  discon- 
tinued this  business  to  engage  in  the  vocation 
of  farming  near  Buffalo  Hart,  where  he 
operated  with  his  brother  for  three  years  on 
a  tract  of  320  acres.  The  partnership  being 
mutually  dissolved,  Mr.  Headrick  engaged  in 
farming  alone  on  one  property  for  eight  years 


J 


ILLINOIS 


127 


and  on  another  for  three  years,  and  in  1921 
went  to  Dawson,  where  he  became  identified 
with  the  automobile  business.  He  embarked 
in  this  line  in  the  sales  end,  but,  being  of  a 
somewhat  mechanical  turn  of  mind,  learned 
that  end  of  the  business  also,  and  in  1923 
came  to  Illiopolis  and  took  over  the  Ford 
agency  for  Sangamon  County,  under  his  pres- 
ent style  of  business.  He  has  made  a  great 
success  of  this  venture,  and  now  has  a  large 
plant  in  the  central  part  of  the  business  dis- 
trict, occupying  the  first  and  second  floors  and 
basement  of  a  building  80x100  feet.  His 
equipment  is  modern  in  every  particular,  and 
he  personally  supervises  everything  done  at  the 
establishment,  although  he  has  a  thoroughly 
competent  working  force  under  his  direction. 
He  has  several  other  buisness  connections  and 
for  a  time  was  a  director  in  the  local  bank. 
As  a  fraternalist  Mr.  Headrick  is  identified 
with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows 
and  the  Loyal  Order  of  Moose,  and  his  re- 
ligious connection  is  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  He  has  done  his  share  of  work  as 
a  good  citizen,  and  has  an  excellent  record 
as  an  office  holder,  having  served  formerly  as 
tax  collector  at  Buffalo  Hart,  and  as  road 
commissioner,  school  director  and  member  of 
the  town  board  at  Illiopolis.  For  his  social 
activities  Mr.  Headrick  generally  goes  to 
Springfield,  in  which  city  he  and  his  family 
have  numerous  warm  and  appreciative  friends. 
In  1909  Mr.  Headrick  married  Miss  Alma 
Bell,  daughter  of  William  and  Laura  (Cope- 
land)  Bell,  and  to  this  union  there  were  born 
two  children :  Geneva  and  William  Virgil.  The 
present  Mrs.  Headrick  was  formerly  Miss  Nell 
Wilson,  daughter  of  William  Wilson.  They 
have  two  children:  Marylin  Jean  and  Shirley 
Bell. 

Charles  L.  Best,  M.  D.,  has  a  record  of 
service  that  has  given  him  notably  high  repu- 
tation as  a  surgeon,  and  he  has  been  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  his  na- 
tive City  of  Freeport  somewhat  more  than 
twenty  years.  Here  he  has  also  large  and 
varied  capitalistic  and  business  interests  of 
importance  and  is  an  influential  citizen  of 
marked  liberality  and  progressiveness. 

Doctor  Best  was  born  in  Freeport,  judicial 
center  of  Stephenson  County,  Illinois,  Decem- 
ber 21,  1879,  and  is  a  son  of  Thomas  K.  and 
Ida  J.  (Moeller)  Best,  the  former  of  whom 
was  born  in  Ireland  and  the  latter  in  Penn- 
sylvania, their  marriage  having  been  solemn- 
ized at  Freeport,  where  they  continued  to 
maintain  their  home  during  the  remainder  of 
their  lives.  Thomas  K.  Best  was  here  en- 
gaged in  the  dry  goods  business  approximately 
fourteen  years,  and  thereafter  he  was  long 
and  successfully  engaged  in  the  real  estate 
business,  through  the  medium  of  which  he 
accumulated  a  substantial  fortune,  he  having 
been  one  of  the  honored  and  influential  citi- 


zens of  Freeport  at  the  time  of  his  death. 
Mr.  Best  was  a  Republican  in  politics  and 
he  and  his  wife  held  membership  in  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  Doctor  Best,  of  this  review, 
being  their  only  child. 

In  the  public  schools  of  Freeport,  Dr. 
Charles  L.  Best  continued  his  studies  until 
he  had  duly  profited  by  the  curriculum  of  the 
high  school,  and  in  1902  he  was  graduated  in 
the  University  of  Michigan,  from  which  he 
received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science. 
In  the  following  year  he  was  a  graduate  stu- 
dent in  the  University  of  Chicago  and  received 
therefrom  the  degree  of  Master  of  Science  in 
1903,  while  in  the  ensuing  year  he  was  grad- 
uated in  the  celebrated  Rush  Medical  College, 
which  is  now  the  school  of  medicine  of  the 
University  of  Chicago.  After  thus  receiving 
his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  he  further 
fortified  himself  by  eighteen  months  of  serv- 
ice as  an  interne  in  the  Norwegian  Hospital 
of  Chicago,  and  he  next  gave  a  similar  period 
to  intensive  post-graduate  study  in  leading 
European  hospitals  and  clinics,  including  those 
of  Vienna,  Paris,  Berlin  and  London.  Upon 
his  return  to  the  United  States  he  opened  an 
office  in  Freeport,  where  he  has  continued  in 
successful  practice  during  the  intervening 
years  and  where  for  a  number  of  years  he 
has  given  major  attention  to  surgery — in  fact, 
he  has  specialized  in  this  department  of  service 
from  the  initiation  of  his  professional  career. 
The  Doctor  is  retained  as  surgeon  on  the 
staff  of  each  of  the  hospitals  of  Freeport  and 
is  chief  of  staff  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Hospital.  He  has  kept  insistently  in  touch 
with  the  advances  made  in  surgical  science 
and  practice,  and  as  a  means  to  this  end  has 
attended  clinics  in  leading  cities.  Doctor  Best 
is  a  fellow  of  the  American  College  of  Sur- 
geons, and  has  membership  in  the  American 
Medical  Association,  the  Illinos  State  Medical 
Society  and  the  Stephenson  County  Medical 
Society,  of  which  latter  he  is  a  past  president. 
He  is  also  local  surgeon  for  the  C.  M.  &  St.  P. 
and  Great  Western  railroads  and  for  numer- 
ous local  industries. 

Doctor  Best  is  a  director  of  the  State  Bank 
of  Freeport,  is  chairman  of  the  board  of 
directors  of  the  Stephenson  County  Telephone 
Company,  and  is  also  chairman  of  the  board 
of  the  Northwest  Telephone  Company,  is  chief 
medical  director  of  the  Bankers  Mutual  Life 
Insurance  Company  of  Freeport,  and  is  the 
owner  of  valuable  real  estate  in  his  native 
county,  including  a  number  of  business  blocks 
in  Freeport,  much  of  this  property  having 
come  to  him  as  a  direct  heritage  from  his 
father.  His  political  allegiance  is  given  to 
the  Republican  party,  he  is  a  Scottish  Rite 
and  Shriner  Mason,  is  affiliated  also  with  the 
Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks  and 
the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  is  a 
member  of  the  Freeport  Country  Club  and 
has  been  a  director  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 


128 


ILLINOIS 


merce,  and  holds  the  surgical  classification  in 
the  Rotary  Club. 

The  year  1910  marked  the  marriage  oi 
Doctor  Best  to  Miss  Florence  Whiteside,  who 
likewise  was  born  and  reared  in  Freeport, 
where  she  was  graduated  in  the  high  school, 
and  who  was  a  daughter  of  George  White- 
side, a  pioneer  in  the  manufacturing  of  paper 
boxes  at  Freeport.  She  died  in  December, 
1930.  She  was  an  active  worker  in  the  Epis- 
copal Church  and  a  popular  social  figure. 
Virginia,  elder  of  the  two  children  of  Doctor 
and  Mrs.  Best,  was  graduated  in  the  Freeport 
High  School  and  is  a  student  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois.  Sarah  Jane  is  a  student 
in  the  Freeport  public  schools. 

Hiram  A.  Brooks,  who  has  practiced  law  at 
Dixon  since  1893,  represents  one  of  the  pio- 
neer families  of  Lee  County.  The  Brooks 
family  is  of  English  ancestry.  The  founder 
of  the  family  in  Lee  County  was  his  grand- 
father, Benjamin  Brooks,  who  came  from  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut,  to  Illinois  in  1837.  He  de- 
veloped one  of  the  early  farms  near  Dixon. 

Hiram  A.  Brooks  was  born  on  a  farm  in 
Lee  County,  in  1866,  son  of  Benjamin  F.  and 
Susan  (Morris)  Brooks.  Benjamin  F.  Brooks 
was  a  child  when  brought  west  from  Con- 
necticut. He  was  also  a  Lee  County  farmer. 
His  wife,  Susan  Morris,  was  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia and  her  people  settled  in  Illinois  prior 
to  the  Civil  war. 

Hiram  A.  Brooks  grew  up  on  a  farm,  at- 
tended district  schools  and  was  graduated 
from  the  Northern  Illinois  College  at  Dixon 
in  1890.  He  studied  law  with  William  Barge 
and  in  1893  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and 
since  that  year  has  enjoyed  a  high  place  in  the 
professional  and  civic  life  of  his  community. 
He  has  practiced  law  with  success,  has  par- 
ticipated in  many  community  enterprises,  but 
in  politics  has  always  maintained  an  inde- 
pendent attitude  and  has  never  sought  any 
public  office.  However,  he  served  for  a  time  as 
city  attorney.  He  is  a  member  of  the  County 
and  State  Bar  Associations  and  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 

He  married  in  1893  Miss  Mary  Fischer,  who 
was  born  in  Lee  County,  daughter  of  Edward 
and  Sophia  Fischer.  Her  people  settled  in 
Illinois  in  1850,  her  parents  coming  from  Ger- 
many. Mrs.  Mary  Brooks  died  in  April,  1901, 
leaving  one  son,  Byron  A.  Brooks.  He  is  a 
graduate  of  Carthage  College  of  Illinois  and 
was  a  lieutenant  in  the  World  war.  He  is 
now  superintendent  of  a  public  utility  plant 
at  Mineola,  Texas.  Byron  A.  Brooks  married 
Elouise  Hartman,  of  Carthage,  Illinois,  and 
has  three  children,  Hiram  H.,  Mary  Louise  and 
Edward  W. 

On  June  30,  1904,  Mr.  Brooks  married  Mrs. 
Charlotte  (Alwood)  Baldwin.  By  her  first 
marriage  she  has  a  son,  Edward  Foster  Bald- 
win, who  was  a  second  lieutenant  in  the  United 


States  Navy  during  the  World  war  and  spent 
twenty-eight  months  in  active  duty.  His 
father,  William  E.  Baldwin,  was  a  major  in 
the  United  States  Army  during  the  Spanish- 
American  war. 

Richard  Henry  Taft.  The  ownership  and 
operation  of  264  acres  of  valuable  Sangamon 
County  land  alone  would  indicate  for  its  pos- 
sessor abilities  something  beyond  the  ordinary 
run,  and  when  this  is  combined  with  good 
citizenship  and  public  spirit  the  result  is  very 
apt  to  be  beneficial  to  the  community.  In 
this  connection  reference  is  made  to  Richard 
H.  Taft,  a  substantial  farmer  and  stock  raiser 
of  Rochester  Township,  who  has  for  years  car- 
ried on  successful  operations  in  that  com- 
munity. 

Mr.  Taft  was  born  August  19,  1876,  in  San- 
gamon County,  Illinois,  and  is  a  son  of  William 
W.  and  Emma  (Green)  Taft.  William  W. 
Taft,  the  elder,  his  paternal  grandfather,  was 
born  in  Vermont,  whence  he  came  to  Illinois 
with  his  wife,  Eliza,  and  took  up  Government 
land  in  Sangamon  County,  where  he  was  an> 
early  settler  and  prominent  citizen.  He  had 
a  wide  acquaintance  among  leading  men  of  his 
day  and  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.  One  of  his  cousins  went  to  Cincin- 
nati, Ohio,  where  he  founded  the  distinguished 
Taft  family  of  that  city,  among  whose  mem- 
bers was  the  late  President  William  Howard 
Taft,  who  was  Richard  H.  Taft's  third  cousin. 

The  father  of  Richard  H.  Taft,  William 
Taft,  the  younger,  received  a  common  school 
education  and  worked  during  the  vacation 
periods  (which  were  the  greater  part  of  the 
year)  on  the  home  farm.  He  worked  faith- 
fully and  industriously  during  his  life  as  a 
farmer  and  stock  raiser,  and  while  he  made  a 
success  of  his  life  before  he  reached  his  de- 
clining years,  he  never  saw  a  reason  for 
retiring,  therefore  carrying  on  his  work  right 
up  to  the  time  of  his  final  illness.  In  his 
death  his  community  lost  a  man  who  was  rec- 
ognized for  his  stability  as  a  man  of  integrity 
and  his  earnestness  as  a  citizen  who  was 
always  ready  to  do  the  best  he  could  for  tht 
common  weal.  He  and  his  wife  were  the 
parents  of  the  following  five  children:  Richarc 
H.,  of  this  review;  Joseph;  Lydia;  Justin,  £ 
review  of  whose  career  will  be  found  elsewhere 
in  this  work;  and  Jason. 

Richard  H.  Taft  attended  the  public  school; 
at  Rochester,  and,  as  was  the  custom  of  th< 
farmers'  sons  of  his  day  and  locality,  workec 
during  the  summer  months  on  his  father': 
farm.  At  the  outset  of  his  career  he  decide( 
to  become  a  cattle  farmer,  and  when  twenty 
eight  years  of  age  commenced  operating  alonj 
these  lines  on  his  own  account.  In  1919  h< 
purchased  his  present  farm  in  Rochester  Town 
ship,  and  through  steady  application  ha 
brought  himself  to  a  position  of  leadership 
During  the  past  few  years,  while  his  energ; 


ILLINOIS 


129 


is  unimpaired,  he  has  allowed  himself  to  be- 
come supervisor  of  the  regular  work,  his 
sturdy  sons  carrying  on  the  actual  manual 
labor  entailed.  Mr.  Taft  has  borne  his  share 
of  public  responsibilities  as  an  able  and  effi- 
cient member  of  the  town  board  of  Rochester. 
In  his  religious  belief  he  and  the  members 
of  his  family  belong  to  the  Methodist  Church. 
In  1902  Mr.  Taft  married  Emma  Baldwin, 
and  to  this  union  there  have  been  born  seven 
children:  John,  who  married  Anna  Beard,  and 
has  four  children,  Wilma,  Charles,  Richard 
and  Kenneth;  Loren;  Elmer,  who  married 
Mary  Shreve,  and  they  have  a  daughter,  Dixi- 
ana;  Howard;  Frances,  who  married  Edward 
James,  and  they  have  a  son,  Edward;  Doro- 
thy; and  Ernest. 

Lewis  Elmer  Bird.  Since  1828  the  name 
of  Bird  has  been  widely  and  favorably  known 
in  Sangamon  County,  and  particularly  in  that 
section  which  surrounds  the  Mechanicsburg 
community.  Members  of  this  family  have 
engaged  in  a  variety  of  pursuits,  all  con- 
nected with  the  growth  and  development  of 
the  locality,  but  in  the  main  they  have  been 
agriculturists.  The  present  generation  of  this 
family  is  worthily  represented  by  Lewis  E. 
Bird,  who  has  always  been  interested  in  gen- 
eral farming,  but  who  is  also  clerk  of  the 
Probate  Court  of  Sangamon  County  and  one 
of  the  prominent  and  influential  Republicans 
of  his  part  of  the  state. 

Mr.  Bird  was  born  January  19,  1876  in 
Sangamon  County,  and  is  a  son  of  Jacob  F. 
and  Anna  E.  (Hughes)  Bird.  His  paternal 
grandfather,  Richard  Bird,  was  born  in  New 
Jersey,  where  he  received  a  public  school 
education  of  an  advanced  character  and  began 
his  life  as  a  school  teacher.  Seeking  a  broader 
field  for  his  activities,  he  left  home  in  young 
manhood  and  made  his  way  to  the  State  of 
Kentucky,  where  he  resided  for  some  years, 
but  in  1828  came  to  Illinois  and  took  up  land. 
Here,  through  great  industry  and  good  man- 
agement, he  developed  a  fertile  and  prosperous 
property,  on  which  he  erected  the  structure 
that  is  still  the  residence  of  his  grandson, 
and  rounded  out  his  career  as  an  agriculturist. 
He  was  a  man  who  was  greatly  esteemed  in 
his  community  for  his  many  sterling  qualities 
of  mind  and  heart,  and  during  the  early  days 
became  widely  known  as  a  circuit-rider. 

Jacob  F.  Bird  was  born  in  Sangamon 
County,  where  he  was  reared  on  his  father's 
farm,  assisting  in  the  development  of  this 
property  while  attending  the  common  schools. 
He  adopted  agriculture  as  his  life  work  when 
he  reached  man's  estate,  and  was  content  to 
tollow  this  line  of  endeavor  throughout  a  long 
useful  and  honorable  career,  in  which  he  won 
the  respect  and  esteem  of  his  fellow  citizens. 
As  a  Republican  he  was  deeply  interested 
m  politics,  although  his  only  official  position 
was  that  of  school  trustee.     He  and  his  wife 


were  laid  to  rest  in  the  cemetery  at  Mechan- 
icsburg. They  were  the  parents  of  two  chil- 
dren: Lewis  E.,  of  this  review;  and  Mary, 
who  married  Lawrence  Kennedy  and  has  one 
daughter,    Elizabeth    S. 

Lewis  E.  Bird  was  born  in  his  present  home, 
where  he  has  always  resided,  and  acquired 
his  educational  training  in  the  common  schools. 
Reared  to  the  pursuits  of  the  soil,  he  took  up 
farming  as  his  life  work  in  young  manhood, 
and  has  always  been  actively  engaged  therein,' 
the  present  large  estate  consisting  of  some 
1,200  acres.  The  greater  part  of  this  property 
is  under  a  high  state  of  cultivation  and  is 
devoted  to  general  farming  and  stock  raising. 
As  a  Republican  Mr.  Bird  belongs  to  all  the 
township  and  county  organizations  and  is  one 
of  the  most  popular  men  in  his  party,  as  was 
testified  when  he  was  elected  to  his  present 
position,  that  of  clerk  of  the  Probate  Court 
of  Sangamon  County,  in  1930.  He  was  one 
of  the  few  men  elected  by  his  party  during  a 
Democratic  landslide  in  this  section,  running 
second  on  his  ticket,  and  has  proved  a  capable, 
efficient   and   energetic   official. 

Mr.  Bird  married  Miss  Nemmie  Shumway, 
a  daughter  of  J.  M.  and  Lily  (Rothchild) 
bnumway,  and  to  this  union  there  have  been 
born  two  children:  Shumway,  a  graduate  of 
the  University  of  Illinois,  who  is  associated 
with  the  Insull  interests  at  Chicago ;  and  Gene- 
vieve, who  is  attending  school  in  Springfield. 

Asa  Been  Moore.  A  member  of  the  agri- 
cultural contingent  of  Sangamon  County,  Asa 
B.  Moore  is  engaged  in  general  farming,  but 
is  perhaps  best  known  to  the  people  of  this 
community  as  a  successful  raiser  of  seed  corn. 
In  this  special  field  of  endeavor  he  has  achieved 
something  more  than  a  local  reputation,  and 
his  product  is  in  constant  demand  over  a  wide 
area  of  country.  He  likewise  has  various 
other  interests,  and  since  1927  has  been  presi- 
dent of  the  Caldwell  State  Bank  at  Chatham 
and  is  also  vice  president  of  the  Chatham 
Farmers  Elevator  Company  and  president  of 
the  Sugar  Creek  Cemetery  Association. 

Mr.  Moore  was  born  on  his  present  farm  ii? 
Chatham  Township,  in  1858,  and  is  a  son  of 
Morrison  and  Elizabeth  (Crow)  Moore.  Mor- 
rison Moore  was  born  in  Hardy  County,  Vir- 
ginia, and  was  a  child  when  taken  by  his 
parents  to  Kentucky,  where  he  acquired  a 
public  school  education.  Prior  to  the  war 
between  the  states  he  came  to  Sangamon 
County,  Illinois,  where  he  acquired  a  large 
an  valuable  property  and  was  known  as  one 
of  the  substantial  men  of  his  community  A 
younger  brother  served  for  several  years  in 
Congress  from  Illinois.  To  Morrison  and 
Elizabeth  Moore  there  were  born  the  follow- 
ing children:  Joseph,  John,  Charles  (deceased) 
Mrs.  Margaret  Nuckolls  (deceased),  George' 
Douglass,  Asa  B.  and  Mrs.  Sadie  Kirk 
(deceased). 


130 


ILLINOIS 


Asa  B.  Moore  attended  the  Sunny  Slope 
public  school,  and  worked  on  the  home  farm 
during  all  of  his  school  period,  following  which 
he  became  a  hand  for  his  father  until  he  was 
twenty-six  years  of  age.  At  that  time  he 
began  renting  land  and  became  a  general 
farmer,  and  for  many  years  carried  on  a 
general  business  of  that  kind.  In  1908  he 
began  to  give  his  attention  to  raising  seed 
corn,  and  as  the  years  have  passed  he  has 
developed  this  to  large  proportions,  he  being 
at  this  time  the  largest  seed  corn  grower  in 
the  country,  with  a  capacity  of  20,000  bushels 
and  a  market  that  covers  the  principal  corn 
states  in  the  country.  In  addition  to  his  best 
seller,  Krug,  Mr.  Moore  grows  Funk's  Yellow 
Dent,  Learning,  Western  Ploughman,  Illinois 
High  Yield,  Boone  County  White,  Funk's 
Hybrid  and  Silver  Mine,  and  these  brands 
without  an  exception  have  a  nation-wide  repu- 
tation as  being  reliable  and  trustworthy.  In 
addition  to  his  own  320  acres  of  land  Mr. 
Moore  has  different  farmers  hired  to  grow  his 
brands,  and  he  agrees  to  buy  their  crops  out- 
right, which  he  resells  in  the  market.  He 
has  been  alone  in  his  own  business,  which 
he  has  built  up  through  his  own  initiative 
and  resource.  He  bears  an  excellent  reputation 
and  standing  in  business  circles  and  is  a 
citizen  who  takes  a  public-spirited  interest  in 
everything  pertaining  to  the  welfare  and 
advancement  of  his  community.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Anti-Horse  Thief  Association,  and 
an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  since 
1924  has  been  president  of  the  Chatham  Bank. 

Mr.  Moore  married  Miss  Lou  Anna  Scott, 
daughter  of  Thomas  and  Mary  Scott,  who 
were  born  in  Ireland  and  she  was  a  Scotch 
Presbyterian.  In  young  manhood  he  immi- 
grated to  the  United  States,  taking  up  his 
residence  at  Chatham,  where  for  a  time  he 
was  employed  in  railroading.  Later  he  turned 
his  attention  to  farming,  to  which  work  he 
devoted  the  remainder  of  his  life.  Three 
children  have  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Moore:  Mary  Erma,  who  married  Milton  Vogt 
and  has  a  daughter,  Patty  Lou,  and  a  son, 
Milton  Moore;  and  George  Morrison,  and 
Charles  William,  who  reside  with  their  par- 
ents and  assist  their  father  in  his  business 
and  farming  enterprises.  Mrs.  Moore  has  been 
active  in  the  work  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Bert  P.  Luedke.  Prominent  among  the  pub- 
lic officials  of  Sangamon  County  who  through 
their  conscientious  labors  have  contributed 
materially  to  the  welfare  and  development  of 
their  respective  communities  is  found  Bert 
P.  Leudke,  commissioner  and  supervisor  of 
Chatham  Township.  Mr.  Luedke,  who  is  one 
of  the  self-made  men  of  the  county,  has  for 
years  been  engaged  in  agricultural  operations, 
having  accumulated  a  valuable  property 
through  his  own  efforts,  and  both  as  a  farmer 


and  an   official  has  established   a  record  that 
entitles  him  to  the  respect  of  his  fellow  citizens. 

Bert  P.  Luedke  was  born  September  16, 
1874,  in  the  province  of  Posen,  Germany,  and 
is  a  son  of  Daniel  and  Charlotte  (Raatz) 
Luedke,  and  grandson  of  a  German  farmer 
who  never  left  his  native  land.  Daniel  Luedke 
was  educated  in  Germany,  where  he  served 
his  time  in  the  army,  and  in  1899  immigrated 
to  the  United  States  and  settled  on  a  farm 
in  Sangamon  County,  where  he  carried  on 
operations  until  his  death,  when  he  was  laid 
to  rest  in  the  Chatham  Cemetery.  There  wer^ 
ten  children  in  the  family,  of  whom  Bert  P. 
was  the  second  eldest.  Daniel  Luedke  was  za 
citizen  of  sterling  integrity  and  one  who  was 
loyal  to  the  interests  of  the  country  of  hisl 
adoption.  He  and  his  worthy  wife  were  faith-' 
ful  members  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 

Bert  P.  Luedke  attended  public  school  in 
Germany,  where  he  gained  a  knowledge  of 
the  English  language  and  also  had  two  years 
of  experience  in  a  law  office  at  Wiersitz  in 
Posen  province.  Feeling  that  he  could  better 
himself  in  the  United  States,  in  1892  he  left 
his  native  land  and  came  direct  to  Chatham 
Township,  Sangamon  County,  which  has.sincej 
been  his  home.  As  a  start  he  and  his  brother 
rented  a  tract  of  land  and  gradually  increased 
their  operations,  in  the  meanwhile  putting 
aside  a  goodly  part  of  their  earnings.  Thus 
Mr.  Luedke  accumulated  sufficient  means  to 
make  a  first  payment  on  his  present  fine  farm1 
of  160  acres,  which  is  now  entirely  clear  ofj 
indebtedness  and  on  which  he  has  a  beautiful 
home  and  other  substantial  buildings,  as  well 
as  modern  machinery  and  improvements  of 
all  kinds.  He  is  a  scientific  farmer  as  well, 
as  an  industrious  one,  having  made  a  thorough' 
and  comprehensive  study  of  agricultural  con-^> 
ditions  and  methods.  For  one  term,  three 
years,  he  served  effectively  as  commissioner 
and  during  four  terms  he  served  as  supervisor 
of  Chatham  Township,  and  has  rendered  valu- 
able service  to  his  community.  During  the 
World  war  he  was  registered  for  service  ifll 
the  last  draft,  but  was  not  called,  but  did 
valiant  work  in  supporting  drives.  He  belongs 
to  the  Lutheran  Church  and  is  an  elder  therein 
as  well  as  church  treasurer. 

In  1906  Mr.  Luedke  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Carrie  Wallner,  daughter  of  Emil 
L.  and  Minnie  (Krueger)  Wallner,  the  former 
of  whom  was  born  in  Germany  and  was  eleven 
years  of  age  when  brought  by  his  parents 
to  Sangamon  County,  the  family  settling  on 
a  farm  in  Ball  Township.  Mrs.  Luedke  comes 
of  a  farming  family  and  is  the  eldest  of  nine 
children.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Luedke  there  have 
been  born  four  children:  Gertrude  Magdalene, 
a  normal  college  graduate,  who  is  now  teach- 
ing public  school  at  Springfield;  Bert  P., 
deceased;  Walter  Gustave,  who  attended  Jack- 
sonville (Illinois)  College  and  is  now  a  student 


mjJ[Mj  (L  iMu^vxrfAr 


ILLINOIS 


131 


in  the  University  of  Illinois;  and  Esther  Char- 
lotte, a  high  school  graduate,  now  a  student 
in  the  Springfield  High  School,  class  of  1932. 
During  the  World  war  Mrs.  Luedke  was  very 
active  in  Red  Cross  work,  being  the  chairman 
of  the  Red   Cross   Auxiliary,  of   Chatham. 

Miles  Abbott  Tipsword,  attorney  at  law, 
Charleston,  has  made  the  most  of  the  oppor- 
tunities and  circumstances  of  a  career  which 
has  been  an  honorable  record  of  service  in 
the  field  of  education,  in  the  domain  of  the 
law,  and  in  honorable  and  patriotic  service 
to  his  community,  state  and  nation. 

Mr.  Tipsword  is  descended  from  a  race  of 
people  who  have  in  the  various  generations 
acted  well  their  part.  It  has  been  a  family 
tradition  that  no  Tipsword  is  worthy  of  his 
name  who  has  not  been  willing  and  ready  at 
all  times  to  risk  his  body,  his  well  being  and 
his  life  in  any  national  emergency.  Within 
the  limits  of  this  brief  sketch  it  is  possible 
to  assemble  sufficient  facts  to  prove  how  well 
this  tradition  has  been  maintained.  The  rec- 
ord may  properly  begin  with  the  great-grand- 
father of  the  Charleston  attorney,  Griffin  Tip- 
sword, who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1755. 
In  the  proceedings  of  the  Commissioners'  Court 
of  Coles  County  is  a  statement  sworn  to  and 
subscribed  by  Griffin  Tipsword  under  date  of 
October  15,  1832.  This  statement  is  at  once 
an  important  historical  document  in  local  Illi- 
nois history  and  in  the  annals  of  the  Tipsword 
family. 

On  that  date  he  appeared  before  the  court 
and  under  oath  stated  that  he  was  seventy- 
seven  years  old,  and  that  he  entered  the  serv- 
ice of  the  United  States  as  a  Revolutionary 
soldier  under  the  following  named  officers,  and 
served  as  herein  stated,  viz.:  In  General 
Rutherford's  Brigade,  Colonel  McKatty's  Regi- 
ment, Major  Horn's  Battalion  and  Captain 
Grimes'  Company;  that  he  entered  the  service 
about  18th  day  of  July,  1775,  and  was  dis- 
charged by  General  Washington  at  the  close  of 
the  war,  which  discharge  was  accidentally  sunk 
in  the  Ohio  River.  That  he  was  in  the  engage- 
ment at  the  battle  of  Eutaw  Springs,  under 
General  Greene,  Colonel  McKatty,  Major  Horn 
and  Captain  Grimes ;  that  he  was  in  the  battle 
of  Kings  Mountain,  under  Colonel  Shelby; 
that  he  was  in  the  battle  of  Charleston,  under 
Colonel  McKatty  and  Captain  McGuire;  that 
he  was  in  the  battle  of  Cross  Creek,  under 
General  Gates,  Colonel  McKatty  and  Captain 
McGuire;  that  he  was  in  the  battle  of  Haw 
River,  commanded  by  General  Green,  Colonel 
Chamberlain,  Major  Peat  and  Captain  John 
Galloway.  He  states  that  he  was  here  wounded 
by  a  musket  shot  from  the  enemy's  gun. 
That  he  marched  first  after  leaving  North 
Carolina  into  the  State  of  Virginia;  that  he 
was  at  the  surrender  of  Lord  Cornwallis, 
under  General  Washington,  Colonel  McKatty 
and  Captain  McGuire.     That  he  lived  in  the 


County  of  Roane  and  State  of  North  Caro- 
lina, when  he  entered  the  service;  that  he 
first  enlisted  for  three  months,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  three  months  enlisted  for  the  duration 
of  the  war.  That  he  was  born  in  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania,  near  the  Susquehanna  River, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1755;  that  he  moved 
to  Kentucky  the  second  year  after  the  expira- 
tion of  the  war;  that  he  settled  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Boonesborough,  where  he  resided 
until  he  removed  to  the  Territory  of  Illinois, 
in  which  territory  and  state  he  has  resided 
about  twenty  years.  That  he  now  resides  in 
Coles  County  and  State  of  Illinois;  that  his 
name  will  be  easily  found  on  the  Continental 
Rolls. 

Griffin  Tipsword  made  this  declaration  for 
the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  benefit  of  the 
Act  of  Congress  passed  June  7,  1832,  relating 
to  the  pensioning  of  Revolutionary  soldiers. 
Griffin  Tipsword  after  having  lived  some  years 
in  Kentucky  came  to  Southern  Illinois  in  1812, 
and  in  1824  came  farther  north,  locating  in 
that  part  of  Clark  County  now  embraced  in 
Coles  County.  His  settlement  was  made  at  a 
point  seven  miles  southeast  of  Charleston. 
Griffin  Tipsword  had  a  brother,  Johanny,  who 
came  from  Kentucky  early  and  settled  in  Illi- 
nois Territory,  in  what  is  now  Effingham 
County,  where  history  says  he  was  the  first 
permanent  white  settler  in  the  county  and 
that  he  was  "mightily  feared"  by  the  Indians 
who  inhabited  that  section  of  the  territory. 

A  young  son  of  Griffin  Tipsword,  Douglas, 
was  killed  near  the  site  of  the  Blakeman 
Mill,  on  the  Embarrass  River,  three  miles 
south  of  Charleston,  in  1815,  in  a  battle 
between  the  Illinois  Rangers,  under  command 
of  General  Whiteside,  the  pioneer  Indian 
fighter,  and  a  large  band  of  Kickapoos,  Pot- 
tawatomies  and  Winnebagoes,  who  had  col- 
lected in  force  in  the  Upper  Embarrass  coun- 
try, and,  proceeding  to  the  Kickapoo  settle- 
ment, committed  many  depredations  among 
the  scattered  settlers,  stole  and  drove  off  a 
large  number  of  their  horses  and  cattle.  Gen- 
eral Whiteside  and  his  "Rangers"  followed 
their  trail  to  the  site  of  the  Blakeman  Mill, 
where  it  crossed  the  Embarrass  River.  There 
they  gave  battle  to  the  Indians  and  the  fight 
raged  fiercely  until  the  Indians  were  defeated. 

On  coming  to  Coles  County  Griffin  Tipsword 
settled  in  Hutton  Township.  This  land  in 
1832  was  deeded  to  John  A.  Tipsword  by 
Government  land  patent.  John  Adams  Tips- 
word,  grandfather  of  Miles  Abbott,  married 
Elizabeth  Harris.  Among  their  children  were 
James  Madison  Tipsword,  who  was  born  on 
the  old  homestead  farm  in  Coles  County,  April 
3,  1835.  James  Madison  Tipsword  at  the 
early  age  of  seventeen  was  licensed  to  preach 
the  Christian  faith  and  doctrine.  It  was 
his  vocation  throughout  all  his  remaining 
years,  and  he  was  unceasing  in  his  good 
labors  and  ministry  until  at  the  age  of  sev- 


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ILLINOIS 


enty-eight  his  soul  was  taken  to  its  Maker. 
His  mind  was  clear  to  the  end.  James  Mad- 
ison Tipsword  had  a  brother,  Griffin,  who 
volunteered  his  services  as  a  Union  soldier 
in  the  Civil  war.  He  was  honorably  dis- 
charged at  the  close  of  the  war  and  later 
moved  to  Missouri,  where  he  died. 

James  Madison  Tipsword  married  Sarah 
Carlin,  daughter  of  John  Carlin.  John  Carlin 
was  a  nephew  of  the  distinguished  Illinois 
statesman,  Thomas  Carlin,  who  served  as  a 
Democrat  in  the  Illinois  Senate  at  the  old 
capital  at  Vandalia  in  1824-26-28-30-32,  and 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Springfield, 
1848-50,  and  was  governor  of  the  state  from 
1938  to  1842.  The  Carlins,  as  well  as  the 
Tipswords,  came  from  Kentucky,  settling  in 
Southern  Illinois  about  1812,  and  later  moving 
northward  into  what  was  then  Crawford 
County,  a  district  that  was  subsequently 
divided  into  other  counties,  one  of  which  is 
Coles. 

James  Madison  and  Sarah  Carlin  Tipsword 
had  a  family  of  ten  children,  five  sons  and 
five  daughters.  Of  these  only  three  survive, 
Miles  A.,  John  C.  and  Clarence  E. 

Miles  Abbott  Tipsword  was  born  in  a 
log  cabin  on  a  farm  two  miles  south  of  Bee- 
cher   City,  Effingham   County,  Illinois,   March 

13,  1873.  Mr.  Tipsword  confesses  that  in 
his  earlier  years  he  yielded  to  the  old  super- 
stition that  the  number  13  is  a  hoodoo,  and 
consequently  he  changed  the  record  in  the 
old  family  Bible  to  read  March  9,  by  crossing 
a  line  through  the  13  and  writing  the  figure 
9,  which  he  adopted  and  has  ever  afterwards 
kept  as  his  birthday.  At  a  very  early  age 
he  was  apprenticed  to  a  neighbor  who  under- 
took to  teach  him  the  carpenter's  trade.  While 
working  on  a  barn,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  he 
fell  from  the  rafters  to  the  ground  floor, 
sustaining  such  bone  fractures  and  bruises 
that  he  was  unable  to  do  any  physical  work 
for  a  space  of  two  years.  However,  he  turned 
this  enforced  leisure  to  account,  and  applied 
himself  strenuously  to  the  fundamentals  of 
bookkeeping,  attending  country  school  faith- 
fully. Thus  at  the  age  of  seventeen  he  earned 
a  teacher's  certificate,  and  for  more  than 
eleven  years  afterwards  taught  in  the  public 
schools  of  Cumberland  and  Coles  counties. 
During  the  last  six  years  of  his  teaching 
activities  he  studied  law  in  and  o.ut  of  the 
law  offices  of  Hon.  Peter  A.  Brady,  of  Greenup, 
Cumberland  County.  After  having  success- 
fully passed  an  examination  at  Springfield 
he  was   admitted   to  the   Illinois   bar   October 

14,  1899.  Since  then  he  has  been  admitted 
to  practice  in  all  the  courts  of  the  state, 
including  the  United  States  District  and  Cir- 
cuit Courts  of  Illinois.  For  two  years  he 
lived  in  Oklahoma  and  was  admitted  to  the 
state  and  federal  courts  of  that  state.  For 
over  thirty-three  years  he  has  applied  himself 
to  a  busy  professional  routine   and  has  long 


enjoyed  a  high  standing  at  the  bar  of 
Charleston. 

Mr.  Tipsword  in  the  spring  of  1898,  after 
the  beginning  of  the  Spanish-American  war, 
became  a  corporal  in  Capt.  LeRoy  Fancher's 
Company  H  of  Col.  Aden  Knoff's  Provisional 
Regiment  at  Greenup.  Owing  to  the  fact  that 
the  company  was  largely  made  up  of  teachers 
and  superintendents  of  public  schools  in  Cum- 
berland County,  the  need  for  their  service 
as  soldiers  had  passed  before  their  respective 
terms  of  school  had  expired  and  they  were 
not  called  to  active  duty.  During  the  World 
war  Mr.  Tipsword  was  secretary-treasurer  of 
the  Charleston  Government  Club,  doing  daily 
practice  under  Government  supervision  and 
subject  to  call  as  home  guards. 

On  May  22,  1901,  Mr.  Tipsword  married 
Miss  Lola  Maud  Beck,  daughter  of  James 
F.  Beck,  of  Coles  County,  a  Civil  war  veteran. 
To  the  marriage  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tipsword 
were  born  four  children:  Winifred,  now  Mrs. 
Oliver  White,  of  Springfield;  Freda,  Mrs. 
Lionel  Bruce,  of  Champaign;  Carlos  Beck,  of 
Memphis,  Tennessee;  and  Miles  Abbott,  Jr., 
at  home. 

Thomas  Rhea  Maxwell-,  M.  D.  Numbered 
among  the  leading  professional  men  of  San- 
gamon County  is  Dr.  Thomas  R.  Maxwell, 
who  is  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine 
and  surgery  at  New  Berlin,  where  he  is  held 
in  general  respect  and  confidence.  His  experi- 
ences have  included  service  in  the  United 
States  Army  Medical  Corps,  both  in  the 
United  States  and  in  France,  and  he  is  ac- 
counted a  thoroughly  learned  and  skilful  prac- 
titioner, a  capable  diagnostician  and  a  careful 
operator. 

Doctor  Maxwell  was  born  May  5,  1884,  in 
Sangamon  County,  and  is  a  son  of  Richard 
E.  and  Lou  (Rhea)  Maxwell.  His  father  was 
born  October  4,  1850,  a  son  of  William  and 
Hannah  (Batty)  Maxwell,  the  former  of  whom 
came  from  Pennsylvania  and  the  latter  from 
England.  Richard  E.  Maxwell  settled  on  a 
farm  in  Island  Grove  Township,  where  he 
passed  the  rest  of  his  life  in  agricultural 
pursuits  and  married  Lou  Rhea,  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Lucinda  (Wilcox)  Rhea.  Thomas 
Rhea  was  a  son  of  James  and  Rachael  (Jol- 
lisse) Rhea,  natives  of  Greenbrier  County, 
Virginia,  who  came  to  Illinois  as  young  people, 
the  latter  being  a  daughter  of  Abner  Jollisse, 
the  latter  a  son  of  John  and  Margaret  (Ran- 
chey)  Jollisse.  John  Jollisse,  who  was  born 
in  1510,  was  the  first  Earl  of  Essex.  Lucinda 
Wilcox,  the  grandmother  of  Doctor  Maxwell, 
was  a  daughter  of  Ellis  and  Ann  (Lewis) 
Wilcox,  the  former  born  in  Kentucky  and  the 
latter  in  South  Carolina,  his  parents  being 
John  and  Lucinda  (Oglesby)  Wilcox,  and 
Lucinda's  father,  William  Oglesby,  was  a  sol- 
dier during  the  Revolutionary  war.  They  came 
from  Loudoun  County,  Virginia,  settling  first 


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ILLINOIS 


133 


in  Logan  County,  Kentucky,  from  whence  they 
came  to  St.  Clair  County,  Illinois,  and  in  1818 
moved  to  a  farm  on  the  Sangamon  River  in 
Sangamon   County. 

Thomas  R.  Maxwell  was  reared  on  the  home 
farm,  where  he  worked  during  his  spare  hours 
while  attending  the  public  schools  of  New 
Berlin.  After  graduating  from  high  school 
he  attended  the  Kentucky  Military  Institute, 
Louisville,  for  a  time,  but  returned  to  New 
Berlin  to  accept  a  position  in  the  bank.  Decid- 
ing that  a  career  as  a  financier  was  not  for 
him,  he  returned  to  Louisville  and  in  1916 
was  graduated  from  the  university  with  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  He  served  his 
interneship  in  the  Louisville  City  Hospital 
and  then  enlisted  in  the  United  States  Medical 
Corps  and  was  first  sent  for  training  to  Rocke- 
feller Institute,  New  York  City,  and  later  to 
the  Army  Medical  School.  Doctor  Maxwell 
first  saw  service  at  Camps  Meade  and  Han- 
cock and  at  Base  Hospital  No.  53,  and  eventu- 
ally was  sent  to  New  York  City  and  then  to 
Langre,  France,  where  for  about  one  year 
he  saw  active  service  in  the  corps,  having  the 
rank  of  first  lieutenant.  Upon  his  return  to 
this  country  he  received  his  honorable  dis- 
charge at  Camp  Dix,  New  York,  and  then 
returned  to  New  Berlin,  where  he  has  been 
engaged  in  the  general  practice  of  medicine 
and   surgery   since   January,    1920. 

Doctor  Maxwell  has  built  up  a  large  and 
lucrative  clientele  and  is  a  close  student  of 
his  calling,  being  a  member  of  the  Sangamon 
County  Medical  Society,  the  Illinois  State  Med- 
ical Society  and  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation. Fraternally  he  is  affiliated  with  the 
Masons,  Shriners  and  Elks,  and  also  belongs 
to  the  Sangamo  Club.  His  hobby  is  hunting, 
and  he  belongs  to  the  select  few  who  have 
enjoyed  the  thrill  of  big  game  hunting. 

Justin  Taft.  Aside  from  any  distinction 
that  may  attach  to  his  being  a  member  of  a 
distinguished  family,  Justin  Taft  is  known  as 
a  prosperous,  reliable  and  industrious  citizen 
of  Rochester  Township,  Sangamon  County, 
where  he  is  the  owner  and  operator  of  a 
well-cultivated  and  valuable  farm.  It  his  been 
his  fortune  to  have  accumulated  material  prop- 
erty and  to  have  so  conducted  his  affairs  and 
comported  himself  as  to  win  and  hold  the 
friendship  and  esteem  of  those  among  whom 
he  has  lived  and  labored  during  an  active  and 
industrious  career. 

Mr.  Taft,  a  third  cousin  of  the  late  Presi- 
dent William  Howard  Taft,  was  born  on  the 
old  Taft  farm  in  Sangamon  County,  July  17, 
1889,  and  is  a  son  of  William  and  Emma 
(Green)  Taft.  His  paternal  grandfather  was 
William  W.  Taft,  who,  with  his  wife,  Eliza, 
came  from  Vermont  and  took  up  Government 
land  in  Sangamon  County,  where  he  was  an 
early  settler  and  prominent  citizen.  He  had 
a  wide  acquaintance  among  prominent  men  of 


his  day  was  a  friend  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
One  of  his  cousins  went  to  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
and  established  there  the  distinguished  Taft 
family  which  gave  to  the  United  States  a 
President. 

William  Taft,  the  father  of  Justin  Taft, 
was  born  on  the  old  home  farm,  received  a 
common  school  education,  and  devoted  his  life 
to  farming  and  stock  raising,  dying  "in  the 
harness."  He  took  an  active  part  in  civic 
affairs  and  was  known  as  a  public-spirited 
citizen.  He  and  his  wife  were  the  parents  of 
five  children:  Richard  H.,  Joseph,  Lydia,  Jus- 
tin and  Jason. 

Justin  Taft  attended  the  public  schools  of 
Rochester,  following  which  he  returned  tlo  the 
farm  and  took  up  the  pursuits  of  the  tiller 
of  the  soil.  He  has  always  been  a  farmer  and 
stock  man  and  has  made  a  success  of  his 
work,  due  to  his  application,  intelligent  use 
of  modern  methods  and  good  business  manage- 
ment, and  is  accounted  one  of  the  substantial 
citizens  of  his  community.  He  has  been  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Rochester 
and  member  and  clerk  of  the  school  board, 
and  both  he  and  Mrs.  Taft  are  active  members 
of  the  Christian  Church.  Fraternally  he  is 
identified  with  the   Masonic  order. 

On  October  10,  1918,  Mr.  Taft  married  Jen- 
nie Craig,  a  daughter  of  John  and  Mary 
(Murphy)  Craig,  natives  of  Glasgow,  Scot- 
land. Her  paternal  grandparents,  William 
Craig  and  his  wife,  both  died  on  the  ocean 
while  coming  to  the  United  States,  but  their 
four  children  all  arrived  safely  at  Spring- 
field and  became  substantial  people.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Taft  have  four  children:  William  Webb, 
Justin,  Jr.,  Helen  Jane  and  Arnold  Craig. 

Augustus  C.  Werckle  represents  one  of 
the  old  and  substantial  families  of  Peoria 
County.  Mr.  Werckle  has  lived  in  that  county 
practically  all  his  life,  was  for  many  years 
an  outstanding  dairy  farmer,  and  since  retir- 
ing from  business  has  devoted  much  of  his 
time  to  public  affairs  and  politics.  He  is 
supervisor  of  Richwood  Township. 

He  was  born  June  20,  1861,  in  section  29, 
Richwood  Township,  Peoria  County.  He  is 
a  son  of  Henry  and  Caroline  (Brua)  Werckle. 
His  father  came  from  Alsace-Lorraine,  was  of 
German  stock,  and  served  as  an  officer  in  the 
Prussian  army.  He  married  in  the  old  coun- 
try, and  brought  with  him  to  America  his 
wife  and  one  child.  He  settled  in  Richwood 
Township,  Peoria  County,  and  lived  out  his 
life  there.  There  were  six  children:  William, 
Henry,  Augustus  C,  Fred  W.,  Caroline  and 
Sarah.     Both  daughters  are  now  deceased. 

Augustus  C.  Werckle  grew  up  on  the  home 
farm,  attended  the  Loucks  country  school  and 
also  completed  a  course  in  the  Peoria  Normal 
School.  Since  completing  his  education  he 
has  had  a  busy  round  of  duties  and  respon- 
sibilities.    In  1884  he  embarked  in  the  dairy 


134 


ILLINOIS 


business,  and  was  one  of  the  early  dairymen 
of  the  county,  and  much  of  his  success  was 
due  to  his  skill  and  judgment  in  managing 
and  building  up  a  fine  breed  of  dairy  cattle. 
He  became  a  recognized  authority  on  fine  dairy 
stock. 

Mr.  Werckle  married  in  1887  Miss  Martha 
J.  Lynch.  They  have  three  sons.  The  oldest, 
Frederick  W.,  married  Ethel  Bauer  and  has 
a  daughter,  Marylin.  Robert  A.  married  Mary 
Clare.  Earl,  the  third  son,  married  Marie 
Fehl  and  has  two  children,  Winton  E.  and 
Robert   D. 

Mr.  Werckle  even  while  an  active  dairy 
farmer  took  a  keen  interest  in  local  affairs 
and  politics.  He  has  held  the  office  of  super- 
visor of  his  township  for  the  past  twenty 
years.  He  is  affiliated  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  and  is  a  Democrat. 

Hon.  James  Cook  Conkling.  Although  the 
history  of  Hon.  James  Cook  Conkling  belongs 
to  the  past,  rather  than  to  the  present,  of 
Illinois,  his  achievements  were  so  numerous 
and  his  connections  so  important  that  no  rec- 
ord dealing  with  the  lives  of  distinguished 
Illinois  men  would  be  complete  without  mention 
of  his  name.  A  contemporary,  associate  and 
friend  of  great  men  of  his  times,  he  played 
no  small  part  in  the  political  history  of  Spring- 
field, where  his  achievements  and  talents  as 
a  lawyer  and  public  official  kept  him  prom- 
inently in  the  public  eye  from  the  early  '60s 
right  up  to  the  time  of  his  death. 

Mr.  Conkling  was  born  in  New  York  City, 
October  13,  1816,  and  received  his  common 
school  education  at  Morristown,  New  York, 
following  which  he  attended  Princeton  Uni- 
versity and  was  graduated  therefrom  as  a 
member  of  the  class  of  1835,  when  he  was  only 
nineteen  years  of  age.  After  studying  law 
he  went  to  Mount  Vernon,  Ohio,  and  practiced 
for  a  time,  but  became  dissatisfied  with  his 
surroundings  and  accordingly  came  to  Illinois, 
seeking  a  suitable  location  in  which  to  display 
his  talents.  After  visiting  Chicago,  Vandalia 
and  other  communities,  he  finally  decided  upon 
Springfield,  where  he  settled  permanently  in 
1838  and  where  he  soon  took  his  place  among 
such  future  great  men  as  Abraham  Lincoln, 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Edward  D.  Baker,  Ste- 
phen T.  Logan  and  John  J.  Hardin.  He  was 
also  a  friend  of  Cyrus  Walker  and  Gen.  James 
A   Shields. 

Mr.  Conkling  was  for  years  one  of  the  lead- 
ing members  of  the  Illinois  bar  and  partici- 
pated in  numerous  hard-fought  cases  which 
attracted  widespread  interest.  He  joined 
other  prominent  men  of  his  day  in  founding 
the  National  Republican  party,  in  which  he 
wielded  a  strong  influence  all  of  his  life,  and 
at  various  times  was  the  incumbent  of  impor- 
tant positions,  including  the  mayoralty  of 
Springfield.  He  was  an  elector  in  the  national 
convention    that    nominated    Lincoln    for    the 


Presidency,  and  in  1861  was  decidedly  active 
in    aiding    Governor    Yates    in    raising   troops 
for    the    Civil    war.      Mr.    Conkling    was    an 
important  force  in  bringing  the  state  capital 
to  Springfield.   Governor  Cullom  appointed  him 
a    member    of    the    board    of    trustees    of   the 
University  of  Illinois,  and  he  also  served  for 
some  time  as  postmaster  of  Springfield.    Presi- 
dent   Lincoln's    famous    letter    "to    overcome 
slavery"  written  to  Mr.  Conkling  was  heralded 
all    over    the    world.       With    his    family    he 
belonged  to  the  Westminster   Church,   and  ill 
the  organization  he  played  an  important  part. 
On  September  21,  1841,  at  Baltimore,  Mary- 
land, Mr.   Conkling  married  Mercy  Ann  Levi 
ering,   daughter  of   Captain   Levering,  and  to 
this  union  there  were  born  the  following  chilJ 
dren:    Clinton   L.,  who  married   Georgia   Bar4 
rell  and  had  two  children;  Charles,  deceased;' 
Annie,  who  has  been  twice  married  and  has 
no  children;  and  Alice,  deceased. 

John  Burke,  LaSalle  County  business  man 
and  farmer,  whose  home  is  on  Rural  Route 
No.  1,  five  miles  north  of  Utica,  has  lived 
all  his  life  in  Waltham  Township,  where  h« 
was  born  February  19,   1866. 

His  parents  both  came  from  Ireland.  His 
father,  Thomas  Burke,  was  born  at  Cashel, 
Tipperary,  son  of  Nicholas  Burke,  who  headed 
the  family  when  it  came  to  America.  Nicholas 
Burke  took  up  Government  land  in  LaSalle 
Township.  They  came  from  Ireland  in  1850J 
Thomas  Burke  was  about  twenty  years  of  age 
at  the  time.  As  a  young  man  he  worked  on] 
a  steamboat  on  the  Mississippi  River,  butj 
most  of  his  active  years  were  spent  as  a 
farmer  in  LaSalle  County,  where  he  died  Janu- 
ary 30,  1911.  His  wife,  Bridget  McGrath, 
was  born  in  Clonmel,  Tipperary,  in  1837/ 
and  her  parents  came  to  the  United  States 
in  1855.  She  died  at  the  old  homestead  August 
8,  1900.  Both  parents  were  devout  Catholics. 
Their  children  were:  Mary,  born  in  1857, 
wife  of  William  Brandes,  of  Mendota;  Thomas, 
born  in  1861  and  died  in  1928,  married  Maria 
Manley;  William,  born  in  1868,  a  resident  of 
Deer  Lodge,  Montana,  married  Mary  Duffy; 
David,  born  in  1871,  is  a  resident  of  Waltham 
Township  and  married  Nellie  Sharp;  Frank, 
born  in  1873,  died  in  1916;  James  N.,  born 
in  1875,  is  a  resident  of  Waltham  Township 
and  married  Margaret  Boyle.  Mr.  John  Burke 
was  the  third  child. 

He  acquired  a  common  school  education  in 
Waltham  Township,  finishing  his  school  days 
in  February,  1885.  He  has  devoted  more  than 
forty-five  years  to  an  active  career  as  a  farmer 
and  business  man.  He  has  eighty  acres  of 
land  in  Waltham  Township,  using  it  for  the 
growing  of  grain,  live  stock  and  fruit.  Mr. 
Burke  is  also  president  and  a  director  of  the 
Utica  Elevator  Company. 

He  has  been  active  in  community  affairs 
for   the   past   thirty-five   years   and   has   filled 


ILLINOIS 


135 


the  offices  of  justice  of  the  peace  and  school 
trustee.  He  is  a  Democrat  and  during  the 
World  war  was  treasurer  of  the  Waltham 
Chapter  of  the  Red  Cross.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  National  Geographic  Society,  Camp 
No.  262,  Modern  Woodmen  of  America,  at 
Utica,  and  he  and  his  family  are  members 
of  St.  Mary's  Catholic  Church  at  Utica.  Mr" 
Burke  has  lived  a  busy  life  but  has  formed 
many  interesting  contacts  with  people  and 
affairs.     His  favorite  diversion  is  baseball. 

Mr.  Burke  married,  February  13,  1901,  Miss 
Margaret  Kinnegar,  who  died  February  15, 
1915,  leaving  one  son,  John  Thomas  Burke, 
born  May  27,  1903.  On  November  30,  1916, 
at  Utica,  Mr.  Burke  married  Anna  Waldron, 
who  was  born  in  Waltham  Township,  March 
7,  1872,  daughter  of  Charles  and  Elizabeth 
(Cahill)  Waldron.  Charles  Waldron  was  a 
native  of  Ireland,  where  he  acquired  most  of 
his  education.  In  1852  he  came  with  his 
parents,  Thomas  and  Anna  (Burns)  Waldron, 
to  America.  Thomas  Waldron  was  one  of  the 
pioneers  of  LaSalle  County  and  built  one 
of  the  early  log  houses  in  Waltham  Township. 

Major  Albert  E.  Gage  is  a  prominent  Chi- 
cagoan,  one  of  the  last  surviving  officers  of 
the  Union  army  in  the  Civil  war.  Major 
Gage  for  many  years  has  been  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  Blue  and  Gray  Legion.  This  was 
organized  nearly  fifty  years  ago,  by  two  of- 
ficers with  the  rank  of  major,  one  from  the 
Union  and  one  from  the  Confederate  side. 
Major  Gage  has  recently  devoted  much  time 
to  promoting  a  projected  last  reunion  of  the 
Blue  and  the"  Gray. 

He  is  a  native  of  Illinois,  member  of  one 
of  the  pioneer  families  of  Waukegan.  He 
was  born  in  Waukegan,  Lake  County,  August 
15,  1845,  son  of  Gen.  Ben  and  Miranda  (Ste- 
vens) Gage.  The  Gages  were  a  historic  fam- 
ily of  Vermont,  dating  back  to  early  Colonial 
times.  Gen.  Ben  Gage  was  a  western  pioneer. 
From  Buffalo,  New  York,  he  traveled  by  sail- 
ing vessel  to  Waukegan,  where  he  landed  in 
1835.  He  was  a  millwright  and  bridge  builder, 
and  he  constructed  the  first  bridges  in  Lake 
County  and  helped  build  the  first  bridge  across 
the  river  in  Chicago. 

Albert  E.  Gage  recived  his  early  education 
in  Waukegan.  He  was  not  yet  sixteen  years 
of  age  when  he  enlisted  for  service  in  the 
Civil  war.  He  joined  the  famous  Thirty-sev- 
enth Illinois  Infantry,  which  was  organized  at 
Chicago  in  the  summer  of  1861,  the  original 
name  being  the  "Fremont  Rifle  Regiment." 
It  was  mustered  in  September  18,  1861,  and 
the  following  day  started  south.  It  was  one 
of  the  regiments  in  the  expedition  to  South- 
western Missouri  and  had  a  notable  part  in 
the  campaign  against  the  Confederate  forces, 
culminating  in  the  battles  in  Northwestern 
Arkansas,  which  removed  the  menace  of  Con- 
federate   control    of    the    State    of    Missouri. 


Major  Gage  was  with  his  regiment  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  Springfield,  Missouri,  for  over  a  year 
and  participated  with  his  regiment  in  the 
battle  of  Pea  Ridge,  Arkansas,  in  March, 
1862,  in  the  fight  at  Elkhorn  Tavern,  and  In 
the  fall  of  that  year  in  the  fighting  around 
Fayetteville,  at  Prairie  Grove  and  in  other 
engagements.  Some  of  these  battles  were 
the  hardest  fought  in  the  entire  war.  The 
opposing  troops  fought  face  to  face  and  used 
their  bayonets  in  hand  to  hand  conflict.  In 
one  of  the  battles  in  which  Major  Gage  took 
part  there  was  what  was  known  as  "volley 
firing,"  accompanied  by  a  dense  smoke  screen. 
During  1863  the  Thirty-seventh  Illinois  was 
under  the  command  of  Grant  in  the  siege  of 
Vicksburg  and  later  in  the  year  participated 
in  the  Banks  expedition  to  the  Rio  Grande 
River,  proceeding  as  far  south  as  Browns- 
ville, Texas.  In  March,  1864,  the  regiment, 
having  reenlisted,  returned  north  on  veteran 
furlough,  but  soon  afterward  again  started 
south,  going  to  Memphis,  was  in  fighting  in 
Northern  Mississippi  and  Louisiana,  early  in 
1865  went  to  Pensacola,  Florida,  and  then 
participated  in  one  of  the  culminating  opera- 
tions of  the  war,  the  siege  of  Mobile.  After 
the  surrender  the  regiment  was  assigned  gar- 
rison duty  in  Texas  and  was  not  mustered  out 
until  May  15,  1866.  Thus  Major  Gage  was 
in  the  army  nearly  four  years.  The  Thirty- 
seventh  Regiment  participated  in  thirteen  bat- 
tles, sieges  and  skirmishes  and  had  the  march- 
ing record  in  American  military  annals, 
marching  on  foot  3,500  miles,  traveling  by 
rail  and  boat  about  13,000  miles,  and  cam- 
paigned in  every  western  and  southern  state 
that  was  in  hostility  to  the  Government. 

Major  Gage  from  the  organization  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  has  taken  an 
active  interest  in  that  organization,  but  has 
been  chiefly  devoted  to  the  Blue  and  Gray 
Legion.  During  the  Spanish-American  war 
he  organized  a  Blue  and  Gray  Legion  which 
sent  out  two  immune  regiments.  He  also 
volunteered  his  services  during  the  Boer  war 
in  South  Africa.  He  joined  Dr.  J.  B.  Mur- 
phy's Ambulance  Corps  in  Chicago,  which  was 
organized  to  provide  assistance  to  the  Boer 
cause. 

After  the  Civil  war  Major  Gage  engaged  in 
farming  and  during  the  '70s  conducted  a  fine 
farm  in  Winnebago  County.  In  1879  he  re- 
ceived the  notable  honor  of  being  designated 
as  the  "Premium  Farmer"  of  the  county,  an 
honor  based  upon  efficiency  and  success  as  a 
practical  agriculturist.  After  leaving  his  farm 
Major  Gage  removed  to  Chicago.  He  has 
assisted  in  organizing  and  has  supported  nu- 
merous social,  economic  and  financial  move- 
ments, such  as  the  Economic  Federation, 
American  Liberty  Association,  the  General  Ben 
Gage  Foundation  and  the  Universal  Service 
of  America,  the  last  named  sponsoring  a  sys- 
tem  of   international   currency.      Major    Gage 


136 


ILLINOIS 


is  a  member  of  the  Borrowed  Time  Club  of 
Oak  Park,  the  Old  Settlers  Club  of  Chicago 
and  other  organizations.  His  office  is  at  10 
North  LaSalle  Street  and  his  home  is  in  the 
LaSalle  Hotel. 

Albert  Jarvis  Taylor.  In  the  retired  for- 
mer citizenship  of  Sangamon  County  agricul- 
turists there  are  to  be  found  numerous  men 
who  have  made  their  marks  through  the  stren- 
uous work  of  their  own  hands  and  the  coopera- 
tion of  good  management  and  the  adjusting 
of  opportunities  when  seen  and  recognized. 
Among  this  class  of  retired  citizens  is  A.  J. 
Taylor,  who  now  resides  at  New  Berlin,  from 
whence  he  supervises  the  operations  of  his 
land  through  subordinates.  Mr.  Taylor  is  an 
octogenarian,  but  still  retains  the  energy  and 
mental  strength  of  many  men  years  younger 
than  he,  and  likewise  maintains  interest  in 
all  of  the  affairs  that  are  going  on  around  his 
sphere  of  life. 

A.  J.  Taylor  was  born  October  7,  1850,  on 
Long  Island  Sound,  Westport,  Connecticut. 
His  father  brought  the  family  in  the  following 
year  to  Illinois,  traveling  from  Connecticut  to 
Pittsburgh,  and  thence  down  the  Ohio  River 
to  Cairo,  Illinois,  and  up  the  Illinois  River 
to  Bates  in  Sangamon  County,  where  he  be- 
came one  of  the  earliest  settlers.  He  came 
into  this  section  to  take  up  the  management 
of  a  farm  for  New  York  parties,  and  later 
rented  land  on  his  own  account,  after  which 
he  bought  land  on  his  own  account  and  even- 
tually became  one  of  large  land  owners  of 
the  county.  Francis  Taylor's  first  wife,  Hen- 
rietta Morehouse,  died  during  the  Civil  war 
period,  leaving  four  children,  as  follows: 
Mary  C,  A.  J.,  Francis  I.  and  Edward  H. 
Later  he  married  Harriet  Rumsey,  and  there 
were  four  children  born  to  this  union:  C.  R., 
William    (deceased),  Harriet  and  Fred  D. 

During  the  period  that  he  was  attending 
the  public  schools  of  New  Berlin,  A.  J.  Tay- 
lor spent  all  of  his  vacation  periods  in  assist- 
ing his  father  on  the  home  farm,  particularly 
in  connection  with  the  livestock  business,  his 
father  having  been  one  of  the  largest  cattle 
feeders  of  the  township.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  years,  like  many  farmers'  sons  of  his  day, 
he  was  attracted  to  railroading,  learned  teleg- 
raphy, and  was  agent  at  Bement  and  other 
township  points  until  1881,  in  which  year  he 
gave  up  railroading  and  returned  to  New 
Berlin,  where  he  became  associated  with  his 
father  and  brother  in  general  merchandising, 
as  F.  Taylor  &  Son.  In  the  big  conflagra- 
tion which  visited  New  Berlin  in  1894  this 
enterprise  was  one  to  suffer  most  greatly  and 
it  was  never  continued  after  that.  A.  J.  Tay- 
lor then  resumed  farming,  in  which  he  con- 
tinued to  be  engaged  until  his  retirement,  and 
he  is  still  the  owner  of  some  valuable  farm 
land  in  Sangamon  County.  He  is  likewise 
engaged    in    the    insurance    business,    and    is 


active    mentally    and    physically,    despite    his 
more  than  eighty  years. 

Mr.  Taylor  has  been  for  years  a  supporter 
of  religious  movements,  and  very  active  in 
civic  affairs.  He  has  a  distinct  recollection 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  his  father  was  one 
of  the  martyred  President's  personal  friends. 

Edward  Hyde  Taylor.  A  worthy  and  capa- 
ble representative  of  the  farming  interests  of 
Sangamon  County  is  found  in  the  person  of 
Edward  H.  Taylor,  who  owns  and  operates  a 
tract  of  400  acres  in  Berlin  Township,  near 
New  Berlin,  on  R.  F.  D.  Route  No.  1.  Mr. 
Taylor  is  one  of  the  self-made  men  of  the 
county,  where  he  has  passed  his  entire  career, 
with  the  exception  of  a  short  time  spent  in 
business  college  in  Iowa,  and  has  always  in- 
terested himself  in  civic  affairs,  having  been 
a  member  of  the  board  of  school  trustees  for 
nearly  forty  years. 

Mr.  Taylor  was  born  in  1860,  on  his  father's 
farm  near  New  Berlin,  Sangamon  County,  and 
is  a  son  of  Francis  and  Henrietta  B.  (More- 
house) Taylor.  His  parents,  natives  of  West- 
port,  Connecticut,  went  from  that  place  to 
New  York  City,,  whence  they  made  their  way 
overland  to  Erie,  Pennsylvania,  then  via  the 
Great  Lakes  to  Chicago  and  finally  to  San- 
gamon County  by  stage.  Mr.  Taylor  was 
manager  of  a  large  tract  of  land  for  New 
York  interests,  but  eventually  became  a 
farmer  on  his  own  account  and  accumulated 
a  large  and  valuable  property.  By  his  first 
union  Mr.  Taylor  was  the  father  of  four  chil- 
dren: Mary,  who  married  Frank  Coulter;  Al- 
bert J.,  a  retired  citizen  of  New  Berlin;  Fran- 
cis; and  Edward  H.  Mr.  Taylor  married  for, 
his  second  wife  Harriet  Rumsey,  and  they  also 
had  four  children:  Charles  R.,  William,  de- 
ceased; Hallie,  of  New  York;  and  Fred,  of 
Chicago. 

The  grandparents  of  Edward  H.  Taylor, 
Dan  and  Sally  (Adams)  Taylor,  were  farming 
people.  He  was  a  son  of  Abijah  and  Isabelle 
(Wiley)  Taylor,  the  former  of  whom  was 
born  September  22,  1740,  and  served  in  the 
French  and  Indian  war  under  Gen.  Isaac  Put- 
nam, who  made  him  second  sergeant  of  the 
Fifth  Company,  A  Battalion,  September  13, 
1764,  this  commission  being  on  file  at  the  Nor- 
walk  (Connecticut)  Historical  Society.  He 
likewise  saw  service  during  the  Revolutionary 
war.  Abijah  Taylor  was  a  son  of  Lieut.  Josiah 
and  Thankful  (French)  Taylor,  a  grandson 
of  John  and  Waite  (Clapp)  Taylor,  and  a 
great-grandson  of  Capt.  John  and  Thankful 
(Woodward)  Taylor,  the  former  a  captain  of 
militia  who  was  killed  by  the  Indians,  May 
13,  1704.  He  was  a  son  of  John  Taylor,  who 
was  born  at  Windsor,  England,  in  1612,  and 
came  to  America  on  the  ship  Mary  and  John, 
before  the  sailing  of  Governor  Winthrop's 
party.  He  sailed  for  England  on  the  first 
ship    built    in   this    country,    in    1645,    known 


ILLINOIS 


137 


as  "the  phantom  ship,"  which  was  lost  at 
sea  and  never  heard  from. 

Edward  H.  Taylor  attended  the  schools  of 
New  Berlin,  working  on  the  home  farm  during 
vacations,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  years 
took  a  course  in  a  business  college  at  Burling- 
ton, Iowa.  Returning  to  Sangamon  County, 
he  applied  himself  to  farming  in  Berlin  Town- 
ship, where  he  now  has  a  valuable  and  well 
improved  property  and  is  accounted  one  of 
his  community's  reliable  and  responsible  citi- 
zens. As  before  noted,  Mr.  Taylor  has  been 
a  school  trustee  for  forty  years.  He  has  been 
an  active  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
all  of  his  life  and  has  been  helpful  in  its 
various  enterprises,  and  likewise  takes  an 
active  interest  in  all  civic  affairs.  He  resides 
in  a  large  Colonial  style  home  near  Bates, 
[llinois,  on  the  main  route  from  New  Berlin. 

On  March  4,  1891,  Mr.  Taylor  married  Min- 
nie E.  Coulter,  a  daughter  of  F.  G.  Coulter, 
a  carpenter  and  dealer  in  horses,  who  came 
to  Illinois  as  a  boy  about  1847  with  his  parents 
from  Pennsylvania.  He  married  first  Nellie 
A..  Ratikin,  and  after  her  death,  Mary  C. 
Taylor,  a  sister  of  Edward  H.  Taylor.  They 
had  four  children:  Mrs.  Cornelia  Bird,  Earl 
C,  Arthur  A.  and  Frank  G.,  Jr.  He  married 
for  his  third  wife  Grace  P.  Clark  and  died  in 
1922,  being  buried  in  Oak  Ridge  Cemetery, 
Springfield.  Four  children  have  been  born 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Taylor :  Mary  C,  who  married 
Percy  Wilcox,  and  had  two  children,  Edna 
and  Mildred,  all  of  whom  met  their  deaths  in 
an  accident  at  Springfield;  Violet,  of  Spring- 
field; Edna,  deceased;  and  Evan,  who  married 
Frances  Wilcox  and  has  one  daughter,  Ruth. 

John  Quinn  Harrison.  Among  the  highly 
esteemed  residents  of  Pleasant  Plains,  one 
whose  life's  labors  have  been  crowned  with 
success  and  who  has  the  esteem  and  respect 
of  the  people  of  his  community  is  John  Quinn 
Harrison.  Although  he  is  now  living  a  retired 
life,  having  accumulated  what  he  considers  a 
sufficiency  of  this  world's  goods,  he  still  super- 
vises the  operations  on  his  valuable  farm  of 
400  acres,  located  in  Cartwright  Township, 
where  he  labored  for  many  years. 

Mr.  Harrison  was  born  on  the  above  prop- 
erty, September  7,  1869,  and  is  a  son  of  Robert 
P.  and  Almeda  (Bone)  Harrison.  His  paternal 
grandparents  were  Simeon  and  Mary  Har- 
rison, the  former  of  whom  was  born  in  Vir- 
ginia, whence  he  moved  to  Illinois,  via  Ken- 
tucky, and  settled  in  Cartwright  Township, 
where  he  became  a  leading  farmer  and  an 
intimate  friend  of  prominent  citizens,  including 
Abraham  Lincoln.  Robert  P.  Harrison  was 
born  on  his  father's  farm  in  Sangamon  County, 
where  he  first  attended  the  common  schools 
and  later  completed  his  education  in  a  paid 
school.  He  commenced  his  career  as  a  farmer 
on  rented  land,  and  by  industry  and  good 
management   rose   to   be   one   of   the   wealthy 


and  influential  agriculturists  of  the  county, 
being  the  owner  of  much  valuable  land  at 
the  time  of  his  death.  He  and  his  wife  were 
laid  to  rest  in  Oak  Ridge  Cemetery  at  Spring- 
field. They  were  the  parents  of  three  chil- 
dren: John  Quinn,  of  this  review;  Mary,  the 
widow  of  Langley  Whitley,  and  who  has  one 
daughter,  Catherine,  the  wife  of  Glenn  Rhodes ; 
and  Nellie  A.,  the  wife  of  Lockridge  D.  Hulen. 

John  Quinn  Harrison  attended  the  country 
schools  and  assisted  his  father  on  the  home 
farm  until  the  elder  man's  death,  at  which 
time  he  bought  out  the  interests  of  the  other 
heirs  to  the  estate  and  from  that  time  forward 
continued  to  cultivate  the  land  and  add  to  its 
improvements  until  his  retirement  from  active 
labors.  Although  he  now  makes  his  home 
at  Pleasant  Plains,  he  is  still  the  owner  of 
400  acres  of  land  in  Cartwright  Township 
and  is  accounted  one  of  his  community's  sub- 
stantial citizens.  Mr.  Harrison  has  always 
been  a  public-spirited  and  constructive  citizen, 
taking  an  active  interest  and  participation 
in  civic  affairs  and  beneficial  movements.  He 
belongs  to  Pleasant  Plains  Lodge  No.  700, 
A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  the  Consistory  and  Shrine 
at  Springfield,  and  the  local  lodge  of  the 
Modern  Woodmen  of  America.  He  is  affiliated 
with  the  Federated  Church  of  Baptists  and 
Presbyterians,  of  which  Mrs.  Harrison  is  also 
a  member,  she  likewise  belonging  to  the  Royal 
Neighbors  of  America. 

On  June  21,  1899,  Mr.  Harrison  married 
Nellie  Happer,  daughter  of  John  G.  and  Annis 
(Brown)  Happer.  Mr.  Happer,  who  was  born 
in  Sangamon  County,  finished  his  schooling 
at  Indian  Point  and  then  settled  down  to  farm- 
ing, becoming  one  of  the  prominent  and  influ- 
ential farmers  of  his  locality.  He  and  his 
wife  were  the  parents  of  three  children:  How- 
ard, who  is  deceased;  Nellie,  now  Mrs.  Har- 
rison; and  Mrs.  Helen  Allan,  who  has  two 
children,  Verne  and  Russell.  To  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Harrison  there  have  been  born  three 
children:  Helen,  the  wife  of  Glenn  Wineman, 
and  Lucille  and  Annis,  who  live  with  their 
parents. 

Hon.  William  Sherman  Hensley.  The 
chief  executive  of  the  thriving  little  City  of 
Pleasant  Plains,  Hon.  William  Sherman  Hens- 
ley,  has  been  a  lifelong  resident  of  Sangamon 
County,  and  for  many  years  has  been  engaged 
in  the  undertaking  business.  A  man  of  high 
character,  he  has  won  the  confidence  and 
esteem  of  his  fellow-citizens,  not  only  in  his 
specialized  field  of  endeavor,  but  also  as  a 
public  official,  having  served  capably  as  mayor 
since  1924. 

Mr.  Hensley  was  born  on  a  farm  in  San- 
gamon County,  July  4,  1865,  and  is  a  son  of 
John  and  Lee  Anna  (Lynch)  Hensley.  John 
Hensley  was  born  in  Virginia  and  as  a  lad 
was  taken  by  his  parents  to  Pickaway  County, 
Ohio,  where  he  grew  to  young  manhood,  receiv- 


138 


ILLINOIS 


ing  a  common  school  education.  When  the 
discovery  of  gold  in  California  was  announced 
in  1849,  he  drove  an  ox-team  in  the  long  and 
perilous  journey  across  the  plains  and  eventu- 
ally settled  at  Santiago,  California,  where  he 
remained  for  from  eight  to  ten  years.  Having 
accumulated  some  money,  he  made  the  return 
journey  via  the  Panama  and  settled  in  Sanga- 
mon County,  Illinois,  where  he  invested  his 
capital  in  farming  land,  on  which  he  continued 
operations  during  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
Mr.  Hensley  married  Anna  Lee  Lynch,  who 
was  born  at  Circleville,  Ohio,  daughter  of 
James  and  Sarah  Lynch,  and  was  four  years 
of  age  at  the  time  her  parents  came  to  San- 
gamon County  and  settled  at  Old  Berlin.  She 
attended  the  old  log  schoolhouse  and  was  one 
of  the  oldest  residents  of  the  county,  having 
reached  the  age  of  ninety-four  years  on  Jan- 
uary 14,  1931,  and  died  February  20,  1931. 
To  John  and  Anna  Lee  Hensley  were  born 
eight  children:  Kate,  Mary  and  Jane,  who 
are  deceased;  Harry,  who  married  Georgia 
Corder  and  has  one  daughter,  Georgia;  Sam- 
uel A.,  the  proprietor  of  a  grocery  at  813 
North  Columbia  Street,  Springfield,  Ohio; 
William  Sherman,  of  this  review;  Wallace, 
deceased;  and  Leonard. 

William  Sherman  Hensley  attended  the 
Franklin  School  in  Cartwright  and  then 
returned  to  the  home  farm  for  a  time,  but, 
becoming  dissatisfied  with  the  life  of  an  agri- 
culturist, went  to  Chicago,  where  he  attended 
the  Chicago  School  of  Embalming  for  one 
year.  Returning  to  Sangamon  County  at  the 
end  of  that  period,  he  established  himself 
in  the  undertaking  business,  in  which  he  has 
since  been  engaged,  and  his  patronage  now 
extends  all  over  the  county.  He  maintains 
a  modern  funeral  home,  with  up-to-date  equip- 
ment and  every  convenience  for  the  dignified 
and  reverent  care  of  the  dead,  and  his  tact 
and  kindliness  have  earned  him  the  gratitude 
and  confidence  of  countless  persons  to  whom 
he  has  been  an  adviser  in  the  time  of  bereave- 
ment. Mr.  Hensley  was  elected  mayor  of 
Pleasant  Plains  in  1924  and  has  served  effi- 
ciently and  energetically  in  that  capacity  ever 
since.  He  is  a  Mason  and  a  member  of  the 
Eastern  Star,  and  is  prominent  in  the  affairs 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  He  has  a  modern 
home  at  Pleasant  Plains,  standing  in  the  midst 
of  ten  acres  of  land. 

In  1887  Mr.  Hensley  married  Josephine 
Griffin,  daughter  of  William  B.  and  Malinda 
(Farris)  Griffin,  and  to  this  union  there  have 
been  born  two  sons:  Reed,  who  married  Verna 
Boyd;  and  John,  who  is  married  and  has  one 
child,  Barbara  Ann.  Reed  Hensley  attended 
the  Chicago  School  of  Embalming,  and  at  pres- 
ent is  associated  with  his  father  in  the  embalm- 
ing firm  of  Hensley  &  Son,  in  addition  to 
which  he  is  assistant  cashier  of  the  local 
bank.  He  is  a  Mason  and  a  member  of  the 
Eastern    Star.      John   Hensley   is    a    graduate 


of  the  College  of  Osteopathy  of  Chicago,  Illi- 
nois, and  now  practices  his  profession  at  Crys- 
tal Lake,  Illinois,  and  is  one  of  the  important 
citizens  of  his  community.  He  is  also  a  Mason. 
All  members  of  the  family  have  been  active 
in  the  work  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and 
interested  in  civic  matters. 

William  Ryder.  The  postmaster  of  Auburn, 
Illinois,  William  Ryder,  has  been  a  resident 
of  this  community  for  more  than  thirty  years, 
during  which  period  he  has  followed  a  variety* 
of  pursuits,  principally  connected  with  thJ 
coal  mining  industry.  He  has  always  beea 
prominent  in  public  affairs,  having  filled  a 
number  of  positions  with  marked  ability  and! 
to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  his  fellow  citizens! 
by  whom  he  is  held  in  high  esteem  ana 
confidence. 

Mr.  Ryder  was  born  in  1870,  in  England, 
and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Susan  (Harris)? 
Ryder.  His  father  was  born  in  England, 
where  he  received  only  a  meagre  education 
and  at  a  tender  age  was  sent  into  the  coal 
mines  to  earn  a  very  modest  wage,  always 
turned  over  to  his  parents.  However,  when 
he  reached  his  majority  he  married  and  was 
able  to  save  a  part  of  his  earnings,  and  in 
1880,  with  a  view  of  bettering  his  condition, 
brought  his  family  to  the  United  States  and* 
took  up  his  residence  in  Illinois.  In  1900- 
he  went  to  Kansas,  but  returned  to  Illinois, 
and  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  the  coal 
mines  of  Sangamon  County.  He  and  his  wife- 
were  the  parents  of  five  children:  William, 
of  this  review;  John;  Eli;  Tom,  and  Eva, 
who  married  James  Rowe  and  has  five  children. 

William  Ryder  attended  the  common  schools 
of  England  until  he  was  ten  years  of  age,  at 
which  time  he  accompanied  his  parents  to 
the  United  States  and  attended  school  in  Kan- 
sas and  at  Auburn,  Illinois,  where  he  had 
two  years  of  high  school.  In  the  meanwhile 
he  had  started  working  in  the  mines  at  the 
age  of  thirteen  years,  and  for  about  thirty-five 
years,  all  told,  worked  in  various  capacities 
in  the  mines,  advancing  in  position  as  his 
abilities  and  experiences  increased  and  at  all 
times  displaying  industry  and  fidelity.  For 
two  years  he  was  manager  of  the  Miners 
Cooperative  Store,  and  also  for  a  period  was 
employed  at  the  baker's  trade.  In  1922  Mr. 
Ryder  was  appointed  postmaster  at  Auburn, 
and  has  continued  to  act  in  that  capacity  to 
the  present.  He  has  given  fully  of  his  ability 
and  energy  to  this  work,  and  during  his  incum- 
bency of  the  office  has  raised  the  standards 
of  service  considerably,  so  that  the  people 
of  Auburn  and  the  surrounding  community 
receive  their  mail  expeditiously  and  without 
error.  This  has  not  been  his  only  public 
service,  as  he  was  formerly  a  member  of  the 
board  of  school  directors  and  of  the  town 
board  of  Auburn.  He  belongs  to  the  Advent 
Christian    Church,    of   which   he    is    an   elder, 


J&Lx^-fyK  '\2^-e£t*a~c^~ 


ILLINOIS 


139 


and    has   worked    effectively   in   behalf   of   its 
various  movements  and  activities.     Fraternally 

1  he  is  affiliated  with  the  Masons,  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Knights  of  Pythias, 
Knights  of  the  Maccabees  and  Improved  Order 
of  Red  Men,  and  in  the  latter  is  a  past  national 
officers  in  the  Haymakers  degree.     Politically 

i  he  has  always  been  a  supporter  of  the  candi- 
dates and  principles  of  the  Republican  party, 
in  which  he  wields  a  strong  influence  in  this 
section.     He  belongs  to  the   Commercial   Club 

:  and  is  interested  in  all  civic  matters. 

In   1902   Mr.   Ryder  married   Emelia   Chap- 

i  man,  a  daughter  of  Frank  and  Nellie  (Parker) 
Chapman,  and  a  granddaughter  of  a  veteran 
of  the  war  between  the  states.  Frank  Chap- 
man was  for  a  number  of  years  a  merchant 
in  Kansas.  Three  children  have  been  born 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ryder:  Thomas,  who  married 

|  Miss    Byers    and*  has    one    daughter,    Eloise; 

I  Elizabeth,  who  married  Glenn  Dobb  and  has 
two  children,  Elma  and  Norma;  and  Thornton, 
who  resides  with  his  parents.  Mrs.  Ryder  has 
taken  an  active  part  in  the  work  of  the  Advent 
Christian  Church,  and  like  her  husband  has 
many  friends  in  the  community. 

Oscar  Fletcher  Cochran.     Cochran  is  one 
of  the   oldest   names   in  the   Moultrie    County 
ibar.      The    leading    law    firm    of    Sullivan    is 
!  Cochran,  Sentel  &  Cochran.     The  senior  mem- 
ber   of    this    firm    is    now    practically    retired 
I  from  active  law  work.     He  is  judge  William 
Granville   Cochran,   a.  Civil   war  veteran   and 
la  man   of   long   and   honorable   distinction   in 
I  his    profession    and    in    public    service.      The 
active  member  of  the   Cochran  family  at  the 
Ibar  is  Oscar  Fetcher  Cochran. 
#   Judge  William  Granville  Cochran  was  born 
m  Ross  County,  Ohio,  and  in  1849  the  family 
moved    to    Illinois,    his   father    settling    on    a 
farm  in  Moultrie  County.     William  Granville 
Cochran    was    born    November    13,    1844,    and 
was  five  years  of  age  when  brought  to  Illinois. 
When    seventeen    years    old    he    enlisted    for 
service  in  the  Union  army.     He  was  with  the 
colors  three  years,  a  member  of  Company  A 
of  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-sixth  Illinois 
j  Infantry.      He    participated    in    some    of    the 
(early    western    campaigns    through    Arkansas 
and  was  at  the  battle  of  Gettysburg.     During 
his  early  life  he  followed  farming.     In   1866 
he   married    Charlotte    Ann    Keyes,    who   was 
born   at   Philippi,    West   Virginia,    March    17, 
1843,  and  died  December  14,  1899.    Her  father, 
James  F.  Keyes,  came  to  Illinois  in  1850,  and 
during  the  rest  of  his   life   lived  on  a  farm 
in    Moultrie    County.      Charlotte    Ann    Keyes 
was  a  woman  of  unusual  education  and  intel- 
ligence and  very  ambitious.     After  her  mar- 
riage she  helped   her  husband,   who   had   had 
a  limited  education.     She  gave  him  the  benefit 
°f  her  knowledge   and  inspired  him  to  study 
and   qualify   for    the    law.      In    1877    he   was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  and  since  then  for  over 


half  a  century  has  ranked  as  one  of  the 
strongest  attorneys  in  this  section  of  the  state. 
When  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  he  located 
at  Lovington,  but  since  1892  has  been  a  resi- 
dent of  Sullivan.  He  served  eighteen  years 
on  the  district  bench.  For  many  years  he 
was  a  leader  in  the  Republican  party.  He 
was  elected  in  1888  a  member  of  the  Thirty- 
sixth  Illinois  General  Assembly,  and  was 
chosen  speaker  of  the  House  in  its  second 
session  in  1890,  known  as  the  World's  Fair 
session.  He  was  again  elected  to  the  General 
Assembly  in  the  Thirty-ninth  and  Fortieth 
Assemblies,  and  was  again  speaker  of  the 
House  in  1895.  At  the  conclusion  of  eighteen 
years  on  the  bench  he  resigned  on  his  own 
accord.  Few  men  have  left  a  finer  impress 
on  the  annals  of  the  law  and  general  affairs 
in  his  district.  He  served  for  many  years 
as  president  of  the  Moultrie  County  Bar  Asso- 
ciation, is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  State  and 
American  Bar  Associations.  He  is  a  past 
commander  of  the  Illinois  Department  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and  is  now 
Judge  adjutant  of  the  National  Grand  Army. 
He  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason  and  member 
of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
and  he  put  forth  splendid  effort  to  locate  the 
Masonic  Home  at  Sullivan  and  served  as  one 
of  its  first  trustees.  During  the  World  war 
he  was  president  of  the  County  Exemption 
Board.  He  is  a  member  of  the  First  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  at  Sullivan  and  for  sixty- 
four  years  has  been  qualified  as  a  local 
preacher  of  the  church  and  was  the  first 
president  of  the  Laymen's  Association  of  the 
Illinois   Conference. 

Judge  and  Mrs.  Cochran  had  a  family  of 
eight  children.  Carrie  died  in  infancy.  The 
second  in  age  is  Oscar  Fletcher.  Frankie 
also  died  in  infancy.  Prudence  died  when 
twelve  years  old.  Grace  May,  who  was  edu- 
cated in  the  Illinois  Wesleyan  University  at 
Bloomington  and  in  Cornell  University,  was 
married  to  E.  W.  Richardson,  by  whom  she 
has  one  daughter,  Charlotte,  who  married  Mr. 
Cummings,  and  they  have  a  son  and  daughter, 
William  and  Rachel.  Archie  B.  Cochran  is 
connected  with  the  Franklin  Life  Insurance 
Company  at  Springfield  and  is  unmarried. 
Arthur  G.  Cochran  is  a  graduate  in  law  of 
the  Illinois  Wesleyan  University  of  Bloom- 
ington, and  has  risen  to  high  rank  in  his 
profession,  being  head  attorney  for  the  Mid 
Kansas  Oil  Company  at  Tulsa,  Oklahoma;  he 
is  married  and  has  a  daughter,  named  Maur- 
ine.  The  next  child,  Laura,  died  after  her 
marriage  to  Frank  J.  Thompson,  a  Sullivan 
attorney,  and  she  left  children  named  Vir- 
ginia,  Pauline,   Grace   and   Frank  J.,   Jr. 

Oscar  Fletcher  Cochran  was  born  at  Lov- 
ington, Moultrie  County,  September  24,  1869. 
He  attended  the  public  schools  of  Moultrie 
County,  including  high  school,  and  for  six 
years    was    a    teacher    in    local    schools.      In 


140 


ILLINOIS 


connection  with  his  work  in  the  school  room 
he  farmed,  and  altogether  devoted  fifteen 
years  to  his  work  as  a  farmer.  He  still 
regards  himself  as  an  agriculturist,  and  owns 
and  conducts  one  of  the  fine  farms  of  the 
county.  Mr.  Cochran  began  the  study  of 
law  in  the  office  of  his  father.  Before  he 
had  been  admitted  to  the  bar  he  was  elected 
county  judge  of  Moultrie  County.  While  county 
judge  he  was  several  times  called  to  Chicago 
to  hold  court,  and  displayed  the  judicial  tem- 
perament which  distinguished  his  father  dur- 
ing his  long  career  on  the  bench.  Oscar  F. 
Cochran  was  county  judge  from  1918  to  1922. 
Except  for  that  term  he  has  been  master 
in  chancery  in  Moultrie  County  since  1916. 
He  is  a  Republican,  is  a  steward  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  a  delegate 
of  the  Laymen's  Association,  and  a  Knight 
Templar    Mason. 

He  married,  October  5,  1887,  Miss  Nona 
Dawson,  of  Lovington,  daughter  of  Thomas 
W.  and  Priscilla  (Weakley)  Dawson.  Her 
father  was  born  in  Ohio.  Mrs.  Cochran  is 
a  member  of  the  Friends  and  Council  Club, 
Domestic  Science  Club,  G.  H.  R.  Club  of 
Lovington,  is  a  past  matron  of  the  Eastern 
Star  Chapter  and  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  Of  the  children  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Cochran  the  oldest  is  Grant,  who 
was  born  August  18,  1888.  He  attended  school 
in  Moultrie  County,  now  lives  at  Sullivan, 
Illinois,  and  married  Miss  Ethel  Collins,  of 
Sullivan.  Their  children  are:  Granville,  who 
died  in  January,  1931,  Wayne,  Margaret, 
Floyd,  June,  Don,  Dean,  Kathryn,  Nona  and 
Helen.  The  second  son,  Willis  E.  Cochran, 
born  August  26,  1889,  was  educated  in  Moul- 
trie County,  lives  at  Decatur,  and  married 
Miss  Alice  Coventry,  of  Findlay,  Illinois,  and 
has  seven  children,  Jean,  Vere,  Dale,  Rex, 
Doris,  John  and  Benjamin.  Harry  Allen  Coch- 
ran, born  August  4,  1895,  after  the  local 
schools  attended  Illinois  Wesleyan  University 
and  is  now  a  minister  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  located  at  Edinburg,  Illinois. 
He  married  Miss  lone  Mumma,  of  Lovington, 
and  has  two  children,  Thomas  and  Robert. 
Willard  Glenn  Cochran,  the  youngest  of  the 
family,  was  born  May  26,  1900,  is  a  high 
school  graduate  and  is  manager  of  a  depart- 
ment store  at  Williamsport,  Pennsylvania.  He 
married  Miss  Kathryn  Mills,  of  Kokomo,  Indi- 
ana, and  has  a  daughter,  named  Jo  Ann. 

Thomas  Bragg,  LaSalle  County  farmer, 
whose  home  is  two  miles  northwest  of  the 
courthouse  at  Ottawa  in  Wallace  Township, 
has  lived  all  his  life  in  that  county. 

He  was  born  in  section  36  of  the  same 
township  on  December  20,  1871,  son  of  Thomas 
and  Betsy  (Delbridge)  Bragg,  and  grandson 
of  William  Bragg.  William  Bragg  was  a 
blacksmith  in  Devonshire,  England,  where  he 
lived  out  his   life.     Thomas   Bragg,   Sr.,  was 


born  November  13,  1836,  in  Devonshire,  was 
educated  there,  and  after  the  death  of  his 
parents  came  to  America  in  1857.  After  a 
short  stay  with  an  older  brother,  John,  at 
Batavia,  New  York,  he  came  west  and  found 
employment  in  LaSalle  County.  He  continued 
to  work  until  he  had  accumulated  enough 
to  make  a  payment  on  an  eighty  acre  tract 
of  land.  He  also  farmed  as  a  renter,  renting 
land  from  a  brother  who  lived  in  the  county. 
Thomas  Bragg,  Sr.,  married  Betsy  Delbridge 
in  1860.  They  had  five  children:  Mrs.  Julia 
Morrell,  deceased;  Silas  W.,  who  married 
Katie  Kummer;  Mary  E.,  deceased;  Thomas; 
and  Bessie,  who  became  the  wife  of  Otto  B. 
Schmidt  and  is  now  Mrs.  Bessie  Bragg  Pier- 
son,   of   Chicago. 

Mr.  Thomas  Bragg  was  educated  in  country 
schools,  had  some  high  school  work,  and  from 
earliest  youth  was  trained  to  the  work  of 
a  farm.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  began 
farming  as  a  renter,  getting  land  from  his 
father,  and  he  has  been  closely  identified  with 
the  farming  interests  of  the  county  ever  since. 
He  has  been  for  several  years  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  Farm  Bureau  and  is  a  director  of 
the  Wallace  Grain  Elevator,  and  wsa  also 
director  of  one  of  the  banks  in  his  community 
He  is  a  Republican  in  politics. 

Mr.  Bragg  married,  March  14,  1901,  Miss 
Mae  Townsend,  daughter  of  James  A.  Town- 
send,  of  Ottawa,  Illinois,  and  they  have  a 
family  of  four  children,  Marguerite,  Helen, 
Lyle  and  Lucille.  Marguerite  and  Helen  fin- 
ished their  education  in  the  Bradley  PolyJ 
technic  Institute  at  Peoria  and  both  were 
teachers.  Helen  married,  June  20,  1931,  Johni 
R.  Hinch,  a  large  operator  in  the  poultry 
raising  business  at  Marseilles,  Illinois.  Lylcj 
is  associated  with  his  father  on  the  farm. 

Mrs.   Bragg  is   descended  from   one   of  the   j 
old   Colonial  families   of   Massachusetts.     Her   J 
first   American   ancestor   was    Thomas    Town-   [ 
send,  who  was  born  in  Norfolk  County,  Eng-   j 
land,  January  8,  1594,  and  died  December  22,   j 
1677.     His  mother  was  Mary  Forthe.     Thomas   I 
Townsend  with  three  brothers  came  from  Dev-   | 
onshire,  England,  and  settled  at  Lynn  in  the   j 
Massachusetts    Bay    Colony    in    1636-37.      He  | 
married   Mary  Newgate,  of  Boston,  who  died   i 
February  28,  1692  or  1693.     Their  son,  John    | 
Townsend,  born   in   1640,   and   died   December   j 
14,  1727,  married,  April  23,   1690,   Mahittable  | 
Brown,  who   died   in   July,    1735.      Their   son,  j 
Daniel  Townsend,  born  April  1,  1700,  and  died  i 
October   10,   1761,   married,    October   18,   1726,  |, 
Lydia  Sawyer,  who  died  April  30,  1749.     The  I 
fourth    generation    of    the    Townsend    family 
was   represented   by   Thomas    Townsend,   born- 
August  23,  1736,  and  died  July  27,  1814.     He 
served  in  the  Revolutionary  war  as  a  sergeant, 
and  later  became  first  lieutenant  in   Captain 
Perkins    Company,    Colonel    Pickering's    Regi- 
ment.     His    brother,    Daniel    Townsend,    was 
killed  in  the  battle  of  Lexington,  while  serving 


^ 


vT& 


ILLINOIS 


141 


as  a  minute  man.  Thomas  Townsend  married, 
November  19,  1762,  Susanna  Green,  who  died 
February  19,  1813.  Some  years  after  the 
close  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  in  1785, 
Thomas  Townsend  moved  from  Lynn,  Massa- 
chusetts, to  Reading,  Vermont. 

His  son,  Aaron  Townsend,  born  May  16 
1773,  died  April  17,  1846.  He  married,  March 
5,  1797,  Lydia  Swain.  Their  son,  Almon  Town- 
send,  born  July  26,  1803,  and  died  April  6, 
1855,  married  Elvira  Butler,  who  was  born 
October  8,  1811,  and  died  February  15,  1880. 
Almon  and  Elvira  (Butler)  Townsend  had 
six  sons  and  one  daughter:  Charles  G.,  Rut- 
land, Vermont;  James  A.,  Ottawa,  Illinois; 
John  W.,  Bridgewater,  Vermont;  Henry  H., 
Ottawa,  Illinois;  Eugene,  Bridgewater,  Ver- 
mont; George  W.,  Ottawa,  Illinois;  Carrie 
May  Townsend,  Bridgewater,  Vermont.  Three 
of  the  sons  came  west  in  1865  and  settled  in 
LaSalle  County  and  lived  there  until  their 
death.  These  were  James  A.,  Henry  H.  and 
;  George   W.,   all   of   whom   lived   near   Ottawa, 

Illinois. 
|  James  A.  Townsend,  son  of  Almon  and 
'  Elvira  (Butler)  Townsend,  representing  the 
seventh  generation,  was  the  founder  of  the 
family  m  LaSalle  County.  He  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 8,  1838,  and  died  April  27,  1916.  He 
came  west  from  Reading,  Vermont,  in  1865, 
first  locating  at  Plainfield,  Illinois,  then  spent 
the  following  year  at  Grinnell,  Iowa,  and 
after  selling  his  stock  rode  horseback  to 
Ottawa,  Illinois,  where  he  located  and  lived 
out  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  married,  March 
:  10,  1870,  Mary  A.  Cowdrey,  of  Bridgewater, 
Vermont.  She  was  born  December  7,  1846' 
and  died  January  3,  1878,  the  mother  of  two 
daughters,  Mrs.  Thomas  Bragg  and  Miss  Myra 
L.  Townsend.  James  A.  Townsend  married 
lor  his  second  wife  Susan  A.  Kain,  who  was 
born  August  28,  1842,  and  died  May  9,  1923. 
Tney  had  two  sons:  Charles  A.,  who  married 
Edith  Gebhardt,  of  Ottawa,  Illinois,  and  G. 
Wallace,  who  died  December  31,   1902. 

William  V.  Lehr,  supervisor  of  Farm  Ridge 
Township,  LaSalle  County,  has  been  four  times 
elected  to  that  office,  which  is  in  itself  evidence 
o±  the  general  esteem  and  marked  leadership 
he  has  exercised  in  that  community. 

Mr.  Lehr  belongs  to  LaSalle  County  as  a 
native  son.  He  was  born  in  Grand  Rapids 
lownship,  March  7,  1878,  son  of  Godfrey  and 
Anna  (Eric)  Lehr,  and  grandson  of  Valentine 
and  Anna  Lehr.  Valentine  Lehr  was  a  native 
ot  Germany,  with  the  German  army,  and 
iought  m  some  of  that  country's  wars.  After- 
wards he  came  to  America,  a  stranger  in 
a  strange  land  and  without  money.  He  worked 
m  the  town  at  Ottawa  and  on  farms,  later 
wok  up  farming,  becoming  one  of  the  earlier 
settlers  of  the  county,  and  out  of  his  great 
industry  and  good  management  accumulated 
a  large  estate  of  some  of  the  best  farm  lands 


m  LaSalle  County.  All  his  generous  fortune 
represented  his  capacity  for  hard  work  He 
was  active  in  the  Lutheran  Church.  Godfrev 
Lehr  was  also  a  native  of  Grand  Rapids  Town- 
ship, was  educated  in  the  public  schools  there 
and  became  one  of  the  well-to-do  farmers 
of  the  county.  He  served  as  clerk  of  his 
township  and  he  and  his  wife  were  active 
members   of  the   Presbyterian   Church.      Thev 

Thpir  /led  l^hQ  Grand  Rid^e  Cemetery. 
Iheir   four    children    were:    Carrie,    deceased 

Two  TuthG  W£e„0f  Frank  Shearer  and  eft 
two    children,    Nellie    and    Gertrude.      Anne 

deceased,  was  the  wife  of  John  McCombs  and 
also  had  two  children,  Gerald  and  Vera:  Wil- 
liam V.  is  the  third  in  age;  Frank  married 
and  A?icTS  tW°  children'   Catherine 

William  V  Lehr  attended  country  schools 
and  had  a  business  college  course.  From 
boyhood  he  has  known  farming  as  his  practical 
vocation  and  during  five  years  of  his  early 
manhood  worked  for  monthly  wages  on  a  farm. 
b  or  two  years  he  was  in  the  railroad  service 
at  Aurora  and  then  returned  to  LaSalle  County 

tLengMge  *\  faJming  as  h^  permanent  voca- 
tion.   Mr.  Lehr  farms  320  acres  of  Farm  Ridge 
Township  and  has  one  of  the  most  attractive 
country  homes  m  that  locality,  on  Route  23 
about  six  and  a  half  miles  north  of  Streator! 

Mr.  Lehr  married  Violet  Bute,  daughter  of 
Jackson  and  Sarah  J.  (Lewis)  Bute.  Her 
father  came  from  Pennsylvania  to  LaSalle 
County  Mrs.  Lehr  has  a  brother,  Ellie,  who 
married  Minnie  Sesler,  and  a  sister,  Lou! 
who  is  the  wife  of  Frank  Hook.  The  three 
children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lehr  are:  Keith 
who  married  Marie  Black  and  has  a  daughter! 
Marjorie;  Doris,  the  wife  of  Lester  Bacon 
who  is  m  the  postal  service;  and  Miss  Loraine, 
at  home  All  the  children  accepted  the  advan- 
tages of  the  common  and  high  schools  in 
their  community,  including  the  township  high 
school  at  Ottawa.  Keith  was  born  while  his 
parents  lived  at  Aurora.  He  is  now  a  farmer 
in  Deer  Park  Township. 

Mr.  William  V.  Lehr  is  affiliated  with  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Hon  J.  Leroy  Adair,  member  of  the  Illinois 
State  Senate  from  the  Thirty-sixth  District 
is  former  state's  attorney  of  Adams  County 
and  is  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  bar  and 
pontics  at  Quincy. 

Senator  Adair  was  born  at  Clayton,  Illinois, 
February  23  1888,  and  is  a  son  of  the  late 
Henry  L  Adair,  member  of  a  pioneer  Adams 
County  family.  The  grandfather,  Willis  M 
Adair,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  settled  in  Adams 
County  when  a  young  man,  acquiring  400  acres 
m  Honey  Creek  Township.  He  is  credited 
r  5  0hi?vl5?  brouSht  th*  first  herd  of  pure 
bred  Shorthorn  cattle  to  Adams  County  Willis 
Adair  was  a  leader  in  the  Democratic  party 


142 


ILLINOIS 


in  the  county   and   for  many   years ;   held   the 
office  of  assessor.     He  died  April  6,  1866.     His 
second  wife,  Margaret  J.  Hester    was  born  in 
Tennessee    in  1829,  and  died  m  January,  191/. 
The    late    Henry    L.    Adair    was    born    m 
Honey    Creek    Township    in    Adams    County, 
December    14,    1855,    and    died    after    a    long 
andTseful  life  August  15,  1928.    As  a  farmer 
he  became  widely  known  as  a  specialist  in  hog 
breeding.      He    developed    one    of    the    finest 
strains  of  the  Poland  China  stock,  and  many 
of   his    animals   were   shown    and   were    prize 
winners   at   the    State    Fairs   and   his   annual 
sales  were  attended  by  buyers  from  all  oyer 
the  Middle  West.     His  home  was  in  Clayton 
Township    from    1890    and    he   was    township 
supervisor    from    1906    to    1912     and    part    of 
the  time  was  chairman  of  the  board    and  also 
chairman  of  the  Board  of  Review     Both  as  an 
official  and  as  a  private  citizen  he  did  much 
to  promote  substantial  road  and  bridge  build- 
ing in  his  township   and  county.     He  was   a 
mfmber    of    the    County    Central    Democratic 
Committee,  was  a  Mason  and  his  wife  was  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Henry  L.  Adair  married  Emma  Pevehouse, 
daughter  of  J.  J.  and  Susan  Pevehouse,  of 
Brown  County,  Illinois,  where  she  was  born 

J.   Leroy  Adair  grew  up  on  the  farm  and 
in  the  village  of  Clayton,  and  graduated  from 
the  Clayton  High  School  in  1904,     From  early 
experience  he  knows  the  life  of  a  farmer  and 
stock  raiser.     For   two  years   he   taught   the 
school   which   he   attended    as    a   boy.      Irorn 
1906  to  1908  he  was  in  the  grocery  business 
at    Clayton,    giving    up    this    to    continue    his 
advanced    education.      For   two   terms   he    at- 
tended   Illinois    College    at    Jacksonville    and 
while   there   was    a    member    of   the    debating 
Team   and   played   baseball.     In   1910    Senator 
Adair  entered  the  law  department  of  the  Uni- 
versity  of   Michigan.     He   was   a   member   ot 
The  debating  team  in  1910  and  1911,  and  also 
joined  the  athletic  squads,  but  did  not  make 
the   team.      After   taking   his    law   degree    in 
1911   Mr.  Adair  practiced  for  three  years  at 
Muskogee,    Oklahoma.      On   returning   to    Illi- 
nois in  1914  he  located  at  Quincy  and  in  the 
same  year  was  elected  city  attorney    serving 
two  years.     Mr.  Adair  was  elected  state  s  at- 
torney of  Adams  County  in  1916,  serving  four 
years.      He    was    state's    attorney    during    the 
World  war  period.     He  was  defeated  for  re- 
election in  the   Republican  landslide   of   1920. 
This    gave   him    opportunity    to    build    up    his 
private  practice  as  a  lawyer,  but  in  1924  he 
was  again  elected  state's  attorney,  serving  the 
four  year  term,  until  1928.     In  tha ,  year he 
was    elected    on    the    Democratic    ticket    as    a 
member  of  the  State  Senate  from  the  Thirty- 
sixth  District,  his  term  ending  in  1933. 

Senator  Adair  is  a  member  of  the  Quincy 
law  firm  of  Penick,  Adair  &  Pemck  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Adams  County  and  the  Illi- 
nois Bar  Associations,  a  thirty-second  degree 


Scottish  Rite  Mason,  a  member  of  the  B.  P.  O.I 
Elks,  the  Eagles,  the  Moose,  and  is  a  past 
president  of  the  Lions  Club  and  president  of 
the  Quincy  Country  Club.  He  is  a  director  of 
the  Quincy  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Congregational  Church.  Mr.  Adair 
is  one  of  the  local  citizens  who  have  promoted 
the  building  of  the  Lincoln-Douglas  Hotel. 
He  owns  some  valuable  farming  interests  in 

thHe°married,    April    15,    1912,    Miss    Maude 
Gruber,  who  was  also  born  at  Clayton. 


Joseph  Milton  Funk  represents  one  of  the 
old  and  substantial  families  of  La  Salle  County. 
His  home  is  at  Kernan,  where  he  still  owns 
the  grain  elevator.  He  is  a  retired  farmer  and 
grain  buyer. 

Mr  Funk  was  born  at  the  old  Funk  farm, 
June  30,  1858,  son  of  Henry  and  Malissa 
(Kleiber)  Funk,  and  grandson  of  Christian 
Funk  Christian  Funk  was  the  pioneer  oi 
the  family  in  Illinois.  He  learned  the  trade 
of  blacksmith  in  his  native  State  of  Virginia 
and  then  moved  to  Ohio,  locating  near  Lan- 
caster in  Fairfield  County.  In  1846  he  came 
to  LaSalle  County  and  in  1848  settled  his 
family  permanently  in  this  county,  where  he 
acquired  approximately  1,000  acres  of  land, 
all  of  which  he  eventually  divided  among  his 
children.  Christian  Funk  was  a  son  of  Henry 
Funk,  a  Virginian,  who  fought  as  a  soldier 
for  the  American  cause  in  the  Revolutionary 

Henry  Funk  was  born  near  Fairfield,  Vir- 
ginia, went  to  Ohio  with  his  parents  and  came 
with  them  to  LaSalle  County.  He  finished 
his  education  in  Illinois  and  after  leaving 
school  assisted  his  father  on  the  farm.  As 
a  farmer  for  himself  he  had  a  quarter  section 
of  land  and  at  all  times  was  a  leader  in  his 
community.  During  the  Civil  war  he  was 
rejected  for  military  service..  He  voted  a 
a  Democrat  and  was  an  active  member  oi 
the  United  Brethren  Church.  He  was  buriec 
in  the  cemetery  for  which  he  donated  the 
land.  He  and  his  wife  had  six  children  anc 
the  only  one  to  reach  mature  years  was  Josepi 

Jo°seph  M.  Funk  began  attending  schoo 
when  he  was  five  years  old.  All  during  hi 
school  years  he  had  chores  to  do  at  home  an< 
he  was  still  quite  young  when  he  took  ove 
the  practical  management  of  the  home  fa™ 
He  still  owns  a  farm  in  LaSalle  County  an 
operated  it  in  conjunction  with  his  gram  bus 
ness.  In  addition  to  this  he  owns  the  elevato 
and  two  houses  and  five  lots  in  Kernan  an. 
another  farm  of  160  acres.  .  Mr.  Funk  becam 
postmaster  of  Kernan  during  the  Clevelan 
administration,  being  appointed  to  that  omc 
in  1886  and  has  held  the  office  ever  since. 
1  He  married,  December  30  1889  Miss  Inc 
Mason,  born  April  21,  1868  daughter  of  Isa, 
and   Miranda    (Pickens)    Mason.     Her   peop] 


ILLINOIS 


143 


vere  from  Massachusetts  and  her  father  while 
n  the  sea  coast  was  a  fisherman  and  went  on 
everal  whaling  voyages.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Funk 
lad  four  children:  Irene,  born  May  4,  1891, 
narried  Julian  Royce  and  they  had  a  daugh- 
er,  Ruth,  born  November  9,  1916.  Mr.  Royce 
lied  in  1919,  and  Mrs.  Royce  married,  in 
August,  1930,  L.  S.  Phipps,  a  realtor  of 
Charleston,  Illinois.  Clement,  born  October 
6,  1893,  died  in  July,  1915.  The  next  child 
[ied  in  infancy.  Irvin,  born  June  1,  1899, 
narried  Alice  Sprague  and  has  two  children, 
ieorge  M.,  born  September  2,  1923,  and  Donald 
rvin,  born  January  22,  1929.  Mr.  Funk  is 
,  member  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World  and 
e  and  his  family  are  affiliated  with  the  Pres- 
yterian   Church. 

Lester  L.  Hart  is  one  of  Morgan  County's 
nterprising  and  successful  farmers,  his  home 
eing  in  the  locality  near  Sinclair. 

He  was  born  in  that  vicinity,  August  12, 
885,  son  of  Francis  and  Ketura  (Fox)  Hart, 
nd  a  grandson  of  David  and  Ann  Hart.  His 
ather  and  his  grandparents  were  born  in 
rorkshire,  England.  They  came  to  America 
n  a  sailing  vessel  in  the  early  days.  David 
lart  was  one  of  the  early  circuit  riding  Meth- 
dist  preachers  in  Central  Illinois,  a  contem- 
orary  of  Peter  Cartright.  In  later  years 
e  moved  to  Nebraska  and  became  a  chaplain 
i  the  Legislature.  Francis  Hart  was  reared 
nd    educated    in    Morgan    County,    and    was 

farmer,  merchant  and  grain  dealer.  He 
loved  to  Jacksonville  in  1909,  retired  from 
ctive  business  and  passed  away  there  in  1913. 
lis  wife,  Ketura  Fox,  was  a  native  of  Morgan 
Jounty.  Her  parents  came  from  Virginia  in 
he  pioneer  times  and  settled  in  Morgan 
Jounty.  She  died  in  1888  and  is  buried  with 
ier  husband  in  the  Hebron  Cemetery  at  Sin- 
lair.  Lester  L.  Hart  is  the  youngest  of  three 
hildren.  His  brother,  Eugene  E.,  is  a  stock 
armer  in  Morgan  County  and  his  sister,  Lou- 
se, is  the  wife  of  E.  T.  Harrison,  a  farmer 
f  Morgan  County. 

Lester  L.  Hart  was  educated  in  the  Hebron 
chool,  and  since  early  boyhood  his  experience 
las  been  that  of  a  practical  farmer.  When 
le  was  twenty-three  years  of  age  he  began 
enting  land,  and  out  of  his  own  efforts  has 
tccumulated  a  substantial  property  of  200 
icres,  devoted  to  grain  farming  and  located 
i  mile  southwest  of  Sinclair.  Mr.  Hart  is 
i  trustee  of  the  Hebron  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  and  is  a  Republican  in  politics. 
^  He  married  on  February  24,  1909,  Miss 
3ora  M.  Harrison,  a  native  of  Morgan  County 
ind  a  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Ann  (Hart) 
Harrison.  Her  father  is  a  retired  farmer 
of  the  Sinclair  district  of  Morgan  County 
and  resides  with  his  wife  in  Jacksonville. 
They  have  four  children:  Harrison,  born  Feb- 


ruary 13,  1910;  Alice  L.,  born  March  1,  1911; 
Lester,  Jr.,  born  July  29,  1917;  and  Thomas 
L.,  born  March  31,  1920.  Harrison  and  Alice 
graduated  from  the  Jacksonville  High  School, 
and  Harrison  also  completed  a  course  in  the 
Brown's  Business  College  at  Jacksonville.  Alice 
L.  is  in  training  as  a  nurse  in  the  City  Hos- 
pital at  St.  Louis. 

Walker  Lee  Hylton.  Among  the  con- 
scientious and  capable  officials  of  Randolph 
County,  one  who  has  the  respect  and  full  con- 
fidence of  his  fellow-citizens  is  Walker  Lee 
Hylton,  of  Chester,  who  is  serving  his  second 
term  in  the  capacity  of  county  clerk,  a  posi- 
tion which  he  has  held  since  1926.  Prior  to 
this  he  had  acted  in  numerous  other  official 
capacities  both  in  times  of  war  and  peace  and 
his  official  record  is  one  without  blemish.  Dur- 
ing his  career  he  has  followed  school  teaching 
and  several  other  lines  of  occupation,  but  was 
best  known  in  the  business  world  as  a  success- 
ful merchant. 

Mr.  Hylton  was  born  February  6,  1867,  at 
Kaskaskia,  Randolph  County,  Illinois,  and  is 
a  son  of  Maston  Bottom  and  Nancy  Elizabeth 
(Lindsey)  Hylton.  Maston  B.  Hylton  was 
born  in  Floyd  County,  Virginia,  where  he  was 
reared  on  a  farm  and  received  a  country 
school  education.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war 
between  the  states  he  espoused  the  cause  of 
the  Confederacy  and  enlisted  under  the  colors 
of  the  "Bonnie  Blue  Flag,"  serving  gallantly 
for  four  years  with  a  Virginia  volunteer  in- 
fantry regiment.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he 
found  conditions  in  his  native  state  intoler- 
able during  the  period  of  Reconstruction,  and, 
like  many  other  Southerners,  sought  a  new 
field  of  endeavor.  Coming  to  Illinois,  he  took 
up  his  residence  near  Kaskaskia,  in  Randolph 
County,  where  through  energy  and  well-ap- 
plied labor  he  developed  a  farm  and  became 
one  of  the  substantial  citizens  of  his  com- 
munity. He  took  an  active  part  in  township 
affairs,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1919, 
was  one  of  his  community's  most  highly-re- 
spected citizens.  Mr.  Hylton  married  Miss 
Nancy  Elizabeth  Lindsey,  of  Wythe  County, 
Virginia,  who  survived  him  until  1929,  and 
they  became  the  parents  of  five  children.  The 
two  living  are  Mrs.  Anise  Grogg,  of  St. 
Mary's,  Missouri;  and  Walker  Lee,  of  this 
review. 

Walker  L.  Hylton  attended  the  rural  schools 
of  Randolph  County  and  the  high  school  at 
Chester,  following  which  he  pursued  a  short 
course  at  Dixon,  Illinois.  During  vacation 
periods  he  worked  on  his  father's  farm,  but 
about  1889  began  teaching  school  in  the  rural 
districts  of  Randolph  County,  and  was  thus 
engaged  until  1899.  During  the  summer 
months  he  worked  on  farms  and  also  acted  as 
a  clerk  in  the  store  of  J.  Beare  &  Brother, 
and  eventually  became  a  partner  in  the  firm 


144 


ILLINOIS 


of  J     Beare  &  Brother,   at  Modoc,  being   as- 
sociated   with    the    Beares    in    all    for    about 
twenty-two  years.     Moving:  to  Chester,  he  was 
appointed  deputy  sheriff  of  Randolph  County, 
but  at  the  end  of  about  nine  months,  in  1914, 
resigned  to  enter  the   mercantile  business  on 
his  own   account.      With  the   entrance   of  the 
United    States   into   the   World   war,   in   1917, 
Mr.  Hylton  was  appointed,  July  8,  1917,  chair- 
man and  chief  clerk  of  the  local  draft  board 
by  President  Wilson.    He  worked  energetically 
and  intelligently  in  that  capacity  until  receiv- 
ing his   honorable   discharge   March   19,   1919. 
In   1921   he   resigned   as   manager   of   the   re- 
tail department  of  H.  C.  Coles  to  become  post- 
master of  Chester  and  served  two  years  and 
two  months  as  such,  giving  his  fellow-citizens 
excellent  service,  and  in  1923  was  again   ap- 
pointed deputy  sheriff  and  served  until  1926. 
In  1926  he  was  elected  county  clerk  of  Ran- 
dolph County,  assuming  the  duties  of  that  of- 
fice in  1926,  and  still  is  the  incumbent,  being 
reelected  in  1930.     Mr.   Hylton's  public  serv- 
ice also  includes  membership  in  the  city  coun- 
cil of   Chester   and   eight  years   as  justice   of 
the  peace  in  the  Ellis   Grove  Precinct.     Fra- 
ternally he  is  affiliated  with  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Modern  Wood- 
men of  America.     A  Baptist  in  his  religious 
views,    he    is    superintendent    of    the    Sunday 
school  at  Ellis  Grove,  a  position  which  he  has 
held  for  thirteen  years. 

On  August  6,  1890,  Mr.  Hylton  was  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Eliza  Laura  Roberts, 
of  Ellis  Grove,  Illinois,  and  to  this  union  there 
were  born  ten  children,  of  whom  six  survive: 
Pearl,  Homer  L.,  Irma,  Ruby,  Percy  H.  and 
Ina  May.     Mrs.  Hylton  died  October  6,  1929. 

Henry  M.  Merriam,  prominent  banker  and 
insurance  leader  at  Springfield,  is  of  pioneer 
Illinois  ancestry. 

He  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Tazewell  County 
in  1865,  son  of  Jonathan  and  Lucy    (White) 
Merriam.     Both  his  grandfathers  were  early 
Baptist  ministers.     His  grandfather  Jonathan 
Merriam    came    to    Springfield    in    1836,    was 
pastor   of   one   of  the   early   Baptist   churches 
in  the  capital  city  and  later  moved  to  Tazewell 
County    and    bought    a    farm.      This  .land    is 
still  owned  by  his  descendants.     The  maternal 
grandfather,  John  White,  was  also  a  minister 
of  the  Baptist  Church  and  well  known  m  edu- 
cational affairs  in  Illinois,  being  head  of  the 
Baptist  College  at  Greenville.     Mr.  Merriam  s 
father  was  born  in  Vermont  and  his  mother 
in  Illinois.     His  father  died  in  1919   and  his 
mother   in   1924.     His   father   was   a  farmer,, 
banker  and  for  ten  years  lived  at  Springfield, 
performing  his  duties  as  collector  of  internal 
revenue.     For  six  years  he  was  United  States 
pension   commissioner   and   for    several   terms 
was  a  member  of  the  Legislature.     He  and  his 
wife  were  active  Baptists.     He  served  as  lieu- 


tenant colonel  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Seven- 
teenth Illinois  Infantry  during  the  Civil  war. 

Henry  M.  Merriam  was  one  of  a  family 
of  seven  children,  six  of  whom  are  living. 
As  a  boy  on  the  farm  he  attended  country 
schools,  completed  a  high  school  course  ana 
finished  his  education  in  Shurtleff  College  at 
Upper  Alton.  On  leaving  the  farm  he  came 
to  Springfield,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one.  Soon 
afterward  he  became  a  clerk  in  the  Illinois 
National  Bank  and  has  been  with  that  insti- 
tution for  over  forty  years.  He  is  vice  presi- 
dent and  a  director. 

For  the  past  twenty-five  years  most  of  his 
time  has  been  given  to  the  Franklin  Life 
Insurance  Company  at  Springfield.  This  com- 
pany was  organized  in  1884.  He  has  been 
president  since  1923.  Mr.  Merriam  is  a  Baptist, 
a  member  of  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  the  Sangamo 
Club,  Country  Club  and  is  a  Republican.  He 
has  never  married. 

Capt.  James  Emmett  Wilson,  World  war 
veteran,  leading  Quincy  business  man,  is  the 
present  mayor  of  that  Illinois  city. 

Captain  Wilson  was  born  at  Quincy  Novem- 
ber 21,  1897,  and  is  of  Scotch  and  English 
ancestry.  His  grandfather  served  as  a  soldier 
in  the  Civil  war  with  the  Eighteenth  Missouri 
Cavalry.  His  father,  Charles  A.  Wilson,  was 
also  a  native  of  Quincy  and  for  many  years 
was  connected  with  the  Best  Plumbing  Com- 
pany of  that  city.  He  died  July  17,  1911. 
Charles  A.  Wilson  married  Miss  Mary  Gould, 
of  Liberty,  Illinois,  who  survives  him.  Of 
their  ten  children  eight  are  living:  Sister- 
Madonia,  of  St.  Louis,  of  the  order  of  Sisters 
of  St.  Mary;  William  F.,  of  Quincy;  Mrs. 
Marie  Childs,  of  Quincy;  John  A.,  of  Quincy; 
Mrs.  H.  N.  Stewart,  of  Quincy;  James  E.; 
Agnes  R.,  of  Quincy;  Edna,  of  Quincy. 

James  Emmett  Wilson  from  early  boyhood 
has  shown  an  ability  and  initiative  that  have 
been  largely  responsible  for  his  successful 
career.  He  was  graduated  from  the  Quincy 
High  School  in  1915.  He  worked  his  way 
through  school,  utilizing  his  spare  time  by 
serving  an  apprenticeship  in  the  Figgen  Drug 
Store  for  three  and  a  half  years.  He  re- 
mained with  that  firm  until  1916,  when  he 
became  a  clerk  in  the  Gunther  Hardware 
Company.  .  .  . 

In  the  meantime  he  had  joined  the  Illinois 
National  Guard  and  with  that  organization 
was  inducted  into  service  during  the  World 
war.  He  went  to  the  camp  at  Springfield  in 
August,  1917,  as  a  member  of  Company  E 
of  the  Tenth  Illinois  Infantry.  In  December, 
of  the  same  year  he  returned  to  Quincy,  and 
in  February,  1918,  received  an  honorable  dis- 
charge from  the  National  Guard.  At  that  time 
he  enlisted  and  was  sent  to  Jefferson  Bar- 
racks, Missouri,  and  on  February  26th  was 
transferred  to  the  ordnance  detachment  al 
the   Aberdeen   Proving  Grounds  in  Maryland 


ILLINOIS 


145 


Here  he  was  made  a  corporal  in  Company  E 
and  on  August  3rd  was  transferred  to  Camp 
Lee,  Virginia,  where  he  entered  the  Sixteenth 
Central  Officers  Training  School.  On  Novem- 
ber 30,  1918,  he  was  commissioned  a  second 
lieutenant  in  the  Infantry  Reserves. 

After  the  war  Captain  Wilson  returned  to 
Qumcy  and  became  buyer  and  department 
manager  in  the  Gunther  Hardware  Company. 
He  was  with  that  house  until  January  1,  1928. 
Since  then  he  has  been  active  in  promoting 
and  developing  several  lines  of  business.  He 
was  vice  president  and  treasurer  of  the  Menke 
Lummis  Advertising  Company  until  January, 
1929,  and  was  also  treasurer  of  the  McMean 
Printing  Company.  In  January,  1929,  he  or- 
ganized the  Multigraphing  Letter  &  Service 
Company,  which  he  still  operates.  He  was 
the  organizer  of  Consolidated  Manufacturers 
and  was  sales  manager  of  this  business. 

After  the  war  he  was  commissioned  in  the 
Officers  Reserve  Corps  and  in  1925  was  pro- 
moted to  first  lieutenant  in  the  Infantry  Re- 
serves, and  in  1928  was  commissioned  captain. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  regimental  staff  of  the 
Three  Hundred  and  Forty-third  Regiment  of 
Infantry.  Captain  Wilson  has  taken  a  prom- 
inent part  in  American  Legion  work  and  in 
1929  was  commander  of  Post  No.  37.  In  1928 
he  was  chef  de  gare  of  the  Forty  and  Eight 
Society  of  the  Quincy  Chapter,  and  in  1926 
was  president  of  the  Quincy  chapter  of  the 
Officers  Reserve  Association.  Most  of  his  time 
is  now  given  to  his  executive  duties  as  mayor 
of  the  City  of  Quincy.  In  1931  he  was  elected 
vice  president  of  the  Illinois  Municipal  League. 
He  is  a  member  of  St.  Peter's  Catholic  Church 
and  a  staunch  Republican, 
t  Captain  Wilson  married,  November  24,  1920 
Miss  Helen  Stewart,  of  Churchville,  Mary- 
land, where  she  was  born  June  4,  1899.  Their 
children  were:  James  E.,  Jr.,  born  March  17, 
1922;  Betty  Ann,  born  November  23,  1923 
and  died  June  11,  1927;  and  Robert  Lee,  born 
lJuly  19,  1925. 

John  W.  Virgin,  of  Cass  County,  spent 
about  fifty  years  of  his  active  life  in  the 
West  as  a  miner  in  Colorado  and  later  as  a 
stock  man  in  New  Mexico,  and  then  returned 
to  the  state  where  he  was  born  and  where  his 
people  have  been  prominent  farmers  and  stock 
men  since  pioneer  days.  Mr.  Virgin  still  owns 
two  of  the  finest  farms  in  Central  Illinois,  lo- 
cated in  Cass  County,  but  he  is  practically 
retired  from  business. 

The  Virgin  family  came  to  America  in  1722 
trom  Somerset,  England.  They  first  settled  in 
Virginia  and  about  1781  moved  to  Pennsyl- 
vania. Mr.  Virgin  is  a  descendant  of  Capt. 
ttezm  Virgin,  a  soldier  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution. His  great-grandfather  was  Eli  Virgin, 
°ne  of  the  three  sons  of  Captain  Virgin.  His 
grandfather,  John  H.  Virgin,  who  was  born 
]n   Pennsylvania,    moved    to    Ohio    and    from 


Mount  Vernon  in  that  state  came  to  Illinois 
m  1852  and  bought  land  for  seventeen  dollars 
an  acre  in  Menard  County.  That  land  has 
grown  many  times  in  value  during  the  past 
eighty  years. 

The  father  of  John  W.  Virgin  was  George 
Virgin  who  was  born  in  Fayette  County, 
Pennsylvania,  May  10,  1827,  and  died  Sep- 
tember 2,  1907.  He  grew  up  in  Ohio,  in 
Mount  Vernon,  and  early  became  interested  in 
the  stock  drover  business.  In  1849  he  and 
his  brother  Eli  came  to  Illinois  by  way  of  the 
Ohio,  Mississippi  and  Illinois  rivers  for  the 
purpose  of  buying  cattle.  George  Virgin  had 
$5,000  in  gold  with  him.  After  purchasing 
cattle  they  drove  them  back  to  market  in 
New  York  City,  spending  three  months  in 
•  iJc?'  Eh  Vir^in  was  accidentally  killed 
in  1858.  George  Virgin  subsequently  settled 
in  Menard  County,  Illinois,  in  1852.  At  the 
time  of  his  death  he  owned  800  acres  of  land 
in  Cass  County.  He  was  extensively  engaged 
in  the  cattle  business  and  farming.  The  last 
fifty  years  of  George  Virgin's  life  were  spent 
m  Cass  County.  About  1887  he  moved  to 
Virginia,  the  county  seat  of  Cass  County.  At 
the  time  of  his  death,  in  1907,  he  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Farmers  National  Bank  of  Vir- 
ginia and  had  held  that  position  for  twenty- 
seven  years. 

He  married  Miss  Eliza  Enslow,  of  Scioto 
County,  Ohio.  She  while  a  girl  visited  in 
Lincoln,  Illinois,  and  attended  a  private  school 
there  for  a  time,  and  while  there  she  met 
Mr.  George  Virgin.  She  died  in  1914,  at  the 
age  of  eighty.  Her  father  was  Rezin  Enslow, 
who  was  one  of  the  fifteen  children  of  David 
and  Rachael  (Virgin)  Enslow.  Thus  the  Ens- 
low and  Virgin  families  were  related  by  mar- 
riage two  generations  before  George  Virgin 
married  Eliza  Enslow.  The  children  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  George  Virgin  were:  John  W.;  Ida, 
wife  of  George  Aldrich,  of  Virginia,  Illinois; 
Eh,  who  lives  in  Junction  City,  Oregon; 
George,  in  Los  Angeles;  Frank,  a  farmer  near 
Virginia;  Oral,  who  died  in  1925;  and  Fred, 
an  undertaker  at  Virginia,  who  owns  the  old 
Virgin  homestead. 

Mr.  John  W.  Virgin  was  born  in  Menard 
County,  January  31,  1854.  His  birth  oc- 
curred on  the  homestead  where  his  father 
and  mother  had  first  started  housekeeping. 
They  had  bought  eighty  acres  of  land  at 
twenty  dollars  an  acre,  then  considered  a  high 
price,  but  the  same  land  during  the  past  decade 
was  worth  fully  $500.  In  1860,  when  John 
Virgin  was  six  years  of  age,  his  parents 
moved  to  Morgan  County,  near  the  Cass 
County  line.  While  they  were  living  there  he 
first  attended  a  country  school.  In  1863  his 
father  sold  his  farming  interest  in  Morgan 
County  and  in  order  to  get  more  land  bought 
three  farms  six  miles  southeast  of  Virginia 
in  Cass  County.  It  was  on  the  family  home 
farm    in    Cass    County   that   John    W.    Virgin 


146 


ILLINOIS 


grew  to  mature  years.     He  had  the  work  of 
the   farm   as   a   responsibility   from   an   early 
age,  and   attended  winter  and   summer  terms 
of  school  and  completed  his  education  in  the 
high  school  at  Virginia.     In  1872  he  went  to 
work  for  Petefish,   Skiles  &  Company,  a  pri- 
vate bank,  and  was  there  three  years,     fol- 
lowing this   he  was   assistant   cashier   of   the 
Farmers  National  Bank  of  Virginia  until  1879. 
Mr     Virgin    in    1879    went    west    and    spent 
several  years  in  the  mining  districts  of  Lead- 
ville,  Colorado,  and  was  there  until  188d.     in 
that  year  he  entered  the  ranching  and  cattle 
business   in  the    South   Central   part   of   New 
Mexico.    Since  he  had  children  who  were  grow- 
ing up  and  needed  school  advantages,  he  sold 
out    his    New    Mexico    interests    and    in    1898 
bought  farm  land  in  Cass  County,  Illinois.    He 
has  made  his  home  in  Virginia  since  1914.     lie 
has  an  aggregate  of  240  acres  of  rich  farming 
land,  one  farm  being  a  mile  west  of  Virginia 
and  the  other  eight  miles  southwest.     He  gives 
a  general  supervision  to  his  farms  from   his 
home  in  Virginia.    Mr.  Virgin  has  served  four 
terms   as   a  member   of   the   Board   of   Alder- 
men    He  is  a  Democrat  in  politics,  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  his  family  have 
been  Presbyterians  for  generations.     For  over 
ten  years  Mr.  Virgin  has  held  membership  in 
the  Illinois  State  Historical  Society. 

Mr     Virgin   married,    March    8,    1881,    Miss 
Lou  Margaret  Stribling.     They  were^  married 
on    a    farm    a    mile    west    of    Virginia.      Her 
grandfather,   Benjamin   Stribling,   was   identi- 
fied with  the  first  settlement  at  Virginia.     Her 
father,    I.    M.    Stribling,    was   born   in    Logan 
County,  Kentucky,  and  was  a  youth  when  the 
family  moved  to  Illinois.     The  mother  of  Mrs. 
Virgin  was  Margaret  Beggs,  daughter  of  Cap- 
tain Beggs,  of  Rockingham  County,  Virginia. 
Captain  Beggs  was  a  soldier  in  the  American 
Revolution  and  after  the  war  moved  to  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky,  in  1797,  and  then,  on  account 
of   his   opposition   to   slavery,   he   crossed   the 
river  in  1800  to  Indiana.     He  was  in  a  cavalry 
company    in   the   battle   of    Tippecanoe   under 
General  Harrison.     Later  he  came  to  Illinois 
and  settled  in  Morgan  County.     Mr    and  Mrs. 
Virgin  have  reared  a  family  of  children,  giv- 
ing them  thorough   educational   opportunities, 
and    the    oldest,    Miss    Dorothy,    attended    the 
Illinois  Woman's   College   at  Jacksonville  and 
is  now  engaged  in  hospital  and  medical  work 
in    New    York    City.      The    second    daughter, 
Norma,  graduated  from  the  Woman  s  College 
at  Jacksonville   and  received   an  artistic   edu- 
cation in  the  Chicago  Art  Institute  and  Artists 
League    of    New   York    City.      She   has   made 
much   success   as   an  illustrator  of  books   and 
magazines.     She  is  the  wife  of  Benjamin  Van 
Swearingen    and    resides    at    Santa    Fe,  _  New 
Mexico.       The     son,     Eli     Horace     Virgin,     a 
farmer  in  Cass  County,  served  in  France  dur- 
ing the  World  war  with  the  Twentieth  Engi- 
neers.    He  married  Rachael  Rexroat,  of  Vir- 


ginia, and  their  children  are  Robert  Horace, 
George  Eugene,  Alice  Lou  and  Dorothy.  Mr. 
Virgin's  youngest  child,  Miss  Emma  Louise, 
also  attended  the  Woman's  College  at  Jackson- 
ville, taught  school  for  several  years  and  lives 
at  home. 

Hon.    George    Manning    Reynolds,    until 
recently   one   of   the   valued   members    of   the 
Illinois  State  Senate,  is  president  of  the  Utica 
State  Bank.    He  is  a  native  of  LaSalle  County, 
and  his  people  were  the  second  family  of  white 
settlers  in  this  region  of  North  Central  Illinois. 
Mr    Reynolds  was  born  at  Utica,  June  11, 
1862.      His    father,    James    C.    Reynolds,    had 
the  distinction  of  being  the  first  white  male 
child    born    in    LaSalle    County.      His    birth 
occurred  near  the   City  of  LaSalle,  June  27, 
1832.     He  had  a  common  school  education  and 
devoted  his  active  life  to  farming  and   stock 
raising,  and  filled  all  the  local  offices  of  his 
township.      He   died   October   8,    1910,    at   the 
age  of  seventy-eight.     James  C.  Reynolds  mar- 
ried,   March    20,    1856,    Caroline    C.    Clayton, 
who    was   born    at    Wheeling,    West   Virginia, 
January  1,  1833.     Of  their  four  sons  two  are 
now  living  George  M.  and  Sam  W.,  the  latter 
living  near  Utica.     The  mother  of  these  chil- 
dren  passed   away   December   12,    1918.      The 
Reynolds    family    is    of    Scotch    and    English 
ancestry  and  settled   in   Illinois  in   1827,   and 
for   several  years  lived  on  the  frontier   edge 
of  the  white  settlement.  , 

George  Manning  Reynolds  was  educated  at 
Utica,  and  completed  his  education  in  188b 
at  the  Illinois  Wesleyan  University  at  Bloom- 
ington.  While  in  college  he  played  football 
and  was  a  member  of  the  Adelphian  Society. 
As  a  young  man  he  worked  on  his  fathers 
farm,  taught  a  rural  school  one  year  near 
Towanda,  and  in  1888  entered  upon  a  career 
of  business  activity  that  has  continued  now 
for  forty  years.  He  was  secretary  of  the 
Utica  Sewer  Pipe  Company  from  1888  to  I89d. 
For  several  years  following  he  was  in  business 
at  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  conducting  a  build- 
ing contracting  business  known  as  the  G.  M. 
Reynolds  Company.  On  returning  to  Laballe 
County  in  1898  he  bought  a  farm  and  lor 
the  next  twelve  years  gave  all  his  energy 
to  farming.  He  had  served  as  a  member 
of  the  Utica  City  Council  in  1888-89,  and 
while  living  on  the  farm  was  township  super- 
visor and  road  supervisor.  _ 

Mr.  Reynolds  in  1910  organized  the  Utica 
State  Bank  and  has  been  its  president  for- 
twenty  years.  During  the  World  war  he 
was  a  member  of  the  home  defense  committees. 
He  has  served  as  president  of  the  Utica  School 
Board  and  in  1918  was  elected  county  treas- 
urer, holding  that  office  four  years.  In  1926 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Illinois  State 
Senate,  in  which  he  continued  until  January 
1  1931  He  is  regarded  as  one  o±  the  out- 
standing leaders   in  the  Republican   party  in 


I 


ILLINOIS 


147 


his  section  of  the  state.  Mr.  Reynolds  is  a 
thirty-second  degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and 
is  an  honorary  member  of  Tripoli  Temple 
of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at  Milwaukee.  He  also 
belongs  to  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks  and  is  a  member 
of  the   Episcopal   Church. 

He  married,  May  29,  1888,  Miss  Althea 
Miller,  of  Bloomington,  Illinois.  Two  daugh- 
ters were  born  to  them,  Mrs.  Louise  Sims, 
of  Utica,  and  Miss  Helen,  who  passed  away 
October   23,   1926. 

C.  T.  Ohnemus.  Three  generations  of  the 
Ohnemus  family  have  had  their  place  as  busi- 
ness men  and  constructive  citizens  at  Quincy. 
Mr.  C.  T.  Ohnemus,  a  fireman  with  the  Chi- 
cago, Burlington  &  Quincy  Railroad,  has  served 
two  terms  on  the  Board  of  Aldermen  of  the 
city,  where  his  work  has  been  of  special  im- 
portance in  extending  the  opportunities  of 
recreation  and  wholesome  play  to  the  youth 
of  the  city. 

Mr.  Ohnemus  was  born  at  Quincy  May  29, 
1886.  His  grandfather,  George  P.  Ohnemus, 
was  born  in  Germany  and  like  many  other 
German  immigrants  came  to  America,  landing 
at  New  Orleans  and  thence  up  the  Mississippi 
River.  The  father  of  C.  T.  Ohnemus  was  also 
George  P.  Ohnemus,  who  was  born  in  Quincy, 
in  1856,  and  died  in  that  city  March  17,  1914. 
His  career  was  identified  with  transportation 
and  he  was  interested  in  some  of  the  river 
shipping  when  that  was  a  large  item  in  the 
commerce  of  the  Middle  West.  He  also  served 
on  party  committees  but  was  never  a  seeker 
for  public  office.  He  married  Frances  Marie 
Trapp,  who  was  born  in  Quincy.  Her  parents, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  August  Trapp,  were  natives  of 
Baden,  Germany.  She  is  still  living  at 
Quincy. 

C.  T.  Ohnemus  attended  the  parochial  schools 
of  St.  Boniface  parish  and  the  high  school 
department  of  Quincy  College.  After  finishing 
his  high  school  course  he  became  shipping 
clerk  in  the  plant  of  the  Electric  Wheel  Com- 
pany, and  was  with  that  local  industry  until 
1914.  He  has  been  in  the  service  of  the  Chi- 
cago, Burlington  &  Quincy  Railway  for  the 
past  seventeen  years. 

Mr.  Ohnemus  married,  June  3,  1908,  Miss 
Bertha  Blanche  Ralph,  of  Quincy,  a  daughter 
of  Roland  R.  Ralph  and  Louise  Jane  (Staf- 
ford)  Ralph,  both  natives  of  England. 

From  early  manhood  Mr.  Ohnemus  has  been 
a  staunch  Democrat  and  active  in  local  party 
circles.  He  has  taken  part  in  many  political 
campaigns,  but  was  never  a  candidate  for 
office  until  1929,  when  he  was  elected  an  alder- 
man in  April  and  was  reelected  to  the  board 
in  1931.  He  represents  the  First  Ward  in 
the  City  Council.  He  is  chairman  of  the  ordi- 
nance committee,  a  member  of  the  police  and 
firemen's  committee,  and  some  of  his  most 
important  work  has  been  accomplished  through 
his  membership  with  the  water  committee.    He 


was  instrumental  in  bringing  about  the  con- 
struction of  the  wading  pool  at  Reservoir 
Park,  at  a  cost  of  $6,000,  and  also  secured  the 
playground  equipment  in  that  park.  His  com- 
mittee also  improved  the  public  playground 
at  Seventh  and  Elm  streets.  Largely  through 
his  influence  a  new  water  softener  plant  has 
been  installed,  at  a  cost  of  several  thousand 
dollars.  In  his  official  capacity  Mr.  Ohnemus 
has  shown  himself  to  be  a  staunch  friend  of 
the  boys  and  girls  of  the  city,  and  his  policy 
is  that  by  supplying  adequate  recreation  fa- 
cilities and  opportunities  for  play  the  influ- 
ences leading  to  vandalism  and  crime  will  be 
largely  offset.  Mr.  Ohnemus  is  a  member  of 
the  Knights  of  Columbus  and  Fraternal  Order 
of  Eagles,  and  the  St.  Boniface  Catholic 
Church. 

August  Claire  Caylor.  Although  he  is 
still  one  of  the  younger  members  of  the  legal 
profession  of  Cumberland  County,  August  C. 
Caylor  during  the  comparatively  short  period 
of  his  connection  with  professional  activities 
has  made  such  rapid  strides  as  to  make  his 
future  success  seem  a  positive  certainty.  Not 
only  is  he  active  in  the  profession  of  law  at 
Greenup,  but  likewise  in  politics,  he  being 
one  of  the  leaders  in  the  young  Republican 
organization. 

Mr.  Caylor  was  born  March  27,  1908,  at 
Greenup,  and  is  a  son  of  Allen  A.  and  Clara 
(Scranton)  Caylor.  The  family  is  of  what 
is  known  as  Pennsylvania  Dutch  stock,  and 
the  paternal  grandfather  was  A.  A.  Caylor, 
who  was  born  in  Indiana  and  moved  to  Illinois 
in  1861.  He  was  a  cabinetmaker  by  trade, 
but  for  the  most  part  followed  farming  and 
became  the  owner  of  a  large  and  valuable 
property,  accumulated  by  his  own  industry 
and  good  management.  He  was  a  warm  per- 
sonal friend  of  Governor  Morton  of  Indiana. 

Allen  A.  Caylor  was  born  at  Cumberland, 
Indiana,  where  he  received  his  education,  and 
in  1861  accompanied  his  parents  to  Illinois, 
where  he  was  destined  to  pass  the  remainder 
of  his  life.  He  first  took  up  his  residence 
at  Toledo,  but  after  a  short  stay  moved  to 
Greenup,  where  he  lived  until  his  death,  Feb- 
ruary 28,  1930,  having  passed  his  life  as 
an  agriculturist.  He  was  a  man  of  high 
character  and  public  spirit  who  enjoyed  the 
confidence  of  his  fellow  citizens. 

After  attending  the  Greenup  schools  and 
the  high  school  of  the  State  Teachers  College 
of  Charleston,  August  C.  Caylor  spent  two 
years  in  pre-legal  work  at  the  University  of 
Illinois.  In  1929  he  graduated  from  the  law 
department  of  the  same  institution  and  at 
that  time  went  to  Chicago,  Illinois,  where 
he  secured  a  responsible  position  with  the 
National  Theatre  Supply  Company.  He  was 
admitted  to  practice  in  the  courts  of  Illinois 
March  28,  1930,  and  at  that  time  located 
at   Greenup,   where   he   has   since   built   up   a 


148 


ILLINOIS 


gratifying  and  paying  practice.  He  is  a  young 
lawyer  of  brilliant  attainments  and  the  future 
holds  much  for  him  if  the  past  may  be  taken 
as   a  criterion. 

Mr.  Caylor  is  a  member  of  the  Cumberland 
County  Bar  Association  and  the  Illinois  State 
Bar  Association,  the  Phi  Alpha  Delta  frater- 
nity, the  Masons  and  Knights  of  Pythias.  His 
religious  connection  is  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  A  Republican  in  his  politi- 
cal views,  he  is  one  of  the  leaders  in  the 
young  Republican  organization,  and  his  per- 
sonal popularity  should  assure  him  a  successful 
political  career. 

Fred  Hamann,  assistant  superintendent  of 
the  Little  Metal  Wheel  Company  at  Quincy, 
and  member  of  the  Board  of  County  Super- 
visors of  Adams  County,  is  at  once  an  expert 
in  the  iron  industry  and  one  of  the  accepted 
leaders  of  the  Democratic  party  in  his  home 
county. 

•Mr.  Hamann  is  a  son  of  Fred  Hamann  and 
grandson  of  Fred  Hamann.  His  grandfather 
was  born  in  Hesse-Darmstadt,  Germany,  and 
came  to  America  and  reached  Quincy  in  1827. 
After  a  short  time  he  returned  south  to  New 
Orleans  and  on  his  second  coming  to  Illinois 
located  in  Peoria  County.  Here  the  Hamann 
family  were  known  both  as  farmers  and  as 
butchers  and  meat  dealers.  Fred  Hamann  II 
was  born  in  Peoria  County,  July  4,  1849,  and 
devoted  his  active  lifetime  to  business.  He 
served  as  committeeman  in  the  Democratic 
party,  but  was  not  otherwise  an  office  holder. 
He  died  January  17,  1907.  His  wife  was 
born  at  Dayton,  Ohio,  November  16,  1850,  and 
died  July  17,  1927.  Both  are  buried  in  Quincy. 
In  the  family  were  four  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters: Julius,  of  Quincy;  Elmer,  who  died  in 
childhood;  Fred;  Ramona,  who  was  burned 
to  death;  Arnold  and  Florence,  both  of 
Quincy. 

Mr.  Fred  Hamann  attended  the  public 
schools  in  Quincy,  and  after  leaving  high 
school  attended  the  Union  Business  College. 
He  had  some  experience  in  office  work,  and 
then  became  associated  with  his  father  in  the 
butchering  business.  On  the  death  of  his 
father  he  took  up  blacksmithing,  and  served  an 
apprenticeship  that  brought  him  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  iron  working  and  manufacture. 
In  Quincy  he  is  probably  without  a  peer  in 
his  technical  knowledge  of  all  branches  of 
iron  manufacture.  Mr.  Hamann  spent  eight 
years  with  the  Koeing  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany at  Quincy,  but  since  1907  has  been  asso- 
ciated with  the  Little  Metal  Wheel  Company. 
He  is  assistant  superintendent  of  this  industry. 
Mr.  Hamann  married,  April  22,  1908,  Miss 
Edith  Ziener,  of  Quincy,  where  she  was  born 
and    educated,    daughter    of    Alois    and    Mary 

(Sullivan)     Ziener.      Their    oldest    child,    Ed- 
ward, born  March  1,  1909,  was  educated  in  the 

Quincy    High    School    and   studied   his   chosen 


profession  in  the  Missouri  Florists  School  at 
Sedalia  and  is  now  in  the  florist  business  in 
Quincy.  Robert,  the  second  child,  born  De- 
cember 20,  1910,  is  associated  with  his  ma- 
ternal grandfather,  Alois  Ziener,  who  owns 
one  of  the  largest  tinsmith  and  sheet  metal 
plants  in  Quincy.  The  third  child,  Marie,  was 
born  February  23,  1913,  and  Fred  J.  Hamann, 
Jr.,  was  born  June  20,  1919. 

Mr.  Hamann  began  taking  part  in  local 
politics  before  he  was  twenty-one.  He  served 
as  a  deputy  sheriff  of  Adams  County  for  six- 
teen years,  under  four  different  sheriffs  and 
under  different  political  administrations.  In 
1928  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Supervisors,  his  known  integrity  and  per-  ' 
sonal  popularity  getting  him  the  election  with- 
out having  to  spend  a  penny  in  advertising 
or  campaign  literature.  He  has  been  a  dele- 
gate to  county  and  state  conventions  in  the 
Democratic  party  many  times.  He  is  a  leader 
in  Union  Labor  circles  in  Quincy,  and  has 
exercised  a  powerful  influence  among  laboring 
men  in  elections.  Mr.  Hamann  is  a  member 
of  the  Lodge  of  Eagles  and  the  Loyal  Order 
of  Moose.  On  the  Board  of  Supervisors  he  is 
chairman  of  the  election  committee,  a  position 
in  which  he  controls  the  political  patronage  of 
the  board. 

Arthur  J.  Wylie  represents  one  of  the  old 
and  prominent  families  of  Waltham  Town- 
ship, LaSalle  County.  He  is  a  practical 
farmer,  well  known  in  the  live  stock  indus- 
try, and  has  continued  a  line  of  work  for 
which  both  his  father  and  grandfather  were 
noted  since  pioneer  times  in  this  section  of 
Illinois. 

Mr.  Wylie  was  born  May  3,  1891,  son  of 
Adam  and  Mary  E.  (Johnson)  Wylie,  and 
grandson  of  William  F.  and  Margaret  (Cur- 
rie)  Wylie.  William  F.  Wylie  brought  the 
family  to  Illinois  in  the  early  days  and  ac- 
quired a  tract  of  Government  land  in  LaSalle 
County  during  the  administration  of  President 
Andrew  Jackson.  Adam  Wylie  was  born  in 
Waltham  Township,  on  a  farm,  attended  coun- 
try schools  there  and  completed  a  course  in  a 
school  at  Davenport,  Iowa.  After  graduating 
he  returned  to  the  farm  and  engaged  in  farm- 
ing and  stock  raising.  He  owned  320  acres 
in  LaSalle  County,  now  operated  by  his  son 
Arthur,  and  had  another  large  farm  in  Ohio, 
now  operated  by  his  son  Elmer.  He  was 
active  in  community  affairs,  serving  as  school 
treasurer,  and  always  voted  the  Republican 
ticket.  He  was  actively  interested  in  banking 
both  at  Utica  and  LaSalle,  being  a  director 
in  both  banks  many  years  and  vice  president 
of  the  Utica  State  Bank  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  July  25,  1921.  He  raised  fine  stock, 
and  one  of  his  Clydesdale  horses,  Barney  W., 
won  championships  in  state  and  international 
affairs.  On  December  29,  1887,  Adam  Wylie 
and   Mary  Johnson  were  married.     Her  par- 


ILLINOIS 


149 


ents  were  Henry  and  Hannah  (Lewis)  John- 
son. The  Johnson  family  came  from  Connecti- 
cut and  Henry  Johnson  went  to  California  in 
1849.  Later  he  returned  to  Illinois  and  lived 
on  the  land  he  had  taken  up  from  the  Gov- 
ernment. The  Johnson  family  were  active  in 
the   Presbyterian   Church. 

Arthur  J.  Wylie  attended  District  School 
No.  184  and  the  LaSalle-Peru  High  School,  and 
then  continued  his  education  in  the  State  Uni- 
versity at  Urbana.  He  worked  on  the  farm 
while  m  school  and  since  the  death  of  his 
father  has  been  engaged  in  independent  farm- 
™gU'Rie  1S  one  of  the  leading  stock  feeders 
m  this  locality.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  and  one  of  its  elders,  is  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  Lodge  and  Eastern 
fetar.  In  1921  he  married  Miss  Irene  Thurman 
of  Kansas  City,  daughter  of  John  and  May 
(Jennings)    Thurman. 

Mr.  Wylie's  brother,  Elmer  Wylie,  married 
Gladys  Stockley,  of  Harding,  Illinois,  and  has 
three  children,  Mary  J.,  Betty  A.  and  Ethel. 

The  only  daughter  in  the  family  is  Roxy, 
wife  of  Ira  Hartshorn.  Their  three  children 
are  Anna,  Irene  and  Ruth.  Mr.  Hartshorn  is 
in  the  elevator  business  at  Utica  and  was 
overseas  in  France  during  the  World  war. 

The  farm  of  Mr.  Arthur  Wylie  contains 
320  acres  and  is  located  one  mile  west  of  the 
mam  road  and  five  miles  north  of  Utica. 

Charles  Edwin  Beggs  was  one  of  the  old 
and  honored  citizens  of  Cass  County,  a  farmer, 
land  owner  and  business  man,  and  his  name  is 
held  in  grateful  remembrance  not  only  by  his 
immediate  family  but  by  hundreds  of  people 
who  knew  and  respected  his  sterling  honor 
and  ability. 

He  was  born  in  Cass  County,  Illinois,  in 
January,  1851,  son  of  James  and  Mary  (Crow) 
Beggs.  The  Beggs  family  originated  in  Scot- 
land, and  came  to  America  by  the  way  of 
Ireland  The  first  American  of  the  name  was 
James  Beggs,  who  came  from  County  Antrim 
w  y  wx,th4  seYenteenth  century.  He  married 
Elizabeth  Hardy,  and  they  became  prominent 
citizens  of  Rockingham  County,  Virginia  A 
son  of  James  and  Elizabeth  Beggs  was  Capt. 
Thomas  Beggs,  who  served  as  a  captain  in 
the  Virginia  militia  during  the  Revolutionary 
war  and  from  this  ancestor  many  of  the  pres- 
ent line  of  descendants  are  eligible  to  member- 
ship m  the  Sons  and  Daughters  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution.  Charles  Beggs,  a  son  of  Capt. 
ihomas,  was  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  1812 
tfff^h-1S  5?7a™Se  to  Dorothy  Trumbo  he 
settled  m  Woodford  County,  Kentucky,  but 
alter  a  short  residence  there  moved  to  Indiana 
and  founded  the  Town  of  Charlestown.  His 
second  wife  was  Mary  Ruddell.  Charles  Beg^s 
was  the  grandfather  of  Charles  Edwin  Beggs 
James  Beggs  was  born  near  Charlestown! 
Indiana,   in    1818,    and   died   in    Cass    County 


Illinois,  in  1886.  He  came  to  Illinois  when 
quite  young  and  followed  farming  as  his 
occupation. 

Charles  Edwin  Beggs  was  educated  in  coun- 
try schools  and  from  early  youth  engaged  in 
farming  and  built  up  a  fine  home  and  estate 
in  Cass  County.  He  was  a  farmer  and  grain 
dealer  and  his  business  headquarters  for  manv 
years  were  at  Ashland  in  Cass  County.  He 
married  m  1879  Emma  Beggs,  daughter  of 
John  and  Sally  (Sinclair)  Beggs.  The  Sin- 
clair family  were  very  early  settlers  in  Mor- 
gan and  Cass  counties.  The  Town  of  Sinclair 
in  Morgan  County  was  named  for  Samuel 
Sinclair  of  Kentucky.  By  this  marriage  there 
were  a  large  family  of  children:  Miss  Nelle 
who  lives  at  the  old  home  in  Ashland:  George' 
who    married    May    Ingalls    and    has    a    son,' 

vlllg%?r';  var7>  deceased>'  Mary,  of  New 
York  City;  Frank,  at  home;  Edistina,  wife 
of  Henry  McKeown  and  mother  of  Jessie, 
Clinton  John,  Edistina,  Catherine  and  Sally 
John  V.,  who  married  Josephine  Parkhurst 
and  has  a  son,  John  Vincent,  Jr.;  Virginia 
wife  of  Albert  Willson  and  mother  of  Bar- 
bara, John  N.,  Donald  and  Frederick  E.;  Sallv 
deceased;  and  Lutie.  Charles  Edwin  Beg^s 
died  in  January,  1916.  Emma  Beggs,  his  first 
wife  and  the  mother  of  his  children,  died  in 
August  1901  After  the  death  of  'his  first 
wife  Charles  E.  Beggs  married  Jessie  Wilson, 
who  died  June  6,  1931,  after  having  been  a 
good  mother  to  all  the  children  of  her  husband. 
Ine  Beggs  family  were  Presbyterians  before 
coming  to  America  and  upon  their  settlement 
to  America  many  went  into  the  Methodist 
Church.  In  political  faith  they  have  been 
Republicans  as  a  rule. 

Hon.  Frank  A.  Jasper,  who  for  two  terms 
was   mayor   of   Quincy,   and   a  former  county 
treasurer  of  Adams  County,  has  exhibited  an 
extraordinary    zeal    and    capacity    for    public 
service       His    integrity    and    his    methods    or 
above-board    administration    of    public    affairs 
gained  him  the  unlimited  confidence  of  his  fel- 
low citizens,  and  this  confidence  he  still  retains 
10™nliTA-  Jasper  was  born  at  Quincy,  July  1, 
1890.      His    grandfather,    Henry    Jasper,    was 
also    born    m    Quincy    and    was    one    of    the 
prominent  men  in  the  politics  and  business  life 
of   the    city    in    the    early    days.      He    was    a 
member   of   a   company   organized    at    Quincv 
for    service    in    the    Union    army    during    the 
Civil    war.      Frank    Jasper's   father,    Bernard 
Jasper,   was   born   on   a   farm   near   Dubuque 
Iowa,    but    spent    most    of    his    active    life    in 
Quincy,   where  he   organized   and   operated   a 
transfer  business.     He  died  in  January    1905 
at  the  age  of  forty-nine.    Bernard  Jasper  mar- 
?«    i5£fS  A^elu/  Klostermann,  who  also  died 
m    1905.      Her   father,    August    Klostermann, 
came    from    Germany.      Bernard    Jasper    and 
wife  had  three  sons  and  three  daughters    all 
living  except  one  daughter.  ' 


150 


ILLINOIS 


Frank  A.  Jasper  grew  up  at  Quincy,  was 
educated  in  the  parochial  and  public  schools, 
and  after  high  school  spent  two  years  in  the 
Gem  City  Business  College.  With  this  prep- 
aration he  found  his  first  job  in  the  account- 
ing department  of  the  Otis  Elevator  Com- 
pany. After  a  year  he  was  made  assistant 
city  treasurer,  and  his  experience  in  that  office 
and  his  growing  popularity  as  a  citizen  led 
to  his  election  as  city  treasurer  for  the  term 
1915-17.  He  then  became  assistant  in  the 
county  treasurer's  office,  and  in  1918  was 
elected  county  treasurer  of  Adams  County. 
He  served  the  term  of  four  years,  and  being 
ineligible  by  law  for  reelection,  at  the  con- 
clusion of  his  term  he  again  became  assistant 
city  treasurer.  During  the  World  war  Mr. 
Jasper  served  as  a  member  of  the  Adams 
County  Exemption  Board  and  was  active  in 
other  war  activities.  In  1931  he  was  elected 
to  honorary  membership  in  the  United  Span- 
ish-American War  Veterans. 

Mr.  Jasper  was  first  elected  mayor  of 
Quincy  in  1925,  his  term  running  from  the 
first  of  May  of  that  year  until  May  1,  1927. 
He  was  defeated  as  a  candidate  for  reelection, 
and  during  the  following  two  years  was  an  in- 
come tax  expert  with  the  Illinois  state  gov- 
ernment. In  April,  1929,  he  was  again  elected 
mayor,  his  second  term  running  from  May, 
1929,  to  May,  1931.  Quincy  people  feel  that 
Mayor  Jasper's  administration  marked  the 
high  tide  of  constructive  improvements  and 
developments  within  the  power  of  the  public 
revenues.  During  his  administration  a  two 
million  dollar  improvement  program  was  car- 
ried to  conclusion.  During  that  time  thirty- 
eight  miles  or  half  of  the  seventy-five  miles 
of  streets  in  the  city  were  paved,  the  sewer 
system  was  developed  and  other  improvements 
made  that  will  remain  of  lasting  benefit.  He 
introduced  a  system  of  public  hearings,  by 
which  tax  payers  were  freely  admitted  to  all 
discussions  over  the  improvement  program  in- 
volving the  expenditure  of  public  funds.  The 
mayor's  office  was  open  at  all  times  to  citizens 
who  came  in  for  counsel  and  advice  regarding 
city  affairs.  Mr.  Jasper's  formal  policy  was 
"that  a  public  officer  should  consider  it  his 
paramount  duty  to  his  fellow  citizens  to  give 
prompt,  efficient,  honest  service,  a.nd  that  they 
should  know  where  every  dollar  expended 
goes." 

Since  retiring  from  office  Mr.  Jasper  has 
given  his  time  to  the  management  of  his 
property  interests  and  a  successful  insurance 
business  which  he  has  built  up.  He  is  a 
Democrat  in  politics  and  is  prominent  in  the 
state  affairs  of  his  party  and  an  active  worker. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  Fra- 
ternal Order  of  Eagles,  Loyal  Order  of  Moose, 
the  South  Side  Boat  Club,  the  Western  Cath- 
olic Union,  St.  Aloysius  Society,  St.  Boniface 
Catholic  Church. 


He  married  Miss  Frances  C.  Clarke,  daugh- 
ter of  Montgomery  Clarke,  of  Oakwood,  Mis- 
souri. She  was  educated  in  the  schools  of 
Oakwood  and  attended  college.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Jasper  reside  at  629  Broadway. 

Walter  W.  Williams,  mayor  of  Concord, 
Morgan  County,  represents  a  pioneer  family 
in  this  section  of  Illinois. 

One  of  his  ancestors  was  a  Revolutionary 
soldier  from  Vermont.  The  founders  of  the 
family  in  Illinois  were  his  grandparents,  Uel 
and  Emily  Williams,  who  came  from  Vermont 
with  wagons  and  teams  in  the  early  days. 
Charles  E.  Williams,  father  of  Walter  W., 
was  born  in  Vermont  and  came  to  Illinois  with 
his  parents.  He  became  a  prosperous  farmer 
and  as  a  young  man  rented  the  home  farm 
and  later  bought  out  the  interest  of  his  sister 
and  lived  there  until  his  death,  December  6, 
1925.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Christian 
Church.  He  married  Fannie  Holliday,  and 
both  of  them  are  buried  at  Chapin.  She  died 
February  10,  1920.  They  had  six  children: 
Cecil,  deceased;  Wilbur,  of  Markham,  who 
married  Lois  Paschall  and  has  two  children, 
named  Ruth  E.  and  Thomas;  Clyde  H.,  of 
Morgan  County,  who  married  Caroline  Wol- 
ford,  and  their  children  are  Margaret,  Lor- 
raine and  Charles;  Chester  L.,  of  Morgan 
County,  who  married  Estella  Christenson  and 
has  a  daughter,  Alma;  Bertha,  wife  of  A.  D. 
Peters;  and  Walter  W. 

Walter  W.  Williams  was  educated  in  the 
Hazel  Dell  School  and  the  high  school  at 
Chapin,  and  also  attended  the  Illinois  Normal 
University  at  Normal,  Illinois.  As  a  young 
man  he  taught  school  five  years.  Later  he 
attended  the  Brown's  Business  College  at  Peo- 
ria. His  last  teaching  work  was  done  at 
Concord  and  when  he  left  it  he  took  up  the 
mercantile  business  there  in  1926  under  the 
title  of  W.  W.  Williams.  He  has  become  a 
leading  business  man  of  the  community.  In 
order  to  devote  his  entitre  attention  to  his 
modern  filling  station  he  disposed  of  his  mer- 
cantile interest  in  1931.  All  his  prosperity 
has  been  the  direct  product  of  his  energies 
and  capabilities. 

Mr.  Williams  is  a  Democrat  and  has  been 
active  in  local  affairs  since  establishing  him- 
self in  business  at  Concord.  He  was  elected 
mayor  in  1931,  making  a  successful  campaign 
against  the  man  who  had  held  that  office  for 
the  previous  ten  years.  He  has  done  much 
to  influence  community  development  and  prog- 
ress, and  deserves  much  credit  for  bringing 
about  the  construction  of  the  north  and  south 
hard  road  through  the  town,  which  eventually 
will  be  extended  through  the  county  to  Beards- 
town. 

Mr.  Williams  married,  on  June  11,  1924, 
at  Chapin,  Miss  Verla  Baker,  daughter  of 
Charles    and    Susan     (Cox)     Baker.      Charles 


sriiaLi  s^&4%£+*#/4"=<^^' 


ILLINOIS 


151 


Baker  is  one  of  the  prominent  farmers  in  this 
community.  Susan  (Cox)  Baker  is  a  descend- 
ant from  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Morgan 
County,  who  came  from  England.  The  three 
children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Williams  are  Mary 
M.,  Marilyn  J.  and  Walter  W.,  Jr.  Mr. 
Williams  is  a  member  of  the  Modern  Wood- 
men of  America.  He  was  registered  during 
the  World  war  but  was  not  called  to  duty.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Community  Club  and  he 
and  his  wife  are  leaders  in  the  social  activities 
of  the  town. 

Mark  Lee  Cottingham.  Many  of  the  earli- 
est settlers  of  Tazewell  County  came  from 
the  State  of  Tennessee,  and  in  Tremont  Town- 
ship is  a  locality  known  as  Tennessee  Point, 
suggestive  of  the  state  from  which  came  some 
of  the  best  known  families  in  this  region, 
including  the  Cottinghams.  A  representative 
of  the  third  generation  of  this  family  is  Mark 
Lee  Cottingham,  who  has  lived  most  of  his 
life  in  Tremont  Township  and  who  has  played 
an  effective  and  varied  part  in  the  affairs  of 
his  community,  but  is  best  known  for  his  long 
and  able  management  and  editorial  control  of 
the  Tremont  News. 

The  Tremont  News  was  established  May 
12,  1893,  and  has  never  missed  an  issue  for 
thirty-seven  years.  It  is  a  home  newspaper, 
devoted  to  the  news  and  worthy  publicity 
of  everything  affecting  the  locality  and  shows 
complete  independence  in  the  matter  of  politics. 
It  is  not  only  a  good  newspaper  but  a  suc- 
cessful business.  Mr.  Cottingham  is  the  sole 
owner.  He  has  a  fine  plant,  not  only  equipped 
for  getting  out  his  weekly  newspaper  but 
to  handle  commercial  printing,  and  he  does 
a  great  deal  of  that  work  for  firms  over 
the  state. 

Mr.  Cottingham  was  born  in  Tremont  Town- 
ship July  11,  1861,  son  of  James  Nelson  and 
Minerva  Jane  (Trout)  Cottingham.  The  Cot- 
tingham family  came  from  England.  Thomas 
Cottingham  and  his  brother  Isaac  were  early 
colonists  in  Massachusetts.  The  Tremont 
newspaper  man  is  a  direct  descendant  of 
Thomas  Cottingham.  That  pioneer  had  a  son 
named  Thomas,  and  a  representative  of  the 
third  generation  was  Capt.  Joseph  Cotting- 
ham, a  Revolutionary  officer.  A  brother  of 
James  Nelson  Cottingham,  named  Thomas 
Cottingham,  was  a  Union  soldier  in  the  Civil 
war  and  was  killed  in  action  at  Upperville, 
Tennessee. 

James  Nelson  Cottingham  was  born  at  Ten- 
nessee Point,  Tremont  Township,  Tazewell 
County,  July  10,  1836.  He  was  a  small  child 
when  his  father  died  and  his  mother  married 
again.  Throughout  his  active  career  he  has 
been  a  Tazewell  County  farmer.  There  were 
few  schools  of  any  kind  during  the  '40s  and 
'50s,  and  the  circumstances  of  his  own  life 
were  such  that  he  acquired  only  a  very  mea- 
ger education,   but  in   spite  of  that  handicap 


has  made  more  than  an  average  success  of  his 
life's  vocation.  He  has  been  one  of  the  out- 
standing members  of  the  Democratic  party 
of  Tazewell  County  and  has  many  friends 
throughout  this  section  of  Illinois.  Though 
ninety-four  years  of  age  he  still  enjoys  a  rea- 
sonable degree  of  strength  and  activity. 

James  Nelson  Cottingham  married,  July  25, 
1857,  Miss  Minerva  Jane  Trout,  who  was 
born  in  Tremont  Township  November  26, 
1842.  Her  parents,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Michael 
Trout,  also  came  from  Tennessee.  She  was 
only  two  years  old  when  her  father  died  in 
1844.  Mrs.  James  N.  Cottingham  passed  away 
December  14,  1908,  and  is  buried  at  Tennes- 
see Point.  She  was  a  member  of  the  Meth- 
odist Church.  Mark  Lee  Cottingham  has  a 
sister,  Mrs.  J.  0.  Barton,  born  March  14,  1873, 
living  at  Tremont,  and  a  brother,  Olin,  born 
in  1875  and  a  resident  of  Pekin. 

Mark  Lee  Cottingham  was  educated  in  grade 
schools  and  during  and  after  school  days  fol- 
lowed farming  for  several  years.  For  a  trade 
he  took  up  carpentry,  spent  one  year  as  a 
railroad  bridge  builder,  and  then  went  back 
to  the  farm,  occupying  himself  with  the  tasks 
of  a  general  farmer  until  1885.  About  that 
time  Mr.  Cottingham  saw  the  opportunity  to 
bring  to  this  section  of  Illinois  and  sell  among 
the  farmers  the  Percheron  draft  horses  and 
for  several  years  he  was  in  business  as  a  horse 
importer.  He  made  two  trips  to  France,  in 
1886  and  1887,  to  purchase  after  personal 
inspection  a  number  of  Percherons. 

On  discontinuing  his  connection  with  this 
business  he  established  the  Tremont  News,  in 
1893,  and  to  that  paper  he  has  devoted  his 
time  and  talents  for  over  thirty-five  years. 
He  has  succeeded  in  his  aim  of  constituting 
the  Tremont  News  an  effective  organ  of  pub- 
licity through  which  he  can  express  his  public 
spirited  support  of  every  good  cause.  While 
he  is  personally  a  Democrat  in  politics,  he 
does  not  consider  political  partisanship  when 
he  is  convinced  of  the  outstanding  virtue  of 
a  cause  or  the  special  superiority  of  a  man 
for  office.  He  has  himself  long  been  an  in- 
fluential figure  in  the  public  life  of  his  local- 
ity and  county.  He  was  clerk  of  Tremont 
from  1891  to  1901,  then  served  ten  years  on 
the  city  board,  for  one  year  was  city  treasurer, 
in  1914  was  elected  mayor  for  a  term  of  two 
years  and  in  1918  was  again  chosen  to  that 
office  for  two  years.  From  1924  to  1928  he 
was  deputy  sheriff.  During  the  war  he  was 
investigator  for  the  district  exemption  board, 
and  for  months  he  gave  two  days  every  week 
to  this  patriotic  duty.  Needless  to  say,  his 
paper  was  a  medium  through  which  the  Gov- 
ernment and  local  patriotic  organizations  were 
privileged  to  present  the  important  issues  of 
the  day.  He  was  active  in  the  Liberty  Bond, 
Red  Cross  and  other  drives.  Mr.  Cottingham 
is  a  member  and  former  president  of  the 
Tremont  Merchants   Association.     He   attends 


152 


ILLINOIS 


the  Baptist  Church,  and  there  are  many  sub- 
jects that  arouse  in  him  a  keen  intellectual 
interest.  Probably  no  one  is  better  informed 
on  Tazewell  County  history  than  this  Tre- 
mont  editor.  In  politics  and  other  matters 
he  has  a  habit  of  speaking  his  mind  and  yet 
without  permanent  offense,  since  everyone 
knows  that  he  can  be  depended  upon  to  cham- 
pion every  worthy  undertaking.  He  has  a 
great  fondness  for  outdoor  life  and  athletics 
of  all  kinds  and  for  about  ten  years  was  man- 
ager of  the  Tremont  ball  team.  The  principal 
form  taken  by  his  own  diversion  is  going  to 
the  cabin  he  maintains  in  the  woods  on  the 
Mackinaw  River,  and  here  he  finds  recreation 
during  the  summer  months. 

Mr.  Cottingham  married,  November  16,  1880, 
Miss  Kittie  Pearl  Lance,  daughter  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Conrad  Lance.  She  was  born  at  Macki- 
naw, Tazewell  County,  April  1,  1861,  was  edu- 
cated in  public  schools  there,  is  active  in  the 
work  of  the  Christian  Church  and  a  Democrat 
in  politics.  Her  home  and  family  have  al- 
ways come  first  in  claiming  her  affection  and 
energies.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cottingham  have  an 
interesting  group  of  children  and  are  also 
proud  to  claim  a  number  of  grandchildren. 
Their  eldest  child,  Mrs.  Ethel  L.  Dingle,  was 
born  July  4,  1882,  lives  at  Pekin  and  has  a 
daughter,  Virginia.  Grace,  born  July  26, 
1886,  is  the  widow  of  Roy  Pepper,  of  Peoria, 
and  their  children  are:  Wayne  Pepper,  of 
Denver;  Eunice,  Helen  and  Mariam  Pepper, 
of  Peoria.  Leslie  Cottingham,  born  May  31, 
1888,  served  during  the  World  war  as  dieti- 
cian in  a  hospital  at  Lakehurst,  New  Jersey, 
is  married  and  has  a  daughter,  Bettie.  Edith, 
born  April  1,  1891,  is  the  widow  of  Roy  Green, 
of  Tremont,  and  has  four  children,  named 
Mildred,  Kenneth,  Cletus  and  Duane.  Ralph, 
born  November  26,  1893,  was  overseas  in 
France  with  the  army  during  the  World  war. 
Earl,  born  July  3,  1896,  is  associated  with  his 
father  in  the  Tremont  News.  Hazel,  born 
February  28,  1890,  and  died  January  24,  1924, 
was  the  wife  of  Ray  Nebbilin,  an  ex-service 
man  of  the  World  war,  and  she  left  two  chil- 
dren, Marjorie  and  Lois.  Donald,  the  young- 
est child,  was  born  in  1905  and  is  a  reporter 
for  his  father's  paper. 

Harold  Griffith  Baker,  of  East  St.  Louis, 
and  formerly  one  of  the  three  United  States 
district  attorneys  in  Illinois,  was  the  youngest 
man  ever  appointed  to  that  office  in  the  his- 
tory of  his  own  district.  He  was  only  twenty- 
seven  years  old  and  had  been  admitted  to  the 
Illinois  bar  only  five  years  when  he  was  called 
to  the  duties  of  this  position.  He  left  office 
August  1,  1931,  and  formed  a  partnership 
with  Ralph  F.  Lesemann,  who  had  been  first 
assistant  United  States  attorney,  as  Baker 
&  Lesemann,  with  offices  in  the  Murphy 
Building. 


However,  Mr.  Baker  represents  several  old 
and  distinguished  family  names  in  the  legal 
profession  of  Southern  Illinois.  He  was  born 
at  East  St.  Louis,  February  16,  1899,  son  of 
Martin  D.  and  Gertrude  (McLean)  Baker. 
The  Baker  ancestry  includes  relationship  with 
the  family  of  President  Martin  Van  Buren. 
His  grandfather,  John  Baker,  was  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania,  came  to  Illinois  before  the  Civil 
war  and  was  a  successful  farmer  in  Wayne 
County.  He  was  one  of  the  early  Republicans 
in  that  county.  Martin  D.  Baker,  who  was 
born  at  Maple  Crossing,  Wayne  County,  lived 
at  East  St.  Louis  from  1880  until  his  death 
on  August  17,  1927.  He'  was  the  first  chief 
clerk  of  the  Board  of  Election  Commissioners 
of  East  St.  Louis.  He  became  a  very  able 
lawyer,  was  state's  attorney  of  St.  Clair 
County  from  1896  to  1900,  and  always  a  vigor- 
ous leader  in  the  Republican  organization. 

Gertrude  (McLean)  Baker,  who  died  in 
1922,  was  a  daughter  of  John  J.  McLean,  who 
at  one  time  was  mayor  of  East  St.  Louis  and 
had  been  a  soldier  in  the  Civil  war.  He  died 
in  1908.  John  J.  McLean's  father  was  Milton 
McLean,  who  came  down  the  Ohio  River  and 
up  the  Mississippi  on  a  boat  to  East  St.  Louis 
before  any  railroads  had  been  constructed 
across  the  Mississippi.  He  was  one  of  the 
first  lawyers  to  practice  in  East  St.  Louis. 

Harold  G.  Baker  laid  the  foundation  of  his 
education  in  the  grammar  schools  of  East  St. 
Louis,  in  1916  was  graduated  from  the  Smith 
Academy  at  St.  Louis  and  was  a  student  in 
the  University  of  Illinois  when  America  inter- 
vened in  the  World  war.  After  attending 
the  Officers  Training  School  at  Fort  Sheridan 
he  was  commissioned  a  second  lieutenant,  and 
was  assigned  duty  at  Camp  Grant  until  after 
the  armistice.  He  was  discharged  February 
19,  1919,  and  then  resumed  his  interrupted 
studies  at  the  University  of  Illinois.  He  was 
graduated  LL.  B.  in  1921  and  after  ten  months  ' 
of  service  as  a  state  bank  examiner  joined 
his  father  in  law  practice  at  East  St.  Louis. 

His  personal  abilities  brought  him  distinc- 
tion and  reputation,  and  his  appointment  as 
United  States  district  attorney  on  July  5, 
1926,  was  favorably  commended  by  the  press 
and  by  members  of  the  Illinois  bar.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  East  St.  Louis,  Illinois  State 
and  American  Bar  Associations. 

Mr.  Baker  has  been  active  in  American 
Legion  work.  He  is  a  Sigma  Chi  and  Phi 
Delta  Phi,  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,. 
member  of  the  Rotary  and  Kiwanis  Clubs.  He 
has  been  a  member  of  the  Republican  County 
Central  Committee  for  several  years,  has 
served  as  secretary  of  the  committee,  and  as 
a  speaker  has  participated  in  political  cam- 
paigns. 

Mr.  Baker  married,  December  10,  1927,  Miss 
Bernice  Kraft,  of  East  St.  Louis,  daughter 
of  Fred  W.  and  Adolphina  (Buhs)  Kraft.  The 


ILLINOIS 


153 


Kraft  family  have  been  in  St.  Clair  County 
since  pioneer  times.  Mrs.  Baker  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Junior  League  and  is  prominent 
socially.  They  have  a  son,  Harold  Griffith, 
Jr.,  born  August  29,  1929. 

Ralph  Frederick  Lesemann  was  assistant 
United  States  attorney  for  the  Eastern  Dis- 
trict of  Illinois,  at  East  St.  Louis.  He  comes 
of  an  old  and  prominent  family  of  Washing- 
ton County,  and  though  still  in  the  early  years 
of  his  professional  career  has  distinguished 
himself  by  intellectual  ability  and  energy  and 
forcefulness. 

He  was  born  at  Nashville,  Washington 
County,  Illinois,  December  9,  1899.  His  grand- 
father, Frederick  Lesemann,  came  from  Ger- 
many to  Illinois  in  pioneer  times  and  was  a 
Washington  County  farmer.  The  maternal 
grandfather,  Fred  Franzlau,  was  born  in 
Alsace-Lorraine.  During  his  life  in  Illinois 
he  was  a  merchant  and  served  in  the  Union 
army  during  the  Civil  war. 

The  parents  of  Attorney  Lesemann  are 
Phillip  B.  and  Anna  M.  (Franzlau)  Lese- 
mann, both  of  whom  are  still  living  at  Nash- 
ville, where  they  were  born.  His  father  is  a 
successful  dentist,  is  a  past  president  of  the 
Southern  Illinois  Dental  Association  and  mem- 
ber of  the  Illinois  and  National  Dental  So- 
cieties. Outside  of  his  profession  his  activi- 
ties have  made  him  one  of  the  best  known 
men  in  his  community.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Nashville  School  Board  and  its  past  secre- 
tary, is  a  past  president  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  and  was  secretary  of  the  Hospital 
Association  and  the  prime  mover  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  hospital  at  Nashville.  He  is 
a  Republican.  He  and  his  wife  are  Metho- 
dists and  they  were  leaders  in  the  movement 
for  the  consolidation  of  the  two  Methodist 
churches  at  Nashville  into  one.  He  has  served 
on  the  church  board  for  many  years  and  is  a 
steward.  Ralph  Frederick  Lesemann  has  one 
sister,  Miss  Ferrol  Franzlau  Lesemann.  After 
graduating  from  the  Nashville  High  School 
she  attended  the  James  Millikin  University  at 
Decatur,  was  graduated  A.  B.  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois  in  1926,  and  is  now  teach- 
ing at  the  Fairfield  Community  High  School. 

Ralph  Frederick  Lesemann  attended  gram- 
mar and  high  schools  in  his  native  town,  after 
which  he  became  an  educator.  For  a  time  he 
was  principal  of  the  Nashville  High  School. 
His  advanced  education  was  acquired  in  the 
University  of  Illinois,  where  he  was  gradu- 
ated A.  B.  in  1922,  and  in  1924  received  the 
degree  Doctor  of  Jurisprudence  in  the  same 
university.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Gamma 
Eta  Gamma  fraternity.  At  the  end  of  his 
freshman  year  in  university  he  received  high 
honors  and  also  at  the  end  of  his  sophomore 
year.  He  graduated  with  high  honors,  was 
elected  a  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  and  was  also  elected 
a  member  of  the  Order  of  the  Coif  in  the  law 


school,  was  elected  a  member  of  Pi  Gamma 
Mu  and  was  student  editor  of  the  Illinois  Law 
Quarterly. 

While  in  college  he  distinguished  himself  as 
a  speaker  of  more  than  ordinary  powers,  and 
since  his  admission  to  the  bar  has  taken  an 
active  part  in  every  Republican  campaign.  He 
is  also  in  much  demand  as  a  speaker  before 
civic  organizations,  and  schools,  and  has  de- 
livered a  number  of  commencement  addresses. 
This  fluent  command  of  language  has  made 
him  a  power  in  jury  trials.  He  was  admitted 
to  practice  before  the  Illinois  Supreme  Court 
in  1924,  has  also  been  admitted  to  the  United 
States  Court  of  Appeals  and  Federal  District 
Courts,  and  in  1928  was  admitted  to  practice 
before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
After  graduating  from  law  school  he  spent 
two  years  as  an  associate  of  the  prominent 
East  St.  Louis  firm  of  Kramer,  Kramer  & 
Campbell.  Then,  in  1926,  he  was  appointed 
first  assistant  United  States  district  attorney 
and  for  five  years  his  time  and  energies  were 
fully  taken  up  with  the  duties  of  this  office. 
On  August  1,  1931,  the  firm  of  Baker  &  Lese- 
man  was  established,  with  offices  in  the  Mur- 
phy Building  and  a  branch  at  Nashville. 

Mr.  Lesemann  is  a  member  of  the  East  St. 
Louis,  Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  Asso- 
ciations. He  is  a  Royal  Arch  and  Council 
degree  Mason.  He  is  a  member  of  the  East 
St.  Louis  Lions  Club.  While  at  the  univer- 
sity Mr.  Lesemann  was  in  the  Reserve  Officers 
Training  Corps,  and  is  a  past  county  judge 
advocate  of  the  American  Legion  Post  of 
Washington  County  and  a  member  of  the 
Forty  and  Eight  Society.  He  retains  his  mem- 
bership in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at 
Nashville.  While  teaching  in  Washington 
County  he  was  treasurer  of  the  County  Teach- 
ers Association  and  treasurer  of  the  Junior 
Red  Cross. 

Arthur  John  Mollman  is  a  Southern  Illi- 
nois editor  and  publisher,  a  business  with 
which  he  has  been  identified  in  some  capacity 
or  another  for  forty  years.  He  is  owner, 
editor  and  publisher  of  the  Millstadt  Enter- 
prise. 

The  Enterprise  was  established  in  1897  by 
E.  W.  Cross,  and  Mr.  Mollman  acquired  the 
plant  in  1906.  He  has  given  it  a  circulation 
of  over  900,  and  has  made  it  a  profitable  busi- 
ness enterprise,  and  as  a  newspaper  is  a  fine 
example  of  country  journalism.  Mr.  Moll- 
man conducts  it  independent  in  politics.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Southern  Illinois  Editorial 
Association,  the  Illinois  State  Press  Associa- 
tion and  the  National   Press  Association. 

Mr.  Mollman  was  born  at  Mascoutah,  Illi- 
nois, September  29,  1874.  His  father,  the  late 
John  D.  Mollman,  who  died  July  25,  1924,  was 
born  in  Hanover,  Germany,  December  20, 
1834.  He  lived  to  the  advanced  age  of  ninety. 
When  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  after  hav- 


154 


ILLINOIS 


ing  acquired  a  practical  education  in  Ger- 
many, he  came  to  America  in  1850.  For  a 
time  he  worked  in  St.  Louis  and  in  1857  moved 
to  Mascoutah,  where  he  established  a  busi- 
ness as  a  manufacturer  and  dealer  in  saddles 
and  harness.  He  continued  in  that  business 
for  nearly  half  a  century,  finally  selling  out 
in  1904  to  his  son  Julius.  John  D.  Mollman 
married  Miss  Wilhelmina  Hagist,  daughter  of 
Andrew  Hagist.  They  were  married  in  1861, 
and  all  of  their  nine  children  are  still  living. 
Arthur  J.  Mollman  after  completing  the 
work  of  the  public  school  at  Mascoutah  spent 
several  years  of  apprenticeship  in  the  print- 
ing and  publishing  business  of  Carl  Montag, 
then  publisher  of  the  Mascoutah  Herald.  After 
another  year  with  Fred  Kraft,  publisher  of 
the  East  St.  Louis  Democrat,  he  and  his 
brother  Fred  acquired  the  plant  of  the  Demo- 
crat. A  year  later,  in  1898,  Arthur  J.  Moll- 
man moved  the  plant  to  Mascoutah,  and  pub- 
lished the  Mascoutah  Times.  It  was  a  Re- 
publican paper.  After  four  years  he  sold  out 
to  Mr.  Montag,  and,  returning  to  St.  Louis, 
was  with  the  C.  P.  Curran  Printing  Company 
for  some  time.  He  resigned  in  1906  and 
bought  the  Millstadt  Enterprise,  which  he  has 
conducted  now  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

Mr.  Mollman  has  been  prominent  in  local 
affairs.  He  is  a  former  president  of  the  Mill- 
stadt School  Board  and  was  one  of  the  organ- 
izers and  charter  members  of  the  Millstadt 
Commercial  Club.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows,  and  for  many  years  was  secre- 
tary of  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  America. 
During  the  war  he  was  chairman  of  the  Mill- 
stadt Chapter  of  the  Red  Cross.  Mr.  Moll- 
man is  the  present  postmaster  of  Millstadt. 

He  married,  September  29,  1897,  Miss  Alma 
C.  Lill.     They  have  six  children. 

Lilbert  Arthur,  born  October  30,  1898,  grad- 
uated from  the  College  of  Engineering  at  the 
University  of  Illinois  in  1924,  and  is  now  with 
the  Union  Electric  Company  of  St.  Louis.  He 
married  in  September,  1930,  Miss  Vera  Zagel, 
of  Peoria. 

Kenneth  John,  the  second  son,  was  born 
June  29,  1900.  After  graduating  from  the 
Belleville  Township  High  School  he  was  asso- 
ciated with  his  father  for  a  number  of  years 
in  the  Enterprise,  and  is  now  in  the  insurance 
business  at  Belleville.  He  married  Miss 
Maurine  Farrow. 

Richard  Amos  Mollman,  born  April  8,  1902, 
is  a  graduate  of  the  Belleville  Township  High 
School  and  is  now  business  manager  of  the 
Millstadt  Enterprise. 

Carl  Edmund  Mollman,  born  March  14, 
1904,  graduated  from  the  David  Rankin  Trade 
School  at  St.  Louis,  is  a  draftsman  and  is 
connected  with  the  Alcoa  Ore  Company  of 
East  St.  Louis. 

Margaret  Elise,  one  of  the  two  daughters 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mollman,  was  born  July  11, 


1905,  and  is  assistant  postmaster.  The  sec- 
ond daughter,  Louise  Elinor,  was  born  June 
24,  1914,  and  is  a  student  in  the  Belleville 
Township  High  School. 

John  V.  Utz,  of  Belleville,  possessed  the 
age  and  other  qualifications  that  made  him 
eligible  for  service  with  the  colors  during  the 
World  war,  and  he  represents  that  generation 
of  ex-service  men  who  have  proved  so  valuable 
in  citizenship  and  business  since  the  war. 

Mr.  Utz  was  born  at  Belleville,  December 
15,  1895.  His  father,  Valentine  Utz,  now  liv- 
ing retired  at  the  age  of  seventy-five,  was 
born  in  Poplar  Bluff,  Missouri,  November  10, 
1855,  and  coming  to  Illinois,  settled  on  a  farm 
in  Monroe  County,  where  he  spent  the  greater 
part  of  his  active  life.  For  over  fifty  years 
he  has  voted  the  Democratic  ticket  straight, 
and  is  what  is  known  as  one  of  the  "wheel 
horses"  of  his  party.  Valentine  Utz  married 
Miss  Elmyra  Greer,  who  was  born  in  Kansas 
and  passed  away  in  1904. 

John  V.  Utz  grew  up  at  Belleville,  attended 
the  public  schools  of  that  city,  and  after  leav- 
ing school  learned  the  trade  of  broom  maker. 
He  followed  this  trade  until  the  factory  was 
moved  from  Belleville.  About  the  same  time 
of  the  change  of  this  industry  he  responded 
to  the  call  for  soldiers.  Mr.  Utz  was  with 
the  colors  just  one  year,  and  practically  all 
his  time  was  spent  at  Camp  Dix,  New  Jersey. 
He  enlisted  April  29,  1918,  with  the  Seventy- 
eighth  Division,  later  was  shunted  into  the 
medical  department  and  finally  was  in  the 
commissary  department,  with  the  rank  of  first 
cook.     He  was  discharged  April  29,  1919. 

Since  his  military  service  Mr.  Utz  has  con- 
centrated his  attention  upon  a  business  as  a 
merchant  at  Belleville.  He  shares  the  same 
political  opinions  as  his  father  and  at  the 
present  time  is  secretary  of  his  precinct  for 
the  Central  Committee.  When  he  moved  into 
his  present  ward  at  Belleville  there  were  n<H 
Democratic  votes  in  it.  He  built  up  the  party 
representation  until  it  stood  normally  at  172 
Democrats  and  twenty-four  Republicans.  In 
1930,  when  Senator  Lewis  contested  the  elec-< 
tion  with  Mrs.  McCormick,  380  votes  were  cast 
in  the  precinct  for  Lewis  and  only  thirty-four 
for  Mrs.  McCormick.  Mr.  Utz  is  vice  com- 
mander of  the  Twenty-second  Congressional 
District,  American  Legion. 

Soon  after  his  enlistment  in  the  army  he 
married  Miss  Myrtle  Bohn,  of  Collinsville. 
Five  children  were  born  to  them:  John 
(Jack),  born  March  7,  1919,  and  died  Janu- 
ary 26,  1921;  Robert  Lee,  born  September  11? 
1921;  Rachael  Jean,  born  November  30,  1923; 
Doris,  born  February  13,  1929,  and  Richard 
Franklin,  born  December  25,  1930. 

Mr.  Utz  is  a  member  of  the  Fraternal  Or- 
der of  Eagles,  but  the  organization  to  which 
he  has  devoted  himself  heart  and  soul  is  the 
American  Legion.     He  has  been  active  in  the 


: 


■  ■■ 


:.  '     .    ".. ,.  ;.  ::      :    .    '.  .   '        .  .,.  :"    ■  :■"  ■;.  .•  .  '   ■'         ■      •   '■  " 


Henry  W.  Wales,  Sr. 


ILLINOIS 


155 


post  since  it  was  organized  in  Belleville  and 
has  held  every  office,  including  that  of  com- 
mander, in  1927.  His  initiative  was  largely 
responsible  for  making  the  post  a  live  and 
functioning  organization.  He  brought  about 
the  organization  of  the  Post  Band,  and  while 
he  was  commander  the  post  gained  a  member- 
ship larger  than  it  ever  had  had  before,  and 
only  during  1930  was  the  membership  aug- 
mented above  the  number  it  had  while  he 
was  commander.  During  his  term  as  head  of 
the  post  the  band  was  awarded  first  prize  at 
the  State  Convention  at  Quincy.  Mr.  Utz 
has  been  a  delegate  to  the  State  Convention  of 
the  Legion  five  consecutive  times. 

Calvin  Nesbit,  mine  operator  at  Belle- 
ville, and  secretary  of  the  Democratic  County 
Central  Committee  of.  St.  Clair  County,  is  a 
member  of  a  family  which  has  been  conspicu- 
ous in  the  mining  industry  of  this  portion  of 
Southern  Illinois  for  many  years. 

Mr.  Nesbit  was  born  at  Belleville,  Septem- 
ber 18,  1885.  His  father  was  the  late  Charles 
Nesbit,  who  was  brought  to  Illinois  by  his 
father  when  a  small  boy.  He  grew  to  man- 
hood there,  and  worked  his  way  up  in  the 
mining  industry,  becoming  eventually  an  in- 
dependent operator.  At  the  time  of  his  death, 
in  August,  1923,  he  was  manager  and  owner 
of  the  Nesbit  Mine.  Charles  Nesbit  married 
Miss  Helen  Green,  who  died  in  July,  1918. 
She  was  born  in  Staffordshire,  England,  and 
was  a  girl  when  her  parents  came  to  America. 
Mr.  Calvin  Nesbit  was  the  third  in  a  family 
of  seven  children.  His  oldest  brother,  Charles 
Nesbit,  is  a  mining  operator  at  Belleville. 
Hon.  Walter  Nesbit,  the  second  son,  has  long 
been  a  leading  figure  in  the  United  Mine 
Workers  of  America,  enjoying  the  confidence 
of  laboring  men  as  well  as  the  substantial 
business  element.  He  was  elected  secretary- 
treasurer  of  the  Illinois  Miners'  Union  and 
has  served  for  the  past  fifteen  years.  The 
fourth  son  is  Dan  Nesbit,  a  shoe  merchant  at 
St.  Louis.  The  daughters  of  the  familv  are: 
Blanche,  wife  of  Fred  Hazer,  of  St.  Louis; 
Clara,  Mrs.  Herman  Beyer,  of  Belleville;  and 
Eleanor,  Mrs.  Jacob  Bank,  of  Belleville. 

Calvin  Nesbit  grew  up  in  Belleville,  attend- 
ed school  there  and  since  leaving  school  has 
been  occupied  first  and  last  with  the  mining 
industry.  At  first  he  was  associated  with  his 
father,  but  is  now  an  individual  operator,  han- 
dling his  own  properties.  Mr.  Nesbit  knows 
jmining  from  the  standpoint  of  the  worker  as 
,well  as  the  operator,  and  is  frequently  spoken 
of  as  one  of  the  leading  mining  authorities 
'in  St.  Clair  County.  He  is  held  in  very  fa- 
vorable regard  in  the  United  Mine  Workers 
i  of  America. 

Since  early  manhood  he  has  given  much 
attention  to  politics  as  a  Democrat.  Those 
who   understand    the    local    political    situation 


say  that  Mr.  Nesbit  was  more  nearly  responsi- 
ble as  an  individual  for  the  great  victories 
of  his  party  in  the  county  in  the  elections  of 
1928  and  1930  than  any  other  one  man.  He 
planned  and  cooperated  with  other  able  men 
in  an  educational  campaign  to  direct  the  at- 
tention of  people  to  the  needs  of  the  state 
and  county  and  the  most  capable  men  to  rep- 
resent them  in  public  office.  Mr.  Nesbit  has 
been  chairman  of  the  St.  Clair  County  Demo- 
cratic Central  Committee  for  four  terms. 

He  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Schedler,  of 
Belleville.  Her  people  were  of  German  an- 
cestry and  pioneers  of  St.  Clair  County.  Her 
father  was  Cornelius  Schedler,  who  died  in 
1924.  Her  mother,  Appolina  (Echenf elder) 
Schedler,  was  born  in  Germany.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Nesbit  have  seven  children:  Dorothy,  a 
graduate  of  the  Belleville  High  School;  Wil- 
bur, with  the  International  Shoe  Company; 
Calvin,  with  the  Karr  Range  Company;  Ken- 
neth, attending  parochial  school  at  Belleville; 
Thomas,   also   in   school;    William   and   David. 

Henry  Whitwell  Wales,  M.  D.,  spent  the 
greater  part  of  his  active  and  useful  life  as  a 
physician  and  surgeon  in  one  Illinois  com- 
munity, Lanark,  Carroll  County.  He  was  a 
native  of  Illinois,  and  was  a  descendant  of 
Nathaniel  Wales,  who  came  from  England  to 
Massachusetts  in  1635. 

The  Wales  family  were  among  the  early 
pioneers  of  Northern  Illinois  and  the  records 
of  Ogle  County  make  conspicuous  mention  of 
the  fact  that  the  first  sheriff  of  that  county 
was  Horatio  Wales,  father  of  the  late  Doctor 
Wales.  Horatio  Wales  was  born  at  Wales, 
Massachusetts,  in  1810,  and  in  1833  came  west 
and  settled  on  a  farm  in  Ogle  County.  He 
died  at  Polo  in  1890.  Horatio  Wales  married 
Mary  Eliza  Williams,  a  descendant  of  Thomas 
Welles,  who  was  Governor  of  the  Colony  of 
Connecticut  (1655-1658)  ;  she  was  born  at 
Brimfield,  Massachusetts,  in  1811,  and  died  at 
Polo  in  1892. 

Their  son,  Henry  Whitwell  Wales,  was  born 
in  Ogle  County  June  17,  1840.  He  attended 
local  schools  and  the  Frances  Shimer  Academy 
at  Mount  Carroll,  concluding  his  literary  edu- 
cation in  Beloit  College.  During  the  Civil  war 
he  enlisted  in  the  hospital  corps  from  Illinois. 
In  1864  he  was  graduated  from  the  Hahne- 
mann Medical  College  of  Chicago.  After  one 
year  of  practice  at  Forreston,  he  located  at 
Lanark,  where  he  continued  his  professional 
work  for  forty  years,  until  his  death  on  Octo- 
ber 6,  1905,  and  became  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent physicians  in  Northwestern  Illinois. 

Doctor  Wales  had  a  prominent  part  in  se- 
curing the  right-of-way  for  the  Chicago  and 
Council  Bluffs  Division  of  the  Chicago,  Mil- 
waukee, St.  Paul  and  Pacific  Railroad.  He 
was  local  surgeon  for  the  railroad  until  his 
death.     He  was  a  member  and  repeatedly  held 


156 


ILLINOIS 


the  highest  offices  in  the  lodge  and  chapter  of 
Masonry  and  was  also  a  Knight  Templar  and 
Shriner. 

Doctor  Wales  married  at  Lanark,  in  1865, 
Miss  Elizabeth  Muir.  She  was  a  native  of 
New  York  City,  of  English  and  Scotch  ances- 
try, and  died  in  1919.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Wales 
had  four  children:  Dr.  Albert  H.;  Frederick 
M.,  deceased;  Henry  W.,  and  Reginald  C. 

Henry  Whitwell  Wales  was  born  at 
Lanark,  Carroll  County,  Illinois,  October  8, 
1875,  of  English  and  Scotch  ancestry,  de- 
scended from  pioneer  Illinois  families,  and  for 
over  thirty  years  has  enjoyed  a  highly  suc- 
cessful law  practice  in  Chicago,  where  he  is 
member  of  the  prominent  law  firm  of  Miller, 
Gorham  &  Wales,  at  1  North  LaSalle  Street. 

His  father,  Dr.  Henry  Whitwell  Wales,  was 
born  in  Ogle  County,  Illinois,  in  1840,  de- 
scended from  ancestors  who  came  to  America 
in  Colonial  times.  For  many  years  he  en- 
joyed a  practice  and  reputation  as  one  of  the 
outstanding  physicians  in  Northwestern  Illi- 
nois, his  home  being  at  Lanark,  where  he  died 
in  1905.  Doctor  Wales  married  Elizabeth  Muir, 
who  was  born  in  New  York  City  and  came 
with  her  parents  early  in  the  '60s  to  Carroll 
County.  His  father,  Horatio  Wales,  settled 
in  Illinois  in  the  early  '30s  and  was  the  first 
sheriff  of  Ogle  County. 

After  attending  public  schools  at  Lanark, 
Henry  Whitwell  Wales  came  to  Chicago,  con- 
tinued his  education  in  the  Hyde  Park  High 
School,  received  the  Bachelor  of  Philosophy 
degree  from  the  University  of  Chicago  in  1896, 
and  completed  his  law  course  at  Northwestern 
University  in  1899.  Admitted  to  the  bar  the 
same  year,  he  has  since  practiced  in  Chi- 
cago. The  firm  of  which  he  is  a  member  is 
among  the  foremost  at  the  Chicago  bar.  Mr. 
Wales  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago,  Illinois 
and  American  Bar  Associations,  the  Law 
Club,  University  Club,  Skokie  Country  Club. 
His  home  is  at  480  Sheridan  Road,  Winnetka, 
but  for  a  number  of  years  he  lived  at  La- 
Grange.  He  was  village  attorney  of  LaGrange 
in  1907-09,  member  and  president  of  the  La- 
Grange  School  Board. 

Mr.  Wales  is  a  member  of  LaGrange  Lodge 
of  Masons,  is  a  past  commander  of  Trinity 
Commandery  No.  80,  Knights  Templar,  mem- 
ber of  Medinah  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine, 
is  a  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  Phi  Delta  Phi,  Beta 
Theta  Pi  and  a  Republican. 

He  married  Miss  Mabelle  Willett,  whose 
father,  Consider  Willett,  was  a  well  known 
Chicago  attorney,  at  one  time  county  attorney 
of  Cook  County  and  attorney  for  the  Town  of 
Hyde  Park.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wales  have  two 
sons  and  one  daughter.  The  older  son,  Henry 
Whitwell,  Jr.,  is  a  graduate  of  Princeton  Uni- 
versity and  is  now  successfully  established  in 
the  wholesale  lumber  business  at  Louisville, 
Kentucky.     The  second  son,  Robert  Willett,  is 


an  A.  B.  graduate  of  Princeton  University, 
took  his  LL.  B.  degree  at  Harvard  Law 
School,  served  one  year  thereafter  as  secretary 
to  Justice  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  the  ven- 
erable and  venerated  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  and  is  now  asso- 
ciated with  his  father's  firm.  The  daughter, 
Lois  Elizabeth,  received  her  A.  B.  degree  from 
Smith    College. 

Joseph  Nicholas  Buechler  is  president  of 
the  Buechler  Publishing  Company  of  Belle- 
ville. This  business  was  founded  by  him  thirty 
years  ago,  and  has  been  developed  primarily 
as  a  complete  commercial  printing  plant,  but 
a  large  part  of  its  business  is  also  represented 
in  the  publication  of  several  periodicals.  The 
most  important  of  these  is  the  Messenger,  a 
weekly  Catholic  journal,  which  was  established 
in  1908  and  which  has  an  average  weekly  cir- 
culation of  4,200  copies.  It  is  an  eight  page, 
seven  column  religions  weekly  and  is  the  offi- 
cial organ  of  the  Belleville  diocese.  Through 
it  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Henry  Althoff  makes  his 
official  communications  to  the  diocese.  An- 
other publication  owned  and  published  by  the 
Buechler  Publishing  Company  plant  is  the 
Schoolmate,  a  Catholic  weekly  established  in 
1914,  with  a  circulation  of  76,000  copies,  pub- 
lished during  the  school  term,  with  forty 
issues  a  year.  Another  publication  is  the 
Catholic  Girl,  a  Catholic  magazine  for  grow- 
ing girls,  established  in  1925.  Rev.  E.  Dalmus 
is  editor  of  the  Messenger;  Rev.  J.  B.  Henken, 
editor  of  the  Juvenile  Weekly  and  the  Catholic 
Girl.  Mr.  Buechler  also  owns  and  publishes 
the  Mascoutah  Herald,  having  owned  this 
paper  since  1927.  It  was  Democratic  in  policy 
until  1927,  when  Mr.  Buechler  changed  its! 
politics  to  Republican. 

He  founded  the  Buechler  Printing  Company! 
in  1902,  and  has  made  it  one  of  the  most  com- 
plete commercial  printing  plants  in  Southern 
Illinois.  It  has  facilities  for  high  grade  book 
publishing,  binding,  catalogues.  Mr.  Buechler 
himself  has  had  forty-five  years  of  experience 
as  a  master  printer  and  periodical  printer, 
and  has  brought  to  his  establishment  a  staff 
of  able  newspaper  writers,  linotype  and  mono- 
type operators  and  craftsmen,  each  one  an 
expert  in  his  field. 

Mr.  Buechler  was  born  at  Belleville,  April 
15,  1876,  oldest  son  of  Albert  and  Elizabeth 
(Kuenz)  Buechler.  Albert  Buechler  was  born 
in  Zweibruecken,  Rhenish  Bavaria,  February 
11,  1852,  and  a  year  later  his  parents  came 
to  the  United  States,  first  locating  at  BuK 
lington,  Iowa,  and  in  1858  removing  to  Belle- 
ville, Illinois.  Joseph  N.  Buechler  was  eight 
years  old  when  his  parents  moved  to  St.  Louis. 
In  that  city  he  attended  parochial  and  public 
schools.  Four  years  later  his  parents  returned 
to  Belleville,  and  that  has  been  his  home  ever 
since.  He  began  his  apprenticeship  at  the 
printer's     trade     with     the     News-Democrat, 


rim 


t^Ccas 


ILLINOIS 


157 


whose  plant  was  then  located  on  the  public 
square.  He  was  there  but  a  short  time,  then 
went  with  the  National  Live  Stock  Reporter 
at  the  National  Stock  Yards  in  East  St.  Louis, 
and  was  with  this  paper  fourteen  years.  On 
May  1,  1902,  he  established  the  printing  busi- 
ness of  his  own,  at  220  West  Main  Street, 
Belleville.  In  addition  to  being  president  of 
the  Buechler  Printing  Company  he  is  presi- 
dent of  the  Mascoutah  Aluminum  Company,  of 
the  Mascoutah  Herald  Printing  Company  and 
of  the  Special  Products  Laboratories  of  Belle- 
ville. In  1910  he  purchased  property  at  332 
West  Main  Street  in  Belleville,  on  which  he 
has  developed  the  plant  and  offices  of  the 
Buechler  Printing  Company. 

Mr.  Buechler's  father,  Albert  Buechler,  is 
also  a  veteran  of  the  printing  trade.  He  grew 
up  at  Belleville,  attending  the  parochial  school 
conducted  in  St.  Peter's  Church,  in  what  is 
now  the  Cathedral  of  the  diocese.  In  1864, 
at  the  age  of  twelve,  he  entered  the  printing 
office  of  the  Belleviller  Zeitung,  then  published 
by  Fred  Rupp.  After  an  apprenticeship  of 
several  years  he  was  employed  on  the  Omaha 
Herald  at  Omaha,  Nebraska,  in  1872,  then 
with  several  printing  houses  in  St.  Louis,  and 
altogether  spent  fifty-four  consecutive  years 
in  the  printing  trade.  In  January,  1917,  he 
had  the  misfortune  of  having  the  fifth  ver- 
tebra dislocated,  and  as  a  result  was  helpless 
for  several  months.  He  recovered  sufficiently 
to  be  able  to  do  a  little  work,  and  in  later 
years  has  conducted  a  printing  business  with 
his  son,  Alfred,  in  St.  Louis.  Albert  Buechler 
and  Miss  Elizabeth  Kuenz  were  married  in  St 
Peter's  Church  at  Belleville  in  1874.  She  was 
born  at  New  Athens,  Illinois,  January  31, 
1852.  To  their  marriage  were  born  seven  chil- 
dren, two  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  Those 
living  are:  Mrs.  Frank  Scher,  of  Los  Angeles; 
Joseph  N.;  Edward;  Mrs.  Julia  Bertold;  and 
Alfred,  of  St.  Louis. 

Joseph  N.  Buechler  married,  August  20, 
1902,  Miss  Caroline  Koch,  daughter  of  Jacob 
and  Frances  (Winschell)  Koch.  Her  father 
was  born  at  Herbitzheim,  Canton  Blinskaster, 
Rhenish  Bavaria,  January  16,  1838,  but  from 
early  manhood  lived  at  Belleville.  He  was  a 
brewer  by  trade  and  was  a  soldier  in  the 
Union  army  during  the  Civil  war.  He  mar- 
ried Mrs.  Frances  Winschell,  September  16, 
1871.  He  died  on  the  sixty-seventh  anniver- 
sary of  his  birth,  in  1905.  His  wife  was  born 
at  Walten,  Bavaria,  August  30,  1843,  and 
came  to  America  with  her  mother  in  1852, 
settling  at  Belleville,  where  in  1861  she  was 
married  to  Mr.  Andrew  Winschell.  Mr.  Win- 
schell died  in  1869,  leaving  four  children.  In 
1871  she  was  married  to  Mr.  Joseph  Koch, 
and  of  the  three  children  of  this  union  two 
are  living,  Mrs.  Joseph  N.  Buechler  and 
Michael  Koch  of  St.  Louis.  The  children  of 
her  first  husband  were:  Albert  Winschell,  of 
Kansas   City;    Charles,   of   Staunton,   Illinois; 


Mrs.  Elizabeth  Visel,  of  Seattle,  Washington. 
Mrs.  Joseph  N.  Buechler  was  born  at  Trenton 
Illinois,  February  27,  1876.  She  was  educated 
m  parochial  schools  and  when  ten  years  of  age 
TrTt  W\^  her  Parents  to  Salt  Lake  City, 
Utan.  After  two  years  they  returned  to  Illi- 
nois and  located  at  Belleville.  Mrs.  Buechler 
as  a  young  woman  learned  the  trade  of  seam- 
stress, which  she  followed  until  her  marriage 
Mr  and  Mrs.  Buechler  have  four  children: 
William  Oliver,  in  the  office  with  his  father- 
*  ranees  Cecilia,  who  graduated  in  1931  from 
Mount  St.  Mary's  College  at  Milwaukee; 
Louise  E.,  who  died  in  1918;  and  Rita  Marie 
a  pupil  in  the  schools  of  Belleville 

Mr.  Buechler  has  been  active  in  business  for 
forty-five  years.  While  business  has  demanded 
most  of  his  time  and  attention  he  has  been 
interested  in  local  affairs  and  in  1912  was 
elected  and  served  as  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Supervisors  of  St.  Clair  County.  He  is  a 
charter  member  of  the  Belleville  Turnverein 
and  was  the  organizer  of  the  Turner  Activi- 
ties Association.  He  served  on  the  Belleville 
Board  of  Health  in  1913-14  and  1917-18,  being 
f2r«?w^y?a,rs  its  secretary.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Knights  of  Columbus,  Western  Catholic 
Union,  Catholic  Knights  of  Illinois,  St. 
Peters  Men's  Society,  St.  Vincent  De  Panl 
Society,  the  Belleville  Chamber  of  Commerce 
and  the  West  and  South  Side  Improvement 
Association. 

Daniel  Bertram  Moore.  Of  the  follower  of 
any  of  the  important  trades  no  better  rec- 
ommendation is  required  than  the  credit  of 
long  employment  under  a  reliable  manage- 
ment. From  1892  until  his  death,  June  19, 
1931,  Dan  B.  Moore  was  identified  with  the 
Kewanee  Boiler  Corporation,  and  from  1910 
occupied  the  position  of  superintendent  of  this 
great  and  prosperous  plant.  While  he  was 
given  few  advantages  in  his  youth,  he  was 
naturally  ambitious  and  industrious,  as  well 
as  quick  to  adapt  himself  to  his  surround- 
ings, and  thus  had  been  able  to  work  his  way 
to  a  place  where  he  commanded  respect  and 
esteem. 

Mr.  Moore  was  born  at  Kewanee,  Illinois, 
May  18,  1878,  and  was  a  son  of  Lewis  and 
Kate  (Morin)  Moore,  early  residents  of  the 
city.  He  was  allowed  to  attend  public  school 
until  reaching  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  at 
which  time  he  secured  employment  with  the 
company  with  which  he  was  connected  ever 
afterward,  winning  advancement  honestly  and 
without  adventitious  aid  or  outside  influences. 
Mr.  Moore  was  a  member  of  the  local  lodge 
of  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of 
Elks  for  thirty-one  years,  likewise  belonging 
to  the  Knights  of  Columbus,  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  and  the  Rotary  Club,  of  which  lat- 
ter he  was  a  director  and  in  which  he  declined 
the  office  of  president.  The  religious  connec- 
tion of  the  family  is  with  the  Catholic  Church 


158 


ILLINOIS 


of  the  Visitation  parish.  Mr.  Moore  was 
public-spirited  and  generous  with  his  time 
and  means  in  all  measures  for  the  public 
welfare.  He  was  a  member  of  the  board  of 
directors  of  the  Kewanee  Community  Chest 
organization,  and  also  of  the  Welfare  Asso- 
ciation. During  the  World  war  he  served  in 
the  secret  service  department  of  the  United 
States  Government  for  Henry  County.  He 
was  a  lover  of  the  out-doors,  enjoyed  sports, 
and  was  a  golf  enthusiast.  His  hobby  may 
be  said  to  have  been  flowers,  of  which  his 
attractive  home  surroundings  give  ample 
evidence. 

On  May  30,  1910,  Mr.  Moore  was  united  in 
marriage  with  Miss  Emma  M.  Adams,  who 
was  born  at  Carlisle,  Illinois,  a  daughter  of 
Joseph  and  Mary  (Rohr)  Adams.  Mrs.  Moore 
was  the  first  graduate  nurse  from  St.  Francis 
Hospital,  Kewanee.  She  and  her  husband  had 
three  children,  of  whom  one  is  living:  John 
Daniel,  a  student  in  the  class  of  1934  at  the 
Kewanee  High  School. 

Edgar  Charles  Grossmann,  of  the  Belle- 
ville law  firm  of  Grossman  &  Grossman,  rep- 
resents one  of  the  oldest  German  families  of 
Southern  Illinois,  and  he  is  one  of  several 
prominent  men  of  the  present  generation  of 
the  family. 

He  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Smithton  Town- 
ship, St.  Clair  County,  July  5,  1888.  His 
grandfather,  Charles  Grossman,  was  born  in 
Germany  and  was  a  boy  when  brought  to  this 
country  by  his  parents,  who  settled  in  St. 
Clair  County,  being  among  the  early  German 
colonists  there.  Louis  Grossman,  father  of  the 
Belleville  attorneys,  was  born  in  Smithton 
Township  and  for  many  years  was  a  substan- 
tial farmer.  He  married  Miss  Regine  Ahrens, 
whose  people  were  also  German  pioneers  of 
St.  Clair  County.  The  children  of  Louis 
Grossman  and  wife  were:  Louis  J.,  born  Feb- 
ruary 28,  1886,  is  a  graduate  of  Central  Wes- 
leyan  College  of  Warrenton,  Missouri,  of  Val- 
paraiso University  and  Yale  University,  and 
is  practicing  law  at  Belleville;  Edgar;  Wal- 
ter, born  June  22,  1890,  now  judge  of  the 
Municipal  Court  of  Belleville,  graduated  from 
Central  Wesleyan  College  of  Missouri,  took 
his  law  degree  at  Valparaiso  University,  and 
also  attended  Northwestern  University.  Dur- 
ing the  war  he  was  in  the  air  service  as  an 
instructor  in  air  gunnery.  The  next  son, 
Richard,  a  veterinary  surgeon  of  Columbia, 
Illinois,  graduated  from  McKillop's  College  "of 
Veterinary  Surgery  at  Chicago.  Eugene,  the 
youngest  of  the  family,  is  a  graduate  of  the 
University  of  Illinois,  was  in  front  line  duty 
during  the  World  war,  being  at  the  battle  of 
Verdun,  and  is  now  a  teacher  at  Millstadt, 
Illinois. 

Edgar  C.  Grossmann  was  reared  on  a  farm, 
and  the  farm  routine  prepared  him  for  the 
tasks    and    responsibilities    of    mature    years. 


He  attended  local  schools  and  the  Central 
Wesleyan  College  of  Warrenton,  Missouri. 
Following  that  he  entered  Valparaiso  Uni- 
versity at  Valparaiso,  Indiana,  took  his  law 
degree  in  1916,  and  had  made  some  progress 
in  the  practice  of  his  profession  before  he  was 
called  to  military  service.  He  enlisted  and 
served  ten  months  in  France.  Soon  after  re- 
turning home  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Assessors  on  the  Republican  ticket, 
serving  one  term.  Since  then  he  and  his 
brother  Louis  have  been  associated  in  a  gen- 
eral law  practice  at  Belleville. 

Mr.  Grossman  is  a  member  of  the  St.  Clair 
County  and  Illinois  State  Bar  Associations 
and  the  American  Legion  George  E.  Hilyard 
Post  No.  58.  He  married  Miss  Lillian  Riess, 
of  Mascoutah,  Illinois.  They  have  a  daugh- 
ter, Melba  E.,  born  April  12,  1921. 

Clarence  George  Stiehl,  manager  of  the 
Patterson-Harding  Coal  &  Mining  Company 
of  Belleville,  is  one  of  the  most  progressive 
young  men  of  that  community,  where  he  has 
lived  practically  all  his  life. 

He  was  born  there  May  16,  1892,  son  of 
John  Philip  and  Emma  (Haas)  Stiehl.  His 
father  was  born  at  Nashville,  Illinois,  but  fori 
many  years  was  active  in  business  as  a  mer- 
chant at  Belleville,  where  he  and  his  wife 
lived  retired.  Miss  Emma  Haas  was  also  born 
in  Illinois,  of  German  ancestry.  Their  chil- 
dren are:  Dr.  E.  P.  Stiehl,  a  Belleville  physi- 
cian; Sherman,  a  mining  man  at  Belleville; 
C.  G.   Stiehl;  and  Wyona,  deceased. 

C.  G.  Stiehl  grew  up  at  Belleville,  and  was 
graduated  in  1909  from  the  Belleville  High 
School,  before  it  was  made  a  township  high 
school.  Immediately  afterward  he  went  to 
work  for  the  Royal  Coal  Mining  Company. 
For  several  years  he  was  a  clerk  with  this 
company,  until  he  and  his  brother  Sherman 
opened  and  operated  a  store  at  Scott  Field.  | 
He  left  this  business  to  enlist  in  the  United  | 
States  Army  in  June,  1917.  He  was  sent  to 
Kansas  City,  Missouri,  in  the  motor  artillery, 
and  was  then  transferred  to  Camp  Taylor, 
Kentucky,  where  he  was  held  until  after  the 
armistice.  He  was  discharged  in  December, 
1919.  Mr.  Stiehl  has  attended  as  a  delegate 
every  state  convention  of  the  American  Le- 
gion since  the  war,  and  always  has  a  helpful 
and  kindly  attitude  toward  men  who  were  in 
the  service.  He  became  one  of  the  charter 
members  of  George  E.  Hilgard  Post  No.  58 
at  Belleville,  and  has  been  frequently  honored 
by  his  comrades,  being  elected  junior  vice 
commander  in  1928,  senior  vice  commander 
in  1929  and  in  1930  was  made  commander  of 
the  post. 

Mr.  Stiehl  after  the  war  again  resumed  his 
connection  with  the  business  at  Scott  Field. 
The  store  was  sold  in  1923,  at  which  time  he 
and  his  brother  acquired  an  interest  in  the 
Patterson-Harding   Coal   &   Mining   Company. 


:^^^^^^^^^^^3fM^s^^^  x  xss: 


'        '.  :J.'".,     '/,    ■ 


ILLINOIS 


159 


For  the  past  eight  years  Mr.  Stiehl  has  been 
manager  of  the  mine,  which  is  one  of  the 
largest  in  St.   Clair  County. 

He  votes  as  a  Republican  and  was  reared 
a  Methodist  and  attends  that  church.  On 
July  4,  1923,  he  married  Miss  Florence  Stof- 
fel,  of  Belleville,  daughter  of  Mr.  August 
Stoffel.  She  attended  school  in  Belleville. 
They  have  a  son,  Bill  Donald,  born  Decem- 
ber 3,  1925. 

Hon.  William  Forman  Borders,  a  former 
president  of  the  East  St.  Louis  Bar  Associa- 
tion, has  won  many  of  the  substantial  honors 
find  rewards  of  a  professional  career.  He  is 
how  in  his  third  term  as  judge  of  the  City 
Court  of  East  St.  Louis. 

I    Judge  Borders  was  born  at  Nashville,  Illi- 
nois, February  7,   1886,  son  of  James  B.  and 
kda     (McCormack)     Borders.       The     Borders 
family   is   of   old    Colonial   and   Revolutionary 
American  stock.     His  great-grandfather,  An- 
drew   Borders,    settled    in    Randolph    County 
kfter   he   had   been   a   soldier  in   the   War   of 
812.      He    built    the    first    flour    mill    in    the 
tate  and  became  one  of  the  largest  land  own- 
rs  in  Randolph  County.     The  grandfather  of 
udge    Bordeds   was   James   J.    Borders,   well 
nown  for  many  years  as  a  banker  at  Sparta, 
llinois.     James  Borders,  father  of  Judge  Bor- 
ers, was  a  leading  Democrat,  a  real   estate 
foerator  in  Washington  County,  and  died  when 
jomparatively  young.   Mrs.  Ada  (McCormack) 
[{orders  is  still  living.    One  of  her  sons,  James 
I  was  killed  in  France  during  the  World  war. 
(he   living  children  are:    Grover   C,   a  prom- 
inent   East   St.    Louis    attorney,    and    a    mem- 
fer    of    the    General    Assembly;    William    F.; 
ndrew  J.,  in  the  automobile  business  at  At- 
jmta,    Georgia;    and    Ruth,    wife    of    Charles 
jaldwin,  of  East  St.  Louis. 
(William    F.    Borders    graduated    from    high 
fhool  at  Nashville,  then  spent  two  years  in 
LcKendree   College   at  Lebanon,   and   in   1912 
ok   his    LL.B.    degree   at   the   University   of 
ichigan.     He  is  a  member  of  the  Alpha  Tau 
mega    fraternity.      After    graduating    from 
[w  school  he  located  at  East  St.  Louis,  and 
|  a  very  short  time  had  won  enviable  prom- 
|ence  by  his  work  as  a  lawyer.     In  1922  he 
as    elected    judge    of    the    City    Court,    was 
pcted  for  a  second  term,  and  then  chosen  for 
fe  term  in  which  he  is  now  serving.     He  has 
fe  judicial  temperament,  and  his  experience 
M  given   him   a   state-wide   reputation   as    a 
nst.     He  has  frequently  been  called  to  hold 
mrt  in  other  counties,  including  Chicago. 
!  Judge  Borders  is  a  leading  member  of  the 
emocratic  party,  belongs  to  the  Illinois  Bar 
;ssociation  and  is  a  member  of  the  faculty  of 
fie  City  College  of  Law  and  Finance  at   St. 
Puis,    Missouri.      He    is    affiliated    with    the 
•  P.  0.  Elks  and  the  Loyal  Order  of  Moose. 
•Judge  Borders  married  in  1918  Miss  Violet 
uith,    of    Evansville,    Illinois,    daughter    of 


Harmon  and  Elizabeth  Smith.  She  attended 
school  at  Evansville.  She  is  a  member  of  the 
Eastern  Star.  Judge  Borders'  mother  recently 
returned  from  France,  where  she  went  with  a 
group  of  Gold  Star  Mothers. 

James  W.  Breen  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Chicago  bar  since  1897.  He  has  long  had  the 
qualifications  of  an  able  lawyer,  and  his  work 
has  also  brought  him  prominence  in  the  public 
life  of  the  city,  particularly  during  the  many 
years  he  served  as  assistant  corporation 
counsel. 

Mr.   Breen   was   born   in    Chicago,   in   1873 
son  of  Thomas  B.  and  Mary  (Flaherty)  Breen' 

f  6^WfS^ed^ated  in  Public  schools,  and  at- 
tended the  Chicago  Athenaeum,  where  he  com- 
pleted the  four  year  high  school  and  university 
preparatory  course.  He  also  had  the  advan- 
tage of  six  years  of  study  under  a  private 
tutor  taking  the  regular  college  curriculum. 
Mr.  Breen  is  a  graduate  of  the  Chicago  Col- 
#ge  ?fTTL?w>  the  law  department  of  Lake 
£Q°re-  i^?iVerS\ty;  He  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  m  1897,  and  forthwith  engaged  in  a  gen- 
eral law  practice,  handling  cases  in  both  the 
civil  and  criminal  courts.  His  early  success 
in  private  law  practice  brought  him  large 
recognition.  From  1907  to  1911  he  served  as 
assistant  city  prosecutor.  He  was  assistant 
corporation  counsel  of  Chicago  from  1915  to 
1920  and  was  first  assistant  corporation  coun- 
sel from  1920  to  1923.  In  the  latter  year  he 
was  made  assistant  state's  attorney  of  Cook 
1 097  ^  an  °ffice  he  held  until  1925.  In  April, 
1927,  for  the  second  time  he  was  appointed 
nrst  assistant  corporation  counsel,  and  served 
m  that  capacity  until  1931. 

During  the  two  periods  of  his  service  in 
the  corporation  counsel's  office  he  had  charge 
o±  the  drafting  and  approving  the  legality 
?C  ^e  °rdmances  passed  by  or  introduced  in 
the  City  Council.  This  was  a  work  requiring 
great  care  and  skill  as  a  lawyer  and  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  complicated  legal  issues  involved 
m  many  such  ordinances.  At  the  same  time 
he  had  charge  of  litigation  in  behalf  of  the 
city  involving  important  issues  and  values  to 
the  municipal  government  and  to  the  tax- 
payers. Some  of  these  cases  involved  amounts 
running  up   into  millions  of  dollars. 

In  1930  Mr.  Breen  was  brought  out  as  the 
regular  Republican  candidate  for  judge  of 
the  Superior  Court  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused 
by  the  death  of  Hugo  Pam.  One  of  his  chief 
sponsors  was  Edward  J.  Brundage,  former 
corporation  counsel  and  former  attorney  gen- 
eral of  Illinois,  who  gave  emphatic  endorse- 
!n^I?t.  *°  J1*"-  Breen's  qualifications  for  the 
judicial  office.  On  one  occasion  he  said-  "Mr 
Breen  made  a  splendid  record  in  the  corpora- 
T'0nioCi0.TelS  offic?  ™der  ™y  administration. 
In  1915  he  was  called  back  to  the  city's  serv- 
ice because  of  his  eminent  legal  qualifications  » 
It    was    also    pointed    out    that    some    of   his 


160 


ILLINOIS 


opinions  as  assistant  corporation  counsel  were 
embodied  in  Supreme  Court  decisions  of  the 
state.  Another  testimony  to  his  qualifications 
was:  "His  best  references  are  those  who  have 
come  in  contact  with  him  during  his  term  of 
public  office.  His  devotion  to  his  public  trust 
is  unquestioned.  He  is  recognized  as  one  of 
the  hardest  workers  in  the  legal  department 
of  the  city." 

Mr.  Breen  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago, 
Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  Associations, 
the  Hamilton  Club  of  Chicago,  the  Chicago 
Law  Institute,  Chicago  Association  of  Com- 
merce, Chicago  Historical  Society,  the  Chi- 
cago Art  Institute  and  the  Field  Museum. 
He  resides  at  947  West  Fifty-fourth  Place, 
and  his  law  office  is  at  159  North  Clark  Street. 

Mr.  Breen  married,  August  7,  1919,  Miss 
Mary  L.  Lewis,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Ellen 
Lewis. 

Dennis  Augusta  Prindable,  county  clerk 
of  St.  Clair  County,  has  lived  all  his  life  in 
Southern  Illinois,  and  for  a  number  of  years 
has  been  prominent  in  Democratic  politics  in 
St.  Clair  County. 

Mr.  Prindable,  whom  his  friends  know  as 
"Doc"  Prindable,  was  born  on  a  farm  at  Car- 
rollton,  Illinois,  November  2,  1882.  His 
grandfather,  Patrick  Prindable,  came  from 
Ireland,  and  in  the  early  days  before  the  first 
bridge  was  thrown  across  the  Mississippi 
River  at  St.  Louis  was  engaged  in  the  freight- 
ing and  transport  business.  "Doc"  Prindable. 
is  a  son  of  John  P.  and  Mary  (Dwyer)  Prind-' 
able,  who  were  well-to-do  farmers  at  Carroll-) 
ton.  His  mother  died  many  years  ago  andi 
his  father  passed  away  in  1924.  Of  their  four? 
children  three  are  living:  Francis,  at  Peoria, 
Mrs.  Julia  Combs,  at  East  St.  Louis,  and 
D.  A. 

D.  A.  Prindable  was  educated  in  the  paro- 
chial and  public  schools  at  Carrollton  and  at 
the  age  of  sixteen  left  school  and  for  about 
a  year  was  in  the  employ  of  Swift  &  Com- 
pany. He  has  been  a  resident  of  East  St. 
Louis  since  1900.  For  eight  years  he  wasi 
foreman  for  an  express  company,  then  be-, 
came  a  whiskey  salesman  for  Albright  Broth- 
ers, and  from  1909  until  the  prohibition  era) 
in  1919  was  in  the  saloon  business  at  Thirty- 
third  and  State  streets,  East  St.  Louis.  After 
1919  he  was  with  the  McGregor  Baking  Com^ 
pany  for  a  time,  then  with  the  American  Steel1 
Foundry,  and  in  1925  was  elected  justice  of 
the  peace,  being  reelected  in  1929.  On  No- 
vember 4,  1930,  he  was  elected  as  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  the  office  of  county  clerk, 
being  inaugurated  in  that  office  on  Decem- 
ber 1  of  the  same  year. 

Mr.  Prindable  is  advocate  of  the  local  lodge, 
Knights  of  Columbus,  is  a  member  of  the 
B.  P.  O.  Elks,  the  Eagles,  and  he  and  his 
family  are  members  of  St.  Joseph's  parish 
of    the    Catholic    Church.      He    married    Miss 


Marie  A.  Kinsella,  of  East  St.  Louis.  They 
have  three  sons:  John  Dennis,  born  in  1907,  a 
haberdasher;  Thomas  Kinsella,  born  in  1909, 
a  student  at  St.  Louis  University;  and  James 
Francis,  born  in  1911,  attending  the  East  St. 
Louis  High  School. 

Herbert  Kingsbury  Browne  is  editor  of 
the  Mascoutah  Herald  and  secretary  and  man- 
ager of  the  Mascoutah  Publishing  Company, 
Incorporated.  The  Mascoutah  Herald  was 
founded  in  1885,  by  Carl  Montag.  Montag 
was  one  of  the  ablest  newspaper  men  of  his 
generation  in  Southern  Illinois.  He  conducted 
the  Herald  for  over  forty  years,  until  1928. 
All  the  time  it  was  under  his  management  it 
was  Democratic  in  politics.  In  1928  it  became 
one  of  the  Buechler  publications,  Mr.  Joseph 
N.  Buechler  being  president  of  the  Mascoutah 
Publishing  Company.  Since  then  it  has  been 
a  Republican  paper. 

H.  Kingsbury  Browne  was  born  at  Green- 
villle,  Illinois,  July  3,  1900.  His  grandfather, 
John  Browne,  was  an  Illinois  farmer.  His 
father  is  Herbert  Stevens  Browne,  a  retired 
business  man  and  prominent  citizen  of  Green- 
ville, who  for  over  a  quarter  of  a  century  was 
connected  with  the  Pet  Milk  Company  there, 
and  before  locating  at  Greenville  was  in  the 
wholesale  grocery  business  at  Chicago.  He 
has  been  a  leader  in  Republican  politics,  and 
was  offered  the  appointment  of  postmaster  of 
Greenville,  but  refused  it  because  of  his  busi- 
ness interests.  He  has  been  president  of  the 
school  board  and  secretary  of  the  board  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century.  He  was  born  at  Buda, 
Illinois,  March  13,  1857.  By  his  first  mar- 
riage he  had  two  children:  Ruth  M.,  wife  of 
William  E.  Cole,  circuit  clerk  and  recorder 
at  Hillsboro;  and  Stuart  C,  with  the  Missouri 
Pacific  Railway  at  Desoto,  Missouri.  The 
mother  of  H.  Kingsbury  Browne,  the  only 
child  of  his  father's  second  marriage,  is  Mrs. 
Charlotte  Hannah  (Kingsbury)  Browne.  The 
Kingsburys  are  of  English  ancestry.  Her 
father,  Dennis  Kingsbury,  was  one  of  the 
leading  criminal  attorneys  of  Illinois  and  at 
one  time  was  judge  of  the  Circuit  Court  in 
his  district.  Dennis  Kingsbury's  brother  Car- 
lisle was  also  a  noted  lawyer  at  Hillsboro. 
Charlotte  Hannah  Kingsbury  was  born  at 
Greenville,  and  is  a  woman  of  exceptional  edu- 
cation and  culture.  She  attended  the  Illinois 
State  Normal  University  at  Normal,  the  Nor- 
mal College  at  Jacksonville,  in  both  of  which 
institutions  she  subsequently  taught,  and  she 
also  was  a  student  of  Shurtleff  College  at 
Upper  Alton.  She  was  a  member  of  the  Car- 
negie Library  Board  for  eight  years,  in 
Greenville. 

H.  Kingsbury  Browne  was  educated  at 
Greenville  and  his  first  experience  in  the  news- 
paper line  was  with  the  old  Greenville  Item. 
During  the  World  war  he  was  employed  in 
essential  work  for  the  Pennsylvania  Railway 


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161 


at  Greenville  for  about  a  year.  He  was  not 
yet  seventeen  years  of  age  when  America 
entered  the  war.  Afterwards  he  was  con- 
nected with  the  Greenville  Advocate  until  he 
came  to  Mascoutah  in  1928. 

Mr.  Browne  is  secretary  of  the  local  Re- 
publican Central  Committee  and  holds  the 
office  of  justice  of  the  peace.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  the  Eastern 
Star  at  Greenville,  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows  and  Loyal  Order  of  Moose,  and 
is  a  charter  member  and  one  of  the  organizers 
of  the  Mascoutah  Rotary  Club,  serving  as  its 
first  and  only  secretary  to  date.  He  is  also 
secretary  of  the  Mascoutah  Commercial  Club. 

Mr.  Browne  married  Miss  Bessie  Wood,  of 
Vandalia,  Illinois,  on  December  17,  1927.  Mrs. 
Browne  attended  school  at  Vandalia.  She  is 
active  in  the  social  and  civil  life  of  her  com- 
munity. 

Nicholas  Hemmer,  of  O'Fallon,  is  an  Illi- 
nois citizen  who  has  won  respect  and  success 
both  as  a  business  man  and  public  official.  His 
name  is  known  all  over  St.  Clair  County  for 
his  tact  and  efficiency. 

He  was  born  July  18,  1880,  on  a  farm  near 
the  present  site  of  the  army  air  field,  Scott 
Field.  His  grandfather,  Anthony  Hemmer, 
was  a  native  of  Alsace-Lorraine  and  came 
to  America  just  before  the  Civil  war.  He  was 
an  Illinois  farmer.  The  father  of  Mr.  Hem- 
mer is  Peter  W.  Hemmer,  a  retired  resident 
of  O'Fallon.  He  was  born  on  the  Hemmer 
homestead  in  St.  Clair  County  in  1851,  and 
has  reached  the  advanced  age  of  seventy-nine, 
while  his  wife  is  seventy-five.  He  started  out 
as  a  farmer  and  followed  that  occupation  for 
many  years  and  later  was  in  the  mining  in- 
dustry until  he  retired.  Peter  W.  Hemmer 
married  Miss  Julia  Quigley.  They  had  a  large 
family  of  nine  sons  and  four  daughters,  four 
of  the  children  dying  in  infancy.  Those  who 
grew  up  were:  Nicholas;  Peter,  of  St.  Louis; 
Julia,  wife  of  Gustave  Budina  of  O'Fallon; 
Louis  S.,  in  Texas;  Mary,  deceased  wife  of 
John  Horner;  Edward,  of  Taylorville,  Illinois; 
Irene,  wife  of  Clem  Fournie,  a  manufacturer 
at  East  St.  Louis;  Margaret,  wife  of  Ray 
Weaver,  of  O'Fallon;  and  Elmer,  of  Green- 
wood, Mississippi. 

Nicholas  Hemmer  grew  up  in  St.  Clair 
County,  and  as  one  of  a  large  family  he  early 
sought  opportunities  to  make  himself  useful. 
When  thirteen  years  old  he  was  working  in 
the  mines.  When  he  went  to  work  he  did 
not  neglect  school  and  education,  and  by  at- 
tending night  school  rounded  out  a  practical 
training  for  larger  responsibilities.  Mr. 
Hemmer  was  a  miner  until  he  was  thirty 
years  of  age.  He  has  had  an  extensive  ex- 
perience in  the  coke  industry.  He  assisted  in 
constructing  the  coke  burning  plant  at  Tyler, 
and  Sikesville,  Pennsylvania,  and  served  as  its 
foreman  for  several  years. 


During  the  administration  of  Governor 
Dunne,  Mr.  Hemmer  was  appointed,  in  1913, 
state  humane  officer.  He  held  this  position 
throughout  the  four  year  term  of  Governor 
Dunne.  He  was  the  first  and  only  man  to 
hold  this  position  who  made  it  something 
more  than  a  nominal  office  and  whose  authori- 
ty was  not  only  respected  but  was  translated 
into  practical  humanitarian  results.  Largely 
through  his  efforts  the  railroad  yards  at  East 
St.  Louis  had  the  streets  surrounding  them 
paved.  Mr.  Hemmer  in  his  investigations 
noted  how  draft  horses  were  mistreated  while 
trying  to  pull  heavy  loads  from  the  yards 
through  the  muddy  streets.  He  used  tact 
rather  than  the  full  authority  of  the  law  in 
suggesting  that  the  railroad  companies  might 
benefit  themselves  as  well  as  the  public  by 
remedying  the  situation.  At  the  same  time 
he  secured  the  cooperation  of  the  property 
owners  in  a  plan  to  pave  the  streets.  One 
company  praised  Mr.  Hemmer's  actions  by 
saying  that  in  his  demand  that  draft  horses 
should  not  be  worked  when  in  poor  condition 
the  company  had  saved  twenty  per  cent  of  the 
cost  of  operation,  since  with  the  new  rule  in 
effect  employees  saw  that  horses  were  not 
taken  out  when  unable  to  do  a  proper  day's 
work.  Mr.  Hemmer  not  infrequently  caused 
men  to  unhitch  horses  that  had  been  ill  fed 
or  were  unequal  to  the  task  assigned  them, 
and  when  this  was  done  the  driver  was  quite 
ready  to  cooperate  in  seeing  that  the  horses 
were  in  good  shape. 

After  leaving  the  office  of  state  humane 
officer  Mr.  Hemmer  resumed  his  former  pro- 
fession as  an  expert  on  coke  plant  construc- 
tion and  operation.  He  was  superintendent 
of  several  coke  plants  in  Pennsylvania.  Aft- 
erwards he  returned  to  Illinois  and  since  1927 
has  been  connected  with  the  Swansea  Stone 
Company  at  East  St.  Louis. 

Mr.  Hemmer  has  been  a  loyal  Democrat 
since  acquiring  his  majority.  He  has  been  a 
delegate  to  many  state  conventions  of  the 
party,  has  been  a  Democratic  committeeman, 
has  served  on  the  City  Council  of  O'Fallon 
and  as  a  member  of  the  Fire  Department 
Committee.  In  1916  he  was  a  candidate  for 
the  Legislature,  but  was  defeated  by  the  over- 
whelming Republican  vote,  though  he  carried 
many  of  the  strong  Republican  precincts.  He 
was  also  unsuccessful  candidate  of  his  party 
for  clerk  of  the  Probate  Court.  Mr.  Hemmer 
is  a  third  degree  Knight  of  Columbus  and  a 
member  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

His  first  wife  was  Catherine  Richard,  who 
was  born  in  Alsace-Lorraine  and  was  brought 
to  America  when  a  girl  by  her  parents.  She 
died  in  1923,  mother  of  the  following  children: 
Vincent  Nicholas,  deceased;  Miss  Catherine, 
at  home;  Clemens,  of  St.  Louis;  Rita,  a  tal- 
ented singer  who  won  a  gold  medal  in  a 
singing  contest,  now  a  Red  Cross  worker  at 
St.    Louis;    Sullivan   Joseph   Roger,   attending 


162 


ILLINOIS 


high  school,  who  has  also  distinguished  him- 
self as  a  vocalist  and  won  a  medal  in  a  high 
school  contest  and  one  in  a  Southern  Illinois 
contest.  Mr.  Hemmer's  second  wife  was  Miss 
Louretta  Fournie,  of  Belleville.  They  have 
three  children,  Joseph,  John  and  James.  Mrs. 
Hemmer  has  a  sister  who  is  in  the  Catholic 
Sisterhood  and  one  brother  who  is  a  priest. 

William  Philip  Klein,  superintendent  of 
the  Dixie  Mills  at  East  St.  Louis,  was  on  the 
battle  front  in  France  when  the  armistice 
was  signed,  and  is  the  past  commander  of  the 
St.  Clair-Monroe  County  organization  of  the 
American  Legion.  He  is  a  successful  business 
man  and  has  taken  a  very  intense  interest  in 
the  welfare  and  betterment  of  the  men  who 
were  with  the  colors  during  the  war. 

Mr.  Klein  was  born  at  East  St.  Louis,  May 
17,  1894,  son  of  Max  and  Margaret  (Rupp- 
recht)  Klein,  both  of  whom  were  natives  of 
Germany.  His  mother  is  deceased  and  his 
father  is  a  retired  resident  of  East  St.  Louis. 
Max  Klein  served  in  the  German  army  during 
his  youth  and  came  to  America  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three. 

W.  P.  Klein's  education  was  limited  to  the 
opportunities  of  the  public  schools  in  East 
St.  Louis.  Since  leaving  school  he  has  been 
working  and  making  his  own  way.  For  a 
short  time  he  was  employed  in  St.  Louis, 
then  for  two  years  with  Swift  &  Company  of 
the  National  Stock  Yards,  and  for  a  year  and 
a  half  was  an  office  man  for  the  American 
Steel  Foundries  Company.  His  chief  study 
and  experience  has  been  in  the  field  of  traffic 
work.  He  was  with  the  Terminal  Railway  of 
East  St.  Louis  when  the  war  came  on. 

Mr.  Klein  was  one  of  the  first  men  from 
East  St.  Louis  to  enlist,  answering  the  call 
of  patriotic  duty  in  June,  1917.  He  was 
assigned  to  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty- 
fourth  Field  Artillery,  formerly  the  Third 
Illinois  Field  Artillery.  He  was  sent  for 
training  to  Camp  Logan  at  Houston,  Texas, 
with  the  Thirty-third  Division,  but  illness  com- 
pelled him  to  leave  his  outfit.  Later  he  was 
sent  on  to  New  York,  was  transferred  to  the 
Three  Hundred  and  Twenty-eighth  Field  Ar- 
tillery in  June,  1918,  and  was  oyerseas  dur- 
ing the  summer  and  fall  of  that  year.  He 
was  with  the  defensive  sector  on  the  Metz 
front  and  was  in  the  trenches  the  day  the 
armistice  was  signed.  After  the  armistice  he 
had  a  furlough  which  he  used  for  travel  and 
sight  seeing  in  Germany.  Coming  home  he 
was  discharged  at  Fort  Sheridan  in  March, 
1919. 

After  the  war  he  resumed  his  work  with 
the  Terminal  Railway  Company.  Later  the 
Government  gave  him  vocational  training  in 
the  Dixie  Mills,  where  his  previous  expe- 
rience enabled  him  to  take  hold  rapidly  of 
the  traffic  work.  He  has  been  with  the  Dixie 
Mills   since    February,   1920.     Within   a   year 


he  was  promoted  to  assistant  traffic  manager. 
For  a  year  and  a  half  he  was  on  the  road  as 
a  salesman,  then  returned  to  the  plant  as 
traffic  manager  and  in  1930  was  promoted  to 
superintendent. 

Mr.  Klein  is  a  charter  member  of  American 
Legion  Post  No.  53  at  East  St.  Louis,  and 
was  its  commander  in  1929-1930.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows.  He  married  Miss  Blanche  Hulick. 
They  have  two  children,  Kenneth  and 
Wilmadean. 

Hon.  Eugene  Peter  Kline,  who  on  Novem- 
ber 4,  1930,  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Illi- 
nois State  Senate  from  the  Forty-ninth  Sen- 
atorial District,  is  a  resident  of  East  St.  Louis, 
and  has  been  active  in  the  business  and  civic 
affairs  of  that  community  for  over  a  quarter 
of  a  century. 

He  was  born  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  July 
31,  1879.  His  grandfather,  Michael  Kline, 
was  a  native  of  Alsace-Lorraine,  Germany,  and 
died  at  Louisville.  The  father  of  Senator 
Kline  was  also  Michael  Kline,  who  was  born 
in  Blandenburg,  Ontario,  Canada,  January  12, 
1852,  and  died  in  April,  1914.  He  was  a 
pioneer  in  the  stove  industry  at  Louisville, 
and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  president 
of  the  Kentucky  Stove  Company.  His  wife 
was  Barbara  Liebold,  who  resides  at  Louis- 
ville and  is  a  native  of  Kentucky.  These  par- 
ents had  a  large  family  of  fourteen  children: 
Robert,  deceased;  Cornelius,  deceased;  Ira  J., 
in  the  hotel  business  at  San  Antonio,  Texas; 
Eugene  P.;  C.  E.,  of  Louisville;  L.  E.,  with 
Armour  &  Company  at  Kansas  City;  Irvin  J., 
with  Swift  &  Company  at  Fort  Worth,  Texas; 
Lillian,  deceased;  Corinne;  Gertrude;  Dean 
R.,  of  Louisville;  Robert  K.,  deceased;  and 
two  who  died  in  infancy. 

Eugene  Peter  Kline  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  Louisville,  for  two  years  at- 
tended the  University  of  Louisville  and  had 
a  three  year  course  in' a  business  college.  His 
entire  commercial  experience  has  been  with 
the  great  packing  firm  of  Swift  &  Company. 
He  started  at  Louisville  and  in  1902  came  to 
the  National  Stock  Yards  at  East  St.  Louis, 
where  he  is  Swift  &  Company's  auditor  in 
the  accounting  department. 

His  home  has  been  in  St.  Clair  County  for 
nearly  thirty  years  and  for  fully  a  quarter 
of  a  century  he  has  been  active  in  Democratic 
politics.  For  many  years  he  was  precinct 
chairman  of  the  Sixty-fifth  Precinct,  and  this 
precinct  was  solidly  Democratic  under  his  ad- 
ministration. In  1925  he  was  appointed  to 
rill  a  vacancy  on  the  County  Board  of  Super- 
visors, and  in  1927  was  reelected  for  a  two 
year  term  and  was  again  reelected  in  1929. 
He  was  chairman  of  the  board.  His  record 
as  a  supervisor,  particularly  his  efforts  in  I 
behalf  of  an  administration  that  would  be  at 
once  progressive  and  economical,  furnished  the 


ft-  -  .cf.  JcCsfa^-e^A^^e^sL-^y 


ILLINOIS 


163 


chief  plank  in  the  platform  on  which  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Illinois  State  Senate 
in  1930. 

On  February  5,  1902,  Mr.  Kline  married 
Miss  Laura  Miller,  of  Louisville,  where  her 
father,  Fred  Miller,  was  a  merchant.  Their 
children  are:  Lydia  May,  now  with  the  Ameri- 
can Chemical  Company  at  East  St.  Louis; 
Cornelius,  a  medical  student  in  St.  Louis  Uni- 
versity; Marguerite  Barbara,  wife  of  Gaston 
Shellman,  of  East  St.  Louis;  and  Norma,  a 
high  school  student. 

William  Frederick  Schoeneweiss,  World 
war  veteran,  Greenview  business  man,  is  a 
native  of  Menard  County.  He  was  born  near 
the  village   of   Tallula,   December   29,   1893. 

His  grandfather,  Frederick  William  Schoene- 
weiss, was  born  in  Goldschein,  Furstentum, 
Waldeck,  Germany,  and  married  a  girl  from 
Bremen  Elberfeld,  Germany.  His  wife  died 
in  1910.  Frederick  William  Schoeneweiss 
brought  his  family  to  America  in  1870  and 
settled  in  Menard  County.  His  son,  August 
W.  Schoeneweiss,  was  at  that  time  six  years 
old.  He  was  born  in  Germany  April  13,  1864. 
Part  of  his  boyhood  was  spent  in  a  log  cabin 
home  and  the  family  came  to  America  poor 
and  worked  themselves  out  of  the  hardships 
and  limited  circumstances  of  a  rural  locality, 
becoming  people  of  substance  and  influence. 
August  W.  Schoeneweiss  is  a  resident  of 
Greenview  and  has  spent  his  active  life  as  a 
farmer.  He  is  a  man  known  for  his  straight- 
forwardness and  honesty,  is  a  Republican 
voter,  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and 
has  always  shown  a  great  love  for  children. 

August  W.  Schoeneweiss  on  March  18,  1891, 
married  Lydia  K.  Paas,  who  was  born  in 
Mason  County,  Illinois,  April  29,  1870.  She  is 
an  active  worker  in  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
is  devoted  to  her  home  and  family,  votes  the 
Republican  ticket  and  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Legion  Auxiliary.  Her  father, 
Frederick  William  Paas,  was  born  in  the 
famous  City  of  Duesseldorf,  Germany,  com- 
ing to  America  in  1856  and  locating  at  St. 
Louis.  When  the  Civil  war  came  on  he  en- 
listed in  the  Union  army,  joining  Company 
A  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Fourteenth  Illinois 
Infantry,  and  served  three  years  under  Col. 
James  W.  Judy.  He  was  at  the  siege  of 
Vicksburg,  taking  part  in  the  battle  of  Jack- 
son, Mississippi,  and  later  was  in  the  battle 
of  Nashville.  An  injury  received  in  the  war 
was  eventually  the  cause  of  his  death.  He 
passed  away  in  January,  1908.  By  occupation 
he  was  a  saddler.  Frederick  William  Paas 
married  in  1858.  His  wife  was  born  in  Arens- 
berg,  Germany,  and  died  November  25,  1890. 
William  Frederick  Schoeneweiss  was  the  sec- 
ond in  a  family  of  six  children.  His  sister 
Kathryn  Ida,  born  March  8,  1892,  is  Mrs. 
Lester  Nichols.  Elsie  May,  born  May  26,  1895, 
is  Mrs.  Carl  H.  Morgan,  of  Peoria.     Cordelia, 


born  April  10,  1898,  is  Mrs.  Charles  E.  Den- 
nis, of  Mason  City.  Oscar  Milton,  of  Peoria, 
born  August  6,  1903 ;  and  Virgil  August,  of 
Greenview,  born  May  6,  1908. 

William  Frederick  Schoeneweiss  was  edu- 
cated in  grade  schools  at  San  Jose  and  Green- 
view, graduating  from  the  high  school  of  the 
latter  town  in  1914.  While  in  high  school  he 
played  basketball,  was  on  the  track  team  and 
took  part  in  the  literary  programs.  Later  he 
gained  a  considerable  knowledge  of  the  law 
by  correspondence  work  with  the  American 
Extension  University.  His  early  business  ex- 
perience was  gained  working  in  a  general 
store  at  Anchor,  Illinois,  and  as  bookkeeper 
in  the  bank  at  Greenview. 

He  left  the  bank  to  answer  the  call  to  the 
colors  on  September  18,  1917.  For  two  months 
he  was  in  training  at  Camp  Dodge,  Iowa,  was 
sent  from  there  to  Camp  Pike  at  Little  Rock, 
Arkansas,  where  he  remained  about  seven  and 
a  half  months.  At  Camp  Pike  he  was  put 
in  the  Three  Hundred  and  Forty-sixth  Infan- 
try Band,  part  of  the  Eighty-seventh  Division. 
On  August  24,  1918,  he  sailed  from  Hoboken 
on  the  transport  Ceramic,  landing  at  Liver- 
pool and  after  about  a  week  crossed  the  chan- 
nel to  France,  to  Le  Havre,  on  the  transport 
Viper.  He  ranked  as  a  second  class  musician 
in  the  band.  He  was  at  Tours,  Bordeaux 
and  Montoir,  and  was  at  the  latter  place,  not 
far  from  the  port  of  St.  Nazaire,  when  the 
armistice  was  signed.  On  March  19,  1919,  he 
sailed  for  home  on  the  transport  Alaskan,  and 
was  given  his  honorable  discharge  at  Camp 
Grant  April  17,  1919. 

On  returning  to  Greenview  he  resumed  work 
in  the  bank  for  about  two  and  a  half  years 
and  for  a  time  was  with  the  Standard  Oil 
Company.  He  engaged  in  business  for  himself 
in  February,  1928,  and  has  built  up  a  large 
clientage  in  insurance,  loans  and  real  estate. 

Mr.  Schoeneweiss  is  a  Republican  and  an 
interested  worker  in  his  party.  He  is  now 
(1931)  village  clerk.  He  has  an  unusual  range 
of  wholesome  interests  and  activities.  For 
nine  years  he  was  scout  master,  after  serving 
as  assistant  two  years,  and  was  responsible 
for  much  of  the  good  work  done  by  the  Boy 
Scouts  at  Greenview.  As  a  member  and  dea- 
con in  the  Presbyterian  Church  he  is  leader 
of  the  church  choir,  teaches  a  class  in  Sunday 
School  and  is  treasurer  of  the  Sunday  School. 
He  is  treasurer  of  the  Greenview  Lodge  of 
Masons,  is  a  past  vice  chancellor  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias,  is  chaplain  of  American 
Legion  Post  No.  116  and  a  member  of  the 
Forty  and  Eight  Club.  Music  is  his  hobby, 
and  he  is  master  of  a  number  of  instruments. 
Nature  makes  a  big  appeal  to  him  and  hiking 
and  camping  have  been  among  his  favorite 
diversions.  He  also  follows  basketball,  base- 
ball and  tennis.  On  August  9,  1930,  he  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Edith  May  Burns,  of 
Greenview. 


164 


ILLINOIS 


Oscar  Louis  Becker,  of  Belleville,  chief 
deputy  sheriff  of  St.  Clair  County,  has  had  a 
career  that  has  brought  him  prominently  be- 
fore the  people.  He  is  a  veteran  of  the  mov- 
ing picture  industry,  and  has  shown  a  high 
degree  of  capability  in  every  undertaking.  He 
was  chosen  for  his  present  office  not  so  much 
on  political  grounds  as  because  of  his  record 
as  a  business  man  and  citizen. 

Mr.  Becker  was  born  at  New  Athens,  St. 
Clair  County,  Illinois,  January  31,  1888.  His 
grandparents  on  both  sides  were  of  German 
birth  and  ancestry.  His  father,  Peter  Becker, 
was  born  June  14,  1857.  The  grandfather 
was  a  native  of  Hesse  Darmstadt,  Germany, 
and  came  to  America  about  1848.  Peter 
Becker  married  Louisa  Wagner  of  New  Ath- 
ens, and  Oscar  L.  was  one  of  a  family  of 
eight  children. 

Mr.  Becker  grew  up  at  New  Athens  and 
Belleville  and  has  made  his  home  in  the  lat- 
ter city  since  1901.  He  completed  his  high 
school  education  there.  After  leaving  high 
school  he  worked  in  a  hardware  store,  and 
from  that  turned  his  attention  to  the  new 
profession  of  motion  picture  machine  operator. 
It  was  a  new  and  crude  industry,  and  his  ex- 
perience has  made  him  familiar  with  all  the 
technical  developments,  from  the  day  of  the 
old  flickering  pictures  to  the  complicated  tech- 
nique that  produces  the  films  of  beauty  and 
color  and  sound  today.  From  operating  a 
projector  he  turned  to  the  managing  end  of 
the  business.  He  was  manager  of  the  Washing- 
ton Theater  in  Belleville  until  his  service  was 
called  as  a  soldier.  He  became  junior  grade 
master  engineer  with  the  One  Hundred  and 
Fourteenth  Engineers  of  the  First  Army 
Corps,  was  trained  at  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
and  at  Camp  Beauregard,  Alexandria,  Louisi- 
ana, and  in  August,  1918,  went  overseas.  His 
regiment  was  twice  cited  for  bravery  and  effi- 
ciency for  their  work  in  constructing  a  road 
for  heavy  artillery  within  the  space  of  twenty- 
four  hours   during  the   Meuse-Argonne   drive. 

Mr.  Becker  came  home  from  France  in  May, 
1919,  and  from  1919  to  1926  was  manager  of 
the  Lincoln  Theater.  For  a  short  time  he 
managed  a  theater  at  Alton  and  then  became 
interested  in  the  Midway  Theater  of  Belle- 
ville. He  sold  out  in  1929,  and  had  some 
theatrical  interests  in  East  St.  Louis  until 
he  took  his  position  as  chief  deputy  sheriff 
on  January  1,  1930. 

Mr.  Becker  is  a  Democrat  and  has  been  a 
leader  in  his  precinct  and  county.  He  was 
precinct  chairman  several  years,  for  two  years 
committeeman  of  the  Fifth  Ward.  He  has 
also  given  much  time  to  the  work  of  the 
American  Legion.  During  1921-22  he  was 
commander  of  George  Hilgard  Post  No.  58  at 
Belleville,  the  only  man  to  serve  two  succes- 
sive years,  and  he  brought  new  life  into  the 
Post  and  built  up  its  membership  until  it  be- 
came one  of  the  largest  posts  in  the  state.    He 


is  also  a  member  of  the  Forty  and  Eight  and 
the  B.  P.  0.  E.  of  Belleville.  Mr.  Becker  is 
a  member  of  St.  Clair  Lodge  No.  24,  A.  F. 
and  A.  M.,  at  Belleville,  Belleville  Chapter 
No.  106,  Royal  Arch  Masons,  Belleville  Com- 
mandery  of  the  Knights  Templar  and  Ainad 
Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at  East  St. 
Louis.  He  married,  March  10,  1928,  Miss 
Alfred  Fuchs,  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

George  Richard  Hays,  M.  D.,  is  a  country v 
physician,  member  of  a  fast  diminishing  army 
of  men  who  have  known  what  sacrifice  means, 
who  have  accustomed  themselves  to  the  routine 
of  going  by  day  or  by  night  wherever  duty 
has  called,  and  who  find  their  satisfaction  in 
an  approving  conscience  and  in  the  growing 
appreciation  of  the  hundreds  and  thousands 
whom  their  skill  and  professional  aid  have 
helped  in  time  of  need. 

Doctor  Hays,  who  has  practiced  in  South- 
ern Illinois  for  thirty-five  years,  is  a  resident 
of  Marissa,  St.  Clair  County.  He  was  born 
on  a  farm  near  Baldwin  in  Randolph  County, 
Illinois,  December  17,  1870.  His  father, 
George  Hays,  was  born  in  South  Carolina,  in 
1814,  and  married  in  that  state  Margaret 
Gray  Cathcart.  She  was  born  near  Winns- 
boro,  South  Carolina,  of  Irish  parentage. 
They  came  to  Illinois  in  1848  and  settled  on 
the  great  prairie,  as  it  was  then  known,  where 
George  Hays  developed  a  home  for  himself 
and  family.  He  died  in  1890  and  his  wife  in 
1912.  Doctor  Hays  parents  had  a  typical  old- 
time  family,  fourteen  children,  seven  boys  and 
seven  girls.  His  mother  was  married  at  the 
age  of  eighteen.  When  she  came  to  Illinois 
she  had  the  care  of  one  baby  a  year  and  a 
half  old  and  another  six  weeks  old.  She  was 
remarkable  for  her  energy,  her  loving  care 
and  her  strength  and  endurance.  She  lived 
to  the  ripe  old  age  of  ninety-two.  She  was 
born  in  1820  and  died  in- 1912.  At  the  age  of 
eighty-five  she  fractured  a  hip,  but  such  was 
her  physique  that  she  recovered  except  for  a 
mere  limp  and  lived  seven  years  longer.  Of 
the  children  only  four  are  now  living:  Charles, 
a  merchant  at  Houston,  Illinois;  Thomas,  a 
farmer  near  Marissa;  Nancy,  wife  of  John 
Moffat,  of  Sterling,  Kansas;  and  Dr. 
George  R. 

Doctor  Hays  was  reared  on  a  farm,  attended 
country  schools  and  the  high  school  at  Sparta. 
After  attending  high  school  he  entered  Beau- 
mont Medical  College  of  St.  Louis,  now  the 
College  of  Medicine  of  St.  Louis  University. 
This  institution  gave  him  the  degree  of  Doc- 
tor of  Medicine  in  1896.  For  nine  and  a  half 
years  Doctor  Hays  practiced  at  Oakdale  in 
Washington  County,  and  since  1905  his  home 
has  been  at  Marissa,  where  a  host  of  friends 
appreciate  the  loving  care  he  has  given  them. 
Doctor  Hays  is  a  member  of  the  St.  Clair 
County,  Illinois  State  and  American  Medical 
Associations   and  of  the   United   Presbyterian 


ILLINOIS 


165 


Church.  He  is  a  Republican.  His  great  pub- 
lic service  has  been  his  professional  work, 
and  after  these  duties  have  been  performed 
his  first  thought  and  attention  are  devoted 
to  his  family  and  home. 

Doctor  Hays  married,  May  19,  1897,  Miss 
Rosetta  McHatton.  Her  parents  were  Scotch 
people.  She  grew  up  in  Randolph  County 
and  is  a  graduate  of  the  Sparta  High  School. 

Ethel  Marguerite,  oldest  of  Doctor  Hays' 
children,  was  born  February  18,  1901,  was 
graduated  with  the  A.  B.  degree  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois  in  1923,  and  then  taught  for 
four  years  in  the  Carlyle  High  School.  She 
is  the  wife  of  Oscar  Schoendienst,  of  Carlyle, 
cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  that 
city.  They  had  two  children,  Thomas  Paul 
and  Betty  Jean,  but  Betty  died  January  1, 
1932. 

Dr.  Thomas  George  Hays,  the  older  son, 
both  sons  having  chosen  the  same  profession 
as  their  father,  was  born  August  5,  1903.  He 
graduated  from  the  College  of  Medicine  of 
the  University  of  Illinois  with  the  class  of 
1928.  On  graduating  he  became  a  candidate 
for  appointment  as  a  physician  in  the  United 
States  Navy.  He  took  the  examination  with 
700  young  medical  graduates.  Only  fifty  were 
given  commissions  and  he  stood  twelfth  in  the 
class  after  an  exhaustive  examination  last- 
ing a  week.  He  was.  given  the  rank  of  lieu- 
tenant, was  sent  to  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Hos- 
pital and  then  to  the  Base  Hospital  at  San 
Diego,  California,  subsequently  was  trans- 
ferred to  a  battleship,  spending  some  time  in 
Chinese  waters,  and  his  latest  assignment  was 
to  the  airplane  carrier  Saratoga,  the  largest 
of  the  ships  of  the  navy  of  that  type.  Dr. 
Thomas  George  Hays  married  Julia  Lips- 
comb, of  Columbus,  Mississippi,  and  has  a 
son,  Thomas  George. 

Robert  Paul  Hays,  the  younger  son,  was 
born  April  5,  1912,  and  is  a  member  of  the 
class  of  1933  in  Illinois  University. 

The  youngest  of  the  children  of  Doctor  and 
Mrs.  Hays  is  Mary  Louise,  born  March  4, 
1917.  She  has  completed  her  second  year  of 
work  in  the   Marissa   High   School. 

Robert  Everett  Johns,  East  St.  Louis 
contractor  and  builder,  is  one  of  the  best 
known  men  in  St.  Clair  County  in  Union 
Labor  circles,  and  has  been  an  influential  fig- 
ure in  many  matters  of  arbitration  affecting 
the  building  trade  workers.  He  is  now  sec- 
retary of  the  Tri-County  District  Council 
Carpenters  Union. 

Mr.  Johns  is  member  of  a  family  well 
I  known  in  St.  Clair  and  adjoining  counties.  He 
was  born  in  Randolph  County,  February  12, 
1868,  son  of  Smith  and  Elizabeth  (Skinner) 
Johns.  Smith  Johns  was  a  native  of  Ken- 
tucky, came  to  Illinois  in  1859,  and  through- 
out his  active  career  followed  the  business 
of   carpenter   and   contractor.     He   lived   suc- 


cessively at  Chester,  Baldwin,  Marissa,  Salem, 
and  from  1890  until  his  death  in  1893  at  East 
St.  Louis.  Smith  Johns  married,  at  Chester, 
Miss  Elizabeth  Skinner,  a  native  of  Ohio,  who 
died  in  February,  1927.  Of  their  family  of 
eight  children  Robert  E.  is  the  oldest;  Wil- 
liam A.  is  also  a  carpenter  and  contractor  at 
East  St.  Louis;  John  D.  has  been  a  contractor, 
but  is  now  president  of  the  East  St.  Louis 
Levee  District;  Arthur  is  general  manager  of 
the  Swift  Fertilizer  Plant  at  Norfolk,  Vir- 
ginia; all  three  of  the  daughters  are  deceased, 
Mary,  who  died  about  1867,  Lora,  who  died 
in  1926,  and  Minnie,  who  died  in  1909;  Charles 
W.  Johns,  the  youngest  son,  is  district  super- 
intendent for  the  Midwest  Publishing  Com- 
pany at  East  St.  Louis. 

Robert  E.  Johns  attended  public  school  and 
in  the  choice  of  an  occupation  was  no  doubt 
influenced  by  the  atmosphere  in  which  he 
grew  up,  that  of  carpenter  work.  For  three 
years  he  was  employed  in  a  lumber  yard  at 
Salem.  Since  then  he  has  been  a  carpenter 
and  contractor  at  East  St.  Louis.  His  work 
could  be  identified  by  a  number  of  prominent 
pieces  of  construction.  He  was  assistant  su- 
perintendent during  the  erection  of  the  Chi- 
cago &  Alton  Railway  office  and  freight  depot 
in  East  St.  Louis.  For  four  years  he  was 
building  foreman  on  the  Cahokia  Power  Plant 
in  East  St.  Louis,  handling  all  the  heavy  con- 
struction for  that  plant.  For  some  years  he 
was  general  foreman  for  his  brother,  J.  D. 
Johns.  He  was  also  foreman  during  the  con- 
struction of  the  Mobile  and  Ohio  Railway 
freight  houses  in  East  St.  Louis.  Mr.  Johns  is 
a  member  and  a  past  secretary,  a  past  presi- 
dent and  a  past  business  agent  of  the  Car- 
penters Union  No.  169.  In  March,  1927,  he 
was  elected  secretary  of  the  Tri-County  Dis- 
trict Council  Carpenters  Union,  and  since  that 
time  has  been  fully  occupied  by  the  duties 
and  responsibilities  of  this  position.  His 
office  is  in  the  Arcade  Building  at  East  St. 
Louis. 

During  the  World  war  Mr.  Johns  was  a 
member  of  the  Illinois  State  Council  of  De- 
fense, and  after  the  war  was  appointed  by  the 
secretary  of  the  treasury  a  member  of  the 
Council  of  War  Civics.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  B.  P.  O.  Elks.  Mr.  Johns  married  Miss 
Matilda  K.  Schwartz,  of  East  St.  Louis, 
daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Mary  Schwartz. 
She  attended  school  in  East  St.  Louis  and  is 
a  member  of  the  Daughters  of  the  Veterans 
and  is  active  in  the  Episcopal  Church.  Their 
children  are:  Alice,  who  was  educated  at  East 
St.  Louis,  is  the  wife  of  Lester  Dalby,  of  that 
city;  Mary,  who  also  attended  the  public 
schools  of  East  St.  Louis,  is  the  wife  of  Ber- 
nard Stookey,  of  Belleville;  Mabel  is  the  wife 
of  Milton  Boehmer,  of  East  St.  Louis;  Rob- 
ert E.,  the  onljr  son,  and  unmarried,  was  edu- 
cated at  East  St.  Louis  and  now  represents 
the  third  generation  of  the  Johns  family  as 
a  carpenter  and  contractor. 


166 


ILLINOIS 


Julius  Adolph  Holten,  member  of  the 
Board  of  Assessors  of  St.  Clair  County,  and 
former  member  of  the  County  Board  of  Su- 
pervisors, has  been  a  popular  and  prominent 
citizen  both  as  a  worker  and  in  public  affairs 
since  early  manhood. 

Mr.  Holten  was  born  at  French  Village  in 
St.  Clair  County,  December  25,  1875.  His 
twin  brother,  Joseph  Holten,  another  St.  Clair 
citizen  and  former  member  of  the  Illinois  Leg- 
islature, was  born  half  an  hour  later  but  on 
December  26.  The  father  of  these  brothers 
was  John  Holten,  a  native  of  Leipsig,  Ger- 
many, who  came  to  America  and  worked  his 
way  up  the  river  from  New  Orleans  to  St. 
Louis  on  a  river  boat.  At  the  age  of  thirty 
he  married  Charlotta  Eicherman.  John  Hol- 
ten was  a  farmer  and  was  the  contractor  who 
built  the  old  rock  road  known  as  the  Belle- 
ville and  East  St.  Louis  Turnpike.  He  died 
at  the  age  of  fifty-five,  in  1877,  and  his 
widow  survived  him  until  November  11,  1929, 
being  ninety-five  when  she  passed  away. 

Julius  A.  Holten  attended  public  schools  in 
East  St.  Louis.  For  several  years  of  his 
childhood  he  lived  on  a  farm  at  Jerseyville, 
Illinois.  He  returned  to  East  St.  Louis  at 
the  age  of  twelve  years,  and  after  leaving 
school  was  apprenticed  to  learn  the  trade  of 
sheet  iron  worker.  This  was  his  occupation 
for  eight  years  and  he  became  a  member  of 
Local  No.  6  of  the  Sheet  Iron  Workers  Union. 
Among  other  talents  that  Mr.  Holten  devel- 
oped when  young  was  a  bent  for  music.  He 
is  a  cornet  player  of  first  rank  and  as  a  young 
man  he  led  the  band  in  a  circus  and  traveling 
show  for  three  years.  In  1900,  after  return- 
ing to  East  St.  Louis,  he  became  a  salesman 
for  Anheuser  Busch,  Incorporated,  and  was 
with  that  company  for  eleven  years,  and  for 
twelve  years  with  the  Independent  Brewery 
Company.  Since  prohibition  he  has  been  con- 
nected with  other  local  corporations.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Musicians  Protective  Union 
No.  717,  and  the  Cake  and  Bread-Drivers  Lo- 
cal No.  611. 

He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  County 
Board  of  Supervisors  in  1927  and  again  in 
1929,  holding  office  until  January  1;  1931.  In 
1930  he  made  the  campaign  as  the  Democratic 
nominee  for  the  County  Board  of  Assessors 
and  was  elected  on  November  4  by  a  substan- 
tial majority.  His  term  of  office  is  from 
January  1,  1931,  to  January  1,  1937.  In  the 
primary  of  1930  he  won  the  nomination  over 
eight  opponents  by  3,000  votes.  Mr.  Holten 
is  a  member  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  the 
Order  of  Foresters. 

He  married,  April  30,  1900,  Ada  Ortgier. 
They  were  married  twice,  the  first  ceremony 
being  performed  by  a  justice  and  the  second 
by  a  priest.  Her  father,  William,  was  a  car- 
riage manufacturer.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Holten's 
oldest  child,  Erma,  was  born  in  1904  and  died 
in   1918.     The   second   child,   Chester,  born   in 


1905,  is  a  high  school  graduate.  Olivett  is 
Mrs.  Edward  Fry,  of  East  St.  Louis,  and 
has  a  son,  named  Dale.  Norman,  a  gradu- 
ate of  high  school,  is  with  the  Illinois  Levee 
Board  at  East  St.  Louis.  The  three  youngest 
children,  all  attending  high  school  at  East 
St.  Louis,  are:  Forest,  who  is  both  a  splendid 
student  and  a  star  on  the  football  team,  Ada 
Louise  and  Ruth. 

Robert  William  Tiernan,  county  auditor 
of  St.  Clair  County,  has  been  in  business  at 
East  St.  Louis  for  the  past  sixteen  years. 
Whether  as  a  business  man  or  as  a  public 
official  citizens  have  learned  to  trust  him  im- 
plicitly and  rely  upon  his  earnestness  and 
zeal  for  efficiency  and  economy  in  govern- 
mental affairs. 

Mr.  Tiernan  was  born  at  Ashland,  Ken- 
tucky, February  13,  1892,  and  is  a  member 
of  an  old  American  family.  His  grandfather, 
Miles  Tiernan,  was  born  near  Indianapolis, 
Indiana,  was  a  Union  soldier  during  the  Civil 
war,  and  after  the  war  moved  to  Kentucky, 
where  he  lived  to  a  ripe  old  age.  George 
Miles  Tiernan,  father  of  Robert  W.,  is  still  a 
resident  of  Ashland,  Kentucky,  where  he  was 
born,  and  is  an  operating  official  of  the 
Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railway.  George  Miles 
Tiernan  married  Lucina  Short,  whose  people 
came  from  Virginia  and  were  pioneers  of  Ken- 
tucky. Her  father,  Charles  Short,  has 
reached  the  remarkable  age  of  a  hundred 
years.  He  served  as  a  captain  in  the  Con- 
federate army. 

Robert  W.  Tiernan  grew  up  at  Ashland, 
graduated  from  the  Ashland  High  School  and 
completed  the  work  of  the  College  of  Agri- 
culture of  the  University  of  Kentucky,  where 
he  was  graduated  in  1915  with  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Agriculture.  Shortly  after  his 
graduation  he  visited  an  uncle  in  East  St. 
Louis.  While  here  he  saw  an  opportunity 
which  he  quickly  converted  into  practice  and 
launched  himself  in  the  real  estate  and  insur- 
ance business,  a  field  in  which  he  has  oper- 
ated with  signal  success.  He  devoted  his  full 
time  to  business  until  he  was  elected  county 
auditor  in  the  fall  of  1928.  He  began  his 
official  term  December  1  of  that  year,  his  term 
expiring  in  December,  1932. 

Mr.  Tiernan  married  Miss  Agnes  E.  Soucy, 
daughter  of  P.  J.  Soucy,  of  East  St.  Louis. 
Soucy  is  a  name  of  French  origin.  Her  father 
is  a  business  man  at  East  St.  Louis.  Mrs. 
Tiernan  completed  her  education  in  St. 
Theresa's  Academy  in  East  St.  Louis.  They 
have  two  sons,  Robert  William,  Jr.,  born 
March  22,  1922,  and  Thomas  Soucy,  born 
August  24,  1928. 

Mr.  Tiernan  and  two  of  his  brothers  were 
with  the  colors  in  the  World  war.  His  brother 
George,  who  served  with  the  rank  of  first  lieu- 
tenant in  the  army,  is  now  assistant  editor  of 
the    Indianapolis    Star.      The    other    brother, 


/tuUL 


r 


t 


ILLINOIS 


167 


Paul  Arthur,  also  with  the  Indianapolis  Star, 
served  with  the  Marine  Corps.  George  was 
with  the  Intelligence  Department  while  in 
France.  Mr.  Robert  W.  Tiernan  had  a  rec- 
ord of  four  years  with  the  Kentucky  National 
Guard  and  was  a  first  lieutenant  in  the  Cadet 
Corps  at  the  University  of  Kentucky  while  a 
student  there.  Soon  after  America  inter- 
vened in  the  World  war  he  volunteered  and 
helped  organize  the  Third  Field  Artillery  at 
East  St.  Louis,  which  under  the  National 
Army  organization  became  the  One  Hundred 
and  Twenty-fourth  Regiment.  However,  Mr. 
Tiernan  was  not  called  to  active  duty.  In  col- 
lege he  was  a  Pi  Kappa  Alpha.  As  a  loyal 
Democrat  he  has  by  his  official  record  earned 
the  confidence  of  members  of  all  parties.  In 
his  campaign  for  county  auditor  in  1928  he 
received  the  support  of  every  Republican  pa- 
per in  the  county. 

Will  Taylor  made  his  permanent  business 
affiliation  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  when  as  a 
stenographer  he  went  on  the  pay  roll  of  the 
Franklin  Life  Insurance  Company  at  Spring- 
field. Mr.  Taylor  has  for  many  years  been  an 
official  of  this  great  organization,  being  secre- 
tary of  the  company. 

He  was  born  on  a  farm  near  Springfield, 
July  15,  1875,  only  child  of  Rev.  John  W.  and 
Nancy  E.  (McKinnie)  Taylor.  His  parents 
were  also  natives  of  Sangamon  County,  and 
his  father  was  widely  known  as  a  minister  of 
the  Baptist  Church.  The  maternal  grand- 
father, William  P.  McKinnie,  was  born  in 
Sangamon  County,  a  son  of  a  pioneer  who 
came  to  this  section  of  the  state  in  1819  and 
took  up  Government  land,  being  one  of  the 
first  settlers  in  the  county. 

Will  Taylor  during  his  boyhood  lived  on 
his  grandfather's  farm  in  the  country  near 
Springfield.  After  the  country  schools  he  at- 
tended a  business  college,  learned  stenography 
there,  and  the  first  opportunity  to  try  his  skill 
came  when  he  entered  the  Springfield  office  of 
the  Franklin  Insurance  Company  in  1894.  His 
work  gave  him  opportunity  to  learn  the  busi- 
ness and  he  rapidly  mastered  the  general  rou- 
tine, qualified  for  administrative  and  executive 
duties,  was  made  assistant  secretary  and  in 
1920  was  advanced  to  the  post  of  secretary 
of  the  company. 

Mr.  Taylor  married  in  1910  Charlotta 
Waucker,  who  was  born  at  Virden,  Illinois, 
and  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  that  town 
and  at  Springfield.  Her  father,  James  E. 
Waucker,  was  a  dealer  in  musical  instru- 
ments. Mr.  Taylor  and  his  wife  are  members 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the 
Springfield  Y.  M.  C.  A.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  Knights  of  Pythias, 
B.  P.  0.  Elks,  is  former  president  of  the  Ro- 
tary Club  and  was  district  governor  in  1929 
and  in  1930-31  he  was  a  director  of  the  Rotary 


International.  Politically  he  is  an  independ- 
ent Republican.  His  hobby  is  cultivating  his 
flower  and  vegetable  garden.  Mr.  Taylor  has 
traveled  over  Illinois  in  the  interests  of  the 
Rotary  Club  and  is  a  much  admired  public 
speaker.  He  is  a  past  president  of  the  Spring- 
field Council  of  Social  Agencies  and  has  been 
president  and  a  director  of  the  Springfield 
Chamber  of  Commerce. 

Harold  Baltz,  of  Belleville,  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1928,  and  his  abilities  and  effort 
have  been  rewarded  by  a  successful  practice 
and  a  position  in  which  he  is  well  regarded 
and  respected  by  his  fellow  attorneys  and 
fellow  citizens. 

He  was  born  at  Millstadt,  St.  Clair  County, 
May  21,  1904,  and  is  a  member  of  one  of  the 
old  and  honored  families  of  that  county.  His 
father,  G.  F.  Baltz,  is  cashier  of  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Millstadt.  Harold  Baltz 
grew  up  in  Millstadt,  attended  local  schools 
and  completed  the  greater  part  of  his  high 
school  course  and  two  years  of  college  work 
in  the  Illinois  Normal  University  at  Normal. 
He  had  some  experience  as  a  teacher  in  the 
Pittsfield  High  School  in  Pike  County.  He 
completed  his  professional  training  in  Wash- 
ington University  at  St.  Louis,  where  he  was 
graduated  with  the  law  class  in  1928.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Phi  Alpha  Delta  legal  fra- 
ternity. After  graduating  he  returned  to 
Belleville,  and  is  associated  with  the  law  firm 
of  P'armer  &  Klingel,  with  offices*  in  the  Com- 
mercial Building. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  St.  Clair  County, 
Illinois  State  Bar  Associations.  He  belongs 
to  the  younger  progressive  school  in  the 
Democratic  party  and  is  a  member  of  the 
Evangelical  Church.  Mr.  Baltz  married,  No- 
vember 23,  1929,  Miss  Frances  Clelland,  of 
Joliet,  Illinois.  She  is  of  Scotch  ancestry.  She 
is  an  A.  B.  graduate  of  Normal  University 
and  taught  for  two  years  in  the  university 
before  her  marriage.  She  is  active  in  social 
and  civic  affairs  at  Belleville. 

Wilbur  Edward  Krebs,  who  served  in  the 
Thirty-fifth  Division  overseas  in  the  World 
war,  is  a  prominent  Belleville  attorney,  hav- 
ing won  a  high  position  in  the  bar  since  his 
return  from  France. 

Mr.  Krebs  was  born  in  Chicago,  Illinois, 
August  31,  1893.  However,  he  represents  an 
old  Southern  Illinois  family,  both  parents  be- 
ing of  German  ancestry.  His  father,  Arthur 
Krebs,  was  born  in  Belleville,  where  he  has 
been  a  manufacturer.  Mr.  Krebs'  mother  was 
Emma   Rutz,  who  is  also  living  at  Belleville. 

Wilbur  E.  Krebs  was  a  small  boy  when  his 
parents  returned  to  Belleville.  He  attended 
the  common  and  high  schools  of  that  city,  and 
from  high  school  entered  the  University  of 
Illinois,  where  he  took  the  law  course  and 
was  graduated  LL.  B.  in  1916.     He  had  made 


168 


ILLINOIS 


some  progress  in  building  up  a  law  business 
when  America  entered  the  World  war.  He 
closed  his  law  office,  enlisted  in  the  Officers 
Training  School,  was  commissioned  a  second 
lieutenant  and  sent  to  Camp  Grant  and  put 
with  the  Eighty-sixth  Division.  He  was  soon 
promoted  to  first  lieutenant,  and  when  his 
division  went  to  France  he  was  transferred  to 
the  Thirty-fifth  Division. 

After  the  war  he  returned  to  Belleville  and 
soon  opened  his  office  in  the  First  National 
Bank  Building.  He  is  said  to  have  one  of 
the  largest  practices  in  the  city.  Mr.  Krebs 
has  interested  himself  in  his  soldier  com- 
rades, was  a  charter  member  of  American 
Legion  Post  No.  58  at  Belleville,  and  is  now 
its  judge  advocate.  He  has  been  secretary  of 
the  Belleville  Lodge  of  Elks  for  ten  years  and 
has  filled  most  of  the  chairs  excepting  exalted 
ruler.  He  is  a  member  of  the  St.  Clair  Coun- 
ty, Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  Associa- 
tions and  votes  as  a  Republican.  He  is  master 
in  chancery  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  St.  Clair 
County. 

On  December  16,  1922,  he  married  Miss 
Amelia  Steuernagel,  of  Belleville.  Their  chil- 
dren are:  Anne  Catherine,  born  July  15,  1924; 
and  Mary  Elizabeth,  born  June  16,  1927. 

The  Lincoln  High  School  of  East  St. 
Louis,  has  a  record  of  sending  a  higher  per- 
centage of  its  graduates  to  college  than  any 
other  high  school  in  the  county  or  state.  It 
is  a  school  that  has  realized  in  an  admirable 
degree  the  functions  as  well  as  the  ideals  of 
giving  its  pupils  a  broad  and  efficient  educa- 
tion. The  Senior  High  School  enrolls  300 
pupils,  with  a  staff  of  twelve  teachers,  all  of 
whom  have  degrees,  and  some  of  them  with 
graduate  credits  toward  higher  degrees.  In 
the  Junior  High  School  are  enrolled  600  stu- 
dents, with  seventeen  teachers,  some  of  whom 
also  do  work  in  the  Senior  High  School.  The 
school  is  fully  accredited  and  the  students  are 
eligible  for  entrance  to  all  universities  on  the 
accredited  list  of  the  North  Central  Associa- 
tion of  Colleges  and  Secondary  Schools,  of 
which  it  is  a  member. 

The  Lincoln  High  School  in  the  •  minds  of 
most  people  in  St.  Louis  is  synonomous  with 
its  principal,  Mr.  J.  W.  Hughes.  Mr.  Hughes 
was  born  at  Warsaw,  Gallatin  County,  Ken- 
tucky, and  from  boyhood  exemplified  the  spirit 
and  practice  of  self  help  in  attaining  an  edu- 
cation. He  worked  his  way  through  Berea 
College  of  Kentucky,  where  he  took  his  A.  B. 
degree  in  1895.  For  several  years  he  taught 
in  Kentucky,  also  at  Wheeling,  West  Virginia, 
and  in  1916  came  to  East  St.  Louis.  At  that 
time  the  Lincoln  High  School  had  a  course  of 
nine  credits,  while  now  it  has  thirty-three  and 
a  half  credits.  Mr.  Hughes  took  his  M.  A. 
degree  from  the  University  of  Chicago.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  National  Education  Asso- 
ciation, the  Principals  Division  of  the  Illinois 


State  Teachers  Association,  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  High  School  Conference  of  Illinois. 
His  hobby  is  travel  and  he  has  seen  a  great 
deal  of  the  world.  During  the  summer  of 
1930  he  made  a  trip  covering  19,500  miles. 

William  Eugene  Walter,  of  East  St. 
Louis,  is  one  of  the  vice  presidents  of  the  In- 
ternational Boilermakers  Union.  Mr.  Walter 
is  one  of  the  ablest  men  in  union  labor  organ- 
ization in  the  Middle  West,  and  in  his  practi- 
cal work  and  influence  he  has  represented 
other  branches  of  labor  than  his  own  trade 
and  has  been  particularly  a  trusted  factor  in 
handling  grievances  and  arbitration  cases. 

He  was  born  at  Indianapolis,  Indiana,  April 
21,  1880,  son  of  Henry  and  Nellie  (Cronin) 
Walter.  His  mother  died  in  Indianapolis. 
Henry  Walter  was  a  carpenter  by  trade,  was 
born  at  Youngstown,  Ohio,  lived  at  Indianap- 
olis for  some  years  and  later  moved  to  St. 
Louis,  Missouri,  where  he  died. 

William  Eugene  Walter  had  a  public  school 
education  and  at  an  early  age  entered  the 
shops  of  the  Missouri  Pacific  Railway  Com- 
pany as  an  apprentice  boilermaker.  At  the 
end  of  five  years  he  was  given  his  card  as  a 
qualified  boilermaker,  and  he  gave  a  long  and 
efficient  service  in  the  practical  work  of  his 
trade,  until  he  was  called  to  more  responsible 
duties  as  a  representative  of  his  fellow  work- 
ers. As  a  journeyman  boilermaker  he  worked 
at  Pine  Bluff,  Arkansas;  at  Paducah,  Ken- 
tucky, and  then  after  a  year  of  travel  through- 
out the  West  settled  permanently  at  East  St. 
Louis  in  1908. 

In  1910  he  became  an  official  in  the  local 
Boilermakers  Union,  being  made  business 
agent  for  the  local  at  East  St.  Louis.  At  the 
Kansas  City  convention  of  1930  he  was  made 
one  of  the  international  vice  presidents,  with 
headquarters  at  East  St.  Louis,  but  with 
supervision  over  the  organization  throughout 
the  states  of  Illinois,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Kentucky 
and  Pennsylvania.  Early  in  1930  he  was 
called  to  work  in  Florida,  and  his  position  is 
one  that  requires  his  presence  in  many  parts 
of  the  United    States  and  Canada. 

Mr.  Walter  married  Miss  Edna  Kline.  She 
was  born  and  educated  at  Great  Bend,  Kan- 
sas. They  have  two  children.  The  son,  Wil- 
liam L.  Walter,  is  in  the  oil  business  at  East 
St.  Louis.  The  daughter,  Evelyn,  graduated 
from  Stevens  College  at  Columbia,  Missouri, 
with  the  class  of  1925,  then  taught  for  several 
years  in  Missouri,  and  is  now  attending  the 
University  of  Illinois,  where  she  will  receive 
her  degree  in  physical  education  in  1932. 

Mr.  Walter  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
Lodge  at  Mattoon,  Illinois,  and  belongs  to  the 
Ainad  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at  East 
St.  Louis.     He  is  a  Republican  in  politics. 

Mr.  Walter  is  known  for  his  fairness  to 
both  labor  and  capital,  and  both  sides  in  con- 
troversies have  learned  to  trust  his  judgment 


ILLINOIS 


169 


and  sense  of  rectitude.  One  of  the  reforms 
in  the  work  of  his  trade  for  which  he  is 
credited  was  the  bringing  about  of  the  five- 
day  week  standard.  He  has  been  a  powerful 
factor  in  extending  union  organization 
throughout  St.  Clair  County  and  also  over 
into  Madison  and  Macoupin  counties. 

James  Russell  Richards,  Illinois  state 
mine  inspector  for  the  Eighth  Illinois  District, 
which  includes  St.  Clair,  Clinton  and  Monroe 
counties,  is  a  resident  of  Belleville.  Coal 
mining  has  been  the  chief  business  of  the 
Richards  family  in  Southern  Illinois  for  a 
great  many  years.  Mr.  James  Richards  had 
held  office  under  the  Department  of  Mines  and 
Minerals  of  the  state  government  of  Illinois 
since  the  election  of  Governor  Frank  Lowden 
in  1916. 

He  was  born  at  Belleville,  August  15,  1878. 
His  father,  the  late  George  Richards,  was 
born  in  Lincolnshire,  England,  April  1,  1849, 
and  came  to  America  when  fourteen  years 
of  age.  For  many  years  he  was  an  independ- 
ent mine  operator  in  St.  Clair  County,  having 
a  mine  on  the  Freeburg  Road  and  another  on 
the  Mascoutah  Road  near  Belleville.  Mr. 
George  Richards  died  August  20,  1918.  He 
married  Miss  Margaret  James,  who  was  born 
at  Pottsville,  Pennsylvania,  of  English  and 
Welsh  parentage.  She  is  now  past  eighty 
years  of  age  and  a  resident  of  Belleville. 
George  Richards  was  for  twelve  years  an  ald- 
erman in  Belleville.  The  children  of  the  fam- 
ily are:  George,  of  Belleville;  James  R. ;  Ed- 
ward, a  mining  man  at  Belleville;  Elmer,  also 
a  miner  at  Belleville;  Anna,  wife  of  Jacob 
Meyer,  of  Belleville;  and  Florence,  wife  of 
John  Wegner,  of  Belleville. 

James  R.  Richards  grew  up  in  Belleville 
and  attended  the  public  schools,  but  at  an 
early  age  went  to  work  in  his  father's  mine 
and  has  been  through  all  the  grades  of  ex- 
perience of  a  practical  mine  worker.  After 
he  began  work  in  the  mines  he  continued  his 
education,  attending  night  classes  of  a  com- 
mercial college  and  thus  getting  a  practical 
commercial  education.  He  was  associated 
with  his  father  in  the  mining  business  until 
1917,  when  he  was  appointed  to  a  position  on 
the  State  Mining  Board.  In  1920  he  was 
made  state  mine  inspector  of  the  Eighth  Dis- 
trict, serving  the  two  terms  of  the  Governor 
Small  administration  and  was  reappointed  by 
Governor  Emmerson.  He  represents  the  state 
department  in  the  enforcement  of  state  laws 
relative  to  the  operation  of  mines  and  the 
conditions  under  which  miners  shall  work.  He 
has  shown  a  peculiar  efficiency  and  talent  for 
handling  the  duties  of  his  position,  and  in  any 
controversial  matter  moth  sides  know  in  ad- 
vance his  integrity  and  fairness,  and  his  sug- 
gestions for  adjustment  are  seldom  refused. 

Mr.  Richards  married  Miss  Emma  Respich, 
of  Belleville,     They  have  four  children,  Ruth 


Margaret,  Russell  George,  Norma  Florence, 
and  Catherine  Marie.  "Mr.  Richards  is  affili- 
ated with  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Good  Samaritans. 

Egbert  Irvin  Rogers,  a  railroad  man  with 
more  than  thirty  years  of  practical  experience 
in  the  engineering  and  executive  departments, 
has  since  1921  been  connected  with  the  Peoria 
&  Pekin  Union  Railway  Company.  On  October 
11,  1929,  he  became  president  to  succeed  V. 
V.  Boatner,  who  had  just  been  elevated  to 
the  presidency  of  the  Chicago-Great  Western 
Railway  Company. 

Mr.  Rogers  was  born  at  St.  Joseph,  Mis- 
souri, August  3,  1876.  In  1897  he  graduated 
Bachelor  of  Science  in  engineering  from  the 
University  of  Missouri,  and  immediately 
accepted  the  first  available  opportunity  for 
work  in  the  field  which  he  had  chosen.  He 
became  a  section  laborer  on  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railway  at  Jackson,  Tennessee.  He  was 
with  the  Illinois  Central  a  number  of  years, 
with  a  steady  climb  to  larger  responsibilities. 
He  was  assistant  division  engineer  and  road- 
master  on  construction  and  maintenance  in 
the  South.  From  June,  1912,  to  January  1, 
1916,  he  was  chief  engineer  employed  by  the 
Lorimer  &  Gallagher  Construction  Company 
at  St.  Louis  and  acted  as  chief  engineer  for 
the  Texas  City  Transportation  Company  at 
Texas  City,  Texas.  He  then  resumed  work 
for  the  Illinois  Central  Railway,  in  the  valu- 
ation department,  and  later,  in  1916,  was 
promoted  to  roadmaster  of  the  Iowa  division, 
with  offices  at  Fort  Dodge. 

On  August  15,  1921,  Mr.  Rogers  came  to 
Peoria  as  chief  engineer  of  the  Peoria  &  Pekin 
Union  Railway  Company.  From  that  position 
he  was  promoted  to  his  present  office. 

Mr.  Rogers  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Railway  Engineers  Society.  He  has  been  very 
popular  in  business,  transportation  and  social 
circles  since  becoming  a  resident  of  Peoria. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Creve  Cceur  Club, 
Peoria  Country  Club,  Peoria  Association  of 
Commerce,  and  is  affiliated  with  Illinois  Lodge 
No.  263,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  the  Scottish  Rite 
Consistory  and  the  Mystic  Shrine  at  Memphis, 
Tennessee.  He  married,  October  31,  1899,  Miss 
Ethel  Claire  Harbour.     She  was  born  in  Iowa. 

Raymond  Bernard  Hendricks,  who  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1903,  has  won  some  of 
the  most  satisfying  distinctions  as  an  able 
lawyer  and  is  one  of  the  recognized  leaders  in 
the  East  St.  Louis  bar. 

Mr.  Hendricks  was  born  at  Chicago,  Illi- 
nois, February  22,  1882,  son  of  Samuel  and 
Jane  (Tansey)  Hendricks.  His  father  was  a 
native  of  old  Vincennes,  Indiana,  and  while 
in  the  service  of  a  railway  express  company 
was  transferred  to  Illinois  about  1880.  Jane 
Tansey  was  born  in  Chicago.  Both  of  Mr. 
Hendricks'  parents  are  still  living. 


170 


ILLINOIS 


In  Chicago  he  attended  parochial  and  pub- 
lic high  schools,  and  in  1903  was  graduated 
LL.  B.  from  the  University  of  Michigan.  He 
at  once  located  in  East  St.  Louis,  and  his  pro- 
fession and  his  leadership  in  public  affairs 
have  made  his  name  widely  known  throughout 
the  southern  part  of  the  state.  He  is  engaged 
in  a  general  law  practice  and  is  a  member  of 
the  East  St.  Louis  and  Illinois  Bar  Associa- 
tions. 

Mr.  Hendricks  by  appointment  of  Governor 
Dunne  served  as  public  administrator  of  St. 
Clair  County  from  1912  to  1917.  He  has 
always  been  a  staunch  Democrat,  has  taken 
part  in  many  campaigns  and  is  a  very  force- 
ful speaker  on  political  and  general  subjects. 
In  1924  he  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
state's  attorney  of  St.  Clair  County. 

Mr.  Hendricks  is  a  member  of  the  Knights 
of  Columbus  and  the  Catholic  Church.  He 
married  in  1912  Miss  Sallie  Tozier,  daughter 
of  Alfred  and  Hallie  Tozier.  She  died,  leav- 
ing two  children :  George,  who  was  born  in 
1913,  is  a  graduate  of  the  East  St.  Louis 
High  School  and  is  now  taking  the  medical 
course  in  St.  Louis  University;  and  Mary, 
who  was  born  in  1914  and  is  in  high  school. 
In  1922  Mr.  Hendricks  married  Miss  Eva 
Maddox,  of  East  St.  Louis,  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Emma  Maddox.  She  received  her 
education  in  the  schools  of  East  St.  Louis. 
By  this  marriage  Mr.  Hendricks  has  a  daugh- 
ter, Lenore,  born  in  1924. 

Ivan  James  Grieve  is  one  of  the  prominent 
younger  men  in  the  mining  industry  of  South- 
ern Illinois.  His  experience  has  covered  every 
phase  of  work  underground  and  above  ground, 
and  he  is  now  superintendent  of  mine  rescue 
and  first  aid  work  for  the  Belleville  District. 
The  district  under  his  supervision  comprises 
Madison,  Clinton,  St.  Clair,  Washington,  Ran- 
dolph and  Bond  counties. 

Mr.  Grieve  is  a  member  of  a  family  that 
has  long  been  well  known  in  mining  circles 
in  Southern  Illinois.  However,  his  native  state 
is  Utah.  He  was  born  at  Salt  Lake  City 
September  16,  1895.  His  father,  Thomas  R. 
Grieve,  was  born  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  but 
grew  up  near  Caseyville  in  St.  Clair  County, 
Illinois.  Thomas  R.  Grieve  married  Miss  Isa- 
bella Kinghorn*,  and  both  are  of  Scotch  ances- 
try. She  was  born  at  Bethalto,  Illinois. 
Thomas  R.  Grieve  about  1890  moved  to  Salt 
Lake  City,  Utah,  and  lived  in  that  state  until 
1912,  when  he  returned  to  Illinois.  Since 
then  his  home  has  been  at  Belleville.  He  and 
his  wife  had  a  large  family  of  children:  Peter, 
in  Salt  Lake  City,  where  he  is  a  foreman 
with  the  McDonald  Candy  Company;  William, 
in  the  mining  business  at  Belleville;  Thomas 
E.,  superintendent  of  the  Gordon  Candy  Com- 
pany of  Corning,  New  York;  Ivan  J.;  John, 
Lubricating  Engineer  for  the  Standard  Oil 
Company;  George  R.,  a  foreman  with  the  Gor- 


don Candy  Company  at  Corning,  New  York; 
Miss  Margaret,  at  home;  Vernon  G.,  a  gradu- 
ate of  the  University  of  Utah  and  now  sport- 
ing editor  of  the  San  Francisco  Examiner 
at  Denver ;  Albert,  in  the  oil  business  .at  Belle- 
ville; and  one  child  who  died  in  infancy. 

Ivan  J.  Grieve  lived  in  Salt  Lake  City  until 
he  was  seventeen  years  of  age.  Two  years 
of  his  high  school  education  were  acquired 
there.  He  returned  with  the  family  to  Illinois, 
and  finished  his  schooling  at  Pocahontas.  On 
leaving  school  he  went  to  work  in  the  mines, 
and  this  was  his  routine  until  the  beginning 
of  the  World  war.  In  1917  he  enlisted  in  the 
Marine  Corps  and  was  sent  to  Paris  Island, 
South  Carolina.  There  he  was  assigned  duty 
as  instructor  in  gun  practice.  Mr.  Grieve  was 
kept  at  Paris  Island  until  May,  1919,  when 
he  was  discharged  as  a  sergeant. 

After  the  war  he  resumed  his  mining  work. 
In  1924  his  abilities  were  recognized  and  he 
was  called  to  the  responsible  position  of  county 
mine  inspector  of  St.  Clair  County.  In  this 
position  he  did  much  to  bring  about  a  better 
understanding  and  practical  working  agree- 
ments between  the  miners  and  operators.  At 
the  end  of  his  term  he  entered  the  service 
of  the  Commonwealth  Steel  Company  at  Gran- 
ite City. 

Governor  Emmerson  appointed  Mr.  Grieve 
to  his  present  position  as  superintendent  of 
first  aid  and  mine  rescue  work  in  the  Belle- 
ville District.  He  knows  the  working  condi- 
tions of  the  mines,  has  the  confidence  of  miners 
and  operators,  and  has  done  some  splendid 
work  in  instruction  and  demonstration.  His 
fitness  and  qualifications  are  fully  recognized 
by  the  practical  miners  with  whom  he  has  to 
deal  and  with  his  superiors  in  the  department. 

Mr.  Grieve  is  a  member  of  American  Legion 
Post  No.  58  at  Belleville.  He  is  a  Republican. 
He  married,  December  31,  1917,  Miss  Olive 
May  Carr.  Her  father,  James  Carr,  is  one 
of  the  pioneer  miners  of  the  Caseyville  dis- 
trict. Mrs.  Grieve  grew  up  and  was  educated 
in  the  public  schools  at  Belleville.  They  have 
two  children:  Ivan  Wayne,  born  September 
7,  1920,  and  Loren  James,  born  January  22, 
1925. 

Clifford  Moore  Harris  is  a  resident  of 
East  St.  Louis,  but  his  work  and  profession 
of  construction  engineer  has  made  him  widely 
known  on  both  sides  of  the  river.  He  has  a 
fine  reputation  as  a  business  man,  is  a  leader 
in  labor  circles,  and  a  citizen  whose  value 
has  been  appreciated  in  the  community  on 
many  grounds. 

Mr.  Harris  was  born  at  Pana,  Illinois,  May 
17,  1880,  son  of  James  J.  and  Mollie  (Horner) 
Harris.  The  venerable  James  J.  Harris  at 
the  age  of  eighty-seven  is  still  possessed  of 
health  and  normal  faculties  and  is  a  much 
loved  resident  of  Ramsey,  Illinois.  He  has 
had   a   remarkable   career.      He   was   born   at 


ILLINOIS 


171 


North  Vernon,  Indiana.  He  and  another  youth 
from  the  same  town,  John  Phillip  Sousa,  went 
into  the  Union  army  as  drummer  boys.  Sousa 
subsequently  came  to  international  fame  as 
a  great  band  leader,  head  of  the  Sousa  Band 
for  forty  years.  James  J.  Harris  was  a 
very  young  boy  at  the  time  and  his  father 
caught  him  and  brought  him  back  home.  Again 
he  left  and  this  time  was  accepted  as  a 
drummer  boy.  He  served  out  his  first  enlist- 
ment, and  remained  until  hostilities  had  closed. 
James  J.  Harris  was  a  son  of  William  Harris, 
who  moved  to  Indiana  from  Kentucky.  After 
the  war  James  J.  Harris  lived  at  North 
Vernon,  Indiana,  married  in  Kentucky,  and 
on  coming  to  Illinois  located  at  Pana,  where 
for  several  years  he  followed  the  trade  of 
plasterer.  He  then  became  a  fireman  with 
the  Ohio  &  Mississippi  Railway,  was  promoted 
to  engineer,  and  in  the  fall  of  1889  was  made 
an  engineer  with  the  Nickel  Plate  Railroad, 
on  a  branch  that  was  then  a  narrow  gauge 
line.  He  continued  with  this  road  as  an 
engineer  until  his  retirement  from  service 
in  1910.  He  is  a  Republican  and  since  the 
age  of  twenty-five  has  been  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  belongs  to  the  Brother- 
hood of  Railway  Engineers  and  the  Christian 
Church.     His  wife  died  in  1890. 

Clifford  M.  Harris  attended  high  school  at 
Charleston,  Illinois.  He  was  a  boy  when  he 
went  into  the  shops  of  the  Clover  Leaf  Rail- 
way to  learn  the  machinist's  trade.  He  com- 
pleted his  apprenticeship  at  Frankfort,  Indi- 
ana, and  remained  with  the  Clover  Leaf  for 
about  six  years.  Then  followed  a  period  of 
journeyman  experience  as  a  machinist,  which 
took  him  to  many  different  parts  of  the  United 
States.  For  about  two  years  he  was  foreman 
of  the  machine  shops  of  the  Wabash  Railroad 
at  Decatur,  Illinois,  and  coming  to  East  St. 
Louis,  was  a  machinist  with  the  Terminal 
Railroad  Association  for  about  two  years,  and 
for  a  short  time  with  the  Troy  &  Eastern 
Railroad.  Since  leaving  the  railway  service 
he  has  practiced  as  a  construction  engineer, 
in  which  field  he  is  one  of  the  foremost  men 
in  Southern  Illinois.  Many  firms  have  em- 
ployed him  on  big  construction  jobs  through- 
out the  southern  part  of  the  state,  and  he 
is  generally  acknowledged  as  an  expert  not 
only  in  technical  knowledge  but  as  an  executive 
in  the  handling  of  men.  For  two  years  #  he 
has  been  secretary  of  the  Illinois  Operating 
Engineers  Association,  and  is  a  member  of 
the  International  Association  of  Machinists. 
For  the  past  eight  years  he  has  been  secretary 
of  the  East  St.  Louis  Gun  Club.  His  hobby 
is  marksmanship  and  he  is  a  member  of  the 
National  Rifle  Association,  president  of  the 
Rifle  Association  of  East  St.  Louis,  and  dur- 
ing the  World  war  he  trained  many  recruits 
in  rifle  marksmanship.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  Lodge. 


Mr.  Harris  married,  November  29,  1900, 
Miss  Anna  Kirby,  of  Frankfort,  Indiana, 
daughter  of  Kale  Kirby,  who  came  from 
County  Clare,  Ireland.  Mrs.  Harris  attended 
school  at  Frankfort.  They  have  two  children. 
Susie  Fay,  born  April  24,  1903,  is  a  graduate 
of  the  East  St.  Louis  High  School  and  is 
now  Mrs.  Edward  R.  Hiob,  of  St.  Louis, 
Missouri  They  have  one  daughter,  Jane  Anne, 
born  May  20,  1931.  Miss  Mary  Thelma  Har- 
ris, born  March  4,  1906,  is  a  graduate  of  the 
East  St.  Louis   High   School. 

John  Wesley  Carrington  is  doing  admir- 
able service  in  the  educational  field  of  his 
native  state  and  has  been  since  1926  the  effi- 
cient and  popular  superintendent  of  the  public 
schools  of  the  City  of  Cairo,  metropolis  and 
judicial  center  of  Alexander  County  and  one 
of  the  important  entrepots  on  the  Mississippi 
River. 

Mr.  Carrington  was  born  near  Loda,  Iro- 
quois County,  Illinois,  March  31,  1891,  and 
is  a  son  of  Wesley  O.  and  Havana  (Willis) 
Carrington,  the  former  of  whom  was  born 
near  Greencastle,  Indiana,  whence  he  came 
with  his  parents  to  Illinois  when  he  was  a  boy. 
The  mother  was  born  and  reared  in  Illinois. 

After  his  graduation  in  the  high  school  at 
Loda  John  W.  Carrington  was  a  student  two 
years  in  the  Illinois  State  Normal  College 
at  Normal,  Illinois,  and  in  1922  he  was  grad- 
uated in  the  University  of  Illinois,  from  which 
he  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science. 
He  later  had  one  year  of  graduate  work  in 
the  University  of  Chicago,  besides  returning 
to  his  alma  mater,  the  University  of  Illinois, 
for  advanced  graduate  work.  His  pedagogic 
career  was  initiated  in  the  autumn  of  1910, 
when  he  was  nineteen  years  of  age,  and  he 
thus  passed  two  years  as  a  teacher  in  rural 
district  schools  in  his  native  county.  In  the 
meanwhile  he  attended  summer  sessions  at 
the  State  Normal  School,  besides  being  there 
a  regular  student  one  year.  He  next  gave 
two  years  of  service  as  principal  of  a  grade 
school  at  Fairbury,  Livingston  County,  and 
one  year  as  superintendent  of  the  public 
schools  of  Manteno,  Kankakee  County.  Dur- 
ing the  ensuing  three  years  he  was  principal 
of  the  high  school  at  Washburn,  Woodford 
County,  and  during  the  following  year  he  was 
a  student  in  the  University  of  Illinois.  He 
next  served  two  years  as  principal  of  the 
high  school  at  Homer,  Champaign  County,  and 
he  gave  a  similar  period  of  service  as  prin- 
cipal of  the  high  school  at  Oakland,  Coles 
County.  Since  1926  he  has  been  doing  charac- 
teristically loyal,  efficient  and  constructive 
work  as  superintendent  of  the  city  public 
schools  of  Cairo,  and  he  has  done  much  to 
advance  the  standards  of  service  in  all  depart- 
ments of  the  local  schools.  The  Cairo  schools 
have    an    enrollment   of   fully    3,000    students, 


172 


ILLINOIS 


the  physical  equipment  of  the  various  schools 
is  of  modern  order,  including  two  fine  high- 
school  buildings,  which  were  completed  in 
1925.  The  schools  retain  a  corps  of  101 
teachers  in  the  grades  and  in  the  high  schools. 
Mr.  Carrington  has  been  an  enthusiast  in  his 
chosen  profession  and  his  success  therein  has 
been  reflected  in  the  excellent  work  of  the 
various  Illinois  schools  with  which  he  has  been 
identified.  Mr.  Carrington  is  a  member  of 
the  National  Education  Association  and  the 
Illinois  State  Teachers  Association.  As  a 
resourceful  educator  he  still  continues  a  stu- 
dent and  keeps  in  advance  of  all  progress 
made  in  the  various  details  of  public-school 
administration.  His  political  allegiance  is 
given  to  the  Republican  party,  he  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Rotary  Club  in  his  home  city,  and 
he  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fraternity  and 
the  Phi  Delta  Kappa  college  fraternity. 

Mr.  Carrington  subordinated  all  other  in- 
terests to  the  call  of  patriotism  when  the 
nation  became  involved  in  the  World  war.  In 
March,  1918,  he  enlisted  in  the  United  States 
Army,  was  given  assignment  to  the  Sixty- 
eighth  Artillery  Regiment,  C.  A.  C,  with 
which  he  had  eight  months  of  service  over- 
seas with  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces. 
He  received  his  honorable  discharge  in  March, 
1919,  and  the  more  gracious  associations  of 
his  World  war  service  are  perpetuated  through 
his  affiliation  with  the  American  Legion  Post 
No.  406.  In  the  City  of  Joliet,  Illinois,  in 
1919,  was  solemnized  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Carrington  and  Miss  Alice  DuMoulin,  and  they 
are  popular  figures  in  the  representative  so- 
cial and  cultural  circles  of  their  present  home 
city. 

Thomas  P.  Reilly,  chief  of  police  of  the 
City  of  Edwardsville,  has  had  a  distinguished 
record  as  an  officer  of  the  law,  and  for  many 
years  has  also  been  well  and  favorably  known 
in  the  business  and  public  life  of  his  home 
community. 

Mr.  Reilly  was  born  in  Bradford,  Yorkshire, 
England,  March  3,  1879,  son  of  Peter  and 
Mary  Jane  (Griffin)  Reilly,  and  is  the  only 
survivor  of  their  three  children.  His  father 
was  a  master  tailor  in  the  British  army.  His 
post  was  one  that  took  him  to  many  places  in 
the  far  flung  dominions  of  Great  Britain. 
Thus  the  early  years  of  Thomas  P.  Reilly  were 
spent  in  many  different  places.  He  attended 
school  in  Ireland,  England,  Bermuda,  Nova 
Scotia,  West  Indies  and  South  Africa,  and 
completed  his  education  in  Ohio  after  coming 
to  America.  He  has  been  an  American  since 
1892,  when  he  was  thirteen  years  of  age. 
After  leaving  school  he  took  up  the  trade  of 
marble  cutter  and  in  1896  came  to  St.  Louis, 
Missouri.  His  mother  died  in  1889,  at  Jamaica, 
West  Indies,  and  his  father  in  1905,  at  Cleve- 
land, Ohio. 


Chief  Reilly  has  been  a  resident  of  Ed- 
wardsville since  1899.  His  first  association 
with  the  city  was  as  a  marble  cutter  for  the 
N.  O.  Nelson  Company.  In  1904  he  became 
international  organizer  for  the  International 
Association  of  Marble  Cutters  for  the  United 
States  and  Canada.  At  Philadelphia  he  re- 
signed this  work  in  1905,  in  order  to  return 
home  and  be  with  his  family. 

It  was  in  May,  1905,  that  Mr.  Reilly  did 
his  first  work  with  the  police  department  of 
Edwardsville.  He  resigned  in  1909,  to  resume 
his  trade  as  a  marble  cutter.  In  1910  he  was 
elected  tax  assessor  of  Edwardsville  Township 
of  Madison  County,  being  the  first  to  hold 
that  office  under  the  two-year  term.  He  was 
reelected  in  1912,  and  then  refused  further 
office.  In  1914,  during  the  administration  of 
Governor  Dunne,  he  was  appointed  deputy 
state  fire  marshal,  holding  that  office  until 
1916.  In  1916  he  was  Democratic  candidate 
for  the  office  of  sheriff  of  Madison  County, 
and  after  the  campaign  he  engaged  in  the 
insurance  business.  Mr.  Reilly  has  been  writ- 
ing insurance  in  Edwardsville  for  the  past 
fifteen  years,  and  since  1922  he  has  also  con- 
ducted a  real  estate  business. 

During  1917  he  was  employed  in  work  in 
connection  with  the  Intelligence  Department 
of  the  United  States  Army.  In  1918  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Edwardsville  City 
Council  and  served  four  consecutive  terms  of 
two  years  each.  During  the  World  war 
period  he  was  also  chairman  of  the  War  Sav- 
ings Stamp  Committee  in  the  Belleville  dis- 
trict. This  district  comprised  several  counties, 
and  it  showed  the  greatest  per  capita  sales  of 
any  district  in  the  state. 

Mr.  Reilly  has  gratified  a  normal  ambition 
for  reasonable  success  in  business,  but  for 
many  years  his  heart  has  been  in  his  work  as 
a  peace  officer,  and  he  has  devoted  much  of 
his  time  to  it  from  a  sense  of  public  duty.  In 
1924  he  acted  as  personal  body  guard  for 
Thomas  Williamson,  the  United  States  dis- 
trict attorney  who  was  handling  the  prosecu- 
tion of  the  Egan  gang,  the  most  notorious 
band  of  gangsters  in  the  country  up  to  that 
time.  Mr.  Reilly  also  acted  as  body  guard 
for  the  late  William  J.  Bryan,  and  was  body 
guard  for  Senator  Deneen  while  he  was  gov- 
ernor of  the  state,  and  also  served  as  personal 
body  guard  for  Vice  President  Thomas  Mar- 
shall. He  was  appointed  chief  of  police  of 
Edwardsville  in  1929,  and  has  built  up  the 
police  force  to  a  point  of  efficiency  unexcelled 
in  any  of  the  smaller  cities  of  the  state.  In 
his  career  he  has  demonstrated  again  and 
again  a  peculiar  talent  for  handling  police 
work  in  connection  with  the  enforcement  of 
the  laws.  In  May,  1931,  Chief  Reilly  accepted 
the  position  of  fire  chief  of  the  Edwardsville 
fire  department  for  the  good  of  efficiency  in 
the  reorganizing  of  the  fire  department.     Mr. 


A^fiLS&ZkkZ'. 


^Lw^.  *■$. 


ILLINOIS 


173 


Reilly  is  a  member  of  the  Police  Chiefs  Asso- 
ciation of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  and 
is  a  fourth  degree  Knight  of  Columbus.  He 
was  for  several  years  secretary  of  the  Demo- 
cratic Central  Committee  of  Madison  County, 
chairman  of  the  Township  Central  Committee. 
He  has  been  a  loyal  supporter  of  wholesome 
sports.  During  1915-20  he  trained  a  running 
team,  representing  the  Edwardsville  fire  de- 
partment, which  won  the  state  championship 
three  successive  years,  thus  entitling  them  to 
permanent  possession  of  the  medal. 

Chief  Reilly  married,  November  17,  1899, 
at  St.  Louis,  Miss  Bertha  Stutz,  of  Belleville. 
Of  the  ten  children  born  to  their  marriage 
nine  are  living,  Ruth,  Hazel,  Albertha,  Wini- 
fred, Evelyn,  Thomas  II,  Evans,  Cleo  and 
Judith. 

Hermon  Harrison  Cole,  M.  D.,  is  an  able 
specialist  who  since  the  close  of  the  World 
war,  in  which  he  did  his  part  as  a  medical 
officer  overseas,  has  practiced  at  Springfield, 
where  his  offices  are  in  the  Leland  Building. 

Doctor  Cole  was  born  at  Alton,  Illinois, 
February  6,  1893,  a  son  of  Hermon  and  Lil- 
lian (Gillham)  Cole,  both  of  whom  represented 
old  and  prominent  families  of  Southern  Illi- 
nois. His  grandfather,  Hermon  Cole,  was  one 
of  the  original  members  of  the  Chester  Milling 
Company  at  Chester,  Illinois,  one  of  the  larg- 
est flouring  mills  in  the  country.  Hermon 
Cole,  father  of  Doctor  Cole,  was  born  at  Ches- 
ter, for  a  number  of  years  was  in  the  hard- 
ware business  at  Alton  and  since  moving  to 
Springfield  has  employed  his  time  chiefly  in 
land  inspection  work.  He  has  been  a  leader 
in  the  Republican  party  in  his  locality  and 
state  and  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity. Both  he  and  his  wife  are  active  in 
the  Baptist  Church.  Lillian  Gillham  was  born 
on  a  farm  near  Alton,  Illinois,  a  daughter  of 
Daniel  B.  Gillham,  a  distinguished  Illinoisan. 
Daniel  Gillham  was  born  in  Madison  County, 
April  29,  1826,  and  died  April  6,  1890.  He 
was  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser  in  the  American 
Bottoms  and  in  1872  located  at  Alton.  In 
1866  he  was  made  a  member  of  the  State 
Board  of  Agriculture  and  for  eight  years  was 
its  superintendent  and  later  its  president.  He 
also  served  in  both  Houses  of  the  Legislature. 

Dr.  Hermon  H.  Cole  was  one  of  the  two 
children  of  his  parents.  He  attended  the 
Alton  High  School  and  from  there  entered 
the  University  of  Michigan,  where  he  was 
graduated  in  1917.  After  a  short  period  of 
hospital  training  in  St.  Louis  he  was  called 
to  the  colors  and  served  twenty-three  months, 
spending  a  year  in  France  with  Base  Hospital 
No.  115.  Doctor  Cole  received  his  honorable 
discharge  in  1919  and  after  resting  from  his 
strenuous  service  located  at  Springfield  and 
entered  practice.  He  is  captain  of  the  United 
States  Medical  Reserves.  Later  he  became 
associated  with  Dr.  G.  T.  Palmer  and  in  1925 


they  erected  a  new  private  hospital.  Doctor 
Cole  has  a  general  practice,  and  is  a  lung 
and  heart  specialist.  He  is  attending  specialist 
at  the  United  States  Veterans  Bureau. 

He  married  in  October,  1917,  Miss  Kath- 
erme  Stadden.  Her  father,  George  Stadden, 
was  at  one  time  president  of  the  Franklin 
Life  Insurance  Company  of  Springfield,  and 
well  known  for  his  success  in  business  and  his 
high  character  as  a  man  and  citizen.  Doctor 
and  Mrs.  Cole  have  four  children:  Hermon 
Harrison,  Jr.,  born  in  1919;  George  Stadden, 
born  in  1921;  Kenneth  Gillham,  born  in  1923; 
and   Cecine   Elizabeth,  born  in   1925. 

Mrs.  Cole  is  a  member  of  the  First  Christ 
Episcopal  Church,  while  Doctor  Cole  is  a 
Baptist.  He  is  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Delta  Upsilon  social  fraternity,  the 
Nu  Sigma  Nu  medical  fraternity  and  the 
Alpha  Omega  Alpha  honorary  medical  frater- 
nity. He  is  a  member  of  Sangamon  Post  No. 
32,  American  Legion,  the  Rotary  Club,  the 
Sangamon  County,  Illinois  State  and  Ameri- 
can Medical  Associations  and  the  International 
Pneumo-Thorax  Society. 

Fred  Lippert,  inspector  of  mines  for  St. 
Clair  County,  is  a  practical  miner  himself,  and 
not  only  has  the  advantage  of  thorough 
knowledge  and  experience  in  the  mining  in- 
dustry, but  is  a  man  whose  tact  and  ability 
are  appreciated  equally  by  the  mine  workers 
and  the  mine  owners. 

He  was  born  at  Millstadt,  St.  Clair  County, 
April  16,  1881,  and  is  of  German  ancestry. 
His  father,  Fred  Lippert,  a  native  of  Alsace- 
Lorraine,  spent  most  of  his  life,  in  St.  Clair 
County  and  died  at  Millstadt  in  March,  1897. 
Fred  Lippert  grew  up  in  the  Millstadt  com- 
munity, and  his  first  teacher  there  was  Fred 
Baltz,  long  a  prominent  and  outstanding  citi- 
zen of  the  community.  He  attended  school 
until  he  was  sixteen.  His  father's  death  threw 
upon  his  youthful  shoulders  the  burden  of 
running  the  business  of  contracting  teamster. 
In  1899  he  closed  out  the  business,  and  since 
then  has  been  a  miner.  For  over  thirty  years 
he  has  been  active  in  Union  circles.  For  a 
long  time  he  acted  as  secretary  of  Local  No. 
304  of  the  United  Mine  Workers  of  America. 

Mr.  Lippert  was  appointed  county  mine  in- 
spector in  1926,  and  performed  his  duties  in 
a  way  that  made  him  the  unanimous  choice 
of  the  Democratic  Board  of  1930  for  continued 
work  in  this  office.  Mr.  Lippert  is  himself  a 
Republican.  He  is  a  Mason  and  a  member 
of  the  Evangelical  Church. 

He  married  Miss  Bertha  Niemeier,  of  Mill- 
stadt, daughter  of  Jacob  and  Catherine 
(Kern)  Niemeier.  Jacob  Niemeier  was  born 
in  Millstadt,  while  his  parents  came  from 
Germany.  Catherine  (Kern)  Niemeier,  who 
died  in  1924,  was  a  daughter  of  George  H. 
Kern,  a  native  of  Germany,  and  of  his  wife, 
Catherine  (Sparwasser)  Kern,  a  native  of  St. 


174 


ILLINOIS 


Clair  County.  Mrs.  Lippert's  brothers  and 
sisters  are:  George,  of  St.  Louis;  Fred,  a 
merchant  at  Belleville;  Amanda,  wife  of 
George  Paglusch;  and  Olga,  Mrs.  Harry  Jann- 
sen.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lippert  have  two  daugh- 
ters. Mabel  is  the  wife  of  Theodore  Funde- 
bork,  of  Belleville.  Hazel  is  secretary  of  the 
Title  Loan  &  Trust  Company  of  Belleville. 
Mr.  Lippert  and  family  reside  in  Belleville. 

George  T.  Vogelpohl.  In  the  midst  of  the 
rich  farm  lands  of  Madison  County  stands  the 
pleasant,  bustling  City  of  Alton,  and  much 
of  its  prosperity  and  attractiveness  may  justly 
be  attributed  to  the  enterprise  and  sound  busi- 
ness judgment  of  such  reliable  men  as  George 
T.  Vogelpohl.  To  some  extent  Mr.  Vogelpohl 
is  a  self-made  man,  for  through  industry  and 
devotion  to  familiar  interests  for  many  years 
he  practically  laid  a  firm  foundation  for  larger 
interests  and  still  greater  rewards. 

Mr.  Vogelpohl  was  born  at  Alton,  Illinois, 
October  15,  1880,  and  is  a  son  of  Henry  and 
Caroline  (Hummert)  Vogelpohl.  Henry  Vo- 
gelpohl, who  for  many  years  was  a  resident 
of  Upper  Alton,  was  a  baker  by  trade  and 
operated  a  successful  business  of  his  own, 
being  known  as  a  business  man  of  integrity 
and  a  citizen  of  public  spirit  who  was  active 
in  the  development  of  his  district. 

George  T.  Vogelpohl  acquired  his  education 
in  the  public  schools  of  Alton,  and  after  his 
graduation  from  high  school  entered  the  bak- 
ery business  in  association  with  his  father. 
Subsequently  he  became  identified  with  the 
theatrical  business,  in  which  he  has  continued. 
He  has  a  well-earned  reputation  for  thorough- 
ness and  excellence  in  filling  his  contracts.  Mr. 
Vogelpohl  is  a  Republican  in  his  political  alle- 
giance and  has  been  active  in  political  and 
civic  affairs. 

On  January  6,  1908,  Mr.  Vogelpohl  married 
Miss  Viola  Spencer,  of  Alton,  and  to  this 
union  there  have  been  born  three  children: 
George  T.,  Jr.,  Marion  and  Elinor,  who  live 
at  home. 

William  Hartman,  of  Millstadt,  is  a  rep- 
resentative of  the  great  mining  industry  of 
St.  Clair  County.  His  father  was  a  miner  be- 
fore him  and  William  Hartman  grew  up  in 
the  atmosphere  of  the  coal  industry.  He  has 
had  a  practical  working  knowledge  of  busi- 
ness since  he  was  fourteen  years  of  age. 

Mr.  Hartman  was  born  at  Belleville,  Illi- 
nois, March  18,  1872.  His  father,  also  Wil- 
liam Hartman,  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania 
and  came  to  Illinois  when  a  boy.  He  worked 
in  the  coal  mines  of  St.  Clair  County  from 
the  time  he  arrived.  For  four  years  he  was 
a  soldier  in  the  Union  army  in  the  Civil  war. 
Alter  the  war  he  returned  to  St.  Clair  County, 
and  was  connected  with  the  mining  industry 
until  his  death  in  1915.  He  married  Miss 
Mary    Schlader,    who    was    born    in    Germany 


and  came  to  America  when  a  girl.  She  died 
in  1920.  Of  their  seven  children  two  died  in 
infancy.  The  son  Louis  was  killed  in  a  mine 
in  St.  Clair  County.  George  lives  at  St.  Louis, 
also  Fred,  and  Mrs.  Sarah  Mulligan  is  a  resi- 
dent of  Millstadt. 

William  Hartman  grew  up  in  St.  Clair 
County,  and  the  family,  like  others  who  fol- 
lowed mining,  lived  in  different  localities  near 
the  mines.  Thus  William  Hartman  attended  a 
number  of  public  schools.  At  the  age  of  four- 
teen he  went  into  the  mines.  In  early  man- 
hood he  had  reached  the  responsibilities  of 
mine  manager.  On  August  1,  1899,  he  was 
made  manager  of  the  St.  Clair  Mine  at  Free- 
burg.  For  seven  years  he  was  manager  of 
the  Little  Oak  Mine  for  the  Southern  Coal 
Company.  For  the  past  six  years  he  has  been 
with  the  Parry  Coal  Company  of  St.  Louis,  as 
manager  of  the  carbon  at  O'Fallon. 

In  politics  he  has  given  his  loyal  support  to 
the  Democratic  party  since  early  manhood. 
In  1913  he  was  appointed  state  mine  inspector 
by  Governor  Dunne  and  served  in  that  ca- 
pacity throughout  the  Dunne  administration, 
until  1917.  He  then  became  general  super- 
intendent of  the  Kolb  Coal  Company,  with 
mines  located  at  Mascoutah  and  New  Athens, 
Illinois.  Mr.  Hartman  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity.  He  married  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Weis,  of  Millstadt.  Her  father  was 
Peter  Weis,  a  native  of  Germany. 

Robert  William  Redpath,  Doctor  of  Dental 
Surgery,  has  made  a  place  and  a  name  for 
himself  in  his  profession  at  Marissa,  St.  Clair 
County. 

Doctor  Redpath  is  a  native  of  Illinois,  born 
at  Baldwin  in  Randolph  County,  February  4, 
1902.  Incidentally,  this  was  the  same  day 
that  Col.  Charles  Lindbergh  first  saw  the 
light  of  day.  He  is  a  descendant  of  pioneer 
ancestors  of  Southern  Illinois.  More  re- 
motely, he  is  a  descendant  of  two  brothers 
who  came  to  America  from  England  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  Of  one  branch  of  the 
family  was  the  late  John  Clark  Redpath  of 
Indiana,  distinguished  as  the  author  of  the 
most  popular  series  of  United  States  histories 
ever  published.  Doctor  Redpath's  grandfather, 
Andrew  Redpath,  was  born  in  Southern  Illi- 
nois, where  his  parents  had  settled  in  early 
times,  when  the  Indians  were  still  a  menace 
and  when  the  howl  of  the  wolf  lulled  them  to 
sleen  at  night.  The  father  of  Doctor  Redpath 
is  William  Redpath,  who  was  born  on  a  farm 
near  Baldwin  in  1870  and  was  for  many  years 
a  successful  cattle  breeder,  still  manages  his 
agricultural  holdings,  and  is  also  in  the  real 
estate  and  insurance  business  there.  William 
Redpath  married  Stella  Mary  Foster  Lyons. 
There  were  two  sons,  Dr.  Robert  William  and 
Eugene  M.,  the  latter  a  farmer  near  Baldwin. 

When  Robert  William  Redpath  was  thirteen 
years  of  age  his  parents  moved  west  to  La- 


vy»     ^L.      v/  ^fCtr-r-n-^L^r-ri/ 


ILLINOIS 


175 


junta,  Colorado,  a  year  later  to  Burlingame, 
Kansas',  where  they  lived  four  years,  and  then 
went  to  San  Fernando,  near  Los  Angeles, 
California.  In  1920  they  returned  to  Bald- 
win, Illinois.  Doctor  Redpath  finished  his 
high  school  education  at  Sparta,  then  entered 
the  College  of  Dentistry  of  St.  Louis  Univer- 
sity, and  graduated  Doctor  of  Dental  Surgery 
with  the  class  of  1926.  For  four  months  he 
was  located  at  Litchfield  and  then  removed  to 
Marissa,  where  he  has  found  abundant  de- 
mand for  his  professional  ability  and  where 
he  and  his  wife  are  active  in  the  social  and 
civic  life  of  this  beautiful  little  community. 
Doctor  and  Mrs.  Redpath  are  members  of  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church.  Doctor  Red- 
path  is  registered  for  practice  in  Missouri  as 
well  as  Illinois  and  is  a  member  of  the  Dental 
Society  of  both  states.  While  in  the  university 
he  was  in  the  Military  Corps  and  on  gradu- 
ating joined  the  Medical  Corps  of  the  United 
States  army  as  a  reserve  officer,  with  the  rank 
of  first  lieutenant. 

He  married,  June  8,  1925,  Miss  Zeba  Cox,  of 
St.  Louis,  daughter  of  Hosea  Cox,  a  St.  Louis 
business  man.  Mrs.  Redpath  is  a  graduate 
of  the  Missouri  Baptist  Hospital,  a  registered 
nurse,  and  practiced  her  profession  until  her 
marriage.  They  have  a  daughter,  Roberta 
Jean,  born   May  10,   1928. 

Oscar  Henry  Fischer,  owner  of  the  Fischer 
Drug  Company,  at  401  Collinsville  Avenue, 
East  St.  Louis,  is  a  business  man  and  citizen 
whom  the  people  of  St.  Clair  County  have 
learned  to  respect  and  honor. 

Mr.  Fischer  was  born  at  Drake,  Missouri, 
September  3,  1888,  son  of  Rev.  J.  G.  and 
Emma  (Boettner)  Fischer.  Both  parents 
were  of  German  ancestry.  The  Boettners 
lived  at  Chester,  Illinois,  where  Mrs.  Emma 
Fischer  was  born.  Rev.  J.  G.  Fischer  was 
born  in  Germany  and  in  1883  came  to  the 
United  States.  He  came  here  to  complete 
his  theological  training,  and  in  1886  was  grad- 
uated from  the  Concordia  Seminary  of  St. 
Louis.  As  a  Lutheran  minister  he  gave  his 
service  for  twelve  years  to  the  church  at 
Drake,  Missouri,  where  he  died  in  February, 
1898.  His  widow  survived  him  until  March, 
1925. 

Oscar  H.  Fischer  attended  a  Lutheran  par- 
ochial school  at  Perryville,  Missouri,  and  in 
1906  was  graduated  from  St.  Paul's  College 
at  Concordia,  Missouri.  Taking  up  pharmacy 
was  a  matter  of  inclination  as  well  as  favor- 
able opportunity,  and  in  1911  he  was  gradu- 
ated from  the  St.  Louis  College  of  Pharmacy. 
Mr.  Fischer  followed  his  profession  in  St. 
Louis,  Missouri,  until  1919,  after  which  he 
was  with  A.  G.  Schlueter  until  1929,  when 
he  bought  the  drug  store  at  401  Collinsville 
Avenue  in  East  St.  Louis.  Since  then  the 
name  of  the  business  has  been  the  Fischer 
Drug  Company.     Mr.  Fischer  is  a  thoroughly 


trained  registered  pharmacist,  and  on  the 
basis  of  his  profession  has  developed  a  thriv- 
ing business,  his  establishment  being  one  of 
the  best  known  in  that  section  of  the  city.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  National  Drug  Association, 
is  a  Lutheran,  a  Republican,  and  has  responded 
to  the  life  and  needs  of  his  community  at  all 
times. 

Mr.  Fischer  married,  October  12,  1912,  Miss 
Callie  Constantine,  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 
She  attended  school  at  St.  Louis,  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Episcopal   Church. 

Thomas  Lewis  Thomson  is  a  physician  and 
surgeon,  a  specialist  in  eye,  ear,  nose  and 
throat,  and  during  the  past  ten  years  has  been 
engaged  in  a  busy  routine  of  duties  at  Mo- 
line.  Doctor  Thomson  came  to  Moline  after 
many  years  of  successful  general  practice  in 
Iowa. 

However,  he  is  a  native  of  Canada,  born  at 
St.  Thomas,  Ontario,  March  18,  1878,  son  of 
John  D.  and  Sarah  E.  (Fowler)  Thomson. 
Both  parents  were  born  in  Canada.  His  grand- 
father, Daniel  J.  Thomson,  was  a  native  of 
Argyle,  Scotland,  crossed  the  ocean  to  Can- 
ada when  eighteen  years  of  age  and  was  a 
pioneer  farmer  of  Ontario.  The  maternal 
grandfather,  Thomas  Fowler,  was  born  in  Eng- 
land, came  to  Canada  when  fourteen  years  of 
age  and  also  followed  the  business  of  farming. 
Doctor  Thomson's  parents  were  people  of  un- 
usual education  and  culture.  His  father  was 
a  farmer  all  his  life  in  Canada,  a  Liberal  in 
politics  and  a  trustee  of  the  local  schools. 
John  D.  Thomson  died  in  1912  at  St.  Thomas, 
Canada.  Mrs.  Sarah  Thomson  is  now  eighty- 
three  years  of  age  and  lives  at  St.  Thomas. 
She  has  been  a  great  reader  all  her  life.  She 
is  an  active  member  of  the  Christian  Church 
and  two  of  her  brothers,  Rev.  Dr.  George 
Fowler  and  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Lewis  Fowler, 
are  preachers  in  that  denomination.  Of  her 
nine  children  seven  are  living,  Dr.  Thomas 
Lewis  Thomson  being  the  fifth  in  age.  Doctor 
Thomson's  youngest  brother,  Herbert  E. 
Thomson,  served  with  notable  distinction  in 
the  World  war.  Enlisting  from  his  native 
country,  Canada,  shortly  after  Canada  joined 
the  Allies,  he  was  a  member  of  that  famous 
air  squadron  under  the  command  of  General 
Bishop,  the  greatest  ace  of  the  World  war. 
Another  brother,  Dr.  George  E.  Thomson,  died 
in  1918. 

Thomas  L.  Thomson  attended  local  schools 
while  a  boy  on  the  farm,  continued  his  edu- 
cation in  the  Collegiate  Institute  at  St.  Thomas 
and  then  entered  Western  University  at  Lon- 
don, Canada,  where  he  was  graduated  in  med- 
icine in  1905.  He  took  special  work  in  Mc- 
Gill  University  at  Montreal  and  had  clinical 
experience.  Doctor  Thomson  in  1906  came  to 
the  United  States  and  located  at  Blairstown, 
Iowa,  where  he  had  a  successful  experience 
in  general  practice  for  fifteen  years.     In  1920 


176 


ILLINOIS 


he  moved  to  Moline,  where  he  has  largely- 
limited  his  work  to  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat. 
Besides  the  opportunities  of  a  broad  general 
practice  he  has  taken  post-graduate  work  in 
hospital  and  clinics  in  Chicago  and  in  Roches- 
ter, Minnesota. 

Doctor  Thomson  married,  September  7, 
1910,  Marguerite  Connell,  who  was  born  at 
Toledo,  Iowa,  daughter  of  William  M.  and 
Adelaide  (Wadley)  Connell,  pioneers  of  that 
state,  and  a  granddaughter  of  Col.  John  Con- 
nell, a  native  of  Paisley,  Scotland,  who  was 
in  command  of  the  Twenty-eighth  Iowa  In- 
fantry in  the  Civil  war  and  in  one  battle  had 
an  arm  shot  off.  He  was  captured  and  spent 
some  time  in  Libby  Prison.  He  was  offered 
the  rank  of  brigadier-general,  but  on  account 
of  failing  health  had  to  resign  his  commission. 
Doctor  and  Mrs.  Thomson  have  three  sons: 
John  William,  born  July  27,  1913,  Daniel  Con- 
nell, born  May  28,  1915,  and  George  Herbert, 
born  April  22,  1919.  The  family  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Congregational  Church,  of  which 
Doctor  Thomson  has  for  six  years  been  a 
deacon.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason  and  a 
member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  a  Repub- 
lican in  politics  and  while  living  in  Iowa 
served  as  local  health  officer. 

At  Moline  he  is  a  member  of  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  the  Short  Hills  Country  Club 
and  his  recreations  are  afforded  by  participa- 
tion in  the  sports  of  golf,  volley  ball  and  mo- 
toring. About  twice  every  year  he  takes  a 
motor  trip  to  Canada.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Rock  Island  County,  Illinois  State  and  the 
Iowa-Illinois  Medical  Societies,  the  American 
Medical  Association  and  the  Moline  Physicians 
Club. 

William  Frech,  probate  clerk  of  St.  Clair 
County,  is  a  man  of  the  people,  and  his  fellow 
citizens  have  taken  repeated  opportunities  to 
show  their  confidence  in  his  judgment  and  in- 
crease his  responsibilities  in  a  public  way. 
One  of  his  characteristics  has  been  willing- 
ness to  serve  and  diligence  as  a  worker,  and 
his  popularity  and  known  efficiency  paved  the 
way  for  his  election  to  one  of  the  important 
offices  in  the  county  in  1930. 

Mr.  Frech  was  born  at  Lenzburg,  St.  Clair 
County,  November  23,  1894,  son  of  William 
and  Katherine  (Schmidt)  Frech.  His  mother 
is  living,  but  his  father  died  several  years 
ago.  William  Frech  grew  up  at  Lenzburg,  and 
what  he  learned  in  the  public  schools  there 
was  later  supplemented  by  correspondence 
work  with  the  International  Correspondence 
Schools  of  Scranton.  This  and  his  practical 
experience  has  given  him  a  more  than  ordi- 
nary technical  and  commercial  education.  As 
a  boy  he  began  an  apprenticeship  in  the  office 
of  the  Neivs-Democrat  at  Belleville.  The  con- 
finement of  an  office  proved  unsatisfactory  to 
him,  and  so  at  the  age  of  seventeen  he  became 
a  practical  coal  miner.     He  was  in  the  mines 


until  January,  1929.  In  addition  to  mining 
he  has  written  insurance  at  Lenzburg  for  a 
number  of  years.  Much  of  his  personal  popu- 
larity is  due  to  his  friendship  among  laboring 
men.  Since  1914  he  has  been  secretary  of 
the  local  No.  341  of  the  United  Mine  Workers 
of  America. 

Mr.  Frech  is  a  staunch  Democrat  in  politics. 
He  was  city  clerk  of  Lenzburg  from  1920  to 
1930,  also  trustee  of  the  Lenzburg  Evangeli- 
cal Church  since  1922,  and  from  1925  to  1931 
was  a  member  of  the  County  Board  of  Super- 
visors. For  twelve  years  he  served  as  secre- 
tary of  the  Lenzburg  Fire  Company.  In  Jan- 
uary, 1929,  he  became  deputy  recorder  of  St. 
Clair  County,  with  office  at  Belleville,  and  in 
November,  1930,  was  elected  probate  clerk 
on  the  Democratic  ticket.  He  received  a  ma- 
jority of  6,000  in  a  county  that  is  normally 
Republican  by  over  4,500  votes. 

He  married  Miss  Anna  M.  Reuttel,  daugh- 
ter of  George  and  Sophia  Reuttel,  retired 
farmers  at  Lenzburg.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frech 
have  two  children:  Virginia  Emma,  born  Au- 
gust 31,  1919;  and  Shirley- Ann  Hilda,  born 
December  1,  1926,  who  was  just  four  years  old 
the  day  Mr.  Frech  was  sworn  in  as  probate 
clerk  of  St.  Clair  County. 

Lawrence  Darrell  Bunch  is  doing  with 
characteristic  loyalty  and  efficiency  his  as- 
signed part  in  connection  with  governmental 
affairs  in  his  native  county,  for  in  the  City 
of  Cairo  he  holds  the  office  of  sheriff  of  Alex- 
ander County,  besides  being  ex-officio  tax  col- 
lector for  the  county.  He  is  a  scion  of  families 
founded  in  America  in  the  colonial  era  and 
of  one  that  gained  pioneer  honors  in  Illinois. 
He  maintained  the  high  patriotic  standards  of 
his  forebears  through  his  overseas  service  in 
the  World  war,  and  intrinsic  loyalty  has  char- 
acterized him  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  so 
that  it  may  well  be  understood  that  he  is  giv- 
ing a  most  efficient  and  popular  administra- 
tion in  the  office  of  sheriff. 

Mr.  Bunch  was  born  in  Alexander  County, 
Illinois,  September  19,  1891,  and  is  a  son  of 
Joseph  and  Nellie  (McRaven)  Bunch,  of 
whose  five  children  he  was  the  second  in  order 
of  birth.  Joseph  Bunch  likewise  was  born  and 
reared  in  Alexander  County,  here  gained  sub- 
stantial success  through  his  long  and  close 
association  with  farm  industry,  and  he  was 
called  upon  to  serve  in  various  local  offices 
of  trust,  including  those  of  drain  commis- 
sioner, road  supervisor  and  school  director. 
His  father,  Andrew  Jackson  Bunch,  passed 
his  entire  life  in  Illinois,  was  a  skilled  and 
pioneer  wagonmaker  and  made  wagons  for 
the  use  of  the  Government  during  the  Civil 
war  period,  besides  which  he  served  as  post- 
master of  the  Village  of  McClure,  Alexander 
County,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  1860  decade. 
Andrew  Jackson  Bunch  was  a  son  of  Decatur 
Bunch,  who   was   born   at   Hopkinsville,   Ken- 


ILLINOIS 


177 


tucky,  and  who  became  the  pioneer  representa- 
tive of  the  family  in  Illinois,  where  he  served 
as  a  soldier  in  the  Black  Hawk  Indian  war 
and  where  he  continued  to  reside  until  his 
death.  The  Bunch  family,  of  sterling  English 
origin,  was  founded  in  Virginia  in  the  colonial 
period  of  our  national  history,  and  it  has  been 
here  indicated  that  it  had  pioneer  prestige  in 
both  Kentucky  and  Illinois.  The  paternal 
grandmother  of  Sheriff  Bunch  was  a  member 
of  the  Phillips  family  and  had  kinship  with 
the  Brewer  family  that  settled  at  Chillicothe, 
Ohio,  when  that  state  was  still  a  part  of  the 
great  territory  under  jurisdiction  of  Virginia. 
After  the  completing  of  his  high  school 
studies  Lawrence  D.  Bunch  took  a  course  in  a 
business  college  at  Quincy,  Illinois.  He  was 
reared  to  the  sturdy  and  invigorating  disci- 
pline of  the  home  farm,  and  his  first  independ- 
ent venture  came  when  he  obtained  the  posi- 
tion of  mail  carrier  on  one  of  the  rural  free 
delivery  routes  in  his  native  county.  In  this 
service  he  continued  four  years,  and  when  the 
nation  entered  the  World  war  he  promptly 
volunteered  for  service  in  the  United  States 
Army,  in  which  he  was  assigned  to  the  field 
artillery.  After  having  been  stationed  at 
Camp  Dix,  New  Jersey,  his  command  crossed 
overseas  to  France  in  April,  1918.  He  was 
in  active  conflict  service  in  various  sectors  in 
France,  and  after  the  armistice  brought  the 
war  to  a  close  he  served  with  the  Allied  Army 
of  Occupation  in  Germany  until  August,  1919, 
when  he  returned  to  his  native  land,  his 
honorable  discharge  having  been  granted  Sep- 
tember 1,  1919,  and  he  having  then  returned 
to  his  native  county.  Here  he  held  a  position 
with  the  State  Bank  of  McClure  until  1927, 
he  having  thereafter  been  for  a  time  asso- 
ciated again  with  farm  enterprise,  and  hav- 
ing later  engaged  in  the  insurance  business. 
In  1929  he  was  appointed  county  sheriff,  to 
fill  out  an  unexpired  term,  and  in  November 
of  that  year  he  was  regularly  elected  to  this 
office.  His  political  allegiance  is  given  to  the 
Democratic  party,  and  he  is  affiliated  with  the 
American  Legion  Post  No.  406,  in  which  he 
served  in  1928  as  vice-commander  of  his  post. 
The  maiden  name  of  his  wife  was  Muriel  M. 
Bankson,  a  daughter  of  S.  A.  and  Joyce  (Ellis) 
Bankson  of  Pulaski,  and  their  two  children 
are  Nellie  Joyce  and  Minnie  Jo.  The  family 
home  in  Cairo  is  maintained  at  723  Thirty- 
fifth  Street. 

Hon.  Thomas  LeBeau  Fekete  as  business 
man,  soldier  and  leader  in  public  life  has  a 
record  which  gives  him  an  outstanding  place 
in  the  citizenship  of  East  St.  Louis.  Mr. 
Fekete  is  an  attorney-at-law.  His  place  of 
business  is  at  324  Collinsville  Avenue,  where 
he  owns  the  Fekete  Real  Estate,  Insurance 
and  Loan  Agency. 

Mr.  Fekete  was  born  in  East  St.  Louis,  July 
1,  1882,  son  of  Thomas  Louis  and   Charlotte 


(LeBeau)  Fekete.  In  1901  he  was  graduated 
from  the  East  St.  Louis  High  School.  In 
1904  the  University  of  Michigan  bestowed 
upon  him  the  LL.  B.  degree,  and  he  immedi- 
ately returned  home  and  engaged  in  a  law 
practice  which  has  kept  him  busy  for  the 
past  twenty-seven  years.  He  has  owned  the 
Fekete  Agency  for  real  estate,  insurance  and 
loans  since  1915. 

So  much  for  his  successful  business  career, 
but  that  represents  only  a  part  of  his  varied 
activities  in  a  public  way  and  in  his  social 
connections.  From  1905  to  1910  Mr.  Fekete 
served  as  assistant  supervisor  on  the  county 
board  and  held  the  office  of  chief  supervisor 
of  his  township  during  1910-12.  In  1912  he 
was  made  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Super- 
visors and  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Review 
of  St.  Clair  County.  He  was  city  attorney  in 
1913-15,  assistant  corporation  counsel  of  East 
St.  Louis,  1915-17,  and  was  elected  city  attor- 
ney in  1917  and  1919.  In  1922  he  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  Illinois  General  Assembly  and  in  1924 
and  1926  was  reelected. 

His  soldier  record  began  as  a  private  in 
the  Third  Illinois  Field  Artillery  in  1917. 
While  in  the  federal  service  he  was  captain 
of  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fourth  Field 
Artillery  and  served  with  the  rank  of  major 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  war.  He  was 
mustered  into  the  federal  service  July  25, 
1917,  was  in  France  from  May,  1918,  to  July, 
1919,  received  his  discharge  at  Camp  Grant, 
Illinois,  August  7,  1919,  and  is  now  lieutenant 
colonel  in  the  Judge  Advocate  Reserves,  U. 
S.  A.  He  participated  in  the  St.  Mihiel  and 
Meuse-Argonne  drives  and  in  1919  the  French 
government  bestowed  on  him  the  "Officier 
d'Acadamie"  decoration.  Major  Fekete  is  a 
past  commander  of  Post  No.  516  of  the  Amer- 
ican Legion  and  is  a  past  chef  degare  of  Voi- 
ture  No.  38  of  the  Forty  and  Eight  Society 
of  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

Major  Fekete  has  for  many  years  been  a 
student  of  Masonry  and  has  enjoyed  many 
posts  of  honor  in  that  fraternity,  including 
the  thirty-third,  supreme  honorary  degree  in 
the  Scottish  Rite.  He  is  a  member  of  East 
St.  Louis  Lodge  No.  504,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.; 
Royal  Arch  Chapter  No.  56,  St.  Clair  Council 
No.  61,  R.  and  S.  M.;  is  a  past  commander 
of  East  St.  Louis  Commandery  No.  81,  Knights 
Templar;  is  a  past  thrice  potentate  master  of 
St.  Clair  Lodge  of  Perfection,  a  past  sovereign 
prince  of  Cahokie  Council  Princes  of  Jeru- 
salem, a  past  most  wise  master  of  John  M. 
Peirson  Chapter,  Rose  Croix,  and  a  past  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  Mississippi  Valley 
Consistory,  Ancient  and  Accepted  Scottish 
Rite.  As  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Council 
of  the  Northern  Jurisdiction  he  received  the 
honorary  thirty-third  degree.  He  is  a  past 
potentate  of  Ainad  Temple  of  the  Mystic 
Shrine. 


178 


ILLINOIS 


Mr.  Fekete  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Bar 
Association,  president  of  the  East  St.  Louis 
Bar  Association,  a  member  of  the  National 
Sojourners  Club,  St.  Clair  Club,  Illinois  Real- 
tors Association,  is  a  director  in  the  East 
St.  Louis  Real  Estate  Exchange.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Kappa  Sigma  college  frater- 
nity. In  1909  he  married  Miss  Grace  Ford, 
daughter  of  Judge  Thomas  E.  Ford  of  Carlyle, 
Illinois.  They  have  two  children,  Thomas 
Ford  and  Charlotte  Eliza. 

Erwin  Stelzer  is  one  of  the  progressive 
representatives  of  the  automobile  business  in 
the  City  of  Cairo,  where  the  Stelzer  Auto 
Company  now  has  the  agency  for  the  DeSoto 
automobiles,  with  well  equipped  and  appointed 
headquarters  at  910  Commercial  Avenue. 

Mr.  Stelzer  was  born  in  Madison  County, 
Illinois,  May  28,  1890,  and  is  a  son  of  August 
and  Margaret  (Roniger)  Stelzer,  the  former 
of  whom  was  born  in  Germany  and  the  latter 
in  Illinois,  their  children  having  been  nine  in 
number.  August  Stelzer  was  a  lad  of  nine 
years  when  his  parents  came  from  Germany 
to  the  United  States  and  established  resi- 
dence in  Illinois,  where  he  was  reared  and 
educated  and  where  he  made  a  record  of  suc- 
cess in  the  lumber  business  and  later  in  the 
automobile  business,  his  activities  having  been 
staged  principally  in  Madison  and  St.  Clair 
counties. 

Erwin  Stelzer  attended  the  public  schools  in 
Madison  and  St.  Clair  County,  and  as  a  youth 
of  fourteen  years  he  began  working  in  his 
father's  automobile  establishment.  He  became 
a  skilled  mechanic  along  this  line  and  in  the 
City  of  Saint  Louis,  Missouri,  he  found  em- 
ployment at  his  trade,  he  having  there  re- 
mained until  1914,  when  he  came  to  Cairo  and 
established  the  business  that  he  has  since  con- 
ducted here  with  marked  success,  he  having 
made  a  reputation  that  is  in  itself  one  of  his 
most  valuable  business  assets.  In  the  begin- 
ning the  Stelzer  Auto  Company  had  the 
agency  for  the  Ford  automobile,  but  since 
1929  the  concern  has  functioned  as  the  author- 
ized agency  for  the  staunch  and  popular  De- 
Soto automobiles,  the  sales  of  which  are  here 
showing  a  constantly  cumulative  tendency 
under  the  vigorous  and  reliable  policies  denned 
by  Mr.  Stelzer,  who  is  one  of  the  progressive 
and  popular  exponents  of  the  automobile  busi- 
ness in  Southern  Illinois.  Mr.  Stelzer  is  an 
active  member  of  the  Cairo  Automotive  Trade 
Association,  of  which  he  was  vice  president  in 
1929,  and  he  has  membership  also  in  the 
Cairo  Automobile  Association  and  the  local 
Association  of  Commerce.  His  sales  and  dis- 
play rooms,  with  well  equipped  repair  and 
accessory  department,  utilize  150,000  square 
feet  of  floor  space,  and  the  establishment  is 
one  of  the  best  modern  standard,  with  metro- 
politan facilities  and  service.  He  gives  em- 
ployment to   eleven   persons,   and   in   addition 


to  his  automobile  business  he  is  vice  president 
of  the  Southern  Flour  Mills  Company.  He  is 
affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  the 
Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks. 

When  the  nation  became  involved  in  the 
World  war  Mr.  Stelzer  promptly  volunteered 
for  service  in  the  United  States  Army.  His 
enlistment  occurred  in  June,  1917,  and  he  was 
assigned  duty  as  instructor  in  the  motor 
transport  department  of  the  army,  with  rank 
as  sergeant.  He  continued  in  service  until 
the  armistice  brought  the  war  to  a  close  and 
he  received  his  honorable  discharge  December 
7,  1918.  His  interest  in  his  former  comrades 
is  indicated  by  his  affiliation  with  the  Amer- 
ican Legion  Post  No.  406  of  Cairo. 

In  Cairo  was  solemnized  the  marriage  of 
Mr.  Stelzer  and  Miss  Blanche  Parsons,  daugh- 
ter of  George  Parsons,  a  former  mayor  of  this 
city.  Mrs.  Stelzer  is  a  gracious  and  popular 
factor  in  the  representative  social  and  cultural 
circles  of  her  home  city,  and  in  the  World  war 
period  she  was  here  active  in  the  work  of  the 
Red  Cross,  in  the  promotion  of  the  drives  for 
Government  war  bonds,  and  in  other  phases 
of  the  local  patriotic  service. 

Albert  H.  Schott,  banker  and  business 
man  of  Highland,  was  born  in  that  interesting 
Southern  Illinois  community  September  15, 
1870.  During  a  period  of  forty  years  his 
activities  and  public  spirit  have  constituted  an 
important  service  and  have  gained  for  him 
the  favorable  esteem  of  his  fellow  citizens. 

Mr.  Schott  is  a  son  of  Martin  J.  Schott,  a 
native  of  Germany,  who  came  to  America  in 
1856.  For  many  years  he  was  engaged  in  the 
brewing  business  at  Highland.  Martin  J. 
Schott  married,  soon  after  coming  to  High- 
land, Miss  Bertha  Eggen,  who  was  also  born 
and  reared  in  Germany. 

Albert  H.  Schott  had  before  him  during  his 
youth  the  example  of  a  father  who  was  in- 
dustrious, capable  and  a  man  of  marked  in- 
tegrity in  business  and  citizenship.  After 
attending  the  public  schools  of  Highland  he 
went  into  his  father's  office.  After  his  father's 
death  he  and  a  brother  took  over  the  business, 
but  in  1911  he  sold  his  half  interest  to  his 
brother.  For  several  years  he  was  interested 
in  the  milk  industry  in  Marysville,  Ohio.  In 
1915  he  returned  to  Highland  and  entered  the 
banking  business,  as  assistant  cashier  of  the 
First  National  Bank.  In  1920  he  resigned 
this  office  to  engage  in  the  real  estate  and 
investment  business,  and  he  is  still  one  of  the 
directors  of  the  bank  and  especially  interested 
in  the  real  estate  department. 

No  small  part  of  his  time  and  effort  have 
been  bestowed  upon  community  enterprises 
and  organizations.  He  was  president  of  the 
Highland,  Madison  County,  Fair  Association 
from  1900  to  1922.  During  the  World  war 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Council  of  Defense 
and  had  charge  of  the  Liberty  Loan  drives  in 


(s\7  c>Q/    (M<T^0>^rr7    7^7/  aOj 


ILLINOIS 


179 


Highland  and  surrounding  territory.  Mr. 
Schott  was  one  of  the  organizers  and  secre- 
tary of  the  Highland  Country  Club,  and  secre- 
tary of  the  Highland  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
is  a  thirty-second  degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason, 
being  a  member  of  the  Consistory  and  Ainad 
Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at  East  St.  Louis. 
In  political  faith  Mr.  Schott  is  a  Democrat. 

He  married,  December  17,  1897,  Miss  Ella 
Roth,  of  Highland,  daughter  of  George  and 
Emma  (Kuhnen)  Roth.  Her  father  was  a 
business  man  of  that  city.  They  have  two 
children.  The  son,  Waldo  R.,  was  a  soldier 
in  the  World  war,  lost  his  health  while  in  the 
army,  and  is  now  recuperating  at  El  Paso, 
Texas.  He  married  Helen  Hediger,  and  they 
have  a  daughter,  Maxine.  The  daughter,  Miss 
Dorothy,  who  lives  at  home  with  her  parents, 
is  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin 
and  is  now  the  wife  of  Hon.  Clarence  Stocker, 
who  is  at  this  writing  mayor  of  the  City  of 
Highland. 

Richard  Deyo  Dugan,  physician  and  sur- 
geon, with  offices  in  the  Illinois  National  Bank 
Building  at  Springfield,  came  to  the  capital 
city  to  practice  medicine  after  the  close  of  the 
World  war. 

Doctor  Dugan,  who  was  overseas  for  a  time 
as  a  medical  officer,  was  born  at  Edinburg, 
Christian  County,  Illinois,  April  4,  1876,  son 
of  Rev.  John  J.  and  Florence  (Denton)  Dugan. 
His  father  was  born  in  Arkansas  and  came 
to  Illinois  during  the  Civil  war  period.  Doc- 
tor Dugan's  mother  was  born  in  Knox  County, 
Illinois,  daughter  of  Frank  Denton,  a  native 
of  Kentucky.  Rev.  John  J.  Dugan  was  edu- 
cated in  the  Illinois  Wesleyan  Univeristy  at 
Bloomington  and  took  up  the  work  of  a  min- 
ister of  the  Gospel  as  a  young  man  and  for 
many  years  toiled  in  the  Illinois  Conference. 
He  retired  from  the  active  ministry  in  1913 
and  died  in  1923.  His  wife  passed  away  in 
1916.  They  were  Methodists,  and  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  a  Pro- 
hibitionist, later  being  a  Republican.  They 
had  a  family  of  four  children. 

Dr.  Richard  Deyo  Dugan  was  educated  in 
the  Greenfield,  Illinois,  High  School  and  in 
1899  was  graduated  in  medicine  from  the 
Washington  University  of  St.  Louis.  For  a 
short  time  he  practiced  at  Philadelphia  and 
Pleasant  Plaines,  Illinois,  and  for  eighteen 
years  was  a  representative  of  his  profession 
in  the  Town  of  Illiopolis. 

In  June,  1918,  he  enlisted,  received  training 
at  Fort  Oglethorpe,  Georgia,  and  after  four 
weeks  went  overseas  to  France.  He  was  on 
duty  there  for  four  months  until  illness  com- 
pelled him  to  return  home.  He  held  the  rank 
of  lieutenant.  Doctor  Dugan  on  August  1, 
1919,  began  practice  at  Springfield.  In  addi- 
tion to  a  general  practice  he  handles  consid- 
j  erable  surgery  and  is  especially  well  known 
as  a  proctologist. 


He  married,  July  3,  1900,  Miss  Pearl  B. 
Huber,  a  native  of  Kansas.  They  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Doctor 
Dugan  is  affiliated  with  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  is 
a  member  of  the  American  Legion,  the  Grand 
View  Country  Club,  and  the  Sangamon 
County  and  Illinois  State  Medical  Associations. 

Oscar  H.  Juengel,  of  514  North  Twenty- 
third  Street,  East  St.  Louis,  district  agent  for 
the  Sun  Life  Assurance  Company  of  Canada, 
took  up  insurance  after  many  years  of  varied 
business  experience  in  other  lines. 

Mr.  Juengel  represents  an  old  and  sturdy 
family  of  German  ancestry  in  Southern 
Illinois.  He  was  born  at  Baden  Baden,  Illinois, 
March  24,  1889,  son  of  Edward  and  Anna 
(Seyfried)  Juengel.  The  Juengel  and  Seyfried 
families  have  been  in  America  for  three  gen- 
erations. His  grandfather,  Edward  Juengel, 
was  a  native  of  Germany  and  when  a  young 
man  came  to  America.  He  was  a  meat  dealer 
at  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  where  he  founded  the 
old  French  market  in  that  city.  He  was 
active  in  the  market  business  until  his  death. 
Mr.  Juengel's  maternal  grandfather,  John  Sey- 
fried, came  from  Germany  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three.  He  was  a  shoemaker  by  trade. 
He  worked  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  at  Vandalia, 
Illinois,  but  for  over  fifty  years  lived  in  one 
house  at  Millersburg,  Illinois,  and  he  followed 
his  trade  until  his  death.  His  parents  had 
come  from  Germany  with  him  and  they  also 
lived  out  their  lives  at  Millersburg. 

Mr.  Juengel's  parents  were  married  in  St. 
Louis,  Missouri,  where  his  father  was  born. 
His  mother  was  born  at  Baden  Baden,  Illinois, 
and  she  died  in  February,  1895.  Edward 
Juengel  was  associated  with  his  father  in 
the  market  business  at  St.  Louis.  He  died 
there  in  June,  1889. 

Oscar  H.  Juengel  was  only  a  few  weeks 
old  when  his  father  died.  He  grew  up  in  the 
home  of  his  grandparents  at  Millersburg,  at- 
tended school  there,  and  his  first  business 
experience  was  gained  as  clerk  in  a  general 
store  at  Millersburg.  He  was  a  clerk  there 
from  the  age  of  thirteen  to  seventeen.  He 
came  to  East  St.  Louis  in  1905.  Mr.  Juengel 
clerked  in  a  grocery  store  a  year,  was  in  a 
planing  mill  three  years,  and  spent  eight  years 
in  a  foundry  establishment  as  shipping  clerk, 
timekeeper  and  foreman.  When  he  left  the 
foundry  he  went  into  the  general  offices  at 
East  St.  Louis  of  Armour  &  Company  and 
remained  with  that  organization  for  twelve 
years  as  shipping  clerk. 

Mr.  Juengel  resigned  his  place  with  Armour 
&  Company  to  take  up  life  insurance.  He 
has  displayed  unusual  forte  and  ability  in  this 
field  and  has  built  up  a  splendid  business  for 
the  Sun  Life  Assurance  Company  of  Canada 
in  his  district. 

Mr.  Juengel  volunteered  for  service  in  the 
World  war.    He  was  sent  to  Camp  Logan  June 


180 


SIONITII 


27,  1917,  and  received  an  honorable  discharge 
on  September  11,  1917.  He  is  a  Democrat  in 
politics  and  a  member  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
On  September  5,  1914,  he  married  Miss 
Josephine  Viola  Rebstock,  of  East  St.  Louis. 
She  graduated  from  the  East  St.  Louis  High 
School  in  1908.  Four  children  were  born  to 
their  marriage:  James  Roland,  born  June  23, 
1918,  and  died  November  18,  1922;  Charles 
Loraine,  born  June  18,  1921;  Robert  Joseph, 
born  February  7,  1925;  and  Adrian  William, 
born  September  29,  1929. 

Owen  O'Neil  Dillon,  prominent  attorney 
at  East  St.  Louis,  is  a  member  of  a  substan- 
tial Southern  Illinois  family  of  Irish  ancestry, 
a  family  comprising  in  the  three  generations 
of  its  residence  in  the  state,  farmers,  railroad 
workers,  business  and  professional  men. 

Mr.  Dillon  was  born  at  Shipman,  Illinois, 
May  27,  1889,  son  of  Patrick  and  Anna 
(O'Neil)  Dillon.  His  father  was  a  native  of 
Tyrone,  Ireland.  Both  his  grandfathers,  John 
Dillon  and  John  O'Neil,  were  natives  of  Ire- 
land. John  Dillon  was  a  weaver  in  Ireland 
and  spent  all  his  life  in  that  country.  The 
grandfather  John  O'Neil  on  coming  to  Amer- 
ica settled  in  Pennsylvania  and  about  1855 
came  to  Illinois  and  lived  out  the  rest  of 
his  life  on  a  farm  at  Carlinville.  Patrick 
Dillon  located  at  Shipman,  Illinois,  in  1858. 
For  nearly  fifty  years  he  was  a  roadmaster 
for  the  Chicago  &  Alton  Railroad  and  was 
a  man  of  much  local  prominence  in  his  com- 
munity. At  one  time  he  was  mayor  of  Ship- 
man.  He  died  in  1927.  His  wife,  a  native 
of  Pennsylvania,  died  in  1917. 

The  children  of  these  parents  were  as  fol- 
lows: Nell,  wife  of  J.  T.  Maher,  sales  manager 
for  the  International  Harvester  Company,  liv- 
ing at  Oak  Park,  Illinois;  Patrick,  who  is 
manager  of  the  Merchants  Exchange  in  East 
St.  Louis;  Annie,  wife  of  James  Lassey,  of 
Shipman,  a  foreman  with  the  Chicago  &  Alton 
Railroad;  Owen;  Leo,  a  captain  in  the  United 
States  Army,  stationed  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

Owen  Dillon  was  educated  in  the  grammar 
and  high  schools  of  Shipman.  In  .1914  he  was 
graduated  with  the  LL.  B.  degree  from  the 
University  of  Illinois,  and  at  once  located 
in  East  St.  Louis,  where  during  the  past 
seventeen  years  his  name  has  become  increas- 
ingly well  known  as  a  practicing  attorney. 
For  one  year  he  acted  as  court  reporter  for 
Judge  Silas  Cook.  He  then  opened  a  private 
law  office,  and  his  talents  have  won  him  more 
than  an  ordinary  share  in  the  legal  business 
of  the  community.  He  has  won  a  special  rep- 
utation as  a  trial  lawyer  and  is  an  eloquent 
speaker.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Phi  Delta 
Phi,  the  St.  Clair  County  Bar  Association, 
is  a  Catholic  and  a  Democrat.  He  has  worked 
effectively  for  his  party,  but  only  once  was 
a  candidate  for  office,  seeking  election  as  city 
judge. 


William  L.  O'Connell,  a  Chicagoan  dis- 
tinguished by  his  leadership  in  the  Demo- 
cratic party  and  as  a  business  man  and  man- 
ufacturer, was  at  one  time  county  treasurer 
of  Cook  County,  also  chairman  of  the  State 
Public  Utility  Commission  of  Illinois,  and  is 
now  president  and  treasurer  of  the  O'Connell 
Truck   Company. 

He  was  born  in  Chicago  May  15,  1872,  son 
of  Michael  J.  and  Anna  (Bennett)  O'Connell. 
He  received  his  early  education  in  public 
schools  and  in  St.  John's  School,  and  for  three 
years  attended  night  classes  in  the  law  de- 
partment of  Northwestern  University. 

His  interest  in  politics  was  aroused  at  an 
early  age.  His  first  work  was  done  in  his 
home  ward,  and  from  that  his  leadership  ex- 
tended to  the  Democratic  organization  of  the 
city  and  county.  For  four  years  he  was 
chairman  of  the  Democratic  County  Commit- 
tee, and  from  1906  to  1908  he  served  under 
Mayor  Dunne  as  commissioner  of  public 
works.  On  November  8,  1910,  he  was  elected 
treasurer  of  Cook  County,  and  at  the  expira- 
tion of  his  term  in  1914  he  was  appointed 
by  Governor  Dunne  as  chairman  of  the  Illi- 
nois State  Public  Utility  Commission,  on  which 
he  served  from  1915  to  1917,  until  the  end 
of  the  Dunne  administration.  As  manager  of 
Mayor  Dunne's  campaign  for  governor  he  was 
largely  responsible  for  building  up  the  tre- 
mendous- majority  received  by  the  candidate 
not  only  in  Cook  County  but  throughout  the 
state  at  large.  He  is  still  a  power  in  the 
party,  and  in  1930  as  campaign  manager  for 
Hon.  J.  Hamilton  Lewis,  he  was  given  an 
important  measure  of  credit  for  the  tremen- 
dous victory  which  put  that  Illinois  statesman 
into  the  United  States  Senate. 

Mr.  O'Connell  has  also  been  interested  in 
banking,  but  since  1916  his  chief  business  has 
been  in  the  manufacture  of  two-way  drive 
motor  trucks,  under  the  firm  name  of  O'Con- 
nell Motor  Company  at  2399  Archer  Avenue. 

Mr.  O'Connell  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
Athletic  Club,  the  South  Shore  Country  Club, 
the  Press  Club,  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  National 
Union,  Woodmen  of  the  World,  Knights  of 
Columbus,  and  Catholic  Order  of  Foresters. 
He  married  in  1905  Miss  Anna  J.  Curry. 
Their  children  are  Mary,  Anna  and  William 
L.,  Jr. 

Oliver  M.  Barr  is  a  pioneer  resident  and 
business  man  of  River  Forest,  which  has  been 
his  home  for  over  forty  years.  Mr.  Barr  built 
his  first  house  in  River  Forest  east  of  Ashland 
Avenue  and  between  the  North  Western  tracks 
and  Chicago  Avenue.  One  of  the  oldest  and 
best  known  firms  of  lumber  dealers  in  the 
western  suburbs  of  Chicago  was  Barr  and 
Collins,  of  which  Mr.  Barr  was  the  founder. 

He  was  born  at  Aurora,  Illinois,  in  1862, 
son  of  James  G.  and  Maria  (Miller)  Barr. 
The  Barr  and  Miller  families  were  among  the 


ILLINOIS 


181 


earliest  settlers  of  Aurora  and  had  a  con- 
spicuous part  in  the  history  of  the  Fox  River 
Valley.  The  grandfather  of  Mr.  Barr  was 
Rev.  Oliver  Barr,  an  early  minister  of  the 
Christian  denomination  and  a  patron  of  educa- 
tion. He  was  of  Scotch  ancestry,  a  native  of 
Massachusetts,  and  one  of  the  early  followers 
of  Alexander  Campbell  in  the  ministry.  From 
New  York  State  he  moved  west,  and  became 
associated  with  the  eminent  educator  Horace 
Mann  in  the  founding  of  Antioch  College  at 
Yellow  Springs,  Ohio.  He  traveled  and  lec- 
tured to  secure  financial  and  other  support 
for  that  school.  He  established  his  home  at 
Aurora,  Illinois,  in  1843,  locating  there  half 
a  dozen  years  before  Aurora  was  connected 
with  the  outside  world  by  railroad. 

James  G.  Barr,  father  of  the  River  Forest 
business  man,  had  an  important  part  in  the 
early  history  of  Aurora.  He  was  the  first 
city  clerk  at  the  incorporation  of  the  city, 
and  was  internal  revenue  collector  for  the  dis- 
trict in  which  the  city  is  located.  By  profes- 
sion he  was  a  lawyer  and  practiced  in  Aurora 
until  his  death  in  1872,  when  a  comparatively 
young  man. 

Maria  Miller  was  an  early  teacher  in  the 
Aurora  schools.  Her  brother,  Holmes  Miller, 
was  mayor  of  the  city  in  1880,  and  another 
brother,  Col.  Silas  Miller,  commanded  the 
Thirty-sixth  Illinois  Infantry  until  killed  at 
the  battle  of  Kenesaw  Mountain  in  1864.  The 
Miller  family  came  west  in  the  early  1840s  to 
Aurora. 

In  1888  River  Forest  had  recently  been  laid 
out  and  was  at  the  beginning  of  its  develop- 
ment as  a  village.  It  was  laid  out  on  lands 
owned  by  the  Thatcher,  Quick  and  other 
families.  In  1890  he  established  the  firm  of 
Barr  &  Collins,  and  was  the  active  head  of 
that  concern  until  he  retired  a  few  years  ago. 
Besides  dealing  in  lumber  and  building  mate- 
rial he  erected  some  of.  the  first  residences  in 
River  Forest,  and  has  taken  a  great  deal  of 
pride  in  seeing  River  Forest  develop  into  one 
of  the  most  attractive  residential  suburbs. 

Walter  F.  Coolidge,  principal  of  the  Gran- 
ite City  High  School,  is  a  native  of  Illinois  and 
has  spent  over  thirty  years  in  educational 
work.  He  has  taught  in  three  states  besides 
his  own. 

Mr.  Coolidge  was  born  at  Galesburg,  Illi- 
nois, July  24,  1876,  son  of  James  H.  and  Ellen 
Frances  (Brown)  Coolidge.  His  mother  was 
a  native  of  New  Hampshire.  His  father  spent 
his  active  life  as  a  farmer.  Walter  F.  Cool- 
idge grew  up  on  a  farm.  He  attended  the 
grammar  and  high  schools  of  Galesburg  and  in 
1899  was  graduated  Bachelor  of  Arts  from 
Knox  College.  By  post-graduate  study  he  ob- 
tained the  Master  of  Arts  degree  from  Knox 
in  1907  and  at  the  University  of  Chicago  in 
1914. 

Beginning  in  1899,  he  taught  a  year  at 
Lockport,  Illinois,  and  two  years  in  the  Gales- 


burg High  School.  For  four  years  he  was  an 
instructor  in  the  Wisconsin  State  Normal  Col- 
lege at  Oshkosh,  one  year  in  the  Michigan 
Military  Academy  at  Orchard  Lake,  and  for 
two  years  in  the  Louisiana  State  Normal  Col- 
lege. Returning  to  Illinois,  he  was  for  four 
years  a  member  of  the  faculty  of  Shurtleff 
College  at  Alton.  Mr.  Coolidge  has  been  prin- 
cipal of  the  Granite  City  High  School  since 
1913.  The  school  personnel  represents  in  a 
graphic  way  the  remarkable  and  rapid  de- 
velopment of  this  industrial  center  of  South- 
ern Illinois.  When  he  became  principal  there 
were  five  teachers  and  an  enrollment  in  the 
high  school  of  131.  At  the  present  time  he 
has  under  his  supervision  the  work  of  fifty- 
seven  instructors  and  1,170  students. 

Mr.  Coolidge  is  a  member  of  the  Department 
of  Superintendents  in  the  National  Education 
Association  and  also  the  Department  of  Prin- 
cipals of  Secondary  Schools.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  State  Historical  Society,  is  a  thirty- 
second  degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  mem- 
ber of  Aimad  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at 
East  St.  Louis. 

Mr.  Coolidge  in  April,  1898,  enlisted  at 
Springfield,  Illinois,  for  service  in  the  Spanish- 
American  war  and  was  assigned  duty  with  the 
Sixth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  under  com- 
mand of  Col.  D.  Jack  Foster,  of  Chicago.  With 
his  regiment  he  saw  service  in  the  Porto  Rico 
campaign,  under  Gen.  Nelson  Miles,  and  was 
discharged  with  the  rank  of  duty  sergeant  at 
Springfield  in  1899.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
United  Spanish-American  War  Veterans, 
Granite  City  Post. 

Mr.  Coolidge  married,  December  25,  1902, 
Helen  Edith  Abernathy,  of  Knoxville,  Illinois. 
They  have  one  son,  George  Abernathy  Cool- 
idge. 

Thomas  F.  Olsen.  From  the  time  that  he 
completed  a  business  college  course  Thomas 
F.  Olsen  has  been  connected  with  the  post- 
office,  first  as  clerk  and  then  as  an  assistant 
to  his  father,  and  since  1923  in  the  capacity  of 
postmaster.  During  his  administration  the  af- 
fairs of  this  department  have  been  conducted 
in  a  manner  highly  satisfying  to  the  people 
of  this  community,  who  are  being  given  ex- 
peditious and  effective  service. 

Mr.  Olsen  was  born  at  Osage  City,  Kan- 
sas, September  5,  1881,  and  is  a  son  of  Martin 
Andrew  Luther  and  Clara  (McGinnis)  Olsen. 
His  paternal  grandfather,  Thomas  Olsen,  was 
born  in  Norway  and  in  young  manhood  im- 
migrated to  the  United  States,  being  natural- 
ized February  24,  1859.  He  settled  first  at 
Chicago,  whence  he  moved  to  Rockford,  re- 
maining one  year,  after  which  he  took  up  his 
residence  at  LaPorte,  Indiana,  and  there  fol- 
lowed the  trade  of  tailor  during  the  remain- 
der of  his  life,  being  one  of  the  highly  esteemed 
and  reliable  citizens  of  his  community.  Mar- 
tin Andrew  Luther  Olsen  was  born  at  Chi- 
cago   and   was   given   a    collegiate   education 


182 


ILLINOIS 


at  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  becoming  a  well-edu- 
cated man  and  linguist,  able  to  speak  five 
languages.  In  young  manhood  he  went  to 
Osage  City,  Kansas,  where  he  engaged  in 
general  merchandising  for  some  years,  but  in 
1882  came  to  DeKalb  and  engaged  in  the  mer- 
cantile business.  In  1898  he  was  appointed 
postmaster,  and  served  in  that  capacity  dur- 
ing the  administrations  of  Presidents  McKin- 
ley,  Roosevelt  and  Taft.  He  is  now  living  in 
retirement  at  the  home  of  his  son,  Thomas  F., 
at  the  age  of  seventy-five.  Mr.  Olsen  was 
always  active  in  Republican  politics  and  in 
1904  was  president  of  the  John  Ericcson  Re- 
publican League,  and  for  some  years  served 
with  the  state  food  inspection  department. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 
Mr.  Olsen  married  Miss  Clara  McGinnis,  who 
was  born  at  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  a 
daughter  of  Cornelius  McGinnis,  who  was  born 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  was  originally  a  man- 
ufacturer of  mill  machinery  for  flouring  mills, 
but  later  moved  to  Chicago,  where  he  manu- 
factured smoke  burners.  Mrs.  Olsen  died  Oc- 
tober 11,  1917,  in  the  faith  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church.  She  became  the  mother  of 
four  children,  of  whom  two  are  living: 
Rachael,  the  wife  of  D.  D.  Pitney,  a  writer 
at  Geneva,  Illinois;  and  Thomas  F.,  of  this 
review. 

Thomas  F.  Olsen  attended  the  grammar  and 
high  schools  of  DeKalb,  following  which  he 
took  a  course  in  a  business  college  at  Chi- 
cago and  immediately  entered  the  postoffice, 
where  he  remained  as  a  clerk  and  assistant 
under  his  father  until  1923,  when  he  himself 
was  appointed  postmaster,  being  reappointed 
to  this  office  in  1927  and  again  in  1931.  As 
before  noted,  he  has  made  a  record  as  an  ex- 
cellent official  and  one  in  whom  the  public  has 
full  confidence.  He  has  always  been  active 
in  politics  as  a  Republican  and  wields  a  dis- 
tinct influence  in  his  party.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Congregational  Church,  in  which  he 
takes  a  helpful  part,  and  sings  in  the  choir, 
and  his  fraternal  connections  are  with  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  Benevolent  and 
Protective  Order  of  Elks,  of  which  latter  he 
is  a  past  exalted  ruler.  He  belongs  also  to 
the  Rotary  Club  and  was  its  president  in 
1929. 

In  1905  Mr.  Olsen  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Inez  Stewart,  who  was  educated  in 
the  public  schools  of  Freeport,  and  is  a  daugh- 
ter of  William  Stewart.  Mr.  Stewart  was  a 
captain  in  the  Union  army  during  the  war 
between  the  states,  and  although  a  Democrat 
was  elected  sheriff  and  county  treasurer  in 
a  county  normally  Republican  by  a  large  ma- 
jority. Five  children  have  been  born  to  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Olsen:  William,  of  DeKalb,  who 
spent  two  years  in  normal  school;  Margaret, 
who  is  attending  the  University  of  Wisconsin 
in  the  class  of  1934,  after  finishing  two  years 
at  DeKalb  Normal  School;  Robert,  who  grad- 


uated from  high  school  in  1931  and  is  now 
attending  Teachers  College  at  DeKalb;  and 
Clara  Louise,  who  is  attending  grammar 
school.  John  C.  died  in  1923  at  the  age  of 
two  and  one-half  years. 

Richard  H.  Bailey,  chief  of  police  for  the 
City  of  Maywood,  represents  the  third  genera- 
tion of  a  family  who  have  lived  in  Proviso 
Township  of  Cook  County  for  sixty  years. 
Each  of  these  generations  has  furnished  citi- 
zens of  prominence  in  the  localities  of  Melrose 
Park  and  Maywood. 

The  founder  of  the  family  in  this  country 
was  Richard  James  Bailey,  Sr.,  an  English- 
man, who  brought  his  family  to  America  and 
settled  in  Proviso  Township  in  the  summer  of 
1871.  He  built  one  of  the  first  homes  in  Mel- 
rose Park,  at  which  time  there  were  only 
twelve  other  houses  in  the  village.  He  started 
the  first  Sunday  school  in  the  community  and 
for  years  was  active  in  the  civic,  educational 
and  religious  work  of  the  community. 

The  father  of  Maywood's  chief  of  police  was 
also  named  Richard  James  Bailey.  He  was 
born  at  Bristol,  England,  and  was  seven  years 
of  age  when  the  family  came  to  America.  For 
a  number  of  years  he  held  the  office  of  chief 
of  police  of  Melrose  Park  and  is  now  con- 
nected with  the  American  Can  Company. 

Richard  H.  Bailey  was  born  at  Melrose 
Park,  May  19,  1892.  He  attended  public 
schools  there,  learned  the  trade  of  tool  and 
die  maker  in  the  plant  of  the  American  Can 
Company  in  Maywood,  and  subsequently  was 
employed  in  the  special  agent's  department 
of  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railway. 
This  gave  him  his  first  police  experience.  He 
handled  work  on  the  Galena  Division  of  the 
railroad.  Later  he  was  made  employment 
manager  for  the  Sturgis-Burns  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  manufacturers  of  milk  cans.  He 
also  had  general  charge  of  the  secret  service 
work  of  this  company.  Later  he  returned  to 
the  American  Can  Company  and  during  the 
World  war  period  had  charge  of  its  secret 
service  department,  with  nearly  fifty  men  on 
his  staff. 

Mr.  Bailey  joined  the  Maywood  Police  De- 
partment on  July  1,  1921,  by  appointment  of 
Mayor  Henry  W.  Tolsted.  He  started  as 
patrolman,  later  was  promoted  to  first  ser- 
geant, then  to  the  grade  of  lieutenant,  and  for 
some  time  was  lieutenant  of  detectives.  In 
1930  he  was  appointed  chief  of  police  by  Mr. 
Tolsted,  who  in  that  year  had  again  been 
chosen  mayor  of  the  city. 

Maywood  is  now  fifty  years  old  as  a  village 
and  city,  and  it  is  one  of  the  most  popular 
communities  in  Cook  County  outside  of  Chi- 
cago. And  among  other  factors  that  have 
contributed  to  the  growing  fame  of  this 
municipality  has  been  the  notably  efficient 
police  organization.  Chief  Bailey  has  a  staff 
of  eighteen  men.     He  conducts  a  police  school, 


ILLINOIS 


183 


has  squad  cars  equipped  with  radio  for  crime 
detection,  and  has  also  established  a  new 
record  for  criminal  investigations.  During 
the  past  year,  of  $30,000  worth  of  lost  and 
stolen  property,  $27,000  was  recovered.  Dur- 
ing the  month  of  May,  1931,  there  were  only 
eight  criminal  complaints  filed,  a  remarkable 
record  when  it  is  remembered  that  Maywood 
has  a  population  of  27,000.  The  Police  De- 
partment's Bureau  of  Records  and  Identifica- 
tion has  provided  an  example  for  imitation  by 
police  executives. 

Mr.  Bailey  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Police 
Association  and  the  Chicago  Metropolitan  Re- 
gional Police  Association,  serving  in  the 
capacity  of  secretary  of  the  organization  com- 
mittee of  the  latter  body.  He  is  a  Mason.  He 
married  Miss  Anna  Selk,  of  Hinsdale,  Dupage 
County.  They  have  four  living  children, 
Elizabeth,  Evelyn,  Richard  and  Edith. 

Victor  Hugh  Honey  is  local  agent  in  the 
City  of  Cairo,  Alexander  County,  for  the  Fed- 
eral Barge  Lines  of  barges  that  are  in  com- 
mission in  transportation  service  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi River,  with  Cairo  as  one  of  the  im- 
portant shipping  ports.  As  head  of  the  Cairo 
agency  for  this  line  Mr.  Honey  has  ten  em- 
ployes under  his  direct  supervision,  and  his  is 
proving  a  most  careful  and  progressive  ad- 
ministration, the  while  he  finds  satisfaction 
in  making  his  agency  contribute  its  share  to 
the  commercial  prestige  of  the  city  that  is 
the  judicial  center  and  metropolis  of  his  native 
county. 

On  the  parental  home  farm  in  Alexander 
County,  Victor  H.  Honey,  one  of  a  family  of 
six  children,  was  born  August  19,  1899.  He 
is  a  son  of  Edward  and  Minnie  (Pence) 
Honey,  both  of  whom  were  born  in  Alexander 
County,  where  they  still  reside  on  their  fine 
farm  estate,  Mr.  Honey  being  one  of  the  sub- 
stantial and  honored  citizens  of  his  commu- 
nity and  being  a  member  of  the  school  board 
of  his  district.  He  is  a  son  of  Andrew  Honey, 
who  was  born  in  Arkansas  and  who  settled  in 
Alexander  County,  Illinois,  prior  to  the  out- 
break of  the  Civil  war,  in  which  he  served  as 
a  loyal  soldier  of  the  Union.  He  continued  as 
one  of  the  substantial  farmers  of  Alexander 
County  until  the  close  of  his  life. 

After  completing  his  studies  in  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  county  Victor  H.  Honey 
took  a  course  in  the  Brown  Business  College 
at  Cairo.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  years  he 
initiated  service  as  a  reporter  for  the  old 
Cairo  Herald,  but  six  months  later  he  ter- 
minated his  alliance  with  newspaper  work 
and  took  a  position  in  the  Cairo  office  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad.  There  he  was  en- 
gaged in  clerical  service  during  a  period  of 
six  years,  and  during  the  ensuing  year  he 
was  here  connected  with  the  Southern  Weigh- 
ing and  Inspection  Bureau.  In  1925  he  was 
appointed  chief  assistant  to  the  local  agent  of 


the  Federal  Barge  Lines,  and  in  December  of 
that  year  he  was  appointed  agent  for  this 
service  at  Cairo,  the  office  he  has  retained 
during  the  intervening  years.  Mr.  Honey  has 
membership  in  the  Cairo  Association  of  Com- 
merce and  also  the  Junior  Association  of  Com 
merce. 

In  September,  1918,  Mr.  Honey  enlisted  for 
World  war  service  in  the  United  States  Army 
and  received  special  training  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Chicago,  where  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Reserve  Officers  Training  Corps  when  the 
signing  of  the  armistice  brought  the  war  to  a 
close. 

Mr.  Honey's  wife  was  born  in  Kentucky  and 
her  maiden  name  was  Edith  Jones.  They  have 
two  children,  Edward  Gabriel  and  Dolores 
Ann,  both  attending  school  at  the  time  of  this 
writing,  in  1932. 

Capt.  Martin  Wojciechowski,  superintend- 
ent of  police  of  Cicero,  has  to  his  credit  a  long 
and  notable  period  of  service  in  that  densely 
populated  and  industrial  section  of  the  county. 

Captain  Wojciechowski  was  born  in  Posen, 
Poland,  in  1889,  and  was  six  months  of  age 
when  his  parents  came  to  America  in  1890. 
For  over  forty  years  the  family  have  lived 
in  Cicero,  where  his  father  was  a  pioneer  set- 
tler. During  these  forty  years  Cicero  has 
increased  as  a  community  to  a  population  of 
nearly  100,000.  Old  Cicero  Township  in  1890 
included  Oak  Park  and  Austin,  which  has 
since  been  organized  as  separate  municipali- 
ties. Captain  Wojciechowski  also  states  that 
when  the  family  came  to  Cook  County  the 
western  limits  of  Chicago  was  Crawford  Ave- 
nue. He  grew  up  in  Cicero,  attending  public 
and  parochial  schools  there.  As  a  boy  he  was 
noted  for  his  physical  strength,  and  old 
friends  recall  many  stories  of  his  prowess, 
particularly  as  a  professional  wrestler.  As  a 
wrestler  he  went  under  the  name  of  Kid  Mar- 
tin and  won  many  contests  in  that  branch  of 
sport  over  famous  opponents.  His  career  as 
a  wrestler  took  him  from  coast  to  coast  and 
he  was  a  popular  favorite  wherever  he  went. 

For  over  twenty  years  Captain  Wojciechow- 
ski has  been  in  the  service  of  the  City  of 
Cicero.  He  started  in  the  department  of  the 
city  electrician.  In  1917  he  went  on  the  police 
force,  at  first  as  patrolman.  During  the  ad- 
ministration of  Mayor  Klenha  he  received  pro- 
motions through  the  ranks  of  sergeant,  lieu- 
tenant and  captain,  and  in  June,  1928,  the 
mayor  made  him  superintendent  of  police.  In 
this  office  he  has  developed  one  of  the  most 
efficient  police  departments  in  Illinois.  Its 
personnel  consists  of  sixty-seven  men.  Three 
of  the  staff  are  University  of  Chicago  men 
and  others  rank  high  in  intelligence  and  effi- 
ciency. The  department  is  under  strict  civil 
service  rules,  promotions  being  made  on  the 
basis  of  merit.  Superintendent  Wojciechow- 
ski has  emphasized  the  rule  of  courtesy  toward 


184 


ILLINOIS 


the  public,  and  this  is  everywhere  in  evidence 
in  Cicero.  The  department  has  ten  squad 
cars,  four  motorcycles  and  two  patrol  wagons. 
Both  the  mayor  and  superintendent  of  police, 
having  families  of  their  own,  are  deeply  inter- 
ested in  keeping  Cicero  as  free  from  crime 
and  law  violations  as  can  be  possibly  done  in 
a  community  of  this  size  and  with  such  a  cos- 
mopolitan population.  Crimes  such  as  hold- 
ups and  banditry,  that  appear  so  largely  in 
the  public  print,  are,  according  to  the  official 
records,  much  fewer  in  Cicero  than  in  some 
of  the  neighboring  communities  that  make 
much  pretension  to  superior  civic  virtue. 

Captain  Wojciechowski's  headquarters  are 
in  the  Cicero  City  Hall.  He  and  his  family 
reside  at  4850  West  Twenty-eighth  Street.  He 
is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason  and  Shriner, 
member  of  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  Fraternal  Order 
of  Eagles,  Woodmen  of  the  World,  and  the 
Polish  National  Alliance. 

Rush  Clark  Butler  has  been  a  member 
of  the  Chicago  bar  since  1894  and  is  senior 
member  of  Butler,  Pope,  Ballard  &  Elting 
at  120  South  LaSalle  Street  and  Butler,  Pope, 
Ballard  &  Loos,  Munsey  Building,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.  His  name  and  work  are  associated 
with  many  issues  of  public  interest,  and  in 
Chicago  with  some  of  the  most  outstanding 
movements  in  the  direction  of  civic  decency 
and  reform. 

He  was  born  at  Northwood,  Iowa,  August 
27,  1871,  son  of  Lindley  Schooley  and  Julia 
(Pickering)  Butler.  His  father  was  an  Iowa 
attorney.  Mr.  Butler  grew  up  in  a  home  in 
which  the  traditions  of  education  and  culture 
were  strong.  He  was  graduated  from  the 
Northwood  High  School,  and  in  1893  grad- 
uated Bachelor  of  Philosophy  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Iowa.  During  his  senior  year  he 
also  carried  studies  in  the  law  school  and  in 
1894  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  Mr.  Butler 
came  to  Chicago,  December  24,  1895,  and  in 
1899  became  a  member  of  the  law  firm  Casso- 
day  and  Butler.  His  partner,  Eldon  J.  Casso- 
day,  died  June  18,  1910,  after  which  Mr. 
Butler  remained  senior  partner  in  the  firm 
of  Cassoday,  Butler,  Lamb  &  Foster,  changes 
in  which  have  resulted  in  the  pleasant  law 
partnership  of  Butler,  Pope,  Ballard  &  Elting 
of  Chicago  and  Butler,  Pope,  Ballard  &  Loos 
of  Washington,  D.  C. 

For  many  years  Mr.  Butler  in  his  prac- 
tice has  specialized  in  litigation  before  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  and  in  cases 
involving  Federal  regulation  of  industry 
through  the  Sherman  Act,  the  Clayton  Law, 
and  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  Law. 
From  1908  to  1914  he  was  retained  by  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  to  represent 
the  public  interest  in  the  investigation  of 
relations  between  coal  carrying  roads  and  coal 
operators  under  the  terms  of  the  Tillman- 
Gillespie    Joint    Resolution    of    Congress.      At 


the  request  of  the  coal  operators  of  the  coun- 
try he  organized  the  National  Coal  Asso- 
ciation and  served  for  a  number  of  years  as 
general  counsel.  During  the  World  war  he 
acted  as  general  counsel  for  the  National 
War  Savings  Committee,  of  which  Frank  A. 
Vanderlip  was  chairman.  Mr.  Butler  in  1928 
was  appointed  by  Judge  E.  K.  Jarecki  presi- 
dent of  the  Voters  Non-Partisan  Association. 
He  was  the  president  of  the  Illinois  Associa- 
tion for  Criminal  Justice  which  published  the 
Illinois  Crime  Survey.  Under  Governor  Em- 
merson  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
committee  for  the  investigation  of  the  West 
Park  Board  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  Butler  was  a  charter  member  of  the 
committee  of  fifteen,  which  carried  on  the  most 
searching  investigation  ever  made  in  social 
evil  conditions  in  Chicago.  Mr.  Butler  was 
president  of  the  University  of  Iowa  Alumni 
Association  in  1920-21,  was  president  of  the 
Industrial  Club  of  Chicago  in  1924-25,  and 
is  a  life  member  of  the  Chicago  Art  Institute. 
He  is  a  Mason,  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
Law  Institute,  Chicago,  Illinois  State  (presi- 
dent, 1928-29)  and  American  Bar  Associations, 
and  belongs  to  the  Chicago  Club,  Union 
League  Club,  University  Club,  Law  Club, 
Mid-Day  Club,  Indian  Hill  Country  Club, 
Racquet  Club,  Attic  Club  and  Old  Elm  Club, 
and  at. Washington  is  a  member  of  the  Metro- 
politan Club. 

He  married,  June  6,  1901,  Miss  Isabelle 
Crilly,  member  of  one  of  Chicago's  best  known 
families,  daughter  of  Daniel  F.  and  Elizabeth 
Crilly.  They  have  three  children,  Rush  Clark, 
Jr.,  Crilly  and  Milburn. 

Hon.  Edward  Henry  Wegener.  A  member 
of  the  Illinois  bar  since  1917,  Hon.  Edward 
H.  Wegener,  former  mayor  of  Chester,  now 
county  judge,  has  led  a  career  that  reflects 
great  credit  upon  his  versatility  and  persist- 
ence. Beginning  life  as  a  hand  on  his  father's 
farm  and  a  country  school  teacher,  he  con- 
secutively was  employed  as  a  bookkeeper  and 
stenographer,  and  eventually  became  proprie- 
tor of  a  modest  general  store.  Elected  deputy 
Circuit  Court  clerk,  he  was  given  the  oppor- 
tunity he  had  long  sought  of  preparing  him- 
self for  a  legal  career,  and  during  the  more 
than  thirteen  years  that  he  has  been  engaged 
in  practice  at  Chester  has  been  identified  with 
much  important  litigation.  Not  only  as  an 
attorney  has  he  been  prominent,  but  as  a 
conscientious  public  official  who  has  contrib- 
uted materially  to  the  progress  and  develop- 
ment of  the  city  of  his  adoption. 

Judge  Wegener  was  born  June  1,  1882,  on 
a  farm  near  Red  Bud,  Illinois,  and  is  a  son 
of  Henry  and  Caroline  (Rosenberg)  Wegener. 
He  belongs  to  one  of  the  old  and  honored 
pioneer  families  of  this  part  of  the  state,  of 
German  extraction,  his  father  having  been 
born  in  the  vicinty  of  Red  Bud,  where  he  was 


ILLINOIS 


185 


educated  in  the  country  schools,  was  reared 
to  farming,  and  passed  his  entire  life  as  an 
agriculturist.  He  was  a  man  of  high  charac- 
ter and  standing  in  his  community  and  a 
citizen  of  public  spirit.  He  died  in  1923  and 
his  widow  still  makes  her  home  at  Red  Bud, 
where  the  members  of  the  family  are  held 
in  high  esteem.  There  were  nine  children 
born  to  the  parents,  five  of  whom  survive: 
Mrs.  Matilda  Rahn,  of  Red  Bud,  Illinois;  Ed- 
ward H.,  of  this  review;  Mrs.  Anna  Rehmer, 
of  Adelo,  Montana;  Miss  Rose,  of  Red  Bud; 
and  Mrs.  Emma  Liefer,  also  of  Red  Bud. 

The  public  schools  of  Randolph  County  fur- 
nished Edward  H.  Wegener  with  his  early 
educational  training,  following  which  he  pur- 
sued a  course  at  the  Southern  Illinois  Normal 
School  at  Carbondale,  completing  his  studies 
there  in  1899.  During  the  summer  months  he 
occupied  himself  with  working  on  his  father's 
farm  and  subsequently  taught  school  for  one 
term  and  took  a  course  in  a  business  college 
at  Quincy,  Illinois.  With  this  added  equip- 
ment he  was  able  to  secure  a  position  as 
bookkeeper  and  stenographer  in  the  offices  of 
the  Burlington  Railroad  at  St.  Louis,  but  in 
1904  returned  to  Red  Bud,  where  he  em- 
barked in  the  mercantile  business  on  his  own 
account  and  remained  therein  with  success 
until  1912.  Appointed  deputy  Circuit  clerk 
in  1912,  he  came  to  Chester,  and  while  thus 
engaged  had  access  to  law  books  and  made 
the  acquaintance  of  a  number  of  attorneys 
who  gave  him  valuable  advice,  and  in  this 
way  he  mastered  his  chosen  profession  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1917.  He  imme- 
diately entered  practice  at  Chester,  where  he 
has  since  built  up  a  large  and  representative 
general  legal  business  and  gained  and  sus- 
tained an  enviable  reputation  as  an  energetic, 
able  and  reliable  attorney.  He  has  been  iden- 
tified with  much  litigation  of  an  important 
character  and  has  displayed  the  possession 
of  a  keen  and  intimate  knowledge  of  princi- 
ples, precedents  and  procedure,  at  the  same 
time  maintaining  high  standards  of  profes- 
sional ethics.  Judge  Wegener  is  a  member 
of  the  Illinois  State  Bar  Association  and  the 
American  Bar  Association,  and  has  several 
fraternal  connections.  His  religious  faith  is 
that  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  During  the 
World  war  he  served  as  a  member  of  the 
advisory  committee  of  the  local  draft  board. 
Since  locating  at  Chester,  he  has  been  very 
active  in  civic  and  political  affairs  and  for 
some  time  was  a  member  of  the  city  council. 
Elected  Mayor  of  Chester,  he  served  four 
terms  in  that  office  and  his  incumbency  there- 
of has  been  characterized  by  good  business 
administration  and  progressive  and  beneficial 
civic  movements.  In  1930  he  was  elected 
county  and  probate  judge.  He  has  interests 
outside  of  his  profession  and  is  a  member  of 
the  board  of  directors  of  the  Chester  Build- 
ing and  Loan  Association, 


Judge  Wegener  married  for  his  first  wife 
Miss  Freda  Pfarrer,  of  St.  Louis,  who  died  in 
1920,  leaving  one  daughter:  Mrs.  Viola  Baue, 
a  resident  of  the  same  city.  In  1921  Judge 
Wegener  was  united  in  marriage  with  Mrs. 
Marie  Gnaegy,  of  Chester,  and  they  have  no 
children.  Judge  and  Mrs.  Wegener  are  well 
and  favorably  known  at  Chester,  where  their 
home  is  frequently  the  scene  of  pleasant  social 
affairs. 

Hon.  Harry  W.  McEwen.  An  honored 
member  of  the  bench  and  bar  of  Illinois  since 
1896,  Judge  Harry  W.  McEwen  has  been  a 
resident  of  DeKalb  since  1905.  He  served  as 
judge  of  the  City  Court  for  fifteen  years  and 
since  1930  as  judge  of  the  DeKalb  County 
Court  and  he  also  sits  at  Chicago,  formerly 
as  a  judge  of  the  Municipal  Court  and  more 
recently  as  a  judge  of  the  Circuit,  Superior 
and  Probate  Courts.  His  career  has  been  one 
of  marked  integrity,  in  which  he  has  set  an 
excellent  record  for  high  and  outstanding  per- 
formance of  duty,  and  the  respect  and  esteem 
in  which  he  is  held  evidence  the  confidence  re- 
posed in  him  by  those  among  whom  he  has 
lived  and  labored. 

Judge  McEwen  belongs  to  an  old  and  hon- 
ored Scotch  family  which  traces  its  ancestry 
back  to  one  Duncan  McEwen,  who  was  the 
original  immigrant  to  this  country  and  several 
of  whose  descendants  fought  as  patriot  sol- 
diers during  the  War  of  the  Revolution.  Henry 
McEwen,  the  grandfather  of  Judge  McEwen, 
was  born  in  New  York  State,  where  he  spent 
his  entire  life.  Lewis  M.  McEwen,  the  father 
of  Judge  McEwen,  was  born  in  New  York 
State,  where,  although  he  was  self-educated, 
he  became  a  man  widely  read  and  of  broad 
knowledge.  In  1849  he  joined  the  gold-seekers 
in  California,  sailing  around  the  Horn,  but 
did  not  find  his  fortune  there  and  in  1852 
came  to  Illinois  and  began  farming  in  De- 
Kalb County.  In  1869  he  moved  to  DeKalb, 
where  he  embarked  in  the  lumber  business, 
and  continued  therein  during  the  remainder 
of  his  life.  Mr.  McEwen  was  a  prominent 
figure  in  Republican  politics  and  was  the  first 
supervisor  of  Milan  Township.  Later  he 
served  capably  in  the  State  Legislature  from 
1872  until  1874,  and  at  all  times  was  active  in 
civic  affairs  of  his  community,  where  he  was 
greatly  respected  and  esteemed.  Mr.  McEwen 
married  Susan  Ward,  who  was  born  in  Ver- 
mont, a  daughter  of  Chester  Ward,  who  was 
born  in  the  Green  Mountain  State  in  April, 
1797,  and  died  there  in  1884,  he  being  of 
English  descent.  Mrs.  McEwen  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Adventist  Church,  and  she  and  her 
husband  were  the  parents  of  six  children,  of 
whom  three  are  living,  Harry  W.  being  the 
youngest. 

Harry  W.  McEwen  attended  the  grammar 
and  high  schools  of  DeKalb,  following  which 
he  pursued  a  course  at  the   Chicago   College 


186 


ILLINOIS 


of  Law  and  was  graduated  in  1896,  in  which 
same  year  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He 
began  practice  at  Chicago,  in  association  with 
his  brother,  Willard  M.,  but  in  1905  changed 
his  residence  to  DeKalb,  where  he  took  up 
practice  alone.  In  1915  he  was  elected  judge 
of  the  City  Court,  a  position  which  he  held 
until  1930,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  office 
of  DeKalb  County  judge,  in  which  he  is  now 
serving.  He  continues  to  make  his  home  at 
DeKalb.  Judge  McEwen  belongs  to  the  De- 
Kalb County  Bar  Association  of  which  he  is 
a  past  president,  the  Illinois  Bar  Association 
and  the  American  Bar  Association.  He  has 
always  been  active  in  Republican  politics  and 
for  a  number  of  years  served  as  precinct  com- 
mitteeman. With  his  family  he  belongs  to 
the  Baptist  Church  and  is  a  member  of  the 
advisory  board  thereof.  He  has  passed 
through  the  chairs  of  the  Masonic  Blue  Lodge 
and  is  a  member  of  the  Benevolent  and  Pro- 
tective Order  of  Elks,  the  Kishwaukee  Coun- 
try Club,  the  Rotary  Club  of  which  he  is  now 
president,  and  the  Hamilton  Club  of  Chicago. 
Fishing  and  hunting  are  his  hobbies. 

In  1897  Judge  McEwen  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Mary  H.  Goodrich,  who  was 
born  at  Owego,  New  York,  and  was  one  year 
old  when  brought  to  DeKalb  by  her  parents, 
Erastus  Goodrich  and  wife,  her  education 
being  acquired  in  the  public  schools  here. 
Judge  and  Mrs.  McEwen  are  the  parents  of 
two  children:  Willard  L.,  a  graduate  of  the 
DeKalb  High  School,  the  Teachers  College  of 
DeKalb,  the  University  of  Illinois-  and  Har- 
vard University,  and  who  is  now  a  chemist 
in  the  employ  of  the  great  DePont  plant  in 
Delaware;  and  George  M.,  a  graduate  of  the 
DeKalb  schools  and  Lewis  Institute  of  Chi- 
cago, who  makes  his  home  at  DeKalb  and  is 
a  state  oil  inspector.  He  married  Ruth  Eliza- 
beth Leech,  a  daughter  of  Judge  Leech,  of 
Dixon,  Illinois,  and  they  are  the  parents  of 
one  daughter,  Mary  Jean. 

The  Moody  Bible  Institute  of  Chicago 
which  honors  in  its  name  and  carries  on  the 
great  purpose  and  ideals  of  its  founder, 
Dwight  L.  Moody,  an  eminent  Chicagoan  and 
one  of  the  world's  great  religious  teachers 
and  leaders,  is  an  institution  which  in  its  facil- 
ities and  personnel  is  a  magnificent  tribute  to 
the  cumulative  power  of  Christianity. 

The  institute  has  more  than  a  thousand  stu- 
dents enrolled  in  its  evening  school,  drawn 
mostly  from  Chicago  and  vicinity,  but  the 
day  school,  whose  roster  is  somewhat  larger, 
represents  not  only  every  state  of  the  Union 
but  most  of  the  foreign  countries.  In  the 
correspondence  school  are  enrolled  over  12,000 
students,  residing  practically  wherever  Chris- 
tianity is  known.  About  1,300  of  the  former 
students  are  now  preaching  the  Gospel  and 
carrying  on  Christian  work  in  various  mis- 
sion   lands.      The    institute    also    conducts    an 


Extension  Department,  with  a  staff  of  evan- 
gelists and  Bible  teachers;  a  Publication  De- 
partment for  the  printing  of  Christian  litera- 
ture, including  a  monthly  magazine;  and  a 
Radio  Department  with  a  powerful  station 
located  at  Addison,  Illinois,  whose  programs 
carry  spiritual  inspiration  to  all  ages  and 
races   by  spoken  word  and  sacred  music. 

The  institute  is  not  only  an  international 
organization  in  the  sense  above  indicated,  but 
interdenominational  in  its  scope  and  appeal. 
A  census  of  a  student  body  at  different  times 
has  revealed  that  representatives  of  as  many 
as  sixty  different  Protestant  denominations 
are  united  under  its  leadership  in  pursuing 
its  great  objectives. 

Dwight  L.  Moody,  who  founded  the  institute 
in  1886,  ranked  with  George  Whitefield  of  the 
previous  century  in  his  fame  as  an  evangelist 
both  in  America  and  Great  Britain.  He  was 
born  in  Northfield,  Massachusetts,  in  1837, 
and  came  to  Chicago  at  the  age  of  nineteen 
to  better  his  fortune.  But  material  success 
could  not  satisfy  his  deep  spirituality  and  the 
urge  for  Christian  service.  While  still  a  very 
young  man  he  gave  up  a  commercial  position 
and  an  income  of  over  five  thousand  dollars  a 
year  to  start  a  mission  Sunday  School  in 
what  was  known  as  North  Market  Hall.  This 
later,  developed  into  the  Chicago  Avenue 
Church,  now  the  Moody  Memorial  Church, 
with  a  seating  capacity  of  4,500,  located  on 
the  corner  of  North  Avenue  and  Clark  Street. 
Mr.  Moody,  in  association  with  John  V.  Far- 
well,  Cyrus  H.  McCormick  and  other  leading 
citizens  organized  the  Chicago  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
and  served  as  its  president  from  1865  to  1869. 

At  a  State  Sunday  School  Convention  he 
first  met  the  Gospel  singer,  Ira  D.  Sankey. 
In  popular  memory  their  names  are  always 
closely  linked.  They  worked  together  in  the 
great  Moody  and  Sankey  revivals  of  the  lat- 
ter half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  Moody 
Bible  Institute  may  be  said  to  have  been  born 
of  these  revivals.  In  his  evangelistic  work 
Mr.  Moody  came  to  see  the  spiritual  dearth 
in  the  great  cities  and  realized  that  work 
needed  to  be  done  by  men  and  women  with  a 
knowledge  and  love  of  the  Bible  and  trained 
ability  to  use  it.  In  his  opinion,  the  colleges 
and  theological  seminaries  were  not  preparing 
their  students  to  meet  this  need.  Hence  there 
was  a  call  for  an  institution  for  that  specific 
object.  "One  great  purpose  we  have  in  view 
in  the  Bible  Institute,  said  he,  "is  to  raise 
up  men  and  women  who  will  be  willing  to  lay 
their  lives  alongside  of  the  working  classes 
and  the  poor  and  bring  the  Gospel  to  bear 
upon  their  lives." 

The  institute  had  already  brought  forth 
abundant  fruits  to  justify  its  establishment 
before  the  death  of  Mr.  Moody  in  1899.  In 
the  three  decades  since  his  death  his  work 
has  multiplied  itself  many  times.  During  this 
period    it    has    been    administered    chiefly    by 


ILLINOIS 


187 


three  men,  Rev.  James  M.  Gray,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 
president  of  the  Institute;  Henry  P.  Crowell, 
president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees;  and 
Aymer  F.  Gaylord,  business  manager. 

Mr.  Gaylord,  a  student  in  the  Institute  in 
Mr.  Moody's  day,  was  selected  by  him  for  the 
office  he  still  holds.  In  that  position  he  has 
the  practical  mangement  of  the  Institute's 
property,  comprising  three  blocks  of  buildings, 
with  nearly  300  employees  in  the  various  de- 
partments and  representing  a  worth  of  ap- 
proximately six  millions  of  dollars.  The  last 
annual  report  of  the  president  shows  a  gross 
operating  expense  of  $1,402,104.95,  or  $3,850 
a  day,  and  a  net  operating  expense  of  about 
half  of  that  amount  in  each  case. 

Mr.  Crowell,  for  years  president  of  the 
Quaker  Oats  Company  and  chairman  of  its 
board,  is  a  Chicagoan  of  large  business  affairs 
and  generously  interested  in  its  civic,  moral 
and  spiritual  welfare.  He  is  a  director  of  the 
Continental  Illinois  Bank  &  Trust  Company, 
a  member  of  the  Union  League  and  Indian 
Hill  Clubs,  and  an  elder  in  the  Fourth  Pres- 
byterian Church. 

Doctor  Gray  is  a  minister  of  the  Reformed 
Episcopal  Church  who  was  personally  asso- 
ciated with  Mr.  Moody  in  Christian  work,  both 
in  the  Institute  and  in  the  field  for  a  number 
of  years  prior  to  the  death  of  the  great  evan- 
gelist. He  is  a  Bible  teacher  and  expositor 
of  international  repute,  editor  of  the  Moody 
Bible  Institute  Monthly  and  author  of  many 
books  and  pamphlets,  some  of  the  latter  being 
on  subjects  of  national  welfare.  Doctor 
Gray's  official  relation  to  the  Institute  is  that 
of  an  administrator  as  well  as  educator.  He 
and  Mr.  Crowell  with  another  member  elected 
annually  constitute  an  executive  committee  of 
the  board  of  trustees,  by  whom  the  affairs  of 
the  Institute  are  conducted  between  the  meet- 
ings of  the  board. 

The  vast  work  of  the  institute  may  well 
speak  for  itself,  but  in  conclusion  one  out- 
side view  should  be  quoted.  It  is  that  of 
the  editor  of  the  new  history  of  Methodism 
and  president  of  the  Bristol,  England,  Free 
Church  Council,  after  a  visit  to  the  Institute. 
"It  seems  to  be  a  remarkable  piece  of  or- 
ganization and  the  spirit  which  animates  it 
is  delightful,"  he  said.  "It  goes  like  clock- 
work; but  the  spirit  in  the  wheels  is  intensely 
genial.  How  John  Wesley  would  have  liked 
such  a  work  and  commended  it!  Everywhere 
one  feels  that  God  is  in  the  midst  and  that 
the  Bible  is  honored." 

Henry  M.   Dawes  has  been  a  resident  of 
Chicago  since  1907.     In  the  business  world  his 
I    name    is    most   conspicuously    associated    with 
'    the  oil,  gas  and  electric  public  utilities  field. 

Mr.    Dawes    was    born    at    Marietta,    Ohio, 
j    April    22,    1877,    a    descendant   of   the    distin- 
■    guished  Dawes  family  that  played  such  a  nota- 
ble part  in  the  affairs  of  New  England   and 


were  important  members  of  the  first  colony 
established  north  of  the  Ohio  River  in  what 
is  now  the  State  of  Ohio.  Henry  M.  Dawes 
is  a  son  of  Gen.  Rufus  R.  and  Mary  Beman 
(Gates)  Dawes.  He  was  educated  at  Mari- 
etta, graduating  Bachelor  of  Arts  from  Mari- 
etta College  in  1896.  He  is  a  brother  of 
Gen.  Charles  G.  Dawes,  former  vice  president 
of  the  United  States  and  now  ambassador  at 
the  Court  of  St.  James,  Rufus  C.  and  Beman 
G.  Dawes.  Henry  M.  Dawes  was  also  in  pub- 
lic life  for  a  time,  serving  during  1923-24 
as  comptroller  of  the  currency  and  member 
of  the  Federal  Reserve  Board  by  appointment 
of  President  Harding. 

Mr.  Dawes  since  1924  has  been  president 
of  the  Pure  Oil  Company,  one  of  the  larger 
independent  companies  which  has  complete 
facilities  for  the  handling  of  its  products, 
from  well  to  consumer.  He  has  been  presi- 
dent of  the  Southwestern  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany, vice  president  of  Dawes  Brothers,  In- 
corporated, and  is  a  director  of  several  banks 
and  a  number  of  business  organizations. 

Mr.  Dawes  resides  at  Evanston.  He  is  a 
Republican,  Presbyterian,  member  of  the 
Delta  Upsilon,  University  Club,  Chicago  Club, 
Glenview  Golf  Club  and  Cosmos  Club,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  and  Country  Club  of  Evanston. 
Mr.  Dawes  married  April  5,  1905,  Miss  Helen 
Curtis,  of  Marietta,  and  has  two  children, 
Harry  Curtis  and  Mary  Gates  Dawes. 

Henry  Edwin  Cutler  is  a  Chicago  attor- 
ney, but  regards  agriculture  as  a  field  that 
still  demands  a  part  of  his  time.  Since  1913 
he  has  been  associated  with  Theodore  Chap- 
man with  whom  in  1918  he  formed  the  firm 
of  Chapman  and  Cutler  at  111  West  Monroe 
Street.  The  firm  specialize  in  the  law  per- 
taining to  municipal  and  corporate  bonds  and 
securities  and  real  estate  and  probate  matters. 

Mr.  Cutler  is  recognized  as  the  leading 
authority  in  this  part  of  the  country  on  legal 
questions   relative   to   municipal   finance. 

Mr.  Cutler  was  born  May  18,  1879,  on  a 
farm  near  Creston,  Indiana.  That  community 
has  been  his  home  in  an  important  sense  all 
his  life.  He  still  owns  and  operates  the  old 
homestead,  which  affords  him  opportunity  to 
indulge  his  taste  in  scientific  farming  and 
cattle  raising,  and  keep  in  fit  form.  His  farm 
is  noted  for  its  alfalfa  and  clover  fields  and 
for  its  herd  of  high  producing  pure  bred 
Holstein  cattle  which  have  won  many  blue 
ribbons  in  exhibitions.  Visitors  in  great  num- 
bers come  to  the  farm  to  see  what  scientific 
methods  can  produce  in  tilling  the  soil  and 
breeding  dairy  cattle.  Mr.  Cutler  is  not  a 
gentleman  farmer  but  dons  the  working  clothes 
and  may  be  seen  operating  the  reaper  and 
doing  routine  farm  duties  with  the  farm  help. 
Among  his  improvements  are  fine  stock  barns, 
silos  and  other  equipment,  surrounded  with 
trees,  shrubs  and  flowers.     It  is  the  principal 


188 


ILLINOIS 


place  where  he  spends  his  week  ends.  Mr. 
Cutler's  parents  were  Leslie  G.  and  Flora  V. 
Cutler. 

As  a  youth  he  attended  the  local  one-room 
country  school  and  worked  his  way  through 
the  high  school  at  Crown  Point.  He  taught 
school,  engaged  in  newspaper  work  and 
studied  law  in  private  offices  and  with  the 
Chicago  Title  &  Trust  Company  with  which 
organization  he  was  associated  for  eight  years. 
He  was  admitted  first  to  the  Indiana  bar  and 
in  1906  to  the  Illinois  bar,  and  has  rounded  out 
a  quarter  of  a  century  in  his  professional 
work.  Mr.  Cutler  is  a  liberal  in  politics,  a 
Mason,  member  of  the  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution,  the  Union  League  Club,  Mid-Day 
Club,  Vista  del  Lago  Club,  Press  Club,  Shaw- 
nee Country  Club  and  Crown  Point  Country 
Club.  His  home  is  in  Wilmette  and  for  a 
number  of  years  he  has  been  president  of  the 
Wilmette  School  Board. 

He  married  Henrietta  Marquard,  of  Val- 
paraiso, Indiana.  They  have  six  children: 
Mary  Lucille,  who  is  a  graduate  of  the  Na- 
tional Park  Seminary  at  Washington,  D.  C; 
Paul  W.,  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  College 
and  of  the  Northwestern  University  Law 
School  and  now  associated  with  his  father's 
law  firm;  Henry  E.,  Jr.,  a  graduate  of  Phil- 
lips Exeter  Academy  and  a  student  at  Har- 
vard; John  Alden,  now  a  student  at  Phillips 
Exeter  Academy;  while  Jeanne  E.  and 
Thomas  Grant,  are  pupils  in  the  Wilmette 
schools. 

Mercy  Hospital.  Among  the  manifold  wel- 
fare activities  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  in 
Chicago,  the  one  most  readily  identified  by 
the  average  person  "in  the  street,"  is  Mercy 
Hospital,  which  is  the  dean  of  the  group  of 
institutions  ministering  to  the  sick  of  the  city 
and  is  peculiarly  associated  with  the  historical 
development  of  the  city  at  large.  It  has  to 
its  credit  three-quarters  of  a  century  of  serv- 
ice. It  was  founded  by  the  first  religious 
community  of  the  diocese  of  Chicago,  though 
it  was  not  first  among  the  important  activi- 
ties of  these  Sisters,  the  first  religious  women 
to  work  in  and  for  Chicago.  They  had  opened 
the  first  parochial  school  in  1846,  the  first 
academy  for  young  ladies  in  1847,  the  first 
orphanage  in  1849,  and  the  first  Mercy  Home 
for  Working  Girls  in  1847. 

In  1850  they  began  the  service  represented 
by  Chicago's  first  hospital  in  a  small  frame 
building  on  the  Lake  Shore  and  in  1851  they 
bought  the  historic  Tippecanoe  House,  remod- 
eling it  for  hospital  uses.  Later  they  con- 
ducted their  hospital  in  a  building  that  had 
been  erected  for  an  orphanage,  and  still  later 
in  a  building  designed  to  serve  as  a  young 
ladies'  seminary.  In  1855  from  their  small 
savings  the  Sisters  bought  for  six  hundred 
dollars  their  present  location,  bounded  by  Cal- 
umet Avenue,  Twenty-sixth  Street  and  Prairie 
Avenue.     Here  in  1869  was  laid  the  corner- 


stone of  the  first  building  of  the  Mercy  Hos- 
pital group.  In  1893  a  new  wing  containing 
four  stories  and  basement  was  added,  and  in 
1896  the  old  Chicago  Medical  College  Build- 
ing was  torn  down  and  on  its  site  was  built 
an  addition,  increasing  the  capacity  by  about 
a  hundred  beds.  The  "new  wing,"  a  very 
stately  and  attractive  structure,  was  added 
in  1908,  and  in  1915  a  still  more  imposing 
structure  was  built,  known  as  the  New  Con- 
vent Wing  and  Addition. 

The  Sisters  of  Mercy  have  always  been 
guided  by  primary  consideration  to  their  main 
purpose  of  responding  helpfully  to  the  needs 
of  suffering  humanity,  and  the  great  value  of 
Mercy  Hospital  should  be  measured  according 
to  that  standard.  However,  in  a  purely  pro- 
fessional sense,  physicians  and  surgeons  of 
the  city  and  throughout  the  Middle  West 
have  known  Mercy  Hospital  as  an  institution 
providing  unexcelled  facilities  and  equipped 
with  as  fine  a  medical  and  surgical  and  nurs- 
ing staff  as  any  hospital  in  the  Middle  West. 
In  1889  its  school  for  nurses  was  organized, 
and  this  department  of  the  hospital  has  been 
operated  under  a  special  charter  from  the 
state  since  1892,  and  in  1905  the  school  was 
affiliated  with  Northwestern  University.  Phy- 
sicians and  surgeons  everywhere  recognize 
that  a  diploma  from  this  school  is  at  once 
a  certificate  of  character  and  a  certification 
of  a  long  and  thorough  training. 

No  written  statement  could  add  anything 
to  the  just  glory  and  fame  of  Mercy  Hos- 
pital in  Chicago.  However,  there  was  a  time 
when  recognition  was  not  so  general.  One  of 
the  splendid  early  chapters  of  its  history  was 
the  service  it  rendered  during  the  Civil  war, 
when  the  Sister  nurses  volunteered  and  looked 
after  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  at  old 
Camp  Douglas.  The  heroism  and  devotion  of 
these  noble,  patriotic  and  self  sacrificing  re- 
ligious women  lifted  the  veil  of  bigotry  and 
prejudice  from  the  eyes  of  men  who  had 
never  spoken  of  Catholics  save  in  derision. 
Both  Southern  soldiers  and  Northern  soldiers 
were  given  the  kindest  attention  by  the  Sis- 
ters. The  nuns  worked  among  the  sick  and 
wounded,  bandaging  wounds,  encouraging  the 
hopeless,  writing  letters  back  home,  and  cheer- 
fully going  about  their  work  with  prayers 
on  their  lips.  The  kindly  impressions  begotten 
in  those  years  have  never  been  effaced. 

Alfred  Adams.  Although  the  career  of  the 
late  Alfred  Adams  belongs  to  the  past  rather 
than  to  the  present  history  of  Illinois,  his 
death  having  occurred  in  1896,  his  life  was 
so  filled  with  accomplishments  as  a  business 
man  and  public  official  and  with  kindly  actions 
and  deeds  that  no  history  of  the  state,  and 
particularly  of  Randolph  County,  would  be 
complete  without  extended  mention  of  his  life. 
Born  on  a  farm,  he  early  turned  his  attention 
to  matters  other  than  agricultural,  made  his 
mark  in  each  field  that  he  occupied,  and  died 


:.         ''      ■  :  '         ,  ■■:■    ' 


£*6(J .  A^-^^y 


>. 


ILLINOIS 


189 


one  of  the  most  highly  esteemed  men  of  Ches- 
ter, where  he  had  lived  during  practically  all 
of  his  forty-seven  years. 

Mr.  Adams  was  born  on  a  farm  near  Ches- 
ter, Illinois,  March  27,  1849,  and  was  a  son 
of  James  and  Elizabeth  E.  (Easton)  Adams. 
His  parents,  natives  of  Scotland,  where  they 
were  both  reared  and  educated,  were  married 
in  their  native  land,  and  about  1839  immi- 
grated to  the  United  States,  taking  up  their 
home  on  a  Randolph  County  farm  in  the  year 
following.  James  Adams  was  a  thrifty  Scotch 
agriculturist,  who  made  the  most  of  his  op- 
portunities and  succeeded  in  the  development 
of  a  valuable  and  productive  property  near 
Chester,  on  which  he  continued  to  make  his 
home  until  his  death  in  1883, .  his  wife  hav- 
ing passed  away  in  April,  1873.  This  worthy 
couple  were  the  parents  of  seven  children. 

Alfred  Adams  acquired  his  education  in  the 
common  schools  of  Randolph  County  and  in 
boyhood  spent  his  vacation  periods  in  hard 
work  on  the  home  place,  where  each  of  his 
father's  children  were  given  their  regularly 
allotted  tasks.  While  his  upbringing  was 
stern  and  somewhat  hard  for  a  youth  who 
was  full  of  the  spirit  of  life,  it  served  to  make 
him  realize  the  value  of  money  and  the  dig- 
nity and  worth  of  hard  work  which  served 
him  well  during  the  later  years  of  his  career. 
However,  it  was  no  part  of  his  plan  to  adopt 
the  life  of  a  farmer,  and  accordingly  he  man- 
aged to  pursue  a  course  at  McKendree  Col- 
lege, Lebanon,  Illinois,  with  which  equipment 
he  entered  the  grocery  business  at  Chester, 
which  he  conducted  for  about  one  year.  He 
then  became  proprietor  of  a  livery  and  sales 
stable,  which  he  conducted  for  eight  years, 
then  disposing  of  his  interests  when  he  was 
elected  city  treasurer,  a  post  which  he  held 
for  two  years.  During  the  following  three 
years  Mr.  Adams  devoted  his  activities  to  the 
insurance  business,  but  in  1886  was  elected 
county  treasurer  of  Randolph  County  and 
discharged  the  duties  of  that  office  until  1890 
when  he  was  elected  sheriff  and  served  four 
years.  He  then  retired  from  public  life  and 
lived  quietly  until  his  death  in  1896.  Mr. 
Adams  was  at  all  times  an  energetic,  capable 
and  conscientious  public  servant  and  one  who 
discharged  his  duties  in  an  expeditious  and 
highly  commendable  manner.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  a  number  of  fraternal  organizations, 
but  was  essentially  a  home  man,  preferring 
to  divide  his  time  between  his  family,  his 
official  duties  and  his  participation  in  vari- 
ous civic  movements  for  the  public  welfare. 
Although  his  career  was  cut  short  in  middle 
life,  he  had  already  accomplished  much  and 
had  so  conducted  his  affairs  as  to  have  won 
the  consideration  and  confidence  of  his  fellow- 
citizens. 

On  March  23,  1869,  Mr.  Adams  was  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Clementina  Cowing, 
who  was  born  in  the  City  of  Liverpool,  Eng- 


land, December  19,  1848,  and  was  eleven  years 
of  age  when  brought  by  her  parents  to  the 
United  States,  the  family  settling  in  Randolph 
County,  where  for  a  number  of  years  Mr. 
Cowing  was  engaged  in  agricultural  opera- 
tions. Mrs.  Adams,  a  woman  of  superior  in- 
tellectual attainments  and  an  active  church- 
woman  and  charitable  worker,  died  at  her 
home  at  Chester  in  1922.  There  were  three 
children  in  the  family:  Miss  Minnie  F.,  for- 
merly a  school  teacher  in  Randolph  County 
for  a  period  of  twenty-eight  years,  who  is 
now  the  popular  and  efficient  public  librarian 
of  Chester;  Miss  Natalie  G.,  who  was  engaged 
in  secretarial  work  at  Chicago  and  St.  Louis 
for  about  twenty-five  years;  and  Miss  Clemen- 
tina B.,  also  a  business  woman  for  years  and 
now  a  resident  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

Elbridge  W.  Telford,  M.D.  Although  he 
has  only  been  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession  at  DeKalb  since  1927,  Dr.  Elbridge 
W.  Telford  has  already  made  rapid  strides 
toward  the  attainment  of  success,  and  by  rea- 
son of  his  urbanity,  professional  ability  and 
high  regard  for  the  ethics  and  responsibilities 
of  his  calling  has  won  a  firm  place  in  the 
confidence  of  the  people  of  his  adopted  com- 
munity. While  a  general  practitioner,  Doctor 
Telford  leans  somewhat  toward  surgery,  and 
is  a  member  of  the  staffs  of  both  hospitals 
at  DeKalb. 

Doctor    Telford    was    born    at    Washington, 

D.  C,.   September   29,   1901,   and   is   a   son  of 

E.  D.  and  Coral  (Wright)  Telford.  His  pater- 
nal grandfather  was  James  D.  Telford,  who 
was  born  in  Marion  County,  Illinois,  where 
the  family  had  settled  about  1820,  and  was 
a  farmer  during  the  entire  active  period  of 
his  life,  still  being  a  highly  honored  resident 
of  that  locality,  where  he  survives  at  the 
advanced   age  of  eighty-three  years. 

E.  D.  Telford  was  born  in  Southern  Illinois 
and  was  given  excellent  educational  advantages 
in  his  youth,  including  attendance  at  Lebanon 
College  and  Georgetown  University,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  from  which  latter  he  was  graduated 
with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws.  He 
began  practice  at  Salem,  Illinois,  where  he 
still  makes  his  home,  and  is  one  of  the  leading 
attorneys  of  his  part  of  the  state.  During 
much  of  the  period  between  1912  and  1928 
Mr.  Telford  served  in  the  State  Legislature, 
where  he  rendered  able  and  conscientious  serv- 
ice to  his  state  and  constituents  and  was  the 
author  of  several  beneficial  laws  and  always 
a  supporter  of  good  government.  During  the 
World  war  he  enlisted  in  the  United  States 
Army,  was  commissioned  an  officer,  and  spent 
two  and  one-half  years  in  the  service,  including 
much  active  overseas  duty  at  the  front.  He 
is  a  constructive  supporter  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  of  which  Mrs.  Telford  is 
also  an  active  member.  Mr.  Telford  is  a  Scot- 
tish Rite  and  York  Rite  Mason  and   Shriner 


190 


ILLINOIS 


and  belongs  to  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  and 
in  his  political  faith  is  a  Republican.  He 
married  Coral  Wright,  who  was  born  in 
Nebraska,  daughter  of  William  Wright,  who 
was  murdered  by  an  enemy  when  still  a  young 
Nebraska  farmer.  To  this  union  there  were 
born  three  children:  Dr.  Elbridge  W.,  of  this 
review;  Dorothy,  who  married,  in  December, 
1930,  William  Davis,  an  attorney  in  the  attor- 
ney general's  office  at  Washington,  D.  C,  but 
plans  to  enter  private  practice  in  Chicago 
soon;  and  Evelyn,  who  married  A.  D.  Johnson, 
athletic  coach  of  the  LaSalle  (Illinois)  High 
School. 

Elbridge  W.  Telford  attended  the  high  school 
at  Salem,  Illinois,  following  which  he  entered 
Northwestern  University  and  was  graduated 
with  the  degrees  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  and  Doc- 
tor of  Medicine  in  1925.  Following  this  he 
spent  two  and  one-half  years  as  an  interne 
in  the  Cook  County  Hospital,  at  Chicago,  and 
in  1927  came  to  DeKalb,  where  he  has  since 
been  engaged  in  the  general  practice  of  his 
profession.  As  before  noted,  he  has  built  up 
a  large  and  loyal  following  and  has  won  some- 
thing more  than  a  local  reputation  for  his 
ability  as  a  surgeon.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
staffs  of  both  DeKalb  hospitals  and  has  a 
wide  acquaintance  and  many  friends  in  his 
calling.  Doctor  Telford  is  a  member  of  the 
DeKalb  County  Medical  Society,  the  Illinois 
State  Medical  Society  and  the  American  Med- 
ical Association,  and  is  a  close  and  careful 
student  of  his  calling,  spending  much  time 
in  personal  research  and  investigation.  He 
belongs  to  the  Sigma  Alpha  Epsilon  social 
fraternity  and  Alpha  Kappa  Kappa  medical 
fraternity  and  is  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and 
a  member  of  the  Order  of  the  Eastern  Star, 
to  which  latter  also  belongs  Mrs.  Telford. 
Both  are  active  and  helpful  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

In  1926  Doctor  Telford  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Helen  Engstrom,  a  daughter 
of  E.  W.  Engstrom,  a  prominent  attorney  of 
Rockford,  Illinois,  and  to  this  union  there  has 
come  two  children:  Annette  Marie,  born  Octo- 
ber 19,  1929,  and  John  Garvin,  born  July  18, 
1931. 

James  Augustus  White.  The  earliest  pun- 
ishments imposed  upon  public  offenders  in 
Illinois  were  by  public  flogging  or  imprison- 
ment for  a  short  time  in  jails  rudely  con- 
structed of  logs  from  which  escape  was  not 
difficult  for  a  prisoner  of  nerve,  strength  and 
mental  resource.  The  inadequacy  of  such 
places  of  confinement  was  soon  perceived,  but 
popular  antipathy  of  any  increase  of  taxation 
prevented  the  adoption  of  any  other  policy 
until  1827.  A  grant  of  40,000  acres  of  saline 
lands  was  made  to  the  state  by  Congress,  and 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  money  received 
from  their  sale  was  appropriated  to  the  estab- 


lishment of  a  state  penitentiary  at  Alton. 
The  sum  set  apart  proved  inefficient,  and,  in 
1831,  an  additional  appropriation  of  $10,000 
was  made  from  the  state  treasury.  In  1833 
the  prison  was  ready  to  receive  its  first  in- 
mates. It  was  built  of  stone  and  had  but 
twenty-four  cells.  Additions  were  made  from 
time  to  time,  but  by  1857  the  state  deter- 
mined upon  building  a  new  penitentiary. 

A  site  was  purchased  at  Joliet,  Will 
County,  comprising  some  seventy-two  acres, 
and  the  original  plan  contemplated  a  cell-house 
containing  1,000  cells,  which,  it  was  thought, 
would  meet  the  public  necessities  for  many 
years  to  come.  Its  estimated  cost  was  $550,- 
000,  but,  within  ten  years,  there  had  been 
expended  upon  the  institution  the  sum  of 
$934,000,  and  its  capacity  was  taxed  to  the 
utmost.  Subsequent  enlargements  increased 
the  cost  to  over  $1,600,000,  but  by  1877  the 
institution  had  become  so  overcrowded  that 
the  erection  of  another  state  penal  institution 
became  positively  necessary. 

Thus,  the  law  providing  for  the  Southern 
Illinois  Penitentiary,  near  Chester,  in  Ran- 
dolph County,  on  the  Mississippi  River,  re- 
quired the  commissioners  to  select  a  site  con- 
venient of  access,  adjacent  to  stone  and  tim- 
ber and  having  a  high  elevation,  with  a  never- 
failing  supply  of  water.  In  1877,  122  acres 
were,  purchased  at  Chester,  and  the  erection 
of  buildings  commenced.  The  first  appropria- 
tion was  of  $200,000,  and  $300,000  was  added 
in  1879.  By  March,  1878,  200  convicts  had 
been  received,  and  their  labor  was  utilized 
in  the  completion  of  the  buildings.  This  has 
been  the  rule  to  the  present,  when  the  in- 
stitution is  modern  in  every  respect.  Ad- 
jacent to  the  penitentiary  is  an  asylum  for 
insane  convicts  known  as  the  Chester  State 
Hospital,  the  erection  of  which  was  provided 
for  by  the  Legislature  in  1889. 

Among  the  men  who  have  contributed  to  the 
general  welfare  of  society  in  the  capacity  of 
warden  of  this  modern  institution,  few  have 
been  held  in  greater  respect  or  confidence  than 
the  present  incumbent,  James  A.  White.  A 
public  official  for  thirty-three  or  more  years, 
Warden  White  is  a  man  of  broad  and  varied 
experience,  particularly  as  a  law  officer,  and 
during  his  two  administrations  of  this  difficult 
office  has  discharged  his  duties  in  a  conscien- 
tious, humane  and  courageous  manner. 

Warden  White  was  born  at  Fairfield,  Jef- 
ferson County,  Iowa,  September  25,  1868,  and 
is  a  son  of  James  and  Anna  (Parkinson) 
White,  both  of  whom  are  now  deceased.  James 
White  was  a  native  of  Ohio,  where  he  ac- 
quired a  public  school  education,  and  as  a 
young  man  adopted  farming  as  his  life  work 
and  continued  therein  throughout  his  entire 
career,  becoming  one  of  the  substantial  and 
highly-respected  citizens  of  his  community  and 
one  who  was  held  in  high  esteem  for  his 
integrity     and     straightforward     manner     of 


ILLINOIS 


191 


carrying  out  his  business  obligations  and  the 
duties  of  public-spirited  citizenship. 

James  A.  White  attended  public  school  at 
East  St.  Louis,  Illinois,  after  leaving  which 
he  served  an  apprenticeship  to  the  trade  of 
machinist.  After  mastering  that  occupation 
he  worked  as  a  journeyman  machinist  in  vari- 
ous cities  of  Illinois,  and  in  1888  established 
his  home  at  Murphysboro,  Illinois,  where  he 
worked  at  this  trade  until  1897.  In  that  year 
he  was  appointed  postmaster  of  Murphysboro, 
and  during  his  incumbency  of  that  office  en- 
larged the  mail  service  materially.  In  1914 
he  was  elected  sheriff  of  Jackson  County,  Illi- 
nois, and  served  until  1917,  when  he  resigned 
to  accept  his  first  appointment  as  warden  of 
the  Southern  Illinois  Penitentiary.  He  served 
with  a  splendid  record  in  that  office  until 
1921,  and  was  then  appointed  United  States 
marshal  for  the  District  of  Eastern  Illinois, 
and  acted  in  that  capacity  for  several  years. 
He  subsequently  was  again  appointed  post- 
master, and  with  the  election  of  Governor 
Emmerson  was  returned  by  appointment  to 
the  office  of  warden  of  the  Southern  Illinois 
Penitentiary.  Warden  White  is,  of  necessity, 
a  strict  disciplinarian,  as  any  man  occupying 
such  an  office  must  be.  However,  he  is  also 
known  for  his  sense  of  justice  and  fair  play, 
and  it  is  and  has  been  his  constant  endeavor 
to  give  those  placed  under  his  charge  every 
opportunity  of  returning  to  society  as  useful 
members  of  their  various  communities.  As  a 
business  executive  he  has  not  been  found 
wanting,  and  his  broad  and  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  men  and  affairs  has  assisted  him 
materially  in  the  discharge  of  his  onerous  and 
ofttimes  dangerous  duties.  Warden  White 
is  a  stanch  Republican  in  his  political  views 
and  on  occasion  has  served  as  a  member  of 
the  State  Central  Committee.  While  residing 
at  Murphysboro  he  was  a  member  of  the  City 
Council  from  1894  until  1896.  While  his  offi- 
cial duties  require  a  modicum  of  vigilance 
and  attention,  he  finds  time  to  give  his  aid 
to  all  worthy  measures,  civic,  charitable  and 
religious.  He  is  a  Mason,  a  Knight  of  Pythias 
and  an  Elk,  and  belongs  to  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  Mrs.  White  was  formerly  a  Miss 
Jenkins. 

Hon.  John  J.  Sonsteby  has  been  almost 
constantly  a  figure  in  public  life  since  he 
began  the  practice  of  law  at  Chicago  in  1906. 
The  climax  of  his  career  came  on  November 
4,  1930,  when  he  was  elected  as  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  chief  justice  of  the  Mu- 
nicipal Court  of  Chicago. 

Judge  Sonsteby  was  born  at  Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin,  January  15,  1879.  His  parents, 
Knudt  J.  and  Christiana  (Sorensen)  Sonsteby, 
were  natives  of  Norway.  His  father  had  lo- 
cated in  Chicago  in  1866.  Judge  Sonsteby 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Illinois   October  3,   1906,  and  in  the  same 


year  began  practice  at  Chicago.  December 
11,  1912,  he  was  admitted  to  practice  before 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
During  his  entire  practice  of  the  law  his 
office  has  been  at  19   South  LaSalle  Street. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Board  of 
Education  from  1906  to  1909,  and  from  1912 
to  1915.  From  1916  to  1918  he  was  attorney 
for  the  city  treasurer  of  Chicago.  While  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Education  he  brought 
about  the  installation  of  a  detailed  budget. 
He  was  also  responsible  for  the  establishment 
of  commercial  education  as  a  definite  depart- 
ment in  the  high  schools.  He  also  sponsored 
the  investigation  which  resulted  in  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  cost  of  school  books.  During  the 
World  war  he  was  chairman  of  the  Boards  of 
Instruction,  Northern  District  of  Illinois,  was 
government  appeal  agent  and  member  of  the 
Legal  Advisory  Committee  of  Selective  Serv- 
ice Board  No.  78.  He  also  served  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Citizens  Police  Committee  of  Chi- 
cago. Judge  Sonsteby  has  been  a  member  of 
many  committees  of  the  Chicago  Bar  Asso- 
ciation, including  chairman  of  the  committees 
on  judiciary  and  inquiry.  The  Chicago  Bar 
Association  in  its  report  on  candidates  in 
1930  said  of  him:  "He  has  had  considerable 
experience  in  public  affairs  and  has  admin- 
istrative ability  and  capacity.  He  possesses 
also  the  legal  ability,  the  judicial  tempera- 
ment and  the  qualities  of  leadership  which,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  committee,  qualify  him  for 
the  office,"  an  opinion  which,  when  the  con- 
cise and  conservative  nature  of  similar  opin- 
ions emanating  from  the  associations  is  con- 
sidered, was  a  splendid  tribute  to  the  present 
chief  justice  of  the  Municipal  Court. 

Judge  Sonsteby's  relations  with  the  com- 
munity have  also  been  extended  through  many 
organizations.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the 
National  Conference  of  Social  Work,  Ameri- 
can Prison  Association,  National  Probation 
Association,  a  delegate  to  the  Chicago  Council 
of  Social  Agencies.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Chicago,  Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  As- 
sociations, Chicago  Law  Institute,  American 
Judicature  Society,  Chicago  Association  of 
Commerce,  Art  Institute  of  Chicago,  Chicago 
Historical  Society,  also  a  member  of  Hum- 
boldt Park  Lodge  No.  812,  Ancient  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons,  Northwest  Chapter,  Royal 
Arch  Masons,  Humboldt  Park  Commandery 
Knights  Templar,  Oriental  Consistory  of  the 
Scottish  Rite,  Medinah  Temple,  A.  A.  O.  N. 
M.  S.,  Order  of  the  Eastern  Star,  White 
Shrine,  the  Maccabees,  Royal  League  and  Na- 
tional Union.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Union 
League  Club,  Iroquois  Club,  Norwegian  Club, 
Medinah  Athletic  Club,  Medinah  Country 
Club,  and  Round  Lake  Golf  Club. 

Judge  Sonsteby  married  May  28,  1913,  Alice 
R.  Osland.  He  has  two  daughters,  Helene 
Alice  and  Mona  Katherine.  His  home  is  at 
1514  Pratt  Boulevard,  Chicago. 


192 


ILLINOIS 


Charles  Albert  Jackson.  Combining 
faithful  public  service  with  high  business 
ideals,  Charles  A.  Jackson  has  become  one 
of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  thriving  com- 
munity of  Sparta,  where  he  has  spent  his 
entire  life.  From  the  time  that  he  completed 
his  education  he  has  been  identified  in  one 
or  another  way  with  the  printing  business, 
and  at  present  is  the  proprietor  of  a  first- 
class  job  printing  establishment.  Since  1925 
he  has  been  coroner  of  Randolph  County,  and 
he  likewise  is  a  leading  figure  in  the  Demo- 
cratic party  in  the  southern  part  of  the  state. 

Mr.  Jackson  was  born  at  Sparta,  Randolph 
County,  Illinois,  June  5,  1868,  and  is  a  son 
of  Benjamin  and  Hannah  (Smith)  Jackson, 
both  of  whom  are  now  deceased.  The  family 
is  of  early  New  England  origin,  and  Benjamin 
Jackson  was  born  at  Bennington,  Vermont, 
where  he  received  a  common  school  education. 
In  his  youth  he  learned  the  trades  of  carpen- 
ter and  wheelwright,  being  a  man  of  much 
mechanical  ability  and  versatility,  and  after 
coming  to  Sparta,  in  1860,  embarked  in  busi- 
ness as  a  contractor  and  erected  a  number  of 
the  substantial  homes  and  business  buildings 
of  the  town.  He  was  known  for  his  good 
workmanship  and  honesty  in  carrying  out  his 
contracts,  and  was  likewise  a  good  citizen  of 
public  spirit.  He  married  Miss  Hannah 
Smith,  of  Smithton,  Illinois,  and  they  had 
only  one  child,   Charles  A.,  of  this  review. 

Charles  A.  Jackson  attended  the  common 
schools  of  Sparta,  which  he  left  at  the  age 
of  sixteen  years,  and  at  that  time,  in  1884, 
became  "printer's  devil"  in  the  office  of  the 
Sparta  Plain  Dealer,  where  he  learned  the 
printer's  trade  in  its  various  branches.  For 
fifteen  years  he  remained  with  the  Plain 
Dealer,  but  in  1899  transferred  his  service  to 
the  Sparta  Argonaut,  as  foreman,  and  like- 
wise became  a  stockholder  in  that  newspaper. 
About  1906  Mr.  Jackson  decided  to  embark 
in  business  on  his  own  account,  and  for  al- 
most a  quarter  of  a  century  has  been  the 
proprietor  of  a  plant  which  has  attracted  a 
large  share  of  the  business  of  the  community. 
The  establishment  is  modern  in  every  par- 
ticular and  has  equipment  that  enables  Mr. 
Jackson  to  do  first-class  job  work  of  all  kinds 
and  in  any  quantity  desired.  He  is  highly 
skilled  in  his  craft  and  has  an  able  corps 
of  assistants,  and  his  honest  methods  have 
furthered  him  in  his  endeavors  to  gain  suc- 
cess. A  stanch  Democrat  in  his  political  al- 
legiance, Mr.  Jackson  has  been  a  member  of 
the  County  Central  Committee  of  his  party, 
and  in  1925  was  elected  coroner  of  Randolph 
County.  His  first  four-year  term  proved  en- 
tirely satisfactory  to  his  fellow-citizens,  who 
reelected  him  to  office  in  1929  and  he  still  dis- 
charges his  duties  in  a  capable,  intelligent 
and  conscientious  manner.  In  carrying  on 
the  business  of  this  office  he  has  the  assistance 
of   an   assistant   coroner.     During   the   World 


war  Mr.  Jackson  was  a  member  of  all  of 
the  various  local  committees,  and  also  con- 
tributed liberally  of  his  time  and  means  in 
helping  to  put  across  the  big  drives  for  Lib- 
erty Loans,  Red  Cross,  Community  War  Chest, 
War  Savings  Stamps,  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  etc.  Fraternally,  he  is  affiliated 
with  the  Masons  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias, 
and  his  religious  connection  is  with  the  Pres- 
byterian Church. 

Mr.  Jackson  married  Miss  Sarah  C.  Morton, 
of  Flat  Prairie,  Illinois,  and  to  this  union 
there  was  born  two  daughters:  Ruth  Hazel, 
who  resides  with  her  parents,  and  Irma,  who 
died  at  the  age  of  sixteen. 

John  C.  Souders,  Rock  Island  physician  and 
surgeon,  has  enjoyed  many  of  the  important 
honors  and  positions  of  a  successful  member 
of  his  profession. 

Doctor  Souders,  whose  home  has  been  in 
Rock  Island  since  1901,  was  born  at  New 
Berlin,  Pennsylvania,  November  16,  1872.  The 
Souders  family  originally  came  from  Holland 
and  were  among  the  Holland-Dutch  Colonial 
settlers  of  Pennsylvania.  The  grandfather  of 
Doctor  Souders  was  Martin  Souders,  who  was 
born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1812  and  lived  his 
life  in  that  state  as  a  farmer.  Isaiah  B. 
Souders,  father  of  Doctor  Souders,  moved 
from  Pennsylvania  to  Iowa  in  1882.  He  was 
a  farmer  in  that  state  until  1901  and  then 
came  to  Rock  Island,  where  he  resided  until 
his  death  on  October  13,  1918.  He  was  a 
Republican  in  politics  and  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Protestant  Church.  Isaiah  B.  Sou- 
ders married  Sarah  A.  Gebhart,  who  passed 
away  October  10,  1928.  Her  father,  Leonard 
Gebhart,  was  a  carpenter  and  lived  all  his 
life  in  Pennsylvania.  After  coming  to  Rock 
Island,  Isaiah  B.  Souders  practiced  his  pro- 
fession as  a  veterinary  surgeon. 

Dr.  John  C.  Souders  was  nine  years  of  age 
when  the  family  moved  to  Iowa.  He  attended 
school  at  Springdale  in  that  state,  and  in 
1904  was  graduated  from  the  College  of  Med- 
icine of  the  State  University  of  Iowa.  He 
has  been  in  practice  at  Rock  Island  since 
1905.  In  addition  to  his  work  in  general 
practice  he  has  served  since  1924  as  local  sur- 
geon for  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy 
Railway.  He  is  on  the  staff  of  Saint  An- 
thony's Hospital  of  Rock  Island  and  the  Lu- 
theran Hospital  at  Moline.  From  1911  to 
1915  he  served  as  county  physician  of  Rock 
Island  County.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Rock 
Island  County,  Illinois  State  and  American 
Medical  Associations,  the  Iowa  and  Illinois 
District  Medical  Society,  and  the  American 
Association  of  Railway  Surgeons.  He  was 
honored  with  the  office  of  president  of  the 
Rock  Island  County  Medical  Society  for  the 
year  1930-31. 

One  brief  chapter  of  his  early  life,  before 
he  entered  medical  college,  was  his  service  as 


cl;  &   MZcnrrZy 


ILLINOIS 


193 


a  soldier.     He  was  a  volunteer  at  the  time  of 

u  ?u  imsh-American  war  and  Participated  in 
both  the  Cuban  and  Porto  Rican  campaigns 
Doctor  Souders  is  a  member  of  the  United 
Spanish  War  Veterans,  Siboney  Bay  Post  No 
8  at  Rock  Island.  During  the  World  war 
he  was  appointed  medical  examiner  for  the 
United  States  Marine  Corps  for  the  Rock 
Island  district.  Doctor  Souders  is  a  member 
?f!  th,e  £0ck,  Island  Physicians  Club,  Rock 
Island  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Masonic 
fraternity  and  the  Grotto,  the  Elks  and  the 
Blackhawk  Hills  Country  Club.  He  is  a  Re- 
publican and  he  and  his  family  are  members 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Doctor 
Souders  married  July  22,  1918,  Miss  Clara 
I  raenkenschuh.  She  was  born  in  Rock  Island 
They  have  two  children,  John  C,  Jr.,  born 
December  21,  1919,  and  Helen  Fay,  born  Jan- 
uary 5,  1922. 

Guy  George  Bugele  has  long  maintained 
his  residence  in  the  city  of  Cairo,  has  been 
concerned  prominently  with  various  business 
occupations  and  is  now  one  of  the  principals 
oi  the^  Bugele  &  Massey  Motor  Company, 
which  is  one  of  the  well  ordered  concerns  in 
the  automotive  enterprise  in  this  city,  with 
headquarters  at  1007  Washington  Street 

Mr  Bugele  was  born  at  Marshfield,  Web- 
ster County,  Missouri, 'July  2,  1878,  and  is  a 
son  of  George  T.  and  Alice  (Piatt)  Bugele 
whose  marriage  was  there  solemnized  and 
whose  children  were  four  in  number.  George 
1.  Bugele  was  born  in  the  State  of  New 
Jersey  but  the  major  part  of  his  active  life 
was  passed  m  Missouri,  he  having  been  in  the 
internal  revenue  service  of  the  government 
during  a  period  of  fully  twenty  years, 
tfc  yur  *  B^ele  received  the  advantages  of 
the  public  schools  of  Saint  Louis,  Missouri,  and 

7nlL  LTSi  Illinois'  and  after  his  high- 

school  course  he  found,  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
years  employment  in  a  meat-packing  house  in 
East  Saint  Louis,  where  he  was  thus  engaged 
three  years.  Thereafter  he  was  for  two  |elrs 
a  traveling  salesman  for  Morris  &  Company, 
the  great  meat-packing  concern  of  Chicago 
and  during  the  ensuing  nine  years  he  was 
connected  with  the  Champion  Tool  &  Handle 
Company,  as  manager  of  its  plant  and  busi- 
ness at  Cairo.  He  then  became  clerk  for  the 
«L  i  ?alliday  MlU™Z  Company  of  this  city, 
and  later  he  gave  eight  years  of  service  as  a 
traveling  salesman  for  this  concern.  At  this 
iwi,  i  %  establifhed  himself  independently 
in  the  retail  meat  business,  with  two  markets 
m  Cairo  and  one  at  Mounds.    After  being  thus 

T?i?v*  ™£Urf£nd  °?e~ha1lf  years  he  entered>  in 
July,    1929     the   automobile   business,    and   he 

RnSoJw  ten  °nt  of  the  Principals  of  the 
Bugele  &  Massey  Motor  Company,  which  has 
the  authorized  agency  for  the  Dodge  Broth- 
ers Motor  Company  for  Alexander  and  Pu- 
laski Counties,  with  a  large  and  well  equipped 


sales  and  service  establishment  in  which  are 
handled  all  kinds  of  automotive  parts  and 
accessories.      The    company    controls    a    sub- 

uspH  I nt busine?s  in  ^e  handling  of  new  and 
used  automobiles,  and  ranks  as  one  of  the 
progressive  and  important  concerns  in  the 
automotive  trade  in  the  vital  city  that  is  the 
Count  ^dicial    center   of   Alexander 

.    A  staunch  Republican  in  politics,  Mr.  Bugele 

boaSrdV1nT  r  193°  ??  a  member  of' the  election 
board  of  Cairo.  He  is  a  loyal  and  valu-d 
member  of  the  local  Association  of  Commerce, 
%,t  ht  1S  abated  with  the  Benevolent  & 
Protective  Order  of  Elks. 

Mrs.  Ella  A.  (Dingman)  Moore,  widow 
hLt lexa^er  Moore,  has  the  distinction  of 
being  at  the  time  of  this  writing  the  mayor 
of  the  attractive  and  vital  little  City  of  Nian- 

chosptaCt0nfinOUnt/-  T°  this  0ffice  sh*  was  first 
cnosen  to  fill  out  an  unexpired  term,  and  the 

efficiency    and    progressiveness    of   her    initial 
administration      met      with      full      communal 
approval   as  was  shown  in  her  formal  election 
for  a  full  term.     The  matter  of  sex  is  not  to 
be  considered  m  placing  high   estimate  upon 
the  official  record  of  Mrs.  Moore,  for  she  has 
mustered    all    available    forces    in    advancing 
the  civic  and  material  interests  of  her  home 
community,  her  policies  have  been  liberal  and 
progressive   and  she  is  doing  a  splendid  serv- 
ice that  will  measure  up  to  the  best  standards 
set  by  men  who  have  occupied  similar  execu- 
tive offices,  the  while  her  work  has  endeared 
her  the   more   to   the   community  that   is   the 
stage    of    her    earnest    and    loyal    endeavors. 
Before  reverting  farther  to  the  career  of  Mrs 
S^VS  £  V™^ge  here  to  enter  a  memorial 
tribute  to  her  deceased   husband,  who  at  the 
time  of  his  death  was  one  of  the  representative 
business  men  and  honored  and  influential  citi- 
zens   of    Niantic,    where    he    operated    a    well 
equipped   gram    elevator    and   was    a    leading 
buyer   and    shipper   of   grain,    besides    having 
been  actively  concerned  with  farm  industry 

+h  iS?deJ  ^°re'  whose  death  occurred  on 
the  18th  of  July,  1918,  when  he  was  about 
sixty  years  of  age,  was  born  and  reared  in 
Illinois,  and  was  the  fourth  in  order  of  birth 
JLa  /ifmilyK°f  eight,  ^ildren,  the  names  of 
the  others  being  as  here  noted:  Robert,  Jr., 
William,  Thomas,  Hugh,  Jane,  Mary  and  Ellen 
He  was  a  son  of  Robert  and  Mary  (Murphy)' 
Moore  who  were  born  in  Ireland  and  who  were 

Mr  n^nnlk  lheU  thGy  Came  t0  Illinois>  WW 
Mr.  Moore  became  a  successful  farmer  and 
a  substantial  buyer  and  shipper  of  grain 

of ^GXaT?rer-  M°0^  received  the  advantages 
of  the  Illinois  public  schools  and  his  indepen- 
dent activities  as  a  farmer  in  Macon  County 
were  continued  until  he  removed  to  Ni?antk 
and  engaged  m  the  grain  business,  of  which 
he  here  continued  a  leading  exponent  until 
the  time  of  his  death.    His  course  wa" 'directed 


194 


ILLINOIS 


at  all  stages  upon  a  high  plane  of  personal 
integrity  and  loyal  stewardship,  and  his  was 
inviolable  place  in  communal  confidence  and 
good  will.  Niantic  and  Macon  County  lost 
a  sterling  citizen  and  reliable  and  progressive 
business  man  when  Alexander  Moore  was  sum- 
moned from  the  scene  of  his  mortal  endeavors. 
His  political  allegiance  was  given  to  the 
Republican  party  and  his  religious  faith  was 
that  of  the  Methodist  Church. 

On  the  28th  of  June,  1899,  was  solem- 
nized the  marriage  of  Mr.  Moore  to  Miss 
Ellen  Dingman,  who  was  born  in  Macon 
County,  Illinois,  who  received  the  advantages 
of  the  public  schools  and  whose  well  directed 
study  and  reading  in  later  years  have  made 
her  a  woman  of  wide  mental  ken  and  excep- 
tional judgment.  Mrs.  Moore  is  a  daughter 
of  William  R.  and  Mary  (Hathaway)  Ding- 
man,  her  father  having  been  born  in  the  State 
of  New  York,  whence  he  eventually  came 
to  the  Middle  West  and  first  established  resi- 
dence in  Missouri.  From  that  state  he  came 
to  St.  Clair  County,  Illinois,  and  after  an 
interval  devoted  to  farm  enterprise  in  that 
county  he  came  with  his  family  to  Macon 
County  and  established  himself  as  one  of  the 
resourceful  and  progressive  exponents  of  farm 
enterprise  in  Niantic  Township.  He  later 
removed  to  the  Village  of  Niantic,  where 
he  was  long  and  successfully  established  in 
the  mercantile  business  and  where  he  passed 
the  closing  years  of  his  life — a  man  who 
measured  up  to  high  standards  in  all  the  rela- 
tions of  life  and  who  was  accorded  the  fullest 
of  popular  esteem.  He  was  mayor  for  three 
terms.  Of  the  three  children  of  the  Dingman 
family  Mrs.  Moore  is  the  youngest.  Ida  is 
the  widow  of  George  Farnam  and  has  two 
children,  Howard  and  Freda,  the  latter  being 
the  wife  of  Harry  Cross  and  their  one  child 
being  a  son,  Donald.  The  youngest  of  the 
Dingman  children  is  Charles  W.,  who  is  a 
resident  of  Niantic  and  who  is  in  the  mercan- 
tile business. 

Mr.  Moore  has  the  intellectual  perspective 
and  the  mature  judgment  that  make  for  civic 
loyalty  and  appreciativeness,  and  she  has 
taken  deep  and  helpful  interest  in  all  things 
pertaining  to  the  welfare  and  progress  of 
her  home  community.  After  serving  out  an 
unexpired  term  as  mayor  of  Niantic  she  was 
regularly  elected  to  this  municipal  office,  in 
which  she  has  functioned  with  noteworthy 
ability  and  success.  Her  political  allegiance 
is  given  to  the  Republican  party  and  she  is 
a  zealous  member  of  the  Methodist  Church 
in  her  home  community,  her  admirable  service 
in  connection  with  the  improving  of  the  church 
edifice  having  brought  her  prominently  before 
the  local  public.  As  mayor  she  has  been  able 
to  do  much  for  the  benefit  of  Niantic  and 
its  people,  and  at  the  time  of  this  writing, 
in  the  spring  of  1931,  she  is  working  zealously 
to  provide  for  the  communal  tax  assessment 


requisite  to  bringing  the  city  fire  department 
up  to  high  standard  in  efficiency  and  service. 
Mrs.  Moore  is  affiliated  with  the  local  organi- 
zations of  the  Royal  Neighbors  and  the  Daugh- 
ters of  Rebekah,  and  was  foremost  in  effecting 
the  organization  of  the  Fortnightly  Club,  one 
of  Niantic's  leading  clubs  for  women.  She 
has  membership  also  in  the  Woman's  Club  at 
Decatur,  the  county  seat,  and  officially  and 
socially  she  is  one  of  the  representative  women 
of  Macon  County,  where  her  circle  of  friends 
is  limited  only  by  that  of  her  acquaintances. 

Peyton  Berbling  has  been  established  in 
the  successful  practice  of  his  profession  in 
the  city  of  Cairo  since  1922,  and  his  ability 
and  successful  achievement  mark  him  as  one 
of  the  prominent  members  of  the  bar  of  Alex- 
ander County,  the  while  he  has  the  further 
distinction  of  having  served  in  the  United 
States  Navy  in  the  World  war  period. 

Mr.  Berbling  was  born  at  Wickliffe,  Ballard 
County,  Kentucky,  April  28,  1896,  and  is  a 
son  of  Charles  H.  and  Margaret  (Peyton) 
Berbling.  His  early  education  was  acquired 
in  the  public  schools  of  Kentucky  and  those 
of  Cairo,  Illinois,  and  in  Cairo  he  was  duly 
graduated  in  the  high  school.  It  was  not 
until  after  his  World  war  service  that  he 
completed  his  course  in  the  law  department  of 
Valparaiso  University,  at  Valparaiso,  Indiana, 
and  in  this  institution  he  was  graduated  as  a 
member  of  the  class  of  1921.  He  thus  re- 
ceived his  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws,  and 
in  the  following  year  he  was  admitted  to  the 
Illinois  bar,  in  April,  and  initiated  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  in  Cairo.  Here  he  has 
built  up  a  substantial  and  representative  law 
business  and  proved  both  a  resourceful  trial 
lawyer  and  well  fortified  counselor,  besides 
which  he  has  given  characteristically  loyal 
and  effective  service  as  city  attorney.  He  is  a 
stalwart  in  the  ranks  of  the  Republican  party, 
and  during  the  period  of  1928-30  served  as 
chairman  of  the  Republican  county  committee 
of  Alexander  County,  being  the  youngest 
chairman  of  a  Republican  County  in  the  state, 
besides  which  he  has  represented  his  county  as 
a  delegate  to  the  Republican  state  convention 
of  his  party.  He  has  held  since  1928  the  office 
of  master  of  chancery  for  Alexander  County, 
and  in  1930  was  made  nominee  of  his  party 
for  the  office  of  judge  of  the  county  court.  He 
was  elected  an  alternate  delegate  to  the  Na- 
tional Nominating  Convention  to  be  held  at 
Chicago  in  June,  1932.  He  has  membership 
in  the  Alexander  County  Bar  Association  and 
the  Illinois   State  Bar  Association. 

In  June,  1917,  Mr.  Berbling  volunteered  and 
enlisted  for  World  war  service  in  the  United 
States  Navy,  and  he  continued  in  service  until 
June,  1919,  when  he  received  his  honorable 
discharge.  He  was  assigned  duty  with  the 
North    Atlantic   fleet   and   had   seventeen   and 


ILLINOIS 


195 


one-half  months  of  service  in  European 
waters.  Mr.  Berbling  served  three  years  as 
commander  of  Cairo  Post,  No.  406,  American 
Legion,  and  is  to  be  credited  also  with  six 
years  administration  as  service  officer  of  this 
post.  He  was  for  two  years  a  member  of 
the  Illinois  state  council  of  Boy  Scouts,  and 
he  has  membership  in  the  local  Kiwanis  Club 
and  in  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 
His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Geraldine 
Batty,  was  born  and  reared  in  Cairo  and  is 
a  popular  figure  in  the  social  life  of  her  na- 
tive city.  They  have  one  son,  Gerald  Peyton, 
born  September  27,  1930. 

The  Ross  Family  of  Cass  County  has  con- 
tained many  solid  and  substantial  representa- 
tives, one  of  whom  is  Walter  Ross,  whose  farm 
home  is  near  the  town  of  Philadelphia. 

William    Ross,    founder    of    the    family    in 
Cass    County,    was    born    in    County    Antrim 
Ireland,    October   31,    1839.  In   one   section    of 
County  Antrim  are  several  communities  with 
which   the  name  of  Ross  is  closely  identified 
In  one  place  is  a  house  still  standing  in  good 
condition,  and  on  a  stone  above  the  door  are 
the  words :     "William  Ross  built  this  house  in 
1783."      The    builder    of    this    house    was    the 
grandfather  of  William  Ross,  who  came  with 
his  brother  to  America.     William  Ross  was  a 
son  of  Samuel  and  Margaret    (Bailey)    Ross, 
His  parents  lived  their  entire  lives  in  Ireland 
where   Samuel   Ross  was  a  farmer.     He  died 
the    same    year    his    son    William    was    born. 
William  Ross  was  the  youngest  of  six  children 
and    was    educated    in    the    parish    schools    of 
Ireland.     At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  came  to 
America  in  1857,  landing  from  a  sailing  vessel 
at  New  Orleans.     He  then  came  up  the  river 
to   Beardstown   in   Cass    County.      He   worked 
on   a   farm   for   wages   of  twelve   dollars   and 
a  half  a  month,  his  employer  being  a  farmer 
named  Stowe.     After  two  years  he  worked  on 
a  farm  near  Chandlerville.     On  April  14   1864 
he  married  Miss  Maggie  Elliott.    She  was  born 
in  Ireland  January  20,  1842,  daughter  of  John 
and  Nancy  (Bailey)   Elliott.     The  Ross  family 
and  the   Elliotts  had  been   acquainted  in  Ire- 
land.    The   Elliotts  settled  in   Cass  County  a 
few  years  before  the  advent  of  William  Ross. 
After    his    marriage    William    Ross    started 
farming  for  himself.     He  located  four  and  a 
half  miles  northwest  of  Philadelphia,  and  after 
farming  there  several  years  founded  in  1869 
the  present  Ross  homestead  two  miles  north  of 
Philadelphia.      The    Ross    homestead    in    1869 
was  a  farm  of  160  acres,  and  later  he  added 
eighty  acres  more  to   his   holdings.     Here   he 
continued   farming   until   he   retired   in    1912, 
at  which    time    his    son    Walter    assumed   the 
active  management  of  the   property. 

To  the  marriage  of  William  Ross  and  Mag- 
gie Elliott  were  born  twelve  children:  Mary, 
the  oldest,  became  the  wife  of  Alfred  Camp- 
bell; John  E.  married  Eleanor  Thornley,  and 


they  reside  at  Jacksonville;  Nancy  was  mar- 
ried to  William  Shaner,  now  deceased,  and 
she  resides  in  Cass  County;  the  son  William 
died  July  24,  1893.  Walter  Ross,  who  has  the 
active  management  of  the  Ross  homestead 
tarm  and  also  owns  extensive  holdings  of  his 
own  in  Cass  County,  has  given  all  his  mature 
years  to  farming  and  stock  raising.  He  has 
never  married  and  is  a  Democrat  in  political 
taitn.  Ihe  other  children  were:  Ethel  Ross, 
*£  1S1^?°  at,  the  old  homestead;  Nellie,  wife 
of  Carl  Thornley,  a  farmer  in  Morgan  County; 
Royal  who  died  June  11,  1923;  Edith,  who 
died  March  5,  1900;  Hazel  Ross,  who  lives  at 
the  Ross  homestead  farm;  Hughie,  who  died 
September  7,  1889;  and  one  child  who  died  in 
infancy. 

The  mother  of  this  large  family  of  children 
passed  away  September  8,  1893,  and  is  buried 
™-ii- e  Walnut  Ridge  cemetery  at  Virginia. 
William  Ross,  the  father  of  the  family,  died 
May  18  1926,  and  is  buried  in  the  same  ceme- 
tery at  Virginia.  William  Ross  is  remembered 
as  a  very  successful  farmer,  and  for  a  number 
of  years  he  bought  cattle  for  feeding  on  his 
farms.  He  was  a  Democrat,  though  at  times 
he  voted  for  the  best  man  suited  for  office  He 
was  interested  in  all  community  affairs  and 
was  a  member  of  the  Modern  Woodmen  of 
America. 

Howe  Vernon  Morgan.  In  newspaper  cir- 
cles of  Southern  Illinois  few  names  are  known 
better  than  that  of  Howe  Vernon  Morgan 
editor  and  manager  of  the  Sparta  News  Plain- 
dealer,  of  Sparta,  Randolph  County.  His  con- 
nection with  affairs  journalistic  began  even 
before  he  had  completed  his  high  school  educa- 
tion, and  since  1911  he  has  been  actively  iden- 
tified with  newspaper  work  in  various  capaci- 
ties His  standing  in  his  profession  is 
evidenced  by  the  fact  that  he  is  a  past  presi- 
dent of  the  Illinois  Press  Association  and  past 
president  of  the  Southern  Illinois  Press  Asso- 
ciation, while  he  has  also  taken  an  active  and 
important  part   in  civic   affairs. 

Mr.  Morgan  was  born  August  11,  1892 
near  St.  Morgan,  Madison  County,  Illinois' 
and  is  a  son  of  James  Howe  and  Mattie  E 
(Gray)  Morgan.  He  belongs  to  one  of  the 
old  and  honored  families  of  Illinois,  the 
founder  of  which  in  this  state  came  here  as 
a  pioneer  in  the  1820s  and  established  a  home 
on  the  prairie,  where  he  underwent  all  the 
privations  and  hardships  incidental  to  life 
in  a  new  country.  Since  then  the  family 
has  furnished  many  capable  men  to  various 
callings  and  professions.  James  Howe  Mor- 
gan was  born  near  St.  Morgan,  Illinois,  where 
he  grew  up  on  a  farm  and  received  a  country 
school  education.  He  adopted  agriculture  as 
his  occupation  early  in  life,  and  has  devoted 
his  entire  career  thereto,  although  at  present 
he  is  living  in  comfortable  retirement  at 
Greenville,   Illinois,  where   he   has   a   pleasant 


196 


ILLINOIS 


home.  Mr.  Morgan  during-  his  active  years 
was  always  industrious,  painstaking  and  pro- 
gressive, and  as  a  result  prospered  in  his 
worldly  affairs,  while  his  public  spirit  and 
good  citizenship,  his  integrity  and  high  charac- 
ter, have  gained  him  confidence  and  respect. 
He  married,  April  14,  1891,  Miss  Mattie  E. 
Gray,  who  was  born  near  Carlyle,  Illinois, 
September  14,  1865,  and  died  in  1905,  and  they 
became  the  parents  of  five  children:  Howe  V., 
of  this  review;  Miss  Lila,  who  resides  with  her 
father  at  Greenville;  Paul  G.,  also  of  Green- 
ville; Mrs.  Hazel  Heston,  of  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri; and  Arthur  M.,  of  Rantoul,  Illinois. 

Howe  Vernon  Morgan  received  his  early 
education  in  the  public  schools  of  Bond  County, 
Illinois,  following  which  he  took  his  high 
school  course  at  Greenville,  and  was  graduated 
as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1910.  He  had 
early  become  interested  in  printing,  and  dur- 
ing the  summer  months  and  on  afternoons  of 
school  days  began  learning  the  printer's  trade. 
In  1911  he  had  acquired  sufficient  skill  to 
secure  a  position  as  a  printer  with  the  Green- 
ville Advocate,  with  which  he  remained  until 
1912,  when  he  was  advanced  to  the  post  of 
linotype  operator,  having  learned  to  operate 
that  intricate  machine.  He  remained  in  this 
capacity  until  1917  when  he  became  city  editor 
of  the  same  paper.  In  that  year,  when  the 
United  States  became  involved  in  the  World 
war,  he  volunteered  for  active  service  in  the 
field,  but  was  rejected,  and  accordingly  turned 
his  attention  to  acting  as  local  instructor  for 
drafted  men,  in  addition  to  which  he  continued 
to  be  a  constant  and  untiring  worker  in  be- 
half of  all  war  measures  and  drives.  In  the 
meantime  he  continued  as  city  editor  of  the 
Greenville  Advocate  until  June,  1919,  when 
he  bought  the  Sparta  News  and  published  it 
until  October,  1921.  In  that  year,  with  his 
brother-in-law,  P.  A.  Bourner,  he  bought  the 
Sparta  Plaindealer,  and  the  two  were  con- 
solidated under  the  latter  name,  Mr.  Morgan 
since  having  acted  in  the  capacity  of  editor 
and  manager.  This  is  a  well-printed,  well- 
edited  newspaper,  containing  reliable  national 
and  state  news,  local  happenings,  well-written 
and  timely  editorials  and  various  features, 
and  has  a  large  circulation  throughout  Ran- 
dolph and  the  adjoining  counties.  Mr.  Morgan 
is  widely  known  in  newspaper  circles,  was 
president  of  the  Illinois  Press  Association  in 
1931,  is  a  past  president  of  the  Southern  Illi- 
nois Press  Association  and  a  member  of  the 
National  Editorial  Association.  He  is  like- 
wise active  in  all  civic  affairs,  being  past 
president  of  the  Rotary  Club  and  secretary 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  is  a  director 
of  the  Sparta  Building  and  Loan  Association 
and  a  former  member  of  the  board  of  direc- 
tors of  the  Country  Club.  Fraternally  he  is 
affiliated  with  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  the 
Modern  Woodmen  of  America.,  He  is  a  Demo- 
crat   in    his    political    allegiance    and    his    re- 


ligious   faith    is    that    of    the    Presbyterian 
Church. 

On  June  3,  1915,  Mr.  Morgan  was  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Eve  Bourner,  of  Pleas- 
ant Mound,  Illinois,  born  June  14,  1893,  a 
daughter  of  A.  B.  and  Delphia  (Perkins) 
Bourner,  natives  of  Illinois,  and  to  this  union 
there  have  come  two  children:  Delphia  Eliza- 
beth, born  December  19,  1916;  and  William 
Howe,  born  April  4,  1928.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Morgan  occupy  a  pleasant  and  attractive  home 
at  112  East  Second  Street. 

Lewis  Ebb  Etherton,  county  superintend- 
ent of  schools  for  Jackson  County,  with  execu- 
tive office  in  the  courthouse  at  Murphysboro, 
is  giving  a  notably  loyal  and  progressive  ad- 
ministration of  the  public-school  system  of 
his  native  county.  He  was  born  on  the 
parental  home  farm  in  Jackson  County  De- 
cember 27,  1891,  a  son  of  Lewis  and  Mary 
Etherton,  who  became  the  parents  of  five 
children.  Lewis  Etherton  was  born  and  reared 
in  Jackson  County,  where  his  father,  George 
W.  Etherton,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  became 
one  of  the  pioneer  settlers  in  Pomona  Town- 
ship, obtained  Government  land  and  developed 
a  productive  farm  estate,  he  having  donated 
land  and  also  logs  for  the  building  of  the  first 
schoolhouse  in  that  township.  His  wife,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Hannah  Crawshaw,  was 
born  in  England  and  came  to  Illinois  from 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania. 

Reared  on  the  old  home  farm  of  his  father, 
who  was  long  one  of  the  substantial  exponents 
of  agricultural  and  livestock  industry  in 
Jackson  County  and  who  served  more  than 
twenty  years  as  school  director,  Lewis  Ebb 
Etherton  supplemented  the  discipline  of  the 
public  schools  by  a  course  in  the  Southern 
Illinois  Normal  University,  from  which  he 
graduated,  class  of  1923,  with  Ed.  B.  degree. 
At  the  age  of  eighteen  years  he  initiated 
his  service  as  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools, 
and  in  his  native  county  his  service  in  this 
capacity  covered  a  period  of  seventeen  years. 
He  was  then,  in  1927,  elected  to  his  present 
office,  that  of  county  superintendent  of  schools, 
his  reelection,  for  a  second  term,  having  oc- 
curred in  1930  and  having  given  evidence  of 
the  high  estimate  placed  upon  his  adminis- 
tration. 

Mr.  Etherton  is  a  Republican  and  has  been 
for  eight  years  a  member  of  its  finance  com- 
mittee in  Jackson  County.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Illinois  State  Teachers  Association  and 
has  proved  a  successful  force  in  advancing 
educational  work  in  his  native  county  and 
state.  Under  his  jurisdiction  are  about  124 
schools,  303  teachers  and  9,000  students.  He 
is  secretary  of  the  Lions  Club  of  Murphys- 
boro and  is  affiliated  with  the  Benevolent  and 
Protective  Order  of  Elks  and  Modern  Wood- 
men of  America.  In  the  World  war  period 
Mr.   Etherton  was   active   in  local   drives  for 


g>yvn/  uv, 


ILLINOIS 


197 


the  sale  of  Government  war  bonds  and  also 
in  Red  Cross  campaigns  in  his  home  com- 
munity. He  is  a  member  of  the  Jackson 
County  Country  Club.  His  wife,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Dorothy  Doolen,  was  born 
and  reared  in  Marion  County,  a  representa- 
tive of  a  pioneer  family  whose  first  repre- 
sentatives in  Illinois  made  the  overland  jour- 
ney from  Ohio  with  wagon  and  ox  team,  her 
father  having  served  a  number  of  terms  as 
township  supervisor  of  Kinmundy  Township. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Etherton  have  three  children: 
Eugenia  Janet,  Bettie  Lee,  and  Lora  Jean. 
Mr.  Etherton  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
Baptist  Church  of  which  he  has  been  a  trus- 
tee for  five  years. 

Edgar  A.  McKenzie,  farm  owner,  bank  di- 
rector, has  for  many  years  been  actively  iden- 
tified with  the  business  and  civic  affairs  of 
Moultrie  County.     His  home  is  at  Sullivan. 

Mr.  McKenzie  was  born  at  Lincoln,  Illinois, 
November  13,  1870,  son  of  A.  H.  and  Ellen 
(Edgar)  McKenzie.  His  father  was  born  in 
Scotland,  came  to  Illinois  in  1862,  and  in  early 
years  was  a  contractor.  He  had  a  great  deal 
of  work  in  connection  with  the  rebuilding  of 
Chicago  after  the  fire  of  1871.  For  many 
years  he  operated  lumber  yards  at  Lincoln 
and  Sullivan.  He  had  much  to  do  with  public 
affairs  as  a  resident  o'f  Lincoln.  He  died  in 
1904. 

Edgar  A.  McKenzie  attended  public  schools 
at  Lincoln.  From  the  time  he  left  school  he 
has  had  a  wide  range  of  business  responsibili- 
ties. He  was  in  the  lumber  business  as  an 
employee  of  B.  P.  Andrews  and  then  asso- 
ciated with  his  father.  He  was  put  in  charge 
of  the  yard  at  Sullivan.  In  1896  this  busi- 
ness was  sold  and  Mr.  McKenzie  then  went 
on  the  road  as  a  lumber  salesman,  covering 
Illinois  and  Indiana  territory.  This  territory 
was  subsequently  extended  so  that  his  range 
of  business  duties  took  him  over  all  the  central 
western  states. 

In  1919  Mr.  McKenzie  turned  his  capital 
and  attention  to  farming,  purchasing  a  large 
amount  of  land  in  Moultrie  County.  The 
management  of  his  farm  property  has  consti- 
tuted his  principal  business  since  that  time. 
In  1929  Governor  Emmerson  appointed  Mr. 
McKenzie  quarantine  officer  in  the  Division 
of  Animal  Industry.  He  has  given  a  most 
efficient  service  in  this  important  state 
department. 

Mr.  McKenzie  is  affiliated  with  Sullivan 
Lodge  No.  764,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons, 
the  Royal  Arch  Chapter  and  Council  at  Sulli- 
van. He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Knights 
of  Pythias,  a  director  of  the  Kiwanis  Club, 
member  of  the  Community  Club  and  the  Coun- 
try Club.  He  has  been  a  very  influential 
worker  in  the  Republican  party  for  many 
years,  is  Republican  precinct  committeeman 
and  county  chairman  of  the  Republican  Cen- 


tral Committee.     Mr.  McKenzie  is  a  director 
of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Sullivan. 

He  married  July  25,  1895,  Miss  Anna  Evans. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Benjamin  and  Mary  H. 
Evans,  of  Sullivan. 

John  R.  Guilliams  for  nearly  forty  years 
has  been  a  member  of  the  Chicago  bar.  Almost 
this  entire  period  has  been  taken  up  with  legal 
work  in  connection  with  transportation.  For 
a  number  of  years  he  was  in  the  legal  depart- 
ment of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railway 
Company,  but  his  most  important  work  has 
been  with  the  surface  transportation  com- 
panies in  the  City  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Guilliams 
is  now  general  counsel  for  the  Chicago  Sur- 
face Lines. 

He  was  born  in  Hendricks  County,  Indiana, 
February  5,  1868,  son  of  Tazwell  and  Jane 
(Faulkner)  Guilliams.  The  Guilliams  family 
came  from  Virginia,  the  Faulkners  from  Ken- 
tucky, and  both  of  them  settled  in  Indiana 
before  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Guilliams'  parents. 

When  John  R.  Guilliams  was  a  year  old  his 
parents  moved  to  Cass  County,  Missouri, 
where  his  father  became  a  well-to-do  farmer 
and  stock  raiser.  In  that  section  of  Missouri 
Mr.  Guilliams  grew  to  manhood,  attending 
grammar  and  high  schools  in  his  home  county. 
He  also  spent  a  year  in  the  Central  Normal 
College  at  Danville,  Indiana.  Shortly  after 
coming  to  Chicago  he  enrolled  in  Lake  Forest 
University  Law  School  (now  the  Kent  College 
of  Law),  and  at  the  same  time  had  the  benefit 
of  study  and  working  experience  in  the  office 
of  the  late  W.  C.  Goudy,  who  for  many  years 
was  general  counsel  for  the  Chicago  &  North- 
western Railway  and  was  a  lawyer  whose 
abilities  and  distinction  made  a  deep  impress 
upon  his  profession.  Mr.  Guilliams  was  gradu- 
ated from  Lake  Forest  University  in  1894,  and 
after  being  admitted  to  the  bar  remained  with 
the  legal  department  of  the  Chicago  &  North- 
western Railway  Company  for  about  ten 
years.  At  the  time  of  his  resignation,  in  1902, 
from  that  department  he  was  assistant  attor- 
ney for  the  lines  in  the  State  of  Wisconsin. 

Shortly  afterward  Mr.  Guilliams  entered  the 
legal  department  of  the  Chicago  Union  Trac- 
tion Company.  For  several  years  he  was  em- 
ployed in  trial  work  in  the  courts  of  Cook 
County.  Later  he  was  made  chief  trial  attor- 
ney for  the  Chicago  Railways  Company,  the 
successor  of  the  Chicago  Union  Traction  Com- 
pany, which  operated  all  the  north  and  west 
side  street  railway  lines  in  Chicago.  From 
this  post  he  was  advanced  to  general  attorney 
for  the  Chicago  Railways  Company,  and  in 
the  year  1924  was  made  general  counsel  for 
the  Chicago  Surface  Lines,  under  which  name 
all  of  the  surface  transportation  lines  of  the 
City  of  Chicago  have  been  operated  since 
February  1,  1914.  These  positions  and  service 
have  brought  Mr.  Guilliams  associations  with 
some  of  the  ablest  legal  talent  in  Chicago.     In 


198 


ILLINOIS 


his  career,  ability  and  hard  work  have  been 
responsible  for  the  steady  promotion  he  has 
enjoyed. 

He  is  a  member  of  many  prominent  clubs 
and  civic  organizations,  including  the  Union 
League  Club,  the  Lake  Shore  Athletic  Club, 
the  Glen  View  Golf  Club  and  the  Evanston 
Country  Club.  Golf  is  his  favorite  diversion. 
In  1893  he  married  Miss  Lola  A.  Smith,  who 
was  born  in  Fulton  County,  Illinois.  Their 
three  children  are  Gordon  B.,  Donald  Faulkner 
and  Cornelia. 

John  McConachie.  For  nearly  two  decactes 
the  Coulterville  Republican,  of  Coulterville, 
Randolph  County,  has  been  one  of  the  pro- 
gressive newspapers  of  Southern  Illinois,  and 
through  its  columns  its  owner  and  editor,  John 
McConachie,  has  accomplished  much  for  the 
betterment  and  advancement  of  his  community. 
Mr.  McConachie  started  his  career  as  a  farm 
hand,  subsequently  took  up  school  teaching 
and  finally,  in  1911,  turned  his  attention  to 
journalism  when  he  purchased  his  present 
publication.  He  is  now  widely  known  in  news- 
paper circles  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
state,  where  he  has  held  several  important 
offices,  and  his  labors  as  a  citizen  have  brought 
about  a  number  of  helpful  movements,  par- 
ticularly in  the  way  of  good  roads. 

Mr.  McConachie  was  born  September  30, 
1870,  on  a  farm  near  Sparta,  Randolph 
County,  Illinois,  and  is  a  son  of  Robert  and 
Prudence  (Baird)  McConachie.  Robert  Mc- 
Conachie was  born  in  County  Antrim,  Ireland, 
and  was  still  a  young  boy  when  brought  to 
the  United  States  by  his  parents.  For  a  time 
the  family  resided  in  the  East,  but  subse- 
quently came  to  Illinois,  and  here  Robert 
McConachie  took  up  land  in  Randolph  County, 
where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in 
agricultural  pursuits  near  Sparta.  His  death 
occurred  in  1872,  at  which  time  he  was  re- 
spected as  one  of  the  hard-working  and  hon- 
orable men  of  his  community.  Mr.  McCon- 
achie married  Miss  Prudence  Baird,  of  Souttt 
Carolina,  and  they  had  only  one  child:  John, 
of  this  review.  After  Robert  McConachie's 
death  his  widow  married  John  L.  Mclntire, 
also  a  lifelong  farmer  in  Randolph  County 
and  she  died  in  1925. 

John  McConachie  attended  the  public  schools 
of  Randolph  County,  completing  his  high 
school  course  in  1890,  and  in  the  meantime 
assisted  his  father  on  the  home  farm  during 
the  summer  months  and  after  school.  For  a 
time  after  graduation  from  high  school  he 
remained  on  the  home  farm  and  then  began 
teaching  in  the  rural  districts  of  Randolph 
County.  In  1905  he  became  principal  of  the 
school  at  Red  Bud,  a  position  which  he  held 
until  1909.  During  this  period  he  began  con- 
tributing short  articles  and  notes  to  the  news- 
papers, and  in  1909  gave  up  teaching  to  take 
a  regular  position  with  the  Red  Bud  Pilgrim. 


He  remained  with  this  publication  for  some- 
thing over  a  year  and  then  returned  to  Coul- 
terville, where,  in  1911,  he  purchased  the 
Coulterville  Republican,  of  which  he  has  since 
been  editor,  owner  and  publisher.  He  now 
has  an  up-to-date  plant,  including  modern 
presses^  and  full  equipment  of  all  kinds,  and 
in  addition  to  the  newspaper  carries  a  job 
printing  department  capable  of  turning  out 
all  kinds  of  first-class  work.  He  gives  his 
readers  a  clean,  reliable  newspaper,  well 
printed  and  capably  edited,  containing  news 
of  national,  state  and  local  character,  able 
editorials  and  feature  matter.  Mr.  McCon- 
achie is  well  known  in  newspaper  circles  and 
is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Press  Association 
and  the  Southern  Illinois  Press  Association, 
of  the  latter  of  which  he  is  past  president 
and  has  served  as  secretary  two  years.  Per- 
sonally, and  through  the  columns  of  his  news- 
paper, Mr.  McConachie  has  been  an  important 
factor  in  securing  good  roads  and  highways 
in  and  around  Coulterville.  He  has  served  on 
the  school  board  and  is  president  of  the  Civic 
Club,  faternally  is  a  member  of  the  Modern 
Woodmen  of  America,  and  in  his  political 
allegiance  is  a  stanch  Republican.  In  addi- 
tion to  his  newspaper,  Mr.  McConachie  is  the 
owner  of  large  and  valuable  farming  interests 
in   Randolph   County. 

In  1899  Mr.  McConachie  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Rosalie  Temple,  of  Randolph 
County,  and  to  this  union  there  were  born 
two  children:  Harold  Temple,  who  is  em- 
ployed by  the  Auto  Parts  Company  of  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio;  and  Robert  Irving,  also  of 
that  city.  Mrs.  McConachie  died  in  1923,  and 
in  1927  Mr.  McConachie  married  Mrs.  Georgia 
W.  Kugler,  of  Coulterville,  who  was  born  in 
1874.  By  her  first  marriage  Mrs.  McConachie 
has  one  daughter:  Winifred  K.  Kugler,  now 
Mrs.  John  H.  King  of  Carbondale,  Illinois. 

Morse  Claude  Whiting  owns  and  controls 
in  the  City  of  Cairo,  judicial  center  of  Alex- 
ander County,  the  substantial  electric  and 
plumbing  business  that  is  here  conducted 
under  the  title  of  Halliday-Rittenhouse  Com- 
pany, with  headquarters  at  616  Commercial 
Avenue.  He  is  known  and  valued  as  one  of 
the  progressive  business  men  and  loyal  and 
public-spirited  citizens  of  Cairo  and  is  espe- 
cially fortified  for  his  present  line  of  business 
enterprise  by  reason  of  his  being  a  skilled 
electrical  engineer. 

Mr.  Whiting  was  born  at  Altona,  Illinois, 
November  7,  1885,  and  is  a  son  of  S.  M.  and 
Ella  (Pierce)  Whiting,  both  likewise  natives 
of  Illinois.  S.  M.  Whiting  was  long  and  suc- 
cessfully established  in  the  meat  business  at 
Altona,  the  greater  part  of  his  active  career 
having  been  marked  by  his  identification  with 
this  line  of  enterprise,  and  he  was  a  prominent 
and  influential  figure  in  political  affairs  in 
Knox  County. 


7yylnyri'  \7£^-rTri^ 


ILLINOIS 


199 


After  completing  his  studies  in  the  high 
school  at  Altona,  Morse  C.  Whiting  entered 
the  University  of  Illinois,  where  he  proved  a 
diligent  and  receptive  student,  as  is  evidenced 
by  his  having  received  therefrom  not  only  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  but  also  that  of 
Electrical  Engineer.  He  was  graduated  in 
the  university  as  a  member  of  the  class  of 
1908,  and  prior  to  this  he  had  been  employed 
one  year  with  the  Omaha  Light  &  Power 
Company,  in  the  metropolis  of  Nebraska. 
After  leaving  the  university  he  was  associated 
with  the  O.  McKinley  Syndicate  at  Galesburg, 
Illinois,  until  1911,  in  which  year  he  was 
transferred  by  this  corporation  to  Cairo. 
Here  he  continued  his  association  with  the 
concern  until  1917,  when  he  resigned  his  posi- 
tion and  assumed  the  position  of  construction 
engineer  and  superintendent  for  the  Inter- 
national Silica  Company,  but  in  the  follow- 
ing year  he  withdrew  from  this  position  and 
became  manager  of  the  Pioneer  Pole  &  Shaft 
Company  of  Cairo.  In  1920  he  purchased  an 
interest  in  the  business  of  the  Halliday-Ritten- 
house  Company,  and  in  1929,  by  purchase  of 
the  interests  of  other  principals  in  the  con- 
cern, he  assumed  sole  control  of  the  large  and 
prosperous  business,  which  is  largely  repre- 
sented in  the  handling  of  electric  and  plumb- 
ing contracts  and  in  maintaining  a  full  stock 
of  supplies  required  iri  this  field  of  enterprise. 
This  concern  was  founded  in  1906  and  has 
developed  a  representative  business  in  elec- 
trical and  plumbing  installation  in  connection 
with  building  construction,  remodeling,  etc. 
Thus  it  may  be  noted  that  it  did  the  electrical 
fixture  work  in  the  new  high-school  building 
of  Cairo  and  also  that  in  Saint  Mary's  Hos- 
pital in  this  city.  Mr.  Whiting  retains  a  corps 
of  fifteen  employes  and  controls  a  business 
that  extends  through  Alexander  and  Pulaski 
counties.  He  is  locally  a  valued  member  of 
the  Association  of  Commerce  and  the  Rotary 
Club,  his  political  allegiance  is  given  to  the 
Republican  party,  he  is  affiliated  with  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity,  and  he  held  in  1917  the  office 
of  exalted  ruler  of  Cairo  Lodge,  B.  P.  O.  E. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Egyptian  Country  Club, 
and  in  the  World  war  period  he  had  member- 
ship in  the  local  organization  of  the  National 
Council  of  Defense,  besides  being  otherwise 
active  in  the  advancing  of  patriotic  movements 
and  service  in  his  home  city  and  county. 

The  large  and  well  equipped  establishment 
of  the  Halliday-Rittenhouse  Company  has 
been  maintained  at  high  standard  in  its 
service  under  the  ownership  and  administra- 
tion of  Mr.  Whiting,  and  utilizes  6,000  square 
feet  of  floor  space. 

At  Galesburg,  this  state,  was  solemnized  the 
marriage  of  Mr.  Whiting  to  Miss  Jennie  V. 
Nelson,  who  was  there  born  and  reared,  and 
the  one  child  of  this  union  is  a  daughter, 
Claudia  Lucretia,  who  is,  in  1932,  a  student 
in  the  MacMurray  College  for  Women  at 
Jacksonville. 


Herbert  G.  Copp.  The  growth  of  a  great 
industry  in  a  community  is  an  epitome  of  the 
development  of  the  community  itself,  for  a 
city  is  but  an  aggregation  of  industries  about 
which  gather  a  vast  army  of  men  with  their 
families,  who  are  in  some  way  connected  with 
the  carrying  on  of  these  business  operations. 
The  flourishing  and  prosperous  City  of  Moline, 
with  its  multiform  industries  and  far-reaching 
commerce,  owes  its  growth  to  its  position  as 
a  distributing  center  and  its  concentration  of 
production.  A  typical  branch  of  its  business, 
and  one  of  the  leading  sources  of  its  wealth, 
is  its  manufacturing  interests,  and  it  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  one  of  the  leading  fac- 
tors in  this  direction  is  the  great  firm  of 
Deere  &  Company. 

Among  the  important  officials  of  Deere  & 
Company  was  the  late  Herbert  G.  Copp,  re- 
garded as  a  national  authority  on  steel  prod- 
ucts and  particularly  in  the  farm  machinery 
industries.  Mr.  Copp  was  with  Deere  &  Com- 
pany for  thirty-six  years,  and  until  his  death, 
September  2,  1931,  was  director  of  purchases 
and  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Directors.  He 
was  very  much  beloved  by  his  fellow  men  in 
Moline. 

Mr.  Copp  was  born  at  Rock  Island,  Illinois, 
May  11,  1873,  the  son  of  James  F.  and  Louisa 
(Hayes)  Copp,  and  a  member  of  one  of  the 
oldest  families  of  Rock  Island  County.  His 
paternal  grandfather,  James  F.  Copp  the 
elder,  was  born  in  Devonshire,  England,  in 
1816,  and  in  1835  immigrated  to  the  United 
States  and  settled  at  Rock  Island.  In  1837 
he  married  Sophie  Keziah  Bowling,  a  niece 
of  Col.  George  Davenport,  founder  of  the 
City  of  Davenport,  Iowa,  the  ceremony  taking 
place  at  the  old  home  of  Colonel  Davenport, 
which  has  been  restored  and  still  stands  on 
the  site  of  the  present  Rock  Island  Arsenal. 
Sophie  Keziah  Bowling  was  a  member  of  the 
family  after  whom  the  township  of  Bowling 
was  named,  and  settled  in  Rock  Island  County 
about  1830.  James  F.  Copp  the  elder  died 
August  5,  1877,  and  his  wife  died  Januarv 
13,  1874. 

James  F.  Copp  the  younger  was  born  at 
Rock  Island,  Illinois,  in  1840.  He  was  reared 
and  educated  in  his  native  community,  where 
he  resided  until  the  outbreak  of  the  war  be- 
tween the  states,  when  he  enlisted  in  an  Illi- 
nois volunteer  infantry  regiment.  He  served 
with  distinction  in  several  important  engage- 
ments until  incapacitated  by  a  gun-shot  wound, 
when  he  received  his  honorable  discharge,  at 
that  time  being  captain  of  Company  F,  Eighty- 
ninth  Regiment,  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry. 
Later  he  served  for  a  number  of  years  as 
postmaster  of  Rock  Island  and  was  a  man 
of  high  and  substantial  character,  but  never 
recovered  from  his  wound  and  died  in  1880 
at  the  early  age  of  forty  years. 

Herbert  G.  Copp,  his  son,  received  his  edu- 
cation in  the  public  schools  of  Rock  Island, 
graduating  from  high  school  in  1889,  and  in 


200 


ILLINOIS 


the  fall  of  that  year  entered  Knox  College, 
at  Galesburg,  pursuing  a  classical  course  for 
three  years,  when  his  college  career  termi- 
nated. He  was  a  member  of  the  Phi  Delta 
Theta  fraternity.  On  leaving  college  in  1892 
he  entered  the  insurance  firm  of  Hayes  and 
Cleaveland,  at  Rock  Island,  but  later  became 
a  law  student  in  the  office  of  W.  H.  Wilson,  of 
Davenport,  Iowa,  where  he  remained  as  a  clerk 
for  two  years.  On  April  1,  1895,  Mr.  Copp 
entered  the  employ  of  Deere  &  Company  as 
assistant  to  William  Butterworth,  then  treas- 
urer and  purchasing  agent.  In  1907,  upon 
the  death  of  Charles  H.  Deere,  Mr.  Butter- 
worth  was  made  president  of  the  company 
and  Mr.  Copp  became  purchasing  agent.  He 
held  this  position  until  the  reorganization  of 
Deere  &  Company  in  1910,  when  he  was  made 
director  of  purchases  for  all  factories  and 
branch  houses,  holding  this  position  until  his 
death.  On  March  13,  1917,  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the 
company. 

During  his  long  experience  as  director  of 
purchases  for  Deere  &  Company,  he  became 
prominently  known  as  an  authority  on  steel 
and  other  materials  which  go  into  the  manu- 
facture of  farm  machinery.  Long  years  of 
association  with  steel  and  farm  machinery 
industries  made  him  nationally  known  among 
the  leaders  as  one  of  the  best  informed  men 
in  the  country.  All  the  positions  and  trusts 
that  came  to  Mr.  Copp  were  secured,  not  by 
self-seeking  or  importunity,  but  as  a  reward 
to  one  who  had  shown  rare  fidelity  and  intelli- 
gence in  the  management  of  his  own  affairs. 
He  was  a  quiet  unassuming  man,  wise  in 
action,  prudent  in  conduct,  but  free  and  gen- 
erous in  the  use  of  his  large  accumulations. 
Keenly  alive  to  public  events,  he  exerted  no 
small  influence  in  the  shaping  of  political  and 
public  policies.  He  was  a  Republican,  a  pro- 
nounced advocate  of  protection  of  industry 
and  the  advantage  of  labor.  In  religious  faith 
he  was  an  Episcopalian.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of 
Elks,  the  Rock  Island  Arsenal  .Golf  Club,  the 
Chicago  Athletic  Club  and  the  Davenport  Out- 
ing Club.  The  respect  felt  for  him  as  a  citizen 
and  business  man  was  demonstrated  in  the 
crowds  of  friends,  acquaintances,  and  business 
connections  who  attended  his  funeral  in  the 
Trinity  Episcopal  Church  at  Rock  Island.  All 
the  factories  and  branches  of  Deere  &  Com- 
pany were  closed  the  day  of  the  funeral  as 
an  additional  tribute. 

On  June  15,  1899,  Mr.  Copp  married  Miss 
Adelle  Guy,  of  Moline,  Illinois.  She  died  No- 
vember 11,  1903,  after  which  Mr.  Copp  made 
his  home  with  his  mother,  Mrs.  Louisa  Copp. 
His  only  son,  Herbert  Guy  Copp,  for  two 
years  was  a  student  in  the  Rock  Island  High 
School,  then  entered  Lake  Forest  Academy, 
graduating  in  1917.  He  then  entered  Cor- 
nell University,  from  which  he.  was  graduated 


in  1922  with  the  degree  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neer. In  1918  he  enlisted  in  the  United  States 
Marine  Corps  and  was  released  from  active 
duty  in  1919.  He  is  now  in  the  steel  business 
near  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania.  In  1926  he 
married  Nancy  Ray,  of  Washington,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  they  have  one  daughter,  Adelle 
Louise. 

Beardstown  Public  Library.  In  the  open- 
ing decade  of  the  present  century  was  given 
inception  to  the  movement  that  led  to  the 
establishing  of  the  present  public  library  in 
the  progressive  little  City  of  Beardstown,  Cass 
County.  The  institution  has  been  brought  to 
high  standard  within  the  intervening  years 
and  stands  as  an  enduring  evidence  of  com- 
munal loyalty  and  appreciation.  About  the 
year  1900  there  came  to  the  members  of  the 
Woman's  Club  of  Beardstown  a  realization  of 
the  need  for  a  public  library  that  should  give 
effective  service  in  advancing  cultural  inter- 
ests in  the  city.  This  realization  led  to  con- 
structive action  on  the  part  of  the  members 
of  the  club,  who  proceeded  to  arouse  general 
public  interest  in  the  movement,  and  who  had 
leadership  in  gaining  from  the  library  fund 
established  by  Andrew  Carnegie  the  requisite 
funds  for  the  construction  of  the  present  beau- 
tiful library  building,  which  is  situated  on  the 
south  side  of  the  beautifully  wooded  square  in 
the  heart  of  the  city  that  rests  on  the  shady 
banks  of  the  Illinois  River.  For  the  erection 
of  the  building  $10,000  was  contributed  by  the 
Carnegie  fund,  under  the  customary  provi- 
sions for  communal  support,  and  Beardstown, 
a  little  city  of  prominence  in  the  annals  of 
Illinois  history,  is  now  able  to  claim  as  its 
own  a  library  whose  equipment  and  service 
measure  up  to  high  standard,  as  touching  in- 
tellectual and  general  cultural  provisions. 

The  building  of  the  Beardstown  Public  Li- 
brary was  dedicated  in  the  autumn  of  1902, 
and  on  its  shelves  are  installed  at  the  present 
time  more  than  5,000  books*  standard  and 
popular  editions  that  have  been  selected  with 
care  and  judgment.  The  library  provided  also 
a  full  complement  of  the  leading  magazines 
and  other  periodicals  and  these  include  those 
of  scientific  and  educational  order  as  well  as 
those  of  the  higher  grade  of  fiction.  The  year 
1930  showed  that  more  than  21,000  citizens  of 
the  community  availed  themselves  of  the  priv- 
ileges and  resources  of  the  library. 

The  general  management  of  the  Beards- 
town Public  Library  is  vested  in  a  loyal  and 
progressive  board  of  trustees  and  in  library 
executive  of  distinctive  ability  and  efficiency. 
During  a  period  of  nearly  seventeen  years 
Miss  Hallie  J.  Seeger  has  been  a  valued  and 
popular  executive  of  the  library,  she  having 
received  technical  library  training  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois  and  having  gained  high  rep- 
utation in  her  chosen  profession.  The  person- 
nel   of    the   board    of    trustees    is    (1931)    as 


ILLINOIS 


201 


follows:  Philip  Kuhl  (president),  Mrs.  Mary 
E.  Gladhill  (secretary  and  treasurer),  Allen 
D.  Millard,  Elva  J.  Saunders,  Mrs.  P.  M. 
Green,  E.  T.  Hunter,  Miss  Alice  Kricke,  and 
Miss  Alice  Ehrhardt.  There  is  one  vacancy  on 
the  board  at  the  time  of  this  writing,  in  the 
summer  of  1931. 

The  manifold  beauties  and  advantages  that 
make  Beardstown  one  of  the  specially  attract- 
ive little  cities  of  Illinois  are  heightened 
notably  by  the  splendid  public  library  and  its 


Lawrence  Arthur  Glenn,  who  is  engaged 
in  the  general  practice  of  law  at  Murphys- 
boro,  judicial  center  of  Jackson  County,  is  a 
representative  of  the  third  generation  of  the 
Glenn  family  in  Illinois  and  the  original  pro- 
genitor of  the  family  made  settlement  in  Vir- 
ginia in  the  Colonial  period  of  American 
history. 

Mr.  Glenn  was  born  in  Coles  County,  Illi- 
nois, November  23,  1887,  son  of  Joseph  C.  and 
Mary  (Ferguson)  Glenn.  The  other  sur- 
viving children  are  Leslie  L.,  Otis  F.,  and 
Eleanor.  Leslie  L.  and  Otis  F.  are  likewise 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  in  their  native 
state.  Otis  F.  served  as  state's  attorney  of 
Jackson  County,  as  a  member  of  the  State 
Senate  and  is  now  a 'member  from  Illinois  in 
the  United  States  Senate.  All  the  children 
are  graduates  of  the  University  of  Illinois. 

Joseph  C.  Glenn  was  born  and  reared  in 
Coles  County,  Illinois,  where  his  father,  Ben- 
jamin Glenn,  made  settlement  in  1818,  upon 
coming  to  Illinois  from  Hardin  County,  Ken- 
tucky. Joseph  Glenn  obtained  Government 
land  and  developed  one  of  the  pioneer  farms 
of  Coles  County,  and  he  was  a  neighbor  and 
assisted  on  the  farm  of  Thomas  Lincoln,  father 
of  Abraham  Lincoln.  In  the  early  days  of 
his  residence  in  Coles  County  numerous  Indi- 
ans likewise  tilled  the  soil  of  that  section  of 
the  state. 

The  public  schools  of  his  native  county  were 
the  medium  through  which  Lawrence  A. 
Glenn  acquired  his  early  education,  and  in 
1911  he  was  graduated  in  the  law  department 
of  the  University  of  Illinois.  His  father  be- 
came a  representative  member  of  the  bar  of 
Coles  County,  served  two  terms  as  a  member 
of  the  board  of  equalization  and  in  his  native 
county  was  also  a  successful  breeder  and 
grower  of  fine  livestock.  In  the  year  that 
marked  his  reception  of  the  degree  of  Bach- 
elor of  Laws  Lawrence  A.  Glenn  was  admitted 
to  the  bar.  He  engaged  in  practice  at  Cham- 
paign, and  there  served  two  terms  as  city 
attorney.  Since  1917  he  has  been  established 
in  the  practice  of  law  at  Murphysboro,  where 
he  served  as  assistant  state's  attorney  for  the 
county  one  term — 1917-20.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Mississippi  River  Commission,  is  presi- 
dent of  the  Jackson  County  Bar  Association 
for  1932,  and  is  a  member  also  of  the  Illinois 


State  Bar  Association  and  the  American  Bar 
Association.  He  is  a  stalwart  in  the  ranks 
of  the  Republican  party  and  directed  the 
campaign  of  his  brother,  Otis  F.  when  the 
latter  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Sen- 
ate. He  was  a  member  of  the  legal  advisory 
board  of  Jackson  County  in  the  World  war 
period  and  likewise  served  as  a  four-minute 
speaker.  Mr.  Glenn  is  affiliated  with  the 
Masonic  fraternity  and  the  Benevolent  &  Pro- 
tective Order  of  Elks,  and  has  membership 
in  the  Jackson  County  Country  Club.  His 
wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Mary  Jane 
Schneider,  was  born  in  Vermilion  County, 
Illinois. 

John  J.  Coburn  was  admitted  to  the  Illinois 
bar  in  1883.  For  nearly  half  a  century  he  has 
been  an  industrious  members  of  the  Chicago 
bar.  The  results  of  his  industry  and  ability 
have  long  kept  him  in  a  position  as  one  of 
the  most  successful  lawyers  of  the  state.  More 
than  a  score  of  the  volumes  of  the  Supreme 
and  Appellate  court  reports  of  Illinois  contain 
opinions  on  cases  in  which  he  has  been  a  par- 
ticipant. In  addition  to  his  contributions  to 
the  current  routine  of  law  business  he  has  in 
a  number  of  ways  contributed  to  the  con- 
structive welfare  and  progress  of  his  home 
city  and  state. 

In  the  early  years  of  his  law  practice  he 
handled  many  of  the  condemnation  suits  when 
the  right  of  way  was  being  acquired  for  the 
main  channel  of  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal 
and  the  Sag  Channel. 

Mr.  Coburn  is  known  as  the  father  of  the 
Cook  County  Forest  Preserve.  His  experience 
as  an  attorney  in  the  drainage  district  cases 
was  of  value  in  shaping  the  policy  for  acquir- 
ing the  vast  pleasure  grounds  now  being 
utilized  by  millions  of  Illinois  people.  Forty 
years  ago,  when  the  City  of  Chicago  was 
boasting  of  its  great  park  areas  within  the 
limits  of  the  city,  only  men  with  a  broad 
vision  of  the  future  like  Mr.  Coburn  could 
foresee  that  the  time  would  come  when  these 
urban  park  areas  would  become  inadequate 
for  the  vast  population  concentrating  along 
the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan.  His  attention 
was  particularly  attracted  to  the  region 
through  which  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal 
and  the  Sag  Valley  pass,  particularly  Palos 
Township,  then  completely  covered  with  a 
natural  forest  of  second  growth  timber.  There 
was  no  village  or  settlement  of  any  size  in  the 
entire  township,  and  the  rugged  tree-covered 
hills  could  be  acquired  at  a  nominal  cost. 
From  that  time  Mr.  Coburn  discussed  the  mat- 
ter in  public  and  private,  and  almost  alone 
carried  on  an  educational  campaign,  and  at 
one  time  drew  up  a  bill  which  he  presented 
to  a  state  senator,  who,  however,  never  intro- 
duced it  into  the  Legislature. 

It  was  years  afterward,  in  1905,  when  he 
outlined  his  views  to  James  C.  Denvir,  after- 


202 


ILLINOIS 


wards  chairman  of  the  Civil  Service  Commis- 
sion of  Cook  County.  Mr.  Denvir  understood 
the  great  and  wonderful  significance  of  the 
ideas  presented  by  Mr.  Coburn.  A  conference 
was  arranged  with  State  Senator  Edward  J. 
Glackin.  Mr.  Coburn  dictated  the  draft  of  a 
bill  to  establish  a  forest  preserve  commission, 
and  Senator  Glackin  took  charge  of  the  bill  at 
Springfield  and  saw  it  through  to  passage  and 
approval.  The  bill  was  submitted  to  popular 
referendum,  and  secured  a  large  majority  of 
votes.  However,  it  was  declared  unconstitu- 
tional by  the  Supreme  Court.  In  the  mean- 
time other  prominent  men  became  interested 
in  the  movement,  including  the  late  E.  A. 
Cummings,  whose  attorney,  Clayton  E.  Crafts, 
joined  with  Mr.  Coburn  in  drawing  up  a  sec- 
ond bill.  This  bill  likewise  was  passed  and 
was  again  given  a  majority  in  popular  refer- 
endum. Again  the  Supreme  Court  declared 
the  provisions  of  the  measure  unconstitutional. 
Mr.  Coburn  helped  prepare  the  third  bill.  For 
the  third  time  the  people  ratified  the  measure, 
and  the  Supreme  Court,  largely  through  the 
able  arguments  advanced  by  Adolph  D. 
Weiner,  was  convinced  that  the  Legislature 
and  the  people  should  not  have  their  will 
obstructed  by  legal  tradition  and  precedent. 
Under  the  provision  of  the  law  the  Forest 
Preserve  project  in  Cook  County  could  be 
handled  either  by  the  Sanitary  District  or  the 
County  Commissioners.  Mr.  Coburn  realized 
that  the  Sanitary  District's  method  of  acquir- 
ing land,  by  condemnation  proceedings,  would 
result  in  long  delays  and  enormous  costs  of 
acquiring  the  desired  land.  He  and  Josiah 
Cratty  by  their  appeal  before  Judge  McGoorty 
in  the  Circuit  Court  had  the  Forest  Preserve 
assigned  to  the  Board  of  County  Commis- 
sioners, whose  president  at  that  time  was  the 
late  Peter  Reinberg,  a  man  whose  integrity, 
ability  and  efficiency  had  won  him  the  con- 
fidence and  love  of  all  the  people  of  Cook 
County.  Mr.  Reinberg  acted  with  promptness 
and  the  Forest  Preserve  Committee  was 
organized  to  undertake  the  acquisition  of  the 
first  lands  for  the  Forest  Preserve.  Within 
two  years  15,000  acres  had  been  acquired,  at 
a  cost  of  less  than  four  million  dollars,  almost 
without  a  law  suit.  That  property  is  now 
worth  nearly  fifty  million  dollars.  Since  the 
Forest  Preserve  enactment  of  1913,  ratified  by 
the  popular  referendum  of  1914,  Cook  County 
has  acquired  approximately  35,000  acres,  of 
which  over  25,000  acres  are  in  natural  forests. 
In  a  historical  review  of  this  magnificent 
achievement  no  one  deserves  greater  personal 
credit  than  the  veteran  Chicago  attorney, 
John  J.  Coburn. 

Mr.  Coburn  himself  is  a  native  of  Cook 
County.  He  was  born  on  a  farm  at  the  pres- 
ent village  of  Clyde,  March  14,  1860,  son  of 
Henry  and  Elizabeth  (Chittick)  Coburn.  Mr. 
Coburn  was  graduated  from  the  Englewood 
High   School   in   1877,   taught   school   for  two 


years,  and  completed  his  law  course  in  the 
Union  College  of  Law.  For  several  years  in 
the  '90s  he  was  a  law  partner  of  Maj.  Law- 
rence M.  Ennis.  In  1918  he  became  senior 
member  of  the  law  firm  Coburn,  Kearney  & 
Coburn,  with  offices  at  32  West  Randolph 
Street.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Law- 
yers Association,  Illinois  State  Bar  Associa- 
tion, the  Chicago  Art  Institute,  Chicago  His- 
torical Society,  and  is  a  life  member  of  the 
Press  Club.  Politically  he  has  been  an  un- 
compromising Democrat. 

He  married,  May  1,  1890,  Miss  Annie  M. 
Valentine.  Their  children  are  Elizabeth  M., 
Archibald  T.,  Edith,  Annie  M.  and  Henrietta. 

Ira  Wilson  Ellis,  M.  D.,  who  has  been 
engaged  in  the  general  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession at  Murphysboro,  Jackson  County,  more 
than  forty  years  and  who  is  serving  in  1932 
as  mayor  of  this  city,  the  county  seat,  was 
born  at  Franklin,  Johnson  County,  Indiana, 
November  23,  1858,  a  son  of  John  R.  and 
Susan  (Slack)  Ellis,  the  former  of  whom  was 
born  in  Ohio,  where  his  father,  Jesse  Ellis, 
made  settlement  about  the  year  1810,  upon 
removal  from  his  native  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. John  R.  Ellis  gave  the  major  part 
of  hi's  active  life  to  lumbering  industry,  of 
which  he  was  long  a  successful  exponent  in 
Indiana.  His  wife  likewise  was  born  and 
reared  in  Ohio  and  was  a  member  of  a  pio- 
neer family  of  that  state.  The  children  of 
John  R.  and  Susan  (Slack)  Ellis  were  four 
in  number:  Ira  W.,  David  (deceased),  Callie, 
Emma,  and   Lou. 

The  public  schools  of  his  native  county 
afforded  Dr.  Ira  W.  Ellis  his  early  education, 
which  was  advanced  by  his  attending  what 
is  now  Valparaiso  University.  In  1883  he 
was  graduated  in  Indiana  Medical  College, 
now  the  medical  department  of  Butler  Uni- 
versity, Indianapolis.  He  engaged  in  practice 
in  Monroe  County,  Indiana,  but  since  1889  has 
maintained  his  home  and  professional  head- 
quarters in  Murphysboro,  Illinois,  where  he 
has  long  controlled  a  large  and  representative 
general  practice.  He  has  membership  in  the 
Jackson  County  Medical  Society,  Illinois  State 
Medical  Society  and  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation, is  a  Democrat  in  political  adherency 
and  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

In  1897  Doctor  Ellis  was  elected  mayor  of 
Murphysboro,  and  by  five  successive  reelec- 
tions  he  retained  this  office  ten  years.  Mindful 
of  the  loyalty  and  ability  he  exemplified  in 
his  long  administration,  the  voters  of  the 
city  again  called  him  to  the  office  of  mayor 
in  1931,  so  that  he  is  the  incumbent  at  the 
time  of  this  writing,  in  the  spring  of  1932. 

The  wife  of  Doctor  Ellis  was  born  in  Monroe 
County,  Indiana,  representative  of  a  pioneer 
family,  and  her  maiden  name  was  Mary  Acuff. 
Doctor  and  Mrs.  Ellis  have  four  children: 
Corey,  Callie,  Kent  and  Ethel.     The  son  Kent 


ILLINOIS 


203 


was  graduated  in  Barnes  Medical  College,  St. 
Louis,  Missouri,  in  1915,  and  thereafter  was 
interne  in  a  hospital  in  that  city.  When  the 
nation  entered  the  World  war  he  enlisted  in 
the  medical  corps  of  the  United  States  Army, 
in  which  he  gained  the  rank  of  captain  and 
continued  in  service  twenty-one  months  in 
France.  Dr.  Kent  Ellis  is  now  engaged  in 
practice  in  his  native  city  of  Murphysboro, 
is  secretary  of  the  Jackson  County  Medical 
Society  and  has  membership  also  in  the  Illinois 
State  Medical  Society.  He  is  associated  with 
his  father  in  general  practice,  as  junior  mem- 
ber of  the  firm  of  Ellis  &  Ellis,  and  is  well 
upholding  the  high  professional  honors  of 
the  family  name. 

Hon.  William  Martin  Schuwerk.  For 
nearly  a  half  a  century  a  member  of  the 
Illinois  bar,  Hon.  William  Martin  Schuwerk, 
of  Evansville,  is  one  of  the  most  able  attorneys 
of  Randolph  County,  in  addition  to  which  he 
has  been  the  incumbent  of  many  official  posi- 
tions. During  his  long  career  he  has  been 
master  in  chancery,  county  judge,  member 
of  the  Legislature  and  president  of  the  school 
board,  and  for  approximately  forty  years  has 
served  in  the  capacity  of  city  attorney.  Few 
men  have  won  in  greater  degree  the  confidence 
and  esteem  of  their  -  fellow-citizens,  and  few 
have  merited  their  success  more  fully,  for  at 
the  start  of  his  life  Judge  Schuwerk  was 
compelled  to  depend  entirely  upon  his  own 
resources,  and  it  was  only  through  great  per- 
sistence and  much  self  sacrifice  that  he  was 
able  to  educate  himself  for  the  profession 
which  he  has  so  highly  honored. 

Judge  Schuwerk  was  born  April  12,  1856, 
at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  is  a  son  of  Paul  Peter 
and  Elizabeth  (Mosser)  Schuwerk.  His 
father,  who  was  born  in  1814,  in  Wittenberg, 
Germany,  obtained  a  common  school  education 
and  as  a  youth  was  apprenticed  to  the  trade 
of  butcher,  which  he  followed  in  his  native 
land  until  he  reached  the  age  of  thirty  years. 
In  1844,  seeking  to  better  his  circumstances, 
he  emigrated  to  the  United  States  and  settled 
at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  he  found  employ- 
ment at  his  trade  and  worked  for  about  six- 
teen years.  In  1860  he  removed  with  his 
family  to  Belleville,  Illinois,  where  he  resided 
for  a  few  months,  then  moving  to  Evansville, 
where  he  applied  himself  to  agricultural  pur- 
suits, in  which  he  continued  to  be  engaged 
until  his  death  in  1869.  He  was  a  man  of 
sound  virtues  and  honorable  character  and 
had  the  esteem  and  respect  of  those  with 
whom  he  came  into  contact.  He  married  Eliz- 
abeth Mosser,  born  in  the  Canton  of  Bern, 
Switzerland,  and  they  became  the  parents  of 
six  children:  William  Martin,  of  this  review; 
Mrs.  Mary  Schuwerk,  who  is  now  deceased; 
Miss  Rosa,  who  died  young;  Fred,  deceased; 
Mrs.  Annie  Douglas,  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 
deceased;  and  Paul,  who  died  in  infancy. 


William  Martin  Schuwerk  attended  the  com- 
mon schools  of  Evansville,  Illinois,  and  in 
1870,  when  only  fourteen  years  of  age,  was 
doing  a  man's  work  on  his  father's  farm.  In 
1874  he  entered  McKendree  College,  Lebanon, 
Illinois,  where  he  took  his  Bachelor  of  Arts 
degree,  and  subsequently  pursued  the  law 
course  in  the  same  institution,  receiving  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  as  a  member  of 
the  class  of  June,  1882.  On  several  occasions 
his  finances  gave  out  and  he  was  compelled  to 
leave  college  and  go  to  work  to  earn  the  nec- 
essary means  to  continue  his  education,  his 
employment  being  mainly  as  a  farm  hand  and 
school  teacher.  Although  he  received  his  de- 
gree in  1882  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  he 
was  still  in  such  sore  financial  straits  that 
he  considered  it  advisable  to  continue  school 
teaching  in  order  that  he  might  enter  upon 
the  practice  of  his  calling  with  the  confidence 
of  a  little  financial  independence.  Accordingly 
it  was  not  until  1885  that  he  opened  his  modest 
office  at  Evansville,  but  from  that  time  for- 
ward it  was  assured  that  he  would  succeed, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  his  talents  had 
been  recognized  in  such  a  degree  that  he  was 
receiving  a  large  and  representative  amount 
of  professional  business.  Shortly  after  he  had 
entered  practice,  in  1885,  he  became  the  Dem- 
ocratic candidate  for  the  Legislature  from 
Randolph  County,  was  elected  to  that  body 
and  served  ably  and  constructively  for  one 
term.  In  1892  he  was  appointed  master  in 
chancery  of  Randolph  County,  acting  in  that 
capacity  until  1900.  In  1910  he  was  elected 
county  judge  of  Randolph  County  and  acted 
until  1918,  when  he  resigned  to  return  to  his 
private  practice,  in  which  he  is  still  engaged 
with  much  success.  Although  he  has  reached 
the  age  of  seventy-six  years,  Judge  Schuwerk 
is  still  alert  physically  and  mentally  and  goes 
about  the  daily  routine  of  his  duties  with  the 
same  energy  and  enthusiasm  that  character- 
ized him  when  in  his  younger  years  hard  work 
was  a  vital  necessity.  He  has  been  city  at- 
torney of  Evansville  for  two  score  years  and 
discharges  his  duties  in  a  highly  capable  and 
expeditious  manner,  and  for  thirty-seven  years 
has  been  president  of  the  Evansville  School 
Board.  During  the  World  war  he  was  called 
upon  to  serve  on  all  of  the  local  committees 
for  war  support  and  relief  and  worked  un- 
tiringly in  behalf  of  the  success  of  American 
arms.  Judge  Schuwerk  is  a  valued  member 
of  the  Randolph  County  Bar  Association  and 
the  Illinois  Bar  Association,  and  fraternally 
is  a  Mason  and  a  Pythian  and  has  passed 
through  the  chairs  of  Oddfellowship.  He  has 
always  been  a  stanch  Democrat  and  one  of  the 
leaders  of  his  party  in  his  section  of  South- 
ern Illinois. 

In  June,  1883,  Judge  Schuwerk  was  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Mary  M.  Hoffman,  of 
Mascautah,  Illinois,  and  to  this  union  there 
were    born    four    children:     Mrs.    Myrtle    M. 


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Sauer,  of  Murphysboro,  Illinois;  William 
Henry,  an  attorney  of  Chester,  Illinois,  is 
now  state's  attorney  of  Randolph  County; 
Walter  Junius,  an  attorney  of  Evansville; 
and  Paul  Edward,  a  member  of  the  well- 
known  law  firm  of  Weber,  Schuwerk  &  Glenn, 
of  Chicago,  Illinois. 

Willis  Edward  Lingle,  M.  D.,  was  born 
in  Union  County,  Illinois,  April  23,  1872,  and 
for  many  years  has  been  an  honored  physician 
and  surgeon  practicing  at  Cobden,  the  town 
where  the  Lingle  family  has  lived  since  pio- 
neer times. 

The  Lingle  family  is  of  Holland-Dutch  an- 
cestry. They  settled  in  Pennsylvania  in  the 
early  1700s.  One  brother  went  to  North  Caro- 
lina, where  Henry  Lingle  was  born.  Henry 
Lingle  served  in  the  Mexican  war.  After  the 
war  he  rode  through  Southern  Illinois  and 
with  land  script  given  him  for  his  military 
services  bought  sixty  acres  of  land,  located 
on  the  west  side  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
way where  the  Town  of  Cobden  now  stands. 
The  land  patent  was  signed  by  President  Polk. 
Henry  Lingle  continued  to  live  on  the  land 
until  1868.  However,  he  sold  this  land  to 
John  and  Adam  Buck,  civil  engineers,  for 
seventeen  thousand  dollars.  This  land  was 
laid  out  on  the  west  side  of  Cobden  about 
1854.  Cobden  was  named  for  Richard  Cob- 
den, an  English  financier,  whose  influence  and 
money  had  helped  build  the  Illinois  Central. 
The  freight  station  at  Cobden  was  used  as  a 
combination  passenger  and  freight  office. 
When  it  was  completed  a  ball  was  given,  and 
one  of  those  in  attendance  was  Richard 
Cobden. 

Henry  Lingle  was  the  grandfather  of  Doctor 
Lingle.  The  latter's  father  was  George  W. 
Lingle,  who  became  a  well-to-do  farmer  in 
Union  County  and  was  always  interested  in 
school  and  township  affairs.  He  married 
Amelia  Consada  Brooks,  who  was  born  in 
Union  County,  where  her  people  settled  about 
1830,  coming  from  Tennessee. 

Doctor  Lingle  was  one  of  a  family  of  four 
children.  He  attended  grade  school,  then  the 
Southern  Illinois  Normal  School,  and  at  the 
age  of  seventeen  began  teaching.  He  pursued 
his  course  in  medicine  at  the  Missouri  Medical 
College,  now  the  St.  Louis  College  of  Physi- 
cians and  Surgeons,  graduating  M.  D.  in 
1894.  For  three  years  he  practiced  in  Jack- 
son County,  and  in  1897  moved  to  Cobden, 
which  has  been  his  home  and  the  scene  of  his 
professional  work  for  over  a  third  of  a 
century. 

Doctor  Lingle  married  Mamie  Patterson, 
who  was  born  in  Jackson  County.  They  have 
two  children.  The  son  Leland  Patterson,  a 
graduate  with  the  A.  B.  degree  from  the 
Southern  Illinois  Normal  School,  has  coached 
athletics  in  that  institution  and  received  his 
Master   of   Arts   degree   at  the   University   of 


Iowa.  Katherine  Elizabeth,  the  daughter,  is 
a  graduate  of  the  Southern  Illinois  Teachers 
College  and  is  a  teacher  at  Cobden. 

Doctor  Lingle  is  a  former  president  of  the 
Union  County  Medical  Society,  has  also  been 
honored  with  the  office  of  president  of  the 
Southern  Illinois  Medical  Society,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Illinois  State,  and  has  repre- 
sented the  State  Society  in  the  American  Med- 
ical Association.  He  was  in  the  Volunteer 
Medical  Corps  during  the  World  war,  but  was 
not  called  for  active  duty.  He  is  serving  as 
pension  examiner  and  for  over  twenty  years 
has  been  on  the  public  school  board,  eight 
years  as  president  and  twelve  years  as  a  mem- 
ber. He  has  also  served  several  terms  as 
health  officer  of  Cobden,  and  has  been  a  dele- 
gate to  the  Democratic  Convention.  In  Ma- 
sonry he  belongs  to  the  Lodge,  Royal  Arch 
Chapter  and  Council,  and  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley Consistory  of  the  Scottish  Rite  at  East 
St.  Louis. 

James  Elmer  Woelfle,  M.  D.  The  fine  old 
Illinois  city  of  Cairo,  judicial  center  and 
metropolis  of  Alexander  County,  claims  Doctor 
Woelfle  as  one  of  its  representative  physicians 
and  surgeons,  and  here  he  has  been  established 
in  successful  general  practice  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  his  loyal  and  efficient  ministra- 
tions in  this  community  having  been  inter- 
rupted only  during  the  period  of  his  World 
war  service  in  the  Medical  Corps  of  the  United 
States  Army. 

Doctor  Woelfle  was  born  in  Union  County, 
Illinois,  October  31,  1871,  and  is  a  son  of  Dr. 
John  Martin  Woelfle  and  Anna  L.  (Clarke) 
Woelfle,  the  former  of  whom  was  born  in 
Germany  and  the  latter  at  Saint  Catherines, 
Province  of  Ontario,  Canada.  Dr.  John  M. 
Woelfle  was  reared  and  educated  in  his  native 
land  and  there  received  his  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Medicine  from  the  great  University  of 
Stuttgart.  As  a  young  man  he  came  to  the 
United  States  and  after  remaining  for  a  time 
in  Buffalo,  New  York,  he  came  to  Illinois  and 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
the  city  of  Alton.  He  there  continued  his  pro- 
fessional activities  until  the  inception  of  the 
Civil  war,  when  he  showed  his  loyalty  to  the 
land  of  his  adoption  by  enlisting  as  a  'soldier 
of  the  Union.  He  was  made  captain  in  the 
Missouri  Light  Artillery,  more  officially  desig- 
nated as  the  Thirty-first  Missouri  Light  Artil- 
lery, and  he  participated  in  the  various 
battles,  campaigns  and  minor  engagements  in 
which  his  command  was  involved.  After  the 
close  of  the  war  he  established  the  family 
home  in  Union  County,  Illinois,  and  there  he 
continued  in  the  successful  practice  of  his 
profession  until  the  time  of  his  death,  his 
wife  likewise  having  died  in  that  county,  and 
their  children  having  been  six  in  number. 

Dr.  James  E.  Woelfle  received  the  advan- 
tages of  the  Illinois  public  schools,  including 


ILLINOIS 


205 


the  high  school  .  at  Vienna,  Johnson  County, 
and  in  1897  he  was  graduated  in  the  College 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  the  City  of 
Saint  Louis.  After  receiving  from  this  well 
ordered  Missouri  institution  his  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Medicine  he  further  fortified  him- 
self through  valuable  clinical  experience 
gained  during  his  year  of  service  as  an  in- 
terne in  the  Saint  Louis  City  Hospital.  Dur- 
ing the  ensuing  period  of  four  and  one-half 
years  he  was  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession  at  Grand  Chain,  Pulaski  County, 
Illinois,  he  next  passed  four  years  in  prac- 
tice at  Paducah,  Kentucky,  and  he  then,  in 
1907,  established  his  residence  and  profes- 
sional headquarters  in  the  city  of  Cairo,  where 
his  technical  skill  and  earnest  and  able  service 
have  gained  to  him  a  large  and  representative 
general  practice,  as  well  as  secure  place  in 
communal  confidence  and  esteem. 

When  the  nation  entered  the  World  war 
Doctor  Woelfle  subordinated  all  personal  in- 
terests to  the  call  of  patriotism,  and  in  June, 
1918,  enlisted  in  the  Medical  Corps  of  the 
United  States  Army.  He  was  sent  to  Camp 
Greenleaf  in  the  State  of  Georgia  and  as- 
signed to  base  hospital  service.  He  next  re- 
ceived special  training  in  the  Rockefeller 
Institute  in  New  York,  and  was  then  assigned 
duty  at  Camp  Dix,  New  Jersey.  He  received 
commission  as  captain  in  the  medical  corps 
and  after  nine  months  of  service  he  received 
his  honorable  discharge,  within  a  short  time 
after  the  armistice  brought  the  war  to  a  close. 

Doctor  Woelfle  gave  fourteen  years  of  effect- 
ive service  as  county  physician  of  Alexander 
County,  has  served  also  as  a  member  of  the 
board  of  election  commissioners  of  the  county, 
and  for  the  past  fourteen  years  he  has  been  a 
valued  member  of  the  Cairo  Board  of  Edu- 
cation. He  was  president  of  the  Alexander 
County  Medical  Society  in  1926  and  was  its 
vice  president  in  1930  and  its  president  in 
1931.  He  retains  membership  also  in  the 
Kentucky  State  Medical  Society,  the  Illinois 
State  Medical  Society,  the  Tri-State  Medical 
Society,  the  American  Medical  Association  and 
the  American  Association  of  Military  Sur- 
geons, his  professional  alliances  of  this  order 
being  further  extended  to  the  Southern  Illinois 
Medical  Society. 

The  political  allegiance  of  Doctor  Woelfle  is 
given  to  the  Republican  party  and  he  has  been 
signally  loyal  and  progressive  in  his  civic  at- 
titude. In  the  York  Rite  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity his  affiliations  are  with  local  Blue 
Lodge,  Chapter,  Council  and  Commandery,  be- 
sides which  he  has  membership  in  Scottish 
Rite  bodies  and  in  the  Temple  of  the  Mystic 
Shrine  at  East  Saint  Louis,  Illinois.  In  his 
home  city  he  is  a  member  of  the  official  staff 
of  Saint  Mary's  Hospital,  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  and  of  the  Rotary  Club. 

In  Pulaski  County,  this  state,  was  solemn- 
ized the  marriage  of  Doctor  Woelfle  to  Miss 


Hortense  H.  Echols,  who  was  born  and  reared 
in  that  county.  They  have  two  children: 
Marie,  who  was  graduated  in  Monticello  Col- 
lege, is  the  wife  of  Herman  A.  Rust,  and  they 
have  one  son,  James  W.,  and  twin  daughters, 
Catherine  and  Allene.  Hortense,  the  younger 
daughter,  was  graduated  in  Stephens  College, 
Columbia,  Missouri,  and  is  now  the  wife  of 
Clifford  L.  Hatch,  their  one  child  being  a  son, 
Clifford  Woelfle. 

Kemper  K.  Knapp,  LL.  D.,  began  the  prac- 
tice of  law  in  Chicago  in  1882.  He  was  born 
at  Marquette,  Wisconsin,  March  7,  1860,  son 
of  Charles  and  Jeannette  (Vine)  Knapp.  He 
is  an  alumnus  of  the  University  of  Wiscon- 
sin, graduating  in  the  academic  course  in  1879 
and  from  the  law  department  in  1882,  and  im- 
mediately located  at  Chicago.  During  his 
earlier  years  Mr.  Knapp  was  with  the  law 
department  of  the  Chicago  &  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad,  and  for  a  time  was  attorney  for  the 
receivers  of  that  company.  From  1897  to 
1899  he  was  general  attorney  for  the  Chicago 
Terminal  Transfer  Railroad  Company,  the 
Elgin,  Joliet  &  Eastern  Railway,  the  Chicago, 
Lake  Shore  &  Eastern  Railway  Company  and 
the  Illinois  Steel  Company,  and  since  1899  has 
been  general  counsel  for  the  Illinois  Steel 
Company  and  the  Elgin,  Joliet  &  Eastern 
Railway,  the  connecting  and  belt  railway  serv- 
ing the  great  industrial  region  around  the 
south  end  of  Lake  Michigan.  He  is  also  a 
director  in  numerous  banks  and  business 
organizations,  and  since  1921  has  been  general 
counsel  for  the  By-Products  Coke  Corpora- 
tion and  its  successor,  the  Interlake  Iron 
Company. 

Mr.  Knapp  is  senior  member  of  the  law  firm 
Knapp,  Beye,  Allen,  Cochran  &  Cushing,  at 
208  South  LaSalle  Street.  In  1929  the  Uni- 
versity of  Wisconsin  bestowed  upon  him  the 
Doctor  of  Laws  degree.  Mr.  Knapp  is  a 
member  of  the  University  Club,  Law  Club, 
Glen  View  Club,  Indian  Hill  Country  Club 
and  South  Shore  Country  Club  of  Chicago. 

Lewis  L.  Jackson,  M.  D.,  is  a  very  com- 
petent physician  and  surgeon,  now  engaged  in 
practice  at  Vienna  in  Johnson  County. 

Doctor  Jackson  was  born  in  Saline  County, 
Illinois,  July  2,  1883.  He  represents  the  third 
generation  of  a  family  that  has  been  in  Illinois 
in  pioneer  times.  His  grandfather,  Warren 
Jackson,  spent  his  life  as  an  Illinois  farmer. 
James  Jackson,  father  of  Doctor  Jackson,  was 
born  in  Tennessee  and  settled  in  Saline  County 
about  1836.  He  served  as  a  director  of  the 
school  board  and  had  many  interests  outside 
his  farm.  James  Jackson  married  Susan 
Motsinger,  who  was  born  in  Illinois.  Her 
parents,  Jefferson  and  Elizabeth  Motsinger, 
came  from  Kentucky. 

Lewis  L.  Jackson  was  one  of  a  large  family 
of  ten  children.     He  grew  up  on  a  farm,  had 


206 


ILLINOIS 


the  advantages  of  the  local  schools  in  Saline 
County,  and  later  by  private  instruction 
rounded  out  his  general  literary  education. 
Doctor  Jackson  is  a  graduate  of  the  Medical 
School  of  Loyola  University  of  Chicago,  taking 
his  degree  in  1916.  For  two  years  he  prac- 
ticed at  Ledford  in  Saline  County,  during 
1918-19  was  located  at  Eddyville  in  Pope 
County,  and  then  for  two  years  practiced  at 
Bernie,  Missouri.  In  1921  he  returned  to 
Illinois  and  was  at  Brownfield  in  Pope  County 
until  1925,  and  at  Mound  City  until  1927. 
He  then  practiced  three  years  at  Dixon 
Springs,  Pope  County,  and  in  July,  1930,  took 
over  the  practice  of  Doctor  Walker  at  Vienna. 
He  is  also  a  professional  associate  of  Doctor 
Fisher,  of  Metropolis. 

Doctor  Jackson  married  Mabel  Buchanan, 
who  was  born  in  Saline  County.  They  have 
four  children:  Eugene,  a  graduate  of  the 
Mound  City  High  School;  Gail,  member  of 
the  class  of  1932  in  high  school;  Lowell  and 
Juanita.  Doctor  Jackson  is  a  member  of 
New  Columbia  Lodge  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity and  is  a  Republican. 

William  H.  Womick,  owner  of  the  Womick 
Transfer  &  Storage  Company,  has  lived  in 
Union  County  all  his  life  and  is  member  of 
an  old  and  highly  respected  family  there. 

He  was  born  May  1,  1880,  son  of  Joseph  H. 
Womick  and  grandson  of  Jesse  Womick. 
Jesse  Womick  was  of  Scotch-Irish  ancestry. 
He  was  a  soldier  in  the  Civil  war  from  Illi- 
nois. Joseph  H.  Womick  was  born  in  Illinois 
and  became  a  furniture  merchant.  He  mar- 
ried Mary  Hileman,  daughter  of  Henry  Hile- 
man,  of  an  old  family  of  Union  County. 

William  H.  Womick  attended  country  schools 
and  as  a  youth  worked  in  the  coal  mines  and 
at  other  occupations.  In  1913  he  established 
his  present  business,  starting  with  facilities 
for  draying,  and  later  adding  storage  and 
coal  business.  He  now  employs  five  trucks 
for  his  coal  and  transfer  business  and  has  a 
commodious   storage  house. 

He  married  Miss  Myrtle  Johnson  and  they 
have  a  family  of  seven  children.'  Mr.  Womick 
is  a  Republican  in  politics. 

Oscar  Jarell  Hagebush,  M.  D.,  was  for 
many  years  engaged  in  a  general  medical 
practice  in  Washington  County,  and  now  has 
the  important  responsibilities  of  superintend- 
ent of  the  Anna  State  Hospital  for  the  In- 
sane. This  is  one  of  the  older  institutions 
for  the  care  of  the  insane  in  Illinois,  having 
been  established  in  1869.  The  institution  has 
five  or  six  hundred  acres  of  land,  and  the 
thirty  or  forty  buildings  are  located  on  a 
campus  of  about  thirty  acres.  There  are  450 
employees  and  in  1932  there  was  1,950  in- 
mates of  both  sexes. 

Doctor  Hagebush  was  born  at  St.  Louis, 
Missouri,  May  13,  1878,  son  of  W.  H.  Hage- 


bush. He  was  educated  in  St.  Louis,  and 
graduated  M.  D.  from  Washington  University 
in  1901.  Doctor  Hagebush  was  a  practicing 
physician  at  Ashley,  in  Washington  County, 
for  nearly  thirty  years.  He  was  appointed 
and  took  up  duties  as  managing  officer  of  the 
Anna  State  Hospital  January  1,  1929. 

Doctor  Hagebush  for  twelve  years  was 
county  coroner  of  Washington  County  and  he 
is  a  former  mayor  of  Ashley.  He  is  a  Re- 
publican in  politics,  a  member  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  and  is  past  master  of  Clay 
Lodge  No.  153,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.  He  belongs 
to  the  Washington  County  Medical  Society,  of 
which  he  was  president  for  several  terms,  the 
Southern  Illinois,  Illinois  and  American  Med- 
ical Associations  and  is  a  fellow  of  the 
American  Psychiatric  Association.  During 
the  the  World  war  he  was  president  of  the 
local  examining  board  of  Washington  County. 

Doctor  Hagebush  married  Charlotte  Mac- 
Arthur,  a  native  of  Missouri.  They  have  four 
children,  Charlotte,  MacArthur,  Charles  and 
Willard. 

Francis  Elbert  Worrell,  whose  name  is 
associated  in  the  minds  of  many  people  with 
educational  work,  has  in  recent  years  become 
a  well  known  banker  in  Johnson  County,  being 
cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Vienna. 

The  First  National  Bank  of  Vienna  was 
chartered  in  1890  with  capital  stock  of 
$50,000.  In  1930  its  resources  aggregated 
$533,000.  The  officers  at  the  present  time  are: 
P.  T.  Chapman,  president;  W.  L.  Williams, 
first  vice  president;  D.  W.  Chapman,  second 
vice  president;   F.   E.  Worrell,  cashier. 

Francis  E.  Worrell  was  born  in  Johnson 
County  July  2,  1891.  His  grandfather,  Bran- 
ham  Worrell,  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina 
and  came  to  Johnson  County  before  the  Civil 
war.  He  was  a  well-to-do  farmer,  an  active 
church  member  and  for  several  years  held  the 
office  of  justice  of  the  peace.  William  J. 
Worrell,  father  of  F.  E.  Worrell,  was  born  in 
Johnson  County,  spent  his  life  as  a  farmer, 
and  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  county 
commissioners  and  for  twenty  years  on  the 
local  school  board.  He  is  a  Democrat  in  poli- 
tics. William  J.  Worrell  had  a  family  of  two 
children  by  his  second  marriage  and  has  two 
children   by  his   first  marriage. 

Francis  E.  Worrell  attended  grade  school 
and  in  1923  was  graduated  from  the  Southern 
Illinois  Teachers  College  at  Carbondale.  In 
the  meantime  he  had  begun  teaching  and  his 
experience  in  school  work  covered  a  period 
of  eleven  years.  For  four  years  he  served 
as  county  superintendent  of  schools  of  John- 
son County.  Soon  after  leaving  that  office 
he  became  cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Vienna  in  1927. 

Mr.  Worrell  is  president  of  the  City  School 
Board  and  is  chairman  of  the  Commercial 
Club.      He   belongs   to   the    Illinois    State   and 


V:f4fS|S':.|: 


K 


ILLINOIS 


207 


American  Bankers  Association.  Mr.  Worrell 
married  Esther  McCormack,  of  Johnson 
County,  and  they  have  a  son  named  William 
Jasper  born  in  1927. 

Capt.  Elisha  Woods  of  Cairo  is  a  famous 
veteran  of  the  inland  rivers,  and  has  navi- 
gated both  up  and  down  the  Ohio  and  Missis- 
sippi since  early  manhood.  He  is  general  man- 
ager of  the  Barrett  Lines,  Incorporated,  the 
oldest  navigation  company  on  the  inland 
waters  of  America. 

Captain  Woods  was  born  in  Henry  County, 
Kentucky,  April  23,  1874,  son  of  Wakefield 
and  Mary  (Hoskins)  Woods  and  grandson  of 
Thomas  Woods.  Thomas  Woods  was  a  na- 
tive of  Scotland  and  on  coming  to  America 
settled  in  Henry  County,  Kentucky.  Wake- 
field Woods  followed  the  occupation  of  farm- 
ing, and  was  a  man  of  fine  public  spirit  and 
deep  interest  in  the  affairs  of  his  community. 

Elisha  Woods,  only  child  of  his  parents,  had 
a  common  school  education,  and  from  the  age 
of  fourteen  had  to  make  his  own  way  in  the 
world.  His  first  job  was  that  of  dish  washer 
on  a  river  boat.  He  was  fortunate  during 
these  years  to  be  befriended  by  the  Barrett 
family,  who  took  a  great  interest  in  the  boy 
and  encouraged  him  to  follow  the  vocation  in 
which  he  has  distinguished  himself.  After 
a  year  as  dish  washer  he  was  promoted  to 
watchman,  and  all  the  time  he  was  ready  and 
studying  with  a  view  to  getting  ahead  in  the 
business.  He  was  promoted  to  second  mate 
and  at  eighteen  was  made  a  steersman  in  the 
pilot  house  of  the  tow  boat  Excell.  While  he 
was  studying  the  theory  of  river  navigation 
he  was  mastering  the  practical  intricacies  of 
piloting  boats  into  difficult  river  waters. 
When  he  was  twenty-two  he  was  licensed  as 
a  pilot  on  the  Ohio  and  Kentucky  rivers,  and 
at  the  age  of  twenty-three  was  promoted  to 
the  rank  of  captain,  with  authority  to  pilot 
boats  on  any  of  the  inland  rivers  flowing 
into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Captain  Woods  was 
active  on  the  river  as  captain  and  pilot  until 
1915.  During  those  years  he  was  the  com- 
manding officer  of  the  steamer  John  Barrett, 
the  Oscar  F.  Barrett,  the  Slack-Barrett,  the 
Major  Slack  and  the  tow  boat  Leader. 

In  1908  he  became  a  director  of  the  Ele- 
vator Coal  Company  of  Frankfort,  Kentucky, 
was  made  vice  president  and  treasurer  in 
1918.  The  Elevator  Coal  Company  was  a  sub- 
sidiary of  the  Barrett  Lines,  Incorporated. 
After  becoming  vice  president  Captain  Woods 
took  an  active  part  in  the  practical  manage- 
ment of  the  coal  mines  located  at  Frankfort, 
Kentucky.  In  1919  he  became  a  director  of 
the  Jet  Coal  &  Transportation  Company  of 
Kentucky.  In  1920  Captain  Woods  took 
charge  of  all  the  river  transportation  for  the 
Barrett  Lines  Incorporated  over  the  Ohio, 
Mississippi  and  their  tributaries,  and  this  has 
been  his  post  of  duty  down  to  date.     He  has 


under  his  jurisdiction  three  towing  steamers, 
thirty  barges  and  a  force  of  sixty  employees. 
The  Barrett  Lines  Incorporated  also  operates 
three  stone  quarries  employing  two  hundred 
men  and  producing  approximately  1,500  cubic 
yards  daily.  Two  of  these  quarries  are  at 
Neeleys,  Missouri,  and  one  at  Southland, 
Kentucky. 

This  brief  record  is  the  business  story  of  a 
man  who  has  been  continuously  active  for 
oyer  forty-three  years.  He  has  given  atten- 
tion to  civic  and  community  affairs  and  was 
a  member  of  the  Cairo  Industrial  Board  until 
1927.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Rotary  Club, 
is  honorary  member  for  life  of  the  Mates, 
Masters  and  Pilots  Association.  He  is  affili- 
ated with  Lockport  Lodge  No.  172,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  in  Kentucky,  and  is  on  the  advisory 
board  and  a  trustee  and  deacon  of  the  Baptist 
Church. 

Captain  Woods  married  Elizabeth  O'Brien 
of  Lockport,  Kentucky.  Her  people  settled  in 
Kentucky  before  the  Civil  war.  They  have 
six  children:  Mary,  wife  of  Lyman  Delaney; 
Esther,  wife  of  William  Marshall;  Cassius, 
who  is  now  a  captain  and  pilot  of  the  steamer 
Jean  Barrett  and  served  with  the  rank  of 
sergeant  in  the  United  States  Coast  Artil- 
lery during  the  World  war.  Barrett,  who  is 
a  captain  and  pilot  on  the  Mississippi  River 
for  the  United  States  Government  and  spent 
three  years  in  the  United  States  army  on 
the  border  patrol;  Oscar,  also  a  captain  and 
pilot  on  the  Mississippi  River;  and  Charles, 
who  now  holds  the  rank  of  captain  and  pilot. 
Thus  Captain  Woods'  sons  have  followed  his 
example  and  are  well  known  river  men. 

Carmen  J.  Pintozzi,  Chicago  physician  and 
surgeon,  has  made  a  fine  record  in  his  profes- 
sion, and  is  also  active  in  the  affairs  of  the 
American  Legion. 

Doctor  Pintozzi  was  born  in  Chicago,  Sep- 
tember 21,  1898,  son  of  Gerardo  and  Maria 
(Mapledo)  Pintozzi.  Both  his  parents  were 
born  in  Italy,  the  former  deceased  and  the 
latter  still  residing  in  Chicago.  Doctor  Pin- 
tozzi attended  public  schools,  is  a  graduate  of 
the  Medill  High  School,  and  continued  his  edu- 
cation in  Valparaiso  University,  in  the  Lewis 
Institute  of  Chicago,  and  took  both  academic 
and  medical  training  in  Loyola  University.  He 
was  graduated  from  the  Loyola  Medical  Col- 
lege March  21,  1920. 

During  his  student  days  he  volunteered  for 
service  in  the  World  war  and  was  with  the 
Students  Army  Training  Corps  of  Loyola  Uni- 
versity until  after  the  armistice.  Soon  after 
graduating  Doctor  Pintozzi  began  his  interne- 
ship  with  the  Oak  Park  Hospital,  where  he 
remained  until  March,  1921,  and  since  then 
has  practiced  medicine  and  surgery.  At  the 
present  time  he  is  attending  gynecologist  at 
Mother  Cabrini  Hospital  and  attending  sur- 
geon   at    the    Jefferson    Park    Hospital.     His 


208 


ILLINOIS 


offices  are  at  1010  South  Halsted  Street  and 
his  home  at  551  Forguer  Street. 

Doctor  Pintozzi  in  1928  became  one  of  the 
organizers  of  Roman  Post  (designated  as  the 
Roman  Legion)  No.  505,  American  Legion.  He 
is  a  past  commander  and  a  past  historian  of 
the  post.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago, 
Illinois  State  and  American  Medical  Associa- 
tions and  the  Italian  Academy  of  Medicine. 
He  belongs  to  the  Knights  of  Columbus  and  to 
two  prominent  Italian  social  organizations, 
known  as  the  Alleanza  Ricilianese  and  San 
Vito  clubs.  In  recognition  of  his  humanitarian 
work  among  the  people  of  the  Italian  Colony 
in  Chicago  the  Italian  government  in  June, 
1931,  decorated  him  a  Cavaliere  of  the  Crown 
of  Italy. 

Isaac  Aaron  Sturgis,  one  of  the  old  and 
honored  citizens  of  Metropolis,  is  a  native  of 
Southern  Illinois,  having  been  born  in  White 
County  February  15,  1864.  His  father,  Isaac 
A.  Sturgis,  Sr.,  was  born  near  Harrisburg, 
Pennsylvania,  and  during  the  Civil  war  was 
enlisted  in  Company  G  of  the  Fifth  Iowa 
Cavalry.  After  one  battle  he  was  reported 
as  dead.  After  the  war  he  moved  to  Galla- 
tin County,  Illinois,  and  for  a  number  of 
years  was  in  the  hotel  business.  He  married 
Nancy  L.  Dixon,  a  native  of  Tennessee. 

Isaac  A.  Sturgis  of  Metropolis  was  the  only 
child  of  his  parents.  He  attended  school  at 
Metropolis  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  was 
employed  as  an  express  agent.  In  his  early 
years  he  followed  different  lines  of  employ- 
ment, conducting  a  butcher  shop,  was  in  the 
livery  business.  Since  1927  he  has  performed 
the  duties  of  justice  of  the  peace  at  Metrop- 
olis, and  for  many  years  has  been  prominent 
in  the  Republican  party.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  State  Central  Committee  from  1912  to 
1914.  From  1917  to  1920  he  served  as  a 
county  commissioner  of  Massac  County.  He 
was  on  the  board  during  the  war  period  and 
helped  in  all  the  bond  drives. 

Judge  Sturgis  for  over  thirty-four  years 
has  been  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows  and  has  filled  all  the  chairs 
in  his  lodge,  twice  serving  as  noble  grand. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church.  Judge 
Sturgis  personally  knew  the  men  who  erected 
the  present  courthouse  at  Metropolis,  which 
was  built  in  1857-1858. 

He  married  Miss  Jennie  Morefield,  a  native 
of  Kentucky,  who  died  in  1897.  They  had  a 
family  of  five  sons,  and  only  one  is  now  liv- 
ing, Isaac  Sturgis,  a  traveling  salesman  with 
home  at  Atlanta,  Georgia.  Judge  Sturgis 
subsequently  married  Lida  E.  Wymore  of 
Vienna,  Johnson  County,  Illinois.  She  passed 
away  in  1917  and  of  her  four  children  two 
are  living,  Lindell  W.  and  Miss  Lydia  A. 

Lindell  W.  Sturgis  was  born  August  18, 
1899,  was  educated  in  the  grammar  and  high 
schools    of     Metropolis     and    in    the     Walton 


School  of  Commerce.  At  the  age  of  seventeen 
he  became  a  bookkeeper  in  the  City  National 
Bank  at  Metropolis,  later  was  appointed  as- 
sistant cashier,  and  since  1928  has  been  cash- 
ier of  that  bank.  He  is  an  able  young  banker, 
has  a  host  of  friends  all  over  Massac  County 
and  has  a  growing  list  of  connections  with 
business  and  civic  affairs.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Metropolis  School  Board,  was  vice 
president  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in 
1930,  secretary  of  the  Massac  County  Orchard 
Company,  and  is  special  assessment  collector 
for  the  City  of  Metropolis.  He  is  also  a 
partner  in  the  Indian   Refining   Company. 

Lindell  Sturgis  is  affiliated  with  Metropolis 
Lodge  No.  91,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  also  belongs 
to  the  Royal  Arch  Chapter  and  Knights  Tem- 
plar Commandery,  is  a  member  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Bap- 
tist Church  and  Illinois  State  Bankers  Asso- 
ciation. During  the  war  he  did  his  part  in 
securing  the  quota  in  the  Liberty  Loan  drives. 

He  married  Miss  Viola  Jones,  who  was  born 
in  Illinois  of  English  ancestry,  daughter  of 
John  H.  and  Lillian  Jones.  Her  father  was 
a  minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lindell  Sturgis  have  two  chil- 
dren, Dorothy  Jean  and  Carolyn  Sue. 

Harry  Osro  Taylor,  M.  D.  The  most  en- 
lightened tenets  of  medical  and  surgical  science 
have  found  expression  in  the  career  of  Dr. 
Harry  O.  Taylor,  who  has  been  engaged  in 
the  general  practice  of  his  profession  at  Anna, 
Union  County,  since  1923.  Doctor  Taylor 
commenced  his  career  as  a  school  teacher  and 
later  had  experience  as  a  telegrapher,  but  was 
irresistibly  drawn  to  his  present  calling,  in 
which  he  has  made  rapid  strides  to  the  fore- 
front. He  has  borne  his  share  of  the  duties 
of  citizenship,  and  at  present  is  serving  as 
coroner  of  Union  County. 

Doctor  Taylor  was  born  February  12,  1881, 
in  Pope  County,  Illinois,  and  is  a  son  of 
Caleb  M.  and  Minerva  (Flannery)  Taylor. 
His  grandfather,  James  P,  Taylor,  was  born 
in  Virginia  and  in  young  manhood  came  to 
Illinois,  taking  up  *his  residence  in  Pope 
County  prior  to  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil 
war.  He  served  in  an  Illinois  volunteer  in- 
fantry regiment  during  that  struggle,  follow- 
ing which  he  returned  to  Pope  County,  where 
he  passed  the  rest  of  his  life  as  a  farmer. 
C.  M.  Taylor  was  born  on  his  father's  farm 
in  Pope  County,  received  a  common  school  edu- 
cation, and  as  a  young  man  adopted  farm- 
ing as  his  life  work,  being  engaged  therein 
throughout  a  long  and  honorable  career  and 
dying  in  1921.  He  was  one  of  the  leading 
Democrats  of  his  community  and  on  various 
occasions  was  the  incumbent  of  public  office, 
serving  as  justice  of  the  peace,  member  of  the 
school  board  and  in  other  capacities.  He  and 
his  wife,  also  a  native  of  Pope  County,  were 
the  parents  of  six  children. 


ILLINOIS 


209 


Harry  0.  Taylor  attended  the  grade  and 
high  schools  of  Pope  County,  and  at  the  age 
of  nineteen  years  left  the  home  farm  and  its 
uncongenial  work  to  start  his  labors  as  an 
educator.  He  was  thus  engaged  in  Pope  and 
Johnson  counties  for  four  years,  following 
which  he  became  a  telegraph  operator  for  the 
Illinois  Central  Railway  four  years.  The  urge 
for  medical  service  was  too  strong  to  resist, 
and  accordingly  he  entered  Barnes  Medical 
College  of  St.  Louis  (which  later  was  reor- 
ganized as  the  National  University  of  St. 
Louis)  and  was  graduated  therefrom  with  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  as  a  member  of 
the  class  of  1918.  In  June  of  that  year  he 
went  to  Whitewater,  Missouri,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  practice  for  five  years,  at  the  end 
of  that  period  coming  to  Anna,  where  he  has 
since  built  up  a  gratifyingly  large  practice 
and  won  the  confidence  of  his  fellow-citizens. 
His  offices  are  located  at  209  V2  South  Main 
Street.  Doctor  Taylor  is  a  member  of 
the  Union  County  and  Illinois  State  Medical 
Societies,  and  in  1930  was  elected  coroner 
of  Union  County.  He  is  on  the  staff  of  the 
Hale  Willard  Memorial  Hospital  and  on  the 
advisory  staff  of  the  Anna  State  Hospital,  and 
carries  on  a  general  practice,  including  sur- 
gery. During  the  World  war  he  was  an  officer 
in  the  United  States  Medical  Reserve  Corps. 
Fraternally  he  is  affiliated  with  Jonesboro 
Lodge  No.  Ill,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.;  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  the  Modern 
Woodmen  of  America  and  the  Woodmen  of 
the  World.  He  is  a  progressive  citizen  of 
modern  tendencies  and  a  supporter  of  all 
worthy  civic  movements. 

Doctor  Taylor  married  Helen  Schuchardt,  a 
native  of  Pope  County,  and  they  have  one 
child:  Helen  Lucille,  who  spent  one  year  each 
at  Ward-Belmont  College,  Nashville,  Tennes- 
see, and  Boulder  (Colorado)  University,  at- 
tended the  Southern  Illinois  Normal  School, 
and  is  now  a  student  of  home  economics  and 
diatetics  at  the  Southern  Illinois  Normal 
College. 

Ed  B.  Gore.  One  of  the  firmly-established 
and  reliable  business  establishments  of  Pu- 
laski County  is  the  general  merchandise  store 
of  Ed  B.  Gore,  which  has  been  in  operation 
for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Mr.  Gore 
commenced  his  career  as  a  school  teacher,  a 
vocation  in  which  he  made  a  success,  but 
preferred  a  business  life  and  accordingly  em- 
barked in  mercantile  ventures  in  a  modest 
way  and  with  a  limited  capital.  By  industry 
and  good  management  he  has  made  himself 
a  leading  merchant,  and  also  has  found  time 
to  serve  his  community  capably  in  a  number 
of  official  positions. 

Ed  B.  Gore  was  born  at  Olmstead,  Illinois, 
October  21,  1876,  and  is  a  son  of  Louis  and 
Hulda  (Watters)  Gore.  His  patternal  grand- 
father was   Rev.   James   M.   Gore,   a  minister 


of  the  Methodist  Church  for  over  sixty  years 
and  an  elder  thereof  for  fifty-four  years. 
Louis  Gore  was  born  at  New  Orleans,  Louisi- 
ana, in  1847,  and  was  one  year  old  when 
brought  up  the  Mississippi  River  by  his  par- 
ents, the  family  settling  in  Pulaski  County, 
where  the  youth  received  a  common  school 
education.  For  more  than  forty  years  he  was 
a  merchant  and  farmer  and  one  of  his  com- 
munity's substantial  and  highly  respected  cit- 
izens. He  married  Hulda  Watters,  a  member 
of  a  pioneer  family  which  settled  in  Pulaski 
County  about  1831,  and  they  became  the  par- 
ents of  four  children. 

Ed  B.  Gore  attended  the  Pulaski  County 
schools  and  completed  his  education  by  at- 
tending the  Southern  Illinois  Normal  Col- 
lege, following  which  he  taught  in  the  schools 
of  the  county  for  ten  terms,  being  for  a 
time  principal  of  the  Olmstead  schools.  In 
1907  he  entered  the  mercantile  business  in  a 
small  room  at  Olmstead  with  a  modest  stock, 
but  in  1908  purchased  his  present  building 
and  has  conducted  his  business  with  constantly 
increasing  success  to  the  present  time.  He 
is  accounted  one  of  the  successful  business 
men  of  strict  integrity  and  high  character  of 
the  county,  and  in  addition  farms  about  400 
acres.  A  Democrat  in  his  political  allegiance, 
he  has  been  a  member  of  the  central  com- 
mittee for  many  years  and  is  one  of  the 
strong  men  of  his  party  in  this  district.  He 
served  as  postmaster  from  1909  until  1921, 
and  likewise  has  at  various  times  served  as 
village  clerk,  village  treasurer  and  police 
magistrate,  and  in  each  of  his  official  capaci- 
ties has  rendered  efficient  and  conscientious 
service.  During  the  World  war  Mr.  Gore  was 
a  member  of  the  registration  board  and  food 
commissioner,  and  likewise  took  an  active  part 
in  the  Liberty  Loan,  Red  Cross  and  War  Sav- 
ings Stamps  drives.  Fraternally  he  is  affil- 
iated with  the  Masons  and  Modern  Woodmen 
of  America,  in  both  of  which  he  has  numerous 
warm  and  appreciative  friends.  Mr.  Gore  is 
unmarried. 

Lewis  Harold  Needham,  president  and 
general  manager  of  the  Ullin  Box  &  Lumber 
Company,  at  Ullin,  Pulaski  County,  is  thus  an 
influential  figure  in  the  industrial  and  com- 
mercial activities  of  his  native  county,  for  the 
concern  of  which  he  is  the  executive  head 
has  developed  and  controls  a  substantial  and 
important  industrial  enterprise  that  adds  its 
quota  to  the  prestige  of  this  county. 

Mr.  Needham  was  born  in  Pulaski  County, 
June  29,  1885,  the  last  in  a  family  of  five 
children,  and  his  parents,  Joseph  and  Caro- 
line Needham,  died  while  he  was  still  a  child. 
Joseph  Needham  was  born  in  Perry  County, 
this  state,  and  was  identified  with  business 
enterprise  in  Pulaski  County  at  the  time  of 
his  death,  when  he  was  in  the  very  prime  of 
life.      He   was   a   son   of   William   and   Mary 


210 


ILLINOIS 


Needham,  his  father  having  been  born  in 
Alabama,  and  having  made  settlement  near 
Duquoin,  Perry  County,  Illinois,  a  number 
of  years  prior  to  the  Civil  war,  in  which  con- 
flict he  represented  this  state  as  a  gallant 
soldier  of  the  Union,  both  he  and  his  wife 
having  passed  the  closing  years  of  their  lives 
in  Illinois. 

The  public  schools  of  his  native  county  af- 
forded Lewis  H.  Needham  his  youthful  edu- 
cation, and  his  independent  activities  in  con- 
nection with  farm  enterprise  were  here  ini- 
tiated when  he  was  seventeen  years  of  age. 
Within  a  short  time  thereafter  he  found 
employment  with  the  Defiance  Box  Company 
at  Ullin,  and  five  years  later  he  was  ad- 
vanced to  the  position  of  foreman  of  its 
manufactory.  This  position  he  retained  five 
years,  and  he  then  became  local  manager  of 
the  company's  establishment  at  Ullin.  In  1925 
was  effected  a  reorganization  of  the  concern, 
which  was  then  incorporated  under  the  present 
title  of  Ullin  Box  &  Lumber  Company,  and 
from  that  time  to  the  present  Mr.  Needham 
has  functioned  constructively  as  president  and 
general  manager  of  the  company,  his  active 
association  with  this  well  ordered  industro- 
commercial  enterprise  having  now  covered  a 
period  of  nearly  thirty  years,  and  his  hav- 
ing been  large  influence  in  the  development 
of  the  prosperous  business  now  controlled  by 
the  concern.  This  progressive  company  re- 
tains an  average  corps  of  fifty  employees,  the 
plant  is  modern  in  equipment  and  utilizes  a 
tract  of  five  acres,  and  the  annual  output  in- 
volves the  shipment  of  about  seventy-five  car- 
loads of  the  products  of  the  plant.  Here  are 
manufactured  crates  for  pottery  ware,  storage 
crates  and  field  crates,  and  the  general  lumber 
department  of  the  business  is  likewise  one  of 
importance.  Products  from  the  factory  are 
shipped  mainly  to  the  eastern  part  of  the 
United  States.  Mr.  Needham  was  a  director 
of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Ullin  and  is 
valued  as  one  of  the  liberal  and  progressive 
citizens  of  the  community  that  has  been  the 
stage  of  his  activities  many  years — years  re- 
plete in  earnest  and  worthy  endeavor  that 
has  given  him  status  as  one  of  the  representa- 
tive figures  in  the  industrial  and  commercial 
life  of  his  native  county. 

The  political  allegiance  of  Mr.  Needham  is 
given  to  the  Republican  party  and  he  has 
been  influential  in  its  local  councils,  while  his 
civic  loyalty  was  significantly  shown  in  his 
service  as  a  member  of  the  City  Council  of 
Ullin.  He  is  affiliated  with  the  local  Blue 
Lodge  and  Chapter  of  the  York  Rite  in  the 
Masonic  fraternity.  His  wife,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Mary  Watkins,  likewise  claims 
Illinois  as  her  place  of  nativity.  They  have 
two  children:  Clifford  E.,  who  married  Miss 
Minnie  Carter  and  they  reside  at  Ullin; 
Glenn,  who  married  Miss  Fern  McBride,  and 
they  likewise  maintain  their  home  at  Ullin. 


Wesley  Jerome  Rhymer.  One  of  the  old- 
established  and  reliable  business  enterprises 
of  Pulaski  County  is  the  undertaking  business 
conducted  by  Wesley  J.  Rhymer,  one  of  the 
foremost  citizens  of  Ullin.  Commencing  life 
as  a  farmer,  he  was  engaged  in  agricultural 
operations  for  thirty-six  years  and  then  en- 
tered his  present  line  of  activity,  in  which 
he  has  been  engaged  to  the  present  with 
gratifying  success.  A  leading  member  of  the 
Democratic  party  in  Pulaski  County,  he  has 
been  almost  continuously  before  the  public  as 
the  incumbent  of  one  or  another  official  posi- 
tion for  a  period  of  three  decades,  and  his 
record  as  an  office-holder  is  an  enviable  one 
and  one  that  merits  the  high  esteem  and  con- 
fidence in  which  he  is  held. 

Mr.  Rhymer  was  born  January  23,  1874,  in 
Union  County,  Illinois,  and  is  a  son  of  Charles 
C.  and  Sophia  (Mowery)  Rhymer.  His 
father,  who  was  b,o|rn  in  North  Carolina, 
came  to  Illinois  about  1871  and  took  up  his 
residence  in  Union  County,  where  he  was  en- 
gaged in  farming  all  of  his  life.  He  was  a 
man  who  took  a  keen  interest  in  civic  affairs 
and  for  some  years  served  as  road  commis- 
sioner. Mrs.  Rhymer  was  born  in  Illinois 
and  .was  a  member  of  a  family  which  came  to 
this  state  from  North  Carolina. 

One  of  three  children  born  to  his  parents, 
Wesley  J.  Rhymer  attended  the  country  schools 
of  Union  County,  where,  as  noted,  he  com- 
menced life  as  a  farmer,  subsequently  follow- 
ing that  vocation  in  Pulaski  County  for  a 
period  of  thirty-six  years.  Disposing  of  his 
farm  interests,  he  entered  the  livery  and 
farm  implements  business  at  Ullin,  being  en- 
gaged therein  for  nine  years,  and  in  1918 
turned  his  attention  to  the  undertaking  busi- 
ness, in  which  he  has  since  been  engaged  with 
much  success.  He  bears  an  excellent  reputa- 
tion in  business  circles  as  a  man  of  high 
character  and  integrity  and  as  one  who  fully 
meets  all  of  his  obligations.  Since  attaining 
his  majority  Mr.  Rhymer  has  been  an  ardent 
and  uncompromising  Democrat  and  a  leader 
in  his  party.  He  has  served  very  efficiently 
in  a  number  of  public  offices,  having  been 
mayor  of  the  village  for  ten  years,  deputy 
sheriff  under  Charles  Wehrenberg,  Jr.,  three 
years;  constable  for  several  years,  a  member 
of  the  town  board  for  a  long  period  and  its 
president  for  ten  years  and  president  and  a 
director  of  the  school  board.  He  is  also  cash- 
ier of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Ullin.  Fra- 
ternally he  is  a  York  Rite  and  Scottish  Rite 
Mason  and  a  member  of  the  Mystic  Shrine 
at  East  St.  Louis,  Illinois. 

Mr.  Rhymer  married  Miss  Elvira  Groner, 
of  Union  County,  Illinois,  and  they  became 
the  parents  of  three  children,  of  whom  two 
grew  to  maturity.  The  elder,  Ray,  a  grad- 
uate of  Brown's  Business  College,  enlisted  in 
the  United  States  Army  for  service  during 
the  World  war,  and  after  only  thirty  days  of 


"(-W-/P 


ILLINOIS 


211 


training  was  sent  to  Hoboken  and  went  over- 
seas, in  June,  1918,  as  a  member  of  the  Three 
Hundred  and  Ninth  Machine  Gun  Battalion, 
Seventy-eighth  Division,  and  as  a  corporal 
was  killed  in  action  in  the  great  American 
offensive  in  the  Argonne  Forest,  October  26, 
1918.  The  younger  son,  Ellis,  attended  Wash- 
ington University,  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  and  is 
general  assistant  of  the  treasury  department 
of  the  American  Steel  Foundry,  in  the  mean- 
while attending  Northwestern  University  night 
school.  The  family  is  highly  esteemed  at 
Ullin. 

Bert  Reynold  Johnson.  During  the  brief 
span  of  forty-eight  years  the  late  Bert  R. 
Johnson  impressed  himself  upon  the  commu- 
nity of  Kewanee  in  such  a  manner  that  his 
death  on  June  30,  1928,  was  considered  a 
deplorable  loss  by  his  fellow  citizens.  A  man 
of  sound  character,  high-minded  and  of  the 
strictest  integrity,  he  held  office  which  came 
to  him  not  through  self-seeking  but  through 
its  seeking  him  out  as  the  best  man  available 
in  a  city  not  lacking  in  strong  and  able  men, 
and  discharged  his  duties  to  the  utmost  satis- 
faction of  the  people. 

Mr.  Johnson  was  born  at  Kewanee,  Illinois, 
November  29,  1881.  His  parents,  both  of 
Swedish  birth,  came  to  the  United  States 
shortly  after  their  marriage  and  settled  at 
Chicago,  but  after  the  great  fire  of  October, 
1871,  moved  to  Kewanee.  Mr.  Johnson's 
father  met  an  accidental  death  in  a  railroad 
accident  in  1892,  after  having  been  identified 
with  the  Haxton  Manufacturing  Company  for 
a  number  of  years,  his  widow  surviving  him 
until  1911. 

Bert  R.  Johnson  attended  the  public  schools 
of  Kewanee  and  as  a  young  man  became 
identified  with  newspaper  work,  being  a  re- 
porter on  the  staff  of  the  Rockford  (Illinois) 
Star  and  for  many  years  was  advertising 
manager  of  the  Star-Courier  of  Kewanee.  In 
1917  he  went  to  Springfield,  where  he  was  in 
the  corporation  department  of  the  office  of 
the  secretary  of  state.  While  there  he  took 
up  the  study  of  law  and  in  1921  completed 
his  course  at  the  Lincoln  College  of  Law,  but 
never  practiced  his  profession,  although  a 
knowledge  of  legal  matters  proved  of  the 
greatest  value  to  him.  In  1922  he  returned 
to  Kewanee  and  was  appointed  postmaster,  a 
position  in  which  he  served  until  his  death. 
Always  a  Republican,  he  served  his  state  in 
many  ways,  but  was  never  a  candidate  for 
office.  He  was  president  of  the  Henry  County 
Unit  of  the  John  Ericson  Republican  Club,  a 
state  organization,  served  as  delegate  to  state 
conventions,  and  was  generally  in  attendance 
at  national  conventions  of  his  party.  Mr. 
Johnson  was  one  of  Kewanee's  outstanding 
citizens,  always  generous  in  giving  of  his 
time  and  efforts  to  the  furtherance  of  those 
movements  making  for  the  development  of  his 


community.  As  a  churchman  he  was  a  Con- 
gregationalist  and  was  active  in  religious 
affairs. 

In  1914,  at  Springfield,  Mr.  Johnson  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Jean  Thorburn, 
of  Springfield,  Illinois,  daughter  of  William 
and  Margaret  (Dixon)  Thorburn.  She  was 
born  at  Fort  Dodge,  Iowa,  but  was  raised  at 
Streator,  Illinois.  Mrs.  Johnson  was  secre- 
tary to  the  superintendent  of  public  instruc- 
tion at  Springfield  for  eleven  years.  She  and 
Mr.  Johnson  became  the  parents  of  two  chil- 
dren: Margaret  Ellen,  who  is  attending 
Kewanee  High  School,  in  the  class  of  1934; 
and  Robert  Thorburn,  born  December  7,  1920, 
who  died  September  19,  1925,  aged  five  years. 
Since  the  death  of  her  husband  Mrs.  Johnson 
hap  held  the  appointment  of  the  postmaster- 
ship  at  Kewanee  and  has  discharged  the 
duties  efficiently.  She  has  been  active  politi- 
cally as  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Republican 
Woman's  Club,  and  is  a  past  president  of  the 
Clio  Study  Club  and  likewise  active  in  Girl 
Scout  work  and  in  the  movements  of  the  Con- 
gregational Church.  As  one  evidence  of  her 
unstinted  public  service,  she  was  captain  of 
the  solicitation  team  in  the  1930  campaign  for 
the  Community  "Y"  building  fund,  which  col- 
lected the  largest  amount  in  subscriptions  and 
whose  names  are  inscribed  on  a  silver  loving 
cup  in  the  new  building.  As  may  be  supposed 
from  the  foregoing,  Mrs.  Johnson  is  a  woman 
of  superior  intellectual  attainments,  being  a 
graduate  of  the  Streator  High  School  in  1902 
as  well  as  of  a  business  college  in  1903.  Her 
father,  who  was  for  years  prominent  in  busi- 
ness circles  of  Springfield,,  died  in  1922,  while 
Mrs.  Thorburn  still  survives  as  a  resident  at 
the  home  of  her  daughter  at  Kewanee. 

Some  conception  of  the  wide  influence  that 
Mr.  Johnson  exerted  in  the  affairs  of  his 
community  and  state  and  in  the  lives  of  those 
who  knew  him  can  be  gathered  from  the  fact 
that  his  funeral  was  attended  by  several  hun- 
dred fellow  citizens,  including  many  of  the 
prominent  leaders  of  the  state  as  well  as 
hundreds  of  his  home  town  folks  who  knew 
him  from  boyhood.  The  funeral  was  held  in 
the  Congregational  Church  of  Kewanee  and 
the  auditorium  was  crowded. 

In  the  Kewanee  Star-Courier  of  July  2, 
1928,  appeared  a  splendid  editorial  by  Leo  H. 
Lowe,  former  editor  of  the  paper  and  life- 
long friend  of  Mr.  Johnson.  Space  here  per- 
mits quoting  this  editorial  only  in  part, 
although  it  is  all  worthy  of  permanent  preser- 
vation : 

"Loving  the  shining  mark,  death  has  aimed 
a  fatal  shaft  at  Postmaster  Bert  R.  Johnson. 
When  his  eyes  closed  in  eternal  sleep  Satur- 
day morning,  there  passed  from  Kewanee's 
activities  one  who  has  labored  lovingly  for 
this  city.  There  are  many  men  who  work 
hard  and  well  for  the  community  in  which 
they   live   yet   lack   the   special   driving   force 


212 


ILLINOIS 


which  was  behind  Mr.  Johnson's  efforts.  Some 
are  animated  by  pride  in  their  community's 
growth,  some  by  hope  of  self-betterment  as 
their  city  grows,  some  by  the  spur  of  emula- 
tion. All  these  motives  are  proper  and  com- 
mendable. Mr.  Johnson  had  them  all  as  he 
went  about  his  public  service,  but  he  had 
something  more — something  infinitely  deeper 
and  better.  It  was  his  abiding  affection  for 
the  town  which  gave  him  his  birth,  his  levili- 
hood  and  his  honors.  That  affection  was 
early  manifested  in  his  life  and  it  increased 
in  intensity  as  the  years  passed. 

"Mr.  Johnson  had  a  flair  for  politics.  He 
liked  to  associate  with  people,  to  know  their 
views,  to  carry  out  their  desires.  He  scorned 
duplicity  and  deceit.  Everything  had  to  be 
straight  and  above  board  to  engage  his  in- 
terest. There  is  a  somewhat  general  opinion 
that  political  workers  must  act  along  sinuous 
lines — that  they  must  be  double-crossers.  Mr. 
Johnson's  activities  gave  the  lie  to  all  such 
notions.  He  kept  his  word,  wherever  it  was 
given.  Not  only  his  own  townspeople  but  hun- 
dreds of  men  and  women  in  the  public  life  of 
Illinois  know  this  to  be  so. 

"In  his  home,  now  so  greatly  bereaved, 
there  is  sorrow  over  the  departure  of  a  de- 
voted husband  and  father;  in  the  postoffice 
there  is  mourning  for  one  who  was  ever 
thoughtful  and  considerate  of  his  fellow- 
workers  as  he  strove  for  efficiency  to  the 
patrons;  in  his  political  party  there  is  a  void 
as  it  is  realized  that  his  action  and  advice  are 
forever  gone;  and  in  the  public  thought  of 
Kewanee  there  is  sadness  over  the  loss  of  a 
good  servant,  a  good  friend  and  a  good 
citizen." 

James  B.  Jones  has  been  a  resident  of 
Mounds,  Pulaski  County,  since  1913,  has  here 
been  continuously  in  clerical  executive  service 
with  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  and  that 
he  has  made  most  favorable  impress  upon  the 
community  needs  no  further  voucher  than  the 
statement  that  the  year  1930  finds  him  giv- 
ing characteristically  loyal  and  efficient  serv- 
ice as  mayor  of  the  vital  little  City  of  Mounds. 

Mr.  Jones  was  born  in  Graves  County,  Ken- 
tucky, August  22,  1879,  as  the  eldest  of  a 
family  of  five  sons  and  five  daughters  born 
to  William  A.  and  Ada  (Wingo)  Jones,  both 
likewise  natives  of  Kentucky,  where  William 
A.  Jones  marked  the  passing  years  with  cumu- 
lative success  in  his  farm  operations.  The 
schools  of  his  native  county  afforded  the  pres- 
ent mayor  of  Mounds  his  youthful  education, 
and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years  he  initiated 
his  independent  career.  For  a  time  he  was 
employed  at  a  cotton  compress  in  the  State 
of  Texas,  and  he  thereafter  gave  ten  years 
of  service  as  clerk  in  a  mercantile  establish- 
ment in  that  state.  He  next  was  engaged 
independently  in  the  general  mercantile  busi- 
ness at  Lynnville,  a  town  in  his  native  Ken- 


tucky county,  and  after  two  years  he  sold 
his  stock  and  business.  He  came  to  Mounds, 
Illinois,  in  1913,  as  an  employe  in  the  mechan- 
ical department  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road, and  six  months  later  he  was  transferred 
to  a  clerical  position  in  the  local  transporta- 
tion service  of  this  great  railway  system,  with 
which  he  has  here  continued  to  be  retained 
in  this  capacity.  At  the  time  of  this  writing, 
in  the  fall  of  1932,  he  is  clerk  for  the  general 
yard  master  of  this  system  at  Mounds. 

Mr.  Jones  is  distinctly  loyal  and  progressive 
as  a  citizen,  and  in  April,  1927,  he  was  elected 
mayor  of  Mounds,  an  executive  office  that  he 
still  retains,  through  reelection  in  May,  1929, 
and  again  in  1931.  His  administration  has 
been  marked  by  wise  economy  in  ordering  the 
fiscal  affairs  of  the  city  and  also  by  vigorous 
and  progressive  policies  that  have  worked 
effectively  to  the  civic  and  material  advance- 
ment of  the  city.  Mr.  Jones  is  aligned 
staunchly  in  the  ranks  of  the  Republican 
party,  is  a  member  of  the  Brotherhood  of 
Railway  Clerks,  in  the  Masonic  fraternity 
he  is  affiliated  with  Blue  Lodge,  Chapter  and 
Commandery  bodies  of  the  York  Rite,  besides 
which  he  is  a  noble  of  the  temple  of  the 
Mystic  Shrine  in  the  City  of  East  St.  Louis, 
Illinois.  His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Ora  M.  Smith,  was  born  at  Cape  Girardeau, 
Missouri,  and  she  is  a  leader  in  much  of  the 
social  and  cultural  activity  in  her  present 
home  community,  with  a  circle  of  friends  that 
is  coincident  with  that  of  her  acquaintances. 

Fred  L.  Hoffmeier,  who  was  cashier  of 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Mounds,  Pulaski 
County,  has  been  associated  with  banking 
enterprise  during  virtually  his  entire  active 
career  in  business,  and  in  that  executive  posi- 
tion and  in  his  civic  attitude  of  loyalty  and 
progressiveness  he  is  honoring  his  native 
county  and  state,  even  as  he  did  in  his  service 
in  the  United  States  Army  in  the  World 
war  period,  though  his  command  was  not 
called  to  overseas  duty. 

Mr.  Hoffmeier  was  born  on  the  parental 
home  farm  in  Pulaski  County,  Illinois,  October 
23,  1892,  and  is  one  of  the  five  children  of 
Fred  and  Ferban  (Adkins)  Hoffmeier,  the  for- 
mer of  whom  was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany, 
and  the  latter  in  the  State  of  Alabama,  Fred 
Hoffmeier  came  from  his  native  land  to  the 
United  States  in  the  year  1866,  and  in  1880 
he  established  residence  in  Pulaski  County, 
Illinois,  where  he  became  an  enterprising  and 
prosperous  farmer  and  honored  and  influen- 
tial citizen.  He  served  as  county  commis- 
sioner and  at  the  time  of  his  death,  June  6, 
1929,  he  was  vice-president  of  the  First 
National   Bank  of   Ullin,  this   county. 

Fred  L.  Hoffmeier  profited  by  his  youthful 
experience  in  connection  with  the  varied 
activities  of  the  home  farm  and  also  by  the 
advantages  of  the  public  schools  of  his  native 


ILLINOIS 


213 


county,  including  the  high  school.  He  there- 
after was  a  student  in  Valparaiso  University, 
at  Valparaiso,  Indiana,  and  after  leaving  this 
institution  he  resumed  his  active  association 
with  farm  industry  in  Pulaski  County.  In 
1914  he  became  bookkeeper  in  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Ullin,  and  thereafter  in 
1917  he  went  with  the  State  Bank  of  Jones- 
boro,  Illinois,  then  on  May  1st,  1917,  he  served 
as  assistant  cashier  of  the  Anna  State  Bank 
&  Trust  Company,  at  Anna,  Union  County. 
He  was  thus  engaged  until  the  nation  entered 
the  World  war,  when  he  promptly  responded 
to  the  call  of  patriotism  and  volunteered  for 
service  in  the  United  States  Army.  He  enlisted 
September  4,  1917,  and  was  assigned  to  an 
infantry  regiment  at  Camp  Taylor,  won  com- 
mission as  second  lieutenant  in  the  Third 
Officers  Training  Camp  in  April,  1918,  was 
then  assigned  to  Camp  Pike,  Arkansas,  and 
in  the  following  October  was  advanced  to 
the  rank  of  first  lieutenant,  and  assigned  to 
the  Fifth  Officers  Training  Camp  at  Camp 
MacArthur,  Waco,  Texas,  as  instructor,  and 
he  was  there  stationed  when  the  armistice 
brought  the  war  to  a  close.  He  received  his 
honorable  discharge  December  21,  1918,  and 
on  the  12th  of  the  following  month  he  was 
made  assistant  cashier  -of  the  First  National 
Bank  of  Mounds,  of  which  substantial  and 
influential  institution  he  was  appointed  cash- 
ier in  the  following  November,  this  being 
the  office  in  which  he  continued  his  resource- 
ful and  successful  administration  until  the 
consolidation  with  the  First  State  Bank,  Feb- 
ruary 10,  1932.  Mr.  Hoffmeier  has  member- 
ship in  the  Illinois  Bankers  Association  and 
the  American  Bankers  Association,  his  politi- 
cal allegiance  is  given  to  the  Republican  party, 
he  and  his  wife  have  membership  in  the 
Baptist  Church,  and  he  is  affiliated  with  the 
blue  lodge  and  chapter  bodies  of  the  York 
Rite  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  He  is  a  direc- 
tor of  the  Mounds  Building  &  Loan  Associa- 
tion, at  the  judicial  center  of  Pulaski  County. 
He  is  a  member  of  Winifred  Fairfax  Warden 
Post  No.  406  of  the  American  Legion.  He 
is  vice  president  of  the  Egyptian  Golf  Club. 
His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Gladys 
Train,  was  born  at  Fairplay,  Missouri,  and 
she  is  a  popular  figure  in  the  social  life  of 
her   present  home  community. 

James  Louis  Starkes  is  a  veteran  in  the 
printing  business,  a  line  of  work  he  has  fol- 
lowed forty  years.  Mr.  Starkes  is  the  editor 
and  publisher  of  the  Metropolis  News,  the 
leading  paper  of  Massac  County. 

He  was  born  in  Massac  County  July  14, 
1874.  His  father,  Reuben  P.  Starkes,  was 
born  in  Kentucky,  was  a  Union  soldier  in  the 
Civil  war,  and  shortly  after  he  left  the  army 
settled  in  Massac  County,  where  he  followed 
the  trade  of  carpenter.  During  the  1890s 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Metropolis  City  Coun- 


cil. Reuben  Starkes  married  Sophronia 
Mosely,  of  Virginia  ancestry. 

James  L.  Starkes,  one  of  a  family  of  three 
children,  attended  rural  schools  in  Massac 
County,  the  Metropolis  High  School,  and  was 
only  sixteen  years  old  when  he  began  learn- 
ing the  printer's  trade  in  a  shop  conducted 
by  his  brother.  He  has  done  and  still  can 
do  everything  required  of  a  practical  printer, 
and  in  1905  he  established  the  first  shop  of 
his  own,  known  as  the  Kentucky  Printing 
Company  at  Paducah,  Kentucky.  He  sold  this 
business  in  1915  and  returning  to  Metropolis 
started  the  Starkes  Printing  Shop. 

In  1917  he  began  the  publication  of  the 
Metropolis  News,  a  daily  paper.  In  1920  he 
changed  it  to  a  weekly  paper,  and  it  has 
continued  as  such  ever  since  except  during 
the  year  1926,  when  he  again  published  it 
daily.  The  News  is  a  seven-column,  eight- 
page  paper,  all  home  print,  and  has  a  cir- 
culation of  2,400  copies,  being  the  chief  me- 
dium of  news  and  publicity  throughout  Mas- 
sac County.  Mr.  Starkes  has  emphasized  the 
mechanical  equipment  of  his  shop  and  besides 
producing  a  good  weekly  paper  has  the  facil- 
ities for  all  classes  of  job  printing  and 
binding. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  State  Edi- 
torial Association  and  during  the  World  war 
handled  publicity  work  for  the  war  drives. 
He  conducts  an  independent  Republican  paper. 
Mr.  Starkes  married  Faye  Crouse,  who  was 
born  in  White  County,  Illinois.  They  have 
four  children:  Tuxcedo,  wife  of  Bert  Nichols; 
Milton  Wilkes,  who  is  associated  with  his 
father,  city  editor  of  the  Neivs,  and  com- 
pleted his  education  in  the  University  of  Illi- 
nois; James  Louis,  Jr.,  and  Calista  Aaron. 

John  Edward  Herman,  who  is  secretary 
of  the  Mounds  Building  &  Loan  Association, 
an  organization  that  has  done  and  continues 
to  do  an  effective  service  in  connection  with 
home  building  and  home  maintenance  in  the 
City  of  Mounds,  Pulaski  County,  and  who 
appeared  as  Democratic  candidate  for  the 
office  of  county  sheriff  in  the  election  of 
November,  1930,  is  not  only  a  native  son  of 
Illinois  but  also  a  representative,  in  the  fourth 
generation,  of  a  family  whose  name  has  been 
identified  with  Illinois  history  during  a  period 
of  more  than  eighty  years. 

Mr.  Herman  was  born  in  Clay  County,  this 
state,  July  7,  1870,  and  is  a  son  of  Francis 
M.  and  Jane  F.  (Compton)  Herman,  the  for- 
mer of  whom  likewise  was  born  in  Clay 
County,  and  the  latter  of  whom  was  born  in 
Tennessee,  she  having  been  young  |at  the 
time  of  the  family  removal  to  Illinois.  Fran- 
cis M.  Herman  received  the  advantages  of 
McKendree  College,  and  he  gave  thirty-five 
years  of  earnest  and  efficient  service  as  a 
teacher  in  the  schools  of  Illinois,  besides  which 
he  represented  this  state  as  a  gallant  soldier 


214 


ILLINOIS 


of  the  Union  during  virtually  the  entire  period 
of  the  Civil  war,  he  having  enlisted  in  the 
Ninety-eighth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry  in 
response  to  President  Lincoln's  first  call  for 
volunteers,  and  with  this  command  having 
continued  his  service  three  years,  within  which 
he  participated  in  many  engagements  and 
lived  up  to  the  full  tension  of  the  great  inter- 
necine conflict.  He  was  acting  captain  of 
Company  F  of  his  original  regiment  when 
he  received  his  honorable  discharge,  and  in 
after  years  he  perpetuated  his  association 
with  his  old  comrades  in  arms  by  maintaining 
affiliation  with  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Repub- 
lic. Both  he  and  his  wife  passed  the  closing 
years  of  their  life  in  their  old  home  in  Clay 
County,  secure  in  the  high  regard  of  all  who 
knew  them. 

Francis  M.  Herman  was  a  son  of  John  F. 
Herman,  who  was  born  in  North  Carolina 
and  who  thence  came  with  his  father,  Francis 
M.  Herman,  Sr.,  to  Illinois  about  the  year 
1830,  they  having  done  well  their  part  in 
connection  with  pioneer  development  and  prog- 
ress in  this  state,  where  they  passed  the 
remainder  of  their  lives.  The  original  Amer- 
ican representatives  of  the  Herman  family 
came  from  Germany  and  made  settlement  in 
North  Carolina  within  a  comparatively  short 
time  after  the  close  of  the  War  of  the 
Revolution. 

John  E.  Herman,  one  of  a  family  of  four 
children,  received  the  advantages  of  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  county,  and  his  more- 
advanced  education  was  acquired  through  the 
medium  of  McKendree  College  and  the  Uni- 
versity of  Southern  Illinois.  As  a  young 
man  he  taught  eleven  terms  of  school,  in 
Clay  and  Effingham  counties,  and  thereafter 
he  entered  the  service  of  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad.  From  the  position  of  locomotive 
fireman  he  was  advanced  to  that  of  engineer, 
in  which  capacity  he  continued  his  service 
from  1899  to  1913.  He  then  entered  the  auto- 
mobile sales  business  in  his  present  home  City 
of  Mounds,  where  in  1916  he  was  appointed 
postmaster,  an  office  of  which  he  continued 
the  efficient  and  popular  incumbent  until  1925. 
After  his  retirement  from  office  he  continued 
his  association  with  the  automobile  business 
at   Mounds   until    1929. 

In  1917  Mr.  Herman  was  elected  secretary 
of  the  Mounds  Building  &  Loan  Association, 
and  this  position  he  has  retained  during  the 
intervening  years,  his  resourceful  and  pro- 
gressive administration  having  had  much 
potency  in  connection  with  the  upbuilding 
of  the  substantial  and  well  ordered  business 
of   this   association. 

The  political  allegiance  of  Mr.  Herman  is 
given  to  the  Democratic  party,  and  he  has 
served  as  delegate  to  its  county,  congressional- 
district  and  state  convention  in  Illinois,  with 
no  minor  influence  in  its  councils  and  cam- 
paign   activities    in   his    section   of   the    state. 


He  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fraternity 
and  still  retains  membership  in  the  Brother- 
hood of  Locomotive  Engineers. 

In  Clay  County  was  solemnized  the  marriage 
of  Mr.  Herman  and  Miss  Lelia  D.  Heth,  who 
likewise  was  born  and  reared  in  that  county, 
and  the  children  of  this  union  are  three  in 
number:  Gladys  is  the  wife  of  August  Cros- 
son,  who  is  engaged  in  the  drug  business  at 
Mounds.  Frank  was  a  cadet  student  in  the 
United  States  Naval  Academy,  at  Annapolis, 
Maryland,  when  the  nation  entered  the  World 
war,  when  he  retired  from  the  academy  and 
enlisted  for  service  in  the  tank  corps  of  the 
United  States  Army.  His  unit  was  in  readi- 
ness to  enter  overseas  service  at  the  time 
when  the  armistice  brought  the  war  to  a 
close,  and  he  received  his  honorable  discharge 
in  due  course.  He  thereafter  was  graduated 
in  the  school  of  commerce  of  the  University 
of  Illinois,  and  he  now  holds  the  position  of 
general  superintendent  of  the  Central  Illinois 
Public  Service  in  the  City  of  Springfield, 
Illinois.  He  married  Florence  Claflin,  of 
Washington,  D.  C.  Blanche,  youngest  of  the 
children,  was  graduated  in  the  University  of 
Southern  Illinois,  and  is  now  the  wife  of 
J.   E.   Hickey,  of   Carbondale,   Illinois. 

Hugh  Fernely  Britt.  Among  the  officials 
of  the  United  States  mail  service  who  are 
devoting  themselves  to  the  betterment  and 
advancement  of  the  postal  system,  one  who 
has  accomplished  good  results  in  this  direc- 
tion and  who  is  proving  a  popular  and  efficient 
official  is  Hugh  Fernely  Britt,  postmaster  at 
Olmstead,  Pulaski  County.  He  has  been  a 
resident  of  this  community  all  of  his  life, 
and  in  addition  to  discharging  the  duties  of 
his  office  is  interested  in  the  rabbitry 
business. 

Mr.  Britt  was  born  at  Olmstead,  September 
16,  1897,  and  is  a  son  of  George  W.  and  Ida 
(Kennedy)  Britt.  His  grandfather,  Daniel 
J.  Britt,  was  born  in  Tennessee,  but  because 
he  did  not  believe  in  the  institution  of  slavery 
moved  to  Illinois  in  1862  and  passed  the  rest 
of  his  life  as  a  farmer  in  Pulaski  County. 
George  W.  Britt  was  born  on  his  father's 
farm  in  Pulaski  County,  received  a  public 
school  education,  and  adopted  agricultural 
work  as  the  medium  through  which  to  work 
out  his  life's  success.  He  is  one  of  the  sub- 
stantial farmers  of  his  community  and  a  man 
who  is  held  in  high  respect  and  esteem.  He 
married  Ida  Kennedy,  a  native  of  the  same 
county,  and  they  have  had  six  children. 

Hugh  Fernely  Britt  attended  the  grade  and 
high  schools  of  Pulaski  County,  and  the  South- 
ern Illinois  Normal  School  for  two  years,  fol- 
lowing which  he  entered  upon  his  career  as 
a  teacher.  For  five  years  he  was  engaged  in 
instructing  the  younger  generation  and  was 
a  popular  and  capable  educator,  progressive 
and  at  the  same  time  practical  in  his  meth- 


ILLINOIS 


215 


ods  and  ideals.  On  April  1,  1922,  he  was 
appointed  postmaster  of  Olmstead  by  Presi- 
dent Harding,  and  subsequently  was  reap- 
pointed by  President  Coolidge,  and  again  by 
President  Hoover,  and  has  acted  in  this  ca- 
pacity to  the  present.  He  has  made  a  num- 
ber of  changes  and  improvements  in  the  serv- 
ice and  is  accounted  a  capable  and  energetic 
official.  He  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Postmasters  Association.  As  before  noted, 
Mr.  Britt  is  engaged  in  the  rabbitry  business 
and  has  600  feet  of  land  devoted  to  the  rais- 
ing of  rabbits,  his  specialty  being  the  breed- 
ing of  Chinchillas  and  White  Flemish  and 
Black  Silver  Foxes.  He  is  a  member  of 
Olmstead  Lodge  No.  1056,  I.  0.  0.  F.,  and 
Kane  Encampment  No.  151. 

Mr.  Britt  married  Miss  Hazel  Myhre,  a 
native  of  Pulaski  County  and  a  member  of  an 
old  and  respected  family  of  this  part  of  the 
state. 

Ernest  Clayton  Hogendobler.  The  career 
of  Ernest  C.  Hogendobler  has  been  charac- 
terized by  individual  achievement  without  the 
aid  of  adventitious  circumstance  or  other  help- 
ful influence.  From  a  country  store  clerkship, 
through  his  own  industry  and  good  manage- 
ment, he  has  risen  to  be  -the  proprietor  of  a 
thriving  mercantile  establishment  at  Olmstead, 
in  addition  to  which  he  is  a  large  handler  of 
grain  and  coal,  and  is  accounted  one  of  the 
strong  and  able  citizens  of  his  community. 

Mr.  Hogendobler  was  born  September  5, 
1884,  on  a  farm  in  Pulaski  County,  Illinois, 
and  is  a  son  of  Henry  M.  and  Emma 
(Wright)  Hogendobler.  His  paternal  grand- 
father, H.  G.  Hogendobler,  came  from  Lan- 
caster, Pennsylvania,  to  Illinois,  and  was  the 
first  settler  of  Dutch  extraction  in  Pulaski 
County,  where  he  passed  the  rest  of  his  life 
as  an  agriculturist.  Henry  M.  Hogendobler 
was  a  young  child  when  brought  by  his  par- 
ents to  Illinois,  where  he  received  a  country 
school  education.  He  took  up  farming  and 
fruit  raising  in  his  youth  and  followed  these 
pursuits  throughout  his  life,  being  the  owner 
of  a  120-acre  property  at  the  time  of  his 
death.  He  was  one  of  the  highly-respected 
men  of  his  community  and  for  some  years 
served  as  a  member  of  the  school  board.  He 
and  his  wife,  who  is  also  deceased,  were  the 
parents  of  eight  children. 

Ernest  C.  Hogendobler  attended  the  public 
schools  of  Pulaski  County  and  grew  up  on 
the  home  farm,  but  at  the  age  of  nineteen 
years  left  the  home  place  and  took  employ- 
ment as  clerk  in  a  general  store  at  Olmstead. 
During  the  eleven  years  that  he  was  thus 
employed  he  applied  himself  thoroughly  to 
learning  all  that  he  could  about  business  de- 
tails, and  in  the  meantime  saved  all  possible 
from  his  wages.  When  about  thirty  years  of 
age,  March  4,  1914,  he  opened  a  modest  store 
of  his  own  at  Olmstead,  having  at  the  time 


a  cash  capital  of  $175.  Two  years  later  he 
had  doubled  his  store  space  and  had  a  stock 
of  $2,000  worth  of  merchandise,  and  from 
that  time  to  the  present  his  enterprise  has 
grown  and  prospered  until  today  it  is  one 
of  the  leading  and  thriving  establishments  of 
the  city.  In  addition  to  a  complete  line  of 
general  merchandise,  Mr.  Hogendobler  handles 
about  thirty  cars  of- grain  and  about  twenty 
cars  of  coal  annually  and  his  operations  ex- 
tend over  a  wide  territory,  where  he  is  known 
as  a  business  man  of  strict  integrity  and 
high  character.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Olm- 
stead Business  Men's  Association  and  is  a 
York  and  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  a  member 
of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at  East  St.  Louis.  He 
has  taken  a  somewhat  active  part  in  politics 
and  civic  affairs  and  has  served  capably  as 
a  member  of  the  town  board. 

Mr.  Hogendobler  married  Miss  Georgia  Cal- 
vin, a  native  of  Pulaski  County,  and  they  are 
the  parents  of  four  children:  Ruth  Agusta, 
Cleta  Agnes,  Doris  Eleanor  and  Emma 
Elaine. 

John  A.  McGarry  is  senior  member  of  John 
A.  McGarry  &  Company,  paving  contractors, 
189  West  Madison  Street,  Chicago.  Mr.  Mc- 
Garry is  a  veteran  business  executive,  with  a 
long  and  varied  experience  that  has  brought 
him  through  an  immense  amount  of  practical 
hard  work  to  an  outstanding  leadership  in  his 
field.  For  over  a  third  of  a  century  he  has 
been  one  of  the  prominent  paving  contractors 
of  Chicago. 

Mr.  McGarry  was  born  at  Troy,  New  York, 
October  8,  1858,  son  of  John  and  Dora  (Cav- 
anaugh)  McGarry.  He  had  meager  advan- 
tages as  a  youth,  having  to  work  during  much 
of  the  time  the  average  boy  was  in  school.  He 
attended  parochial  schools,  also  night  schools, 
and  in  1879,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  was 
superintendent  of  a  rolling  mill  at  Troy.  For 
a  number  of  years  Mr.  McGarry  was  a  resi- 
dent of  Baltimore,  Maryland,  where  from  1892 
to  1893  he  was  general  manager  of  the  Walker 
Horse  Shoe  Company.  While  there  he  was 
prominent  in  politics,  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  Maryland  Legislature  in  1886  and 
served  on  the  Baltimore  City  Council  from 
1888  to  1890. 

Mr.  McGarry  came  to  Chicago  in  1894,  and 
soon  afterward  entered  business  as  a  paving 
contractor.  In  Chicago  he  has  also  been  well 
known  for  his  civic  interests  and  his  connec- 
tion with  a  number  of  cultural  and  other 
organizations.  In  1908  he  was  chosen  a 
Democratic  presidential  elector.  He  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Irish  Fellowship  Club  in  1908-09, 
and  is  a  life  member  of  the  American  Irish 
Historical  Society  of  New  York,  and  since 
1918  has  been  national  chairman  of  the  execu- 
tive committee  of  the  Irish  Nationalists.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hiber- 
nians, is  a  life  member  of  the  Chicago  Art  In- 


216 


ILLINOIS 


stitute,  life  member  of  the  Chicago  Historical 
Society,  member  of  the  Field  Museum,  Lake 
Shore  Athletic  Club,  Midland  Club,  Iroquois 
Club,  Columbian  Country  Club,  and  the  Four 
Seasons  Club  of  America. 

In  1880  Mr.  McGarry  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Josephine  Du  Pont,  a  native 
of  Lansingburg,  New  York,  who  was  of  French 
extraction.  She  passed  away  in  1925,  leaving 
two  daughters,  Helen  McGarry,  who  resides  at 
home  with  her  father,  and  Josephine,  who 
married  Joseph  P.  Callan,  an  attorney  at  Mil- 
waukee, Wisconsin. 

George  Thomas  Schuler  was  born  at 
Mound  City,  judicial  center  of  Pulaski  County, 
January  11,  1875,  and  that  in  the  passing 
years  he  has  retained  inviolable  place  in  pop- 
ular confidence  and  esteem  needs  no  further 
voucher  than  the  fact  that  he  is  now  execu- 
tive head  of  one  of  the  most  important  medi- 
ums of  communal  services  in  his  native  county, 
where  he  has  held  since  1924  the  office  of 
postmaster  of  the  City  of  Mounds. 

Mr.  Schuler  is  a  representative  of  one  of 
the  sterling  pioneer  families  of  Pulaski 
County,  his  grandfather,  George  Schuler,  hav- 
ing come  with  his  family  from  Ohio  and 
having  made  settlement  at  Mound  City  in 
the  early  part  of  the  1840  decade,  and  having 
been  one  of  the  venerable  and  honored  pioneer 
citizens  of  this  county  at  the  time  of  his 
death.  George  Schuler,  Jr.,  father  of  the 
postmaster  of  Mounds,  was  born  in  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  and  was  a  boy  at  the  time  of  the  family 
removal  to  Illinois,  where  he  was  reared  and 
educated  at  Mound  City,  he  having  been  a 
representative  business  man  of  that  city  many 
years,  besides  which  he  there  served  as  city 
marshal  and  as  deputy  county  sheriff.  He 
was  a  gallant  soldier  of  the  Union  during 
virtually  the  entire  period  of  the  Civil  war, 
as  a  member  of  an  Illinois  artillery  regiment, 
and  participated  in  many  engagements,  includ- 
ing a  number  of  major  battles.  After  serving 
his  three  year  term,  he  acted  as  a  substitute 
and  served  to  the  end  of  the  war.  His  politi- 
cal allegiance  was  given  to  the  Republican 
party  and  he  was  long  and  actively  affiliated 
with  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  His 
wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Julia  Kennedy, 
was  born  and  reared  in  Pulaski  County,  and 
they  became  the  parents  of  seven  children. 

George  T.  Schuler  is  indebted  to  the  Mound 
City  public  schools  for  his  early  education. 
His  initial  business  experience  was  acquired 
in  the  service  of  a  painting  contractor  at 
Mound  City,  thereafter  he  was  employed  for 
a  time  on  a  government  dredging  vessel  on 
the  Mississippi  River,  next  he  was  in  the 
service  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  during 
a  period  of  nine  years,  he  having  been  a 
locomotive  engineer  at  the  time  of  his  resig- 
nation from  this  service.  Thereafter  he  was 
engaged  in  the  contracting  business  at  Mounds 


until  1924,  when  he  was  appointed  postmaster 
of  Mounds,  under  the  administration  of  Presi- 
dent Coolidge,  his  reappointment  in  1928  hav- 
ing since  continued  him  in  this  office,  in  which 
his  administration  has  been  loyal  and  pro- 
gressive as  well  as  eminently  satisfactory  to 
the  community.  In  1893  Mr.  Schuler  was 
appointed  deputy  sheriff  of  his  native  county, 
but  this  office  he  resigned  when  he  was 
appointed  in  the  following  year.  On  January 
28,  1932,  he  was  reappointed  postmaster  by 
President  Hoover.  He  has  membership  in 
both  the  District  and  the  National  Postmas- 
ters Associations,  and  the  postoffice  over  which 
he  has  supervision  is  of  the  second  class,  with 
one  rural  free-delivery  route.  He  is  a  stal- 
wart advocate  of  the  cause  of  the  Republican 
party  and  is  affiliated  with  the  Modern  Wood- 
men of  America.  His  wife,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Frances  Calvin,  was  born  in  the 
State  of  Arkansas.  They  became  the  parents 
of  two  children:  Robert  Edward  is  a  business 
man  in  the  City  of  Cairo,  Alexander  County, 
and  George  T.,  Jr.,  died  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
two   months. 

Thomas  Hugh  Plemon  II,  postmaster  of 
Jonesboro,  former  merchant  in  that  city,  is 
also  a  World  war  veteran  and  one  of  the 
recognized  leaders  in  the  affairs  of  the 
community. 

Mr.  Plemon  was  born  at  Anna,  November 
16,  1896.  His  father,  Thomas  H.  Plemon  I, 
was  born  in  Ohio  and  came  to  Union  County, 
Illinois,  about  1880.  He  was  at  one  time 
supervisor  of  the  Anna  State  Hospital  and 
for  fourteen  years  was  a  rural  mail  carrier. 
He  died  in  June,  1929.  Thomas  Plemon  I 
married  Etta  C.  Treese,  of  Anna. 

Thomas  H.  Plemon  II  is  one  of  a  family  of 
four  children.  He  attended  grammar  and 
high  schools  at  Anna,  and  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen became  a  salesman.  This  was  his  work 
until  April,  1917,  when  he  enlisted  for  service 
in  the  World  war.  He  was  for  two  years 
with  the  Twelfth  Regiment  of  Engineers,  this 
being  one  of  the  first  regiments  of  American 
troops  to  parade  in  the  City  of  London  and 
one  of  the  first  contingents  of  the  American 
Expeditionary  forces  to  arrive  overseas.  Mr. 
Plemon  was  with  Company  E  of  this  noted 
regiment.  He  was  in  the  army  two  years,  and 
for  a  time  was  attached  to  the  British  and 
French  armies.  He  returned  to  America  in 
April,  1919,  was  discharged  at  Camp  Funston, 
Kansas,  and  resumed  his  work  as  salesman  at 
St.  Louis.  Mr.  Plemon  in  1921  located  at 
Jonesboro,  where  he  entered  the  general  mer- 
cantile business.  He  gave  his  personal  super- 
vision to  this  business  until  1926,  when  he 
was  appointed  postmaster,  and  since  then  has 
sold  his  store. 

Mr.  Plemon  married  Mary  Kathleen  Lence, 
of  Jonesbaro,  daughter  of  Dr.  William  C. 
Lence,    a    prominent    physician    of    the    com- 


ILLINOIS 


217 


munity.  They  have  two  sons,  Thomas  Hugh 
III  and  William  Carol.  Mr.  Plemon  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Postmasters  Association  and  is 
affiliated  with  Anna  Lodge  of  Masons  and  the 
Royal  Arch  Chapter  and  Council.  He  has 
been  a  leader  in  the  Republican  party,  was 
for  several  years  county  Republican  commit- 
teeman and  state  delegate  in  1924-28.  For 
four  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  Com- 
munity High  School  Board,  is  secretary  of 
the  local  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  has  been 
active  in  the  American  Legion  Post  No.  344. 

Carl  S.  Miller  maintains  his  residence  and 
official  headquarters  at  Mound  City,  judicial 
center  of  Pulaski  County,  and  is  serving  with 
marked  ability  on  the  bench  of  the  County 
Court  of  Pulaski  County.  Prior  to  his  election 
to  this  judicial  office  he  had  gained  high 
place  as  one  of  the  representative  members 
of  the  bar  of  his  native  county  and  had 
served  as  its  state's  attorney  for  eight  years. 

Judge  Miller  was  born  at  Villa  Ridge, 
Pulaski  County,  Illinois,  October  6,  1878,  and 
is  a  son  of  Jasper  N.  and  Margaret  (Albin) 
Miller,  whose  children  were  nine  in  number. 
Jasper  N.  Miller  was  born  and  reared  near 
Springfield,  Ohio,  and  represented  his  native 
state  as  a  loyal  young  soldier  of  the  Union 
in  the  Civil  war,  though  his  service  was  cur- 
tailed to  four  months,  as  he  was  wounded  in 
battle  and  also  incapacitated  by  illness,  with 
the  result  that  he  received  honorable  discharge 
on  the  basis  of  his  being  ineligible  for  farther 
service  at  the  front.  About  the  year  1867 
he  came  to  Pulaski  County,  Illinois,  and  here 
he  long  held  precedence  as  a  prosperous  and 
representative  exponent  of  farm  industry, 
including  horticulture.  He  was  an  active  and 
influential  member  of  the  Fruit  Growers  Asso- 
ciation of  this  section  of  the  state,  was  a 
Republican  in  politics  and  was  affiliated  with 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 

The  benign  influence  and  discipline  of  the 
home  farm  compassed  the  childhood  and  early 
youth  of  Judge  Miller,  and  he  supplemented 
the  advantages  of  the  public  schools  by  attend- 
ing the  Edwards  County  Academy.  In  prep- 
aration for  his  chosen  profession  he  completed 
the  prescribed  curriculum  of  the  John  Mar- 
shall Law  School  in  the  City  of  Chicago,  in 
which  he  was  graduated  as  a  member  of  the 
class  of  1903,  his  admission  to  the  bar  of 
his  native  state  having  been  virtually  coin- 
cident with  his  reception  of  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Laws.  After  his  graduation  he 
was  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession 
in  Chicago  until  1908,  when  he  returned  to 
his  native  county  and  established  himself  in 
practice  at  Mound  City,  the  judicial  center 
of  the  county.  Here  his  professional  activities 
have  been  staged  during  the  intervening  years, 
and  those  years  have  brought  to  him  marked 
success  and  prestige  as  a  loyal  and  resource- 
ful exponent  of  the  science  of  jurisprudence. 


He  served  for  a  period  as  public  administrator 
of  the  county,  was  for  many  years  president 
of  the  Mound  City  Board  of  Education,  and 
during  the  period  of  1912-20  he  held  the  office 
of  state's  attorney  and  made  a  fine  record  as 
public  prosecutor.  He  was  elected  judge  of 
the  county  court  to  fill  an  unexpired  term, 
and  at  the  expiration  of  that  term  he  was 
elected  for  the  full  term,  in  1926  and  again 
in  1930.  His  service  on  the  bench  has  been 
marked  by  broad  and  accurate  knowledge  of 
law  and  precedent  and  by  a  fine  appreciation 
of  justice  and  equity,  with  the  result  that 
few  of  his  decisions  have  been  reversed  by 
courts  of  higher  jurisdiction.  He  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Pulaski  County  Bar  Association 
for  the  year  1930,  has  served  as  a  member 
of  various  committees  of  the  Illinois  State 
Bar  Association.  He  has  membership  also 
in  the  Illinois  Association  of  County  Judges. 
His  political  allegiance  is  given  to  the  Repub- 
lican party,  he  has  served  as  a  member  of 
its  senatorial  committee  for  the  south  central 
district  of  Illinois.  The  Judge  is  a  member 
of  the  Scottish  Rite  body  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  and  is  a  thirty-second  degree 
Mason,  and  in  the  latter  rite  has  membership 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley  Consistory,  at  East 
St.  Louis,  where  he  is  also  a  noble  of  the 
Mystic  Shrine.  He  is  a  past  chancellor  of 
the  local  lodge  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias, 
and  has  membership  in  the  Egyptian  Golf 
Club  of  Mound  City.  The  Judge  is  president 
of  the  First  State  Bank  of  Olmsted,  Pulaski 
County,  and  is  a  director  of  the  First  State 
Bank  of  the  City  of  Mounds,  likewise  in  this 
county.  He  is  also  a  director  of  the  Olive 
Branch    Mutual    Products    Company. 

In  the  World  war  period  Judge  Miller  had 
much  of  leadership  in  the  various  partiotic 
movements  in  his  home  city  and  county,  was 
chairman  of  the  county  organization  of  three- 
minute  speakers,  an  organization  that  gave 
splendid  service  in  promoting  the  drives  for 
sale  of  government  war  bonds,  and  was  other- 
wise influential  in  advancing  local  campaigns 
in  support  of  the  Red  Cross  and  other  benig- 
nant war  agencies. 

In  Pulaski  County  was  solemnized  the  mar- 
riage of  Judge  Miller  to  Miss  Lottie  Austin, 
who  likewise  was  born  and  reared  in  this 
county  and  who  is  a  representative  of  one  of 
its  old  and  honored  families.  Judge  and  Mrs. 
Miller  have  five  children:  Gladys,  a  graduate 
of  the  University  of  Illinois,  is  the  wife  of 
Donald  J.  Auble;  Donald  A.  is  the  only  son; 
Marguerite,  a  student  of  Knox  College,  at 
Galesburg,  and  remains  at  the  parental  home; 
Ethel  is  a  student  in  the  Mound  City  High 
School;  and  Eleanor  likewise  is  attending  the 
local   public   schools. 

Judge  and  Mrs.  Miller  are  members  of  the 
Pilgrim  Congregational  Church  of  Mound  City 
and  the  Judge  has  been  superintendent  of 
the   Sunday  School  for  about  fifteen  years. 


218 


ILLINOIS 


Harold  Henry  Gordon,  who  is  the  efficient 
and  popular  manager  of  the  Pulaski  County 
Farm  Bureau,  with  his  executive  headquarters 
established  in  the  county  courthouse,  at  Mound 
City,  is  a  native  son  of  Illinois,  where  he 
is  a  scion  of  the  third  generation  of  a  family 
that  has  been  one  of  prominence  and  influence 
in  connection  with  farm  industry  since  the 
early  pioneer  days,  and  he  takes  pride  in  the 
leadership  his  father  and  his  paternal  grand- 
father manifested  in  advancing  the  standards 
of  agricultural  and  livestock  industry  in  this 
great  commonwealth,  the  while  he  finds  satis- 
faction in  the  fact  that  he  himself  has  been 
able  to  render  a  specific  and  constructive 
service  along  the  same  basic  and  important 
lines   of   productive   enterprise. 

Mr.  Gordon  was  born  on  the  ancestral  farm 
estate  in  Peoria  County,  Illinois,  June  3,  1901, 
a  son  of  Charles  Gordon,  likewise  a  native 
of  that  county,  and  a  grandson  of  Austin 
Gordon,  who  was  born  in  Surrey  County, 
North  Carolina,  a  representative  of  a  sterling 
Scotch  family  that  was  founded  in  America 
in  the  Colonial  period  of  our  national  history. 
Austin  Gordon  was  reared  and  educated  in 
North  Carolina  and  his  was  the  true  pioneer 
spirit  and  fortitude  when  he  set  forth  from 
that  state  to  make  his  way  with  wagon  and 
ox  team  to  Illinois,  where  he  made  settlement 
in  Peoria  County  in  1835.  He  was  a  man 
of  thought  and  action,  and  as  a  pioneer  he 
purchased  in  that  county  a  tract  of  govern- 
ment land,  at  the  rate  of  $1.25  an  acre,  the 
original  patent  for  that  land  being  still  in 
possession  of  his  descendants.  He  was  vital 
and  resourceful  in  his  reclaiming  and  develop- 
ing his  land  into  a  productive  farm,  and  his 
progressiveness  was  shown  when  he  estab- 
lished thereon  the  first  silo  to  be  constructed 
in  Peoria  County,  where  likewise  he  was  the 
first  to  own  and  use  the  improved  device  for 
the  cutting  and  binding  of  grain.  He  served 
as  a  school  officer  of  his  district  and  was 
otherwise  prominent  and  influential  in  com- 
munity affairs,  both  he  and  his  wife  having 
been  venerable  and  honored  pioneer  citizens 
of  Peoria  County  at  the  time  of  their  death. 

Charles  Gordon,  was  reared  to  manhood 
on  the  old  home  farm  in  Peoria  County  and 
in  the  passing  years  he  never  abated  his  loyal 
allegiance  to  the  industries  of  agriculture  and 
stockraising,  of  which  latter  department  of 
farm  enterprise  he  was  long  a  successful 
and  influential  exponent  in  his  native  county. 
He  there  gave  twenty-two  years  of  service 
as  treasurer  of  Kickapoo  Township,  besides 
which  he  was  a  valued  member  of  the  local 
school  board  and  gave  seven  years  of  con- 
structive administration  as  secretary  of  the 
Peoria  County  Farm  Bureau.  His  wife,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Louisa  Koerner,  likewise 
was  born  and  reared  in  Peoria  County,  and 
of  their  four  children  the  subject  of  this 
review  was  the  oldest  in  order  of  birth. 


Harold  Henry  Gordon  received  the  advan- 
tages of  the  public  schools  in  the  City  of 
Peoria  and  after  he  was  there  graduated  in 
the  Bradley  Polytechnic  High  School  he  ent- 
ered the  University  of  Illinois,  in  which  he 
was  graduated  as  a  member  of  the  class  of 
1923  and  from  which  he  received  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Science.  He  passed  the  fol- 
lowing years  in  active  service  on  the  old 
family  homestead  farm,  through  the  medium 
of  which  he  had  gained  practical  experience 
of  valuable  order  in  the  period  of  his  boyhood 
and  early  youth,  and  in  1924  he  became  assist- 
ant farm  advisor  for  Christian  County.  In 
1929  he  was  appointed  state  farm  advisor 
for  Pulaski  and  Alexander  counties,  and  he 
has  since  continued  his  effective  service  in 
this  capacity,  with  ex-officio  standing  as  man- 
ager of  the  Pulaski  County  Farm  Bureau. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  State  Associ- 
ation of  Farm  Advisors,  is  found  loyally 
aligned  in  the  ranks  of  the  Republican  party, 
and  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fraternity 
and  with  the  Alpha  Zeta  honorary  college 
fraternity.  Mr.  Gordon  is  an  enthusiast  in 
his  present  line  of  professional  service  and 
translates  that  enthusiasm  into  practical  util- 
ity in  advancing  the  interests  of  agriculture 
and  other  phases  of  farm  industry  in  the 
area  under  his  jurisdiction  as  farm  advisor. 
His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Mildred 
Mitchell,  was  born  at  Decatur,  this  state,  and 
they  are  popular  figures  in  the  social  and 
cultural  circles  of  their  present  home  com- 
munity. They  have  one  daughter,  Charlotte 
Ruth,  born  January   10,   1932. 

Frederick  Kemper  Wheeler  is  fortified  by 
broad  and  varied  experience  in  the  lumber 
industry  and  business  and  in  the  City  of  Cairo, 
metropolis  and  county  seat  of  Alexander 
County,  he  now  holds  the  position  of  manager 
of  the  Illinois  Lumber  Yards,  one  of  the  large 
and  important  industrial  concerns  of  Southern 
Illinois. 

Mr.  Wheeler  was  born  at  Fulton,  Callaway 
County,  Missouri,  August  1,  1889,  and  is 
a  son  of  Louis  M.  and  Stella  (Kemper)  Whee- 
ler, his  father  having  long  maintained  prece- 
dence as  one  of  the  leading  merchants  and 
honored  and  influential  citizens  of  Fulton. 
In  his  native  city  Fred  K.  Wheeler  attended 
the  high  school  and  Westminster  College,  a 
well  ordered  institution  of  that  community. 
He  has  never  been  afflicted  with  any  false 
pride,  has  had  unqualified  respect  for  honest 
toil  and  endeavor,  and  he  initiated  his  prac- 
tical career  in  the  capacity  of  pick-and-shovel 
man  in  connection  with  the  construction  of 
a  logging  railroad  in  Arkansas.  He  was 
employed  six  months  in  the  logging  camp  of 
the  Fort  Smith  Lumber  Company,  at  Plain- 
view,  Arkansas,  and  during  the  ensuing  six 
months  he  was  employed  in  the  saw  mill  of 
the  company.     Thus  he  acquired  basic  knowl- 


ILLINOIS 


219 


edge  of  the  productive  details  of  the  lumber 
industry,  with  which  he  has  continued  to  be 
identified  during  virtually  his  entire  active 
career  thus  far.  His  experience  was  advanced 
by  his  work  in  planing  mill  operated  by  the 
company,  and  he  was  next  assigned  to  duty 
in  its  lumber  yards  in  Kansas  City,  Missouri, 
where  operations  were  conducted  under  the 
original  title  of  the  subsidiary  organization, 
the  Badger  Lumber  Company.  There  he  con- 
tinued his  service  as  yard  man  during  a  period 
of  three  years,  and  he  was  then  advanced  to 
the  position  of  bookkeeper  in  the  local  office 
of  the  company.  In  1915  he  resigned  his 
position  and  came  to  Cairo,  Illinois,  where 
he  became  assistant  manager  for  the  Kelly 
Brothers  Lumber  Company.  This  post  he 
retained  until  1917,  when  he  went  to  New 
Orleans,  Louisiana,  and  became  assistant  in 
the  purchasing  department  of  the  Krauss 
Brothers  Lumber  Company,  a  leading  whole- 
sale concern.  During  the  last  six  months  of 
his  alliance  with  this  company  he  represented 
its  interests  in  the  capacity  of  traveling  sales- 
man, and  he  returned  to  Cairo  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  year  1919.  Here,  on  the  1st  of 
January,  1920,  he  was  made  yard  foreman 
of  the  Illinois  Lumber  Yards,  in  1922  he 
became  local  sales  manager,  in  1924  was 
advanced  to  the  position  of  assistant  manager, 
and  since  1926  he  has  been  the  general  man- 
ager of  the  company's  business  in  this  city. 
The  local  plant  of  this  corporation  utilizes 
forty  acres  of  land,  here  is  retained  an  aver- 
age force  of  200  employes,  and  from  the  plant, 
with  the  best  of  transportation  facilities  pro- 
vided through  private  railroad  switch  lines, 
products  are  shipped  to  all  parts  of  the  United 
States,  the  while  Mississippi  River  shipments 
from  this  port  add  to  the  company's  facility 
in  handling  its  substantial  export  trade.  The 
concern  ships  an  average  of  3,000  carloads 
annually. 

Mr.  Wheeler  has  made  his  influence  felt 
not  only  in  connection  with  the  industrial 
and  commercial  life  of  Cairo  but  also  in  his 
marked  communal  loyalty  and  progressive- 
ness.  He  has  given  characteristically  effective 
service  as  a  member  of  the  Cairo  Board  of 
Education,  as  a  member  of  the  board  of 
trustees  of  the  Cairo  Public  Library,  and  as 
commissioner  of  the  Cairo  Drainage  District. 
He  is  an  influential  member  of  the  local 
Rotary  Club  and  the  Association  of  Com- 
merce, and  of  the  former  he  was  vice  presi- 
dent in  1928.  His  political  allegiance  is  given 
to  the  Democratic  party,  he  is  affiliated  with 
the  Benevolent  &  Protective  Order  of  Elks 
and  the  lumbermen's  fraternity  known  as  the 
Concatenated  Order  of  Hoo  Hoo,  and  he  and 
his  wife  are  communicants  of  the  Christian 
Church.  He  was  instant  and  vital  in  his 
support  of  the  various  patriotic  activities  of 
his  community  in  the  World  war  period,  and 
gave  valued  assistance  in  furthering  the  drives 


for  sale  of  government  war  bonds,  promotion 
of  Red  Cross  service,  etc.  His  wife,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Madge  Zimmerman,  was 
born  at  Centralia,  Illinois,  and  she  is  the 
gracious  and  popular  social  and  domestic 
chatelaine  of  their  pleasant  home  in  Cairo. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wheeler  have  one  child,  Ade- 
laide, who  is,  in  1932,  a  student  in  the  Cairo 
public  schools.  The  family  home  is  main- 
tained  at   825   Twenty-sixth    Street. 

John  Adkins,  grain  dealer,  land  owner  and 
farmer  in  Morgan  County,  whose  home  is  at 
Prentice,  where  he  operates  a  grain  elevator, 
represents  one  of  the  pioneer  families  of  Cass 
County,  Illinois. 

He  is  a  descendant  in  the  seventh  genera- 
tion of  Josiah  Adkins,  a  Colonial  settler  in 
Connecticut.  Thomas  Adkins,  son  of  Josiah, 
was  born  in  1673  and  moved  to  Virginia, 
where  he  married  a  Miss  Andrews.  The  Revo- 
lutionary ancestor  of  Mr.  Adkins  was  Thomas 
Adkins,  who  joined  the  Colonial  army  in  Vir- 
ginia. After  the  war  he  settled  in  North 
Carolina,  and  from  there  a  branch  of  the 
family  moved  over  the  mountains  into  Ten- 
nessee. A  son  of  Thomas  was  Richard  Ad- 
kins. Mr.  Adkins'  grandparents  were  Joshua 
and  Elizabeth  (Smith)  Adkins.  Joshua  Ad- 
kins was  born  at  Cold  Creek,  near  Knoxville, 
Tennessee.  He  left  Tennessee  when  a  young 
man  and  walked  across  the  country  to  Illinois, 
arriving  in  Cass  County  about  1838.  He  had 
no  capital,  and  by  working  as  a  farm  hand 
accumulated  enough  to  buy  a  small  tract  of 
land.  He  was  a  Union  man  in  sentiment,  and 
was  several  times  threatened  by  the  southern 
sympathizers  in  his  locality.  He  came  to 
know  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  was  one  of  his 
loyal  adherents.  His  two  children  were:  Eliza- 
beth, who  married  Mortimer  Fourteney,  who 
had  been  a  student  in  West  Point  Military 
Academy  and  later  taught  school  in  Morgan 
County;  and  John  Richard. 

John  Richard  Adkins,  father  of  John  Ad- 
kins of  Prentice,  was  born  in  Cass  County, 
July  9,  1839,  attended  school  there  and  for 
many  years  lived  at  Prentice,  where  he  died, 
October  7,  1910.  He  married  Ella  M.  Stock- 
ton, daughter  of  David  Stockton,  who  came 
from  Kentucky,  but  originally  the  family  had 
settled  in  New  Jersey  and  Virginia  in  Colonial 
times.  She  is  still  living,  at  the  age  of  ninety- 
one,  and  resides  at  Ashland.  They  had  five 
children:  Clara;  Walter,  also  a  farmer  in 
Morgan  County;  one  who  died  in  infancy; 
John;  and  Mary,  deceased,  who  was  the  wife 
of  Elmer  Johnson.     She  died  December  8,  1920. 

John  Adkins  was  born  August  4,  1872,  in 
Cass  County.  He  began  going  to  the  country 
schools  when  six  years  of  age,  later  was 
graduated  from  the  Gem  City  Business  Col- 
lege at  Quincy,  and  then  attended  Chillicothe 
Normal  School  at  Chillicothe,  Missouri.  He 
did   farm  work   all   during   his   school   period. 


220 


ILLINOIS 


His  chief  life  work  has  been  in  the  grain 
business  and  he  has  bought  and  sold  grain 
raised  over  a  wide  extent  of  territory  around 
Prentice.  In  1900  the  firm  of  Adkins  Brothers, 
dealers  in  grain  and  farm  implements,  was 
established.  In  addition  to  his  grain  business 
he  operates  2,800  acres  of  land  owned  by  him- 
self and  his  wife.  These  farms  are  located  in 
Morgan,  Cass  and  Mason  counties  and  are 
devoted  to  general  farming  and  live  stock 
raising. 

Mr.  Adkins  married  Maude  Pearl  Adkins, 
daughter  of  Thomas  and  Sarah  (Hall)  Ad- 
kins, of  another  branch  of  the  Adkins  family 
in  Illinois.  They  have  four  children:  Vera 
Ella  is  the  wife  of  Walter  Johnson  and  has 
two  children,  Randall  and  Elliott;  John  T.  is 
associated  with  his  father  in  farming  opera- 
tions and  he  is  a  graduate  of  the  Illinois 
College  at  Jacksonville;  Walter  A.  married 
Gladys  James  and  has  a  son,  James;  and 
Oakley  Randall,  identified  with  farming  and 
stock  raising  in  Mason  County,  married 
Dorothy  Cooper  and  has  a  son,  Oakley,  Jr. 

Mr.  Adkins  has  been  president  of  the  Pren- 
tice High  School  Board.  The  Adkins  family 
were  early  Whigs  and  helped  organize  the 
Republican  party,  of  which  the  subsequent 
members  have  been  loyal  adherents.  The 
family  are  members  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Mr.  Adkins  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity. 

Walter  Adkins,  of  Ashland,  Cass  County, 
is  a  member  of  one  of  the  oldest  and  best 
known  families  in  this  section  of  Illinois.  Mr. 
Adkins  represents  a  staunch  American  an- 
cestry running  back  to  the  early  Colonial  days. 
His  active  life  has  been  spent  as  a  successful 
and  prosperous  farmer. 

Mr.  Adkins  was  born  in  Cass  County, 
February  17,  1870,  son  of  John  and  Ella 
(Stockton)  Adkins,  and  a  grandson  of  Joshua 
Adkins,  who  came  to  Cass  County  from  Ten- 
nessee about  1838.  He  was  a  pioneer,  a  man 
who  improved  a  tract  of  land  from  the  wilder- 
ness, came  to  know  Abraham'  Lincoln  while 
the  latter  was  journeying  about  Southern  Illi- 
nois, and  he  was  a  staunch  upholder  of  Lin- 
coln in  the  Civil  war. 

Walter  Adkins  was  one  of  the  five  children 
of  his  parents.  He  is  a  brother  of  Mr.  John 
Adkins  of  Prentice.  The  other  three  children 
are:  Clara,  who  never  married,  of  Ashland; 
one  who  died  in  infancy;  and  Mary  A.,  who 
married  Elmer  E.  Johnson,  and  she  died  De- 
cember 8,  1920. 

Walter  Adkins  was  educated  in  district 
schools  and  attended  the  Gem  City  Business 
College  at  Quincy.  Since  leaving  school  he 
has  been  engaged  in  farming,  and  he  operates 
a  large  place  of  about  600  acres,  devoted  to 
general  farming  and  raising  of  high  grade 
stock.     He  is  also  interested,  associated  with 


his  brother  John  Adkins,  in  the  grain  elevator 
and  implement  business  at  Prentice. 

He  married,  June  24,  1914,  Miss  Bertha  M. 
Allen,  daughter  of  David  F.  and  Flora  (Wil- 
liams) Allen.  Her  grandparents,  Francis  and 
Sarah  (Burlend)  Allen,  came  from  Ireland 
and  were  early  settlers  in  Pike  County,  Illi- 
nois. Mrs.  Adkins'  mother,  Flora  Williams, 
was  a  daughter  of  David  A.  and  Emily  (Hay- 
den)  Williams,  and  a  niece  of  the  late  William 
E.  Williams,  of  Pittsfield,  at  one  time  a  con- 
gressman from  the  Sixteenth  District  of  Illi- 
nois and  later  congressman  at  large.  Another 
member  of  this  family  is  A.  Clay  Williams,  of 
Pittsfield,  Illinois,  judge  of  the  Circuit  Court 
and  a  candidate  for  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Illinois. 

The  father  of  Mrs.  Adkins  was  born  near 
Detroit  in  Pike  County,  and  served  as  sheriff 
of  that  county,  being  elected  on  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket.  He  was  the  father  of  five  chil- 
dren: Nina;  Mrs.  Adkins;  Stanley;  Frances, 
wife  of  C.  B.  Stutzman;  and  Frank  C.  Frank 
was  the  son  of  a  second  marriage,  his  mother 
being  Jennie  Croft. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Adkins  have  six  children: 
Mary  E.,  born  February  29,  1916,  Ruth  H., 
born  March  20,  1917,  Walter  A.,  born  April  3, 
1918',  John  D.,  born  August  30,  1920,  Lillian 
E.,  born  November  3,  1924,  and  died  February 
24,  1927,  and  Ella  M.,  born  March  6,  1931, 
and  died  in  infancy. 

Mr.  Adkins  is  a  past  master  of  the  A.  F. 
and  A.  M.  lodge  of  Ashland,  a  member  of  the 
Knights  Templar  at  Jacksonville,  and  Con- 
sistory and  Shrine  of  Springfield,  is  a  Re- 
publican in  politics  and  has  shown  a  keen 
interest  in  all  community  affairs.  His  home 
is  two  miles  west  of  Ashland. 

Mrs.  Adkins  is  active  in  the  social  affairs 
of  her  community  and  served  as  president  of 
the  Woman's  Club  of  Ashland  three  years. 
She  is  a  graduate  of  the  Pittsfield  High 
School  and  the  Illinois  State  Normal  Univer- 
sity at  Normal,  Illinois,  and  taught  school 
seven  years  before  her  marriage. 

William  S.  Henry  has  had  exceptionally 
broad  and  varied  experience  in  connection  with 
manufacturing  industry,  which  he  has  rep- 
resented in  executive  capacity  in  many  differ- 
ent states  of  the  Union,  and  at  the  present 
time  he  is  manager  of  the  plant  and  business 
of  the  J.  D.  Hollingshead  Company,  at  Thebes, 
Alexander  County,  this  being  a  Chicago  con- 
cern that  here  owns  and  operates  a  well 
equipped  plant  devoted  to  cooperage  manu- 
facturing. 

Mr.  Henry  was  born  in  the  City  of  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky,  March  28,  1864,  and  is  a  son 
of  Frank  Henry,  Jr.,  who  was  born  in  Ger- 
many, a  son  of  Frank  Henry,  Sr.,  who  came 
with  his  family  from  Germany  and  estab- 
lished   the    home    in    Louisville,    Kentucky,    in 


ILLINOIS 


221 


1837,  when  his  son  Frank  was  six  years  of 
age.  In  the  material  conditions  of  his  nativ- 
ity William  S.  Henry  appeared  on  the  stage 
of  life  under  somewhat  unusual  surroundings, 
as  his  birth  occurred  on  an  Ohio  River  steam- 
boat that  was  docked  at  Louisville  and  which 
was  held  in  commission  by  his  father  in  the 
supplying  of  wood  for  government  purposes 
during  the  Civil  war,  he  having  thus  given 
valuable  service  in  behalf  of  the  Union  cause. 
Frank  Henry,  Jr.,  was  reared  and  educated 
in  Louisville,  and  in  that  city  he  was  engaged 
in  the  manufacturing  of  barrels  during  a 
period  of  more  than  twenty  years.  In  the 
Civil  war  period  his  chief  service  was  in 
supplying  wood  for  the  engines  of  Ohio  River 
steamboats  that  were  in  commission  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Federal  Government.  His 
wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Louisa  Coker, 
was  born  in  Kentucky,  and  both  were  resi- 
dents of  Louisville,  that  state,  at  the  time 
of   their   death. 

The  youthful  education  of  William  S.  Henry 
was  obtained  in  the  schools  of  Louisville, 
but  was  much  limited  by  the  conditions  of 
time  and  place,  he  having  been  one  of  a  fam- 
ily of  nine  children  and  having  been  a  mere 
boy  when  he  began  to  depend  largely  on  his 
own  resources.  At  the  age  of  eleven  years 
he  initiated  service  in  the  selling  of  wood 
in  Louisville,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years 
he  left  home  to  make  his  own  way  in  the 
world.  For  a  time  he  was  driver  of  a  bakery 
wagon,  thereafter  was  clerk  in  the  office  of 
a  coal  concern,  by  which  he  was  advanced 
to  the  position  of  coal  weigher,  and  finally 
he  became  superintendent  of  a  coal  mine  at 
Central  City,  Kentucky,  when  he  was  but 
sixteen  years  of  age.  He  next  became  super- 
intendent of  the  factory  of  the  Henry  Stave 
Company  at  McNary  Station,  Kentucky,  this 
business  having  been  owned  by  his  father  and 
having  been  devoted  to  the  manufacturing  of 
barrel  staves.  About  one  year  later  Mr.  Henry 
went  to  Carthage,  Missouri,  and  became  a 
telegraph  operator  for  the  St.  Louis-San 
Francisco  Railroad.  He  thereafter  had  his 
quota  of  experience  on  a  cattle  ranch  in  Texas, 
and  he  then  returned  to  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
and  engaged  in  the  handling  of  second-hand 
barrels.  During  the  period  of  1883-1907  he 
was  there  established  in  the  purveying  of 
new  barrels  and  the  operation  of  a  stave  and 
heading  factory.  After  having  been  retired 
from  active  business  two  years  he  engaged 
in  work  at  the  carpenter  trade  in  the  City 
of  Chicago,  where  he  remained  until  1914, 
in  January  of  which  year  he  became  inspector 
in  the  cooperage  shop  of  the  J.  D.  Hollings- 
head  Company,  of  Chicago,  at  Thebes,  Illinois. 
In  the  following  year  he  here  had  supervision 
of  erecting  the  company's  barrel  factory,  and 
was  made  manager  of  the  plant.  By  the 
same  corporation  he  was  sent  to  Louisville, 
Kentucky,     in     1917,     with     commission    and 


authority  there  to  purchase  the  plant  and 
business  of  the  Drydell  Cooperage  Company. 
He  had  charge  of  the  operation  of  this  plant 
until  1920,  and  was  then  made  superintendent 
of  the  plant  of  the  Virginia  Barrel  Company 
in  Baltimore,  Maryland,  another  of  the  sub- 
sidiaries of  the  Hollingshead  corporation.  In 
1922  Mr.  Henry  was  transferred  to  Mobile, 
Alabama,  where  he  had  charge  of  the  com- 
pany's heading  plant  until  1923,  when  it  was 
destroyed  by  fire.  He  thereafter  served  as 
a  traveling  salesman  for  the  company  until 
1925,  when  he  was  commissioned  by  the  con- 
cern to  buy  a  large  warehouse  in  Cairo,  Illi- 
nois, he  having  continued  in  charge  of  this 
warehouse  until  1927,  since  which  year  he 
has  retained  the  management  of  the  company's 
important  manufacturing  plant  at  Thebes,  a 
town  that  is  a  vital  industrial  center  in  Alex- 
ander County.  Mr.  Henry  is  a  Democrat  in 
politics  and  as  a  citizen  he  has  ever  been  loyal 
and  public-spirited.  While  he  has  had  no 
ambition  for  public  office,  his  civic  fealty  was 
shown  in  his  effective  administration  as  police 
magistrate  in  Thebes.  He  was  a  stanch  sup- 
porter of  the  various  patriotic  movements 
and  services  in  his  community  during  the 
World  war  period,  and  his  only  son  was  in 
service  in  that  war. 

The  first  marriage  of  Mr.  Henry  was  with 
Miss  Mary  H.  Roberts,  and  the  one  child  of 
this  union  is  Frank  R.,  who  is  now  a  success- 
ful business  man  in  Louisville,  Kentucky. 
Frank  R.  Henry  gained  in  his  World  war 
service  the  rank  of  sergeant  in  the  United 
States  Army  and  his  principal  service  was 
in  the  capacity  of  instructor  of  troops  in 
San  Francisco,  California.  He  married  Miss 
Tillie  Lehmenkuhler,  of  Louisville,  and  they 
have  five  children:  Mary,  Evelyn,  Martha, 
Barbara  and  Frank,  the  only  son  being  of  the 
fourth  generation  of  the  Henry  family  to 
bear  the  personal  or  Christian  name  of  Frank. 

For  his  second  wife  William  S.  Henry  wed- 
ded Miss  Adeline  Thompson,  who  was  born 
in  the  State  of  Indiana,  and  she  is  the  popu- 
lar chatelaine  of  their  pleasant  home  at 
Thebes. 

Raymond  Frank  Childers,  superintendent 
of  schools  at  Alto  Pass,  Union  County,  has 
been  the  head  of  the  educational  system  in 
that  community  for  the  past  ten  years. 

Mr.  Childers  was  born  in  Williamson 
County,  Illinois,  September  5,  1894.  His 
father,  Frank  Childers,  was  a  native  of  Ten- 
nessee, came  to  Illinois  in  1862  and  was  both 
a  farmer  and  a  teacher.  The  mother  of  Su- 
perintendent Childers  was  Mary  E.  Rushing. 
He  is  one  of  her  three  children. 

His  early  education  was  acquired  in  the 
grade  schools  of  Williamson  County.  He  com- 
pleted his  high  school  course  at  Carbondale, 
and  in  1928  was  graduated  Bachelor  of  Educa- 
tion  at   the    Southern   Illinois    Teachers    Col- 


222 


ILLINOIS 


lege  at  Carbondale.  He  has  since  carried  on 
advanced  studies  toward  the  Master  of  Arts 
degree  at  the  University  of  Illinois,  and  will 
receive  that  degree  in  1932. 

In  the  meantime  he  has  had  twenty  years 
of  teaching  experience.  In  1913  he  took  charge 
of  the  grade  school  at  Ogden,  Illinois.  He 
was  principal  of  the  school  at  Energy,  Illi- 
nois, in  1919,  and  in  1922  came  to  Alto  Pass 
as  principal  of  both  the  high  and  grade 
school. 

At  the  present  time  the  Alto  Pass  Com- 
munity High  School  occupies  an  attractive 
modern  building  which  was  constructed  in 
1929.  The  high  school  has  a  full  four-year 
curriculum  and  there  are  four  instructors  and 
forty-nine  pupils  enrolled  in  the  high  school 
courses.  The  grade  school  also  has  four  in- 
structors with  an  enrollment  of  eighty-seven 
pupils. 

Mr.  Childers  married  Mildred  E.  Matthews, 
who  was  born  at  Peoria,  Illinois.  Mr.  Childers 
is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  State  Teachers 
Association,  is  a  Kappa  Phi  Kappa,  member 
of  Alto  Pass  Lodge  No.  840  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity. 

John  Harold  Wood  of  Anna  is  proprietor 
of  an  old  established  business  and  industry 
of  that  Southern  Illinois  city,  long  known  as 
the  J.  M.  Wood  Company.  The  Wood  family 
were  pioneers  in  Illinois,  and  members  of  the 
family  have  always  been  substantial  business 
men  and  high  class  citizens. 

The  founder  of  the  family  was  James  M. 
Wood,  who  came  to  Illinois  in  early  days. 
He  was  born  in  Johnson  County,  Illinois,  and 
married  Alice  J.  Maxfield  of  this  state.  In 
1885  he  established  the  J.  M.  Wood  Company, 
manufacturers  of  fruit  and  vegetable  pack- 
ages. He  was  for  twelve  years  from  the  time 
of  its  organization  active  in  the  Anna  Loan 
&  Improvement  Company  and  at  one  time  was 
mayor  of  his  city.  He  died  in  1925,  leaving 
eight  children. 

One  of  these,  John  H.  Wood,  was  born 
December  16,  1898,  at  Anna:  He  attended 
the  public  schools  of  Anna  and  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  began  his  career  of  work,  starting  in 
his  father's  factory.  In  1920  he  acquired  a 
quarter  interest  in  the  business,  and  after- 
wards acquired  other  interests  until  in  1925 
he  became  sole  owner.  For  over  ten  years  he 
has  had  the  general  management  of  the 
business. 

This  industry  was  started  as  a  cooperage 
plant  for  the  manufacture  of  barrels.  Later 
the  facilities  were  turned  to  the  making  of 
baskets  and  boxes  for  fruits  and  vegetables. 
In  March,  1929,  Mr.  Wood  added  a  depart- 
ment for  the  handling  of  fertilizers  and  spray 
materials.  Then  in  August,  1930,  he  put  in 
another  new  department,  since  which  date  he 
has  been  a  wholesale  dealer  in  cream,  poul- 
try  and   eggs.      His   business   is   now   an   im- 


portant supply  and  market  center  for  the 
service  of  the  fruit,  vegetable,  poultry  and 
dairy  section  around  Anna. 

Mr.  Wood  married  Miss  Tillie  Hammack,  a 
native  of  Arkansas.  They  have  a  daughter, 
Helen  May,  born  March  15th,  1925.  Mr.  Wood 
is  a  member  of  the  Anna  Chamber  of 
Commerce. 


Louis  Watson  Brown,  county  superintend- 
ent of  schools  for  Union  County,  is  a  veteran 
in  the  ranks  of  Southern  Illinois  educators, 
and  the  service  he  has  rendered  as  teacher  has 
caused  him  often  to  be  referred  to  as  one 
of  Union  County's  most  useful  citizens. 

He  was  born  in  Union  County  March  24, 
1877,  member  of  a  pioneer  family  in  this 
section  of  the  state.  His  father  was  M.  V. 
Brown,  who  was  also  born  in  Union  County, 
where  he  spent  his  active  life  as  a  farmer. 
He  was  also  interested  in  education  and  served 
on  the  school  board  of  his  local  district.  The 
mother  of  the  county  superintendent  was  Mary 
Grear  Brown,  who  was  born  in  Union  County. 

Mr.  Brown  was  one  of  a  family  of  ten 
children.  With  his  brothers  and  sisters  he 
attended  a  grade  school  in  Union  County,  and 
later  paid  his  way  through  the  Southern  Illi- 
nois' Normal  College  at  Carbondale.  As  a 
teacher  he  taught  in  Union  County  for  twenty 
years  and  nine  years  in  Jackson  County.  In 
1926  he  was  elected  county  superintendent  of 
schools,  and  began  his  term  in  that  office  in 
August,  1927.     His  term  expires  in  July,  1931. 

Mr.  Brown  married  Miss  Delia  Gearhart, 
who  was  born  in  Union  County.  Mr.  Brown 
had  the  misfortune  to  lose  his  wife  and  their 
only  child,  Margaret,  in  the  destructive  tor- 
nado of  1925.  Mr.  Brown  is  a  member  of  the 
Illinois  State  Teachers  Association  and  in 
1930  and  in  1931  was  a  delegate  to  the  con- 
vention of  the  National  Education  Associa- 
tion. He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity, is  a  Rotarian,  a  Democrat  and  a  member 
of  the  Baptist  Church. 

Richard  Pearson  is  superintendent  of  the 
Indiana  Tie  Company  at  Joppa,  and  a  citizen 
and  business  man  widely  and  favorably 
known  throughout  Southern  Illinois  and  South- 
ern Indiana. 

Mr.  Pearson  was  born  at  Alton,  Indiana, 
March  25,  1874.  His  father,  Richard  Pearson, 
was  a  native  of  Crawford  County,  Indiana, 
and  spent  his  active  life  as  a  farmer  and 
timber  man.  He  married  Dandaline  Bird,  who 
was  also  born  in  Crawford  County,  Indiana. 

Richard  Pearson  attended  grade  schools  in 
Indiana  and  at  the  age  of  nineteen  became 
associated  with  his  father  in  the  timber  busi- 
ness. Thus  he  has  had  a  practical  experience 
in  that  line  of  work  covering  a  period  of  al- 
most forty  years.  After  three  years  with  his 
father   he   made   other   connections   and   asso- 


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ILLINOIS 


223 


ciations,  and  has  in  one  capacity  or  another 
worked  for  nearly  all  the  prominent  organiza- 
tions in  the  Ohio  River  Valley,  specializing 
in  the  getting  out  and  preparation  of  rail- 
road ties.  He  was  manager  for  the  Joyce 
Watkins  Tie  Company  at  Evansville,  Indiana, 
and  in  1917  was  sent  to  Joppa,  Illinois,  to 
take  charge  of  the  local  plant  of  the  Indiana 
Tie  Company,  where  for  the  past  fifteen  years 
he  has  been  superintendent.  The  Joppa  plant 
covers  about  fifteen  acres,  and  among  other 
facilities  there  are  special  treatment  plants 
for  creosoting  the  ties  and  also  treating  them 
with  chloride  of  zinc.  The  Joppa  plant  em- 
ploys about  seventy-five  persons.  Other  equip- 
ment includes  two  steamboats  and  twenty-five 
barges.  The  ties  manufactured  and  processed 
at  Joppa  are  shipped  all  over  the  United 
States. 

Mr.  Pearson  married  Mary  McCann,  a  na- 
tive of  Perry  County,  Indiana.  They  have 
one  son,  James  Orville,  who  married  Alice 
Luttrell. 

Wilber  R.  Soverhill.  In  the  great  domain 
of  Illinois  agriculture  Wilber  R.  Soverhill  is 
distinguished  primarily  as  a  horticulturist, 
though  he  is  also  a  successful  dairy  and  grain 
farmer.  Mr.  Soverhill  is  proprietor  of  the 
Soverhill  Orchard  Farm,  located  about  two 
miles  south  of  Tiskilwa,  in  Bureau  County. 
Recently  the  Illinois  Farmer  sent  a  staff  cor- 
respondent to  visit  the  Soverhill  orchards  and 
secure  material  for  a  description  of  the  suc- 
cessful methods  of  culture,  spraying,  harvest- 
ing and  marketing  the  crop,  and  the  article 
published  contained  some  general  facts  de- 
scriptive of  the  farm  which  may  properly  be 
preserved  in  history. 

"Dairying  and  apple  growing  make  a  com- 
bination that  lasts  on  the  Soverhill  farm  in 
Bureau  County,  Illinois.  Roadside  signs  point 
the  way  to  Soverhill  Orchards  in  apple  time, 
and  many  are  the  cars  and  trucks  driven  that 
way  for  a  supply  of  flavory  Illinois  grown 
apples.  The  dairy  herd  provides  all-the-year 
employment,  furnishes  an  outlet  for  the  grain 
and  hay  of  the  portion  of  the  farm  not  planted 
to  trees,  gives  a  regular  monthly  cash  income 
and — by  no  means  least  important — manufac- 
tures a  tonnage  of  manure  which  pays  large 
returns  in  keeping  the  orchard  land  in  a  fine 
state  of  fertility  and  well  supplied  with 
humus.  Witness  the  continuing  productivity 
of  the  'old'  orchard,  set  forty-two  years  ago 
by  the  father  of  the  present  owner,  W.  R. 
Soverhill. 

"There  are  two  main  orchards — the  original 
planting  above  mentioned  and  another  large 
tract  planted  twenty-two  years  ago,  and  now 
in  its  prime.  'We  pack  and  sell  forty-seven 
varieties  of  apples,'  states  the  occasional  ad- 
vertising of  Soverhill  Orchards.  The  old 
planting  included  a  great  number  of  varieties, 
but  largely  such  standard  varieties  as  Mcin- 


tosh, Wealthy,  Greening,  Salome,  Jonathan, 
Grimes  and  others. 

"Marketing  the  apple  crop  has  been  reduced 
to  comparatively  simple  terms  by  the  advent 
of  good  roads  and  motor  traffic.  Freight  and 
express  shipment  of  apples  have  practically 
disappeared.  Every  bushel  the  orchards  pro- 
duce is  sold  right  at  the  orchard.  Dealers 
phone  from  Peoria,  engage  a  truckload  and 
send  their  trucks  for  them.  In  smaller  lots, 
a  number  of  baskets  may  be  sent  to  the  same 
market  any  day  by  the  milk  truck  which 
makes  daily  trips.  Many  people  drive  there 
in  their  own  cars  for  a  bushel  or  two  for 
summer  use  at  home  or  a  large  supply  of 
assorted  varieties  to  put  in  the  cellar  for 
winter  consumption.  In  case  of  extra  large 
production  and  slowing  up  of  demand,  a  little 
advertising  locally  brings  the  people  to  the 
orchard  and  moves  the  crop." 

The  founder  of  the  Soverhill  Farm  was  the 
late  Samuel  G.  Soverhill,  who  died  March  13, 
1915.  He  was  born  September  10,  1835,  at 
Newark,  Wayne  County,  New  York,  of  Welsh 
ancestry.  He  moved  to  Illinois  about  1869, 
and  his  genius  as  a  horticulturist  and  farmer 
left  important  results,  not  only  in  his  own 
farm,  but  in  the  influence  he  spread  over  the 
community.  It  was  he  who  made  Soverhill 
apples  famous  throughout  this  rich  and  pros- 
perous section  of  Northern  Illinois.  He  was 
in  many  ways  a  useful  citizen,  served  on  the 
school  board  and  on  the  board  of  county 
supervisors.  Samuel  G.  Soverhill  married 
Laura  Couch,  who  was  born  in  Tiskilwa,  Illi- 
nois, her  parents  having  come  from  New  Eng- 
land to  Illinois  at  an  early  day.  She  died  in 
July,  1909. 

The  present  owner  of  the  Soverhill  farm 
and  orchards  is  Wilber  R.  Soverhill,  who  was 
born  in  Indian  Township,  Bureau  County,  in 
1880.  Practically  all  his  life  has  been  lived 
on  this  farm.  He  was  graduated  from  the 
local  high  school,  and  his  father  then  gave 
him  the  opportunity  to  specialize  in  horticul- 
ture and  for  two  years  he  attended  the  Illinois 
State  University.  On  returning  from  college 
he  was  well  equipped  both  by  information  and 
by  training  to  take  expert  care  and  manage- 
ment of  the  fruit  orchards  that  had  been 
partly  developed  by  his  father.  As  noted 
above,  he  has  greatly  enlarged  it  and  has 
throughout  introduced  modern  methods  of 
management.  The  orchard  comprises  about 
forty  acres,  and  in  addition  he  has  dairy  farm 
with  thoroughbred  Holstein  cattle,  and  plants 
a  large  acreage  each  year  to  grain. 

Mr.  Soverhill  is  president  of  the  Bureau 
County  Farm  Bureau.  In  1928  and  1929  he 
had  the  well  merited  distinction  of  serving  as 
president  of  the  Illinois  State  Horticultural 
Society.  He  is  now  vice  president  of  the 
Northern  Illinois  Horticultural  Society.  Mr. 
Soverhill  is  a  director  of  the  Sixteenth  Con- 
gressional District  of  the  State  Farmers  In- 


224 


ILLINOIS 


stitute,  and  among  many  other  interests  is  a 
director  of  the  First  State  Bank  of  Tiskilwa. 
He  is  president  of  the  Local  and  Mutual  In- 
surance Company,  is  a  school  trustee  in  his 
home  district,  and  he  and  his  family  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Baptist  Church.  In  Masonry  he 
has  been  eminent  commander  of  the  Knights 
Templar  Commandery  No.  20  at  Princeton. 

Mr.  W.  R.  Soverhill  married  in  1909  Miss 
Clara  Stauffer,  of  Bureau  County,  daughter 
of  John  and  Amelia  Stauffer,  early  settlers 
of  Bureau  County.  Mr.  Stauffer  was  a  native 
of  Alsace-Lorraine,  coming  to  this  country 
with  his  parents  in  infancy.  Mrs.  Soverhill 
is  a  leader  in  the  County  Home  Bureau  and 
the  Domestic  Science  Clubs.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Soverhill  have  a  daughter,  Carol  L.,  a  gradu- 
ate in  1931  from  the  University  of  Michigan, 
with  the  B.  S.  degree,  and  is  now  taking  a 
three-year  hospital  course  at  the  same  uni- 
versity. 

Edred  Byron  Hall,  of  Chicago,  Superin- 
tendent of  Motive  Power  for  the  Chicago  and 
Northwestern  Railway,  is  a  native  of  Iowa. 
Mr.  Hall  has  been  with  the  Northwestern 
Company  almost  forty  years.  The  Chicago 
and  Northwestern  has  been  one  of  the  chief 
means  of  linking  together  the  destinies  of 
the  two  adjoining  corn  belt  states  of  Illinois 
and  Iowa.  The  Chicago  and  Northwestern 
is  always  proud  of  its  origin  as  the  Chicago 
and  Galena  Union,  the  first  railroad  to  be 
started  westward  from  Chicago  toward  the 
Mississippi  River.  While  it  was  not  the  first 
of  Chicago  lines  to  reach  the  Mississippi, 
it  was  the  first  to  build  across  the  State  of 
Iowa  to  the  Missouri  River,  in  the  dramatic 
race  made  by  several  competing  lines  to  reach 
Council  Bluffs  in  time  to  connect  with  the 
first  trans-continental  road,  the  Union  Pacific. 

Mr.  Hall  was  born  at  Parkersburg  in 
Northern  Iowa,  December  1,  1870,  a  son  of 
Riley  and  Jennie  (Shorter)  Hall.  As  soon 
as  his  public  school  education  was  completed 
he  began  in  1886,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  as 
a  machinist  apprentice  and  during  the  sub- 
sequent few  years  acquired  a  thorough  ground- 
work and  training  upon  which  was  built  his 
successful  career  as  a  mechanical  and  motive 
power   engineer. 

Mr.  Hall's  service  with  the  Chicago  and 
Northwestern  lines  dates  from  1892.  As  noted 
above,  he  started  as  a  mechanic,  became  a 
locomotive  fireman  until  1898;  was  locomotive 
engineer  from  1898  to  1907;  road  foreman 
of  engines  from  1907  to  1910;  and  master 
mechanic  from  1910  to  1914. 

In  1914  Mr.  Hall  was  promoted  to  assistant 
to  the  general  superintendent  of  motive  power, 
in  1917  was  made  assistant  superintendent 
of  the  operating  department,  a  position  he 
held  during  the  World  war  period.  He  was 
assistant  superintendent  of  motive  power, 
1919  to   1922,  and  in  the  latter  year  became 


superintendent  of  motive  power,  with  head- 
quarters in  Chicago.  In  1927  he  was  made 
General  Superintendent  of  Motive  Power  of 
the  entire  Chicago  &  Northwestern  System, 
which  includes  the  C.  St.  P.  M.  &  O.  Railway, 
known  as  the  Omaha  road. 

Mr.  Hall  resides  at  River  Forest  and  is 
well  known  and  esteemed  as  a  citizen  of  that 
attractive  western  suburb.  He  has  always 
interested  himself  in  civic  affairs,  is  a  fol- 
lower of  outdoor  sports  in  general,  his  chief 
recreation  being  hunting.  He  is  a  Repub- 
lican, a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
and  the  Masonic  fraternity.  Mr.  Hall  married 
July  28,  1898,  Isabelle  Mitchell,  of  Sioux  City, 
Iowa.  Their  two  children  are :  Wanda  Isabelle 
and   Edred,   Jr. 

Mr.  Hall  is  a  Knight  Templar  and  Scottish 
Rite  Mason  and  a  Shriner,  and  member  of 
the    Medinah    Country    Club. 

Mr.  Hall  is  widely  known  in  railroad  circles 
as  the  designer  of  a  new  type  of  locomotive, 
placed  in  service  on  the  Northwestern  in  1930, 
which  ranks  among  the  largest  and  most  effi- 
cient units  of  motive  power  now  used  in 
railroad    operation. 

Milburn  Judson  White,  who  is  a  prom- 
inent member  of  the  bar  of  Wabash  County 
and  who  is  now  presiding  on  the  bench  of  the 
County  Court,  was  born  at  Beaucoup,  Wash- 
ington County,  Illinois,  March  24,  1873,  the 
second  in  order  of  birth  and  the  oldest  son  in 
a  family  of  three  sons  and  one  daughter. 
The  Judge  is  a  son  of  Dr.  Samuel  Newton 
White  and  Mary  (Sitherwood)  White,  the 
former  of  whom  was  born  in  Washington 
County,  this  state,  and  the  latter  at  Mount 
Pleasant,  Fayette  County,  Pennsylvania,  their 
marriage  having  been  solemnized  in  Washing- 
ton County,  Illinois,  where  both  passed  the 
remainder  of  their  lives.  Doctor  White  was 
reared  in  Washington  County  and  there  re- 
ceived the  advantages  of  the  common  schools 
of  the  period,  and  attended  McKendree  Col- 
lege of  St.  Clair  County,  Illinois.  In  prep- 
aration for  the  profession  of  his  choice  he 
completed  a  course  in  the  Ohio  Medical  Col- 
lege in  the  City  of  Cincinnati,  in  which  he 
was  graduated  as  a  member  of  the  class  of 
1876.  After  receiving  his  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Medicine  he  returned  to  Washington 
County  and  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  but  his  earnest  and  effective  activ- 
ities as  a  physician  and  surgeon  were  not  long 
continued,  for  his  death  occurred  in  1879. 
At  Okawville,  that  county,  his  widow  reared 
her  four  children  with  all  of  maternal  solici- 
tude and  self-abnegation,  and  she  was  sixty- 
two  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  her  death 
in  1908. 

Judge  Milburn  J.  White  is  indebted  to  the 
public  schools  of  his  native  county  for  his 
early  education,  and  thereafter  he  continued 
his   studies   in    McKendree    College,    in   which 


ILLINOIS 


225 


staunch  Illinois  institution  he  was  a  member 
of  the  class  of  1895.  He  depended  largely 
on  his  own  resources  in  paying  expenses  while 
attending  college,  and  in  evidence  of  his  am- 
bition and  self-reliance  and  much  to  his  credit 
it  may  be  stated  that  he  worked  for  his 
board  and  clothing  much  of  the  time  he  was 
in  college.  After  leaving  college  he  gave 
three  years  of  effective  service  as  principal  in 
the  public  schools  at  Enfield,  White  County, 
and  there,  on  the  18th  of  August,  1897,  was 
solemnized  his  marriage  to  Miss  Mary  May, 
who  was  there  born  and  reared  and  who  is  a 
daughter  of  Capt.  William  and  Mary  E. 
(Davenport)  May,  who  came  to  Illinois  from 
their  native  State  of  Kentucky,  Captain  May 
having  gained  his  military  title  through  his 
service  as  an  officer  in  the  Union  Army  in 
the  Civil  war.  After  his  marriage  Judge 
White  retained  the  position  of  superintendent 
of  the  Enfield  public  schools  one  year,  and 
during  the  ensuing  three  years  he  held  a  sim- 
ilar position  at  Eldorado,  Saline  County.  He 
then  assumed  the  position  of  cashier  of  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Eldorado,  and  this 
executive  office  he  retained  five  years.  He 
then  effected  the  organization  of  the  Farmers 
&  Merchants  National  Bank  of  Nashville,  the 
judicial  center  of  Washington  County.  Of 
this  institution  in  his  native  county  he  was 
the  cashier  two  years,  at  the  expiration  of 
which  he  established  his  residence  in  his 
present  home  City  of  Mount  Carmel,  where, 
in  January,  1908,  he  became  cashier  of  the 
American  National  Bank.  He  retained  this 
office  five  years,  and  in  the  meanwhile  he  had 
applied  himself  with  characteristic  diligence 
and  receptiveness  to  the  study  of  law,  under 
the  direction  of  private  preceptors,  and  he  so 
progressed  in  his  absorption  and  assimila- 
tion of  the  science  of  jurisprudence  as  to 
gain  admission  to  the  Illinois  bar  in  the  year 
1913.  In  the  meanwhile  he  had  been  elected 
judge  of  the  County  Court,  in  1913,  and  of 
this  judicial  office  he  at  that  time  continued 
the  incumbent  one  term.  Thereafter  he  was 
engaged  in  the  private  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion in  Mount  Carmel  until  1926,  when  he  was 
again  elected  judge  of  the  County  Court,  the 
office  in  which  he  has  continued  his  able  and 
loyal  service  during  the  intervening  period. 
He  still  continues  his  law  partnership  with 
P.  J.  Kolb. 

The  political  convictions  of  Judge  White 
place  him  loyally  in  the  ranks  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  and  he  and  his  wife  are  zealous 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  their  home  city,  he  being  a  member  of  its 
board  of  trustees.  The  Judge  has  served  as 
president  of  the  local  Carnegie  Public  Li- 
brary Board  and  as  president  of  the  Mount 
Carmel  Board  of  Education,  besides  which 
he  has  on  eight  different  occasions  been  elected 
a  member  of  the  City  Council.  He  is  a  past 
exalted  ruler  of  Mount  Carmel  Lodge,  B.   P. 


O.  E.,  and  is  likewise  affiliated  with  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity  and  the  Modern  Woodmen 
of  America,  as  well  as  with  the  Mystic  Work- 
ers of  the  World.  Judge  White  has  member- 
ship in  the  Wabash  County  Bar  Association 
and  the  Illinois  State  Bar  Association.  In 
the  World  war  period  he  was  instant  in 
advancing  patriotic  service  and  movements 
in  Wabash  County,  where  he  was  chairman 
of  the  county  committee  that  had  charge  of 
the  campaigns  in  the  sale  of  Government  war 
bonds.  Judge  White  has  his  law  office  at  115 
East  Fourth  Street  and  his  home  at  503  East 
Fifth   Street. 

In  conclusion  is  given  brief  record  concern- 
ing the  children  of  Judge  and  Mrs.  White: 
Thomas  Bowman,  eldest  of  the  four  sons, 
holds  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant  in  the  United 
States  Marine  Corps,  and  at  the  time  of  this 
writing,  in  the  winter  of  1930-31,  is  in  service 
as  instructor  at  the  naval  air  station  at  Pensa- 
cola,  Florida.  Lyman  D.  is  engaged  in  busi- 
ness at  Mount  Carmel.  James  Gordon  resides 
at  Pensacola,  Florida,  where  he  holds  a  posi- 
tion as  local  representative  of  the  Equitable 
Life  Insurance  Company.  Milburn  Judson, 
Jr.,  youngest  of  the  sons,  is  a  student  in 
DePauw   University. 

In  all  the  relations  of  life  Judge  White 
has  ever  stood  exponent  of  fine  ideals  and 
has  shown  a  consistent  appreciation  of  rela- 
tive values.  He  has  been  successful  because 
he  has  worked  for  success,  and  that  success 
achievement  has  been  worthily  won  by  worthy 
means,  so  that  his  is  secure  place  in  popular 
confidence  and  esteem. 

Jonas  W.  Carlisle,  physician  and  surgeon, 
has  practiced  his  profession  in  the  City  of 
Robinson,  Crawford  County,  for  over  a  third 
of  a  century.  His  name  is  almost  as  familiar 
in  that  community  in  connection  with  disin- 
terested service  to  the  public  as  in  the  strict 
work  of  his  vocation. 

Doctor  Carlisle  was  born  in  Crawford 
County,  August  30,  1868,  son  of  James  A.  and 
Sallie  (Alsup)  Carlisle.  His  father  was  a 
Union  soldier  in  the  Civil  war.  After  the  war 
he  established  a  country  store  in  Crawford 
County.  He  died  during  the  early  youth  of 
his  son,  Doctor  Carlisle. 

Jonas  W.  Carlisle  grew  up  in  a  rural  dis- 
trict, attended  public  schools  and  from  an 
early  age  was  dependent  upon  his  own  judg- 
ment and  initiative  to  make  the  most  of  his 
talents.  He  completed  his  literary  education 
in  Valparaiso  University  of  Indiana  and  from 
there  entered  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  at  Chicago,  where  he  was  graduated 
M.  D.  in  1897.  Later  in  the  same  year  he 
located  at  Robinson,  and  his  abilities  and  per- 
sonality have  brought  him  a  large  measure 
of  professional  success.  He  is  city  health 
officer,  and  has  made  that  office  more  than 
a    nominal    post,    being    deeply    interested    in 


226 


ILLINOIS 


everything  affecting  health  conditions  and  the 
general  betterment  of  the  community.  He 
has  also  found  time  for  service  on  the  City 
Council  for  three  terms,  for  thirteen  years 
was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Education  for 
the  grade  schools,  for  eight  years  was  on  the 
high  school  board.  He  is  now  president  of 
the  Board  of  Education.  Doctor  Carlisle  is  a 
member  and  for  three  terms  was  president 
of  the  Crawford  County  Medical  Society,  and 
is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  State  Medical  So- 
ciety and  the  American  Medical  Association. 

Perhaps  his  chief  hobby  is  fraternal  or- 
ganization work.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Knights 
of  Pythias,  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  Modern  Woodmen 
of  America,  of  which  he  was  state  medical 
director  from  1914  to  1929,  and  of  the  Ro- 
tary Club,  of  which  he  is  a  former  president. 
In  political  faith  he  is  a  Republican.  Doctor 
Carlisle  is  a  director  in  the  Robinson  State 
Bank. 

He  married,  January  30,  1897,  Miss  Bessie 
Ross,  of  Lee  County,  Illinois.  She  passed 
away  August  23,  1922.  To  their  union  were 
born  four  children,  Vera,  Vivian  (deceased), 
Iris  and  Irma.  Miss  Vera  is  now  librarian 
of  the  Robinson  Public  Library,  and  Iris  is 
the  wife  of  Carl  Schonbacher,  of  New  York. 
Irma  is  a  resident  of  Chicago.  On  July  14, 
1927,  Doctor  Carlisle  married  Miss  Lea  Stein, 
of  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

Claude  Winters  was  born  and  reared  in 
the  City  of  Cairo,  is  a  representative  of  one 
of  its  honored  and  influential  families,  and 
has  been  long  and  prominently  connected 
with  local  business  interests  of  importance, 
he  being  now  local  superintendent  of  the 
Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Company,  a 
corporation  that  gives  extended  service  of 
public  utility  order  both  in  Illinois  and  adjoin- 
ing states,  the  headquarters  of  the  company 
being  established  in  Cairo. 

Mr.  Winters  was  born  in  Cairo  January  15, 
1882,  and  is  a  son  of  Claude  and  Hannah 
(Gerrin)  Winters,  who  here  continued  their 
residence  until  their  death,  both  having 
passed  away  in  the  year  1910.  Claude  Win- 
ters, Sr.,  was  long  one  of  the  influential  and 
honored  citizens  and  representative  business 
men  of  Cairo,  where  he  served  not  only  as 
a  member  of  the  municipal  council  but  also 
gave  a  notably  progressive  administration  as 
mayor,  and  where  he  was  long  engaged  in 
the  grocery  business  and  controlled  a  large 
business  in  supplying  the  community  with 
ice,  this  latter  enterprise  having  eventually 
been  absorbed  by  the  Central  Illinois  Public 
Service    Company. 

After  completing  his  studies  in  the  Cairo 
High  School  Claude  Winters,  Jr.,  immediate 
subject  of  this  review,  became  actively  associ- 
ated with  the  ice  department  of  his  father's 
business,   and   after  the   death  of  his  father, 


in  1910,  he  continued  in  active  charge  of  the 
business  until  1927,  when  he  sold  the  business 
to  the  Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Com- 
pany, by  which  he  has  since  been  retained 
as  superintendent  of  the  business  in  Cairo. 
He  has  also  continued  individually  in  the  coal 
business  since  January,  1924,  and  has  rank 
as  one  of  the  representative  business  men 
and  loyal  and  progressive  citizens  of  his  native 
city.  He  is  an  active  member  of  the  local 
Association  of  Commerce  and  is  treasurer 
and  a  director  of  the  Rotary  Club.  He  is 
affiliated  with  the  Benevolent  &  Protective 
Order  of  Elks,  and  in  politics  is  found  loyally 
aligned  in  the  ranks  of  the  Democratic  party. 
His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Beatrice 
Lancaster,  likewise  was  born  and  reared  in 
Cairo  and  she  is  a  daughter  of  Charles  Lan- 
caster, who  was  for  many  years  engaged 
in  the  lumber  business  and  who  served  as 
a  member  of  the  city  council  of  Cairo.  Mr. 
and   Mrs.   Winters   have  no   children. 

John  T.  Smith  was  connected  with  the 
first  independent  company  to  institute  the  de- 
velopment of  the  rich  oil  field  in  Eastern  Illi- 
nois in  Crawford  County,  and  for  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  century  has  been  one  of  the 
most  active  and  public  spirited  citizens  of 
that  community. 

Mr.  Smith  was  born  in  Staffordshire,  Eng- 
land, June  10,  1882,  and  was  four  years  of 
age  when,  in  1886,  his  parents,  William  H. 
and  Maria  (Hall)  Smith,  both  natives  of 
Staffordshire,  crossed  the  ocean  to  America. 
They  established  their  home  at  Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania,  where  the  father  followed  the 
trade  of  brick  layer  until  his  death  in  1916. 

John  T.  Smith  grew  up  at  Pittsburgh.  He 
was  educated  in  public  schools.  After  leaving 
school  he  became  an  accountant  in  the  Pitts- 
burgh offices  of  the  Crucible  Steel  Company. 
He  left  this  industrial  organization  in  1906  to 
become  associated  with  the  Mahutska  Oil 
Company  as  accountant.  The  Mahutska  Oil 
Company  did  the  first  independent  work  in 
bringing  into  production  the  Crawford  County 
oil  field.  They  drilled  the  first  oil  well  in 
the  county  and  since  then  have  put  down 
over  three  hundred  wells  in  this  field.  The 
company  also  has  extensive  interests  in  the 
oil  and  gas  districts  of  Kansas,  Indiana  and 
Kentucky. 

Mr.  Smith  has  had  his  home  at  Robinson 
since  1908,  in  which  year  he  was  made  secre- 
tary of  the  Mahutska  Oil  Company.  He  is 
also  an  official  in  some  of  the  affiliated  organ- 
izations, being  secretary  of  the  Mahutska  Min- 
ing Company  of  Joplin.  He  is  a  director  and 
vice  president  of  the  Robinson  State  Bank,  is 
secretary  of  the  Robinson  Motor  Company  and 
secretary  of  the  Robinson  Building  Corpora- 
tion. 

A  man  busy  with  a  wide  range  of  practical 
affairs,    Mr.    Smith    has    nevertheless    found 


^=fzt*>6^ (2?, 


ILLINOIS 


227 


time  and  will  to  serve  the  community  in  vari- 
ous positions  and  offices.  He  is  president  of 
the  Crawford  County  Country  Club.  For  one 
term,  1919-21,  he  was  assistant  township  su- 
pervisor. In  1921  he  was  elected  mayor  of 
Robinson  and  gave  the  city  a  model  adminis- 
tration of  its  affairs  for  two  terms,  1921-23 
and  1923-25.  He  served  three  years  on  the 
Board  of  Education  and  for  several  years  has 
been  a  member  of  the  library  board.  He  is 
active  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  for 
twelve  years  was  superintendent  and  secretary 
of  the  Sunday  School.  Mr.  Smith  is  affiliated 
with  Robinson  Lodge  No.  644,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  is  a  past  master  of  his  lodge,  a  past 
high  priest  of  the  Royal  Arch  Chapter,  mem- 
ber of  the  Scottish  Rite  Consistory  at  Peoria, 
and  Mohammed  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine 
in  that  city.  He  married,  January  4,  1906, 
Miss  Gertrude  M.  Fox,  of  Pittsburgh. 

Hon.  Frederick  W.  Rennick,  who  has  been 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in 
the  Illinois  Legislature  for  five  consecutive 
terms,  represents  the  Thirty-seventh  Sena- 
torial District,  and  in  the  Buda  community 
has  long  sustained  an  able  reputation  as  ai? 
attorney,  enjoying  a  very  successful  practice. 

Mr.  Rennick  was  born  on  a  farm  near  Tou- 
lon, Stark  County,  Illinois,  July  6,  1886,  son 
of  William  C.  and  Delia  (Montooth)  Rennick. 
His  father,  of  English  ancestry,  was  born  in 
Quebec,  Canada,  and  when  eighteen  years  of 
age  settled  in  Stark  County,  Illinois.  He  lived 
there,  a  substantial  farmer  and  good  citizen, 
until  his  death,  January  2,  1930,  when  seventy- 
nine  years  of  age.  His  wife,  Delia  Montooth, 
was  born  in  Stark  County,  of  Irish  and  New 
Jersey  Quaker  stock,  and  is  living  at  Toulon. 

Frederick  W.  Rennick  had  the  advantages 
of  the  schools  of  his  rural  locality,  was  trained 
to  work  on  the  farm,  and  after  the  local 
schools  attended  the  Toulon  Academy  and 
Valparaiso  University  in  Indiana,  where  he 
was  graduated  in  1910.  In  1911  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar,  and  has  had  twenty  years 
of  successful  experience  in  the  law.  For  a 
short  time  he  practiced  in  Chicago,  and  then 
moved  to  Buda.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Bureau  County  and  Illinois  State  Bar  Asso- 
ciations, and  has  served  as  a  member  of  the 
Republican  County  Central  Committee.  Mr. 
Rennick  a  number  of  years  ago  was  mayor 
of  Buda,  and  in  1922  he  was  elected  for  his 
first  term  in  the  Illinois  Legislature.  He  was 
reelected  in  1924,  1926,  1928  and  1930. 

Mr.  Rennick  was  in  service  during  the 
World  war  for  fourteen  months.  He  spent 
seven  months  in  France,  and  was  a  sergeant 
in  the  ordnance  department.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  legislative  committee  of  the  American 
Legion,  Department  of  Illinois.  Mr.  Rennick 
is  also  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and 
Modern  Woodmen  of  America. 


He  married,  December  8,  1917,  Miss  Lura 
Nash  Andrews,  who  was  born  at  Manlius,  Illi- 
nois, daughter  of  Charles  A.  and  Kittie  B. 
(McKenzie)  Andrews.  Her  people  were  of 
English  and  Scotch  ancestry  and  early  settlers 
in  Illinois.  Mrs.  Rennick  taught  school  be- 
fore her  marriage.  She  is  a  member  of  the 
Eastern  Star  and  the  Woman's  Club,  and  she 
and  Mr.  Rennick  are  members  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church.  He  is  on  the  board  of  trus- 
tees. They  have  three  children,  Winifred 
Andrews,  born  November  22,  1919,  Roger 
Andrews,  born  September  10,  1923,  and  Curtis 
Hamilton,  born  December  12,  1928. 

Hon.  Joseph  S.  LaBuy  is  a  familiar  figure 
of  the  Chicago  bar,  and  for  a  dozen  years 
gave  the  city  a  fine  example  of  public  service 
in  the  office  of  municipal  judge. 

He  was  born  on  a  farm  near  Fox  Lake, 
Wisconsin,  October  21,  1878,  son  of  Jacob 
and  Josephine  (Olsewski)  LaBuy.  Both  fam- 
ilies were  pioneers  of  Wisconsin.  His  father 
was  born  at  Berlin,  Wisconsin,  and  his  mother 
at  Princeton  in  the  same  state. 

Judge  LaBuy  attended  public  schools  at 
Beaver  Dam,  a  business  college  in  Milwaukee, 
and  continued  his  education  in  the  University 
of  Wisconsin  and  Lake  Forest  University.  In 
1901  he  graduated  LL.  B.  from  the  Chicago 
Kent  College  of  Law  and  in  the  same  year 
began  private  practice  in  Chicago  and  has 
been  an  honored  member  of  the  bar  of  that 
city  for  nearly  thirty  years. 

He  was  first  elected  to  the  bench  as  judge 
of  the  Municipal  Court  in  1912  and  served 
on  that  bench  until  1924.  After  retiring 
from  the  bench  he  formed  a  partnership  for 
the  general  practice  of  law  under  the  firm 
name  of  LaBuy,  Liss  &  Herman  with  office 
at  100  North  LaSalle  Street.  Judge  LaBuy 
is  unmarried.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois 
Athletic  Club,  the  Iroquois  Club,  the  Crystal 
Lake  Country  Club  and  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks. 

Carnegie  Public  Library,  of  Robinson,  is 
an  institution  which  has  been  in  existence  for 
a  quarter  of  a  century  and  has  represented 
the  cultural  spirit  of  the  community  during 
the  past  quarter  of  a  century  in  which  time 
the  city  has  made  its  greatest  material  strides. 

The  first  board  meeting  was  held   April  5, 

1905,  and  two  days  later  the  plans  were  ap- 
proved and  the  contract  let  for  the  construc- 
tion of  the  library  building,  a  part  of  the 
cost  of  which  was  defrayed  by  a  donation 
from  Andrew  Carnegie.  The  first  board  com- 
prised the  following:  Dr.  T.  N.  Rafferty, 
president;  George  L.  Walter,  treasurer;  John 
Abbot,  secretary;  G.  L.  Buchanan,  M.  D. 
Eaton    and    O.    W.    Kirk.      On    January    22, 

1906,  the  board  elected  Miss  Mona  Rutherford 
as  the  first  librarian,  and  in  that  capacity 
she  opened  the  library  to  the  public  on  Feb- 
ruary  19,   1906.      Since   then  the   library   has 


228 


ILLINOIS 


continued  to  grow  and  extend  its  functions  and 
services.  In  the  personnel  of  administration 
a  number  of  changes  have  occurred  during  the 
past  twenty-three  years.  On  May  4,  1908, 
G.  W.  Harper  was  elected  president  of  the 
board,  with  Dr.  T.  N.  Rafferty  as  secretary. 
The  successive  changes  in  the  office  of  secre- 
tary have  been  as  follows:  Miss  Gertrude 
Maxwell,  elected  April  8,  1909;  Charles  L. 
Davis,  elected  June  5,  1911;  Dr.  T.  N.  Raf- 
ferty, elected  May  5,  1912;  Thomas  S.  Moore, 
elected  July  12,  1913;  Mrs.  M.  E.  Cox,  elected 
June  21,  1915;  Mrs.  J.  W.  Carlisle,  elected 
to  succeed  Mrs.  Cox,  and  Mrs.  A.  W.  Allen 
to  succeed  Mrs.  Carlisle.  The  officers  of  the 
board  at  the  present  time  are:  A.  C.  Wesner, 
president;  Mrs.  A.  W.  Allen,  secretary;  E.  0. 
Day,  John  T.  Smith,  Mrs.  M.  E.  Cox,  and 
Mrs.  E.  E.  Mattox.  The  present  librarian  is 
Miss  Vera  Carlisle. 

John  W.  Hutton  has  been  an  Illinois  phy- 
sician and  surgeon  for  thirty  years.  His  home 
is  at  Newton,  where  he  has  long  been  a  valu- 
able factor  in  the  community,  not  only  in  a 
professional  capacity,  but  as  an  active  busi- 
ness man  and  citizen. 

Doctor  Hutton  was  born  at  Flemingsburg, 
Kentucky,  January  23,  1876,  son  of  George 
W.  and  Lydia  (Arnold)  Hutton.  His  father 
was  a  merchant  in  Fleming  County,  Kentucky, 
and  always  an  ardent  exponent  of  the  political 
creed  of  the  Democracy.  Doctor  Hutton  ac- 
quired his  early  education  in  public  schools  at 
Moorehead,  Kentucky,  and  then  carried  out 
his  determination  to  prepare  for  the  medical 
profession.  He  spent  the  first  two  years  in 
the  Ohio  Medical  College  of  Cincinnati  and 
then  entered  Barnes  University  of  St.  Louis, 
Missouri,  where  he  was  graduated  M.  D.  in 
1899.  Still  not  being  satisfied  with  his  prep- 
aration, he  remained  at  Barnes  for  a  year  of 
post-graduate  work  and  also  served  an  in- 
terneship  in  the  City  Hospital  of  St.  Louis. 

Doctor  Hutton  from  1901  to  1911  was  in 
practice  at  Rose  Hill,  Illinois,  and  since  1911 
has  practiced  at  Newton.  In  thirty  years  his 
abilities  have  matured  into  a  service  that  has 
meant  much  to  his  clientele  and  has  brought 
him  the  honor  of  high  attainment  in  his  pro- 
fession. He  is  a  member  of  the  Jasper  County, 
Illinois  State  and  American  Medical  Associa- 
tions, and  also  belongs  to  the  U.  S.  Medical 
Association.  From  1924  to  1928  he  served 
as  coroner  of  Jasper  County. 

Doctor  Hutton  is  a  member  of  Newton 
Lodge  No.  216,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  the  Scottish 
Rite  Consistory  and  Ainad  Temple  of  the 
Mystic  Shrine  at  East  St.  Louis,  and  is  a 
member  of  Newton  Camp  of  the  Modern  Wood- 
men of  America.  He  is  a  Democrat  and  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Church.  His  hobby 
for  many  years  has  been  farming.  His  farm 
of  500  acres  west  of  Newton  is  devoted 
largely  to  the  cultivation  of  broom  corn.     He 


also  owns  a  700-acre  tobacco  plantation  in 
Kentucky.  Doctor  Hutton  married,  June  17, 
1922,  Miss  May  Simpson,  of  Newton. 

Victor  O.  Connor  is  a  business  man  and 
public  executive  whose  name  is  known  all  over 
Jasper  County.  Mr.  Connor  is  the  present 
mayor  of  the  City  of  Newton. 

He  was  born  in  Jasper  County,  March  13, 
1891,  son  of  Samuel  A.  and  Minnie  (Ross) 
Connor.  His  father,  long  prominent  in  public 
affairs  and  Democratic  politics  in  the  county, 
is  a  civil  engineer  by  profession.  His  engi- 
neering ability  has  been  in  demand  all  over 
Southern  Illinois,  where  he  has  designed  and 
built  many  concrete  bridges.  For  eighteen 
years  he  has  served  as  county  superintendent 
of  highways. 

Victor  O.  Connor  was  educated  in  the  New- 
ton public  schools  and  spent  one  year  at  the 
University  of  Illinois.  Soon  after  leaving 
school  he  entered  the  automobile  business,  and 
during  1913-16  had  the  Ford  agency  at  New- 
ton. Since  1916  he  has  been  a  concrete  con- 
tractor. He  has  had  contracts  for  many  miles 
of  concrete  highways  and  concrete  bridges 
over  this  section  of  Illinois.  From  1912  to 
1920,  inclusive,  he  was  county  surveyor  of 
Jasper  County. 

Mr.  Connor  was  a  member  of  the  Com- 
munity High  School  Board  during  1926-29, 
and  in  the  latter  year  was  elected  mayor.  To 
this  office  he  brought  the  wisdom  and  experi- 
ence of  his  successful  business  career  and  has 
had  an  administration  creditable  to  him  per- 
sonally and  of  broad  benefit  to  the  community. 
He  is  a  Democrat  in  politics,  a  member  of 
Jasper  Lodge  No.  216,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  the 
Scottish  Rite  Consistory  and  Ainad  Temple 
of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at  East  St.  Louis,  and  is 
a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

He  married,  August  19,  1914,  Miss  Cora 
Smith,  daughter  of  John  B.  and  Dora  (Bar- 
ret) Smith,  of  Newton.  Both  her  parents 
were  born  in  Jasper  County  and  have  been 
highly  respected  citizens  of  their  locality.  Her 
father  was  for  two  terms  township  supervisor. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Connor  have  two  children,  Le- 
dora  Emeline  and  John  Alec. 


Hon.  Edwin  B.  Brooks,  who  for  two  terms 
represented  the  Twenty-third  Illinois  District 
in  the  Sixty-sixth  and  Sixty-seventh  Con- 
gresses, is  a  resident  of  Newton.  People  in 
the  Twenty-third  District  have  for  many  years 
known  and  esteemed  him  as  a  capable  edu- 
cator, banker  and  public  leader. 

Mr.  Brooks  was  born  on  a  farm  near  New- 
ton in  Jasper  County,  September  20,  1868,  son 
of  James  E.  and  Amanda  (Bursell)  Brooks. 
His  grandparents,  John  and  Polly  (Barrett) 
Brooks,  came  to  Illinois  from  Indiana.  His 
ancestors  have  been  farmers  for  generations. 
His  maternal  grandfather,  Bursell,  also  came 


'4ju*vt*y 


AJ3.     0(^~>dLr 


ILLINOIS 


229 


from  Indiana.  He  was  a  minister  of  the 
Gospel  in  Lawrence  County.  James  E.  Brooks 
was  born  at  Knightstown,  Indiana,  and  was 
fifteen  years  of  age  when  the  family  came  to 
Illinois  and  settled  on  a  farm  about  two  miles 
from  Newton.  He  served  as  a  tax  collector 
and  was  an  active  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church. 

Edwin  B.  Brooks  acquired,  partly  through 
his  own  efforts,  a  liberal  education.  He  at- 
tended local  schools,  then  the  University  of 
Illinois,  and  in  1892  was  graduated  A.  B.  from 
Valparaiso  University.  For  years  he  was 
marked  as  one  of  the  most  influential  men  in 
the  educational  life  of  this  section  of  the 
state.  He  taught  in  rural  schools  in  Douglas 
County,  was  principal  at  Newton,  and  for  six 
years,  from  1897  to  1903,  was  superintendent 
of  schools  there.  He  was  superintendent  of 
schools  at  Greenville,  Illinois,  for  two  years, 
and  for  seven  years  was  superintendent  at 
Paris.  In  1914  he  became  county  superin- 
tendent of  schools  of  Jasper  County.  Alto- 
gether he  gave  twenty-five  years  of  his  life  to 
education.  He  was  county  superintendent 
when  elected  for  his  first  term  in  Congress,  in 
1918.     He  was  reelected  in  1920.     . 

Mr.  Brooks  was  an  influential  member  of 
Congress  during  the  years  1919-23.  He  gave 
much  attention  to  the  reconstruction  program 
following  the  close  of  the  World  war.  He  was 
a  member  of  such  committees  as  public  build- 
ings, elections,  mines  and  mining.  He  was 
instrumental  in  securing  many  pensions  for 
deserving  veterans.  Mr.  Brooks  introduced  a 
resolution  requesting  the  President  to  call  a 
peace  conference  of  all  nations,  and  received 
thousands  of  letters  of  commendation  for  this 
effort  in  behalf  of  world  peace.  He  was  sent 
as  a  delegate  to  the  International  Parliamen- 
tary Union  at  Stockholm,  Sweden.  Mr. 
Brooks  while  in  Congress  was  a  "dry,"  and 
was  associated  with  the  congressman  from 
Minnesota,  Mr.  Volstead,  who  sponsored  the 
Volstead  Act. 

While  in  educational  work  Mr.  Brooks  be- 
came interested  in  banking  and  for  a  time 
was  vice  president  of  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Newton.  He  is  still  a  director  of  that  bank 
and  has  been  an  officer  in  banks  at  West  Lib- 
erty and  Hunt  City.  After  his  service  in 
Congress  Mr.  Brooks  was  for  six  years  super- 
intendent of  charities.  He  is  now  president 
of  the  Mentor-Democrat  Publishing  Company 
of  Newton,  and  also, has  some  valuable  farm- 
ing interests  in  Jasper  County.  Mr.  Brooks 
is  an  active  Republican,  is  a  thirty-second  de- 
gree Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  mem- 
ber of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
Rotary  Club  and  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

He  married,  June  1,  1892,  Miss  Nora  E. 
Leachman,  of  Tuscola,  Illinois.  She  also  at- 
tended Valparaiso  University.  She  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Woman's  Club  of  Newton  and  while 


in  Washington  was  a  member  of  the  Women's 
Congressional  Club.     She  is  a  Methodist. 

Mr.  Brooks'  only  son  is  James  Willoughby 
Brooks,  born  July  13,  1905.  He  is  a  graduate 
of  the  Western  Military  Academy  of  Alton 
and  of  Millikin  University,  and  is  now  man- 
ager of  the  Mentor- Democrat  at  Newton.  He 
is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason  and  Shriner, 
member  of  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  America 
and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Henry  C.  Arch.  Members  of  the  Arch 
family  were  included  in  the  German  intellec- 
tuals who  were  conspicuous  for  their  partici- 
pation in  the  Liberal  movement  during  the 
1840s  and  which,  being  suppressed,  brought 
about  a  general  exodus  of  thousands  of  these 
high-minded  and  liberty  loving  people  to  Amer- 
ica. In  Germany  the  Arch  family  were  devoted 
to  the  professions.  One  of  them  was  a  surgeon 
in  the  German  army.  A  son  of  this  ancestor 
was  Dr.  William  Carl  Arch,  who  also  took 
up  medicine  as  a  career.  He  lived  at  Erfurt, 
Prussia.  In  1848  he  brought  his  family  to 
America,  landing  in  New  York  and  went 
directly  out  to  Wisconsin.  There  Doctor  Arch 
secured  a  tract  of  Government  land  in  Colum- 
bia County,  established  a  home  on  a  farm, 
but  also  carried  on  an  extensive  country  prac- 
tice as  a  physician  in  the  vicinity  of  Cambria. 

When  the  family  came  to  America  in  1848 
August  C.  Arch,  one  of  the  sons,  was  just 
five  years  of  age.  He  was  born  at  Erfurt, 
Prussia,  January  21,  1843.  He  grew  up  in 
the  rural  regions  of  Columbia  County,  Wis- 
consin, worked  at  farming  and  also  in  the 
lumber  woods,  and  in  1864  enlisted  in  Company 
M  of  the  First  Wisconsin  Light  Artillery, 
under  Colonel  Meserve,  of  Milwaukee.  He 
was  sent  to  Virginia  to  join  the  Twenty-second 
Army  Corps  and  was  on  duty  with  his  company 
at  Fort  Lyons,  one  of  the  defenses  of  the  City 
of  Washington,  where  he  remained  in  service 
until  the  end  of  the  war.  He  was  mustered 
out  in  July,  1865,  at  the  Grand  Review  in 
Washington. 

After  this  military  service  he  returned  to 
the  Wisconsin  woods,  engaged  in  logging  and 
as  a  river  man,  making  several  trips  with 
rafts  of  lumber  or  of  logs  to  St.  Louis  on 
the  Mississippi.  Then,  in  1871,  he  came  to 
Chicago,  bringing  his  household  equipment 
and  wagon  over  the  old  Snell  plank  road,  then 
a  toll  road.  His  family  made  the  trip  by 
train. 

August  C.  Arch  in  after  years  became  one 
of  the  most  conspicuous  police  officers  in  the 
Chicago  Police  Department.  In  September, 
1873,  he  joined  the  police  force,  being  assigned 
to  the  Twenty-second  Street  Station,  which 
was  then  on  the  far  South  Side.  In  November, 
1876,  he  was  promoted  to  patrol  sergeant, 
later  transferred  to  the  Cottage  Grove  Avenue 
Station,  where  he  was  on  duty  until  November, 


230 


ILLINOIS 


1882,  and  was  then  transferred  to  the  Central 
Detail.  In  May,  1883,  he  was  moved  to  the 
Harrison  Street  Station,  and  in  February, 
1884,  to  the  East  Chicago  Avenue  Station, 
with  the  rank  of  acting  lieutenant.  In  April, 
1884,  he  returned  to  the  Harrison  Street  Sta- 
tion with  the  full  rank  of  lieutenant.  On 
May  10,  1887,  he  was  again  transferred  to 
Central  Detail,  and  in  September  of  the  same 
year  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the 
Twenty-second  Street  Station,  where  he  had 
first  begun  his  police  service.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  department  for  about  twenty 
years.  He  lived  his  last  years  in  retirement 
and  passed  away  November  25,   1915. 

Lieutenant  Arch  is  recalled  through  the 
memory  of  his  associates  and  by  his  record 
as  one  of  the  most  intelligent  men  on  the 
force,  a  brave,  efficient  and  discreet  officer. 
His  period  of  service  covered  some  of  the 
most  turbulent  periods  of  Chicago's  history, 
including  the  rise  of  anarchy  and  communism 
in  1885  and  1886,  culminating  in  the  Hay- 
market  riot  of  the  latter  year.  In  various 
capacities  he  assisted  in  suppressing  mob  vio- 
lence and  lawlessness  at  this  time.  Early 
recognition  of  his  fearlessness  and  courage 
was  given  in  his  participation  in  the  session 
of  the  lumber  shovers  riot  in  1876.  In  1877 
he  was  detailed  with  twenty-five  men  to  the 
Twenty-second  Street  Station  for  emergency 
service  and  instructed  to  keep  the  district 
under  control.  On  one  occasion  he  met  a  mob 
which  had  swung  open  the  bridge  across  the 
Chicago  River  to  prevent  interference  from 
the  police,  and  at  the  head  of  his  detail  he 
drove  the  rioters  south  on  Halsted  Street. 
It  was  one  of  the  hottest  fights  between  the 
forces  of  law  and  the  mob  element.  On  Thanks- 
giving Day,  1877,  Lieutenant  Arch  captured 
the  notorious  "Sheeny  George"  and  recovered 
six  thousand  dollars  worth  of  loot  which  his 
gang  had  stolen.  On  November  25,  1879,  he 
arrested  George  Adams,  a  burglar  who  had 
terrorized  the  residents  of  the  Cottage  Grove 
Avenue  district.  It  was  through  him  that 
Adams  was  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for  five 
years.  About  the  same  time  he  arrested  mem- 
bers of  a  West  Side  gang  of  burglars,  and 
had  them  committed  to  the  penitentiary  for 
twenty-five  years  under  the  habitual  criminal 
act. 

August  C.  Arch  married  Martha  Baumgart- 
ner.  Their  son  Henry  C.  Arch  is  a  prominent 
Forest  Park  business  man,  president  of  Henry 
C.  Arch  &  Son,  Incorporated,  stone  contractors 
at  7665  Van  Buren  Street. 

Henry  C.  Arch  was  born  at  Cambria,  Colum- 
bia County,  Wisconsin,  in  1869  and  was  about 
three  years  of  age  when  the  family  came  to 
Chicago.  He  grew  up  in  this  city,  attended 
public  schools,  first  learned  the  tinners'  trade 
and  spent  several  years  in  different  capacities 
with  the  Standard  Oil  Company  and  finally 
engaged  in  business  for  himself.     In  1906  he 


established  the  cut  stone  contracting  business, 
which  is  now  incorporated  as  Henry  C.  Arch 
&  Son,  of  which  he  is  president.  This  busi- 
ness has  been  located  in  Forest  Park  since 
1906.  The  firm  have  a  widely  extended  busi- 
ness and  service  as  contractors  for  cut  stone 
construction.  They  specialize  in  handling 
material  for  a  complete  service  in  their  line. 

Mr.  Arch  for  a  number  of  years  had  his 
home  in  Forest  Park  and  for  six  years  of 
that  time  served  as  a  member  of  the  school 
board.  He  now  resides  in  River  Forest,  at 
216  Franklin  Avenue.  Mr.  Arch  married  Miss 
Fredericka  Haedtler.  They  have  two  sons, 
Chester  R.  and  Elmer  W.  Chester  R.  is 
associated  with  his  father  in  Henry  C.  Arch 
&  Son,  Incorporated.  This  son  is  married 
and  has  three  children,  named  William,  Jean 
Marion  and  Sally  Elizabeth.  Elmer  W.  Arch 
took  up  the  law  and  is  successfully  established 
in  his  profession  in  Chicago.  He  is  a  director 
and  attorney  for  several  banks  and  is  attorney 
for  the  Village  of  Forest  Park. 

Minier  Community  High  School  is  the 
apex  of  the  educational  and  cultural  life  of 
a  very  intelligent  community  of  Tazewell 
County,  made  up  of  a  fine  class  of  people 
who  have  always  taken  a  deep  interest  in 
their   local   schools. 

The  present  high  school  building  represents 
an  extensive  remodeling  of  an  old  building 
carried  out  in  1922.  The  building  is  finished 
in  stucco,  has  nine  rooms,  including  assembly 
hall,  laboratory  and  home  economics  room. 
It  is  an  accredited  high  school,  with  six 
teachers  and  presents  a  diversified  curriculum 
suited  to  the  needs  of  the  children  of  this 
community.  Besides  the  fundamental  instruc- 
tion much  attention  is  given  to  vocal  music, 
there  is  a  Glee  Club  organization  of  boys  and 
girls,  and  one  of  the  teachers  acts  as  athletic 
coach  to  the  base  ball,  basket  ball,  track  and 
tennis  teams.  The  commercial  department 
gives  courses  in  bookkeeping,  commercial 
arithmetic,  commercial  geography  and  type- 
writing. In  1922  the  school  won  the  state 
championship  in  debating  and  practically  all 
the  pupils  are  given  training  in  public 
speaking. 

The  high  school  enrollment  is  eighty-five 
and  during  the  past  two  years  almost  every 
eligible  eighth  grade  graduate  has  entered 
high  school.  A  larger  percentage  of  the  high 
school  graduates  go  on  to  college  or  university. 

Much  of  the  good  work  of  the  school  itself 
has  been  due  to  a  wholehearted  cooperation  \ 
between  the  principal  and  the  school  board. 
The  members  of  the  board  are  (in  1930)  Wil- 
liam Frietag  president,  D.  R.  Slater  secretary, 
P.  J.  Hallstein,  Charles  Barnes,  and  Raymond 
Theis. 

The  principal  of  the  Minier  High  School 
since  1925  has  been  Tony  C.  Hostettler.  He 
was  born  at  Calhoun,  Illinois,  October  13,  1895, 


ILLINOIS 


231 


son  of  Cornelius  and  Emma  (Persoon)  Hos- 
tettler.  He  received  his  early  education  at 
Calhoun  and  in  1925  was  graduated  Bachelor 
of  Education  from  the  Illinois  Normal  Uni- 
versity. In  1932  for  advanced  work  he 
received  his  Master's  degree  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago.  He  had  several  years  of 
teaching  experience  before  coming  to  Minier. 
Mr.  Hostettler  is  an  independent  Democrat, 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  the 
Pi  Kappa  Delta,  and  the  American  Legion. 

He  enlisted  in  the  Aviation  Corps  August 
4,  1917,  and  received  his  training  in  England. 
He  was  discharged  December  22,  1918.  Mr. 
Hostettler  is  a  thoroughly  alert  school  man, 
with  wide  interests  in  everything  effecting 
his  work,  enjoys  athletic  sports,  fishing  and 
hunting  and  travel,  and  has  been  over  many 
of  the   western   states. 

He  married  December  18,  1920,  Miss  Essie 
McWilliams  of  Camp  Point,  Illinois.  She 
was  born  and  reared  at  Maquon,  Illinois,  her 
people  being  substantial  farmers  in  that  local- 
ity. She  was  born  April  28,  1898,  graduated 
from  the  Camp  Point  High  School  in  1918, 
and  then  spent  two  years  in  the  Illinois 
Normal  University.  For  three  years  she 
taught  at  Kempton,  Illinois.  At  Minier  she 
has  taken  an  active  part  in  social  and  civic 
work,  is  a  member  of  the  Woman's  Club  and 
the  Christian  Church.  They  have  three  chil- 
dren, Ruth  Millicent,  born  August  24,  1923, 
Dorothy  Jean,  born  March  20,  1927,  and  John 
Edward,    born   May   17,    1929. 

Hon.  E.  E.  Newlin,  who  for  eighteen  years 
was  judge  of  the  Second  Illinois  Judicial  Dis- 
trict, was  enrolled  in  the  Illinois  bar  nearly 
half  a  century  ago.  His  life  has  been  a  long 
succession  of  professional  endeavor,  high  at- 
tainments and  notable  public  service. 

Judge  Newlin,  who  is  now  retired  from 
active  practice,  is  a  resident  of  Robinson  and 
is  a  brother  of  Thomas  J.  Newlin,  still  one 
of  the  leading  members  of  the  Crawford 
County  bar.  Judge  Newlin  was  born  in  Craw- 
ford County  February  22,  1858.  He  grew  up 
on  a  farm,  was  educated  in  rural  schools  and 
attended  the  Indiana  State  Normal  School  at 
Terre  Haute.  He  studied  law  in  the  office  of 
Callahan  &  Jones  at  Robinson,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1882.  For  several  years 
he  practiced  alone.  In  1884  he  was  elected 
state's  attorney  of  Crawford  County  and  held 
that  office  eight  years.  This  combined  with 
his  judicial  record  gives  him  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  of  important  public  serv- 
ice. After  his  term  as  state's  attorney  he 
was  a  partner  of  Judge  Jacob  Olwin  in  the 
firm  of  Olwin  &  Newlin  for  about  a  year,  then 
joined  with  Valmore  Parker  in  the  firm  of 
Newlin  &  Parker  for  about  two  years.  He 
was  a  law  associate  of  Judge  William  C. 
Jones  in  the  firm  of  Jones  &  Newlin  until 
1897.      In    that    year    he    was    elected    circuit 


judge  of  the  Second  District.  He  was  twice 
reelected,  served  eighteen  years  on  the  bench, 
retiring  of  his  own  accord,  refusing  to  accept 
the  urgent  invitation  that  he  continue  his 
splendid  judicial  record.  He  retired  to  pri- 
vate practice  in  the  firm  of  Newlin,  Parker 
&  Newlin  for  five  years.  After  Mr.  Parker 
retired  the  firm  continued  as  Newlin  &  Newlin 
until  Judge  Newlin's  son  went  to  Florida. 
Since  then  Judge  Newlin  has  practically  given 
up  his  law  practice. 

He  has  long  been  an  outstanding  figure  in 
the  Democratic  party  in  his  section  of  the 
state  and  is  a  member  of  the  Crawford  County 
and  Illinois  State  Bar  Associations.  Judge 
Newlin  is  a  Mason  and  a  Methodist. 

He  married  Miss  Clara  A.  Coulter,  of  Craw- 
ford County,  daughter  of  Melville  and  Mary 
(Wilkins)  Coulter.  Mrs.  Newlin  passed  away 
in  December,  1928.  There  are  three  children. 
Fay  is  the  wife  of  Edmund  C.  Lagrebe  and 
lives  at  Huntingburg,  Indiana.  Frank  E. 
Newlin,  the  son,  is  a  graduate  of  the  Robin- 
son High  School  and  of  the  University  of 
Illinois,  and  since  locating  in  Florida  has  built 
up  a  splendid  law  practice  at  Daytona  Beach. 
The  other  daughter,  Marian,  is  the  wife  of 
Fred  E.  Kessler,  of  Tulsa,  Oklahoma. 

Thomas  J.  Newlin  has  been  a  member  of 
the  Illinois  bar  forty  years.  During  the 
greater  part  of  that  time  his  home  has  been 
at  Robinson  in  Crawford  County.  For  many 
years  his  work  as  an  attorney  for  oil  cor- 
porations took  him  to  many  parts  of  the 
United  States.  Recently  he  has  resumed  his 
private  law  practice  at  Robinson,  and  is  one 
of  the  leading  members  of  the  bar. 

He  was  born  in  Crawford  County,  Illinois, 
April  2,  1863.  Mr.  Newlin  never  knew  his 
father,  Thomas  Newlin,  who  left  his  farm  in 
Crawford  County  to  join  the  Union  army  and 
died  of  disease  in  the  Government  Hospital 
at  Murfreesboro,  Tennessee,  April  7,  1863. 
Thomas  Newlin  was  also  a  native  of  Craw- 
ford County,  son  of  Eli  Newlin,  who  was 
also  born  in  this  Illinois  county.  The  Newlin 
family  in  the  seventeenth  century  moved  from 
Scotland  to  Ireland.  On  coming  to  this  coun- 
try they  first  settled  in  North  Carolina,  came 
into  the  Northwest  country,  locating  in  Parke 
County,  Indiana,  and  from  there  a  branch  of 
the  family  settled  as  pioneers  in  Crawford 
County,  Illinois.  Thomas  Newlin  married 
Mary  Ruckle,  who  was  born  near  Columbus, 
Ohio,  daughter  of  George  and  Susan  (Mike- 
worth)  Ruckle.  George  Ruckle  was  a  cabinet 
maker  by  trade.  Thomas  Newlin  and  wife  had 
the  following  children:  Martha,  who  was  mar- 
ried to  Josiah  Harrison,  of  Hunt  City;  George, 
who  died  at  the  age  of  fifteen;  Judge  E.  E. 
Newlin,  whose  career  is  sketched  elsewhere; 
Dr.  LeRoy,  a  graduate  of  the  Kentucky  School 
of  Medicine  and  a  prominent  Robinson  physi- 
cian;   Delia,   wife   of   Dr.    Charles   Kisner,   of 


232 


ILLINOIS 


Oblong,  Illinois;  Nettie  and  Madeline,  who 
died  in  infancy;  and  Thomas  J. 

Thomas  J.  Newlin  was  educated  in  the 
schools  of  Crawford  County,  attended  Merom 
College  on  the  banks  of  the  Wabash  River  at 
Merom,  Indiana,  and  finished  his  literary  edu- 
cation in  the  Central  Normal  College  at  Dan- 
ville, Indiana.  For  several  years  he  was  a 
teacher  in  Crawford  County.  His  law  studies 
were  pursued  in  the  office  of  his  brother,  Judge 
Newlin,  and  on  August  28,  1891,  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  practice.  He  continued  teaching  for 
a  year  and  was  then  elected  on  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket  clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court  of 
Crawford  County.  This  office  he  held  four 
years.  When  he  left  office  he  succeeded  his 
brother,  Judge  Newlin,  who  had  been  chosen 
circuit  judge,  as  a  member  of  the  law  firm 
of  Jones,  Eagelton  &  Newlin.  He  was  with 
this  firm  three  years  and  then  he  and  Val- 
more  Parker  established  the  firm  of  Parker 
&  Newlin.  The  partnership  was  dissolved  in 
1917,  at  which  time  Mr.  Newlin  became  asso- 
ciated with  the  Transcontinental  Oil  Com- 
pany of  Pittsburgh.  He  was  given  charge  of 
the  legal  work  in  connection  with  the  land 
department  of  this  corporation,  at  first  in 
Texas,  then  in  Louisiana  and  Arkansas,  and 
from  there  was  sent  to  Montana  and  put  in 
charge  of  the  Montana  and  Wyoming  prop- 
erties for  two  years.  He  returned  to  Shreve- 
port,  Louisiana,  and  was  in  charge  of  the 
Louisiana  and  Arkansas  district  until  Sep- 
tember, 1930.  At  that  date  he  resigned  and 
returned  to  Robinson  to  resume  his  private 
law  practice. 

Mr.  Newlin  is  a  member  of  the  Crawford 
County  Bar  Association,  is  a  Mason,  a  past 
exalted  ruler  of  the  Robinson  Lodge,  B.  P.  0. 
Elks,  and  for  two  years  was  a  member  of  the 
Democratic  State  Central  Committee.  He  held 
the  office  of  master  in  chancery  for  eight 
years.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal   Church. 

Mr.  Newlin  married,  August  28,  1891,  Miss 
Sarah  F.  Kirts,  of  Oblong,  Illinois.  Her  par- 
ents, Isaac  and  Mary  (Harmon)  Kirts,  came 
to  Illinois  from  Ohio  and  were  farming  people. 
Her  grandfather  was  a  native  of  Germany. 
Mrs.  Newlin  has  given  much  of  her  time  to 
club  and  social  life  at  Robinson  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Eastern  Star,  Royal  Neighbors 
and  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  They  had 
two  children.  Their  daughter,  Floy,  who  died 
July  26,  1930,  was  the  wife  of  Clifford  E. 
Storm,  of  Great  Falls,  Montana.  The  son  is 
Ralph  Thomas  Newlin,  a  graduate  of  the 
Robinson  High  School  and  the  University  of 
Illinois.  During  the  World  war  he  spent  one 
year  in  France  as  an  army  instructor.  He 
is  now  claim  agent  for  the  Great  Northern 
Railway,  with  headquarters  at  Grand  Forks, 
North  Dakota.  He  married  Miss  Sherry 
Byrd,  of  Havre,  Montana,  and  has  a  son, 
David  B.  Newlin. 


Thomas  J.  Sullivan,  police  magistrate  of 
the  City  of  Robinson,  is  a  man  of  wide  and 
varied  contact  with  the  world.  For  many  years 
he  was  connected  with  the  oil  industry,  a  work 
that  took  him  to  all  the  principal  fields  of  the 
East  and  Middle  West.  In  his  present  office 
he  has  shown  a  rare  good  sense  and  an  under- 
standing of  conditions  and  human  motives  in 
the  adjustment  of  matters  that  come  within 
his  jurisdiction. 

Judge  Sullivan  was  born  at  Scio,  New  York, 
May  20,  1863,  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Markey) 
Sullivan.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Ireland, 
came  to  the  United  States  to  seek  his  fortune 
when  a  young  man  and  in  early  years  was  in 
the  railroad  service  and  later  a  farmer  in 
New  York  State.  He  was  a  Democrat  in  poli- 
tics. Judge  Sullivan's  maternal  grandfather, 
James  Markey,  came  from  Ireland  when  a 
young  man,  and  lived  in  New  York  State  and 
Pennsylvania,  where  he  was  a  farmer. 

Thomas  J.  Sullivan  grew  up  and  acquired 
his  early  education  at  Scio.  Soon  after  leav- 
ing school  he  was  attracted  to  the  oil  fields. 
He  became  a  rig  builder,  and  in  that  work  he 
came  in  contact  with  all  the  principal  fields 
of  the  country,  in  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 
Ohio,  Indiana,  Kansas,  Oklahoma.  In  1906  he 
came  to  Illinois,  soon  after  the  early  develop- 
ments in  the  Eastern  Illinois  field,  locating  in 
Crawford  County.  For  some  time  he  was  in 
charge  of  a  lumber  business,  at  Stoy,  Illinois, 
and  later  he  was  in  the  oil  business  at  Robin- 
son. While  living  at  Stoy  he  served  as  presi- 
dent of  the  village  board  of  trustees  and  also 
served  as  police  magistrate  there. 

Since  coming  to  Illinois  Judge  Sullivan  has 
had  many  evidences  of  the  appreciation  of  his 
fellow  citizens.  He  served  as  police  magis- 
trate at  Stoy  and  for  one  year  was  president 
of  the  town  board.  In  1926,  at  Robinson,  he 
was  elected  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  two 
weeks  later  was  elected  police  magistrate.  He 
qualified  for  the  office  of  police  magistrate  in- 
stead of  justice  of  the  peace.  He  has  been 
kept  in  office  by  reelection  in  1929  and  all  his 
rulings  have  given  general  satisfaction  to 
litigants  and  to  the  members  of  the  bar. 
Judge  Sullivan  is  a  Democrat,  and  was  elected 
by  a  substantial  majority  in  a  town  which  is 
normally  400  Republican,  being  the  only  Dem- 
ocrat to  carry  the  township  in  1926.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  Lodge  at 
Bradner,  Ohio,  and  the  Improved  Order  of 
Red    Men   at   Noblesville,   Indiana. 

Judge  Sullivan  married  Miss  Florence 
Hagerty.  He  has  one  daughter,  Coletta,  who 
married  D.  W.  Hammack,  of  Rogers,  Arkan- 
sas. After  the  death  of  her  husband  she 
turned  her  talents  to  newspaper  work  and 
for  a  time  edited  a  paper  at  Rogers,  but  is 
now  on  the  staff  of  the  Springfield  Press,  at 
Springfield,  Missouri.  Mrs.  Hammack  has  one 
child,  Thomas  Sullivan  Hammack,  born  in 
1922. 


ILLINOIS 


233 


Roy  M.  Dalrymple,  mayor  of  Oblong,  is  a 
veteran  railroad  man,  and  as  a  transportation 
official  has  been  an  influential  factor  in  Craw- 
ford County  since  the  early  development  of 
the  oil  resources  of  that  section. 

Mr.  Dalrymple  is  of  Scotch  and  Scotch- 
Irish  ancestry.  The  Dalrymples  originated  in 
Scotland.  He  was  born  at  Pittsfield,  Penn- 
sylvania, June  15,  1885,  son  of  William  Wal- 
lace and  Kathryn  M.  (Campbell)  Dalrymple. 
His  maternal  grandfather,  George  W.  Camp- 
bell, was  a  lumberman  in  Minnesota  and 
served  a  term  in  the  Minnesota  Legislature. 
He  died  at  Hastings,  Minnesota.  William 
Wallace  Dalrymple  was  born  at  Pittsfield, 
Pennsylvania,  and  came  to  Illinois  in  1905, 
being  interested  in  the  oil  industry.  He  located 
at  Oblong  and  lived  there  until  his  death  on 
July  20,  1918.  He  was  a  son  of  David  R. 
Dalrymple,  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  who 
moved  to  Pennsylvania.  He  was  a  farmer, 
for  over  thirty  years  held  the  office  of  justice 
of  the  peace,  and  served  four  years  in  the 
Union  army,  with  the  Fourteenth  Pennsyl- 
vania Cavalry,  under  Gen.  Phil  Sheridan.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and 
active  in  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 
David  R.  Dalrymple  died  September  9,  1898. 

Roy  M.  Dalrymple  acquired  his  early  edu- 
cation in  grade  schools  of  Pittsfield,  Pennsyl- 
vania. When  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age  he 
took  up  railroad  work,  at  first  with  the  New 
York  Central  Railway  at  Warren,  Pennsyl- 
vania. For  about  eighteen  months  he  was 
cashier  in  the  local  office,  then  was  agent  for 
the  road  at  Irvington,  Pennsylvania,  a  year. 
Leaving  Pennsylvania,  he  was  in  Ohio  for 
some  years,  agent  for  the  L.  E.  A.  W.  Rail- 
road at  Newton  Falls,  and  then  cashier  for 
about  a  year  in  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  office  at 
Niles.  Mr.  Dalrymple  spent  about  a  year  as 
telegraph  operator  with  the  Buckeye  Pipe  Line 
Company,  after  which  he  returned  to  the 
Baltimore  &  Ohio  as  cashier  at  Niles  for 
eighteen  months. 

It  was  in  1908  that  he  located  at  Oblong, 
Illinois.  For  six  months  he  was  telegraph 
operator  for  the  Illinois  Central,  was  local 
cashier  for  two  years,  and  then  was  promoted 
to  agent,  a  post  of  duty  he  has  held  for  the 
past  twenty-one  years. 

Mr.  Dalrymple  has  long  been  an  influential 
factor  in  the  Republican  party  organization. 
He  is  now  chairman  of  the  Republican  County 
Central  Committee  of  Crawford  County.  For 
two  years  he  was  an  alderman  at  Oblong,  for 
two  years  supervisor  of  Oblong  Township,  for 
five  years  precinct  committeeman,  and  in 
April,  1929,  was  elected  mayor.  His  admin- 
istration as  mayor  has  been  one  of  progressive 
character,  and  much  work,  has  been  done 
toward  the  improvement  of  the  streets  and 
in  the  systematic  organization  of  the  munici- 
pal government.  Mr.  Dalrymple  was  for  three 
years   a   trustee  of  the  Oblong   High   School. 


He  is  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Home 
Theater  Circuit,  operating  theaters  at  Ob- 
long, Newton  and  Robinson.  He  is  a  director 
of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Oblong  and  a 
director  in  the  People's  Building  &  Loan 
Association. 

Mr.  Dalrymple  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason 
and  for  seven  years  was  secretary  of  his 
lodge.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Royal  Arch 
Chapter  of  Robinson,  is  affiliated  with  the 
Modern  Woodmen  of  America,  is  treasurer  of 
the  Oblong  Rotary  Club,  member  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  and  the  Order  of  Railway 
Telegraphers. 

Mr.  Dalrymple  married,  September  12,  1911, 
Miss  Kathryn  Andrews,  of  Russell,  Pennsyl- 
vania, daughter  of  Otis  and  Minnie  (Maltby) 
Andrews.  She  was  a  graduate  of  the  Russell 
High  School.  She  died  February  20,  1920, 
leaving  two  sons:  Robert  M.,  born  August  13, 
1917,  and  William  Wallace,  born  January  8, 
1920.  On  August  27,  1928,  Mr.  Dalrymple 
married  Miss  Belva  Newbold,  of  Oblong, 
daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  A.  Newbold. 
The  Newbold  family  were  pioneers  of  Craw- 
ford County  and  her  father  is  a  leading  hard- 
ware merchant  at  Oblong.  Mrs.  Dalrymple 
attended  the  Oblong  High  School.  She  is  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
and  active  in  the  social  and  civic  life  of  the 
community. 

John  C.  Richert,  one  of  the  prominent 
younger  members  of  the  Chicago  bar,  bears 
an  old  and  honored  name  in  Chicago  civic 
history,  being  a  son  of  former  alderman  John 
A.  Richert. 

John  A.  Richert's  name  has  been  in  the 
public  prints  for  many  years.  He  represents 
the  old  Fourth  Ward,  now  the  Eleventh  Ward, 
in  the  City  Council,  and  was  always  regarded 
as  a  most  valuable  member  in  formulating 
important  legislation  connected  with  the  needs 
of  an  expanding  and  growing  city.  He  is  still 
a  veteran  in  civic  affairs  and  a  leader  in  civic 
undertakings.  For  a  number  of  years  he 
has  been  chief  of  staff  for  the  City  Council 
committee  on  finance.  John  A.  Richert  married 
Sophia  N.  Segessman,  and  their  son,  John  C, 
was  born  in  Chicago  in  1897. 

John  C.  Richert  attended  the  All  Saints 
parochial  school  and  the  De  LaSalle  Institute 
and  was  graduated  from  the  law  department 
of  DePaul  University  with  the  LL.  B.  degree 
in  1917,  when  twenty  years  old.  Immediately 
came  the  call  to  service  during  the  World  war 
and  he  enlisted  in  the  navy.  He  was  in 
training  for  a  time  at  the  Municipal  Pier 
in  Chicago,  then  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  in 
New  York,  and  received  his  honorable  dis- 
charge February  19,  1919.  On  returning  to 
Chicago  Mr.  Richert  became  law  clerk  for 
the  prominent  firm  of  Schuyler,  Dunbar  & 
Weinfeld.  He  has  been  with  that  firm  con- 
tinuously, and  since  April  13,  1922,  has  been 


234 


ILLINOIS 


an  associate  member.  He  is  an  able  speaker 
and  has  handled  cases  with  much  ability  in 
court. 

Mr.  Richert  is  affiliated  with  the  Knights 
of  Columbus,  the  Catholic  Order  of  Forresters, 
the  Lincolnshire  Country  Club  and  American 
Legion.  He  married  Miss  Christine  Flesvig, 
of  Chicago.  They  have  two  children,  John 
C,  Jr.,  and  Evelyn  C. 

Hon.  Frederick  W.  Kuechler,  member  of 
the  Illinois  General  Assembly  from  the  Forty- 
sixth  District,  is  a  very  capable  physician  and 
surgeon,  a  man  whose  work  has  gained  him 
a  high  position  in  his  profession  and  in  the 
community  of  Newton,  Jasper  County. 

Doctor  Kuechler  was  born  at  Indianapolis, 
Indiana,  January  2,  1876.  His  parents,  Louis 
and  Emma  (Heiser)  Kuechler,  were  natives 
of  Germany.  Each  was  about  sixteen  years  of 
age  when  brought  to  the  United  States.  They 
had  ten  children,  the  five  living  being  Emma, 
Lotta,  Frederick  W.,  Julius  B.  and  Charles  G. 

Frederick  W.  Kuechler  attended  public 
schools  in  Indianapolis,  Indiana.  In  1893  he 
Was  graduated  M.  D.  from  the  Indiana  Med- 
ical College  at  Indianapolis.  After  graduat- 
ing he  spent  twenty  months  as  an  interne  in 
the  Central  Insane  Hospital  at  Indianapolis. 
Doctor  Kuechler  has  attended  to  a  large  vol- 
ume of  general  practice  as  a  physician  and 
surgeon  in  Jasper  County.  After  serving  his 
interneship  he  located  at  Sainte  Marie  in  1895, 
where  he  remained  several  months,  after 
which  he  located  at  Hidalgo,  March  25,  1895, 
and  where  he  continued  until  moving  his 
headquarters  to  Newton  on  July  1,  1932.  For 
twenty  years  he  has  been  local  surgeon  for 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  and  for  twelve 
years  he  was  county  coroner. 

He  has  been  a  staunch  upholder  of  the 
Democratic  party  and  many  times  has  been 
elected  to  office.  He  served  many  years  on 
the  village  board  of  Hidalgo,  for  one  term 
was  township  supervisor,  in  1929  was  chair- 
man of  the  Jasper  County  Board  of  Super- 
visors, and  in  November,  1930,  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  State  Legislature  and  has 
served  in  the  Fifty-seventh  General  Assembly 
of  Illinois,  being  a  member  of  committee  on 
charities  and  corrections,  efficiency  and  econ- 
omy, farm  drainage,  military  affairs,  motor 
vehicles  and  traffic  regulations,  roads  and 
bridges  and  senatorial  apportionment.  For 
one  term  he  was  a  member  of  the  United 
States  Pension  Board. 

Doctor  Kuechler  served  for  many  years  as 
president  of  the  Citizens  State  Bank  of 
Hidalgo.  During  his  long  residence  in  Jasper 
County  he  has  acquired  many  interests  and 
has  given  his  enterprise  to  a  helpful  promo- 
tion of  many  objects.  He  has  long  been  in- 
terested in  the  oil  production  of  his  district 
and  he  also  owns  several  farms.  For  several 
years   he  has  been  a   large   planter   of   peach 


trees.  Doctor  Kuechler  is  a  past  president 
of  the  Jasper  County  Medical  Society,  member 
of  the  Illinois  State  Medical  Society  and 
American  Medical  Association,  and  is  affiliated 
with  Greenup  Lodge  No.  125  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity  and  Hidalgo  Lodge,  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 

He  married,  September  7,  1898,  Miss  Jessie 
Morrow,  of  Hazelville,  Illinois.  They  have 
two  adopted  children,  Lois  Harriet  and  Karl 
L.  They  are  both  high  school  students  at 
Newton. 

George  H.  Prime,  a  native  of  Illinois,  a 
lawyer  by  profession,  has  been  a  resident  of 
Robinson  since  1905  and  has  been  prominent 
as  an  oil  producer  and  in  other  lines  of  busi- 
ness in  that  city. 

The  Prime  family  is  one  of  the  oldest  in 
the  United  States.  Originally  the  Primes 
were  residents  of  Flanders.  The  family  his- 
tory runs  back  to  the  year  1179.  Their  seat 
was  at  Ypres.  From  1179  to  1680  there  were 
sixteen  Primes  who  served  as  chief  magis- 
trates of  the  City  of  Ypres.  During  the  perse- 
cution of  the  Wollons  and  the  Flemish  in- 
habitants of  the  Low  Countries  by  the  Duke 
of  Alva  many  of  the  family  were  driven  from 
Flanders  to  England  and  from  that  country 
James  Prime,  the  founder  of  this  branch  of 
the  family,  crossed  the  ocean  to  America  and 
settled  at  Milford,  Connecticut,  in  1634.  Only 
a  few  of  the  more  noted  names  of  the  Ameri- 
can representatives  of  this  family  can  be 
noted  here.  Many  of  them  have  entered  the 
learned  professions,  and  some  have  been  dis- 
tinguished by  scholarship  and  great  ability  in 
the  ministry,  the  law,  medicine  and  other 
professions. 

James  Prime  II,  son  of  James  Prime  I, 
was  a  large  land  owner  and  was  made  free- 
man at  Milford,  Connecticut,  in  1713.  He  was 
born  in  England  in  1633,  and  died  at  Mil- 
ford, Connecticut,  in  1736,  at  the  advanced 
age  of  103. 

Ebenezer  Prime  graduated  at  Yale  College 
with  Jonathan  Edwards  in  1718,  and  was  pas- 
tor of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Hunting- 
ton, Long  Island,  fifty-six  consecutive  years. 
He  was  a  prominent  Revolutionary  patriot. 
He  organized  the  Presbytery  of  Suffolk  and 
was  its  first  moderator.  Born  in  1700,  he  died 
in  1779. 

Benjamin  Prime  graduated  from  Yale  in 
1761.  He  spent  his  life  in  the  Presbyterian 
ministry.  He  was  a  ripe  scholar  and  collected 
a  remarkable  library  for  his  days  rich  in 
classics  and  theology.     Died  in  1823. 

Benjamin  Youngs  Prime  graduated  from 
Princeton  in  1751.  He  taught  in  Princeton 
College  1756  to  1760,  received  the  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts  from  Yale  in  1762,  pursued 
the  study  of  medicine  in  Edinburgh  and  Lon- 
don and  received  his  Medical  Doctor's  degree 
from   Leyden   University  in   Holland  in   1764. 


ILLINOIS 


235 


After  visiting  the  educational  centers  of 
Europe  he  returned  to  New  York  City  to  prac- 
tice his  profession.  He  was  considered  one  of 
the  best  classical  scholars  of  his  day.  He 
was  master  of  five  modern  languages  and  used 
Latin  and  Greek  with  great  facility.  He  wrote 
many  poems  for  and  was  a  member  of  the 
Sons  of  Liberty  and  participated  in  the  de- 
struction of  the  statue  of  George  III. 

Nathaniel  Scudder  Prime  graduated  from 
Princeton  in  1804.  He  was  principal  of  the 
academy  at  Huntington,  Long  Island,  entered 
the  Presbytery  of  Long  Island,  1805,  was 
trustee  of  Middlebury  College,  1822-1826, 
trustee  of  Williams  College,  1826-1831,  re- 
ceived his  Doctor's  degree  from  Princeton  in 
1848.  He  was  an  accomplished  Latin  and 
Greek  scholar  and  was  a  recognized  authority 
on  all  things  classical.  He  was  born  in  1788 
and  died  in  1856. 

Edward  Darr  Griffin  Prime  graduated  from 
Union  College  in  1832  and  graduated  from 
Princeton  in  1838.  Ordained  collegiate  pas- 
tor in  1839,  he  became  one  of  the  editors  of 
the  New  York  Observer  and  was  chaplain 
of  the  American  Embassy  in  Rome,  1854- 
1856.  He  received  his  Doctor's  degree  from 
Jefferson  College  in  1860.  In  1869-70,  to- 
gether with  his  wife,  he  made  a  trip  around 
the  world,  visiting  all  missionary  stations  on 
the  route.  He  was  a  voluminous  writer  and 
author  of  many  books  on  travel,  history  and 
biography.     Born  in  1814,  he  died  in  1891. 

William  Cowper  Prime  graduated  from 
Princeton  in  1843.  He  practiced  law  in  New 
York  City  until  1861,  became  edtor-in-chief  of 
the  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce,  continu- 
ing until  1869,  and  was  then  its  owner  until 
1893.  He  received  his  LL.  D.  from  Princeton 
in  1875.  He  became  professor  of  the  history 
of  art  in  Princeton  University.  He  was  born 
in  1825. 

Samuel  Irenaeus  Prime  graduated  at  Wil- 
liams College  1829,  and  from  Princeton  Theo- 
logical Seminary  in  1833.  He  was  pastor  at 
Matteawan,  New  York,  became  proprietor  of 
the  New  York  Observer  in  1840,  received  his 
Doctor's  degree  from  Hampden  Sidney  Col- 
lege. He  visited  Europe  and  the  Holy  Land 
in  1853-1866-1876.  He  was  a  preacher  and 
an  editor  of  great  force  and  wrote  many 
books. 

Ralph  E.  Prime  is  an  attorney  at  Yonkers, 
New  York.  He  was  a  Civil  war  soldier,  was 
created  a  brigadier-general  by  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, traveled  in  Europe  in  1884-1888  and 
visited  the  Orient  in  1892. 

George  H.  Prime,  Jr.,  graduated  from  Han- 
over College  in  1927  in  the  Centennial  class 
of  that  institution,  and  was  awarded  his  de- 
gree of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  He  graduated  from 
the  Indiana  Law  School,  Indianapolis,  Indi- 
ana, in  1930,  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Laws.     He  married  Elizabeth  Kibler,  of  Paoli, 


Indiana,  a  teacher,  a  graduate  of  Hanover 
College  with  the  Bachelor  of  Arts  degree. 

While  his  career  has  been  an  intensely  prac- 
tical one,  George  H.  Prime  has  shared  many 
of  the  literary '  and  cultural  interests  of  his 
ancestry.  He  was  born  at  Watseka,  Illinois, 
May  12,  1864,  and  soon  after  his  birth  his 
parents,  James  W.  and  Catherine  A.  (Brown) 
Prime,  moved  west  to  Nebraska.  He  grew  up 
in  that  state,  attended  public  schools  and 
taught  in  Nebraska  for  five  years.  While 
teaching  he  studied  law,  in  1888  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  and  practiced  at  Minden,  Nebraska, 
until  1905.  In  that  year  he  came  to  Robinson, 
Illinois,  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  the 
early  development  of  the  oil  fields  in  this 
region  as  a  private  producer.  He  has  drilled 
many  producing  wells  in  the  Illinois  and  In- 
diana fields.  Mr.  Prime  and  his  family  are  all 
staunch  Democrats  and  are  members  of  the 
Presbyterian   Church. 

He  married,  September  29,  1891,  Miss  Min- 
nie B.  Brome,  of  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  a 
teacher,  daughter  of  Samuel  D.  and  Armilda 
Francis  (Potter)  Brome.  Her  father  spent  a 
long  life  as  an  Illinois  educator  and  at  one 
time,  together  with  his  wife,  a  graduate  of 
Jacksonville  College,  conducted  a  private  school 
at  Jerseyville.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Prime  have  one 
son,  George  H.,  Jr.,  as  noted  in  the  foregoing 
paragraph. 

Mrs.  Prime  is  a  member  of  the  Delphian 
Society  of  Robinson,  is  a  past  president  of 
the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  of 
Crawford  County,  and  is  active  in  temperance, 
literary  work  and  Christian  education. 

Vernie  A.  Jones,  Illinois  educator,  has 
given  twenty  years  to  teaching  and  school  ad- 
ministration, and  for  the  past  eight  years  has 
been  county  superintendent  of  schools  of  Jas- 
per County. 

Mr.  Jones,  whose  home  is  at  Newton,  was 
born  in  Jasper  County,  May  14,  1890,  son  of 
W.  A.  and  Rachel  (Cox)  Jones.  His  father 
lives  retired  at  Willow  Hill,  renting  his  farms. 
He  was  born  in  Jasper  County,  his  parents 
having  come  from  Kentucky.  He  has  made 
a  success  of  his  business  life  and  has  also  been 
active  in  the  Democratic  politics  of  the  county. 

Vernie  A.  Jones  attended  public  schools  and 
in  1911  was  graduated  from  the  Eastern  Illi- 
nois Normal  School  at  Charleston.  He  began 
teaching  in  1912.  Work  during  summer  vaca- 
tions has  greatly  augmented  his  credits  toward 
a  higher  education.  He  spent  three  summers 
in  study  at  the  University  of  Illinois.  As  a 
teacher  Mr.  Jones  was  located  five  years  at 
Willow  Hill,  Illinois,  four  years  of  the  time 
as  teacher  in  the  high  school.  He  was  prin- 
cipal of  the  high  school  at  Effingham,  Illinois, 
for  three  years,  and  for  three  years  taught  in 
the  high  school  at  Palestine.  Since  then  his 
work   has   been   in   Newton,  where   he  taught 


236 


ILLINOIS 


science  and  later  agriculture.  In  1922  he  was 
elected  county  superintendent  of  schools.  In 
that  office  he  has  accomplished  a  great  deal 
toward  giving  the  county  school  system  a  well 
rounded  program,  including  vocational  instruc- 
tion in  agriculture.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
County  Fair  Board  and  for  several  years  has 
had  charge  of  the  school  and  club  displays  at 
the   County  Fair. 

Mr.  Jones  was  one  of  the  group  of  earnest 
men  and  women  who  for  five  years  labored 
in  behalf  of  a  library  project,  which  in  1929 
was  formally  established  by  the  Woman's  Club 
at  Newton.  Mr.  Jones  is  a  member  of  the 
library  board. 

He  is  personally  in  close  touch  with  farm- 
ing, owning  and  operating  a  farm  in  Jasper 
County.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  board 
of  the  Farm  Bureau  and  the  Marketing  Asso- 
ciation. Mr.  Jones  is  a  member  of  the  Eastern 
Educational  Association,  the  National  Educa- 
tion Association,  and  for  six  years  has  been 
a  delegate  to  the  State  Teachers  Association. 
He  is  a  member  of  Willow  Hill  Lodge  No.  489, 
A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  the  Eastern  Star  and  the 
Prince  of  Peace  Shrine  at  Effingham.  He  is  a 
Democrat  and  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Church. 

Mr.  Jones  married,  August  18,  1915,  Miss 
Helen  Byers,  of  Charleston,  daughter  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Richard  Byers.  They  have  a  family 
of  four  children,  Earl,  Herschel,  Wayne  and 
Shirley. 

Richey  V.  Graham  is  a  notable  example  of 
business  and  public  leadership  in  the  affairs 
of  Chicago.  He  was  a  captain  in  the  Black 
Hawk  division  during  the  World  war,  is  now 
a  member  of  the  Illinois  State  Senate,  a  law- 
yer by  training  who  has  turned  his  talents  to 
the  field  of  business  and  is  manager  of  the 
well-known  firm  of  Cermak  &  Serhant,  one  of 
the  chief  real  estate  and  financial  organiza- 
tions on  the  Southwest  Side. 

Captain  Graham  was.  born  at  Gait,  Ontario, 
Canada,  November  22,  1886,  and  was  a  year 
and  a  half  old  when  his  parents  moved  to 
Chicago.  That  city  has  been  his  home  prac- 
tically all  his  life.  He  attended  public  schools, 
the  Lakeview  High  School,  in  1906  graduated 
from  the  Danville  Military  Institute  at  Dan- 
ville, Virginia.  He  also  spent  a  year  of  study 
in  the  University  of  Wisconsin  and  his  law 
studies  were  completed  in  the  Chicago  Kent 
College  of  Law,  from  which  institution  he 
received  his  degree  of  Master  of  Laws  and 
Bachelor  of  Laws. 

Instead  of  engaging  in  practice  he  took  up 
a  business  career.  For  eight  years  he  repre- 
sented the  Michigan  Stove  Company  and  for 
two  years  the  Globe  Stove  &  Range  Company 
of  Kokomo,  Indiana.  He  volunteered,  attended 
the  first  officers  training  camp  at  Fort  Sheri- 
dan in  the  spring  of  1917,  was  commissioned 
a  second  lieutenant  and   served  as  first  lieu- 


tenant and  then  as  captain  in  the  Eighty-sixth 
Blackhawk  Division.  With  this  division  he 
was  overseas  for  seven  months. 

Captain  Graham  for  four  years  from  May 
2,  1923,  to  May  2,  1927,  was  warden  of  the 
Chicago  House  of  Correction,  commonly  known 
as  the  Bridewell.  After  resigning  that  posi- 
tion he  was  assistant  to  the  president  of  the 
Cook  County  Board  from  May  3,  1927,  his 
resignation  from  this  office  taking  effect  Jan- 
uary 8,  1929. 

In  November,  1928,  he  was  elected  a  repre- 
sentative in  the  Illinois  Legislature  from  the 
nineteenth  senatorial  district.  Captain  Gra- 
ham proved  himself  one  of  the  valuable  mem- 
bers of  the  1929  session.  He  received  assign- 
ment to  such  important  committtees  as  banks, 
banking  and  building  and  loan  associations; 
civil  service,  congressional  apportionment;  in- 
surance; military  affairs;  motor  vehicles  and 
traffic   regulations;    and  rules. 

Captain  Graham  since  January,  1929,  has 
been  manager  of  Cermak  &  Serhant,  real  es- 
tate, insurance  and  mortgage  loans  with  offices 
at  3347  West  Twenty-sixth  Street.  This  firm 
also  has  the  management  of  the  Homan  Build- 
ing &  Loan  Association. 

Captain  Graham's  wife  was  Miss  Lillian 
Cermak,  whose  father  is  Honorable  Anton 
Cermak,  former  president  of  the  Cook  County 
Board  and  now  mayor  of  the  City  of  Chicago. 
Captain  and  Mrs.  Graham  have  four  children, 
Vivian,  Anton,  Jr.,  Richey  V.,  Jr.,  and  Robert 
John. 

Captain  Graham  is  a  past  commander  of 
Lawndale-Crawford  Post  of  the  American 
Legion.  He  has  many  other  interesting 
affiliations,  including  the  Phi  Alpha  Delta 
Law  fraternity,  the  Blue  Lodge,  Royal  Arch 
Chapter,  Scottish  Rite  Commandery  and  Me- 
dinah  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Medinah  Country  Club,  Me- 
dinah  Athletic  Club,  Mid  West  Athletic  Club, 
Illinois  Athletic  Club,  Chain  of  Lakes  Country 
Club  and  the  Bohemian  Club.  He  resides  at 
1916  South  Austin  Boulevard. 

Rt.  Rev.  Msgr.  Michael  J.  FitzSimmons, 
one  of  the  best  loved  priests  of  the  diocese  of 
Chicago,  has  given  practically  all  the  active 
years  of  his  life  to  the  Holy  Name  parish, 
and  for  forty-two  years  was  rector  of  the 
Holy  Name  Cathedral. 

He  was  born  in  Chicago,  son  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Michael  FitzSimmons,  who  came  from 
Ireland.  His  father  died  at  Morris,  Illinois,  in 
1855,  and  the  son  received  his  education  in  the 
parochial  schools  of  Morris.  He  attended 
Saint  Joseph's  College  at  Teutopolis,  Illinois, 
graduating  in  1878,  after  which  he  spent  one 
year  as  a  student  in  Saint  Viator's  Seminary 
near  Kankakee,  followed  by  three  years  in 
Saint  Mary's  Seminary  at  Baltimore.  In  Au- 
gust, 1882,  he  was*  ordained  in  the  Holy  Name 
Cathedral  at  Chicago.     His  first  appointment 


i 


;#t««i«* 


ILLINOIS 


237 


was  at  Saint  Mary's  Church,  but  just  four 
weeks  later  he  was  transferred  to  the  Cathe- 
dral, and  from  assistant  pastor  was  promoted 
to  chancellor  of  the  Archdiocese,  and  on  the 
death  of  Very  Rev.  P.  J.  Conway  was  made 
rector  of  the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Name. 
He  is  now  rector  emeritus.  To  no  priest  of 
the  Chicago  diocese  has  higher  personal  con- 
sideration among  the  members  of  his  own 
faith  and  of  those  of  different  religious  opin- 
ion been   paid   than   to   Father    FitzSimmons. 

Mellen  Chamberlain  Martin.  The  public's 
estimate  and  measure  of  the  importance  of 
law  firms  and  individual  attorneys  is  based 
upon  the  class  and  importance  of  interests 
represented,  so  far  as  these  interests  come 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  public  through  the 
newspapers  and  avenues.  On  this  score  one 
of  the  undoubtedly  strongest  law  firms  of  the 
city  of  Chicago,  particularly  in  business  and 
corporation  practice,  is  Kirkland,  Fleming, 
Green  &  Martin.  Since  October,  1929,  this 
firm  has  occupied  three  entire  floors  of  the 
tower  of  the  great  Foreman  National  Bank 
Building  on  LaSalle  Street.  The  senior  mem- 
ber of  the  firm,  Weymouth,  Kirkland,  is  one  of 
the  veteran  members  of  the  Chicago  bar  and 
one  of  its  ablest  representatives.  He  was  chief 
counsel  for  the  defense  of  the  Chicago  Tribune 
in  the  noted  case  brought  by  Henry  Ford 
for  libel.  The  head  of  the  firm  for  a  number 
of  years  was  Col.  Robert  Rutherford  McCor- 
mick,  editor  and  one  of  the  owners  of  the 
Chicago  Tribune,  who  is  now  retired  from 
legal  practice.  This  firm  handles  the  legal 
business  of  a  number  of  large  corporations 
and  business  enterprises,  including  the  Chicago 
Tribune. 

To  this  firm  in  1912  there  came  a  junior 
associate  from  Michigan,  Mellen  Chamberlain 
Martin,  whose  abilities  have  brought  him  for- 
ward as  a  Chicago  lawyer  and  who  is  now  a 
member  of  this  great  law  firm.  Mr.  Martin 
was  born  at  Three  Oaks,  Michigan,  July  26, 
1886,  son  of  Moses  Mellen  and  Mary  (Pierce) 
Martin.  In  1906  he  was  graduated  from  the 
high  school  of  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  and 
then  spent  six  years  in  the  University  of 
Michigan,  a  student  in  the  literary  department 
until  1909,  and  in  the  law  school  from  1909 
until  he  was  graduated  LL.  B.  in  1912.  He 
was  self  supporting  during  most  of  his  uni- 
versity career,  spending  three  months  of  each 
year  for  five  years  as  an  employee  of  the 
famous  Detroit  seed  house  of  D.  M.  Ferry 
&  Company.  Mr.  Martin  was  admitted  to  the 
Michigan  bar  in  1912  and  in  the  same  year 
to  the  Illinois  bar.  At  Chicago  he  was  given 
the  opportunity  to  enter  the  firm  of  Shepard, 
McCormick  &  Thomason,  which  in  subsequent 
changes  has  become  the  firm  of  Kirkland, 
Fleming,  Green  &  Martin,  in  which  Mr.  Martin 
has  been  a  partner  since  1918. 


Mr.  Martin  is  an  able  lawyer  and  has  given 
freely  of  his  time  and  abilities  to  civic  affairs. 
He  is  a  director  of  the  Lake  Shore  Trust 
&  Savings  Bank.  During  the  World  war 
period  in  1917-18  he  acted  as  legal  adviser 
to  the  exemption  board  in  the  administration 
of  the  Selective  Service  Act.  He  was  also 
a  member  of  the  Chicago  National  Guard 
Commission  and  of  the  Civic  and  Social  Com- 
mission during  the  Lowden  administration.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Chicago,  Illinois  State  and 
American  Bar  Associations,  the  Chicago  Law 
Institute,  the  Legal  Club,  American  Academy 
of  Political  and  Social  Science,  the  Chicago 
Art  Institute,  National  Geographic  Society. 
He  is  a  Theta  Delta  Chi,  a  Republican,  a 
member  of  the  Congregational  Church.  His 
recreations  are  horseback  riding,  golf  and 
swimming,  and  he  belongs  to  the  Chicago,  Uni- 
versity, Mid-Day,  Sky-Line,  Commonwealth, 
Indian  Hill  and  Knollwood  Country  Clubs.  He 
also  belongs  to  the  Racquet  Club  of  Wash- 
ington D.  C.,  and  the  Garrison  Club  of  Quebec, 
Canada.  Mr.  Martin  married  Miss  Clara  True- 
blood,  of  Ann  Arbor,  August  22,  1914.  They 
have  two  children,  Edward  Trueblood  and 
Marilyn.  Mr.  Martin  and  family  reside  in 
Winnetka. 

Charles  Monroe  Sowers,  sheriff  of  Jasper 
County,  and  one  of  the  ablest  men  ever  to 
fill  that  office,  has  been  known  to  the  people 
of  the  county  since  boyhood  and  his  indus- 
trious career  has  well  deserved  the  confidence 
shown  in  his  election  to  this  important  office. 

Mr.  Sowers  represents  a  family  of  long 
lived,  industrious,  God-fearing  and  honorable 
people,  who  have  had  much  to  do  with  shaping 
the  destiny  of  a  number  of  communities  in 
America.  His  great-great-grandfather,  Val- 
entine Sowers,  was  a  native  of  Luxemburg, 
Germany.  Mr.  Sowers  is  one  of  the  numerous 
descendants  of  Valentine  and  Mary  (Dare) 
Sowers,  both  of  whom  were  born  in  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania.  After  their  marriage  they 
moved  to  the  vicinity  of  Raleigh,  North  Caro- 
lina, where  they  lived  and  prospered  for  many 
years.  They  were  the  parents  of  eleven  chil- 
dren, nine  sons  and  two  daughters,  whose 
names  were  Michael,  David,  John,  Henry, 
Phillip,  Andrew,  Tice,  Valentine,  Lewis,  Re- 
becca and  Catherine.  They  were  Lutherans 
and  in  politics  were  Democrats,  and  while  liv- 
ing in  their  native  State  of  North  Carolina 
were  slave  owners.  The  family  moved  to  In- 
diana about  1834,  some  of  the  children  com- 
ing later.  All  of  them  reached  a  good  old 
age.  In  September,  1902,  a  reunion  of  the 
descendants  was  held  in  Fountain  County,  In- 
diana. At  that  time  there  were  seventy-five 
living  cousins,  grandchildren  of  Valentine  and 
Mary   (Dare)   Sowers. 

The  grandfather  of  the  Jasper  County 
sheriff  was  Valentine  Sowers,  who  was  born  in 


238 


ILLINOIS 


North  Carolina  and  came  to  Indiana  in  1834. 
He  lived  in  that  state  for  many  years,  but  in 
1883  moved  to  the  vicinity  of  Baldwin,  Kansas, 
where  he  entered  land  and  where  he  lived  out 
the  rest  of  his  life.  Valentine  Sowers  had  a 
family  of  seven  sons  and  three  daughters, 
and  six  of  them  are  now  living,  past  eighty 
years  of  age. 

The  father  of  Charles  Monroe  Sowers  was 
John  Wesley  Sowers,  who  was  born  in  Indi- 
ana, in  1844.  In  1870  he  married  Margaret 
Ward,  who  was  born  in  Indiana  in  1848  and 
died  in  Illinois  in  1889.  Her  father,  Robert 
Ward,  of  German  ancestry,  was  born  in  Ken- 
tucky and  moved  to  Indiana  in  1840.  He  was 
a  carpenter  by  trade.  He  used  his  skill  in 
the  building  of  flat  boats  on  the  Narrows  of 
Sugar  Creek,  just  north  of  Marshall,  Indiana. 
These  boats  were  loaded,  were  floated  to  the 
Wabash  and  thence  down  the  rivers  to  New 
Orleans,  where  the  boats  and  their  loads  of 
freight  were  sold.  Those  who  accompanied 
the  boats  usually  walked  back  to  Indiana. 
Robert  Ward  had  three  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters, Felix,  Robert,  Samuel,  Betty,  Mattie  and 
Margaret.  Betty  and  Mattie  are  still  living, 
the  former  past  ninety  and  the  latter  past 
eighty.  John  Wesley  Sowers  in  1879  moved 
his  family  to  Island  Grove  Township,  Jasper 
County,  Illinois.  He  died  there  July  7,  1930, 
at  the  age  of  eighty-six  years,  one  month, 
twenty-six  days,  having  survived  his  wife 
forty-one  years.  They  had  six  children,  three 
sons  and  three  daughters:  Charles  Monroe; 
Sarah  Elizabeth,  wife  of  I.  U.  Mitchell,  of 
Wheeler,  Illinois;  Effie  Pearl,  wife  of  Alonzo 
Brown,  of  Bogota,  Illinois;  George,  who  died 
in  infancy;  Mary  Magdaline,  wife  of  E.  A. 
Hampton,  of  Rose  Hill,  Illinois;  and  D.  E. 
Sowers,  of  Marshall,  Illinois. 

Charles  Monroe  Sowers  was  born  on  a  farm 
in  Fountain  County,  Indiana,  February  21, 
1872,  and  was  about  eight  years  of  age  when 
brought  to  Jasper  County,  Illinois.  He  grew 
up  there,  attended  the  local  schools,  and  since 
boyhood  has  kept  in  close  touch  with  the  farm 
and  farming  interests.  His  home  has  been 
in  Grove,  Crooked  Creek  and  North  Muddy 
townships,  with  the  exception  of  about  twenty- 
two  years,  when  much  of  his  time  was  spent 
away  from  home,  engaged  in  the  hay  and 
grain  business.  In  this  connection  he  traveled 
extensively  through  the  states  of  the  North- 
west and  over  several  states  of  the  South, 
where  he  bought  and  sold  hay,  grain  and  feed. 

Mr.  Sowers  has  many  times  been  elected  to 
positions  of  trust  and  responsibility.  He  was 
elected  collector  for  Grove  Township,  was  for 
two  terms  president  of  the  village  board  and 
assessor  of  Wheeler,  and  for  two  terms  was 
justice  of  the  peace  and  supervisor  of  North 
Muddy  Township,  until  1927.  In  the  spring 
of  1930  he  was  nominated  on  the  Democratic 
ticket  for  sheriff  of  Jasper  County,  and  in 
November    was    elected.      Since    then    he    has 


devoted  himself  without  reserve  to  the  respon- 
sibilities of  his  office  at  Newton. 

Sheriff  Sowers  married,  February  7,  1894, 
in  Jasper  County,  Miss  Iva  Garwood,  daugh- 
ter of  Charles  and  Sarah  (Strole)  Garwood. 
Her  people  came  to  Illinois  from  Virginia,  be- 
ing among  the  pioneer  settlers  of  Jasper 
County.  Her  grandfather,  A.  J.  Strole,  was 
born  in  Virginia.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sowers  have 
had  a  family  of  three  sons  and  four  daugh- 
ters: Albert,  deceased;  Stella,  wife  of  John 
Leturno,  of  Wheeler,  Illinois,  where  Mr. 
Leturno  is  postmaster,  and  they  have  three 
children,  named  Irene,  Ruby  and  John;  Mearl 
Sowers  married  Ruby  Manuel  and  has  one 
child,  Delane;  Eva  is  the  wife  of  R.  G.  Wat- 
kins,  of  Newton,  deputy  sheriff  of  Jasper 
County;  Beulah  is  the  wife  of  Russell  Weber, 
of  Wheeler,  and  has  one  child,  Ernest;  Verna 
is  the  wife  of  Will  Weber,  of  Montrose,  Colo- 
rado, and  they  have  a  son,  Arthur;  and 
Charles  M.,  Jr.,  at  home. 

For  thirty  years  Sheriff  Sowers  has  been 
a  member  of  the  Odd  Fellows  Lodge,  and  is 
also  a  member  of  the  Encampment,  and  for 
thirty-six  years  has  been  enrolled  in  the  Order 
of  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  America.  Since 
boyhood  days  he  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Grove  Township  Lutheran  Church. 

The  Community  High  School  of  Newton 
is  an  institution  that  reflects  the  educational 
ideals  of  one  of  the  most  progressive  com- 
munities in  Eastern  Illinois.  About  thirty-five 
years  ago  a  high  school  was  established  at 
Newton.  It  became  an  accredited  high  school 
to  the  University  of  Illinois  in  1897.  In  1919 
an  election  was  held  to  take  the  sentiment  of 
the  voters  of  a  larger  area  than  the  City  of 
Newton  itself  toward  establishing  a  com- 
munity high  school.  The  project  was  sus- 
tained by  a  majority  vote.  The  Community 
High  School  Board  was  organized  December 
2,  1919.  The  first  board  comprised  J.  M. 
Hicks,  president;  B.  T.  Adkins,  George  T. 
Jasper  and  W.  H.  Houser.  The  board  em- 
ployed as  secretary  Charles  Kennedy. 

The  old  Newton  High  School  Building  was 
rented  for  use  by  the  Community  High 
School  Board  for  a  year,  until  the  new  build- 
ing could  be  erected.  This  new  building  has 
had  several  subsequent  additions.  The  Com- 
munity High  School  is  supported  by  the  prop- 
erty owners  in  eighty-nine  sections  of  land 
(56,560  acres),  with  a  total  assessed  valua- 
tion of  $2,690,541.  The  new  building  was 
erected  at  a  cost  of  $126,000.  Since  then  ad- 
ditions have  been  made  of  manual  training 
shops,  grain  and  seed  house,  car  and  horse 
sheds,  these  raising  the  total  valuation  to 
$174,000.  There  are  twenty-one  acres  in  the 
school  grounds. 

The  principal  of  the  Community  High 
School  is  Osborne  A.  Runion.  In  1922  Mr.  V. 
A.    Jones    became    superintendent    of    county 


ILLINOIS 


239 


schools,  a  very  efficient  educator,  who  has  been 
long  and  favorably  known  in  Jasper  County. 
He  was  succeeded  in  1931  by  Merle  Yost  as 
county  superintendent.  The  present  board  of 
the  Community  High  School  consists  of  the 
following:  W.  O.  Heuring,  president,  Everett 
Clark,  Frank  Acklin,  M.  A.  Romack  and  J.  C. 
Houchin.  The  secretary  of  the  board  is  Roy 
McCormick. 

Hon.  M.  S.  Szymczak.  Since  1929  men  in 
public  position  have  been  tried  and  tested  as 
never  before  in  the  history  of  Illinois.  Elec- 
tion or  appointment  have  been  only  the  begin- 
ning of  the  gauntlet  of  the  insistent  demands 
hurled  upon  the  officeholder  by  the  people. 
Office  holding  has  been  an  ordeal,  a  constant 
test  of  loyalty,  courage  and  efficiency.  One 
result  has  been  responsible  positions  in  city 
and  state  have  come  to  be  regarded  as  at- 
tractive openings  only  to  men  of  demonstrated 
fitness,  character  and  ability. 

In  the  thoroughgoing  reorganization  of  mu- 
nicipal politics  effected  at  the  election  of  April 
18,  1931,  the  new  mayor  earned  the  confidence 
of  his  supporters  and  the  public  in  general  in 
his  selection  of  thoroughly  qualified  men  for 
the  appointive  positions  under  his  control.  One 
of  these  offices  was  that  of  city  comptroller. 
At  the  request  of  the  mayor,  M.  S.  Szymczak 
resigned  as  clerk  of  the  Superior  Court  to 
take  one  of  the  most  vital  positions  in  the 
administration  of  Chicago's  municipal  finances. 
Since  he  became  city  comptroller  the  press 
and  the  public  have  found  only  words  of 
praise  and  frequently  reiterated  commenda- 
tion for  the  systematic  efficiency  and  economy 
he  has  introduced  into  his  office. 

M.  S.  Szymczak  was  born  in  Chicago  Au- 
gust 15,  1894,  of  Polish-German  ancestry.  His 
ancestral  inheritance  is  reflected  in  his  inten- 
sity of  purpose,  his  thoroughgoing  habits,  and 
though  still  a  compartively  young  man  he  has 
had  a  notable  academic,  business  and  polit- 
ical career.  He  was  educated  in  grammar 
and  high  schools  in  Chicago,  attended  univer- 
sity in  Kentucky  and  did  post  graduate  work 
in  Ohio  and  in  Chicago  at  DePaul  University. 
He  also  did  work  in  the  College  of  Commerce 
of  New  York  University.  He  received  both 
the  Bachelor  and  Master's  degrees.  Mr. 
Szymczak  taught  school  in  Kentucky  for  a 
time  and  later  in  the  DePaul  High  School 
in  Chicago.  In  1917  he  began  teaching  logic, 
ethics  and  psychology  in  the  College  of  Com- 
merce of  DePaul  University,  and  is  still  con- 
nected with  that  institution,  lecturing  in  even- 
ing classes  on  business  administration,  hold- 
ing a  professorship  in  logic  and  ethics.  In 
1920  he  became  active  in  insurance,  real  es- 
tate, mortgage  and  building  and  loan  business. 
He  organized  the  Ridgemoor  Building  and 
Loan  Association,  and  was  a  director  of  that 
association  for  several  years.  He  was  also  an 
officer  and  director  of  several  other  building 
and  loan  associations,  and  was  elected  educa- 


tional director  of  the  League  of  Building  and 
Loan  Associations  of  Illinois.  He  is  now  also 
a  director  of  the  First  National  Finance  Cor- 
poration, and  has  had  extended  banking  expe- 
rience. His  public  career  began  as  secretary 
of  the  county  judge  of  Cook  County.  He  was 
also  a  commissioner  of  the  Portage  Park  dis- 
trict, and  later  was  general  superintendent  of 
the  Forest  Preserve  District  of  Cook  County. 
In  the  spring  of  1927  he  was  candidate  for  city 
treasurer,  on  the  same  ticket  with  the  late 
Judge  William  E.  Dever.  Though  defeated  he 
ran  ahead  of  his  ticket.  After  the  election 
the  former  mayor  and  the  victorious  candi- 
date for  city  treasurer  offered  him  the  posi- 
tion of  assistant  city  treasurer,  which  he 
declined. 

Mr.  Szymczak  had  a  veritable  triumph  in 
local  politics  in  the  campaign  of  1928.  At  the 
general  election  of  November  6  he  was  chosen 
by  a  handsome  majority  to  the  office  of  clerk 
of  the  Superior  Court,  his  term  beginning  De- 
cember 3  of  the  same  year.  He  was  just 
thirty-four  when  elected  to  this  office.  During 
his  first  year  the  work  under  his  direction 
was  carried  on  at  thousands  of  dollars  less 
cost  and  on  a  much  higher  plane  of  efficiency, 
as  shown  by  public  records.  His  office  antici- 
pated the  critical  financial  position  of  the 
county  which  developed  later,  and  early  in 
1929  undertook  radical  retrenchment  meas- 
ures, abolishing  positions  and  decreasing  the 
personnel,  but  without  the  impairment  of  the 
efficiency  of  work  done  or  decrease  in  volume. 
With  such  a  record  it  was  the  good  fortune 
of  the  Cermak  administration  that  he  con- 
sented to  take  over  the  duties  of  city  comp- 
troller. 

Mr.  Szymczak  is  one  of  Chicago's  outstand- 
ing citizens  by  reason  of  many  other  social  and 
civic  connections.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Illinois  Athletic  Club,  the  City  Club  of  Chi- 
cago, is  vice  president  of  the  Iroquois  Club, 
and  is  chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee 
of  the  Democratic  Managing  Committee.  He 
is  former  president  of  the  Milwaukee  Avenue 
Chamber  of  Commerce.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
National  Athletic  Club,  University  Public 
Speakers  Council,  Civic  Legion,  Wicker  Park 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  North  Branch  Indus- 
trial Association,  Milwaukee  Avenue  Mer- 
chants Association,  Alpha  Chi  fraternity,  Chi- 
cago Zoological  Society,  West  Side  Through 
Streets  Association.  He  is  an  ex-officio  mem- 
ber of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Crerar 
Library;  ex-officio  member  of  the  retirement 
board  of  the  Municipal  Employes  Annuity  and 
Benefit  Fund;  president  of  the  board  of 
trustees  of  the  Firemen's  Pension  Fund;  and 
honorary  member  of  the  Retired  Firemen's 
Association  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Szymczak  mar- 
ried in  Chicago,  January  15,  1916,  Miss  Helen 
Lapin,  member  of  a  family  who  have  lived 
in  Chicago  since  pioneer  days.  They  reside  at 
5530  Pensacola  Avenue  and  have  two  daugh- 
ters, Helen  and  Mary  Beth. 


240 


ILLINOIS 


C.  P.  Dadant,  of  Hamilton,  is  an  interna- 
tional authority  on  everything  connected  with 
the  science  of  apiculture.  Among  other  activ- 
ities of  the  Dadant  family  at  Hamilton  is  the 
publication  of  the  American  Bee  Journal, 
which  is  the  oldest  magazine  on  bees,  bee- 
keeping and  honey  production  in  the  English 
language.  It  was  first  published  in  Philadel- 
phia in  1861  by  A.  M.  Spangler  &  Company 
and  edited  by  Samuel  Wagner.  The  publica- 
tion was  suspended  on  account  of  the  Civil 
war.  In  1866  it  was  resumed,  being  published 
and  edited  by  Samuel  Wagner  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.  Mr.  Wagner,  of  German  descent, 
secured  most  of  his  progressive  ideas  from 
the  German  writers,  since  their  country  was 
at  that  time  ahead  of  all  others  in  progressive 
bee-keeping.  He  successfully  continued  the 
publication  of  the  American  Bee  Journal  until 
February,  1872,  when  he  died  suddenly  at  the 
age  of  seventy-three. 

Shortly  after  this  the  American  Bee  Jour- 
nal was  transferred  to  Chicago,  where  its  pub- 
lication was  continued  until  1912,  under  the 
management  of  Thomas  G.  Newman  and  later 
of  George  W.  York.  In  1912  the  publication 
was  acquired  by  the  firm  of  Dadant  &  Sons  at 
Hamilton.  This  firm  still  publish  it,  better 
and  larger  than  at  any  time  during  the  sev- 
enty years  since  its  founding. 

The  Dadant  family  lived  in  France  for  many 
generations.  The  founder  of  the  American 
branch  was  Charles  Dadant,  who  brought  his 
family  to  America  in  1863.  Since  1864  the 
Dadants  have  been  beekeepers  at  Hamilton, 
three  generations  of  the  family  having  par- 
ticipated in  the  business.  Charles  Dadant  be- 
gan his  business  under  rather  unfavorable 
conditions.  With  the  help  of  his  son,  C.  P. 
Dadant,  who  is  now  head  of  the  family,  the 
scale  of  operations  was  promoted  to  commer- 
cial success.  Within  a  few  years  they  were 
producing  thousands  of  pounds  of  honey,  and 
this  aggregate  later  ran  into  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  pounds.  Mr.  Charles  Dadant  in 
the  summer  of  1872  made  a  trip  to  Italy. 
While  there  he  established  a  service  of  impor- 
tation of  Italian  bees  into  the  United  States. 
All  modern  generations  of  beekeepers  on  a 
commercial  scale  have  long  since  substituted 
the  superior  Italian  bees  for  the  native  bees 
descended  from  wild  American  stock.  The 
importation  of  Italian  bees  comprised  a  very 
interesting  and  novel  industry.  The  queens 
were  put  up  in  small  cases  with  about  fifty 
bees  to  the  cage,  and  were  shipped  by  ex- 
press across  the  ocean  and  the  continents. 

Later  the  Dadants  began  to  handle  supplies 
for  beekeepers.  In  1878  they  began  the  man- 
ufacture of  comb  foundation.  This,  too,  is  now 
a  commonplace  feature  of  honey  production. 
The  device  primarily  consisted  in  the  fastening 
of  a  sheet  of  beeswax  to  the  wooden  frame,  as 
an  invitation  to  the  bees  to  start  their  honey- 
comb production.     The  invention  gave  rise  to 


the  story  of  the  artificial  manufacture  of 
comb  honey,  something  which  would  not  only 
be  impossible  but  would  be  commercially  un- 
profitable. In  a  short  time  the  comb  founda- 
tion became  so  popular  with  beekeepers  that 
as  much  as  a  half  million  pounds  were  sold  by 
the  Dadants  in  a  single  year. 

For  all  the  commercial  success  that  has 
attended  the  Dadants  enterprise  at  Hamilton, 
the  greatest  influence  of  the  family  on  bee  cul- 
ture has  been  their  contribution  to  bee  litera- 
ture. Charles  Dadant  wrote  a  small  book  on 
beekeeping  in  the  French  language,  Apiculture 
Pratique,  in  1874.  In  1887,  he  and  his  son 
revised  the  famous  work  of  L.  L.  Langstroth, 
The  Hive  and  Honey  Bee,  which  had  first  been 
published  in  1853.  It  had  had  only  four  edi- 
tions with  very  scanty  revisions,  and  was 
therefore  not  kept  up  to  date.  As  the  Langs- 
troth  book  had  been  called  "the  classic  in  bee- 
keeping," it  was  very  important  that  it 
should  be  revised.  This  was  done  by  the 
Dadants,  who  up  to  this  date  have  published 
twenty-three  editions  with  constant  changes  as 
progress  continued  in  bee-keeping.  The  oldest 
writer  on  bees  was  the  famous  Latin  poet 
Virgil,  who  two  thousand  years  ago  in  his 
classic  treatise  on  agriculture  The  Georgics, 
described  the  activities  of  the  swarms  in 
Northern  Italy.  From  that  time  no  important 
literary  compositions  were  made  to  the  science 
until  the  publication  of  F.  Huber's  Observa- 
tions Upon  Bees  in  1792.  L.  L.  Langstroth 
made  his  great  contribution  through  impor- 
tant inventions  in  the  style  of  hives.  He  had 
also  carefully  studied  bee  habits  and  be- 
havior. Thus  it  became  indispensable  that 
his  literary  work  should  go  on,  but  his  health 
was  poor  and  he  was  unable  to  attend  to  the 
matter  himself.  The  Langstroth  book  as  re- 
vised by  the  Dadants  was  translated  first  into 
the  French  by  the  Dadants  under  the  title  of 
L'Abeille  et  La  Ruche,  of  which  a  number  of 
editions  were  published,  then  into  the  Spanish 
La  Abeja  Y  LaColmena,  into  Italian  UApe  E 
L'Arnia,  and  later  into  the  Russian  and  Rou- 
manian languages. 

As  time  went  on,  more  books  on  beekeeping 
were  needed.  The  Dadants  now  issue  First 
Lessons  in  Beekeeping  by  C.  P.  Dadant,  The 
Dadant  System  of  Beekeeping  by  the  same 
author,  and  a  translation  of  the  celebrated 
Huber  New  Observations  Upon  Bees,  which 
had  only  been  partly  translated  into  English 
during  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, these  translations  being  also  entirely 
exhausted. 

Mr.  Charles  Dadant  died  in  1902.  His  son, 
C.  P.  Dadant  has  a  family  of  seven  children, 
and  a  number  of  grandchildren  are  counted 
upon  to  continue  the  magnificent  work  done  by 
this  family.  The  three  sons  of  C.  P.  Dadant, 
Louis  C,  Henry  C.  and  Maurice  G.  Dadant, 
and  one  of  the  daughters,  Valentine  M. 
Dadant,  have  worked  as  members  of  the  firm, 


^C^€) 


(SiSL^y 


7».  & 


ILLINOIS 


241 


in  the  factory,  on  the  American  Bee  Journal's 
publishing  and  editorial  staff,  and  also  in  the 
practical  production  of  honey  in  a  number  of 
apiaries.  Maurice  G.  Dadant  wrote  another 
book  on  bees:  Out- Apiaries,  describing  the 
Dadant  method  of  keeping  apiaries  in  different 
spots  away  from  the  central  apiary  so  as  to 
avoid  overstocking  the  field.  Foreign  trans- 
lations of  the  Dadant  publications  include: 
In  French  LeSysteme  Dadant  en  Apiculture, 
in  Italian  II  Systema  d'Apicultura  Dadant, 
in  Spanish  Apicultura  Metodo  Dadant  and 
also  in  the  Russian  tongue. 

Mr.  C.  P.  Dadant,  who  was  born  in  Langres, 
France,  April  6,  1851,  is  now  past  eighty 
years  of  age.  He  is  a  member  of  a  number  of 
associations  of  beekeepers,  and  is  a  vice  presi- 
dent of  the  International  Association  which  is 
scheduled  to  meet  in  Paris  in  1932.  He  was 
decorated  with  the  Order  of  the  Crown  of  Bel- 
gium for  services  to  the  Belgium  beekeepers 
during  the  World  war. 

Mr.  C.  P.  Dadant  was  also  one  of  the  char- 
ter members  of  the  association  which  pro- 
moted the  greatest  hydro-electric  engineering 
undertaking  in  the  Middle  West,  the  dam 
across  the  Mississippi  River  between  Hamil- 
ton and  Keokuk.  This  dam  was  completed  in 
1913,  and  from  the  hydro-electric  plant  electric 
power  is  now  distributed  up  and  down  the 
river  for  many  miles,  as  far  south  as  Saint 
Louis.  The  water  power  plant  was  built  under 
the  management  of  Col.  Hugh  L.  Cooper,  who 
is  now  directing  the  building  of  a  similar 
plant  on  the  Dnieper  River  in  Russia. 

Besides  the  children  of  Mr.  C.  P.  Dadant 
already  named  there  are  three  other  daugh- 
ters, Mrs.  Louisa  G.  Saugier,  Miss  Clemence 
Dadant  and  Mrs.  Harriette  Bush. 

Hamilton  Public  Library.  The  library  at 
Hamilton  in  Hancock  County,  an  institution  of 
which  the  entire  community  is  justly  proud, 
had  its  origin,  like  so  many  libraries,  in  the 
devoted  efforts  of  a  group  of  public-spirited 
and  cultured  women  who  were  banded  to- 
gether as  the  Current  Event  Club.  Begin- 
ning about  thirty  years  ago,  they  struggled 
along  the  best  they  could  under  circumstances, 
gathered  a  collection  of  books  which  they  kept 
in  a  little  room,  and  in  time  a  community 
learned  to  appreciate  the  value  of  the  modest 
collection  and  the  need  of  a  library  as  an 
indispensable  auxiliary  not  only  to  the  schools 
but  to  the  entire  cultural  life  of  the  people. 
With  public  opinion  aroused  larger  and  better 
quarters  were  provided,  and  the  next  step  was 
to  take  advantage  of  the  Illinois  Library  Law 
and  get  the  public  to  consent  to  an  annual 
tax  for  the  maintenance  and  support  of  a 
library. 

In  1922  funds  were  raised  and  a  handsome 
new  stucco  building  was  erected  on  the  main 
street  of  the  town  at  a  conspicuous  corner. 
The  building  cost  $10,000  and  the  equipment 


over  $3,000.  The  library  serves  two  town- 
ships as  well  as  the  City  of  Hamilton.  Its 
service  has  steadily  grown  not  only  to  the 
general  public  but  to  the  public  schools.  The 
library  has  6,000  volumes,  covering  a  great 
variety  of  subjects  for  reference  as  well  as 
general   literature. 

The  librarian  is  Miss  Jeanette  Cress,  a 
trained  library  worker  who  completed  her  pro- 
fessional education  in  the  University  of  Iowa. 
She  has  been  with  the  Hamilton  Public  Li- 
brary for  the  past  seven  years.  She  is  capable, 
well  trained,  enthusiastic,  and  has  the  support 
of  a  board  who  are  liberal  and  sympathetic 
with  the  essential  purposes  of  a  library  and 
with  her  views  towards  making  it  of  con- 
stantly expanding  benefit. 

Rocco  De  Rosa,  physician  and  surgeon,  is 
one  of  the  cultured  and  prominent  leaders 
in  the  Italian  colony  of  Chicago,  where  his 
family  have  been  active  in  civic  and  public 
life  for  many  years. 

Doctor  De  Rosa  was  born  in  Chicago,  April 
21,  1889,  son  of  Frank  and  Marie  (Lobraico) 
De  Rosa.  Both  the  De  Rosas  and  Lobraicos 
were  Italian  families  of  the  cultured  type, 
devoted  to  education  and  the  arts.  Frank 
De  Rosa  was  born  at  Salerno,  Italy.  His 
parents  brought  him  to  America  when  he  was 
seven  years  of  age,  and  Frank  grew  up  in 
Chicago,  attended  school  there  and  exerted 
an  important  influence  during  the  early  days 
of  Italian  immigration  to  the  city,  helping 
the  people  of  his  native  land  to  assimilate 
themselves  to  their  new  conditions  and  to 
the  acceptance  of  the  best  American  standards 
of  living.  Marie  Lobraico  was  of  the  same 
cultivated  character.  She  was  three  years 
of  age  when  her  parents  arrived  in  Chicago. 
During  her  later  years  she  was  active  in  social 
work  and  was  identified  with  Hull  House 
during  the  administration  of  its  founder,  Jane 
Addams.  She  won  a  high  place  of  esteem  not 
only  among  her  own  people  but  among  Chica- 
goans  in  general.  Frank  De  Rosa  was  well 
known  in  public  affairs.  He  served  as  an 
executive  of  the  Sanitary  District  Board,  in 
charge  of  construction,  and  held  various  posi- 
tions under  the  municipal  government.  He 
was  a  leader  in  the  Democratic  party  and  a 
friend  and  associate  in  political  campaigns 
with  Governor  Edward  F.  Dunne. 

Dr.  Rocco  De  Rosa  was  educated  in  public 
and  parochial  schools.  He  took  his  M.  D. 
degree  from  the  medical  department  of  Loyola 
University  in  1912.  For  twenty  years  he 
has  enjoyed  a  growing  reputation  for  his  skill 
as  a  physician  and  surgeon,  and  has  held 
important  posts  in  various  hospitals.  He  is 
senior  attending  surgeon  at  the  Mother  Cabrini 
Hospital,  a  lying-in  hospital,  and  is  also  attend- 
ing surgeon  at  the  Oak  Forest  Infirmary. 
He  has  served  on  the  staff  of  the  Cook  County 
Hospital  and  his  name  is  spoken  with  respect 


242 


ILLINOIS 


in  many  of  the  medical  institutions  of  the 
city.  Doctor  De  Rosa  was  the  originator  of 
the  Italian  Aid  Society,  which  has  carried 
on  an  extensive  program  of  work  for  incur- 
ables. Much  of  his  time  is  given  to  the  work 
of  this  society.  In  these  ways  Doctor  De 
Rosa  has  lived  up  to  the  high  ideals  of  both 
his  father  and  mother.  Like  his  father  he 
has  manifested  a  commendable  interest  in  pub- 
lic affairs  and  has  the  friendship  of  some 
of  the  ablest  leaders  of  the  Democratic  party 
in  Cook  County.  Doctor  De  Rosa  is  a  captain 
in  the  Reserve  Officers  Medical  Corps  of  the 
United  States  Army  and  is  a  member  of  the 
Chicago,  Illinois  State  and  American  Medical 
Associations,  also  affiliated  as  a  fellow  of  the 
American  College  of  Surgeons. 

One  of  his  brothers,  Peter  De  Rosa,  in  the 
real  estate  business,  is  a  talented  artist. 
Another  brother,  Charles  De  Rosa,  holds  the 
degree  Doctor  of  Philosophy  from  Northwest- 
ern Univeristy  and  is  a  pharmacist. 

Hon.  Harold  Thomas  Garvey  is  judge  of 
the  County  Court  of  Hancock  County,  having 
been  elected  to  that  office  on  the  Democratic 
ticket,  November  4,   1930. 

Judge  Garvey  was  born  at  Elvaston,  in 
Hancock  County,  August  8,  1900,  and  is  a 
son  of  Thomas  and  Delia  Garvey,  and  a  grand- 
son of  John  Garvey.  Three  generations  of  the 
Garvey  family  have  lived  in  Illinois,  and  all 
of  them  have  been  honest  and  constructive 
citizens  of  the  state.  John  Garvey  and  wife 
came  from  Rising  Sun,  Maryland,  settling 
near  Blandinsville  in  1862,  and  continuing  the 
home  there  until  their  deaths.  John  Garvey 
was  always  a  stanch  Democrat  in  politics. 
To  this  union  were  born  seven  children,  the 
youngest  being  Thomas,  the  father  of  Judge 
Garvey. 

Thomas  Garvey  was  born  near  Blandins- 
ville, Illinois,  May  3,  1863,  and  received  his 
education  there.  He  was  only  a  boy  when 
he  went  to  work  for  the  Toledo,  Peoria  & 
Western  Railroad,  and  for  forty-one  years  was 
an  employee  in  its  service.  He  is  now  re- 
tired. He  has  always  been  interested  in  poli- 
tics as  a  Democrat,  and  served  as  county 
chairman  of  the  Hancock  County  Democratic 
Committee  from  1912  to  1918,  and  again  from 
1924  to  1926.  He  is  a  man  widely  respected 
and  esteemed  throughout  Hancock  County  and 
Western  Illinois.  He  is  an  active  member  of 
the  Baptist  Church;  and  of  the  Elvaston  Ma- 
sonic Lodge,  of  which  he  is  one  of  the  oldest 
living  members  and   past  masters. 

On  October  1,  1885,  Thomas  Garvey  mar- 
ried Miss  Delia  Pennington,  who  was  born 
near  Industry,  Illinois,  September  2,  1867,  the 
daughter  of  James  Newell  and  Emaline  Comer 
Pennington.  James  Newell  Pennington  was 
of  old  Virginia  lineage,  his  ancestors  hav- 
ing come  from  that  state  to  Illinois  through 
Tennessee    and    Kentucky.      A    great    number 


of  his  ancestors  had  been  ministers  of  the 
Missionary  Baptist  Church  in  Virginia,  Ten- 
nessee, and  Kentucky.  Robert  Comer,  father 
of  Emaline  Comer  Pennington,  came  from 
Ohio  to  Illinois. 

Thomas  Garvey  and  wife  came  from  Blan- 
dinsville to  Hancock  County  and  established 
their  home  at  Elvaston  in  January,  1892,  and 
have  lived  there  continuously  since.  Both 
Thomas  and  Delia  Garvey  were  among  the 
number  of  the  original  members  of  the  Elvas- 
ton Baptist  Church,  established  in  1893,  hav- 
ing transferred  their  membership  there  at  the 
time  of  its  organization  from  the  Blandins- 
ville Baptist  Church,  with  which  they  had 
affiliated  in  early  life.  The  children  of  Thomas 
and  Delia  Garvey  are:  Frank,  who  died  No- 
vember 29,  1903,  aged  sixteen  years;  Pearl, 
wife  of  Arthur  F.  Wormley;  John,  ticket  and 
passenger  agent  for  the  Wabash  Railway  at 
Springfield,  Illinois;  Crystal,  wife  of  Earl  R. 
Grauf ;  and  Harold  Thomas. 

Judge  Harold  Thomas  Garvey  spent  his 
boyhood  days  at  Elvaston,  and  attended  the 
public  schools  there.  He  completed  his  high 
school  training  in  the  Carthage  High  School 
and  Carthage  College  Academy,  from  which 
latter  institution  he  was  graduated  in  1918. 
After  finishing  the  grade  schools  of  Elvas- 
ton, in  1914,  he  began  learning  telegraphy, 
and  by  the  time  he  had  finished  his  freshman 
year  in  high  school  was  qualified  for  the 
responsible  position  of  night  telegrapher  for 
the  Toledo,  Peoria  &  Western,  and  Wabash 
Railways,  in  his  home  town.  He  has  tele- 
graphed for  the  Toledo,  Peoria  &  Western 
at  La  Harpe,  Illinois,  and  for  that  line  and 
the  Wabash  Railway  jointly  at  Elvaston, 
Hamilton,  and  Fairbury,  Illinois.  Judge  Gar- 
vey is  a  self-made  man.  He  continued  his 
school  work,  and  by  his  profession  as  teleg- 
rapher successively  completed  high  school, 
college  and  law  school.  He  entered  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  in  1920,  graduating  from 
college  at  that  institution  in  the  class  of 
1923,  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Philoso- 
phy (Ph.  B.),  and  from  its  law  school  in 
1926,  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Law 
(J.  D.).  While  attending  college  and  law 
school  at  the  University  of  Chicago,  he  paid 
his  expenses  by  working  as  a  telegrapher  at 
the  relay  office  of  the  New  York  Central  lines, 
in  the  La  Salle  Street  Depot,  Chicago.  Shortly 
after  graduation  from  law  school  and  his 
admission  to  the  Illinois  bar  in  1927,  he  re- 
turned to  Elvaston,  his  old  home  town,  to 
live,  and  while  there  started  practicing  law. 
He  established  his  first  law  office  in  Nauvoo, 
and  in  1929  moved  to  Carthage,  where  he  con- 
ducted a  successful  general  law  practice  in 
Hancock  and  adjoining  counties  until  De- 
cember 1,  1930,  when  he  took  office  as  county 
judge  of   Hancock   County. 

He  is  an  able  judge,  who  conducts  his  office 
efficiently    and    economically.      He   is    a    clear 


ILLINOIS 


243 


thinker,  and  fluent  speaker.  Judge  Garvey 
is  a  widely  read  man,  and  an  ardent  student 
of  the  law  and  of  history.  Fond  of  outdoor 
life  he  is  an  enthusiastic  hunter  and 
fisherman. 

Judge  Garvey  served  in  the  United  States 
Army  during  the  World  war,  and  was  hon- 
orably discharged  in  December,  1918.  He  is 
a  member  of  Phillip  Hartzell  Post  No.  74,  of 
the  American  Legion.  In  1930-1931,  he  served 
the  American  Legion  as  county  judge-advocate, 
in  Hancock  County. 

He  is  active  in  the  work  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  in  community  and  civic  matters. 
He  is  also  secretary  of  the  Elvaston  Masonic 
Lodge;  a  member  of  Carthage  Chapter,  No. 
33,  R.  A.  M.;  is  a  Knight  Templar  in  Ingel- 
vere  Commandery,  No.  75,  Carthage;  and  be- 
longs to  the  Gamma  Eta  Gamma  legal 
fraternity. 

Charles  Carl  Spencer,  who  was  admitted 
to  the  Illinois  bar  forty  years  ago,  has  prac- 
ticed in  Chicago  and  since  1907  has  conducted 
an  individual  practice,  with  offices  at  155 
North  Clark  Street. 

Mr.  Spencer  was  born  in  McLean  County, 
Illinois,  April  11,  1867,  son  of  Marshall  S. 
and  Sarah  A.  (Simmons)  Spencer.  The  Spen- 
cer family  has  been  in  America  for  three 
centuries.  His  ancestor,  Thomas  Spencer, 
came  from  England  in  1630  and  was  one  of 
the  founders  of  Hartford,  Connecticut.  Later 
the  family  moved  to  Vermont  from  which 
state  Gideon  Spencer  served  as  a  lieutenant 
of  the  Vermont  militia  in  the  Revolutionary 
war.  Marshall  S.  Spencer,  his  great-grandson, 
was  born  in  Vermont.  When  he  was  four 
years  of  age,  in  1820,  the  family  came  to 
Illinois,  his  grandfather  accompanying  the 
party,  which  included  representatives  of  three 
generations  of  the  family.  The  family  lo- 
cated in  Greene  County,  taking  up  land  from 
the  Government.  Some  of  that  land  is  still 
owned  by  later  descendants,  whose  home  is 
on  the  same  site  occupied  by  the  log  house 
which  was  built  soon  after  they  came  in 
1820.  In  1830  a  stone  house  was  erected 
which  is  still  standing. 

Charles  Carl  Spencer  was  educated  in  pub- 
lic schools  in  McLean  County  and  in  1892 
received  his  A.  B.  Degree  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan.  After  being  admitted 
to  the  bar  he  was  with  the  firm  of  McClellan 
&  Cummins  at  Chicago,  and  in  1894  became 
junior  partner  in  the  firm  of  McClellan  & 
Spencer.  In  1907  he  engaged  in  an  individual 
practice.  Mr.  Spencer  is  a  member  of  the 
Chicago,  Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  As- 
sociations. In  1924  he  was  president  of  the 
Chicago  Law  Institute,  and  is  now  a  member 
of  the  board  of  managers. 

His  home  is  at  245  Park  Avenue  in  Glen- 
coe.  Mr.  Spencer  has  been  a  deacon  in  the 
Glencoe  Union  Church.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Illinois    Society,    Sons   of   the   Revolution,   the 


Chicago  Historical  Society,  Kildeer  Country 
Club,  Modern  Woodmen  of  America,  the  Mid- 
land Club.  His  recreations  are  golf,  fishing 
and  gardening. 

He  married  October  20,  1892,  Margaret  R. 
Wilson,  of  Alma,  Illinois.  She  died  in  1918, 
the  mother  of  four  children:  Rose  E.,  wife 
of  Ralph  E.  Stoetzel;  Lois  E.,  wife  of  Wil- 
liam W.  Hartman;  Charles  Dee  and  Richard 
M.  All  the  children  live  in  Glencoe  except 
Mrs.  Hartman,  who  resides  in  Rochester,  New 
York. 

James  B.  McCahey  is  a  native  son  of  Chi- 
cago; he  was  born  April  19,  1890,  his  parents 
being  Owen  and  Anna  (Brady)  McCahey, 
who  were  born  in  Ireland.  Mr.  McCahey's 
parents  came  to  the  United  States  and  set- 
tled in  Chicago  prior  to  the  Chicago  fire. 
Both  parents  are  deceased. 

Mr.  McCahey  received  his  education  at  the 
Public  School  of  Chicago,  and  the  De  LaSalle 
Institute.  He  was  graduated  from  De  LaSalle 
Institute  in  1906,  and  served  as  president  of 
the  Alumni  for  one  period.  He  entered  the 
employ  of  the  John  J.  Dunn  Coal  Company  in 
1906,  in  a  minor  capacity,  and  has  progressed 
rapidly.  In  1910  he  was  made  a  trustee  of 
the  John  J.  Dunn  Estate,  and  in  1921  he  be- 
came president  of  the  John  J.  Dunn  Coal  Com- 
pany, which  office  he  still  holds.  The  John  J. 
Dunn  Coal  Company  is  one  of  the  oldest 
established  firms  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  McCahey  is  widely  known  in  coal  trade 
circles  in  Chicago,  and  throughout  the  coun- 
try. He  is  a  member  of  the  following  clubs: 
Union  League  Club  of  Chicago;  Chicago  Ath- 
letic Club;  Sky  Line  Club;  Flossmoor  Coun- 
try Club;  Beverly  Country  Club;  and  the 
South  Shore  Country  Club. 

He  married  Miss  Claire  Miller  of  Milwau- 
kee, Wisconsin,  a  daughter  of  C.  A.  Miller, 
president  of  the  C.  A.  Miller  Co.,  and  a 
granddaughter  of  Fred  Miller.  Five  children 
have  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCahey: 
Claire;  James  B.,  Jr.;  Anita;  Fred  Miller; 
and  Carol  Ann.  The  family  home  is  situated 
at  4850   Greenwood  Avenue. 

Frank  H.  Landmesser,  who  was  born  in 
Chicago  in  1876,  has  had  a  long  and  active 
experience  in  the  public  affairs  of  the  city 
and  at  the  present  time  is  alderman  from  the 
Thirty-eighth  Ward,  representing  with  effi- 
ciency one  of  the  most  important  sections  in 
the  city,  embracing  the  Logan  Square  district. 

Mr.  Landmesser's  parents,  Paul  and  Julia 
(Ginter)  Landmesser,  were  born  in  German 
Poland.  He  grew  up  in  Chicago,  attending 
parochial  schools,  and  from  early  manhood  in- 
terested himself  in  politics  and  public  affairs 
on  the  northwest  side.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
seven  he  was  elected  in  1902  a  member  of  the 
Legislature  from  the  Irving  Park  district  and 
in  1906  was  again  chosen  state  representative. 
He  played  a  prominent  part  in  the  Forty-third 


244 


ILLINOIS 


and  Forty-fifth  Sessions  of  the  Illinois  General 
Assembly.  He  has  been  connected  with  the 
City  Hall  in  some  capacity  for  over  twenty 
years,  working  in  the  offices  of  the  election 
board,  the  city  attorney,  county  assessor,  mu- 
nicipal court  clerk,  and  then  for  several  years 
held  the  responsible  post  of  executive  of  the 
real  estate  department  of  the  Cook  County 
forest  preserve  district.  He  was  also  for  sev- 
eral years  president  of  the  Thirty-eighth 
Ward  Democratic  organization.  In  Novem- 
ber, 1929,  an  election  was  held  in  the  Thirty- 
eighth  Ward  for  a  successor  to  Alderman  Max 
Adamowski,  deceased,  and  in  that  election  Mr. 
Landmesser  was  chosen  by  a  clear  majority 
over  the  two  other  candidates  and  in  con- 
sequence was  immediately  inducted  into  the 
duties  of  office.  As  an  alderman  he  has 
rendered  very  valuable  service  as  member  of 
the  committees  on  finance,  rehabilitation,  local 
industries,  streets  and  alleys,  local  transpor- 
tation, chairman  special  assessments  and 
World's  Fair  and  conventions,  police  and  mu- 
nicipal  institution   and  committee  on  rules. 

Mr.  Landmesser  is  a  member  of  the  Knights 
of  Columbus,  Catholic  Order  of  Forresters, 
Polish  Catholic  Union,  and  Polish  National 
Alliance.  He  married  Miss  Dora  Blaszka 
and  has  three  children,  Edward  F.,  K.  C.  and 
Dorothy.  His  home  is  at  2531  North  Arte- 
sian Avenue. 

Alexander  Taylor  Strange,  as  farmer, 
educator,  business  man  and  historian,  has  a 
name  that  will  always  remain  honored  in 
Montgomery  County.  Mr.  Strange's  home  has 
been  at  Hillsboro  for  over  twenty  years.  He 
was  manager  and  secretary  of  Montgomery 
County  Fire  Insurance  Company  for  more 
than  forty  years. 

He  is  a  son  of  John  Anderson  Strange  and 
Fidello  (Gresham)  Strange.  The  ancestry 
of  both  the  Strange  and  Gresham  families 
comprises  some  interesting  genealogy  for  stu- 
dents of  American  families. 

The  Strange  family  originated  on  the 
Island  of  Pomona,  one  of  the  Orkney  Islands 
on  the  north  coast  of  Scotland,  home  of  a 
hardy  people,  living  by  the  fruits  of  the  sea. 
Kirkwall  is  the  capital  of  the  Orkneys.  Here 
lived  a  family  whose  members  were  of  sur- 
passing physical  strength  and  hence  came  to 
be  known  as  "Strangs."  Among  them  were 
Magnus,  Robert  and  David  Strang.  They  ac- 
quired a  coat  of  arms,  the  chief  figure  on 
which  is  a  lion  rampant  with  tail  extended. 
The  wars  of  Great  Britain  and  on  the  Conti- 
nent effected  many  political  and  economic 
changes,  and  the  Strangs  were  scattered 
abroad,  some  of  them  going  to  France  and 
others  to  England.  These  foreigners  were 
sometimes  referred  to  as  "Strange  Men,"  and 
thus  by  natural  usage  the  name  became 
Strange  instead  of  Strang.  However,  the  old 
form    of   the   name    Strang   is    still    found    in 


Scotland.  In  France  the  name  became  De 
Strange.  However,  the  coat  of  arms  re- 
mained practically  the  same.  The  significance 
of  the  coat  is  strength. 

The  La  Stranges  near  London  founded  the 
Hunstanton  estate,  and  more  than  800  years 
ago  built  Hunstanton  Castle,  which  is  still 
standing  in  a  fine  state  of  preservation.  It 
is  occupied  today  by  a  descendant  of  the 
Scotch  line,  Hamon  La  Strange,  whose  ac- 
complished wife  was  an  American  born  girl. 
In  London  were  such  personages  as  Sir 
Thomas,  Sir  John  and  Sir  Robert  Strange, 
whose  coat  of  arms  was  practically  the  same 
as  that  of  the  La  Stranges.  Sir  Robert 
Strange,  born  in  1721,  achieved  distinction  as 
a  great  portrait  painter  and  etcher.  He  was 
founder  of  the  English  School  for  Historical 
Engraving.  In  1787  he  was  knighted. 
Other  members  of  the  family  who  did  not 
inherit  wealth  and  titles  sought  homes  across 
the  ocean  in  America.  One  of  Mr.  Strange's 
direct  ancestors  settled  in  Virginia,  probably 
in  Kent  County.  He  had  come  over  on  a  ship 
sent  out  by  the  English  government  com- 
manded by  one  of  his  kinsmen.  Members  of 
the  Strange  family  participated  in  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution.  One  Revolutionary  soldier 
was  Amos  Strange,  great-grandfather  of  Al- 
exander Taylor  Strange,  who  through  this 
ancestor  has  membership  in  the  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution.  The  grandfather  of 
Mr.  Strange  about  the  close  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary war  moved  to  South  Carolina  and 
later  became  a  pioneer  in  Georgia,  where  he 
and  his  wife,  Mary  (Fowler)  Strange,  reared 
a  large  family  of  children. 

The  sixth  of  their  children  was  John  An- 
derson Strange.  As  a  boy  he  sought  oppor- 
tunity for  work  in  Alabama,  and  was  em- 
ployed as  clerk  in  the  store  of  a  Mr.  Wilson, 
whose  niece,  Fidello  Gresham,  he  married.  At 
the  time  both  were  without  means,  but  their 
great  mutual  love  enabled  them  to  face  the 
future  unafraid,  and  they  reared  a  family  of 
eleven  children,  the  second  of  whom  was  Alex- 
ander Taylor  Strange,  who  was  born  in 
Georgia,  July  6,  1850. 

The  ancestry  of  Fidello  Gresham  runs  back 
to  Normandy,  France,  from  which  country 
they  were  transplanted  to  England  at  the  time 
of  William  the  Conqueor.  The  coat  of  arms 
of  the  Gresham  family  exhibits  a  grasshopper 
on  a  green  sward.  The  Norman  French  form 
of  the  name  was  de  Grasse.  In  England  the 
de  Grasses  acquired  large  estates,  subsequently 
dropped  the  French  prefix  "de"  and  later, 
being  owners  of  landed  estates  and  with  the 
consent  of  the  crown  they  added  the  suffix 
"ham,"  meaning  home,  and  the  name  Gresham 
might  be  translated  as  "green  home"  or  "green 
sward."  Their  coat  of  arms  was  adopted  with 
the  consent  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  A  descend- 
ant of  the  de  Grasses  of  the  twelfth  century 
was   Edward   Gresham,   founder  of  the   Town 


ILLINOIS 


245 


of  Gresham  in  Norfolk  County,  England. 
From  that  town  went  such  characters  as  John 
Gresham,  his  son,  James  Gresham,  and  John 
Gresham,  a  son  of  James,  all  of  whom  became 
prominent  in  business  and  banking:  circles  in 
London.  Under  Queen  Mary  and  Queen  Eliza- 
beth they  were  in  the  diplomatic  service.  Sir 
Richard  Gresham  was  knighted  by  Queen 
Elizabeth  for  distinguished  service.  Sir  John 
Gresham  had  for  his  apprentice  Sir  Thomas 
Gresham,  founder  of  the  Royal  Exchange. 
Other  members  of  the  Gresham  family  were 
instrumental  in  founding  the  London  bourse, 
Gresham  College,  and  several  other  large  alms- 
houses and  other  institutions  bore  their  name 
or  were  beneficiaries  of  their  wealth. 

One  descendant  of  the  family  was  John 
Gresham,  who  came  to  America  and  at  An- 
napolis, Maryland,  attempted  to  found  the 
Gresham  College  of  Science,  similar  to  the  one 
founded  by  the  family  in  London  known  as 
"Fortuna."  He  failed  to  found  the  school 
because  of  the  active  opposition  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  governors  in  Maryland.  The  Gres- 
hams  were  thoroughgoing  Protestants.  From 
Maryland  members  of  the  family  went. to  Ten- 
nessee, where  they  settled  at  Jonesboro,  and 
this  branch  were  humble  planters,  though  they 
were  always  proud  of  their  connections  with 
the  aristocracy  of  the  old  world.  In  Tennes- 
see, Fidello  Gresham  was  born  in  1826  and 
subsequently  while  living  with  her  uncle,  Mr. 
Wilson  in  Alabama,  she  met  her  husband. 

Alexander  Taylor  Strange  grew  up  as  one 
of  a  numerous  household,  and  was  acquainted 
with  that  simplicity  of  living  and  poverty 
which  have  inspired  so  many  Americans  to 
lives  of  achievement  and  success.  A.  T. 
Strange  was  born  in  Georgia  in  1850  and 
died  in  Hillsboro,  Illinois,  February  3,  1932. 
His  wife  was  born  in  Illinois  in  1847,  died 
in  Hillsboro,  Illinois,  January  21,  1932.  When 
he  was  twenty  years  of  age,  and  when  he 
was  in  debt  for  the  clothes  he  wore  on  his 
back,  he  left  home  to  make  his  own  way  in 
the  world.  On  August  22,  1881,  he  married 
Miss  Elizabeth  M.  Copeland,  and  from  that 
time  to  the  present,  almost  half  a  century, 
they  have  lived  lives  in  harmony  and  mutual 
usefulness.  Of  their  four  children  two  died 
in  infancy.  The  two  survivors  are  both  suc- 
cessful professional  men,  Algy  F.  of  McAllen, 
Texas,  and  Eury  B.  of  Hillsboro,  Illinois. 

Alexander  Taylor  Strange  utilized  his  early 
advantages  to  enter  the  educational  field.  He 
spent  many  years  as  a  school  teacher  and 
farmer.  He  began  teaching  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one,  in  Tennessee,  and  after  coming 
to  Illinois  taught  for  many  years.  He  came 
to  this  state  with  his  maternal  grandfather, 
Archibald  Gresham,  locating  at  Reno  in  Bond 
County,  and  later  moved  to  Montgomery 
County  and  settled  in  Gresham  Township. 
Mr.  Strange  in  1890  organized  at  Hillsboro 
the  Hillsboro  Farmers  Mutual  Insurance  Com- 


pany, which  he  served  as  its  first  secretary 
and  with  which  he  was  identified  for  many 
years.  He  has  acted  as  trustee  of  many 
estates.  Since  1881  he  has  had  membership 
in  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

The  outstanding  work  of  his  life  and  one 
which  will  do  him  honor  in  future  generations 
was  the  writing  of  the  history  of  Montgomery 
County  for  the  Historical  Encyclopedias  of 
Illinois.  He  spent  three  years  in  this  great 
work,  and  it  is  a  masterpiece  of  local  his- 
tory. It  is  the  authority,  and  frequently 
quoted  in  court  to  settle  disputes  as  to  matters 
pertaining  to  the  county. 

Everett  Jennings.  Much  of  the  newspaper 
publicity  given  Everett  Jennings  has  been  in 
connection  with  individual  trials  and  has  over- 
looked his  notable  public  service,  which  has 
been  a  consistent  and  regular  feature  of  his 
career  in  Chicago  for  the  past  twenty  years. 

Mr.  Jennings  is  a  Kentuckian,  member  of 
an  old  southern  family  that  has  figured  in 
the  history  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky  for 
generations.  He  was  born  in  Webster  County 
in  1874,  son  of  B.  F.  and  Mary  L.  (Price) 
Jennings.  Mr.  Jennings  is  a  graduate  of 
old  Center  College  at  Danville,  Kentucky,  a 
school  that  was  founded  more  than  a  century 
ago  and  has  turned  out  many  prominent  men 
in  the  law  and  in  statesmanship.  He  took 
his  A.  B.  degree  there,  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1896  and  first  practiced  at  Madisonville. 

Mr.  Jennings  has  been  a  resident  of  Chicago 
since  1908.  He  has  a  notably  successful  career 
both  as  a  prosecutor  and  as  counsel  for  defend- 
ants in  numerous  criminal  cases.  As  assistant 
state's  attorney  in  1913,  during  the  term  of 
State's  Attorney  Hoyne,  he  was  assigned  to 
the  prosecution  of  the  "Arson  Trust"  cases. 
This  was  a  large  group  of  criminal  cases 
in  which  Mr.  Jennings  made  an  enviable  repu- 
tation as  a  prosecutor.  He  obtained  many 
convictions,  and  was  credited  to  a  large  degree 
with  the  breaking  up  of  one  of  the  most 
serious  crime  situations  in  the  Chicago  of  that 
time. 

An  even  more  notable  public  service  was 
that  rendered  as  counsel  for  the  Public  Utili- 
ties Commission  of  Illinois.  He  was  appointed 
counsel  in  1914,  during  the  administration 
of  Governor  Dunne,  under  whose  regime  this 
important  body  was  instituted.  While  he  was 
counsel  the  new  laws  passed  conferring  powers 
upon  the  Commission  were  interpreted  and 
precedents  established.  Mr.  Jennings  had 
charge  of  most  of  the  important  cases  under 
the  Commission.  In  addition  to  his  duties 
as  counsel  for  the  Commission  he  received 
the  nominal  title  of  assistant  attorney  general 
in  1917.  Since  1925  Mr.  Jennings  has  been 
master  in  chancery  of  the  Superior  Court 
of  Chicago.  Mr.  Jennings  has  the  reputation 
of  being  a  strenuous  worker,  and  an  immense 
volume    of   practice    centers   in   his    offices   in 


246 


ILLINOIS 


the  Temple  Building,  at  77  West  Washington 
Street.  His  home  is  in  Western  Cook  County, 
in  Schaumberg  Township,  where  during  his 
leisure  time  he  cultivates  a  wide  range  of 
outdoor   interests   and   recreations. 

Ernest  Tripp  for  over  thirty  years  has 
been  a  fixture  in  the  commercial  life  of  Green- 
view,  a  lumber  and  hardware  merchant,  hav- 
ing at  first  been  associated  with  his  father  in 
the  lumber  business,  and  later  he  carried 
on  in  partnership  with  one  or  more  of  his 
brothers. 

The  Tripp  family  has  been  a  prominent  one 
in  Menard  County  for  many  years.  Mr.  Tripp 
was  born  at  Greenview  December  18,  1876, 
the  youngest  of  the  eight  children  of  James 
and  Elizabeth  (Riggins)   Tripp. 

The  Tripps  were  English  people.  The  ances- 
tral line  runs  back  to  a  John  Tripp,  who  was 
a  herald  to  the  King  of  England.  One  of  his 
sons,  also  named  John,  was  born  November 
3,  1635,  and  came  to  America  in  1655,  settling 
in  New  York.  This  John  Tripp  was  the 
father  of  John  Tripp  and  the  grandfather 
of  Robert  Tripp,  who  was  born  at  Providence, 
Rhode  Island,  in  1722,  and  who  took  a  prom- 
inent part  in  colonial  affairs  and  politics  and 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  Continental  Con- 
gress in  1776.  This  Robert  Tripp  was  a 
land  owner  and  shoe  manufacturer  and  had 
much  to  do  with  the  industrial  development 
of  Providence,  Rhode  Island.  He  was  the 
father  of  Robert  Tripp,  who  was  born  in 
1754  and  served  with  the  rank  of  captain  in 
Washington's  army  in  the  Revolutionary  war. 
Capt.  Robert  Tripp  was  the  great-grandfather 
of  Ernest  Tripp  of  Greenview.  Many  members 
of  the  family  are  still  found  in  New  England 
and  the  Middle  Atlantic  States.  One  prom- 
inent man  who  represents  another  branch  of 
the  family  is  Judge  Harry  Tripp  of  Oklahoma 
City. 

James  Tripp,  father  of  Ernest  Tripp,  was 
born  at  Hogansburg,  New  York,  October  27, 
1831.  He  came  to  Sangamon  County,  Illinois, 
in  1876,  and  was  in  the  lumber  business  the 
rest  of  his  life.  He  was  a  Democrat,  being 
interested  primarily  in  getting  good  men 
elected  to  office  and  seeing  local  affairs  eco- 
nomically administered.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,  lived 
the  life  of  a  consistent  Christian,  and  was 
noted  for  his  honesty  and  his  habit  of  attend- 
ing strictly  to  his  own  affairs.  His  favorite 
recreation  was  hunting  and  fishing.  James 
Tripp  died  May  10,  1910.  He  and  Elizabeth 
Riggins  were  married  February  5,  1857.  She 
was  born  January  16,  1836,  and  died  Novem- 
ber 4,  1916.  She  was  a  devout  Cumberland 
Presbyterian,  devoted  herself  to  the  care  and 
upbringing  of  her  large  family  of  children  and 
was  greatly  beloved  in  her  community  for 
her  helpfulness  in  times  of  sickness  and  other 
distress.  The  children  of  these  parents  were: 
William   Riggins,  born  August  22,   1858,  and 


died  November  8,  1915;  Gideon,  born  Novem- 
ber 6,  1860;  Martha  Alice  Rader,  born  January 
26,  1863;  Henry,  born  December  15,  1867; 
Bettie  Stone,  born  August  1,  1870;  Walter 
Eddie,  born  September  15,  1872,  and  died 
August  1,  1873;  Carrie  Emery  Cleveland,  born 
November  17,  1874,  and  died  February  9,  1899 ; 
and   Ernest. 

Ernest  Tripp  during  his  boyhood  attended 
the  grade  schools  of  Greenview,  graduated 
from  high  school  in  1893,  and  went  immedi- 
ately from  his  high  school  work  into  his 
father's  lumber  yard.  He  mastered  the  lum- 
ber business  through  work  in  the  yards,  hand- 
ling lumber,  estimating,  figuring  with  con- 
tractors, and  understands  all  the  intricacies 
of  the  business  from  the  lumber  mills  to  the 
handling  of  the  finished  product.  After  his 
father  retired  from  business  he  and  a  brother 
carried  on  the  yards  and  subsequently  added 
a  stock  of  hardware. 

Mr.  Tripp  has  been  interested  in  civic  affairs 
and  his  part  in  politics  has  been  confined  to 
getting  good  local  government.  He  is  a  Demo- 
crat, is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
•  is  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  belong- 
ing to  the  Consistory  at  Springfield.  He  was 
for  a  number  of  years  secretary  of  the  Green- 
view Chamber  of  Commerce,  also  served  on 
the  local  school  board.  Mr.  Tripp  takes  much 
pleasure  in  hunting  and  fishing,  follows  ath- 
letic sports  and  is  a  reader  of  current  maga- 
zines and  newspapers,  and  keeps  in  touch 
with  the  life  of  the  world  around  him. 

He  married  March  20,  1901,  Miss  Jessie 
A.  Gaddie,  who  was  born  January  26,  1878, 
of  English  and  Irish  parentage,  a  daughter 
of  Andrew  and  Sarah  (Keen)  Gaddie.  Mrs. 
Tripp  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
the  Greenview  Woman's  Club.  They  have 
two  children.  Their  daughter,  Helen  Eliza- 
beth, born  December  27,  1901,  graduated  from 
the  Greenview  High  School  and  for  two  years 
was  a  student  in  Milliken  University  at  Deca- 
tur, Illinois.  She  was  married  December  2, 
1922,  to  H.  P.  Hardin  of  Greenview.  They 
have  one  son,  James  Hardin,  born  May,  1925. 
The  son,  James  Ernest  Tripp,  born  October 
20,  1906,  was  graduated  from  the  Greenview 
High  School  in  1924,  took  his  Bachelor  of 
Science  degree  at  the  University  of  Illinois 
in  1929,  and  is  now  associated  with  his  father 
in  the  lumber  and  hardware  business,  repre- 
senting the  third  generation  of  the  family 
in  this  business  at  Greenview. 

The  Lovejoy  School  of  Saint  Clair  County 
represents  the  educational  crown  of  one  of  the 
interesting  smaller  communities  of  that  coun- 
ty. The  school  history  of  the  community  runs 
back  for  sixty  years.  At  the  present  time 
there  are  three  buildings  for  the  education 
of  the  youth  of  Lovejoy.  One  of  these  build- 
ings is  more  than  fifty  years  old  and  another 
is  over  a  quarter  of  a  century  old.  During  the 
last  decade  a  large  and  modern  school  build- 


ILLINOIS 


247 


ing  has  been  erected  to  supplement  the  other 
two,  additions  having  been  made  to  this 
building  during  1930. 

The  main  building  contains  thirteen  rooms, 
with  gymnasium  and  auditorium  seating  700 
people.  The  school  library  contains  a  thou- 
sand volumes.  The  physical  plant  of  the 
Lovejoy  School  is  ample  for  the  needs  of  the 
growing  community  for  some  years  to  come. 
The  school  is  thoroughly  graded,  and  there 
are  500  pupils  enrolled,  with  thirteen  teach- 
ers. All  the  teachers  meet  the  state  require- 
ments in  training  and  some  of  them  are  grad- 
uates of  the  Southern  Illinois  Normal  at  Car- 
bondale  and  others  of  the  Normal  University 
at  Normal. 

The  principal  of  the  school  is  Mr.  B.  F. 
Washington,  who  has  a  veteran's  record  as  a 
teacher  and  school  man.  He  has  been  teach- 
ing thirty-three  years  in  Illinois  schools.  He 
started  his  work  in  Saint  Clair  County,  later 
taught  at  Marion,  East  Saint  Louis,  and  has 
been  principal  of  the  Lovejoy  School  for  ten 
years. 

Raleigh  E.  Wyatt,  of  Lomax,  Henderson 
County,  has  put  his  versatile  abilities  and  en- 
ergies to  useful  service  in  a  number  of  differ- 
ent enterprises.  He  is  both  a  business  man 
and  farmer. 

Mr.  Wyatt  was  born  at  Lomax  December 
26,  1895,  son  of  William  H.  and  Charlotte  Vir- 
ginia (Shanks)  Wyatt.  His  grandparents 
were  natives  of  England  and  were  early  set- 
tlers in  Henderson  County.  William  H.  Wyatt 
was  born  at  Lomax  in  1858  and  spent  his  life 
as  a  farmer.  He  owned  not  only  the  Wyatt 
homestead  but  several  other  farms  in  the  dis- 
trict. He  was  a  staunch  Republican  in  poli- 
tics. He  died  in  1921,  father  of  six  children: 
Mabel,  Ethel,  Raleigh,  Lorren,  Forrest  and 
Bert,  all  of  whom  live  at  Lomax.  Mabel  is  the 
wife  of  R.  J.  Logan,  and  Ethel  is  the  wife  of 
L.   M.  Vaughn. 

Raleigh  E.  Wyatt  attended  public  schools 
in  Lomax.  On  leaving  school  he  engaged  in 
farming,  and  has  had  a  share  in  the  agricul- 
tural activities  of  Henderson  County  for  many 
years.  He  had  a  strong  bent  for  mechanical 
things  and  this  has  brought  him  in  contact 
with  several  manufacturing  enterprises.  He 
had  a  factory  and  machine  shop  ^  experience 
and  for  three  years  was  employed  in  a  handle 
factory  at  Fort  Madison,  Iowa.  This  gave 
him  the  foundation  of  experience  to  go  into 
business  for  himself  and  in  1921  he  opened  a 
handle  factory  in  Lomax.  A  year  later  he 
sold  out  at  a  profitable  figure.  He  then  in- 
vested capital  in  the  Brown  Manufacturing 
plant  at  Fort  Madison,  Iowa,  and  was  located 
there  for  three  years.  Mr.  Wyatt  for  two 
years  was  interested  in  an  airplane  factory  at 
Lomax.  At  the  present  time  in  connection 
with  his  farming  he  carried  on  a  business  as 
a  carpenter  contractor. 


Mr.  Wyatt  has  been  active  in  the  Republican 
party  and  has  served  three  years  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Lomax  Council.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Christian  Church. 

On  March  6,  1915,  he  married  Miss  Nora 
Grace  Logan  of  Lomax.  She  was  a  teacher 
before  her  marriage.  Mrs.  Wyatt  is  one  of 
the  eleven  children  of  the  venerable  Casper 
Logan,  one  of  the  oldest  residents  of  Lomax. 
Casper  Logan  was  born  in  Fayette  County, 
Indiana,  October  8,  1846,  and  his  parents  came 
to  Illinois  in  1854.  He  was  educated  in  dis- 
trict schools,  attended  the  Bryant  and  Strat- 
ton's  Business  College  of  Burlington,  Iowa, 
and  as  a  youth  enlisted  and  served  for  several 
months  in  an  Illinois  regiment  in  the  Civil 
war.  He  has  been  a  staunch  Republican  ever 
since  casting  his  first  vote.  His  fellow  cit- 
izens have  entrusted  him  with  a  number  of 
public  offices,  such  as  justice  of  the  peace, 
road  supervisor,  town  clerk  of  Lomax,  town- 
ship assessor.  His  chief  occupation  has  been 
farming,  and  he  also  taught  school  at  one 
time.  In  1916  he  retired  from  the  farm,  and 
has  been  in  feeble  health  since  1929.  His  liv- 
ing children  are:  Lemuel  E.,  of  Stronghurst, 
Illinois;  Clayton  H.,  Clement  E.,  Mrs.  Ada  M. 
Porter,  Victor  H.,  Mrs.  Nora  Grace  Wyatt, 
all  at  Lomax;  Lawrence  G.,  of  Fort  Madison, 
Iowa;  Mrs.  Ethel  Irene  Daily,  of  Canton,  Illi- 
nois; and  Mrs.  Nellie  A.  Sayer,  of  Dallas  City, 
Illinois. 

Abingdon  Public  Library.  The  attractive 
little  City  of  Abingdon,  Knox  County,  holds 
as  one  of  its  best  communal  assets  a  well 
ordered  public  library.  This  library  had  its 
virtual  inception  in  the  organizing  of  the 
Abingdon  Library  Association,  composed  of 
loyal  and  public-spirited  citizens  who  desired 
to  give  constructive  expression  of  their  desire 
to  provide  the  community  with  consistent  li- 
brary advantages.  Among  the  leaders  in  the 
movement  was  Corliss  Mosser,  to  whose  efforts 
was  largely  due  the  success  that  attended  the 
movement  for  establishing  and  maintaining 
the  library.  Loyally  associated  with  Mr. 
Mosser  in  this  communal  service  were  J.  E. 
Barlow,  Orion  Latimer,  G.  A.  Shiplett,  all 
of  whom  gave  effective  aid  in  the  work,  and 
the  last  two  of  whom  are  no  longer  members 
of  the  executive  board. 

In  1914  the  building  of  the  John  Mosser 
Public  Library  was  erected  and  presented  to 
the  city  as  an  outright  gift  on  the  part  of 
the  heirs  of  John  Mosser,  who  was  long  one  of 
the  honored  and  influential  citizens  of  Abing- 
don. The  library  is  supported  by  special  tax 
that  yields  about  $2,500  annually — a  tax  so 
light  that  it  is  scarcely  appreciable  as  drawn 
from  the  taxpayers  of  the  city.  The  library 
has  gained  reputation  for  being  one  of  the 
most  effectively  ordered  of  similar  institutions 
in  the  state  and  utmost  circumspection  and 
good  judgment  have  been  shown  in  the  em- 


248 


ILLINOIS 


ploying  and  directing  of  its  annual  supporting 
fund.  All  bills  are  promptly  met  and  the 
library  usually  shows  a  surplus  at  the  ex- 
piration of  each  fiscal  year.  The  members 
of  the  board  of  trustees  are  appointed  by 
the  mayor  and  receive  no  remuneration  for 
their  services.  The  salary  of  the  first  libra- 
rian was  placed  at  five  dollars  a  month,  and 
Mrs.  Dyer,  who  served  as  librarian  twenty- 
two  years,  received  this  amount  for  a  long 
period.  Mrs.  Bowton  came  to  the  library  in 
1914  and  assumed  the  responsibility  of  cata- 
loguing the  books.  She  succeeded  Mrs.  Dyer 
when  the  latter  resigned  the  office  of  librarian 
and  has  since  continued  as  the  efficient  and 
popular  librarian. 

The  service  of  the  Abingdon  Public  Library 
is  now  carried  forward  under  nine  general 
divisions,  including  philosophy,  religion,  so- 
ciology, etc.,  and  the  magazine  department 
regularly  receives  about  one  hundred  standard 
periodicals  in  the  various  classifications,  these 
being  bound  annually  and  constituting  one  of 
the  best  permanent  research  assets  of  the  li- 
brary. By  1922  the  library  had  so  expanded 
that  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  provide  a 
separate  place  for  the  children,  and  accord- 
ingly the  assembly  room  was  converted  into 
the  children's  department.  This  department 
has  become  one  of  the  best  of  its  kind  main- 
tained by  similar  institutions  throughout  the 
state,  this  being  the  dictum  of  the  secretary 
of  the  State  Library  Extension  Work.  The 
various  civic  and  cultural  clubs  of  the  city 
have  done  much  to  encourage  and  to  aid  in 
upbuilding  the  library  and  its  service. 

Mrs.  Anne  Bowton,  the  popular  librarian, 
is  a  daughter  of  Philip  Baumgardner,  a  prom- 
inent retired  contractor  of  Abingdon.  Mrs. 
Bowton  was  born  and  reared  in  this  city,  and 
here  received  her  higher  academic  education 
in  Hedding  College,  an  institution  that  was 
eventually  taken  over  as  an  integral  part  of 
the  Illinois  Wesleyan  University.  Mrs.  Bow- 
ton received  additional  instruction  in  dramatic 
art  at  the  Maude  Alma  Main  School  of  Fine 
Arts  in  Galesburg,  and  she  likewise  attended 
the  Western  Illinois  State  Normal  College,  at 
Macomb.  It  has  already  been  stated  that  she 
did  the  original  cataloguing  of  the  Abing- 
don Public  Library,  and  after  completing  this 
work  she  rendered  effective  service  in  the 
Oliva  Ramey  Library  at  Raleigh,  North  Caro- 
lina, and  the  public  library  at  Charlotte,  that 
state.  She  returned  to  Abingdon  in  1926  and 
has  since  continued  her  effective  administra- 
tion as  librarian  of  the  local  public  library. 
She  has  been  influential  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Illinois  State  Association  of  Library  Workers, 
and  has  served  on  many  of  its  important  com- 
mittees— a  signal  distinction  to  be  accorded 
a  librarian  from  one  of  the  smaller  cities  of 
the  state. 

The  Abingdon  Public  Library  now  has  in 
its  general  distributing  department  more  than 


10,000  volumes,  and  its  supply  of  reference 
books  is  of  high  standard  and  broad  scope, 
including  the  bound  volumes  of  magazines. 
In  its  facilities  for  service  to  high-school  stu- 
dents this  library  was  placed  high  on  the 
accredited   lists   of  the   state. 

Greenville  College.  Many  citizens  of 
Southern  Illinois  as  well  as  men  and  women 
from  other  states  are  indebted  for  some  of 
their  life's  inspiration  to  the  influence  of 
Greenville  College  in  Bond  County.  The  in- 
stitution under  its  present  auspices  was 
founded  in  1892  by  ministers  and  laymen  of 
the  Central  Illinois  Conference  of  the  Free 
Methodist  Church.  The  original  board  of 
trustees  were:  Rev.  F.  H.  Ashcraft,  W.  T. 
Branson,  Rev.  W.  B.  M.  Colt,  W.  S.  Dann, 
Rev.  C.  A.  Flemming,  J.  M.  Gilmore,  Isaac 
Kessler,  Rev.  T.  H.  Marsh,  J.  H.  Moss,  Wil- 
liam Neece,  Milton  Rowdybush,  Rev.  R.  W. 
Sanderson,  Francis  Schneeberger  and  Shelby 
D.  Young.  It  is  primarily  a  college  of  liberal 
arts  with  Christian  ideals  and  influences  per- 
meating every  department.  A  large  number 
of  men  and  women  have  received  diplomas 
from  the  associated  schools,  and  over  600 
have  graduated  from  the  College  of  Liberal 
Arts. 

Prior  to  1892  Greenville  had  a  school  known 
as^  Almira  College,  which  was  one  of  the  first 
mid-western  women's  colleges.  For  about 
thirty  years  it  was  conducted  under  the  au- 
spices of  the  Baptist  Church.  The  main 
building  of  Greenville  College  is  known  as 
"Old  Main,"  which  formerly  housed  Almira 
College.  On  the  first  two  floors  are  the  ad- 
ministrative offices,  library,  school  of  business 
training,  lecture  and  conference  rooms,  while 
the  third  and  fourth  floors  are  the  men's  resi- 
dence halls.  The  Auditorium  Building,  com- 
pleted in  1905,  contains  the  auditorium,  newly 
rebuilt  as  La  Due  Memorial  Chapel,  offices, 
lecture  and  recitation  rooms,  and  the  chemis- 
try and  biology  laboratories.  The  E.  G.  Bur- 
ritt  Gymnasium,  built  in  1913,  contains  a  play- 
ing floor  48  by  80  feet  in  the  clear,  surrounded 
by  a  suspended  balcony.  In  the  basement  are 
departmental  offices,  shower  and  dressing 
rooms  and  an  up-to-date  printing  plant  fully 
equipped.  The  Woman's  Building,  com- 
pleted in  1922,  is  a  modern  three-story  brick, 
the  ground  floor  containing  kitchen  and  din- 
ing-room, seating  240,  and  on  the  first  floor 
are  music  studios,  reception  rooms  and  par- 
lors. The  dormitory  occupies  the  second  and 
third  floors.  The  president's  home  adjacent 
to  the  campus  has  recently  been  acquired  by 
the  college. 

The  college  has  a  library  of  10,000  volumes 
and  2,000  pamphlets.  Religious  life  is  the 
essence  of  the  school.  The  charter,  granted 
by  the  Illinois  Legislature,  authorizes  Green- 
ville  College  to  conduct  a  school  of  theology 


ILLINOIS 


249 


and  to  confer  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Divinity.  Thirty  per  cent  of  the  alumni  of 
the  college  are  engaged  in  religious  work. 
In  addition  to  the  institution's  emphasis  upon 
training  for  religious  work,  its  program  in- 
cludes excellent  provisions  for  professional  and 
pre-professional  training  in  many  fields.  Espe- 
cially strong  is  its  pre-medical  course.  Special 
features  in  engineering,  business,  teacher 
training  and  music  attract  many  students.  The 
students  of  the  institution  come  from  a  wide 
area,  covering  twenty  states,  and  more  than 
one  half  of  the  enrollment  of  the  college  divi- 
sion are  drawn  from  other  states  than  Illi- 
nois. The  institution  maintains  a  strong 
emphasis  on  scholarship,  and  its  alumni  have 
achieved  unusual  distinction  in  post-graduate 
study,  as  indicated  by  the  fact  that  twenty- 
eight  per  cent  proceed  to  definitely  post- 
graduate university  degrees. 

The  presidents  of  the  college  have  been: 
Wilson  Thomas  Hogue,  Ph.  D.,  LL.  D.,  1892- 
1904;  Augustin  Lucius  Whitcomb,  M.  S.,  D.  D., 
1904-1908;  Eldon  Grant  Burritt,  A.  M., 
LL.  D.,  from  1908  until  his  death  .in  1927; 
and  since  1927,  Leslie  Ray  Marston,  Ph.  D. 

Doctor  Marston  has  been  with  Greenville 
College  for  over  ten  years  as  dean  and  later 
as  president.  He  was  born  at  Maple  Ridge, 
Michigan,  September  24,  1894,  son  of  John 
Richardson  and  Lucy  (Sanderson)  Marston. 
His  father  for  some  years  was  a  farmer,  but 
then  turned  to  the  ministry  of  the  Free  Meth- 
odist denomination.  Doctor  Marston's  mother 
was  born  in  New  York  State  and  died  at 
Blanchard,  Isabella  County,  Michigan,  Septem- 
ber 4,  1929.  She  was  a  descendant  of  the 
Webster  family  of  which  the  famous  lexicog- 
rapher was  a  member. 

Doctor  Marston  was  educated  in  public 
schools  at  Coopersville,  Michigan,  and  grad- 
uated from  Greenville  College  with  the  Bache- 
lor of  Arts  degree  in  1916.  His  Master  of 
Arts  degree  came  from  the  University  of 
Illinois  in  1917,  and  in  1925  he  received  the 
Doctor  of  Philosophy  degree  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Iowa.  From  1920  to  1926  he  was 
dean  of  Greenville  College  and  professor  of 
psychology  and  education.  During  1926-28  he 
was  employed  as  executive  secretary  of  the 
committee  on  child  development  of  the  National 
Research  Council.  On  the  death  of  Doctor 
Burritt  he  was  elected  president  of  the  col- 
lege. He  is  widely  known  as  a  psychologist 
and  expert  on  child  development.  He  has 
taught  in  summer  schools  of  the  University 
of  Illinois  in  1921,  the  University  of  Iowa 
in  1925  and  1928,  and  the  University  of 
Michigan  in  1930.  During  the  World  war  he 
was  in  the  service  of  the  Government  for 
sixteen  months  with  the  psychological  and 
medical  divisions. 

Doctor  Marston  was  member  of  one  of  the 
advisory  committees  of  the  recent  Whitehouse 
Conference   on    Child   Health   and    Protection. 


He  is  author  of  The  Emotions  of  Young  Chil- 
dren, published  in  1925,  and  various  magazine 
articles  on  educational  topics.  He  compiled 
for  the  National  Research  Council  in  1927  a 
Directory  of  Research  in  Child  Development, 
and  for  the  same  organization  he  edited 
Selected  Child  Development  Abstracts  and 
Bibliography. 

Doctor  Marston  is  an  ordained  minister  of 
the  Free  Methodist  Church,  and  a  member  of 
the  Springfield  Mid-Day  Luncheon  Club,  the 
National  Education  Association,  Religious  Ed- 
ucation Association,  the  Pi  Gamma  Mu  social 
science  fraternity,  the  American  Academy  of 
Political  and  Social  Science,  American  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  Illi- 
nois Academy  of  Science,  the  Sigma  Xi  and 
the  Mid-Western  Psychological  Association. 

Doctor  Marston  married  August  16,  1921, 
Lila  Lucille  Thompson  of  McPherson,  Kan- 
sas.    They  have  one  daughter,  Evelyn  Lucille. 

George  Benjamin  Gillespie  qualified  for 
the  practice  of  law  in  1887,  and  in  the  past 
forty  years  has  gained  a  full  share  of  the 
honors  and  successes  of  his  profession.  His 
entrance  into  the  profession  presents  a  novelty 
quite  unusual  and  demonstrates  that  one  who 
is  self  educated  may  become  a  successful  law- 
yer. In  1885,  without  previous  training,  except 
in  the  country  public  schools  as  a  teacher  for 
one  term,  and  as  a  deputy  county  clerk,  he 
formed  a  partnership  to  practice  law  with  the 
late  Alonzo  K.  Vickers,  who  became  a  dis- 
tinguished member  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Illinois,  and  earned  the  money  with  which 
he  afterward  took  a  course  in  a  law  school. 
Mr.  Gillespie  has  been  a  member  of  the  Spring- 
field bar  for  thirty  years. 

His  father,  James  B.  Gillespie,  who  died  in 
1927,  was  born  in  Tennessee.  He  was  a  son 
of  George  M.  Gillespie  and  a  grandson  of 
Thomas  Gillespie.  He  was  ten  years  of  age 
when  he  came  with  his  grandfather  to  Johnson 
County,  Illinois,  and  fifteen  when  his  grand- 
father died  and  he  was  left  on  his  own 
resources  to  make  his  way  in  the  world.  He 
belonged  to  a  family  that  migrated  from 
North  Carolina  to  Tennessee  at  an  early  day 
and  thence  into  Southern  Illinois.  He  was 
married  to  Mary  Enloe  at  the  breaking  out 
of  the  war  between  the  states.  Immediately 
after  his  marriage  he  volunteered  in  the  Union 
army  and  served  as  lieutenant  and  captain  of 
Company  I  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Twentieth 
Illinois  Volunteers.  He  was  captured,  detained 
in  Rebel  prisons  for  a  year,  exchanged  and 
engaged  in  business  as  merchant,  farmer  and 
grain  dealer,  served  for  many  years  as  a  dep- 
uty revenue  collector  and  died  from  an  accident 
at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty-eight  years. 

Mary  Enloe  was  the  daughter  of  Benjamin 
S.  Enloe,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Enloe 
family  also  of  North  Carolina,  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky,  a  pioneer  in  Southern  Illinois,  and 


250 


ILLINOIS 


who  attained  distinction  as  a  political  leader 
in  the  early  history  of  the  state.  She  sur- 
vives, at  the  age  of  ninety-one  years,  and 
resides  with  one  of  her  sons  at  Cairo,  Illinois. 
George  B.  Gillespie,  the  attorney,  was  born 
in  Johnson  County,  Illinois,  June  3,  1863.  He 
attended  the  public  schools  in  Johnson  County 
and  for  two  years  studied  law  while  practicing 
under  the  tutelage  of  his  partner,  Alonzo  K. 
Vickers,  and  completed  his  education  in  the 
law  department  of  Illinois  Wesleyan  University 
at  Bloomington  with  the  distinction  of  winning 
the  gold  prize  for  the  best  grades  on  the 
entire  course  at  his  graduation  to  the  degree 
of  LL.  B.  He  was  graduated  in  1887  and 
admitted  to  the  bar  June  17  of  that  year. 
Previous  to  entering  upon  the  practice  of 
law,  in  1884  he  was  appointed  county  clerk 
of  Johnson  County,  but  held  that  office  only 
a  short  time,  until  an  election  was  held  to 
fill  a  Vacancy.  In  1887,  after  the  suspension 
of  the  partnership  of  Vickers  &  Gillespie,  for 
a  year  during  which  time  Mr.  Vickers  served 
in  the  Illinois  Legislature  and  Mr.  Gillespie 
was  attending  law  school,  the  firm  of  Vickers 
&  Gillespie  resumed  the  practice  and  continued 
in  partnership  until  November,  1889,  when 
that  partnership  was  dissolved.  He  then  formed 
a  partnership  with  L.  O.  Whitnel,  a  boyhood 
friend  about  his  age,  and  the  firm  of  Whitnel 
&  Gillespie  was  maintained  until  1901.  Dur- 
ing this  association  Mr.  Gillespie  served  two 
terms  as  state's  attorney  of  Johnson  County 
and  had  the  distinction  of  making  local  option 
territory  both  wet  and  bone  dry  and  demon- 
strating that  the  liquor  laws  of  Illinois  can 
be  enforced  if  applied  to  suppress  instead 
of  license  the  business.  And  he  also  sup- 
pressed a  notorious  gang  of  law-breakers 
whose  organization  had  been  maintained  for 
many  years.  During  his  last  administration 
he  assisted  with  the  prosecution  in  the  trial 
of  two  homicide  cases  against  a  large  number 
of  members  of  the  miners'  union  which  had 
participated  in  some  riots  in  attempting  to 
completely  unionize  the'  mining  industry  in 
the  State  of  Illinois. 

In  1901  Mr.  Gillespie  became  an  assistant 
in  the  office  of  Hon.  H.  J.  Hamlin,  attorney 
general  of  Illinois,  and  continued  in  that  office 
until  1906.  He  then  formed  a  partnership 
with  Mr.  Hamlin,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Hamlin  &  Gillespie,  and  became  the  district 
attorney  of  the  Cleveland,  Cincinnati,  Chicago 
&  St.  Louis  Railway  Company,  in  which  posi- 
tion he  continued  for  more  than  twenty-five 
years.  The  firm  immediately  became  active 
as  the  representative  of  many  railroads  and 
other  corporations  having  important  business 
in  the  courts  and  was  soon  recognized  as  a 
firm  to  which  many  of  their  professional  breth- 
ren could  take  the  more  complicated  questions 
arising  in  their  practice.  Mr.  Arthur  M.  Fitz- 
gerald after  a  time  associated  with  the  firm, 
under  the  name  of  Hamlin,  Gillespie  &  Fitz- 


gerald. After  the  death  of  Mr.  Hamlin  the 
business  was  continued  under  the  name  of 
Gillespie  &  Fitzgerald  until  1916,  when  this 
firm  was  dissolved  and  its  members  opened 
separate  offices.  Subsequently  Mr.  Gillespie 
practiced  alone  until  his  sons,  George  M.  and 
Louis  F.,  finished  their  law  school  education 
and  joined  him  in  what  is  now  the  firm  of 
Gillespie,  Burke  &  Gillespie. 

During  his  practice  Mr.  Gillespie  has  been 
connected  with  much  of  the  historic  and 
epoch  making  litigation  that  has  occurred  in 
the  State  of  Illinois,  including  labor  litigation, 
cases  involving  constitutional  and  governmen- 
tal questions,  questions  relating  to  public  util- 
ities, taxation  and  railroads,  many  of  them 
of  first  instance,  and  while  assistant  attorney 
general  appeared  for  the  state  in  the  Supreme 
Court  in  some  of  the  most  historic  of  the 
criminal  cases  in  that  court. 

Mr.  Gillespie  married  in  1890  Mary  Juette 
Oliver,  who  was  born  in  Johnson  County,  Illi- 
nois, and  attended  school  there,  finishing  her 
work  in  the  Illinois  State  Normal.  Her  father 
was  James  F.  Oliver,  a  prominent  farmer, 
'  and  her  grandfather,  John  Oliver,  an  outstand- 
ing figure  in  the  early  history  of  the  state  as 
farmer,  member  of  the  General  Assembly  and 
as  a  judge  of  local  courts.  Her  maternal 
grandfather,  Barney  S.  Smith,  was  also  an 
early  settler  of  Johnson  County  and  for  twenty 
years  held  the  office  of  county  clerk. 

The  eldest  of  the  three  children  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Gillespie  was  James  Alfred,  who  lost 
his  life  in  1917  by  accident,  while  in  training 
as  a  volunteer  in  the  great  war,  as  a  sergeant 
in  the  Thirty-third  Division  at  Houston,  Texas. 

The  second  son,  George  M.  Gillespie,  was 
educated  at  the  University  of  Chicago,  in  the 
Illinois  Wesleyan  University  Law  School  and 
Washington  and  Lee  University  at  Lexington, 
Virginia,  attaining  the  degree  of  LL.  B.  At 
graduation  he  volunteered  as  a  private  in 
the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fourth  Field 
Artillery  in  the  World  war,  and  was  advanced 
to  the  rank  of  lieutenant  while  in  the  training 
camp  of  the  Thirty-third  Division  at  Houston, 
Texas.  He  was  overseas,  was  trained  as  an 
artillery  officer  at  Arno,  France,  became  a 
captain  of  artillery,  was  returned  to  assist 
in  organizing  the  Fortieth  Division  at  Battle 
Creek,  Michigan,  and  was  among  the  last  to 
leave  the  camp  after  the  armistice.  His  unit 
was  decimated  by  the  terrible  plague  of  influ- 
enza, and  after  he  was  discharged  he  returned 
to  his  home  greatly  depressed  by  the  hospital 
experiences  through  which  he  had  passed. 
On  his  return  he  joined  his  father  in  the  law 
practice  at  Springfield  and  was  soon  distin- 
guished for  his  ability.  In  1925  he  was  married 
and  soon  after  accidentally  fell  from  a  stair- 
way and  was  killed. 

The  third  son,  Louis  F.  Gillespie,  was  edu- 
cated in  the  Staunton  Military  Academy  in 
Virginia,  attended  the  Tome  School  for  Boys 


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ILLINOIS 


251 


in  Maryland,  where  he  prepared  for  college, 
studied  in  Cornell  University  and  finished 
his  courses  at  the  University  of  Chicago, 
attaining  the  degrees  of  Ph.  B.  and  J.  D.,  and 
is  a  member  of  the  present  firm.  He  married 
Frances  Jean,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Ellis  J.  McGregor,  of  Pontiac,  Illinois,  and 
has  a  son,  George  B.  II,  and  a  little  daughter, 
Mary  Ellis. 

Mr.  Gillespie  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  a  past  master  of  the  Lodge 
of  Masons  at  Vienna,  has  taken  the  York 
and  Scottish  Rite  degrees,  is  a  member  of 
the  Sangamo  Club,  the  Sangamon  County, 
Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  Associations, 
and  is  a  Republican. 

Mr.  Gillespie  has  had  some  part  in  politics 
and  his  distinguishing  characteristics  as  a 
politician  is  his  independence  and  adherence 
to  the  fundamentals  of  government  and  a 
tenacious  insistence  that  the  constitutions  of 
the  state  and  nation  should  be  observed  by 
the  leaders  of  politics,  business  and  society 
as   necessary  to   good   citizenship. 

Ralph  Monroe  Snyder  has  been  ^engaged 
in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Chicago 
since  the  year  1914  and  is  a  constituent  mem- 
ber of  the  representative  law  firm  of  Parkin- 
son &  Lane,  in  which  connection  he  specializes 
in  laws  and  causes  pertaining  to  corporations, 
patents,  trade-marks  and  unfair  competition. 
His  law  practice  was  interrupted  during  his 
period  of  World  war  service. 

Mr.  Snyder  was  born  at  Pierson,  Piatt 
County,  Illinois,  January  15,  1891,  and  is  a 
son  of  William  Henry  and  Sarah  Isabelle 
(Righter)  Snyder.  William  Henry  Snyder 
was  born  in  Champaign  County,  Illinois,  No- 
vember 7,  1858,  son  of  Volney  and  Lydia 
Monroe  Snyder,  a  representative  of  one  of  the 
pioneer  families  that  early  made  settlement  in 
Virginia  and  later  in  the  central  part  of  this 
state  and  among  the  members  of  which  was 
the  late  Judge  William  G.  Snyder,  who  en- 
listed as  a  private  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Civil  war  and  was  mustered  out  as  major  in 
the  Fifty-sixth  Ohio  Infantry  at  the  end  of 
the  war. 

Mrs.  Sarah  Isabelle  (Righter)  Snyder  was 
born  at  Shinnston,  Harrison  County,  Virginia, 
in  the  year  1863,  a  daughter  of  John  Bigler 
Righter  and  Emily  Jane  (Atkinson)  Righter. 
On  the  paternal  side  Mrs.  Snyder  is  a  de- 
scendant of  Garrett  Van  Swearingen,  born  in 
Beemsterdam,  Holland,  in  1636,  who  came  to 
America  in  1657,  settling  at  Newcastle,  Dela- 
ware, where  occurred  his  marriage  to  M.  Bar- 
bara de  Barrette,  who  was  born  in  Valen- 
ciennes, France.  Garrett  Van  Swearingen 
constructed  the  historic  communal  stockade 
at  Baltimore,  Maryland,  in  1674.  John  Bigler 
Righter  was  born  in  Harrison  County,  Vir- 
ginia, in  1823,  his  native  county  having  later 
become    a    part    of    the    new    State    of    West 


Virginia,  and  his  wife  likewise  having  been 
a  member  of  an  old  and  honored  Virginia 
family.  He  was  a  son  of  Abraham  and  Dru- 
silla  (Lowe)  Righter,  the  latter  being  a 
granddaughter  of  Lieut.  Col.  Charles  (War 
of  the  Revolution)  and  Elizabeth  (Swear- 
ingen). John  Righter  served  also  as  a  sol- 
dier in  the  Revolutionary  war,  he  having  been 
with  the  Pennsylvania  contingent  of  the  Con- 
tinental Line.  Capt.  John  Righter  of  a  later 
generation  was  a  resident  of  Virginia  at  the 
inception  of  the  Civil  war  and  thence  went 
forth  as  a  soldier  of  his  native  state  and  the 
Confederacy. 

After  his  preliminary  education  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  Decatur,  Illinois,  Ralph  Monroe 
Snyder  completed  a  course  in  the  University 
of  Michigan,  in  which  he  was  graduated  as 
a  member  of  the  class  of  1912  and  with  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  In  1914  he  was 
graduated  from  the  law  department  of  that 
university,  after  which  he  was  duly  admitted 
to  the  bar  of  the  Supreme  Courts  of  Michigan 
and  Illinois,  and  has  since  been  admitted  to  the 
Federal  bars  in  many  of  the  states  and  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  before  which  he  has  appeared 
in  extensive  patent  litigation. 

In  the  same  year  that  he  was  graduated,  he 
established  his  residence  in  Chicago,  begin- 
ning the  general  practice  of  law  with  the  firm 
of  Busby,  Weber,  Miller  and  Robinson.  After 
the  interval  of  his  service  in  the  World  war 
he  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Parkin- 
son &  Lane,  with  offices  at  140  South  Dearborn 
Street.  Mr.  Snyder  is  a  member  of  the  Chi- 
cago Bar  Association,  Chicago  Patent  Law 
Association,  Illinois  State  Bar  Association  and 
the  American  Bar  Association. 

His  political  alliance  is  with  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  and  he  served  as  national  presi- 
dent of  the  Smith-for-President  Aviation 
League  in  1928. 

He  has  membership  in  the  Lawyers  Club, 
Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  Mid-Day  Club,  The  Law 
Club,  Chicago,  Executives  Club,  Winnetka 
Tennis  Club,  University  Golf  Club,  Royal 
Arch  Mason  (E.  H.  P.)  and  the  University 
of  Michigan  Club,  of  which  last  named  Chi- 
cago organization  he  was  president  in  1926 
and  1927.  In  1929  he  was  elected  a  trustee 
of  the  Village  of  Winnetka,  and  is  now  presi- 
dent pro  tern  of  the  Village  Council.  He  is 
affiliated  with  the  Phi  Sigma  Kappa  and  Beta 
Epsilon  college  fraternities. 

In  August,  1917,  Mr.  Snyder  enlisted  in 
the  United  States  Army,  and  entered  the 
Second  Officers  Training  Camp  at  Fort  Sheri- 
dan, where  he  was  commissioned  as  second 
lieutenant.  He  was  then  transferred  to  Kelly 
Field,  Texas,  where  he  became  a  first  lieuten- 
ant, flying  status  (R.  M.  A.)  in  the  air  serv- 
ice. He  later  served  at  other  fields  as  flying 
instructor,  squadron  commander  and  judge 
advocate.  He  received  his  honorable  discharge 
in    April,    1919,    and    then    resumed    his    law 


252 


ILLINOIS 


practice  in  Chicago.  He  has  been  prominent 
and  influential  in  the  affairs  of  the  American 
Legion,  being  past  commander  of  Aviation 
Post,  No.  651. 

Mr.  Snyder  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Margaret  Eaton,  a  daughter  of  William  N. 
and  Mary  L.  (Ross)  Eaton,  at  Jackson,  Mich- 
igan, October  13,  1917.  The  three  children  of 
this  union  are:  Margaret  Louise,  born  Au- 
gust 4,  1924;  Robert  Monroe,  born  February 
4,  1928;  and  Elizabeth  Ross,  born  August  20, 
1929.  The  family  home  in  Winnetka  is  at 
1329  Westmoor  Trail. 

Tonyes  J.  Goldenstein,  one  of  the  most 
successful  men  in  the  agricultural  district  of 
Hancock  County,  whose  home  is  two  miles 
south  of  Carthage  on  the  old  Quincy  Road, 
is  a  man  who  has  made  his  success  through 
the  labor  of  his  own  hands,  his  enterprise  and 
good  judgment.  Mr.  Goldenstein  had  a  genius 
for  practical  work.  Since  coming  to  Illinois 
he  has  owned  and  improved  five  separate 
farms,  leaving  each  one  of  them  more  valu- 
able than  when  he  took  possession,  and  this 
in  brief  might  be  taken  as  the  story  of  his 
prosperous  career. 

Mr.  Goldenstein  was  born  in  Hanover,  Ger- 
many, February  9,  1867,  son  of  John  and 
Anna  (Tammen)  Goldenstein.  His  father  was 
an  innkeeper,  merchant  and  farmer  at  Au- 
rech.  Both  parents  lived  all  their  lives  in 
Germany.  Their  children  were:  Jurgen,  who 
served  as  a  soldier  in  the  Franco-Prussian  war 
and  died  in  Germany;  Altja,  who  came  to 
Carthage,  Illinois,  and  was  the  wife  of  Henry 
Schuster;  Wilhelmina,  who  became  the  wife 
of  John  Garrelts,  of  Carthage;  Kate,  wife  of 
Martin  Fecht  of  Champaign  County;  Frank 
and  William  Goldenstein,  of  Golden,  farmers; 
John,  who  lives  on  the  old  homestead  in  Ger- 
many; Annie,  wife  of  Albert  Peters  Basco; 
then  came  two  children  who  died  in  infancy; 
and  Tonyes  J.  was  the  youngest  of  the  large 
family. 

Tonyes  J.  Goldenstein  came  across  the  ocean 
in  early  youth,  landing  at  old  Castle  Garden, 
and  one  of  his  first  impressive  views  of 
American  constructive  energy  was  the  mag- 
nificent Brooklyn  Bridge.  Coming  west  to 
Illinois,  he  worked  two  months  as  a  farm  hand 
in  Adams  County  and  then  for  four  years 
was  a  wage  earner  on  farms  in  Hancock 
County.  By  this  slow  method  he  was  accumu- 
lating a  little  capital  as  well  as  valuable  ex- 
perience and  knowledge  of  the  English  lan- 
guage. His  next  step  was  to  rent  some  land. 
He  then  bought  his  first  land,  seventy-seven 
acres,  in  Harmony  Township.  With  $100  of 
borrowed  money  he  erected  a  small  house,  in 
which  his  first  child  was  born.  After  ten 
years  of  industrious  application  he  sold  his 
first  farm.  His  second  purchase  was  160 
acres.  On  this  he  set  out  an  orchard,  put 
up  fences,  and  improved  the  buildings.     After 


five  years  he  made  a  profitable  sale  and  then 
bought  another  place  of  160  acres  in  the  same 
township.  Here  again  he  continued  his  work 
of  improvement,  and  after  two  years  sold 
out  at  a  profit.  He  then  bought  320  acres 
in  Prairie  Township.  Among  improvements 
here  that  marked  his  progressive  character  as 
a  farmer  were  a  silo  and  the  planting  of  an 
orchard.  Some  of  this  land  he  sold  and  at 
the  present  time  he  has  for  his  own  use  a 
limited  acreage  and  is  enjoying  the  fruits  of 
his  hard  work  in  earlier  years.  Mr.  Golden- 
stein took  a  prominent  part  in  establishing 
the  Farmers  Cooperative  at  Carthage.  He  has 
been  very  successful  in  fruit  growing  as  well 
as  in  general  farming.  The  lands  he  owns 
today  constitute  some  of  the  best  farming 
land  in  the  state. 

Mr.  Goldenstein  has  been  one  of  the  generous 
and  active  members  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
and  has  given  liberally  of  his  means  to  in- 
stitutions of  charity  and  education.  He  is  a 
Democrat  in  politics  and  for  six  years  was 
highway  commissioner. 

He  married  March  4,  1888,  Miss  Amelia 
Geissler,  of  Wurttemberg,  Germany,  where  she 
was  reared  and  educated.  After  the  death 
of  her  parents,  Frederick  and  Anna  (Andress) 
Geissler,  in  1886,  she  came  to  the  United 
States  and  lived  in  Hancock  County  until  her 
marriage.  Mrs.  Goldenstein  passed  away 
June  2,  1931.  Her  family  and  friends  re- 
member her  as  a  beautiful  example  of  Biblical 
character,  a  good  and  kindly  woman  who 
translated  her  kindly  thoughts  into  deeds  of 
helpfulness.  The  children  were:  Fred,  who 
married  Tillie  Jurgens  and  has  four  children 
named  Leona,  Helen,  Paul  and  June;  Anna, 
wife  of  Richard  Jurgens  and  mother  of  four 
children,  Leonard,  Elsie,  Pearl  and  Clarice; 
Wilma  Comerford,  a  widow  living  at  Chi- 
cago; William,  who  was  a  soldier  in  France 
during  the  World  war  and  is  now  deceased; 
Bernard,  who  lives  at  Quincy  and  married 
Eva  Thompson;  Theodore,  at  home;  Elizabeth, 
who  married  James  E.  Kennett  of  Springfield, 
Illinois;  Gottlieb  and  Adelaide,  both  of  whom 
died  in  infancy. 

Harry  M.  Schriver  who  has  twice  been 
honored  with  the  office  of  mayor  of  Rock 
Island,  has  practiced  law  in  that  city  for 
thirty  years  and  has  been  exceedingly  liberal 
and  public  spirited  in  his  time  and  efforts 
bestowed  upon  various  objects  of  the  general 
welfare. 

Mr.  Schriver  was  born  in  Edgington  Town- 
ship, Rock  Island  County,  September  17,  1872. 
His  people  were  early  settlers  in  Western 
Illinois.  He  is  a  son  of  William  H.  and  Julia 
O.  (Nichols)  Schriver,  his  father  a  native 
of  Blairsville,  Pennsylvania,  and  his  mother 
of  Searsport,  Maine.  His  grandfather,  Phil- 
lip B.  Schriver,  came  to  Rock  Island  County 
from  Pennsylvania  in  1851.    He  was  a  cabinet 


ILLINOIS 


253 


maker  by  trade.  In  1850  he  chartered  a  boat 
which  he  loaded  with  a  stock  of  furniture 
made  in  his  factory,  shipped  it  down  the  Ohio 
River  and  disposed  of  it  at  St.  Louis.  The 
following  year  he  moved  to  Rock  Island  County 
and  in  1852  bought  a  farm.  His  first  farm 
he  sold  and  in  1866  moved  to  Edgington  Town- 
ship, where  he  followed  farming  until  his  death 
in  1889. 

Mr.  Schriver's  maternal  grandparents  were 
Winthrop  and  Olive  Nichols.  Winthrop 
Nichols  was  a  shipbuilder,  and  all  his  sons 
became  seafaring  men.  A  grandson  of  Win- 
throp Nichols  is  Malcolm  Nichols,  who  has 
just  completed  a  term  as  mayor  of  the  City 
of  Boston.  Winthrop  Nichols  had  a  ship  under 
contract  in  1857,  the  year  that  his  wife  and 
other  members  of  the  family  came  west  to 
Illinois.  He  remained  in  the  East  to  com- 
plete the  ship,  but  died  before  it  was  fin- 
ished. One  of  his  sons,  Jacob  Nichols,  was  a 
soldier  in  the  Civil  war  and  was  a  prisoner 
in  Libby  Prison  and  after  the  war  entered 
railroading  and  for  many  years  was  a  station 
agent  for  the  Rock  Island  Railway,  finally 
retiring.  He  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-six. 
Mrs.  Julia  0.  (Nichols)  Schriver  is  living  at 
Rock  Island  at  the  age  of  eighty-three  and 
her  home  has  been  in  Rock  Island  County  for 
over  seventy  years.  William  H.  Scr river  en- 
listed in  the  Union  army,  became  captain  of 
Company  G  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty- 
sixth  Illinois  Infantry,  and  after  the  close 
of  the  war  returned  to  Rock  Island  County. 
He  was  a  farmer  in  Edgington  Township 
until  1905,  when  he  moved  to  Rock  Island  and 
retired.  For  a  number  of  years  he  was  a 
traveling  representative  for  the  McCormick 
Harvester  Company.  He  died  in  May,  1917. 
He  was  a  Presbyterian,  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  a  Republican,  and  served 
as  township  assessor  for  a  number  of  years. 
There  were  four  children  in  the  family:  Lucy, 
wife  of  R.  P.  Wait,  who  is  owner  of  two 
banks,  one  at  Reynolds  and  the  other  at  Tay- 
lor Ridge;  Harry  M.;  Benjamin  S.,  Rock 
Island  attorney;  and  Mabel,  wife  of  B.  C. 
Hitt,  a  prominent  orchestra  director  and  mu- 
sician at  Los  Angeles. 

Harry  M.  Schriver  during  his  boyhood  had 
the  advantages  of  country  schools  and  the 
Reynolds  High  School,  but  after  that  had  to 
work  out  his  own  destiny  and  has  always 
pulled  more  than  his  own  weight.  He  edu- 
cated himself,  graduating  in  1897  from  the 
law  department  of  Valparaiso  University  of 
Indiana,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar 
in  1897.  For  two  years  he  taught  school  and 
for  a  year  he  worked  on  the  farm  to  help 
out  his  father.  Then  on  July  1,  1900,  he  came 
to  Rock  Island  with  a  view  to  opeing  a  law 
office.  It  was  a  month  before  he  found  quar- 
ters suitable  to  his  means,  being  able  to  rent 
a  little  room  for  four  dollars  a  month.  In 
this  he  put  a  second-hand  roll  top  desk  and 


chair  which  he  had  bought  for  nine  dollars, 
and  a  small  closet  contained  his  law  books. 
The  first  applicant  for  his  professional  serv- 
ices was  a  colored  man  who  wanted  a  divorce 
from  his  wife.  Professional  business  came 
rather  slowly  at  first,  but  his  earnestness,  his 
skilful  handling  of  all  matters  entrusted  to 
his  charge,  brought  him  a  steadily  increasing 
business  and  he  has  been  connected  with  some 
of  the  most  important  litigation  tried  in  West- 
ern Illinois.  Mr.  Schriver  has  never  married 
and  is  associated  with  his  brother  in  the  firm 
of  Schriver  and  Schriver,  with  offices  in  the 
Safety  Building. 

Fraternally  he  has  membership  in  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  B.  P.  O.  Elks 
and  Fraternal  Order  of  Eagles,  is  a  member 
of  the  Rock  Island  County  Bar  Association 
and  a  Republican.  He  was  first  elected  mayor 
of  Rock  Island  in  April,  1911,  serving  four 
years.  In  May,  1919,  he  was  again  elected  to 
that  office  and  was  mayor  of  the  city  during 
the  four  years  following  the  close  of  the  World 
war  and  there  were  many  unusual  problems  of 
municipal  adminstration. 

Mrs.  Anne  Lehn  Weber,  proprietor  of  the 
Royal  Letter  Service  in  the  Murphy  Building 
at  East  St.  Louis,  has  had  a  wide  experience 
in  commercial  work  and  was  also  an  educator 
for  several  years.  She  is  member  of  one  of 
the  older  families  of  Southern  Illinois. 

She  was  born  at  Pocahontas  in  Bond  County, 
and  is  a  daughter  of  Bernard  and  Elizabeth 
(Von  Daniken)  Lehn.  Her  grandfather,  Louis 
Lehn,  who  was  born  at  Metz,  Alsace  Lorraine, 
France,  August  30,  1832,  came  to  America 
about  1850  when  eighteen  years  of  age.  His 
first  home  was  in  St.  Clair  County,  Illinois, 
and  his  first  work  in  this  country  was  helping 
construct  the  B.  &  O.  levee.  Later  he  moved 
to  Bond  County  and  acquired  extensive  tracts 
of  land,  and  besides  farming  at  one  time 
operated  a  brick  yard  at  Aviston,  making  the 
brick  for  the  first  Catholic  Church  in  that 
town.  He  also  laid  out  the  Town  of  Lehn- 
ville.  Bernard  Lehn  was  born  at  Aviston, 
Illinois,  October  9,  1863,  and  has  spent  his 
life  as  a  prosperous  farmer.  He  is  now  re- 
tired. He  is  a  Democrat  and  a  member  of 
the  Catholic  Church.  Bernard  Lehn  and 
Elizabeth  Von  Daniken  were  married  April 
14,  1895.  She  was  born  at  Pocahontas,  Illi- 
nois. Her  father,  Jacob  Von  Daniken,  was 
a  native  of  Berne,  Switzerland,  came  to 
America  when  a  young  man  and  came  to  be 
known  as  one  of  the  extensive  farmers  and 
prominent  citizens   of   Bond   County. 

Mrs.  Weber  was  educated  in  the  grammar 
and  high  schools  at  Greenville,  and  among 
other  talents  developed  unusual  proficiency  in 
music.  She  played  in  the  Catholic  Church 
at  Greenville  for  seven  years.  She  taught 
school  at  Pocahontas  and  after  completing  a 
business    course    in    Brown's    Business     Col- 


254 


ILLINOIS 


lege  at  East  St.  Louis  remained  with  that 
school  for  three  years  as  an  instructor.  Fol- 
lowing this  came  two  years  of  secretarial 
work. 

On  April  28,  1921,  she  was  married  to  Mr. 
Howard  Joseph  Weber  of  Rochester,  New 
York.  Mr.  Weber  was  a  mechanical  engi- 
neer, graduated  with  the  Mechanical  Engi- 
neering degree  from  the  University  of  Roches- 
ter and  for  some  years  was  with  the  New 
York  Central  Lines.  Prior  to  his  marriage 
he  lived  in  Cleveland  and  was  a  member  of 
the  Forbes  &  Weber  Engineering  Company. 
He  died  March  13,  1925.  They  had  two  chil- 
dren: Joanne  Bernadette,  born  April  7,  1923, 
and  Robert  Henry,  who  died  in  infancy. 

Following  the  death  of  Mr.  Weber,  Mrs. 
Weber  returned  to  East  St.  Louis  and  for 
about  three  years  resumed  secretarial  work. 
She  then  took  the  opportunity  to  establish 
the  Royal  Letter  Service,  and  has  built  up  a 
splendid  clientele  among  the  commercial  and 
industrial  interests  of  the  city.  For  several 
years  she  was  with  the  Multigraphing  and 
Addressing  Company  at  St.  Louis,  and  out  of 
that  experience  she  has  developed  the  im- 
portant feature  of  her  present  business.  She 
has  a  staff  and  equipment  for  an  unlimited 
service  in  multigraphing,  also  general  address- 
ing and  stenographic  work.  Mrs.  Weber  is 
a  member  of  the  Stenographers  Union,  is  a 
Catholic,  belonged  to  the  Daughters  of  Isa- 
belle,  and  the  Senior  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

J.  Harrison  Wedig,  whose  attainments  and 
services  as  a  physician  and  surgeon  have  made 
his  name  widely  and  favorably  known  through- 
out Eastern  and  Southern  Illinois,  is  a  native 
son  of  Madison  County,  and  his  duties  today 
as  a  prominent  surgeon  connect  him  with  the 
great  oil  refining  center  of  Wood  River  in 
that  county. 

Doctor  Wedig  was  born  in  Nameoki  Town- 
ship of  Madison  County,  July  27,  1885.  His 
grandfather,  John  Wedig,  Sr.,  was  born  in 
Hanover,  Germany,  January  7,  1824,  and  lived 
to  the  remarkable  age  of  101  years,  passing 
away  in  1925.  Newspapers  all  over  the  state 
commented  upon  the  death  of  this  remark- 
able centenarian.  He  acquired  a  university 
education  in  Germany,  came  to  America  in 
1844,  settling  in  Southern  Illinois.  He  be- 
came a  soldier  in  the  Mexican  war  in  1846, 
reaching  the  rank  of  captain.  So  far  as 
known  he  was  the  very  last  survivor  of  that 
war.     He  went  to  California  in  1849,  but  in 

1852  settled  permanently  in  Madison  County 
and  became  one  of  the  prosperous  farmers 
and  land  owners.  During  the  Civil  war  he 
was  rejected  for  service  because  of  a  physical 
handicap.  He  represented  his  county  in  the 
Illinois    Legislature    from    1885    to    1887.      In 

1853  he  married  Miss  Labathy  Beck,  who  was 
born  in  Germany  February  9,  1833. 


The  father  of  Doctor  Wedig  was  John 
Wedig,  Jr.,  who  passed  away  in  1912,  after 
a  successful  career  as  a  farmer  in  early  life, 
and  later  following  the  occupation  of  moulder. 
He  married  Mary  D.  Joerns,  of  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri, who  is  known  widely  throughout  this 
section  for  the  civic  and  service  relationship 
to  women  and  young  adolescent  women.  For 
many  years  she  has  studied  welfare  work  for 
women  in  Granite  City,  both  in  theory  and 
practical  service. 

J.  Harrison  Wedig  was  four  years  of  age 
when  the  family  left  the  farm  and  moved  to 
St.  Louis.  He  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  of  that  city  and  at  Granite  City.  After 
leaving  school  he  served  an  apprenticeship 
and  student  of  the  International  Correspond- 
ence School  as  a  mechanic,  and  fitted  him- 
self for  electrical  and  mechanical  engineering. 
Subsequently  he  began  his  preparation  for 
the  career  in  which  his  talents  have  had  the 
widest  range  of  usefulness  and  service.  He 
studied  at  St.  Louis  University  and  private 
schools,  where  he  completed  his  high  school 
training,  and  in  1906  entered  Barnes  Medical 
College,  and  the  following  year  transferred  his 
studies  to  the  Chicago  College  of  Medicine 
and  Surgery,  where  he  was  graduated  M.  D. 
in  1910.  By  competitive  examination  he  was 
awarded  interneships  at  the  Frances  Williard, 
Saint  Anthony's,  Grace  and  the  Hebrew  Hos- 
pitals. He  won  the  recognition  of  several  dis- 
tinguished surgeons  and  physicians  while  in 
Chicago,  and  during  the  past  fifteen  years, 
though  very  busy  in  his  active  practice,  he 
has  devoted  much  time  to  research  work. 
Doctor  Wedig  in  1910  opened  his  office  in 
Granite  City  and  while  practicing  there  he 
spent  much  time  in  laboratory  research,  and 
has  made  several  important  contributions  to 
biological  knowledge  as  well  as  to  pathology 
and  surgery. 

In  July,  1918,  he  enlisted  in  the  Army  Med- 
ical Corps,  and  was  assigned  duty  for  special 
preparations  and  courses  at  Fort  Oglethorpe, 
Georgia,  and  at  the  Walter  Reed  Hospital 
at  Washington  in  the  Orthopedic  and  Plastic 
Surgery  Department.  He  received  his  dis- 
charge in  January,  1919,  with  the  rank  of 
captain.  Doctor  Wedig  is  a  very  able  sur- 
geon, and  for  a  number  of  years  has  spe- 
cialized in  traumatic  and  industrial  surgery. 
He  handles  all  the  surgical  work  for  the 
Shell  Oil  Company  of  Roxanna.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Madison  County,  Tri-City,  Illinois 
State  and  American  Medical  Associations,  and 
member  of  progressive  research  developments, 
both  medical  and  surgical,  and  a  member  of 
the  Prior  Threefold  Surgical  Service  and  med- 
ical interpreter  and  a  staff  member  of  the 
Saint  Joseph's  Hospital  at  Alton  and  Saint 
Elizabeth's  Hospital  at  Granite  City.  Doctor 
Wedig  is  past  president  of  the  Wood  River 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and  a  member  of  the 


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ill    ■ 
.■■■■■ 


ILLINOIS 


255 


Wood  River  Rotary  Club,  and  very  active  in 
community  constructive  movements,  both  civic 
and  general. 

He  married,  November  30,  1910,  Miss  Adela 
Strackeljahn  of  Granite  City.  Her  father, 
Herman  Strackeljahn,  was  born  December  12, 
1844,  was  a  Union  soldier  and  a  Madison 
County  farmer.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Wedig  have 
two  children:  Harriet  Marie,  born  December 
15,  1911,  and  J.  Harrison,  Jr.,  born  August 
3,  1913,  both  of  whom  are  students  at  the 
University  of  Michigan,  his  son  preparing  a 
Master's  degree  before  entering  his  career  in 
medicine. 

James  R.  Jackson,  Sr.  One  of  the  truly 
useful  citizens  in  Freeport  is  James  R.  Jackson, 
secretary  of  the  W.  T.  Rawleigh  Company. 

Mr.  Jackson  was  born  in  Iowa  County,  Wis- 
consin, in  Waldwick  Township,  December  3, 
1872.  His  father  is  John  Jackson,  who  was 
born  at  Richmond,  Yorkshire,  England,  and 
was  a  boy  when  his  father,  James  Jackson, 
came  to  America  and  became  a  pioneer  farmer 
in  Grant  County,  Wisconsin,  in  1844.  The 
family  migration  was  made  from  Chicago  to 
Freeport  on  one  of  the  first  passenger  trains 
of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railroad,  and 
from  there  proceeded  by  a  team  and  wagon  to 
Benton,  Wisconsin.  They  later  settled  on  a 
farm  in  Waldwick  Township,  Iowa  County. 
This  pioneer  homestead  is  still  owned  by  the 
family  of  one  of  the  sons  of  James  Jackson, 
grandfather  of  the   subject  of  this   review. 

John  Jackson  was  a  farmer,  but  now  lives 
retired  at  Mineral  Point,  Wisconsin.  He  and 
his  wife  are  still  vigorous  in  mind  and  body, 
at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-six  and  eighty- 
two,  respectively.  They  are  devoted  members 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  gave 
to  their  eight  children,  of  whom  James  R. 
is  the  eldest,  the  priceless  heritage  of  spiritual 
mindedness  which  has  proved  to  be  the  source 
of  James  R.  Jackson's  greatest  satisfactions 
in  life. 

John  Jackson  served  more  than  twenty  years 
as  a  member  of  the  Town  Board  of  his  town- 
ship, more  than  ten  years  as  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  County  Commissioners,  and  several 
years  as  a  trustee  of  the  Iowa  County,  Wis- 
consin, Home  and  Asylum.  He  married  Mary 
Alice  Reed,  a  native  of  Iowa  County,  and 
daughter  of  John  and  Mary  (Carter)  Reed, 
who  were  born  in  Yorkshire,  England,  y.-here 
he  was  an  engineer  in  the  textile  industries,  in 
the  City  of  Halifax.  Later  he  came  with  his 
family  to  Wisconsin,  where  he  was  also  a 
pioneer  farmer  in  Iowa  County  and  where 
he   spent  the  rest  of  his  life. 

It  has  been  one  of  the  regrets  of  James 
R.  Jackson  that  his  formal  education  was  lim- 
ited to  the  little  district  school  of  his  native 
county.  However,  he  derived  a  true  hunger 
for  knowledge  from  his  parents,  whose  intel- 
lectual   interests    were    varied.      Mr.    Jackson 


recalls  many  interesting  discussions  in  his 
home  regarding  a  great  range  of  subjects, 
political,  cultural  and  religious.  This  intel- 
lectual curiosity  has  impelled  Mr.  Jackson  to 
almost  constant  reading  and  study,  so  that 
he  is  recognized  by  those  who  know  him  as 
an  exceptionally  well-informed  man  on  matters 
of  current  and  cultural  interest  as  well  as 
subjects  related  to  his  business.  Among  other 
things  he  completed  a  correspondence  course 
in  pharmaceutical  chemistry  from  a  reputable 
school  which  has  proved  invaluable  in  his 
work.  He  has  thus  demonstrated  that  a  man 
may  become  educated  even  if  deprived  of 
school  advantages,  though  he  keenly  feels  the 
disadvantage  resulting  from  the  lack  of  the 
fundamental  training  of  the  class-room. 

Mr.  Jackson  left  the  home  farm  at  the 
age  of  nineteen  to  seek  a  business  career, 
beginning  with  several  years  of  employment 
with  the  Mineral  Point  Zinc  Company  at 
Mineral  Point,  Wisconsin.  In  1895,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-three,  he  came  to  Freeport  to 
become  secretary  of  the  W.  T.  Rawleigh  Com- 
pany, which  position  he  has  held  ever  since. 
This  company  was  incorporated  in  January, 
1895,  and  Mr.  Jackson  became  associated  with 
it  in  February  immediately  afterward.  It  is 
now  an  international  organization  but  in  those 
thirty-six  years  Mr.  Jackson  has  had  practical 
experience  in  every  department  of  the  business. 
He  was  for  three  years  a  director  of  the  Illi- 
nois Chamber  of  Commerce  and  for  two  years 
was  president  of  the  Freeport  Chamber  of 
Commerce  and  is  a  past  president  of  the 
Rotary  Club. 

Mr.  Jackson  is  one  of  the  most  active  lay- 
men of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
the  Rock  River  Valley.  He  has  been  a  trustee 
of  Embury  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
Freeport  for  several  years,  and  finds  particular 
pleasure  in  his  work  as  leader  of  discussion 
of  the  Men's  Class  in  the  Embury  Sunday 
School,  which  work  he  has  carried  on  since 
1914.  He  served  as  president  of  the  Laymen's 
Association  of  the  Rock  River  Conference, 
and  in  1931  was  elected  as  lay  delegate  to 
the  General  Conference  at  Atlantic  City  in 
May,  1932.  He  was  also  made  vice  chairman 
of  the  Rock  River  delegation,  to  this  confer- 
ence. He  was  also  president  of  the  Men's 
Bible  Study  Association  of  the  Rockford  Dis- 
trict of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for 
a  number  of  years. 

Back  in  the  days  when  the  anti-saloon  fight 
was  at  its  heighth  his  deep  seated  interest 
in  community  betterment  found  expression  in 
the  arduous  campaign  for  prohibition  carried 
on  by  the  Freeport  Civic  League,  of  which 
he  became  president.  Through  the  efforts  of 
this  league  saloons  were  outlawed  in  that  city 
sometime  before  the  passing  of  the  National 
Prohibition  Amendment.  Mr.  Jackson  recalls 
many  interesting  experiences  in  connection 
with  this  campaign. 


256 


ILLINOIS 


During  the  World  war  he  devoted  much  time 
and  effort  to  the  Liberty  Loan  campaign,  the 
Red  Cross  drives  and  other  patriotic  demands 
on  the  citizenry.  In  Masonry  he  is  a  member 
of  the  Freeport  Consistory,  and  the  Tebala 
Temple  of  the  Shrine  at  Rockford. 

Mr.  Jackson  married,  July  13,  1890,  Miss 
Ida  V.  Rawleigh,  a  sister  of  William  T.  Raw- 
leigh,  president  of  the  W.  T.  Rawleigh  Com- 
pany, and  she  has  always  been  a  devoted 
worker  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  maintains  a  deep  and  active  interest  in 
humanitarian  activities  and  general  current 
affairs.  Mrs.  Jackson  was  born  and  raised 
in  the  same  Wisconsin  community,  about  three 
miles  from  her  husband's  home,  and  had  much 
the  same  early  background.  Her  influence 
on  the  lives  of  young  people  who  have  come 
under  her  direction  in  Sunday  School  and  else- 
where has  had  far-reaching  beneficial  effects. 

Mr.  and  Mrs  Jackson  have  two  children: 
Florence,  who  married  E.  E.  Alexander,  of 
Freeport,  district  sales  manager  for  the  W.  T. 
Rawleigh  Company.  They  have  one  son,  James 
Reed,  born  August  5,  1915.  Mrs.  Alexander 
attended  Northwestern  University.  James  R. 
Jackson,  Jr.,  graduated  from  Freeport  High 
School  and  then  entered  the  employ  of  the 
W.  T.  Rawleigh  Company,  where  he  has  held 
several  positions,  including  acting  as  assistant 
to  his  father,  working  in  the  sales  depart- 
ment, and  managing  the  Rawleigh  Ideal  Farm. 
James,  Jr.,  married  Edith  Carter,  of  Free- 
port,  daughter  of  George  Carter,  a  retired 
merchant. 

Paul  L.  Hardesty  laid  the  foundation  of 
his  career  as  a  banker  in  Chicago,  becoming 
associated  at  the  age  of  twenty-four  with 
the  Union  Trust  Company  early  in  1920, 
shortly  after  his  release  from  active  service 
in  the  Navy  during  the  World  war.  He 
advanced  through  various  departments  in  the 
bank,  becoming  assistant  cashier  in  1925,  in 
which  official  connection  he  continued  after 
the  consolidation  of  the  Union  Trust  Company 
with  the  First  National  Bank  of  Chicago  in 
February,   1929. 

In  March  of  1930  he  accepted  the  appoint- 
ment as  assistant  vice  president  of  Chatham 
Phenix  National  Bank  and  Trust  Company 
of  New  York  and  continued  in  that  official 
capacity  with  the  Manufacturers  Trust  Com- 
pany, New  York,  since  the  consolidation  of 
these  two  financial  institutions  in  February, 
1932. 

Mr.  Hardesty  was  born  in  Monroe  County, 
Missouri,  in  1895.  He  grew  up  and  received 
his  early  education  there,  later  graduating 
from  the  Missouri  State  Teachers  College, 
Kirksville,  Missouri.  As  a  young  man  he 
taught  for  a  time  before  enlisting  in  the 
United  States  Navy  for  service  in  the  World 
war.     His  advanced  studies  in  business  admin- 


istration and  finance  include  post-graduate 
courses  in  several  universities,  including  a 
summer  at  the  School  of  Business  Administra- 
tion, Harvard   University. 

Enlisting  without  rating  at  the  Great  Lakes 
Naval  Training  Station  near  Chicago  in  1917, 
he  advanced  to  the  commission  of  Lieutenant 
J.  G.,  before  release  from  active  duty  after 
the  Armistice.  Mr.  Hardesty  has  been  an 
active  member  of  the  Chicago  Association  of 
Commerce  and  of  the  country's  principal 
banking  associations.  His  club  memberships 
include  the  Union  League  Club,  Chicago; 
Economic  Club,  Chicago;  Chicago  Yacht  Club 
and   New  York  Athletic   Club. 

The  Roodhouse  Public  Library  is  one  of 
the  more  recent  additions  to  the  Illinois  sys- 
tem of  public  libraries.  It  was  organized  in 
1926  by  the  school  auxiliary  board.  Besides 
the  money  supplied  from  public  sources  there 
were  donations  of  money,  books  and  other 
equipment,  so  that  the  library  started  with  a 
fund  of  $1,200.  The  original  board  com- 
prised Rev.  Mr.  Armstrong,  president;  W.  E. 
Reeve,  A.  B.  Johnson,  Dr.  H.  W.  Smith,  Mrs. 
Charles  Jones,  Mrs.  V.  G.  Rawlins  and  Miss 
Alma  Shuman.  During  the  five  years  of  its 
existence  the  collection  of  books  has  had  an 
increasing  circulation  not  only  among  the 
school  children  but  among  the  adult  patronage 
of  the  town.  The  librarian  is  Miss  Helen 
Adams,  who  has  made  the  junior  branch  of 
the  library  of  particular  service  to  the  chil- 
dren of  school  age.  The  present  board  com- 
prises Theodore  C.  Moore,  president;  Blanche 
K.  Rawlins,  secretary;  C.  C.  VanDoren,  treas- 
urer; Miss  Helen  Adams,  librarian;  and  the 
members  of  the  board  are  Theodore  C.  Moore, 
C.  G.  Hamm,  J.  E.  Murphy,  H.  W.  Smith, 
W.  E.  Reeve,  A.  B.  Johnson,  Mary  A.  Jones, 
Blanche  K.  Rawlins  and  Lois  Bucklin. 

Mr.  Theodore  C.  Moore  in  addition  to  being 
president  of  the  Roodhouse  Public  Library  is 
superintendent  of  the  city  schools  of  Rood- 
house.  He  was  born  in  Pike  County,  Illinois, 
January  17,  1872,  son  of  Marcellus  and  Juli- 
ette (Craig)  Moore.  His  parents  came  to 
Illinois  at  an  early  day  from  Maine.  Theo- 
dore C.  Moore  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  of  Pike  County,  attended  the  Western 
Illinois  Teachers  College  at  Macomb  and 
Chaddock  College  at  Quincy.  He  has  given 
nearly  forty  years  of  his  life  to  educational 
work  and  service.  He  was  in  school  work  in 
Pike  County  beginning  in  1893,  later  taught 
in  city  schools  and  in  1909  became  instructor 
in  high  school.  He  was  superintendent  of 
schools  at  Bluffs,  Illinois,  later  was  superin- 
tendent at  Griggsville,  then  became  county 
superintendent  of  schools  in  Pike  County,  and 
in  1923  accepted  his  present  post  as  super- 
intendent of  city  schools  at  Roodhouse. 


ILLINOIS 


257 


Mr.  Moore  is  an  active  participant  in  teach- 
ers organizations  and  educational  clubs.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Roodhouse  Rotary  Club 
and  his  Masonic  membership  is  with  Pittsfield 
Lodge  No.  790.  He  married,  June  27,  1897, 
Miss  Sophia  Madison,  of  Plainville,  Illinois. 
They  have  a  daughter,  Fanny,  who  grad- 
uated from  Drury  College,  Springfield,  Mis- 
souri, with  a  B.  M.  degree  and  is  also  engaged 
in  educational  work. 

J.  Edward  Jones  has  made  a  successful 
record  for  himself  as  an  attorney  at  Oak 
Park,  and  before  establishing  himself  in  busi- 
ness there  practiced  for  a  time  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  Jones  was  born  at  Carthage,  Hancock 
County,  Illinois,  June  20,  1900,  son  of  Charles 
A.  and  Mima  E.  (Harrison)  Jones.  The  Jones 
and  Harrison  families  were  among  the  pioneer 
settlers  of  Hancock  Colunty.  His  grandfather, 
James  Morey  Jones,  was  born  at  Elderville, 
Hancock  County,  in  1856,  and  was  a  brother 
of  Tommy  Jones,  a  well  known  "hardshell" 
Baptist  preacher  in  that  vicinity.  The  Jones 
family  settled  in  Hancock  County  during  the 
1850s.  Charles  A.  Jones  was  born  in  Hancock 
County.  His  wife,  Mima  E.  Harrison,  was 
of  a  still  earlier  pioneer  family  in  that  sec- 
tion. Her  maternal  grandfather  was  Mark 
Phelps,  who  was  born  in  Canada  in  1800  and 
died  in  Hancock  County  in  1884.  He  settled 
in  Hancock  County  about  1830.  He  was  pres- 
ent at  the  execution  of  Joseph  Smith  during 
the  Mormon  war  at  Carthage.  Mark  Phelps 
was  distinguished  among  old-timers  for  his 
skill  in  playing  the  fife  and  drum.  His  orig- 
inal home  was  in  Wythe  Township.  Another 
ancestor  of  Mima  Harrison  was  Captain 
Smith,  captain  of  a  company  of  militia  at 
the  time  of  the  execution  of  the  Mormon 
Joseph  Smith.  The  Harrison  family  came 
from  Virginia  and  settled  in  Illinois  after 
a  residence  in  Kentucky. 

J.  Edward  Jones  was  liberally  educated. 
He  attended  the  Carthage  Academy,  for  two 
years  taught  school  in  Missouri  and  in  1922 
entered  the  University  of  Illinois,  where  he 
took  academic  and  law  studies,  graduating 
Bachelor  of  Science  in  1924,  and  in  1926 
receiving  his  LL.  B.  degree.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  Illinois  bar  in  1926,  and  in  1927  came 
to  Chicago,  where  he  was  attorney  for  the 
Federal  Prohibition  Department  for  a  time. 
In  September,  1928,  he  entered  the  law  offices 
of  Edward  R.  Litsinger,  senior  member  of 
the  prominent  firm  of  Litsinger,  Healey  & 
Read. 

Mr.  Jones  has  been  a  resident  of  Oak  Park 
since  1929,  and  has  carried  on  a  growing 
general  practice  of  law  there.  He  takes  an 
active  part  in  civic  and  political  affairs.  For 
a  time  he  was  secretary  of  the  Lake-Marion- 
Wisconsin  District  Business  Men's  Association. 


In  the  spring  of  1930  he  was  elected  police 
magistrate  of  Oak  Park,  but  before  taking 
office  the  commissioners  abolished  the  office. 
Mr.  Jones  has  advocated  the  incorporation 
of  Oak  Park  as  a  city  instead  of  a  village, 
under  which  form  of  government  it  has  become 
the   largest   village   in   the   United    States. 

Mr.  Jones  while  in  the  University  of  Illi- 
nois in  1925  organized  and  later  was  elected 
national  president  of  the  Sigma  Mu  Sigma, 
a  college  social  fraternity  for  sons  or  brothers 
of  Masons.  Chapters  of  this  fraternity,  which 
received  the  endorsement  of  high  Masonic 
bodies,  have  been  formed  in  colleges  through- 
out the  country.  The  chapter  house  for  the 
University  of  Illinois  is  at  405  East  John 
Street,  Champaign.  Mr.  Jones  was  a  member 
of  the  Phi  Delta  Phi  legal  fraternity  at  the 
university,  played  in  the  University  Concert 
Band.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Bar 
Association,  the  Collegiate  Club  of  Chicago, 
and  is  affiliated  with  the  First  Congregational 
Church  of  Oak  Park. 

Emery  Whisler  Post  No.  607,  American 
Legion.  Among  the  numerous  posts  of  the 
great  organization  known  as  the  American 
Legion,  one  which  gained  well-merited  prom- 
inence not  only  because  of  the  number  and 
fidelity  of  its  members,  but  because  of  the 
splendid  work  accomplished  in  promoting  and 
carrying  through  to  a  successful  conclusion 
movements  of  a  highly  charitable  and  benefi- 
cial nature  is  Emery  Whisler  Post  No.  607, 
of  Mackinaw,  Illinois. 

This  post  was  established  in  1919,  since 
which  time  it  has  grown  to  include  practically 
every  World  war  veteran  who  lives  in  the 
vicinity  of  Mackinaw,  throughout  Tazewell 
and  adjoining  counties.  Not  only  has  it  pros- 
pered in  membership,  but  in  a  financial  way, 
and  the  Post  is  now  fully  sustaining  and 
owns  its  own  building,  a  beautiful  structure, 
one  and  one-half  stories  in  height  and  60x120 
feet,  built  of  concrete  blocks.  A  commodious 
building,  it  is  fully  equipped  and  finely  fur- 
nished in  every  way,  and  includes  a  large 
hall  for  dances  and  entertainments,  a  large 
and  comfortable  club  room  and  a  large  and 
well-selected  library.  The  dances  and  enter- 
tainments are  extremely  popular  and  are 
attended  by  people  from  a  wide  area  around 
the  city. 

The  first  commander  of  the  post  was  Corp. 
Virgil  Hammond,  who  served  three  terms,  fol- 
lowed successively  by  Priv.  John  Layton,  one 
and  one-half  terms;  Priv.  Charles  H.  Morris, 
one  and  one-half  terms;  Priv.  Charles  E.  Hall, 
two  terms;  Priv.  William  H.  Schmidtgall, 
three  terms,  and  the  present  commander,  Otto 
Remus.  Priv.  Charles  E.  Hall  has  served  as 
adjutant  for  several  years  and  is  very  active 


258 


ILLINOIS 


in  Legion  work,  much  of  the  progress  and 
success  of  Emery  Whisler  Post  No.  607  being 
due  to  his  efforts. 

The  active  members  of  the  Legion  at  this 
time  are  as  follows:  Corp.  Ed  Aldridge,  Priv. 
William  Ashburn,  Priv.  Leon  Beecher,  Priv. 
Frank  Bennett,  Priv.  Jack  Bowers;  Priv. 
Hamilton  Cardwell,  Lieut.  H.  D.  Fast, 
Priv.  August  C.  Fluegal,  Priv.  Walter  H.  Gil- 
Ian,  Priv.  Philip  Glaser,  Priv.  (now  Adjt.) 
Charles  E.  Hall,  Priv.  Arthur  E.  Hasty,  Priv. 
Ralph  R.  Hay,  Priv.  Gottlieb  Hoffman,  Priv. 
John  Layton,  Priv.  Ivan  J.  Lindsey,  Priv.  Dal- 
las Lynn,  Priv.  Fred  Mapes,  Priv.  Charles  H. 
Morris,  Priv.  L.  C.  Quick,  Priv.  Arthur 
Schlappi,  Priv.  Henry  F.  Schmidtgall,  Priv. 
William  H.  Schmidtgall,  Priv.  Walter  L. 
Simons,  Priv.  Harold  Sosaman,  Priv.  L.  P. 
Tucker,  Priv.  Charles  Tyrrell,  Priv.  Ralph 
Tyrrell,  Priv.  Eben  H.  Wood  and  Priv.  Harry 
Wood.  Corp.  Hugh  Blair,  a  former  member 
of  the  post,  is  now  deceased.  Maurice  Rob- 
erts, who  enrolled  in  the  Students"  Army 
Training  Corps  at  Wesleyan  University, 
Bloomington,  fell  a  victim  to  the  influenza 
epidemic.  Emery  Whisler  died  one  month 
before  the  armistice  was  signed,  October  11, 
1918,  from  wounds  received  the  previous  day 
in  action  near   Consenroge,   France. 

Other  men  who  were  in  the  service  during 
the  World  war  enlisting  from  Mackinac  and 
the  surrounding  territory  were:  Priv.  John 
H.  Aldridge,  Priv.  Roy  Aldridge,  Priv.  Ste- 
phen Ashburn,  Priv.  John  Barnard,  Priv.  Roy 
H.  Becker,  Priv.  W.  T.  Bell,  Priv.  John  Ben- 
nett, Priv.  Julius  Bettinger,  Priv.  Melford 
Bittle,  Priv.  William  J.  Blair,  1st  Lieut.  How- 
ard F.  Blair,  Priv.  Leslie  Bowyer,  Corp.  Rob- 
ert W.  Boyd,  Priv.  William  Bradley,  Priv. 
Isaac  Bright,  Priv.  Velde  J.  Bright,  Priv. 
Harry  L.  Burkey,  Priv.  Percy  B.  Caley,  Priv. 
William  J.  Caley,  Priv.  Samuel  G.  Ferree, 
Priv.  Clifford  Ferguson,  Corp.  Thomas  F. 
Flesher,  Priv.  J.  P.  Francis,  Priv.  Earl  Gifnn, 
Corp.  Virgil  Hammond,.  Priv.  Harvey  B.  Har- 
ris, Priv.  Glenn  F.  Hasty,  Serg.  Harrison  J. 
Hill,  Serg.  Frank  Hirth,  Priv.  Francis  Kilby, 
Ensign  H.  S.  Kilby,  Priv.  Guy  H.  Kinsey, 
Priv.  Jack  Kinsey,  Priv.  William  F.  Kunce, 
Priv.  Richard  Kunce,  Priv.  Jack  Lancaster, 
Serg.  Charles  E.  Long,  Priv.  Bert  Lowe,  Priv. 
Ray  McClure,  Priv.  Robert  M.  Mallott,  Priv. 
Howard  A.  Matthews,  Priv.  John  W.  Miller, 
Priv.  Roger  Miller,  Priv.  Warner  Miller,  Priv. 
Curtis  Morgan,  Priv.  Owen  W.  Morris,  Priv. 
J.  D.  Pickering,  Serg.  William  M.  Reeves, 
Priv.  Walter  Ries,  Priv.  Arizona  Rush,  Priv. 
Fred  J.  Schinert,  Priv.  Paul  Schonert,  Priv. 
William  Schonert,  Priv.  Charles  M.  Shanna- 
barger,  Corp.  Gaylord  Shannabarger,  Priv. 
Harvey  Sieh,  Serg.  Roland  Slater,  Priv.  Ed- 
ward L.  Sloan,  Priv.  Clark  E.  Stubbs,  Priv. 
Myran  M.  Stubbs,  Priv.  George  M.  Trimble, 
Priv.    William    A.    Walker,    Serg.    Claude    M. 


Wilson,    Priv.    Glenn   Wilson   and    Priv.   John 
L.  Wilson. 

Charles  E.  Johns,  divisional  superintend- 
ent of  the  Mid-West  Publishing  Company  of 
East  St.  Louis,  is  a  man  of  widely  diversified 
commercial  experience,  having  represented  on 
the  road  several  of  the  great  industrial  and 
financial  organizations  of  the  country.  Mr. 
Johns  is  a  World  war  veteran  and  has  been 
prominent  in  veterans  organizations  since  the 
war. 

He  was  born  at  Salem,  Illinois,  January  1, 
1885,  son  of  Smith  and  Elizabeth  (Skinner) 
Johns.  The  Johns  family  lived  in  Virginia 
for  several  generations,  and  members  of  the 
family  were  soldiers  in  the  Revolution.  Smith 
Johns  was  born  in  Kentucky,  and  spent  most 
of  his  active  lifetime  in  the  general  contract- 
ing business  in  Illinois.  He  died  in  1895. 
His  wife  was  born  in  Ohio  and  died  in  1928. 
Their  other  children  were:  Robert  E.,  district 
secretary  of  the  Carpenters  International 
Union;  William  A.,  contractor  and  builder  at 
East  St.  Louis;  John  D.,  president  of  the 
East  Side  Levy  District;  Arthur  S.,  with 
Swift  &  Company  at  Norfolk,  Virginia;  Lora, 
who  died  in  1926,  wife  of  John  Hauseman; 
Minnie,  who  died  in  1914,  wife  of  Oliver 
Greenwald;  and  Mary,  who  died  in  childhood. 

Charles  E.  Johns  attended  the  grammar 
and  high  schools  of  East  St.  Louis  and  im- 
mediately after  leaving  school  went  on  the 
road  as  a  commercial  salesman.  For  more 
than  twenty  years  it  was  his  line  of  work, 
and  he  became  familiar  with  business  condi- 
tions over  a  large  group  of  states.  For  five 
years  he  was  sales  manager  for  the  Diamond 
Match  Company.  For  two  years  he  was  ter- 
ritorial manager  for  the  Proctor  &  Gamble 
Soap  Company. 

He  left  the  road  early  in  the  war,  joining 
Base  Hospital  No.  21.  This  was  one  of  the 
first  units  of  the  American  Expeditionary 
Forces  to  reach  France.  After  joining  he 
was  sent  to  New  York  and  thirty  days  later 
was  on  his  way  to  France  with  the  first  50,000 
Americans.  At  Rouen,  France,  he  was  put 
with  British  Hospital  No.  1,  and  saw  some  of 
the  tremendous  activities  of  the  front  in  Flan- 
ders, where  he  remained  on  duty  until  July  1, 
1918.  On  account  of  illness  he  was  invalided 
home  and  later  was  discharged  at  Camp  Pike, 
Little  Rock,  Arkansas,  January  14,  1919. 

For  a  number  of  months  after  the  war  he 
was  unfit  for  the  resumption  of  business  activ- 
ities. During  this  time  he  and  Hon.  Joseph 
McGlynn  organized  the  American  Army  Asso- 
ciation in  East  St.  Louis.  They  built  this 
up  to  a  membership  of  over  five  hundred.  It 
was  the  first  military  organization  of  any  kind 
formed  in  the  United  States  made  up  of  World 
war  veterans.  When  several  months  later 
the  convention  at  St.  Louis  adopted  the  con- 


ILLINOIS 


259 


stitution  and  launched  the  American  Legion, 
the  American  Army  Association  was  in  a 
manner  amalgamated  with  the  Legion,  most 
of  its  members  affiliating  as  charter  members 
of  the  Legion.  Mr.  Johns  himself  took  an 
active  part  in  forming  the  American  Legion 
at  St.  Louis,  being  one  of  the  charter  mem- 
bers, and  was  the  second  commander  of  the 
post  and  the  first  adjutant.  While  commander 
he  made  this  the  largest  post  in  the  State  of 
Illinois. 

Mr.  Johns  was  for  five  years  general  agent 
for  the  Travelers  Insurance  Company,  and 
since  then  has  consecrated  his  attention  upon 
his  duties  as  divisional  superintendent  for  the 
Mid-West  Publishing  Company,  a  well-known 
organization  with  plant  facilities  and  special 
equipment  for  the  publication  of  maps.  Mr. 
Johns  is  a  Republican,  member  of  the  Knights 
of  Pythias,  and  has  been  active  in  civic  move- 
ments in  East  St.  Louis.  While  he  was  com- 
mander of  the  Legion  Post  he  was  instru- 
mental in  having  set  aside  a  plot  in  Green- 
wood Cemetery  where  World  war  veterans 
might  be  buried,  and  with  appropriate 
monuments. 

Edward  C.  Kaburick  is  a  lawyer  by  pro- 
fession, a  man  of  high  standing  in  the  Mont- 
gomery County  bar,  and  is  a  native  son  of 
this  section  of  Illinois,  where  people  have 
learned  to  esteem  and  admire  his  progressive 
citizenship,  his  ability  and  his  forceful 
character. 

Mr.  Kaburick  was  born  in  East  Fork  Town- 
ship, Montgomery  County,  April  16,  1879.  He 
is  a  son  of  William  and  Margaret  (Klein) 
Kaburick.  His  father  was  born  in  Bohemia 
and  his  mother  near  Crown  Point,  Lake 
County,  Indiana. 

His  paternal  grandfather,  Jacob  Kaburick, 
in  his  native  Bohemia  was  both  a  farmer  and 
a  police  magistrate.  He  brought  his  family 
to  America  and  lived  for  a  few  years  in 
St.  Clair  County,  Illinois,  and  then  moved 
to  Montgomery  County  shortly  after  the  Civil 
war.  He  was  a  practical  farmer,  a  man 
of  good  sense,  and  his  industry  was  a  factor 
in  the  improvement  of  the  locality.  He  lost 
his  life  by  accident  at  the  age  of  eighty-four. 
His  wife  passed  away  at  seventy-four.  Their 
four  children  were  Catherine,  Mary,  Frank 
and  William. 

William  Kaburick  was  fourteen  years  of 
age  when  brought  to  America.  He  grew  up 
in  the  home  of  his  parents,  learned  farming 
by  practical  work,  acquired  an  education  in 
the  local  schools,  and  after  his  father's  death 
inherited  an  undivided  fourth  of  the  home 
place  of  160  acres.  Later  he  acquired  all  this 
land  by  purchasing  the  interest  of  the  other 
three  heirs.  There  he  lived  and  prospered 
and  reared  a  fine  family  of  honest  and 
respected  citizens.  He  and  his  wife  were 
devout    Catholics.      His    wife's    parents    were 


Jacob  and  Mary  Klein.  They  were  born  in 
one  of  the  Rhine  provinces  of  Germany  and 
after  coming  to  America  settled  on  a  farm 
in  Lake  County,  Illinois,  where  they  lived 
to  ripe  years.  Their  children  were  Jacob, 
Jr.,  Joseph,  Peter,  Philip,  Bernard,  Louis, 
Margaret,  Mary,  Matilda,  Theressa,  Catherine, 
Frank  and  two  who  died  in  infancy. 

Mr.  Edward  C.  Kaburick  was  one  of  a 
family  of  nine  children,  two  of  whom  died  in 
infancy.  The  others  are:  Mary,  wife  of  Fer- 
dinand Schaubert,  of  Hillsboro;  Matilda,  wife 
of  Eugene  Fath,  of  Fillmore  Township;  Lucy, 
wife  of  Henry  Huber,  of  East  Fork  Township; 
Margaret,  deceased,  who  was  the  wife  of 
Shirley  Saunders,  of  Fillmore  Township; 
Theressa,  wife  of  Joseph  Limper;  and  Frank, 
who  lives  at  the  old  homestead  farm  with  his 
father.  The  mother  of  these  children  passed 
away  January  6,  1925,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
three. 

Edward  C.  Kaburick  grew  up  on  that  farm, 
and  in  its  routine  gained  a  foundation  of 
industry  and  thrift  which  have  been  of  prac- 
tical benefit  to  him  in  his  broader  professional 
career.  After  the  local  schools  he  attended 
the  Jacob  Taylor  Academy  at  Coffeen,  began 
his  law  studies  in  Northern  Illinois  College 
at  Dixon,  and  finished  in  the  School  of  Law 
at  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  where  he  was  grad- 
uated LL.  B.  in  1903.  In  the  same  year  he 
was  admitted  to  the  Missouri  bar  and  for 
eight  years  practiced  at  Chillicothe,  Missouri. 
For  the  past  twenty  years  his  name  has 
enjoyed  a  growing  reputation  as  a  skilled  and 
resourceful  attorney  at  Hillsboro.  Mr.  Kabu- 
rick has  never  married.  He  is  a  staunch  Dem- 
ocrat in  politics,  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Columbus  and  the   Catholic   Church. 

Paul  S.  Russell  is  a  Chicagoan  whose 
career  has  been  a  steady  succession  of  work 
and  increasing  responsibilities  and  honors,  and 
at  the  age  of  thirty-five  he  became  vice  presi- 
dent of  one  of  the  city's  largest  financial  insti- 
tutions, the  Harris  Trust  and   Savings  Bank. 

Mr.  Russell  was  born  in  Oak  Park,  Illinois, 
in  1895,  was  educated  in  public  schools  there, 
and  from  the  Oak  Park  High  School  entered 
the  University  of  Chicago,  where  he  was  one 
of  the  most  popular  men  in  student  activities, 
and  had  the  unusual  distinction  of  winning 
honors  both  in  scholarship  and  in  athletics. 
He  played  on  one  of  the  conference  champion 
foot  ball  teams,  and  there  is  no  honor  he 
has  appreciated  more  than  that  of  serving 
as  captain  of  the  foot  ball  team  of  1915. 

On  graduating  from  the  university  in  1916 
he  at  once  entered  the  service  of  the  Harris 
Trust  and  Savings  Bank  in  the  capacity  of 
messenger.  His  name  is  on  the  military  honor 
roll  of  the  bank.  He  entered  the  First  Offi- 
cers Training  Camp  at  Fort  Sheridan  in 
April,  1917,  and  after  passing  the  examination 
for  the  regular  army  was  given  a  provisional 


260 


ILLINOIS 


commission  as  second  lieutenant.  Late  in 
1917  he  went  overseas  with  the  Fifth  Division, 
and  subsequently  was  commissioned  captain 
of  the  Sixty-first  Infantry,  Fifth  Division. 
He  was  in  France  nearly  two  years,  and  was 
in  front  line  action  in  the  Argonne  and  St. 
Mihiel  campaigns. 

Captain  Russell  after  the  war  resumed  his 
connection  with  the  Harris  Trust  and  Sav- 
ings Bank  and  was  given  a  traveling  position 
in  the  western  states  as  representative  of 
the  sales  department.  Later  he  became  assist- 
ant manager  and  since  January,  1930,  vice 
president  of  the  company. 

Captain  Russell  is  a  member  of  the  Uni- 
versity Club,  Chicago  Club,  Lake  Shore  Ath- 
letic Club,  Flossmoor  Country  Club,  Chiek- 
aming  Club  and  Attic  Club. 

Harry  H.  Porter  is  one  of  the  active 
younger  members  of  the  Illinois  bar,  and  was 
born  in  Chicago  January  30,  1900. 

He  finished  his  education  in  the  classical 
course  at  Northwestern  University,  where  he 
took  his  Bachelor  of  Arts  degree  in  1921, 
and  in  1924  graduated  Bachelor  of  Laws 
from  Harvard  Law  School.  He  has  been 
practicing  law  since  1924,  and  is  member  of 
the  firm  of  Klaas  &  Porter,  in  general  prac- 
tice, with  offices  in  the  Conway  Building  at 
111   West  Washington   Street. 

Since  1911  his  home  has  been  in  Evanston. 
He  has  been  active  in  local  politics  in  that 
city  and  the  spring  election  of  April  2,  1930, 
was  elected  police  magistrate.  Prior  to  that 
he  was  for  one  year  justice  of  the  peace, 
being  elected  in  1929.  Judge  Porter  is  one 
of  the  real  civic  leaders  in  Evanston,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Evanston  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
the  Kiwanis  Club,  Evanston  Lodge  No.  525 
A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  and  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks. 

William  John  Mink,  president  of  the  Vil- 
lage of  Bellwood,  Cook  County,  is  a  native 
son  of  that  community  and  has  had  a  notable 
part  in  its  business  and  political  affairs  since 
early  manhood. 

Mr.  Mink  was  born  December  22,  1898,  in 
a  house  on  the  same  lot  where  his  present 
home  is,  at  231  Twenty-eighth  Avenue.  His 
father,  Cris  Mink,  was  a  native  of  Germany 
and  settled  in  Western  Cook  County  when  all 
the  region  around  his  place  was  a  farm.  The 
Town  of  Bellwood  was  laid  off  and  the  village 
incorporated  in  1900.  Since  then  numerous 
subdivisions  have  grouped  together  to  com- 
prise the  present  Village  of  Bellwood,  cover- 
ing a  large  area  west  of  Maywood.  A  number 
of  important  industries  located  here  have  made 
Bellwood  conspicuous  among  the  suburban 
communities  of  Cook  County. 

William  John  Mink  attended  the  public 
schools,  graduating  from  the  McKinley  School 
of  Bellwood,  and  finished  his  education  with 
a    business    college    course    in    Chicago.      He 


conducts  a  general  insurance  business.  When 
he  was  twenty-two  years  of  age  he  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  board  of  village  trustees. 
Since  then  he  has  filled  other  offices,  including 
secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  village,  and 
since  1926  has  been  village  president.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Bellwood  Lions  Club,  and 
in  Masonry  is  affiliated  with  Maywood  Com- 
mandery  of  the  Knight  Templar  Masons.  He 
is  also  one  of  the  officials  of  the  Illinois  League 
of    Municipalities. 

Walter  Edward  Stump  is  one  of  the  promi- 
nent figures  in  coal-mining  industry  in  Saline 
County,  as  president  of  the  Blue  Bird  Coal 
Company,  the  headquarters  of  which  are  main- 
tained in  his  home  City  of  Harrisburg,  the 
county  seat.  Mr.  Stump  has  been  actively 
identified  with  coal  mining  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  time  since  he  was  a  lad  of  ten 
years,  and  his  is  an  accurate  and  compre- 
hensive knowledge  of  all  technical  and  prac- 
tical details  of  this  line  of  industrial 
enterprise. 

Mr.  Stump  was  born  in  Jackson  County, 
Ohio,  April  20,  1885,  a  son  of  Samuel  Stump, 
who  was  born  in  Virginia,  and  who  accom- 
panied his  parents  on  their  removal  to  Iron- 
ton,  Ohio,  about  the  year  1865,  his  father, 
Greenberry  Stump  having  become  a  con- 
tractor in  lime  quarries. 

Samuel  Stump  became  a  coal  miner  in  his 
youth  and  later  served  as  manager  and  super- 
intendent of  coal  mines,  his  association  with 
this  industry  having  continued  forty-eight 
years,  with  his  activities  centered  in  Illinois 
during  the  last  twenty  years,  he  having  come 
to  this  state  in  March,  1910,  about  two  years 
after  his  son  Walter  E.  came  to  the  state. 
His  children  were  eleven  in  number. 

Walter  Edward  Stump  had  in  his  early 
youth  but  nine  months  of  specific  educational 
training,  and  was  but  ten  years  of  age  when 
he  began  service  as  a  trap  boy  in  a  coal  mine 
in  Ohio.  When  he  was  fifteen  years  old  his 
father  placed  him  in  charge  of  a  mine,  and 
later  he  found  employment  in  the  technical 
operation  of  a  mining  machine.  In  the  mean- 
while he  expanded  his  education  by  assiduous 
home  study,  and  finally  he  completed  a  course 
in  mining  engineering,  through  the  medium 
of  a  leading  correspondence  school,  in  which 
he  was  graduated.  In  1907  he  was  given 
charge  of  the  electrical  department  of  the 
Peabody  Coal  Company  in  Perry  County, 
Ohio,  and  in  1908  he  established  his  head- 
quarters at  Harrisburg,  Illinois.  Here  he  fol- 
lowed all  classes  of  work  in  the  local  mining 
field  until  1914,  when  he  was  given  charge 
of  the  electrical  department  of  the  Saline 
County  Coal  Company.  In  1918  he  was  ad- 
vanced to  the  position  of  assistant  mine  man- 
ager for  that  company,  his  assignment  being 
to  what  is  now  Mine  No.  43  of  the  Peabody 
Coal  Company.     In  the  period  of  1920-21  Mr. 


s: 


-...-*   t™        /-     -~**r,x — • — **—- * 


ILLINOIS 


261 


Stump  was  manager  of  the  Harco  Mine  of 
the  Harrisburg  Colliery  Company  and  was 
then  made  its  general  manager.  In  1924  he 
purchased  a  small  mine  in  Gallatin  County, 
but  three  months  later  he  sold  out  and  located 
a  strip  coal  mine  in  Indiana.  He  soon  sold 
his  interest  in  this  property  and  in  1925-27 
was  superintendent  of  the  Harrisburg  Coal 
Mining  Company.  He  then  purchased  an  in- 
terest in  a  company  engaged  in  road  contract- 
ing, and  thus  made  his  only  deviation  from 
coal  mining.  This  corporation  constructed 
fifty  miles  of  concrete  and  gravel  roads  ^  in 
Illinois  while  he  was  connected  therewith.  fIn 
1929  he  sold  his  interest  in  this  business  and, 
on  the  15th  of  January  of  that  year,  pur- 
chased an  interest  in  the  Brown  &  Drake  Coal 
Company,  which  in  the  following  month  ef- 
fected a  reorganization  and  adopted  the  cor- 
porate title  of  Blue  Bird  Coal  Company,  after 
purchasing  the  interests  of  the  established 
company  of  that  name.  Mr.  Stump  has  since 
continued  his  service  as  president  of  the  com- 
pany, which  gives  employment  to  about  200 
men  and  operates  two  strip-mine  properties 
with  a  daily  output  capacity  of  2,000  tons. 
In  this  connection  Mr.  Stump  purchased  the 
major  part  of  the  interests  of  R.  D.  Brown 
and  C.  B.  Drake,  the  latter  of  whom  is  now 
deceased.  T.  H.  Cochran,  of  Chicago,  is  vice 
president  of  the  Blue  Bird  Coal  Company, 
Harry  Sisk  is  its  secretary,  and  Raymond 
Stump,  son  of  the  president  of  the  company, 
is  its  treasurer. 

Mr.  Stump  married  Miss  Rae  Hearne,  who 
was  born  and  reared  in  Illinois,  as  was  also 
her  father,  John  Hearne.  Raymond,  eldest 
of  the  children  of  this  union,  is  now  treasurer 
of  the  Blue  Bird  Coal  Company,  as  already 
noted;  Miss  Mildred  Lee  Stump  is  a  student 
in  the  University  of  Missouri;  Marjorie  is 
a  student  in  the  Harrisburg  High  School,  as 
is  also  Edward,  youngest  of  the  four  children. 

Mr.  Stump  is  a  Republican,  is  a  member  of 
the  Kiwanis  Club  at  Harrisburg,  is  affiliated 
with  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of 
Elks,  and  he  and  his  wife  have  membership 
in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

John  H.  Jarvin  is  a  Chicagoan  who  has 
attained  success  and  prominence  in  his  pro- 
fession, dentistry  and  medicine,  and  also  as 
a  leader  among  the  people  of  Finnish  birth 
and  ancestry  in  that  city.  There  are  approxi- 
mately 45,000  people  in  Chicago  whose  ances- 
tral home  was  in  Finland.  They  represent 
a  sturdy,  straightforward  and  independent 
thinking  race  of  people,  who  in  their  native 
land  have  brought  about  the  introduction  of 
many  advanced  ideas  of  government,  and  who 
contribute  to  the  political  and  social  science 
ideas  and  practices  of  their  new  home. 

Doctor  Jarvin  is  vice  president  of  the  Fin- 
nish Progressive  Society  of  Chicago,  which 
has  enrolled  a  large  membership.     This  soci- 


ety in  1930  completed  as  its  home  a  sub- 
stantial structure  at  4222  Lincoln  Avenue, 
Doctor  Jarvin  serving  as  chairman  of  the 
building  committee.  The  hall  contains  a  gym- 
nasium, auditorium,  dining  room  and  assembly, 
with  stores  and  offices  on  the  first  floor. 

Doctor  Jarvin  was  born  at  Hameenlinna, 
Finland,  January  29,  1897.  In  1908.  when 
he  was  eleven  years  of  age,  he  was  brought 
to  the  United  States,  and  for  several  years 
lived  on  his  father's  farm  near  Superior, 
Wisconsin.  His  home  has  been  in  Chicago 
since  1911.  He  was  educated  in  public  schools, 
was  graduated  with  the  degree  Bachelor  of 
Science  from  the  University  of  Milwaukee, 
and  has  become  proficient  in  two  professions. 
In  1913  he  was  graduated  Doctor  of  Dental 
Surgery  from  the  Chicago  College  of  Dental 
Surgery,  and  in  1920  completed  the  work 
leading  to  the  degree  Doctor  of  Medicine  at 
the  Chicago  Medical  School.  While  his  chief 
reputation  is  in  dentistry  he  also  practices 
medicine.  His  offices  are  at  3223  North  Clark 
Street.  Doctor  Jarvin  is  a  member  of  the 
Chicago,  Illinois  State  and  American  Medical 
Associations. 

He  married  Miss  Jeannette  Hill,  who  was 
born  and  reared  in  Michigan.  They  have  a 
daughter,    Frances    Eleanor. 

Dwight  P.  Green,  who  has  had  some  very 
successful  associations  since  becoming  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Chicago  bar,  is  of  the  law  firm 
Kirkland,  Fleming,  Green  &  Martin,  at  33 
North   LaSalle   Street. 

He  was  born  at  Fulton  in  Whiteside  County, 
Illinois,  October  13,  1886,  and  his  people  were 
among  the  very  first  to  locate  homes  in  that 
section  of  Western  Illinois,  in  what  was  then 
a  wilderness  region.  His  paternal  grandfather 
was  Richard  Green,  who  located  at  Fulton 
in  1849.  In  a  community  which  derived  much 
of  its  importance  from  the  Mississippi  River 
traffic,  he  set  up  in  business  as  a  merchant. 
Later  his  two  sons,  William  C.  and  Nathaniel, 
came  into  the  business,  after  which  the  firm 
continued  under  the  title  of  R.  Green  &  Sons. 
They  carried  the  largest  stock  of  goods  in 
the  town  and  did  a  business  over  a  constantly 
increasing  radius  of  territory  around  Fulton. 

Richard  Green  married  Cornelia  P.  Johnson, 
a  daughter  of  Jesse  and  Mary  Webb  Johnson, 
both  of  whom  were  natives  of  New  York  State 
and  of  Revolutionary  war  ancestry.  Jesse 
Johnson  settled  at  Fulton  in  1838.  Three 
of  the  Johnson  sons,  Charles  J.,  John  D.  and 
Caleb  C,  became  eminent  Illinois  lawyers. 
Caleb  C,  served  several  years  in  the  Legis- 
lature and  was  one  of  the  most  influential 
leaders  in  the  Democratic  party  in  Western 
Illinois. 

Nathaniel  Green,  son  of  Richard  Green  and 
wife,  devoted  all  his  active  career  to  merchan- 
dising, as  a  member  of  the  firm  R.  Green 
&  Sons,  and  lived  at  Fulton  until  his  death 


262 


ILLINOIS 


in  1922.  He  married  Elizabeth  Baker.  While 
the  Greens  and  Johnsons  were  pioneers  of 
Fulton,  the  name  Baker  is  the  very  first  in 
connection  with  the  permanent  establishment 
of  the  town.  John  Baker,  who  was  born  in 
Queen  Annes  County,  Maryland,  was  in  busi- 
ness at  New  Orleans  until  driven  away  by 
the  Asiatic  cholera  scourge  of  1832.  He  came 
north  up  the  Mississippi  River  and  finally, 
on  reaching  "The  Narrows"  of  the  river,  he 
found  what  he  regarded  as  an  eligible  point 
for  establishing  a  town  with  favorable  oppor- 
tunities for  trade.  Thus  in  1835  he  laid  claim 
to  the  land  on  which  the  City  of  Fulton  now 
stands.  For  a  year  he  lived  alone  except  for 
Indian  neighbors,  but  his  business  prospered 
as  an  increasing  tide  of  migration  went 
through  Fulton  on  its  way  to  the  Iowa  lands 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Mississippi.  John 
Baker  had  a  nephew  named  John  W.  Baker, 
who  was  attracted  to  the  Mississippi  by  the 
accounts  sent  in  by  his  uncle.  He  arrived  in 
1836.  John  W.  Baker  was  followed  within 
a  year  by  his  wife,  Mary  Hall  Wright  Baker, 
whom  he  had  left  a  bride  back  in  Centerville, 
Queen  Annes  County,  Maryland.  She  trav- 
eled overland  to  the  Ohio  River,  down  the 
Ohio  and  up  the  Mississippi  to  what  is  now 
Rock  Island,  Illinois,  then  a  military  post. 
There  her  husband  met  her  and  took  her  to 
her  new  home  in  the  wilderness  at  Fulton, 
where  her  husband  and  his  uncle  had  estab- 
lished themselves.  Mary  Hall  Wright  Baker 
was  the  first  white  woman  to  establish  her 
home  in  the  western  end  of  Whiteside  County. 
Thus  for  nearly  a  century  the  Baker  name 
and  family  have  been  prominent  in  this  Mis- 
sissippi River  community.  John  W.  Baker 
was  the  father  of  Elizabeth  Baker,  who  became 
the  wife  of  Nathaniel  Green,  and  their  son 
is  Dwight  P.  Green,  who  was  born  at  Fulton, 
Whiteside  County,  October  13,  1886.  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  (Baker)  Green  is  still  living  at 
the  old  home  in  Fulton. 

Dwight  P.  Green  attended  grammar  and 
high  school  in  his  native  town,  had  one  year 
in  the  Morgan  Park  Academy  at  Chicago  and 
four  years  in  Princeton  University,  where 
he  was  graduated  A.  B.  in  1909.  He  took  his 
professional  work  in  the  University  of  Chicago 
School  of  Law,  graduating  Doctor  of  Juris- 
prudence in  1912.  In  the  same  year  he  began 
practice  with  the  law  firm  of  Shephard, 
McCormick  &  Thomason.  In  1919  Mr.  Green 
became  a  member  of  the  firm  and  in  1927 
the  firm  name  was  changed  to  Kirkland,  Flem- 
ing, Green  &  Martin.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Chicago,  Illinois  and  American  Bar 
Associations. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  University  Club, 
the  Harvard- Yale-Princeton  Club  of  Chicago, 
the  Mid-Day  Club,  Sky  Line  Club.  His  home 
is  in  Winnetka.  Mr.  Green  married  Ella 
K.  Porter,  who  was  born  at  Eminence,  Ken- 
tucky, and  was  reared  at  Somerset  and  Lex- 


ington. Mrs.  Green  is  a  descendant  of  old 
Kentucky  families  who  migrated  there  from 
Virginia  in  early  pioneer  days.  She  graduated 
from  Georgetown  College,  Kentucky,  and 
received  the  A.  B.  and  M.  A.  degrees  from 
the  University  of  Kentucky  at  Lexington. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Green  have  one  son,  Dwight, 
Jr.,  born  in   1915. 

The  Illinois  State  Register  since  1881 
has  been  largely  controlled  in  its  development 
and  increasing  power  as  one  of  the  news- 
papers of  Illinois  by  two  men,  one  of  them 
the  late  Henry  Wilson  Clendenin  and  the 
other  Mr.  Thomas  Rees,  both  of  whom  were 
closely  associated  in  their  business  and  pro- 
fessional affairs  for  sixty  years.  Both  were 
extraordinary  men,  not  only  in  what  they 
accomplished  through  the  State  Register,  but 
as  dominant  figures  in  the  political  and  civic 
life  of  the  state.  They  were  not  the  founders 
of  the  State  Register,  but  they  did  take  over 
the  paper  when  it  was  a  bankrupt  concern. 
It  had  not  been  a  financial  success  after  the 
Civil  war,  and  Clendenin  and  Rees  were 
responsible  for  its  recreation.  To  practically 
all  living  Illinoisans  who  esteem  the  State 
Register  the  names  of  H.  W.  Clendenin  and 
Thomas  Rees  are  synonymous  with  the  vital 
history  of  the  paper. 

When  Henry  Wilson  Clendenin  died  July 
18,  1927,  he  was  within  a  few  days  of  his 
ninetieth  birthday  and  had  had  seventy-five 
years  of  almost  continuous  experience  in  news- 
paper work.  Prominent  men  from  all  over 
the  Middle  West  spoke  of  him  as  one  of  the 
great  Illinoisans  of  his  generation.  Among 
these  tributes  four  came  from  ex-governors 
of  the  state,  Charles  S.  Deneen,  Edward  F. 
Dunne,  Joseph  W.  Fifer  and  Richard  Yates. 
"He  lived  a  life  of  great  usefulness  and  the 
City  of  Springfield  and  the  State  of  Illinois 
which  he  served  so  well  will  long  cherish 
his  memory,"  said  Senator  Deneen.  Judge 
Dunne  called  him  "the  Henry  Watterson  of 
Illinois,  who  never  bartered  principle  for  pelf 
nor    consistency   for    a    competency." 

Henry  Wilson  Clendenin  for  a  year  or  so 
before  his  death  had  devoted  much  of  his 
time  to  the  preparation  of  his  autobiography, 
leaving  a  story  rich  in  personal  significance 
and  also  one  that  will  be  studied  by  many 
future  historians  of  Illinois.  He  was  of  Colo- 
nial ancestry.  The  Clendenins  came  to  Amer- 
ica from  Ireland  in  1833.  His  grandfather, 
John  Clendenin  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary war.  His  father,  Samuel  Miller  Clen- 
denin, married  Elizabeth  Henry  Hevener,  of 
Bedford  County,  Pennsylvania.  Samuel  Mil- 
ler Clendenin  began  teaching  school  in  the 
new  Village  of  Schellsburg,  Pennsylvania,  in 
1836,  and  on  August  1,  1837,  the  first  white 
child  born  in  the  village  was  given  the  name 
of  Henry  Wilson  Clendenin.  Two  years  later 
the    family    came    west   to    Burlington,    Iowa, 


ILLINOIS 


263 


then  a  river  town  close  to  the  frontier  of 
western  civilization.  Henry  W.  Clendenin 
attended  common  schools  and  academies,  took 
up  the  study  of  Latin  at  the  age  of  nine 
years,  later  studied  French  and  Spanish  under 
private  tutors,  and  was  just  fifteen  years 
of  age  when  in  1852  he  found  an  open  door 
for  the  career  he  had  chosen,  beginning  as 
a  "devil"  in  the  office  of  the  Burlington  Hawk- 
eye.  His  experience  there  gave  him  a  mastery 
over  the  mechanical  department,  and  he  also 
did  work  in  the  editorial  department  and  in 
the  business  office.  After  five  years  he  started 
upon  his  journeyman's  experience,  working 
in  newspaper  offices  in  a  number  of  states 
in  the  Middle  West  and  as  far  east  as  Phila- 
delphia. In  1858  he  was  foreman  and  tele- 
graph editor  on  the  Peoria  Daily  Transcript 
and  heard  the  Lincoln-Douglas  debate  at 
Peoria.  He  was  again  employed  in  news- 
paper work  at  Philadelphia  in  1860  and  while 
there  heard  President-elect  Lincoln  deliver  his 
Washington  birthday  speech.  Mr.  Clendenin 
voted  for  Lincoln  in  1860,  but  in  1864  re- 
sumed his  normal  political  attitude  and  voted 
for  General  McClellan,  and  from  that  time 
forward  was  a  steadfast  Democrat  in  his 
allegiance.  While  in  Philadelphia  he  enlisted 
in  the  Twentieth  Pennsylvania  Infantry  and 
during  1861  was  with  the  Union  forces  along 
the  Potomac  River  and  in  the  Shenandoah 
Valley.  After  his  term  expired  he  returned 
west  and  for  a  time  assisted  his  widowed 
mother  on  the  farm  in  Rock  Island  County, 
Illinois.  In  the  spring  of  1862  he  was  again 
at  Burlington,  where  he  became  foreman  and 
telegraph  editor  on  the  Gazette- Argus.  In 
January,  1864,  he  became  manager  of  the 
Sentinel  at  Metamora,  in  Woodford  County, 
Illinois.  At  Metamora  began  his  lifelong 
friendship  with  Adlai  E.  Stevenson,  after- 
wards vice  president.  He  left  Metamora  to 
accept  an  offer  from  William  Rees  in  a  print- 
ing office  at  Keokuk.  This  brought  him  his 
first  contact  with  Thomas  Rees,  then  an  ap- 
prentice for  his  brother.  During  the  next 
sixty  years  these  two  men  were  continuously 
fellow  workmen,  partners  and  friends.  From 
1866  to  1876  Mr.  Clendenin  was  associated 
with  the  Keokuk  Daily  Gate  City.  Then  in 
the  spring  of  1876  he  became  member  of  a 
company,  including  John  Gibbons,  afterwards 
circuit  judge  of  Cook  County,  George  Smith 
and  Thomas  Rees,  in  the  purchase  of  the 
Keokuk  Constitution.  Mr.  Clendenin  became 
business  manager  and  Mr.  Rees  assisted  him 
as  publisher.  The  Constitution  took  an  active 
part  in  the  famous  Tilden-Hayes  campaign  of 
1876,  and  that  marked  Mr.  Clendenin's  active 
participation  in  political  affairs.  When  Mr. 
Gibbons  retired  the  remaining  partners  con- 
tinued under  the  name  of  Smith,  Clendenin 
&  Rees,  with  Mr.  Clendenin  editor-in-chief 
of  the  Constitution.  It  was  this  firm  which 
in  1881  purchased  the  Illinois  State  Register 


at  Springfield,  and  for  several  years  the  firm 
found  all  its  financial  and  other  resources 
taxed  to  the  limit  to  carry  the  newspaper  to 
the  first  stages  of  success. 

It  is  necessary  to  review  very  briefly  Mr. 
Clendenin's  many  public  services  and  his  activ- 
ities in  the  Democratic  party,  which  recog- 
nized his  influence  as  one  of  the  strongest 
factors  in  the  organization.  He  was  for  sev- 
eral years  secretary  of  the  Northwestern  As- 
sociated Press  prior  to  the  time  that  associa- 
tion and  others  were  amalgamated  as  the 
Associated  Press  under  Melville  E.  Stone. 
Mr.  Clendenin  was  a  delegate  from  Iowa  to 
the  National  Democratic  Convention  of  1880 
when  General  Hancock  was  nominated  as  the 
presidential  candidate.  In  1882  he  began  to 
take  an  active  interest  in  local  and  general 
politics,  and  he  and  the  State  Register  were 
credited  with  a  large  measure  of  the  influence 
which  enabled  the  Democrats  in  that  year 
to  win  its  first  complete  victory  in  Sangamon 
County  since  the  war.  He  was  made  acting 
chairman  of  the  State  Central  Committee  in 
1884.  President  Cleveland  in  1886  appointed 
Mr.  Clendenin  postmaster  of  Springfield,  an 
office  he  held  four  years.  During  this  time 
his  duties  kept  him  from  his  editorial  desk 
and  he  was  more  than  happy  when  he  returned 
to  the  office  of  the  State  Register  in  1891. 
He  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  Illinois  cam- 
paign for  the  election  of  Cleveland  in  1892 
and  had  the  great  satisfaction  of  seeing  his 
old  friend,  Adlai  E.  Stevenson,  elected  vice 
president.  Mr.  Clendenin  was  a  Free  Silver 
Democrat  and  when  free  silver  became  the 
great  national  issue  in  1896  he  favored  as 
the  candidate  for  the  party  for  the  presiden- 
tial nomination  "Silver  Dick"  Bland  of  Mis- 
souri. After  the  nomination  of  Bryan  at  the 
Chicago  convention  he  became  an  enthusiastic 
follower  and  supporter  of  the  great  Nebras- 
kan  and  they  were  close  friends  the  rest  of 
their  lives.  Mr.  Clendenin  supported  Bryan 
in  all  his  campaigns  for  the  presidency.  In 
1912  he  threw  the  whole  force  of  the  in- 
fluence of  his  paper  into  the  fight  for  Wilson, 
and  was  also  largely  influential  in  the  election 
of  James  Hamilton  Lewis  as  United  States 
senator,  and  was  in  full  harmony  with  the 
administration  of  Governor  Edward  F.  Dunne. 
He  loyally  supported  the  administration  in 
its  war  program  and  Governor  Lowden  called 
him  into  consultation  upon  the  selection  of 
the  draft  board  for  Sangamon  County.  Mr. 
Clendenin  served  as  a  member  of  the  Spring- 
field Library  Board,  May  4,  1903,  until  his 
death,  except  for  a  two-year  period,  1906-07, 
and  during  the  first  term  on  the  board  the 
present  library  was  erected.  He  was  one  of 
the  oldest  members  of  the  Springfield  Lodge 
of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
was  a  charter  member  of  Camp  No.  114, 
Modern  Woodmen  of  America,  and  was  active 
in  the  First  Congregational   Church. 


264 


ILLINOIS 


Mr.  Clendenin  married  at  Monmouth,  Illi- 
nois, October  23,  1877,  Miss  Mary  Elizabeth 
Morey,  and  the  crowning  sorrow  of  his  life 
came  to  him  forty-three  years  later  when  she 
passed  away,  January  10,  1920.  Mr.  Clen- 
denin was  survived  by  four  children:  George 
M.,  Clarence  R.,  Harry  F.,  and  Mrs.  Roscoe 
L.  Ghering.  Two  of  the  sons  are  with  the 
State  Register. 

George  M.  Clendenin,  who  was  born  at 
Springfield  January  29,  1883,  was  graduated 
from  the  Law  Department  of  the  University 
of  Illinois  in  1905.  For  a  number  of  years 
he  had  been  general  manager  of  the  State 
Register.  He  married  in  1921  Nell  Creigh 
Oiler,  who  was  born  in  Washington,  Penn- 
sylvania. She  is  a  Presbyterian  and  he  is 
a  member  of  the  First  Congregational  Church. 
He  is  an  Alpha  Tau  Omega,  a  member  of  the 
B.  P.  O.  Elks,  Masons,  being  a  thirty-second 
degree  and  Shriner,  a  Democrat,  member  of 
the  Sangamo  Club  and  Illini  Country  Club, 
Rotary  Club  and  University  Club. 

His  younger  brother,  Clarence  Rees  Clen- 
denin, born  at  Springfield  July  31,  1886,  grad- 
uated from  the  University  of  Illinois  in  1910. 
He  was  in  Government  service  from  1914  to 
1925  and  is  now  vice  president  of  the  State 
Register  Company.  He  married  in  Septem- 
ber, 1917,  Margaret  Snape,  who  was  born  in 
Springfield  and  died  in  1925,  the  mother  of 
three  children:  Margaret  Clarice,  born  in 
1919;  Richard  Henry;  and  Ruth  Marion.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Alpha  Tau  Omega,  the 
B.  P.  0.  Elks,  Illini  Country  Club,  Sangamo 
Club,  University  Club,  the  First  Congrega- 
tional Church,  and  is  a  Democrat.         ^ 

Thomas  Rees,  now  president  of  the  State 
Register  Publishing  Company,  claims  the  dis- 
tinction of  being  the  oldest  active  newspaper 
publisher  in  the  United  States  in  point  of 
years  of  service.  During  his  many  years  of 
active  association  with  Mr.  Clendenin  the  di- 
vision of  responsibilities  placed  upon  him  the 
business  management,  while  Mr.  Clendenin 
had  the  editorial  direction  of  the  State 
Register. 

Thomas  Rees  was  born  at  Pittsburgh,  Penn- 
sylvania, May  13,  1850,  son  of  William  and 
Mary  (LaForge)  Rees.  A  short  time  after 
his  birth  his  parents  moved  to  Iowa.  His 
father  was  a  newspaper  publisher  and  in  1856 
employed  as  a  writer  Samuel  M.  Clemens, 
known  to  the  world  of  letters  as  "Mark 
Twain."  Thomas  Rees  was  nine  years  old 
when  his  father  died  and  at  the  age  of  thir- 
teen he  entered  the  printing  office  of  his 
brother  at  Keokuk.  There  he  worked  learning 
his  trade  until  1869,  and  spent  the  following 
two  years  at  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  and  in 
Nebraska,  after  which  he  returned  to  Keokuk. 
In  1876  he  entered  the  partnership  firm  which 
as  previously  noted  acquired  the  Keokuk  Con- 
stitution,    becoming     its     business     manager. 


After  the  sale  of  the  Constitution  the  firm  in 
1881  acquired  the  Illinois  State  Register  from 
the  late  Gen.  John  M.  Palmer.  The  death 
of  George  Smith,  the  older  member  of  the 
firm,  occurred  in  1885,  and  Clendenin  and 
Rees  then  acquired  the  interest  of  the  Smith 
estate  and  were  exclusive  owners  of  the  State 
Register  until  the  death  of  Mr.  Clendenin  in 
1927,  when  his  interest  was  inherited  by  his 
heirs.  Mr.  Rees'  supervision  of  the  business 
management  was  such  as  to  make  the  Illinois 
State  Register  not  only  a  model  newspaper  of 
the  modern  type,  but  financially  successful 
business. 

He  has  also  been  a  power  in  politics  of  the 
state,  has  been  influential  in  press  associa- 
tions, and  has  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  ex- 
tensive travel  over  the  world.  He  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Illinois  Press  Association  in  1901- 
02,  was  chairman  of  the  advisory  committee 
of  the  Associated  Press  in  1915,  and  an  active 
member  of  the  American  Newspaper  Publish- 
ers Association.  He  has  been  a  member  of 
the  Inland  Daily  Press  Association  and  rep- 
resented the  publishers  on  the  International 
Board  of  Arbitration  in  the  adjustment  of 
labor  questions  in  1906-07.  He  has  long  been 
an  active  and  contributing  member  of  the 
Illinois   State  Historical  Society. 

Thomas  Rees  was  state  senator  from  the 
Springfield  district  from  1902  to  1906,  and 
was  author  of  the  first  good  road  law  of  the 
State  of  Illinois.  While  chairman  of  the 
Senate  honorary  committee  he  was  instru- 
mental in  securing  the  state  arsenal  for 
Springfield,  and  his  influence  is  credited  with 
having  been  very  important  in  bringing  the 
Illinois  State  Fair  to  Springfield  as  a  perma- 
nent institution,  and  in  securing  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Supreme  Court  Building  and  Cen- 
tennial Building  at  the  capital.  He  is  a 
Knight  Templar  and  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and 
Shriner,  and  member  of  a  number  of  other 
fraternal  organizations.  In  1913  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  President  Wilson  on  a  commission 
in  the  interest  of  the  Panama-Pacific  Exposi- 
tion and  traveled  with  other  members  of  that 
commission  through  many  countries  of  Europe, 
holding  audiences  and  negotiations  with  Euro- 
pean and  Asiatic  rulers  in  behalf  of  the  pro- 
posed exposition.  In  1925  Mr.  Rees  concluded 
a  trip  around  the  world.  He  is  the  author 
of  several  books,  including  Sixty  Days  in 
Europe;  Cuba  and  Mexico,  a  travel  book  of 
the  West  Indies,  Mexico  and  other  Spanish- 
American  countries;  Egypt  and  the  Holy 
Land;  Our  Travels  in  the  Orient;  and  A  Tour 
Around  the   World. 

Thomas  Rees  married  in  February,  1879, 
Flora  Adelia  Huston,  daughter  of  L.  W.  Hus- 
ton, of  Keokuk,  Iowa.  She  died  in  March, 
1881.  July  17,  1901,  Mr.  Rees  married  Miss 
Lou  Hart  of  Gardner,  Illinois,  who  died  on 
the  28th  of  November,  1930. 


ILLINOIS 


265 


Marion  Millard  Latimer  is  a  young  civil 
engineer  who  has  made  a  record  of  noteworthy 
success  and  advancement  in  his  chosen  pro- 
fession. In  the  Illinois  State  Engineering 
Department  he  is  now  resident  engineer  at 
Harrisburg,  county  seat  of  Saline  County, 
with  assignment  to  flood  control  and  flood  re- 
lief provisions  for  Southern  Illinois,  with 
jurisdiction  along  the  Ohio  line  of  the  Ohio 
River  to  Cairo,  Illinois,  and  also  along  the 
lower  Illinois  course  of  the  Mississippi  River. 
Eleven  operatives  work  under  his  supervision 
in  normal  times,  and  as  construction  engineer 
he  has  direct  charge  of  all  work  of  flood 
prevention  and  control  construction  service  in 
his  assigned  jurisdiction. 

Mr.  Latimer  was  born  at  Mentone,  Kosci- 
usko County,  Indiana,  August  13,  1904,  and 
is  a  son  of  Lyndes  and  Nellie  (Lyon)  Latimer, 
both  likewise  natives  of  the  fine  old  Hoosier 
State,  where  Lyndes  Latimer  is  now  promi- 
nently engaged  in  the  livestock  business.  Ma- 
rion M.  Latimer  supplemented  the  discipline 
of  the  Indiana  public  schools  by  a  course  in 
Purdue  University,  at  Lafayette,  that  state, 
in  which  he  was  graduated  as  a  member  of 
the  class  of  1927  and  with  the  degree  of  Civil 
Engineer.  While  in  the  university  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Reserve  Officers  Training 
Corps,  and  he  now  holds  the  rank  of  first 
lieutenant  of  field  artillery  in  the  officers  re- 
serve corps  of  the  United  States  Army.  At 
Purdue  he  became  a  member  of  the  Kappa 
Delta  Rho  fraternity  and  also  of  the  Scabbard 
and  Blade  honorary  military  fraternity.  He 
is  affiliated  also  with  the  Masonic  fraternity 
and  is  a  member  of  the  American  Society  of 
Civil  Engineers.  In  his  present  home  City 
of  Harrisburg  he  is  a  member  of  the  Kiwanis 
Club,  besides  having  membership  in  the  Har- 
risburg Country  Club. 

After  his  graduation  in  Purdue  University 
Mr.  Latimer  gained  his  initial  experience  in 
the  practical  service  of  his  profession  by  one 
year  of  association  with  the  Crowl  Construc- 
tion Company,  and  he  has  since  continued  to 
hold  his  present  professional  and  administra- 
tive office  at  Harrisburg,  his  appointment  to 
this  position  having  occurred  August  18,  1928, 
and  much  important  work  having  been  done 
under  his  supervision  in  the  intervening 
period. 

Mason  Love,  who  is  giving  well  ordered 
administration  as  justice  of  the  peace  in  the 
City  of  Harrisburg,  judicial  center  of  Saline 
County,  was  born  in  Union  County,  Ken- 
tucky, May  21,  1885,  one  of  the  ten  children 
of  John  and  Ellen  (Smith)  Love.  He  was  a 
boy  when  his  father  was  killed  by  accident 
occurring  in  the  coal  mine  in  which  he  was 
employed,  and  when  but  twelve  years  of  age 
Mason  Love  began  working  to  assist  in  the 
support  of  his  widowed  mother  and  the  other 
children  of  the  family.     Thus  his  early  edu- 


cational privileges  were  much  curtailed,  but 
this  handicap  he  effectively  overcame  by  self- 
discipline  and  by  association  with  the  prac- 
tical affairs  of  life.  He  served  as  a  trapper 
boy  in  a  coal  mine  and  later  as  a  competent 
miner.  He  continued  to  be  associated  with 
the  coal  mining  industry  twenty  years,  his 
father's  connection  therewith  having  covered 
a  period  of  thirty-seven  years. 

Mr.  Love  came  to  Saline  County,  Illinois, 
in  1907.  He  served  as  police  magistrate  in 
the  Village  of  Ledford,  and  during  the  period 
of  1910-12  he  was  chief  of  police  at  Harvel, 
Missouri.  He  then  returned  to  Saline  County, 
and  at  Harrisburg  he  held  the  office  of  justice 
of  the  peace  from  1921  to  1925.  He  then 
engaged  in  the  retail  grocery  business,  but 
since  1929  he  has  again  been  the  incumbent 
of  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace.  He  is 
a  stalwart  in  the  ranks  of  the  Republican 
party  and  was  for  fifteen  years  Republican 
election  judge  in  his  precinct,  besides  being 
otherwise  active  in  local  politics.  He  was 
president  nine  years  of  local  Union  No.  758, 
United  Mine  Workers  of  America,  with  which 
he  has  been  identified  since  1907  and  of  which 
he  is  now  recording  secretary.  He  and  his 
wife  are  zealous  members  of  the  Baptist 
Church.  He  and  his  father  were  the  leaders 
in  the  organizing  of  the  Missionary  Baptist 
Church  at  Ledford,  Saline  County,  and  of 
that  church  he  is  now  treasurer. 

Mr.  Lowe  married  Miss  Elsie  Dennis,  who 
likewise  was  born  in  Kentucky,  and  of  their 
four  children  one,  Fay,  died  in  infancy.  Of 
the  three  surviving  children  the  eldest  is  La- 
verne,  who  is  the  wife  of  Price  Joiner,  and 
the  younger  children,  Dale  and  O'Dell  are  still 
attending  school  at  the  time  of  this  writing 
in   1932. 

Frank  Martin  Keiser,  M.  D.,  is  an  Illinois 
physician  and  surgeon  whose  work  and  serv- 
ice have  made  him  one  of  the  outstanding 
members  of  his  profession  at  Murphysboro, 
Illinois. 

Doctor  Keiser  was  born  at  Murphysboro, 
Illinois,  September  20,  1895,  son  of  Joseph  J. 
and  Mary  E.  (O'Dwyer)  Keiser.  The  Keiser 
family  came  from  Switzerland  about  1848, 
while  the  O'Dwyers  emigrated  from  Ireland 
about  the  same  time.  Doctor  Keiser's  father 
was  born  in  Indiana,  and  about  1890  moved 
to  Murphysboro,  Illinois,  where  he  was  in  the 
tailoring  business  until  his  death  in  1921.  The 
mother  was  born  at  Centralia,  Illinois,  and  is 
still  living. 

Frank  Martin  Keiser  was  graduated  from 
the  Murphysboro  High  School  in  1915,  fol- 
lowing this  with  work  at  the  University  of 
Illinois,  but  he  completed  his  professional 
training  in  the  Jefferson  Medical  College  at 
Philadelphia,  one  of  the  oldest  institutions  of 
medical  knowledge  in  the  United  States.  He 
was  graduated  M.  D.  in  1923.     In  the  mean- 


266 


ILLINOIS 


time,  in  May,  1918,  he  enlisted  and  was  in 
training  at  Atlanta,  Georgia,  until  discharged. 

After  graduating  Doctor  Reiser  spent  a  year 
as  an  interne  in  the  City  Hospital  of  St. 
Louis,  then  practiced  two  years  in  Shawnee- 
town,  Illinois,  and  two  years  at  Paducah, 
Kentucky.  With  this  experience,  after  spend- 
ing a  short  time  in  East  St.  Louis,  he  came 
to  Murphysboro,  and  in  a  few  years  has  built 
up  a  practice  that  demands  the  utmost  of  his 
time  and  effort.  Doctor  Reiser  seems  to  have 
been  endowed  by  nature  for  his  vocation.  He 
has  an  extensive  general  practice,  and  is  a 
member  in  good  standing  of  the  Jackson 
County  and  Illinois  Medical  Associations,  and 
is  a  member  of  the  staff  of  St.  Andrew's  Hos- 
pital at  Murphysboro.  Fraternally  he  is  affil- 
iated with  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks  and  Knights  of 
Columbus,  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Legion. 

He  married  October  27,  1924,  Miss  Bess  E. 
Williams,  of  Murphysboro,  daughter  of 
William  W.  and  Catherine  (Eisenhauer) 
Williams.  Her  grandfather,  John  Milton  Wil- 
liams, came  to  Illinois  from  Indiana  and  estab- 
lished one  of  the  early  flour  mills  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  state.  The  Williams 
family  came  from  Wales.  Her  grandfather, 
Adam  Eisenhauer,  came  from  Germany,  and 
was  an  Illinois  farmer.  Mrs.  Reiser's  father 
was  born  in  Indiana,  and  is  employed  by  the 
Illinois  State  Highway  Department.  Her 
mother  was  born  in  Illinois.  Mrs.  Reiser 
graduated  from  high  school  in  1915,  after 
which  she  taught  school  for  some  time.  Her 
practical  assistance  has  been  of  much  value 
to  Doctor  Reiser  in  his  professional  career. 
She  is  very  popular  in  social  circles,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Church. 

Oscar  Otto  Cummins  was  the  first  to  en- 
gage in  the  automobile  business  at  Harris- 
burg,  judicial  center  of  Saline  County,  where 
he  now  has  the  Ford  agency  and  has  standing 
as  one  of  the  most  progressive  and  successful 
representatives  of  the  automotive  industry  in 
his  native  county.  He  engaged  in  business 
in  1911  and  during  the  first  year  had  the  Regal 
agency  and  he  had  also  the  agency  for  the 
Buick  cars.  His  major  success  has  been 
achieved  as  a  distributor  of  the  Ford  auto- 
mobiles, and  he  has  brought  to  bear  in  his 
operations  thorough  knowledge  of  the  business 
and  a  marked  aggressiveness  and  resourceful- 
ness. He  has  sold  an  average  of  400  new  and 
used  cars  annually,  and  his  total  sales  since 
1911  sum  up  to  about  10,000  cars.  He  erected 
his  present  headquarters  building  of  three 
floors  and  basement,  160  by  67  feet  in  dimen- 
sions, modern  in  construction,  fire-proof  and 
equipped  with  the  best  of  facilities  for  effective 
service.  Under  normal  conditions  Mr.  Cum- 
mins retains  a  corps  of  about  twenty-two 
employees. 


Oscar  O.  Cummins  was  born  in  Saline 
County  March  15,  1873,  and  is  a  son  of  George 
S.  and  Sarah  Jane  (Mick)  Cummins,  both 
likewise  natives  of  Saline  County  and  both 
representatives  of  pioneer  families.  George 
S.  Cummins  became  a  substantial  farmer  in 
Saline  County,  as  the  owner  of  a  well  im- 
proved farm  estate,  but  he  eventually  met 
with  severe  financial  reverses  and  for  a  brief 
interval  maintained  the  family  home  in  St. 
Louis,  Missouri,  though  both  he  and  his  wife 
passed  the  closing  years  of  their  lives  in 
their  native  county,  where  he  had  served  as  a 
member  of  the  school  board  and  held  other 
positions  of  local  trust. 

His  parents  were  born  in  Kentucky  and 
upon  coming  thence  to  Illinois  his  father,  Cas- 
well Cummins,  settled,  about  1830.,  in  the 
eastern  part  of  Saline  County,  where  he  be- 
came the  owner  of  more  than  800  acres  of 
land.  Mrs.  Sarah  Jane  (Mick)  Cummins  was 
a  daughter  of  Rudolph  Mick,  Jr.,  who  was 
one  of  the  seven  brothers  who  served  as  loyal 
soldiers  of  the  Union  in  the  Civil  war  and  all 
of  whom  became  farmers  in  the  southern  part 
of  Saline  County.  Their  father,  Rudolph 
Mick,  Sr.,  served  as  a  soldier  in  the  Mexican 
war  and  also  in  the  Black  Hawk  Indian  war 
in  Illinois.  Of  the  twelve  children  of  George 
S.  and  Sarah  Jane  Cummins  eight  attained 
to  maturity,  namely:  Dora,  Mrs.  C.  J.  Wiede- 
mann; Emma,  Mrs.  Harry  Palmer;  Madison, 
a  farmer  who  died  in  1895;  Oscar  O.,  of  this 
review;  Lou,  Mrs.  Thomas  Kane;  George,  a 
former  deputy  sheriff  of  Saline  County;  Hat- 
tie,  Mrs.  John  Thompson;  and  Daniel,  a  busi- 
ness man.  The  four  who  died  in  childhood 
were  Charles,  Deanie,  Pearl  and  Fannie  A. 

Oscar  O.  Cummins  attended  the  public 
schools  of  Saline  County  but  his  early  educa- 
tion was  curtailed  by  reason  of  the  somewhat 
straitened  circumstances  of  the  family.  As 
a  lad  of  twelve  years  he  was  found  busily 
working  on  the  farm,  and  after  the  removal 
to  St.  Louis  he  continued  to  work  and  to  save 
his  earnings.  That  he  found  means  to  advance 
his  education  was  shown  in  his  four  months 
of  successful  service  as  a  teacher  in  a  rural 
school.  As  a  young  man  he  was  elected  county 
treasurer  and  later  was  elected  county  sheriff. 
Upon  retiring  from  office  he  found  means  to 
direct  his  energies  successfully  along  other 
lines.  It  has  already  been  noted  that  he  has 
been  engaged  in  the  automobile  business  in 
Harrisburg  since  1911,  and  he  is  the  owner 
of  375  acres  of  valuable  farm  land  in  his 
native  county,  has  specialized  in  the.  raising 
and  marketing  of  hogs,  and  he  has  been  suc- 
cessful also  in  real-estate  operations,  in  which 
connection  he  has  erected  a  number  of  build- 
ings. He  was  a  vigorous  worker  in  the  vari- 
our  patriotic  campaigns  in  his  home  county 
in  the  World  war  period,  including  war-bond 
and  Red  Cross  drives. 


ILLINOIS 


267 


Mr.  Cummins  married  Miss  Daisy  Upchurch, 
who  likewise  was  born  and  reared  in  Saline 
County,  a  daughter  of  Ebenezer  Upchurch, 
whose  father  came  from  Tennessee  to  Illinois 
about  1850.  Kenneth,  elder  of  the  two  chil- 
dren of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cummins,  was  gradu- 
ated in  the  University  of  Michigan  and  in  the 
law  department  of  Northwestern  University, 
he  being  now  city  attorney  or  Harrisburg  and 
the  maiden  name  of  his  wife  having  been  Mary 
Sloane.  The  younger  son,  Frank,  a  graduate 
of  the  University  of  Illinois,  is  now  associated 
with  his  father  in  the  automobile  business. 

John  L.  Good  is  general  manager  of  the 
Hillsboro  plant  of  the  Eagle-Picher  Lead  Com- 
pany, the  chief  industrial  plant  of  Hillsboro. 
Mr.  Good  entered  the  service  of  this  local 
company  soon  after  he  completed  his  education. 
His  service  has  been  continuous  except  for 
the  World  war  period,  when  he  served  with  the 
air  forces  overseas. 

Mr.  Good  was  born  at  Shelbyville,  Illinois, 
March  25,  1893.  The  Goods  are  an  old  family 
of  Southern  Illinois.  His  father,  A.  L..  Good, 
was  born  in  this  state,  and  died  in  1926,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-five.  He  was  an  Illinois 
farmer  and  a  man  who  expressed  his  interest 
in  the  community  particularly  in  behalf  of 
local  schools  and  served  for  many  years  on 
the  school  board.  The  mother  of  John  L. 
Good  was  Sarah  D.  Alspaugh,  who  was  born 
in  Ohio  and  died  in  1926,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
one.  Her  father,  John  Alspaugh,  came  from 
Pennsylvania,  and  settled  in  Franklin  County, 
Ohio,  where  he  lived  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

John  L.  Good  grew  up  in  and  near  Shelby- 
ville. Besides  the  advantages  of  the  local 
schools  he  attended  Sparks  Business  College 
at  Shelbyville.  Soon  after  graduating  he 
became  bookkeeper  in  the  Hillsboro  plant  of 
the  Eagle-Picher  Lead  Company.  He  remained 
there  until  the  outbreak  of  the  World  war 
called  him  to  active  patriotic  service  for  his 
country. 

He  was  a  volunteer,  and  enlisted  at  Jeffer- 
son Barracks,  St.  Louis,  July  31,  1917.  He  was 
sent  to  Kelly  Field  in  Texas,  assigned  to  the 
Signal  Corps,  but  later  transferred  to  the 
Air  Corps.  With  his  outfit  he  went  to  Newport 
News,  Virginia,  and  from  there  went  overseas, 
landing  at  St.  Nazaire  March  3,  1918.  After 
a  short  period  at  Romorantin  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  Neuf  Chateau,  was  commissioned  a 
second  lieutenant  in  the  Army  Service  Corps 
and  attached  to  the  Headquarters  Company. 
In  February,  1919,  he  was  put  in  command 
of  this  company  and  in  May,  1919,  was  pro- 
moted to  first  lieutenant.  On  June  10,  1919,  he 
returned  to  the  United  States  and  received 
his  honorable  discharge  at  Camp  Grant,  Rock- 
ford,  Illinois,  July  19.  He  is  now  a  first  lieu- 
tenant in  the  United  States  Army  Reserve 
Corps,    Finance    Department,    and    is    also    a 


member  of  the  United  States  Army  Ordnance 
Association. 

On  resuming  the  duties  of  civil  life  at 
Hillsboro  he  returned  to  the  Eagle-Picher  Lead 
Company,  in  the  position  of  purchasing  agent. 
He  was  soon  promoted  to  assistant  manager 
and  since  1928  has  been  general  manager. 

The  Eagle-Picher  Lead  Company  is  one  of 
the  largest  organizations  of  its  kind  in  the 
country.  The  Hillsboro  plant  was  built  in 
1912  and  is  one  of  ten  similar  plants  operated 
under  this  corporation.  The  Hillsboro  plant 
produces  zinc  products,  most  of  the  products 
going  into  paint,  rubber  and  other  industrial 
manufactures.  At  Hillsboro  the  company 
employs  200  men  and  has  forty  acres  of 
ground  space  for  its  plant.  Mr.  Good  as 
general  manager  has  set  a  high  mark  of 
efficiency  and  has  also  attracted  attention 
because  of  his  fairness  to  labor,  and  has  done 
much  to  develop  amicable  relationships  between 
business   and  its  workers. 

His  executive  qualities  have  found  outlet 
in  various  forms  of  community  endeavor.  In 
1930  he  reorganized  the  Hillsboro  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  serving  as  its  president  one 
year.  He  was  one  of  the  charter  members 
of  the  Hillsboro  Country  Club  and  has  been 
president  of  that  club  since  1927.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  Lodge  and  Sullivan 
Council,  R.  &  S.  M.,  at  Hillsboro.  He  was 
commander  in  1922  of  the  Hillsboro  Post  of 
the  American  Legion  and  delegate  to  the  great 
national  convention  of  the  Legion  at  Kansas 
City,  Missouri,  the  same  year.  He  organized 
the  Forty  and  Eight  Club  at  Hillsboro,  serv- 
ing as  the  first  Chef  de  Guerre  and  the  first 
Grande  Cheminot  of  his  district,  and  was 
chairman  of  the  committee  which  raised  the 
fund  for  the  American  Legion  National 
Endowment  Fund.  He  was  a  charter  member 
and  for  many  years  a  director  of  the  Hillsboro 
Rotary  Club,  and  served  as  president  of  the 
club  from  July,  1931,  to  July,  1932.  He  is 
a  member  of  St.  Paul's  Lutheran  Church  and 
Brotherhood  of  that  church.  Mr.  Good  has 
membership  in  the  American  Institute  of  Min- 
ing and  Metallurgical  Engineers  and  is  the 
executive,  for  the  Boy  Scouts  for  the  Twenty- 
first   Congressional   District. 

On  June  14,  1926,  he  married  Miss  Evelyn 
C.  Wolfe,  the  talented  daughter  of  Edwin 
Wolfe,  of  Hillsboro.  They  have  no  children 
of  their  own,  but  have  adopted  a  son,  Harry 
J.  Good,  who  was  born  March  3,  1923.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Good  live  in  a  beautiful  home  on 
Broad  Street  in  Hillsboro.  This  home  is  a 
center  of  the  social  life  of  the  city.  As  this 
brief  record  shows,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Good  have 
been  constantly  devoted  to  the  happiness  and 
welfare  of  others.  Mrs.  Good  is  an  Illinois 
woman  of  many  accomplishments  and  talents. 
She  has  been  a  successful  teacher  of  dramatic 
art,    and    under    her    direction    Hillsboro    has 


268 


ILLINOIS 


enjoyed  some  exceptional  entertainments  by 
local  talent.  She  is  a  past  president  of  the 
American  Legion  Auxiliary  and  of  the  Eight 
and  Forty  Society  for  women,  is  treasurer 
of  St.  Paul's  Lutheran  Church,  a  past  president 
of  the  Young  Ladies  League,  and  is  a  past 
president  of  the  Alumni  Players,  a  local  organ- 
ization among  the  younger  set  which  has  put 
on  some  highly  commendable  theatricals. 

Ralph  Charles  Riegel,  D.  V.  S.,  has 
chosen  his  native  county  as  the  stage  of  his 
professional  activities,  has  his  office  at  201 
North  Mill  Street  in  the  City  of  Harrisburg, 
and  is  one  of  the  successful  veterinary  sur- 
geons of  Saline  County,  his  birth  having  oc- 
curred on  the  parental  home  farm  in  Brushy 
Township,   this   county,   December   31,   1893. 

Doctor  Riegel  is  a  son  of  Allen  and  Mar- 
garet (Riegel)  Riegel,  the  former  of  whom 
was  born  and  reared  in  Ohio,  where  he  fol- 
lowed farm  enterprise  prior  to  his  removal  to 
Illinois,  in  1891.  He  has  since  continued  as 
one  of  the  progressive  exponents  of  agricul- 
tural and  livestock  enterprise  in  Saline 
County,  with  special  attention  given  to  the 
raising  of  cattle  and  mules,  and  his  com- 
munal loyalty  was  shown  in  his  two  terms 
of  constructive  service  as  supervisor  of  Brushy 
Township.  His  wife  likewise  was  born  in 
Ohio,  but  was  reared  and  educated  in  Illinois, 
she  being  a  daughter  of  Elias  Riegel,  who 
was  a  brother  of  the  father  of  Allen  Riegel. 
Elias  Riegel  came  with  his  family  to  Illinois 
about  the  year   1868. 

Dr.  Ralph  C.  Riegel,  one  of  a  family  of 
four  children,  received  the  advantages  of  the 
public  schools  of  Saline  County  and  on  the 
home  farm  early  gained  fortifying  experience 
in  connection  with  animal  industry.  In  1915 
he  was  graduated  in  a  well  ordered  veterinary 
college  in  the  City  of  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan, 
and  after  thus  receiving  his  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Veterinary  Surgery  he  engaged  in  practice 
in  the  little  City  of  Galacia,  Saline  County. 
Two  years  later,  upon  the  nation's  entrance 
into  the  World  war,  he  enlisted  in  the  Vet- 
erinary Reserve  Corps  of  the  United  States 
Army,  in  which  he  won  commission  as  first 
lieutenant  on  August  15,  1917.  He  entered 
active  service  at  Camp  Wheeler,  near  Macon, 
Georgia,  and  there  remained  until  he  met  with 
an  accident  that  disqualified  him  for  further 
service  and  that  led  to  his  honorable  discharge 
for  disability,  in  December,  1917.  After  re- 
cuperating he  continued  his  professional  activ- 
ities, with  headquarters  on  the  old  home  farm 
in  Brushy  Township  until,  for  the  benefit  of 
his  impaired  health,  he  passed  several  months 
at  Clovis,  New  Mexico.  Upon  his  return  to 
his  native  county  he  established  his  residence 
at  Harrisburg,  and  in  1928  he  erected  the 
building  that  serves  as  his  modern  veterinary 
headquarters,  its  equipment  and  service  being 
of  the  highest  standard  and  his  practice  being 


of  substantial  and  profitable  order.  The  Doc- 
tor has  membership  in  the  Illinois  State  Vet- 
erinary Association  and  the  American  Vet- 
erinary Association,  and  is  secretary  of  the 
Southern  Illinois  Veterinary  Medical  Associa- 
tion, is  affiliated  with  the  American  Legion, 
Masonic  fraternity  and  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows.  He  served  as  assistant  state 
veterinarian,  and  since  1918  and  since  1922 
he  has  been  an  accredited  tuberculosis  veter- 
inarian. His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Alma  Nolen,  was  likewise  born  and  reared  in 
Illinois. 

Henry  Galen  Schmidt,  D.  Litt.,  principal 
of  the  Belleville  Township  High  School,  has 
been  identified  with  the  educational  interests 
of  this  Southern  Illinois  city  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century.  No  one  deserves  more  individual 
credit  for  the  magnificent  school  plant  and 
the  service  it  renders  than  Doctor  Schmidt. 

He  has  been  in  touch  with  school  work  prac- 
tically all  his  life.  Doctor  Schmidt  was  born 
at  Drake,  Gasconade  County,  Missouri,  May 
9,  1878.  His  grandfather  came  from  Germany, 
leaving  that  country  as  a  result  of  political 
conditions,  and  first  settled  at  New  Orleans. 
He  was  a  tailor  by  trade.  He  lived  to  a  good 
old  age.  Doctor  Schmidt's  father,  Frederick 
Schmidt,  was  born  in  New  Orleans  December 
8,  1848,  and  was  four  years  of  age  when 
the  family  moved  to  Missouri.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-one  he  became  a  farmer  and  followed 
that  business  all  his  active  life.  During  the 
Civil  war  he  was  enrolled  in  the  Missouri 
Militia  at  Jefferson  City.  He  died  April  16, 
1929,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one.  Frederick 
Schmidt  married  Sarah  Jane  Robinson,  who 
was  born  near  Lynchburg,  Virginia,  December 
1,  1854,  and  still  lives  at  the  old  homestead 
at  Drake,  Missouri.  She  was  descended  from 
a  pioneer  family  of  Virginia.  Her  parents 
moved  to  Richmond,  Tennessee,  then  came 
through  Kentucky  to  Missouri.-  Her  father, 
Galen  Robinson,  was  a  soldier  in  the  Union 
army  during  the  Civil  war,  but  his  brother 
Hiram  fought  on  the  Confederate  side.  These 
two  soldier  brothers  were  the  guests  of  honor 
at  a  large  family  reunion  when  both  were 
very  old.  Galen  Robinson  lived  to  be  105 
years  of  age,  passing  away  May  8,  1927. 

Henry  Galen  Schmidt  spent  his  boyhood 
.  days  on  a  Missouri  farm,  attending  school  at 
Drake,  where  he  graduated  from  the  eighth 
grade.  For  two  years  he  was  a  student  in 
the  high  school  at  Owensville,  Missouri,  in 
1895  was  graduated  from  the  Central  Wes- 
leyan  Academy  at  Warrenton.  After  teach- 
ing about  four  years  he  resumed  his  studies 
at  the  Central  Wesleyan  College  at  Warren- 
ton, graduated  A.  B.  in  1902,  following  which 
for  two  years  he  was  principal  of  schools  at 
Smithton,  Missouri.  He  spent  each  summer 
vacation  in  post-graduate  work  at  the  Uni- 
versity   of    Missouri,    then    was    principal    of 


ILLINOIS 


269 


schools  at  Chamois,  Missouri,  in  1904-06. 
Doctor  Schmidt  is  an  inveterate  student  and 
has  made  use  of  practically  all  his  vacation 
periods  for  advanced  work.  He  was  for  a 
time  assistant  in  the  Science  Department  at 
McKendree  College  at  Lebanon,  Illinois,  where 
he  won  his  Bachelor  of  Science  degree  in  1909. 
McKendree  in  recognition  of  his  educational 
attainments  bestowed  upon  him  the  honorary- 
degree  Doctor  of  Letters  in  1928.  He  has 
done  work  in  the  University  of  Illinois,  re- 
ceived the  Master  of  Arts  degree  from  Wash- 
ington University  at  St.  Louis  in  1910,  did 
work  toward  the  Doctor  of  Philosophy  degree 
at  the  University  of  Chicago  during  1917-20, 
attended  the  summer  session  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity in  1925,  and  more  recently  has  spent 
several  summers  in  Washington  University  at 
St.  Louis. 

Doctor  Schmidt  came  to  Belleville  May  12, 
1906,  to  fill  out  an  unexpired  term  at  the 
Central  High  School,  and  for  a  number  of 
years  taught  Latin,  chemistry  and  physics  in 
the  high  school.  When  the  Belleville  Town- 
ship High  School  was  completed  in  1915,  he 
was   appointed  principal. 

Doctor  Schmidt  is  a  member  of  the  Na- 
tional Education  Association,  the  Illinois 
Teachers  Association  and  High  School  Prin- 
cipals Association..  He  is  on  the  board  of 
trustees  of  McKendree  College,  is  a  Methodist, 
a  Knight  Templar  Mason,  and  a  member  of 
the  Modern  Woodmen  of  America.  During  the 
World  war  he  was  a  Four  Minute  Speaker  and 
made  speeches  through  Illinois,  Indiana  and 
Kentucky. 

.  He  married  August  5,  1902,  Miss  Anna 
Augusta  Wolter,  who  was  born  May  4,  1881, 
at  Fredericksburg,  Missouri.  She  attended 
private  school  at  Morrison,  Missouri,  and  com- 
pleted work  in  the  School  of  Fine  Arts  at  St. 
Louis.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Schmidt  have  two 
sons.  Webster  Raymond,  born  November  10, 
1909,  graduated  Bachelor  of  Science  from 
Washington  University  at  St.  Louis  in  1930, 
and  is  now  a  graduate  student  in  chemical 
engineering.  He  is  a  very  talented  singer, 
and  is  a  popular  radio  artist,  singing  over 
KMOX  at  St.  Louis.  The  second  son,  Blaine 
Galen  Schmidt,  born  August  7,  1916.  is  a 
student  in  the  Belleville  Township  High 
School. 

The  Belleville  Township  High  School, 
organized  and  built  in  1915,  is  one  of  the 
finest  high  schools  in  the  state,  regardless  of 
the  size  of  the  community.  It  has  approved 
ratings  with  the  North  Central  Association 
of  Secondary  Schools  and  its  graduates  are 
accepted  by  all  the  colleges  and  universities. 
It  maintains  a  college  preparatory  department, 
also  an  industrial  department  preparing  grad- 
uates for  the  great  technical  industries,  has 
a  commercial  department  and  also  a  depart- 
ment of  agriculture.     Domestic  science  is  also 


emphasized,  girls  receiving  thorough  training 
in  all  the  departments  of  home  making,  and 
the  school  is  one  of  the  most  advanced  in 
availing  itself  of  the  privileges  of  the  Smith- 
Hughes  Federal  Law.  There  is  a  music  de- 
partment, which  has  been  greatly  strengthened 
in  recent  years  and  which  affords  instruction 
in  the  fundamentals  of  music  and  in  vocal 
and  instrumental  training.  While  the  day 
school  enrollment  is  approximately  1,200,  the 
Belleville  Township  High  School,  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  great  number  of  industrial  workers 
in  the  township,  maintains  night  classes,  in 
which  in  1931  were  enrolled  nearly  400  pupils. 
The  Belleville  Township  High  School  has  a 
property  value  of  $780,000  and  the  annual 
revenue  is  $150,000. 

George  Matthew  Miley  has  been  a  member, 
of  the  Illinois  bar  more  than  forty  years, 
has  won  success  and  prestige  in  his  profession 
and  is  now  established  in  practice  in  the  City 
of  Harrisburg,  judicial  center  of  Saline 
County.  Mr.  Miley  was  born  in  the  City  of 
St.  Louis,  Missouri,  July  22,  1868,  and  is 
eldest  in  a  family  of  seven  children,  the  names 
of  the  others  being  here  recorded:  Walter 
(a  business  man  in  St.  Louis),  Martha,  Car- 
rie, Olive,  Gertrude,  and  Jesse  D.  Mr.  Miley 
is  the  only  member  of  the  immediate  family 
to  have  entered  the  legal  profession.. 

George  M.  Miley  is  a  son  of  Matthew  and 
Sarah  (Dunn)  Miley,  whose  marriage  was 
solemnized  in  Posey  County,  Indiana,  and 
who  settled  in  Illinois  in  1872.  Matthew 
Miley  served  as  a  gallant  soldier  of  the  Union 
during  virtually  the  entire  period  of  the  Civil 
war,  as  a  member  of  the  Eighteenth  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry.  He  followed  the  trade 
of  cooper  fully  forty  years  and  manufactured 
barrels  of  all  kinds,  from  material  obtained 
direct  from  the  forest. 

As  a  boy  George  M.  Miley  assisted  in  his 
father's  cooper  shop  and  was  making  barrels 
when  he  was  a  lad  of  twelve  years.  His  early 
education  was  obtained  in  the  Illinois  public 
schools,  at  the  age  of  nineteen  years  he  was 
appointed  deputy  clerk  of  the  circuit  court, 
and  within  his  five  years'  tenure  of  this 
position  he  began  the  study  of  law,  the  while 
gaining  practical  experience  of  value  by  his 
official  service.  He  read  law  two  years  under 
the  able  preceptorship  of  Judge  W.  H.  Boyer, 
and  in  1891  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  After 
being  engaged  in  practice  five  years  at  Harris- 
burg he  removed  to  Oregon  County,  Missouri, 
which  city  continued  the  central  stage  of  his 
professional  activities  fifteen  years.  He  then 
returned  to  Harrisburg,  where  he  has  since 
been  engaged  in  active  general  practice, 
extending  to  the  various  state  and  Federal 
courts   of   Illinois. 

Mr.  Miley  has  made  a  record  of  loyal  and 
successful  service  in  his  profession  and  is 
now  one  of  the  veteran  and  honored  members 


270 


ILLINOIS 


of  the  Saline  County  bar.  He  has  been  influ- 
ential in  the  councils  and  campaigns  of  the 
Republican  party  and  served  six  years  as  a 
member  of  the  Republican  state  central  com- 
mittee of  Illinois,  besides  being  delegate  to 
the  state  and  other  conventions  of  his  party 
during  a  period  of  fully  twenty  years.  He 
has  membership  in  the  Saline  County  Bar 
Association  and  the  Illinois  State  Bar 
Association,  is  affiliated  with  the  Benevolent 
&  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  is  a  member  of 
the  Harrisburg  Country  Club,  and  in  the 
World  war  period  he  was  influential  in  local 
patriotic  movements  and  served  on  the  legal 
advisory  board  of  railways  and  industry  in 
Saline   County. 

Mr.  Miley  was  a  young  man  at  the  time 
of  his  marriage  to  Miss  Kate  Anderson,  who 
was  born  in  Wayne  County,  Illinois,  where 
her  father,  J.  W.  Anderson,  was  a  prosperous 
farmer.  Harker,  eldest  of  the  children  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Miley,  was  born  in  Saline 
County,  January  9,  1892,  and  is  now  post- 
master of  Harrisburg.  After  completing  his 
high  school  course  he  read  law  three  years, 
in  the  office  of  his  father,  and  thereafter 
served  a  term  as  treasurer  of  Oregon  County, 
Missouri.  He  was  engaged  in  business  dur- 
ing the  period  of  1913-21,  and  in  the  latter 
year  was  appointed  postmaster  of  Harrisburg, 
under  the  administration  of  President  Hard- 
ing. He  has  since  retained  this  office,  through 
reappointment  under  President  Coolidge  and 
President  Hoover.  He  is  a  stalwart  in  the 
local  ranks  of  the  Republican  party,  is  a 
communicant  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  and  has  membership  in  the  Harris- 
burg Country  Club,  as  he  has  also  in  the 
Illinois  Association  of  Postmasters.  The  next 
younger  son  is  Walter.  Wayne  was  in  active 
overseas  service  in  the  World  war,  and  par- 
ticipated in  conflict  in  the  Argonne,  St.  Mihiel 
and  Chateau  Thierry  sectors,  he  having  been 
injured  in  the  Argonne  battle.  Robert  is 
assistant  postmaster  of  Harrisburg.  Clark 
is  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  at  Spring- 
field. Delmas  is  engaged  in  business  at 
Harrisburg. 

Rex  Holmes  Cook  owns  and  operates  the 
Carbondale  Laundry,  through  the  medium  of 
which  he  gives  to  people  of  Carbondale  and 
this  ^  section  of  Jackson  County  an  effective 
service  of  the  best  metropolitan  order.  Mr. 
Cook  was  born  in  Williamson  County,  Illinois, 
January  18,  1890,  and  he  represented  his 
native  state  in  gallant  overseas  service  in 
the  World  war. 

Mr.  Cook  is  a  son  of  William  S.  and  Edith 
C.  (Clark)  Cook,  whose  children  were  five 
in  number:  Clyde,  Samuel,  Rex,  Arthur 
(deceased),  and  Gretchen.  William  S.  Cook 
was  born  at  sea  while  his  parents,  natives  of 
Germany,  were  voyaging  across  the  Atlantic 
to   the    United    States,    about   the   year    1851, 


and  he  was  reared  mainly  in  the  home  of  the 
parents  of  the  young  woman  who  later  became 
his  wife,  his  youthful  education  having  been 
received  in  the  schools  of  Williamson  County, 
Illinois.  His  father-in-law  and  foster-father, 
Mr.  Clark,  was  a  cabinetmaker  and  it  is  a 
matter  of  record  that  he  was  the  builder  of 
the  first  carriage  for  Gen.  John  A.  Logan. 
His  parents  were  born  in  Virginia  and  became 
early  settlers  in   Southern   Illinois. 

At  Carbondale  Rex  H.  Cook  attended  the 
public  schools  and  the  Southern  Illinois  Normal 
University,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years 
he  became  clerk  in  a  local  business  establish- 
ment. In  1910  he  enlisted  in  the  Illinois 
National  Guard,  and  with  the  same  he  entered 
the  government  service  at  the  time  of  the 
troubles  on  the  Mexican  border,  he  having 
been  commissioned  second  lieutenant  in  1916, 
under  the  administration  of  Governor  Dunne 
and  with  his  command  having  been  in  service 
nine  months  on  the  Mexican  border.  He 
returned  home,  and  in  June,  1917,  was  enlisted 
for  World  war  service,  the  following  October 
having  marked  his  advancement  to  the  office 
of  first  lieutenant  in  the  One  Hundred  Thir- 
tieth United  States  Infantry,  Sixty-fifth 
Brigade,  Thirty-third  Division.  He  was  in 
active  service  in  France  twelve  and  one-half 
months,  his  regiment  being  brigaded  with 
British  forces  and  he  having  been  in  service 
in  the  Meuse-Argonne,  St.  Mihiel  and  other 
conflict  sectors.  He  was  in  active  military 
service  during  a  total  period  of  thirty-three 
months  and  after  the  signing  of  the  armistice 
finally  returned  to  his  home  land,  where  he 
received  his  honorable  dischar.ge  June  15,  1919. 
He  is  a  past  commander  of  Donald  Forsythe 
Post,  No.  514,  American  Legion,  at  Carbon- 
dale, and  takes  deep  interest  in  the  affairs 
of   his   World   war   comrades. 

After  the  close  of  his  World  war  service 
Mr.  Cook  returned  to  Carbondale,  and  within 
a  short  time  thereafter  purchased  the  Carbon- 
dale Laundry.  This  enterprise  was  estab- 
lished by  Charles  H.  Reith  on  a  modest  scale, 
and  operations  have  been  continuous  for  thirty 
years.  In  1925  Mr.  Cook  erected  and  equipped 
his  present  modern  plant,  which  affords  4,100 
square  feet  of  floor  space,  has  the  best  of 
modern  machinery  and  accessories,  utilizes 
in  his  service  three  motor  trucks  and  furnishes 
employment   to    twenty-three    persons. 

Mr.  Cook  is  a  Republican  and  is  serving 
at  the  time  of  this  writing  as  a  member  of 
the  Carbondale  Board  of  Education.  In  1921 
he  was  vice-president  of  the  Laundry  Owners' 
Association  of  Illinois,  and  he  has  membership 
also  in  the  national  association.  He  is  an 
active  and  valued  member  of  the  local  Busi- 
ness Men's  Club  and  has  membership  also 
in  the  Thompson  Lake  Hunting  &  Fishing 
Club.  His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Dola  Carter,  daughter  of  W.  H.  Carter,  who 
has     served     as     deputy     sheriff    of    Johnson 


ILLINOIS 


271 


County,  Illinois,  and  been  a  successful  mer- 
chant in  that  county.  He  was  born  and 
reared  in  Johnson  County,  where  his  paternal 
grandfather  was  an  early  settler,  and  his 
brother  James  was  colonel  of  an  Illinois  regi- 
ment in  the  Civil  war.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cook 
have  two  children,  Regina  Frances  and  Billie 
Holmes,  both  students,  in  1932,  in  the  Southern 
Illinois  State  Normal  School  at  Carbondale. 

Hon.  Farrish  Arnot  Reisner,  lawyer, 
ordained  minister,  orator  and  Republican 
leader,  has  had  a  distinguished  career  in  two 
states,  Illinois  and  Nebraska.  Mr.  Reisner 
is  busily  engaged  in  his  law  practice  at  Jer- 
seyville.  In  his  career  he  has  established 
many  interesting  contacts  with  men  and 
affairs. 

He  was  born  in  Magoffin  County,  Kentucky, 
March  10,  1873,  son  of  Taylor  and  Mary 
(Higgins)  Reisner.  The  Reisner  family  were 
Colonial  settlers  in  Virginia.  They  were  con- 
temporaries of  Daniel  Boone  in  the  settlement 
of  Kentucky.  Mr.  Reisner's  forefathers  for 
several  generations  lived  in  Kentucky.  His 
grandfather,  William  Reisner,  was  a  Kentucky 
farmer.  His  father,  Taylor  Reisner,  was  a 
Kentucky  farmer  and  served  as  judge  of 
Magoffin  County.  Both  parents  are  living, 
residents  of  West  Liberty,  Kentucky.  Mary 
Higgins  is  a  daughter  of  Dave  Higgins,  a 
native  of  Kentucky  and  a  farmer.  The  Higgins 
family  also  came  from  Virginia  to  Kentucky 
in  early  pioneer  times. 

Farrish  Arnot  Reisner  had  his  early  advan- 
tages in  the  common  schools  of  Kentucky.  He 
attended  high)  school  at  Dunkirk,  Indiana, 
and  for  four  years  was  teacher  of  history  in 
the  schools  of  Muncie,  Indiana.  He  graduated 
from  Valparaiso  University  and  in  1899 
received  the  A.  B.  degree  from  Franklin  Col- 
lege at  Franklin,  Indiana.  He  represented 
Franklin  College  in  the  State  Oratorical  Con- 
test in  1899.  Mr.  Reisner  has  always  been  a 
student.  From  Ewing  College  of  Illinois  he 
received  the  Master  of  Arts  degree  and  took 
the  degree  Doctor  of  Philosophy  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago.  His  law  degree  came  from 
the  St.  Louis  Law  School  of  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri. The  degree  Master  of  Theology  was 
awarded  him  by  the  Southern  Baptist  Theo- 
logical Seminary  at  Louisville. 

After  his  experience  as  a  teacher  his  pro- 
fessional career  for  many  years  was  in  the 
Baptist  ministry.  For  fifteen  years  he  served 
as  state  evangelist  of  the  church  in  Illinois. 

Leaving  Illinois,  he  moved  to  Western 
Nebraska,  and  in  Thomas  County  of  that  state 
acquired  a  ranch  of  eight  square  miles.  He 
quickly  became  the  recognized  leader  of  the 
Republican  party  in  that  section  of  the  state. 
For  five  years  he  was  county  attorney  of 
Thomas  County  and  was  then  elected  for  two 
terms  in  the  Nebraska  Legislature.  His  name 
is  impressed  on  some  of  the  most  important 


laws  of  those  two  legislative  sessions.  He 
was  author  of  the  Hog  Cholera  Vaccination 
Law,  the  Foot  and  Mouth  Disease  Law,  was 
instrumental  in  getting  a  teachers  pension 
law  enacted,  and  he  vigorously  supported  the 
prohibition  law  and  the  woman's  suffrage  bill. 
He  was  much  concerned  with  legislation 
designed  to  provide  Omaha  with  a  dependable 
water  supply,  and  he  also  advocated  the  Stock 
Yards  bill.  In  one  legislative  day  he  made 
eighteen  speeches  to  defeat  a  measure  to  build 
a  new  capitol,  putting  himself  in  opposition 
because  he  believed  the  terms  of  the  measure 
were  not  for  the  best  interests  of  the  state. 
However,  in  the  next  session  he  vigorously 
supported  another  bill  for  the  erection  of  a 
new  State  House,  and  that  State  House  was 
recently  completed,  and  is  the  most  beautiful 
capitol  building  in  the  nation.  During  the 
World  war  he  was  a  patriotic  speaker  all  over 
Nebraska  and  he  also  organized  a  company 
of  cowboys  for  active  service.  The  company 
was  tendered  to  the  governor,  but  was  not 
accepted. 

Mr.  Reisner  in  1922  returned  to  Illinois  and 
located  at  Granite  City.  He  was  soon  in  the 
fulltide  of  Republican  politics  in  Madison 
County  and  in  1926  was  nominated  on  that 
ticket  for  the  Legislature.  In  1930  he  moved 
his  home  to  Jerseyville,  where  he  has  estab- 
lished a  fine  law  practice.  Mr.  Reisner  has 
displayed  marked  ability  in  many  criminal 
trials,  and  as  an  orator  he  has  few  peers 
in  the  state.  He  is  a  worker  for  morals 
and  community  improvements  and  not  only 
practices  law  but  still  utilizes  his  official  train- 
ing and  experience  as  a  preacher.  He  is  called 
upon  nearly  every  Sunday  to  preach  or  lecture 
in  some  church  or  society.  Mr.  Reisner  is 
head  of  the  Men's  Department  of  the  Southern 
Illinois  Baptist  Association.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Madison  and  Jersey  Counties  and  the 
Illinois  State  Bar  Associations,  the  Knights 
of  Pythias  and  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows. 

On  August  1,  1917,  at  Lincoln,  he  married 
Miss  Mayme  Ethel  Jackson,  of  Lincoln, 
Nebraska,  daughter  of  George  and  Arminda 
(Hart)  Jackson.  The  Jackson  family  origin- 
ated in  England,  moved  across  the  Channel 
to  Ireland,  and  later  a  branch  came  to  the 
United  States.  Her  grandparents  were  born 
in  Ireland  and  came  to  this  country.  Her 
maternal  grandfather,  James  Hart,  moved 
from  Ohio  to  Iowa,  where  he  became  a  farmer. 
Mrs.  Reisner's  father  was  born  in  New  York 
City  and  when  eighteen  years  of  age  went 
west  to  Iowa  and  later  moved  to  Odell, 
Nebraska,  where  he  was  a  successful  building 
contractor  until  his  death  in  1898.  Her  mother 
now  lives  at  Lincoln.  Mrs.  Reisner  graduated 
from  the  Odell  High  School,  from  the  Nebraska 
State  Normal  at  Peru  and  the  University  of 
Nebraska.  She  was  a  splendid  teacher  and 
taught  at   Clarks,  at  Omaha  and  in  Lincoln, 


272 


ILLINOIS 


being  principal  of  the  Longfellow  School  in 
Lincoln  at  the  time  of  her  marriage.  She 
is  well  informed  in  politics  and  economics  and 
was  one  of  the  charter  members  of  the  Madi- 
son County  Woman's  League  of  Voters  and 
county  chairman  of  efficiency  in  government 
in  the  Madison  County  League.  She  is  a 
Baptist.  The  two  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Reisner  are  Roscoe  R.,  born  February  27, 
1920,  and  Horace  J.,  born  March  1,  1924. 

Ezra  Hart,  M.  D.,  has  been  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession  nearly  thirty  years 
and  since  1913  has  maintained  his  home  and 
professional  headquarters  at  Harrisburg,  judi- 
cial center  of  Saline  County.  He  was  born 
on  the  parental  home  farm,  in  Pope  County, 
Illinois,  February  15,  1878,  and  is  one  of 
twelve  children  born  to  Green  B.  and  Juliette 
(Fulkerson)  Hart,  the  former  of  whom  was 
born  in  Nashville,  Tennessee,  and  the  latter 
in  Pope  County,  Illinois,  where  her  parents 
were  pioneer  settlers. 

The  late  Green  B.  Hart  came  to  Illinois 
about  1850  and  there  continued  many  years 
as  a  successful  agriculturist  and  stock-grower, 
his  fine  farm  having  been  brought,  to  high 
standard  under  his  resourceful  and  diligent 
management  and  he  having  given  sixteen  years 
of  service  as  justice  of  the  peace  for  his  town- 
ship. He  and  his  wife  became  the  parents 
of  nine  sons  and  three  daughters,  one  of  the 
sons  having  died  in  infancy  and  three  of  the 
sons  having  become  physicians  and  surgeons 
— Dr.  F.  M.,  who  is  deceased;  Dr.  Green  B., 
who  is  mayor  of  Harrisburg  at  the  time  of 
this  writing  and  who  is  represented  in  indi- 
vidual mention  in  the  following  sketch;  and 
Dr.  Ezra,  who  is  the  subject  of  this  review. 
Three  of  the  sons,  like  their  honored  father, 
served  in  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace, 
and  one  son  served  as  constable  and  road 
supervisor. 

Dr.  Ezra  Hart  passed  the  period  of  his 
childhood  and  early  youth  on  the  old  home 
farm  in  Pope  County,  and  in  the  meanwhile 
profited  by  the  advantages  of  the  public 
schools.  He  had  his  full  share  of  practical 
experience  in  the  various  details  of  farm 
enterprise,  and  in  1898  he  served  as  post- 
master of  the  Village  of  Blanchard,  Pope 
County.  In  preparing  for  his  chosen  profes- 
sion he  first  attended  Memphis  Hospital  Med- 
ical College  in  Memphis,  Tennessee,  and  in 
1903  he  received  his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Med- 
icine from  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons in  Saint  Louis,  Missouri.  For  six  years 
he  was  engaged  in  practice  at  Hicks,  Hardin 
County,  Illinois,  and  during  the  ensuing  four 
years  he  had  his  home  and  professional  head- 
quarters at  Mitchellsville,  Saline  County.  He 
then  removed  to  Harrisburg,  the  county  seat, 
where  he  has  been  established  in  successful 
general  practice  since  1913.  He  served  some 
time  as  official  surgeon  for  the   O'Gara   Coal 


Company.  He  has  served  as  president  of  the 
Saline  County  Medical  Society,  and  has  mem- 
bership also  in  the  Illinois  State  Medical  So- 
ciety. He  is  affiliated  with  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Modern  Wood- 
men of  America.  His  wife,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Nora  Partain,  died  in  the  year 
1917,  she  having  been  born  and  reared  in 
Hardin  County  and  having  been  a  daughter 
of  George  Partain,  whose  father  was  the 
pioneer  representative  of  the  family  in  Illinois. 

Green  Berry  Hart,  M.  D.,  initiated  the 
practice  of  his  profession  in  the  City  of 
Harrisburg  in  the  year  1925,  and  besides 
building  up  a  representative  practice  he  has 
further  entrenched  himself  in  popular  confi- 
dence and  good  will  to  such  degree  that  in 
April,  1931,  he  was  elected  mayor  of  his 
home  city,  the  county  seat  of  Saline  County. 

Doctor  Hart  was  born  in  Pope  County, 
Illinois,  May  12,  1882,  and  is  the  youngest  son 
in  a  family  of  nine  sons  and  three  daughters. 
Three  of  the  sons  entered  the  medical  pro- 
fession, including  Dr.  Ezra  Hart,  of  Harris- 
burg, who  is  represented  in  the  preceding 
sketch.  Dr.  Green  B.  Hart  is  a  son  of  Green 
B.  and  Juliette  (Fulkerson)  Hart,  the  former 
born  in  Nashville,  Tennessee,  and  the  latter 
in  Pope  County,  Illinois.  Green,  B.  Hart 
was  a  young  man  when  he  came  to  Illinois 
and  he  was  long  numbered  among  the  sub- 
stantial representatives  of  farm  industry  in 
Pope  County,  where  he  established  residence 
about  1850  and  where  he  and  his  wife 
remained  until  their  death.  He  gave  sixteen 
years  of  service  as  justice  of  the  peace,  an 
office  in  which  three  of  his  sons  likewise  gave 
prolonged  service,  including  Dr.  F.  M.  Hart, 
who  was  one  of  the  three  sons  who  became 
physicians  and  surgeons  and  who  is  now 
deceased. 

In  his  boyhood  and  early  youth  Dr.  Green 
B.  Hart  had  a  full  measure  of  experience 
in  connection  with  the  activities  of  the  old 
home  farm,  and  in  the  meanwhile  profited 
by  the  advantages  of  the  public  schools  of 
his  native  county,  and  depended  upon  his 
own  resources  and  efforts  in  defraying  the 
expenses  of  his  higher  education,  along  both 
academic  and  professional  lines.  In  1913  he 
was  graduated  in  the  Valparaiso  (Indiana) 
branch  of  the  Chicago  College  of  Medicine 
&  Surgery,  and  after  thus  receiving  his 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  he  was  for 
eleven  years  engaged  in  general  practice  at 
Mitchellsville,  Saline  County.  He  then  passed 
nine  months  in  practice  at  Raleigh,  this 
county,  and  then  removed,  June  1,  1925,  to 
the  county  seat,  Harrisburg,  where  his  suc- 
cess has  been  on  a  parity  with  his  professional 
ability  and  loyalty.  He  is  one  of  the  repre- 
sentative physicians  and  surgeons  of  Saline 
County,  within  whose  borders  he  has  been 
established   in  practice  from  the  time   of   his 


ILLINOIS 


273 


receiving  his  professional  degree,  and  he  has 
had  no  minor  leadership  in  community  affairs, 
as  shown  by  the  fact  that  in  April,  1931, 
he  was  elected  mayor  of  Harrisburg,  on  a 
non-political  ticket  and  for  a  term  of  four 
years,  and  by  the  fact  that  he  has  given  also 
six  years  of  service  as  a  member  of  the  board 
of  education.  He  is  a  member  of  the  board 
of  health  of  his  home  county,  is  a  Republican, 
is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and 
has  membership  in  the  Saline  County  Med- 
ical Society,  the  Illinois  State  Medical  Asso- 
ciation and  the  American  Medical  Association. 
The  first  marriage  of  Doctor  Hart  was  with 
Mary  E.  Blanchard,  who  was  born  and  reared 
in  Pope  County,  a  daughter  of  Charles  Blan- 
chard and  a  representative  of  one  of  the 
pioneer  families  that  came  to  that  county 
from  Tennessee.  The  death  of  Mrs.  Hart 
occurred  in  January,  1906,  and  is  survived 
by  one  child,  Beulah,  who  is  now  the  wife 
of  William  McDermott.  For  his  second  wife 
Doctor  Hart  wedded  Indiana  Wiley,  who  was 
born  and  reared  in  Illinois  and  whose  father, 
William  I.  Wiley,  is  a  prosperous  farmer  in 
Pope  County.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Haft  have 
two  children:  Vivian  Dalphine  and  Green 
Berry  III,  both  attending  the  Harrisburg  pub- 
lic schools,  in  which  Vivian  D.  is,  in  1932,  a 
student  in  the  high  school. 

Berdie  Franklin  Crain,  M.  D.,  has  given 
nearly  thirty  years  of  his  mature  life  to  the 
service  and  work  of  a  capable  physician  and 
surgeon,  formerly  at  West  Frankfort  and  now 
at  Carbondale. 

Doctor  Crain  was  born  in  Carterville,  Wil- 
liamson County,  Illinois,  January  7,  1876,  son 
of  William  Spencer  and  Nancy  Jane  (Tur- 
nage)  Crain.  Hardly  any  name  antedates 
that  of  the  Crain  family  in  Williamson 
County,  where  his  great-grandfather,  Spencer 
Crain,  who  was  of  Irish  ancestry,  settled 
about  1812.  He  came  from  Georgia.  The 
grandfather  of  Doctor  Crain  was  Elias  Crain, 
born  in  1818  and  died  in  1866.  Some  of  the 
first  land  taken  up  in  Williamson  County  was 
patented  to  the  Crain  family.  William  Spen- 
cer Crain  was  born  at  Carterville,  February 
28,  1848,  and  spent  his  active  life  as  a  farmer. 
The  mother  of  Doctor  Crain,  Nancy  Jane 
Turnage,  was  born  at  Mayfield,  Kentucky,  in 
1856,  and  died  at  Carterville  in  April,  1891. 
Members  of  the  Turnage  family  were  in  the 
Revolutionary  war.  Her  grandfather,  William 
Turnage,  came  to  Illinois  from  Kentucky.  Her 
father,  Phillip  Turnage,  came  to  Illinois  in 
1860,  and  from  this  state  enlisted  in  the 
Union  army  and  served  with  Sherman  on 
the  march  to  the  sea.  Several  members  of 
the  Turnage  family  were  blacksmiths,  and 
there  was  a  fine  talent  of  musicianship  in  the 
family.  Doctor  Crain  is  one  of  a  family  of 
six  children.  The  others  were:  Frankie,  born 
in  1878  and  died  in  1902,  wife  of  Hiram  Fow- 


ler; Louisa,  born  in  1880,  wife  of  Manning 
Snider,  in  California;  Nora,  born  in  1882; 
Martha,  born  in  1884,  wife  of  Louis  Stewart, 
of  Rockford,  Illinois;  and  Spencer  Ford,  born 
in  1891,  who  married  Erma  Umphrey  and 
lives  at  Herrin.  Louisa  and  Martha  were 
both  graduate  nurses,  the  former  from  Wash- 
ington University  and  the  latter  from  the 
Deaconess  Hospital  at  East  St.  Louis. 

Dr.  B.  F.  Crain  attended  country  schools 
to  the  eighth  grade,  completed  the  work  of 
the  Carterville  High  School  in  1895,  and  in 
1899  took  his  Bachelor  of  Science  degree  at 
Valparaiso  University  in  Indiana.  He  spent 
three  years  in  the  study  of  medicine  at  the 
University  of  Tennessee  and  took  his  last 
year,  1902-03,  at  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  at  St.  Louis.  He  received  his  license 
to  practice  medicine  June  1,  1903,  and  for  eight 
years  conducted  a  general  practice  at  Carter- 
ville. During  1911-12  Doctor  Crain  took  spe- 
cial work  in  general  surgery  in  the  Post 
Graduate  Hospital  at  Chicago,  and  after  this 
year  of  specialization  he  returned  to  Carter- 
ville, where  he  resumed  his  practice  until  1918. 
From  1918  to  1925  he  took  charge  of  the 
West  Frankfort  Union  Hospital  as  chief  sur- 
geon, and  on  retiring  from  that  position  came 
to  Carbondale  in  1925.  Doctor  Crain  is  on 
the  staff  of  the  Holden  Hospital  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  County,  State  and  American  Med- 
ical Associations.  He  has  worked  with  the 
Red  Cross,  is  active  in  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, the  Lions  Club,  is  a  member  of  the 
Masons,  Elks,  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Midland 
Hills  Country  Club.  He  is  president  of  the 
Carbondale  Building  and  Loan  and  Homestead 
Association.  *  In  politics  he  is  a  Democrat. 

Doctor  Crain  married  at  Carterville,  Octo- 
ber 18,  1903,  Miss  Ella  Clementine  York.  She 
was  born  at  Carterville  November  12,  1881, 
daughter  of  William  A.  York.  Her  father  was 
a  Civil  war  veteran.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Crain 
have  two  children:  Gilbert  Russell,  born  Sep- 
tember 1,  1904,  and  Florence  Evelyn,  born 
November  20,  1906.  Gilbert  graduated  from 
Millikin  University  with  the  Bachelor  of 
Science  degree  in  1927  and  from  the  Law 
Department  of  the  University  of  Chicago  in 
1931.  The  daughter  graduated  in  1927  from 
the  Southern  Illinois  Normal  University.  She 
is  the  wife  of  William  Brummitt,  and  has  two 
children,  Beverly  Sue,  born  in  1927,  and  Bar- 
bara Ann,  born  in  1930. 

John  Russell  Parrish,  chief  of  the  well 
ordered  police  department  of  the  City  of 
Carbondale,  Jackson  County,  was  born  on 
the  parental  home  farm  in  Vergennes  Town- 
ship, this  county,  August  24,  1889,  and  is 
a  son  of  Frank  P.  and  Emma  (Carlisle)  Par- 
rish, both  likewise  natives  of  Jackson  County, 
where  the  former  was  born  in  Vergennes 
Township  and  the  latter  in  Somerset  Town- 
ship, she  being  a  daughter  of  Samuel  A.  Car- 


274 


ILLINOIS 


lisle,  who  was  born  in  Georgia,  served  as  a 
soldier  in  the  Mexican  war  and  gained  pioneer 
honors  in  Jackson  County,  Illinois,  which  state 
he  represents  as  a  gallant  soldier  and  officer 
of  the  Union  in  the  Civil  war,  in  which  he 
served  in  turn  as  captain  and  lieutenant  col- 
onel of  an  Illinois  regiment  of  volunteer 
infantry. 

Frank  P.  Parish  was  long  numbered  among 
the  representative  farmers  and  influential  citi- 
zens of  Vergennes  Township,  where  he  served 
as  township,  supervisor  and  as  tax  collector 
and  where  he  passed  his  entire  life,  his  death 
occurring  in  April,  1930.  He  was  a  son  of 
Thomas  Parrish,  who  was  born  and  reared 
in  North  Carolina,  whence  he  went  to  Ten- 
nessee as  a  pioneer  of  1819,  and  later  pro- 
ceeded into  Kentucky  and  on  into  Illinois, 
and  finally  arriving  in  Jackson  County,  Illi- 
nois, in  the  year  1820.  He  purchased  200 
acres  of  land  in  Vergennes  Township,  where 
he  reclaimed  a  productive  farm  from  the  fron- 
tier wilds  and  where  he  passed  the  remainder 
of  his  life.  He  donated  land  for  the  Meth- 
odist Church  in  his  community,  and  land  for 
pioneer  cemeteries  and  also  land  for  a  school- 
house  on  the  site  of  the  present  Cox's  Prairie 
School  in  Vergennes  Township.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  note  that  in  this  rural  school  the 
seven  children  of  his  son  Frank  P.  received 
their  early  education,  the  names  of  the  chil- 
dren being:  William,  Hugh,  Mary,  John  R., 
Homer,  Earl  (died  at  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years),  and  Frank  P.,  Jr. 

The  present  chief  of  police  of  Carbondale 
was  reared  on  the  home  farm  and  profited 
by  the  advantages  of  the  district  school  for 
which  his  paternal  grandfather  had  given  the 
site,  as  noted  in  the  preceding  paragraph.  At 
the  age  of  nineteen  years  he  initiated  his  in- 
dependent career  as  a  farmer  in  his  native 
township,  and  six  years  later  he  turned  his 
attention  to  coal  mining.  He  operated  a  small 
coal  mine  five  years,  and  thereafter  served 
four  years  as  deputy .  sheriff  of  Jackson 
County.  He  then  became  a  special  agent  for 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  and  in  1930 
he  was  appointed  to  his  present  office,  that 
of  chief  of  police  for  the  City  of  Carbondale, 
for  the  assigned  term  of  four  years.  As  a 
stanch  Republican  he  has  served  as  precinct 
committeeman,  as  township  supervisor  and  as 
delegate  to  local  conventions.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Illinois  Sheriff  and  Police  Associa- 
tion, was  active  in  local  patriotic  service  in 
the  World  war  period,  and  in  the  Masonic 
fraternity  his  basic  affiliation  is  with  DeSoto 
Lodge,  No.  287,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.  In  the  York 
Rite  of  this  time-honored  fraternity  he  has 
membership  also  in  the  Chapter  and  Council 
bodies  at  Carbondale.  He  has  brought  the 
police  department  of  his  home  city  up  to  a 
high  standard,  and  the  department  has  a  per- 
sonnel of  twenty-five  men.  His  wife,  whose 
maiden   name   was    Hallie    Kimmel,   who   was 


born  and  reared  in  Jackson  County,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Philip  and  Lucy  Kimmel  and  a  great- 
granddaughter  of  Philip  Kimmel,  who  was  an 
Illinois  pioneer  of  the  year  1812.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Parrish  have  two  children,  Lucy  Emma 
and  John  Randall,  both  students  in  the  Car- 
bondale public  schools,  with  Lucy  attending 
high  school  (1932). 

Three  uncles  of  Mr.  Parrish  sacrificed  their 
lives  as  valiant  soldiers  of  the  Union  in  the 
Civil  war:  Thomas  Jefferson  Parrish  and  Wil- 
liam Parrish  died  from  wounds  received  in 
battle,  and  their  brother  John  was  killed  on 
the  battlefield.  Rev.  Braxton  Monroe  Parrish, 
a  great  uncle  of  John  R.  of  this  review,  was 
a  clergyman  of  the  Methodist  Church  and  was 
one  of  its  early  circuit  riders  in  Southern 
Illinois,  besides  which  he  served  in  the  Legis- 
lature of  Illinois  and  his  son  William  K. 
served  on  the  bench  of  an  Illinois  Circuit 
Court. 

John  Wesley  Jennings,  Jr.,  owner  and 
general  manager  of  the  Acme  Laundry,  one 
of  the  modern  and  well  ordered  institutions 
'of  communal  service  in  the  City  of  Murphys- 
boro,  county  seat  of  Jackson  County,  was  born 
on  the  parental  home  farm  in  this  county, 
September  4,  1887,  and  is  one  of  a  surviving 
family  of  five  sons  and  three  daughters  born 
to  John  Wesley  Jennings  and  Elizabeth  (Clip- 
ner)  Jennings.  John  Wesley  Jennings,  Sr., 
came  from  Noble  County,  Ohio,  to  Jackson 
County,  Illinois,  in  1882,  and  here  he  has 
continued  a  successful  agriculturist  and  stock- 
grower  during  the  long  intervening  years 
until  his  death  in  1909.  His  wife  is  a  daugh- 
ter of  George  Clipner,  who  settled  at  Mur- 
physboro  prior  to  the  Civil  war  and  was  long 
prominent  in  public  affairs  in  Jackson  County. 
Mrs.  Jennings  died  in  1893. 

The  rural  schools  of  Jackson  County  af- 
forded John  W.  Jennings,  Jr.,  his  early  educa- 
tion, and  his  first  independent  enterprise  was 
that  of  agriculture  and  the  raising  of  live- 
stock, with  which  he  was  identified  seven 
years.  He  then  found  employment  in  a  lead- 
ing laundry  in  the  City  of  East  St.  Louis, 
Illinois,  where  he  learned  all  details  of  opera- 
tion and  business.  In  1916  he  was  appointed 
manager  of  the  laundry  department  of  the 
Illinois  State  Hospital  at  Anna,  where  he 
retained  this  position  until  1918,  when  he  took 
a  position  with  the  Model  Glove  Company  at 
Murphysboro,  a  concern  with  which  he  con- 
tinued to  be  associated  until  November,  1921, 
this  company  having  owned  also  the  Acme 
Laundry,  which  Mr.  Jennings  purchased  in 
1921  and  which  he  has  since  operated  most 
successfully,  with  a  high  standard  of  service 
that  meets  with  community  approval  and 
support. 

Mr.  Jennings  has  membership  in  the  Mur- 
physboro Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the  local 
Rotary  Club.     His  political  allegiance  is  given 


(^^st^^Z^ 


ILLINOIS 


275 


to  the  Republican  party,  and  in  the  York  Rite 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity  he  is  affiliated  with 
the  Blue  Lodge,  Chapter  and  Council  at  Mur- 
physboro  and  with  the  Commandery  of  Knights 
Templar  at  Carbondale. 

In  Jackson  County  occurred  the  marriage 
of  Mr.  Jennings  to  Miss  Katherine  Schimpf, 
who  was  born  at  Ava,  this  county,  her  father, 
Sebastian  Schimpf,  having  been  born  in  Ger- 
many and  having  come  to  Illinois  in  the  early 
part  of  the  1850  decade,  he  having  become  a 
successful  farmer  in  Jackson  County  and  hav- 
ing served  as  census  enumerator.  Farell  Wes- 
ley, only  child  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jennings,  is 
attending  the  public  schools  of  his  home  city. 

The  Acme  Laundry  was  established  about 
1888  and  has  been  in  continuous  operation 
during  the  intervening  period  of  more  than 
forty  years.  It  began  as  a  hand  laundry  in 
small  quarters,  and  today  is  an  establishment 
of  the  best  modern  facilities  and  service,  with 
a  corps  of  fourteen  employees  and  with  three 
collection  and  delivery  wagons  to  serve  the 
city  and  neighboring  districts.  Mr.  Jennings 
has  membership  in  the  Illinois  State  Laundry- 
men's  Association  and  in  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Laundry  and  is  also  a  member  of  the 
National  Laundrymen's  Association.  The  site 
of  the  Acme  Laundry  is  part  of  a  tract  of 
land  on  which  entry  was  filed  in  1843,  and 
here  a  laundry  business  has  been  conducted 
almost  continuously  since  that  pioneer  period. 

Major  Rudolph  Frederick  Kelker,  Jr.,  who 
achieved  his  military  rank  with  the  Engineers 
Corps  during  the  World  war,  is  a  consulting 
engineer,  with  offices  at  20  North  Wacker 
Drive,   Chicago. 

He  was  born  at  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania, 
August  5,  1875,  son  of  Luther  Reily  and  Agnes 
Keyes  (Pearsol)  Kelker.  He  was  educated 
in  Pennsylvania  State  College,  from  which  he 
received  the  degree  of  Electrical  Engineer 
in  1897.  Then  followed  a  long  and  important 
service  as  a  practical  engineer  with  steam  and 
electric  railway  companies.  He  was  in  the 
East  until  1907,  and  from  1907  to  1914  was 
with  the  Board  of  Supervising  Engineers  of 
Chicago,  in  charge  of  the  reconstruction  of 
railway  tracks.  In  1914  he  became  engineer 
for  the  local  transportation  commission  of 
the  Chicago  City  Council.  In  private  practice, 
1919-29,  he  was  a  member  of  the  firm  Kelker, 
DeLeuw  &  Company,  consulting  engineers,  and 
since  has  been  chief  engineer  of  the  Bureau 
of  Subways,  City  of  Chicago.  His  name  has 
been  frequently  before  the  public  as  author 
of  reports  on  traffic  and  transportation  mat- 
ters in  the  Chicago  area.  He  has  similarly 
made  investigations  and  engineering  reports 
for  such  cities  as  New  York,  Los  Angeles, 
St.  Louis  and  Baltimore. 

During  the  World  war  he  was  an  adjutant 
of  the  Three  Hundred  and  Eleventh  Engineers 
in   the   Eighty-sixth   Division,   and   later   was 


camp  adjutant,  with  the  rank  of  major,  at 
Camp  Grant,  and  while  overseas  was  employed 
on  staff  duty.  Major  Kelker  is  a  member  of 
the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  the 
Western  Society  of  Engineers,  the  American 
Electric  Railway  Association  and  the  Chicago 
Association  of  Commerce.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution, is  a  Presbyterian  and  a  member  of 
the  University,  Mid-Day,  City,  Westmoreland 
Country  Clubs  of  Chicago  and  the  Missouri 
Athletic  Association  of  St.  Louis.  He  married 
in  1911  Georgia  Moore. 

Boyd  Thorp,  county  clerk  of  Jackson  County 
and  popular  member  of  the  county's  executive 
corps  at  the  courthouse,  in  the  City  of  Mur- 
physboro,  was  born  in  this  county  September 
23,  1882,  a  son  of  Joshua  and  Jennie  (LaJey) 
Thorp,  the  former  of  whom  was  born  in  Jack- 
son County  and  the  latter  in  the  State  of 
Kansas,  of  French  ancestry.  Joshua  Thorp 
was  reared  and  educated  in  Jackson  County 
and  became  a  railway  engineer,  in  which  ca- 
pacity he  pulled  the  first  engine  to  traverse 
the  St.  Louis  division  of  the  Mobile  &  Ohio 
Railroad.  He  died  in  1911.  His  father,  Joseph 
Brooks  Thorp,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  and 
came  to  Illinois  in  the  early  part  of  the  1840 
decade.  Joseph  B.  Thorp  represented  Illinois 
as  a  gallant  soldier  of  the  Union  in  the  Civil 
war,  as  captain  in  an  Illinois  regiment  of 
volunteer  infantry.  He  later  served  as  county 
treasurer  and  was  long  numbered  among  the 
substantial  representatives  of  farm  industry 
in  Jackson  County.  His  son,  John  R.,  served 
as  county  sheriff  and  as  a  member  of  the 
school  board,  and  remained  in  Jackson  County 
until  his  death.  Cynthia,  second  wife  of  Capt. 
Joseph  B.  Thorp,  still  resides  in  Jackson 
County,  at  the  venerable  age  of  ninety-eight 
years,  in  1932. 

Boyd  Thorp  is  second  in  a  family  of  four 
children,  the  others  being  Joseph,  Grace  and 
May,  and  all  received  the  advantages  of  the 
public  schools  of  Murphysboro.  Mr.  Thorp 
completed  his  studies  in  the  Murphysboro  High 
School  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  was 
elected  township  collector.  Thereafter  he 
served  two  terms  as  city  treasurer,  next  was 
elected  city  commissioner  for  health  and 
safety,  his  service  in  this  capacity  having  been 
followed  by  that  of  city  treasurer,  his  first 
election  to  ■  the  office  of  county  clerk  having 
occurred  in  1926,  and  his  reelection  in  1930, 
for  a  further  term  of  four  years,  having  at- 
tested the  popular  estimate  placed  upon  his 
administration.  Mr.  Thorp  is  a  staunch  Re- 
publican and  has  been  influential  in  the  coun- 
cils of  his  party  in  Jackson  County.  He  was 
in  the  mercantile  business  eight  years,  and 
served  some  time,  in  his  official  interims,  as 
traveling  salesman  for  a  St.  Louis  business 
concern.  He  was  elected  secretary  of  the 
Illinois     State     Association     of     Supervisors, 


276 


ILLINOIS 


County  Commissioners,  County  and  Probate 
Clerks  and  County  Auditors. 

Mr.  Thorp  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Winnifred  E.  Etherton,  who  was  born  and 
reared  in  Jackson  County,  a  daughter  of 
Frank  L.  Etherton,  who  was  a  business  man, 
was  prominent  in  Democratic  politics  and 
served  as  United  States  marshal,  he  having 
been  a  son  of  Thomas  Etherton,  who  came 
from  Tennessee  to  Illinois  about  the  year  1840, 
the  first  American  representatives  of  the  fam- 
ily having  come  from  England.  Boyd  L.,  only 
child  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thorp,  a  graduate  of  the 
Murphysboro  High  School,  resides  in  his  na- 
tive city  and  is  associated  with  the  Western 
United  Gas  &  Electric  Company.  He  married 
Mary  Tarpley,  and  they  have  one  child,  Bar- 
bara Lee. 

The  popular  county  clerk  of  Jackson  County 
has  membership  in  the  Knights  of  Pythias, 
the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks, 
and  the  Fraternal  Order  of  Eagles. 

William  Henry  Michael,  treasurer  of  the 
Egyptian  Foundry  &  Machine  Company,  one 
of  the  important  industro-commercial  concerns 
of  Murphysboro,  Jackson  County,  was  born 
at  Wentzville,  St.  Charles  County,  Missouri, 
September  1,  1870,  and  is  a  son  of  F.  W.  and 
Johanna  (Noltkemper)  Michael,  who  were 
born  in  Germany  and  whose  marriage  was 
solemnized  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri.  F.  W. 
Michael  was  a  young  man  when  he  settled  at 
Wentzville,  in  1856,  and  there  he  followed  his 
trade  of  wagonmaker  many  years,  besides 
being  active  and  influential  in  other  com- 
munity relations  and  having  served  as  jus- 
tice of  the  peace.  Of  the  five  children  in  the 
family  only  two  are  now  living. 

William  H.  Michael  attended  public  school 
in  his  native  place  until  he  was  thirteen  years 
of  age,  and  under  the  effective  direction  of 
his  father  he  learned  the  trade  of  wagon- 
maker.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  years  he  went 
to  St.  Louis,  in  which  city  he  served  a  four 
years'  apprenticeship  to  the  trade  of  ma- 
chinist. As  a  skilled  artisan  at  this  trade  he 
continued  to  be  employed  in  St.  Louis  for  an 
additional  three  years  after  completing  his 
apprenticeship,  and  in  1895  he  removed  to 
Murphysboro,  Illinois,  and  found  employment 
in  the  shops  of  the  Mobile  &  Ohio  Railroad. 
He  was  thus  engaged  seven  years,  and  dur- 
ing the  last  two  years  he  was  a  foreman  in 
the  shops.  In  1902  Mr.  Michael  was  associated 
with  M.  Schauerte,  E.  L.  Bencini,  W. 
Schauerte  and  T.  J.  Burton  in  the  organizing 
of  the  Southern  Illinois  Machine  &  Foundry 
Company,  and  the  new  industry  was  initiated 
on  a  modest  scale,  with  but  a  small  invest- 
ment of  capital  and  with  shop  that  had  a 
floor  area  of  about  4,000  square  feet.  Good 
workmanship  and  effective  service  caused  the 
business  to  expand  in  scope  and  importance 
in  the  passing  years,  and  in  April,  1917,  Mr. 


Michael  and  W.  Schauerte  acquired  full  con- 
trol. In  1924  the  T.  J.  Burton  interest  was 
acquired  by  G.  F.  Blankinship  and  Messrs. 
Michael  and  W.  Schauerte.  The  business  was 
incorporated  in  1902,  and  later  the  capital 
stock  was  increased  from  $20,000  to  $50,000. 
In  1917  the  corporate  title  of  Egyptian  Iron 
Works  was  adopted,  and  the  modern  and  well 
equipped  plant  now  utilizes  32,360  square  feet 
of  floor  space,  with  private  trackage  that  gives 
direct  railway  facilities,  and  with  a  full 
ground  area  of  three  and  one-half  acres.  This 
progressive  corporation  manufactures  railroad 
frogs  and  switches,  mine  and  quarry  ma- 
chinery, highway  bridge  material,  and  high- 
grade  general  castings  of  iron,  steel  and 
bronze.  A  general  machine  work  is  made  an 
important  feature  of  the  business.  This  con- 
cern can  claim  pioneer  prestige,  for  it  vir- 
tually originated  in  a  little  cornfield  shop  that 
was  established  by  Alexander  Brothers  in 
1850. 

Mr.  Michael  has  given  loyal  support  to 
movements  and  enterprises  advanced  for  the 
general  welfare  of  his  home  city,  served  two 
terms  on  the  board  of  aldermen  and  refused 
to  become  a  candidate  for  mayor.  He  is  chair- 
man of  the  good-roads  committee  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  and  is  likewise  an  active 
member  of  the  local  Rotary  Club.  In  the 
World  war  period  he  was  active  and  influen- 
tial in  furthering  the  various  patriotic  move- 
ments in  his  home  city  and  county.  He  and 
his  wife  are  devoted  members  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  their  home  community,  he  has  been 
a  member  of  its  board  of  elders  since  1898 
and  is  now  president  thereof. 

In  1897  Mr.  Michael  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Miss  Pauline  May,  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 
and  of  this  union  there  are  five  children : 
Eleanor  is  the  wife  of  E.  A.  Kraft,  who  served 
in  the  United  States  Navy  in  the  World  war 
period  and  who  is  now  influential  in  political 
affairs  in  Jackson  County.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Kraft  have  two  children,  Pauline  and  Harriet. 
Lydia  is  the  wife  of  Frank  Loy.  Harry  A. 
resides  in  Denver,  Colorado,  and  is  in  the 
service  of  the  Chicago,  Burlington  &  Quincy 
Railroad.  W.  Carl  is  associated  with  the 
foundry  and  machine  concern  of  which  his 
father  is  treasurer.  E.  Albert  is  a  student 
(1932)  in  the  Murphysboro  High  School.  It 
may  be  noted  that  Harry  A.  attended  the 
University  of  Illinois  and  W.  Carl,  Valparaiso 
University  of  Indiana. 

Harry  Corwin  Moss,  M.  D.,  has  been  en- 
gaged in  the  successful  practice  of  medicine 
and  surgery  during  a  period  of  more  than 
thirty  years,  and  since  1918  has  maintained 
his  home  and  professional  headquarters  in  the 
City  of  Carbondale,  Jackson  County. 

Dr.  Moss  was  born  at  Mount  Vernon,  Jef- 
ferson County,  Illinois,  July  15,  1872,  a  son 
of   Capt.    John    R.    and    Permelia    C.    (Allen) 


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277 


Moss,  the  former  of  whom  was  born  in  Jef- 
ferson County,  this  state,  and  the  latter  in 
the  State  of  Georgia.  Capt.  John  R.  Moss 
was  reared  and  educated  in  Illinois  and  repre- 
sented the  state  as  a  gallant  soldier  of  the 
Union  in  the  Civil  war,  in  which  he  served 
as  captain  of  Company  C,  Sixtieth  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry.  Captain  Moss  was  a  son 
of  Ransom  and  Anna  (Johnson)  Moss,  the 
former  born  in  Virginia  and  the  latter  in 
Tennessee,  and  to  be  recalled  as  pioneer  set- 
tlers in  Jefferson  County,  Illinois,  where  Ran- 
som Moss  made  settlement  in  1818,  the  year 
that  marked  the  admission  of  Illinois  to  state- 
hood. The  Moss  family  was  founded  in 
America  in  the  early  Colonial  era,  as  was 
also  the  closely  allied  Morse  family,  and  both 
gave  many  representatives  to  the  learned  pro- 
fessions in  various  generations,  while  others 
were  prominent  in  business  and  in  public 
affairs. 

Dr.  Harry  C.  Moss  supplemented  the  disci- 
pline of  the  public  schools  by  attending  the 
Illinois  State  Normal  School  at  Carbondale, 
and  in  1898  he  was  graduated  in  the  medical 
department  of  Washington  University,  St. 
Louis,  Missouri,  he  having  been  a  member  of 
the  executive  committee  of  his  class  and  hav- 
ing served  as  an  interne  in  a  local  hospital 
while  still  a  student  in  the  university.  After 
receiving  his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  he 
established  his  residence  at  Albion,  judicial 
center  of  Edwards  County,  where  he  continued 
in  successful  general  practice  twenty  years 
and  where  he  served  as  county  coroner  for 
fourteen  years.  In  1918  he  removed  to  Car- 
bondale, where  he  now  controls  a  substantial 
and  representative  general  practice,  with  spe- 
cial attention  given  to  industrial  surgery. 
Here  he  formed  a  professional  alliance  with 
Dr.  H.  C.  Mitchell,  division  surgeon  of  the 
St.  Louis  division  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road, and  from  the  position  of  associate  local 
surgeon  he  was  advanced  in  turn  to  the  posi- 
tions of  district  and  division  surgeon,  in  which 
latter  capacity  he  is  now  retained.  Doctor 
Moss  has  active  membership  in  the  American 
Medical  Association,  Illinois  State  Medical 
Society,  District  Medical  Society  and  Jackson 
County  Medical  Society,  besides  being  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Staff 
Medical  Association  and  the  National  Asso- 
ciation of  Railway  Surgeons. 

In  the  World  war  period  Doctor  Moss  was 
chairman  of  the  Edwards  County  Red  Cross 
Chapter,  the  Federal  Fuel  Commission  and  the 
Boys  Working  Reserve.  He  is  now  Red  Cross 
chairman  of  the  Carbondale  Chapter.  He 
served  also  as  medical  examiner  for  the  draft 
board  of  Edwards  County  after  the  nation 
entered  the  World  war,  and  represented  his 
county  on  the  National  Council  of  Defense. 

As  a  young  man  Dr.  Moss  made  a  record 
of  five   years   as   a   successful   teacher   in   the 


public  schools  of  Illinois,  and  during  the  last 
three  years  was  principal  of  the  public  schools 
at  Marissa.  He  next  gave  a  year  of  service 
as  treasurer  of  a  building  and  loan  associa- 
tion at  Belleville,  and  upon  his  retirement 
from  this  position  he  entered  the  medical 
school  in  St.  Louis,  as  previously  indicated. 
He  depended  upon  his  own  resources  in  de- 
fraying the  expenses  incidental  to  his  course 
in  medical  college.  In  the  Masonic  fraternity 
Doctor  Moss  still  retains  affiliation  with  the 
York  Rite,  Blue  Lodge  and  Chapter  at  Albion, 
and  in  the  chivalric  branch  his  affiliation  is 
with  Carbondale  Commandery  of  Knights 
Templar.  In  the  Scottish  Rite  he  is  a  mem- 
ber of  Mississippi  Valley  Consistory,  in  which 
he  was  president  of  the  "war  class"  of  1918, 
and  he  is  a  noble  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  Temple 
at  East  St.  Louis,  Illinois.  He  has  affiliation 
also  with  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order 
of  Elks  and  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  America, 
is  a  member  of  the  Lions  Club  in  his  home 
city,  is  past  chairman  of  the  staff  of  Holden 
Hospital  at  Carbondale,  is  a  member  of  the 
Art  Extension  Club  of  Illinois,  and  his  re- 
ligious faith  is  that  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church. 

Emery  E.  Calhoun,  who  is  presiding  with 
characteristic  loyalty  and  ability  on  the  bench 
of  the  County  Court  of  Clay  County,  with 
executive  headquarters  in  the  courthouse  at 
Louisville,  depended  upon  his  own  resources 
in  gaining  his  higher  education,  including 
preparation  for  the  legal  profession. 

Judge  Calhoun  was  born  in  Wright  County, 
Missouri,  October  13,  1881,  a  son  of  William 
J.  and  Elmazy  Jane  (Burk)  Calhoun.  Wil- 
liam J.  Calhoun  was  born  in  Gallia  County, 
Ohio,  January  27,  1848,  a  son  of  William  W. 
and  Jemima  (Weatherholt)  Calhoun.  William 
W.  Calhoun  was  born  in  the  famous  Natural 
Bridge  district  of  Virginia  and  followed  farm 
enterprise  in  the  Old  Dominion  State  until 
he  accompanied  his  brother  John  and  their 
widowed  mother  to  Ohio,  whence  he  later 
came  to  Effingham  County,  Illinois,  in  1872, 
and  purchased  a  well  improved  farm.  His 
son  William  J.,  father  of  Judge  Calhoun,  was 
twenty-four  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  the 
family  removal  to  Effingham  County,  and  his 
early  education  had  been  received  in  the 
schools  of  Ohio.  He  long  held  place  as  one 
of  the  successful  representatives  of  farm  in- 
dustry in  Effingham  County,  was  a  man  of 
broad  mental  ken,  and  was  influential  in  com- 
munity affairs.  He  lived  to  be  almost  seventy- 
three  years  of  age,  died  December  20,  1920, 
in  Jefferson  County,  Illinois.  His  wife  died 
July  4,  1908,  both  being  buried  in  Jefferson 
County  in  the  Pleasant  Hill  Cemetery.  The 
eldest  of  his  four  children  is  Elmer  E.,  who 
married  Anna  Hess;  Judge  Emery  E.  is  the 
next    younger;    Wesley    S.,    deceased,   died    in 


278 


ILLINOIS 


1914,  married  Mary  Elkins,  who  survives  him, 
as  do  also  their  two  children,  Erma  and  Alma; 
and  Wealthy  Clementine  died  in  1912. 

Judge  Emery  E.  Calhoun  profited  by  the 
advantages  of  the  public  schools  of  Effing- 
ham County  and  also  of  Long  Prairie,  Wayne 
County.  His  high  school  course  was  com- 
pleted through  the  medium  of  a  correspond- 
ence course.  He  taught  fourteen  terms  of 
school  in  Southern  Illinois,  and  in  preparation 
for  his  chosen  profession  completed  a  course 
in  the  law  department  of  the  University  of 
Tennessee,  at  Chattanooga,  in  which  he  was 
graduated  in  1910,  Bachelor  of  Laws  degree. 
He  was  duly  admitted  to  the  Tennessee  bar, 
but  after  receiving  his  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Laws  he  resumed  his  service  as  a  teacher  in 
the  Illinois  public  schools.  In  1914  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Illinois  bar.  After  the  death 
of  his  brother  Wesley,  who  was  killed  in  an 
accident,  Judge  Calhoun  took  the  latter's  place 
on  the  old  home  farm  of  his  father,  with 
whom  he  and  his  wife  remained  until  June  15, 

1915,  when  they  established  residence  at  Louis- 
ville, Clay  County,  where  he  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession  until  his  elevation  to 
the  bench  of  the  County  Court.  He  served 
two  years  as  city  attorney,  held  the  office  of 
master  in  chancery  five  years,  and  in  1930 
was  elected  to  his  present  office  of  county 
judge,  though  he  was  candidate  on  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket  in  a  county  that  normally  yields 
a  large  Republican  majority.  Judge  Calhoun 
is  secretary  of  the  Wabash  Building  &  Loan 
Association  of  Louisville,  and  secretary  and 
treasurer  of  the  Louisville  National  Farm 
Loan  Association  in  his  home  city.  He  and 
his  wife  are  zealous  members  of  the  Baptist 
Church,  and  he  has  membership  in  the  Clay 
County  Bar  Association. 

March  29,  1913,  at  Fairfield,  Illinois,  marked 
the  marriage  of  Judge  Calhoun  to  Miss  Ethel 
Jennings,  a  daughter  of  Harrison  and  Emma 
(Hawkins)  Jennings  who  came  to  Illinois 
from  Tennessee  and  is  now  a  representative 
farmer  in  Jefferson  County,  where  he  has 
held  various  township  offices. 

Berthold  L.  Boggs,  who  as  funeral  director 
and  embalmer  has  a  well  equipped  establish- 
ment in  the  City  of  Centralia,  Marion  County, 
renders  a  communal  service  of  the  highest 
modern  standard  and  is  one  of  the  representa- 
tive business  men  of  his  native  county. 

Mr.  Boggs  was  born  on  the  parental  home 
farm  in  Marion  County,  October  18,  1885,  and 
was  the  third  in  a  family  of  four  children, 
of  whom  one  died  in  infancy;  Chesley  A.  re- 
sides in  St.  Louis,  Missouri;  and  the  youngest, 
Lilburn  R.,  is  a  resident  of  Centralia.  Mr. 
Boggs  is  a  son  of  Hugh  M.,  and  Mary  (Wat- 
son) Boggs,  the  former  of  whom  passed  his 
entire  life  in  Marion  County,  where  he  was 
born  May  18,  1849,  a  son  of  Spruce  A.  and 
Martha    (Kell)    Boggs,    who    were    born    and 


reared  in  North  Carolina  and  who  became 
early  pioneer  settlers  in  Marion  County,  Illi- 
nois, their  marriage  having  been  solemnized 
in  their  native  state,  July  21,  1825.  Spruce 
A.  Boggs  came  to  Illinois  in  1823  and  took 
up  Government  land  in  Marion  County,  where 
he  reclaimed  and  developed  the  pioneer  farm 
that  was  the  stage  of  his  activities  during  the 
remainder  of  his  life.  He  built  a  primitive 
log  house  on  his  land,  and  this  served  as  the 
first  home  after  he  had  married  and  brought 
his  bride  to  Illinois.  His  children  were  eight 
sons  and  six  daughters  and  two  sons  and  one 
daughter  were  triplets.  Spruce  A.  Boggs  be- 
came one  of  the  extensive  farmers  of  his 
day  in  Marion  County  and  was  influential  in 
community  affairs.  He  was  fifth  of  the  seven 
children  of  James  and  Sarah  (Wilson)  Boggs, 
the  former  of  whom  was  born  in  Virginia, 
whence  he  accompanied  his  parents  to  North 
Carolina  after  the  close  of  the  War  of  the 
Revolution. 

Hugh  McCoy  Boggs  was  reared  under  the 
conditions  and  influences  of  the  middle-pioneer 
.  period  in  Marion  County,  and  here  he  con- 
tinued his  association  with  farm  enterprise 
from  his  boyhood  until  his  death,  on  August 
16,  1906.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  at  Walnut  Hill  and  an  hon- 
ored pioneer.  He  was  a  Republican  in  political 
faith.  His  widow  still  survives  him  and  re- 
sides at  Centralia. 

Berthold  L.  Boggs  was  reared  on  the  old 
home  farm  and  at  the  age  of  six  years  ini- 
tiated his  studies  in  the  Bundyville  district 
school,  in  Raccoon  Township.  He  completed 
his  grade  studies  in  the  White  Oak  public 
schools  and  thereafter  was  a  student  one  year 
at  Valparaiso,  Indiana.  In  November,  1911, 
he  was  graduated  in  the  Barnes  School  of 
Embalming,  and  in  December  of  the  following 
year  he  engaged  in  the  undertaking  business 
at  Centralia,  where  he  has  continued  his  ef- 
fective service  to  the  community  and  maintains 
one  of  the  finest  undertaking  establishments 
in  this  section  of  the  state.  He  still  has  farm 
interests  in  his  native  county  and  is  secretary 
of  a  corporation  that  owns  and  operates,  at 
Centralia,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  cemeteries 
in  Marion  County. 

Mr.  Boggs  is  a  Republican  in  political  al- 
legiance, he  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  he  is  a  Knight 
Templar  Mason  and  is  affiliated  also  with  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  with 
the  Tribe  of  Ben  Hur,  in  which  he  is  an 
officer,  and  his  wife  has  membership  in  the 
Order  of  the  Eastern  Star,  the  White  Shrine, 
the  Daughters  of  Rebekah  and  the  Royal 
Neighbors. 

December  3,  1916,  at  Irvington,  Illinois,  Mr. 
Boggs  married  Miss  Myrtle  Armstrong, 
daughter  of  Thomas  J.  and  Frances  (Way- 
man)  Armstrong  and  representative  of  a  fam- 
ily that  came  from  Tennessee  to  Illinois  in  the 


ILLINOIS 


279 


pioneer  days.  Thelma  Alice,  only  child  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Boggs,  is  a  student  in  the 
Centralia  public  schools. 

John  Matthew  Byrne  is  one  of  the  well 
fortified  and  successful  younger  members  of 
the  Chicago  bar  and  is  engaged  in  the  inde- 
pendent or  individual  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion, with  office  at  77  West  Washington  Street, 
suite  1119. 

Mr.  Byrne  was  born  in  the  City  of  La  Salle, 
Illinois,  February  17,  1901,  and  is  a  son  of 
Matthew  and  Mary  E.  (Schulte)  Byrne,  the 
former  of  whom  was  born  at  Brae,  County 
Wicklow,  Ireland,  and  the  latter  of  whom  was 
born  at  Peru,  LaSalle  County,  Illinois. 

Matthew  Byrne  was  reared  and  educated 
in  his  native  land  and  was  a  youth  when  he 
came  to  the  United  States  and  became  associ- 
ated with  the  grain  and  lumber  business  con- 
ducted by  his  uncle,  Michael  Byrne;  at  LaSalle, 
Illinois.  Later  he  was  for  thirty  years  engaged 
in  the  hotel  business  at  LaSalle,  where  he 
died  in  1920.  After  profiting  by  the  advantages 
of  Catholic  parochial  schools  in  his-  native 
city  John  M.  Byrne  was  there  graduated  in 
the  public  high  school  in  June,  1919.  There- 
after he  was  a  student  one  year  in  Notre  Dame 
University  at  South  Bend,  Indiana,  and  June 
16,  1926,  he  was  graduated  in  the  law  depart- 
ment of  DePaul  University  in  Chicago.  He 
received  at  that  time  his  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Laws,  and  June  16,  1927,  marked  his  admis- 
sion to  the  Illinois  bar,  he  having  since  con- 
tinued to  be  engaged  in  the  general  practice 
of  his  profession  in  Chicago,  and  the  scope 
and  importance  of  his  law  business  standing 
in  evidence  of  the  popular  estimate  placed 
upon  his  character  and  ability.  In  his  aca- 
demic days  Mr.  Byrne  was  active  in  student 
athletics  and  served  as  captain  of  several 
athletic  teams.  He  is  a  Democrat  in  political 
alignment  and  he  and  his  wife  are  members 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  He  has  two  brothers, 
Joseph  W.,  and  Francis  A.,  and  two  sisters, 
Sarah  E.  and  Helen  L. 

On  the  29th  of  June,  1929,  was  solemnized 
the  marriage  of  Mr.  Byrne  to  Miss  Jane 
Faulkner,  who  was  born  and  reared  in  Chicago 
and  who  is  a  daughter  of  John  and  the  late 
Mary   Faulkner. 

Hon.  Harry  Hayes  Cleaveland  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Governor  Emmerson  adminis- 
tration was  appointed  director  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Public  Works  and  Buildings,  a  depart- 
ment that  supervises  and  has  charge  of  all 
state  construction  such  as  highways  and  parks. 

Mr.  Cleaveland  has  for  many  years  been 
a  successful  Rock  Island  business  man.  He 
was  born  in  that  city  August  13,  1869,  son  of 
Henry  Clay  and  Olivia  Sophia  (Hayes) 
Cleaveland.  After  graduating  from  the  Rock 
Island  High  School  in  1887  and  taking  his 
Bachelor  of   Science  degree   at  Knox   College, 


Galesburg,  in  1890,  he  entered  upon  his  busi- 
ness career  in  the  insurance  field,  organizing 
the  H.  H.  Cleaveland  Agency,  which  he  has 
conducted  for  forty  years.  In  the  meantime 
he  has  been  identified  with  a  number  of  other 
business  and  semi-public  agencies.  He  is 
chairman  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the 
Bituminous  Casualty  Corporation  and  partner 
in  Cleaveland  &  Cozad,  general  agents  and 
managers  of  this  corporation.  He  is  secre- 
tary of  the  Blackhawk  Homestead  Building 
Loan  and  Savings  Association,  president  of 
the  Fort  Armstrong  Company,  vice  president 
and  director  of  the  Streckfus  Steamers,  Incor- 
porated. He  is  also  president  of  the  Memorial 
Park  Development  Company. 

Mr.  Cleaveland  from  1910  to  1919  was  mem- 
ber and  president  of  the  Rock  Island  Board  of 
Education.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of 
the  Illinois  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  served 
it  as  director,  treasurer  and  vice  president 
from  1919  to  1927.  Mr.  Cleaveland  is  a  very 
prominent  figure  in  Illinois  Masonry,  having 
attained  the  thirty-third  Supreme  Honorary 
degree  in  the  Scottish  Rite  and  was  grand 
commander  of  the  Knight  Templar  of  Illinois 
in  1910-11.  He  is  a  Republican,  and  belongs 
to  the  Rock  Island  Arsenal  Golf  Club,  Black 
Hawk  Hills  Country  Club,  and  the  Treadway 
Rod  and  Gun  Club. 

He  married  October  25,  1892,  Miss  Olive 
Cox  of  Vermont,  Illinois.  To  their  marriage 
were  born  five  children:  Eleanor  Maude,  Mrs. 
David  James  McCredie;  Olive  Marion,  who 
died  May  9,  1915;  Harry  Hayes  II;  Dorothy, 
Mrs.  Frederic  B.  White;  and  Anna  Cox,  Mrs. 
W.  Stewart  McDonald. 

Albert  Nicholas,  principal  of  the  Mur- 
physboro  Township  Union  High  School,  in  the 
City  of  Murphysboro,  judicial  center  of  Jack- 
son County,  assumed  this  administrative  office 
in  July,  1929.  Under  his  supervision  are 
twenty-two  teachers  and  an  average  of  500 
pupils,  including  both  white  and  colored. 

Mr.  Nicholas  was  born  at  Apollo,  Arm- 
strong County,  Pennsylvania,  June  22,  1900, 
and  is  a  son  of  Rev.  W.  H.  Nicholas,  D.  D., 
and  Louise  (Kline)  Nicholas,  who  now  reside 
at  Springfield,  Illinois,  where  the  father  is 
pastor  of  Grace  Lutheran  Church  and  where 
the  mother  died  in  1909.  Albert  Nicholas 
was  graduated  in  Carthage  College,  at 
Carthage  Illinois,  as  a  member  of  the  class 
of  1922  and  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Arts.  Thereafter  he  attended  summer  ses- 
sions at  the  University  of  Illinois,  from  which 
he  will  receive  in  1933  the  degree  of  Master 
of  Arts.  His  service  as  an  educator  has  been 
marked  by  characteristics  ability  and  loyalty, 
and  he  has  had  ten  years'  experience  as  an 
athletic  coach  and  high  school  principal.  This 
is  the  only  high  school  in  Jackson  County 
on  the  accredited  list  of  the  North  Central 
Association  of   Colleges  and  Universities.     It 


280 


ILLINOIS 


is  also  accredited  by  the  State  University  and 
the  State  Department  of  Education. 

Mr.  Nicholas  has  membership  in  the  Jackson 
County  Teachers  Association,  the  Illinois  State 
Teachers  Association  and  the  National  Edu- 
cation Association,  besides  being  a  member  of 
the  National  Association  of  Secondary  Princi- 
pals. He  is  affiliated  with  the  American  Le- 
gion and  with  the  Phi  Kappa  Delta  honorary 
college  fraternity.  His  wife,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Ethel  Seaton,  was  born  and  reared 
in  Illinois,  was  graduated  in  Monmouth  Col- 
lege and  prior  to  her  marriage  had  been  a 
successful  and  popular  teacher  in  the  public 
schools  of  her  native  state. 

In  July,  1918,  Mr.  Nicholas  enlisted  for 
World  war  service,  was  with  his  command  in 
service  with  the  American  Expeditionary 
Forces  in  France  during  a  period  of  eleven 
months.  He  was  a  corporal  in  the  One  Hun- 
dred Twenty-ninth  Engineers  Corps,  returned 
from  France  in  July,  1919,  and  duly  received 
his  honorable  discharge. 

Gilford  N.  Welch,  M.  D.,  has  a  general 
practice  whose  scope  and  character  indicate 
him  as  one  of  the  representative  physicians 
and  surgeons  of  Marion  County,  where  his 
office  headquarters  are  at  147  ^  South  Locust 
Street  in  the  City  of  Centralia. 

Doctor  Welch  was  born  on  the  paternal 
home  farm  in  Bond  County,  Illinois,  April  9, 
1890,  and  is  the  elder  in  a  family  of  two 
children,  his  brother,  Charles  Henry,  being 
deceased.  The  Doctor  is  a  son  of  Isaac  and 
Iota  (Bateman)  Welch  and  a  grandson  of  Lee 
Welch,  who  likewise  was  born  in  Bond  County, 
where  he  became  a  large  land  owner  and  pros- 
perous farmer,  his  parents  having  there  made 
settlement  in  the  pioneer  days  and  his  paternal 
grandfather  having  been  a  patriot  soldier  in 
the  War  of  the  Revolution.  Isaac  Welch  was 
born  and  reared  in  Bond  County  and  has  long 
been  numbered  among  its  prominent  exponents 
of  farm  industry,  with'  secure  standing  as  a 
substantial  and  honored  citizen  of  his  native 
county. 

Dr.  Gilford  N.  Welch  was  reared  on  the 
home  farm  and  received  the  advantages  of  the 
public  schools  of  his  native  county,  including 
the  graded  schools  at  Greenville,  the  county 
seat.  On  June  6,  1914,  he  was  graduated  in 
the  Barnes  Medical  College  in  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri, and  during  the  ensuing  two  years  he 
was  engaged  in  practice  at  St.  Charles,  that 
state.  He  passed  the  following  year  at  the 
parental  home  and  then  resumed  the  practice 
of  his_  profession,  at  Brighton,  Iowa.  There 
he  enlisted  for  World  war  service  in  the  Med- 
ical Corps  of  the  United  States  Army,  and 
he  gained  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant.  He 
was  stationed  at  Newport  News,  Virginia, 
when  the  armistice  brought  the  war  to  a  close, 
and  after  receiving  his  honorable  discharge 
he  returned  to  his  native  county  and  engaged 


in  practice  at  Greenville,  where  he  remained 
until  his  removal  to  Centralia  in  1922,  the 
present  central  stage  of  his  successful  service 
as  a  physician  and  surgeon.  He  is  serving 
in  1932  as  city  health  officer,  and  he  has 
membership  in  the  Marion  County  Medical 
Society,  Illinois  State  Medical  Society  and 
American  Medical  Association.  In  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity  Doctor  Welch  has  received 
the  thirty-second  degree  of  the  Ancient  Ac- 
cepted Scottish  Rite,  and  a  Shriner.  He  is 
affiliated  also  with  the  American  Legion,  he 
and  his  wife  have  membership  in  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  and  his  political  al- 
legiance is  given  to  the  Republican  party. 
Doctor  Welch  is  past  president  of  the  Izaak 
Walton  Chapter  of  Centralia  and  his  hobby 
is  outdoor  sports  and  finds  recreation  in  sea- 
son hunting  and  fishing  trips. 

October  16,  1917,  at  Greenville,  Illinois, 
Doctor  Welch  married  Miss  Mary  R.  Staffel- 
bach,  daughter  of  Edward  and  Dora  (Roy) 
Staffelbach  and  great-granddaughter  of  a  gal- 
lant soldier  in  the  War  of  1812.  Doctor  and 
Mrs.  Welch  have  two  children,  Mary  Kathleen 
and  Ruth  Elizabeth. 

George  E.  Little  is  a  citizen  whose  name 
is  a  household  word  in  Madison  County.  He 
has  been  prominent  in  Republican  politics  of 
that  county  for  over  a  quarter  of  a  century 
and  is  a  former  county  treasurer  and  sheriff. 

He  was  born  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  July 
24,  1878,  son  of  Irwin  E.  and  Frances  (Tobin) 
Little.  His  father,  who  has  lived  retired  since 
1927,  was  for  many  years  a  hoisting  engineer 
connected  with  the  coal  mining  industry  of 
Madison  County.  His  wife  passed  away  in 
February,  1891. 

George  E.  Little  grew  up  and  attended  pub- 
lic schools  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri.  After  leav- 
ing school  he  learned  the  occupation  of  his 
father,  and  was  a  hoisting  engineer  in  Mad- 
ison County  until  his  abilities  were  called  to 
broader  service  in  the  public  interest  and 
politics.  His  first  important  position  was  that 
of  assistant  supervisor.  In  1914  he  was 
elected  county  treasurer,  serving  four  years 
in  that  office.  Then  in  1918  he  was  elected 
sheriff  and  served  a  term  of  four  years.  He 
gave  to  the  county  a  vigorous  and  efficient 
administration  of  that  office  also  for  four 
years. 

Mr.  Little  is  a  Spanish-American  war  vet- 
eran. He  enlisted  in  1898  in  Troop  M  of  the 
Fifth  Cavalry  in  the  regular  army.  For  thir- 
teen months  he  was  in  the  Porto  Rico  Islands. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Edwardsville  Lodge  of 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  thirty-second  degree 
Scottish  Rite,  and  a  member  of  Ainad  Temple 
of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at  East  St.  Louis,  the 
Edwardsville  Lodge  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows  and  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks. 

Mr.  Little,  whose  home  has  been  at  Ed- 
wardsville for  many  years,  married  April  16, 


ILLINOIS 


281 


1901,  Miss  Gertrude  L.  Stubbs  of  Edwards- 
ville.  They  have  three  children:  Jessie  L., 
wife  of  Dr.  V.  P.  Siegel  of  Collinsville;  George 
E.,  Jr.,  and  William  J.,  both  at  home,  students 
in  the  public  schools  of  Edwardsville. 

Wayne  E.  Young,  who  is  serving  as  county- 
clerk  of  Marion  County,  at  Salem,  is  a  veteran 
of  the  World  war,  was  born  at  Scarlet,  Orange 
County,  Indiana,  March  25,  1894,  a  son  of 
John  W.  and  Jennie  (Swank)  Young,  of  whose 
twelve  children  he  was  the  sixth  in  order  of 
birth,  the  names  of  the  other  children  being 
here  given:  James,  John,  Malin  (deceased), 
Walter,  Ross,  Pearl,  Mabel,  Margaret  (de- 
ceased), Catherine,  Peter  (deceased),  and 
Charles.  The  mother  of  these  children  passed 
away  in  January,  1928. 

John  W.  Young  is  now  living  virtually  re- 
tired and  passes  much  of  his  time  in  the 
homes  of  his  children.  He  was  born  at  Elk- 
hart, Indiana,  became  a  skilled  mechanic  as 
a  plasterer,  and  in  this  line  was  long  engaged 
in  business  as  a  contractor.  He  now  looks 
upon  Salem,  Illinois,  as  his  home.  His"  father 
was  born  in  Germany  and  served  in  its  na- 
tional army  before  coming  to  the  United 
States  and  settling  on  a  farm  near  Elkhart, 
Indiana,  which  state  he  represented  as  a  loyal 
soldier  of  the  Union  during  virtually  the 
entire  period  of  the  Civil  war. 

Wayne  E.  Young  acquired  his  early  educa- 
tion in  the  public  schools  of  Orange  County, 
Indiana,  in  1904  he  came  to  St.  Clair  County, 
Illinois,  upon  the  family  removal  to  this  state, 
having  been  about  ten  years  of  age  at  the 
time  and  removal  to  Marion  County  having 
occurred  about  two  years  later.  He  attended 
the  high  school  at  Salem  three  years,  and  then 
became  a  messenger  for  the  local  offices  of 
the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad.  While  at- 
tending school  he  had  worked  at  the  carpenter 
trade,  and  he  followed  this  trade  two  years 
at  Bedford,  Indiana.  He  then  returned  to 
Marion  County,  Illinois,  and  after  serving  one 
year  with  the  Marion  Coal  Company  he  was 
in  the  employ  of  the  Chicago  &  Eastern  Illinois 
Railroad  until  the  nation  entered  the  World 
war,  when  he  enlisted  June  24,  1918,  in  the 
United  States  Army  and  received  preliminary 
training  at  Paris  Island,  in  South  Carolina, 
and  in  the  Marine  Barracks  at  Quantico,  Vir- 
ginia. He  was  assigned  to  a  machine-gun 
company  and  had  nine  months  overseas  serv- 
ice with  this  unit,  attached)  to  the  Fifth 
Brigade.  After  his  return  home  he  received 
his  honorable  discharge  July  19,  1919,  at 
Quantico,  Virginia,  and  soon  afterward  he 
resumed  his  service  with  the  Chicago  &  East- 
ern Illinois  Railroad,  at  Salem.  In  1920  for 
the  benefit  of  his  health  he  thereafter  passed 
much  of  his  time  in  Colorado,  on  his  home- 
stead in  Lincoln  County.  In  1928  he  returned 
to  Salem  and  engaged  in  the  contracting  busi- 
ness.    On  November  4,  1930,  Mr.  Young  was 


elected  to  the  office  of  county  clerk  on  the 
Democratic  ticket  to  a  term  of  four  years. 

Mr.  Young  is  affiliated  with  the  American 
Legion,  and  prominent  in  Masonic  circles, 
being  a  member  of  Marion  Lodge  No.  130, 
A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  Royal  Arch  and  Council 
Salem  64,  and  the  Salem  Council  97,  holding 
various  offices.  He  is  a  Democrat  and  attends 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South. 

July  12,  1916,  Mr.  Young  married  Miss 
Anna  Buss,  daughter  of  Jacob  I.  and  Nora 
(Alton)  Buss,  of  Patoka,  Marion  County,  both 
of  whom  are  deceased.  The  four  children  of 
this  union  are  Marian  Aline,  Wayne  E.,  Jr., 
Doris  Jean  and  Betty  Ann. 

John  Otto  Stoll,  president  of  the  J.  O. 
Stoll  Company,  located  at  237-47  East  Grand 
Avenue,  Chicago,  Illinois,  was  born  in  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  August  26,  1899,  son  of  John 
H.  and  Eva  (Brown)  Stoll,  who  moved  to 
Oakland,  California,  where  John  Otto  attended 
preparatory  school  prior  to  entering  the  Uni- 
versity of  Southern  California,  Los  Angeles, 
class  of  1920. 

During  the  World  war  he  served  in  the 
Student  Officers  Training  Corps  in  Los  Ange- 
les. In  1920  he  established  the  J.  O.  Stoll 
Company,  wholesale  magazine  distributors, 
Chicago,  and  later  extended  the  firm's  business 
over  the  entire  Middle  West. 

He  married  Miss  Margaret  Crowe,  of  Chi- 
cago, September  12,  1925.  There  are  three 
children,  Betty  Ann,  John  Otto,  Jr.,  and 
Margaret. 

Mr.  Stoll  is  president  of  the  J.  O.  Stoll 
Company,  the  Ten  Twenty  Five  North  Clark 
Building  Corporation,  the  Great  Lakes  Finance 
corporation;  treasurer  of  the  Diamond  Coal 
Company  and  the  Ten  Fifteen  North  Clark 
Building  Corporation;  director  of  the  Cosmo- 
politan State  Bank  and  is  on  the  board  of 
directors  of  Grant  Hospital. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Sigma  Phi  Epsilon 
fraternity,  Chicago  Yacht  Club,  Illinois  Golf 
Club,  Cherry  Circle  Duck  Club,  Tavern  Club, 
life  member  of  the  Art  Institute  of  Chicago 
and  the  Chicago  Historical  Society.  He  resides 
at  1120  Lake  Shore  Drive,  Chicago. 

George  H.  Bargh,  postmaster  of  Kinmundy, 
Marion  County,  was  born  on  the  30th  of  April, 
1892,  a  son  of  Edwin  C.  and  Nellie  (Hol- 
brook)  Bargh,  whose  other  surviving  child 
is  Vera,  wife  of  Dr.  Scott  M.  Davidson,  of 
Chicago.  Edwin  C.  Bargh  was  born  in  Eng- 
land and  was  a  child  when  his  parents,  Joseph 
and  Elizabeth  (Haigh)  Bargh,  came  to  the 
United  States  and  made  settlement  in  Bus- 
seron  and  Oaktown,  Indiana,  whence  removal 
was  later  made  to  Illinois.  Joseph  Bargh 
served  as  a  gallant  soldier  of  the  Union  in 
the  Civil  war,  and  was  a  horseshoer  in  the 
One  Hundred  Forty-fourth  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry.  He  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of 
Shiloh,    but    after    recuperating    rejoined    his 


282 


ILLINOIS 


regiment,  with  which  he  served  until  the  close 
of  the  war.  He  was  living  retired  in  Illinois 
at  the  time  of  his  death  and  was  an  honored 
member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 
Edwin  C.  Bargh  received  the  advantages  of 
the  public  schools,  including  the  high  school, 
and  there  after  studied  pharmacy  and  at- 
tended the  old  University  of  Illinois.  He  fol- 
lowed the  drug  business  in  Geneva  and  other 
Illinois  towns  before  removing  to  Kinmundy, 
where  he  continues  in  this  line  of  enterprise 
and  where  he  now  has  rank  as  the  oldest  mer- 
chant of  the  community.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Christian  Church  and  his  wife  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Church.  He  is  a  Re- 
publican in  politics  and  is  loyal  and  progressive 
as  a  citizen. 

George  H.  Bargh  attended  the  Kinmundy 
public  schools  and  in  1910  was  graduated  in 
the  high  school  at  Centralia.  In  1914  he  was 
graduated  in  the  University  of  Illinois,  with 
the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts,  and  he  like- 
wise carried  forward  during  one  year  studies 
in  the  law  department  of  the  university.  At 
this  university  he  likewise  received  his  first 
military  training  after  his  enlistment  for  serv- 
ice in  the  World  war,  May,  1917,  having 
thereafter  received  further  training  in  August, 
1917,  at  Camp  Custer,  Battle  Creek,  Michigan, 
and  in  the  officers  training  school  at  Jack- 
sonville, Florida.  He  was  commissioned  a 
lieutenant  and  went  overseas  as  commanding 
officer  of  his  organization,  S.  C.  U.  315. 
Twenty-eight  days  were  consumed  in  making 
the  voyage  across  the  Atlantic,  owing  mainly 
to  the  menace  of  German  submarines,  one  or 
more  of  which  fired  upon  the  transport  vessel 
that  his  command  was  on.  Mr.  Bargh  and 
his  company  had  full  experience  in  the  front 
line  trenches  of  the  conflict  area  and  was 
under  almost  constant  artillery  fire  in  his 
sector.  After  the  armistice  brought  the  war 
to  a  close  he  returned  with  his  command  to 
the  United  States  and  he  received  his  honor- 
able discharge  June,  1919,  at  Camp  Grant, 
near  Rockford,  Illinois.  He  then  returned  to 
his  native  town  and  here  was  appointed  post- 
master in  the  year  1923  by  President  Hard- 
ing; reappointed  1927  by  President  Coolidge; 
reappointed  in  1932  by  President  Hoover.  His 
administration  having  been  systematic  and 
popularly  acceptable  and  all  details  of  the 
service  of  the  Kinmundy  postoffice  being  main- 
tained at  high  standard. 

Mr.  Bargh  is  influential  in  the  local  coun- 
cils of  the  Republican  party  and  served  as 
precinct  committeeman  of  Kinmundy  Township 
before  going  into  Government  service.  He 
was  president  three  years  of  the  local  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  in  the  Masonic  fraternity  he 
has  received  the  thirty-second  degree  of  the 
Scottish  Rite,  besides  being  a  noble  of  the 
Mystic  Shrine,  and  he  is  affiliated  also  with 
the  American  Legion,  in  1931-32  is  county 
commader  of  Marion  County  American  Legion 


and  with  the  Chi  Beta  and  the  Sigma  Delta 
Chi  college  fraternities,  the  latter  being  the 
honorary  journalistic  fraternity.  He  and  his 
wife  are  active  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  of  their  home  community. 

April  9,  1925,  at  Salem,  Illinois,  Mr.  Bargh 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Mildred  R. 
Pullen,  daughter  of  Burd  G.,  a  prominent 
merchant  of  Alma  Illinois,  and  Lila  (Wil- 
liams) Pullen,  and  the  two  children  of  this 
union  are  George  H.,  Jr.,  born  January  10, 
1927,  and  Joseph  Pullen,  born  April  14,  1930. 
Mrs.  Bargh  was  graduated  from  the  Kin- 
mundy High  School  in  1920.  She  is  a  member 
of  the  Eastern  Star  and  the  American  Legion 
Auxiliary. 

Roy  T.  Baldridge,  who  conducts  in  his  na- 
tive City  of  Centralia,  Marion  County,  a  well 
ordered  business  as  an  undertaker  and  funeral 
director,  and  the  best  of  modern  facilities  and 
service  are  given  by  his  well  equipped  funeral 
home,  at  216  East  Second  Street. 

Mr.  Baldridge  was  born  at  Centralia,  a  son 
of  David  A.  and  Nettie  (Turner)  Baldridge, 
the  elder  of  whose  two  children  is  Harley, 
who  is  in  the  automobile  business  at  Centralia, 
married  Lida  George  and  their  one  child  is 
Harley  Roy,  Jr. 

David  A.  Baldridge  was  born  on  his 
father's  farm  in  Jefferson  County,  Illinois,  and 
continued  to  be  identified  with  farm  enterprise 
many  years,  though  he  later  was  in  the  employ 
of  the  Government  about  twenty  years.  He 
and  his  wife  are  deceased  and  their  remains 
rest  in  the  Gilead  Cemetery,  Jefferson  County. 
He  was  affiliated  with  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Modern  Woodmen  of 
America.  David  A.  Baldridge  was  a  son  of 
James  and  Martha  (Baldridge)  Baldridge, 
the  two  families  having  no  kinship,  and  James 
Baldridge  was  a  young  man  when  he  came 
from  Tennessee  to  Illinois  and  assisted  in 
breaking  and  reclaiming  land  his  father  had 
here  obtained  from  the  Government.  The  fam- 
ily gained  pioneer  honors  in  Illinois,  as  it  had 
previously  in  other  states  of  the  Union,  and 
it  was  founded  in  America  in  the  Colonial 
period. 

Roy  T.  Baldridge  was  still  a  boy  at  the 
time  of  his  parents'  death  and  was  early 
thrown  upon  his  own  resources.  He  worked 
as  a  newsboy  and  at  other  jobs,  and  attended 
school  until  he  was  graduated  in  the  Centralia 
High  School.  For  eight  years!  he  was  a 
traveling  salesman,  and  he  then  turned  his 
attention  to  the  line  of  business  with  which 
he  is  successfully  identified  at  the  present 
time.  He  gained  his  initial  experience  by 
service  with  an  undertaking  establishment  in 
Centralia  and  in  1924  was  graduated  in  the 
Worsham  College  of  Embalming,  Chicago. 
Thereafter  he  was  employed  one  year  in  that 
city  and  upon  his  return  to  Centralia  he 
acquired  an  interest  in  the  undertaking  busi- 


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283 


ness  of  Fannon  &  Company.  He  has  brought 
the  business  up  to  high  standard  and  it  is 
conducted  under  the  title  of  Roy  T.  Baldridge 
Company,  Inc. 

Mr.  Baldridge  is  a  Republican,  is  a  trustee 
of  the  local  Presbyterian  Church,  of  which 
he  and  his  wife  are  members.  In  the  Masonic 
fraternity  he  is  affiliated  with  the  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.  No.  216  of  Centralia,  the  Royal  Arch 
Chapter  of  Centralia  and  the  Cyrene  Com- 
mandery  No.  23  of  Centralia.  He  has  mem- 
bership also  in  the  Benevolent  and  Protective 
Order  of  Elks,  Modern  Woodmen  of  America, 
United  Commercial  Travelers,  and  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce. 

In  1925  Mr.  Baldridge  married  Miss  Hilda 
Mae  Birch,  daughter  of  Harry  Birch,  a  native 
of  England,  who  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  of  Centralia.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Baldridge 
have  no  children. 

Pearly  E.  Speaks,  sheriff  of  Clay  County 
with  executive  office  in  the  courthouse  at  Louis- 
ville, is  a  native  son  of  this  county,  where 
his  birth  occurred  May  12,  1878.  He  is.  eldest 
of  a  family  of  four  children,  and  the  second 
child  is  Nettie;  Nellie  is  the  wife  of  John 
Burns  and  has  five  children;  and  Telitha  is 
the  wife  of  Ralph  Hagle,  their  one  child 
being  a  daughter. 

Sheriff  Speaks  is  a  son  of  William  W.  and 
Lucy  (Owens)  Speaks.  His  father  was  born 
in  1856  on  a  farm  in  Clay  County,  a  son  of 
Calvin  and  Telitha  (Hockman)  Speaks,  the 
father  of  Calvin  Speaks  having  come  to  Illi- 
nois about  1825  and  having  become  one  of  the 
pioneer  settlers  in  Marion  County,  where  he 
obtained  government  land  and  developed  a 
productive  farm.  Calvin  Speaks  was  born  in 
Marion  County  and  was  an  orphan  boy  when 
he  began  work  on  a  farm  in  Clay  County. 
He  passed  the  closing  years  of  his  life  at 
Louisville,  this  county  and  was  long  num- 
bered among  the  substantial  farmers  of  the 
county. 

William  W.  Speaks  passed  his  childhood  and 
early  youth  on  the  home  farm  and  so  profited 
by  the  advantages  of  the  public  schools  that 
he  was  able  to  make  a  successful  record  of 
several  years'  service  as  a  teacher  in  the 
district  schools.  He  later  was  successfully 
engaged  in  the  hardware  business  in  Louis- 
ville, and  here  his  death  occurred  in  1926. 
His  widow  still  survives  him  and  is  a  resi- 
dent of  Los  Angeles,  California.  He  served 
in  the  offices  of  tax  collector  and  constable, 
was  long  affiliated  with  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows,  in  which  he  passed  the  various 
official  chairs  of  his  lodge,  and  he  and  his  wife 
were  zealous  members  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal church. 

The  present  sheriff  of  Clay  County  is 
indebted  to  the  district  schools  for  his  pre- 
liminary education,  and  thereafter  attended 
the  public  schools  in  the  little  City  of  Flora 


during  a  period  of  two  years.  He  then 
became  associated  with  his  father's  hardware 
business  at  Louisville,  and  in  1902  he  was 
appointed  deputy  sheriff  under  Sheriff  A.  J. 
Ike  Mire,  and  served  four  years.  In  1915 
he  was  again  appointed  to  this  position,  under 
Sheriff  Edward  Cogswell,  in  which  he  served 
an  additional  four  years,  and  he  then  resumed 
his  connection  with  his  father's  hardware 
business.  In  1930  he  was  elected  county  sher- 
iff, on  the  Democratic  ticket,  and  his  former 
experience  as  deputy  well  qualifies  him  for 
this  office,  in  which  he  is  giving  an  efficient 
administration.  He  still  retains  an  interest 
in  the  old  home  farm  of  his  father.  Sheriff 
Speaks  is  a  member  of  the  Louisville  Commer- 
cial Club  and  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  the 
Modern  Woodmen  of  America. 

On  December  31,  1906  Mr.  Speaks  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Ruby  Whitchurch, 
daughter  of  Lewis  and  Caroline  (Holliday) 
Whitchurch,  and  the  two  children  of  this 
union  are  Charles  Dean  and  Louise.  Miss 
Louise  is  now  a  popular  teacher  at  Clay  City, 
in  her  native  county. 

Hon.  Henry  Flagg  Scarborough,  a  repre- 
sentative from  Adams  County  in  the  Illinois 
Legislature,  has  exemplified  the  sterling  influ- 
ence in  recent  politics  and  public  affairs  in 
the  county,  which  has  been  a  part  of  the 
record  of  the  Scarborough  family  there  for 
nearly   a   century. 

Mr.  Scarborough's  father  was  the  late  Joel 
Kingsbury  Scarborough,  who  came  to  Adams 
County  in  1838  when  fourteen  years  of  age. 
Two  of  his  sisters  married  men  who  were 
conspicuous  in  the  early  educational  and  re- 
ligious life  of  Central  Illinois.  One  sister, 
Esther  became  the  wife  of  Professor  Mason 
Grosvenor,  one  of  the  founders  of  Illinois 
College.  Another  sister,  Mary,  was  the  wife 
of  Rev.  Cephas  A.  Leach,  one  of  the  early 
pastors  of  the  Payson  Congregational  Church. 

Joel  Kingsbury  Scarborough  was  born  in 
Brooklyn,  Windham  County,  Connecticut,  No- 
vember 12,  1824,  and  died  at  his  home  in 
Payson  May  3,  1915,  when  past  ninety  years 
of  age.  He  was  the  youngest  of  the  four 
children  of  Joel  and  Lucretia  (Smith)  Scar- 
borough. His  birth  occurred  after  the  death 
of  his  father,  and  when  he  was  twelve  years 
of  age  his  mother  passed  away,  and  not  long 
afterward,  in  the  fall  of  1838,  he  and  his 
sister,  Mary  Ann,  who  became  Mrs.  Leach, 
made  the  journey  westward  by  railroad, 
steamboat,  canal  boats  and  stage  coach  to 
live  with  their  uncle,  Deacon  A.  Scarborough. 
This  uncle  came  to  Adams  County  in  1834, 
bought  land,  and  the  following  spring  laid 
out  the  Village  of  Payson.  Among  other 
constructive  pioneer  activities  he  planted  in 
1838  the  first  apple  orchard  in  what  has  since 
become    one    of    the    leading    apjple    growing 


284 


ILLINOIS 


regions  of  Illinois.  Before  coming  to  Illinois, 
Joel  K.  Scarborough  had  acquired  a  better 
education  than  most  boys  of  the  day  at  the 
age  of  eighteen.  His  mind  was  mature  beyond 
his  years  and  at  the  age  of  ten  he  was  read- 
ing Latin  and  studying  algebra  and  geometry. 
After  working  for  an  uncle  two  years  he  con- 
tinued his  education  for  two  years  in  old 
Western  Reserve  College,  then  located  at  Hud- 
son, Ohio.  In  the  meantime  he  had  labored 
to  develop  a  piece  of  raw  prairie  land  which 
he  owned  into  a  farm,  and  this  farm  in  course 
of  time  came  to  be  recognized  as  a  standard 
and  miodel  of  improvements  and  thorough 
cultivation.  He  developed  a  large  orchard. 
He  acquired  extensive  tracts  of  swamp  land 
when  such  land  was  considered  almost  worth- 
less, and  later  brought  about  the  organization 
of  the  Sni  Drainage  District.  This  reclama- 
tion made  the  Scarborough  and  other  lands 
included  within  the  district  of  unsurpassed 
productiveness.  He  was  a  general  farmer  and 
stock  raiser,  and  the  Adams  County  Fair 
was  first  established  on  some  land  he  owned. 

He  was  greatly  interested  in  all  educational 
matters.  For  many  years  he  was  a  director 
of  the  Payson  High  School,  and  it  was  largely 
through  his  efforts  that  the  first  brick  school 
building  was  erected  in  1867.  When  he  was 
nineteen  years  of  age  he  was  elected  church 
clerk  of  the  Payson  Congregational  Church 
and  was  reelected  to  that  office  at  every 
annual  meeting  until  he  had  served  nearly 
seventy-one  years.  He  became  a  trustee  of 
the  church  in  1865  and  that  office,  too,  he 
filled  until  his  death.  He  also  served  as 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school  almost 
continuously  for  forty-three  years  and  took 
an  active  part  in  the  larger  organizations  of 
the  church. 

Joel  K.  Scarborough  married  in  November, 
1849,  Miss  Julia  A.  Seymour,  who  died  in 
January,  1856.  His  second  wife  was  Harriet 
Spencer,  who  died  in  1903.  Of  her  two  chil- 
dren the  only  survivor  is  Henry  Flagg  Scar- 
borough. 

Henry  Flagg  Scarborough  was  born  in  the 
old  Scarborough  homestead  at  Payson,  Novem- 
ber 7,  1859,  and  was  educated  in  public  schools 
and  in  Knox  College  at  Galesburg.  He  was 
a  partner  with  his  father  in  the  ownership 
and  management  of  their  extensive  land  and 
farm  interests  and  some  years  ago  had  120 
acres  of  his  land  planted  to  apple  orchards. 

His  success  as  a  farmer  and  business  man 
has  been  accompanied  by  a  constant  leadership 
in  the  affairs  of  his  community.  He  served 
fourteen  consecutive  terms,  twenty-eight 
years,  as  a  member  of  the  board  of  county 
supervisors  and  in  1928  was  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  State  Legislature.  He  was  re- 
elected in  1930.  Mr.  Scarborough  has  received 
his  political  honors  repeatedly  as  a  Republican 
candidate  in  a  township  which  is  normally 
Democratic.      While   on   the   board   of    super- 


visors his  interest  became  aroused  in  the 
care  and  supervision  of  dependent  and  delin- 
quent children  and  he  was  chiefly  instrumental 
in  making  that  service  a  permanent  depart- 
ment under  the  direction  of  the  overseer  of 
the  poor. 

Mr.  Scarborough  married  in  November 
1885 — on  Thanksgiving  Day,  Miss  Mary  Estel- 
la  Wolfe,  whose  father,  Rev.  George  B.  Wolfe, 
was  at  that  time  pastor  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  at  Payson.  She  died  De- 
cember 12,  1900.  On  January  1,  1903  Mr. 
Scarborough  married  Mrs.  Jennie  (Thompson) 
Robbins,  who  passed  away  March  5,  1931. 
Mr.  Scarborough's  only  son,  by  his  first  mar- 
riage, is  Joseph  Kingsbury  Scarborough,  who 
was  educated  at  the  Western  Military  Acad- 
emy at  Alton  and  Wheaton  College,  Wheaton, 
Illinois.  He  married  Miss  Esther  Albsmeyer 
of  Payson.  They  have  two  children,  Estelle 
and  Joel  W. 

James  McGregor  is  an  efficient  and  hon- 
ored member  of  the  official  corps  at  the  Clay 
County  courthouse,  at  Louisville,  where  he  is 
serving  as  county  clerk.  The  patronymic  of 
this  sterling  citizen  indicates  his  Scotch  an- 
cestry, and  he  can  claim  the  fine  old  Blue- 
grass  State  as  the  place  of  his  nativity.  He 
was  born  on  the  ancestral  farm  near  Flem- 
ingsburg,  Fleming  County,  Kentucky,  July  3, 
1866,  and  is  a  son  of  Biasford  and  Sarah 
(Denton)  McGregor.  His  father  was  born  on 
the  same  farm,  became  a  substantial  farmer 
and  lumberman  in  his  native  state,  and  held 
local  offices  of  public  trust,  including  that  of 
justice  of  the  peace,  which  he  retained  many 
years.  Of  his  family  of  seven  children  Rob- 
bert,  Bruce  and  Oscar  are  deceased;  James, 
of  this  review,  was  the  next  younger  son; 
Wallace  W.  is  a  resident  of  Kansas;  and  Lay- 
ton  and  Josephine  are  deceased.  Biasford 
McGregor  lived  his  entire  life  in  Fleming 
County,  Kentucky,  and  engaged  in  farm  en- 
terprise, with  which  he  continued  to  be  asso- 
ciated until  his  death.  Both  he  and  his  wife 
having  died  in  that  county  and  their  mortal 
remains  having  been  laid  to  rest  in  the  ceme- 
tery at  Hillsboro,  Fleming  County,  Kentucky. 
Mr.  McGregor  was  a  stalwart  Republican  and 
was  one  of  the  few  members  of  his  party  to 
be  elected  to  office  in  that  county,  where  he 
gave  many  terms  of  service  as  county  com- 
missioner. His  father,  James  McGregor,  was 
born  in  Scotland  and  after  coming  to  America 
lived  in  Virginia  until  he  became  a  pioneer 
in  Kentucky,  in  the  early  days  when  Daniel 
Boone,  the  great  frontiersman,  had  his  home 
in  that  place. 

James  McGregor  of  this  review  completed 
his  public-school  education  by  attending  the 
high  school  at  Flemingsburg,  Kentucky,  and 
after  the  removal  to  Illinois  he  was  a  student 
two  years  in  what  is  now  Valparaiso  Uni- 
versity,  Valparaiso,   Indiana.     After  teaching 


ILLINOIS 


285 


school  at  Harristown,  Macon  County,  Illinois, 
he  established  his  residence  at  Flora,  Clay 
County,  he  having  been  twenty  years  of  age 
at  the  time.  He  was  a  stock-buyer  about  ten 
years,  during  the  ensuing  ten  years  was 
here  engaged  in  the  livery  business.  He  served 
eight  years  as  tax  collector  of  his  township, 
and  during  the  final  two  years  of  his  four 
years'  service  as  township  supervisor  he  served 
as  chairman  of  the  county  board  of  super- 
visors. He  held  the  office  of  city  clerk  of 
Flora  four  years,  and  in  addition  to  his  pro- 
longed service  as  county  clerk  he  has  served 
as  both  deputy  treasurer  and  county  treasurer 
of  Clay  County.  Though  he  has  his  official 
headquarters  at  Louisville,  the  county  seat, 
Mr.  McGregor  still  regards  the  attractive 
little  City  of  Flora  as  his  home,  and  there  he 
has  membership  in  the  Commercial  Club  and 
is  clerk  of  the  official  board  of  the  Christian 
Church.  He  is  affiliated  with  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Modern  Wood- 
men of  America,  and  has  long  been  influential 
in  the  councils  of  the  Republican  party  in 
Clay  County. 

At  Flora,  in  the  year  1896,  Mr.  McGregor 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Ida  Shriner, 
who  was  born  and  reared  in  Clay  County,  a 
daughter  of  Silas  and  Susan  (Luse)  Shriner, 
her  father  having  come  to  Illinois  from  Union 
County,  Ohio,  and  having  long  been  a  pros- 
perous farmer  in  Clay  County.  Mrs.  Mc- 
Gregor passed  to  the  life  eternal  April  11, 
1931,  and  her  remains  rest  in  Elmwood  Ceme- 
tery at  Flora.  Prior  to  her  marriage  she  had 
been  a  popular  teacher  in  the  public  schools. 
She  was  an  earnest  member  of  the  Christian 
Church  and  had  membership  in  the  Daugh- 
ters of  Rebekah.  She  is  survived  by  no 
children. 

William  J.  Tomkins  has  given  over  half  a 
century  of  his  life  to  the  practical  problems 
of  transportation,  and  his  long  experience  and 
many  important  responsibilities  have  made 
him  widely  known  as  an  authority  on  traffic 
management  and  its  problems.  Mr.  Tomkins 
acts  as  traffic  manager  and  traffic  counsel  for 
a  number  of  extensive  shipping  interests,  par- 
ticularly in  the  salt  industry. 

His  home  has  been  in  Chicago  for  forty 
years,  and  outside  of  his  business  and  profes- 
sion he  deserves  special  recognition  for  his 
splendid  pioneer  work  among  boys.  He  was 
a  leader  in  boy's  work  long  before  the  Boy 
Scout  organization  came  into  existence,  and  he 
accepted  that  international  organization  en- 
thusiastically as  a  means  by  which  his  per- 
sonal interest  might  be  effectively  broadened. 
He  is  district  chairman  of  the  North  Shore 
district  of  the  Chicago  Council  of  the  Boy 
Scouts  of  America. 

Mr.  Tomkins  through  various  sources  is 
eligible  for  membership  in  a  number  of  Revo- 
lutionary and  Colonial  societies.     He  was  born 


at  Jersey  City,  New  Jersey,  August  26,  1857, 
son  of  William  B.  and  Anne  Elizabeth  (Stryk- 
er)  Tomkins.  The  Tomkins  family  is  English 
and  the  Strykers  of  Holland-Dutch  ancestry. 
One  of  the  Stryker  family  was  a  member  of 
General  Washington's  staff  in  the  Revolution- 
ary war. 

William  J.  Tomkins  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated in  Jersey  City.  There  in  1872,  when  he 
was  fifteen  years  of  age,  he  went  to  work  in 
the  traffic  department  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad.  This  was  an  employment  which  he 
converted  into  a  permanent  career,  and  traffic 
work  has  been  the  object  of  his  thought  and 
study  for  upwards  of  sixty  years.  He  spent 
nineteen  years  with  the  Pennsylvania  system 
at  Jersey  City. 

On  coming  to  Chicago  in  January,  1891, 
Mr.  Tomkins  was  made  an  official  of  the  Joint 
Rate  Inspection  Bureau.  Later  he  went  with 
the  traffic  department  of  the  Santa  Fe  Rail- 
way, then  for  two  years  returned  to  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  left  that  to  take  up  the  commercial 
side  of  transportation  as  assistant  traffic  man- 
ager for  the  Deering  Harvester  Company. 
When  the  Republic  Iron  &  Steel  Company 
was  organized  he  took  a  similar  position  in 
that  corporation.  From  that  he  was  called  to 
act  as  assistant  traffic  manager  of  the  exten- 
sive interests  of  Joy  Morton  &  Company.  He 
was  made  traffic  manager  for  the  company 
and  has  continued  his  connection  with  the  traf- 
fic management  in  the  salt  industry,  with  a 
greatly  increased  scope,  since  his  work  has 
come  to  include  a  number  of  other  large  con- 
cerns engaged  in  the  use  of  railroads  and 
Great  Lakes  shipping  facilities.  He  is  traffic 
manager  for  the  Ohio  &  Eastern  Michigan 
Salt  Producers,  and  the  Standard  Steamship 
Company,  which  started  operations  on  the 
Great  Lakes  in  1930,  acquired  his  service  as 
traffic  manager  and  traffic  counsel.  As  a  traffic 
counsel  he  is  licensed  to  practice  before  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission.  Mr.  Tom- 
kins is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Traffic  Club 
and  has  served  as  vice  president  of  the  Chi- 
cago Kiwanis  Club.  His  offices  are  in  the 
Transportation  Building,  at  608  South  Dear- 
born. 

His  active  interests  and  cooperation  with 
boys  organizations  began  more  than  thirty- 
five  years  ago.  One  of  his  earliest  enterprises 
in  Chicago  was  the  organization  and  conduct- 
ing of  a  boys  band.  On  account  of  his  notable 
experience  in  this  field  he  was  drafted  into  the 
service  as  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Boy 
Scout  Council  in  Chicago.  He  has  always  re- 
garded it  as  a  great  honor  and  privilege  as 
well  as  a  fine  responsibility  to  be  connected 
with  the  Boy  Scouts.  In  February,  1930,  he 
was  reelected  district  chairman  of  the  North 
Shore  district  of  the  Chicago  Council  and 
again  in  1931.  His  oldest  son  was  one  of  the 
first  scout  masters  of  the  Chicago  district, 
and  a  grandson  is  now  a  second  class  scout,  so 


286 


ILLINOIS 


that  three  generations  of  this  one  family  have 
been  actively  identified  with  this  noble  move- 
ment. Mr.  Tomkins  has  not  been  satisfied  to 
act  in  an  official  capacity,  but  has  always  con- 
tinued his  work  among  individuals.  His  in- 
fluence in  that  field  alone  is  notable,  since  there 
have  been  many  instances  when  boys  have 
been  started  on  the  road  to  success  and  worthy 
achievements  through  counsel  and  opportune 
assistance  given  by  Mr.  Tomkins. 

Mr.  Tomkins  married  Miss  Florence  Nelson, 
of  Delaware.  Their  four  children  are  Ray- 
mond, Earl,  Edith  and  Glenn  W. 

Howard  B.  Dillman,  M.  D.,  has  won  secure 
standing  as  one  of  the  representative  physi- 
cians and  surgeons  of  the  younger  generation 
in  Clay  County  and  is  established  in  success- 
ful general  practice  in  his  native  City  of 
Louisville,  the  county  seat.  His  birth  here 
occurred  October  23,  1899,  and  he  is  a  son 
of  William  H.  Dillman  who  has  long  been 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  at  Louisville 
and  who  is  one  of  the  leading  members  of  the 
bar  of  Clay  County. 

William  H.  Dillman  was  born  July  7,  1868, 
in  a  one-room  log  cabin  on  the  pioneer  farm 
of  his  father  in  Clay  County,  Illinois,  and 
is  a  son  of  Lewis  and  Harriet  (Smith)  Dili- 
man,  his  father  having  come  to  Illinois  from 
his  native  State  of  Tennessee  and  having 
taken  up  Government  land  in  Clay  County  at 
the  time  when  Gen.  Andrew  Jackson  was  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  it  having  been  his 
to  do  well  his  part  in  the  civic  and  industrial 
development  of  Illinois,  where  he  became  a 
substantial  farmer  of  his  day  and  generation. 
William  H.  Dillman  supplemented  the  disci- 
pline of  the  common  schools  by  completing  a 
course  in  the  law  department  of  Ewing  Col- 
lege, Bloomington,  Illinois,  and  upon  receiv- 
ing his  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  and  being 
admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar  he  forthwith  en- 
gaged in  the  practice  of  his  profession  at 
Louisville,  where  he  has  long  controlled  a 
substantial  and  representative  law  business. 
He  is  serving  as  master  in  chancery  for  Clay 
County.  He  has  been  influential  in  Demo- 
cratic politics,  and  has  membership  in  the 
Clay  County  and  the  Illinois  State  Bar  Asso- 
ciations. Of  his  two  children  the  subject  of 
this  review  is  the  younger,  and  the  older  son, 
Robert,  is  a  graduate  of  Loyola  University  in 
Chicago,  receiving  the  B.  S.  degree  in  1930. 

After  being  graduated  in  the  high  school  at 
Flora,  Clay  County,  with  the  class  of  1918. 
Dr.  Howard  B.  Dillman  was  a  student  two 
years  in  pre-medical  in  Washington  University 
at  St.  Louis,  Missouri.  In  1920  he  entered  the 
St.  Louis  University  medical  department  and 
in  1924  he  completed  his  four  years'  course 
and  was  duly  graduated  with  the  degee  of 
Doctor  of  Medicine.  He  served  one  year  as 
an  interne  in  the  Jewish  Hospital  in  that 
city  and  then  passed  a  year  in  service  in  the 


Flora  Hospital  at  Flora,  Clay  County.  He 
then  returned  to  Louisville,  the  county  seat, 
in  1926,  where  he  has  since  been  engaged  in 
successful  general  practice.  While  in  college 
in  St.  Louis  he  enlisted  for  World  war  service 
and  received  military  training,  but  he  was 
not  called  to  active  duty.  The  Doctor  has 
membership  in  the  Clay  County  Medical  So- 
ciety, the  Illinois  State  Medical  Society  and 
the  American  Medical  Association.  He  is  affil- 
iated with  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  the  Alpha 
Omega  Alpha,  honorary  medical  fraternity, 
and  the  Phi  Rho,  national  medical  fraternity. 
He  also  holds  membership  in  the  American 
Legion.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Louisville 
Commercial  Club  and  his  political  convictions 
place  him  loyally  in  the  ranks  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party. 

On  October  2,  1925,  Doctor  Dillman  mar- 
ried Miss  LaFerne  Deabler,  daughter  of  Otto 
and  Goldie  (Oglesby)  Deabler.  Otto  Deabler 
is  a  building  contractor  and  resides  at  Xenia, 
Illinois.  The  two  children  of  this  union  are 
Patricia  Lou,  born  April  9,  1927,  and  Mary 
Janis,  born  November  26,  1930.  Mrs.  Dillman 
before  her  marriage  was  in  training  as  a  nurse 
at  the  Jewish  Hospital  in  St.  Louis.  She  is 
a  member  of  the  Eastern  Star  and  active  in 
social  affairs. 

George  Albert  Sihler,  physician  and  sur- 
geon, came  to  Litchfield  during  the  '80s,  and 
has  been  an  outstanding  representative  of 
his  profession  in  Montgomery  County  for  over 
forty-five  years.  Doctor  Sihler  long  enjoyed 
the  reputation  as  being  one  of  the  most  ex- 
pert surgeons  in  this  part  of  the  state.  He 
still  does  some  work  along  that  line,  but  he 
has  associated  with  him  his  three  sons,  two 
of  whom  are  physicians  and  surgeons  and 
the  other  a  dentist.  They  do  their  work  to- 
gether, and  have  commodious  and  splendidly 
equipped  offices,  and  as  a  family  they  present 
all  the  opportunities  known  in  modern  term- 
inology as  "group  practice." 

Doctor  Sihler,  the  senior  member  of  this 
professional  firm,  was  born  at  Simcoe,  On- 
tario, Canada,  May  28,  1862.  He  is  a  son 
of  Charles  J.  and  Mary  (Schott)  Sihler,  both 
of  whom  were  born  in  Germany.  His  mother 
is  deceased.  Charles  J.  Sihler  was  born  in 
Stuttgart  and  was  a  youth  when  he  came 
to  Canada  in  1850.  He  entered  the  lumber 
industry  and  followed  through  all  his  active 
years  with  success.  He  lived  to  be  ninety- 
eight  years  of  age,  his  death  occurred  at 
Simcoe  November  23,  1931.  He  enjoyed  re- 
markable health  through  all  his  years.  There 
were  nine  children,  five  daughters  and  four 
sons,  and  all  the  sons  are  successful  pro- 
fessional men.  Dr.  Charles  Sihler,  a  gradu- 
ate of  McGill  University  of  Montreal  as  a 
veterinary  surgeon  and  the  founder  of  the 
College    of    Veterinary    Medicine    at    Kansas 


ILLINOIS 


287 


City,  Missouri,  where  he  resides.     Dr.  Arthur 
Sihler,  also  a  graduate  of  McGill  University 
and    a    practicing    dentist    at    Simcoe.      The 
youngest  son  is  Dr.  William  F.  Sihler,  a  phy- 
sician and  surgeon,  practicing  his   profession 
at   Devil's   Lake,   North   Dakota.     He   is   also 
a  graduate  of  McGill  University. 
T^nf^T  flbert   Sihler   was   graduated   from 
McGill  Univeristy  in  the  College  of  Medicine 
with   the   class   of    1883.      This   was   followed 
by  an  extended  post  graduate  course  in  Ger- 
many  and   Austria,   where  he   visited   all   the 
important  medical   and   hospital   centers,   con- 
cluding with  a  special  course  in  the  University 
of    Berlin.      Doctor    Sihler    on    his    return    to 
America   located   at  Litchfield,   Illinois,  where 
he  has  successfully  practiced  through  all  the 
years.      He    has    always    enjoyed    travel    both 
as  recreation  and  as  a  means  to  further  his 
scientific  attainments,  and  he  has  seen  a  large 
part  of  the  civilized  world.     He  is  a  member 
of  the   various   medical   organizations   and   is 
a    Knight    Templar    and    thirty-second    degree 
Scottish  Rite  Mason. 

Doctor  Sihler  married  Miss  Bertha  Ohnsorg 
of  Simcoe,  Ontario.  They  have  three  sons 
Dr  George  A.  Sihler  Jr.  took  his  pre-medical 
work  at  the  University  of  Illinois  and  was 
graduated  from  his  father's  alma  mater,  Mc- 
GiU  University,  in  1919.  Since  returning  to 
Litchfield  he  has  achieved  rank  among  the 
ablest  men  of  his  calling  in  Southern  Illinois. 
The  second  son,  Arthur  E.  Sihler,  was  educated 
m  the  College  of  Dentistry  at  St.  Louis  Uni- 
versity and  is  the  dental  surgeon  in  the  Sih- 
l?r  £ai?ily  firm*  The  y°u«g:est  son,  Charles 
H.  Sihler,  was  educated  at  McGill  University 
and   is  a   practicing  physician. 

Ben  F.  Wineland,  justice  of  the  peace  at 
Mora,  Clay  County,  has  long  been  a  skilled 
artisan  in  the  carpenter  trade,  which  he  has 
followed  successfully  as  a  contractor  and 
builder.  Since  1902  Judge  Wineland  has  been 
a  resident  of  Flora. 

Mr  Wineland  was  born  at  Girard,  Macou- 
pin County,  Illinois,  November  17,  1869,  a 
son  of  David  and  Susan  (Stutsman)  Wineland 
and  eldest  m  a  family  of  six  children.  The 
names  of  the  other  children  are  here  recorded  ■ 
Sarah  (Mrs.  Alvin  Fite),  Charles,  Cora  (Mrs. 
James  Neher),  Herbert,  and  Rhoda  (deceased). 

David  Wineland  was  born  at  Trotwood, 
Montgomery  County,  Ohio,  was  reared  in  the 
faith  of  the  Dunkard  Church  and  received  the 
advantages  of  the  common  schools.  He  was 
t  J°uth  at  the  time  of  his  parents'  death, 
had  learned  the  carpenter  trade,  and  this  trade 
he  followed  after  coming  to  Illinois,  when  a 
young  man.  In  this  state  his  marriage  oc- 
curred and  here  he  and  his  wife  passed  the 
remainder  of  their  lives.  He  died  at  Girard, 
Illinois  in  1888.  His  wife  having  passed 
away  m  1884.  The  original  American  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Wineland  family  settled   in 


Virginia,  and  a  later  generation  gave  pioneer 
settlers  to  the   State  of  Ohio. 

The  public  schools  of  his  native  town  of 
Lrirard  were  the  medium  through  which  B.  F 
Wineland  gained  his  early  education,  and  as 
a  youth  he  worked  with  his  father  at  the 
carpenter  trade.  He  was  for  some  time  in 
the  railway  mail  service,  on  the  Baltimore 
&  Ohio  Railroad,  and  in  June,  1914,  he  was 
appointed  postmaster  of  his  present  home 
town  of  Flora.  Here  he  was  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile business  three  years  and  since  his 
retirement  therefrom  he  has  served  as  justice 

•  lpeace;  His  election  to  that  office  was 
m  1929  on  the  Democratic  ticket.  He  made 
careful  study  of  the  law  as  applying  to  his 
sphere  of  judicial  service  and  thus  his  admin- 
istration m  the  justice  court  has  been  notably 
efficient.  He  is  a  Democrat,  and  has  served 
as  a  member  of  the  Flora  Board  of  Alder- 
men and  as  a  member  of  the  local  board  of 
education,   of   which   he   was   made  president. 

*  A*,  1a??1? ted  with  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows  and  he  and  his  wife  have 
membership  in  the  Christian  Church  in  their 
home    community. 

On   November   1,    1893,   Mr.    Wineland   was 
united    m    marriage    to    Miss    Ada    Campbell, 
daughter    of    Marcus    and    Sarah     (Winters) 
Campbell,    her    father    having    been    a    repre- 
sentative farmer  in  Menard  County.     Of  the 
three    children    of    Mr.    and    Mrs.    Wineland 
Herbert  is  deceased;   Florence  is  the  wife  of 
Harry    Jarrett    of    Washington,    D.    C;    and 
E.  Harold,  who  was  graduated  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Illinois  in  the  law  department  receiv- 
ing his   LL.   B.   degree  in   1931   and   for  two 
years   a  student   in   George  Washington   Uni- 
versity,   Washington,    D.    C,    depended    upon 
his    own    resources    in    acquiring    his    higher 
education,    has    fitted    himself    for    the    legal 
profession.     In  1931  he  established  himself  in 
law  practice  at  Flora  and  in  the  Democratic 
primary   of    1932    he   is   a    candidate   for   the 
office  of  State  Attorney  for  Clay  County. 

Andrew  J  Eekhoff  was  born  at  Nokomis, 
Montgomery  County,  Illinois,  August  28,  1874 
Nokomis  has  been  his  home  for  over  half  a 
century.  The  community  has  learned  to  es- 
teem and  regard  him  as  one  of  its  most 
capable  men  either  in  business  or  public  af- 
fairs. He  is  former  postmaster,  and  his  name 
has  been  intimately  associated  with  many 
phases  of  the  town's  commercial  and  civic 
activities. 

His  father,  Gerhard  Eekhoff,  was  born  at 
Norden  Ostfriesland,  Germany,  in  1844.  He 
came  to  America  in  1854,  grew  up  at  St 
Louis  and  later  became  a  citizen  of  Mont- 
gomery County  at  Nokomis.  He  died  in  1887 
at  the  age  of  forty-three.  He  married  Antje 
Woltman,  who  was  born  in  Germany  in  1851 
After  their  marriage  they  lived  on  a  farm 
near  Nokomis  and  later  he  was  in  the  mer- 


288 


ILLINOIS 


cantile  business  in  that  town.  For  three  on 
four  years  he  lived  in  Iowa,  but  returned 
to  Nokomis,  where  he  spent  his  last  years. 
There  were  five  children  in  the  family:  Jo- 
hanna, wife  of  J.  F.  Reinders;  Andrew  J.; 
Arnold  G.;  Anna,  wife  of  W.  R.  McCaslin; 
and  Katherine,  wife  of  Rev.  W.  J.  Kowert. 

Andrew  J.  Eekhoff  obtained  his  education; 
in  the  schools  of  Nokomis.  At  an  early  age* 
he  put  forth  his  initial  efforts  as  a  business 
man  by  organizing  the  Andrew  J.  Eekhoff 
Company,  wholesale  poultry  and  egg  dealers. 
For  several  years  he  was  also  a  practical 
printer.  He  had  completed  his  business  train-* 
ing  by  a  course  in  a  Chicago  business  college. 
Mr.  Eekhoff  was  in  the  poultry  and  egg 
business  until  1913,  when  he  was  appointed 
postmaster  by  President  Wilson.  He  was  re- 
appointed by  the  same  President  in  1918  and 
served  in  that  capacity  from  1913  to  1923. 
During  the  war  he  was  secretary  of  the 
Illinois   Postmasters  Association. 

Mr.  Eekhoff  was  mayor  of  Nokomis  from 
1923  until  1929,  serving  three  terms.  He"  is 
chairman  of  the  Democratic  Central  Commit- 
tee of  Montgomery  County.  Mr.  Eekhoff  has 
always  been  a  patriot  with  a  martial  spirit. 
At  the  time  of  the  Spanish-American  wait 
he  enlisted  and  was  commissioned  a  second 
lieutenant,  but  did  not  get  into  active  duty. 
During  the  World  war  he  volunteered,  being 
one  of  the  first  to  offer  his  services,  but  he, 
was  drafted  to  stay  at  home,  though  he 
helped  enlist  sixty-two  recruits.  He  was  also 
one  of  the  Four  Minute  Men  in  raising  fundsi 
for  war  work.  Whenever  the  call  of  public? 
duty  comes  Mr.  Eekhoff  has  been  more  than 
ready  to  do  his  part.  He  has  been  active  in 
Boy  Scout  work,  and  one  of  the  executive 
members  of  the  Council  at  Nokomis.  He  an4 
his  wife  are  stanch  members  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  and  for  many  years  he  has  been 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school  and  was 
vice  president  of  the.  State  Sunday  School 
Association  for   several  years. 

Since  leaving  the  office  of  postmaster  in  1923 
Mr.  Eekhoff  has  built  up  a  prosperous  organ- 
ization in  insurance,  and  does  business 
throughout  all  the  territory  surrounding  No- 
komis. 

He  married  in  Chicago,  August  11,  1908, 
Miss  Charlotte  Holmes.  Mrs.  Eekhoff  was 
born  at  Delavan,  Illinois,  attended  school 
there  and  the  Normal  College  at  Lebanon, 
Ohio,  the  George  Washington  University,  of 
Washington,  D.  C,  and  the  University  of  Illi- 
nois. At  the  time  of  her  marriage  she  was 
principal  of  the  Nokomis  High  School.  During 
the  World  war,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  teach- 
ers, she  was  drafted  to  teach  again  in  the 
Nokomis  schools  and  has  remained  one  of 
the  efficient  instructors  there  to  the  present 
time.  All  of  the  younger  generation  of  peo- 
ple who  have  grown  up  in  Nokomis  during 
the    past    twenty    or    twenty-five    years    know 


and  love  this  noble-hearted  woman  who  has 
been  a  source  of  inspiration  as  well  as  of 
practical  knowledge  to  the  young  people. 

Gilbert  L.  Prante,  advertising  manager  of 
the  Quincy  Herald-Whig,  was  with  the  colors 
during  the  World  war,  but  with  that  exception 
his  energies  and  talents  have  been  employed 
in  the  printing  and  newspaper  business  at 
Quincy  since  he  left  high  school.  Mr.  Prante's 
father  and  grandfather  were  early  day  con- 
tractors, and  thus  the  contributions  of  the 
family  have  been  important  in  the  upbuilding 
of  Quincy  for  many  years. 

Mr.  Prante  was  born  at  Quincy  April  26, 
1893.  His  grandfather,  Adolph  Prante,  was 
a  native  of  Saxony,  Germany.  Quincy  when 
he  arrived  here  was  a  small  river  town.  He 
set  up  in  business  as  a  contractor,  and  contin- 
ued active  even  in  his  advanced  years.  At 
the  age  of  seventy-five  he  was  crushed  in 
an  accident  when  a  cave-in  occurred  in  a 
quarry.  After  leaving  the  hospital  he  again 
went  out  with  his  men  and  did  not  perma- 
nently desist  from  the  management  of  his 
business  until  a  few  years  before  his  death, 
which  occurred  at  the  age  of  ninety-three.  He 
was  born  in  1826  and  died  in  1919. 

The  father  of  Gilbert  Prante  was  Frederick 
Prante,  who  was  born  in  Quincy  and  died  there 
February  2,  1931,  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven. 
He  was  a  prominent  building  contractor.  He 
was  never  active  in  politics,  though  voting  as 
a  Republican  in  practically  every  election.  He 
married  Miss  Hannah  Potts,  whose  parents 
came  from  Germany  and  settled  in  Quincy 
in  the  early  '40s. 

Gilbert  L.  Prante  received  a  good  education 
in  the  public  schools  of  Quincy.  On  leaving 
high  school  he  began  an  apprenticeship  to 
learn  the  printing  trade.  He  received  this 
training  in  the  plant  of  the  Quincy  Journal 
when  it  was  under  the  direction  of  that  mas- 
ter newspaper  man,  Hiram  Wheeler.  Mr. 
Prante  was  with  the  Journal  staff  until  he 
entered  the  World  war  service.  He  was  sent 
to  a  camp  at  Atlanta,  Georgia,  May  30,  1918, 
and  after  taking  the  examinations  was  put 
in  charge  of  the  government  printing  at  Camp 
Sheridan,  Alabama.  He  was  offered  a  com- 
mission but  declined  it,  hoping  to  get  overseas, 
since  his  own  outfit  had  been  scheduled  to 
go  abroad,  but  the  armistice  was  signed  before 
they  sailed.  Mr.  Prante  was  discharged  with 
the  rank  of  first  sergeant  March  28,  1919. 

He  then  resumed  his  work  with  the  Journal 
until  that  paper  was  discontinued  in  1925. 
He  immediately  transferred  to  the  advertis- 
ing department  of  the  Herald-Whig,  and  here 
his  capabilities  brought  him  increasing  respon- 
sibilities until  January  1,  1929,  when  he  was 
made  manager  of  the  advertising  department. 
Under  his  direction  the  Herald-Whig  has  be- 
come one  of  the  best  advertising  mediums  in 
Western  Illinois. 


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ILLINOIS 


289 


On  January  1,  1929,  Governor  Emmerson 
appointed  Mr.  Prante  adviser  on  the  Free 
Employment  Bureau  of  Western  Illinois.  Dur- 
ing the  administration  of  Mayor  Weems,  Mr. 
Prante  was  superintendent  of  streets  and  in 
that  department  he  set  a  standard  for  economy. 

Mr.  Prante  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Legion,  Hill-Emery  Post  No.  37.  He  is  affili- 
ated with  Herman  Lodge  No.  39  A.  P.  and 
A.  M.,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Luther  Memo- 
rial Church.  On  May  8,  1920,  he  married 
Miss  Chlowie  Hubbard,  daughter  of  John  and 
Mary  (Lee)  Hubbard.  Mrs.  Prante  was 
reared  and  educated  in  Quincy,  and  is  active 
in  social  affairs,  being  a  member  of  the 
Daughters  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic, 
the  Legion  Auxiliary  and  the  Memorial 
Church.     They  reside  at  646  Ohio  Avenue. 

Charles  Davison,  one  of  Illinois'  most  emi- 
nent surgeons,  began  the  practice  of  medicine 
in  Chicago  in  1884.  Much  of  his  valuable 
work  has  been  done  through  and  has  re- 
dounded to  the  benefit  of  hospitals  and  other 
institutions.  No  small  measure  of  the  repu- 
tation and  the  facilities  of  several  such  in- 
stitutions has  resulted  from  the  rare  skill  and 
ability  of  Doctor  Davison. 

He  is  a  native  of  Illinois,  born  on  a  farm 
in  Lake  County  January  13,  1858,  son  of  Peter 
and  Maria  (Whedon)  Davison.  In  the  mater- 
nal line  he  is  descended  from  an  ancestor  who 
came  to  America  in  1623  and  settled  in  Massa- 
chusetts. On  the  paternal  side  his  earliest 
ancestors  arrived  in  this  country  about  1650. 
The  Davisons  were  originally  Scotch.  The 
American  branch  of  the  family  came  over 
during  the  Cromwellian  protectorate  in  Eng- 
land. The  Davisons  were  pioneers  of  Illinois. 
They  arrived  in  Chicago  in  1837,  the  year  the 
village  was  incorporated  as  a  city.  Their  first 
home  was  in  the  block  in  which  the  Sherman 
House  now  stands.  However,  they  were  look- 
ing for  a  farm,  and  moved  on  northwest,  about 
thirty  miles  in  Lake  County.  Doctor  Davi- 
son probably  inherited  a  strong  love  for  the 
outdoors  and  country  life,  and  he  has  satisfied 
that  longing  in  part  in  the  beautiful  home  he 
has  developed  in  River  Forest.  His  home  in 
that  closely  built  up  suburb  is  situated  on  a 
tract  of  several  acres,  with  magnificent  shade 
trees,  winding  drives,  and  has  long  been  one 
of  the  show  places  along  the  Desplaines  River. 

Doctor  Davison  graduated  in  1883  from  the 
Northwestern  University  School  of  Medicine. 
He  served  his  interneship  in  the  Cook  County 
Hospital  and  for  thirty-two  years  was  attend- 
ing surgeon  of  the  hospital  and  in  1926  was 
made  honorary  professor  emeritus  of  the  in- 
stitution. He  has  had  many  prominent  asso- 
ciations with  that  institution.  He  became  at- 
tending surgeon  in  1894,  during  the  World  war 
was  president  of  its  medical  staff,  and  in 
1917  became  chief  of  its  department  of  sur- 
gery.    At  an  earlier  date,  1887-92,  he  was  as- 


sistant surgeon  at  the  Illinois  Charitable  Eye 
and  Ear  Infirmary.  Doctor  Davison  was  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  West  Side  Hospital  and 
the  University  Hospital.  He  was  attending 
surgeon  at  the  former  from  1896  to  1907.  In 
1908  he  became  attending  surgeon  at  the  Uni- 
versity Hospital  and  has  been  president  and 
surgeon  in  chief  of  its  medical  staff.  The 
Chicago  Clinical  School  is  another  institution 
with  which  his  name  is  closely  identified.  He 
was  professor  of  surgery  there  from  1896  to 
1906.  He  has  held  many  chairs  in  the  Col- 
lege of  Medicine  of  the  University  of  Illinois, 
being  professor  of  surgical  anatomy,  1899- 
1900,  adjunct  professor  of  clinical  surgery, 
1900-03,  adjunct  professor  of  surgery  and  clin- 
ical surgery,  1903-04,  in  1905  became  professor 
of  surgery  and  clinical  surgery,  and  from  1917 
to  1926  was  head  of  its  department  of  surgery 
and  professor  emeritus.  He  was  a  trustee  of 
the  University  of  Illinois  from  1905  to  1911. 

Doctor  Davison  is  a  fellow  of  the  American 
College  of  Surgeons,  was  president  in  1912- 
13  of  the  Chicago  Surgical  Society,  and  is  a 
member  of  many  other  professional  bodies. 
He  is  author  of  many  surgical  papers  and  in 
1916  there  was  published  his  "Autoplastic 
Bone  Surgery."  Doctor  Davison  is  an  Alpha 
Kappa  Kappa,  Alpha  Omega  Alpha,  Knight 
Templar  Mason  and  Shriner,  a  Methodist  and 
a  Republican.  He  married,  October  20,  1887, 
Mary  Lavinia  Kidd.  He  has  a  son,  Dr.  Charles 
Marshall  Davison. 

J.  H.  Vawter  is  one  of  the  prominent  busi- 
ness men  and  influential  citizens  of  his  native 
City  of  Salem,  judicial  center  of  Marion 
County,  where  he  engaged  in  manufacturing 
enterprise  as  the  J.  H.  Vawter  Manufacturing 
Company,  established  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago,  and  is  a  director  of  the  Salem  National 
Bank. 

Mr.  Vawter  was  born  at  Salem  October  7, 
1860  and  is  a  son  of  the  late  Reuben  T.  and 
Eleanor  (Kimball)  Vawter.  Reuben  T.  Vaw- 
ter was  born  and  reared  in  Tennessee  and 
in  his  youth  learned  the  tailor's  trade.  After 
coming  to  Illinois  in  the  early  fifties  he  set- 
tled at  Salem.  He  was  successfully  established 
in  the  merchant  tailoring  business  at  Salem, 
and  died  as  a  young  man  in  1863.  His  widow 
survived  until  1895,  having  married  W.  M. 
Metcalfe  in  1868.  The  original  American  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Vawter  family  came  from 
England  and  settled  in  Virginia  in  the  Col- 
onial period  of  our  national  history.  The 
wife  of  Reuben  T.  Vawter  was  a  representa- 
tive of  a  family  that  early  made  settlement 
near  Freeport,  Illinois,  having  originally  come 
from  England  and  settled  in  Kentucky.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  younger  of  a 
family  of  two  children,  and  his  brother,  Reu- 
ben K.,  is  a  resident  of  the  State  of  Oklahoma. 

The  public-school  discipline  of  J.  H.  Vaw- 
ter culminated  in  his  graduation  in  the  Salem 


290 


ILLINOIS 


High  School  in  1878,  and  in  the  meanwhile  he 
had  a  full  quota  of  experience  in  farm  work, 
including  the  driving  of  a  milk  wagon.  At 
the  age  of  twenty-three  years  he  engaged  in 
the  produce  business  at  Salem,  and  in  1890 
he  became  associated  with  C.  R.  Rogers  in 
the  hardware  business,  having  purchased  his 
partner's  interest  five  years  later  and  con- 
tinued in  the  hardware  until  1918.  Selling 
out  to  devote  his  full  interest  at  that  time 
to  the  J.  H.  Vawter  Co.  He  is  now  one  of 
the  substantial  capitalists  of  his  native  county, 
and  aside  from  his  interests  in  the  Salem 
National  Bank  and  manufacturing  business 
he  is  vice  president  of  the  Illinois  Bond  & 
Investment  Company  of  Salem,  president  of 
the  Marion  County  Mutual  Fire  Insurance 
Company,  president  of  the  Egyptian  Automo- 
bile Insurance  Company.  In  1914  and  1915 
Mr.  Vawter  served  as  president  of  the  Illinois 
Retail   Hardware   Dealers   Association. 

Mr.  Vawter  gives  his  political  allegiance 
to  the  Democratic  party,  he  served  six  years 
as  a  member  of  the  Salem  board  of  aldermen 
and  two  years  as  mayor  of  the  city,  and  he 
has  at  all  times  been  loyal  and  liberal  as 
a  citizen.  He  has  membership  in  the  local 
Rotary  Club  and  the  Salem  Country  Club,  is 
affiliated  with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  and  he  and  his  wife  are  members  of 
the   Presbyterian   Church. 

Mr.  Vawter  on  May  22,  1882,  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Margaret  T.  Garner, 
and  her  death  occurred  at  the  family  home  in 
Salem,  May  14,  1917.  The  eldest  of  the  chil- 
dren of  this  union  is  Lillian  G.,  the  wife 
of  H.  H.  Kauffman  of  Alton,  Illinois.  Hattie 
M.  died  in  1916,  was  the  wife  of  J.  M.  Hum- 
phrey and  has  two  children,  Florede  and  John; 
Mette  B.  is  the  widow  of  D.  G.  Woolley  and 
has  three  children:  Margaret,  Hal  and  John; 
Irene  G.  is  the  wife  of  M.  Storey,  of  El  Reno, 
Oklahoma. 

August  16,  1923  Mr.  Vawter  married  Mrs. 
Anna  A.  (Allman)  Baker,  a  daughter  of  A. 
R.  Allman,  and  she  presides  graciously  over 
the  attractive  Vawter  home,  besides  being  a 
leader  in  church,  social  and  cultural  circles. 

Hon.  Alfred  H.  Jones,  veteran  attorney, 
a  resident  of  Robinson,  has  been  busied  with 
the  multitudinous  cares  of  a  long  and  suc- 
cessful professional  and  public  career.  His 
outstanding  service  to  the  state  and  nation 
has  been  his  research,  authoritative  knowledge 
and  activity  in  behalf  of  pure  food  legislation. 
Mr.  Jones  for  many  years  occupied  the  office 
of  state  food  commissioner   of  Illinois. 

Mr.  Jones  was  born  on  a  farm  near  Flat 
Rock  in  Crawford  County,  Illinois,  July  4, 
1850,  son  of  John  M.  and  Elizabeth  (Ford) 
Jones.  He  represents  an  old  American  fam- 
ily. His  great-grandfather,  Moses  Jones, 
came  from  Wales  to  the  United  States  and 
settled  near  Manassas  Junction,  Virginia.  His 


son,  Aaron  Jones,  and  the  grandfather  of 
Alfred  H.  Jones,  the  subject  of  this  review 
was  a  native  of  Virginia,  moved  with  his 
family  to  Oxford,  Ohio,  and  about  1830  came 
to  Illinois  as  a  pioneer  of  Crawford  County. 
Thus  the  Jones  family  have  had  their  seat 
in  Crawford   County  for  over  a  century. 

John  M.  Jones  was  born  near  Manassas 
Junction,  Virginia,  spent  part  of  his  child- 
hood in  Ohio  on  the  Little  Miami  River,  and 
came  with  his  father  to  Illinois  about  1830. 
He  was  a  farmer,  one  of  the  early  adherents 
of  the  Republican  party  and  a  man  of  much 
influence  in  his  community.  He  and  his  wife 
were  members  of  the  United  Brethren  Church. 
He  died  in  1878  and  she  in  1874.  Her  parents 
were  John  and  Hopy  (Highsmith)  Ford.  John 
Ford  was  born  in  Bowling  Green,  Kentucky, 
and  was  also  a  pioneer  settler  of  Flat  Rock, 
Crawford  County,  Illinois,  locating  there  about 
1830.  He  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  War  of 
1812.  In  politics  he  was  a  Democrat.  One 
of  his  sons,  John  Ford  Jr.,  was  colonel  of 
a  Kentucky  regiment  in  the  Confederate  army 
during  the  Civil  war.  Hopy  Highsmith  had 
several  brothers  who  were  well  known  pio- 
neers of  Illinois:  William  Highsmith,  who 
1830.  He  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  War  of 
member  of  the  Illinois  Territorial  Legislature; 
Richard  Highsmith,  who  also  fought  in  the 
Blackhawk  Indian  war  and  was  a  Baptist 
minister. 

Alfred  H.  Jones  acquired  his  early  education 
in  Westfield  College  in  Clark  County,  Illinois, 
and  in  1869  was  graduated  from  the  National 
Normal  University  at  Lebanon,  Ohio.  He 
taught  school  three  years.  His  last  school 
work  was  done  at  St.  Marys,  Kansas.  At 
Robinson  he  studied  law  in  the  office  of  Cal- 
lahan and  Jones,  and  in  1875  was  admitted 
to  the  bar.  Mr.  Jones  is  one  of  the  oldest 
members  of  the  Illinois  bar,  his  name  having 
been  on  the  roll  of  practicing  attorneys  in 
the  state  for  over  fifty-five  years.  In  1876 
he  was  appointed  state's  attorney  of  Craw- 
ford County,  serving  one  year.  For  over 
thirty  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  Robin- 
son school  board.  In  1876  he  was  elected 
chairman  of  the  Republican  Central  Commit- 
tee, a  position  he  held  for  forty-two  consecu- 
tive years,  which  probably  constitutes  a  rec- 
ord of  its  kind.  He  was  for  four  terms  a 
member  of  the  Illinois  State  Central  Com- 
mittee. Mr.  Jones  in  1897  was  appointed 
chairman  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the 
Eastern  Illinois  State  Teachers  College  at 
Charleston  and  continued  a  member  of  the 
board  until  the  first  buildings  had  been  com- 
pleted and  the  school  organized,  when  he 
resigned. 

Illinois  was  one  of  the  first  states  to  enact 
a  state  food  law.  The  original  legislation 
passed  in  1898.  Mr.  Jones  was  selected  by 
Governor  Tanner  as  the  first  state  food  com- 
missioner.     He   served   during  the   remainder 


ILLINOIS 


291 


of  Governor  Tanne/rrs  administration,  four 
years  under  Governor  Yates  and  eight  years 
under  Governor  Deneen  and  about  eighteen 
months  during  the  Dunne  administration. 
Later  Governor  Small  recalled  him  to  office, 
and  he  served  under  his  administration.  In 
1899  Mr.  Jones  was  chairman  of  the  National 
Food  Commission.  He  spent  considerable  time 
in  Washington  in  the  effort  to  bring  about 
the  passage  of  a  national  food  law.  It  will 
be  recalled  that  President  Roosevelt's  admin- 
istration is  credited  with  the  enactment  of 
the  first  national  pure  food  act  in  1906.  The 
men  who  drafted  this  national  pure  food  law 
were  Commissioner  Hamilton  of  Pennsylvania, 
Commissioner  Brockman  of  Ohio,  Commis- 
sioner Grovener  of  Michigan  and  Commis- 
sioner Alfred  H.  Jones  of  Illinois.  In  1906 
Mr.  Jones  had  a  prominent  part  in  securing 
the  enactment  of  the  present  Illinois  State 
Pure  Food  Law,  which  has  been  a  model  for 
many  other  states.  He  has  lectured  and  spoken 
in  nearly  every  state  in  the  Union  in  behalf 
of  pure  food  legislation.  He  also  did  much 
toward  the  enactment  of  the  Sanitary  Law, 
now  in  the  Illinois  statute  books. 

Mr.  Jones  was  a  member  of  the  Thirty- 
fifth  Illinois  General  Assembly  1886-88,  rep- 
resenting the  Forty-fifth  District.  The  people 
of  Robinson  credit  him  with  many  other  activ- 
ities of  a  public  nature.  He  had  much  to 
do  with  the  building  of  the  new  court  house 
in  Robinson,  with  securing  the  new  South 
Side  High  School,  and  has  been  a  thoroughly 
public  spirited  leader  ever  since  he  located 
in  Robinson,  which  in  1875  was  a  town  of  only 
600  population.  He  was  instrumental  in 
securing  the  new  Federal  Post  Office  and  the 
Carnegie  Public  Library.  He  is  the  only  living 
member  of  the  original  organization  of  the 
First  National  Bank,  and  for  many  years 
was  its  president  and  is  still  on  the  board 
of  directors.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois 
Bankers  Association,  past  president  of  the 
Crawford  County  Bar  Association,  member 
of  the  Illinois  State  Bar  Association,  and  was 
chairman  of  the  building  committee  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He  holds  a  gold 
medal  as  a  token  of  fifty  years  of  active 
membership  in  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason  and 
was  one  of  the  charter  members  of  the  Rob- 
inson Lodge  of  Elks. 

Mr.  Jones  married  June  18,  1871,  Miss 
Matilda  Thompson  of  Newton  County,  Indi- 
ana. She  died  October  10,  1873,  leaving  one 
son,  Gus  A.  Jones.  Gus  A.  Jones  graduated 
from  the  National  Normal  University  at  Leb- 
anon, Ohio,  is  now  assistant  cashier  of  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Robinson.  He  has 
three  children:  Frances,  wife  of  Miles  Kin- 
caid  of  Paducah,  Kentucky;  Miss  Alberta,  a 
graduate  of  Northwestern  University;  and 
Alfred  Hanby  Jones,  Jr.,  a  student  in  the 
University    of    Illinois.      In    1878   the    subject 


of  this  review  married  Miss  Catherine  Beals 
of  Crawford  County,  daughter  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  George  Beals.  Her  father  went  out  to 
California  in  the  gold  rush  of  1849  and  laid 
the  basis  of  a  considerable  fortune  on  the 
Pacific  Coast.  Mrs.  Jones  was  educated  in 
Ohio.  She  is  a  member  of  the  Sorosis  Club 
and  for  a  number  of  years  was  a  member  of 
the  choir  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Hon.  Alfred  A.  Isaacs,  of  Gillespie,  presi- 
dent of  the  Macoupin  County  Bar  Association 
and  for  two  terms  county  judge,  has  earned 
many  other  distinctions  during  the  twenty  odd 
years  he  has  practiced  law  at  Gillespie.  He 
is  a  native  of  the  county  and  he  owns  the 
farm  in  Dorchester  Township  on  which  he 
was  born  and  on  which  his  grandfather  se- 
cured a  government  patent  more  than  ninety 
years  ago. 

The  history  of  the  Isaacs  family  is  a  long 
and  honorable  one.  For  many  generations 
they  lived  in  England.  His  great-great-grand- 
father was  Richard  Isaacs,  who  with  two 
brothers  came  to  America  from  Sheffield,  Eng- 
land. Richard,  when  the  war  for  independence 
broke  out  joined  the  Colonial  forces,  while  his 
two.  brothers  were  British  soldiers.  The  broth- 
ers subsequently  returned  to  England,  but 
Richard  remained  an  American  citizen,  and 
after  his  marriage  in  Maryland  moved  to 
the  State  of  North  Carolina.  Richard  Isaacs 
was  a  son  of  Jacob  and  Sarah  (Jacobs)  Isaacs 
of  England.  The  second  generation  of  the 
American  family  was  represented  by  Richard 
Isaacs,  who  married  in  North  Carolina,  but 
in  later  years  moved  over  the  mountains  into 
Kentucky.  He  was  the  great-grandfather  of 
Judge  Isaacs  of  Gillespie.  The  judge's  grand- 
father was  Abram  Isaacs,  who  came  from 
Kentucky  to  Illinois  in  1836,  and  in  1840 
patented  the  homestead  in  Dorchester  Town- 
ship, which  has  been  known  as  the  Isaacs 
farm  for  over  ninety  years.  On  this  land 
he  erected  a  log  cabin.  He  was  a  staunch 
abolitionist,  a  great  admirer  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, and  was  one  of  the  original  founders 
of  the  Republican  party  in  Illinois.  His  re- 
ligious connection  was  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  Abraham  Isaacs  passed 
away  in  1896.  He  married  Mary  Eaton  of 
Kingston,  Mississippi,  whose  people  came 
north  to  Illinois  because  of  their  hatred  of 
slavery.     She  died  in  1890. 

The  parents  of  Judge  Isaacs  were  Abram 
and  Nancy  E.  (Fruit)  Isaacs.  Nancy  E.  Fruit 
was  born  at  Fruit  Station  in  Madison  County, 
Illinois,  daughter  of  Jefferson  Fruit,  also  a 
native  of  this  state.  His  farm  in  Madison 
County  included  the  little  settlement  known  as 
Fruit  Station.  He  died  there  in  1890  at  the 
age  of  seventy  years.  Abram  Isaacs,  father 
of  Judge  Isaacs,  spent  his  active  life  as  a 
farmer  in  Dorchester  Township.  He  was  a 
devout  member  and   official  of  the   Methodist 


292 


ILLINOIS 


Episcopal  Church  and  always  a  stanch  Re- 
publican. Two  of  his  brothers,  Richard  and 
Charles,  were  enlisted  in  the  Civil  war  and 
sailed  down  the  Mississippi  River  with  Ellet's 
Ram  fleet.  Abram  Isaacs  died  in  June,  1928, 
and  his  wife  in  May,  1928. 

Their  son,  Alfred  A.  Isaacs,  was  born  April 
22,  1884.  He  was  liberally  educated,  gradu- 
ating from  the  Gillespie  High  School,  from 
Cornell  College  at  Mount  Vernon,  Iowa,  and  in 
1909  took  his  law  degree  at  Northwestern 
University  in  Chicago.  Since  his  admission 
to  the  bar  he  has  practiced  at  Gillespie.  His 
work  as  a  lawyer  has  brought  him  a  reputa- 
tion by  no  means  confined  to  his  home  locality 
or  his  county.  For  ten  years  he  was  city  attor- 
ney of  Gillespie,  for  four  years  master  in 
chancery  of  the  Macoupin  County  Circuit 
Court.  In  1926  he  was  elected  county  judge 
and  was  reelected  in  1930  to  that  office  and 
has  set  a  high  mark  of  efficiency  and  economy 
in  the  administration  of  the  county's  fiscal 
affairs.  Judge  Isaacs  for  many  years  was 
secretary  of  the  Republican  County  Central 
Committee  and  in  1920  was  Republican  elector, 
from  the  Twenty-first  Congressional  District. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Bar  Associa- 
tion, is  a  director  of  the  Peoples  State  Bank 
of  Gillespie  and  of  the  Gillespie  Home  Asso- 
ciation. 

Judge  Isaacs  was  a  member  of  the  Legal 
Advisory  Board  of  Macoupin  County  during 
the  World  war.  He  is  president  of  the  offi- 
cial board  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
at  Gillespie  and  is  a  member  of  the  Sigma 
Nu  college  fraternity.  He  married  January 
8,  1913,  Miss  Eslie  Smith  of  Sioux  Falls, 
South  Dakota,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Eliza- 
beth (Williamson)  Smith.  Her  parents  moved 
from  Illinois  to  South  Dakota.  Mrs.  Isaacs 
attended  school  at  Mitchell,  South  Dakota,  and 
Cornell  College  at  Mount  Vernon,  Iowa.  She 
is  an  active  worker  in  the  Gillespie  Woman's 
Club,  the  Eastern  Star  and  the  P.  E.  0.  Soci- 
ety, and  is  a  Methodist.  They  have  two 
children,  Elizabeth,  born  September  25,  1918, 
and  Helen,  born  May  6,  1920. 

John  William  Long  as  a  physician  and 
surgeon  has  made  an  enviable  name  and  rep- 
utation for  himself  in  Crawford  County.  He 
has   practiced   at   Robinson   since   1916. 

His  father,  the  late  William  M.  Long,  was 
one  of  the  outstanding  citizens  of  Crawford 
County.  In  early  life  he  was  a  farmer,  but 
in  1909  he  gave  up  farming  and  moved  to 
Robinson  to  assist  in  the  organization  of  the 
Southeastern  Illinois  Telephone  Company  and 
was  treasurer  of  the  company  for  three  years. 
For  several  years  he  was  an  alderman  in 
his  home  city  and  for  two  terms  county  super- 
visor. Former  Governor  Dunne  appointed  him 
to  the  office  of  probation  officer,  and  in  that 
as  in  any  other  place  of  trust  or  responsi- 
bility he   proved   his  efficiency.     He  died   De- 


cember 28,  1925.  William  M.  Long  married 
Flora  Alice   Buser. 

John  William  Long  was  born  at  Heathville, 
Illinois,  July  23,  1890,  and  acquired  his  early 
education  in  the  public  schools  of  Robinson. 
As  a  youth  he  fixed  upon  medicine  as  his  real 
vocation.  He  acquired  his  professional  train- 
ing first  in  Barnes  Medical  College  at  St. 
Louis  and  then  in  Loyola  University  at  Chi- 
cago, where  he  was  graduated  M.  D.  in  1914. 
His  college  training  was  supplemented  by 
an  interneship  in  the  West  Suburban  Hospital 
of  Chicago  and  in  1916  he  entered  private 
practice  at  Robinson.  The  community  has 
found  him  earnest  and  skillful  in  his  profession 
and  ever  responsive  to  the  cause  of  welfare 
and  humanity.  He  is  secretary  of  the  Craw- 
ford County  Medical  Society,  a  member  of 
the  Aesculapin  Medical  Society  of  the  Wabash 
Valley,  and  the  Illinois  State  Medical  Associ- 
ation. Doctor  Long  is  affiliated  with  Lodge 
No.  250  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  Lodge  No. 
124  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  being 
Past  Grand.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the  Robinson  Com- 
mercial Club.  He  is  chairman  of  the  finance 
committee  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
and  in  politics  is  a  staunch  Democrat. 

Doctor  Long  married  June  1,  1916,  Miss 
Jessie  A.  Broadstone  of  Robinson.  They  have 
three  children,  Mary  Alycebelle,  John  Henry 
William,  Jr.,  and  Marcia  Gwendolyn. 

Balcolm  C.  Baldridge.  The  name  Baldridge 
for  over  half  a  century  has  been  prominently 
identified  with  the  clay  working  industry  of 
Southern  Illinois.  Mr.  Balcolm  C.  Baldridge 
is  general  manager  and  is  associated  with 
his  father  in  the  ownership  of  the  Carlinville 
Tile   Company. 

He  is  a  son  of  Henry  M.  and  Margaret  Ida 
(Spalding)  Baldridge.  Henry  M.  Baldridge 
since  early  youth  has  been  a  practical  clay 
worker  and  manufacturer,  and  from  July  7, 
1877,  until  1922  operated  the  brick  and  tile 
yards  at  Illiopolis.  This  plant  he  sold  in 
1922  and  then  bought  the  brick  and  tile  plant 
at  Carlinville,  where  he  has  been  associated 
with  his  son.  H.  M.  Baldridge  first  married 
on  July  2,  1881,  Miss  Harriet  J.  Porter  of 
Grand  Prairie,  Illinois.  She  died  in  1899, 
leaving  one  child,  Cecil,  who  passed  away  in 
1898.  On  March  19,  1890,  H.  M.  Baldridge 
married  Miss  Margaret  Ida  Spalding  of 
Springfield,  Illinois.  Her  father,  John  Spald- 
ing, was  killed  while  in  the  Union  army  during 
the  Civil  war.  By  the  second  marriage  there 
are  two  children:  Mrs.  Paloma  A.  Heiss,  of 
Sangamon  County,  and  Balcolm  C. 

Balcolm  C.  Baldridge  was  born  at  Illiopolis, 
Illinois,  December  10,  1891,  and  obtained  his 
early  education  in  the  public  schools  of  that 
town.  He  is  a  graduate  of  the  Gem  City 
Business  College  of  Quincy  and  since  leaving 
school    has    been    associated    with    his    father 


ILLINOIS 


293 


in  the  clay  working  industry.  He  knows  the 
business  in  all  its  practical  and  technical 
details,  and  it  has  been  his  life  work. 

On  June  15,  1918,  Mr.  Baldridge  enlisted 
and  was  in  training  with  the  Field  Artillery 
at  Camp  Taylor,  Louisville,  Kentucky,  until 
discharged  in  December,  1918,  as  a  first  class 
private. 

Mr.  Baldridge  married  December  9,  1917, 
Miss  Myra  Ann  Cantrall  of  Pawnee,  Illinois, 
daughter  of  Levi  G.  and  Ella  C.  (Norred) 
Cantrall.  Both  are  members  of  the  Eastern 
Star.  Mrs.  Baldridge  was  president  of  the 
Carlinville  Post  of  the  American  Legion  Aux- 
iliary for  1931.  Mr.  Baldridge,  himself,  is 
commander  of  the  Carlinville  Post  of  the 
American  Legion,  and  Chef  de  Gare  of  the 
40  and  8  Society  of  Carlinville.  He  is  a 
member  of  Mount  Nebo  Lodge  No.  76  F.  and 
A.  M.,  the  Carlinville  Chapter  of  the  Royal 
Arch  Masons,  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  Amer- 
ica. Both  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
Church  and  in  politics  Mr.  Baldridge  votes  as 
a    Republican. 

Robert  Franklin  Carr,  manufacturing 
chemist,  is  a  native  of  Illinois,  and  has  been 
a  resident  of  Chicago  since  1893.  A  success- 
ful business  man,  he  has  given  for  many  years 
his  personal  resources  to  the  larger  objects  of 
state  and  community  welfare  and  progress. 
In  any  group  of  forward  looking  constructive 
citizens  of  today  Robert  Franklin  Carr  de- 
serves a  prominent  place. 

His  parents,  Dr.  Robert  F.  and  Emily  A. 
(Smick)  Carr,  were  pioneer  settlers  in  Macon 
County,  Illinois,  and  at  their  home  in  Argenta, 
Robert  Franklin  Carr  was  born  November  21, 
1871.  After  the  public  schools  at  Argenta  he 
entered  the  academy  department  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois,  a  department  long  since 
discontinued.  With  that  preparation  he  took 
the  regular  four  year  course  and  was  grad- 
uated with  the  degree  Bachelor  of  Science  in 
1893  from  the  university.  He  majored  in 
chemistry  and  it  was  his  proficiency  in  that 
subject  that  gained  him  his  early  business 
opportunities  in  Chicago.  Mr.  Carr  for  many 
years  has  been  one  of  the  most  dutiful  and 
loyal  alumni  of  the  State  University.  For  the 
term  of  six  years  beginning  in  1913  he  served 
as  a  member  of  the  University  Board  of 
Trustees  and  was  president  of  the  board  in 
1919-20.  A  number  of  years  ago  he  estab- 
lished a  fellowship  in  chemistry  at  the  univer- 
sity. He  was  the  only  Democrat  on  the  board 
during  his  service.  Mr.  Carr  was  selected  as 
chairman  of  the  executive  committee  to  raise 
the  fund  for  the  great  memorial  to  the  180 
students  and  alumni  of  the  university  who  lost 
their  lives  in  the  World  war.  As  a  result  of 
the  campaign  the  funds  were  secured  for  the 
construction  of  the  great  memorial  stadium 
which  was  dedicated  in  the  fall  of  1924.  In 
1929   the   University  of   Illinois,   for  the   first 


time  in  seventeen  years,  extended  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  to  three  of  its  dis- 
tinguished alumni,  one  of  whom  was  Robert 
Franklin  Carr.  In  presenting  him  for  this 
great  honor  the  words  used  are  a  concise 
formula  of  Mr.  Carr's  record  as  a  business 
man  and  citizen  —  "Manufacturing  chemist, 
loyal  son  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  leader 
of  men.  Trained  in  chemistry,  he  has  used  his 
scientific  background  for  progressive  indus- 
trial development  " 

Mr.  Carr  came  to  Chicago  after  graduating 
primarily  to  visit  the  Columbian  Exposition. 
In  1894  he  became  connected  with  the  Dear- 
born Chemical  Company,  and  during  successive 
years  occupied  the  positions  of  secretary,  vice 
president  and  general  manager  of  that  chem- 
ical manufacturing  business.  Since  1907  he 
has  been  president  of  the  company,  which  is 
an  organization  of  world-wide  scope,  its  prod- 
ucts having  a  distribution  throughout  the  civ- 
ilized world.  Other  business  organizations 
have  also  benefited  through  his  experience. 
He  was  a  director  of  the  Standard  Trust  & 
Savings  Bank  from  its  organization  in  1910 
to  1924.  He  then  resigned  to  become  a  director 
of  the  Continental  and  Commercial  National 
Bank,  now  the  Continental  Illinois  Bank  & 
Trust  Company,  of  which  he  is  a  member  of 
the  board.  He  is  also  a  director  of  Wilson  & 
Company  of  Chicago. 

Mr.  Carr  served  during  the  last  six  months 
of  1918  as  major  on  the  general  staff,  pur- 
chase, storage  and  traffic  division,  under  Gen- 
eral Goethals,  engaged  in  the  work  of  revising 
and  standardizing  specifications  for  general 
army  commodities.  A  recent  call  to  public 
service  has  brought  Mr.  Carr  prominently  be- 
fore the  Chicago  public,  when  in  1931  he  was 
appointed  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion. In  1929  he  was  one  of  a  group  of  lead- 
ing citizens  comprising  what  was  known  as 
the_  Strawn  Committee,  to  work  out  a  plan  for 
legislative  and  financial  relief  for  Chicago. 
Later  he  was  one  of  the  committee  of  five,  of 
which  Silas  H.  Strawn  was  chairman,  who 
handled  the  distribution  of  the  fund  raised  by 
citizens  to  relieve  the  immediate  necessities 
of  the  various  divisions  of  the  city  govern- 
ment and  work  out  a  plan  for  relief,  to  be 
taken  up  by  the  State  Legislature  in  its  spe- 
cial session. 

Mr.  Carr  was  president  of  the  Industrial 
Club  of  Chicago  in  1920-21;  president  of  the 
University  Club,  1924-25;  is  a  life  member  of 
the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  the  Chicago 
Art  Institute  and  the  Field  Museum.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  University  Club,  Chicago  Club, 
Union  League  Club,  Industrial  Club,  Commer- 
cial Club,  Casino  Club,  Old  Elm  Club,  Shore- 
acres  Club,  Onwentsia  Club,  the  Congressional 
Country  Club  of  Washington,  the  Midwick 
Country  Club  of  Pasadena,  the  Vermejo  Club 
of  New  Mexico,  the  American  Chemical  Soci- 
ety and  a  number  of  scientific  bodies.     He  was 


294 


ILLINOIS 


president  of  the  Exmoor  Country  Club  in 
1915-16.  He  is  a  Kappa  Sigma,  a  life  trustee 
of  the  Kappa  Sigma  Endowment  Fund,  and  a 
member  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  Since  1921 
Mr.  Carr  has  been  president  of  the  Home  for 
Destitute   Crippled   Children. 

This  last  was  a  charity  in  which  Mrs.  Carr 
was  particularly  interested. 

Mr.  Carr  married  in  1906  Miss  Louise 
Smiley,  daughter  of  Mitchell  Smiley,  a  promi- 
nent Chicago  attorney.  Mrs.  Carr  died  in  Sep- 
tember, 1925.  The  three  children  of  their 
marriage  were  Louise,  Florence  and  Robert  F., 
Jr.  Louise  was  married  in  November,  1928,  to 
William  Press  Hodgkins. 

Lawrence  S.  Heath,  the  present  mayor  of 
the  City  of  Robinson,  could  aptly  be  described 
as  a  man  of  affairs.  He  has  turned  the  train- 
ing of  a  technical  education  in  many  construc- 
tive directions.  He  is  a  business  man,  engin- 
eer, in  early  life  was  an  educator,  and  has 
been  a  thorough  executive  whether  in  private 
business  or  in  public  office. 

Mr.  Heath  was  born  in  Crawford  County, 
Illinois,  November  29,  1869,  son  of  Milton  and 
Ann  (Waldrop)  Heath.  The  Heath  family 
came  west  from  the  New  England  states. 
They  have  been  in  America  since  the  Colonial 
period.  The  Heath  family  were  pioneers  in 
Southern  Illinois.  His  father  was  born  in 
Lawrence  County  in  1822,  and  died  Novem- 
ber 18,  1872.  His  work  in  the  building  indus- 
try extended  to  all  portions  of  Lawrence  and 
Crawford  counties.  He  was  a  brick  and  car- 
penter contractor.  His  wife  was  born  in  Craw- 
ford County  December  8,  1837,  the  Waldrops 
having  been  pioneers  in  the  agriculture  of  that 
district.  Ann  (Waldrop)  Heath  died  January 
7,  1909. 

Lawrence  S.  Heath  acquired  his  early  edu- 
cation in  the  public  schools  of  Lawrence 
County.  In  1901  he  was  graduated  with  the 
A.  B.  degree  from  the  University  of  Illinois, 
and  he  also  acquired  .a  technical  education 
as  a  civil  engineer  and  in  1894  was  admitted 
to  the  Illinois  bar.  In  early  years  he  was 
a  teacher  in  the  public  schools  of  Lawrence 
and  Crawford  counties,  for  some  time  was 
principal  of  the  Robinson  High  School.  For 
six  years  he  was  principal  of  the  township 
high  school  at  Edinburg,  Illinois,  and  held 
the  chair  of  mathematics  in  Carthage  College 
of  Carthage,  Illinois,  and  was  an  instructor 
in  Greek  and  Latin  in  Austin  College  at  Effing- 
ham, for  five  years. 

Mr.  Heath  in  1915  became  interested  in  the 
creamery  business.  At  Robinson  he  owns 
and  operates  a  butter  and  cheese  factory, 
ice  cream  factory  and  bottling  works.  This 
business  is  conducted  as  L.  S.  Heath  and 
Sons.  Associated  with  him  in  this  business 
are  his  sons,  Bayard  E.,  Everett  E.,  and  Vir- 
gil D.  For  the  past  eleven  years  he  has  held 
the  office  of  Crawford   County  engineer.     He 


was  first  elected  mayor  of  Robinson  in  1918, 
giving  an  administration  of  two  terms,  includ- 
ing the  World  war  period,  and  made  those 
terms  synonymous  with  constructive  enter- 
prise. In  1929  and  1931  he  was  again  elected, 
and  the  people  of  Robinson  have  a  high  degree 
of  confidence  in  the  judgment  and  administra- 
tive ability  of  their  mayor.  Mayor  Heath  was 
the  first  president  of  the  Robinson  Rotary 
Club  and  is  a  past  president  of  the  Robinson 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  being  active  in  the 
membership  of  both  those  bodies.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  American  Society  of  Engineers. 
He  is  affiliated  with  the  Robinson  branches 
of    the    Independent    Order    of    Odd    Fellows, 

B.  P.  0.  Elks,  Modern  Woodmen  of  America, 
and  Loyal  Order  of  Moose.  In  political  faith 
he  is  a  Republican. 

He  married  September  14,  1892,  Miss  Clara 
E.  Fry  of  Crawford  County,  daughter  of 
Hampton  and  Sarah  (Bussard)  Fry.  They 
are  the  parents  of  six  children,  most  of  whom 
are  already  established  in  successful  careers. 
Bayard  E.,  a  veteran  of  the  World  war,  mar- 
ried Elizabeth  Rice  of  Vincennes,  Indiana,  and 
they  have  two  children,  Bayard  E.,  Jr.,  and 
Patricia.  Everett  E.,  who  also  is  a  World  war 
veteran,  and  served  in  the  A.  E.  F.  in  France. 
He  married  Madeline  Shanks,  of  Lawrence 
County,  Illinois  and  they  have  a  son,  Richard 
J.;  Ruby  E.  is  a  teacher  of  music  at  Robinson, 
Virgil  D.  married  Thelma  Giessow  of  St.  Louis, 
Missouri,  and  they  have  two  children,  Robert 
and  Joyce;  Vernon  L.  is  editor  of  the  Decatur 
Herald  Daily  of  Decatur,  Illinois;  Miss  Mary 

C.  Heath  the  youngest  of  the  children  is  a 
student  in  the  Robinson  High  School.  She 
is  a  very  talented  pianist  and  has  appeared 
in   the   larger   musical   centers   in   concerts. 

Hon.  Harry  S.  Parker  of  Effingham,  a 
practicing  attorney  since  1896,  is  a  former 
assistant  attorney  general  of  Illinois,  and  is 
now  president  of  the  Illinois  State  Civil  Serv- 
ice Board. 

When  he  was  twelve  years  of  age  Mr.  Parker 
left  school  and  went  to  work,  contributing  to 
the  support  of  his  mother.  His  mother  was 
a  woman  of  unusual  refinement  and  culture 
and  very  ambitious  for  her  son,  who  ascribes 
the  inspiration  for  a  successful  career  to  her 
self  sacrificing  efforts  and  encouragement.  Mr. 
Parker  was  born  at  Parkersburg,  Illinois, 
January  3,  1871,  son  of  Thomas  and  Emma 
E.  (Moore)  Parker.  His  father  was  a  native 
of  Richland  County,  Illinois,  and  was  a  farmer 
and  traveling  salesman.  Emma  E.  Moore 
was  born  in  Kentucky.  When  she  was  a  child 
the  family  started  to  drive  overland  to  Illi- 
nois. Her  father  died  on  the  way,  and  cir- 
cumstances were  such  that  from  an  early  age 
she  was  acquainted  with  responsibilities  and 
with  toil.  She  lived  a  long  and  active  life, 
passing   away   June   28,    1922. 


ILLINOIS 


295 


Harry  S.  Parker  attended  school  during 
his  boyhood  at  Effingham,  Illinois,  and  at  Leav- 
enworth, Kansas.  While  working  to  help  sup- 
port his  mother  and  family  he  never  gave 
up  the  idea  of  an  education.  For  several  years 
he  was  employed  as  a  mechanic  in  the  shops 
of  the  Vandalia  Railroad.  Later  he  entered 
Austin  College,  at  Effingham,  attended  the 
Kent  College  of  Law  and  completed  his  legal 
training  in  the  offices  of  Wood  Brothers,  law- 
yers. He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1896 
and  at  once  located  in  Effingham.  For  many 
years  he  has  enjoyed  an  extensive  general  law 
practice,  and  has  had  a  large  business  as  a 
corporation  attorney.  At  Effingham  he  repre- 
sented the  Illinois  Central,  Pennsylvania,  Bal- 
timore &  Ohio,  Wabash,  and  Chicago  &  East- 
ern Illinois  railway  companies.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Effingham  County,  Illinois  State 
and  American  Bar  Associations. 

Mr.  Parker  served  as  assistant  attorney 
general  under  Attorney  General  Brundadge. 
On  October  1,  1929,  Governor  Emmerson  ap- 
pointed him  president  of  the  Civil  Service 
Board,  for  the  term  expiring  in  March,  1935'. 
During  the  Spanish-American  war  he  was 
adjutant  of  the  Fourth  Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, and  was  with  the  regiment  in  Cuba. 
Before  leaving  for  Cuba  the  Fourth  Illinois 
was  a  unit  in  the  Second  Brigade,  Second 
Division  of  the  Seventh  Army  Corps  under 
General  Bancroft.  Mr.  Parker  was  detailed 
as  assistant  adjutant  with  the  rank  of  cap- 
tain. Later  the  Fourth  Illinois  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Second  Brigade,  Third  Division, 
United  States  Army  Corps,  under  General 
Barkley,  and  Captain  Parker  was  assigned 
as  assistant  adjutant.  General  Barkley's 
Brigade  was  disbanded  and  the  Fourth  Illinois 
was  ordered  to  Cuba  as  part  of  the  Seventh 
Army  Corps  under  General  Fitzhugh  Lee.  In 
February,  1900,  he  was  tendered  an  appoint- 
ment as  a  lieutenant  in  the  regular  army  and 
received  a  similar  offer  in  1901,  but  declined. 

Mr.  Parker  has  been  an  elder  in  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  since  he  was  twenty-one  years 
of  age.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers  and  was 
the  first  president  of  the  Effingham  Country 
Club,  holding  that  office  three  years.  He  is 
a  past  district  governor  of  the  Forty-fifth 
District  of  the  Rotary  International  and  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  He  is  a 
Republican,  and  a  member  of  the  Veterans 
of  Foreign  Wars. 

Mr.  Parker  married  September  19,  1896, 
Miss  Mary  Stuart  Rice  of  Altamont,  Illinois, 
daughter  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Sylvester  S.  Rice. 
Her  father  was  born  in  Ohio  and  for  many 
years  practiced  medicine  at  Altamont,  and 
died  February  7,  1894  and  his  widow  survived 
until  September  17,  1924.  Mrs.  Parker  at- 
tended school  at  Altamont  and  was  also  a 
student  in  Austin  College  at  Effingham.  She 
has  been  a  member  of  the  choir  of  the  Pres- 
byterian   Church   since   her   marriage  and   is 


a  member  of  the  Effingham  Woman's  Club.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Parker  have  two  children.  Their 
daughter,  Mary  Maurece,  was  educated  in 
the  Effingham  high  school  and  Lindenwood 
College  at  St.  Charles,  Missouri,  specializing 
in  pipe  organ  music.  For  several  years  she 
was  superintendent  of  art  and  music  in  the 
Effingham  schools  and  is  married  to  Mr.  Leon- 
ard A.  Steis,  a  salesman  at  Effingham.  They 
have  a  son,  Parker  Steis.  Mr.  Parker's  son, 
Howard  S.  Parker,  was  educated  at  Effingham 
and  the  University  of  Illinois,  is  now  a  student 
in  the  Lincoln  College  of  Law  at  Springfield, 
Illinois.  He  married  Miss  Grace  Edwards 
of  Hillsboro,  Illinois,  and  they  have  one  daugh- 
ter, Sally  Parker. 

Henry  Taphorn,  physician  and  surgeon,  has 
been  one  of  the  prominent  representatives  of 
his  profession  in  Effingham  County  for  over 
a  quarter  of  a  century.  Doctor  Taphorn 
has  had  an  immense  general  practice,  but 
has  found  time  to  serve  the  community  in 
various  capacities.  However,  in  1931,  when 
he  was  nominated  for  the  office  of  mayor,  he 
had  to  decline  because  of  his  professional 
work. 

Doctor  Taphorn  was  born  in  Clinton  County, 
Illinois,  August  1,  1871,  son  of  John  G.  and 
Elizabeth  (Wenner)  Taphorn.  His  father 
was  an  Illinois  farmer,  a  man  deeply  inter- 
ested in  the  civic  affairs  of  his  home  locality. 
He  retired  from  farming  in  1915  and  passed 
away  in  1925. 

Doctor  Taphorn  attended  public  schools  in 
Clinton  County.  He  completed  his  literary 
education  in  Shurtleff  College  at  Alton,  and 
in  1898  was  graduated  M.  D.  from  Washing- 
ton University  at  St.  Louis.  For  three  and 
a  half  years  he  was  an  interne  in  St.  Mary's 
Hospital  of  East  St.  Louis,  serving  part  of 
the  time  as  first  assistant  in  the  hospital, 
and  he  also  gave  his  attention  to  a  growing 
private  practice.  Then  in  1903  he  located 
at  Alton,  but  in  19051  established  himself 
permanently  at  Effingham.  Doctor  Taphorn 
has  won  a  county-wide  reputation  as  an  able 
and  skillful  obstetrician.  In  addition  to  his 
private  practice  he  is  local  surgeon  for  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad.  The  Effingham 
Medical  Society  has  honored  him  with  the 
office  of  president,  and  he  is  a  member  of 
the  Illinois  State  and  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation, and  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Examiners  for  the  United  States  Veterans 
Bureau. 

Doctor  Taphorn  served  as  county  coroner  for 
four  years,  1916-20,  and  during  1922  was  a 
member  of  the  Effingham  City  Commission.  He 
is  a  Democrat,  a  member  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  Knights  of  Columbus  and  Catholic 
Knights   of   America. 

On  June  15,  1902,  he  married  Miss  Genevieve 
Morrisey  of  Alton,  Illinois.  She  died  April 
22,    1907,   leaving   a   daughter,    Genevieve   M. 


296 


ILLINOIS 


Genevieve  was  educated  for  the  profession  of 
graduate  nurse,  but  is  now  the  wife  of  Mr. 
A.  H.  Bergfeld  of  Chicago.  On  July  15,  1908, 
Doctor  Taphorn  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Evers- 
man  of  Effingham.  They  have  four  children: 
Mary  C,  a  talented  musician,  who  is  organist 
in  St.  Anthony's  Church  at  Effingham;  Pauline 
M.,  taking  the  nurses  training  course  in  Chi- 
cago; Margaret  M.,  in  high  school,  and  Fran- 
ces M.,  in  grammar  school. 

H.  E.  ("Stony")  Vogt,  sheriff  of  Marion 
County,  with  executive  headquarters  in  the 
courthouse  at  Salem,  was  born  June  4,  1878, 
at  Salem,  Illinois,  a  son  of  Lewis  and  Lenore 
(Pace)  Vogt,  and  eldest  in  a  family  of  four 
children,  namely:  Henry  E.,  Lulu,  Maidie 
(Mrs.  George  H.  Smith),  Wilma  (Mrs.  John 
R.   Martin). 

Lewis  Vogt  was  reared  and  educated  in  his 
native  Town  of  St.  Genevieve,  Missouri,  and 
early  began  to  assist  his  father  in  the  lime- 
kiln business.  He  removed  to  Salem,  Illinois, 
as  a  young  man  and  married.  He  worked  in 
different  mercantile  establishments  and  then 
became  a  traveling  representative  of  the 
Champion  Farm  Machinery  Company.  Later 
he  was  associated  with  his  son  Henry  E.  in 
the  contracting  business,  and  during  the  clos- 
ing period  of  his  life  he  lived  retired  at  Salem, 
where  his  death  occurred  on  March  18,  1921. 
He  served  twenty  years  as  secretary  of  his 
Masonic  Blue  lodge  and  was  a  charter  mem- 
ber of  the  local  lodge  of  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows,  his  political  allegiance  having 
been  given  to  the  Democratic  party.  His 
widow  still  survives  and  resides  at  Salem. 
His  father,  Peter  Vogt,  was  born  in  the  his- 
toric old  City  of  Strassburg,  Alsace-Lorraine, 
France,  where  he  was  reared  and  educated. 
In  France  Peter  Vogt  learned  the  tailor's 
trade,  and  he  was  a  young  man  when  he 
voyaged  across  the  Atlantic  in  a  sailing  ves- 
sel, landed  in  New  Orleans,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded up  the  Mississippi  River  to  St.  Gene- 
vieve, Missouri,  where  he  passed  the  remain- 
der of  his  life  and  was  long  engaged  in  busi- 
ness as  a  merchant  tailor,  besides  having 
operated  a  lime  kiln  a  number  of  years. 

Henry  E.  ("Stony")  Vogt  received  the  ad- 
vantages of  the  public  schools  and  his  first 
business  experience  was  gained  by  his  working 
with  his  father  at  various  occupations.  He 
learned  the  trade  of  painter  and  later  engaged 
in  the  painting  business  and  thereafter  was 
associated  with  his  father  in  the  contracting 
business  about  twenty  years  in  the  firm  of 
the  Vogt  Concrete  Co.,  of  Salem.  He  was 
elected  constable  of  Marion  Township  in  1910 
with  only  eleven  dissenting  votes.  In  1922 
Mr.  Vogt  was  elected  to  his  first  term  as 
sheriff  of  Marion  County,  in  1930  was  again 
elected,  and  by  the  largest  majority  given 
to  any  candidate  elected  to  that  office.  His 
administration  has  been  marked  by  the  loyalty, 


circumspection,  good  judgment  and  fearless- 
ness in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties. 
Sheriff  Vogt  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  the  Loyal  Order  of  Moose,  and 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  has  mem- 
bership in  the  Salem  Country  Club,  and  is 
active  and  influential  in  civic  affairs  of  local 
order.  He  is  prominent  in  the  ranks  of  the 
Democratic  party.  He  finds  recreation  through 
seasonable  hunting  and  fishing  trips. 

In  1920  Mr.  Vogt  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Miss  Nellie  Craig,  and  they  became  the 
parents  of  four  children:  Lois  Odile,  Oma 
Maude,  Henry  Ernest,  Jr.,  and  Mary  Jane,  the 
last  named  being  deceased. 

G.  Leander  Peterson.  The  world  is  wont 
to  measure  success  in  life  by  wealth  acquired, 
or  social  prominence  or  political  position.  These 
are  but  gauges  of  qualities  which  have  enabled 
their  possessor  to  overcome  obstacles  and  push 
aside  hindrances.  The  true  tests  of  human 
greatness  are  the  building  up  of  character 
into  symmetrical  manhood,  and  the  faculty  of 
contributing  to  the  well  being  of  the  commu- 
nity in  some  of  the  many  lines  which  affect 
the  welfare  and  perfection  of  society.  When 
success  in  acquiring  fortune  and  power  is 
employed  to  better  the  condition  of  mankind, 
to  establish  and  promote  religion,  education 
and  the  useful  arts  of  living,  the  best  ends 
of  life  are  attained  and  the  surest  guarantee 
of  an  honorable  reputation  secured. 

Among  the  men  who  have  impressed  them- 
selves favorably  upon  their  communities  be- 
cause of  the  qualifications  above  referred  to 
is  G.  Leander  Peterson,  of  Moline,  the  pro- 
prietor of  a  flourishing  real  estate  and  insur- 
ance business.  Mr.  Peterson  was  born  on  a 
farm  in  Henry  County,  Illinois,  December  24, 
1864,  and  is  a  son  of  Israel  and  Anna  C. 
(Lawson)  Peterson,  natives  of  Sweden.  Israel 
Peterson  was  a  child  when  brought  to  the 
United  States,  where  he  secured  only  the 
rudiments  of  an  education  in  the  country 
schools,  although  later  in  life  he  gained  a 
good  practical  education  by  reading,  obser- 
vation and  study,  rlis  first  day's  work  was 
for  the  Richmond  Nursery,  but  subsequently 
he  secured  employment  as  a  farm  hand  and 
continued  to  work  for  the  same  man  for  four 
years.  During  the  first  year  he  was  paid 
$8  per  month,  the  second  year  $9  per  month, 
the  third  year  $10  per  month  and  the  fourth 
year  $12  per  month.  Out  of  these  meagre 
wages  he  managed  to  save  enough  to  make  his 
first  payment  on  a  farm  in  1858,  and  from 
that  time  forward  his  career  was  a  success- 
ful one,  so  that  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in 
1897,  when  he  was  sixty-four  years  of  age, 
he  was  one  of  the  substantial  citizens  of  his 
community.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Lu- 
theran Church  and  active  in  its  work,  was  a 
Republican  in  his  political  affiliation,  and  for 
a  time  served  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of 


ILLINOIS 


297 


Trustees  of  Swedona,  Illinois.  He  and  his 
wife  had  eight  daughters  and  one  son,  of 
whom  Mr.  Peterson,  the  second  child,  and  four 
daughters  still  survive  the  parents. 

After  attending  the  country  schools  and  the 
school  at  Swedona,  G.  Leander  Peterson  pur- 
sued a  course  at  the  Davenport  (Iowa)  Busi- 
ness College  and  then  attended  Augustana 
College  for  two  years.  He  continued  working 
on  his  father's  farm  until  he  was  twenty- 
six  years  of  age,  and  after  leaving  Augustana 
College  was  employed  on  Swedish  newspapers 
at  Moline,  Chicago,  and  St.  Paul  for  five  years. 
In  1889  he  became  secretary  at  Moline  for 
the  North  Star  Benefit  Association,  a  fraternal 
life  insurance  company  whose  policy-holders 
were  principally  members  of  the  Lutheran 
churches  and  schools,  and  after  nine  years 
as  secretary  became  the  president  of  the  com- 
pany, a  position  which  he  held  for  six  years. 
In  1914  Mr.  Peterson  entered  the  real  estate 
field  actively  and  has  since  been  identified 
therewith  successfully,  his  present  offices  being 
situated  at  1413  Sixth  Avenue.  For  seven 
years  he  represented  the  Prudential  Insur- 
ance Company,  for  which  he  made  city  and 
farm  loans,  and  in  his  specialty  as  a  farm 
salesman  sold  as  high  as  32,000  acres  of  land 
in  a  single  year.  At  present  he  is  doing  a 
city  real  estate  business,  in  addition  to  which 
he  handles  fire  and  tornado  insurance,  builds 
homes  and  contracts  the  buildings,  under  the 
firm  style  of  G.  L.  Peterson  &  Son. 

Mr.  Peterson  is  a  member  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  in  which  he  has  been  a  deacon  and 
member  of  the  board  of  trustees  and  has 
served  as  secretary  of  the  church  for  nearly 
thirty  years.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Directors  of  Augustana  College  and  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  of  which  former  he  was 
president  of  the  university  alumni  associa- 
tion for  six  years,  this  association  having  as 
its  object  the  promotion  of  benefits  and  the 
raising  of  subscriptions,  and  in  this  work  Mr. 
Peterson  alone  raised  the  sum  of  $65,000. 
Fraternally  he  is  affiliated  with  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  the  Benevolent 
and  Protective  Order  of  Elks  and  the  Im- 
proved Order  of  Red  Men.  A  stanch  Repub- 
lican in  his  political  tendencies,  he  has  been 
a  member  of  the  Republican  Central  Commit- 
tee for  twenty-eight  years  and  secretary 
thereof  three  years,  and  served  as  assistant 
clerk  of  the  Illinois  Legislature  1895  and 
1897.  He  belongs  also  to  the  Swedish  Club  of 
Chicago. 

In  1897  Mr.  Peterson  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Hannah  C.  Clementson,  who 
was  born  at  Andover,  Illinois,  and  educated 
in  the  public  schools  there  and  at  Moline,  and 
they  are  the  parents  of  one  son:  Glenn. 
Glenn  Peterson  was  born  at  Moline,  Illinois, 
and  after  graduating  from  high  school  entered 
Augustana  College,  where  he  spent  one  year. 
Upon  leaving  school  he  became  associated  with 


his  father  in  business,  and  this  connection 
still  exists.  Mr.  Peterson  is  a  capable  young 
business  man  with  an  excellent  reputation 
and  belongs  to  several  orders.  He  married 
Miss  Lorelei  M.  Johnston,  and  they  are  the 
parents  of  two  children:  Nancy  Lee,  born  in 
1927,  and  Glenn  Leander,  born  in  1929. 

Erick  T.  Erickson.  Just  as  individuals 
engaged  in  other  lines  of  business  activity 
have  realized  that  only  by  telling  the  public 
about  their  enterprises  can  they  expect  a  full 
and  appreciative  understanding  on  the  part  of 
the  public,  so  funeral  directors  are  beginning 
to  see  that  in  this  day  and  age  the  best  inter- 
ests of  society  as  well  as  the  good  of  their  own 
calling  depend  upon  the  extent  to  which  the 
public  is  enlightened.  In  this  connection  men- 
tion should  be  made  of  Erick  T.  Erickson, 
who  for  many  years  has  been  a  leading  morti- 
cian of  Kewanee,  in  which  city  he  has  the 
fullest  respect  and  esteem  of  his  fellow- 
citizens. 

Mr.  Erickson  was  born  in  Sweden,  April  28, 
1865,  and  is  in  point  of  service  the  oldest  un- 
dertaker and  funeral  director  of  Kewanee. 
He  grew  to  young  manhood  in  his  native  coun- 
try, where  he  attended  the  public  schools,  and 
in  1884,  upon  coming  to  the  United  States, 
settled  at  Kearney,  Nebraska,  where  he  es- 
tablished himself  in  the  undertaking  business. 
In  1891  he  came  to  Kewanee,  which  has  since 
been  his  home  and  the  scene  of  his  professional 
and  personal  success.  He  now  has  one  of  the 
finest,  most  modernly  equipped  funeral  homes 
in  this  part  of  Illinois,  at  112  South  Tremont 
Street,  the  business  being  conducted  under  the 
firm  style  of  Erickson  &  McHugh.  Mr.  Erick- 
son is  one  of  the  best  known  men  in  his  calling 
in  Illinois,  being  president  of  the  Stark-Henry 
Undertakers  Association,  and  a  member  of  the 
Illinois  State  Funeral  Directors  and  Embalm- 
ers  Association  and  the  National  Funeral  Di- 
rectors and  Embalmers  Association.  Into  his 
work  Mr.  Erickson  has  brought  humanitarian- 
ism,  spirituality,  courtesy,  kindness,  aptitude 
for  direction  and  management  without  show 
of  authority.  Aside  from  his  calling  Mr. 
Erickson  is  also  well  and  favorably  known. 
For  years  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  board 
of  directors  of  the  Community  Chest,  and  at 
present  is  president  thereof.  He  is  likewise 
president  of  the  Kiwanis  Club  and  a  past 
president  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  a 
member  of  the  various  branches  of  Masonry. 
The  family  belongs  to  the  Swedish  Lutheran 
Church  and  is  active  in  its  various  interests. 

In  1897,  at  Kewanee,  Mr.  Erickson  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Ida  S.  Ydeen, 
who  was  born  in  Sweden  and  was  a  young 
child  when  brought  to  the  United  States  by 
her  parents,  the  family  first  settling  in  Louisi- 
ana and  subsequently  moving  to  Galva,  Illi- 
nois, where  Mr.  Ydeen  was  engaged  in  busi- 
ness affairs   for  some  years.     Three  children 


298 


ILLINOIS 


have  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Erickson: 
Dorothy  Neoma,  a  graduate  of  the  Illinois 
Normal  College  and  of  Northwestern  Univer- 
sity, Chicago,  who  married  Ralph  Francis,  of 
Kankakee,  and  has  two  children,  Ydeen  and 
Ralph,  Jr.;  Donovan  Y.,  a  graduate  of  Law- 
rence College,  Appleton,  Wisconsin,  and  of  the 
law  departmentment  of  the  University  of 
Michigan,  at  Ann  Arbor,  who  is  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Chicago, 
where  he  has  made  rapid  progress  in  his 
calling;  and  Marie,  a  registered  nurse,  a  grad- 
uate and  former  supervisor  of  Augustana 
Hospital,  Chicago,  and  postgraduate  student 
of  the  University  of  Michigan,  who  married 
Edward  A.  Ruehrdanz,  of  Chicago. 

Gilbert  S.  Couch,  M.  D.,  has  made  his 
native  county  the  stage  of  his  notably  suc- 
cessful service  in  his  exacting  profession,  is 
established  in  active  general  practice  in  the 
City  of  Mount  Carmel  and  is  distinctly  one 
of  the  representative  physicians  and  surgeons 
of  Wabash  County. 

On  the  parental  home  farm  in  Wabash 
County  the  birth  of  Dr.  Gilbert  Sharon  Couch 
occurred  July  18,  1870,  and  he  is  a  son  of 
Ebenezer  and  Julia  (Pool)  Couch,  both  like- 
wise natives  of  Wabash  County,  where  they 
passed  their  entire  lives  and  where  they  were 
representatives  of  prominent  pioneer  families. 
Ebenezer  Couch,  who  died  in  the  year  1924, 
was  long  numbered  among  the  substantial 
farmers  and  highly  honored  citizens  of  Wa- 
bash County  and  he  was  seventy-eight  years 
of  age  at  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was  a 
son  of  Ebenezer  and  Esther  (Prout)  Couch, 
his  father  having  been  born  in  the  State  of 
New  York  and  having  been  five  years  of  age 
when  his  parents,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Levi  Couch, 
established  themselves  as  pioneer  settlers  in 
Wabash  County,  Illinois,  where  they  developed 
a  productive  farm  estate  and  where  they 
passed  the  remainder  of  their  lives.  Orange 
Pool,  maternal  grandfather  of  Dr.  Couch,  was 
born  and  reared  in  Wabash  County,  where 
his  parents  gained  pioneer  precedence  and 
where  his  father,  James  Pool,  was  a  leader 
in  organizing  the  first  Christian  Church  in 
the  county.  Mrs.  Julia  (Pool)  Couch,  mother 
of  Dr.  Couch,  was  but  twenty-five  years  of 
age  at  the  time  of  her  death,  and  the  other 
surviving  children  are  Harlan  W.,  who  is  a 
resident  of  Oakville,  Washington,  and  Julia, 
who  is  the  wife  of  Frank  Williams,  of  Rich- 
land County,  Illinois. 

Dr.  Couch  was  reared  on  the  home  farm  and 
the  public  schools  of  his  native  county  afforded 
him  his  early  education,  besides  which  he 
was  a  student  one  year  in  the  high  school 
at  Danville,  Vermilion  County.  He  put  his 
acquirements  to  practical  test  by  becoming  a 
teacher  in  the  schools  of  Wabash  County, 
where  his  service  in  the  pedagogic  profession 
was   successfully   continued   three  years.      He 


thereafter  completed  the  prescribed  four  years' 
course  in  the  Eclectic  Medical  College  in  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio,  in  which  institution  he  was 
graduated  as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1897. 
After  thus  receiving  his  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Medicine  he  initiated  the  general  practice  of 
his  profession  at  Friendsville,  Wabash  County, 
and  there  he  continued  his  earnest  and  able 
ministrations  until  1915,  when  he  broadened 
the  field  of  his  professional  activities  by  re- 
moving to  Mount  Carmel,  the  county  seat, 
in  which  city  he  has  since  remained  and  in 
which  he  controls  a  large  and  representative 
general  practice,  his  office  being  established 
in  the  American  National  Bank  Building. 
Doctor  Couch  has  membership  in  the  Wabash 
County  Medical  Society,  the  Illinois  State 
Medical  Society,  the  Tri-State  Medical  Society 
and  the  American  Medical  Association. 
Through  the  medium  of  these  organizations 
and  through  continued  study  of  the  best  in 
the  standard  and  periodical  literature  of  his 
profession  Doctor  Couch  has  kept  in  close 
touch  with  the  advances  made  in  medical  and 
surgical  science  during  the  passing  years.  He 
gave  one  term  of  service  as  coroner  of  Wabash 
County. 

Doctor  Couch  is  found  loyally  aligned  in 
the  ranks  of  the  Democratic  party,  he  and 
his  wife  have  membership  in  the  Christian 
Church  in  their  home  city,  he  is  affiliated  with 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  the  local  Rotary 
Club  claims  him  as  one  of  its  loyal  and  pro- 
gressive members. 

The  year  1925  marked  the  marriage  of  Doc- 
tor Couch  to  Miss  Kate  Elizabeth  Hinderliter, 
who  likewise  was  born  and  reared  in  Wabash 
County,  she  being  a  daughter  of  the  late  Louis 
and  Armenia  (Fornoff)  Hinderliter,  the  for- 
mer of  whom  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  and 
the  latter  in  Wabash  County,  Illinois.  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Couch  have  no  children  of  their  own, 
but  with  true  parental  solicitude  they  adopted 
and  reared  a  son  and  daughter  of  the  Doctor's 
only  brother,  Harlan  W.,  these  two  children 
being  twins — Gilbert  Harlan,  who  still  resides 
in  Wabash  County,  and  Gladys  Fannie,  who 
is  the  wife  of  Elmer  Higgins  of  Allendale, 
Wabash  County,  and  who  is  the  mother  of 
two  children,   Betty  D.   and  Mary  Katherine. 

Thomas  Washington  Hall,  president  of 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Carmi,  judicial 
center  of  White  County,  has  been  a  promi- 
nent figure  in  financial  affairs  in  this  section 
of  the  state  and  actively  concerned  in  the  or- 
ganization of  a  number  of  banks  that  have 
made  records  of  well  ordered  and  conservative 
communal  service. 

Mr.  Hall  was  born  in  Johnson  County,  Illi- 
nois, November  28,  1855,  a  son  of  Wiley  W. 
and  Sarah  Ann  (Wise)  Hall,  the  former  of 
whom  was  born  in  the  eastern  part  of  Ten- 
nessee and  the  latter  in  Johnson  County,  Illi- 
nois,   where    her    father,    William    Wise,    was 


ILLINOIS 


299 


a  substantial  pioneer  citizen.  Wiley  W.  Hall 
was  reared  and  educated  in  Tennessee  and 
was  a  man  of  marked  versatility,  as  was 
shown  in  his  effective  service  as  a  mechanic, 
as  a  physician  and  a  clergyman  of  the  Uni- 
versalist  Church.  He  accompanied  his  father, 
John  Hall,  to  Illinois  in  the  year  1850,  and 
remained  here,  though  his  parents  and  the 
other  children  eventually  returned  to  Tennes- 
see. Wiley  W.  Hall  represented  Illinois  as 
a  gallant  soldier  of  the  Union  in  the  Civil 
war,  in  which  he  served  as  a  second  lieutenant 
in  the  One  Hundred  Twenty-eighth  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry.  He  died  in  Liberal,  Mis- 
souri, in  Barton  County,  in  1881.  His  wife 
died  in  1872  in  Jefferson  County,  Illinois. 

Thomas  Washington  Hall  was  second  in  a 
family  of  ten  children,  and  was  educated 
mainly  in  the  public  schools  of  Marion,  Wil- 
liamson County,  where  the  family  home  was 
established  when  he  was  seven  years  of  age. 
After  the  death  of  his  mother  in  1872,  at  the 
age  of  sixteen,  Mr.  Hall  left  home  to  make 
his  way  in  the  world.  As  a  youth  he  was 
identified  with  farm  enterprise,  and  later  he 
was  employed  in  iron  mines  in  Missouri.  Upon 
returning  to  Illinois  he  established  residence 
in  Saline  County,  where  he  worked  three  years 
at  the  carpenter  trade.  He  then  carried  for- 
ward studies  that  fitted  him  for  service  as 
a  teacher  in  the  schools  of  that  county,  and 
he  attended  Ewing  College  one  term.  In  1881 
he  was  a  student  in  the  Southern  Illinois  Nor- 
mal School  at  Carbondale,  and  in  the  winter 
of  1881-82  he  was  a  teacher  in  Saline  County 
until  he  resigned  the  position  to  assume  that 
of  deputy  sheriff  of  the  county,  in  which  he 
served  four  years.  In  1886  he  taught  in  the 
schools  of  Harrisburg,  the  county  seat,  and  in 
the  following  years  he  became  cashier  of  the 
Saline  County  Bank,  at  Harrisburg.  He  re- 
tained this  executive  position  until  May,  1893. 
He  then  organized,  January  1,  1894,  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Carmi,  of  which  he  was 
made  cashier.  January  9,  1907,  he  was  elected 
president  of  this  substantial  and  well  ordered 
institution,  the  affairs  of  which  he  has  con- 
tinued to  direct  with  marked  loyalty  and  abil- 
ity. Mr.  Hall  likewise  organized  the  Gallatin 
County  Bank  at  Ridgeway;  the  Bank  of 
Wayne  City,  Wayne  County,  which  later  was 
absorbed  by  the  First  National  Bank  of  that 
place;  and  the  First  State  Bank  of  Golden- 
gate,  that  county.  All  these  banks  have  suc- 
cessfully weathered  the  storms  of  financial 
depression  and  have  continued  their  excellent 
service  to  their  respective  communities.  Mr. 
Hall  was  one  of  the  organizers  and  has  con- 
tinued a  valued  member  of  the  Illinois  State 
Bankers  Association  and  was  a  member  of  the 
committee  that  drafted  its  constitution  and 
by-laws.  He  has  membership  also  in  the 
American  Bankers  Association.  He  is  a  Demo- 
crat in  politics  and  while  he  has  been  essen- 
tially a  business  man  and  had  no  desire  for 


political  preferment,  his  civic  loyalty  and  pro- 
gressiveness  were  shown  in  his  effective  service 
as  mayor  of  Carmi  in  1921.  In  the  Demo- 
cratic primary  of  April,  1932,  Mr.  Hall  is  a 
candidate  for  state  representative  from  the 
Forty-eighth  Senatorial  District.  On  October 
16,  1881,  he  married  in  Gallatin,  Saline 
County,  Miss  Delia  Rabourn,  who  was  born 
and  reared  in  Saline  County,  Illinois,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Thomas  J.  and  Hanna  (Stricklin) 
Rabourn. 

Rev.  Arie  Vanderhorst,  A.  M.,  Ph.  D., 
president  of  Lincoln  College,  came  to  America 
about  twenty  years  ago.  He  was  active  in 
the  ministry  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church 
for  a  number  of  years  and  came  to  Illinois 
in  1920.  In  this  state  his  chief  work  has  been 
in  the  field  of  education. 

Doctor  Vanderhorst  was  born  at  Leyden, 
Holland,  August  24,  1883.  His  parents,  Peter 
and  Gertrude  (DeGraaff)  Vanderhorst,  still 
live  at  Leyden,  and  Holland  is  the  home  of 
.all  the  Doctor's  four  brothers  and  sisters. 
Doctor  Vanderhorst  was  carefully  educated, 
attending  school  in  his  native  town.  He  was 
graduated  from  the  University  of  Leyden  with 
the  A.  B.  degree  in  1907,  and  in  1908  com- 
pleted his  course  in  theology  at  the  same  uni- 
versity. He  was  ordained  a  minister  of  the 
Dutch  Reformed  Church  in  1909  and  for  sev- 
eral years  was  assistant  pastor  in  churches 
in  Holland. 

On  coming  to  America  in  1912  he  was  pastor 
of  a  church  in  New  York  City  for  a  year. 
In  1913  he  went  to  the  Pacific  Coast  and  dur- 
ing the  following  seven  years  was  pastor  of 
the  First  Reformed  Church  at  San  Fran- 
cisco. He  was  also  a  director  of  the  Cali- 
fornia Christian  Endeavor  Union.  Doctor 
Vanderhorst  on  coming  to  Illinois  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Sullivan  College  at  Sullivan  in 
this  state  for  five  years.  For  two  years  he 
was  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Sullivan. 

Doctor  Vanderhorst  came  to  Lincoln  Col- 
lege, formerly  Lincoln  University,  in  1927  as 
a  member  of  the  faculty.  During  a  leave  of 
absence  he  made  a  special  study  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  of  the  Junior  College  sys- 
tem, and  returning  he  was  given  the  responsi- 
bility of  reorganizing  Lincoln  College  as  a 
standard  junior  college.  Since  the  fall  of 
1930  he  has  been  president  of  this  school, 
whose  history  means  so  much  to  thousands  of 
boys  and  girls  who  attended  it  in  former 
years.  Doctor  Vanderhorst  is  author  of  a  book 
entitled  Christ  and  Culture.  His  hobby  is 
literature  and  art.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity  and  the  Rotary  Club  at 
Lincoln. 

Doctor  Vanderhorst  married  November  6, 
1918,  Miss  Amy  Kamberg.  She  was  born  at 
Smith  River,  California,  daughter  of  Lemill 
Kamberg.      Mrs.    Vanderhorst    completed    her 


300 


ILLINOIS 


education  in  the  College  of  the  Pacific  and  was 
a  teacher  in  California.  They  have  six  chil- 
dren, David,  Mary,  Daniel,  Philip,  Martha  and 
Benjamin. 

Walter  Louis  Finn,  M.  D.,  who  is  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Iuka, 
Marion  County,  and  who  is,  in  1932,  repre- 
sentative of  his  district  in  the  Forty-second 
State  Senate,  was  born  on  the  parental  home 
farm,  ten  miles  southeast  of  Salem,  judicial 
center  of  Marion  County,  Illinois,  and  is  a 
son  of  Alfred  C.  and  Artimisia  (Mercer)  Finn, 
who  became  the  parents  of  five  children,  the 
others  being:  John  William,  who  married  Hat- 
tie  Lester  and  has  three  children;  Samuel 
N.,  who  married  Luna  Hays  and  has  two  chil- 
dren; Ida,  who  is  the  wife  of  R.  J.  Purdue 
and  has  four  children;  and  Kelly,  who  mar- 
ried Jessie  Billings  and  has  seven  children. 

Alfred  C.  Finn  was  born  April  4,  1835  on 
a  farm  near  Centralia,  Marion  County,  Illi- 
nois, and  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven 
and  in  that  locality  his  wife  likewise  was 
born  and  reared.  He  became  one  of  the 
substantial  representatives  of  farm  industry 
in  his  native  county,  with  special  attention 
given  to  livestock,  and  by  his  own  eiforts  ac- 
cumulated a  valuable  farm  estate  of  1,000 
acres.  He  was  active  and  influential  in  com- 
munity affairs,  was  a  loyal  supporter  of  pro- 
gressive movements  for  the  benefit  of  his  home 
county  and  state,  was  a  Democrat  in  politics 
and  was  one  of  the  honored  and  substantial 
citizens  of  Marion  County  at  the  time  of  his 
death.  He  was  a  son  of  John  and  Cynthia 
(Cowen)  Finn,  who  came  to  Illinois  from 
their  native  State  of  Kentucky  and  were  early 
settlers  in  Marion  County.  John  Finn  was  a 
son  of  Peter  Finn,  who  was  born  in  Virginia 
and  who  represented  that  historic  old  common- 
wealth as  a  patriot  soldier  in  the  War  of  the 
Revolution.  He  thereafter  was  a  pioneer  in 
Kentucky  and  he  passed  the  closing  period 
of  his  life  in  Marion  County,  Illinois.  The 
mortal  remains  of  this  Revolutionary  soldier 
rest  in  the  old  cemetery  at  Harvey  Crossing 
near  Centralia. 

Dr.  Walter  L.  Finn,  present  representative 
of  the  Forty-second  Illinois  district  in  the 
state  senate,  passed  the  period  of  his  childhood 
and  early  youth  on  the  home  farm,  and  after 
attending  the  district  school  and  the  Salem 
High  School  he  was  a  student  one  year  in  the 
present  Valparaiso  University,  at  Valparaiso, 
Indiana,  besides  which  he  attended  the  South- 
ern Illinois  Normal  School  at  Carbondale. 
In  1899  he  was  graduated  in  the  medical  de- 
partment of  Washington  University  at  St. 
Louis,  Missouri,  and  after  thus  receiving  his 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  he  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Iuka,  which 
has  since  continued  the  central  point  of  his 
large  and  representative  general  practice  as 
a  skilled  physician  and  surgeon.     He  has  mem- 


bership in  the  Marion  County,  the  Illinois 
State  and  the  American  Medical  associations, 
is  local  surgeon  for  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio 
Railroad,  and  in  the  midst  of  his  exacting 
duties  of  professional  and  official  order  he 
has  found  time  to  give  promotive  attention  to 
farm  and  horticultural  industry.  He  is  the 
owner  of  one  of  the  well  improved  farms  of 
Marion  County,  is  an  agriculturist  and  stock- 
grower,  and  has  fifty  acres  devoted  to  a  pear 
orchard  in  which  he  raises  the  finest  varieties 
of  pears  on  a  commercial  scale. 

Doctor  Finn  has  been  a  constructive  figure 
in  connection  with  political  affairs  in  this 
section  of  the  state,  served  four  years  as 
Township  Supervisor,  served  as  mayor  of 
Iuka  over  a  period  of  six  years,  has  been  a 
delegate  to  various  conventions  of  his  party, 
the  Democratic,  and  in  1928  he  was  elected 
representative  of  the  Fortylf-second  district 
in  the  state  senate.  The  Doctor  is  affiliated 
with  the  Masonic  fraternity,  being  past  mas- 
ter of  the  Blue  Lodge,  and  the  A.  F.  &  A.  M., 
John  D.  Moody  No.  510,  Iuka.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of 
Elks,  and  he  and  his  wife  have  membership  in 
the  Christian  Church  in  their  home  community. 
His  affiliation  with  the  American  Legion  is 
based  on  his  service  in  the  Medical  Corps  of 
the  United  States  Army  in  the  World  war 
period,  receiving  preliminary  training  at  Fort 
Riley,  Kansas,  and  commissioned  a  captain  in 
the  Medical  Corps. 

December  31,  1912,  at  Tamaroa,  Illinois, 
Doctor  Finn  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Kate  M.  Ward,  daughter  of  Dr.  F.  M.  and 
Aria  A.  (Lovelady)  Ward,  of  Marion  County. 
Dr.  F.  M.  Ward  was  a  graduate  of  the 
Missouri  Medical  College  of  St.  Louis,  re- 
ceived his  M.  D.  degree  in  1879.  He  was  a 
prominent  physician  and  surgeon  over  a  period 
of  thirty-five  years  at  Tamaroa,  Perry  County. 
He  died  there  in  1919.  His  widow  survives 
him  and  resides  with  her  son-in-law,  Dr.  H.  I. 
Stevens.  Louise  Roart,  born  August  21,  1916, 
the  only  child  of  this  union,  is  now  (1932) 
a  student  in  Monticello   Seminary. 

William  H.  Hefferan.  Beginning  his  ca- 
reer as  one  of  the  original  carriers  of  the 
Rockford  Morning  Star,  William  H.  Hefferan 
was  identified  with  that  newspaper  in  various 
capacities  for  many  years.  From  a  humble 
position  he  rose  to  one  of  responsibility  and 
trust  and  eventually  became  something  of  a 
power  in  local  and  county  politics  as  a  Demo- 
crat, being  still  a  strong  influence  in  his  party 
and  for  the  past  four  years  chairman  of  the 
county  committee.  He  was  also  one  of  the 
best  postmasters  that  Rockford  ever  had,  but 
of  more  recent  years  has  devoted  practically 
all  of  his  time  to  the  insurance  business,  in 
which  he  has  achieved  well-merited  success. 

Mr.  Hefferan  was  born  at  Rockford,  Jan- 
uary 26,  1879,  and  is  a  son  of  Robert  B.  and 


ILLINOIS 


301 


Jane  (Gallagher)  Hefferan.  His  paternal 
grandfather,  Patrick  Hefferan,  was  born  in 
Ireland  and  on  first  coming  to  the  United 
States  settled  at  Morristown,  New  Jersey, 
where  he  followed  the  vocation  of  gardener. 
Later  in  life  he  came  to  Rockford,  where  he 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  life.  Robert  B. 
Hefferan  was  born  at  Morristown,  New  Jer- 
sey, and  in  his  youth  received  only  a  common 
school  education,  but  in  later  life  became  a 
very  well-read  man.  Coming  to  Rockford  in 
1857,  he  took  up  the  trade  of  millwright,  and 
this  he  followed  during  the  balance  of  his 
career.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  and  belonged  to  the  Royal 
Arcanum  and  National  Union,  and  in  politics 
was  a  stanch  Democrat,  although  never  an 
office-holder.  He  married  Miss  Jane  Galla- 
gher, who  was  born  at  Belvidere,  Illinois,  a 
daughter  of  Hugh  Gallagher,  who  was  born  in 
Ireland,  where  in  young  manhood  he  was  a 
distiller.  Coming  to  the  United  States,  he  be- 
came a  member  of  the  famous  Mulligan 
Guards  during  the  war  between  the  states, 
and  served  until  the  close  of  that  conflict.  He 
was  an  ardent  member  of  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic  throughout  his  life  and  at- 
tended many  reunions.  Mr.  Gallagher  settled 
at  Belvidere,  Illinois,  where  he  spent  the  bal- 
ance of  his  life  and  was  one  of  the  highly 
respected  men  of  his  community.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Hefferan  were  the  parents  of  two  chil- 
dren, of  whom  one  is  deceased. 

William  H.  Hefferan  attended  the  public 
schools  of  Rockford,  and  at  an  early  age  be- 
came self-supporting  as  one  of  the  original 
carriers  of  the  Rockford  Morning  Star,  later 
becoming  an  employee  in  the  office  of  that 
newspaper,  gradually  winning  promotion 
through  fidelity,  industry  and  ability  gained 
through  experience.  He  remained  in  the  office 
from  1896  until  1915,  in  which  latter  year 
he  was  appointed  postmaster  of  Rockford,  an 
office  in  which  he  served  with  great  ability  and 
conscientious  energy  until  1921,  in  the  mean- 
time effecting  many  changes  that  improved 
the  service.  At  the  end  of  this  service  he 
returned  to  the  Morning  Star  in  the  capacity 
of  circulation  manager  and  continued  his  con- 
nection with  that  paper  until  1925.  In  1925 
he  became  an  insurance  broker  and  in  1927 
devoted  his  entire  time  thereto  as  representa- 
tive of  the  Continental  Assurance  Company 
of  Chicago.  Later  he  transferred  his  con- 
nection to  the  Chicago  National  Life  Insur- 
ance Company.  In  1931  he  became  business 
manager  and  treasurer  of  the  Rockford  Daily 
News,  a  new  Democratic  paper.  He  is  widely 
and  favorably  known  in  business  circles  and 
was  accounted  one  of  the  expert  insurance 
men  of  the  city  and  county.  Mr.  Hefferan  is 
a  member  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  the 
Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks  and 
the  select  and  exclusive  Thursday  Club.  A 
Democrat   in   his    political   allegiance,   he   has 


been  active  in  the  ranks  of  his  party  since 
attaining  his  majority,  and  was  secretary  for 
years  of  the  Winnebago  County  Committee, 
of  which  he  has  been  chairman  for  the  past 
four  years.  He  has  been  a  delegate  to  numer- 
ous state  conventions  and  was  the  youngest 
delegate  sent  to  the  National  Democratic  Con- 
vention in  1908. 

Judge  Albert  E.  Isley,  county  judge  of 
Jasper  County,  has  for  many  years  been  one 
of  the  most  popular  and  strongest  figures 
identified  with  the  progressive  element  of  the 
Democratic  party  in  Illinois.  He  is  an  able 
lawyer,  and  has  discharged  the  duties  of  nu- 
merous positions  of  trust  and  responsibility 
in  the  course  of  his  active  career. 

Judge  Isley  was  born  in  Jasper  County, 
January  18,  1871,  son  of  Emanuel  and  Van- 
dalana  (Apple)  Isley.  His  parents  were  born 
in  Indiana,  and  were  of  Pennsylvania  Dutch 
ancestry.  His  father  was  born  June  18,  1839, 
son  of  Solomon  and  Margaret  Isley.  Emanuel 
Isley  settled  on  a  farm  in  Jasper  County  in 
1867.  Evidence  of  his  great  industry  and 
energy  is  found  in  the  fact  that  he  cleared 
off  120  acres  of  land  and  subdued  it  to  the 
uses  of  agriculture.  He  was  a  successful 
farmer  there  for  sixty  years  and  at  the  age 
of  ninety-three  is  active  in  the  operation  of 
his  farming  interests.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Christian  Church  and  has  always  been 
a  Democrat.  In  his  early  years  in  Illinois  he 
taught    school.      His    wife    died    January    24, 

1928.  That  was  the  first  death  in  the  family. 
There  were  eight  children,  all  of  whom  sur- 
vived their  mother.  The  son  William  E.  Isley, 
also  a  prominent  lawyer,  passed  away  May  23, 

1929.  A  brief  sketch  of  his  career  is  pub- 
lished following. 

Albert  E.  Isley  grew  up  on  a  farm,  attended 
public  schools  in  Jasper  County,  and  early 
realized  that  his  advancement  would  depend 
on  his  own  energy  and  industry.  He  taught 
country  schools  for  three  years,  and  com- 
pleted his  literary  and  professional  education 
in  Valparaiso  University,  where  he  was  grad- 
uated in  1896,  with  the  L.L.  B.  degree.  He 
then  located  at  Wabash,  Indiana,  practiced 
law,  and  was  nominated  by  the  Democratic 
party  for  the  office  of  prosecuting  attorney. 
Though  he  was  defeated  he  received  over  1,200 
votes  more  than  the  head  of  the  national 
ticket,  W.  J.  Bryan.  From  Wabash  Judge 
Isley  returned  to  Jasper  County,  where  he 
engaged  in  teaching  for  several  years.  In 
1898  he  was  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar  and 
in  the  spring  of  the  following  year  located  at 
Newton.  His  capabilities  as  a  lawyer  have 
made  him  well  known  for  over  thirty  years. 
He  was  three  years  a  member  of  the  board 
of  managers  of  the  State  Reformatory.  He 
was  elected  and  served  four  years  as  state's 
attorney  of  Jasper  County,  and  in  1908  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Illinois  General  As- 


302 


ILLINOIS 


sembly,  serving"  in  the  State  Senate  from  the 
Forty-sixth  Senatorial  District  from  1908  to 
1912,  as  a  member  of  the  Forty-sixth  and 
Forty-seventh  General  Assemblies.  In  1912 
Judge  Isley  was  a  candidate  in  the  Democratic 
primaries  for  attorney-general,  but  did  not 
receive  the  nomination.  In  1912,  the  year  that 
Theodore  Roosevelt  organized  the  Progressive 
party,  the  leaders  of  that  movement  in  Illinois, 
in  recognition  of  Judge  Isley's  ability,  popu- 
larity and  outstanding  views,  asked  him  to 
accept  the  nomination  for  attorney-general  on 
that  ticket,  but  this  he  declined,  and  when 
the  Democrats  were  successful  in  that  year  he 
was  appointed  chief  assistant  to  the  secretary 
of  state  at  Springfield  during  the  administra- 
tion of  Governor  Dunne.  These  duties  kept 
him  at  Springfield  for  two  years.  After  re- 
signing he  practiced  law  in  Peoria  for  two 
years,  and  then  returned  to  Jasper  County. 
He  was  nominated  by  the  Democrats  for  dele- 
gate to  the  Constitutional  Convention  in  1918. 
In  1923  a  Chicago  law  firm  engaged  him  as 
trial  lawyer,  and  during  the  next  three  years 
he  did  some  strenuous  work  before  court  and 
jury.  As  the  result  of  competitive  examina- 
tion in  the  Federal  Civil  Service  he  was  ap- 
pointed, November  4,  1926,  senior  valuation 
attorney  for  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission at  Washington.  He  was  engaged  in 
this  work  until  October  1,  1929,  when  he  re- 
signed in  order  to  return  to  Newton  and  take 
over  the  law  practice  of  his  brother  William. 
His  practice  is  one  of  large  volume  and  he 
handles  many  important  cases  before  all  the 
courts  of  his  district. 

In  November,  1930,  he  was  elected  judge  of 
the  County  Court  on  the  Democratic  ticket. 
His  majority  was  1,756.  This  was  the  largest 
majority  any  official  has  ever  received  in  Jas- 
per County  where  there  was  a  contest  for  the 
office.  While  in  the  State  Senate  he  was  a 
leader  of  the  opposition  to  Senator  William 
Lorimer.  He  has  always  been  a  progressive 
Democrat.  He  is  a  member  of  the  County 
and  State  Bar  Associations  and  the  Rotary 
Club. 

Judge  Isley  married,  July  29,  1903,  Miss 
Grace  M.  Sullender,  of  Indiana,  daughter  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Isaac  Sullender.  She  attended 
school  in  Indiana.  They  have  two  children. 
Their  son,  Leslie,  born  November  10,  1906, 
graduated  from  the  Newton  High  School,  took 
special  work  in  music  under  William  Shakes- 
peare of  Chicago,  and  married  Miss  Beulah 
Hunt,  of  Newton.  The  daughter,  Marilyn 
Isley,  born  July  4,  1914,  is  a  member  of  the 
class  of  1932  in  the  Newton  High  School. 

William  Eldridge  Isley,  who  passed  away 
May  23,  1929,  was  for  many  years  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  law  in  Jasper  County.  He 
was  a  brother  of  the  present  county  judge  of 
Jasper  County,  Albert  E.  Isley. 

William  E.  Isley  was  born  on  a  farm  in 
Jasper    County,    March    25,    1880.      The    old 


Isley  homestead  was  established  by  his  fa- 
ther, Emanuel  Isley,  in  1867.  William  E. 
Isley  was  one  of  a  family  of  eight  children. 
He  was  educated  in  country  schools,  taught 
in  rural  localities  for  two  years,  attended  the 
Illinois  Normal  University  and  the  Teachers 
College  at  Charleston,  and  in  1905  was  grad- 
uated from  the  law  school  of  Valparaiso  Uni- 
versity of  Indiana.  In  1912  he  took  up  active 
practice  of  the  law,  with  office  at  Newton. 
In  1916  he  was  elected  state's  attorney  and 
reelected  in  1920.  His  eight  years  of  adminis- 
tration of  the  office  included  the  World  war 
period.  Mr.  Isley  in  addition  to  his  law  work 
was  a  farm  owner.  He  was  a  Democrat  in 
politics  and  when  only  sixteen  years  of  age 
appeared  on  the  stump  as  a  speaker  for  the 
candidacy  of  William  J.  Bryan.  He  married 
in  1906  Miss  Naomi  Stretcher.  The  four  chil- 
dren born  to  them  are:  Wayne  E.,  Leonard 
C,  Wendell  H.  and  Eloise. 

Hon.  Roy  Robert  Barnes,  prominent  Bush- 
nell  merchant,  has  for  a  number  of  years 
been  a  leader  in  Republican  politics  in  this 
district.  In  November,  1930,  he  was  elected 
to  represent  the  Thirty-second  District  in  the 
Illinois  Legislature,  receiving  the  largest  vote 
of  the  four  candidates. 

Mr.  Barnes  was  born  at  Canton,  Illinois, 
September  16,  1893,  and  represents  a  pioneer 
family  of  Central  Illinois.  His  great-grand- 
father, Ezekiel  Barnes,  came  to  Illinois  in  a 
covered  wagon  and  was  one  of  the  early 
settlers  in  Fulton  County.  His  grandfather, 
Henry  Barnes,  was  born  at  Louisiana,  Mis- 
souri, and  served  as  a  colonel  in  the  Union 
army  throughout  the   Civil  war. 

Charles  H.  Barnes,  father  of  Roy  R.,  was 
born  August  16,  1863,  and  for  many  years 
was  connected  with  the  International  Har- 
vester Company  as  general  representative  in 
Central  Illinois.  He  was  also  prominent  in 
Republican  politics.  He  died  at  Canton  April 
1,  1928.  Charles  H.  Barnes  married  Miss 
Catherine  Pitkin.  She  was  born  at  Keokuk, 
Iowa,  October  23,  1873,  and  resides  at  Can- 
ton. Her  father,  Col.  Robert  Pipkin,  was  a 
Virginian,  and  officer  in  the  Confederate 
army,  and  shortly  after  the  close  of  the  war 
moved  west  to  Keokuk,  Iowa.  He  was  in  the 
lumber  business  and  for  many  years  operated 
a  plank  toll  road.     He  died  at  a  ripe  old  age. 

Roy  Robert  Barnes  grew  up  in  Canton, 
graduated  from  high  school  there  and  then 
entered  the  Northwestern  University  College 
of  Pharmacy  at  Chicago.  He  took  the  degrees 
of  Ph.  G.  and  Ph.  C.  in  1915  and  remained 
at  the  College  of  Pharmacy  for  a  year  as 
assistant  professor  of  chemistry-  Mr.  Barnes 
in  1916  established  the  Barnes  Drug  Store  al 
Bushnell,  and  has  made  that  a  real  institutioi 
of  the  town. 

Mr.  Barnes  has  some  of  the  natural  qualifi- 
cations of  the  orator.  He  has  used  this  abil- 
ity as  a  speaker  in  political  campaigns,  and 


ILLINOIS 


303 


is  on  the  list  of  the  speakers  for  the  National 
Republican  Committee.  In  1928  he  was  a 
presidential  elector,  being  the  youngest  man 
ever  to  cast  a  vote  for  President  from  the 
Fourteenth  Congressional  District  and  the 
first  presidential  elector  chosen  from  Bush- 
nell.  In  the  Legislature  during  1931,  Mr. 
Barnes  prepared  the  House  Bill  No.  545,  a 
measure  designed  to  make  it  unlawful  for 
public  utility  corporations  to  engage  in  the 
mercantile  business. 

Mr.  Barnes  married  June  5,  1916,  Miss 
Esther  Dillon.  She  attended  school  in  Chi- 
cago, a  convent  school  at  Rock  Island,  was 
graduated  in  the  Southern  Seminary  at  Buena 
Vista,  Virginia,  and  also  attended  St.  Xavier's 
Academy  in  Chicago.  Her  father,  William 
Dillon,  a  lawyer  by  profession,  is  traffic  man- 
ager and  division  superintendent  of  the  Macki- 
nac Railroad.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barnes  are  active 
socially  at  Bushnell.  They  have  three  chil- 
dren: Dorothy  Cecile,  born  March  20,  1917; 
Roy  Robert,  Jr.,  born  January  4,  1920;  and 
Jerome  Dillon,  born  March  30,  1930. 

Ralph  Taylor,  manufacturer  and  business 
man  at  Metropolis,  is  one  of  the  interesting 
citizens  of  Illinois,  a  man  whose  life  has  been 
one  of  achievement  and  attainment  since  boy- 
hood, with  a  growing  capacity  for  work  and 
service.  Mr.  Taylor  owns  a  flourishing  busi- 
ness as  an  underwear  manufacturer,  known 
as  "Taylor  Maid,  Incorporated." 

He  was  born  in  New  York  City,  New  York, 
January  16,  1892.  His  father,  Thomas  Taylor, 
was  a  native  of  Scotland,  came  to  New  York 
City  before  the  Civil  war  and  followed  the 
show  and  circus  business.  Thomas  Taylor 
married  Nellie  MacGraw,  who  was  born  in 
Ireland  of  Scotch  ancestry. 

Ralph  Taylor  was  one  of  three  children. 
He  was  six  years  of  age  when  his  father  died, 
and  as  he  had  grown  up  in  the  atmosphere 
of  a  circus  he  was  practically  from  infancy 
trained  in  the  arts  and  tricks  of  acrobatics. 
He  became  a  skilled  performer  and  for  ten 
years  he  was  a  regular  performer  in  the  saw- 
dust ring,  and  in  that  way  supported  his 
mother  and  his  brother  and  sister. 

Traveling  about  as  he  did  he  had  no  op- 
portunity to  attend  school.  He  was  fortunate 
to  be  made  a  protege  of  one  of  his  fellow 
performers,  a  high  grade  Arabian  who  at  one 
time  was  professor  of  languages  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Constantinople.  Mr.  Taylor  made 
such  wonderful  progress  under  the  tutelage 
of  this  friend  and  fellow  acrobat  that  at  the 
age  of  fifteen  he  passed  a  satisfactory  en- 
trance examination  at  Purdue  University,  his 
general  average  being  over  90  per  cent.  Dur- 
ing the  next  three  years  he  was  in  the  uni- 
versity during  the  winter,  and  again  joined 
the  circus  for  its  season's  run.  He  left  col- 
lege to  go  to  work  for  the  Cincinnati  Garment 
Manufacturing   Company,   a   firm  with  which 


he  remained  three  and  a  half  years.  His 
resignation  was  prompted  by  an  opportunity 
to  go  into  business  for  himself.  He  and  two 
partners  established  a  shop  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  work  clothing. 

At  the  time  of  the  World  war  Mr.  Taylor 
enlisted  as  a  cadet  in  the  United  States  Army 
Aviation  Corps,  was  advanced  to  second  and 
first  lieutenant  and  finally  to  captain.  He 
was  stationed  at  the  Wilbur  Wright  field  at 
Dayton,  Ohio. 

Mr.  Taylor's  brother,  Thomas  Taylor,  was 
with  the  Canadian  Aviation  Corps  and  in 
France  was  with  the  Lafayette  Escadrille. 
He  became  a  member  of  the  Foreign  Legion, 
was  decorated  with  the  French  Croix  de 
Guerre,  the  Order  of  Leopold  by  Belgium, 
received  an  Italian  citation  and  was  recom- 
mended for  the  Victorian  Cross. 

Ralph  Taylor  received  his  honorable  dis- 
charge in  the  spring  of  1919.  After  the  war 
he  became  a  sales  manager  for  the  Standard 
Sewing  Machine  Company  of  Chicago,  and 
three  years  later  resigned  to  go  with  the  Wil- 
cox and  Gibbs  Sewing  Machine  Company,  for 
whom  he  worked  two  and  a  half  years.  He 
left  the  sewing  machine  business  as  a  sales- 
man to  resume  his  connection  with  the  under- 
wear business  at  Chicago,  as  member  of  the 
firm  Hanson,  Taylor  &  Pike.  They  were  one 
of  the  early  firms  to  specialize  in  rayon  under- 
wear. After  two  years  Mr.  Taylor  bought 
out  his  two  partners  and  in  January,  1929, 
moved  his  business  to  Metropolis,  where  he 
reincorporated  it  as  the  "Taylor  Maid  Incor- 
porated." He  has  a  modern  plant,  with  over 
12,000  square  feet  of  floor  space,  employs 
ninety  people,  and  makes  high  grade  products 
which  are  distributed  by  a  force  of  four  trav- 
eling salesmen  throughout  the  central  and 
southern  states,  the  volume  of  business  for 
1930  approximately  half  a  million  dollars 
gross. 

Mr.  Taylor  is  an  active  member  of  the  Me- 
tropolis Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the  Illi- 
nois Manufacturers  Association.  He  is  a 
Republican  and  a  Mason.  He  married  Miss 
Ada  Lownes,  who  was  born  in  Iowa.  They 
have  an  adopted  daughter,  Arlene. 

Albert  Witte,  a  World  war  veteran,  is  a 
prominent  farmer  of  Cass  County.  His  farm 
is  two  and  a  half  miles  west  of  Arenzville. 

Mr.  Witte  was  born  on  the  old  Witte  home- 
stead in  Cass  County,  September  14,  1895, 
son  of  Charles  and  Minnie  (Moeller)  Witte, 
and  grandson  of  Henry  Witte.  His  grand- 
father spent  all  his  life  in  Germany,  where 
he  served  his  time  in  the  regular  army  and 
later  was  a  merchant.  Charles  Witte  was 
seventeen  years  of  age  when  he  came  to  the 
United  States  and  found  his  first  employment 
with  his  uncle,  Henry  Witte,  near  Beards- 
town.  Later  he  rented  land  from  the  Witte 
estate,    and    subsequently    bought    240    acres 


304 


ILLINOIS 


and  in  time  became  one  of  the  largest  land 
owners  of  Cass  County,  owning-  about  500 
acres.  He  was  an  active  member  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  and  was  a  trustee  of  the 
local  school  board.  He  and  his  wife  had  six 
children:  Louis,  who  married  Amanda  Wess- 
ler;  Bertha,  who  became  the  wife  of  Ed 
Natemeyer;  Edward,  who  married  Olinda 
Natemeyer;  Edith,  wife  of  William  Winkel- 
man;  Albert;  and  Anna,  wife  of  William 
Lovekamp. 

Albert  Witte  was  educated  in  the  Union 
Grove  School,  and  had  taken  his  place  as 
one  of  the  substantial  young  farmers  of  the 
county  when  he  enlisted  September  5,  1918. 
He  was  first  sent  to  Camp  Grant  at  Rock- 
ford  and  later  to  the  Machine  Gun  Training 
Center  at  Fort  Hancock,  near  Atlanta,  Geor- 
gia. He  was  fully  trained  and  in  readiness 
for  overseas  duty  when  the  armistice  was 
signed.  He  received  his-  honorable  discharge 
at  Camp  Grant. 

Since  the  war  Mr.  Witte  has  given  his  ener- 
gies fully  to  the  management  of  his  farm  of 
160  acres.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  at  Arenzville  and  is  one  of  the  recog- 
nized leaders  in  the  Republican  party  in  the 
county.  He  married  Miss  Alma  Wessler  and 
they  have  one  daughter,  Eileen,  attending 
school.  Mr.  Witte  is  a  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Legion  Post. 

Claude  Frederick  Risinger  as  sheriff  of 
Massac  County  is  not  only  one  of  the  out- 
standing officials  of  the  county,  but  has  long 
been  well  and  favorably  known  as  a  business 
man.  Politics  and  public  affairs  have  been 
only  an  incident  in  an  otherwise  career. 

Mr.  Risinger  was  born  in  Union  County, 
Kentucky,  October  14,  1885.  His  father,  Dan- 
iel Risinger,  was  born  in  Kentucky  and  in 
1890  moved  his  family  to  Massac  County, 
Illinois,  where  until  he  retired  he  engaged  in 
farming.  He  married  Mary  Eliza  Johns,  also 
a  native  of  Kentucky. 

Fred  Risinger  is  one  of  five  children.  Dur- 
ing his  boyhood  he  attended  grade  school  at 
Metropolis,  and  when  he  was  seventeen  years 
of  age  began  his  business  experience.  He  has 
had  much  to  do  with  the  timber  industry, 
buying  and  selling.  In  1903  he  settled  down 
to  farming,  and  ran  a  farm  of  160  acres 
until  1908.  The  following  four  years  he  was 
a  traveling  salesman,  and  during  1913-14  was 
in  business  for  himself  as  a  timber  dealer. 

Mr.  Risinger's  first  introduction  to  public 
office  came  with  his  election  as  county  clerk 
of  Massac  County  in  1914.  He  was  county 
clerk  four  years  and  on  retiring  from  that 
office  was  elected  cashier  of  the  National  State 
Bank  of  Metropolis.  After  eighteen  months 
he  resigned  to  return  to  the  timber  buying 
business,  and  at  the  same  time  he  actively 
supervised  his  father's  farm  of  280  acres. 
Mr.  Risinger  for  a  number  of  years  has  had 


a  reputation  in  Southern  Illinois  as  a  stock 
raiser.  He  has  been  a  director  of  the  Na- 
tional State  Bank  since  1918. 

In  1926  he  was  elected  sheriff  of  Massac 
County,  and  began  his  four  year  term  in 
December  of  the  same  year.  This  has  been 
a  very  satisfactory  administration.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  American  Sheriffs  Association, 
is  a  Republican,  member  of  the  Masonic  Lodge, 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Benevolent 
and  Protective  Order  of  Elks  and  the  Me- 
tropolis Country  Club. 

Sheriff  Risinger  married  Florence  Oakes, 
who  was  born  in  Massac  County.  They  have 
three  children,  Mary  Catherine,  Charles  Mor- 
ris and  Alice  Gertrude. 

Louis  D.  Hill.  Among  the  men  of  Illinois 
who  have  consecrated  their  careers  to  work 
of  practical  philanthropy,  few  are  more  en- 
titled to  the  esteem  and  good  will  of  their 
fellow-men  than  Louis  D.  Hill,  superintendent 
of  the  Union  Gospel  Mission  of  Rockford. 
This  is  an  inter-denominational,  non-sectarian 
religious  institution,  founded  on  Gospel  lines, 
and  during  the  four  years  that  Mr.  Hill  has 
been  in  charge  he  has  secured  in  excess  of 
3,400  conversions. 

Mr.  Hill  was  born  in  Greene  County,  Illi- 
nois, in  1890,  and  is  a  son  of  George  D.  and 
Annie  (Hynes)  Hill,  both  natives  of  this  state. 
His  father  was  a  barber  by  occupation  and  is 
now  deceased,  while  his  mother  still  survives 
as  a  resident  of  Rockford.  Mr.  Hill  was  a 
Republican  in  his  political  allegiance  and  he 
and  Mrs.  Hill  belonged  to  the  Catholic  Church 
and  were  the  parents  of  six  children,  of  whom 
five  are  living,  Louis  D.  having  been  the  third 
in  order  of  birth,  the  others  being  George  C, 
Eylyn  M.,  Carl  and  Robert. 

Louis  D.  Hill  attended  the  public  schools 
of  Chicago,  where  he  got  into  a  bad  environ- 
ment and  was  drawn  into  a  semi-criminal 
career.  He  drifted  from  one  job  to  another, 
tending  bar,  driving  a  newspaper  wagon  and 
eventually  getting  mixed  up  in  petty  politics 
in  the  old  Eighteenth  Ward,  where  his  com- 
panions were  wild  and  lawless.  Eventually 
Mr.  Hill  himself,  because  of  an  infraction  of 
the  law,  became  a  fugitive  from  justice  and 
remained  so  for  five  years.  It  was  at  this 
time,  when  his  utter  demoralization  seemed 
to  be  about  effected,  that  he  went  to  Spring- 
field, Illinois.  Largely  out  of  curiosity  and 
because  of  the  promise  of  warmth  and  food,  he 
dropped  into  a  Gospel  meeting  at  a  mission 
conducted  by  "Bob"  Brown,  where  he  was 
converted.  Immediately,  by  the  help  of  God, 
a  change  began  in  his  life,  and  when  he  had 
gathered  together  his  manhood,  he  started  out 
after  the  men  who  had  formerly  been  his  boon 
companions,  and  through  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel,  his  personality  and  eloquence  diverted 
many  of  them  from  lives  of  depravity  and 
crime.     For  two  years  he  remained  at  Spring- 


L 


/ H^tcaz^UA^    /[.     /   ^60<ytC 


ILLINOIS 


305 


field  and  then  went  to  Chicago  for  a  like 
period,  and  in  September,  1927,  settled  per- 
manently at  Rockford,  where  he  has  since  had 
3,400  conversions. 

The  Union  Gospel  Mission  of  Rockford  is  a 
place   where   men  who   have   nowhere   else   to 
go   can   find   a   kindly  interest  and   a  helping 
hand  in  time  of  need.     There  they  can  wash 
and  fumigate  their  clothes,  take   a  bath,   get 
something  to   eat,   and   sleep   in   a  clean   bed 
There  they  hear  the   Gospel  of   Christ  which 
strengthens    them    and    sends    them    on    their 
way    again    to    become    useful    citizens.      Men 
are    taken    in   regardless    of    color,    race,    na- 
tionality or  religious  belief.      The   Mission   is 
controlled   by   a   board   of   directors   who   are 
members  of  various  Rockford  churches.    It  has 
no  connection   whatever   with   any   other   out- 
side  organization   and   every   cent   pledged   is 
used    right   at   home.      The   directors    of   this 
worthy    institution    are    as    follows:       Oscar 
Sundstrand,    president;    Joseph    Wilson,    vice 
president;    H.    A.    Conklin,    treasurer;    J.    A 
Quixley,  secretary;   Frank  I.  Johnson,  G.  W. 
Aldeen,  E.   C.  Goerlitz,  C.  A.  Jackson,  G.   H. 
Lundgren,    Ralph     E.     Erickson,    George    A. 
Miller,    J.    A.    Dennis    and    Bert    Westberg. 
Through     the     efforts     of     Mission     workers, 
homes   are  mended   or  are   saved  from  being 
broken,    and    many    are    encouraged    to    try 
again.       The     Rescue     Mission     reaches     out 
to  the  world   of  forgotten  men,   the   land   of 
heartache    and    heartbreak,    which    exists    in 
every   city.     If   the   Mission   did   nothing   but 
furnish  a  wholesome  atmosphere  and  a  warm 
room,  the  expense  of  maintaining  it  would  be 
justified.     Discouragement  and  lack  of  friends 
drag  men  and  women  down,  yet  such  people 
are  responsive  to  the  influence  of  well-lighted 
and  heated  rooms,  a  hearty  welcome,  a  chance 
to   sing  the  old   songs  and   hear   the   old,  old 
story.     It  is  a  mistake  to  think  of  attendants 
at  the  Mission  as  only  tramps  or  ne'er-do-wells. 
Large    numbers    of    them    are    college    men 
Under  date  of   March  23,   1928,   Mayor   Burt 
M.  Allen  of  Rockford  sent  the  following  let- 
ter:     "Mr.    L.    D.    Hill,    Supt.,    Union   Gospel 
Mission,    City.      Dear    Sir:— In   the    last   few 
months  I  have  been  very  much  interested  in 
the  work  that  you  are  doing  at  the  Mission. 
In  the  first  place  I  think  you  should  be  com- 
plimented personally,  as  few  men  are  willing 
to  give  their  time  trying  to  save  the  less  for- 
tunate.    There   always   has   been   and   always 
will  be  poor  and  unfortunate  people  who  can- 
not be  left  to  starve,  and  it  falls  to  the  lot 
of  some  of  us  to  look  after  them.     Most  of 
these  men  have  no  religion  and  if  you  are  only 
able  to  teach  a  few  of  them  of  God  as  they 
should  be  taught,  they  will  go  out  in  the  world 
and   make    a    way   for    themselves.      Most   of 
these  men  must  appreciate  a  night's  lodging, 
a  good  supper  and  breakfast,  and  above  all  a 
good  bath  which  must  start  them  out  in  the 
morning,   feeling   that   someone    is    interested 


m  their  welfare.  If  only  more  people  knew 
o±  the  good  work  you  are  doing,  they  would 
assist  you.  Wishing  you  much  success,  I  re- 
main, yours  very  truly,  (Signed)  Burt  M. 
Allen  Mayor."  Mr.  Hill  is  a  member  of  the 
Blue  Lodge  of  Masonry,  but  his  work  at  the 
Mission  requires  so  much  of  his  time  and  at- 
tention that  he  has  little  leisure  for  outside 
interests. 

.  In  May,  1929,  Mr.  Hill  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Eunice  Marie  Anderson,  who 
was  born  at  Chicago  and  educated  in  the 
grammar  and  high  schools  of  Rockford.  For 
a  time  she  was  assistant  to  the  registrar  of 
Rockford  College,  and  prior  to  her  marriage 
was  a  member  of  the  Plymouth  Brethren.  Mr 
and  Mrs.  Hill  are  the  parents  of  one  baby 
son:   Louis  D.,  Jr.     Mr.  Hill  is  now  the  Rev. 

w0U1^P'iHl11,  ,head  of  "RiShtlv  Dividing  the 
World,  located  in  Memphis,  Tennessee,  and 
is  one  of  the  outstanding  Bible  expositors  of 
the  day. 

.  Hon.  William  Warfield  Wilson  of  Chicago 
was  elected  a  Representative  in  Congress  from 
the  Third  District  of  Illinois  as  a  Republican 
from  1902  to  1920  for  the  Fifty-eighth,  Fifty- 
ninth,  Sixtieth,  Sixty-first,  Sixty-second,  Six- 
ty-fourth, Sixty-fifth  and  Sixty-sixth  Con- 
gresses. 

President  Calvin  Coolidge  appointed  him  as 
General  Counsel  for  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment m  the  Alien  Property  Custodian  Depart- 
ment and  Assistant  Alien  Property  Custodian 
at  Washington,  D.  C,  from  1922  to  1926,  also 
chairman  of  a  committee,  with  diplomatic 
status,  to  visit  Germany,  Austria,  and  Austria 
Hungary  to  arrange  for  the  return  of  enemy 
owned  property  valued  at  seven  hundred  mil- 
lion dollars,  which  was  seized  and  held  in  trust 
by  the  American  Government  during  the 
World  war,  and  for  the  further  purpose  of 
establishing  a  more  friendly  relationship  with 
the  German,  Austrian  and  Hungarian  Govern- 
ments. 

Mr  Wilson  is  the  son  of  Joseph  Grimes  and 
Sarah  Young  Wilson,  born  March  2,  1868,  on  a 
farm  in  an  interesting  rural  community  near 
Ohio,  Bureau  County,  Illinois.  There  were 
seven  children  in  this  family,  Eliza  Jane,  who 
married  Marion  S.  Riser,  at  Ohio,  Illinois; 
Ellen  Rebecca,  who  married  John  L.  Scott,  at 
Ohio,  Illinois;  Sarah  Amy;  Mary  Bertha,  who 
married  Eugene  Stewart,  at  Chicago,  Illinois; 
William  Warfield;  Harriet  Elizabeth,  who 
married  Dr.  John  W.  Kasbeer,  at  Normal, 
Illinois,  and  Joseph  Stephen,  who  married 
Helen  Sommers,  of  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania 
all  of  whom  became  useful  and  influential 
citizens  under  the  guidance  of  the  christian 
and  patriotic  spirit  which  prevailed  in  their 
happy  home. 

The  Wilson  family  is  English  descent,  and 
Stephen  Wilson,  the  founder  of  the  American 
branch,  was  an  English  Quaker,  who  came  to 


306 


ILLINOIS 


America  in  1668  and  settled  in  Pennsylvania 
with  the  William  Penn  Colony,  since  which 
time  the  family  has  been  prominent  in  the 
business,  social  and  political  life  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois.  The  Illinois 
branch  came  from  Saint  Clairsville,  Ohio,  and 
settled  at  Princeton,  Illinois,  in  1832. 

His  mother's  family  is  Scotch  descent.  She 
was  a  descendant  of  the  John  Young  family 
of  Virginia,  which  was  prominent  in  the  de- 
velopment of  that  country  and  conspicuous 
for  its  patriotism  and  valor  before  and  during 
the  Revolutionary  period.  Youngstown,  Ohio, 
was  developed  by  and  named  in  honor  of  her 
family. 

Mr.  Wilson,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools,  Illinois  State 
Normal,  University  of  Michigan,  and  the  Chi- 
cago Kent  College  of  Law.  During  his  early 
career  he  taught  school  in  Illinois  and  Idaho. 
He  is  a  lawyer  by  profession  and  has  been  in 
active  practice  since  1893;  is  a  member  of  the 
American,  Illinois  State,  and  Chicago  Bar  As- 
sociations; Union  League  Club,  Hamilton 
Club,  Masonic  Orders,  and  a  Methodist. 

He  married  Sarah  M.  Moore,  daughter  of 
Professor  and  Mrs.  Harry  M.  Moore,  on  Octo- 
ber 11,  1891,  and  on  October  11,  1896,  Stephen 
Askew  Wilson,  their  only  child,  was  born  at 
Amboy,  Lee  County,  Illinois,  who  was  edu- 
cated in  the  Chicago  public  schools,  Mercers- 
burg  Academy,  Mercersburg,  Pennsylvania, 
University  of  Illinois,  and  Harvard  Law 
School.  He  married  Jane  Parmenter  of  King- 
man, Kansas,  October  8,  1927.  They  have  one 
son,  William  Parmenter  Wilson,  born  Septem- 
ber 4,  1928.     They  reside  in  Chicago,  Illinois. 

Mr.  Wilson  resides  at  7140  Yale  Avenue, 
Chicago,  Illinois. 

James  E.  Mitchell,  cashier  of  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Carbondale,  Jackson  County, 
was  born  at  Marion,  Williamson  County,  Illi- 
nois, May  28,  1884,  and  on  both  paternal  and 
maternal  sides  is  a  scion  of  families  that  were 
established  in  that  county  in  the  early  pioneer 
days — within  a  short  time  after  Illinois  became 
a  state.  Mr.  Mitchell  is  a  son  of  Dr.  J.  C. 
and  Lillie  (White)  Mitchell,  both  likewise 
natives  of  Williamson  County,  where  they 
passed  their  entire  lives  and  where  were  born 
their  eleven  children,  of  whom  four  sons  and 
three  daughters  attained  to  maturity,  namely: 
John  W.;  James  E.;  Frank  A.;  Everett  E., 
graduated  in  the  University  of  Illinois;  Verna, 
married  Samuel  Parker;  Rose,  married  Fred- 
erick M.  Taylor;  Dessie,  graduated  in  Illinois 
Woman's  College  at  Jacksonville  and  became 
the  wife  of  A.  L.  Cash. 

Dr.  J.  C.  Mitchell  was  graduated  in  Rush 
Medical  College,  Chicago,  but  the  greater  part 
of  his  active  life  was  given  to  the  banking 
business,  of  which  he  was  a  leading  repre- 
sentative at  Marion  during  a  period  of  thirty- 
three  years,  he  having  been  chairman  of  the 


board  of  directors  of  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Marion  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1926. 
As  a  young  man  he  served  two  terms  as  clerk 
of  Williamson  County,  and  he  was  influential 
in  the  local  councils  of  the  Republican  party. 
His  brother,  E.  E.  Mitchell,  served  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Republican  State  Central  Commit- 
tee and  resigned  this  position  to  become  leader 
in  the  organizing  of  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Carbondale.  Dr.  J.  C.  Mitchell  was  a  son 
of  William  H.  Mitchell,  who  came  with  his 
father  to  Illinois  in  the  early  part  of  the  1820 
decade,  from  Eastern  Tennessee,  and  both 
took  land  and  became  pioneer  farmers  of 
Williamson  County.  The  wife  of  Doctor 
Mitchell  was  a  daughter  of  Col.  John  White, 
who  was  born  in  Williamson  County,  where 
his  parents  were  early  settlers  from  Tennessee. 
Colonel  White  served  as  a  captain  in  the 
War  of  1812,  and  at  the  inception  of  the  Civil 
war  he  organized  and  was  made  colonel  of  the 
Thirty-first  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  of 
which  he  was  in  command  when  he  was  killed, 
in  the  battle  of  Fort  Donelson,  one  of  the 
early  conflicts  of  the  war.  He  was  a  cabinet- 
maker by  trade  and  became  a  successful  farmer 
in  Williamson  County.  He  married  Emily 
McCoy,  member  of  a  family  that  settled  in 
Union  County  in  1840. 

The  early  education  of  James  E.  Mitchell 
was  acquired  in  the  public  schools  of  Marion, 
including  the  high  school,  and  at  the  age  of 
nineteen  years  he  initiated,  in  the  capacity 
of  clerk,  his  service  in  connection  with  bank- 
ing enterprise.  He  won  successive  advance- 
ment and  since  1912  has  been  cashier  of  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Carbondale.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Illinois  State  Bankers  Asso- 
ciation and  the  American  Bankers  Associa- 
tion, has  served  twenty  years  as  a  precinct 
committeeman  of  the  Republican  party  and  for 
virtually  an  equal  period  has  been  a  delegate 
to  the  state  and  other  conventions  of  his  party 
in  Illinois.  He  and  his  wife  are  zealous  mem- 
bers of  the  First  Baptist  Church  in  their  home 
city,  he  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity, the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of 
Elks  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  in  which 
last  named  fraternity  he  is  a  past  chancellor 
commander  of  the  local  lodge,  and  he  is  a 
popular  and  appreciative  member  of  the  Mid- 
land Hills  Country  Club.  Mr.  Mitchell  was 
influential  in  the  advancing  of  local  patriotic 
activities  in  the  World  war  period,  was  chair- 
man of  the  Liberty  Loan  organization  and 
chairman  of  Group  No.  10  that  directed  the 
local  drives  for  sale  of  Government  war 
bonds. 

Mr.  Mitchell  married  Miss  Mollie  Vancil, 
who  was  born  and  reared  at  Carbondale,  a 
daughter  of  Albert  and  Elizabeth  Vancil,  her 
father,  of  Pennsylvania  Dutch  ancestry,  hav- 
ing been  a  leading  business  man  of  Benton 
and  Carbondale,  Illinois.  Elizabeth,  elder  of 
the  two  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mitchell, 


ILLINOIS 


Lf  ^lte  T°,f  ■Sout^iern  Illinois  Normal  School 
and  of  the  University  of  Colorado,  from  which 
she  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts 
u  ]S  ?°™  a  P°Pular  teacher  in  the  high 
school  at  Eldorado,  Illinois.  James,  younger 
of    the    children,    is,    in    1932,    a    student    in 

to^h^r  TRAkY  Buckingham  was  admitted 
to  the  Illinois  bar  m  1890,  and  since  1908  has 
practiced  m  Chicago.  For  many  years  he  was 
a  close  friend  and  professional  associate  of  The 

was  the^P  H',Defrf s>  an<*  Mr.  Buckingham 
was  the  second  partner  in  the  firm  of  De- 
frees,  Buckingham,  Jones  &  Hoffman,  which 
consisted  of  ten  partners  and  twenty  associate 

abuEt  Mr'  Budi*m  has  had^ucces  in 
abundant  measure  m  his  professional  work, 
and  he  is  also  widely  known  both  in  Illinois 
and  elsewhere  for  public  spirited  leadership 
m  patriotic  movements,  and  he  has  served  on 
many  commissions  and  boards.     In  public  dis 

trTbSXdS  fo^  T??8*  MI  Pen  hePhas  con- 
noSroblems^"^    Understa-^    of    eco- 

in^Qi?UQCkinghani  ls  a  native  of  Indiana  and 
in    1914   and   again   m   1925   was   honored   bv 

of'chTca^o  PRSldent  i*  the  Indiana  Sode?? 
21  l«Sg  H%Wa,S  born  at  Delphia,  April 
(ClaJk? V°?  °t  Tra7  Wilson  ^d  Helen 
Thomai  Rnilm^am'  He  *s  a  Ascendant  of 
Ihomas  Buckingham,  a  Puritan  settler  in 
New  Haven  and  Milford,  Connecticut  in  1637 

wP^f  ?'  rgJ-andfather'  JosePh  Buckingham, 
went    to    Indiana    as    one    of    the    contractors 

Erie^aSd  C°Tf "^^  °f  2"  Wab^htnd 
born  a  It  w  Y  Wl}S0?  Buckingham  was 
in   iR7n    Fort   Wayne,   Indl^na,   in    1833,   and 

Tr«™ \TJed^1S  family  t0  Illinois-     George 

education  ^!  T  ^qUired  a  COmmon  ^ol 
education  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  went 
to  work,  being  employed  on  a  farm    in  brick 

daflv   hand/t0f-1S'   and  While  workS'g  ?or   nls 
daily   bread   utilized   his   time   and   opportuni 
ties    to    study    for    self    advancement*   From 
1886  he  put  m  many  hours  of  study  at  night 

1890  h?^™  at  Danville'  Illin^  andin 
to  thP  niwgTCe  wSrS  re™rded  h*  admission 
to  the  Illinois  bar.     Mr.  Buckingham  was  then 

TnV^v'WT**  t0  SerVe  as  ^ecS  agent 
lor  the  United  States  Treasury  Department 
and  his  duties  employed  him  at  New  York' 
to  Ig^H"  Canada  *nd  Eu-peTrL  18r9k0 
1°     7  \   1He   t.hen   ^turned   to   Danville   and 

Sg^"  hT  w  that  Clty  Until  he  ca" 
^nicago.      He    was    assistant    state's    attornpv 

of  Vermilion  County  from  1894  to  1898ffis 

professional  work  at  Chicago  has  been  in  the 

ested°iC°"POratl?n  IaW  and  he  has  been  inter- 
ested m  many  business  enterprises.  He  is 
a  director  and  general  counsel  for  the  North 
American  Light  &  Power  Company  for  the 
no  s°T™  °,Wer  *  Li^ht  Corporation?  the  Iiu! 
nois    Traction,   Incorporated,    and   the    North- 


307 


?wr  r  Terra    C0t,ta    ComPany   ^d    Chicago 
0T/tCffany  aTnd  others.     He  is  a  member 

Birth|ssCocJa?fo°ns.Illln01S   ^   and    A™™™ 

no^r^?fUCungha^  Was  a  trustee  of  the  Illi- 
nois State  Hospital  at  Kankakee  from  1897  to 

I*  k  ^d  ?°m  1901  t0  1905  wa«  president 
of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Joliet  Prison  He 
has  performed  important  services  as  a  direc! 
tor  and  trustee  of  many  civic  institutions  and 
was  a  delegate  to  the  Republican  National 
Conventions  m  1904  and  1908.  In  1886  he 
Cnff  a  ™ember  of  the  Illinois  National 
,?*£d  "P*.™*  a  lieutenant  colonel  of  vol 
thPWniUnng  th.G  SPani^-American  war.  In 
t?on  Ji <  T  rhe  Was  President  of  the  Na- 
tional Security  League.  Mr.  Buckingham  is 
a  member  of  the  Chicago  Art  Institute  ™hi 
cago    Historical    Society,    is    a    Methodist     a 

president  of  the  Union  League  Club  in  1922 

Hwl^  mepTbKer  °/  the  Arm^  and  Navy  Club,' 
Hamilton  ciub  Attic  Club,  Mid-Day  Club 
Club^.nd1^  Chicago  Yacht  Club,  Exmoor 
<-mb,    and    Knollwood    Country    Club    in    Chi 

Ca!?'  aSd  lhe  t°tus  Club  in  New  York       hl~ 
Mr.   Buckingham   married   in   1894   Victoria 
Donlon  of  Danville,  who  died  in  1922    leaW 
one  son,  Tracy  Wilson,  now  a  Chicago  attor 

J&M  ££■&&■*  and  his  ho-  * 

Fleetwood  Herndon  Lindley  is  a  native 
son  of  Springfield,  Illinois,  member  of  an  old 
and  interesting  family  of  that  city.  He  was 
born     m     1887,     son    of    Joseph     Perry    Tnd 

JosPnhAf-  ^erndon>  LindJey,  grandJon  o 
Joseph  Lindley  Sr.;  one  time  mayor  of  the 
City  of  Mansfield,  Ohio;  whose  wife  was 
Nancy  Lee,  a  sister  of  Robert  E.  Lee's  father. 
His  maternal  grandmother  was  Mary  A 
Wiggs^  who  came  from  Versailles,  Kentucky,' 
to  Springfield  m  1852.  Her  family  was  de- 
scended from  the  Earls  of  Stanhope  Rkhard 
TZm^Qrnf°\ maternal  grandfather  wis 
Arthur  ly  aS   President   Chester   A. 

Fleetwood  H.  Lindley 's  father,  Joseph  Perry 
Lindley,  was  a  member  of  the  Lincoln  Guard 
of  Honor.  He  with  his  son,  Fleetwood,  were 
among  the  select  company  to  view  for  the  last 
wW  fi!  remaiI!s  of  the  martyred  President, 
™  ,th|  ca«ket  was  opened,  September  26 
1901,  before  it  was  sealed  for  all  time  under 
steel  and  concrete.  Mr.  Fleetwood  Herndon 
Lmdley  was  fourteen  years  of  age  at  this 
time  and  the  youngest  witness  of  this  historic 
ceremony.  UL 

Mr.  Lindley  graduated  from  the  Springfield 
High  School  and  from  the  University  of ^  Illi- 
nois class  of  1909.  For  nine  years  he  was 
employed  with  the  dry  goods  firm  of  Herndon 
&  Company;  during  the  World  war  he  was  in 


308 


ILLINOIS 


training  at  Camp  Hancock,  Augusta,  Georgia, 
commissioned  as  first  lieutenant,  machine  gun, 
and  received  honorable  discharge  December, 
1918,  after  peace  was  declared.  Upon  his 
return  home  he  served  two  years  as  city  clerk, 
resigning  to  establish  the  firm  of  Lindley  and 
Company,  Retail  Florist,  which  now  have  two 
and  one-half  acres  under  glass,  roses  being 
his  specialty. 

In  1923  Mr.  Lindley  married  Bessie  Chap- 
man Fearno,  daughter  of  Alvin  W.  and  Nora 
F.  (Drury)  Chapman.  They  have  two  sons, 
Joseph  Perry  and  DeWitt  Fearno  Lindley. 

Mr.  Lindley  is  president  of  Oak  Ridge  Ceme- 
tery Board  in  which  cemetery  is  the  tomb  of 
Abraham  Lincoln.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Rotary  Club,  University  Club,  Elks,  Alpha  Tau 
Omega  fraternity  and  the  First  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church. 

Hon.  John  Coleman,  who  was  mayor  of 
Mount  Carmel  from  1927  to  1931,  is  a  native 
son  of  Wabash  County,  and  his  grandparents 
on  both  sides  were  pioneers  in  this  section  of 
Illinois. 

Mr.  Coleman  was  born  at  Mount  Carmel 
November  21,  1871,  son  of  Thomas  S.  and 
Mary  (Doll)  Coleman.  His  father  was  also 
born  in  Mount  Carmel,  as  a  youth  learned 
the  trade  of  cabinetmaker  and  for  a  number 
of  years  was  a  successful  building  contractor. 
He  died  in  1914  and  his  wife  in  1916.  He 
was  a  Republican  in  politics  and  he  and  his 
wife  were  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church. 

John  Coleman  attended  the  public  schools 
of  Mount  Carmel  until  he  was  fourteen  years 
of  age.  During  the  next  five  years  he  worked 
in  a  local  factory  making  butter  dishes.  Dur- 
ing this  time  he  invented  a  machine  for 
making  milk-shakes,  one  of  the  popular  bev- 
erages of  the  time.  In  1890,  on  a  borrowed 
capital  of  two  dollars,  he  set  up  a  little  stand 
for  the  serving  of  milk  shakes  and  lemonade, 
and  during  the  next  three  years  continued  it 
as  a  fairly  profitable  business  for  a  youth. 
Then  after  a  visit  to  the  World's  Fair  in 
Chicago  in  1893,  he  returned  home  and  with 
a  capital  of  $535  in  September,  1893,  opened 
a  lunch  room  and  cigar  stand.  The  business 
was  expanded  in  1896  by  the  opening  of  an 
ice  cream  parlor.  In  1904  Mr.  Coleman 
bought  property  in  the  900  block  of  Market 
Street  and  erected  a  modern  plant  for  the 
manufacture  of  ice  cream  and  a  wholesale 
business  in  dairy  products.  Out  of  capital 
of  his  own  earning  and  his  individual  initiative 
and  constant  close  attention,  Mr.  Coleman 
built  up  a  fairly  prosperous  business,  which 
he  continued  until  1927,  when  he  sold  out. 

Mr.  Coleman  has  done  other  things  in  a 
constructive  way  for  the  development  of  Mount 
Carmel.  He  has  erected  several  brick  business 
buildings,  has  owned  several  residence   prop- 


erties, since  1910  has  been  a  director  and  is 
now  vice  president  of  the  American  National 
Bank.  In  1924  he  was  the  leader  in  the 
movement  to  construct  a  modern  highway 
bridge  over  the  Wabash  River  on  the  route 
of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Highway.  For 
two  years  he  was  president  of  the  Mount  Car- 
mel Chamber  of  Commerce,  was  the  first  presi- 
dent of  the  Mount  Carmel  Country  Club,  and 
has  been  lieutenant  governor  of  the  Illinois  and 
Eastern  Iowa  Division  of  Kiwanis  Clubs.  He 
is  a  former  president  of  the  Mount  Carmel 
Building  and  Loan  Association,  and  for  seven- 
teen years  was  the  inspector  of  all  properties 
on  which  loans  were  asked  from  this 
association. 

Mr.  Coleman  has  been  active  in  Republican 
politics  since  early  manhood.  In  1902  he  was 
elected  an  alderman,  serving  for  two  years. 
He  was  elected  mayor  of  the  city  in  1927,  and 
his  administration  during  the  succeeding  four 
years  was  a  record  of  constructive  accom- 
plishments and  a  businesslike  and  economical 
handling  of  municipal  affairs.  In  1927  he 
was  elected  vice  president  of  the  Illinois 
Municipal  League.  Mr.  Coleman  holds  the 
rank  of  captain  in  the  uniform  rank  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias,  is  a  member  of  various 
Masonic  bodies  including  the  Mystic  Shrine 
and  B.  P.  O.  Elks.  He  is  an  elder  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church. 

Mr.  Coleman  married,  in  October,  1896,  Miss 
Nellie  Dorothy  Kuhn.  She  was  born  and 
reared  at  Mount  Carmel,  daughter  of  F.  Jo- 
seph and  Minnie  (Hafer)  Kuhn.  Her  father 
was  born  in  Germany  and  her  mother  at 
Princeton,  Indiana.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Coleman 
have  two  sons,  Theodore  and  John,  Jr.,  both 
of  whom  are  young  business  men  in  Mount 
Carmel.  Theodore  married  Eileen  Gornor  and 
has  a  son,  Theodore  K. 

Tom  Sanders  is  a  retired  farmer  and  cit- 
izen of  East  St.  Louis,  a  man  still  in  the 
prime  of  his  years  but  whose  earnest  and 
effective  endeavor  have  given  him  a  com- 
petency which  enables  him  to  enjoy  a  justly 
merited  leisure. 

He  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Greene  County, 
Tennessee,  June  13,  1878.  His  father,  Wil- 
liam Sanders,  also  a  native  of  Greene  County, 
fought  in  the  Confederate  army  during  the 
Civil  war.  He  married  Sarah  Bowens,  of 
Tennessee,  and  their  children  were:  Martha, 
deceased;  Elizabeth,  deceased;  Anna,  deceased; 
William,  whose  home  is  in  North  Carolina; 
and  Tom. 

Tom  Sanders  grew  up  on  a  Tennessee  farm, 
acquired  his  education  in  the  schools  of  that 
state,  and  as  a  boy  began  earning  money  as 
a  farm  worker  in  the  neighborhood.  When 
eighteen  years  old  he  became  a  miner  in  the 
Toms  Creek  district  of  Virginia,  where  he 
remained   for   twelve  years.     Mr.    Sanders  in 


ILLINOIS 


309 


1912  came  to  Illinois,  first  locating  at  St. 
Johns  near  Duquoin  and  later  moving  to 
Sparta,  where  he  devoted  his  attention  to  his 
farming  interests  until  1928,  when  he  sold  out 
and  retired.  While  in  Randolph  County  he 
served  on  the  local  committees  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  and  has  always  manifested  a 
public    spirited     attitude    toward     community 

ofdTof  ^d'Fe^lo^"  °f  thG  Ind«n* 

R«nn  ix?eptemb^r  ?.>  '1896'  he  carried  Miss 
Belle  Moore  who  died  at  their  home  at  Sparta 
February  17,  1927.  On  July  19,  193.0,  Mr 
banders  was  again  married.  Mrs.  Sanders 
by  a  previous  marriage  has  a  son,  Harry  Max- 
held  who  is  m  the  insurance  business  at  East 
a  70?1?'  ^  Sanders  and  his  first  wife 
adopted  two  children,  Charles  Albert  Sanders 

at°WFnt?  ren  ye?nS  °-f  age'  atte*ding  school 
at  Fort  Gage  Illinois;  and  Dorothy,  aged 
fourteen,  in  school  at  Potomac,  Illinois 

Edward  Everett  Edmondson,  M.  D.,  now  a 
resident  of  Carbondale,  has  enjoyed  a  widely 
varied  experience  in  his  professional  field  and 
has  won  exceptional  honors  both  in  the  routine 
of  his  work  and  m  original  investigations  and 
discoveries.  He  is  one  of  Illinois'  outstanding 
scientific  men  m  the  treatment  of  eye  ear 
nose  and  throat  diseases,  and  is  a  recognized 
authority  on  hay  fever  and  asthma. 

Doctor  Edmondson  was  born  at  Iuka,  Tisho- 
ThegFd^T.ty'  Mississippi,  January  10,  1876. 
The  Edmondson  family  came  to  America  early 
n  the  seventeenth  century,  settling  in  Mary- 
land and  Virginia.  They  were  a  Fugged  and 
patriotic  race.  The  family  furnished  numer- 
ous officers  and  enlisted  men  at  the  time  of  the 

o±   Kings   Mountain,   where   three  were  killed 

sTn     whnW0UndSd-      *?0Hrt   Spillsb^   Ed™*d" 
son,   who    was   born   m    Mecklenburg    County, 

Virginia,  May  1,  1780,  and  who  served  in  the 

tt  ^-Sidner,  John  Coleman,  William 
Sanders,  Samuel,  Richard  Coleman,  and  Mrs 
Sti ^  i ?uef-  ,  William  Sanders  Edmond- 
son was  killed  while  serving  in  the  Confeder- 
ate army.  The  grandfather  of  Doctor  Ed- 
mondson was  John  Coleman  Edmondson,  born 
m  Nottoway  County,  Virginia,  in  1806 
utiv  P^tfof  Doctor  Edmondson  were 
William   Franklin   and   Martha   Ann    (Castle- 

Iuk7)MEd^0ndS-0n;,  H1S  father  was     ornat 
Iuka    Mississippi,  March  20,  1847,  was  grad- 
uated from  the  Iuka  Institute,  and  f  roi/lles 
to  1865  was  a  boy  soldier  of  the  Confederacv 
a  private  m  Company  I,  Moreland's  Regiment 
Alabama  Cavalry.    For  many  years  he  tautht 

Sted6aP  milf  ?Ch00lS  °f  Missi-iPP^  laterUogphe- 
rated  a  mill  for  sawing  pine  lumber,  and  in 
1886  moved  with  his  family  to  Comanche 
County,  Texas  Shortly  afterward  he  Tocated 
at  Strawn  m  Palo  Pinto  County,  where  he  be- 


ZZ  ?  building  contractor.  He  was  presi- 
dent of  the  board  of  directors  of  Strawn  Col- 
lege   until    he    removed    to    Hamilton,    Texas 

dghty-five   reSidGS    at    thG    advanced    a^e    of 
The  mother  of  Doctor  Edmondson  was  born 

at  StStn  T  1SSipPiV  M^y  2°'  1849'  and  died 
at  Strawn,  Texas,  March  17,  1908.     She  was 

a  graduate  of  Sewanee  College  in  TennesTee! 
Her  parents  were  James  Castleberry,  born  in 
Gwinnett  County,  Georgia,  May  5,  1817,  and 
hlT  Tna  Tnrbeville,  of  Chickasaw,  Ala- 
bama, who  were  married   Se-tember   3,   1844 

flrfJ  #ra^P5.re?.ts  ^ere  James  Castleberry" 
and  Elizabeth  Carroll,  of  Gwinnett  County, 
Georgia,  who  moved  to  Mississippi  about  1840 
iT-  lngr-c?v  a,  Plantatlon  in  Tishomingo  County 
WCfh^hZab^  ?arro11  had  inherited  from 
her  father.  Elizabeth  Carroll  had  two  broth- 
ers Thomas  and  John  Carroll,  and  a  sister, 
Polly,  who  married  Jack  Blake.  The  Castle- 
berry and   Carroll  families   came  to   America 

•  Sh*  the  m,  ddk  °f  the  ei^eenth  century* 
settling  m  Virginia,  soon  afterward  moving 
to  Georgia,  and  members  of  these  families  for 
their  service  m  the  American  Revolution  re- 
ceived land  grants  in  Georgia.  James  and 
Elizabeth  Castleberry  had  a  large  family  of 
Ztl  i°"sandfive.  daughters,  two  of  the  sons 
being  killed  while  m  the  Confederate  army 

Doctor   Edmondson  was  the   oldest   of  four 
children.     His  brothers -Julius  A.  and  Lucius 
A.,  twins,  were  born  November  28,  1878    and 
his  only  sister    Zula  Gertrude,  was  born  Sep- 
tember  5,   1882.     All   were   natives   of   Tisho- 
mingo County,  Mississippi.   Julius  A.  Edmond- 
son   was    a    first    corporal    in    the    Spanish- 
American  war    serving  with  Hood's  Immunes 
m  the  Army  of  Occupation.     He  was  mustered 
in  at  Camp  Caffrey,  Covington,  Louisiana,  and 
discharged  at  Harnsburg,  Pennsylvania. 
•    Edward  Everett  Edmondson  attended  school 
m  Mississippi  until  he  was  ten  years  of  age 
continuing   his   education   in    Texas.      He   fin- 
ished   the    work    of    the    Strawn    Community 
High   School   m   1892,   graduated   A.   B.   from 
Strawn    College    in    1896    and    received    the 
M.    A     degree    there    in    1897.      During    1900 
he  attended   Still   College.     For  several  years 
he    taught    m    grammar    and     high     schools 
and    m    a   university   training    school,   at   the 
same  time   studying   law,   but   finally  made   a 
deliberate   decision   to   enter  the  medical   pro- 
fession    and    for    thirty    years    his    time    and 
talents   have   been   completely   bestowed   upon 
the  profession   of  his   choice.     He  was   grad- 
uated valedictorian  of  the  class  of  1906  from 
the    Eclectic    University   at   Kansas    City    re- 
ceiving the  degrees  M.  D.  and  Ch.  M      For  a 
Time,n!!S   JauSht   anatomy   in   that   university 
In    1909   he   received   the   Doctor   of   Medicine 
degree     from     the     Northwestern     Universitv 
School   of    Medicine   at   Chicago   and   in    1915 
was  awarded  the  degree   Doctor  of   Ophthal- 


310 


ILLINOIS 


mology  by  the  State  University  of  Colorado. 
He  also  attended  the  Southwestern  Optical 
College,  from  which  he  has  the  degree  Doctor 
of  Optics,  and  during  1911-12  took  special 
work  in  the  Chicago,  Eye,  Ear,  Nose  and 
Throat  College.  He  was  instructor  in  Region- 
al Surgery  in  the  Homeopathic  Medical  Col- 
lege at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  in  eye,  ear, 
nose  and  throat  diseases  in  the  Chicago  Col- 
lege of  Medicine  and  Surgery.  Doctor  Ed- 
mondson  devoted  six  years  to  his  prepara- 
tional  work,  then  four  years  as  a  special 
student  in  graduate  work,  and  since  then 
twelve  years  to  research.  He  received  a 
license  to  practice  medicine  and  surgery  in 
Texas  in  1896,  in  Illinois  in  1909,  in  Mis- 
souri in  1910,  in  Kentucky  in  1909,  in  Wis- 
consin in  1914,  and  in  Colorado  in  1916.  He 
practiced  for  a  short  time  in  Galveston,  Texas, 
later  in  Chicago,  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and 
Kansas  City,  Missouri,  and  in  1914  located  at 
Mount  Vernon,  Illinois,  where  he  built  and 
operated  an  Eye,  Ear,  Nose  and  Throat  Hos- 
pital. As  an  opportunity  to  pursue  his  clini- 
cal researches  in  hay  fever  and  pollen  asthma 
and  in  trachoma,  he  spent  some  time  in  Den- 
ver. During  the  World  war  Doctor  Edmond- 
son  was  commissioned  a  first  lieutenant  in  the 
Army  Medical  Corps.  He  was  surgeon  of  the 
Three  Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Infantry,  was 
chairman  and  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat  ex- 
aminer of  the  Twenty-second  Medical  Ad- 
visory Board  of  Illinois  during  1918-19,  and 
from  1919  acted  as  pension  examiner  of  the 
United  States  Pension  Bureau  until  that  serv- 
ice was  merged  with  that  of  pension  examiner 
for  the  United  States  Veterans  Administra- 
tion at  Hines,  Illinois.  In  earlier  years  he 
had  been  a  first  lieutenant  in  the  Texas  Na- 
tional Guard,  Company  D,  Fourth  Regiment, 
and  later  first  lieutenant  in  the  First  Regi- 
ment. In  1917  Doctor  Edmondson  organized 
the  Red  Cross  Chapter  in  Jefferson  County, 
Illinois,  and  was  its  first  chairman.  He  at- 
tended the  Medical  Officers  Training  School 
at  Fort  Riley,  Kansas,  in  1917,  and  was  for 
some  time  in  active  duty  at  Camp  Dodge, 
Iowa. 

Doctor  Edmondson  is  author  of  numerous 
articles  on  trachoma,  treatment  of  tubercu- 
lous epiglotectomy,  entropion  operation,  treat- 
ment of  hay  fever,  pollen  asthma,  sinusitis, 
otitis  media,  bronchitis,  his  articles  having 
been  published  in  the  Illinois  Medical  Journal, 
in  Ophthalmology,  in  Eye,  Ear,  Nose  and 
Throat  Monthly,  and  other  journals.  These 
articles  and  other  reports  of  his  work  have 
been  a  distinct  contribution  toward  the  con- 
quest of  the  difficult  maladies  of  hay  fever 
and  asthma.  Doctor  Edmondson's  hobby  might 
be  described  as  clinical  research  in  unsolved 
medical  problems. 

Doctor  Edmondson  has  served  as  depart- 
ment surgeon  for  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows,  Grand  Bodies,  with  the  rank  of 


lieutenant  colonel.  He  is  eye  surgeon  for  the 
Carbondale  Coal  Company.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Illinois  State  and  Jackson  County  Med- 
ical Societies,  Fellow  of  the  American  Medi- 
cal Association,  member  of  the  American 
Legion,  the  Civil  Legion,  the  Sons  of  Con- 
federate Veterans;  member  of  the  National 
Geographic  Society,  formerly  a  member  of 
the  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Theosophic  World  University  movement.  Doc- 
tor Edmondson  is  junior  warden  and  chair- 
man of  the  finance  board  of  St.  Andrews 
Episcopal  Church  at  Carbondale.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Mount  Vernon  and  Carbondale 
Chambers  of  Commerce,  Mount  Vernon  Rotary 
Club,  Carbondale  Rotary  Club.  Fraternally 
he  is  a  past  master  of  Mount  Vernon  Lodge 
No.  31,  Ancient  Free  and  Accepted  Masons 
(1923)  ;  past  thrice  illustrious  master  Mount 
Vernon  Council,  Royal  and  Select  Masters 
(1923)  ;  past  commander  of  Patton  Comman- 
dery  No.  69,  past  high  priest  Reynolds  Chap- 
ter No.  75,  Royal  Arch  Masons;  past  patron 
of  the  Order  of  the  Eastern  Star  at  Mount 
Vernon  and  Louisiana,  Missouri,  past  watch- 
man W.  S.  J.,  Mount  Vernon,  formerly  orator 
in  the  Lodge  of  Perfection  of  the  Scottish 
Rite  at  Galveston.  He  is  past  exalted  ruler  of 
Lodge  No.  819,  Benevolent  and  Protective  Or- 
der of  Elks,  past  chancellor  of  Strawn  Lodge 
No.  34,  Knights  of  Pythias,  past  grand  of 
Lodge  No.  233,  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows, past  chief  patriarch  Encampment  No. 
63,  past  commandant  Canton  Illini  No.  5,  all 
of  Carbondale,  and  is  present  district  deputy 
grand  master,  103rd,  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows  district;  department  surgeon  of 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  Grand 
Bodies,  and  a  member  of  the  Rebekah  State 
Assembly  of  Illinois.  He  is  a  charter  mem- 
ber of  the  Carbondale  Aero  Club.  Motoring 
is  his  favorite  sport  and  he  has  used  his 
motor  car  in  climbing  many  of  the  difficult 
mountain  highways  in  the  National  Parks. 
Doctor    Edmondson    married    September    4, 

1902,  Miss  June  Laufman  of  Chemawa,  Ore- 
gon. By  this  marriage  he  has  a  son,  Everett 
Laufman     Edmondson,     born     November     25, 

1903,  at  Galveston,  Texas.  This  son  is  now  a 
first  lieutenant  in  the  United  States  Army 
Air  Corps,  stationed  at  Fort  Sam  Houston, 
Texas.  On  July  11,  1917,  Doctor  Edmondson 
married  at  Harrisburg,  Illinois,  Miss  Maude 
Ethel  McTaggert.  Mrs.  Edmondson  was  born 
at  Hunt  City,  Illinois,  August  13,  1890.  Her 
father,  Dr.  Walter  McTaggert,  was  a  son  of 
Archibald  McTaggert,  who  came  to  America 
from  Scotland,  first  settling  in  Canada  and 
then  in  Illinois,  where  he  married  Miss  Emily 
Barlow.  The  mother  of  Mrs.  Edmondson  was 
Miss  Ida  Matthews,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Matthews  of  Crawford  County,  Illinois.  Mrs. 
Edmondson  before  her  marriage  was  a  teach- 
er,  a   graduate    nurse   and   registered   optom- 


ILLINOIS 


311 


etrist.  She  is  a  member  of  the  Woman's  Club, 
Business  and  Professional  Women's  Clubs  and 
the  Monday  Club  of  Mount  Vernon.  Doctor 
and  Mrs.  Edmondson  have  one  daughter,  Lois 
Maude,  born  April  4,  1919. 

Dr.  James  P.  Henderson.  When  on  March 
10,  1931,  Dr.  James  P.  Henderson  of  Chicago 
celebrated  the  completion  of  one  hundred  years 
of  practice  of  medicine  by  himself  and  his 
father,  the  late  Dr.  Harvey  Dinwiddie  Hender- 
son of  Salem,  Indiana,  there  came  to  notice 
the  story  of  a  family  that  in  its  essential  de- 
tails affords  a  complete  cross-section  of 
American  history;  a  story  truly  epic,  revealing 
as  it  does  a  family  record  that,  going  back 
through  several  generations,  thrills  with  the 
romance  of  adventure  and  discovery,  of  pio- 
neer life,  of  long  and  toilsome  journeys,  of 
blazing  trails  through  the  wilderness,  of 
establishing  homes  in  strange  and  unknown 
lands,  of  perils  and  hardships  that  only  men 
of  strong  fiber  and  heroic  mold  could  survive. 
The  Hendersons  are  of  that  hardy  and  un- " 
daunted  race  that,  following  the  Revolution 
and  the  War  of  1812,  pushed  their  way  west- 
ward and  established  American  sovereignty 
beyond  the  Alleghanies,  carving  out  new 
states  and  territories  and  laying  the  founda- 
tion for  settlement  of  the  vast  region  that 
was  to  extend  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  making 
the  American  Nation  what  it  is  today. 

Dr.  J.  P.  Henderson's  father,  the  late  Dr. 
Harvey  Dinwiddie  Henderson,  was  the  son 
of  John  Grant  and  Hannah  (Dinwiddie)  Hen- 
derson. The  latter  was  a  member  of  the 
historic  Dinwiddie  family  of  Virginia,  a  di- 
rect descendant  of  Sir  Robert  Dinwiddie,  who 
was  British  Colonial  Governor  of  Virginia 
from  1751  to  1758.  John  Grant  Henderson 
was  born  in  Kentucky  in  1792,  his  father 
being  Andrew  Henderson,  who  was  a  native 
of  Pennsylvania,  going  to  Kentucky  soon  after 
Daniel  Boone  had  pioneered  the  way  there, 
and  locating  at  the  famous  Salt  Lick,  near  the 
Licking  River,  was  among  the  earliest  settlers 
of  that  state.  John  Grant  Henderson  at  the 
age  of  twenty-one  left  Kentucky,  urged  on  by 
the  pioneer  instincts  of  the  family,  and  cross- 
ing the  Ohio  River,  in  1813,  located  at  Salem, 
Indiana,  being  among  the  first  to  open  a  place 
of  business  in  this  new  settlement  of  Wash- 
ington County.  Later  he  returned  to  Ken- 
tucky to  claim  his  bride,  Miss  Hannah  Din- 
widdie, and  was  married  in  1817.  He  built 
a  home  at  Salem  and  settled  down  seriously  to 
the  business  of  establishing  himself  and  rear- 
ing a  family  in  a  new  land. 

Dr.  Harvey  Dinwiddie  Henderson  was  born 
at  Salem  in  1819.  He  acquired  a  good  ele- 
mentary education  in  his  native  town  and  was 
fired  with  ambition  to  reach  out  and  get  more 
knowledge  and  experience  than  was  afforded 
by  the  circumscribed  limits  of  a  small  com- 
munity.    Accordingly,  while  still  in  his  early 


youth,  he  went  to  Indianapolis.  In  that  city 
was  at  that  period  the  far-flung  outpost  of 
the  Government's  operations  in  surveying  and 
opening  up  the  new  Northwest  Territory  and 
was  the  general  headquarters  of  officials  en- 
gaged in  carrying  out  these  enterprises.  The 
youth  first  went  to  work  on  the  old  Indianapo- 
lis Journal,  but  later  he  took  advantage  of  an 
opportunity  to  join  a  Government  surveying 
party  to  Minnesota  and  the  Northwest.  This 
great  region  was  then  entirely  uninhabited 
except  by  a  few  scattered  tribes  of  Indians, 
and  the  dangers  and  hardships  of  the  explor- 
ing party  to  Fort  Snelling,  Minnesota,  could 
hardly  be  exaggerated.  On  the  first  journey 
he  went  along  as  a  rod  man,  and  on  his  sec- 
ond trip,  which  took  place  the  following  sum- 
mer, he  was  a  transit  man  in  charge  of  a 
party  of  surveyors.  They  went  as  far  north 
as  Duluth,  exploring  and  surveying  a  wide 
expanse  of  territory  in  what  is  now  Minne- 
sota and  Wisconsin. 

Ever  since  the  death  of  his  mother  in  child- 
birth he  had  cherished  an  ambition  to  be  a 
physician,  and,  following  out  this  desire,  he 
took  up  medical  studies  in  the  Medical  De- 
partment of  Transylvania  University,  Lexing- 
ton, Kentucky,  the  first  medical  college  west 
of  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  Graduating  on 
March  10,  1842,  the  young  physician  began 
the  practice  of  his  chosen  profession  at  Salem, 
and  this  practice  continued  without  interrup- 
tion until  the  day  of  his  death,  March  11, 
1896.  It  is  recalled  that  on  the  morning  of 
the  day  he  died,  he  prescribed  for  a  patient, 
and,  generally,  gave  instructions  about  the 
conduct  of  his  business.  Soon  after  starting 
in  to  practice  he  had  established  a  drug  store 
at  Salem  and  throughout  his  life  he  carried 
on  the  activities  of  a  business  man  as  well 
as  that  of  a  physician.  He  was  in  every  mean- 
ing of  the  term  a  physican  of  the  old  school 
— kindly,  generous,  ministering  faithfully  to 
the  ills  of  his  patients,  the  humblest  ones  as 
well  as  those  more  prosperous;  traveling  in 
his  earlier  practice  with  his  saddlebags  on 
horseback  and  in  later  years  by  buggy, 
throughout  a  thinly  settled  country,  in  cold 
and  storm  as  well  as  sunshine,  by  day  or  by 
night,  on  many  occasions  his  horse  sinking  to 
its  knees  in  the  mire  of  the  frequently  im- 
passable country  roads.  He  was  greatly  en- 
deared to  the  people,  by  whom  his  passing 
was  sincerely  mourned. 

His  wife,  the  mother  of  Dr.  J.  P.  Henderson, 
was  before  her  marriage  Miss  Gabriella  Ma- 
linda  Malott,  a  member  of  the  family  of  that 
name  which  came  from  Alsace-Lorraine  to 
America  with  Lord  Baltimore  and  first  set- 
tled in  Maryland.  This  family,  like  that  of 
the  Hendersons,  was  in  the  forefront  of  the 
wave  of  migration  and  pioneering  that  opened 
up  the  West. 

Dr.  James  P.  Henderson  was  born  at  Salem 
in  1863.     He  grew  up  in  the  atmosphere  of 


312 


ILLINOIS 


the  medical  profession,  worked  in  his  father's 
drug  stone,  compounded  prescriptions,  and 
frequently  made  trips  to  the  country,  visiting 
the  sick,  with  his  father.  This  experience  gave 
him  first-hand  knowledge  of  diagnosis  and 
general  medicine.  His  formal  medical  educa- 
tion was  acquired  at  Miami  Medical  College, 
Cincinnati,  which  later  became  the  Medical 
Department  of  the  University  of  Cincinnati. 
He  graduated  with  the  degree  of  M.  D.  on 
March  10,  1885,  a  significant  date  in  the  Hen- 
derson family,  his  father  having  graduated, 
as  will  be  noted,  on  the  same  day  and  month 
forty-three  years  earlier.  Following  his  grad- 
uation he  practiced  for  more  than  a  year 
with  his  father.  Then  in  1886  he  removed  to 
Chicago,  where  he  soon  built  up  a  busy  prac- 
tice and  achieved  a  place  of  high  standing  in 
his  profession  in  this  city.  This  practice  has 
continued  with  uninterrupted  success,  due 
largely,  no  doubt,  to  Dr.  Henderson's  scien- 
tific mind  which  demands  exactness  in  diag- 
nosis and  in  the  principles  of  therapeutics 
which  he  applies.  His  residential  office  is  at 
848  East  Fortieth  Street,  and  this  office,  it 
might  be  noted  in  passing,  is  quite  unlike 
that  of  the  average  physician.  In  fact  it  does 
not  have  the  atmosphere  of  a  physician's  office, 
there  being  an  entire  absence  of  operating 
tables,  instrument  cases  and  other  parapher- 
nalia which  give  such  a  business-like  and 
often  gruesome  appearance  to  the  usual  med- 
ical room.  Here  the  caller  finds  an  air  of 
quiet  and  restfulness,  entirely  free  from  for- 
mality. The  stiffly  professional  attitude  of 
most  modern  practitioners  is  absent  in  Doctor 
Henderson's  manner,  which  is  more  like  that 
of  the  wise  counsellor  and  friend.  He  seems 
to  have  such  a  gentle  and  unobtrusive  art 
of  healing  that  often  his  patients  leave  his 
office  without  realizing  that  they  have  been 
in  the  hands  of  a  physician. 

In  1885  Doctor  Henderson  was  honored  by 
election  as  a  permanent  or  life  member  of 
the  American  Medical  Association. 

As  a  diversion,  Doctor  Henderson  many 
years  ago  turned  to  travel  and  exploration 
in  Central  and  South  America,  and  has  made 
twenty-eight  trips  to  those  countries,  carrying 
on  an  extensive  study  of  the  flora  and  fauna 
and  rich  tropical  products  to  be  found  there. 
As  a  scientist  in  these  fields  his  researches 
have  been  really  notable,  resulting  in  useful 
contributions  both  to  medical  sicence  and  to 
commerce.  He  is  an  accomplished  linquist, 
speaking  five  languages,  and  has  such  a  per- 
fect command  of  scholarly  Spanish  that  he 
was  called  upon  to  deliver  a  series  of  twenty 
lectures  before  the  Medical  Department  of 
the  University  of  Havana. 

As  noted  in  the  opening  of  this  article,  the 
two  physicians,  father  and  son,  on  March  10, 
1931,  completed  a  period  of  one  hundred  years 
of  continuous  practice;  the  father  for  fifty- 
four   years   and   the   son  for   forty-six   years. 


This  is  an  achievement  rarely  if  ever  accom- 
plished, and  was  so  noteworthy  that  it  was 
made  the  subject  of  an  article  and  illustration 
in  the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation. And  with  the  present  Doctor  Hen- 
derson's vigor  and  vitality,  resulting  from  a 
carefully  regulated  and  well-ordered  life,  there 
is  every  promise  that  this  remarkable  record 
will  be  still  further  extended  by  a  number 
of  years. 

It  was  Doctor  Henderson's  chief  heritage 
to  be  well  born.  Bearing  an  honored  name, 
he  springs  from  the  best  there  is  in  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race,  carrying  out  the  old  adage  that 
"blood  will  tell."  With  such  a  rich  back- 
ground of  history,  high  character  and  achieve- 
ments ;  with  a  genuine  culture  that  comes  from 
his  years  of  extensive  study  and  reading  in 
broad  fields  of  knowledge,  and  with  his  gifts 
of  speech  and  manner,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  Doctor  Henderson's  friends  find  in  him 
an  interesting  personality  and  a  charming 
companion. 

William  H.  Myers  is  a  native  of  Illinois, 
was  born  on  a  farm,  first  came  to  Peoria  when 
that  city  was  his  headquarters  as  a  traveling 
salesman,  and  is  now  one  of  the  leading  real- 
tors, conducting  business  under  his  individual 
name.  He  has  offices  in  the  Peoria  Life  Build- 
ing, and  has  built  up  a  large  clientage  which 
depends  upon  him  for  counsel  and  professional 
and  business  skill  in  all  matters  connected 
with  the  sale  and  transfer  and  leasing  of  city 
property,  deals  in  farm  lands  and  loans  and 
investments. 

Mr.  Myers  was  born  on  a  farm  in  De  Witt 
County,  Illinois,  February  4,  1876,  son  of 
Samuel  and  Elizabeth  (Torbert)  Myers.  His 
father  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania  and  was 
a  small  child  when  brought  to  Illinois.  Eliza- 
beth Torbert  was  born  in  this  state,  where 
her  people  were  pioneers. 

William  H.  Myers  had  the  advantages  of 
country  schools  and  a  business  college,  and 
he  made  use  of  his  early  training  by  follow- 
ing the  vocation  of  farming  until  1905.  In 
that  year  he  went  on  the  road  as  a  commer- 
cial traveler  for  the  Aunt  Jemima  Milling 
Company,  traveling  a  territory  out  of  Peoria. 
He  has  been  in  the  real  estate  business  since 
1919.  Mr.  Myers  is  a  member  of  the  Peoria 
Real  Estate  Board  and  the  National  Asso- 
ciation of  Real  Estate  Boards. 

He  is  active  in  the  Peoria  Association  of 
Commerce,  a  member  of  the  Cosmopolitan  Club 
and  the  Peoria  Baseball  Fans  Association,  an 
organization  made  up  of  devoted  friends  of 
the  national  pastime  whose  interest  in  keeping 
Peoria  on  the  map  in  the  minor  baseball  cir- 
cles extends  to  the  point  where  they  are  will- 
ing to  dig  down  into  their  pockets  as  well  as 
support  the  team  by  other  encouragement. 
Mr.  Myers  is  a  member  of  Peoria  Lodge  No. 
15,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  the  Royal  Arch  Chapter, 


ILLINOIS 


313 


the  Scottish  Rite  Consistory,  and  Mohammed 
Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of 
Elks  and  the  Methodist  -Episcopal   Church. 

He  married  Miss  Edna  Schnur,  who  was 
born  in  Peoria.  Her  father,  Edmond  Schnur, 
was  a  leader  in  local  politics  in  Peoria  County 
and  for  many  years  held  the  office  of  deputy 
county  assessor.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Myers  have 
one  son,  William  H.,  Jr.,  who  is  a  graduate 
of  the  Peoria  High  School  and  is  now  teller 
in  the  First  Trust  &  Savings  Bank. 

Jeremiah  Joseph  Buckley,  LL.  B.  It  will 
be  surprising  to  many  to  learn  that  the  Law 
School  of  DePaul  University,  although  a  new 
institution  when  compared  as  to  age  with 
some  of  the  great  law  schools  of  the  country, 
has  achieved  a  place  fifth  in  rank  in  number 
of  students.  At  this  time,  in  fact,  it  is  en- 
joying the  most  successful  period  in  its  his- 
tory, and  is  rapidly  going  forward  to  a  place 
of  even  higher  accomplishment  and  distinction. 
Its  success  is  due,  of  course,  to  the  earnest 
and  energetic  efforts  being  put  forth  by  those 
in  charge  of  its  affairs,  backed  by  an  able 
faculty  of  professors  and  lecturers  who  are 
determined  to  maintain  in  DePaul  a  law  school 
of  the  highest  standing,  and  each  year  it  is 
turning  out  young  men  who  will  make  their 
mark  in  the  legal  profession. 

Jeremiah  Joseph  Buckley,  Bachelor  of  Laws, 
who  is  assistant  professor  of  law  in  this  school, 
although  one  of  the  younger  members  of  the 
faculty,  has  had  a  career  as  a  lawyer,  an 
instructor  and  a  lecturer  that  is  highly  cred- 
itable. A  native  of  the  historic  Town  of 
Blarney,  County  Cork,  Ireland,  he  was  born 
December  7,  1895,  a  son  of  Cornelius  and  Mar- 
garet (Sullivan)  Buckley.  Coming  to  the 
United  States  with  his  parents  in  1907,  the 
family  settled  at  Chicago,  and  in  1915  and 
1916  he  was  a  student  at  Valparaiso  (Indiana) 
University.  Following  out  his  ambition  to 
become  a  lawyer,  he  entered  the  Law  School 
of  DePaul  University,  where  he  was  gradu- 
ated with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  in 
the  class  of  1921.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  that  year  and  has  since  been  successfully 
engaged  in  practice  at  Chicago,  his  skill  and 
ability  as  a  lawyer  winning  for  him  a  highly 
recognized  position  at  the  Chicago  bar.  He 
maintains  offices  at  100  North  LaSalle  Street. 

Mr.  Buckley's  legal  talents  have  been  drawn 
upon  by  DePaul  University  in  its  law  school, 
where  he  holds  the  chair  of  assistant  professor 
of  law.  The  many  students  who  come  under 
his  tutelage  and  who  profit  from  the  clear 
and  lucid  manner  of  his  exposition  look  upon 
him  as  one  of  the  distinct  assets  of  the  school 
and  really  enjoy  his  lectures  especially  on 
account  of  the  faculty  he  possesses  for  making 
an  intricate,  difficult  and  dull  legal  subject 
interesting  and  understandable.  He  also  fills 
the    chair    of    professor    of    business    law    in 


the  College  of  Commerce  in  the  University, 
a  position  he  has  held  since  1923.  In  addition 
to  this,  his  academic  career  also  includes  a 
period  of  association  with  the  Northwestern 
University  School  of  Commerce,  where  he  has 
been  lecturer  on  business  law  since  1925;  and 
has  also  lectured  to  the  Chicago  Credit  Men's 
Association   during  the   years    1929-1930. 

Mrs.  Buckley  was  before  her  marriage  Miss 
Julia  T.  Feeney,  of  Peoria,  Illinois.  She  and 
Mr.  Buckley  were  married  October  31,  1925, 
and  they  are  the  parents  of  two  children: 
Brian  Richard  and  Kevin  Edward.  The  at- 
tractive family  home  is  located  at  151  North 
Latrobe  Avenue. 

Maximilian  John  Hubeny,  M.  D.  At  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Radiological  Society  of 
North  America,  at  St.  Louis,  in  December, 
1931,  the  talents  of  one  of  Chicago's  outstand- 
ing radiologists,  Dr.  Max  J.  Hubeny,  were 
recognized  when  he  was  presented  with  the 
Gold  Medal  of  the  Society  for  distinguished 
services  in  X-rays  and  radium.  This  honor 
came  to  Doctor  Hubeny  as  a  well-merited  re- 
ward for  his  many  years  of  successful  prac- 
tice and  application  of  the  principles  of 
radiology  in  the  treatment  of  difficult  dis- 
eases, and  his  exhaustive  and  patient 
researches  and  studies  in  this  young  and  re- 
markable science,  which  is  being  drawn  upon 
more  and  more  for  aid  in  solving  the  mys- 
teries of  what  have  heretofore  been  known  as 
incurable  ailments,  chief  among  which  is  can- 
cer. The  achievements  of  such  specialists  as 
Doctor  Hubeny  in  the  field  of  X-ray  and 
radium,  are  proving  to  be  veritably  a  boon 
to  the  human  race,  and  the  development  of 
radiology  is  adding  chapters  of  vital  impor- 
tance to  the  story  of  the  progress  of  medical 
science. 

Doctor  Hubeny's  natural  endowments  pre- 
destined him  for  some  unusual  career  of  men- 
tal attainments,  and  these  native  talents  were 
supplemented  by  thorough  education  and 
training  for  his  chosen  profession.  He  was 
born  at  Leipzig,  Germany,  October  12,  1880, 
son  of  Peter  and  Mary  (Mertlick)  Hubeny. 
Four  years  later,  in  1884,  the  family  came 
to  America  and  established  their  home  in 
Chicago.  In  this  city  Doctor  Hubeny  ac- 
quired his  preparatory  education  in  the  public 
schools,  and  subsequently  entered  Hahnemann 
Medical  College,  from  which  he  was  graduated 
in  1906.  This  was  only  the  foundation  for  a 
constant  devotion  to  study  and  research,  which 
he  has  kept  up  throughout  his  active  practice. 
In  1909  he  received  the  M.  D.  degree  from  the 
University  of  Illinois  Medical  School.  In 
1907  he  had  begun  specializing  in  the  X-ray 
and  his  continued  work  in  that  field  has  made 
him  one  of  the  outstanding  specialists  in 
that  branch  of  medical  science.  Doctor  Hubeny 
is  editor  of  Radiology,  and  in  this  capacity,  as 
well  as  in  his  work  in  his  own  laboratory,  has 


314 


ILLINOIS 


been  of  great  assistance  in  accumulating  re- 
search and  advancement  in  radiological  science. 
He  is  also  associate  editor  of  the  Cuban 
Roentgen  Ray  Journal,  the  Italian  Radiologi- 
cal Journal,  and  the  American  Journal  of 
Cancer. 

Doctor  Hubeny  is  a  fellow  of  the  American 
Medical  Association,  fellow  of  the  American 
College  of  Physicians,  member  of  the  Chicago, 
Illinois  State,  Bohemian  and  German  Medical 
Societies,  the  American  Roentgen  Association, 
the  Radiological  Society  of  North  America, 
the  Chicago  Roentgen  Society,  the  American 
College  of  Radiology,  the  London  Roentgen 
Society,  the  Physicians  and  Surgeons  Insti- 
tution, in  which  he  is  director  of  the  Roentgen 
Department. 

In  addition  to  these  professional  and  scien- 
tific associations,  Doctor  Hubeny  is  a  member 
of  the  Art  institute  of  Chicago,  is  a  Phi  Alpha 
Gamma,  Alpha  Mu  Omega  Pi.  His  clubs  are 
the  City,  Illini,  Illinois  Athletic,  Medical  and 
Dental  Arts,  North  Shore  Golf  and  Chicago 
Yacht.  His  favorite  recreations  are  golf, 
swimming  and  hand  ball.  Doctor  Hubeny 
married,  August  28,  1907,  Miss  Daisy 
Twitchell,  of  Fayette,  Iowa. 

Major  Frank  Fifield  Healey  has  had  a 
long  and  successful  career  in  construction  en- 
gineering, and  American  engineers  have  long 
recognized  him  as  an  authority  on  appraisal 
of  plant  and  physical  properties. 

Major  Healey,  who  is  a  veteran  of  two 
wars,  was  born  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
in  1874  and  spent  part  of  his  boyhood  at 
the  very  heart  of  New  England's  culture. 
Major  Healey  has  memberships  in  the  Sons 
of  the  Revolution  through  both  sides  of  his 
house,  and  is  first  vice  president  for  the  State 
of  Illinois.  He  is  a  son  of  J.  F.  and  Ellen  M. 
(Lincoln)  Healey.  He  is  in  the  fifth  genera- 
tion in  direct  descent  from  Capt.  Samuel 
Healey,  a  Massachusetts  officer  in  the  Revo- 
lution. Through  his  mother  he  is  a  descend- 
ant of  Lieut.  Joshuah  Lincoln,  another  Revo- 
lutionary officer.  Both  these  families  were  of 
English  origin.  Genealogists  and  historical 
students  have  conclusively  established  that  the 
Massachusetts  Lincolns  were  the  progenitors 
of  Abraham  Lincoln.  The  first  of  the  Healeys 
came  from  Devonshire,  England,  to  Massachu- 
setts in  1635. 

Metallurgy,  mechanics  and  engineering  have 
been  occupations  which  have  regularly  at- 
tracted members  of  the  Healey  family  for 
generations.  Major  Healey's  great-grand- 
father Healey  was  a  famous  iron  worker  in 
his  day  at  Weymouth,  Massachusetts.  The 
Major's  grandfather  was  an  engineer.  J.  F. 
Healey  was  both  an  engineer  and  metallurgist. 
As  soon  as  the  Civil  war  broke  out  he  volun- 
teered, but  was  soon  transferred  from  the 
fighting  forces  to  the  Government  works  at 
Charlestown,     Massachusetts,     where     cannon 


and  other  ordnance  were  manufactured.  Due 
to  his  expert  knowledge  of  metallurgy  he  suc- 
ceeded in  producing  a  metal  for  cannon  that 
practically  eliminated  the  hazards  of  bursting 
when  fired,  which  previously  had  caused  the 
loss  of  many  lives  of  artillerymen.  A  number 
of  years  later  J.  F.  Healey  was  associated 
with  the  distinguished  engineer  and  designer, 
Col.  Washington  Roebling,  in  the  construction 
of  the  great  Brooklyn  Bridge,  at  that  time  one 
of  the  greatest  engineering  feats  in  the  world. 

Frank  F.  Healey  acquired  most  of  his  edu- 
cation in  New  York  State.  He  studied  engi- 
neering both  under  his  father  and  in  the 
Stevens  Institute  at  Hoboken,  New  Jersey. 
His  early  experience  was  of  a  varied  and 
practical  nature  of  actual  construction  work, 
including  architecture  and  the  designing  of 
structures.  This  afforded  him  a  splendid  foun- 
dation and  background  for  his  subsequent 
career.  When  the  Spanish-American  war 
came  on  he  was  one  of  the  volunteers  chosen 
for  service  in  Col.  Theodore  Roosevelt's  Rough 
Riders,  and  served  with  that  famous  organiza- 
tion in  its  campaigns  in  Cuba.  For  several 
years  he  was  engaged  in  construction  and 
engineering  work  in  Philadelphia  and  New 
York  City. 

About  1900  the  firm  with  which  he  was 
associated  sent  him  to  Chicago  to  take  charge 
of  its  affairs  in  this  city  and  territory.  In 
this  capacity  he  completed  a  number  of  en- 
gineering and  construction  projects  in  Chi- 
cago and  other  cities  of  the  Middle  West.  The 
most  notable  perhaps  was  the  building  of  the 
$15,000,000  electric  plant  of  the  Acme  Power 
Company  of  Toledo.  He  was  general  super- 
intendent of  that  project,  which  when  com- 
pleted was  pronounced  to  be  the  last  word  in 
power  plant  construction  and  equipment.  Soon 
after  completing  this  work  he  joined  the  en- 
gineering forces  of  the  United  States  Army 
during  the  World  war.  He  was  assigned  duty 
as  an  engineer  in  charge  of  all  field  work 
in  connection  with  the  vast  construction  opera- 
tions at  Newport  News,  Virginia,  where  he 
remained  throughout  the  war.  He  rose  to  the 
rank  of  major,  and  was  discharged  with  a 
highly  creditable  record. 

After  the  war  Major  Healey  resumed  his 
engineering  practice  in  Chicago.  He  became 
manager  of  the  engineering  department  of  the 
State  Bank  of  Chicago  and  subsequently 
served  in  a  similar  capacity  for  the  Foreman- 
State  Trust  &  Savings  Bank.  In  August, 
1931,  he  formed  a  new  association  as  senior 
member  of  the  firm  of  Healey  &  Watt,  en- 
gineers and  appraisers.  His  long  and  varied 
experience  gave  him  special  qualifications  as 
a  consultant  and  adviser  in  matters  relating 
to  appraisals  and  valuations  in  all  phases  of 
construction  and  in  planning  construction 
enterprises. 

Major  Healey  is  a  member  of  the  Western 
Society   of   Engineers,   the   American    Society 


ThdUu^u  yyfS, 


ILLINOIS 


of  Civil  Engineers,  the  American  Legion,  and 
the  Spanish-American  War  Veterans.  He 
married  Miss  Flora  E.  McKean,  of  a  Pennsyl- 
vania family.  They  have  two  sons.  The  older 
Warren  Mansfield  Healey,  is  an  engineer  with 
the  American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Com- 
pany at  Cleveland.  The  second  son,  Thayer 
Lincoln  Healey,  is  connected  with  the  Com- 
mercial National  Bank  of  New  York  City. 

Maurice  V.  Foley,  who  is  aviation  instruc- 
tor at  Parks  Field,  East  St.  Louis,  has  had 
a  remarkable  experience  in  both  the  army  and 
navy  departments  of  the  Federal  Government 

He  was  born  at  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania, 
February  14  1901,  and  is  of  Irish  ancestry. 
His  lather,  Andrew  Foley,  who  died  in  March, 
1917,  was  m  the  steel  business.  His  mother, 
Mary   (Durkm)   Foley,  died  in  1907.     Maurice 

•  S2-?y1a1ttf1?ded  St-  John  the  Baptist  School 
m  Philadelphia,  the  Drexel  Institute  of  that 
city,  and  was  graduated  LL.  B.  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania  in  1921 

Meantime,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  on  April 
5,  1917,  he  enlisted,  the  day  before  America 
formally  declared  war  on  Germany.  He  en- 
listed in  the  Fourteenth  Infantry,  was  sent  to 
Camp  Wadsworth,  South  Carolina,  where  he 
was  transferred  to  the  One  Hundred  and  Sixty- 
frtth  Regiment  of  the  Forty-second  or  Rain- 
bow Division.  In  August,  1917,  he  landed  at 
Brest  France,  was  sent  to  the  Toul  sector 
and  later  into  the  front  lines  there.  After 
about  six  weeks  he  was  taken  ill  with  the 
influenza  and  was  sent  back  home  in  April, 
1918,  and  discharged. 

On  May  7,  1918,  he  reenlisted,  this  time  in 
the  navy.  He  was  put  on  the  U.  S.  S.  Roches- 
ter, a  transport  troop  ship,  and  six  months 
later  was  transferred  to  the  Armed  Guards 
2?n  -i  ntllhc'  This  b°at  was  torpedoed  about 
800  miles  out  at  sea  and  sank.  He  was  picked 
up  by  a  coast  guard  off  Cape  May,  and  spen^ 
±our  weeks  in  a  hospital  in  New  York  His 
next  boat  was  the  Jenkins,  which  was  sunk 
by  the  Germans  about  800  miles  off  the  coast 
of  France  This  time  he  was  picked  up  by  the 
British,  taken  to  England  and  eventually  re- 
turned to  the  United  States.  His  next  assign- 
ment was  the  U.  S.  Destroyer  Case,  whose 
home  port  was  at  Queenstown,  Ireland,  and 
which  met  troop  ships  and  helped  convoy  them 
through  the  danger  zones.  After  the  armistice 
he  was  discharged,  but  soon  reenlisted  for 
service  in  China.  On  the  U.  S.  S.  Chaumont 
he  went  to  Shanghai,  and  there  served  on  the 
admiral's  flagship,  U.  S.  S.  Huron.  He  was 
with  the  armed  forces  that  landed  at  Cheefoo, 
Whangpoo  and  Chang  Wa  Tao.  He  helped 
with  the  earthquake  victims  at  Tokio.  When 
in  the  far  East  he  visited  Hong  Kong,  Shang- 
hai, Canton,  Amoy,  Swatow,  Singapore,  Java, 
Borneo  He  was  initiated  into  the  Order  of 
the  Solemn  Order  of  the  Deep,"  when  he 
crossed  the  equator.     One  of  the  interesting 


315 


personalities  he  visited  was  the  Sultan  of 
Jahore,  who  exhibited  to  the  Americans  h°s 
many  jewels  and  gold  service,  his  prayer  alta? 
being  of  solid  gold  studded  with  gems?  The 
Sultan  was  English  educated  and  Ipoke  Eng! 
hsh,  and  while  the  custom  of  the  countrv  rf 

Wrf  tl\Q  ™lt*  t0  have  thirteen  wiVes  he 
lived  only  with  his  English  wife,  keeping  the 
others  because  of  the  law  and  custom      § 

Alter    leaving    the    Philippines     Mr     FnW 
returned  to  the  United  States  on 'the  U    S   f 

flagS'ul    T%  lat/r    trfnsf-red    toSthe 
nagsmp,  u.  b.  S.  Trenton.    At  Nicaraue-na  ho 
was  landed  to  help  protect  the  lives  and  pron 
erty  of  American  citizens.     He  landed  at  Co" 

S23  rVen\t0  Leon'  where  he  establ  shS 
naval  headquarters  of  the  Naval   Expedition 

SghWtth  fhenUmber  °f  en^™sd  w Te 
iougnt    with    the    insurgents    during-    the    siv 

™plwhe  WaS  there-  He  was  awarded  ^ 
^iV°?  COmage  and  bravery.  For  a  time 
he  had  charge  of  the  Leon  Naval  Post.    WM 

L  LnaTVaI-ServiCe  £e  was  the  first  man  to 
5  000  fJrV1-n  pa.ra<*»te.  He  was  sent  up 
n™  w  '  JumPinS  out,  and  proving  the 
parachute  a  success.  g        e 

in  The  Javf  Aft  *v  *r-st  ^  instructions 
hi  Cf,  a-  Y'  After  hls  dlscharge  he  continued 
his  studies,  was  sent  to  the  Mickey  S 
Service  at  Mount  Airy,  North  cTZh^t  g 
Personal  pilot,  was  tlfen  w  th  th^cki™ 
Service,  was  stationed  at  Greensboro  North 
?  £m\',as  P^e  ^structor,  was  next  called 
to   the   Marshall,   Missouri,   Flying   School   tt 

Xfr  Col°er^andTTthtn  Came  to  theLtedplrk 
Air  College.     He  has  instructed  more  than  p 

elation  of  the  United  A^S^&A 

of  ^tiTom^1^  &  D~>.  holds  the  P°si«on 
01    Health   officer   of   the   City   of   Harris!™™- 

judicial  center  of  Saline  County,  where  he  has 
sfnc"  1920  hShed  ""  SUCC6SSf  ul  S^X  ractice 

dinDCounr^a7Men  wasTb°rn  at  Rosiclare,  Har- 
um  County,  Illinois,  January  15,  1873    knri   i« 

°™f  ««»  children  of  Mr!  and  Mrs.  Jesse 
Walden,  the  former  of  whom  was  born  in  the 
Se"]S°f  ^w  Albany,  Indiana,  in  1832?  and 
the  latter  of  whom  was  born  in  1847.  Jesse 
Walden  and  his  wife  were  honored  pioneer 
citizens  residing  in   Pope  County,  Illinois    at 

J  MTwf  Mh6ir  df th-  °ne  0f  <***  s"as 
J.  Mai  Walden,  who  was  a  prominent  lawyer 

1898  y  3t  the  time  of  his  death!  fn 

■n7Tije  PreIiminary  education  of  Dr.  Charles 
Walden  was  acquired  in  the  public  schools  of 
Pope  County,  and  his  preparation  for  Ws 
chosen  profession  was  made  mainly  in  the  Col 
lege  of  Physicians  &  Surgeons  in  the  Ci+,7  „* 
Saint  Louis,  he  having  received  from  ?mI  ■ 
stitution  in  1909  his  dfgreeof  DoctoTof  Med"-" 


316 


ILLINOIS 


cine.  In  the  preceding  year  he  had  passed  the 
required  examination  in  Oklahoma  and  been 
admitted  to  the  practice  of  medicine  and  sur- 
gery in  that  state,  where  he  received  in  the 
same  year  license  as  a  pharmacist.  Doctor 
Walden  was  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession  at  Eagle,  Saline  County,  eleven 
years,  and  he  then,  in  1920,  broadened  his 
field  of  professional  activity  by  removing  to 
Harrisburg,  the  county  seat,  where  he  has 
since  remained  and  where  he  has  long  con- 
trolled a  substantial  general  practice,  with 
standing  as  one  of  the  representative  physi- 
cians and  surgeons  of  the  county.  He  has 
membership  in  the  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion, the  Illinois  State  Medical  Society  and  the 
Saline  County  Medical  Society,  is  city  health 
officer  at  the  time  of  this  writing,  and  in  the 
World  war  period  he  was  a  member  of  the 
medical  examining  board  for  Saline  County 
and  as  a  four-minute  speaker  gave  effective 
aid  in  the  local  campaigns  in  the  sale  of  gov- 
ernment war  bonds. 

In  Pope  County,  Illinois,  was  solemnized  the 
marriage  of  Doctor  Walden  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
Hicks,  who  was  born  and  reared  in  that 
county,  where  her  parents  established  their 
residence  about  1870.  Opal  Marie,  eldest  of 
the  children  of  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Walden,  is  a 
member  of  the  class  of  1932  in  the  Southern 
Illinois  Normal  University;  Callie  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  freshman  class  in  that  institution; 
and  James  Malvin  and  Mildred  are  attending 
the  Harrisburg  public  schools,  both  being  stu- 
dents in  the  high  school. 

Frank  Morische,  assistant  superintendent 
of  the  Harrison  Machine  Corporation  at  Belle- 
ville, is  a  master  and  expert  in  everything 
connected  with  the  making  and  designing  of 
tools  and  machinery.  He  has  made  a  profes- 
sion of  his  work,  and  by  his  own  unaided 
efforts  and  close  study  has  reached  a  degree 
of  proficiency  that  has  accounted  for  the  re- 
sponsible position  he  holds  with  the  Harrison 
Machine  Corporation. 

Mr.  Morische  was  born  at  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri, August  30,  1885.  His  father,  Martin 
Morische,  was  born  in  France,  December  5, 
1848,  and  married  in  Alsace  Lorraine,  Miss 
Barbara  Fleischer,  a  native  of  Germany.  In 
1883  they  came  to  America  and  settled  at 
St.  Louis,  where  Martin  Morische  continued 
his  profession  as  a  gardener.  He  died  in  1924. 
There  were  six  children  in  the  family,  Frank 
being  the  only  son. 

Frank  Morische  attended  public  schools  at 
St.  Louis,  and  after  leaving  high  school  served 
an  apprenticeship  to  learn  the  toolmaker's 
trade.  He  accepted  the  trade  as  a  means  of 
livelihood  and  also  as  a  basis  for  something 
still  better,  a  profession,  in  which  he  would 
be  known  for  his  expert  knowledge.  He  came 
to  rank  as  one  of  the  best  designers  in  the 
field.     Mr.  Morische  has  resided  at  Belleville 


since  1910  and  has  been  continuously  asso- 
ciated with  the  Harrison  Machine  Corporation 
except  for  a  year  during  the  World  war,  when 
he  was  employed  in  some  of  the  Government 
arsenals  in  the  East.  He  is  a  citizen  keenly 
interested  in  education  and  civic  affairs  at 
Belleville  and  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Pythias.  Mr.  Morische  is  married  and  has  a 
son,  Frank,  Jr.,  who  lives  at  Baltimore, 
Maryland. 

Hon.  Charles  F.  Malloy,  in  his  fourth 
term  as  representative  from  the  Forty-seventh 
Illinois  District  in  the  General  Assembly,  is 
a  resident  of  Sorento,  Bond  County,  where 
his  name  has  been  favorably  known  in  busi- 
ness and  civic  affairs  for  many  years. 

Mr.  Malloy  was  born  at  New  Douglas,  Illi- 
nois, August  18,  1889,  son  of  B.  J.  and  Anna 
(Kelley)  Malloy.  His  father  spent  most  of 
the  years  of  his  active  life  in  the  mercantile 
business,  at  first  at  Edwardsville  and  later  at 
New  Douglas.  He  was  an  influential  Demo- 
crat.    He  died  December  15,  1928. 

Charles  F.  Malloy  obtained  his  education 
in  the  public  schools  of  Edwardsville  and  So- 
rento, and  he  also  had  the  training  of  expe- 
rience in  his  father's  store  as  the  foundation 
of  a  commercial  career.  *Mr.  Malloy  in  1915 
began  a  successful  business  career  as  a  leaser 
of  oil  lands  in  Oklahoma,  Texas,  Indiana, 
Illinois  and  Kentucky.  He  has  been  con- 
nected with  all  the  great  oil  fields  in  the 
Middle  West  during  the  past  fifteen  years. 

His  business  career  was  interrupted  in 
May,  1918,  when  he  enlisted.  He  was  at- 
tached to  the  Infantry  Replacement  Troops 
and  was  at  the  Officers  Training  School  at 
Camp  Gordon,  Atlanta,  Georgia,  where  he  was 
commissioned  a  second  lieutenant.  He  received 
his  honorable  discharge  in  January,  1919. 

Mr.  Malloy  for  twenty  years  has  been  a 
leader  in  the  Democratic  party  in  his  section 
of  the  state.  He  was  first  elected  to  represent 
the  Forty-seventh  District  in  the  General  As- 
sembly in  1924.  He  was  reelected  in  1926, 
1928  and  1930,  and  his  experience  and  study 
have  made  him  one  of  the  most  valuable  mem- 
bers of  the  Illinois  Legislature.  Mr.  Malloy 
is  a  member  of  the  American  Legion  and  was 
vice  commander  of  the  local  post  when  it  was 
organized. 

Samuel  Fulton  Beatty.  Pioneers  entering 
the  Chicago  region  from  New  York,  New  Eng- 
land and  other  portions  of  the  East  were 
disappointed  at  the  appearance  of  the  land 
around  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River.  The 
country  was  flat  and  swampy  and  many  of 
the  first-comers  searched  further  westward 
for  a  more  rolling  and  hilly  country.  This 
they  found  in  the  vicinity  of  what  is  now 
Hinsdale,  in  DuPage  County.  The  early  set- 
tlement here  was  called  Fullersburg,  which 
became  the  goal  of  numerous  settlers  in  the 


ILLINOIS 


317 


late  '30s.  In  later  years  Fullersburg  was 
annexed  to  Hinsdale,  which  with  the  coming  of 
the  railroad  began  to  grow  and  speedily  estab- 
lished itself  as  one  of  Chicago's  most  attractive 
suburbs. 

William  Robbins,  who  acquired  most  of  the 
land  on  which  the  original  Town  of  Hinsdale 
was  laid  out,  recognized  that  the  hills  and 
woods  gave  the  vicinity  unusual  advantages 
for  a  prairie  country  and  that  it  would  appeal 
to  people  seeking  homesites.  He  furthermore 
was  convinced  that  the  streets  to  be  laid  out 
should  follow  the  contour  of  the  land  and 
wind  in  and  out  among  the  hills  in  natural 
curves  and  gradients  instead  of  at  right  angles 
to  one  another.  His  foresight  was  responsible 
for  the  preservation  of  Hinsdale's  natural 
beauties. 

The  residents  of  Hinsdale  have  cherished 
this  heritage  and  preserved  it  against  en- 
croachments. They  were  the  first  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  zoning  laws  and  among  the  first 
to  organize  a  village  plan  commission.  With 
great  public  spirit  they  have  passed  ordi- 
nances for  regulating  the  development  of  the 
village,  and  their  efforts  have  resulted  in  a 
community  of  fine  homes,  stately  trees,  well- 
kept  lawns  and  beautiful  gardens.  In  1931 
the  Hinsdale  Plan  Commission  inaugurated 
a  movement  for  more  recreational  and  park 
space,  following  a  survey  made  by  the  Chi- 
cago Regional  Plan  Commission,  which  indi- 
cated that  Hinsdale  could  use  more  acreage 
for  playsites  if  the  town  would  approach  the 
suggested  ideal  of  ten  acres  of  park  for  every 
thousand  inhabitants.  In  addition,  it  has  gone 
further  m  civic  affairs  than  most  towns  in  the 
Chicago  area.  Hinsdale  owns  and  operates 
its  own  electric  light  plant,  it  own  water  sys- 
tem and  a  municipal  ice  plant  that  supplies 
residents  of  the  village  with  ice.  Water  is 
obtained  from  artesian  wells,  with  a  municipal 
softening  plant  to  remove  the  mineral  content 
from  the  water.  For  several  years  Hinsdale 
has  maintained  a  policy  of  carrying  a  cash 
reserve,  and  each  year  it  sets  aside  a  sinking 
iund  covering  depreciation  costs  of  its  munici- 
pal plants  and  buildings. 

In  recording  thus  briefly  the  history  and 
activities  of  Hinsdale,  an  outline  of  the  busi- 
ness career  of  Samuel  Fulton  Beatty,  who  in 
May,  1931,  was  elected  president  of  the  village 
board,  seems  appropriate.  Mr.  Beatty  was 
born  at  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  June  24 
1879,  the  son  of  William  Trimble  and  Sarah 
C  (Fulton)  Beatty,  and  attended  the  high 
school  at  West  Chester,  Pennsylvania.  Com- 
ing to  Chicago  in  1899,  he  entered  the  road 
machinery  manufacturing  industry  as  a  bill 
clerk  in  the  offices  of  the  Austin-Western  Road 
Machinery  Company,  the  largest  concern  of 
its  kind  in  the  country,  of  which  Mr.  Beatty 
is  now  president,  having  risen  to  this  position 
through  various  promotions.  He  is  also  vice 
president  of  the  Austin  Manufacturing  Com- 


pany. The  main  plant  of  the  Austin- Western 
Road  Machinery  Company  is  at  Harvey,  Illi- 
nois. There  are  about  1,200  people  employed 
in  the  shops  and  about  200  salesmen  on  the 
road,  covering  the  entire  United  States.  There 
are  branch  offices  and  distributing  warehouses 
m  twenty-one  different  cities.  Mr.  Beatty 
served  as  a  sergeant  of  infantry  in  the  United 
btates  Volunteers  during  the  Spanish-Ameri- 
can war.  He  is  vice  president  of  the  Ameri- 
can Road  Builders  Association,  a  Mason  and 
a  member  of  the  Chicago  Athletic  Association 
and  the  Hinsdale  Golf  Club.  In  politics  he  is 
a  Republican.  In  addition  to  being  president 
oi  the  village  now,  as  above  noted,  Mr.  Beatty 
has  formerly  occupied  other  positions  at  Hins- 
dale, as  a  member  of  the  school  board,  library 
board,  etc.  Having  been  honored  by  election 
as  president  of  his  home  village,  he  finds  ex- 
pression for  his  executive  ability  and  civic 
interest  by  devising  ways  and  means  for  its 
further  growth  and  improvement,  and  has  been 
able  to  advance  some  important  plans  for  the 
continued  development  and  beautification  of 
one  of  the  most  charming  suburban  communi- 
ties m  the  Chicago  area. 

On  February  14,  1905,  Mr.  Beatty  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Elizabeth 
Crumbaw,  of  Wilmington,  Delaware,  and  they 
are  the  parents  of  five  children:  Elizabeth  C 
who  is  now  Mrs.  J.  Frank  Peaslee;  Katharine,' 
who  is  now  Mrs.  Everett  Addams;  and  Sam- 
uel Fulton,  John  William,  and  David  Lee,  who 
live  with  their  parents  in  the  charming  fam- 
ily home  at  72  Seventh  Street,  Hinsdale. 

Theodore  Vincent  Purcell.  In  October, 
1931,  at  the  annual  convention  of  the  Ameri- 
can Gas  Association  at  Atlantic  City,  Mr 
Theodore  V.  Purcell,  vice  president  of  the 
People's  Gas  Light  &  Coke  Company  of  Chi- 
cago, received  one  of  the  highest  honors  in 
the  gas  industry  when  he  was  presented  with 
the  Charles  A.  Munroe  Award.  The  presenta- 
tion was  made  by  Mr.  Munroe,  a  former  presi- 
dent of  the  association.  The  basis  of  the 
award  was  for  Mr.  Purcell's  pioneering  and 
constructive  leadership  in  rate  making;  his 
work,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Rate 
Structure,  for  focusing  attention  upon  the 
development  of  gas  sales  and  crystallizing  the 
gas  industry's  economic  polities  to  this  end, 
with  the  objective  of  conserving  the  present 
and  increasing  the  future  sales  of  the  industry 
in  all  of  its  branches;  and  the  presentation 
address  also  took  note  of  the  fact  that  through 
papers  and  addresses  and  various  activities 
with  the  association,  Mr.  Purcell  had  caused 
the  industry  to  recognize  scientific  rate  mak- 
ing as  an  important  obligation  of  management 
and  a  duty  to  the  public. 

Mr.  Purcell's  long  and  useful  career  in  the 
gas  industry  began  many  years  ago  when  he 
started  with  the  Equitable  Gas  Company  in 
New   York.     At  this   time   the   industry   was 


318 


ILLINOIS 


being  revolutionized  with  the  passing  of  the 
old  coal  gas  benches  to  make  room  for  car- 
bureted water  gas  generators.  He  was  among 
the  first  to  recognize  that  rate  making  is  one 
of  the  principal  functions  of  gas  company  man- 
agement. A  general  appreciation  of  the  fact 
that  the  initiative  in  rate  making  must  lie 
with  the  management  is  to  be  credited  largely 
to  him,  and  he  emphasized  the  fact  that  un- 
less this  power  is  exercised  intelligently,  and 
with  full  regard  to  the  interests  of  the  public 
as  well  as  the  utility  company,  the  manage- 
ment fails  in  one  of  its  greatest  duties.  Mr. 
Purcell's  contributions  over  a  long  period  of 
years  in  the  form  of  rates,  papers  and  ad- 
dresses on  the  subject  of  rate  making,  have 
been  of  the  greatest  value.  What  he  has  said 
and  written  on  this  subject  is  a  text  book  to 
students  of  rate  matters. 

The  achievements  which  won  the  Munroe 
Award  for  Mrs.  Purcell  resulted  from  his 
studies  in  the  development  and  application  of 
business-getting  gas  rates,  following  years  of 
investigation  and  research,  in  which  were  in- 
volved numerous  technical  and  mathematical 
problems  difficult  for  the  layman  to  under- 
stand. The  bestowal  of  this  honor  on  Mr. 
Purcell  was  hailed  throughout  the  industry 
as  a  well  deserved  tribute. 

With  a  background  of  liberal  and  technical 
education,  Mr.  Purcell  went  direct  from  college 
into  the  practical  work  of  an  engineer  and 
executive  in  the  gas  industry.  He  was  born  in 
New  York  City  May  11,  1866,  son  of  John 
and  Louisa  (O'Toole)  Purcell.  His  degrees 
Bachelor  of  Science  and  Mechanical  Engineer 
both  came  from  the  Cooper  Institute  of  that 
city.  In  1883  he  entered  the  drafting  room 
of  the  Equitable  Gas  Company.  By  successive 
promotions  he  became  chief  engineer.  In  July, 
1901,  he  came  to  Chicago  to  become  general 
manager  of  the  Ogden  Gas  Company.  His 
activities  were  transferred  to  the  People's 
Company  at  the  merger  of  these  two  organiza- 
tions in  1907.*  From  190.7  to  1924  he  was 
secretary  of  the  company,  and  since  the  lat- 
ter year  has  been  vice  president,  in  charge 
of  sales,  of  the  People's  Gas  Light  &  Coke 
Company.  Many  of  the  essential  as  well  as 
the  feature  services  of  this  great  corporation, 
in  which  the  public  has  an  appreciative  in- 
terest, have  been  due  to  Mr.  Purcell's  long 
and  painstaking  labors.  He  has  promoted 
many  developments  represented  in  the  inner 
technique  of  the  organization  and  in  employee 
welfare,  such  as  a  new  system  of  general 
accounting,  the  service  annuity  system,  scien- 
tific employment  and  service  record  system, 
the  company  library,  the  restaurant  and  the 
People's  Gas  Club.  In  the  line  of  service 
to  the  public  patronage  of  the  corporation, 
he  originated  the  Home  Service  idea,  offering 
free  service  in  domestic  science  to  the  com- 
pany's customers.  Mr.  Purcell  has  enjoyed  a 
broad    contact    with    experts    and    officials    in 


the  gas  industry  both  in  this  country  and 
abroad.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Western  So- 
ciety of  Engineers  and  in  1923  he  spent  sev- 
eral months  in  Europe,  making  an  exhaustive 
study  of  gas  making  methods  in  the  principal 
cities  of  the  continent.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Collegiate  Club,  the  Electric  Club,  and  the 
Westmoreland  Country  Club.  His  home  is  at 
1126  Judson   Avenue,   Evanston. 

Mr.  Purcell  has  two  sons  who  have  dis- 
tinguished themselves  as  scholars.  John  Wal- 
lace Purcell,  a  graduate  of  Cornell  University, 
in  1930  was  awarded  the  Ryerson  Fellowship 
entitling  him  to  a  full  art  course  in  Paris, 
where  he  is  now  located.  The  other  son, 
Theodore  Vincent  Purcell,  while  a  high  school 
student  in  Chicago  was  selected  as  a  member 
of  the  Borden  Arctic  Expedition.  After  com- 
pleting his  preparatory  work  in  the  Loyola 
Academy  at  Chicago,  he  entered  Dartmouth 
College,  where  in  his  junior  year  (1931)  he 
won  one  of  the  twenty-two  scholarships  estab- 
lished by  the  Institute  of  International  Edu- 
cation, entitling  the  holder  to  a  junior  year 
course  in  France.  He  is  now  at  the  University 
of  Paris,  and  will  return  to  Dartmouth  for  his 
senior  year. 

Lloyd  H.  Melton,  one  of  the  representative 
younger  members  of  the  bar  of  Saline  County, 
is  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession 
in  the  City  of  Harrisburg,  the  county  seat. 
He  was  born  in  Hamilton  County,  Illinois, 
November  11,  1900,  and  is  elder  in  a  family 
of  two  children,  his  sister,  Marian,  being  the 
wife  of  Bert  Berthel. 

Rev.  Joseph  H.  Melton,  D.  D.,  father  of  the 
subject  of  this  review,  was  born  and  reared 
in  Hamilton  County  and  gave  thirty  years  of 
active  and  earnest  service  as  a  clergyman  and 
missionary  of  the  Baptist  Church,  besides 
which  he  had  practical  experience  in  connec- 
tion with  coal  mining  operations  in  his  native 
county.  He  married  Orlena  Pittman,  whose 
paternal  grandfather,  D.  W.  Pittman,  came 
from  Tennessee  to  Illinois  and  made  settle- 
ment in  Hamilton  County  about  1850.  Rev. 
Joseph  Henry  Melton  was  a  son  of  John  Mel- 
ton, who  came  from  Tennessee  and  settled  in 
Hamilton  County,  Illinois,  about  1820,  as  a 
young  man.  He  became  a  farmer  in  that 
county  and  organized  there  the  Oak  Grove 
Baptist  Church.  His  wife,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Peggy  Wallen,  likewise  was  born 
in  Tennessee.  His  father,  Joseph  Melton, 
was  a  Baptist  minister  and  circuit  rider  in 
Tennessee,  was  born  in  Virginia,  and  his 
father,  Jacob  Melton,  likewise  was  a  pioneer 
clergyman  and  circuit  rider  of  the  Baptist 
Church. 

After  completing  his  studies  in  the  high 
school  at  Carbondale  Lloyd  H.  Melton  there 
attended  the  Illinois  State  Normal  University 
during  summer  session,  the  while  he  taught 
school    during   the    intervening   winters.      His 


ILLINOIS 


319 


work  as  a  teacher  continued  nine  years,  dur- 
ing six  of  which  he  taught  in  the  Harrisburg 
public  schools.  In  the  final  three  years  of 
his  pedagogic  service  he  also  read  law,  and 
after  completing  a  correspondence  course  he 
proved  himself  eligible  for  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar,  in  April,  1927.  In  January  of  the 
following  year  he  opened  an  office  in  Harris- 
burg, where  the  scope  and  character  of  his 
practice  indicate  alike  his  professional  ability 
and  his  hold  upon  communal  esteem.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Saline  County  and  Illinois 
State  Bar  Associations,  is  a  Republican  and 
has  proved  an  effective  campaign  speaker  for 
his  party,  and  he  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic 
fraternity.  He  is  serving  in  1932  as  vice 
president  of  the  Saline  County  Bar  Associa- 
tion. His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Capitola  Newkirk,  was  born  in  the  State  of 
Kentucky.  They  are  popular  figures  in  the 
social  life  of  their  home  city. 

Benjamin  F.  Anderson,  who  is  judge  of 
the  county  court  of  Pope  County  and  a  repre- 
sentative member  of  the  bar  of  his  native 
county,  was  born  in  his  present  home  city  of 
Golconda,  the  county  seat,  October  2,  1883,  and 
is  a  scion  of  honored  pioneer  families  of  the 
county,  within  whose  borders  were  born  his 
parents,  John  G.  and  Elizabeth  (Gilbert)  An- 
derson, the  former  having  been  born  in  1843 
and  the  latter  in  1845. 

John  G.  Anderson  was  long  engaged  in  the 
mercantile  business  near  Golconda,  a  son  of 
William  Anderson,  who  was  born  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  whose  wife's  family  name  was 
Newton,  her  father  having  been  born  in  Vir- 
ginia and  having  settled  in  Illinois  soon  after 
the  state  was  admitted  to  the  Union.  The 
original  American  representatives  of  the  An- 
derson family  came  from  Holland  about  the 
opening  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  became 
Colonial  settlers  in  Pennsylvania,  in  which 
state  the  paternal  great-grandfather  was  a 
man  of  prominence,  he  having  owned  slaves 
in  the  period  when  slavery  was  still  in  vogue 
in  the  old  Keystone  State.  The  paternal 
grandfather  of  Judge  Anderson  came  to  the 
West  in  the  pioneer  days  and  his  son  William 
was  one  of  the  early  settlers,  about  1830,  in 
Pope  County,  Illinois.  The  late  John  G.  An- 
derson was  influential  in  local  politics.  His 
wife  was  a  daughter  of  William  and  Minerva 
(Rose)  Gilbert,  the  former,  a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  having  been  a  soldier  in  the  War  of 
1812  and  having  received  for  this  service  land 
scrip  that  he  used  when  he  came  to  what  is 
now  Illinois,  then  a  part  of  the  Northwest 
Territory,  in  1813,  and  took  up  a  homestead 
on  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Rock  Island. 
This  territorial  pioneer  was  J.  G.  Gilbert. 

Judge  Benjamin  F.  Anderson  is  one  of  a 
family  of  fourteen  children  and  his  father 
was  one  of  a  family  of  eight  children.  Judge 
Anderson  received  the  advantages  of  the  Gol- 


conda public  schools,  was  a  student  two  years 
in  Washington  University  in  Saint  Louis, 
Missouri,  and  in  1909  was  graduated  in  the 
law  department  of  the  University  of  Mich- 
igan. He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  October  2, 
1911,  and  has  been  continuously  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Golconda 
since  1912.  In  that  year  he  was  appointed 
deputy  county  clerk,  in  1913-14  he  served  as 
master  in  chancery,  during  the  period  of  1914- 
26  he  held  the  office  of  county  judge,  and  in 
1930  he  was  again  elected  to  this  office,  of 
which  he  is  the  present  incumbent.  He  served 
as  special  assistant  attorney-general  of  the 
county  in  1927-28.  He  has  given  effective  serv- 
ice as  chairman  of  the  Republican  committee  of 
Pope  County,  is  a  member  of  the  Pope  County 
and  the  Illinois  State  Bar  associations,  and  in 
his  home  city  has  membership  in  the  Rotary 
Club,  as  well  as  the  Blue  Lodge  and  Chapter 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  he  being  high  priest 
of  the  Chapter  in  1932.  His  Masonic  affilia- 
tions include  his  membership  in  the  Command- 
ery  of  Knights  Templars  at  Metropolis  and  the 
temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at  East  Saint 
Louis.  In  the  World  war  period  he  was  chair- 
man of  the  Victory  Loan  drive  in  Pope  County, 
a  member  of  the  legal  advisory  board  and  a 
three  minute  speaker.  His  wife,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Crystia  Baker,  likewise  was  born 
at  Golconda.  Their  two  children,  Beverly 
Baker  and  Benjamin  F.,  Jr.,  are,  in  1932, 
students  in  the  Golconda  High  School. 

Esco  Niblo  Bowen  has  been  established  in 
the  practice  of  law  in  the  City  of  Herrin, 
Williamson  County,  since  1915,  is  a  scion  of 
one  of  the  pioneer  families  of  Illinois  and  the 
name  which  he  bears  has  been  identified  with 
American  history  since  the  colonial  period, 
his  paternal  great-great-grandfather  having 
been  born  in  Scotland,  having  become  a  colo- 
nial settler  in  Virginia  and  having  been  a 
patriot  soldier  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 

Esco  N.  Bowen  was  born  in  Lawrence 
County,  Illinois,  May  27,  1893,  a  son  of  George 
and  Julia  (Loos)  Bowen.  George  Bowen  was 
born  and  reared  in  Lawrence  County,  was  long 
one  of  the  representative  farmers  of  that 
county  and  was  a  bank  director  many  years. 
He  was  one  of  the  five  children  of  James  and 
Miriam  (Perkins)  Bowen.  James  Bowen  was 
born  in  Kentucky  and  was  a  child  at  the  time 
of  the  family  removal  to  Illinois,  his  father 
having  served  as  a  soldier  in  the  Mexican  war 
and  having  received  on  this  score  land  scrip 
upon  which  he  took  a  homestead  in  Lawrence 
County,  where  he  reclaimed  and  developed  a 
pioneer  farm. 

Esco  N.  Bowen,  only  child  of  his  parents, 
was  graduated  in  the  Lawrenceville  High 
School  and  in  the  Illinois  State  Normal  Uni- 
versity at  Normal.  In  1915  he  was  graduated 
in  the  law  department  of  the  University  of 
Illinois,    and    in   July   of   that   year   was    ad- 


320 


ILLINOIS 


mitted  to  the  bar  of  his  native  state.  In  1918 
he  was  eligible  for  practice  in  the  United 
States  District  Court  and  the  United  States 
District  Court  of  Appeals.  From  the  time 
of  receiving  his  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws 
Mr.  Bowen  has  been  established  in  practice — 
first  at  Lawrenceville  and  subsequently  at  Her- 
rin,  where  he  now  controls  a  substantial  and 
representative  law  business.  At  Lawrenceville 
he  served  as  assistant  state's  attorney  of 
his  native  county,  and  at  Herrin  he  was  judge 
of  the  city  court  four  years.  In  the  World 
war  period  he  served  as  a  member  of  the 
legal  advisory  board  in  Lawrence  County  and 
as  chairman  of  four-minute  speakers.  He  has 
membership  in  the  Williamson  County  Bar 
Association  and  the  Illinois  State  Bar  Associa- 
tion, is  a  Democrat  in  political  alignment  and 
was  campaign  manager  for  Williamson  County 
in  the  recent  senatoral  campaign  of  Hon. 
James  Hamilton  Lewis,  who  was  returned  to 
the  United  States  Senate.  Mr.  Bowen  is  affil- 
iated with  the  Masonic  fraternity,  Independ- 
ent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Knights  of  Pythias, 
Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  Im- 
proved Order  of  Red  Men  and  Fraternal  Order 
of  Eagles.  His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Beulah  Schrader,  was  born  at  Murphysboro, 
this  state,  and  her  father,  Joseph  Schrader, 
likewise  was  born  in  Illinois.  Mr,  and  Mrs. 
Bowen  have  two  children,  Anna  Marie  and 
Betty  Jule. 

Hon.  Michael  J.  Flynn  has  made  a  con- 
spicuous record  both  in  Chicago  politics  and 
business.  He  is  a  former  city  treasurer,  and 
is  now  president  of  the  Inland  Rubber  Com- 
pany, the  largest  manufacturers  of  automobile 
tires  in  Illinois. 

Mr.  Flynn  was  born  in  Limerick,  Ireland, 
in  1887  and  was  brought  to  America  when 
four  years  of  age.  His  parents  located  on 
the  South  Side  of  Chicago  and  Michael  J. 
Flynn  attended  Chicago  schools  and  in  1905 
was  graduated  from  Saint  Ignatius  College. 
He  left  college  to  take  up  a  business  career, 
and  from  1905  to  1913  was  in  the  wholesale 
grocery  trade.  From  early  manhood  he  has 
been  a  local  leader  in  the  Democratic  party. 
In  1913  he  was  elected  city  treasurer  of  Chi- 
cago and  served  a  term  of  two  years,  until 
1915.  While  this  is  to  a  large  extent  a  stand- 
ardized office,  involving  routine  management, 
Mr.  Flynn  as  city  treasurer  was  responsible 
for  several  reforms  in  methods  that  should 
be  noted.  Especially  did  he  advocate  the 
passage  of  the  ordinance  providing  that  the 
firemen  and  policemen  of  the  city  should  be 
paid  twice  monthly  instead  of  once  a  month. 
The  once  a  month  payment  had  worked  many 
hardships  on  the  city  employees.  Mr.  Flynn 
in  1930  was  candidate  for  the  Democratic 
nomination  for  county  commissioner. 

After  retiring  from  the  office  of  city  treas- 
urer  in    1915   he   and   a   group   of   associates 


organized  the  Inland  Rubber  Company  to  man- 
ufacture tires  and  tubes.  He  was  treasurer 
of  the  company  until  1926.  During  the  fol- 
lowing four  years  he  was  engaged  in  real 
estate  promotion.  Mr.  Flynn  in  the  summer 
of  1930  returned  to  a  part  in  the  active  man- 
agement of  the  Inland  Rubber  Company,  be- 
coming president  and  treasurer.  In  recent 
years  Mr.  Flynn  has  made  his  home  in  Palos 
Park,  Cook  County,  and  has  many  interests 
and  investments  in  that  section  of  the  county. 
He  is  affiliated  with  the  Knights  of  Columbus, 
the  Illinois  Athletic  Club  and  the  Southmoor 
Country  Club. 

Daniel  Law,  the  efficient  and  popular  chief 
of  the  police  department  of  Harrisburg,  judi- 
cial center  of  Saline  County,  was  born  at 
Madison,  Pennsylvania,  July  8,  1902,  as  one 
of  ten  children  born  to  Stewart  and  Jean 
(Hunter)  Law,  who  were  born  in  Scotland  and 
who  were  young  folk  when  they  established 
residence  in  Pennsylvania.  Stewart  Law  was 
a  coal  miner  during  the  greater  part  of  his 
active  career,  though  for  a  time  he  was  en- 
gaged in  mecantile  business  at  Fayette  City, 
Pennsylvania,  where  he  served  some  time  in 
the  office  of  constable.  He  came  with  his 
family  to  Saline  County,  Illinois,  in  1911. 

Daniel  Law  gained  his  rudimentary  educa- 
tion in  Pennsylvania  and  was  about  nine  years 
of  age  at  the  time  of  the  family  removal  to 
Saline  County,  Illinois,  where  he  continued  to 
attend  the  public  schools  at  varying  intervals. 
He  thereafter  attended  school  three  years  in 
the  City  of  Vincennes,  Indiana,  but  he  had 
initiated  his  work  in  coal  mines  when  he  was 
fourteen  years  of  age.  He  spent  ten  years 
in  the  mines  and  was  employed  for  some  time 
in  factories.  In  May,  1931,  he  was  made  a 
member  of  the  police  force  of  Harrisburg, 
and  on  the  first  of  the  following  July  was 
made  chief  of  police,  the  office  of  which  he 
has  since  continued  the  efficient  incumbent. 

Mr.  Law  is  a  Republican  in  political  adher- 
ency  and  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity. His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Sybil  Winchester,  was  born  at  Cobden,  Union 
County,  Illinois,  a  daughter  of  Robert  Win- 
chester, well  known  citizen  of  that  county, 
where  he  has  lived  many  years.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Law  have  two  children,  Helen  Jean  and  Sybil 
Louise. 

Albert  Fridolin  Madlener,  a  native  son 
of  Chicago,  is  member  of  a  family  whose 
name  has  been  prominently  identified  with  the 
city's  commercial  history  for  nearly  eighty 
years. 

His  father  was  Fridolin  Madlener,  who  was 
born  in  Southern  Germany  in  Baden  in  1836, 
son  of  Michael  and  Margaretha  (Blatz)  Mad- 
lener. Fridolin  Madlener  came  to  America 
in  1857,  and  soon  became  identified  with  one 
of  the  old  established  wine  and  liquor  houses. 


YVL  (X^^^u-^^-o 


ILLINOIS 


321 


In  1866  he  became  sole  proprietor  of  the 
business  which  he  entered  as  a  clerk  eleven 
years  before,  and  continued  the  business  on 
Lake  Street  at  two  different  locations.  For 
many  years  it  was  known  as  P.  Madlener 
Incorporated,  distillers.  Fridolin  Madlener 
married  in  1866  Margaretha  Blatz,  daughter 
of  Albert  Blatz  of  Milwaukee. 

Albert  F.  Madlener,  only  son  of  his  parents, 
was  born  on  the  Chicago  West  Side,  October 
19,  1868.  He  was  educated  in  local  schools, 
then  joined  his  father's  business  and  was 
president  of  the  company  until  1911.  After 
that  he  was  in  the  investment  business,  but 
now  devotes  his  attention  only  to  his  private 
interests. 

Mr.  Madlener  has  been  a  director  of  the 
Grant  Hospital,  formerly  the  German  Hos- 
pital of  Chicago,  for  many  years  and  has  also 
served  as  its  president.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  and  of 
numerous  social  and  country  clubs.  He  is  a 
director  of  the  Cosmopolitan  State  Bank,  for- 
merly the  German  Bank  of  Chicago.  He 
married  January  4,  1898,  Elsa  Seipp,  daugh- 
ter of  Conrad  Seipp.  His  three  sons,  Albert 
Fridolin,  Jr.,  Otto  Thies  and  William  Conrad, 
are  all  graduates  of  Yale  University.  Albert 
F.,  Jr.,  married  a  daughter  of  former  Governor 
Lowden  and  has  two  children,  Nancy  Lowden 
and  Frank  O.  Lowden. 

Thomas  Patrick  German,  chief  auditor  in 
the  Department  of  Finance,  under  City  Comp- 
troller M.  S.  Szymczak,  is  a  World  war  veteran 
and  one  of  the  prominent  younger  men  in  Chi- 
cago's  public  life. 

He  was  born  in  Chicago  March  7,  1894,  son 
of  John  and  Mary  (Rafferty)  German.  His 
parents  are  living  and  have  been  residents 
of  Chicago  for  many  years.  His  father  for 
the  past  sixteen  years  has  been  connected  with 
the  City  Bureau  of  Parks. 

Thomas  P.  German  had  limited  opportunities 
for  an  education  during  his  youth.  He  attended 
parochial  school  and  the  Nativity  Academy  on 
West  Thirty-seventh  Street,  but  was  only  a 
boy  when  he  became  self  supporting.  He 
worked  in  some  of  the  packing  houses,  also 
with  the  surface  lines,  and  in  June,  1912, 
became  a  city  employee  and  has  been  continu- 
ously in  the  municipal  service  for  twenty  years, 
except  for  two  years  during  the  World  war! 
The  first  six  months  he  was  with  the  city 
government  he  was  in  the  water  bureau.  Since 
then  he  has  been  in  the  finance  department, 
and  successive  promotions  based  upon  his  ear- 
nestness and  fidelity  have  brought  him  to  the 
position  of  auditor. 

Mr.  German  served  as  a  private  in  the  Thir- 
ty-third of  All  Illinois  Division  during  the 
World  war.  He  has  been  active  in  American 
Legion  work  and  enjoys  the  honor  of  being 
commander  of  the  James  C.  Russell-Blackhawk 
Post    No.    107.      Mr.    German    is    one    of   the 


popular  young  leaders  in  the  Democratic  party 

?feASiynwarrieo    aJ?d,  resides  with  his  P^ents 
at  1311  West  Garfield  Boulevard. 

Joseph  Marion  Anderson,  the  popular  and 
resourcefu  mayor  of  Carbondale,  had  given 
long  and  loyal  service  as  a  member  of  the 
city  council  prior  to  his  election  to  his  present 
office  m  May,  1930,  for  a  term  of  four  years. 
He  has  been  a  resident  of  Carbondale  since 
he  was  a  lad  of  five  years,  and  was  but  thir- 
teen years  of  age  when  his  father  died  and  he 
was  called  upon  to  do  his  part  in  supporting 
the  family.  The  same  spirit  of  loyalty  and 
self-reliance  that  actuated  him  at  that  time 
has  characterized  his  entire  career  and  has 
given  him  secure  place  in  popular  confidence 
and  esteem. 

Mr.  Anderson  was  born  at  Cleveland,  Ten- 
nessee, March  7,  1865,  seventh  in  a  family  of 
nine  children  born  to  Joseph  and  Mary 
(Dunn)  Anderson,  who  were  born  in  Tennes- 
see and  who  there  maintained  their  home  until 
1870,  when  they  established  residence  at  Car- 
bondale, Illinois,  Joseph  Anderson  having 
been  in  railway  service  and  having  also  been 
a  business  man  at  Carbondale,  where  his  death 
occurred  m  1878  and  where  his  widow  passed 
the  remainder  of  her  life.  Joseph  Anderson 
was  a  gallant  soldier  of  the  Union  in  the  Civil 
war,  m  which  he  served  as  a  member  of  a 
lennessee  infantry  regiment  three  years  and 
five  months,  he  having  been  captured  and 
having  been  for  a  time  confined  in  the  now 
historic  Andersonville  Prison  of  the  Confed- 
eracy. The  names  of  the  nine  children  are 
here  recorded  in  the  respective  order  of  birth- 
James  Levi  Thursty,  Jacob,  Mattie,  Daniel', 
Joseph  M.,  Nannie  and  Addie. 

The  present  mayor  of  Carbondale  attended 
the  public  schools  of  this  city  until  he  was 
thirteen  years  of  age,  when  upon  the  death 
?I  his  lather  responsibility  upon  him  in  aid- 
ing the  family  support,  and  he  found  em- 
ployment as  clerk  and  delivery  boy  in  a  gen- 
eral store  At  the  age  of  seventeen  years  he 
entered  the  service  of  the  Carbondale-Shaw- 
neetown  Railroad,  now  a  part  of  the  Illinois 
central  system,  and  his  service  covered  a 
period  of  forty-seven  years— 1882  to  1930  He 
was  employed  in  the  car  department  in  the 
building  and  repairing  of  cars  at  the  Car- 
bondale shops,  and  was  car  foreman  twelve 
years. 

Mayor  Anderson  has  been  active  in  local 
politics  since  he  was  twenty-eight  years  of 
age,  is  a  stalwart  Democrat  and  was  precinct 
committeeman  for  many  years.  His  service  as 
alderman  and  city  commissioner  covered  a  pe 
riod  of  twenty  years,  and  in  May,  1930  a 
flattering  majority  marked  his  election  to  his 
present  office,  that  of  mayor.  He  was  Illinois 
vice  president  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Railwav 
Carmen  of  America  from  1919  to  1930  In 
the   World   war   period   he   was   active   in   ad- 


322 


ILLINOIS 


vancing  local  drives  in  the  sale  of  government 
war  bonds  and  in  other  patriotic  movements. 
In  the  York  Rite  of  the  Masonic  fraternity 
Mr.  Anderson  is  affiliated  with  the  Blue  Lodge 
at  Burnside  and  the  Chapter  at  Vienna,  Illi- 
nois, and  he  has  membership  also  in  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  is  a  char- 
ter member  of  Carbondale  Lodge,  Benevolent 
and  Protective  Order  of  Elks.  His  wife,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Mollie  Swaar,  was  born  in 
Tennessee  and  is  a  daughter  of  the  late  Jacob 
and   Zella   Swaar. 

Alvin  Stephen  Oekel,  who  died  December 
9,  1929,  was  the  founder  of  the  business  at 
Morton,  Oekel  &  Sons,  which  has  developed 
from  a  machine  shop  into  one  of  the  most 
complete  establishments  of  its  kind  in  Central 
Illinois,  handling  all  manner  of  machine  shop 
work,   plumbing,   heating    and   ventilating. 

Alvin  Stephen  Oekel  was  born  at  Duringen, 
Germany,  September  4,  1873,  and  represented 
a  long  line  of  expert  machinists.  His  father 
was  a  gunsmith  and  from  him  Alvin  learned 
the  art  of  iron  working.  He  had  a  limited 
schooling,  only  through  the  common  schools  in 
Germany,  but  never  gave  up  a  contact  with 
the  outside  world  through  books  and  the  op- 
portunity of  learning  by  experience  and 
through  men.  When  a  young  man  he  came 
to  America  in  company  with  the  Gleichman 
family,  one  of  whose  daughters  he  subse- 
quent married.  At  Morton  he  was  employed 
as  a  machinist  until  1908,  when  he  started  a 
shop  of  his  own.  He  made  the  shop  noted 
for  its  high  class  work  and  also  trained  his 
sons  in  the  business.  He  was  a  Republican 
in  politics,  a  member  of  the  Lutheran  Church, 
in  which  all  the  members  of  his  family  are 
active.  His  diversion  from  business  was  the 
growing  of  flowers. 

During  his  lifetime  the  machine  shop  busi- 
ness was  conducted  by  the  firm  of  Voelelpel, 
Suchert  &  Oekel,  but  he  bought  out  his  part- 
ners and  in  1916  took  in  his  son  Henry,  and 
in  1924  his  son  Fred,  and  these  two  sons  now 
carry  on  the  business  of  Oekel  &  Sons.  Alvin 
S.  Oekel  accumulated  a  large  amount  of  city 
property  at  Morton.  For  a  number  of  years 
he  was  a  member  of  the  cemetery  board.  He 
married  Fannie  Augusta  Gleichman,  whose 
parents,  Fred  and  Katherine  Gleichman,  were 
natives  of  Germany  and  brought  her  to 
America  when  she  was  a  child.  Her  father 
was  a  blacksmith.  Mrs.  Oekel  is  active  in 
the  Lutheran  Church,  is  an  independent  voter, 
and  her  life  has  been  devoted  to  her  home  and 
family,  her  recreations  being  sewing  and 
gardening. 

Emma  Marie  Oekel,  the  oldest  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Alvin  S.  Oekel,  was  born  February 
17,  1895,  graduated  from  the  Morton  grade 
schools,  and  is  now  employed  in  the  office  of 
the  Holt  Tractor  Company  at  East  Peoria. 
Henry    Fred    Oekel,    born   June    22,    1896,    at 


Morton,  acquiring  his  public  school  education 
there,  and  is  now  the  active  head  of  the  busi- 
ness of  Oekel  &  Sons.  He  is  prominent  in 
local  affairs,  having  been  president  of  the 
fire  department  for  five  years,  and  was  instru- 
mental in  securing  much  new  equipment  for 
the  fire  department.  He  is  vice  president  of 
the  Morton  Men's  Club,  member  of  the  Plumb- 
ers Educational  Committee,  and  a  Lutheran. 
He  is  a  fine  type  of  citizen,  a  vigorous  speci- 
men of  manhood  and  a  lover  of  outdoor  sports. 

Hattie  Marion  Oekel,  born  May  11,  1899, 
attended  grade  school  and  business  college 
and  has  charge  of  the  office  work  of  Oekel  & 
Sons,  and  is  well  informed  as  to  the  business, 
and  her  genial  manners  have  been  an  impor- 
tant asset  to  the  firm.  She  is  a  vigorous  out- 
door woman,  likes  swimming  and  fishing  and 
camping. 

Fred  Oekel,  the  junior  partner  in  the  busi- 
ness, was  born  January  27,  1900,  is  a  graduate 
of  the  Morton  public  schools  and  is  an  expert 
machinist,  having  charge  of  the  machine  shop. 
He  is  independent  in  politics. 

Elsie  May  is  the  wife  of  Elmer  Rankin 
of  Morton  and  has  two  children,  Eleanor,  born 
August  31,  1927,  and  Robert,  born  in  October, 
1929;  Clara  Elizabeth,  born  August  27,  1905, 
graduated  from  the  Morton  High  School  in 
1921,  from  the  Illinois  Normal  University, 
and  after  teaching  for  three  years  in  Morton 
married  in  1928  Mr.  E.  E.  Hauter;  Amelia 
M.,  born  August  30,  1907,  is  the  wife  of 
Frank  Kipler,  principal  of  the  high  school  at 
Dana,  Illinois,  and  has  a  daughter,  Barbara 
Louise,  born  March  28,  1930.  The  youngest 
of  the  family  is  Helen,  born  February  3,  1911. 
She  graduated  from  the  Morton  High  School 
in  1928  and  from  the  Bradley  Polytechnic 
College  in  1930,  specializing  in  music.  She 
is  a  member  of  the  Bradley  Glee  Club  and 
taught  both  instrumental  and  vocal  music 
while  in  school. 

Russell  Wiles.  In  the  highly  specialized 
field  of  patent  and  copyright  law,  few  names 
are  better  known  in  Illinois  than  that  of  Rus- 
sell Wiles.  Almost  since  the  start  of  his 
professional  career  he  has  applied  himself 
to  this  branch  of  litigation,  and  since  1906 
has  been  a  member  of  one  of  the  most  widely 
known  firms  in  the  country  in  this  special 
line,  that  of  Dyrenforth,  Lee,  Chritton  &  Wiles. 

Mr.  Wiles  was  born  at  Freeport,  Illinois, 
August  22,  1881,  and  is  a  son  of  Hon.  Robert 
Hall  and  Alice  (Bradford)  Wiles.  Robert 
Hall  Wiles,  graduate  of  Cornell  University, 
class  of  1874,  was  an  able  attorney  of  Ste- 
phenson County,  Illinois,  where  he  was  very 
active  in  Republican  politics.  He  served  one 
term  as  state  senator  and  it  is  said  that  he 
knew  every  voter  in  his  district  personally 
by  name.  His  death  occurred  in  1907.  On 
August  22,  1876,  Mr.  Wiles  married  Alice 
Bradford,    and    they    became    the    parents    of 


ILLINOIS 


323 


three  children:  Bradford,  who  died  in  infancy; 
Russell,  of  this  review;  and  Edith  Bradford, 
who  became  the  wife  of  William  Sellman  Bird. 

Mrs.  Alice  (Bradford)  Wiles,  whose  death 
occurred  February  20,  1928,  was  one  of  Chi- 
cago's most  remarkable  and  prominent  women. 
She  was  born  at  Boston,  Massachusetts,  a 
daughter  of  Joseph  Russell  and  Sarah  Jane 
Toppan  (Woodman)  Bradford,  and  a  descend- 
ant of  James  Chilton  of  the  Mayflower  and 
of  John  Haynes,  governor  of  Massachusetts 
Colony  and  first  governor  of  Connecticut.  After 
attending  private  schools  at  Boston  and  Mount 
Holyoke  (Massachusetts)  Seminary,  Mrs. 
Wiles  entered  Cornell  University,  from  which 
she  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science 
in  1875.  After  her  marriage  to  Mr.  Wiles 
she  commenced  her  life  of  public  service  at 
Freeport,  Illinois,  where  she  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  school  board  at  the  first  elec- 
tion in  which  women  were  granted  the  voting 
and  office-holding  franchise.  She  was  the 
founder  and  first  president  of  the  Freeport 
Woman's  Club,  holding  that  office  from  1895 
until  1897.  She  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Fifer,  vice  president  of  the  Illinois  Woman's 
Board  of  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition, 
1891-93,  at  the  time  of  the  beginning  of 
women's  clubs  in  Illinois,  being  responsible 
in  a  large  way  for  the  success  of  the  move- 
ment, and  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  exhibits 
for  the  Fair  visited  every  county  seat  in  the 
state,  where  in  many  cases  clubs  of  this  kind 
were  organized  for  the  first  time,  many  of 
which  became  permanent  bodies.  It  was  about 
this  time,  1894,  that  she  wrote  a  History 
of  the  Work  of  Illinois  Women  at  the  Colum- 
bian Exposition.  She  was  the  founder  and 
first  president  of  the  United  States  Daughters 
of  1812  of  Illinois,  from  1903  to  1911,  and 
chairman  of  the  Illinois  commission  which 
placed  a  memorial  in  the  State  House  at 
Springfield  to  the  Illinois  soldiers  of  the  War 
of  1812.  She  was  also  national  president  of 
this  body  from  1915-1919,  and  was  then  made 
honorary  life  president.  When,  on  the  anni- 
versary (fiftieth)  of  the  capture  of  the  flag 
of  the  Louisiana  Cavalry  by  Illinois  troops 
in  1865,  the  Illinois  Legislature  ordered  the 
return  of  the  flag  to  the  City  of  New  Orleans, 
Mrs.  Wiles  was  appointed  emissary  by  Gover- 
nor Dunne,  the  flag  being  received  by  a  dele- 
gation of  prominent  citizens,  including  the 
mayor  of  New  Orleans  and  the  governor  of 
Louisiana. 

Mrs.  Wiles  was  chairman  of  the  educational 
department  of  the  Chicago  Woman's  Club  in 
1895-96,  and  chairman  of  the  philosophy  and 
science  department  from  1911  to  1913,  and 
president  of  the  Illinois  Federation  of  Wom- 
en's Clubs  from  1896  to  1898,  being  the  second 
elected  to  that  office.  She  was  regent  of  Chi- 
cago Chapter,  Daughters  of  the  American  Rev- 
olution, from   1899   to   1901   and   state  regent 


of  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution 
in  1901  and  1902,  then  becoming  honorary 
life  state  regent.  Mrs.  Wiles  was  national 
president  of  Daughters  of  Founders  and  Patri- 
ots of  America,  from  1920  to  1922,  and  honor- 
ary life  president;  a  member  of  the  Society 
of  Mayflower  Descendants;  a  member  of  the 
Illinois  Society  of  Colonial  Dames  of  America; 
a  member  of  the  Descendants  of  Colonial  Gov- 
ernors; Chicago  Colony  of  New  England 
Women;  Chicago  Colony  of  Foreign  Relations; 
Daughters  of  Runnymede;  Illinois  Historical 
Society,  and  antiquarian  of  the  Chicago  Art 
Institute.  She  was  a  Republican  in  her  politi- 
cal allegiance,  and  a  devout  member  of  the 
Congregational  Church.  In  her  work  as  a 
member  and  official  of  the  Daughters  of  1812, 
she  became  extraordinarily  well  posted  on  Illi- 
nois history  in  developing  the  claims  of  the 
Illinois  soldiers  who  had  been  granted  thou- 
sands of  acres  of  land  in  Illinois  as  bonuses. 

Russell  Wiles  attended  the  public  schools  of 
Freeport  and  Chicago,  and  after  graduating 
from  high  school  enrolled  as  a  student  at  the 
University  of  Chicago,  from  which  he  was 
graduated  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Science  in  1901.  He  then  entered  the  law 
department  of  Northwestern  University,  where 
he  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Laws  in  1904,  and  in  the  same  year  was 
given  the  Master  of  Science  degree.  In  1901 
he  had  become  a  law  student  in  the  office  of 
H.  Bitner,  and  in  1904  was  admitted  to  part- 
nership in  the  firm  of  Bitner,  Wiles  &  Sherrey. 
Since  1906  he  has  been  connected  with  his 
present  firm  of  Dyrenforth,  Lee,  Wiles  & 
Chritton,  with  offices  in  the  Board  of  Trade 
Building.  This  concern  deals  principally  with 
patent  and  copyright  law,  a  field  in  which 
Mr.  Wiles  has  become  recognized  as  a  leader. 
He  belongs  to  the  Chicago  Bar  Association, 
Illinois  Bar  Association,  American  Bar  Asso- 
ciation and  American  and  Chicago  patent  law 
associations  of  which  he  is  a  past  president. 
He  also  holds  membership  in  the  Phi  Gamma 
Delta  and  Delta  Chi  fraternities;  the  National 
Rifle  Association,  of  which  he  has  been  a 
director  for  many  years;  the  American  Canoe 
Association,  of  which  he  is  ex-vice  commodore; 
the  Art  Institute  of  Chicago;  the  University, 
Quadrangle  and  Riverside  Golf  Clubs,  and  is 
a  Knight  Templar  and  thirty-second  degree 
Mason.  His  recreations  are  canoeing,  camp- 
ing, golfing  and  rifle  shooting.  He  considers 
practice  in  rifle  shooting  to  be  a  matter  of 
national  patriotic  importance,  and  is  proud 
of  his  membership  and  directorship  in  the 
National  Rifle  Association,  an  organization 
of  broad  scope,  which  includes  in  its  member- 
ship many  government  officials  and  prominent 
army   and   navy   officers. 

On  October  26,  1904,  Mr.  Wiles  married 
Ethel  Foster,  daughter  of  Dr.  R.  N.  Foster, 
a  Chicago  physician,  and  to  this  union  there 


324 


ILLINOIS 


have  been  born  three  children:  Russell,  Jr.; 
Alice  Bradford,  the  wife  of  Louis  Frazer 
Driver,  Jr.;  and  Bradford.  The  family  resi- 
dence is  at  5830  Stony  Island  Avenue,  Chicago. 

Hon.  John  Toman.  In  recent  years  no 
member  of  the  City  Council  has  exhibited 
greater  industry,  has  shown  a  more  intelligent 
comprehension  of  the  fundamental  needs  of 
the  city  and  has  been  more  effective  in  the 
solution  of  the  problems  of  local  government 
than  Alderman  John  Toman,  representing  the 
Twenty-third  Ward,  and  now  one  of  the  oldest 
members  from  point  of  length  of  service  in 
the  council. 

Mr.  Toman  was  born  in  Czecho-Slovakia 
(Bohemia),  May  12,  1876,  and  has  lived  in 
Chicago  since  1883.  Success  in  life  came  to 
him  from  talent  and  industrious  application 
rather  than  from  formal  education.  He  left 
school  in  the  third  grade,  and  from  that  time 
forward  supported  himself  by  his  own  work. 
He  was  a  newsboy  on  the  streets  of  Chicago 
from  1886  to  1889.  For  a  time  he  worked  as 
a  cash  boy  with  Dennis  F.  Kelly,  Mandel 
Brothers,  being  paid  two  dollars  a  week.  After 
about  nine  months  of  this  employment  he 
went  into  the  Chicago  Public  Library  in  1889 
as  an  office  boy.  He  spent  twenty-two  years 
in  library  work,  until  1912,  and  during  that 
time  was  frequently  advanced.  He  attributes 
his  real  education  to  the  contacts  he  made  in 
the  library  service  and  to  the  opportunities 
it  afforded  him  for  learning  from  both  books 
and  people. 

Mr.  Toman  in  1912  was  for  the  first  time 
elected  member  of  the  City  Council.  He  served 
continuously  in  that  body  until  1923.  In  that 
year  he  was  appointed  by  Mayor  Dever  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  of  Local  Improvements  for 
two  years.  In  1925  he  was  elected  to  fill  the 
vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  Alderman 
Jos.  0.  Kostner.  Since  then  his  service  has 
been  continuous.  He  is  now  the  third  oldest 
member  in  point  of  years  of  service  in  the 
Council.  A  great  honor  was  paid  him  during 
his  first  term  when  he  was  appointed  chair- 
man of  the  water  committee.  This  was  the 
first  time  an  alderman  had  been  made  chair- 
man of  an  important  committee  in  his  first 
term.  At  the  present  time  Mr.  Toman  is  one 
of  the  most  powerful  members  of  the  Council. 
He  is  chairman  of  the  local  industries,  streets 
and  alleys  committees,  and  is  a  valued  mem- 
ber of  the  finance  committee,  special  assess- 
ment committee,  local  transportation  commit- 
tee, railway  terminal  committee,  gas,  oil  and 
electricity  committee. 

Mr.  Toman  is  active  in  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity. He  is  a  past  Archon  and  member  of  the 
State  Advisory  Board  of  the  LaFayette  Chap- 
ter, Royal  Arch  Masons,  member  of  Columbia 
Commandery  of  the  Knights  Templar,  and  has 
such  other  Masonic  affiliations  as  the  Shrine, 
Grotto  and   Camels,  and  is  a  member  of  the 


Medinah  Athletic  Club.  He  is  also  a  member 
of  Chicago  Lodge  No.  4,  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  the 
Knights  of  Pythias,  and  the  Bohemian  Club. 

Alderman  Toman  married  Miss  Bertha  Sef- 
cik,  a  native  of  Chicago.  They  have  three 
children:  Irene  is  the  wife  of  Dr.  Elmer 
Witous  and  has  a  son,  E.  J.  Witous;  Dr. 
Andrew  J.  Toman  is  resident  physician  at 
the  Cook  County  Hospital;  the  daughter, 
Lucile,  is  a  student  in  Carter  H.  Harrison 
High  School. 

Winfield  Scott  Dixon,  M.  D.,  has  proved 
the  value  of  his  character  and  professional 
service  to  several  Southern  Illinois  communi- 
ties. He  is  one  of  the  ablest  physicians  and 
surgeons   of   Metropolis. 

Doctor  Dixon  was  born  in  Pope  County, 
Illinois,  February  19,  1870,  son  of  James  L. 
Dixon.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Tennes- 
see, was  a  soldier  in  the  war  with  Mexico, 
and  a  few  years  after  being  released  from 
military  duty  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in 
Pope  County.  He  followed  the  trade  of  wagon 
maker  in  the  northern  part  of  that  county. 
His  wife  was  Elizabeth  Hedrick,  also  a  native 
of  Tennessee. 

Winfield  Scott  Dixon  was  one  of  a  family 
of  ten  children.  When  he  was  four  years  of 
age  his  father  died,  and  his  boyhood  was  one 
of  mere  poverty,  without  opportunities  beyond 
those  afforded  at  home  and  in  a  nearby  dis- 
trict school.  A  determined  ambition  to  make 
the  most  of  his  talents  was  what  put  Doctor 
Dixon  through  college.  As  a  boy  he  split 
rails,  carefully  saving  his  earnings  with  a 
view  to  going  to  college.  For  years  he  alter- 
nated between  hard  manual  labor  and  attend- 
ing school.  He  completed  the  course  of  the 
summer  normal  school  and  for  five  terms  was 
a  teacher,  doing  his  teaching  during  the  win- 
ter seasons  and  studying  medicine  in  the 
spring  and  summer.  In  1893  he  was  grad- 
uated M.  D.  from  the  Kentucky  School  of 
Medicine  at  Louisville.  Doctor  Dixon  first 
practiced  in  Pope  County,  and  in  1906  moved 
to  the  Round  Knob  community  of  Massac 
County.  Since  1915  his  home  has  been  at 
Metropolis,  where  he  has  attended  to  an  ex- 
tensive general  practice  in  medicine  and  sur- 
gery. For  many  years  he  has  been  associated 
with  the  Riverside  Hospital  at  Paducah,  until 
1929,  and  is  now  an  associate  on  the  staff  of 
the  Illinois  Central  Railway  Hospital  in 
Paducah. 

Doctor  Dixon  is  a  member  of  the  Metropolis 
Board  of  Health  and  during  the  World  war 
was  a  special  examiner  and  a  member  of  the 
Medical  Reserve  Corps.  He  owns  the  build- 
ing in  which  his  office  is  located  at  Metropolis. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Massac  County  and 
Illinois  State  Medical  Associations. 

Doctor  Dixon  married  Anna  Foreman,  a 
native  of  Pope  County.  They  have  three 
children:    Milledge   S.,  who   is   a  graduate  of 


AKAdd^^Jn 


ILLINOIS 


325 


St.  Louis  University  and  a  practicing  dentist; 
Blanche  M.,  wife  of  Reuben  E.  Shappard;  and 
Joe  Lee,  a  civil  engineer  by  profession. 

Arthur  Franklin  Stotts,  district  surgeon 
for  the  Santa  Fe  Railroad  at  Galesburg,  has 
a  distinguished  service  record  in  his  profes- 
sion. He  took  up  the  work  of  industrial  sur- 
gery soon  after  leaving  medical  college.  Dur- 
ing the  World  war  he  rose  to  the  rank  of 
lieutenant  colonel. 

Doctor  Stotts  was  born  in  Muskingum 
County,  Ohio,  June  6,  1875.  His  grandfather 
was  an  early  German  pioneer  in  Ohio.  Doctor 
Stott's  parents  were  Stillman  and  Mary  Jo- 
sephine (Wine)  Stotts.  His  father  was  born 
m  Muskingum  County  in  1846,  was  a  youth- 
ful soldier  in  the  Civil  war  and  spent  his 
life  as  a  lumber  dealer  in  Ohio.  He  died  in 
1901.  The  mother  of  Doctor  Stotts  was  born 
m  Loudoun  County,  Virginia,  and  now  lives 
at  Marshalltown,  Iowa.  Doctor  Stotts  was 
the  second  in  a  family  of  three  children.  His 
brother  Thomas  is  in  the  insurance  business 
at  Marshalltown,  Iowa,  and  Ralph  C.  Stotts 
is  m  the  electrical  business  at  Milwaukee. 

Doctor  Stotts  spent  some  of  his  early  years 
at  Marshalltown,  Iowa.  After  finishing  his 
high  school  work  he  entered  DePauw  Uni- 
versity at  Greencastle,  Indiana,  where  he  com- 
pleted his  pre-medical  course.  He  was  awarded 
a  scholarship  in  the  Medico-Chirurgical  Col- 
lege at  Philadelphia,  now  the  Graduate  School 
of  Medicine  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. This  institution  gave  him  the  M.  D 
degree  on  June  5,  1899.  He  specialized  in 
surgery,  had  the  experience  of  a  hospital  in- 
terne, and  his  practice  as  an  industrial  sur- 
geon began  with  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  & 
Coke  Company  at  Cresson,  Pennsylvania.  He 
was  first  assistant  surgeon,  later  became  chief 
surgeon,  and  continued  with  that  work  until 
1908,  when  he  returned  west  to  become  sur- 
geon for  the  Santa  Fe  Railroad  Company. 

Doctor  Stotts  also  has  an  extensive  general 
surgical  practice.  His  offices  are  in  the  Bank 
of  Galesburg  Building  and  he  is  supplied  with 
elaborate  equipment  and  facilities.  Among 
other  evidences  of  his  high  standing  as  a  sur- 
geon he  is  a  fellow  in  the  American  College 
of  Surgeons.  He  is  past  president  of  the 
Santa  Fe  Railroad  Surgical  Association,  is  a 
member  of  the  staff  of  the  Galesburg  Cottage 
Hospital,  is  a  charter  member  of  the  Radio- 
logical Society  of  North  America,  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Knox  County,  Illinois  State  and 
American  Medical  Associations. 

On  August  15,  1917,  Doctor  Stotts  was 
commissioned  a  captain  in  the  Medical  Reserve 
Corps.  He  was  assigned  to  Camp  Sevier  in 
South  Carolina  as  surgeon  of  the  Aviation 
Section  in  the  Signal  Corps.  Four  months 
later  he  was  promoted  to  major,  and  was  put 
in  charge  of  the  Aviation  Section  of  the  Sig- 


nal Corps  at  Fort  Worth,  Texas.  While  there 
he  was  given  another  promotion  to  the  rank 
oi  lieutenant  colonel  and  served  with  that 
rank  until  honorably  discharged  on  January 
15,  1919.  He  is  still  active  in  the  Medical 
Reserve  Corps,  holds  the  rank  of  colonel  and 
is  commanding  officer  of  the  Fifty-sixth 
Evacuation  Hospital. 

Doctor  Stotts  was  president  of  the  Illinois 
Department  of  the  Reserve  Officers  Associa- 
tion for  1929-30,  and  is  now  on  the  board  of 
governors.  A  member  of  the  American  Legion 
he  has  regarded  that  membership  as  an  oppor- 
tunity to  be  of  practical  service  to  the  vet- 
erans represented  in  the  organization.  Doctor 
btotts  is  a  Republican,  is  past  master  of  Alpha 
Lodge  of  Masons  at  Galesburg,  holding  that 
chair  in  1917-18,  is  member  of  the  Knights 
Templars,  member  of  the  Scottish  Rite  bodies 
o±  Peoria  and  Mohammed  Temple  of  the  Mystic 
Shrine  m  that  city.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Ga  esburg  Lodge  of  Elks,  the  Country  Club 
Galesburg   Club,   Kiwanis   Club. 

He  married  December  7,  1904,  Miss  Caro- 
line A.  Greene,  of  Easton,  Pennsylvania.  Mrs. 
btotts  was  born  and  reared  in  Kansas.  She 
is  a  member  of  the  P.  E.  0.  Sisterhood. 

Hon.  William  Augustus  Schwartz  of 
Carbondale,  lawyer,  banker,  farm  owner,  has 
played  a  constructive  and  influential  role  in 
the  life  and  affairs  of  Jackson  County  for 
sixty  years.  His  ancestors  of  the  Schwartz 
and  Kimmel  families  were  Illinois  pioneers  in 
Elk  Township  of  Jackson  County,  where  these 
names  have  been  honored  and  respected  since 
the  first  furrows  were  plowed  on  the  prairies, 
the  first  log  cabin  homes  were  established  and 
the  beginnings  made  of  social  and  institu- 
tional life  on  this  part  of  the  frontier. 

His  father,  William  Schwartz,  was  born  in 
Ohio,   February  7,   1826,   and  was  still  a  boy 
when   his   parents   moved    to    Illinois.      About 
the  same  time  there  came  to   Elk   Township, 
Henry  and  Rosannah  Kimmel  from  their  na- 
tive county  of  Somerset,  Pennsylvania.      One 
of  the  eleven  children  in  the  Kimmel  family 
was  Sarah,  who  was  born  in  Somerset  County 
August  4,  1829.     From  1836  to  1840  she  had 
lived  with  her  parents  in  Richland  County,  Ohio. 
On  coming  to  Illinois  her  parents  established 
the  old   Kimmel  homestead  in  Elk  Township. 
The  Kimmels  and   Schwartz  were  substantial 
pioneer  folk,   industrious,   God-fearing,   intent 
upon  establishing  homes  and  improving  their 
material  condition  and  at  the  same  time  pro- 
jecting their  influence  into  the  increasing  in- 
terests   of    community    welfare,    joining    with 
other  neighbors  in  opening  roads,  participat- 
ing   in    the    enterprises    which    brought    forth 
the   common   enterprise   of   all,   putting   up    a 
log   schoolhouse   and  hiring  a  teacher  on  the 
subscription    plan,    and    also    supporting    the 
pioneer  churches.     William  Schwartz  was  one 


326 


ILLINOIS 


of  the  early  students  to  enter  McKendree  Col- 
lege at  Lebanon  when  it  was  opened,  and  com- 
pleted the  full  collegiate  course. 

On  September  26,  1850,  he  and  Sarah  Kim- 
mel  were  married,  and  at  that  time  he  en- 
tered a  tract  of  land  from  the  Government. 
On  this  land  was  erected  one  of  the  typical 
homes  of  frontier  democracy,  and  here  he  and 
his  wife  took  upon  themselves  the  responsi- 
bilities of  family  life  with  little  but  the  in- 
dustry of  their  hands  and  earnest  and  high 
minded  hearts  to  bring  them  success.  Later 
during  the  construction  of  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad,  which  passed  within  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  of  their  home,  William  Schwartz 
used  his  ox  teams  to  haul  timber,  stone  and 
other  material  for  construction,  while  Mrs. 
Schwartz  boarded  the  railroad  laborers  as 
long  as  they  were  in  that  vicinity.  By  such 
team  work  this  couple  prospered  as  they  de- 
served, acquiring  a  generous  farm  of  400 
acres,  rearing  a  family  of  children  and  taking 
a  helpful  part  in  all  the  affairs  of  the  com- 
munity. William  Schwartz  was  throughout 
his  life  very  much  interested  in  educational 
progress.  He  served  as  school  treasurer  of 
Elk  Township  and  was  a  justice  of  the  peace 
and  was  elected  to  the  Twenty-seventh  General 
Assembly,  and  while  in  the  Legislature  gave 
his  influence  and  support  to  the  bills  to  estab- 
lish a  State  Normal  University  located  at  Car- 
bondale.  Thus  he  was  properly  regarded  as 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  great  educational 
institution  now  known  as  the  Southern  Illi- 
nois Teachers  College.  William  Schwartz 
from  early  manhood  was  an  active  member  of 
the  Christian  Church,  and  in  the  spring  of 
1851  his  wife  united  with  the  church  at  Elk- 
ville,  and  both  of  them  were  faithful  in  the 
performance  of  their  religious  duties  the  rest 
of  their  lives.  William  Schwartz  passed  away 
September  22,  1871,  while  a  member  of  the 
Legislature,  and  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  Kim- 
mel  cemetery  near  Elkville. 

Two  years  after  his  death  Mrs.  Sarah 
Schwartz  moved  from  the  farm  to  a  beautiful 
home  she  had  erected  at  Elkville,  and  a  num- 
ber of  years  later  she  moved  to  Carbondale. 
There  she  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  church, 
as  president  of  the  Ladies  Aid  Society,  and  in 
that  office  she  moved  the  first  shovel  of  dirt 
for  a  new  Christian  Church  on  May  10,  1901. 
This  church  was  dedicated  the  first  Sunday 
in  July,  1902.  Mrs.  Sarah  Schwartz  lived  a 
very  long  life,  passing  away  at  Carbondale 
November  4,  1920,  at  the  age  of  ninety-one 
years,  three  months.  It  was  a  life  of  service 
to  those  around  her,  and  her  mind  was  always 
open  to  the  impressions  made  by  passing 
events  so  that  she  really  lived  a  part  of  the 
remarkable  eras  comprised  in  her  life  span, 
running  from  what  is  known  as  the  Jacksonian 
era  in  American  history  to  the  close  of  the 
World  war  period.  She  was  the  mother  of 
eight  children,   only   three   of  whom   survived 


through  childhood.  The  oldest  was  Ellen, 
who  was  born  in  1851  and  died  July  17,  1918. 
Ellen  Schwartz  was  married  September  15, 
1880,  to  John  Dudley  Hays.  Mr.  Hays  was 
born  in  Washington  County,  Ohio,  January  22, 
1852,  and  passed  away  August  26,  1926,  after 
many  years  of  active  service  as  an  Elkville 
merchant,  postmaster,  president  of  the  vil- 
lage board,  president  of  the  Elkville  State 
Bank,  justice  of  the  peace  and  a  leader  in 
church  and  community  affairs.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hays  were  survived  by  two  of  their  four  chil- 
dren: Herbert  A.  Hays,  now  one  of  the 
leading  attorneys  of  South  Illinois.  At  the 
time  United  States  entered  into  the  World 
war,  Herbert  A.  Hays  was  the  judge  of  the 
City  Court  of  Carbondale,  Illinois,  and  during 
the  selection  of  the  men  for  the  National 
Army,  gave  considerable  time  in  helping  the 
men  fill  out  their  questionnaires.  After  this 
was  well  under  way,  he  requested  the  City 
Council  to  grant  him  a  leave  of  absence  so  that 
he  might  go  to  France  as  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  secre- 
tary. This  request  was  granted  and  he  spent 
nine  months  with  the  Fourth  Division  of  the 
A.  E.  F.,  in  the  three  major  offensives  of  the 
war,  Chatteau  Thierry,  St.  Mihiel  and  Verdun, 
and  went  with  the  troops  in  the  Army  of 
Occupation  into  the  Rhine  River  Valley  at  and 
near  Coblenz,  Germany;  and  William  L.  Hays, 
one  of  the  leading  merchants  of  Joplin,  Mis- 
souri. 

William  Augustus  Schwartz  was  the  second 
child  of  his  parents.  His  only  living  brother 
is  George  Schwartz,  secretary  and  director  of 
the  Carbondale  Loan  and  Improvement  Asso- 
ciation, who  was  born  December  12,  1864,  and 
is  now  a  resident  of  Carbondale.  He  married 
Lora  A.  Walker.  The  other  children  were: 
Henry  Clay,  born  in  1855,  and  died  in  1872; 
Daniel  Webster,  born  in  1857,  died  the  same 
year;  Isabelle,  born  in  1858  and  died  in  1872; 
Laura  Ann,  born  in  1862  and  died  in  1873; 
Lucy  Arvila,  born  in  1871   and  died  in  1872. 

William  Augustus  Schwartz  was  born  in 
Elk  Township  at  the  old  homestead  February 
28,  1853,  attended  school  there  until  about 
1868,  then  was  a  student  in  the  Christian  Col- 
lege at  Carbondale,  Carthage  College  in  Han- 
cock County,  and  in  the  Normal  University 
at  Carbondale.  Mr.  Schwartz  explains  the 
choice  of  legal  profession  by  the  fact  that 
during  his  boyhood  much  live  stock  and  many 
human  beings  were  killed  or  injured,  without 
recourse  being  taken  to  obtain  damages,  and 
at  that  time  he  made  up  his  mind  to  study 
law  and  offer  his  individual  services  in  obtain- 
ing redress  and  fixing  responsibility.  He  com- 
pleted his  legal  education  in  the  Union  Col- 
lege of  Law  at  Chicago,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  Illinois  bar  September  27,  1879.  Later  he 
was  licensed  to  practice  in  the  United  States 
courts.  He  tried  cases  before  both  of  his  pre- 
ceptors in  his  early  studies,  Judge  Allen, 
while  presiding  at  the   United   States   Circuit 


ILLINOIS 


327 


Court  at  Springfield,  and  Judge  Barr  as 
county  judge  of  Jackson  County.  Throughout 
his  professional  career  he  has  been  a  resident 
of  Carbondale.  In  1880  he  was  elected  state's 
attorney,  serving  four  years  and  refusing  to 
be  a  candidate  for  a  second  term.  He  re- 
turned to  his  private  law  practice,  which  for 
years  was  all  or  more  than  his  time  and  en- 
ergies permitted  him  to  handle.  He  practiced 
law  constantly  for  about  forty-three  years, 
until  he  retired.  While  he  was  state's  attor- 
ney he  successfully  prosecuted  and  secured 
the  conviction  for  murder  in  the  last  of  a 
series  of  assassinations  in  the  famous  Wil- 
liamson County  "vendetta"  in  the  early  '70s, 
which  as  long  ago  as  that  had  given  William- 
son County  the  appellation  of  "Bloody  Wil- 
liamson." Years  later,  in  1912,  Mr.  Schwartz 
was  again  elected  state's  attorney  of  Jackson 
County,  and  after  serving  four  years  definite- 
ly declared  himself  out  of  the  running  for  that 
or  any  other  political  office. 

During  his  law  practice  he  also  engaged  in 
farming  and  banking,  acted  as  attorney  for 
several  banks,  supervising  the  farm  of  400 
acres  in  Elk  Township,  where  he  was  born, 
another  farm  of  259  acres  at  Carterville  in 
Williamson  County,  a  farm  of  forty  acres  in 
Carbondale  Township  and  had  a  half  interest 
in  320  acres  in  said  Jackson  County.  Mr. 
Schwartz  assisted  in  organizing  the  Carbon- 
dale Building,  Loan  and  Homestead  Associa- 
tion in  1887  and  was  on  its  board  of  directors 
for  eight  years.  He  personally  organized  the 
Carbondale  Loan  and  Improvement  Associa- 
tion, April  5,  1905,  and  since  that  time  has 
been  its  attorney  and  during  most  of  the  time 
a  member  of  the  board  of  directors.  Both 
these  associations  proved. wonderfully  effective 
in  enabling  the  people  of  Carbondale  to  secure 
homes.  Mr.  Schwartz  was  a  charter  member 
in  the  organization  of  the  First  National  Bank 
at  Carbondale  May  25,  1893,  and  during  the 
past  thirty-nine  years  has  been  attorney, 
president,  vice  president  or  chairman  of  the 
board  of  directors  of  the  bank.  He  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Carbondale  Trust  &  Savings  Bank 
for  twenty-seven  years,  until  it  was  merged 
with  the  First  National  Bank  on  November  8, 
1924.  Mr.  Schwartz  in  1891  helped  incorpo- 
rate the  Carbondale  Electric  Company  to  sup- 
ply Carbondale  with  electric  lighting  and 
power.  He  was  also  one  of  the  incorporators 
in  1896  of  the  Carbondale  Grain  and  Elevator 
Company  and  in  1895  of  the  Carbondale  Tele- 
phone Exchange  and  was  its  attorney  and  was 
on  the  board  of  directors.  Mr.  Schwartz  also 
assisted  in  incorporating  the  Missouri  State 
Life  Insurance  Company  of  Saint  Louis,  Mis- 
souri, and  was  on  its  board  of  directors  at  the 
time  all  the  stockholders  sold  their  stock  to 
a  company  in  the  East.  Thus  in  a  broad  and 
important  sense  his  professional  and  business 
service  have  been  a  direct  contribution  to  the 
community  life  and  prosperity  of  Carbondale. 


Mr.  Schwartz  is  a  member  of  the  Jackson 
County  Bar  Association,  the  Illinois  State 
Bankers  Association.  For  eight  years  he  was 
on  the  State  Central  Democratic  Committee 
and  several  times  chairman  of  the  Democratic 
Central  Committee  of  Jackson  County.  During 
the  World  war  he  offered  his  services  without 
charge  in  helping  recruits  fill  out  their  ques- 
tionnaires and  also  took  a  leading  part  in 
selling  the  quota  of  Liberty  Bonds  assigned  to 
the  Carbondale  Trust  and  Savings  Bank  of 
which  he  was  president.  He  has  been  a  con- 
tributor to  the  Red  Cross,  is  a  member  of  the 
Jackson  County  Farm  Bureau,  a  member  of 
the  Midland  Hills  Country  Club,  and  in  Ma- 
sonry is  a  member  of  the  various  bodies  includ- 
ing the  Knights  Templar  Commandery,  the 
Eastern  Star  and  the  White  Shrine.  Mr. 
Schwartz  has  never  married. 

Since  June  30,  1885,  he  has  been  a  member 
of  the  First  Christian  Church  of  Carbondale 
and  for  thirty-five  years  has  been  connected 
with  the  work  of  the  Jackson  County  Sunday 
S'chool  Association  in  such  positions  as  presi- 
dent, vice  president  or  on  the  executive 
committee. 

Charles  Francis  Hough.  A  member  of 
the  firm  of  Beckman,  Todd,  Hough  &  Woods, 
Charles  F.  Hough  has  won  a  high  and  honor- 
able standing  at  the  Chicago  bar,  where  he 
has  been  engaged  in  practice  constantly  since 
his  return  from  participation  in  the  World 
war  in  1919.  He  has  taken  a  good  citizen's 
part  in  civic  affairs  and  has  interested  himself 
in  a  number  of  movements  which  have  con- 
tributed to  the  progress  and  development  of 
his  adopted  city. 

Mr.  Hough  was  born  January  3,  1893,  at 
Pana,  Christian  County,  Illinois,  and  is  a  son 
of  Dr.  Charles  F.  and  Minnie  (Roberts) 
Hough,  the  latter  a  native  of  Illinois  and  both 
now  deceased.  Dr.  Charles  F.  Hough  was 
born  in  New  York,  where  he  received  an 
excellent  academic  and  professional  training, 
and  in  1890  came  to  Illinois,  engaging  in 
practice  in  Christian  County,  where  he  con- 
tinued for  a  time  as  a  country  doctor.  Sub- 
sequently he  moved  to  Champaign,  where  he 
rose  to  a  high  place  in  his  profession  and  was 
held  in  the  utmost  confidence  both  as  a  pro- 
fessional man  and  as  a  citizen.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  various  organizations  of  medi- 
cine and  surgery  and  at  times  held  local  public 
offices. 

Charles  F.  Hough  received  his  grammar 
and  high  school  training  at  Champaign,  and 
after  graduation  from  the  latter  enrolled  in 
the  legal  department  of  the  University  of 
Illinois,  from  which  he  was  graduated  with 
the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  as  a  member 
of  the  class  of  1916.  At  that  time  he  entered 
practice  at  Mattoon,  Illinois,  but  in  1917  came 
to  Chicago.  At  Mattoon  he  was  in  the  office 
of  Craig  &  Craig,  the  senior  partner  of  which 
was  Judge  Craig,  a  contemporary  of  Abraham 


328 


ILLINOIS 


Lincoln.  There,  by  the  hour,  Judge  Craig 
would  recall  reminiscences  of  Lincoln's  life 
and  career  and  this  made  a  great  impression 
upon  the  mind  of  the  budding  attorney,  who 
thereby  became  greatly  interested  in  Illinois 
history,  an  interest  which  he  has  never  lost. 
After  coming  to  Chicago  in  1917,  Mr.  Hough 
became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Beckman, 
Olson,  Hough  &  Woods,  and  was  thus  engaged 
until  the  United  States  became  involved  in  the 
World  war,  when  he  enlisted  in  the  army  and 
went  overseas  with  the  Eighty-sixth  Division, 
with  which  outfit  and  others  he  saw  much 
active  service  at  the  front.  When  he  went 
into  Germany  with  the  Army  of  Occupation 
he  was  advanced  in  rank  and  assigned  to 
General  Headquarters,  with  which  he  served 
until  receiving  his  honorable  discharge  in  1919. 
On  his  return  to  the  United  States  he  again 
took  up  practice  with  his  firm,  which,  in  1930, 
became  Beckman,  Todd,  Hough  &  Woods,  as 
at  present,  their  offices  being  at  134  North 
LaSalle  Street.  Mr.  Hough  has  won  a  repu- 
tation as  a  reliable  and  energetic  attorney 
and  has  been  identified  with  much  important 
litigation.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
Bar  Association,  Illinois  State  Bar  Association 
and  American  Bar  Association,  the  Union 
League  Club,  Sunset  Ridge  Country  Club; 
Eogers  Park  Post,  American  Legion,  of  which 
he  was  commander  in  1920  and  1921;  and 
North  Shore  Lodge  No.  937,  A.  F.  &  A.  M. 
He  belongs  to  Christ  Episcopal  Church,  of 
Winnetka. 

Mr.  Hough  married  Miss  Nancy  Browning, 
a  native  of  Benton,  Illinois,  daughter  of  John 
L.  Browning,  and  a  member  of  one  of  the 
old  and  highly  respected  pioneer  families  of 
Franklin  County,  Illinois,  where  the  family 
has  been  prominent  for  five  generations.  They 
have  three  children:  Charles  Francis,  Jr., 
Nancy  Emaline  and  John  Warren.  The  fam- 
ily home  is  on  Sunset -Road,  Northbrook,  Cook 
County. 

Lewis  Institute.  Among  the  many  most 
excellent  institutions  nationally  famed  for  their 
educational  facilities  none  stands  any  higher 
than  does  Lewis  Institute  of  Chicago,  an 
endowed  college  for  men  and  women,  which 
gives  four-year  courses  in  mechanical,  civil 
and  electrical  engineering,  home  economics, 
business  administration  and  liberal  arts,  lead- 
ing to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science;  and 
professional  courses  for  teachers  for  promo- 
tional and  college  credit.  The  institute  is 
conveniently  located  Madison  and  Robey 
streets,  Chicago,  and  has  as  its  business  man- 
ager Robert  A.  Mowat,  one  of  the  most  efficient 
men  in  his  line  in  the  West. 

The  Lewis  Institute  owes  its  existence  to 
Allen  C.  Lewis,  who,  by  his  will,  which  was 
admitted  to  record  November  1,  1877,  left 
a  large  part  of  his  estate  to  found  it.  He  was 
one  of  four  brothers— John,  Allen   C,  Henry 


F.,  and  William  N. — but  no  person  now  con- 
nected with  the  institute  is  related  to  them 
or  was  acquainted  with  them.  Articles  of 
incorporation  were  granted  by  the  secretary 
of  state  of  Illinois,  July  9,  1895. 

James  M.  Adsit,  Henry  F.  Lewis,  and  Hugh 
A.  White  were  named  in  the  will  as  trustees 
of  the  estate,  the  estimated  value  of  which 
in  1877  was  $550,000.  The  will  instructed 
these  trustees  not  to  organize  the  institute 
until  the  fund  should  be  increased  to  $1,000,- 
000.  So  efficient  was  the  management  that 
when  the  estate  was  turned  over  to  the  trus- 
tees, November  21,  1895,  it  amounted  to 
$1,600,000. 

John  A.  Roche,  Christian  C.  Kohlsaat,  and 
John  McLaren,  under  whom  the  institute  was 
incorporated,  constituted  the  board  of  trustees 
from  May  28,  1894,  until  the  completion  of 
the  buildings.  Mr.  Roche  died  February  10, 
1904;  Mr.  McLaren,  July  22,  1916;  Judge 
Kohlsaat,  May  11,  1918. 

By  terms  of  the  will  the  government  of  the 
institute  is  vested  in  a  selfperpetuating  board 
of  trustees,  who  are  instructed  to  associate 
with  themselves  a  certain  number  of  educa- 
tional advisors,  now  called  Managers,  and 
whose  duties  are  advising  on  types  of  instruc- 
tion and  recommending  new  members  of  the 
faculty.  The  first  advisor  so  elected  was 
the  late  William  R.  Harper,  first  president 
of  the  University  of  Chicago,  and  he  served 
until  his  death — in  1906 — a  period  of  eleven 
years.  The  board  of  managers  is  distinct  from 
the  teaching  force,  but  the  director  of  the 
institute  is  the  official  mediary  between  the 
board  and  faculty,  and  nominates  all  officers 
of  instruction.  The  director  of  the  institute 
is  George  Noble  Carman  who  was  elected 
June  27,  1895,  and  who  is  also  a  member  of 
the  board  of  managers. 

George  Noble  Carman  was  born  at  Wal- 
worth, New  York,  July  18,  1856,  a  son  of 
John  and  Electa  (Camburn)  Carman.  All  his 
life  associated  with  educational  work,  George 
Noble  Carman  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Arts  from  the  University  of  Michigan  in 
1881,  and  the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of 
Arts  from  the  same  institution  in  1906,  and 
the  degree  of  LL.  D.  from  Lewis  Institute  in 
1930.  From  1880  to  1882,  he  was  principal 
of  the  high  school  of  Ypsilanti,  Michigan; 
and  from  1882  to  1885,  he  was  superintendent 
of  the  schools  of  Union  City,  Michigan.  Going 
then  to  Brooklyn,  New  York,  he  was  principal 
of  Grammar  School  No.  15  until  1889.  In 
the  latter  year  he  was  made  principal  of  the 
high  school  of  Saint  Paul,  Minnesota,  and 
held  that  position  until  1893,  at  which  time 
he  was  made  dean  of  Morgan  Park  Academy 
of  the  University  of  Chicago,  in  which  capacity 
he  continued  to  serve  until  his  appointment 
to  his  present  position.  Mr.  Carman  belongs 
to  the  Chicago  Literary,  Union  League  and 
City   Clubs.     On  July  25,   1883,   Mr.   Carman 


ILLINOIS 


329 


was  married,  in  Toronto,  Canada,  to  Miss 
Ada  J.   MacVicar,  who  died  in   1916. 

Lewis  Institute  is  most  centrally  located 
on  the  West  Side  of  Chicago,  and  can  be 
reached  by  the  surface  cars  on  both  Madison 
Street  and  Damen  Avenue,  by  the  Damen 
Station  of  the  Oak  Park  Elevated,  or  by  the 
Metropolitan  Elevated  trains  from  Madison 
Street. 

Although  in  general  the  students  live  at 
home,  a  comfortable  dormitory  for  fifty  women 
is  provided.  This  is  situated  within  the  insti- 
tute block  at  1952  West  Monroe  Street,  and 
the  dean  of  women  has  her  residence  here. 

Lewis  Institute  is  a  college  of  science,  litera- 
ture and  technology.  It  offers  a  curriculum 
which  it  regards  as  fundamental  for  all 
branches  of  engineering,  and  aims  to  make 
this  fundamental  instruction  second  to  none 
in  thoroughness.  Furthermore  it  offers  the 
degree  in  general  science  to  men  who  do  not 
expect  to  practice  as  engineers  and  to  women. 

Situated  within  sight  of  several  great  med- 
ical schools,  the  institute  has  welcomed  med- 
ical students.  The  same  grounding  that  the 
engineer  needs  in  English,  mathematics,  phy- 
sics, and  chemistry  is  needed  by  the  medical 
student.  These  subjects,  with  further  work 
in  biology,  will  occupy  him  for  two  years 
of  college  work  above  the  standard  high  school. 

In  its  requirements  for  the  Bachelor's  degree 
the  institute  conforms  to  the  standard  Amer- 
ican college,  and  for  entrance  to  what  is  usu- 
ally designated  as  college  it  requires  the  full 
equivalent  of  graduation  from  a  standard  four- 
year   high   school. 

Candidates  for  admission  should  have  com- 
pleted four  years  of  work  in  a  standard 
high  school.  But  the  institute,  recognizing 
the  needs  of  students  who  have  been  obliged 
to  step  aside  for  a  time,  will  permit  such 
students,  if  mature,  to  enroll  in  junior-college 
courses,  where  two  majors  of  work  will  be 
counted  as  the  equivalent  of  one  of  the  fifteen 
units  required  for  college  entrance.  The  nor- 
mal program  of  a  student  is  three  subjects, 
and  only  in  case  he  maintains  a  high  average 
in  all  his  work  will  he  be  permitted  to  carry 
a  fourth. 

Another  branch  of  the  work  of  Lewis  Insti- 
tute, and  a  very  important  one,  is  the  training 
of  skilled  workers  for  the  machinery  and  tool 
industry,  in  co-operation  with  the  American 
Machinery  and  Tools  Institute.  The  machine 
and  tool  industries  require  a  number  of  high- 
grade,  well-trained  workmen.  They  should 
possess  highly  developed  skill,  education  and 
interest  in  the  occupation.  But  present  condi- 
tions of  production  are  unfavorable  for  the 
training  of  such  workmen  in  the  shop.  Skilled 
men  are  now  developed  by  chance,  and  their 
number  is  not  increasing  in  proportion  to 
the   needs   of   the   machine   industry. 

Recognizing  the  existence  of  these  problems, 
the  American  Machinery  and  Tools  Institute 


proposes  to  solve  them,  at  least  partially, 
by  promoting  intensive  training  of  men  in 
the  arts  and  sciences  connected  with  the  design, 
manufacture  and  sale  of  machinery  and  tools. 

Lewis  Institute  has  been  selected  as  the 
place  for  training  young  men  for  the  machin- 
ery and  tool  industry  because  it  has  facilities 
and  an  organization  which  makes  it  possible 
to  put  the  proposed  plan  into  operation. 

The  completion  of  the  training  and  instruc- 
tion given  by  Lewis  Institute  and  one  year 
of  satisfactory  service  in  one  of  the  shops 
co-operating  with  the  American  Machinery  and 
Tools  Institute  will  qualify  the  candidate  for 
the  title  of  Associate  in  Mechanic  Arts,  which 
indicates  the  completion  of  two  years  of  col- 
lege work  in  engineering  beyond  the  high- 
school  level,  and  recognizes  him  as  a  skilled 
workman  in  the  machinery  and  tool  industry. 

While  in  general  two  years  will  be  required 
to  complete  the  curriculum,  students  of  unu- 
sual ability,  previous  experience  and  training, 
will  be  recommended  for  employment  as  soon 
as  they  have  met  the  requirements  and  attained 
considerable  skill  and  speed  in  doing  practical 
work.  Advanced  credit  for  shop  work  will 
be  determined  by  the  ability  of  the  applicant 
to   pass   a  practical  job   examination. 

H.  G.  Swanson.  One  of  the  outstanding 
figures  in  the  life  insurance  business  of  Chi- 
cago is  H.  G.  Swanson,  general  agent  of  the 
New  England  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company. 
He  has  a  broad  and  lengthy  experience  in 
his  line  of  work,  which  he  has  followed  from 
his  school  days,  and  at  present  is  accounted 
one  of  the  most  able  and  best  informed  insur- 
ance men  in  Illinois. 

Mr.  Swanson  was  born  December  12,  1893, 
in  Chicago,  and  is  a  son  of  Gustav  and  Selma 
(Anderson)  Swanson,  natives  of  Sweden,  who 
came  to  the  United  States  and  located  in 
Chicago  during  the  early  '90s  and  are  now 
residents  of  River  Forest.  Mr.  Swanson 
attended  public  school  and  after  his  gradua- 
tion from  Oak  Park  High  School,  in  1913, 
entered  Northwestern  University  as  a  member 
of  the  class  of  1917.  Leaving  that  institution 
he  became  membership  secretary  of  the  Oak 
Park  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  a 
post  which  he  held  for  three  years,  in  the 
meantime  keeping  up  his  insurance  work.  In 
1920  he  joined  the  Equitable  Insurance  Com- 
pany of  New  York,  and  during  the  next  two 
years  was  with  the  State  Mutual,  in  the  second 
year  being  one  of  the  personal  production 
leaders  in  the  Chicago  territory.  His  work 
attracted  the  attention  of  Bokum  &  Dingle, 
general  agents  of  the  Massachusetts  Mutual, 
and  he  became  agency  supervisor,  remaining 
four  years.  In  October,  1928,  Mr.  Swanson 
joined  the  Chicago  agency  of  the  Penn  Mutual 
under  A.  E.  Patterson,  where  he  organized 
and  directed  a  new  unit,  which  at  the  end 
of  its  first  year  had  fifteen  men  and  had  paid 


330 


ILLINOIS 


for  $2,400,000.  In  January,  1929,  he  was 
appointed  supervisor  of  the  Patterson  agency, 
having  jurisdiction  over  the  Chicago  staff  and 
also  the  divisions  at  Springfield  and  Kewanee, 
Illinois.  Mr.  Swanson,  in  January,  1930,  was 
placed  in  temporary  charge  of  the  whole 
agency  during  Mr.  Patterson's  absence,  and 
managed  a  campaign  which  resulted  in  391 
applications  for  over  $3,000,000  written  busi- 
ness, and  a  paid  business  37  percent  greater 
than  in  January,  1929.  In  February,  1931, 
the  New  England  Mutual  opened  a  fourth 
general  agency  at  Chicago,  with  offices  in  the 
Board  of  Trade  Building,  and  Mr.  Swanson 
was  appointed  general  agent,  to  take  effect 
March  1,  a  position  which  he  still  retains.  Mr. 
Swanson  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Associa- 
tion of  Life  Underwriters,  the  Brookwood 
Country  Club,  the  Midland  Club  and  the  First 
Lutheran  Church  of  Maywood.  While  his  time 
has  been  taken  up  with  his  manifold  and  im- 
portant business  duties,  he  has  always  shown 
an  interest  in  movements  tending  toward  civic 
betterment  and  good  government. 

Mr.  Swanson  is  unmarried,  and  makes  his 
home  with  his  parents  at  8227  Lake  Street, 
River  Forest,  Illinois. 

James  I.  Naghten.  For  more  than  a  half 
a  century  the  name  of  Naghten  has  been 
inseparably  connected  with  the  history  of  the 
insurance  business  at  Chicago,  where  members 
of  this  family  have  likewise  been  identified 
prominently  with  civic  affairs,  public  enter- 
prises and  practical  philanthropy.  James  I. 
Naghten,  president  of  John  Naghten  &  Com- 
pany, has  worthily  represented  the  family 
name,  not  only  in  the  field  of  fire  insurance, 
but  as  a  participant  in  affairs  that  have  con- 
tributed to  the  progress  and  development  of 
the  city  of  his  birth. 

Mr.  Naghten  was  born  at  Chicago,  October 
30,  1864,  a  son  of  John  and  Bridget  Mary 
(Byrne)  Naghten.  John  Naghten  was  born 
in  Ireland  in  1814  and  received  his  education 
in  his  native  land,  coming  to  the  United  States 
in  1850  and  first  settling  at  Pottsville,  Penn- 
sylvania. Six  years  later  he  came  to  Chicago, 
and  in  1857  entered  the  insurance  business 
with  which  he  continued  to  be  identified  prom- 
inently until  his  death,  May  23,  1899.  In 
1880  he  associated  with  him  his  son,  M.  J. 
Naghten,  forming  the  present  firm  of  John 
Naghten  &  Company.  M.  J.  Naghten  was  born 
at  Pottsville,  Pennsylvania,  in  1855,  and  died 
at  Chicago  July  23,  1916.  Another  son,  Frank 
Naghten,  also  associated  with  the  same  busi- 
ness, was  born  at  Chicago  in  1868  and  died 
here  March  1,  1921.  Of  interest  is  the  fact 
that  the  father  and  all  three  sons  were  con- 
nected with  the  business  over  such  a  long 
period,  and  that  a  son  of  James  I.  Naghten, 
John,  is  also  a  member  of  the  firm  at  this 
time.  Also  that  two  members  of  the  family, 
M.  J.  and  J.  I.,  have  served  at  different  times 


as  president  of  the  Chicago  Board  of  Fire 
Underwriters,  an  organization  now  over  sev- 
enty years  old,  the  largest  of  its  kind  in  the 
world.  John  Naghten  had  a  continuous  experi- 
ence of  fifty-two  years  in  the  insurance  busi- 
ness, during  which  time  he  achieved  success 
and  established  a  record  of  which  his  descend- 
ants may  truly  be  proud. 

James  I.  Naghten  attended  grammar  and 
high  school  at  Chicago,  following  which  he 
attended  St.  Ignatius  College  of  this  city  for 
four  years.  He  began  his  business  experience 
as  an  employe  of  the  Union  Trust  Company 
Bank,  Chicago,  with  which  he  was  connected 
from  1882  until  1888,  in  the  latter  year  join- 
ing his  father  and  brothers  in  the  firm  of  John 
Naghten  &  Company,  of  which  he  was  made 
a  member  in  1900.  In  1924  he  was  elected 
vice  president  of  the  Chicago  Board  of  Under- 
writers, and  following  that  he  served  as  presi- 
dent of  that  body  for  two  terms,  of  which 
he  is  still  a  valued  member.  He  likewise 
has  been  president  of  the  Metropolitan-Hiber- 
nia  Fire  Insurance  Company  of  Chicago  since 
1919,  and  maintains  offices  in  the  Insurance 
Exchange  Building,  175  West  Jackson  Boule- 
vard. Mr.  Naghten  has  always  demonstrated 
a  helpful  interest  in  civic  affairs.  He  is  a 
member  of  St.  Ignatius  Alumni  Association, 
the  Knights  of  Columbus,  Illinois  Golf  and 
Illinois  Athletic  clubs,  of  which  last-named 
he  has  been  a  director  since  1920.  He  has 
been  for  a  number  of  years  a  director  of  the 
Associated   Catholic  Charities. 

On  June  11,  1900,  Mr.  Naghten  married  Miss 
Jane  Anne  Crowe,  a  sister  of  Judge  Robert 
E.  Crowe,  of  Chicago,  and  to  this  union  there 
have  been  born  four  children:  Anne;  John, 
who  is  associated  in  business  with  his  father; 
Mary  and  Virginia.  The  family  residence  is 
at  3240   Sheridan  Road. 

Col.  Karl  Emmett  Hobart  is  a  native  of 
Michigan,  but  has  lived  in  Chicago  since  boy- 
hood. Here  he  acquired  his  technical  edu- 
cation, and  for  many  years,  except  during 
the  World  war  period,  has  been  one  of  the 
engineering  staff  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison 
Company,  of  which  he  is  now  assistant  super- 
intendent of  street  construction.  Colonel 
Hobart  is  not  an  "honorary  colonel."  His 
title  has  been  well  earned,  and  since  early 
manhood  he  has  been  a  diligent  student  of 
military  affairs.  He  was  in  the  engineering 
service  during  the  World  war,  and  has  main- 
tained contact  with  the  Illinois  National  Guard, 
and  is  now  colonel  in  command  of  the  One 
Hundred  and  Eighth  Combat  Engineers,  Thir- 
ty-third   Division. 

Colonel  Hobart  was  born  at  Hudson,  Mich- 
igan, son  of  Charles  and  Ida  (Whitbeck) 
Hobart.  After  attending  public  schools  in 
his  home  town  he  came  to  Chicago,  and  for 
three  years  was  a  student  of  engineering  in 
the  Armour  Institute  of  Technology.     In  1910 


ILLINOIS 


331 


he  joined  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company 
in  the  Engineering  Department,  and  was  in 
the  service  with  different  promotions  until  he 
was  called  to  the  front  as  a  soldier.  From 
1920  to  1924  Colonel  Hobart  was  located  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  as  an  engineer  in  the 
laboratories  of  the  Bureau  of  Standards.  On 
returning  to  Chicago  he  again  joined  the 
Commonwealth  Edison  Company.  As  assistant 
superintendent  of  street  construction  he  has 
both  engineering  and  executive  duties,  being 
in  charge  of  all  overhead  construction,  such 
as  power  and  light  wires  and  their 
maintenance. 

His  military  training  and  experience  began 
in  1908  when  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the 
Second  Infantry  of  the  Illinois  National  Guard. 
When  the  National  Guard  was  called  out  for 
service  on  the  Mexican  border  in  the  summer 
of  1916,  he  was  a  member  of  Company  A,  the 
predecessor  and  nucleus  of  the  present  One 
Hundred  and  Eighth  Combat  Engineers.  In 
May,  1917,  he  attended  the  First  Officers 
Training  Camp  at  Fort  Sheridan,  Illinois, 
graduating  as  a  second  lieutenant.  He  was 
sent  to  Camp  Grant  on  construction  work,  and 
subsequently  was  assigned  duties  in  the  Con- 
struction Engineering  Department  at  Camp 
Mills,  Long  Island,  and  at  Camp  Bragg  in 
North  Carolina.  By  the  end  of  the  war, 
through  successive  promotions,  he  had  been 
advanced  from  second  lieutenant  to  major. 

In  1924  he  organized  the  One  Hundred  and 
Eighth  Combat  Engineers  as  a  regiment  of 
the  Illinois  National  Guard,  Thirty-third  Di- 
vision. He  has  built  up  this  organization 
until  it  is  noted  in  military  circles  as  one  of 
the  best  National  Guard  units  in  the  United 
States  Army.  His  zeal  and  diligence  have 
been  rewarded  by  advancement  in  rank  until 
he  is  now  colonel  in  command  of  the  regiment. 
It  is  a  full  six-line  company  organization, 
with  headquarters  and  service  companies  and 
a  medical  detachment.  A  fact  of  special  in- 
terest to  Chicagoans  is  that  three  of  the  com- 
panies are  composed  exclusively  of  representa- 
tives and  employees  of  the  Insull  interests,  in- 
cluding the  Commonwealth  Edison  Company 
and  the  People's  Gas  Light  &  Coke  Company. 
The  other  three  companies  represent  prominent 
Illinois  corporations,  the  personnel  being  made 
up  of  employees  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road, the  International  Harvester  Company, 
and  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee,  St.  Paul  &  Pa- 
cific Railway. 

In  April,  1931,  the  One  Hundred  and 
Eighth  Combat  Engineers  was  awarded  the 
highest  place  in  the  annual  competition  con- 
ducted by  the  Chicago  Chapter  of  the  Ameri- 
can Red  Cross,  with  a  percentage  of  93.8, 
this  being  the  first  time  that  an  army  organiza- 
tion has  won  this  honor.  Colonel  Hobart 
through  his  military  interest  has  found  ex- 
pression not  only  for  his  patriotic  zeal  but 
also   as   a  fascinating  hobby.     He   graduated 


from  the  United  States  Army  War  College  in 
1927,  and  in  1930  was  graduated  from  the 
Special  Command  and  General  Staff  School  at 
Fort  Leavenworth. 

Colonel  Hobart  is  a  member  of  the  Society 
of  Military  Engineers,  a  fellow  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  and  is 
a  member  of  the  Medinah  Athletic  Club.  His 
home  is  in  Highland  Park.  By  his  marriage 
with  Miss  Olive  Gilbert  he  has  two  children, 
Mildred  Lucille  and  Lois  Adelaide. 

William  Day  Chapman,  M.  D.,  who  was 
honored  with  the  office  of  president  of  the 
Illinois  State  Medical  Society  for  1930-31, 
has  enjoyed  a  long  succession  of  honors  and 
distinctions  in  his  profession,  both  in  his  home 
community  of  Silvis  in  Rock  Island  County 
and  in  the  various  medical  organizations. 

Doctor  Chapman  is  thoroughly  an  American, 
a  descendant  of  Robert  Chapman  who  came 
from  England  on  the  second  trip  of  the  his- 
toric Mayflower.  This  ancestor  settled  at  Say- 
brook,  Massachusetts,  and  the  fifth  of  his 
seven  sons  was  also  Robert  Chapman,  another 
direct  ancestor  of  the  Chapman  family  of  Illi- 
nois. The  Chapman  name  has  been  an 
honored  one  in  the  medical  profession  of  Illi- 
nois for  over  half  a  century.  Dr.  William  Day 
Chapman  was  born  at  White  Hall  in  Greene 
County,  November  22,  1883,  and  is  a  son  of 
Dr.  Henry  Wilson  and  Annie  Elizabeth  (Hen- 
derson) Chapman.  His  father  was  born  at 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  March  13,  1848,  and  began 
his  career  as  a  physician  and  surgeon  at 
Barr's  Store  in  Macoupin  County,  Illinois, 
during  1877-78.  From  1878  until  his  death  on 
December  13,  1925,  he  was  an  honored  and 
successful  physician  at  White  Hall.  He  con- 
ducted the  Chapman  Sanitarium  there  from 
1898  to  1920,  and  his  high  standing  in  his  pro- 
fession is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  he  served 
as  vice  president  of  the  Illinois  State  Medical 
Society.  His  wife,  Annie  Elizabeth  Hen- 
derson, was  born  in  Barr  Township  of  Ma- 
coupin County,  October  20,  1853,  and  is  still 
living.  She  is  of  English  and  Dutch  ancestry. 
Her  father  and  uncles  were  Federal  soldiers 
in  the  Civil  war.  Dr.  Henry  Wilson  Chapman 
and  wife  had  three  children:  Mary,  born  in 
1880  at  White  Hall,  is  the  wife  of  Charles  E. 
Stetson  of  that  city;  Dr.  William  Day;  and 
Dr.  Harry  H.,  a  dentist  at  Jacksonville,  was 
born  at  White  Hall  in  1890,  was  a  first  lieu- 
tenant in  the  Dental  Corps  during  the  World 
war. 

William  Day  Chapman  graduated  from  the 
White  Hall  High  School  in  1900.  For  several 
years  he  was  engaged  in  railroad  work.  As  a 
boy  he  developed  considerable  interest  in  medi- 
cine from  his  father  and  eventually  determined 
to  follow  his  father's  footsteps  in  the  matter 
of  a  profession.  He  entered  Washington  Uni- 
versity at  Saint  Louis,  where  he  was  grad- 
uated M.  D.  in  1908.  In  August  of  that  year 
he   began   his   professional   work   at   Silvis   in 


332 


ILLINOIS 


Rock  Island  County,  and  his  routine  duties 
have  offered  such  opportunities  of  usefulness 
and  have  been  so  congenial  that  he  has  easily 
resisted  the  temptation  to  move  to  a  larger 
city.  His  hobby  has  been  work  in  the  medical 
organizations.  He  was  president  of  the  Rock 
Island  County  Medical  Society  in  1917,  was 
president  of  the  Iowa  and  Illinois  Central  Dis- 
trict Medical  Society  in  1920,  served  as  coun- 
cilor of  the  Fourth  District,  Illinois,  was  sec- 
retary of  the  Illinois  State  Medical  Society 
in  1921-22,  chairman  of  the  Council  of  the 
State  Society  from  1924  to  1929,  and  from 
that  attained  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of 
the  state  association.  For  over  twenty  years 
he  has  participated  in  the  discussions  in  vari- 
ous societies  and  has  presented  many  addresses 
and  papers. 

Doctor  Chapman  is  surgeon  for  the  Rock 
Island  Lines  in  the  Silvis  district.  He  was 
health  officer  of  Silvis  from  1909  to  1917  and 
has  again  performed  the  duties  of  that  posi- 
tion since  1929.  He  is  a  Republican,  but  in- 
clined to  independent  effort  in  local  affairs 
and  has  been  chairman  of  the  People's  party 
in  his  home  town  and  is  chairman  of  the 
Zoning  and  Planning  Commission  there. 

In  April,  1917,  he  enlisted  as  a  first  lieu- 
tenant in  the  Medical  Reserve  Corps,  U.  S. 
Army.  He  was  assigned  to  the  medical  unit 
known  as  the  Medical  Expedition  to  Roumania, 
under  Colonel  McCaw,  to  do  work  in  com- 
batting the  cholera  and  typhus  epidemic  in 
Roumania.  The  unit  sailed  from  San  Fran- 
cisco December  5,  1917,  but  a  hundred  miles 
out  at  sea  a  message  of  re-call  was  received 
owing  to  the  fact  that  the  Roumanian  govern- 
ment had  joined  in  the  Russian  armistice. 
Doctor  Chapman  was  then  assigned  to  the 
Division  Surgeon's  office,  Eighth  Division,  Reg- 
ular, at  Camp  Fremont,  California,  later  was 
put  in  the  Eighth  Sanitary  Train,  Eighth 
Division  of  the  regular  army  and  promoted  to 
the  rank  of  captain  in  command  of  Field  Hos- 
pital No.  31.  This  unit  was  under  orders  to 
sail  from  Camp  Mills  to  France  when  the 
armistice  came.  He  received  his  discharge 
February  11,  1919,  at  Camp  Lee,  Virginia,  and 
soon  afterward  was  welcomed  home  by  his 
friends  and  patients  at  Silvis.  Doctor  Chap- 
man has  frequently  taken  post  graduate  work 
in  the  medical  centers.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  American  Medical  Association  besides  the 
state  and  local  organizations. 

Doctor  Chapman  has  been  active  in  the 
American  Legion  since  1919.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Council  of  the  Moline  Area  Boy  Scouts 
of  America,  was  president  of  the  Silvis 
Booster  Club  in  1926,  and  president  of  the 
School  Board  District  No.  34  in  1925.  He  is 
affiliated  with  Silvis  Lodge  No.  898,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  Moline  Lodge  No.  556,  B.  P.  O.  Elks, 
the  Short  Hills  Country  Club  and  the  Orion 
Country  Club. 

Doctor  Chapman  married,  at  Orion, 
Henry    County,    Illinois,    November    10,    1910, 


Miss  Bessie  Wayne.  She  was  born  at  Orion, 
daughter  of  George  H.  and  Harriet  (Jones) 
Wayne,  who  resides  at  Orion.  The  Waynes 
were  early  settlers  of  Illinois.  Mrs.  Chapman 
is  a  cousin  of  the  seventh  generation  of  Gen. 
Anthony  Wayne.  Two  of  her  uncles  were 
Union  soldiers  in  the  Civil  war,  enlisting  from 
Illinois.  Her  brother  Forrest  H.  Wayne  en- 
listed in  the  fall  of  1917  and  went  to  France. 
Mrs.  Chapman  was  a  supervisor  of  music  in 
the  public  schools  from  1905  to  1910,  and  has 
been  active  in  civic  and  club  work  of  the 
community  and  state.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Chap- 
man have  two  children:  William  Wayne, 
born  September  25,  1911,  and  Elizabeth,  born 
March  26,  1914.  Doctor  Chapman's  home  and 
office  is  at  136  Ninth  Street  in  Silvis.  His 
favorite  sport  is  duck  hunting. 

George  Dorr  Wolf,  a  resident  of  Chicago 
since  1905,  is  a  partner  in  Wolf  &  Company, 
certified  public  accountants,  at  7  South  Dear- 
born Street. 

Mr.  Wolf  was  born  at  Lancaster,  Ohio, 
January  4,  1883,  son  of  Pearl  B.  and  Etta 
M.  (Lantz)  Wolf.  His  German  ancestors  came 
to  America  early  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  were  sturdy  and  thrifty  farming  people 
in  Southern  Ohio.  George  D.  Wolf  was  edu- 
cated in  country  schools,  in  a  business  college, 
and  his  personal  initiative  and  energy  have 
enabled  him  to  make  a  steady  rise  from  duties 
of  a  clerical  nature  to  partnership  in  a  large 
and  successful  professional  organization.  His 
early  experience  in  the  accounting  field  was 
gained  in  Ohio.  Since  coming  to  Chicago  he 
has  been  associated  with  one  organization  and 
its  successors.  In  1912  he  became  treasurer 
and  manager  of  the  Baker- Vawter  Audit  Com- 
pany. In  1913  this  firm  became  the  Baker, 
Vawter  and  Wolf  Company.  In  1919  Mr. 
Wolf  became  a  member  of  Wolf  &  Company, 
which  was  organized  to  take  over  the  business 
of  its  predecessor. 

Mr.  Wolf  has  been  a  certified  public  ac- 
countant since  1917.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Accountants  and  of  the 
Illinois  and  American  Societies  of  Certified 
Public  Accountants.  Among  other  active  busi- 
ness connections  he  is  a  director  in  the  Beaver 
Investment  Company  of  Rochester,  Pennsyl- 
vania; of  the  Wayne  Pump  Company  of  Fort 
Wayne,  Indiana;  is  chairman  of  the  Wolf 
Investment  Syndicates,  Incorporated,  of  Chi- 
cago; and  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Mid- 
West  Rust  Proofing  Company  of  Kokomo, 
Indiana. 

For  a  number  of  years  Mr.  Wolf  has  been 
an  active  figure  in  his  home  community  of 
Winnetka.  During  1913-15  he  was  a  trustee 
of  the  village.  Since  1921  he  has  been  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Governors  and  treas- 
urer of  the  Community  House,  an  institution 
of  which  that  North  Shore  suburb  is  justly 
proud.  He  is  a  Republican,  a  Methodist,  a 
Mason  and  Shriner,  and  is  a  member  of  the 


ILLINOIS 


333 


Union  League  Club,  Chicago  Athletic  Asso- 
ciation, Shawnee  Country  Club  and  North 
Shore   Golf  Club. 

Mr.  Wolf  married  January  25,  1908,  Flor- 
ence Presie  Walraven  of  Lyons,  Iowa.  They 
have  a  son,  George  D.,  Jr.,  born  in  1913. 

Robert  William  Schupp  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Chicago  bar  since  1911.  His  work- 
ing associations  for  twenty  years  have  been 
practically  with  one  firm,  now  of  that  of 
Follansbee,  Shorey  &  Schupp,  located  at  120 
South   LaSalle    Street. 

Mr.  Schupp  was  born  in  Chicago  January 
4,  1890,  son  of  Phillip  and  Caroline  (Regens- 
berger)  Schupp.  He  was  graduated  from  the 
Crane  Technical  High  School  in  1908.  His 
law  education  was  acquired  in  Northwestern 
University,  where  he  took  his  diploma  in  1911. 
During  the  following  nine  years  he  was  with 
the  firm  of  Adams,  Follansbee,  Hawley  & 
Shorey,  and  in  1920  was  admitted  to  partner- 
ship. The  firm  of  Follansbee,  Shorey  and 
Schupp  has  been  in  existence  since  1925  and 
is  one  of  the  notable  firms  in  the  Illinois  bar. 

Mr.  Schupp  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago, 
Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  Associations, 
the  Law  Club,  the  Legal  Club,  the  Order  of 
the  Coif,  and  the  Association  of  the  Bar 
of  the  City  of  New  York.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Chicago  Club  and  University  Club 
of  Chicago,  and  his  recreations  are  tennis, 
hunting  and  fishing.  Mr.  Schupp's  home  is 
in  Winnetka.  He  married  August  27,  1931, 
Miss  Edwina  Crittenden.  He  has  one  daugh- 
ter, Ada,  by  a  former  marriage. 

Richard  Henry  Little,  the  one  and  only 
"R.  H.  L.,"  unique  among  his  contemporaries 
as  a  "column  conductor"  in  the  metropolitan 
press  of  America,  earned  all  the  honors  of 
a  veteran  newspaper  writer  and  correspondent 
before  he  was  drafted  to  assume  the  mantle 
of  the  late  lamented  "B.  L.  T." 

Richard  Henry  Little  was  born  at  LeRoy, 
Illinois,  son  of  Dr.  Jehu  and  Helen  (Humiston) 
Little.  His  maternal  grandparents  came  to 
Illinois  in  pioneer  times.  His  maternal  grand- 
father was  a  Methodist  minister  and  was  one 
of  the  conductors  of  the  famous  "Underground 
Railway"  over  which  scores  of  slaves  from 
the  South  escaped  to  their  freedom  in  Can- 
ada. Dr.  Jehu  Little  was  a  soldier  in  the 
Civil  war  with  the  Twenty-fourth  Missouri 
Regiment.  After  the  war  he  practiced  medi- 
cine for  many  years. 

Richard  Henry  Little  attended  high  school 
at  Bloomington,  studied  law  at  Illinois  Wes- 
leyan  University,  and  for  a  year  practiced  his 
profession  at  Bloomington.  His  newspaper 
work  began  with  the  Bloomington  Bulletin, 
and  in  1895  he  came  to  Chicago  and  began  his 
long  service  with  the  Chicago  Tribune.  Rich- 
ard Henry  Little  was  one  of  the  outstanding 
names    among   the    newspaper    correspondents 


who  covered  the  events  of  the  Spanish-Ameri- 
can war,  being  in  Cuba,  Hayti  and  the  Philip- 
pines. During  the  Russo-Japanese  war  in 
1904,  he  was  with  both  the  Japanese  and  Rus- 
sian armies  in  the  field  as  a  correspondent  with 
the  Chicago  Daily  News.  He  also  put  in  his 
time  as  dramatic  critic  for  the  Chicago  Exam- 
iner and  Chicago  Herald.  In  the  World  war 
he  was  in  France  in  special  war  work,  and 
during  1919  sent  columns  of  special  corre- 
spondence from  Berlin  to  the  Chicago  Tribune. 
He  also  had  first  hand  information  of  Russian 
conditions  as  a  correspondent  with  the  Russian 
White  Army.  For  the  past  eight  or  nine  years 
he  has  been  simply  "R.H.L."  conducting  the 
"Line  o'Type"  column  in  the  Chicago  Tribune, 
and  from  his  daily  contributions  compiles  the 
annual  Line  Book.  Mr.  Little  is  am  ember 
of  the  Saddle  and  Cycle,  Cliff  Dwellers,  Casino, 
Arts,  Adventurers,  Phi  Delta  Theta  and  other 
clubs.  He  is  the  author  of  Better  Angels, 
a  short  novel  about  Lincoln. 

.Mr.  Little  married  April  11,  1925,  Shelby 
Melton.  Mrs.  Little  is  also  a  newspaper  writer 
and  her  biography  of  George  Washington  is 
one  of  the  best  attempts  to  evaluate  the  career 
of  the  "First  American." 

William  Edmond  Carrington,  mayor  of 
Onarga,  Iroquois  County,  and  secretary  and 
assistant  general  manager  of  the  Iroquois  Can- 
ning Corporation,  which  operates  six  large  and 
modern  plants  in  Illinois,  was  born  near 
Chanute,  Neosho  County,  Kansas,  February 
20,  1877.  He  is  a  son  of  Edmond  Hamilton 
and  Sarah  Elizabeth  (Keith)  Carrington, 
both  of  whom  were  born  near  Crawfordsville, 
Indiana,  and  both  of  whom  were  young  at 
the  time  of  the  removal  of  the  respective  fam- 
ilies to  the  Ash  Grove  district  of  Iroquois 
County,  Illinois. 

Edmond  Hamilton  Carrington  was  reared 
and  educated  in  Iroquois  County,  and  he  and 
two  of  his  brothers  were  gallant  young  sol- 
diers of  the  Union  in  the  Civil  war,  the 
brother  Thomas  having  been  killed  in  battle 
and  the  other  having  died  as  the  result  of 
wounds.  Edmond  H.  Carrington  became  an 
independent  farmer  in  Iroquois  County  and 
was  for  six  years  engaged  in  the  same  line 
of  enterprise  near  Chanute,  Kansas,  whence 
he  returned  to  Iroquois  County,  and  resumed 
active  association  with  farm  industry,  his 
death  having  here  occurred  in  January,  1910. 
He  was  a  son  of  Milton  Carrington,  who  was 
one  of  the  pioneer  settlers  and  farmers  near 
Ash  Grove  and  who  here  remained  until  his 
death,  as  did  also  his  wife.  Sarah  Elizabeth 
(Keith)  Carrington  was  reared  and  educated 
in  Iroquois  County  and  here  her  death  oc- 
curred in  April,  1898.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
Rev.  Joseph  and  Abigail  (Elrod)  Keith,  her 
father  having  been  a  clergyman  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  and  having  given  many 
years   of   service  in  the  ministry,   in   Indiana 


334 


ILLINOIS 


and  Illinois.  Of  the  eight  children  of  Edmond 
H.  and  Sarah  E.  (Keith)  Carrington,  Thomas 
died  in  1893,  Nora  in  1896,  and  Martha  in 
1899;  Joseph  resides  at  Onarga  and  is  general 
sales  manager  of  the  McCall  group  of  six  can- 
ning factories,  the  main  office  being  at  Gibson 
City.  He  first  married  Anna  Payton,  and  she 
is  survived  by  one  child,  Marion  Arthur.  The 
second  marriage  of  Joseph  Carrington  was 
with  Maude  McLain,  and  they  reside  at 
Onarga.  William  Edmond,  of  this  review,  is 
next  younger  of  the  children.  Irene,  widow 
of  William  Morgan,  resides  in  Chicago.  Miss 
Stella  likewise  is  a  resident  of  Chicago. 
Weaver,  who  is  farm  superintendent  for  the 
Iroquois  Canning  Corporation,  resides  at 
Onarga.  He  married  Signa  Olson,  of  Paxton, 
and  their  one  child  is  Howard. 

William  E.  Carrington  was  a  child  when 
his  parents  returned  from  Kansas  to  Iro- 
quois County,  and  after  attending  the  public 
schools  at  Woodland  he  continued  his  studies 
in  Grand  Prairie  Seminary,  Onarga,  in  which 
he  was  graduated  as  a  member  of  the  class 
of  1897.  Soon  after  leaving  school  he  took 
a  minor  position  with  the  Iroquois  Canning 
Company,  and  in  this  connection  he  gained 
practical  experience  in  all  phases  of  the  busi- 
ness, so  that  he  was  well  fortified  when,  in 
the  fall  of  1901,  he  became  superintendent  of 
the  Paxton  Canning  Company.  He  retained 
this  position  at  Paxton  until  February,  1918, 
and  during  the  last  few  years  was  manager 
of  the  plant. 

In  February,  1918,  Mr.  Carrington  became 
associated  with  J.  E.  and  Charles  Cruzen  in 
purchasing  controlling  interest  in  the  Iro- 
quois Canning  Company,  which  they  reor- 
ganized and  incorporated  under  the  title  of 
Iroquois  Canning  Corporation.  Mr.  Carring- 
ton continued  as  secretary  and  general  man- 
ager until  the  business  was  sold  to  the  Mc- 
Call interests,  January  1,  1931,  and  has  since 
been  retained  as  secretary  and  assistant  gen- 
eral manager  of  the  group  of  six  factories,  one 
each  at  Onarga,  Gibson  City,  Bloomington, 
LeRoy,  El  Paso  and  Chenoa.  He  is  still  a 
director  of  this  important  Industro-Commer- 
cial  Corporation,  and  has  membership  in  the 
Illinois    Manufacturing    Association. 

Mr.  Carrington  is  a  Republican,  is  affiliated 
with  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  both  lodge 
and  encampment  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.,  and 
is  a  member  of  the  Lions  Club  of  Onarga. 
In  1932  he  is  serving  his  sixth  term  as  mayor 
of  Onarga,  and  his  long  retention  of  this 
office  shows  the  popular  estimate  placed  upon 
his  vigorous  and  progressive  administration. 
He  is  a  charter  member  of  the  Spring  Creek 
Country  Club,  and  he  and  his  wife  have 
membership  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Onarga. 

July  19,  1899,  Mr.  Carrington  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Leef,  daughter  of 
Charles   and   Anna    (Allen)    Leef,   her   father 


having  been  for  many  years  in  the  bakery 
business  at  Onarga,  where  he  died  about  1885, 
his  widow  being  now  a  loved  member  of  the 
family  circle  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carrington. 
Edith  Anna,  only  child  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Car- 
rington, was  graduated  from  the  Onarga  High 
School  in  1925,  and  is  now  a  valued  assistant 
to  her  father  in  the  secretarial  work  of  the 
Iroquois  Canning  Corporation.  Miss  Carring- 
ton is  a  popular  factor  in  social  affairs  in  her 
native  city,  is  affiliated  with  the  Order  of  the 
Eastern  Star  and  is  active  in  her  membership 
in  women's  clubs. 

Norman  Kendall  Anderson,  who  for  the 
past  fifteen  years  has  been  senior  member  of 
the  Chicago  law  firm  of  Anderson  &  Clarke, 
with  offices  in  the  First  National  Bank  Build- 
ing, is  a  native  Chicagoan,  and  is  a  son  of  the 
late  Dr.  Galusha  Anderson,  long  a  figure  in 
the  religious  life  of  the  city  and  at  one  time 
president  of  the  University  of  Chicago. 

Dr.  Galusha  Anderson  was  born  at  Claren- 
don, New  York,  March  7,  1832,  and  died  in 
1918  at  the  age  of  eighty-six.  He  was  grad- 
uated from  Rochester  University  in  1854  and 
from  the  Rochester  Theological  Seminary  in 
1856.  His  alma  mater  in  other  institutions  hon- 
ored him  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 
Doctor  Anderson  was  a  Baptist  minister  at 
Janesville,  Wisconsin,  and  at  St.  Louis  from 
1856  to  1866.  Then  for  seven  years  he  was  a 
professor  in  the  Newton  Theological  Seminary 
and  was  pastor  of  a  church  at  Brooklyn  from 
1873  until  June,  1876,  when  he  came  to  Chi- 
cago to  become  pastor  of  the  Second  Baptist 
Church.  In  1878  he  resigned  to  take  the 
presidency  of  the  University  of  Chicago  and 
remained  at  the  head  of  the  institution  until 
1885,  when  the  property  of  the  old  university 
was  turned  over  to  its  creditors.  Doctor  An- 
derson was  president  of  Denison  University 
at  Granville,  Ohio,  from  1887  to  1890.  Upon 
the  founding  of  the  new  University  of  Chicago 
in  1892,  he  took  the  chair  of  practical  theology 
in  the  Divinity  School  and  continued  until  he 
retired  in  1904.  In  the  early  years  of  the 
university  Doctor  Anderson  had  a  broad  and 
helpful  contact  with  the  student  body.  He 
married  Mary  E.  Roberts. 

Their  son,  Norman  Kendall  Anderson,  was 
born  at  Chicago  December  24,  1876.  He  at- 
tended the  old  South  Side  Academy  at  Fifty- 
fifth  and  Drexel  Boulevard,  was  a  student  in 
his  father's  alma  mater,  the  University  of 
Rochester,  during  1894-95,  and  was  gradu- 
ated Bachelor  of  Arts  from  the  University  of 
Chicago  in  1899.  Mr.  Anderson  took  his  law 
degree  at  the  University  of  Michigan  in  1901 
and  was  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar  in  De- 
cember of  the  same  year.  He  has  been  an 
active  worker  in  the  bar  of  Chicago  for  the 
past  thirty  years.  He  first  practiced  with  the 
firm  of  Oliver  and  Mecartney,  then  with 
Knight   and    Brown,   after   which   for   a   time 


^^    $  /Za^UJjtfr 


ILLINOIS 


335 


he  was  alone,  and  then  formed  a  law  partner- 
ship with  Anderson  and  Clarke. 

Mr.  Anderson  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago, 
Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  Associations. 
He  is  an  Alpha  Delta  Phi,  a  Phi  Delta  Phi, 
a  Republican,  member  of  the  University  Club 
and  Skokie  Country  Club.  His  home  is  at 
Winnetka  and  for  ten  years  he  was  a  member 
of  the  school  board  during  a  period  of  con- 
structive progress  when  the  Winnetka  schools 
became  known  as  model  institutions  throughout 
the  country. 

Mr.  Anderson  married  September  3,  1902, 
Miss  Louise  Holden.  They  have  three  sons: 
Holden  Galusha,  in  the  insurance  business  at 
Chicago,  married  Hazel  Sheffield;  Elbridge 
Gary,  a  graduate  of  Yale  University,  now  in 
business  at  Los  Angeles;  and  Owen  George, 
who  is  in  the  insurance  business  at  Chicago. 

John  Edgar  Barrett.  Among  the  men  who 
in  the  past  have  worked  their  own  way  to 
agricultural  prominence  and  prosperity  in 
Peoria  County,  no  one  was  better  known  for 
integrity  and  industry  than  the  late  John  E. 
Barrett,  who  for  nearly  25  years  prior  to  his 
retirement  in  1915,  when  he  moved  to  Elm- 
wood,  was  the  owner  and  operator  of  a  farm 
in  Brimfield  Township.  Starting  his  career  in 
a  small  way,  he  eventually  accumulated  a 
well-cultivated  farm  of  365  acres,  and  was 
also  identified  with  the  Dime  Savings  Bank  of 
Peoria  and  president  of  the  Farmers  State 
Bank  of  Elmwood  at  the  time  of  his  death  on 
January  27,  1924. 

Mrs.  Barrett  was  born  June  13,  1863,  in 
Peoria  County,  and  was  the  son  of  Isaac  and 
Drusilla  (Abrams)  Barrett,  who  came  to 
Peoria  County  in  1852  from  Jefferson  County, 
Ohio,  by  steamboat.  They  settled  on  a  farm 
four  and  one-half  miles  west  of  Brimfield, 
where  they  lived  until  their  death.  Isaac 
Barrett  died  September  21,  1890,  and  his  wife 
followed  him  on  December  23,  1891.  Their 
children  were  William  H.,  George,  John  E., 
James  A.,  Emily,  Elizabeth,  Martha  B.,  Nettie 
and   Evaleen. 

This  branch  of  the  Barrett  family  was 
founded  by  Thomas  and  Margaret  Barrett, 
who  came  from  England  to  Braintree,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1635,  or  thereabouts.  The  records 
show  that  several  of  their  descendants  served 
in  the  Revolutionary  war  and  the  War  of  1812 
and  held  the  rank  of  lieutenant,  captain  and 
colonel. 

John  E.  Barrett  received  his  education  in 
the  country  schools,  giving  up  an  attempt  for 
a  higher  education,  made  at  one  time,  because 
he  knew  he  was  needed  at  home.  He  practiced 
this  self-denial  all  his  life,  no  sacrifice  being 
too  great  if  it  was  necessary  to  help  a  friend 
and  in  his  passing  many  felt  they  had  lost  a 
true  friend  and  counselor.  Upon  retiring  from 
the  farm  and  not  content  to  be  idle,  he  entered 
the  farm  loan  department  of  the  Dime  Savings 


Bank  of  Peoria  and  found  much  pleasure  in 
the  occupation  of  inspecting  farm  lands  and 
the  making  of  many  new  friends  during  the 
last  nine  years  of  his  life.  His  last  illness  was 
of  only  a  week's  duration.  Angina  pectoris 
was  the  cause  of  his  death,  which  came  as  a 
shock  to  the  entire  community.  He  was  a 
member  of  Horeb  Lodge  No.  363,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  of  Elmwood,  a  thirty-second  degree 
Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  a  Shriner.  In  poli- 
tics he  was  a  Republican. 

On  March  25,  1891,  he  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Addie  L.  Harker,  of  Peoria, 
a  teacher  in  the  Peoria  County  schools  for  six 
years.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Jeremiah 
Walling  and  Nancy  (Kinder)  Harker.  Jere- 
miah Harker  was  born  in  Port  Byron,  Cayuga 
County,  New  York,  on  April  11,  1824,  and 
came  to  Peoria  County  with  his  parents  in  the 
fall  of  1829  by  lake  and  canal  route  and  down 
the  Illinois  River  with  lumbering  and  trading 
men,  landing  at  Peoria,  which  then  consisted 
of  a  few  lonely  log  cabins,  the  trip  taking 
seven  weeks  and  three  days. 

The  children  of  Jeremiah  Walling  Hacker 
were  Joseph  Monroe,  Puella  Jane,  Seba  Higley, 
Susan  Emeline,  James  Samuel,  Mandella,  Ad- 
die L.  (Mrs.  Barrett),  Daniel  Edward,  Mar- 
garet M.,  and  Franklin  Allen.  Seven  are  still 
living,  all  residents  of  Peoria  County.  Jere- 
miah Harker,  upon  retiring  from  the  farm, 
lived  in  Peoria  where  he  passed  away  on  De- 
cember 21,  1889.  His  wife,  Nancy  (Kinder) 
Harker,  beautiful  Christian  character  and  de- 
voted mother,  passed  to  her  reward  on  Jan- 
uary 15,  1905.  James  Harker  and  Puella 
Higley  Harker,  parents  of  Jeremiah  W. 
Harker,  who  brought  their  family  from  Port 
Byron,  New  York,  to  Peoria  County  in  1829, 
had  traded  for  a  soldier's  patent  quarter  sec- 
tion of  land  located  about  twelve  miles  south- 
west of  Peoria,  before  leaving  New  York,  and 
they  went  immediately  to  it,  then  entered  an- 
other quarter  section  from  the  government. 
This  land  was  located  at  the  junction  of 
Logan,  Hollis,  Limestone  and  Timber  town- 
ships and  he  owned  a  quarter  on  the  north- 
east corner  where  he  built  a  brick  house,  and 
a  quarter  on  the  northwest  corner  and  the 
place  has  ever  since  been  known  as  Harker's 
Corners. 

At  one  time  it  had  a  postoffice,  a  general 
store,  a  blacksmith  shop  and  a  school,  be- 
sides a  house  on  each  corner.  When  the  first 
death  in  the  neighborhood  occurred,  in  1836, 
and  there  was  no  place  for  burial  purposes, 
James  Harker  gave  a  piece  of  land  to  be  used 
for  a  cemetery.  Now  he,  his  wife  and  all  his 
family  except  Seba  H.  Harker,  who  moved  to 
Oregon  in  1891,  are  resting  in  the  Harker's 
Corners  Cemetery.  On  the  occasion  of  the 
one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  family's 
settling  in  that  place,  the  Harker's  Corners 
Cemetery  Association  dedicated  as  a  memo- 
rial to  James  Harker  and  family,  a  beautiful 


336 


ILLINOIS 


entrance  and  gates,  a  gift  from  Addie  L. 
Harker  Barrett. 

The  children  of  James  Harker  were  James, 
Jr.,  Daniel  Washington,  Henry  Smith,  Jere- 
miah Walling  and  Seba  H.  Harker. 

Capt.  Joseph  Harker,  father  of  James 
Harker,  was  a  captain  in  Washington's  Army 
during  the  Revolutionary  war.  His  first  com- 
mission was  second  lieutenant,  under  Captain 
Bates  and  Col.  E.  Martin,  in  the  brigade  of 
General  Heard.  Capt.  Joseph  Harker  was 
with  Washington  at  Valley  Forge,  was 
wounded  in  the  arm  in  an  engagement  at 
Minisink,  New  Jersey,  also  participating  in 
the  important  battles  of  Princeton,  Brandy- 
wine,  Germantown,  and  other. 

The  Harker  family  was  founded  in  this 
country  as  early  as  1633  by  Anthony  Harker, 
who  came  in  the  "Griffin"  from  Scotland,  and 
whose  son,  Daniel  Harker,  was  the  great 
grandfather   of  Jeremiah   W.   Harker. 

Capt.  Joseph  Harker  married  Mary  Walling 
and  they  lie  buried  in  an  old  cemetery  near 
the  banks  of  the  Erie  Canal,  at  Port  Byron, 
New  York. 

Mrs.  Addie  L.  Barrett,  who  survives  her 
husband,  John  E.  Barrett,  was  born  at  Hark- 
er's  Corners  on  April  22,  1867.  She  lives  at 
the  home  in  Elmwood,  to  which  she  and  her 
husband  moved  on  leaving  the  farm  and  still 
owns  the  farm  where  she  went  as  a  bride  in 
1891.  She  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  secretary  of  the  Elmwood  Chapter  of 
the  O.  E.  S.,  a  member  of  the  Elmwood 
Woman's  Club,  also  the  Peoria  Chapter  of  the 
D.  A.  R.  In  politics  she  is  a  Republican  and 
believes  that  since  women  may  vote,  it  is  their 
duty  to  vote,  informing  themselves  that  they 
may  vote  intelligently. 

Edward  MacKinnon  0 'Bryan.  A  member 
of  the  Chicago  bar  .since  1913,  Edward  Mac- 
Kinnon O 'Bryan  has  attained  a  well-merited 
position  among  the  leading  attorneys  of  his 
adopted  city,  where  he  has  been  identified 
with  much  important  litigation.  For  a  number 
of  years  he  has  been  engaged  in  general  prac- 
tice, and  at  this  time  has  a  large  and  impres- 
sive  clientele. 

Mr.  O'Bryan  was  born  February  2,  1890,  at 
Wichita,  Kansas,  and  is  a  son  of  Edward  and 
Marguerite  (MacKinnon)  O'Bryan,  both  of 
whom  are  now  deceased.  Edward  O'Bryan 
was  one  of  the  well-known  attorneys  of  Kan- 
sas and  for  some  years  served  both  in  Kansas 
and  at  Chicago  as  western  counsel  for  the 
New  York  Life  Insurance  Company.  He  was 
likewise  prominent  in  politics  and  public  af- 
fairs, and  while  still  living  in  Kansas  served 
several  terms  as  state  senator. 

Edward  MacKinnon  O'Bryan  was  still  a 
lad  when  he  accompanied  his  parents  to  Chi- 
cago, where  he  attended  the  public  schools. 
After  graduating  from  high  school  he  attended 
the  University  of  Chicago  for  one  year,  then 


spending  two  years  at  Yale  College,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  in  1913  with  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws.  He  attended 
Northwestern  University,  and  upon  gradua- 
tion began  his  professional  career.  For  some 
years  he  served  as  secretary  and  counsel  for 
the  Allied  Packers,  Incorporated,  but  now 
applies  himself  to  general  practice,  with  offices 
at  316  South  LaSalle  Street.  Mr.  O'Bryan  is 
one  of  the  energetic  and  capable  members  of 
the  Chicago  bar,  and  as  such,  has  had  the 
confidence  of  many  prominent  individuals  and 
corporations  in  the  handling  of  important 
legal  matters.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
Bar  Association,  the  Illinois  Bar  Association 
and  the  Law  Institute,  and  holds  memberships 
in  the  Chicago  Athletic  Club,  Beachview  Golf 
Club  and  Sunset  Ridge  Club. 

Mr.  O'Bryan  married  Miss  Alice  Leslie  Wil- 
kie,  a  native  of  Jacksonville,  Florida,  and  they 
are  the  parents  of  two  children:  Edward  Leslie 
and  Frank  Alexander.  The  family  residence 
is  located  at  935  Forest  Avenue,  Evanston, 
Illinois. 

John  Albert  Cervenka  has  played  a  notable 
part  in  the  public  life  of  Chicago.  He  is 
essentially  a  business  man,  and  he  took  busi- 
ness methods  into  the  various  offices  he  has 
held,  including  former  city  treasurer,  and  at 
the  present  time  he  is  one  of  the  able  mem- 
bers of  the  Cermak  administration,  holding 
the  office  of  city  purchasing  agent. 

Mr.  Cervenka  was  born  in  Czecho-Slovakia 
(Bohemia)  February  5,  1870,  son  of  John  and 
Marie  (Holub)  Cervenka.  His  early  educa- 
tion was  acquired  in  grammar  schools  of  his 
native  land.  When  he  was  twelve  years  of 
age,  in  1882,  he  came  to  Chicago,  and  here 
while  working  he  attended  night  school.  About 
the  time  of  the  culmination  of  the  labor  trou- 
bles in  the  Haymarket  riot  in  1886  he  began 
an  apprenticeship  as  a  cabinet  maker.  Mr. 
Cervenka  by  his  own  energy  and  enterprise 
raised  himself  above  the  routine  of  a  trade 
worker.  In  1899  he  established  a  restaurant 
business,  with  bowling  alleys  and  other  amuse- 
ments. In  1903  he  organized  the  Pilsen  Brew- 
ing Company  and  is  its  president  and  general 
manager. 

During  the  past  twenty  years  most  of  his 
time  has  been  given  to  public  service.  He 
was  selected  by  the  makers  of  the  "Harmony 
Slate"  in  1910  and  was  elected  clerk  of  the 
Probate  Court.  He  was  reelected  to  that 
office  in  1914,  serving  two  terms.  Mr.  Cer- 
venka in  1923  was  a  candidate  on  the  ticket 
headed  by  Mayor  Dever,  being  elected  city 
treasurer.  Mayor  Cermak  after  his  election 
in  the  spring  of  1931  appointed  Mr.  Cervenka 
city  purchasing  agent.  It  has  been  conceded 
that  he  has  effected  a  notable  reorganization 
in  this  department  and  in  spite  of  the  adverse 
financial  conditions  which  effect  the  city's 
credit,    he    has    introduced    a    system    of    fair 


ILLINOIS 


337 


dealing  which  has  caused  the  more  reputable 
firms  to  compete  for  the  opportunity  of  deal- 
ing with  the  city  as  represented  by  Mr. 
Cervenka. 

Mr.  Cervenka  married  Miss  Antonie  Bolek, 
who  was  also  born  in  Czecho-Slovakia.  They 
have  two  children:  Alice,  Mrs.  Harry  Rohde, 
of  Chicago;  and  John  A.,  Jr.,  a  graduate  of 
the  Kent  College  of  Law  and  a  practicing 
lawyer  in  the  city. 

Mr.  Cervenka  has  for  a  number  of  years 
been  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Plan  Com- 
mission, having  first  been  appointed  by  Mayor 
Carter  Harrison.  He  has  long  been  prominent 
in  the  affairs  of  the  Bohemian  people,  being 
a  member  of  the  Czecho-Slovakian  National 
Council  of  America,  the  council  consisting  of 
fifteen  members  who  represent  the  various 
Czecho-Slovakian  alliances.  He  is  president 
of  the  Czecho-Slovakian  National  Alliance, 
and  is  a  director  of  Sokol,  the  notable  char- 
itable, educational  and  gymnastic  organization 
which  in  its  activities  upholds  the  slogan  "in 
a  healthy  body  is  a  strong  soul.,,  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Bohemian  Club,  the  Bohemian 
Arts  Club,  is  a  thirty-second  degree  Scottish 
Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  being  a  member  of 
Medinah  Temple,  and  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  Mr.  Cer- 
venka was  sent  as  a  representative  to  Praha 
at  the  unveiling  of  the  Wilson  monument  in 
Czecho-Slovakia,  having  been  the  first  Wilson 
monument  given  to  the  new  Czecho-Slovakian 
Republic  by  American  citizens  of  Czecho-Slo- 
vakian origin. 

Evan  Evans,  vice  president  of  the  LundofF- 
Bicknell  Company,  has  had  a  prominent  part 
in  the  real  estate  and  constructive  develop- 
ment of  Chicago  during  the  past  several  years. 
He  has  been  a  builder,  but  his  name  has  also 
been  associated  with  the  broader  program  of 
Chicago's  development,  a  loyal  supporter  of 
the  artistic  and  cultural  side  of  this  western 
metropolis. 

Evan  Evans  was  born  in  Jackson  County, 
Ohio,  son  of  Griffith  E.  and  Jane  M.  (Evans) 
Evans.  His  parents  came  from  Wales  and 
in  the  Southern  Ohio  home  where  Evan  Evans 
grew  up  the  Welsh  tongue  was  spoken  almost 
exclusively  so  that  he  did  not  learn  to  speak 
English  until  he  was  seven  years  of  age.  He 
was  reared  on  a  farm,  and  learned  to  work 
and  to  pay  for  all  the  advantages  his  ambition 
craved.  During  his  early  years  he  did  farm- 
ing, taught  a  country  school,  clerked  in  a 
country  store,  and  in  that  way  gradually  fitted 
himself  for  the  larger  work  which  he  has 
carried  on  in  Chicago.  In  addition  to  being 
vice  president  of  the  Lundoff-Bicknell  Com- 
pany, Mr.  Evans  is  one  of  the  principal 
owners  of  the  Buildings  Development  Com- 
pany, which  owns  and  operated  five  large 
building  projects  in  Chicago  and  Milwaukee. 
One   of    his    first    important    undertakings    in 


Chicago  was  in  the  Loop  district,  where  he 
became  the  principal  owner  of  the  Ohio  Build- 
ing property  at  Congress  and  Wabash  avenues. 

Mr.  Evans  has  many  of  the  characteristics 
of  a  typical  Welshman.  He  has  been  a  lover 
and  patron  of  music,  has  entered  with  enthu- 
siasm into  his  own  work  and  into  plans  that 
represent  the  cooperative  spirit  of  the  com- 
munity. His  philosophy  of  life  is  well  ex- 
pressed by  his  epigram  that  "every  man  who 
has  work  to  do  should  take  his  job  seriously, 
not  himself."  Mr.  Evans  is  chairman  of  the 
board  of  the  Olivet  Institute  and  has  spent 
much  of  his  time  in  boys'  work  and  in  other 
civic  projects.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Art 
Club,  the  Barrington  Hills  Country  Club,  Chi- 
cago Club,  Racquet  Club,  and  Tavern  Club. 
While  he  has  a  host  of  intimate  friends  in 
these  organizations  and  through  his  business 
contacts,  his  home  is  the  center  of  his  social 
life.  Mr.  Evans  is  a  founder  member  of  the 
organization  for  the  promotion  of  the  Century 
of  Progress  Exposition  of  1933.  He  has  lent 
valuable  assistance  in  promoting  this  under- 
taking. 

His '  hobby  is  outdoor  life  and  travel.  He 
owns  a  ranch  near  the  Canadian  Rockies, 
spends  a  month  or  more  every  year  there,  and 
while  in  the  West  indulges  a  fondness  for 
mountain  climbing.  He  has  also  traveled 
widely  over  both  the  old  and  new  world.  He 
has  explored  the  land  of  his  ancestors  both 
on  foot  and  by  motor.  Mr.  Evans  married 
Miss  Pauline  Hart.  Their  home  is  at  Bar- 
rington and  Mrs.  Evans  designed  their  beau- 
tiful residence,  Midoaks,  in  that  suburban 
community. 

Richard  Floyd  Clinch.  In  the  death  of 
R.  Floyd  Clinch,  which  occurred  November  7, 
1930,  Chicago  lost  not  only  one  of  its  prom- 
inent coal  operators,  but  a  man  of  affairs  who 
had  the  interests  of  his  city  always  at  heart. 
From  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  Illinois  in 
1883  until  his  death,  Mr.  Clinch  was  a  dom- 
inant figure  in  the  coal  industry,  but  his 
activities  were  not  confined  to  that  one  field, 
for  he  was  prominent  also  in  other  lines  of 
business  endeavor,  and  as  a  citizen,  church- 
man and  philanthropist. 

Mr.  Clinch  was  born  in  Georgia,  July  19, 
1865,  a  son  of  Col.  Duncan  L.  and  Susan  A. 
(Hopkins)  Clinch.  In  addition  to  the  mili- 
tary prominence  won  by  his  father,  a  colonel 
of  the  Confederacy  during  the  war  between 
the  states,  at  the  battle  of  Olustee,  Florida, 
February  20,  1864,  Mr.  Clinch  always  cher- 
ished among  his  family  records  the  service 
of  his  grandfather,  Gen.  Duncan  L.  Clinch,  a 
hero  of  the  War  of  1812. 

R.  Floyd  Clinch  secured  his  early  education 
in  private  schools  of  Georgia,  and  later  at- 
tended the  military  academy  at  Cheltenham, 
Pennsylvania.  In  1883  he  entered  business 
life  in  the  employ  of  the  Joliet  Steel  Company, 


338 


ILLINOIS 


in  Chicago,  and  almost  immediately  began  to 
attract  attention  by  reason  of  his  close  applica- 
tion and  industry  and  his  rapid  grasp  of  de- 
tails. In  1889  he  joined  John  Crearer  in 
founding  the  firm  of  Crearer,  Clinch  &  Com- 
pany, which  became  one  of  the  large  coal 
operating  firms  in  Chicago,  controlling  the 
Equitable  Coal  and  Coke  Company,  the  Searls 
Coal  Company,  and  the  Duncan  Coal  Company, 
with  a  capital  of  $1,500,000,  and  an  output  of 
2,500,000  tons  of  coal  annually. 

Mr.  Clinch's  executive  ability,  particularly 
in  the  line  of  construction  and  business  enter- 
prises, led  to  a  constantly  increasing  demand 
for  his  services  outside  of  his  immediate  busi- 
ness. In  addition  to  being  the  director  and 
president  of  the  Equitable  Coal  Company  and 
the  Duncan  Coal  Company,  he  held  similar 
positions  in  the  Chicago  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce and  the  Safety  Vault  Company  of  Chi- 
cago, which  owned  and  conducted  a  thirteen- 
story  building  at  the  corner  of  Washington  and 
LaSalle  streets.  He  was  also  at  one  time 
president  of  the  Chicago  Auditorium  Associa- 
tion, which  owned  and  conducted  the  Audi- 
torium Hotel  and  Theatre,  as  well  as  the 
offices  included  in  that  massive  structure,  once 
the  pride  of  Chicago,  located  on  Congress 
Street  and  running  from  Michigan  Avenue  to 
Wabash  Avenue.  Mr.  Clinch  likewise  served 
as  vice  president  and  a  director  of  the  Chi- 
cago, North  Shore  &  Milwaukee  Railroad, 
which  was  reorganized  and  made  profitable 
largely  through  his  untiring  efforts.  He  was 
also  a  director  of  the  Central  Trust  Company 
and  for  a  long  period  served  on  the  board 
of  directors  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association.  Mr.  Clinch  was  a  believer  in 
the  value  of  real  estate  and  owned  a  large 
farm,  near  Traverse  City,  Michigan,  which 
he  improved  until  it  was  a  model  of  its  kind. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  directorate  and  presi- 
dent of  the  Traverse  City  Bank,  president  of 
the  Hannah  &  Lay  Company,  owners  of  a 
large  flouring  mill  and  hotel,  and  president 
of  the  Hannah  &  Lay  Mercantile  Company 
of  Traverse  City,  which  operated  one  of  the 
largest  stores  in  Northern  Michigan. 

Mr.  Clinch,  in  the  midst  of  his  multitudi- 
nous business  affairs,  always  could  find  time 
to  aid  and  counsel  his  friends,  and  his  genial 
and  ready  service  and  resourcefulness  were 
effective  in  many  ways,  although  often  given 
at  a  personal  sacrifice.  He  was  likewise  prom- 
inent in  religious  affairs,  serving  on  most  of 
the  important  committees  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  Chicago  Diocese,  and 
likewise  acting  as  vestryman  and  in  other 
capacities  in  his  own  parish.  He  held  mem- 
bership in  the  Chicago  Club,  the  Union  League 
Club  and  the  Indian  Hill  Golf  Club,  and  his 
chief  recreations  were  golfing  and  automo- 
biling. 

In  1890  Mr.  Clinch  married  Miss  Katharine 
S.  Lay,  of  Chicago,  and  they  became  the  par- 


ents of  two  children:  Duncan  Lamont,  an 
active  and  able  business  man  of  Chicago,  who 
is  now  head  of  the  Clinch  Company,  dealers 
in  railway  equipment;  and  Margaret  Lay,  who 
resides  with  her  mother  and  brother  in  the 
modern  and  attractive  home  on  Crescent  Lane, 
Hubbard  Woods. 

Robert  C.  Hitchings,  M.  D.,  has  been  estab- 
lished in  the  sucecssful  general  practice  of 
his  profession  at  Donovan  more  than  forty 
years  and  is  one  of  the  veteran  and  honored 
physicians  and  surgeons  of  Iroquois  County. 
He  was  born  at  Morocco,  Newton  County,  In- 
diana, December  2,  1863,  a  son  of  John  C.  and 
Mary  (Swiggett)  Hitchings,  the  former  of 
whom  was  born  and  reared  in  Bangor,  Maine, 
and  the  latter  near  Baltimore,  Maryland. 

John  C.  Hitchings  received  his  early  edu- 
cation in  the  schools  of  the  old  Pine  Tree 
State  and  was  a  young  man  when  he  estab- 
lished residence  in  Newton  County,  Indiana, 
in  the  early  '50s.  He  was  long  numbered 
among  the  substantial  exponents  of  farm  in- 
dustry near  Morocco,  that  county,  and  there 
his  death  occurred  in  1886,  his  widow  having 
passed  away  in  1917  and  both  having  been 
earnest  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Mrs.  Hitchings  was  a  daughter  of 
John  and  Mary  Swiggert  and  was  a  young 
woman  when  she  accompanied  her  parents  to 
Newton  County,  Indiana,  in  the  early  '50s, 
where  her  father  became  a  pioneer  farmer, 
both  he  and  his  wife  having  there  remained 
until  their  death.  Doctor  Hitchings  is  one 
of  a  family  of  eight  children,  one  of  whom 
died  in  infancy;  Joseph  and  Lucy  are  deceased; 
Mrs.  Sarah  Camblin  still  resides  at  Morocco, 
Indiana;  Charles,  deceased,  was  a  resident  of 
Climax,  Michigan;  John  W.  resides  at  Rensse- 
laer, Indiana;  and  William  is  a  resident  of 
North  Manchester,  that  state. 

After  his  discipline  in  the  public  schools  of 
his  native  county  Dr.  Robert  C.  Hitchings  was 
a  student  one  year  in  what  is  now  Valparaiso 
University  and  two  years  in  Central  College, 
Danville,  Indiana.  In  preparation  for  his 
chosen  profession  he  went  to  the  metropolis 
of  Kentucky  and  completed  a  course  in  the 
medical  department  of  Louisville  University, 
in  which  he  was  graduated  as  a  member  of 
the  class  of  1889.  Early  in  the  following 
year  he  established  his  residence  at  Donovan, 
Illinois  and  here  he  has  since  continued  in  the 
active  practice  of  his  profession,  with  a  suc- 
cess and  prestige  that  are  in  consonance  with 
his  professional  ability  and  unqualified  per- 
sonal popularity.  He  is  now  the  virtual  dean 
of  his  profession  in  Iroquois  County,  and  has 
membership  in  the  county  medical  society,  the 
Illinois  State  Medical  Society  and  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association.  In  the  year  that 
marked  his  arrival  in  Donovan  Doctor  Hitch- 
ings  here    established   the   well   ordered   drug 


ILLINOIS 


339 


store  that  he  has  since  conducted  and  in 
which  his  professional  office  is  maintained. 
He  is  a  Democrat,  is  affiliated  with  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Mod- 
ern Woodmen  of  America,  and  is  an  active 
member  of  the  Donovan  Golf  Club.  He  has 
been  loyal  and  liberal  as  a  citizen,  has  served 
as  township  supervisor  and  held  other  local 
offices,  and  the  fact  that  he  has  remained  a 
bachelor  has  not  militated  against  his  per- 
sonal popularity  in  the  community  that  has 
long  been  his  home  and  the  stage  of  his  able 
professional  activities. 

Robert  H.  Wendt  of  the  firm  of  Wendt 
Brothers  Funeral  Directors,  associated  with 
his  brother,  Earl  E.  Wendt  in  the  conducting 
of  establishments  at  Port  Byron,  East  Moline 
and  Moline,  was  born  at  Port  Byron,  Novem- 
ber 26,  1881. 

His  father,  August  H.  Wendt  was  born  in 
Holstein,  Germanv  September  8,  1853,  son  of 
Henry  and  Catherine  (Baehm)  Wendt.  Henry 
Wendt,  after  serving  his  time  in  the  German 
Army,  learned  the  business  and  trade  of  a 
merchant  tailor.  Some  of  his  older  brothers 
had  come  to  America  and  established  homes 
on  the  Mississippi  River  in  Rock  Island 
County,  and  Henry  Wendt  brought  his  family 
to  this  country,  arriving  at  Rock  Island  April 
13,  1859.  For  a  time  he  was  the  only  tailor 
in  Rock  Island. 

August  H.  Wendt  received  his  early  educa- 
tion in  Germany  and  later  attended  the  old 
Moline  High  School.  In  1880  he  established 
a  furniture  and  undertaking  business  at  Port 
Byron.  Here  he  erected  a  fine  brick  building 
and  conducted  his  business  until  his  retire- 
ment in  1920. 

August  H.  Wendt  married  August  25,  1880, 
Miss  Elizabeth  Erler,  and  to  their  union  were 
born  three  sons:  Robert  H.,  William,  and 
Earl  E. 

Robert  H.  Wendt  was  educated  in  the 
schools  of  Port  Byron  and  a  graduate  of  the 
Barnes  Embalming  School  of  Chicago.  From 
early  youth  he  worked  in  his  father's  store, 
and  assumed  increasing  responsibilities  in  its 
management  and  in  1900  he  was  admitted  to 
partnership  in  the  firm  of  A.  H.  Wendt  and 
Son.  Upon  the  retirement  of  his  father  in 
1920  he  assumed  complete  charge  of  the  busi- 
ness at  Port  Byron.  In  1926,  associated  with 
his  brother,  Earl  E.  Wendt,  they  established 
the  Wendt  Funeral  Home  at  East  Moline,  and 
in  1929  the  Wendt  Funeral  Home  at  Moline, 
was  founded. 

Robert  H.  Wendt  is  a  thirty-second  degree 
Scottish  Rite  Mason,  member  of  the  Knights 
of  Pythias,  Illinois  Funeral  Directors  Asso- 
ciation, the  Mississippi  Valley  Funeral  Di- 
rectors Association  and  in  political  faith  a 
Republican.  He  is  president  of  the  Port 
Byron  Library  Board,  served  two  terms  on 
the  Town  Board  of  Port  Byron,  and  is  presi- 


dent of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church  of  Port  Byron. 

He  married  June  20,  1907,  Miss  Grace  May 
Ashdown,  a  native  of  Rock  Island  County,  a 
daughter  of  Edward  and  Ida  (Flikinger) 
Ashdown.  They  have  one  daughter,  Roberta 
Louise,  a  graduate  of  the  Port  Byron  High 
School  and  her  higher  education  was  received 
in  the  Illinois  Normal  University,  at  Normal. 
She  is  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools  of 
Canton,  Illinois.  Mrs.  Robert  H.  Wendt  is  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Church,  being  super- 
intendent of  the  Sunday  School  in  the  primary 
department. 

Earl  E.  Wendt,  associated  with  his  brother, 
Robert  H.  Wendt,  is  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Wendt  Brother  Funeral  Directors,  with  estab- 
lishments in  Moline,  Port  Byron  and  East  Mo- 
line. He  is  a  member  of  a  prominent  family 
identified  in  the  business  life  of  Rock  Island 
County  for  three  generations. 

His  father,  August  H.  Wendt,  now  living 
retired  in  Moline,  was  born  in  Holstein,  Ger- 
many, September  8,  1853,  son  of  Henry  and 
Catherine  (Baehn)  Wendt.  Henry  Wendt 
served  his  time  in  the  German  Army  and 
learned  the  business  and  trade  of  merchant 
tailor.  He  brought  his  family  to  America, 
arriving  at  Moline  April  3,  1865.  For  a  time 
he  was  the  only  tailor  in  Rock  Island. 

August  H.  Wendt,  his  only  son,  was  twelve 
years  of  age  when  the  familv  settled  at  Mo- 
line. He  attended  school  in  Germany  and 
the  old  Moline  High  School.  He  was  a  farmer 
and  later  a  nurseryman,  and  in  1880  he  estab- 
lished a  furniture  and  undertaking  business 
at  Port  Byron  that  is  still  carried  on  by  his 
sons.  August  H.  Wendt  married,  August  25, 
1880,  Miss  Elizabeth  Erler.  They  have  three 
sons,  Robert  H.,  William,  and  Earl  E. 

Earl  E.  Wendt  was  born  at  Port  Byron  May 
29,  1891,  and  there  he  grew  up.  After  his 
graduation  from  the  Port  Byron  High  School 
he  took  a  business  course  in  Brown's  College 
at  Rock  Island.  For  a  time  he  worked  in  the 
Port  Byron  State  Bank  and  in  1913  was  grad- 
uated from  the  Worsham  College  of  Embalm- 
ing at  Chicago.  Since  that  date  he  has  applied 
all  his  time  as  a  funeral  director.  The  main 
chapel  of  the  three  establishments  is  located 
at  1811  Fifteenth  Street  Place,  Moline,  a  well- 
appointed  home  of  quiet  dignity. 

Mr.  Wendt  has  never  had  an  idle  day,  and 
undoubtedly  work  is  his  hobby  and  its  habit 
has  been  responsible  for  the  success  he  has 
made.  When  Mr.  Wendt  married  he  was 
making  only  forty  dollars  a  month  as  a  bank 
clerk,  but  his  energetic  disposition  enabled 
him  to  live  and  lay  a  solid  foundation  for  his 
subsequent  prosperity. 

Mr.  Wendt  is  prominent  in  many  organiza- 
tions, is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason  and  Shriner, 
member  of  the  Grotto,  Knights  of  Pythias, 
Eastern  Star,  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 


340 


ILLINOIS 


lows,  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  Eagles,  Moose,  is  a  Ro- 
trian,  member  of  the  Knights  of  the  Round 
Table,  president  of  the  Up-Town  Business 
Men's  Association,  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the 
Illinois  Funeral  Directors  Association  and 
past  secretary  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 
Funeral  Directors  Association.  Mr.  Wendt, 
while  living  at  Port  Byron,  was  a  member  of 
the  town  board  and  served  as  township  and 
village  clerk  for  twelve  years  and  served  as 
treasurer  of  the  Community  High  School  and 
grade  school  over  the  same  period  of  years. 

Mr.  Wendt  married,  October  28,  1914,  Miss 
Lillian  A.  Dailey,  daughter  of  Dr.  Oscar  S. 
and  Fannie  L.  (Johnson)  Dailey,  of  Port 
Byron,  where  her  father  has  practiced  med- 
icine for  over  thirty  years,  his  life  being 
sketched  on  other  pages  of  this  history.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Wendt  have  two  children,  Earl,  Jr., 
and  Richard  Jerauld.  Mrs.  Wendt  is  promi- 
nent in  social  affairs.  She  is  a  member  of  the 
Eastern  Star,  the  White  Shrine  of  Jerusalem, 
Pythian  Sisters,  Rebekahs,  Daughters  of  Vet- 
erans, the  Rock  Island  Home  Bureau,  and  the 
American  Legion  Auxiliary. 

Ray  W.  Flora,  mayor  of  the  City  of  Paxton, 
judicial  center  of  Ford  County,  was  born  at 
Roberts,  this  county,  December  29,  1878,  a 
son  of  Thomas  A.  and  Mary  H.  (White) 
Flora.  Thomas  A.  Flora  was  born  near  New- 
port, Kentucky,  and  was  a  young  man  when 
he  came  to  Ford  County,  Illinois,  where  he 
was  long  engaged  in  farm  enterprise,  besides 
which  he  was  called  to  local  offices  of  public 
trust.  He  served  twelve  years  as  chief  of 
police  at  Paxton  and  one  term  each  as  county 
sheriff  and  county  treasurer.  He  lived  re- 
tired at  the  home  of  his  youngest  daughter, 
in  Chicago,  until  his  death  March  9,  1932.  He 
was  a  Republican  in  political  alignment  and  is 
affiliated  with,  the  Knights  of  Pythias.  His 
parents,  John  W.  and  Isabelle  Jane  (Heren- 
don)  Flora,  came  from  Kentucky  to  Paxton, 
Illinois,  about  1894,  and  here  passed  the  re- 
mainder of  their  lives.  Their  eldest  son,  Wil- 
liam B.,  held  for  twenty  years  the  office  of  clerk 
of  Ford  County.  Mrs.  Mary  H.  (White)  Flora, 
was  born  and  reared  in  Campbell  County,  Ken- 
tucky, and  passed  the  closing  years  of  her  life 
at  Paxton,  Illinois,  where  her  death  occurred 
January  26,  1930,  she  having  been  a  lifelong 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Her  parents,  Joseph  J.  and  Demaris  (Heren- 
don)  White,  continued  their  residence  near 
Newport,  Kentucky,  until  their  death,  and  the 
father  was  long  numbered  among  the  repre- 
sentative farmers  of  Campbell  County,  that 
state.  The  present  mayor  of  Paxton  is  eldest 
in  a  family  of  eight  children:  Joseph  W., 
next  younger,  died  at  the  age  of  forty-eight 
years;  Thomas  M.  resides  at  Newcastle,  Indi- 
ana, where  he  is  engaged  in  the  lumber  busi- 
ness; Eva  is  the  wife  of  Frank  Hall,  of  Spring- 
field, Illinois;  Ada  is  the  wife  of  Albert  Tav- 


ner,  of  Rossville,  Illinois;  Fred  C.  is  cashier 
for  the  Nickel  Plate  Railroad  at  Paxton;  and 
Ruth,  whose  twin  sister,  Ruby,  died  at  the  age 
of  thirty-one  years,  is  the  wife  of  Hugh 
Martinitz,  of  Chicago. 

After  completing  his  studies  in  the  Paxton 
High  School  Ray  W.  Flora  here  attended  Rice 
Collegiate  Institute,  which  long  since  passed 
out  of  existence.  He  then  learned  telegraphy 
and  has  since  been  retained  in  service  as 
operator  and  ticket  agent  in  the  service  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad.  During  a  service 
of  more  than  thirty  years  he  has  been  ticket 
agent  at  Paxton.  He  has  membership  in  the 
Order  of  Railroad  Ticket  Agents  and  the  Order 
of  Railroad  Telegraphers.  He  is  affiliated 
likewise  with  the  Knights  of  Pythias. 

A  Republican  in  politics  and  known  for  his 
civic  liberality  and  loyalty,  Mr.  Flora  was 
elected  mayor  of  Paxton  in  April,  1931,  and 
is  giving  a  characteristically  progressive  ad- 
ministration. He  and  his  wife  are  communi- 
cants of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  their  home 
city. 

April  22,  1914,  Mr.  Flora  wedded  Miss  Ollie 
Rodeen,  daughter  of  Alfred  H.  and  Mary 
(Hanson)  Rodeen,  her  father  having  long  been 
a  substantial  farmer  in  Ford  County,  where 
his  death  occurred  September  30,  1928,  and 
where  his  widow  still  maintains  her  home. 
Mayor  and  Mrs.  Flora  specially  enjoy  motor 
touring,  and  have  made  vacation  trips  of  this 
order  through  various  parts  of  the  Northwest. 

Charles  F.  Rathbun,  of  the  law  firm  of 
Kirkland,  Fleming,  Green  and  Martin  at  33 
North  LaSalle  Street,  has  earned  a  distin- 
guished reputation  as  a  trial  attorney,  his 
name  having  appeared  in  connection  with  some 
of  the  most  notable  civil  and  criminal  cases 
in  recent  years. 

Mr.  Rathbun  was  born  at  Edgerton,  Ohio, 
January  13,  1882,  son  of  William  E.  and 
Margaret  (Keebler)  Rathbun.  He  was  reared 
and  educated  in  his  native  town,  came  to 
Chicago  when  a  youth  and  took  his  law  degree 
in  1904  at  the  Chicago  Kent  College  of  Law. 
Before  graduating  he  was  inducted  into  the 
practical  experience  of  his  profession  with  the 
prominent  Chicago  firm  of  Ashcraft  and  Ash- 
craft.  Mention  of  a  few  of  the  important 
cases  in  which  he  has  acted  as  trial  attorney 
in  recent  years  will  be  sufficient  proof  of  his 
well  deserved  reputation.  Mr.  Rathbun  was 
counsel  for  the  defense  in  the  Stokes  trial 
of  1925,  a  case  attracting  international  inter- 
est. It  was  the  only  case  on  record  in  which 
a  telegraph  key  was  installed  in  the  court 
room.  He  also  represented  the  defense  in 
the  long  drawn  out  Shepherd  Will  case.  In 
the  Daniel  Hays  land  fraud  case  he  repre- 
sented the  insurance  company  in  what  involved 
the  record  of  the  first  suicide  by  carbon  mon- 
oxide. He  was  also  counsel  for  the  Chicago 
Tribune    in    the    great    effort    made    by    that 


ILLINOIS 


341 


newspaper  to  sustain  the  privilege  of  free 
speech  for  the  press,  in  the  case  prosecuted 
by  the  State  of  Minnesota  against  the  Satur- 
day Press.  Mr.  Rathbun  was  also  a  prominent 
figure  in  the  prosecution  and  trial  of  the 
murderer  of  Albert  Lingle  in  1930.  Mr.  Rath- 
bun  is  a  special  assistant  state's  attorney  of 
Cook  County. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Bar  Associ- 
ation, the  Legal  Club,  the  Ohio  Society  of 
Chicago,  is  a  Republican,  a  Delta  Chi,  a  Pres- 
byterian, and  member  of  the  Mid-Day,  Mid- 
lothian Country,  South  Shore  Country,  Calu- 
met  Country  clubs. 

He  married  June  27,  1913,  Miss  Dorothy 
W.  Simms,  of  Chicago,  daughter  of  Stephen 
Chapman  Simms,  distinguished  ethnologist 
and  director  of  the  Field  Museum.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Rathbun  have  one  daughter,  Dorothy 
Elizabeth. 

Daniel  F.  Hamrick,  a  representative  farmer 
in  the  Cissna  Park  district  of  Iroquois  County, 
has  been  specially  prominent  and  influential  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Farm  Bureau  in  this  county 
and  is  an  exemplar  of  progressive  and  busi- 
nesslike policies  in  agricultural  and  livestock 
enterprise. 

Mr.  Hamrick  was  born  at  Canaan,  Wayne 
County,  Ohio,  January  4,  1896,  a  son  of  C.  F. 
and  Henrietta  (Pence)  Hamrick.  C.  F.  Ham- 
rick was  born  and  reared  at  Woodstock,  Vir- 
ginia, and  after  his  marriage  removed  to  Ohio, 
he  having  later  resided  in  West  Virginia  and 
having  then  passed  three  years  in  Oklahoma. 
He  next  passed  a  few  years  at  Olney,  Illinois, 
and  he  was  a  resident  of  Medford,  Wisconsin, 
at  the  time  of  his  death,  November  7,  1931. 
The  major  part  of  his  active  life  was  given  to 
farm  industry,  and  he  long  specialized  in  dairy 
farming.  Mrs.  Henrietta  (Pence)  Hamrick 
was  born  and  reared  in  Virginia  and  prior  to 
her  marriage  has  been  a  successful  teacher  in 
the  schools  of  her  native  state.  Her  death 
occurred  in  West  Virginia,  in  1906,  she  hav- 
ing been  an  earnest  member  of  the  Lutheran 
Church.  Of  the  children  the  eldest  is  Ruth, 
wife  of  Elzia  Rozer,  of  Mercedes,  Texas; 
Daniel  F.  is  the  subject  of  this  review;  Paul 
resides  in  Minneapolis,  Minnesota;  Luther  at 
Medford,  Wisconsin;  Samuel  in  Chicago,  Illi- 
nois; Esther  is  the  wife  of  Guy  Burgner,  of 
Winchester,  Indiana;  Mary  is  the  wife  of 
Mont  Adkins,  of  Edincouch,  Texas;  and  David 
has  his  home  in  the  Cissna  Park  community 
of  Iroquois  County,  Illinois. 

Daniel  F.  Hamrick  attended  public  schools 
in  West  Virginia,  Oklahoma  and  Illinois,  and 
after  leaving  school  he  was  associated  with  his 
father  in  farm  enterprise  until  his  marriage. 
He  then  initiated  independent  activities  as  a 
farmer,  and  now  has  charge  of  a  fine  farm  of 
300  acres  near  Cissna  Park,  his  attention 
being  given  largely  to  the  raising  of  cattle, 
sheep    and   hogs.     In   the   spring   of   1932   he 


has  150  head  of  cattle,  175  sheep  and  275 
hogs. 

Mr.  Hamrick  records  himself  as  an  inde- 
pendent Republican  and  is  notably  loyal  and 
progressive  as  a  citizen. 

Within  a  short  time  after  the  nation  entered 
the  World  war  Mr.  Hamrick  enlisted  for 
service  in  the  United  States  Army,  June  26, 
1917.  He  was  at  Camp  Jackson,  South  Caro- 
lina, until  August  22,  1918,  when,  as  a  member 
of  a  casual  unit,  he  sailed  for  France.  He 
was  there  assigned  to  the  Three  Hundred  and 
Forty-fourth  Field  Artillery,  with  which  com- 
mand he  served  until  the  signing  of  the 
armistice,  he  having  then  been  with  the  allied 
Army  of  Occupation  near  Coblenz,  Germany, 
until  he  returned  to  his  native  land.  At 
Camp  Grant,  Illinois,  he  received  his  honor- 
able discharge  June  28,  1919. 

December  25,  1919,  Mr.  Hamrick  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Vita  McCray,  daughter 
of  W.  M.  and  Amanda  (Wise)  McCray,  her 
father  having  long  been  a  substantial  repre- 
sentative of  farm  industry  near  Cissna  Park 
and  active  in  the  affairs  of  the  United  Breth- 
ren Church,  in  which  his  daughter  Vita  like- 
wise has  membership.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ham- 
rick have  a  fine  family  of  seven  children: 
Maxine,  Loren,  Lloyd,  Betty  Jean,  Wayne, 
Dale  and  Lois. 

Mrs.  Maud  Gray,  a  successful  and  popular 
teacher  in  the  public  schools  of  Milford,  Iro- 
quois County,  was  born  and  reared  in  this  at- 
tractive little  city  and  is  a  daughter  of  Isaac 
and  Mollie  (Starkey)  Welch.  Her  father  was 
born  in  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  and  was 
young  at  the  time  of  the  family  removal  to 
Illinois,  where  he  was  reared  to  manhood  and 
whence  he  went  forth  as  a  loyal  young  soldier 
of  the  Union  in  the  Civil  war,  in  which  he 
served  in  the  command  of  Gen.  Ulysses  S. 
Grant  and  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Getts- 
burg  and  other  engagements.  Mr.  Welch  was 
engaged  in  the  real-estate  business  at  Milford 
many  years,  and  after  the  death  of  his  wife 
removed  to  Danville,  where  he  was  established 
in  the  furniture  and  piano  business  until  his 
death,  October  22,  1929.  He  was  a  Republican 
and  was  affiliated  with  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic.  He  was  a  son  of  Rev.  Elbert 
Welch,  who  gained  honors  as  a  pioneer  clergy- 
man in  Illinois  and  who  died  at  Huntington, 
Indiana,  as  did  also  his  wife.  Doctor  Richards 
of  Pennsylvania,  great-grandfather  of  Mrs. 
Gray  was  the  first  physician  in  Iroquois 
County.  Charles  Starkey,  maternal  grand- 
father of  Mrs.  Maud  Gray,  was  a  pioneer 
settler  in  Iroquois  County,  he  having  come 
from  Pennsylvania,  and  having  been  a  soldier 
of  the  Union  in  the  Civil  war,  in  which  he  was 
with  Sherman's  forces  in  the  Atlanta  cam- 
paign and  the  subsequent  march  to  the  sea. 
Mrs.  Mollie  (Starkey)  Welch  was  born  at 
Morocco,  Indiana,  and  her  death  occurred  at 


342 


ILLINOIS 


Lockport,  Illinois,  in  1885,  she  having  been  a 
zealous  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Mrs.  Maud  Gray  is  eldest  in  a  family 
of  three  children;  Lulu  died  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two  years;  and  John,  who  is  engaged 
in  the  real-estate  business  in  Los  Angeles, 
California,  married  Edith  Winan,  of  Dodge 
City,  Kansas,  their  one  child  being  a  daugh- 
ter, Mildred. 

Miss  Maud  Welch  attended  the  public 
schools  of  Milford  and  Joliet,  thereafter  was  a 
student  in  the  Illinois  State  Normal  School  at 
Charleston,  and  later  was  graduated  in  the 
University  of  Illinois.  She  was  united  in 
marriage  to  John  Chalmer  Gray  on  the  16th 
of  June,  1896.  Mr.  Gray  was  long  engaged 
in  the  real-estate  and  insurance  business  at 
Milford,  where  his  death  occurred  December 
6,  1896.  No  children  were  born  of  this  mar- 
riage, the  bonds  of  which  were  severed  only  a 
few  months  after  its  solemnization. 

Mrs.  Gray  has  been  actively  engaged  in 
teaching  in  the  public  schools  since  1891,  save 
for  an  interval  of  five  years  given  to  attending 
the  normal  school  and  the  university,  as  pre- 
viously noted.  Since  1920  she  has  been  princi- 
pal of  the  grade  school  at  Milford  and  her 
able  and  earnest  service  has  been  attended  by 
marked  success.  She  has  membership  in  the 
Illinois  State  Teachers  Association,  the  Na- 
tional Education  Association  and  the  National 
Federated  Women's  Clubs,  of  Milford.  She 
was  formerly  active  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Pythian  Sisters,  takes  loyal  interest  in  com- 
munity affairs  and  has  been  influential  in  local 
politics  and  votes  independently  as  to  party. 
Under  her  executive  supervision  are  nine 
teachers  and  304  pupils,  and  she  has  done 
valuable  service  in  advancing  the  standards  of 
the  public  schools  of  her  native  town. 

John  J.  Swinney,  A.  M.,  the  efficient  super- 
intendent of  the  public  schools  of  the  City  of 
Paxton,  governmental  center  of  Ford  County, 
where  he  is  likewise  principal  of  the  high 
school,  was  born  on  the  parental  farm  near 
the  Village  of  Arrow  Rock,  Saline  County, 
Missouri,  June  4,  1895,  and  is  eldest  in  a  fam- 
ily of  three  children,  his  brother,  Matthew  L., 
being  engaged  in  the  garage  business  at 
Adrian,  Missouri,  and  the  youngest  member  of 
the  family  having  been  a  daughter,  Flossie, 
who  died  in  infancy. 

John  J.  Swinney  is  a  son  of  James  T.  and 
Stella  Mae  (Barnes)  Swinney,  both  of  whom 
were  born  and  reared  in  the  Arrow  Rock  dis- 
trict of  Saline  County,  Missouri,  where  the 
respective  families  made  settlement  in  the 
pioneer  days.  James  T.  Swinney  gave  his 
active  life  to  farm  enterprise  and  he  and  his 
wife  now  reside  at  Liberty,  Clay  County,  Mis- 
souri, where  he  is  living  retired.  Both  are 
zealous  members  of  the  Baptist  Church.  John 
J.  Swinney,  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this 


sketch,  was  born  in  Virginia,  and  became  a 
settler  near  Terre  Haute,  Indiana,  and  later 
became  a  pioneer  farmer  near  Arrow  Rock, 
Missouri,  where  he  and  his  wife  passed  the 
remainder  of  their  lives.  Mrs.  Stella  Mae 
(Barnes)  Swinney  is  a  daughter  of  Matthew 
and  Eugenia  (Ballard)  Barnes  and  her  ma- 
ternal grandmother  was  a  member  of  the 
Bingham  family  that,  like  the  Barnes  and 
Swinney  families,  gained  pioneer  prestige  in 
the  Arrow  Rock  community,  as  did  also  the 
Ballard  family. 

John  J.  Swinney,  named  in  honor  of  his 
paternal  grandfather,  was  graduated  in  the 
high  school  at  Sweet  Springs,  Missouri,  in 
1914,  and  at  Liberty,  that  state,  he  was  grad- 
uated in  William  Jewell  College  as  a  member 
of  the  class  of  1920  and  with  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts.  He  later  attended  the  school 
of  commerce  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  and 
through  post-graduate  work  at  the  University 
of  Illinois  he  gained  from  that  institution,  in 
1931,  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts. 

In  1919  Mr.  Swinney  initiated  what  has 
been  a  distinctly  successful  career  as  a  teacher 
in  the  public  schools.  He  was  science  teacher 
at  Blackwell,  Oklahoma,  two  years,  and  in 
1922  he  came  to  Paxton,  Illinois,  in  the  ca- 
pacity of  assistant  principal  of  the  high  school 
and  also  as  coach  in  student  athletics.  In  1925 
he  was  advanced  to  his  present  dual  office  of 
superintendent  of  the  city  schools  and  principal 
of  the  high  school,  and  his  administration  has 
been  marked  by  progressive  policies  and  by  a 
professional  loyalty  that  has  begotten  a  full 
measure  of  student  loyalty  in  turn.  Mr.  Swin- 
ney has  membership  in  the  Ford  County  Teach- 
ers Association,  the  Illinois  State  Teachers  As- 
sociation and  the  National  Education  Asso- 
ciation. He  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason  and 
is  affiliated  also  with  the  Phi  Delta  Kappa 
college  fraternity  and  Phi  Gamma  Delta  fra- 
ternity. He  is  independent  in  political  atti- 
tude, is  a  member  of  the  official  board  and  also 
Sunday  School  superintendent  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  of  Paxton,  of  which 
his  wife  likewise  is  a  zealous  member,  and  the 
memories  and  association  of  his  World  war 
service  are  perpetuated  through  his  affiliation 
with  Prairie  Post  No.  150,  American  Legion. 
His  wife  as  a  member  of  the  woman's  auxil- 
iary of  this  post,  besides  being  a  member  of 
the  local  women's  clubs  and  the  Chapter  of 
the  Eastern  Star. 

When  the  nation  became  involved  in  the 
World  war,  in  the  spring  of  1917,  Mr.  Swinney 
promptly  enlisted  for  service  in  the  United 
States  Army,  and  at  Fort  Sill,  Oklahoma,  was 
assigned  to  Company  H,  One  Hundred  and 
Fortieth  Infantry,  Thirty-fifth  Division.  In 
November,  1917,  he  was  transferred  to  the  air 
service  and  received  ground  training  at  the 
University  of  Illinois,  where  he  remained  eight 
weeks.     His  flying  discipline  was  acquired  at 


// 


ILLINOIS 


343 


Gerstner  Field,  Lake  Charles,  Louisiana, 
where  he  was  stationed  until  August,  1918, 
when  he  sailed  for  France.  There  he  was 
stationed  three  months  at  Issoudun  and  four 
months  at  Orly,  southeast  of  Paris,  where  he 
was  in  service  when  the  armistice  brought  the 
war  to  a  close.  While  in  Louisiana  he  received 
his  commission  as  second  lieutenant,  and  with 
this  rank  he  was  honorably  discharged  in 
March,  1919,  a  Hoboken,  New  Jersey.  During 
the  ensuing  five  years  he  retained  the  rank 
of  second  lieutenant  in  the  Officers  Reserve 
Corps  of  the  United  States  Army. 

Mr.  Swinney  has  not  abated  his  vital  inter- 
est in  athletics,  and  finds  recreation  in  golf 
and  hunting.  He  made  a  notably  successful 
record  as  student  coach  in  football,  baseball 
and  basketball,  even  as  his  pedagogic  service 
has  been  marked  by  cumulative  success  and 
prestige.  The  fine  high  school  building  of 
Paxton  was  erected  in  1925,  at  a  cost  of 
$190,000,  and  it  has  a  splendid  auditorium 
in  addition  to  its  forty  class  rooms.  Fourteen 
teachers  are  retained  in  the  high  school  and 
sixteen  in  the  grades,  with  a  total  enrollment 
of  about  700  students. 

July  12,  1925,  at  Dana,  Indiana,  Mr.  Swin- 
ney was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Kathleen 
Kerns,  her  father,  D.  C.  Kerns,  having  long 
been  a  successful  farmer  and  having  also  been 
a  prominent  contractor  and  builder  at  Dana. 
In  her  native  State  of  Indiana  Mrs.  Swinney 
was  graduated  in  DePauw  University  as  a 
member  of  the  class  of  1921,  and  prior  to  her 
marriage  she  taught  Latin  and  English  in  the 
high  school  at  Paxton,  Illinois.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Swinney  have  two  fine  sons,  John  Kerns  and 
James  Truman. 

Valentine  Odell,  treasurer  of  Clay  County, 
was  born  and  reared  in  this  county  and  is  a 
scion  of  the  third  generation  of  the  Odell 
family  in  Illinois,  his  paternal  grandfather, 
Joseph  Odell,  having  been  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina and  first  moved  to  Lawrence  County,  In- 
diana, and  then  later  moved  to  Illinois  in  the 
pioneer  days  and  made  settlement  in  Clay 
County,  where  he  reclaimed  and  developed  a 
farm.  Caleb  Odell  was  born  in  Lawrence 
County,  Indiana,  and  was  a  young  man  when 
the  family  moved  to  Illinois.  The  Odell  family 
was  founded  in  America  in  the  Colonial  pe- 
riod of  our  national  history  and  one  of  the  an- 
cestors of  the  subject  of  this  review  was  a 
patriot  soldier  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 

Valentine  Odell  was  born  on  his  father's 
farm  in  Hoosier  Township,  Clay  County,  Illi- 
nois, February  14,  1878,  and  is  a  son  of  Caleb 
and  Nancy  (Britton)  Odell,  the  latter  of 
whom  was  a  widow  at  the  time  of  her  mar- 
riage to  Caleb  Odell,  her  first  husband  having 
been  Caleb  Hurley  and  their  children  having 
been  three  in  number:  George,  Ella  and  Lou- 
rinda.      Her   second   marriage   was   to   Joseph 


Maxwell  and  their  one  child  died  in  infancy. 
Valentine  Odell  is  the  eldest  of  the  five  chil- 
dren of  Caleb  and  Nancy  (Britton)  Odell,  and 
the  next  younger  son  is  Pearly,  who  married 
Maggie  Cooper,  their  children  being  two  sons 
and  one  daughter;  Bertha  next  in  order  of 
birth,  is  the  wife  of  Jesse  Bryan  and  they 
have  five  children;  Asa  is  deceased;  Grover  C. 
married  Etta  White  and  they  have  seven 
children. 

Caleb  Odell  early  began  to  assist  in  the 
work  of  the  old  home  farm  in  Lawrence  Coun- 
ty, Indiana,  and  his  educational  advantages 
were  those  of  the  common  schools  of  the  local- 
ity and  period.  In  his  original  operations  of 
independent  order  he  rented  farm  land,  and 
after  removing  to  Clay  County,  Illinois,  he 
was  successful  in  his  farm  enterprise  in 
Hoosier  Township,  where  he  became  event- 
ually the  owner  of  a  well  improved  farm  of 
about  200  acres.  On  this  farm  he  and  his 
wife  passed  the  closing  years  of  their  lives 
and  their  mortal  remains  rest  in  the  Hoosier 
Cemetery  in  their  old  home  township,  both 
having  been  earnest  members  of  the  Baptist 
Church.  Caleb  Odell  passed  away  November 
9,   1884,  and  his  widow  survived   until   1919. 

The  early  education  of  Valentine  Odell  was 
obtained  in  the  district  school  known  as  the 
Odell  School,  near  the  home  place,  and  in  his 
youth  he  had  a  full  quota  of  experience  in 
connection  with  the  work  of  his  father's  farm. 
After  leaving  the  farm  he  learned  both  the 
carpenter's  and  plasterer's  trades,  and  he  be- 
came a  successful  contractor  along  these  lines. 
In  1922  he  was  elected  county  clerk  and  after 
serving  one  term  in  this  office  he  was  elected 
county  treasurer  in  1930,  the  office  of  which 
he  has  since  continued  the  incumbent  and  in 
which  he  has  ably  administered  the  fiscal 
affairs  of  his  native  county.  His  success  has 
been  won  through  his  own  efforts  and  he  re- 
sides on  his  well  improved  resident  property 
adjacent  to  Louisville,  the  county  seat.  He 
is  a  specially  fine  penman  and  on  one  occa- 
sion won  the  first  prize,  $1,000,  in  a  penman- 
ship contest  in  which  12,000  persons  partici- 
pated. Mr.  Odell  has  long  been  prominent  in 
the  local  councils  of  the  Democratic  party,  is 
affiliated  with  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  Amer- 
ica, and  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church  of 
Hoosier  Prairie  Township. 

On  June  19,  1898,  Mr.  Odell  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Mary  A.  Erwin,  daughter  of 
Elijah  and  Mary  (Brown)  Erwin,  of  Clay 
County.  The  Erwin  family  are  a  pioneer 
family  of  Clay  County  and  are  farmers.  Ora 
Ethel,  eldest  of  the  ten  children  born  to  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Odell,  is  the  wife  of  George  Morris 
and  they  have  four  children,  George,  Jr.,  Anna 
May,  Glenn  and  Erma  Irene;  Ova  H.,  next 
younger  of  the  children,  married  Ethel  Lewis 
and  they  have  three  children,  Viola,  Dorothy, 
and   Delores;    Clarence   D.   married   Josephine 


344 


ILLINOIS 


Golic  and  they  have  three  children,  Helen, 
Clarence,  Jr.,  and  Marie;  John  Paul  married 
Mabel  Conley  and  their  children  are:  Robert 
and  Marjorie;  Caleb  E.  married  Cora  Kenley 
and  they  have  one  child,  John  V.;  Leland  V. 
married  Bessie  Abel  and  they  have  one  child, 
Billie  Leon;  Viola  May  is  deceased.  Irene, 
married  Noll  Bailey;  Ray  and  Fay,  twins, 
still  remain  members  of  the  parental  home 
circle.  All  the  children  were  born  in  Clay 
County,  as  was  their  father,  except  Clarence, 
who  was  born  in  East  Saint  Louis. 

Ray  and  Fay  are  natural  born  musicians 
and  at  the  age  of  twelve  are  carving  a  name 
for  themselves  as  radio  entertainers. 

Luther  L.  Castetter  was  born  at  Fishers, 
Hamilton  County,  Indiana,  October  6,  1895, 
the  son  of  James  H.  and  Mary  F.  (Brooks) 
Castetter,  both  natives  of  Indiana. 

James  H.  was  the  son  of  Michael  and  Sarah 
(Heady)  Castetter  who  were  among  the  sub- 
stantial and  esteemed  residents  of  Hamilton 
County.  Theirs  was  a  home  of  inflexible  prin- 
ciples and  stern  discipline,  and  to  them  were 
born  nine  children.  Michael  Castetter  was  a 
farmer  and  stockholder,  whose  parents  were 
natives  of  Germany.  He  was  a  Union  soldier, 
holding  the  rank  of  corporal,  and  died  from 
the  effect  of  wounds  received  on  the  battle- 
field. Sarah  (Heady)  Castetter  held  the  house- 
hold together  after  her  vigorous  manner,  until 
all  the  children  grew  to  maturity.  She  died  in 
1916.  Although  rigid  in  discipline,  her  home 
was  always  a  place  of  merriment,  and  remains 
in  the  memory  of  her  children,  and  of  the 
grandchildren  whose  delight  was  to  go  see 
Grandma  Castetter. 

The  parents  of  Mary  F.  (Brooks)  Castetter 
were  of  English  descent,  and  died  early  in  life 
leaving  her  an  orphan.  She  lived  with  her 
Grandmother  Redwine,  and  became  a  woman 
of  fine  character. 

James  H.  and  Mary  F.  (Brooks)  Castetter 
spent  their  early  married  life  in  Fishers, 
Hamilton  County,  Indiana,  where  he  was  a 
carpenter  and  woodworker.  In  1900  they 
moved  to  a  farm;  four  years  later  to  a  larger 
farm  in  Hancock  County,  and  in  1911  to 
Clark  County.  To  their  home  were  born  eight 
children,  six  of  whom  are  still  living.  They  are 
Emil  Gordon,  Harry  E.,  Forest  B.,  Luther  A., 
Alberta  Belle  (Harrell),  and  Sarah  Gretchen, 
(Dunlevy).  Theirs  was  a  christian  home,  and 
they  were  always  among  the  esteemed  people 
wherever  they  lived.  The  mother  died  Sep- 
tember 11,  1914,  and  on  October  17,  a  year 
later,  the  father  followed,  never  having  recov- 
ered from  the  loss  of  his  companion.  Both 
were  Methodists  and  laid  to  rest  in  Beaver 
cemetery,  Fishers,  Indiana. 

The  first  year  of  the  life  of  Luther  L. 
Castetter,  after  loss  of  his  father  and  home, 
was  spent  working  for  farmers.     Having  been 


needed  at  home,  he  was  only  permitted  to 
attend  the  grades  of  the  common  school,  but 
has  always  been  a  lover  of  books  and  study. 
An  early  manifestation  of  this  was  at  the  age 
of  fifteen,  when  he  purchased  out  of  his  mea- 
ger savings  a  Webster's  unabridged  dictionary, 
which  still  finds  everyday  use  and  is  one  of 
his  prize  possessions,  although  getting  yellow 
and  worn  with  age  and  use. 

Luther  L.  Castetter  was  a  lover  of  the  farm, 
and  a  dependable  worker  but  was  quick  to  see 
that  his  ambitions  could  hardly  become  ful- 
filled by  farm  work  because  of  insufficient 
spare  time  to  study,  and  the  compensation  as 
a  farm  hand.  It  was  the  desire  to  study  and 
be  provided  with  a  better  income,  that  led  to 
the  saving  of  sufficient  money  to  learn  teleg- 
raphy as  soon  as  corn  husking  was  over  in  the 
fall  of  1916,  and  on  December  13  he  entered 
the  telegraph  office  at  Caney  on  the  Louisville 
Division  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  to  study 
telegraphy  under  the  tutorship  of  Irving  L. 
Staton,  whose  hours  were  from  3  to  11  P.  M. 
In  this  he  made  a  record  by  becoming  ready 
for  work  in  less  than  three  months  and  draw- 
ing his  first  salary  in  March. 

He  remained  with  the  Pennsylvania,  and 
was  always  an  efficient  and  dependable  em- 
ployee, until  his  enlistment  into  the  navy  dur- 
ing the  World  war.  During  this  time  with  the 
railroad,  he  was  learning  the  things  which 
make  for  character  and  a  useful  life.  His 
hobby  was  his  orphan  sister  Gretchen,  who 
was  left  without  a  home  and  parents  at  the 
age  of  eleven. 

Being  a  telegrapher,  the  Navy  sent  him  to 
the  Harvard  Radio  School  where  he  soon  be- 
came an  adept  radio  operator,  and  volunteered 
for  submarine  work.  Only  those  who  served 
on  submarines  understand  submarine  life,  and 
many  were  the  risks  and  exciting  events.  At 
one  time  an  explosion  and  fire  in  the  engine 
room  nearly  brought  death.  Running  afoul 
a  sand  bar  nearly  flooded  the  vessel  another 
time,  as  the  submarine  almost  tipped  over. 
One  well  remembered  experience  was  an  un- 
intentional dive  of  almost  a  hundred  feet  to 
the  bottom  of  the  sea  and  sinking  in  mud 
where  disaster  gripped  at  the  lives  of  the  en- 
tire crew.  After  nearly  an  hour  of  splendid 
work  by  the  captain  and  men,  the  boat  was 
released.  Mr.  Castetter  received  an  honor- 
able discharge  in  July,  1919,  and  returned  to 
civilian   life. 

Resuming  employment  with  the  Pennsyl- 
vania, Mr.  Castetter  began  making  plans  for 
a  constructive  future  of  usefulness.  Taking 
advantage  of  so  much  leisure  time  while  on 
duty,  and  having  so  much  time  off  duty,  he 
became  a  student  of  a  general  system  of  edu- 
cation without  its  technicalities.  He  also  saw 
the  necessity  of  being  able  to  work  at  more 
than  one  trade,  so  learned  typing  and  short- 
hand;   also    attended    a    barber    college    and 


ILLINOIS 


345 


learned  the  barber  trade.  Wishing  the  ad- 
vantage of  a  profession,  he  left  the  employ 
of  the  railroad  and  in  1920  entered  the  Uni- 
versal Chiropractic  College,  Pittsburgh,  Penn- 
sylvania, where  he  took  a  three-year  course 
and  graduated,  a  Doctor  of  Chiropractic,  with 
an  average  of  ninety-six  and  three-fourths  for 
thirty-two  examinations.  Being  required  to 
work  his  way  through  school,  gave  him  no  op- 
portunity for  the  college  fraternities  or  social 
side  of  life,  and  he  was  hardly  popular  with 
classmates. 

A  year  in  professional  practice  at  Indianap- 
olis, Indiana,  proved  too  confining  to  one  of 
such  broad  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  world. 
During  this  year  he  wrote  a  book,  Knowledge 
of  Sex,  which  bears  the  endorsement  of  hun- 
dreds of  people,  from  all  walks  of  life,  and 
brought  him  his  first  easy  money.  He  also 
obtained  patent  rights  on  chiropractic  adjust- 
ing tables,  but  these  did  not  prove  financially 
successful. 

He  became  an  employee  of  the  Big  Four 
Railroad  (New  York  Central)  as  a  telegraph 
operator,  and  in  1924  settled  at  Donovan,  Iro- 
quois County,  Illinois.  A  year  later  he  mar- 
ried and  bought  a  home  directly  across  the 
street  from  his  work.  His  wife,  Esther  Lee 
(Ditzel)  was  the  eldest  daughter  of  Edward 
and  Margaret  Ditzel  of  Henryville,  Clark 
County,  Indiana.  Mrs.  Castetter  is  a  graduate 
of  the  Henryville  High  School,  with  three 
years  of  college  work,  and  was  a  public  school 
teacher  at  Henryville  for  seven  years. 

One  of  the  first  outstanding  accomplish- 
ments of  Mr.  Castetter  in  Donovan  was  in 
1925  when  alone  and  single-handed,  he  secured 
in  less  than  one  day,  an  over-subscription  of 
twenty  per  cent  for  the  community,  to  the 
American  Legion  Endowment  Fund.  This 
brought  the  commendation  of  the  Illinois  Le- 
gion Department  and  national  mention.  He 
is  a  steadfast  Legion  member  and  has  served 
as  both  commander  and  adjutant  of  his  post. 

Mr.  Castetter  takes  an  active  interest  in 
civic  affairs,  and  is  willing  at  all  times  to  do 
what  is  within  his  power  for  public  welfare. 
Being  very  frank  and  outspoken  in  his  man- 
ner doesn't  always  gain  him  friends,  but  no 
one  can  call  him  their  enemy.  He  is  listed 
as  a  Republican  but  is  not  a  politician,  quot- 
ing as  his  opinion  the  difference  between  a 
Republican  and  a  Democrat,  that  when  one  is 
in  office  the  other  is  out.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Blue  Lodge,  Masonic  fraternity,  but  not 
an  active  worker  in  Masonic  circles;  not  wish- 
ing to  take  advantage  of  any  influence  Ma- 
sonry might  give  him.  He  is  deeply  religious, 
but  not  a  member  of  any  church.  His  creed  is 
"To  Do  Good,"  and  his  political  aim  is  "The 
Most  Good  for  the  Greatest  Number."  His 
home  is  one  of  his  hobbies,  being  small  but 
one  of  the  most  modern  and  comfortable  in 
the  county.     He  is  a  lover  of  children  but  has 


none  of  his  own.  Every  child  in  the  com- 
munity knows  Dr.  Castetter  as  their  friend, 
and  he  calls  them  all  by  name.  Although  too 
busy  to  indulge  in  much  recreation,  he  finds 
pleasure  in  golf,  and  has  played  under  eighty. 
He  is  called  the  best  checker  player  in  the 
community  and  finds  it  a  pleasant  diversion. 
Although  not  socially  prominent  his  presence 
nearly  always  adds  cheer.  He  finds  many  mo- 
ments of  recreation  with  his  banjo,  and  has 
appeared  on  radio  programs  with  it. 

His  books  are  a  valued  treasure.  Among 
them  are,  The  Encyclopedia  Britannica;  the 
Harvard  Classics,  Charles  ElioVs  Five-foot 
Shelf;  The  Beacon  Lights  of  History;  Chad- 
man's  Encyclodepia  of  Law;  Messages  and 
Papers  of  the  Presidents  and  many  others. 
The  knowledge  he  has  gained  from  these  has 
made  him  a  writer,  whose  opinions  carry 
weight.  His  thesis  on  economics,  he  considers 
his  masterpiece. 

Mr.  Castetter  is  considered  an  authority 
upon  the  basic  principles  of  taxation.  He  is 
at  present  publicity  director  for  the  Illinois 
Taxpayers  Association,  writing  articles  for 
publication  in  nearly  all  counties  of  the  state, 
He  is  also  called  upon  to  speak  over  the  radio 
in  the  interest  of  lower  taxes  and  economics. 
It  is  remarkable  to  many  people,  the  volume 
of  things  he  can  accomplish  without  apparent 
fatigue.  He  enjoys  wonderful  health,  yet 
sleeps  an  average  of  five  hours  a  day.  Many 
calls  come  for  his  services  as  a  public  speaker. 
He  calls  himself  a  talker  instead  of  a  speaker, 
but  is  known  for  his  manner  of  convincing  and 
entertaining  an  audience.  Great  quantities  of 
his  literature  are  distributed;  some  at  cost 
and  much  free  to  those  who  cannot  afford  to 
buy. 

Francis  Marion  Cook  was  for  many  years 
a  prosperous  Illinois  farmer.  His  last  years 
were  spent  at  Kankakee,  where  he  died  Sep- 
tember 22,  1927,  and  where  Mrs.  Cook  and 
other  members  of  the  family  continue  to 
reside. 

He  was  born  June  22,  1844,  at  Elkhart, 
Indiana.  Most  of  his  farming  was  done  in 
the  vicinity  of  Cabery,  in  Ford  County,  Illi- 
nois. He  married  in  1866  Samantha  Bouk, 
who  was  born  in  Ontario,  Canada.  Her  par- 
ents, William  and  Deborah  (St.  John)  Bouk, 
were  also  natives  of  Canada  and  came  to 
Illinois  in  1865.  Her  father  bought  a  farm 
in  Ford  County,  and  after  leaving  the  farm 
they  lived  in  Compton,  Illinois.  Mrs.  Cook 
was  the  fourth  in  a  family  of  eight  children, 
four  of  whom  are  still  living.  Her  parents 
were  Methodists  and  her  father  a  Republican. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cook  were  the  parents  of  eight 
children:  William,  who  spent  many  years  as 
a  farmer,  but  is  now  living  retired  in  Chicago; 
Etta,  widow  of  R.  B.  Gardner,  of  Kankakee; 
Frank,    deceased;    Ellsworth,    whose    home    is 


346 


ILLINOIS 


in  Chicago;  Cora  and  Delia,  both  deceased; 
Miss  Edith,  who  lives  with  her  mother  at 
627  South  Greenwood  Avenue  in  Kankakee; 
and  Sylvia,  wife  of  Sherman  Senesac,  a  Kan- 
kakee merchant. 

Mrs.  Cook  is  a  Methodist  and  a  Repub- 
lican. In  addition  to  the  old  homestead  farm 
near  Cabery,  she  owns  two  other  farms  within 
two  miles  of  that  town. 

Jesse  H.  Roth,  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat 
specialist,  lives  at  Kankakee,  but  part  of  his 
time  is  spent  in  Chicago,  as  a  consultant  and 
medical  college  instructor. 

Doctor  Roth  was  born  at  Fowler,  Indiana, 
June  6,  1888,  son  of  John  A.  and  Mary  A. 
(Burns)  Roth.  His  grandfather,  Adam  Roth, 
was  born  in  Germany  and  settled  on  a  farm 
in  Indiana  in  1848.  The  maternal  grand- 
father, James  Burns,  was  a  native  of  Ireland 
and  went  to  Indiana  in  1845.  Doctor  Roth's 
parents  were  born  in  Indiana,  his  father  at 
New  Albany  and  his  mother  at  Kentland.  Both 
live  on  their  farm  at  Fowler.  They  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Catholic  Church  and  his  father  is 
a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Columbus  and  a 
Republican. 

Doctor  Roth  was  the  oldest  of  five  children, 
being  the  only  son.  He  attended  the  Fowler 
High  School  and  took  his  Bachelor  of  Arts 
and  Master  of  Science  degrees  at  Notre  Dame 
University.  He  won  his  letter  in  foot  ball 
and  track.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Alpha 
Kappa  Kappa  medical  fraternity.  Doctor  Roth 
was  graduated  from  the  School  of  Medicine  of 
the  University  of  Illinois  in  1915,  and  had 
his  interne  experience  in  the  Illinois  Eye  and 
Ear  Infirmary.  His  practice  has  been  limited 
to  his  special  field. 

During  the  war  he  attended  the  Medical 
Officers  Training  School  at  Fort  Riley,  Kansas, 
was  sent  to  Camp  Cody,  New  Mexico,  and  went 
overseas  with  Base  Hospital  No.  11  as  an 
eye,  ear  and  throat  man.  He  was  overseas 
one  year,  reaching  the  rank  of  captain. 

After  the  war  in  the  latter  part  of  1919 
Doctor  Roth  located  at  Kankakee,  and  has 
an  extensive  practice,  being  a  recognized 
authority  in  his  special  line  all  over  that 
section  of  Illinois.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
County,  Illinois  State  Medical  Societies  and 
American  Medical  Association,  the  Chicago 
Society  of  Ophthalmology,  Oto-Laryngology, 
and  is  a  member  of  the  American  Board  of 
Oto-Laryngology.  He  is  a  clinical  associate  of 
Rush  Medical  College  in  Chicago,  and  teaches 
there  two  days  a  week.  He  has  also  con- 
tributed a  number  of  reports  and  special 
articles  to  medical  and  surgical  journals. 

Doctor  Roth  married  January  17,  1917,  Miss 
Anna  Belle  McAuley,  who  was  born  and  edu- 
cated in  Chicago.  She  died  January  5,  1918. 
On  April  27,  1920,  he  married  Josephine 
McAuley,  sister  of  his  first  wife.     Her  father, 


Daniel  R.  McAuley,  is  a  Chicago  real  estate 
man.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Roth  have  four  chil- 
dren, Annabelle,  Catherine,  John  and  Jesse. 
The  family  are  members  of  St.  Patrick's  Cath- 
olic Church  in  Kankakee.  He  is  a  Knight 
of  Columbus,  an  Elk,  an  independent  voter. 
His  hobby  is  fly  fishing. 

Frank  Oscar  Allen,  since  1921  principal 
of  the  Township  High  School  at  Stockland, 
Iroquois  County,  has  demonstrated  unusual 
capacity  in  the  educational  field.  He  also  has 
two  brothers  who  are  prominent  school  men. 

Mr.  Allen  was  born  at  Penetang,  Ontario, 
Canada,  August  5,  1890,  son  of  William  Henry 
and  Mercy  (Williams)  Allen.  His  father  was 
born  at  Penetang  September  4,  1860,  was 
reared  and  educated  there  and  learned  the 
trade  of  tinsmith.  In  October,  1898,  he 
brought  his  family  to  the  United  States  and 
located  at  Clinton,  Illinois,  where  he  was  in 
business  until  he  retired  in  1918.  His  wife, 
Mercy  Williams,  was  born  at  Bristol,  England, 
August  9,  1859,  and  came  to  this  country  in 
1882.  Both  parents  are  members  of  the  Epis- 
copal Church.  They  had  four  sons:  Louis 
Allen,  born  at  Penetang  in  November,  1887, 
who  has  attained  his  Doctor's  degree  and  is 
professor  of  French  in  the  University  of 
Toronto;  Frank  O.;  Otho  W.,  born  July  21, 
1892,  now  professor  of  modern  languages  in 
the  Phillips  Academy  of  Andover,  Massachu- 
setts; and  George  A.,  born  June  7,  1894,  a 
practicing  physician  at  Salt  Lake  City. 

Frank  Oscar  Allen  attended  the  public 
schools  of  Clinton,  Illinois,  graduating  from 
the  grade  school  in  1906  and  from  the  high 
school  in  1910.  In  1916  he  was  graduated 
A.  B.  from  the  University  of  Illinois.  During 
1910-11  he  attended  Illinois  Wesleyan  Uni- 
versity at  Bloomington  and  took  special  work 
in  the  summer  of  1930  at  Purdue  University. 
Mr.  Allen's  experience  in  teaching  includes  a 
year  of  rural  school  work.  He  was  with  the 
schools  at  Piano,  Illinois,  from  1917  to  1921 
except  for  the  period  of  his  military  service. 
He  joined  the  colors  in  1918,  spending  six 
months  at  Fort  H.  G.  Wright  in  New  York 
and  then  two  months  at  Fortress  Monroe, 
Virginia.  He  received  his  honorable  discharge 
November  22,  1918.  In  1921  Mr.  Allen  came 
from  Piano  to  Stockland  as  principal  of  the 
Township  High  School,  and  has  continued  that 
work  with  increasing  success  for  the  past 
eleven  years.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Iroquois 
County  and  State  Teachers  Associations  and  is 
active  in  Legion  work,  being  a  member  of  For- 
rest Ballard  Post  at  Milford.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Episcopal  Church,  the  Illinois  City 
School  Superintendents  Association,  was  mas- 
ter in  1981  of  Milford  Lodge  No.  168,  A.  F. 
and  A.  M.,  is  past  grand  of  Stockland  Lodge 
No.  914,  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
and  was  president  of  the  District  Union  No. 


ILLINOIS 


347 


44  in  1931.     In  politics  he  is  an  independent 
voter. 

Mr.  Allen  married  at  Bloomington,  Illinois, 
August  14,  1919,  Miss  Alta  Mae  Scribner. 
She  was  born  in  DeWitt  County,  Illinois,  July 
13,  1896,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Annie  (Rob- 
inson) Scribner.  Mrs.  Allen  attended  school 
at  Clinton  and  the  Illinois  Normal  University 
at  Bloomington.  She  had  four  years  of  teach- 
ing experience,  teaching  in  rural  schools  in 
DeWitt  County  and  for  half  a  year  was  a 
teacher  in  the  Stockland  Grade  School.  They 
had  three  children:  Eleanor  Mae,  born  Sep- 
tember 21,  1922;  Dorothy  Marie,  born  October 
8,  1924;  and  Richard  Carlysle,  born  May  6, 
1921,  and  died  August  9,  1922. 

Clarence  B.  Kroehler  is  manager  of  the 
Kankakee  plant  of  the  Kroehler  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  this  being  the  largest  unit  of 
the  thirteen  different  plants  operated  by  this 
company  in  the  United  States  and  Canada. 
The  Kroehler  Company  is  one  of  Illinois'  major 
industries,  was  established  in  1893.  Its  prod- 
ucts are  sold  and  distributed  wherever  high 
class  furniture  is  appreciated.  The  upholstered 
goods  manufactured  by  the  Kroehler  Company 
have  enjoyed  a  long  and  steady  popularity, 
and  in  recent  years  the  company  has  also 
turned  to  the  manufacture  of  bed  room 
furniture. 

Mr.  Clarence  B.  Kroehler  is  thus  a  member 
of  an  old  and  honored  family.  He  was  born 
in  Minnesota  March  13,  1892,  son  of  William 
and  Louisa  (Ziegler)  Kroehler.  Both  of  his 
grandfathers  are  of  German  descent,  his 
paternal  grandfather,  Jacob  Kroehler,  being 
an  early  settler  of  Minnesota,  while  his  mater- 
nal grandfather  Ziegler  settled  in  Iowa.  Wil- 
liam Kroehler  was  born  in  Minnesota,  was 
a  farmer  in  that  state  and  lost  his  life  while 
on  a  hunting  trip,  in  1899.  He  and  his  wife 
were  members  of  the  Evangelical  Church  and 
he  was  a  Republican  in  politics.  His  farm 
was  in  Houston  County,  Minnesota.  Louisa 
(Ziegler)  Kroehler  was  born  in  Iowa  and  now 
lives  at  Naperville. 

Clarence  B.  Kroehler  was  the  third  in  a 
family  of  six  children.  He  grew  up  at  Naper- 
ville, attended  school  there,  and  afterwards 
had  special  work  in  accounting.  Since  early 
manhood  he  has  been  connected  with  the 
Kroehler  Manufacturing  Company,  and  has 
familiarized  himself  with  all  the  processes 
employed  in  the  different  plants.  The  Kan- 
kakee plant  when  operated  at  full  capacity 
has  employed  between  1,000  and  1,100  workers. 

Mr.  Kroehler  married  August  11,  1914,  Miss 
Cleopatra  Sieber,  who  was  born  at  Naperville, 
Illinois,  and  was  reared  and  educated  there. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  William  and  Etta  (Hake) 
Sieber.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kroehler  have  a  daugh- 
ter, Marjorie,  born  May  5,  1919,  a  student 
in  the  Kankakee  public  schools.     The  family 


are  members  of  the  Congregational  Church. 
Mr.  Kroehler  is  a  Mason  and  Elk,  a  Repub- 
lican in  politics,  is  a  member  of  the  Kankakee 
Country  Club,  and  his  principal  pastime  is 
golf. 

Hon.  Charles  Milton  Connor.  A  leading 
member  of  the  bench  and  bar  of  Cumberland 
County  for  more  than  thirty-five  years,  Hon. 
Charles  M.  Connor  has  occupied  numerous 
positions  of  public  trust  and  responsibility 
and  since  1930  has  been  county  judge.  His 
record  as  a  lawyer,  judge  and  citizen  is  a 
splendid  one  and  entitles  him  fully  to  the 
respect  and  confidence  in  which  he  is  univer- 
sally held  by  his  fellowmen. 

Judge  Connor  was  born  on  a  farm  about  five 
miles  southeast  of  Neoga,  in  Spring  Point 
Township,  Cumberland  County,  April  13,  1872, 
and  is  a  son  of  John  Tipton  and  Jacy  (Carr) 
Connor.  His  great-grandfather,  Tarrence 
O'Connor,  was  born  in  Ireland  about  1758, 
and  when  eighteen  years  of  age  ran  away 
from  home  and  took  passage  on  a  sailing  ves- 
sel, arriving  in  the  Colony  of  Virginia  in  1776. 
Here  in  the  same  year  he  enlisted  for  service 
in  the  Revolutionary  war,  joining  Captain 
Galliher's  Company  of  Col.  Daniel  Morgan's 
Eleventh  Virginia  Regiment,  afterwards 
known  as  the  Fifteenth  Regiment,  Continental 
Line.  He  served  over  three  years,  being  hon- 
orably discharged  in  1779  at  the  Bush  En- 
campment on  North  River,  by  General  Wood. 
When  he  enlisted  he  was  a  resident  of  Prince 
William  County,  Virginia,  and  his  name  ap- 
pears on  the  list  of  his  company  in  Saffel's 
Records  of  the  Revolutionary  War  (published 
at  Baltimore,  Maryland),  pages  257  and  264 — 
Tarrence  Connor.  He  received  bounty  land 
from  the  State  of  Virginia,  and  married  Sarah 
J.  Speaks  (or  Sprake)  about  1780.  It  is 
stated  that  he  ran  off  with  his  bride,  who  was 
either  a  daughter  or  niece  of  the  man  who 
owned  the  shipyard  in  Virginia,  where  he  was 
employed,  and  settled  in  Fairfax  County,  Vir- 
ginia, near  Chesapeake  Bay.  Her  father  (or 
uncle)  disinherited  her  and  Mr.  Connor  came 
West  to  grow  up  with  the  country,  about  1785, 
settling  first  in  Washington  County,  Kentucky, 
and  then  in  Breckenridge  County,  that  state. 
In  1806  he  crossed  the  Ohio  River  into  Perry 
County,  Territory  of  Indiana,  where  he  en- 
tered land  and  cleared  a  large  farm  about  one 
mile  above  the  present  town  of  Rome,  Indiana, 
where  he  resided  until  his  death,  December  16, 
1841.  He  drew  a  pension  from  May  25,  1819, 
to  the  date  of  his  death.  His  widow  died 
June  10,  1844,  both  having  lived  to  the  age  of 
eighty-four  years.  She  was  born  in  Ireland. 
From  a  copy  of  his  pension  application  it  may 
be  learned  that  he  participated  in  the  battles 
of  Brandywine,  Monmouth  and  the  storming 
of  Stony  Point.  On  his  tombstone  in  the  Con- 
nor   Cemetery,    near    Rome,    Indiana,    are   in- 


348 


ILLINOIS 


scribed  these  words:  "A  patriot  and  soldier 
of  the  Revolution,  and  an  associate  of  Wash- 
ington and  LaFayette."  His  farm  in  Kentucky- 
was  about  three  miles  from  the  Ohio  River, 
in  Breckenridge  County,  on  a  creek  known  as 
Sugar  Tree  Run.  The  records  of  the  family 
were  burned  in  the  fire  which  destroyed  Judge 
Connor's  great  grandfather's  house  near 
Rome,  Indiana,  in  1819. 

The  following-named  children  were  born  to 
Tarrence  and  Sarah  J.  O'Connor:  Dade,  born 
in  Virginia,  who  died  in  Kentucky  when  about 
seventy  years  old;  Samuel,  born  in  Virginia, 
who  died  in  Perry  County,  Indiana,  July  28, 
1863;  Elizabeth,  who  was  born  in  Virginia  and 
died  young;  Tarrence,  born  in  Virginia,  who 
died  at  Rome,  Indiana,  when  about  sixty  years 
of  age;  Elizabeth  (2),  born  in  Kentucky,  who 
married  Anthony  Green  and  settled  at  Pa- 
ducah,  Kentucky;  Jane,  born  in  Kentucky, 
who  married  Elijah  Carr;  William,  born  in 
Kentucky,  who  settled  at  Metropolis,  Illinois; 
Margaret,  born  in  Kentucky,  who  married 
Samuel  Frisbie  and  settled  at  Rome,  Indiana; 
and  a  few  children,  born  later,  who  all  died 
young. 

Samuel  Connor,  the  great  grandfather  of 
Judge  Connor,  was  born  in  Fairfax  County, 
Virginia,  May  15,  1783,  and  married  at  the 
age  of  nineteen  years  Elizabeth  Claycomb  in 
Breckenridge  County,  Kentucky.  In  1806  he 
removed  to  Indiana  Territory,  where  he  spent 
the  remainder  of  his  life  in  what  is  now  Perry 
County,  near  Rome,  and  his  wife  died  October 
30,  1820,  in  her  thirty-fifth  year.  Their  chil- 
dren were :  Nicholas,  born  December  26,  1803, 
who  died  young;  Samuel,  born  April  2,  1805, 
who  married  Margaret  Groves,  and  died  July 
3,  1849;  Frederick,  born  in  1807,  who  married 
Susan  Kyler;  Eliza,  born  May  4,  1809,  who 
married  Robert  Gardner  and  died  July  29, 
1861;  Tarrence,  born  November  7,  1810,  who 
married  Mary  Hyde,  November  27,  1834,  and 
married  Nancy  Tate,  June  6,  1839,  and  died 
September  10,  1859;  Katherine,  born  Septem- 
ber 25,  1812,  who  died  April  15,  1826;  Robert, 
born  February  28,  1815,  who  died  of  cholera 
on  the  Mississippi  River,  April  23,  1834;  and 
Franklin,  born  January  1,  1817,  who  died  Au- 
gust 7,  1821.  His  great-grandfather  Samuel 
Connor  married  a  second  time,  Nancy  Hyde, 
July  4,  1821.  Her  grandfater,  Charles  Hyde, 
was  a  native  of  England  who  settled  in  North 
Carolina  after  serving  through  the  Revolu- 
tionary war.  He  married  twice,  having  three 
children  by  his  first  union :  Joseph,  Ansel  and 
Ezekiel.  Ansel  settled  in  Breckenridge  Coun- 
ty, Kentucky,  and  afterwards  in  Perry  County, 
Indiana  Territory,  on  the  Ohio  River,  on  what 
was  afterwards  known  as  Poor  Farm.  There 
he  and  his  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Mary  Miller  or  Niller,  together  with  her  fa- 
ther lie  buried.  Nancy  Hyde,  Samuel  Con- 
nor's second  wife,  was  born  August  27,  1798. 
They  were  the  parents  of  the  following  chil- 


dren: Jane,  born  October  5,  1821,  who  mar- 
ried Elijah  Huckeby  June  12,  1842,  and  died 
August  17,  1866;  John  Tipton,  born  March  21, 
1824,  who  married  September  5,  1848,  Sarah 
M.  Robinson,  and  took  for  his  second  wife 
Elsia  Wilson;  Albert,  born  December  13,  1825, 
who  married  September  20,  1848,  Eliza  Ann 
Connor,  and  died  June  21,  1865;  Ann  Maria, 
born  November  16,  1829,  who  married  October 
8,  1846,  Randolph  Hall;  Mary  Willing,  born 
March  6,  1832,  who  married  May  23,  1852, 
Thomas  J.  Cutler;  and  Lydia  Bates,  born  Sep- 
tember 14,  1835,  who  married  September  21, 
1856,  J.  Porter  Hall. 

Great-grandfather  Samuel  Connor  was  a 
captain  in  the  War  of  1812,  in  the  regiment 
commanded  by  Colonel  Jordan.  The  third 
auditor  reports  that  he  was  paid  for  service 
from  August  11,  1812,  to  September  20,  1812, 
under  Col.  R.  M.  Evans  and  Maj.  John  Tip- 
ton. He  received  bounty  land  warrant  No. 
31403,  and  his  widow  was  pensioned.  He  was 
commissioned  a  brigadier-general  of  State 
Militia,  Ninth  Brigade,  March  4,  1819,  by 
Governor  Jonathan  Jennings,  which  position 
he  resigned  May  17,  1824,  at  Corydon,  Indi- 
ana, then  the  state  capital. 

John  Tipton  Connor,  father  of  Judge  Con- 
nor, was  born  at  Rome,  Perry  County,  Indi- 
ana, January  5,  1843,  and  grew  to  manhood 
in  his  home  community,  where  he  attended 
public  school.  In  1862  he  enlisted  in  the 
Forty-ninth  Regiment,  Indiana  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, with  which  he  served  for  three  years, 
and  then  returned  to  the  home  farm,  but  in 
1870  came  to  Illinois  and  located  in  Spring 
Point  Township,  Cumberland  County,  where 
he  was  engaged  in  agricultural  operations  for 
a  number  of  years.  Later  he  moved  to  To- 
ledo and  became  publisher  of  the  Toledo  Ex- 
press, a  Republican  organ,  of  which  he  was  the 
proprietor  for  more  than  fifteen  years.  He 
was  a  leader  of  the  Republican  party,  com- 
mander of  the  local  post  of  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic,  was  for  twelve  years  post- 
master of  Toledo,  and  a  member  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  in  the  faith  of  which 
he  died  February  14,  1914.  Mrs.  Connor,  who 
was  born  May  9,  1850,  at  Rome,  Indiana,  died 
November  8,  1914. 

Charles  M.  Connor  attended  the  country 
schools  of  Cumberland  County  and  DePauw 
University,  and  was  graduated  from  Illinois 
Wesleyan  University,  at  Bloomington,  Illinois, 
with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  as  a 
member  of  the  class  of  1896.  Admitted  to 
the  bar  the  same  year,  he  took  up  his  resi- 
dence and  professional  activities  at  Toledo, 
where  he  soon  was  in  the  enjoyment  of  an 
excellent  practice.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Cumberland  County  Bar  Association  and  the 
Illinois  State  Bar  Association  and  is  one  of 
the  highly  esteemed  men  of  his  calling,  being 
also  attorney  for  the  Nickel  Plate  Railway 
and  for  the  Toledo  Building  and  Loan  Asso- 


ILLINOIS 


349 


ciation.  Fraternally  he  is  a  Mason,  past 
chancellor  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  past 
noble  grand  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  and  his  religious  connection  is  with 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Judge  Con- 
nor is  one  of  the  leading  Republicans  of  his 
part  of  the  state  and  is  past  chairman  of  the 
county  central  committee  of  his  party.  He 
served  as  mayor  of  Toledo,  was  on  the  school 
board  for  six  years  and  on  the  board  of  town 
trustees  for  three  years,  acted  as  master  in 
chancery  for  Cumberland  County,  served  in 
the  Legislature  in  1901  and  1902,  and  in  1930 
was  elected  county  judge,  being  the  only  Re- 
publican on  the  county  ticket  to  be  elected. 
He  has  also  served  as  alternate  delegate  to 
two  national  conventions.  Judge  Connor  is  a 
director  in  the  First  National  Bank. 

On  June  3,  1903,  Judge  Connor  married 
Miss  Clyta  McNutt,  of  Charleston,  Illinois, 
daughter  of  Samuel  and  Ruth  McNutt.  Her 
father  came  to  Illinois  just  prior  to  the  Civil 
war  and  Mrs.  Connor  was  educated  in  the 
schools  of  Coles  County  and  the  State  Teach- 
ers College  at  Charleston.  She  is  a  member 
of  the  Domestic  Science  Club,  a  local  woman's 
organization,  the  Order  of  the  Eastern  Star 
and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  takes 
a  great  deal  of  interest  in  all  of  these  bodies. 
Two  children  have  been  born  to  Judge  and 
Mrs.  Connor:  Ruth  Elizabeth,  born  at  To- 
ledo, August  25,  1906,  a  graduate  of  the  To- 
ledo High  School,  a  Bachelor  of  Arts  honor 
graduate  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  and 
member  of  the  Sigma  Kappa  sorority,  who 
married  Wilton  A.  Carr,  of  Toledo,  June  16, 
1930,  state's  attorney  for  Cumberland  County; 
and  Kathryn  Jacy,  born  at  Toledo,  April  12, 
1910,  a  graduate  of  Toledo  High  School  and 
now  a  student  at  the  University  of  Illinois, 
class   of   1932. 

Roy  Francis  Steele,  B.  S.,  M.  A.,  is  one 
of  the  progressive  and  representative  figures 
in  educational  service  in  Iroquois  County, 
where  he  is  principal  of  the  high  school  in 
the  historic  and  beautiful  little  City  of  Milford. 

Mr.  Steele  was  born  in  Cass  Township,  Sul- 
livan County,  Indiana,  February  14,  1887, 
and  is  a  son  of  James  S.  and  Margaret  (Wal- 
ters) Steele,  both  likewise  natives  of  Sullivan 
County,  where  the  respective  families  were 
established  in  the  pioneer  days.  James  S. 
Steele  became  a  skilled  artisan  as  a  black- 
smith and  wagonmaker  and  there  was  demand 
for  his  service  in  this  capacity  during  many 
years  of  his  active  career,  though  the  later 
period  of  his  life  was  given  to  farm  industry, 
he  having  been  the  owner  of  two  farms  in 
Sullivan  County,  Indiana,  where  he  died  July 
21,  1927,  and  where  his  widow  still  resides 
on  the  old  homestead,  aged  eighty-five  years 
at  the  time  of  this  writing,  in  the  spring  of 
1932.  William  Steele,  father  of  James  S., 
was  one  of  the  pioneers   of   Sullivan   County 


and  there  both  he  and  his  wife  died,  the  latter 
having  been  born  in  Dublin,  Ireland.  William 
Steele  was  a  pioneer  in  navigation  on  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers  and  was  captain 
of  the  steamboat  Sidney,  which  plied  between 
Vincennes,  Indiana,  and  New  Orleans,  Louisi- 
ana. James  S.  Steele  is  survived  by  three 
sons,  of  whom  Roy  F.,  of  this  review,  is  the 
youngest;  Edward  resides  on  the  old  home 
farm  in  Sullivan  County  and  is  a  progressive 
agriculturist  and  stockgrower;  Everett  is  a 
resident  of  Gary,  Indiana. 

In  the  public  schools  of  his  native  county 
Roy  F.  Steele  continued  his  studies  until  he 
was  graduated  in  the  high  school  at  Dugger; 
in  1916  he  was  graduated  in  Central  Normal 
College  of  Indiana  and  received  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Science;  in  1923  he  was  gradu- 
ated in  the  Indiana  State  Teachers  College 
at  Terre  Haute  and  received  therefrom  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts;  and  from  the 
graduate  school  of  Columbia  University,  New 
York  City,  he  received  in  1928  the  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts.  His  record  as  a  teacher  has 
covered  a  period  of  nearly  thirty  years.  He 
taught  five  years  in  Indiana  rural  schools, 
three  years  in  grade  schools  in  Sullivan 
County,  that  state,  at  Dugger  and  Montezuma, 
in  which  latter  place  he  was  principal  of  the 
high  school  one  year.  He  organized  the  high 
school  at  Cass,  Indiana,  and  served  three 
years  as  its  principal,  and  during  the  ensuing 
four  years  he  was  superintendent  of  public 
schools  at  Bristol,  Indiana.  He  next  staged 
his  pedagogic  service  at  Maroa,  Macon  County, 
Illinois,  where  he  passed  five  years  as  super- 
intendent of  the  city  schools.  In  1924  he 
became  principal  of  the  high  school  at  Milford, 
where  he  has  since  continued  his  zealous  and 
efficient  administration  in  this  capacity,  with 
resultant  advancement  in  the  standard  and 
service  of  the  school.  He  has  membership  in 
the  Illinois  State  Teachers  Association,  the 
Iroquois  County  Teachers  Association  and  the 
National  Education  Association,  in  politics 
is  a  Republican  with  somewhat  independent 
proclivities,  in  the  Masonic  fraternity  he  has 
received  the  thirty-second  degree  of  the  Scot- 
tish Rite,  his  basic  affiliation  in  the  York 
Rite  being  with  the  Blue  Lodge  at  Bristol, 
Indiana,  and  his  maximum  with  the  comman- 
dery  of  Knights  Templars  at  Danville,  Illinois, 
where  he  likewise  has  his  consistory  affiliations 
of  the  Scottish  Rite.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Lions  Club  at  Milford,  and  he  and  his  wife 
are  here  members  of  the  First  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church. 

August  23,  1916,  Mr.  Steele  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Myrtle  Young,  of  Farmers- 
burg,  Indiana,  she  being  a  daughter  of  Frank 
H.  and  Cora  B.  (Weeks)  Young.  Mr.  Young, 
who  was  long  general  superintendent  of  the 
Chicago  &  Eastern  Illinois  Railroad,  died 
November  16,  1926,  and  his  widow  still  resides 
at    Farmersburg.      Mrs.    Steele    received    the 


350 


ILLINOIS 


advantages  of  the  Indiana  State  Teachers  Col- 
lege at  Terre  Haute,  and  prior  to  her  marriage 
had  given  five  years  of  service  as  a  teacher 
in  the  Indiana  public  schools.  She  is  a  popular 
figure  in  church,  cultural  and  social  circles 
in  Milford,  where  she  is  a  member  of  the 
Woman's  Club  and  the  Eastern  Star  Chapter. 
Helen  Louise,  only  child  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Steele,  is  attending  the  Milford  public  schools 
(1932). 

Mr.  Steele  has  marked  musical  talent  and 
brings  it  effectively  into  communal  service.  He 
has  been  director  of  the  Milford  orchestra 
and  given  occasional  service  as  director  of 
the  local  band. 

William  D.  Brown,  vice  president  of  the 
Reynolds  Engineering  Company  of  Rock 
Island,  was  born  at  Mineral  Point,  Wisconsin, 
in  1879,  son  of  Edward  Wales  and  Mary 
(Uren)  Brown.  Both  parents  were  natives 
of  Great  Britain.  His  father  came  to  Wis- 
consin from  Red  Ruth,  Cornwall,  England, 
when  twenty-two  years  of  age.  He  was  con- 
nected with  the  lead  and  zinc  mines  of  South- 
western Wisconsin  until  1881,  when  he  engaged 
in  mining  in  Colorado,  and  died  in  Silverton 
that  state  in  1915.  His  widow,  eighty-five 
years  of  age,  resides  at  Moline  with  her  son 
William.  There  were  four  children:  Edward 
W.,  Jr.,  in  the  dry  goods  business  at  Mineral 
Point,  Wisconsin;  Fred  H.,  a  druggist  at 
Highland,  Wisconsin;  Harry  R.,  with  the 
Interstate  Steel  &  Iron  Company  at  Chicago; 
and  William  D.  The  father  was  a  Democrat, 
a  member  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World,  and 
a  Methodist. 

William  D.  Brown  attended  school  at  Min- 
eral Point,  Wisconsin,  and  in  1898,  at  the  age 
of  nineteen,  went  to  work  for  the  Chicago, 
Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  Railway.  He  learned 
telegraphy,-  was  made  an  operator  and  acting 
agent  at  Mineral  Point,  and  in  1907  was 
advanced  to  the  position  of  assistant  manager 
of  the  Mineral  Point  and  Northern  Railway. 
In  1912  he  became  general  manager  and  in 
1916  was  transferred  to  Chicago  as  general 
purchasing  agent  for  the  Mineral  Point  Zinc 
Company,  the  Tulsa  Fuel  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, and  the  Prime  Western  Spelter  Com- 
pany. In  1925  he  came  to  Rock  Island  and 
joined  the  Reynolds  Engineering  Company, 
of  which  he  is  vice  president. 

Mr.  Brown  married  in  October,  1906,  Miss 
Nelle  Davies,  who  was  born  at  Dodgeville, 
Wisconsin.  They  have  four  children:  Marion 
J.,  born  December  7,  1911,  a  student  at  the 
Augustana  College  in  Rock  Island;  Tom  W., 
born  February  8,  1914,  also  a  student  at 
Augustana  College;  Betty  Ellen,  born  August 
29,  1918;  and  Harriet,  born  September  15, 
1919.  Mr.  Brown  and  family  attend  the  First 
Congregational  Church.  He  is  a  York  Rite 
Mason,  member  of  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  the 
After  Dinner  Club  of  Moline,  and  is  a  Repub- 
lican in  politics. 


John  H.  Beckers,  who  has  practiced  law 
in  Illinois  for  thirty  years,  is  a  resident  of 
Kankakee  and  one  of  the  outstanding  repre- 
sentatives of  his  profession  in  that  city. 

He  was  born  in  Taylor  County,  Iowa,  Novem- 
ber 2,  1878,  but  the  Beckers  family  were  early 
Illinois  settlers.  His  father,  Henry  Beckers, 
was  born  in  Germany,  a  son  of  John  Beckers, 
who  brought  his  family  to  America  and  set- 
tled at  Beardstown,  Illinois,  in  1853.  Henry 
Beckers  was  a  lifelong  farmer.  He  married 
Mary  Oppers,  who  was  also  a  native  of  Ger- 
many and  settled  at  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  in 
1870.  About  1872  they  moved  to  Iowa.  They 
were  members  of  the  Evangelical  Church  and 
the  family  are  Democratic.  There  were  three 
children:  Mrs.  Margaret  Ophardt,  of  Mount 
Pulaski,  Illinois;  John  H.;  and  William  P., 
president  of  the  Kankakee  Investment 
Company. 

John  H.  Beckers  received  his  early  edu- 
cation at  Mount  Pulaski,  Illinois,  attending 
high  school  there.  Among  other  experiences 
of  his  youth  he  taught  for  two  years.  He 
completed  his  legal  education  in  the  Illinois 
College  of  Law,  now  the  law  department  of 
DePaul  University  of  Chicago,  graduating  in 
1902  with  the  LL.  B.  degree.  For  six  years 
he  practiced  at  Lincoln,  Illinois,  and  was  city 
attorney  there  two  years.  In  1909  he  moved 
to  Kankakee,  where  he  has  enjoyed  a  large 
and  substantial  general  law  practice,  and  to 
his  profession  devotes  all  his  time.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Kankakee  County  and  Illinois 
State  Bar  Associations.  He  and  his  family 
are  members  of  the  First  Evangelical  Church. 

He  married  March  22,  1906,  Miss  Mary  A. 
Claus,  who  was  born  at  Ottawa,  Illinois,  and 
was  reared  and  educated  there.  They  have 
one  daughter,  Mary  C,  born  May  4,  1911, 
who  is  now  attending  the  North  Central  Col- 
lege at  Naperville. 

John  A.  Mayhew  is  an  accomplished  and 
successful  attorney  practicing  law  at  Kanka- 
kee, where  he  has  enjoyed  influential  and  prom- 
inent connections  since  1918. 

Mr.  Mayhew  was  born  in  Iroquois  County, 
Illinois,  October  16,  1884,  son  of  John  B.  and 
Aurelia  (Boudreau)  Mayhew.  Both  his  par- 
ents were  born  in  the  Province  of  Quebec, 
Canada.  The  maternal  grandparents  came 
from  France.  They  were  among  the  early 
French-Canadian  settlers  who  have  been  iden- 
tified with  this  section  of  Illinois  since  early 
times.  Mr.  Mayhew's  grandfather,  John  May- 
hew, was  also  a  Canadian.  John  B.  Mayhew 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  war  was  living 
at  Kankakee  and  enlisted  in  the  Seventy-sixth 
Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry.  He  was  with  the 
armies  of  the  North  four  years  and  was 
slightly  wounded  in  one  battle.  After  the 
war  he  engaged  in  farming,  and  lived  to 
advanced  years,  passing  away  December  1, 
1928.  His  widow  now  lives  at  Milford.  They 
had    six    children,    five    of    whom    are    living, 


ILLINOIS 


351 


John  A.  being  the  youngest.  Mr.  Mayhew's 
parents  were  Presbyterians  and  Methodists. 
His  father  was  a  Republican. 

John  A.  Mayhew  attended  high  schools  in 
Illinois  and  the  Illinois  State  Normal  at  Nor- 
mal. For  nine  years-  he  taught  school,  and 
while  teaching  he  took  up  his  law  studies  with 
the  firm  of  Saum  &  Malo  at  Watseka.  In 
February,  1915,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
after  successful  examination,  and  during  the 
following  three  years  practiced  at  Momence. 
In  1918  he  located  at  Kankakee,  where  he  has 
enjoyed  a  large  general  practice,  handling 
trial  cases  and  also  has  a  large  volume  of 
probate  and  corporation  work.  Mr.  Mayhew 
is  past  secretary  of  the  Kankakee  County 
Bar  Association.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Illinois  and  American  Bar  Associations.  For 
two  terms  he  was  city  attorney  of  Momence, 
also  held  a  similar  position  in  Kankakee  for 
two  terms,  and  for  one  term  was  master  in 
chancery. 

His  chief  pastime  is  golf.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Indian  Oaks  Country  Club,  belongs  to 
the  Rotary  Club,  is  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason 
and  a  member  of  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks  and 
Modern  Woodmen  of  America.  Mr.  Mayhew 
is  a  Republican. 

He  married  July  8,  1907,  Miss  Elizabeth 
Tweedy,  who  was  born  at  Cobden,  Illinois,  and 
was  educated  there  and  at  Centralia.  They 
are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  and  Mr.  Mayhew  is  on  the  official 
board. 

Hon.  Michael  Ralph  Durso  has  for  the 
past  decade  been  one  of  the  able  representa- 
tives of  the  City  of  Chicago  in  the  Illinois 
State  Legislature.  He  has  lived  in  Chicago 
all  his  life,  and  is  a  successful  member  of  the 
bar. 

Mr.  Durso  was  born  in  Chicago  July  4, 
1896.  His  parents,  Luciano  and  Antonia 
(Lagatutta)  Durso,  were  born  in  Italy.  Mr. 
Durso  acquired  his  education  in  the  public 
schools  of  Chicago,  attending  the  Lane  Tech- 
nical High  School,  and  studied  for  his  pro- 
fession in  the  Webster  College  of  Law.  He 
was  graduated  LL.  B.  in  1910,  and  has  had 
over  twenty  years  in  which  to  mature  his  tal- 
ents in  devotion  to  the  law  and  business.  He 
was  formerly  active  in  real  estate  for  several 
years. 

Mr.  Durso  was  first  elected  a  member  of  the 
General  Assembly  in  1922  and  was  reelected 
successively  in  1924,  1926,  1928  and  1930.  In 
the  House  he  represents  the  Twenty-ninth 
Senatorial  District,  which  embraces  parts  of 
the  Forty-second  and  Forty-third  wards.  He 
has  applied  himself  seriously  to  the  respon- 
sibilities of  a  legislator,  and  has  been  especially 
helpful  in  legislation  effecting  his  home  city. 
In  the  1931  session  he  was  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  uniform  laws  and  member  of 
the  committees  on  appropriations,  banks,  bank- 


ing and  building  and  loan  associations,  judi- 
ciary, roads  and  bridges.  In  prior  sessions 
he  held  chairmanship  of  Banks,  Banking  and 
Building  and  Loans  Committee  as  well  as  the 
Committee  of  License  and  Miscellany.  Mr. 
Durso  was  elected  as  a  Republican,  and  his 
repeated  reelection  is  evidence  of  his  thorough 
popularity  among  his  constituents.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Knights  of  Columbus. 

Mr.  Durso  married  June  4,  1931,  Miss 
Emanuella  Theresa  Romano.  Her  father,  Anto- 
nio Romano,  is  a  prominent  West  Side  banker. 
They  have  one  daughter,  Glorianna,  born  Feb- 
ruary 29,  1932. 

Douglas  Moseley.  Moseley  is  one  of  the 
oldest  as  well  as  the  most  honored  names  of 
Bureau  County,  where  the  family  was  estab- 
lished fully  a  century  ago.  The  late  Douglas 
Moseley  was  a  Princeton  banker,  a  man  whose 
personal  character,  whose  sincere  interest  in 
the  affairs  of  his  community,  and  whose  fun- 
damental integrity  endeared  him  to  a  large 
circle  of  admiring  friends. 

His  great-grandfather,  David.  Moseley,  was 
a  colonel  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  In  1831 
the  Moseley  family  came  from  Massachusetts 
to  Bureau  County,  Illinois.  The  head  of  the 
family  was  Roland  Moseley,  who  took  up  a 
large  tract  of  Government  land,  part  of  which 
is  still  owned  by  his  descendants.  At  the 
time  the  Moseley  family  came  to  Bureau 
County,  Frederick  Moseley,  father  of  the  late 
Douglas  Moseley,  was  a  small  child.  Fred- 
erick Moseley  was  a  native  of  Westfield,  Mas- 
sachusetts. In  Bureau  County  he  married 
Fannie  Bryant,  a  native  of  Cumington,  Mas- 
sachusetts, a  daughter  of  Austin  Bryant,  one 
of  the  early  settlers  of  Bureau  County  and 
a  niece  of  the  poet,  William  Cullen  Bryant. 

Douglas  Moseley  was  born  April  18,  1860, 
on  a  farm  near  Princeton.  He  attended 
Princeton  schools,  and  for  a  year  was  a  stu- 
dent in  the  Harvard  Law  School,  and  for 
three  years  read  law  in  the  office  of  Kendall 
and  Lovejoy  at  Princeton.  He  gave  up  his 
idea  of  becoming  a  lawyer  and  in  August, 
1884,  entered  the  Citizens  National  Bank, 
which  he  served  in  various  capacities  and  of 
which  for  the  twenty-five  years  prior  to  his 
death,  May  27,  1924,  he  was  president.  Under 
Mr.  Moseley's  able  and  conservative  manage- 
ment the  bank  prospered  until  today  it  is 
regarded  as  one  of  the  strongest  country 
banks  in  Illinois.  He  was  a  true  friend  of 
widows  and  others  who  depended  on  his  finan- 
cial judgment  for  the  protection  of  their  in- 
terests and  the  greatest  memorial  that  could 
be  left  to  a  life  well  lived  is  the  loving  mem- 
ory of  the  unselfish  service  he  rendered  to 
such  people,  which  memory  is  cherished  in 
the  hearts  of  many  in  Bureau  County.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Bankers'  Asso- 
ciation and  the  Bureau  County  Bankers 
Federation. 


352 


ILLINOIS 


Douglas  Moseley  for  a  number  of  years  was 
president  of  the  Princeton  Public  Library 
Board  and  for  ten  years  was  on  the  City 
Council.  He  was  a  director  and  stockholder 
in  the   Independent   Telephone   Company. 

His  chief  recreation  was  hunting  and  he 
was  an  enthusiastic  member  of  the  Princeton 
Gun  Club  and  the  Green  Wing  Gun  Club.  He 
was  also  a  member  of  the  Bureau  Valley 
Country  Club. 

Mr.  Moseley  married  in  1884  Louise  Jones, 
who  was  born  at  Lamoille,  Illinois,  daughter 
of  Dr.  Daniel  and  Mary  A.  (Barrett)  Jones. 
Mrs.  Moseley's  people  have  lived  in  Bureau 
County  since  1854.  Doctor  Jones  was  an  early 
physician  and  did  work  of  an  old-time  coun- 
try doctor,  riding  over  an  extensive  circuit 
He  died  in  1871.  Her  mother,  Mrs.  Mary  A. 
(Barrett)  Jones  lived  until  1923,  passing  away 
at  the  advanced  age  of  101  years.  Mrs. 
Moseley  still  occupies  the  beautiful  home  built 
by  Mr.  Moseley  in  1894.  She  is  a  director 
and  stockholder  in  the  Citizens  National  Bank, 
and  has  been  prominent  in  club  life,  being  a 
member  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution,  the  Princeton  Woman's  Club,  and 
the  Congregational  Church.  Mrs.  Moseley  has 
one  daughter,  Frances,  wife  of  Mr.  Lawrence 
Sutton,  of  Maiden,  Illinois. 

William  Huskinson  was  a  pioneer  railroad 
builder,  and  his  genius  as  an  engineer,  par- 
ticularly in  the  construction  of  the  original 
line  of  the  Chicago  and  Alton  Railway,  gave 
him  an  international  reputation.  Modern 
engineering  practice  regards  his  work  with 
as  much  admiration  as  it  aroused  among  his 
contemporaries. 

William  Huskinson  was  born  March  26, 
1827,  at  Mansfield,  Woodhouse,  Nottingham- 
shire, England.  When  a  mere  lad  he  was 
thrown  on '  his  own  resources  by  the  sudden 
death  of  his  father.  He  was  sent  to  live  with 
his  uncle,  James  Huskinson,  a  noted  civil 
engineer  and  associate  of  Brassy,  Lock, 
McKinstry,  Stephenson  and  Jackson,  engineers 
and  contractors,  who  were  engaged  on  the 
building  of  Drayton  Canal  near  Dudley,  Staf- 
fordshire. James  Huskinson  immediately 
placed  his  nephew  in  school  there,  and  when 
the  family  moved  to  Paris,  France,  the  lad 
was  put  in  an  English-French  school.  At 
the  age  of  sixteen,  ambitious  to  commence 
work,  William  Huskinson  was  placed  in  charge 
of  200  men  as  timekeeper  on  a  railroad,  being 
built  between  Havre  de  Gras  and  Beach  Mai- 
son,  Lafayette,  France.  Later  he  acted  in  the 
same  capacity  on  a  road  being  built  from 
Rouen  to  Paris  (the  only  other  road  then 
being  the  one  from  Paris  to  Versailles  of  fifteen 
miles  long).  While  acting  as  timekeeper  the 
ingenious  young  lad  suggested  and  devised 
a  plan  to  replace  an  overturned  and  badly 
wrecked  engine  on  the  tracks.  His  original 
method    greatly    pleased    his    superiors,    who 


appreciated  his  practical  ability  later  on.  Some 
time  later  the  French  government  sent  200 
select  men  to  Algiers,  Africa,  appointing  as 
interpreter  William  Huskinson,  who  proved 
an  excellent  auxiliary  between  the  French  and 
English  engineers.  The  French  government 
purposed  to  build  fortifications  at  Algiers,  but 
fever  ran  rampant  and  many  of  the  newcom- 
ers died  of  the  disease. 

After  returning  to  France,  William  Hus- 
kinson recuperated  with  his  uncle,  Thomas 
Lawson,  a  Waterloo  veteran  and  wealthy  mill 
owner  in  England.  After  recovering  his  health 
he  associated  himself  again  with  Brassy  and 
Stephenson,  who  had  contracted  for  the  build- 
ing of  a  railroad  from  Boulogne  and  Amiens 
to  Paris. 

This  work  finished,  he  determined  to  come 
to  America.  He  arrived  at  the  time  the 
Newburg  branch  of  the  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road was  being  built  into  Chester,  Pennsyl- 
vania. At  Newburg,  New  York,  he  met  Sharp 
brothers,  old  friends  of  his  uncle,  James  Hus- 
kinson, and  both  wealthy  contractors  and 
engineers,  who  made  much  of  him.  Through 
them  he  invested  a  thousand  dollars  of  his 
savings  and  took  up  contracting  and  grading. 
William  Huskinson  traveled  up  the  Hudson  on 
the  boat  Hendrick  Hudson  to  Albany.  Between 
Albany  and  Schenectady  engines  and  cars 
of  English  make  were  operating,  but  beyond 
to  Buffalo  stage  coaches  were  in  use.  Desirous 
of  seeing  the  West  he  went  through  the  lakes, 
to  Toledo,  traveled  south  on  the  recently 
opened  Miami  Canal,  and  after  a  journey  of 
ten  days  arrived  at  Cincinnati,  and  after 
another  eight  days  reached  Memphis.  From 
there  he  went  on  to  New  Orleans,  where 
through  his  knowledge  of  the  French  language 
he  met  wealthy  sugar  planters  and  soon  became 
engaged  in  engineering  and  contracting  for  a 
railroad  between  New  Orleans  and  Lake  Pon- 
chartrain.  While  there  he  finished  up  several 
contracts  and  then  started  north.  At  Vicks- 
burg  he  undertook  the  strenuous  task  of  build- 
ing a  railroad  through  the  same  swamp  that 
so  long  held  up  the  operations  of  General 
Grant  during  the  Civil  war  while  besieging 
Vicksburg.  Mr.  Huskinson  while  at  Vicksburg 
rescued  two  lads  from  drowning  at  the  immi- 
nent risk  of  his  own  life,  thereby  contracting 
the  dreaded  swamp  fever.  Several  prominent 
people,  including  the  parents  of  the  two  boys, 
interested  themselves  in  caring  for  the  young 
Englishman.  One  of  them,  Doctor  Spender, 
sent  him  north  by  boat.  While  at  Frankfort, 
Kentucky,  Mr.  Huskinson  met  Henry  Carmi- 
chael,  who  interested  him  in  the  building  of 
&  tunnel  1,500  feet  long  from  the  edge  of  the 
Kentucky  River  into  the  city,  so  that  pas- 
sengers could  be  conveyed  into  the  town  by 
this  means  instead  of  up  a  steep  hillside  road. 
For  Mr.  Carmichael,  Mr.  Huskinson  also  built 
the  road  leading  into  Lexington  from  Frank- 
fort,  and   he   also   performed   the  contract  of 


ILLINOIS 


353 


quarrying  a  monument  of  solid  rock  30  ft. 
square  by  16  ft.  deep,  which  was  erected  in 
memory  of  the  Kentucky  Fillibusters  killed 
in  Cuba,  among  whom  were  the  sons  of  Gov- 
ernors Crittenden,  Breckenridge,  Henry  Clay 
and  Orlando  Brown,  United  States  Senator. 
While  thus  engaged  William  Huskinson  got 
well  acquainted  with  the  Crittenden  and  Brown 
families.  George  Mason  Brown,  who  owns 
some  35,000  acres  of  timber,  contracted  with 
Mr.  Huskinson  to  put  in  a  crib  on  his  place, 
thirty  miles  below  Frankfort,  offering  the 
hospitality  of  his  large  brick  mansion  with 
its  retinue  of  slaves  if  he  would  consent  to 
undertake  the  work.  It  was  a  heavy  task 
requiring  six  months  to  finish.  Through  his 
connections  with  the  Brown  family  Mr.  Hus- 
kinson went  to  Lexington  and  became  a  nat- 
uralized citizen  of  the  United  States. 

Leaving  Kentucky  he  went  to  St.  Louis, 
where  he  heard  of  the  railroad  about  to  be 
built  by  Mitchell,  Godfrey  and  Gilman,  between 
Alton  and  Springfield.  On  arriving  at  Alton 
he  found  all  operations  suspended  because  oi 
lack  of  material  and  worse  still,  lack  of 
engineering  skill.  His  own  experience  and 
undoubted  abilities  as  an  engineer  made  him 
a  man  especially  welcome  to  the  projectors  of 
this  road.  His  work  as  construction  engineer 
on  one  of  the  important  pioneer  railways  of 
Illinois  is  deserving  of  detailed  description. 

The  Madisonville  and  Indiana  Railroad  sup- 
plied an  engine  which  hauled  in  twelve  dump 
cars  the  dirt  from  Burn's  and  Berry's  cut 
where  the  embankment  was  naught  but  soft 
mud,  holding  many  trees  and  bushes.  William 
Huskinson  first  went  to  work  packing  up  the 
culvert  which,  like  the  old  stone  depot  at 
Alton,  is  built  upon  two  thicknesses  of  oak 
plank  embankment.  It  took  from  the  winter 
of  1851  to  1852  to  fill  up  the  coal  branch 
embankment,  for  the  engine  was  decrepit. 
Piasa  Street  (Alton)  is  filled  in  twenty  feet 
deep.  This  work  accomplished,  William  Hus- 
kinson started  to  lay  track  from  Springfield 
to  Woodside.  In  the  meantime,  Edward  Keat- 
ing representing  the  firm  of  Henry  Dwight 
of  New  York,  had  advanced  Mitchell,  Godfrey 
and  Gilman  $1,000,000  to  open  and  build  their 
road,  taking  a  mortgage  as  security  and  bond- 
ing the  road.  On  March  5th  with  the  six 
picked  men,  William  Huskinson  carried  a  let- 
ter from  Edward  Keating  to  Virgil  Hickox, 
of  Springfield.  Along  the  line  of  the  proposed 
road  there  were  rail  chains,  spikes  and  gangs 
of  men,  ready  to  commence  work.  There  was 
scarcely,  if  any,  grading  prepared,  for  the 
track  started  from  where  the  present  depot 
is  to  where  the  street  leads  to  the  State  House; 
hence  the  ravine,  during  heavy  rains,  was 
filled  to  the  depth  of  twelve  feet  with  water. 
Bridge  timbers  were  cut  and  five  or  six  bents 
of  trestle  were  erected  twenty  feet  high.  This 
arduous  work  performed,  teams  hauled  mate- 
rial only  as  wanted.     Most  of  the  track,  how- 


ever, was  laid  on  virgin  sod.  Later  on,  the 
track  was  raised  two  or  more  feet  at  Wood- 
side,  where  was  a  ravine  where  it  became 
necessary  to  put  up  six  bents  of  trestle  to  reach 
the  trestle  grade.  When  the  Wabash  Railroad 
was  reached  William  Huskinson  made  the 
crossing  by  putting  in  the  right  of  way  of 
the  Springfield  and  Meredosia  Railroad,  thus 
passing  Woodside  station  and  building  on  until 
it  reached  the  head  of  the  grade  going  down 
to   Lick   Creek. 

William  Huskinson  now  returned  to  Alton, 
in  order  to  lay  the  track  between  Brighton 
and  Watt's  place.  Traveling  by  stage  was 
not  alone  very  hazardous  but  extremely  irk- 
some, for  creeks  were  often  eight  feet  deep 
and  many  times  passengers  had  to  alight  and 
help  propel  the  mud  stuck  stage  from  the  mire 
by  the  means  of  hickory  poles  carried  along 
for  that  purpose.  Farm  houses  were  few 
and  bearings  were  taken  mostly  by  timber 
lands.  At  Carlinville  Robert  Hankins'  hos- 
telry was  also  a  relay  station  where  fresh 
horses  awaited  the  transit  across  the  danger- 
ous Macoupin  Creek  at  Holliday  Mills,  whence 
it  took  some  four  or  five  days  of  plunging, 
swaying  and  creeking  for  the  lumbering  coach 
to  reach  Upper  Alton.  After  finishing  the 
track  between  Brighton  and  Watt's  place  the 
tremendous  mountain  of  earth  in  the  locality 
of  Hoffmeister's  farm,  necessitated  the  grad- 
ing down  one  side  of  the  cut  in  order  to  lay 
the  track  thereon,  then  made  a  back  turn  and 
the  putting  of  ties  and  iron  ahead.  So  bents 
twelve  feet  thick  and  eighteen  feet  high  were 
erected  and  soon  track  laying  commenced  at 
both  Copp's  Creek  and  Macoupin,  two  engines 
hauling  six  cars  to  the  requiring  points.  The 
Mason  shops  at  Springfield  furnished  forty 
flat  cars,  and  Paterson,  New  Jersey,  the 
engines.  Progress  being  thus  assured,  Septem- 
ber 1  found  the  bridge  in  readiness  for  track 
laying.  The  south  end  of  this  wonderful 
bridge  was  twelve  bents,  the  ties  being  red 
cedar   from    Tennessee. 

The  placing  of  ties,  laying  and  spiking  them 
down,  chair  rails  on  the  chains,  all  this  precise 
work  was  most  scrupulously  performed  by  this 
experienced  builder;  likewise  the  trestle  over 
Macoupin  and  Hurricane  Creek,  and  also  the 
famous  Piasa  bridge  on  the  Jerseyville  Branch 
was  designed  and  built  by  him  and  is  a  bridge 
ninety  feet  high  and  304  feet  in  length.  It 
is  a  five  arch  stone  structure.  These  bridges, 
planned  and  executed  by  this  ingenious  man, 
stand  today  as  pieces  of  mechanical  work 
worthy  of  this  artisan  and  master  worker, 
William  Huskinson.  It  is  needless  to  say  these 
monuments  of  skill  have  been  highly  com- 
mented upon  by  the  best  of  experts,  for  they 
stand  today  as  a  silent  witness  of  the  strenu- 
ous and  tireless  efforts  of  this  worker. 

On  July  4,  to  celebrate  the  finishing  of  the 
railroad,  Messrs.  Mitchell,  Godfrey  and  Gil- 
man tendered  the  public  a  free  excursion  over 


354 


ILLINOIS 


it,  the  train  consisting  of  ten  flat  cars,  well 
canopied  over  with  bushes,  and  streaming  with 
banners  and  emblems  of  joy.  The  building 
of  the  Chicago  and  Alton  Railroad  was  due 
to  the  faithful  and  persistent  energy  of  Wil- 
liam Huskinson,  whose  efforts  were  so  thor- 
oughly appreciated  by  the  officers  and  people 
at  large,  that  many  valuable  presents  were 
offered  him,  but  the  modest  and  retiring  na- 
ture of  William  Huskinson  sought  only  a  just 
recompense  for  his  tireless  labors  and  he  re- 
fused all  else. 

The  Chicago  &  Alton  Railroad  is  indebted 
to  William  Huskinson  for  the  invention  of 
the  split  switch  and  frog  and  the  suggestion 
of  its  colored  light  system,  besides  many  other 
inventions  given  gratis  which  all  railroads  now 
use. 

He  remained  with  the  Chicago  &  Alton  Rail- 
road many  years,  being  director  of  the  Mis- 
souri branch  representing  the  Mitchell  family 
interests.  He  was  highly  esteemed  by  Presi- 
dent Blackstone  and  Mr.  McMullen  and  a  life 
long  friend  of  R.  P.  Tansey,  president  of  the 
St.  Louis  Transfer  Company,  and  of  Sir  Wil- 
liam Van  Home,  builder  and  president  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific  Railroad.  This  latter  gentle- 
man wrote  to  William  Huskinson  urging  him 
to  join  his  work,  but  business  interests  pre- 
vented such  an  alliance.  William  Huskinson 
was  asked  by  Mr.  Henry  of  Joliet  to  enter 
a  partnership  with  him  in  the  construction  of 
a  railroad  in  Texas  and  in  which  he  was  inter- 
ested, but  owing  to  other  arrangements  he 
declined  to  accept  the  same. 

William  Huskinson  was  for  many  years  one 
of  the  honored  and  respected  citizens  of  Alton. 
Though  often  importuned  by  friends  to  seek 
public  office,  he  preferred  the  routine  of  a 
busy  and  laborious  life  of  practical  affairs. 
During  the  Civil  war  Governor  Yates  commis- 
sioned him  a  captain  and  he  was  delegated  to 
look  after  the  transportation  of  troops  to  the 
front.  He  owned  lands  in  Macoupin  County, 
was  a  partner  in  the  Huskinson  Mills  at 
Nilwood,  was  also  interested  in  mills  around 
Godfrey  and  was  a  partner  in  the  Alton  Mac- 
adam Stone  Ballast  Company.  With  David 
Ryan  he  contracted  and  built  the  government 
road  in  Springfield,  Missouri,  leading  to  the 
National   Cemetery. 

William  Huskinson  lived  to  be  seventy-nine 
years  of  age,  passing  away  in  1906.  On  Octo- 
ber 20,  1852,  he  and  Mary  Jane  Braznell  were 
married  by  Rev.  George  Halliday.  She  was  a 
daughter  of  Daniel  Braznell,  a  pioneer  citizen 
of  Alton.  Mrs.  Huskinson  died  in  1896.  The 
late  Mr.  Huskinson  was  a  senior  warden  in 
St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church,  was  affiliated  with 
Piasa  Lodge  No.  27,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  Alton 
Chapter  No.  8  R.  A.  M.,  Alton  Council  No.  3 
R.  and  S.  M.,  and  Belvidere  Commandery  No.  2 
Knights  Templar  at  Alton. 

One  of  the  children  of  William  Huskinson 
is  Mr.  George  Huskinson,  now  superintendent 


of  the  Division  of  Insurance  in  the  Illinois 
Department  of  Trade  and  Commerce  at  Spring- 
field. He  was  born  at  Alton  June  14,  1867, 
and  was  educated  in  the  grade  and  high  schools 
of  that  city,  also  had  the  instruction  of  private 
tutors  and  attended  a  business  college  in  St. 
Louis.  His  first  experience  in  insurance  was 
gained  with  the  McKinney  Insurance  Agency 
at  Alton.  In  1898  he  was  appointed  assistant 
actuary  of  the  Insurance  Department  of  Illi- 
nois by  Governor  John  R.  Tanner,  receiving 
his  training  in  this  work  under  John  J.  Brin- 
kerhoff,  actuary  of  the  Illinois  Insurance 
Department.  He  continued  as  assistant  actu- 
ary under  Governor  Tanner,  Yates,  Deneen, 
Dunne  and  Lowden.  During  the  Lowden  admin- 
istration he  resigned  from  the  insurance 
department  to  become  a  state  bank  examiner, 
with  headquarters  in  Chicago,  and  looking 
after  a  number  of  banks  in  Central  Illinois. 
In  1921  he  returned  to  the  insurance  division 
as  assistant  superintendent  and  on  January 
26,  1927,  was  made  superintendent  of 
insurance. 

Mr.  Huskinson  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Actuaries  and  the  American 
Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science.  He 
is  a  Knight  Templar  and  thirty-second  degree 
Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner.  His  home 
interests  have  been  divided  between  the  capital 
city  and  Alton.  He  is  a  member  of  the  San- 
gamo  Club  of  Springfield,  the  Elks  Club  of 
Alton,  and  has  membership  in  St.  Paul's  Epis- 
copal Church,  with  which  his  father  was  so 
long  identified  in  Alton,  and  also  the  St.  Paul's 
Episcopal    Church   at   Springfield. 

Edwin  McGinnis,  M.  D.,  is  a  renowned 
throat  specialist  in  Chicago.  His  family  can 
claim  almost  a  century  of  continuous  resi- 
dence in  Cook  County. 

Doctor  McGinnis'  grandfather,  Michael  Mc- 
Ginnis, was  a  native  of  Ireland.  He  arrived 
in  Illinois  in  1833,  and  not  being  satisfied  with 
the  prospects  at  the  Village  of  Chicago,  he 
sought  better  farming  land  at  a  distance  from 
the  lake  shore.  The  place  he  decided  upon 
was  what  is  now  Orland,  Cook  County,  where 
he  took  up  land  from  the  Government.  In 
the  front  yard  of  the  home  he  built  there  was 
the  site  of  an  old  Indian  camp,  and  for  many 
years  Indian  relics  were  turned  up  as  digging 
or  cultivation  was  carried  on. 

The  father  of  Dr.  Edwin  McGinnis  was 
also  at  one  time  a  practicing  physician.  He 
was  Dr.  James  W.  McGinnis,  who  was  born 
at  Orland  and  was  graduated  from  Rush  Med- 
ical College  of  Chicago  in  1883.  For  four 
years  he  practiced  medicine  at  Brighton  Park 
and  at  the  same  time  was  principal  of  the 
school  there.  In  1888  he  gave  up  medicine 
to  turn  his  entire  attention  to  educational 
work,  which  was  more  to  his  liking  than  med- 
icine. For  thirty  years  he  was  principal  of 
a   school   on   Morgan    Street.      Dr.   James    W. 


ILLINOIS 


355 


McGinnis  married  Anna  Stacia  Bremner.  She 
was  a  sister  of  David  F.  Bremner,  the  Brem- 
ners  being  an  old  and  highly  respected  Chicago 
family.  Anna  Bremner  was  in  the  first  class 
to  graduate  from  the  old  Chicago  High  School 
on  O'Brien  Street,  at  one  time  known  as  the 
Foster  School. 

Edwin  McGinnis  was  born  at  Orland,  Cook 
County,  August  20,  1877.  His  professional 
life  has  covered  a  period  of  nearly  thirty  years. 
He  was  graduated  A.  B.  from  the  University 
of  Michigan  in  1901,  took  his  M.  D.  degree 
at  Northwestern  University  School  of  Med- 
icine in  1904,  and  since  that  date  has  prac- 
ticed in  Chicago.  Doctor  McGinnis  has  his 
offices  at  104  South  Michigan  Boulevard.  Much 
of  his  time  is  taken  up  with  consulting  work, 
and  in  hospitals  and  medical  institutions.  He 
is^  assistant  bronchoscopist  at  the  Edward 
Hines  Hospital,  is  professor  of  oto-laryngol- 
ogy  at  Rush  Medical  College,  is  assistant  oto- 
laryngologist at  the  Presbyterian  Hospital, 
member  of  the  consulting  staff  of  the  Munici- 
pal Tuberculosis  Sanitarium.  Doctor  McGin- 
nis is  a  member  of  the  American  Bronchoscopic 
Society,  American  Laryngology,  Rhinology 
and  Otology  Associations,  American  Laryngol- 
ogy Association,  the  Chicago  Oto-Laryngology 
Society,  the  Chicago,  Tri-State,  Illinois  State 
and  American  Medical  Associations.  He  is  a 
fellow  in  the  American  College  of  Surgeons. 
Mr.  McGinnis  is  a  Kappa  Sigma  and  Nu 
Sigma  Nu,  and  member  of  the  University 
Club  of  Chicago. 

Mrs.  May  Porter.  At  the  courthouse  of 
Dewitt  County,  in  the  City  of  Clinton,  Mrs. 
Porter  is  an  efficient  and  valued  member  of  the 
official  corps  of  her  native  county,  as  she  is 
serving  as  county  superintendent  of  schools, 
an  office  to  which  she  was  elected  in  Novem- 
ber, 1926,  and  re-elected  November  4,  1930. 

Mrs.  May  (Vance)  Porter  was  born  on  the 
parental  home  farm  in  Rutledge  Township, 
Dewitt  County,  Illinois,  June  30,  1877,  and  is 
a  daughter  of  Franklin  and  Rebecca  J.  (Ful- 
ler) Vance,  the  former  of  whom  was  born  in 
1840  in  Pendleton  County,  West  Virginia,  of 
French  lineage,  and  the  latter  of  whom  was 
born  in  Dewitt  County,  Illinois,  January  31, 
1854.  Franklin  Vance  was  a  lad  of  ten  years 
at  the  time  of  the  family  removal  from  West 
Virginia,  to  Dewitt  County,  Illinois,  the  over- 
land journey  having  been  made  with  team  and 
covered  wagon,  in  true  pioneer  style,  and  the 
home  having  been  established  on  the  farm 
that  was  later  to  figure  as  the  birthplace  of 
the  present  county  superintendent  of  schools. 
Here  Franklin  Vance  was  reared  to  maturity 
and  received  his  youthful  education,  and  here 
he  continued  his  active  association  with  farm 
industry,  on  the  old  homestead,  until  his  death, 
June  17,  1897.  His  widow  still  resides  in  this 
county  and  is  seventy-seven  years  of  age  at 
the  time  of  this  writing,  in  1932.     She  is  a 


daughter  of  the  late  William  Fuller,  who  was 
one  of  the  representative  lawyers  of  Dewitt 
County  in  his  day  and  generation.  Mrs. 
Vance  was  reared  and  educated  in  her  native 
county  and  prior  to  her  marriage  has  been  a 
popular  teacher  in  its  public  schools.  Of  the 
four  children  Mrs.  May  Porter,  of  this  review, 
is  the  eldest;  Iva  J.  is  the  wife  of  Sidney  A. 
Stivers  one  of  the  progressive  farmers  of  De- 
witt County;  Daisy  A.,  is  the  wife  of  Dr.  M. 
J.  Babcock,  physician  and  surgeon  engaged  in 
practice  at  Biggsville,  Henderson  County;  and 
Rev.  William  F.,  the  only  son,  is  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  City  of  Harvey, 
Cook  County. 

The  preliminary  education  of  Mrs.  May  Por- 
ter was  received  in  the  Vance  School  of  Dis- 
trict No.  12,  this  school  being  on  the  old  home 
farm  of  the  Vance  family,  and  thereafter  she 
continued  her  studies  in  the  Phelps  Boarding 
School  for  Girls,  Columbus,  Ohio,  in  the  Illi- 
nois Wesleyan  Academy  at  Bloomington,  and 
the  Illinois  State  Normal  University,  at  Nor- 
mal. In  June,  1924,  she  was  graduated  in  the 
University  of  Illinois,  with  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Science  in  Education.  Mrs.  Por- 
ter made  a  record  of  successful  service  as 
teacher  in  elementary  and  high  schools  in  De- 
witt County,  and  has  maintained  her  home  at 
Clinton  since  March,  1895.  Here  she  served 
as  city  treasurer  during  the  period  of  1915-19, 
but  she  has  found  in  the  educational  field  her 
maximum  potential  for  constructive  service 
and  has  made  a  notably  successful  record  in 
her  administration  as  county  superintendent  of 
school,  her  work  being  marked  by  vision,  loy- 
alty, altruism  clear  understanding  of  problems 
involved  therein.  Mrs.  Porter  has  thoroughly 
systematized  the  work  of  the  Dewitt  County 
public  schools  and  they  are  known  for  their 
high  standards.  Within  her  regime  as  super- 
intendent she  has  established  a  county  loan 
library  that  proves  a  distinct  school  and  com- 
munity asset,  and  has  introduced  and  pro- 
moted a  school  exhibit  in  connection  with  the 
Farmers  Institute  of  the  county.  She  is  presi- 
dent of  the  Central  Division  of  the  State 
Teachers  Association,  and  served  as  a  member 
of  the  committee  assigned  to  the  revision  of 
the  public-school  courses  of  the  state,  and 
chairman  of  the  state  spelling  committee,  at 
Springfield.  She  has  membership  also  in  the 
National  Education  Association,  and  has  kept 
in  close  touch  with  all  advances  made  in  edu- 
cational work,  the  while  she  has  proved  an  ef- 
fective public  speaker  in  connection  with  edu- 
cational affairs  and  before  clubs  and  other 
cultural  organizations,  in  many  of  which  she 
has  membership.  Her  political  allegiance  is 
given  to  the  Democratic  party,  her  religious 
faith  is  that  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
she  has  been  affiliated  with  the  Order  of  the 
Eastern  Star  since  1897. 

The  marriage  of  Dr.  John  G.  Porter  and 
Miss   May   Vance  was   solemnized   at   Clinton 


356 


ILLINOIS 


December  28,  1904,  and  the  death  of  Doctor 
Porter  occurred  April  21,  1906,  only  a  few- 
years  after  his  graduation  in  medical  college 
and  shortly  after  the  birth  of  his  only  child, 
John  G.,  Jr.,  who  was  born  March  18,  1906,  at 
Clinton.  Doctor  Porter  was  a  young  man  of 
sterling  character  and  exceptional  professional 
ability,  and  was  engaged  in  the  general  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  at  Clinton  until  his  death. 
He  was  born  at  Clinton,  July  17,  1869,  a  son 
of  Dr.  Edward  J.  and  Lucy  (Mills)  Porter,  his 
father  having  long  been  a  representative  phy- 
sician and  surgeon  of  Dewitt  County.  John 
G.  Porter,  Jr.,  attended  the  Clinton  High 
School  and  was  graduated  from  the  University 
of  Illinois,  with  class  of  1928  with  the  Bachelor 
of  Arts  degree  and  is  now  actively  identified  in 
publicity  work  with  the  firm  of  Gerson-Bees- 
ley  and  Hampton,  in  the  City  of  Chicago. 

Saint  Anthony's  Church  of  Rockford  is 
one  of  the  largest  parishes  in  the  State  of 
Illinois.  It  was  established  in  1910  to  provide 
for  the  Italian  residents  of  the  city  and  en- 
virons. Its  organizer  was  Father  Anthony 
Vincent  Marchesano,  a  priest  of  great  zeal 
and  energy  who  made  the  upbuilding  of  this 
parish  his  crowning  life  work  and  in  which 
he  continued  until  his  death  in  1929.  Father 
Marchesano  was  born  in  the  Province  of  Pa- 
lermo at  Monte-Maggiore,  Italy.  He  was  only 
twenty-six  years  of  age  when  called  by  Bishop 
Muldoon  to  the  work  of  organizing  the  parish 
at  Rockford.  Saint  Anthony's  Parish  con- 
tains over  12,000  souls.  The  parish  school 
boasts  of  900  pupils,  with  a  staff  of  ten  teach- 
ers. The  church  property  is  valued  at  $400,- 
000,  including  a  new  church  with  a  seating 
capacity  of  1,100.  These  are  some  of  the 
material  results  of  a  work  that  was  begun 
only  a  little  more  than  twenty  years  ago. 

The  second  pastor  of  Saint  Anthony's  was 
the  late  Rev.  John  Joseph  Flanagan.  Father 
Flanagan  was  born  at  Freeport,  Stephenson 
County,  Illinois,  June  8,  1882,  son  of  J.  J. 
and  Elizabeth  (McCoy)  Flanagan,  and  grand- 
son of  James  Flanagan,  a  native  of  County 
Limerick,  who  came  to  the  United  States  and 
settled  in  Illinois  in  the  '50s.  He  was  a  rail- 
road man.  Elizabth  McCoy's  father  was  Alex- 
ander J.  McCoy,  a  railroad  builder  in  Illinois 
and  for  twenty  years  an  alderman  of  Free- 
port.  J.  J.  Flanagan  was  for  many  years 
agent  for  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul 
Railway  at  Freeport. 

Rev.  John  Joseph  Flanagan  attended  paro- 
chial schools  at  Freeport,  the  Niagara  Uni- 
versity at  Buffalo,  New  York,  spent  one  year 
in  Saint  Viator's  College  at  Kankakee  and 
completed  his  training  in  the  American  Col- 
lege at  Rome,  where  he  wTas  ordained  June  12, 
1910.  After  his  return  to  the  United  States 
he  served  for  eleven  years  as  secretary  to 
Bishop  Muldoon  of  Rockford.  For  eight 
years  he  was  rector  of  the  Rockford  Cathedral. 


Then  on  September  16,  1929,  after  the  death 
of  Father  Marchesano,  he  was  assigned  to 
the  Italian  parish  of  Saint  Anthony's.  In  this 
work  he  continued  until  his  death  on  March 
11,  1931. 

When  on  January  5,  1931,  Father  Flanagan 
was  compelled  to  leave  his  duties  for  treat- 
ment in  a  different  climate,  Rev.  Russell  Jo- 
seph Guccione  was  appointed  administrator 
of  the  parish  and  has  held  that  post  since  the 
death  of  Father  Flanagan.  He  is  one  of  the 
youngest  priests  in  active  charge  of  a  large 
parish  in  Illinois,  being  only  twenty-nine  years 
of  age,  and  had  to  take  up  the  burden  of  the 
direction  of  Saint  Anthony's  within  three  years 
after  his  ordination. 

Father  Guccione  was  born  March  25,  1902, 
at  Alia,  Province  of  Palermo,  Sicily,  Italy, 
son  of  Joseph  and  Anna  (Barcellona)  Guc- 
cione. His  father  was  a  commission  merchant 
and  died  when  the  son  was  only  eleven  months 
old.  The  two  older  brothers,  Anthony  and 
Dominick,  came  to  Chicago  and  in  1908  lo- 
cated at  Freeport,  and  Russell  Joseph  and  his 
mother  followed  them  in  1911. 

Father  Guccione  was  educated  in  public 
and  parochial  schools  at  Freeport,  including 
the  public  high  school,  and  in  preparation  for 
the  priesthood  attended  the  Columbia  Acad- 
emy and  Columbia  College  at  Dubuque.  He 
completed  his  theological  training  in  Saint 
Mary's  Seminary  at  Baltimore  in  1928  and 
was  ordained  in  the  Saint  James  Pro-Cathe- 
dral at  Rockford  by  Bishop  Hoban,  in  the  first 
class  to  be  ordained  in  Rockford  by  the  new 
bishop.  For  fifteen  months  he  was  assistant 
to  the  pastor  of  Holy  Angels  Church  in  Au- 
rora. Then  on  the  death  of  Father  Marche- 
sano he  returned  to  Rockford  to  assist  Father 
Flanagan,  being  the  only  native  Italian  priest 
in  the  diocese  at  the  time. 

On  January  3,  1932,  Father  Guccione  was 
installed  as  pastor  of  Saint  Anthony's  by  the 
bishop.  This  was  the  result  of  good  hard 
work  and  achievements  for  the  young  man's 
ability. 

F.  D.  E.  Babcock,  secretary  of  the  Bloom- 
ington  Chamber  of  Commerce,  has  spent  all 
his  life  in  publicity  and  commercial  organiza- 
tion work.  He  was  in  the  newspaper  business 
with  his  father  at  Marengo,  Illinois,  for  a 
number  of  years,  and  subsequently  filled  a 
secretarial  and  other  positions  with  chambers 
of  commerce  both  in  the  Middle  West  and 
East. 

Mr.  Babcock  was  born  at  Marengo,  Illinois, 
August  12,  1877.  His  grandfather,  Enoch 
Babcock,  moved  west  from  New  York  State 
in  1845  and  took  up  a  tract  of  government 
land  and  improved  one  of  the  early  farms  in 
Riley  Township  of  McHenry  County.  He  and 
his  wife  are  buried  near  Marengo.  John  B. 
Babcock,  father  of  the  Bloomington  Chamber 
of   Commerce  official,   was  born  at  Westford, 


ILLINOIS 


357 


Otsego  County,  New  York,  and  was  fourteen 
years  of  age  when  brought  to  Illinois.  As 
a  youth  he  was  a  bookkeeper.  He  enlisted  at 
the  time  of  the  Civil  war  in  Company  A  of 
the  Ninety-fifth  Illinois  Infantry,  and  after 
his  honorable  discharge  he  took  up  newspaper 
work.  Later  he  bought  the  paper  where  he 
was  first  employed  and  for  thirty-eight  years 
was  owner  and  publisher  of  the  Marengo  Re- 
publican. He  was  prominent  in  Republican 
politics  and  for  a  number  of  years  was  town 
clerk  of  Marengo,  served  as  worshipful  master 
of  the  Masonic  Lodge,  and  for  thirty-one  years 
was  choir  master  and  superintendent  of  the 
Sunday  school  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  He  died  March  15,  1910.  John  B. 
Babcock  married  Marcia  DeWolf.  She  was 
born  at  Conneaut,  Ohio,  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Erie,  and  was  two  years  of  age  when  her  par- 
ents, Stephen  and  Bethe  (Ellis)  DeWolf, 
moved  to  Illinois  and  settled  near  Marengo. 
She  died  January  31,  1921,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-seven.  Her  father  went  out  to  Cali- 
fornia about  the  time  of  the  gold  rush  and 
died  and  is  buried  at  Yreka  in  that  state. 
John  B.  Babcock  and  wife  had  five  children: 
Jennie,  deceased  wife  of  Henry  E.  Patrick,  of 
Oak  Park,  Illinois;  Kate,  deceased  wife  of 
Charles  M.  Crego,  of  Centerville,  Iowa;  Emily, 
wife  of  John  C.  Alexander  of  Marengo;  Har- 
lan E.,  who  died  at  Kalamazoo,  Michigan;  and 
Francis  Dwight  E.   Babcock. 

Francis  Dwight  E.  Babcock  attended  pub- 
lic school  at  Marengo  and  after  graduating 
from  high  school  in  1892  was  associated  with 
his  father  in  the  newspaper  business  until 
1907.  In  that  year  the  Marengo  Republican 
was  sold  and  Mr.  Babcock  for  a  time  con- 
tinued with  the  new  owner.  For  seven  years 
he  was  business  manager  of  the  Daily  Repub- 
lican at  Belvidere,  and  since  then  has  been 
engaged  in  chamber  of  commerce  work.  For 
four  years  he  was  secretary  of  the  Rockford 
Chamber,  for  seven  years  secretary  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Worcester,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  for  two  years  had  his  headquar- 
ters at  Washington  as  manager  of  the  Eastern 
Division  of  the  United  States  Chamber  of 
Commerce.  For  one  year  he  was  manager  of 
the  Membership  and  Convention  Bureau  of 
the  Boston  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  in  1926 
came  to  Bloomington,  where  for  five  years  he 
has  been  secretary-manager  of  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce. 

Mr.  Babcock  was  president  of  the  National 
Association  of  Commercial  Organization  Sec- 
restaries  in  1921-22.  He  is  active  in  Rotary 
Club  work,  is  an  independent  in  politics  and 
retains  his  membership  in  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  at  Marengo.  He  married  at 
Kalamazoo,  Michigan,  March  3,  1902,  Miss 
Grace  M.  Hall,  daughter  of  M.  F.  and  Ella 
E.  (Anderson)  Hall.  Her  father  was  in  the 
produce  business  at  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan, 
and  died  in  November,  1930.     Her  mother  re- 


sides at  Plainwell,  Michigan.  Mrs.  Babcock 
attended  grammar  and  high  school  at  Grand 
Rapids,  Michigan.  She  is  a  member  of  the 
Woman's  Club. 

They  have  one  son,  Robert  W.  Babcock, 
who  graduated  from  the  Emerson  Institute 
at  Washington,  D.  C,  in  1925,  and  subse- 
quently continued  his  education  in  Antioch 
College  of  Ohio.  He  married  September  15, 
1929,  Miss  Luella  E.  Roberts. 

Carl  A.  Hallgren,  president  of  the  Manu- 
facturers Trust  &  Savings  Bank  of  Rock 
Island,  grew  up  in  Rock  Island  County,  and 
since  early  manhood  has  been  a  prominent 
figure  in  its  business  and  financial  affairs. 

Mr.  Hallgren  was  born  in  Sweden  Septem- 
ber 26,  1884,  and  was  a  child  when  his  parents, 
John  A.  and  Emily  (Paulson)  Hallgren,  came 
to  America.  On  coming  to  Illinois  the  family 
first  located  in  Moline  and  later  in  Rock 
Island.  His  father  was  in  the  retail  shoe 
business  for  many  years.  The  widowed 
mother  now  lives  in  California.  Both  parents 
were  members  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  and 
John  A.  Hallgren  was  a  Republican. 

Carl  A.  Hallgren,  the  oldest  of  five  children, 
attended  the  grade  and  high  schools  of  Moline. 
When  he  left  school  his  first  work  was  in  the 
lumber  business  for  the  Denkmann  Company 
in  Mississippi.  After  a  year  he  returned  to 
Rock  Island,  and  has  continuously  been  in 
the  service  of  the  Denkmann  estate,  through 
which  he  has  had  a  broad  contact  with  many 
of  the  financial  and  industrial  interests  vital 
to  the  prosperity  of  Rock  Island  and  vicinity. 
Mr.  Hallgren  is  secretary  of  the  Denkmann 
estate.  His  business  connections  have  brought 
him  other  important  relationships  with  finan- 
cial and  industrial  corporations.  He  became 
the  first  president  of  the  Manufacturers  Trust 
and  Savings  Bank  when  it  was  organized  in 
1928.  He  is  vice  president  and  treasurer  of 
the  Servus  Rubber  Company,  is  treasurer  of 
the  Nu-Way  Corporation,  director  in  the  Fort 
Armstrong  Company  of  Rock  Island,  and  di- 
rector and  secretary  of  the  Eastern  Wood 
Products  Company  of  Wilmington,  Delaware. 

Mr.  Hallgren  married  February  16,  1910, 
Jerrine  Rothwell,  who  was  born  at  Athens, 
Ohio.  She  died  September  7,  1914,  leaving  a 
daughter,  Virginia.  Following  her  graduation 
in  1930  from  St.  Catherine's  School  at  Daven- 
port, Virginia  studied  music  in  Europe  and 
in  the  fall  of  1931  entered  the  University  of 
Iowa.  On  September  26,  1917,  Mr.  Hallgren 
married  Jessie  Mae  Thatcher.  She  was  born 
at  Milan,  Illinois,  daughter  of  Charles  W. 
Thatcher,  a  railway  man  living  in  Rock  Island. 
By  his  second  marriage  Mr.  Hallgren  has  two 
children,  Shirley  and  Beverly,  both  attending 
school. 

Outside  of  his  business  connections  Mr. 
Hallgren  is  probably  best  known  for  his  prom- 
inence in  Masonry.     He  is  grand  senior  war- 


358 


ILLINOIS 


den  of  the  Grand  Commandery  of  the  Knights 
Templar  of  the  State  of  Illinois.  He  has 
held  all  the  offices  in  the  York  Rite  bodies  and 
has  attained  the  thirty-third  supreme  honorary 
degree  in  the  Scottish  Rite.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Royal  Order  of  Scotland,  the  Royal 
Order  of  Jesters  and  the  Red  Cross  of  Con- 
stantine.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Benevo- 
lent and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  the  Rock 
Island  Arsenal  Golf  Club,  the  Rock  Island 
Club,  the  Black  Hawk  Country  Club,  the 
Davenport  Outing  Club,  and  the  Wool  Club 
of  New  York  City.  Golf  is  his  hobby.  He 
was  president  of  the  Rock  Island  Club  in 
1916-17  and  president  of  the  Rock  Island 
Chamber  of  Commerce  in  1916-17.  Mr.  Hall- 
gren  is  a  Republican,  and  a  member  of  the 
Presbyterian   Church. 

Hobert  R.  Beatty  was  a  youth  when  he 
became  actively  associated  with  the  retail 
hardware  business  conducted  by  his  father  in 
the  city  of  Clinton,  judicial  center  of  Dewitt 
County,  and  of  this  old  established  and  well 
ordered  business  he  is  now  the  owner,  the 
enterprise  being  conducted  under  the  title  of 
H.  G.  Beatty  &  Company  and  the  concern  is 
represented  in  an  individual  review  on  other 
pages  of  this  work.  Mr.  Beatty  has  become 
one  of  the  influential  figures  in  the  retail 
hardware  business  of  the  state  and  the  nation, 
as  is  evident  when  it  is  noted  that  in  1917-18 
he  was  president  of  the  Illinois  State  Retail 
Hardware  Dealers  Association,  and  in  1926-27 
had  the  distinction  of  serving  as  president  of 
the  National  Retail  Hardware  Dealers  Asso- 
ciation. He  has  been  active  in  the  affairs  of 
these  two  organizations  during  the  past  twenty 
years,  and  has  attended  trade  conventions  in 
every  state  of  the  Union.  Since  1926  he  has 
been  a  member  of  the  Hardware  Council  of 
America,  which  has  only  nine  members — three 
representatives  of  each  the  manufacturing,  the 
wholesale  and  the  retail  units  of  the  hardware 
trade. 

Hobert  R.  Beatty  was  born  at  Kenney,  De- 
witt County,  Illinois,  April  1,  1886,  and  a  rep- 
resentative of  the  third  generation  of  the  fam- 
ily in  the  hardware  business  in  this  county, 
as  may  be  seen  by  reference  to  description  of 
the  founding  and  developing  of  the  enterprise 
of  which  he  is  now  the  executive  head  and 
which  had  its  inception  more  than  eighty  years 
ago.  Mr.  Beatty  was  three  years  of  age  at 
the  time  of  the  family  removal  to  Clinton,  the 
county  seat,  was  here  reared  to  adult  age  and 
received  the  advantages  of  the  public  schools. 
At  the  age  of  nineteen  years  he  became  asso- 
viated  with  his  father's  hardware  business.  In 
1906  he  became  junior  partner  in  the  firm  of 
H.  G.  Beatty  &  Company,  and  in  that  year 
was  erected  the  large  and  modern  buildings 
that  have  since  continued  headquarters  of 
the  business.  The  death  of  the  father,  Henry 
G.  Beatty,  occurred  June  24,  1926,  and  that 
of  the  older  son,  Ernest  H.   Beatty,  occurred 


April  7,  1931,  since  which  time  Hobert  R.  has 
continued  in  sole  ownership  and  control  of  the 
business  that  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  most 
substantial  of  its  kind  in  this  section  of 
Illinois. 

He  was  elected  member  of  the  City  Com- 
mission of  Clinton  in  April,  1931.  He  is  Re- 
publican in  national  politics. 

Mr.  Beatty  has  been  known  and  valued  as 
one  of  the  most  progressive  and  liberal  citi- 
zens and  business  men  of  Clinton,  is  a  past 
president  of  the  local  Chamber  of  Commerce 
and  the  Rotary  Club,  is  affiliated  with  the 
Benevolent  &  Protective  Order  of  Elks  and  the 
Knights  of  Pythias,  and  has  membership  and 
is  a  charter  member  of  the  local  Y.  M.  C.  A., 
and  a  member  of  the  Clinton  Country  Club. 
He  served  for  many  years  as  a  member  of 
the  board  of  directors  of  the  Warner  Hospital 
and  he  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

February  6,  1906,  Mr.  Beatty  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Leota  R.  Slick,  who  was 
born  at  Farmer  City,  Dewitt  County,  Novem- 
ber 17,  1887,  her  father  having  been  one  of 
the  substantial  farmers  and  stock  buyers  of 
this  county  many  years.  Mrs.  Beatty  is  prom- 
inent in  the  social  and  cultural  activities  of 
her  home  city  and  is  specially  active  in  the 
work  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Henry  G.  Beatty,  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  review,  was  born  at  Findlay,  Hancock 
County,  Ohio,  April  14,  1845,  and  his  death 
occurred  at  Clinton,  Illinois,  June  24,  1926, 
as  previously  noted.  He  was  a  son  of  Isaac 
B.  and  Eliza  Ann  (Crowell)  Beatty,  who  like- 
wise were  born  in  Ohio,  where  the  respective 
families  were  established  in  the  pioneer  days. 
Isaac  B.  Beatty  was  a  son  of  William  Beatty, 
who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  of  Scotch  line- 
age, and  who  gained  pioneer  honors  in  Ohio, 
where  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life,  in 
Hancock  County.  The  birth  of  Isaac  B.  Beatty 
occurred  at  Findlay,  Ohio,  December  19,  1817, 
and  there  his  wife  was  born  July  15,  1819. 
The  death  of  Mrs.  Beatty  occurred  August  13, 
1848,  and  almost  immediately  thereafter  Isaac 
B.  Beatty  came  with  his  motherless  children 
to  Clinton,  Illinois,  where  he  established  a 
little  harness  shop  that  was  the  nucleus  of  the 
hardware  business  that  has  since  continued  in 
the  control  of  the  Beatty  family.  The  death 
of  Isaac  B.  Beatty  occurred  in  1887,  and  his 
name  merits  high  place  on  the  roster  of  the 
honored  pioneers  of  Dewitt  County. 

Henry  G.  Beatty  was  eight  y^ears  of  age  at 
the  time  of  the  family  removal  from  Ohio  to 
Clinton,  Illinois,  where  he  was  reared  to  man- 
hood and  received  the  advantages  of  the  pio- 
neer schools.-  He  represented  Dewitt  County 
as  a  loyal  soldier  of  the  Union  in  the  Civil  war, 
and  in  later  years  had  active  membership  in 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  He  learned 
the  saddlery  and  harnessmaking  trade  in  his 
father's     shop,     and     eventually    became    the 


ILLINOIS 


359 


founder  of  the  hardware  business  that  has 
since  been  conducted  under  the  title  of  H.  G. 
Beatty  &  Company.  March  27,  1867,  Mr. 
Beatty  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Solemly 
S.  Stocking,  who  was  born  in  Trempealeau 
County,  Wisconsin,  and  whose  father,  James 
Stocking,  was  born  in  Michigan.  The  death 
of  Mrs.  Beatty  occurred  November  3,  1889. 
To  the  union  of  Henry  G.  and  Solemly  S. 
(Stocking)  Beatty  were  born  five  children: 
Nellie  L.,  who  married  Charles  Armstrong  and 
they  reside  at  Clinton;  Ernest  H.,  deceased; 
William  T.,  of  Bloomington;  James  Royal,  de- 
ceased, and  Hobert  R. 

H.  G.  Beatty  &  Company.  This  firm  is 
established  in  the  retail  hardware  and  house- 
furnishings  business  in  the  city  of  Clinton, 
county  seat  of  Dewitt  County,  and  few  mercan- 
tile concerns  of  Illinois  can  claim  a  record 
of  so  prolonged  continuity  in  the  control  of 
one  family,  the  present  head  of  the  business 
being  Hobert  R.  Beatty,  who  is  a  scion  of  the 
third  generation  of  the  family  in  Dewitt 
County  and  who  is  individually  mentioned  in 
the  preceding  sketch  of  this  publication,  that 
review  giving  also  further  record  concerning 
his  father  and  grandfather. 

It  was  in  the  year  1848  that  Isaac  B.  Beatty, 
whose  wife  had  died  in  that  year,  came  with 
his  children  from  Ohio  to  Clinton,  Illinois, 
and  established  a  little  harness  shop  just  forty 
feet  east  of  the  site  of  the  present  modern 
building  of  the  hardware  firm  of  H.  G.  Beatty 
&  Company.  The  overland  journey  from  Ohio 
to  Illinois  had  been  made  with  team  and  wagon. 
From  that  little  harness  shop  as  a  nucleus 
was  developed  the  substantial  and  important 
hardware  business  of  the  present  firm  of  H. 
G.  Beatty  &  Company,  and  the  business  con- 
tinuity under  the  control  of  the  Beatty  family 
has  thus  covered  a  period  of  more  than  eighty 
years  and  given  the  present  concern  a  stand- 
ing as  one  of  the  oldest  in  central  Illinois. 

Henry  G.  Beatty,  son  of  Isaac  B.,  the  Illi- 
nois pioneer,  was  born  at  Findlay,  Hancock 
County,  Ohio,  April  14,  1845,  and  thus  was  but 
three  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  the  removal 
to  Clinton,  Illinois,  where  he  was  reared  and 
educated  and  where  he  served  an  apprentice- 
ship to  the  trade  of  harnessmaker  in  the  little 
harness  and  saddlery  shop  of  his  father.  He 
went  forth  as  a  gallant  young  soldier  of  the 
Union  in  the  Civil  war,  in  which  he  served 
three  years,  as  a  member  of  Company  F,  Sec- 
ond Illinois  Light  Artillery.  With  this  com- 
mand he  participated  in  many  engagements, 
including  a  number  of  major  battles,  and  his 
service  continued  until  the  close  of  the  war. 
He  received  his  honorable  discharge  July  27, 
1865,  and  his  continued  interest  in  his  old 
comrades  was  shown  in  his  active  affiliation 
with  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  in  after 
years. 


It  was  in  the  year  1865  that  Henry  G. 
Beatty  became  associated  with  his  father  and 
his  brother  John  C.  in  harness  business  at 
Clinton,  and  the  following  year  the  firm  opened 
the  branch  store  of  which  he  assumed  charge 
at  Moweaqua,  Shelby  County,  he  having  trans- 
ferred his  business  headquarters  to  Maroa, 
Macon  County,  in  1867,  and  later  having  re- 
turned to  Clinton  and  became  the  virtual 
founder  of  the  business  that  is  still  conducted 
under  the  firm  name  of  H.  G.  Beatty  &  Com- 
pany. In  1873  he  opened  a  branch  store  at 
Kenney,  Dewitt  County,  the  store  at  Clinton 
having  been  under  the  management  of  his 
father  until  the  latter's  death,  in  1887.  He 
remained  at  Kenney  until  1889,  when  he  suf- 
fered heavy  financial  loss  in  a  fire  that  swept 
the  business  section  of  that  town,  and  it  was 
in  the  spring  of  that  year  that  he  returned  to 
Clinton.  Here  he  continued  the  business  in  an 
individual  way  until  the  fall  of  1899,  when  his 
son  Ernest  H.  was  admitted  to  partnership. 
In  the  autumn  of  1906  the  youngest  son, 
Hobert  R.,  likewise  was  admitted  to  the  firm, 
and  in  that  year  was  erected  the  large  and 
modern  building  in  which  has  since  been  con- 
ducted the  business  of  H.  G.  Beatty  &  Com- 
pany. Henry  G.  Beatty  continued  as  senior 
member  of  the  firm  until  his  death,  June  24, 
1926,  and  with  the  death  of  his  son  Ernest  H., 
in  1931,  the  one  surviving  son,  Hobert  R., 
assumed  full  control  of  the  business,  in  con- 
nection with  which  he  has  well  upheld  the 
honors  of  the  family  name.  The  history  of 
this  concern  has  been  marked  by  fair  and 
honorable  dealings  and  effective  service  dur- 
ing the  passing  years  since  the  pioneer  days, 
and  it  is  pleasing  to  accord  to  it  recognition 
in  this  Illinois  publication. 

Elmer  Doty,  supervisor  of  Otto  Township, 
Kankakee  County,  is  a  prominent  farmer  and 
stock  man.  The  Doty  family  have  been  iden- 
tified with  the  live  stock  industry  in  this  sec- 
tion of  Illinois  for  three  generations. 

Mr.  Doty  was  born  in  Kankakee  County,  son 
of  Thomas  and  Lena  (Dahn)  Doty.  His  grand- 
father, Samuel  Doty,  was  a  native  of  Ohio 
and  came  to  Illinois  in  the  early  days. 
Thomas  Doty  was  born  at  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
and  was  a  boy  when  his  parents  came  to 
Kankakee  County  and  settled  in  Limestone 
Township.  He  was  educated  in  country  schools 
in  Ohio  and  in  Illinois,  and  began  his  active 
career  as  a  farm  renter.  For  some  time  he 
studied  with  a  veterinary  surgeon,  and  ac- 
quired a  knowledge  and  skill  sufficient  to  en- 
able him  to  treat  all  the  diseases  of  his  own 
live  stock,  and  he  was  more  or  less  of  an 
authority  on  that  subject  throughout  his  com- 
munity. He  was  a  very  successful  stock 
raiser.  Aside  from  his  business  his  chief 
interest  was  in  his  home  and  family.  Thomas 
Doty  was  married  at  the  age  of  twenty-two. 
He  and  his  wife  had  three  children:   Adah  is 


360 


ILLINOIS 


the  wife  of  Carl  Tunks  and  has  two  children, 
Claude  and  Mabel;  Nettie  is  the  wife  of  Wil- 
liam Look,  and  their  two  children  are  Leona 
and  Elmer. 

Mr.  Elmer  Doty  is  the  only  son  of  his 
parents.  He  attended  country  schools  in 
Limestone  Township,  continued  his  education 
at  Kankakee,  and  in  the  schools  of  Aroma 
Township  and  had  one  term  of  instruction  in 
a  business  college.  While  in  school  he  worked 
at  the  farm  and  as  a  young  man  he  hired 
out  for  wages  of  twenty-five  dollars  a  month. 
By  careful  saving  he  accumulated  enough  to 
equip  a  farm  of  his  own  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty-four  he  married  Miss  Adah  Horn, 
daughter  of  Henry  and  Alma  (Lemke)  Horn. 
Her  father  was  a  carpenter  and  came  to 
Kankakee  County  from  Chicago.  Mrs.  Doty 
has  one  brother,  Arthur  Horn,  who  married 
Mayme  Nereau,  and  their  children  are  Ken- 
neth, Harold,  Elvina,  Opal,  Rich,  Charles  and 
Leslie. 

Mr.  Doty  served  as  township  assessor  for 
seven  years  and  in  1930  was  elected  township 
supervisor.  His  farm  in  that  township  com- 
prises 210  acres.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Farm  Bureau  and  the  Farm  Testers  Associa- 
tion. Besides  his  own  farm  he  does  an  ex- 
tensive business  as  a  live  stock  buyer,  dealing 
in  cattle  all  over  Kankakee  County.  Mr.  Doty 
and  family  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church. 

William  H.  Jimison,  a  substantial  retired 
farmer  who  resides  at  Onarga,  Iroquois 
County,  was  born  in  Schuyler  County,  Mis- 
souri, September  10,  1858,  and  is  a  son  of 
James  C.  and  Luvina  (Ashworth)  Jimison, 
the  former  being  a  native  of  Missouri  and 
the  latter  of  Indiana. 

James  Jimison  was  born  in  Pike  County, 
Missouri,  where  he  was  reared  to  manhood, 
and  he  continued  to  be  actively  associated  with 
farm  industry  in  Missouri  until  1872,  when 
he  came  with  his  family  to  the  Ashgrove  dis- 
trict of  Iroquois  County,  where  he  continued 
in  farm  enterprise  until  he  retired  and  re- 
moved to  Watseka,  the  county  seat,  where  he 
died  in  1912.  His  widow  attained  to  venerable 
age  and  her  death  occurred  in  1928.  Isabelle, 
eldest  of  the  children,  is  now  Mrs.  John  W. 
Johnson  and  resides  at  Watseka;  William  H., 
of  this  sketch,  is  next  younger;  James  M.  and 
Willis  are  deceased;  Ellis  L.  is  a  resident  of 
Maquon,  Illinois;  and  Eli  is  a  resident  of  Wat- 
seka, this  state. 

William  H.  Jimison  gained  his  youthful 
education  through  the  medium  of  the  public 
schools  of  Schuyler  County,  Missouri,  and  in 
1881,  at  the  age  of  twenty  years,  he  initiated 
his  independent  activities  as  an  agriculturist 
and  stock-grower.  He  was  long  numbered 
among  the  progressive  representatives  of  farm 
industry  in  Iroquois  County,  where  he  still 
retains  ownership  of  his  valuable  farm  of  225 


acres,  near  Onarga.  He  still  gives  a  general 
supervision  to  this  farm,  though  he  is  now 
living  retired  at  Onarga,  where  he  owns  his 
attractive  home  property.  He  has  given  six- 
teen years  of  service  as  township  tax  assessor, 
was  a  member  of  the  township  board  of 
Onarga  Township  four  years,  and  gave  twelve 
years  of  loyal  service  as  school  director.  His 
political  allegiance  is  given  to  the  Democratic 
party,  and  he  is  affiliated  with  the  Indepen- 
dent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  its  adjunct 
organization,  the  Daughters  of  Rebekah,  as 
is  he  also  with  the  Modern  Woodmen  of 
America. 

In  his  active  career  as  a  farmer  Mr.  Jimi- 
son gave  special  attention  to  the  raising  of 
livestock,  and  was  notably  successful  in  the 
raising  of  full-blood  Percheron  draft  horses. 
He  is  a  man  of  good  business  ability  and  has 
been  signally  loyal  and  liberal  as  a  citizen. 

January  26,  1881,  marked  the  marriage  of 
Mr.  Jimison  to  Miss  Laura  M.  Cumrine, 
daughter  of  Peter  and  Melissa  (Runyon)  Cum- 
rine, who  remained  on  their  Ohio  farm  until 
they  came  to  Illinois,  where  they  passed  the 
closing  years  of  their  lives.  Mrs.  Jimison 
received  the  advantage  of  the  public  schools 
of  Piqua,  Ohio,  and  accompanied  her  parents 
on  their  removal  to  Illinois,  where  her  mar- 
riage occurred  and  where  she  passed  the  re- 
mainder of  her  life,  her  death  having  occurred 
October  21,  1921.  She  was  an  active  member 
of  the  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of 
Onarga  and  was  affiliated  with  the  Daughters 
of  Rebekah  and  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps  of 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  her  father 
having  been  a  Union  soldier  in  the  Civil  war. 
He  married  Fay  Nichols  of  Koutz,  Indiana, 
and  they  have  two  children,  Hazel  and  Wil- 
liard.  Hazel  married  Lester  Lindsey  and  they 
have  two  children,  Blanche  and  Margaret. 
Earl  H.,  only  child  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jimison, 
now  has  active  charge  of  his  father's  fine  farm 
near  Onarga,  and  as  agriculturist  and  stock- 
grower,  as  well  as  progressive  citizen,  is  well 
upholding  the  honors  of  the  family  name. 

Alonzo  M.  Alexander,  proprietor  of  the 
Hardin  Bakery  at  Hardin,  is  a  true  and  tried 
product  of  Tennessee  Democracy,  and  has  been 
active  in  politics  since  early  manhood. 

He  was  born  in  Gibson  County,  Tennesse, 
March  22,  1883,  son  of  Martin  and  Betty 
(Whitworth)  Alexander.  The  Alexander  stock 
is  an  old  and  distinguished  one  in  Tennessee. 
They  crossed  the  mountains  into  Tennessee 
from  the  Carolinas  shortly  after  the  close  of 
the  Revolutionary  war.  Martin  Alexander 
was  born  February  3,  1844,  and  died  in  1922 
at  the  ripe  age  of  seventy-eight.  He  was  a 
farmer  all  his  active  life.  In  1896  he  moved 
with  his  family  to  Arkansas,  and  lived  there 
until  his  death.  His  wife,  Betty  Whitworth, 
was  a  daughter  of  Jacob  Whitworth,  a  Ten- 
nessee  pioneer   and   a   Confederate   soldier   of 


;:«§» 


.    : 


ltl;ifl 

ILLINOIS 


361 


the  Civil  war.  He  was  a  railroad  man,  and 
during  the  war  was  put  in  charge  of  a  section 
of  railroad  below  Nashville.  Betty  (Whit- 
worth)  Alexander  was  born  July  10,  1861,  and 
died  in  1927  in  her  sixty-seventh  year.  Of 
her  six  children  the  following  account  is 
given:  George,  a  resident  of  Pontiac,  Michi- 
gan; Emma,  wife  of  Bascome  Ratliff,  of  Pon- 
tiac; Alonzo  M. ;  Delia,  wife  of  Albert  Bushby, 
of  Rector,  Arkansas;  Dolphy,  in  Detroit, 
Michigan;   and  Walter,  of  Pontiac,  Michigan. 

Alonzo  M.  Alexander  attended  common 
schools  in  Tennessee.  He  was  fourteen  years 
old  when  the  family  moved  to  Arkansas  and 
he  completed  his  education  at  Rector  in  that 
state.  When  he  left  school  he  learned  a  use- 
ful trade,  that  of  baker,  and  this  was  his  reg- 
ular occupation  in  business  for  over  twenty 
years.  In  1922  he  located  at  Dupo,  St.  Clair 
County,  where  he  was  in  the  baking  business 
for  several  years.  He  was  then  put  in  charge 
of  the  public  safety  department  of  the  county. 
He  was  largely  responsible  for  turning  his 
section  of  the  county  Democratic  in  the  elec- 
tion of  1930,  and  on  December  1,  1930,  was 
appointed  deputy  sheriff  by  Sheriff  Jerome 
Munie.  After  retiring  from  that  office,  July 
1,  1931,  he  engaged  in  business  at  his  old 
occupation  at  Hardin. 

Mr.  Alexander  is  a  Royal  Arch  and  Knight 
Templar  Mason  and  by  special  appointment 
was  a  member  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  in  Arkan- 
sas. He  married  Miss  Lena  Sides.  She  died 
February  21,  1913,  leaving  two  children:  Ruth, 
born  August  1,  1905,  and  Thomas,  born  March 
24,  1912.  Thomas  is  a  student  in  the  Dupo 
High  School.  For  his  second  wife  Mr.  Alex- 
ander married  Miss  Anna  Staten,  of  Illinois. 
They  have  two  children:  Helen,  born  Septem- 
ber 6,  1915,  and  Stanley  J.,  born  on  Washing- 
ton's birthday,  February  22,  1924. 

Harrison  Robinson  owns  one  of  the  large 
and  well  improved  farms  of  Morgan  County, 
in  the  vicinity  of  Prentice.  His  farm  com- 
prises 400  acres,  and  it  has  been  in  the  Rob- 
inson family  almost  from  the  first  time  a 
plow  was  put  into  the  soil. 

Mr.  Robinson  was  born  on  the  farm  June 
29,  1863,  son  of  Harrison  and  Elizabeth 
(Thompson)  Robinson.  Harrison  Robinson, 
Sr.,  was  born  in  Ohio  in  the  vicinity  of 
Newark,  and  came  to  Illinois  in  1845.  He 
was  a  farm  hand,  invested  his  capital  in  land, 
and  in  the  course  of  years  built  up  a  good 
farm,  and  lived  the  remainder  of  his  life  in 
Morgan  County.  He  was  a  Democrat  in  poli- 
tics and  a  member  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 
He  and  his  wife  had  seven  children:  Lettia, 
Martin,  George,  Lizzie,  Harrison,  Christina 
and  Mary  Ella. 

His  son,  Harrison  Robinson,  attended  coun- 
try schools,  and  worked  for  his  father  on  the 
farm    until    he    was    twenty-five.      He    then 


started  out  for  himself,  and  subsequently  ac- 
quired the  place  where  he  was  born  and  which 
has  been  under  his  management  and  direction 
for  many  years.  He  has  been  a  hard  worker 
and  has  taken  an  intelligent  interest  in  local 
affairs.  He  has  filled  several  township  offices, 
is  a  Democrat  and  a  member  of  the  Christian 
Church. 

Mr.  Robinson  married  March  16,  1887,  Miss 
Katie  C.  Thompson,  daughter  of  Aaron  and 
Amanda  (Flynn)  Thompson.  By  this  mar- 
riage he  had  one  child,  Carroll.  Kate  C.  Rob- 
inson died  in  1889.  Mr.  Robinson's  second 
wife  was  Alice  M.  Foster.  They  were  married 
in  March,  1899,  and  by  this  union  there  were 
eight  children:  Elizabeth,  Ralph,  George, 
Floyd,  Eleanor,  Lucy,  Mell  and  Marshall. 

Norman  J.  Cary  was  one  of  the  pioneers 
in  the  cement  industry  at  Utica,  LaSalle 
County,  and  since  retiring  from  that  business 
has  given  his  attention  to  banking,  insurance 
and  a  number  of  other  private  interests,  in- 
cluding a  farm  of  326  acres. 

Mr.  Cary,  who  has  one  of  the  fine  homes 
in  this  old  Illinois  River  village,  was  born 
June  2,  1855,  son  of  Charles  A.  and  Mary  J. 
(Blakeslee)  Cary,  and  grandson  of  Abner 
Loomis  and  Bathsheba  (Winslow)  Cary.  Mr. 
Cary  possesses  a  beautiful  volume  entitled 
Cary  Memorials,  published  in  1874  by  Hon. 
S.  F.  Cary  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  which  traces 
the  Cary  genealogy  back  to  John  Cary,  who 
came  from  Somersetshire  to  the  Plymouth 
Colony  about  1634,  thus  establishing  the  Gary 
family  in  America.  He  also  has  a  copy  of 
the  Cary  Coat-of-Arms,  which  is  inscribed  as 
follows:  "This  is  a  copy  of  the  Coat-of-Arms 
of  Cary  of  Cockington,  Clovelley,  Marldon, 
Torr  Abbey  and  Folleton,  County  Devonshire 
— Descended  from  Adam  de  Karry  Lord  of 
Castle  Karry  County  Somerset  in  1128 — From 
Burke's  Armorie  of  England,  Scotland  and 
Ireland.  From  Matthew's  American  Armorie 
and  Blue  Book:  Same  Arms  for  Samuel 
Thomas  Carey  of  New  York  born  1800  5th  in 
descent  from  Patrick  Carey  born  1622  4th  son 
of  Sir  Henry  Carey  first  Viscount  Falkland 
(Falkland's  name  was  Lord  Cary  in  Scot- 
land). Probably  descended  from  Karre,  a 
companion  of  William  the  Conqueror  1096 
whose  name  was  altered  to  Karry  in  1128." 

Abner  L.  Cary  was  born  in  Massachusetts, 
February  27,  1797,  and  he  and  his  wife  were 
married  November  9,  1825.  As  a  youth  he 
was  in  the  Government  service  during  some 
of  the  Indian  wars  in  the  West.  He  lived  in 
Ohio  for  a  time  and  in  May,  1837,  came  to 
Illinois  and  settled  at  Wayne.  He  took  up 
a  claim  of  Government  land  and  developed  a 
farm.     He  died  in  1872. 

Charles  A.  Cary  was  born  at  Westfield, 
Vermont,  October  21,  1826,  and  was  ten  years 
old  when  the  family  came  to  Illinois.  He  at- 
tended   school    at   Wayne.      He    lived    at    La- 


362 


ILLINOIS 


Salle  for  a  number  of  years,  becoming  well 
known  in  this  section  of  LaSalle  County  as 
a  carpenter  contractor.  He  died  June  25, 
1913,  and  he  and  his  wife  are  buried  at  West 
Chicago.  They  had  three  children:  Charles 
A.,  who  died  in  infancy,  in  1853;  Norman 
J.;  and  another  son,  also  named  Charles  A., 
who  was  born  December  4,  1857,  and  died 
March  7,  1913. 

Norman  J,  Cary  in  1861,  when  six  years 
of  age,  began  attending  school  at  LaSalle.  He 
also  had  the  advantage  of  tutoring  by  his 
parents.  He  completed  his  grade  school  edu- 
cation in  Chicago  and  graduated  from  the 
Bryant  and  Stratton  Commercial  College  of 
that  city.  His  first  association  with  the  Utica 
cement  industry  was  in  the  Chicago  office,  at 
246  Randolph  Street,  where  he  went  to  work 
in  1872.  Later  the  headquarters  of  the  busi- 
ness were  moved  to  Market  Street.  In  1878 
he  became  an  employee  of  the  credit  depart- 
ment of  the  Field  &  Leiter  wholesale  house, 
but  after  a  year  resigned  and  on  May  22, 
1879,  came  to  Utica,  where  he  became  asso- 
ciated with  his  stepfather,  James  Clark,  in  the 
cement  business.  On  May  23,  1883,  the  Utica 
Cement  Company  was  incorporated,  with  Mr. 
Clark  as  president  and  Mr.  Cary  as  secre- 
tary and  treasurer.  Mr.  Clark  was  president 
until  his  death  on  July  2,  1888,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Mr.  Cary,  who  was  head  of  the 
business  until  it  was  sold  in  1916.  Since  then 
he  has  given  his  attention  to  banking  and 
insurance  and  has  some  other  interests. 

Mr.  Cary  is  a  Knight  Templar  and  thirty- 
second  degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  has 
been  worshipful  master  of  Acacia  Lodge  No. 
67,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  LaSalle  and  also  Utica 
Lodge  No.  858  of  Utica  and  eminent  com- 
mander of  St.  John's  Commandery  No.  26, 
of  Peru,  Illinois.  He  is  also  a  Noble  of  the 
Mystic  Shrine  of  Medinah  Temple,  Chicago, 
and  is  a  member  of  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks,  the 
Ottawa  Boat  Club  and  is  a  Republican  in 
politics. 

He  married,  March  24,  1885,  Miss  Manda 
Collins,  daughter  of  Cassius  A.  and  Mary  J. 
(Sanger)  Collins.  Her  grandfather,  Harmon 
Collins,  was  a  pioneer  of  Illinois,  making  the 
journey  westward  by  team  and  wagon.  He 
took  up  Government  land  on  the  prairie  in 
LaSalle  County  and  afterwards  was  a  lumber 
dealer  in  Utica.  He  was  a  Republican  in 
politics,  a  member  of  the  Masonic  Lodge  and 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Cassius  A. 
Collins  was  born  in  Vermont  and  was  six 
years  of  age  when  the  family  came  to  LaSalle 
County.  He  was  educated  in  country  schools, 
and  during  his  mature  years  owned  a  large 
amount  of  farming  land  and  was  a  successful 
stock  raiser.  He  was  also  in  business  as  a 
merchant  at  Utica  from  1876,  and  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  was  postmaster.  He  died  in 
February,  1908,  and  is  buried  in  the  Oak  Hill 


Cemetery  at  Utica.  His  three  children  were: 
Leonard,  who  married  Mabel  Dickenson  and 
has  two  children,  Cassius  A.  and  Julian  S.; 
Mrs.  Gary;  and  Nellie,  who  died  in  1910, 
was  the  wife  of  Frank  Briteman  and  they  had 
a  son,  Leonard  Henry,  who  lives  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cary  have  two  children.  The 
son  Clarence,  who  is  postmaster  of  Utica, 
was  born  December  22,  1886,  and  married 
Blanche  Highland,  of  Utica.  Clark  B.  Cary, 
born  April  19,  1890,  married  in  1911  Cathryn 
Glancy. 

Hon.  Jed  Gard,  county  judge  of  Clark 
County,  has  many  distinctions  as  a  citizen, 
business  man  and  public  official  of  this  county. 
His  record  as  county  judge  is  perhaps  unique. 
Anyway,  it  is  doubtful  if  any  county  judge  in 
a  term  of  four  years  has  handled  the  fiscal 
affairs  of  the  county  and  problems  requiring 
judicial  decision  with  more  uniform  success 
and  general  approbation. 

Judge  Gard  is  a  native  of  Clark  County, 
Illinois.  .  He  was  born  in  Melrose  Township, 
November  2,  1866.  He  is  a  son  of  Allen  T. 
and  Martha  A.  (Garner)  Gard.  The  Gard 
family  lived  in  Virginia  in  Colonial  times  and 
later  moved  to  Ohio.  The  Garners  were  also 
Virginians.  His  grandfather,  Jeremiah  Gard, 
was  born  in  Ohio  and  spent  his  life  there  as 
a  farmer.  Allen  T.  Gard  was  born  in  Lick- 
ing County,  Ohio,  grew  to  manhood  there,  and 
in  1857  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Clark 
County.  Allen  T.  Gard  was  a  citizen  whose 
record  meant  a  great  deal  not  only  to  his 
family  but  to  the  people  of  his  home  county. 
He  followed  two  occupations  through  all  his 
active  years,  teaching  and  farming.  He 
taught  four  years  in  Ohio  before  coming  to 
Clark  County,  Illinois.  Here  he  continued  his 
work  as  an  instructor  of  the  young  and  alto- 
gether gave  forty-two  years  to  the  teaching 
profession.  He  taught  his  last  school  when 
he  was  seventy-four  years  of  age.  He  also 
filled  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  for 
twenty-eight  years.  At  one  time  he  was 
offered,  but  declined,  appointment  as  county 
superintendent  of  schools  of  Clark  County. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Methodist  Protestant 
Church.  Allen  T.  Gard  died  in  1906  and  his 
wife  in  1913. 

Judge  Gard  during  his  boyhood  attended 
country  schools  in  Clark  County.  He  was  also 
a  student  at  the  Central  Normal  College  at 
Danville,  Indiana.  For  a  few  years  he  taught 
school  in  Clark  County.  He  has  turned  his 
versatile  talents  to  a  number  of  occupations. 
For  forty  years  he  has  been  a  licensed  auc- 
tioneer. However,  his  main  business  has  been 
farming,  but  at  almost  any  time  over  a  period 
of  years  he  could  have  gone  from  the  farm 
into  other  vocations  and  made  a  successful 
record.     Judge  Gard   is  a  member  of  the  In- 


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363 


dependent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  Knights 
of  Pythias,  and  in  politics  has  always  been  a 
loyal  Democrat. 

While  he  was  in  Central  Normal  College  in 
Indiana  he  studied  law,  but  never  pursued  the 
study  far  enough  to  qualify  for  admission  to 
the  bar.  While  in  Indiana  he  was  offered 
the  position  of  state's  attorney  of  Posey 
County  by  Governor  Chase.  For  four  years 
he  held  the  office  of  coroner  of  Clark  County. 
The  Democrats  of  the  county  have  regarded 
him  as  their  best  qualified  leader.  For  more 
than  fifteen  years  he  was  a  member  of  the 
County  Central  Committee  from  Melrose  and 
York  townships  and  has  been  a  delegate  to 
many  state  conventions.  In  1896  he  was 
elected  a  delegate  to  the  Sound  Money  Demo- 
cratic Convention  which  nominated  the  ticket 
of  Palmer  and  Buckner.  However,  he  de- 
clined to  act  as  delegate  and  supported  the 
regular  Democratic  ticket  that  year. 

In  1926  he  was  elected  county  judge  of 
Clark  County  by  a  large  majority.  In  1930 
his  first  term  was  given  emphatic  approval  by 
a  still  larger  majority.  His  election  as  a  Dem- 
ocrat to  the  office  of  county  judge  is  in  itself 
a  tribute  to  his  personal  character  and  popu- 
larity, since  the  county  is  normally  Republi- 
can by  a  thousand.  His  administration  has 
been  such  as  to  command  the  endorsement  and 
support  of  citizens  regardless  of  party.  Judge 
Gard  knows  the  law,  though  he  has  never  been 
licensed  to  practice,  and  the  sound  sense  and 
legal  knowledge  that  have  marked  his  deci- 
sions are  doubtless  the  reason  why  none  of 
them  has  ever  been  reversed  by  the  Illinois 
Supreme  Court.  Soon  after  he  went  on  the 
bench  there  came  before  him  a  very  important 
case.  The  State  Highway  Department  had 
changed  the  route  of  a  highway  so  as  to  con- 
struct it  on  the  outskirts  of  Westfield.  The 
particular  phase  of  the  matter  which  came  up 
for  decision  by  Judge  Gard  was  whether  this 
was  a  minor  or  major  change.  If  it  was  a 
major  change  the  County  Court  had  no  juris- 
diction. If  it  was  a  minor  change  it  was 
subject  to  the  action  of  the  local  authorities. 
The  hearing  occupied  an  entire  week  and  some 
of  the  best  legal  talent  in  the  state  came  be- 
fore him.  At  the  end  Judge  Gard  decided  that 
it  was  a  minor  change.  An  appeal  was  taken 
from  his  decision  to  the  Supreme  Court,  which 
sustained  his  findings  in  every  detail.  Since 
then  the  case  and  the  decision  have  been 
quoted  as  precedent  in  many  other  states. 
Judge  Gard  consequently  is  justified  in  his 
pride  in  this  particular  case  and  in  the  fact 
that  every  other  appeal  taken  from  his  court 
to  the  Supreme  Court  has  left  his  decision 
unimpaired.  Judge  Gard  has  frequently  been 
called  upon  to  hold  court  in  other  counties. 

During  the  first  two  years  he  was  county 
judge  the  state's  attorney  of  Clark  County 
was  unable  to  transact  the  business  of  his 
office  because  of  illness,   and  Judge   Gard   at- 


tended to  these  duties  in  addition  to  his  own 
office  routine.  Judge  Gard  has  been  chair- 
man of  many  political  gatherings,  and  is  a 
popular  lecturer  and  speaker  before  welfare 
organizations,  Sunday  Schools  and  on  other 
occasions. 

He  married  Miss  Flora  Marvin,  of  Walnut 
Prairie,  Clark  County,  daughter  of  William 
and  Lucetta  Marvin.  Her  father  was  of  a 
pioneer  family  of  Clark  County.  He  lived  all 
his  life  in  one  house,  where  he  died  in  1928, 
at  the  ripe  age  of  ninety-six.  Mrs.  Gard's 
mother  was  born  in  Kentucky.  Mrs.  Gard 
attended  school  in  Clark  County  and  the  State 
Teachers  College  at  Terre  Haute,  Indiana.  She 
is  a  member  of  the  Friends  Church.  The  chil- 
dren born  to  them  were  as  follows:  Irma,  who 
died  at  the  age  of  twenty;  William,  of 
Marshall,  who  married  Miss  Bessie  Orcutt, 
and  at  her  death  in  1928  she  left  three  sur- 
viving children,  Robert,  Catherine  and 
Rosanna;  Fred  Gard,  of  Chicago,  who  married 
Miss  Lucile  Moore,  of  Martinsville;  Ruth,  wife 
of  John  Fitzgerald,  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri; 
and  Helen,  who  died  at  the  age  of  eight  years. 

Lott  Russell  Herrick.  Herrick  has  been 
an  honored  name  in  the  DeWitt  County  bar 
since  1870.  Lott  Russell  Herrick  is  senior 
member  of  the  firm  Herrick  &  Herrick,  of 
Farmer  City  and  Clinton.  He  devotes  most 
of  his  time  to  the  business  of  the  Farmer  City 
office  of  this  firm,  while  his  brother,  George 
Wirt  Herrick,  is  located  at  Clinton. 

Mr.  Herrick's  grandfather,  Lott  Herrick, 
was  a  native  of  New  York  State,  of  English 
and  Irish  ancestry,  and  was  a  pioneer  of  In- 
diana. George  W.  Herrick,  who  brought  dis- 
tinction to  the  name  in  the  legal  profession  of 
DeWitt  County,  was  born  in  DeKalb  County, 
Indiana,  October  6,  1839.  He  grew  up  in  that 
state,  continued  his  education  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Michigan,  but  left  college  to  go  into 
the  Union  army.  He  was  in  Company  D  of 
the  Fifth  Indiana  Volunteer  Infantry  and 
later  became  captain  of  Company  E  of  the 
Fifty-first  Missouri  Infantry.  In  1864  he  re- 
turned to  the  University  of  Michigan  to  take 
his  law  degree,  but  soon  afterward  reenlisted 
and  served  until  the  close  of  the  war.  Captain 
Herrick  came  to  Illinois  in  1868  and  for  a 
year  or  so  taught  in  the  public  schools  at 
Farmer  City.  In  1870  he  engaged  in  the  prac- 
tice of  law  and  was  an  honored  and  successful 
member  of  the  bar  for  over  thirty  years.  He 
met  his  death  in  an  automobile  accident  in 
his  home  city,  July  20,  1904.  He  was  an 
active  Democrat,  a  member  of  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic,  of  the  DeWitt  County  and 
Illinois  State  Bar  Associations. 

Capt.  George  W.  Herrick  married  Dora  O. 
Knight,  who  was  born  at  Mount  Pleasant 
(now  Farmer  City),  Illinois,  September  2, 
1853,  and  has  lived  in  that  community  for 
nearly  eighty  years.     Her  parents  were  Rob- 


364 


ILLINOIS 


ert  R.  and  Mary  (Huddleston)  Knight.  All 
the  seven  children  of  Capt.  George  W.  Herrick 
and  wife  at  one  time  or  another  attended  the 
University  of  Illinois.  Lott  R.  is  the  oldest. 
Blanche,  deceased,  was  the  wife  of  George 
Wilson,  of  Farmer  City.  Dwight  0.  is  a 
rancher  in  Wyoming.  Lyle  G.  lives  at  Farmer 
City.  Hope,  now  deceased,  was  the  wife  of 
John  E.  Henry.  George  Wirt  is  the  junior 
partner  of  the  law  firm  of  Herrick  &  Herrick. 
Wayne  D.  is  a  farmer  near  Farmer  City. 

Lott  Russell  Herrick  was  born  at  Farmer 
City,  December  8,  1871.  After  the  local  schools 
he  entered  the  University  of  Illinois,  gradu- 
ated with  the  A.  B.  degree  in  1892,  and  then 
went  to  the  law  department  of  the  University 
of  Michigan,  where  he  graduated  in  1894. 
Returning  home,  he  became  associated  with 
his  father  in  the  firm  of  Herrick  &  Herrick. 
After  his  father's  death  in  1904  he  continued 
to  practice  alone  and  in  1905  opened  an  office 
at  Clinton,  the  county  seat.  In  1913  his 
brother  George  Wirt  joined  him,  and  thus 
restored  the  old  firm  name  of  Herrick  & 
Herrick. 

Mr.  Herrick  was  elected  county  judge  of 
DeWitt  County  in  1902,  but  resigned  that  office 
on  the  death  of  his  father.  He  has  been  city 
attorney  of  Farmer  City,  is  local  attorney  for 
the  Illinois  Central,  Big  Four  and  Illinois 
Terminal  System  Railways.  He  has  been  a 
member  of  the  Farmer  City  Board  of  Educa- 
tion since  1906  and  is  a  director  of  the  State 
Bank  of  Clinton. 

Mr.  Herrick  is  a  Democrat,  a  member  of 
the  DeWitt  County  and  Illinois  State  Bar  As- 
sociations, the  Masonic  fraternity,  Knights  of 
Pythias,  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  the  Woodlawn  Coun- 
try Club,  and  is  a  trustee  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  He  married,  April  2,  1896, 
Miss  Harriet  Helen  Swigart.  She  was  born 
on  a  farm  near  Farmer  City.  Her  father, 
Jacob  Swigart,  was  a  farmer  and  also  a  stock- 
holder and  president  of  the  old  First  National 
Bank  of  Farmer  City.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Herrick 
have  two  daughters,  both  graduates  of  the 
University  of  Illinois.  Mildred  is  the  wife  of 
Ralph  McClelland,  of  Hinsdale,  Illinois,  and 
Helen  is  the  wife  of  James  G.  Thomas,  of 
Champaign. 

Guy  N.  Love  has  been  a  citizen  and  business 
man  of  Joliet  for  a  number  of  years.  He  is 
owner  of  the  Contracting  and  Paint  Supply 
House  at  708  East  Washington  Street.  His 
business  has  been  extended  all  over  Will 
County,  and  hundreds  of  patrons  throughout 
the  county  have  learned  to  appreciate  the 
service  implied  in  his  widely  advertised  slogan 
of  "Love  the  Painter." 

Mr.  Love  was  born  on  a  farm  on  the  banks 
of  the  Tippecanoe  River  near  Rochester,  Ful- 
ton County,  Indiana,  September  29,  1887.  His 
birthplace  was  a  log  cabin,  which  was  built 
on  the  old  log  homestead  there  by  his  grand- 


father who  came  to  Indiana  from  New  York 
State  and  was  of  Scotch  ancestry.  Mr.  Love's 
father,  Isaac  Love,  was  also  born  at  the  old 
home  and  is  now  living  retired  at  Argos, 
Indiana.  Isaac  Love  married  Nancy  Mont- 
gomery, who  was  born  on  a  farm  in  the  Love 
neighborhood  of  Fulton  County  and  lived  all 
her  life  in  that  county.  Her  people  were  of 
Irish  descent. 

Guy  N.  Love  was  the  third  in  a  family  of 
seven  children,  five  sons  and  two  daughters. 
All  are  living  except  one  daughter.  Mr.  Love 
grew  up  on  the  Indiana  farm,  attended  dis- 
trict schools,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  went 
to  Hammond,  Indiana.  There  from  1901  to 
1907  he  was  with  F.  C.  Linz,  a  painting  con- 
tractor, with  whom  he  learned  his  trade  and 
worked  as  a  journeyman.  From  1907  to  1914 
Mr.  Love  was  a  real  painter  journeyman, 
working  at  his  trade  in  nineteen  different 
states.  In  1914  he  located  at  Joliet,  and  fol- 
lowed the  trade  there  until  the  World  war. 
During  the  war  period  he  was  employed  as 
a  brakeman  with  the  Elgin,  Joliet  &  Eastern 
Railway  Company. 

Mr.  Love  in  1919  established  his  own  busi- 
ness as  a  painting  contractor.  At  first  his 
shop  was  at  his  home,  but  in  1922  he  bought 
the  building  at  708  East  Washington  Street, 
where  in  addition  to  his  headquarters  as  a 
painting  contractor,  he  carries  a  complete  line 
of  paints,  wall  papers  and  other  decorators' 
supplies. 

He  is  an  active  member  of  the  Joliet  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  is  president  of  the  Cosmo- 
politan   Club,    a    director    of    the    Boy    Scout    j 
Council  and  is  a  past  director  of  the  Illinois 
State  Master  Painters  Association. 

Mr.  Love  married  Miss  Eleanor  B.  Perry- 
man.  She  was  born  in  England,  but  grew  up 
in  Canada.  They  have  six  children:  John  and 
William,  twins,  Guy  N.,  Jr.,  Zelda  Dorothy, 
Mary  Nancy  and  Theodore. 

John  A.  Bedel,  business  man,  public  official, 
musician,  was  for  many  years  one  of  the 
most  honored  of  Belleville's  citzens,  a  man  of 
culture  and  character  whose  memory  is  grate- 
fully cherished  by  thousands. 

He  was  born  at  Madison,  Indiana,  December 
5,  1848,  son  of  Andrew  and  Mary  (Glauber) 
Bedel.  His  parents  came  from  Bavaria,  Ger- 
many. John  A.  Bedel  lived  all  his  life  in 
close  touch  with  the  things  of  the  mind  and 
spirit  as  well  as  practical  action.  He  at- 
tended public  and  parochial  schools  in  Indi- 
ana, St.  Meinrad  Seminary  at  Spencer,  Indi- 
ana. As  a  youth  he  learned  the  cigarmaker's 
trade.  From  Madison  he  moved  to  Columbus, 
Indiana,  where  for  two  years  he  served  as 
town  clerk.  Beginning  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  he  was  a  teacher  for  ten  years  in  Spencer 
and  Dubois  counties,  Indiana.  After  coming 
to  Illinois  and  locating  at  Belleville  he  taught 
for  five  years  in  the  schools  of  that  city.     He 


ILLINOIS 


365 


was  widely  known  and  admired  for  his  genius 
as  a  musician  and  composer.  For  five  years 
he  was  organist  in  St.  Peter's  Cathedral. 
Among  other  compositions  he  produced  an 
opera,  wonderfully  orchestrated,  but  requiring 
so  much  technical  apparatus  for  its  production 
that  no  empresarios  would  handle  it.  How- 
ever, it  gained  recognition  and  made  him 
widely  known  as  a  master  composer. 

John  A.  Bedel  lived  at  Belleville  nearly 
half  a  century.  His  business  was  that  of 
insurance  and  cigar  manufacturing,  and  his 
establishment  was  one  of  the  oldest  in  the 
city.  From  September,  1903,  to  May,  1905, 
he  served  as  police  magistrate  and  for  two 
terms  represented  the  Fifth  Ward  in  the  City 
Council.  During  1910-11  he  was  city  weigh- 
master  and  city  treasurer.  He  served  on  the 
board  of  adminstration  during  the  Governor 
Dunne  adminstration  of  1913-17.  Mr.  Bedel 
had  a  fluent  command  of  the  German  lan- 
guage, and  in  political  campaigns  much  of 
his  influence  was  due  to  the  fact  that  he  could 
speak  both  German  and  English,  and  he  was 
responsible  for  many  votes  that  went  to  Gov- 
ernor Dunne  in  the  1912  campaign. 

John  A.  Bedel  married,  October  5,  1875, 
Miss  Elizabeth  Hurm.  She  died  in  1887.  In 
July,  1888,  he  married  Miss  Mary  A.  Weiss. 
He  was  the  father  of  a  family  of  thirteen 
children.  Among  them  were:  Mrs.  A.  J.  Hat- 
field of  New  York  City;  Mrs.  H.  D.  French, 
of  San  Rafael,  California;  Alois  Bedel,  of 
Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania;  Venerable  Sister 
Mary,  a  Catholic  nun  in  Venezuela;  Anselm 
L.,  president  of  the  Bedel  Cone  Baker  Com- 
pany at  Belleville;  Mrs.  Raymond  Bruns,  of 
Peoria;  Cyril  Claude,  of  Peoria;  Maria,  of 
Belleville;  Mrs.  Frank  Koesterer,  of  Free- 
burg,  Illinois;  and  Cletus,  of  Peoria.  The 
late  Mr.  Bedel  was  a  member  of  the  Knights 
of  Columbus  and  St.  Peter's  Catholic  Church, 
the  Catholic  Men's  Society  and  the  Catholic 
Knights  of  America. 

W.  D.  Higdon  is  editor  and  publisher  of  the 
Monticello  Bulletin,  which  is  a  weekly  publi- 
cation at  Monticello,  the  county  seat,  and 
which,  as  the  oldest  newspaper  in  the  county, 
is  made  the  subject  of  individual  mention  in 
the  following  sketch. 

Mr.  Higdon  was  born  on  the  parental  home 
farm  in  Jasper  County,  Missouri,  and  is  a  son 
of  John  Brantley  Higdon  and  Anna  (King) 
Higdon,  the  former  of  whom  was  born  in  Ten- 
nessee, of  English  lineage,  and  the  latter  of 
whom  was  born  in  Jasper  County,  Missouri,  a 
representative  of  Pennsylvania  Dutch  ances- 
try. John  B.  Higdon  was  a  farmer  by  voca- 
tion during  virtually  his  entire  active  career 
and  both  he  and  his  wife  continued  their  resi- 
dence in  Missouri  until  their  death. 

W.  D.  Higdon  was  reared  to  the  sturdy  dis- 
cipline of  the  home  farm  and  his  preliminary 
education  was  acquired  in  the  district  school 


of  the  neighborhood.  After  more  advanced 
study  in  the  public  schools  he  eventually  en- 
tered DePauw  University,  Greencastle,  Indi- 
ana, and  in  this  institution  he  was  graduated 
as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1894  and  with 
the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  Later  he  had 
post-graduate  work  in  the  University  of  Illi- 
nois. Mr.  Higdon  made  a  record  of  construc- 
tive service  as  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools 
during  a  period  of  twenty-three  years,  and  it 
is  interesting  to  record  that  his  wife  likewise 
has  taught  school  twenty-three  years,  she  be- 
ing now  a  popular  teacher  in  the  public  schools 
of  Decatur,  Macon  County,  which  has  been 
the  stage  of  her  pedagogic  service  during  the 
past  thirteen  years.  Mrs.  Higdon  has  gained 
reputation  as  one  of  the  most  resourceful  and 
successful  primary  teachers  in  her  native  State 
of  Illinois. 

The  first  year  of  Mr.  Higdon's  service  as  a 
teacher  in  the  public  schools  was  at  Greenfield, 
Missouri,  and  during  the  ensuing  year  he 
taught  at  Mount  Vernon,  that  state.  He  was 
next  principal  of  the  public  schools  at  Lamar, 
Missouri,  for  two  years;  he  then  became 
teacher  of  mathematics  in  the  high  school  at 
Springfield,  Missouri,  where  he  thus  continued 
his  service  three  years;  he  next  gave  two 
years  of  service  as  principal  of  the  high  school 
at  Petersburg,  Illinois,  and  during  the  ensuing- 
twelve  years  he  was  head  professor  of  mathe- 
matics in  the  high  schools  of  the  city  of  St. 
Louis,  Missouri.  From  the  last  mentioned 
position  Mr.  Higdon  resigned  to  initiate  his 
activities  in  a  new  field.  He  purchased  the 
Sesser  Herald,  at  Sesser,  Franklin  County, 
Illinois,  and  of  this  paper  he  continued  the 
editor  and  publisher  five  years.  Within  the 
first  two  years  of  this  period  he  gave  further 
evidence  of  his  professional  and  civic  loyalty 
by  organizing  the  Lesser  High  School  with  a 
full  four  years  course  that  made  it  eligible 
for  the  collegiate  accredited  list,  and  he  served 
two  years  as  principal  of  this  high  school, 
while  still  publishing  the  local  newspaper,  to 
which  he  gave  his  full  attention  after  resign- 
ing his  high-school  principalship.  In  July, 
1920,  Mr.  Higdon  .sold  the  plant  and  business 
of  the  Sesser  Herald  and  amplified  his  inter- 
ests and  influence  in  the  newspaper  field  by 
purchasing  the  Monticello  Bttlletin,  of  which 
he  has  since  continued  editor  and  publisher 
save  for  an  interval  of  a  few  months  during 
which  J.  H.  Patton  and  F.  P.  Glasner  had 
charge  of  the  publication.  Under  the  control 
of  Mr.  Higdon  the  Bulletin  has  been  main- 
tained at  high  standard  in  its  editorials,  its 
news  department  and  its  letterpress,  and  it 
is  one  of  the  influential  weekly  papers  of  this 
section  of  the  state.  A  review  of  its  history 
appears  elsewhere  in  this  work,  as  previously 
noted. 

Mr.  Higdon  is  a  Democrat  in  political  align- 
ment, and  his  popularity  in  Monticello  was 
shown  in  his  election  to  the  office  of  mayor 


366 


ILLINOIS 


of  the  city,  his  administration  in  this  office 
having  continued  from  May,  1929,  to  May, 
1931.  He  is  an  active  and  valued  member  of 
the  local  Commercial  Club,  is  affiliated  with 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  Knights  of  Pythias 
and  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and 
he  and  his  wife  are  zealous  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

In  the  year  1900  Mr.  Higdon  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Lena  Anna  Biehl,  who  was 
born  in  Douglas  County,  Illinois,  and  whose 
father,  George  Biehl,  was  born  in  Germany. 
Mrs.  Higdon  attended  the  Illinois  State  Nor- 
mal University,  at  Normal,  and  in  1901  be- 
came a  student  in  the  University  of  Illinois, 
her  studies  in  this  institution  having  been 
intervalic.     She  was  there  a  student  again  in 

1911,  and  in  1928  she  again  entered  that  uni- 
versity, in  which  she  was  graduated  as  a 
member  of  the  class  of  1929  and  with  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  Mrs.  Higdon,  as 
before  stated,  has  been  a  teacher  in  the  Illinois 
public  schools  for  twenty-three  years,  and  for 
the  past  thirteen  years  has  taught  in  the 
schools  of  Decatur.  Gertrude,  only  child  of 
Mr.   and    Mrs.    Higdon,   was   born   August   7, 

1912,  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  and  after  her 
public-school  course  she  was  a  student  in  turn 
in  Millikin  University,  at  Decatur,  and  in  the 
University  of  Illinois,  in  which  latter  she  was 
graduated  as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1930. 

The  Monticello  Bulletin,  at  the  judicial 
center  of  Piatt  County,  has  been  continuously 
published  for  a  period  of  fully  seventy-five 
years,  though  there  have  been  various  changes 
in  its  title,  and  it  is  the  oldest  and  most  in- 
fluential newspaper  in  the  county,  its  present 
editor  and  publisher  being  W.  D.  Higdon,  who 
is  represented  in  personal  mention  in  the  pre- 
ceding sketch. 

In  the  year  1856  James  D.  Moody  issued  the 
first  edition  of  the  Monticello  Times,  and  in  the 
same  year  he  sold  the  paper  to  J.  C.  Johnson, 
who  later  was  succeeded  by  James  Outten, 
who  continued  the  publication  under  its  origi- 
nal title  until  a  man  named  Hasset  became 
his  partner,  whereupon  the  title  was  changed 
to  The  Sucker  State.  The  next  owners  of  the 
paper  were  the  firm  of  Gilliland  &  Tritt,  and 
in  1859  they  sold  the  plant  and  business  to 
Thomas  Milligan,  who  changed  the  title  of  the 
publication  to  The  Conservative.  In  1862  Mr. 
Milligan  sold  the  paper  to  William  E.  Lodge, 
who  in  1864  sold  it  to  N.  E.  Rhoades,  who  con- 
tinued its  publication  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Union  League,  an  influential  organization 
during  the  Civil  war  period.  M.  A.  Bates  was 
editor  of  the  paper  during  the  presidential 
campaign  of  1864,  and  at  this  time  the  title 
was  The  Piatt  County  Union.  In  November, 
1865,  James  M.  Holmes  assumed  control  and 
changed  the  title  of  the  paper  to  Piatt  Inde- 
pendent. Seven  years  later  he  made  another 
change  of  name,  adopting  that  of  Piatt  Repub- 


lican, though  save  for  a  brief  interval  the 
paper  has  always  been  an  advocate  of  the 
cause  of  the  Democratic  party.  H.  B.  Funk 
purchased  the  paper  and  adopted  for  it  the 
present  title  of  Monticello  Bulletin.  Mr.  Funk 
later  sold  the  business  to  Mise  &  Wagner,  and 
a  brother  of  the  senior  member  of  this  firm 
later  purchased  Mr.  Wagner's  interest.  The 
paper  was  published  by  Mise  Brothers  until 
1882,  when  Mr.  Funk  again  assumed  control, 
though  in  1884  he  sold  to  W.  E.  Krebs,  who 
was  later  succeeded  by  Evans  Stevenson,  who 
conducted  the  paper  a  year  and  then  sold  it 
to  C.  E.  Gaumer,  the  latter  having  been  suc- 
ceeded by  H.  W.  Buckle,  and  July  3,  1920,  hav- 
ing marked  the  assumption  of  control  by  the 
present  editor  and  publisher,  W.  D.  Higdon, 
who  has  made  the  Bulletin  an  effective  ex- 
ponent of  communal  interests  and  general 
news,  an  excellent  advertising  medium,  and  a 
stalwart  supporter  of  the  principles  of  the 
Democratic  party.  Both  newspaper  and  job- 
printing  departments  of  the  Bulletin  plant  are 
modern  in  equipment  and  service. 

Chester  N.  Alba  is  a  prominent  representa- 
tive of  the  general  insurance  business  in  his 
native  city  of  Cairo,  where  he  owns  and  con- 
ducts a  substantial  and  representative  agency 
under  the  original  title  of  Conrad  Alba  &  Son, 
which  title  he  retains  as  a  tribute  of  respect 
to  his  honored  father,  the  late  Conrad  Alba, 
whose  death  here  occurred  July  4,  1929,  and 
who  had  long  been  one  of  the  influential  citi- 
zens and  business  men  of  Cairo. 

Chester  N.  Alba,  one  of  a  family  of  five 
children,  was  born  in  Cairo  September  6,  1893, 
a  son  of  Conrad  and  Barbara  (Neff)  Alba, 
who  were  born  in  Germany  and  whose  mar- 
riage was  solemnized  in  Cairo,  Illinois. 

Conrad  Alba  proved  well  his  resourceful 
energy  and  ability  in  a  long  and  successful 
business  career,  and  was  in  the  most  signifi- 
cant sense  the  builder  of  his  own  success,  as 
he  became  largely  dependent  upon  his  own  re- 
sources when  he  was  but  a  boy.  He  was  born 
in  Darmstadt,  Germany,  and  was  a  child  when 
his  parents,  Dr.  Daniel  and  Margaret  Alba, 
came  to  the  United  States  and  established  resi- 
dence in  St.  Louis,  Missouri.  Dr.  Alba,  a  man 
of  fine  professional  attainments  as  a  physician 
and  surgeon,  continued  to  be  established  in 
practice  in  St.  Louis  until  his  death.  He 
passed  away  when  his  son  Conrad  was  still  a 
boy,  and  the  latter  was  about  nine  years  of  age 
when  he  removed  with  his  widowed  mother 
from  St.  Louis  to  Cairo,  Illinois,  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  year  1861.  The  Civil  war  was  in 
progress  at  this  time,  and  as  the  family 
financial  resources  were  very  limited  he  found 
it  incumbent  upon  him  to  find  employment 
that  should  enable  him  to  provide  his  own 
support  and  to  assist  his  mother,  to  whom  he 
paid  the  utmost  of  filial  devotion  until  her 
death.     In  Cairo  Mr.  Alba  found  employment 


^ 


ILLINOIS 


367 


as  bootblack  in  the  old  St.  Charles  Hotel,  and 
in  later  years  he  delighted  in  relating  that  in 
this  connection  it  was  his  privilege  and  dis- 
tinction of  blacking  the  boots  of  General 
Ulysses  S.  Grant  while  that  great  commander 
was  stationed  in  Cairo.  Mr.  Alba's  regular 
school  advantages  were  limited,  but  he  at- 
tended the  Cairo  schools  as  opportunity  of- 
fered, and  his  alert  and  receptive  mind  en- 
abled him  to  round  out  his  education  through 
self -discipline  in  connection  with  the  contacts 
and  associations  that  were  his  in  the  passing 
years.  He  eventually  learned  the  barber's 
trade,  and  this  he  continued  to  follow  in 
Cairo  until  he  turned  his  attention  to  the 
insurance  business  and  became  the  founder, 
in  1896,  of  the  well  ordered  insurance  agency 
that  is  now  owned  and  conducted  by  his  son, 
Chester  N.  He  developed  a  prosperous  busi- 
ness in  this  line  and  continued  as  one  of  the 
prominent  exponents  of  the  general  insurance 
business  in  Cairo  until  his  death,  the  while  he 
always  maintained  secure  place  in  the  confi- 
dence of  the  community  in  which  he  passed 
the  greater  part  of  his  life  and  which  he  hon- 
ored through  his  sterling  character  and  his 
worthy  achievement.  He  was  the  organizer 
also  of  the  Delta  Building  &  Loan  Association, 
and  continued  to  serve  as  its  secretary  until 
his  death.  His  political  allegiance  was  given 
to  the  Republican  party  and  he  was  influential 
in  civic  as  well  as  business  affairs  in  his  home 
city.  He  was  long  and  actively  affiliated  with 
the  Masonic  fraternity.  His  widow  still  main- 
tains her  home  in  Cairo. 

After  being  graduated  in  the  Cairo  High 
School  and  in  the  Brown  Business  College  of 
his  native  city  Chester  N.  Alba,  at  the  age 
of  twenty  years,  here  took  a  position,  in  1912, 
with  the  Harris  Saddlery  Company,  but  in  the 
following  year  he  became  associated  with  his 
father's  insurance  business.  Upon  his  admis- 
sion to  partnership  in  the  business  the  present 
title  of  Conrad  Alba  &  Son  was  adopted,  and 
after  the  death  of  his  father,  in  1929,  he 
purchased  from  the  latter's  estate  the  interests 
of  the  other  heirs  and  asumed  entire  control 
of  the  business,  which  he  has  since  continued 
successfully  and  according  to  the  reliable  and 
honorable  policies  that  were  adopted  by  his 
father  when  the  enterprise  was  initiated.  The 
offices  of  the  agency  are  established  in  the 
brick  building  that  was  erected  by  Conrad 
Alba  in  the  year  1893  and  that  is  located  at 
206  Eighteenth  Street. 

When  the  nation  became  involved  in  the 
World  war  Mr.  Alba  made  all  personal  inter- 
ests secondary  to  patriotism  and  volunteered 
for  service  in  the  United  States  Army,  his 
enlistment  having  occurred  in  June,  1917. 
With  his  infantry  regiment  he  was  stationed 
at  Camp  Taylor,  Kentucky,  and  later  he  was 
transferred  to  the  artillery  arm  of  the  service, 
in  which  he  remained  until   the  close   of  the 


war  and  the  reception  of  his  honorable   dis- 
charge, in  January,  1919. 

Mr.  Alba  is  a  stalwart  in  the  local  ranks  of 
the  Republican  party,  and  has  service  as  a 
member  of  its  precinct  committee  of  his  home 
precinct,  besides  having  been  a  delegate  to 
one  of  its  state  conventions  in  Illinois.  He 
is  an  active  member  of  the  Cairo  Association 
of  Commerce,  and  is  secretary  and  treasurer 
of  the  Cairo  Real  Estate  Board.  He  is  a  past 
noble  grand  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  and  is  affiliated  also  with  the  Benevo- 
lent &  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  the  American 
Legion  and  the  other  World  war  organization 
that  is  known  as  the  Forty  and  Eight  Society. 
He  and  his  wife  have  membership  in  the  Pres- 
byterian Church.  Mrs.  Alba,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Johnsie  Dassing,  was  born  at 
Metropolis,  Illinois.  The  one  child  of  this 
union  is  a  son,  Chester  N.,  Jr. 

Constant  Ingold  Gruey,  in  1872,  became 
identified  with  Cambridge,  Illinois,  as  super- 
intendent of  the  city  schools.  The  community 
has  always  paid  him  a  high  degree  of  respect 
for  the  constructive  work  he  did  as  an  edu- 
cator in  the  early  days,  but  a  later  generation 
also  knows  him  as  a  very  successful  and  ex- 
ceedingly generous  and  public-spirited  man 
and  citizen. 

Mr.  Gruey  was  born  near  Wooster,  Ohio, 
August  10,  1843,  a  son  of  Joseph  and  Eliza- 
beth (Ingold)  Gruey.  His  father  was  born 
at  Winchester,  Virginia,  in  1800  and  was  of 
French  and  Danish  ancestry.  He  went  to 
Indiana  in  pioneer  days.  He  was  an  early 
settler  of  Kendallville  of  that  state,  and  was 
the  founder  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
that  community.  His  wife,  Elizabeth  Ingold, 
was  of  German  ancestry. 

Constant  I.  Gruey  was  reared  in  Ohio  and 
Indiana,  attended  an  academy  in  Indiana  and 
a  college  in  Chicago,  and  in  early  manhood 
took  up  a  career  as  an  educator.  He  taught 
in  several  communities  and  in  1868  located  at 
Bloomington,  Illinois,  and  four  years  later 
went  to  Cambridge  to  become  superintendent 
of  schools.  This  was  an  early  period  of  edu- 
cational development,  particularly  in  the  prog- 
ress of  high  schools,  and  only  the  more  ad- 
vanced communities  of  the  state  tried  to  do 
anything  more  than  maintain  a  system  of 
common  schools.  It  was  Mr.  Gruey  who  took 
the  initiative  and  organized  the  Cambridge 
High  School.  He  continued  his  service  as  su- 
perintendent for  nine  years,  and  in  all  the 
years  since  then  has  maintained  a  deep  -in- 
terest in  local  education. 

After  he  retired  from  teaching  work  he 
entered  the  real  estate  and  loan  business,  and 
has  a  wide  diversity  of  business  investments 
and  activities  during  the  past  half  century. 
He  personally  directs  his  large  farm  interests 
today,  and  is  unusually  well  preserved  for  a 


368 


ILLINOIS 


man  of  his  years,  being  young  at  heart  and  m 
spirit,  and  has  a  host  of  personal  friends. 

Mr.  Gruey  in  1928  built  and  equipped  a  pub- 
lic library  building,  which  he  presented  to  the 
library  board  of  Cambridge.  It  was  dedicated 
February  15,  1929,  and  for  generations  will 
stand  as  the  Gruey  Memorial  Library,  a  fire- 
proof structure  of  substantial  type,  and  a 
beautiful  expression  of  the  public  spirit  and 
the  educational  aspirations  which  have  been 
associated  with  the  Gruey  name  in  the  com- 
munity for  so  many  years.  Mr.  Gruey  had  a 
sister,  Angeline  Gruey  Teal,  who  was  a  tal- 
ented writer  of  prose  and  verse,  and  published 
several  of  her  books. 

Mr.  Gruey  since  the  early  1880s  has  been 
a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  He  is  on 
the  board  of  directors  of  the  Henry  County 
Fair  Association.  Of  his  political  experience 
he  recalls  with  special  interest  the  National 
Progressive  Convention  of  1912  at  Chicago,  at 
which  he  was  a  delegate.  It  was  this  conven- 
tion which  culminated  in  the  great  factional 
split  in  the  Republican  party,  as  a  result  of 
which  Theodore  Roosevelt  was  nominated  as 
the  Progressive  candidate  for  president  that 
year.  He  also  has  the  distinction  of  being 
almost  a  charter  member  of  the  Republican 
party  and  cast  his  first  vote  for  Abraham  Lin- 
coln for  his  second  term.  Although  Mr.  Gruey 
has  been  a  loyal  Republican,  he  will  not  follow 
any  party  on  what  he  considers  the  wrong 
side  of  an  important  policy  and  in  such  cases 
votes  as  an  independent. 

Mr.  Gruey  married  December  18,  1873,  Miss 
Henrietta  L.  Wheeler.  She  was  born  May  31, 
1847,  in  Michigan,  of  English  ancestry,  daugh- 
ter of  Dr.  Charles  T.  Wheeler,  who  practiced 
medicine  at  Albion,  Indiana,  where  Mrs. 
Gruey  spent  her  school  days.  She  was  a  grad- 
uate of  Iowa  State  University  and  North- 
western University,  and  later  taught  in  the 
Cambridge  Schools.  She  was  a  great  lover  of 
books  and  was  well  informed  on  many  sub- 
jects. Mrs.  Gruey  passed  away  December  11, 
1927,  leaving  a  host  of  friends  and  admirers 
as  evidenced  by  the  many  loving  tributes  and 
expressions  of  interest  during  her  last  days. 

On  Mr.  Gruey's  eighty-eighth  birthday,  Au- 
gust '10,  1931,  the  local  Masonic  Lodge  sur- 
prised him  with  a  special  meeting  in  his 
honor.  On  this  occasion,  Past  Master  E.  A. 
Rosenstone  made  a  splendid  address  of  ap- 
preciation of  the  true  citizenship  displayed  by 
Mr.  Gruey  in  which  he  made  the  following 
statements  mong  others: 

"There  is  a  type  of  so-called  'good  citizen' 
who  radiates  good  fellowship  and  is  a  pet 
booster  but  his  enthusiasm  sinks  like  a  pricked 
bubble  after  the  meeting.  He  has  no  desire  to 
work  for  the  same  community  he  has  boosted 
so  loudly. 

"Then  there  is  another  type  of  citizen  who 
helps  prepare  the  community  for  a  wider  out- 
look.    True  community  spirit  is  a  very  beau- 


tiful thing — it  is  one  of  the  treasured  gems 
of  American  small  town  tradition.  True  cit- 
izenship has  built  honor  and  fidelity,  sacrifice 
and  straight  thinking  in  the  minds  of  men.  It 
has  consecrated  wealth  to  high  uses,  it  has 
perpetuated  the  tradition  that  life  itself  is 
worth  living,  that  work  itself  is  worth  doing. 

"Such  citizenship  has  our  good  brother, 
Constant  I.  Gruey  proved  to  us.  Since  his  first 
coming  to  Cambridge,  he  has  endeavored  at  all 
times  to  infuse  in  our  community  a  cultural 
influence.  Our  library  is  a  tangible  expression 
of  his  good  work,  but  in  addition  to  this  his 
influences    have    been    many    and    widespread. 

"If  there  were  some  honorary  title  that  we 
tonight  could  bestow  on  Brother  Gruey,  we 
know  that  he  would  deserve  it." 

The  Allerton  Public  Library  at  Monti- 
cello,  judicial  center  of  Piatt  County,  is  an 
institution  whose  province  and  effective  service 
make  it  one  of  the  valuable  communal  assets 
of  both  the  city  and  the  county. 

About  1895  the  late  Samuel  Allerton,  long  a 
leader  in  the   great  stock  yards   industry  in 
Chicago  and  owner  of  one  of  the  fine  landed 
estates  of  Piatt  County,  made  a   proposition 
that  if  Monticello   Township  would  supply  a 
suitable  library  building  he  and  his  wife  would 
provide  books  and  equipment.    His  interest  in 
the  county  and  in  the  township  was  deepened 
by  the  fact  that  his  first  land  holdings  were 
in  Monticello  Township.  To  determine  whether 
or  not  the  township  could  and  would  meet  the 
terms  of  this  generous  proposition  on  the  part 
of  Mr.  Allerton,  the  following  committee  of  in- 
vestigation was  formed:     C.  A.  Tatman,  H.  D. 
Peters,  A.  C.  Thompson,  J.  W.  Coleman,  and 
F.    V.    Dilatesh.      The   popular    response   was 
most  reassuring  and  the  committee  was  em- 
powered to  proceed  with  the  construction  of 
the  building.     The  new  library  was  opened  to 
the  public  in  October,  1897,  with  about  2,500 
well  selected  volumes  on  its  shelves.     The  per- 
sonnel of  the  first  board  of  trustees  was  as 
here  noted:     F.  V.  Dilatesh,  James  L.  Hicks, 
Otis  W.  Moore,  Mrs.  Mary  I.  (Reed)  Dighton, 
and  Mrs.  Jane  (Conway)  Burgess.    Miss  Lida 
Coleman    served    as    librarian    from    October, 
1897,  until  October,  1912,  and  was  succeeded 
by  Miss  Winifred  James,  who  retained  the  po- 
sition until  December,  1913,  when  the  present 
librarian,  Miss  Lena  Bragg,  initiated  her  serv- 
ice  as   active   executive   head   of   the   library. 
Her  valued   assistant  in  the  management   of 
the  library  is  Miss  Elizabeth  Ayre.     On  No- 
vember 1,  1931,  the  library  showed  a  total  of 
15,323  books,  sixty-three  standard  periodicals 
and  copies  of  five  newspapers  that  give  regu- 
lar service  to  the  library.    The  institution  has 
on  file  complete  sets  of  Harper's,  Century  and 
Scribner's   magazines,   and   the  reference   de- 
partment has   a  splendid  collection  of  books. 
The  circulation  for  the  year  ending  March  31, 
1931,  was  41,725  volumes.     The  personnel  of 


ILLINOIS 


369 


the  present  board  of  trustees  of  the  Allerton 
Library  is  as  follows:  F.  V.  Dilatesh,  Dr.  C. 
M.  Bumstead,  Mrs.  Edna  (Loggins)  Mailan- 
der,  Mrs.  Verna  (Martin)  Scott,  Mrs.  Jessie 
(Thompson)  Dighton,  and  Mrs.  Dorothy 
(Swindeman)   Ellis. 

Joseph  L.  Dell'Era  is  the  successful  man- 
ager of  real-estate  interests  of  importance  and 
has  also  the  local  agency  for  the  New  York 
Life  Insurance  Company  in  the  city  of  Herrin, 
Williamson  County.  He  was  born  at  Mur- 
physboro,  Jackson  County,  Illinois,  October  2, 
1896,  and  is  a  son  of  Louis  and  Theodora 
(Bioth)  Dell'Era,  the  former  of  whom  died 
October  2,  1914,  and  the  latter  of  whom  is  still 
living.  Louis  Dell'Era  was  born  in  Italy  and 
established  residence  at  Murphysboro,  Illinois, 
in  1894,  he  having  there  been  engaged  in  the 
real-estate  business  during  a  period  of  twenty- 
seven  years  and  having  become  the  owner  of 
valuable  properties  both  in  Murphysboro  and 
Herrin,  in  which  latter  city  he  passed  the  clos- 
ing years  of  his  life.  The  other  surviving 
children  of  his  family  are  Miss  Eda  T.  and 
William  T. 

Joseph  L.  Dell'Era  was  graduated  in  the 
high  school  at  Herrin,  attended  the  Christian 
Brothers  College  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  where 
he  took  a  commercial  course,  and  was  a  stu- 
dent some  time  in  Quincy  College,  at  Quincy, 
Illinois.  In  Notre  Dame  University  at  South 
Bend,  Indiana,  he  pursued  courses  in  mathe- 
matics and  engineering,  and  in  Parks  Air  Col- 
lege he  received  instruction  in  aviation,  he 
having  at  the  present  time  a  license  as  aviator. 
In  1917,  when  the  nation  entered  the  World 
war,  he  enlisted  for  service  in  the  United 
States  Army,  attended  the  officers'  training 
school  at  Camp  Sheridan,  and  on  November 
27  of  that  year  received  commission  as  second 
lieutenant.  He  soon  afterward  went  overseas, 
where  he  received  further  training  and  was 
advancd  to  the  grade  of  first  lieutenant.  He 
continued  in  active  overseas  service  until  De- 
cember, 1919,  when  he  returned  home  and  duly 
received  his  honorable   discharge. 

After  the  close  of  his  military  career  in  the 
World  war  Mr.  Dell'Era  returned  to  Herrin, 
and  soon  afterward  became  associated  with  his 
mother  in  purchasing  of  the  real-estate  busi- 
ness and  interests  of  Joseph  Barra,  of  Mur- 
physboro. The  business  has  since  been  contin- 
ued under  the  title  of  Dell'Era  Estate,  and  Mr. 
Dell'Era  has  in  this  connection  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Dell'Era  Apartments,  the  Dell'Era 
Building,  and  the  Barra-Dell'Era  Building  and 
the  Galdun  Building  at  Frankfort. 

As  a  member  of  the  American  Legion  Mr. 
Dell'Era  served  three  years  as  commander 
of  Herrin  Post,  and  he  was  an  officer  of 
the  Forty  and  Eight  Society  one  year.  He 
was  deputy  vice-commander  of  the  Illinois  De- 
partment of  the  American  Legion.  He  was 
first  to  serve  as  treasurer  of  the  first  council 


of  Knights  of  Columbus  in  Herrin,  and  is 
affiliated  also  with  the  Elks,  the  Eagles,  and 
in  the  Officers  Reserve  Corps  of  the  United 
States  Army  he  is  a  captain  in  the  Three  Hun- 
dred and  Forty-fourth  Infantry,  in  which  he 
is  also  intelligence  officer.  As  an  aviator  he 
has  been  actively  in  service  in  air  transport 
operations.  His  sister,  Miss  Eda,  who  attended 
St.  Mary's  Academy  at  Muncie,  Indiana,  is 
president  of  the  Catholic  Ladies  Aid  Society 
in  Herrin  and  is  actively  identified  with  the 
woman's  auxiliary  of  the  American  Legion. 

Lewis  W.  Wise  resides  at  Watseka,  county 
seat  of  Iroquois  County,  and  after  serving 
fifteen  years  as  official  farm  adviser  for  this 
county  he  resigned  the  office  in  April,  1929,  and 
engaged  independently  in  business  as  an  ex- 
ecutive farm  manager.  He  now  has  about 
fifteen  farms  under  direct  supervision,  is  the 
owner  of  a  valuable  farm  estate  of  240  acres 
in  Piatt  County,  and  is  secretary  and  treasurer 
of  the  Farm  Loan  Association  of  Iroquois 
County. 

Mr.  Wise  was  born  in  Piatt  County,  Illinois, 
December  28,  1875,  a  son  of  Jacob  and  Eliza- 
beth (Kuns)  Wise,  of  whose  five  children  he 
was  the  third.  Manuel  E.,  oldest  of  the  num- 
ber, resides  at  Cerro  Gordo,  Piatt  County; 
John  K.  is  a  resident  of  LaPorte,  Indiana; 
Mary  is  the  wife  of  Eugene  Neff,  of  Cerro 
Gordo;  and  Leonard  E.  has  residence  in  Den- 
ver, Colorado. 

Jacob  Wise  was  born  and  reared  near  Del- 
phi, Carroll  County,  Indiana,  and  received  in 
his  youth  training  in  both  English  and  German 
schools  in  that  locality.  His  entire  active  ca- 
reer was  marked  by  close  association  with 
farm  industry.  He  came  to  Illinois  in  1870 
and  was  one  of  the  substantial  farmers  and 
highly  esteemed  citizens  of  Piatt  County  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  in  February,  1926,  his 
widow  having  passed  away  in  December,  1928, 
and  both  having  been  zealous  members  of  the 
German  Baptist  (Dunkard)  Church.  Jacob 
Wise  was  a  son  of  Leonard  Wise,  of  Colonial 
ancestry,  who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  and 
who  became  one  of  the  early  and  successful 
farmers  of  Carroll  County,  Indiana,  where  he 
and  his  wife  passed  the  remainder  of  their 
lives. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  (Kuns)  Wise,  like  her  hus- 
band, was  born  in  Carroll  County,  Indiana,  but 
she  was  a  child  at  the  time  of  the  family  re- 
moval to  Piatt  County,  Illinois,  where  she  was 
reared  and  educated  and  where  her  marriage 
occurred.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Lewis  Kuns, 
who  was  a  sterling  citizen  of  Piatt  County  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  he  having  there  been 
a  successful  farmer. 

Lewis  W.  Wise  was  reared  on  the  parental 
home  farm  in  Piatt  County  and  supplemented 
the  discipline  of  the  public  schools  by  a  course 
in  the  University  of  Illinois,  in  which  he  was 
graduated  as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1904. 


370 


ILLINOIS 


During  the  ensuing  ten  years  he  gave  his 
attention  to  the  active  management  of  his 
farm  near  Cerro  Gordo,  Piatt  County,  and  he 
then  assumed  the  office  of  farm  adviser  of 
Iroquois  County,  a  position  in  which  he  made 
a  record  of  constructive  and  popular  adminis- 
tration during  the  ensuing  fifteen  years — until 
his  resignation,  in  April,  1929,  as  previously 
noted.  In  his  independent  activities  in  farm 
management  he  likewise  has  been  notably  suc- 
cessful, and  he  still  continues  also  to  give  gen- 
eral supervision  to  his  own  farm  estate,  in 
Piatt  County.  He  was  president  of  the  Ki- 
wanis  Club  at  Watseka  in  1931,  his  basic 
Masonic  affiliation  is  with  Cerro  Gordo  Lodge, 
No.  500,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  while  at  Watseka 
he  has  membership  in  Bement  Chapter,  R.  A. 
M.,  and  the  Watseka  Commandery  of  Knights 
Templars.  In  the  city  of  Springfield  he  is  en- 
rolled as  a  noble  of  Ansar  Temple  of  the 
Mystic  Shrine,  and  he  is  affiliated  with  the 
Kappa  Sigma  Delta  college  fraternity,  and  in 
his  home  city  has  membership  in  the  Iroquois 
Club  and  the  Shewami  Country  Club.  He  is 
a  Republican  in  political  allegiance  and  he 
and  his  wife  are  members  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Watseka,  he  being  chair- 
man of  its  board  of  trustees. 

February  16,  1905,  marked  the  marriage 
of  Mr.  Wise  to  Miss  Jane  Parker  Bowdle,  who 
likewise  was  born  and  reared  in  Piatt  County 
and  who  is  a  daughter  of  the  late  William 
and  Lucy  (Parker)  Bowdle.  William  Bowdle 
served  as  a  loyal  soldier  of  the  Union  during 
virtually  the  entire  period  of  the  Civil  war, 
as  a  member  of  Company  A,  One  Hundred 
Sixteenth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  he 
was  wounded  while  taking  part  in  the  battle 
of  Vicksburg,  Mississippi.  Mr.  Bowdle  was 
long  one  of  the  representative  farmers  and 
influential  citizens  in  the  vicinity  of  Bement, 
Piatt  County,  and  served  in  various  local  of- 
fices of  public  trust,  including  that  of  highway 
commissioner.  His  death  occurred  July  23, 
1920,  and  that  of  his  widow  in  May,  1929. 

Mrs.  Wise  received  the  advantages  of  the 
high  school  at  Bement  and  pursued  musical 
studies  in  the  city  of  Decatur.  She  is  a  tal- 
ented musician  and  prior  to  her  marriage  was 
a  piano  teacher  in  the  Bement  community  of 
her  native  county.  She  is  affiliated  with  the 
Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  and 
the  Daughters  of  Union  Veterans  of  the  Civil 
war,  has  membership  in  the  Order  of  the 
Eastern  Star  and  is  a  member  of  the  Woman's 
Club  of  Watseka.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wise  have 
two  children:  Margaret  Helen  was  graduated 
in  the  Watseka  High  School  in  1924  and  in 
James  Milliken  University,  at  Decatur,  as  a 
member  of  the  class  of  1929.  She  is  now  a 
popular  teacher  in  the  public  schools  of  Grosse 
Pointe,  a  beautiful  suburb  of  Detroit,  Michi- 
gan. Harriet  Bowdle  Wise,  the  younger 
daughter,  was  graduated  in  the  Watseka  High 
School  in  1926  and  in  Milliken  University  in 


1930,  she  being  now  a  member  of  the  parental 
home  circle.  Both  are  members  of  Alpha  Chi 
Omega  sorority.  Mr.  Wise  is  an  enthusiast 
and  adept  in  the  piscatorial  art  and  has  made 
occasional  fishing  trips  to  Canada,  fine  tro- 
phies of  these  excursions  being  displayed  in 
his  home  at  Watseka. 

Thomas  Robert  Johnston,  state's  attorney 
of  Kankakee  County,  was  born  on  a  farm  in 
Rock  Island  County,  Illinois,  August  22,  1883. 
Mr.  Johnston  has  had  a  career  of  broad  and 
varied  interests.  For  a  number  of  years  he 
was  engaged  in  educational  work,  being  super- 
intendent of  schools. 

He  is  of  Scotch-Irish  ancestry  on  both  sides. 
His  father,  Thomas  Johnston,  was  born  in 
Rock  Island  County,  Illinois,  a  son  of  John 
Johnston,  who  was  born  in  Ireland  of  Scotch 
ancestry  and  who  came  to  Illinois  at  an  early 
enough  period  so  as  to  take  up  government 
land  in  Rock  Island  County.  His  farm  is  still 
owned  in  the  family.  The  mother  of  Thomas 
R.  Johnston,  Elizabeth  Paisley,  was  born  in 
Ireland  of  Scotch  parentage.  Her  father, 
William  Paisley,  spent  all  his  life  in  Ireland. 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Johnston  still  occupies  the  old 
homestead  farm  in  Rock  Island  County.  Her 
husband  died  in  1921.  Both  were  members 
of  the  Episcopal  Church.  Thomas  Johnston 
was  active  in  community  affairs,  serving  as 
town  assessor  and  on  the  school  board,  and 
was  a  staunch  Republican. 

Thomas  Robert  Johnston  was  the  fourth  in 
a  family  of  five  children.  After  the  local 
schools  he  spent  two  years  in  the  Reynolds 
High  School,  attended  the  Academy  of  North- 
western University  and  was  graduated  Bache- 
lor of  Science  from  Northwestern  University 
in  1910.  From  1910  to  1914  he  was  high 
school  principal  at  Rochelle,  Illinois,  and  from 
1914  to  1920  was  superintendent  of  schools 
at  Momence.  During  summer  vacations  he 
studied  law,  and  returned  to  Northwestern 
University  to  complete  his  full  course,  gradu- 
ating with  the  Juris  Doctor  degree  in  1922. 
In  the  same  year  he  located  at  Kankakee, 
where  he  has  had  a  busy  practice  for  the  past 
ten  years.  He  was  for  five  years  assistant 
state's  attorney  and  in  November,  1928,  was 
elected  state's  attorney,  and  is  a  candidate 
for  re-election  in  1932.  The  duties  of  this 
office  take  practically  all  his  time. 

Mr.  Johnston  married,  February  14,  1910, 
Miss  Georgia  Buchanan,  who  was  born  at 
Independence,  Iowa,  was  educated  in  that  state 
and  in  Northwestern  University.  She  died  in 
1914  and  her  only  child,  Robert,  is  also  de- 
ceased. Mr.  Johnston's  second  marriage,  in 
August,  1916,  was  to  Miss  Helen  Stallings. 
She  was  also  a  teacher.  She  died  during  the 
influenza  epidemic  in  1918.  December  30,  1919, 
he  married  Kathreen  Grosvenor,  who  was  born 
in  Kansas.  Mrs.  Johnston  is  a  graduate  of 
Northwestern    University    with    the    class    of 


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ILLINOIS 


371 


1916,  Bachelor  of  Science  degree,  and  also 
had  experience  as  a  teacher.  To  this  marriage 
were  born  five  children:  Thomas,  born  No- 
vember 14,  1920;  Barbara,  born  September  5, 
1922;  James,  born  October  6,  1924;  Charles, 
born  September  28,  1925;  and  Richard,  born 
August  28,  1929. 

Mr.  Johnston  is  a  member  of  the  vestry  of 
the  Episcopal  Church  at  Kankakee.  He  is  a 
Royal  Arch  Mason,  member  of  the  B.  P.  0. 
Elks,  Loyal  Order  of  Moose,  and  both  he  and 
his  wife  are  affiliated  with  the  Chapter  of  the 
Eastern  Star.  He  was  for  three  years  secre- 
tary of  the  Kankakee  Park  Board.  He  is  a 
Republican,  a  member  of  the  Kankakee  County 
and  Illinois  State  Bar  Associations.  He  is 
a  Delta  Tau  Delta  and  while  in  Northwestern 
University  won  his  letter  in  football. 

Ivan  Elmer  Koonce  is  now  the  executive 
head  of  a  prosperous  business  that  was 
founded  by  his  father  at  Mounds,  Pulaski 
County,  fully  forty  years  ago  and  that  has 
been  kept  in  line  with  the  trend  of  modern 
progress,  he  himself  having  greatly  expanded 
the  scope  and  service  of  the  interprise.  This 
business  is  represented  in  the  handling  of 
coal  and  ice  and  in  a  general  transfer  and 
trucking  service,  and  it  is  now  conducted 
under  the  title  of  M.  L.  Koonce  &  Company. 

Ivan  E.  Koonce  was  born  in  Pulaski  County, 
Illinois,  June  6,  1894,  and  is  a  son  of  the  late 
Louis  H.  Koonce,  who  was  engaged  in  the 
coal  business  at  Mounds  during  a  period  of 
more  than  forty  years  and  who  served  as  local 
agent  for  the  Cairo  &  St.  Louis  Electric  Rail- 
road, which  is  now  included  in  the  Illinois 
Traction  System.  In  earlier  years  he  likewise 
conducted  a  livery  business  here.  Louis  H. 
Koonce  was  born  in  Bond  County,  Illinois,  and 
his  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Myra  Miller, 
was  born  in  Pope  County,  this  state,  their  chil- 
dren having  been  five  in  number.  The  father 
of  Louis  H.  Koonce  was  born  in  the  United 
States,  of  Scotch  lineage,  and  became  the 
original  representative  of  the  family  in  Pu- 
laski County,  Illinois,  where  he  made  settle- 
ment at  Villa  Ridge  long  before  the  Civil  war. 
The  family  name  has  been  closely  associated 
with  the  coal  business  in  southern  Illinois  since 
the  pioneer  days. 

Ivan  E.  Koonce  received  in  his  youth  the 
advantages  of  the  Mounds  public  schools,  and 
thereafter  he  initiated  his  business  career  as 
clerk  in  the  local  office  of  the  transportation 
department  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  he 
having  later  been  employed  as  a  switchman. 
Upon  the  death  of  his  father  he  assumed  ac- 
tive charge  of  the  old  established  coal,  ice  and 
transfer  business,  of  which  he  has  since  con- 
tinued the  executive  head,  the  present  title 
of  M.  L.  Koonce  &  Company  having  been 
adopted  in  1929.  In  the  transfer  department 
the  concern  maintains  a  battery  of  six  ve- 
hicles, including  both  motor  trucks  and  trucks 


utilizing  horses.  The  firm  handles  annually 
an  average  of  twenty-nine  carloads  of  coal 
and  200  carloads  of  ice.  The  concern  utilizes 
for  its  well  equipped  plant  a  ground  area  of 
7,000  square  feet,  and  the  substantial  busi- 
ness has  ever  been  based  on  honorable  methods 
and  effective  service. 

Mr.  Koonce  is  found  loyally  arrayed  in  the 
local  ranks  of  the  Republican  party  and  has 
given  effective  service  as  election  judge  in 
his  home  city.  He  still  maintains  affiliation 
with  the  Brotherhood  of  Railway  Trainmen. 
On  October  4,  1931,  he  married  Marylou  John- 
son, of  Mounds,  Illinois. 

Henry  L.  Ferris.  The  history  of  Henry  L. 
Ferris,  president  of  Hunt,  Helm,  Ferris  & 
Company,  Inc.,  is  largely  identified  with  that 
of  the  city  of  Harvard,  and  no  record  of 
either  man  or  community  would  be  complete 
without  full  mention  of  both.  A  resident  of 
Harvard  since  1883  he  has  seen  the  little  vil- 
lage grow  to  a  magnitude  and  power  of  which 
his  fondest  dream  never,  until  recent  years, 
conceived.  He  is  now  one  of  the  few  men 
living  who  can  say  with  perfect  truth:  "This 
is  part  of  my  life  work;  with  my  own  hands 
I  have  aided  in  the  building  up  of  this  city; 
my  faith  in  it  was  strong  from  the  first,  and 
I  have  the  same  just  price  in  its  advancement 
that  a  father  takes  in  the  prosperity  and  wel- 
fare of  his  child."  Mr.  Ferris  is  one  of  the 
oldest  and  most  widely-known  business  men  of 
McHenry  County.  He  is  now  a  man  of  eighty, 
but  stronger  in  mind  and  body  than  many 
men  of  sixty  and  intensely  acute  and  active 
in  all  the  cares  of  business  or  the  demands  of 
citizenship.  The  success  which  he  has 
achieved  should  be  a  spur  to  the  ambition 
of  every  boy,  no  matter  how  poor  or  lowly. 

Mr.  Ferris  was  born  at  Alden,  McHenry 
County,  Illinois,  September  24,  1850,  and  is  a 
son  of  Sylvanus  and  Sarah  (Brandow)  Ferris. 
His  parents,  natives  of  Green  County,  New 
York,  settled  on  a  farm  in  McHenry  County 
in  _  1847.  They  were  members  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  and  Mr.  Ferris  was  a 
Republican  in  his  political  allegiance.  Of  the 
six  children  in  the  family,  three  survive: 
Marian  Frances,  the  widow  of  George  Udell, 
residing  at  Harvard;  Henry  L.,  of  this  re- 
view; and  William  R.,  who  is  living  on  his 
farm  in  Oklahoma. 

Henry  L.  Ferris  was  three  years  of  age 
when  his  parents  returned  to  New  York,  where 
he  attended  public  school,  and  in  1865  re- 
turned to  Illinois  and  settled  on  a  farm  in 
McHenry  County,  and  there  rounded  out  their 
lives  on  a  property  that  is  now  owned  by 
their  son,  Howard  J.  There  the  youth  built 
a  creamery,  which  he  conducted  with  success, 
and  turned  his  attention  to  the  invention  of 
improvements  on  farming  implements.  The 
firm  of  Hunt  &  Helm,  then  a  small  but  am- 
bitious  concern,   operating  a   hardware   store, 


372 


ILLINOIS 


soon  recognized  the  young  man's  genius,  and 
took  him  in  partnership  for  the  manufacture 
of  farming  implements  and  hardware  spe- 
cialties. The  concern  possessed  but  little  cap- 
ital at  the  start  and  for  three  years  Mr. 
Ferris  was  compelled  to  carry  on  his  inventive 
work  in  small,  poorly  equipped  buildings,  while 
the  product  was  introduced  throughout  a 
limited  territory  by  but  one  traveling  sales- 
man. At  the  end  of  the  fifth  year  the  com- 
pany was  able  to  build  a  two-story  building, 
30  x  60  feet,  and  thus  was  able  to  manufac- 
ture to  better  advantage  and  add  new  goods 
to  their  line.  From  that  time  to  the  present 
the  growth  and  development  of  this  concern 
has  been  remarkable  and  it  now  owns  the 
largest  plant  in  the  city,  covering  some  253,300 
square  feet  of  floor  space  and  five  and  eight- 
tenths  acres  of  land.  Fortv-two  salesmen  are 
kept  continuously  on  the  road,  and  the  com- 
pany's product,  consisting  of  farm  tools  and 
farm  specialties,  finds  a  ready  market  in  every 
state  in  the  Union  and  in  a  number  of  foreign 
countries.  They  have  three  branches:  Albany, 
New  York,  San  Francisco,  California,  and  Los 
Angeles,  California.  Mr.  Ferris,  who  is  presi- 
dent of  the  concern,  is  the  only  member  of  the 
original  firm  now  living.  During  his  long, 
active  and  useful  life  he  has  patented  approx- 
imately 150  of  his  own  inventions,  many  of 
which  have  revolutionized  several  branches  of 
farm  labor,  particularly  the  dairy  industry 
where  his  inventions  have  pioneered  the  pres- 
ent wide-spread  movement  for  a  high  standard 
of  sanitation  and  efficiency  in  all  dairy  barns, 
the  far-reaching  effects  of  which  can  hardly 
be  overestimated  in  the  interests  of  public 
health.  Many  thousands  of  units  of  this  equip- 
ment are  manufactured  each  year  but  this  is 
only  one  department  of  the  business  of  this 
interesting  factory  as  they  also  make  a  com- 
plete line  of  poultry  equipment,  barn  venti- 
lators, hay  carriers,  barn  hardware,  horse  stall 
equipment,  etc.  Their  designing  department 
furnish  complete  barn  plans  and  estimates  of 
cost,  fully  equipped  with  the  latest  improve- 
ments for  the  use  and  care  of  the  dairy  herd. 
They  also  own  and  operate  their  own  foundry. 
The  firm  is  now  incorporated  for  $1,500,000 
and  is  accounted  one  of  the  great  industries 
of  its  part  of  the  state.  Unlike  most  men  of 
inventive  genius,  Mr.  Ferris  is  also  a  man  of 
keen  business  judgment  and  executive  ca- 
pacity. He  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  in  which  he  has  always 
been  active,  and  is  a  member  of  the  church 
board.  At  one  time  he  served  as  a  member  of 
the  city  council,  and  for  twenty  years  was  a 
member  of  the  school  board. 

In  1877  Mr.  Ferris  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Millie  Mosher,  who  was  born  at 
Horseheads,  Chemung  County,  New  York,  and 
was  a  girl  when  brought  to  Sharon,  Wisconsin, 
by  her  parents.  To  this  union  there  were  born 
two  sons  and  two  daughters:  Howard,  vice 
president  of  Hunt,  Helm,  Ferris  &  Company, 


Inc.,  who  married  Miss  Beatrice  Gaye  of 
Harvard,  and  they  had  two  children,  Robert 
G.,  born  October  4,  1905,  who  is  now  a  de- 
signer in  the  factory  with  his  father  and 
grandfather,  and  Nancy,  born  March  8,  1916. 
Mrs.  Ferris  died  February  17,  1921,  and  Mr. 
Ferris  married  in  July,  1925,  Emily  Crockett 
White  of  Syracuse,  New  York,  she  having 
a  son,  Hugh  Crockett  White,  born  March  6, 
1920,  and  they  have  one  child,  Emily  Joan, 
born  October  27,  1927.  Bessie,  widow  of  Wil- 
liam, Doyle,  who  owns  a  large  apartment 
building  in  Saint  Petersburg,  Florida,  has 
one  adopted  child,  Ethel.  Eugene  C,  super- 
intendent of  the  1,000  acres  of  farms  for- 
merly belonging  to  Mr.  Ferris  and  now  owned 
by  his  sons,  married  Mattie  Cook  and  they 
have  two  sons,  Philip,  born  July  22,  1912, 
and  Henry  L.  II,  born  May  20,  1910.  Mrs. 
Olive  May,  who  owns  a  large  apartment  build- 
ing at  Saint  Petersburg,  Florida,  has  three 
children,  Marion,  born  November  4,  1913, 
John,  born  November  4,  1915,  and  Betty,  born 
November  4,  1921,  their  birthdays  by  strange 
coincidence  all  coming  on  the  same  day  of  the 
same  month. 

The  firm  name,  Hunt,  Helm,  Ferris  &  Com- 
pany, Inc.,  has  now  been  changed  to  Starline, 
Inc. 

George  C.  Geier.  In  his  professional  serv- 
ices as  one  of  the  representative  younger 
members  of  the  Chicago  bar  Mr.  Geier  is 
retained  as  general  counsel  for  the  Chicago 
Fraternal  Life  Association,  and  his  office  head- 
quarters are  maintained  at  77  West  Washing- 
ton Street. 

Mr.  Geier  was  born  in  Chicago,  August  8, 
1900,  and  after  continuing  his  studies  in  the 
public  schools  of  his  native  city  until  he  had 
duly  profited  by  the  curriculum  of  the  high 
school  he  here  entered  the  Kent  College  of 
Law,  in  which  institution  he  was  graduated 
as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1923,  his  admis- 
sion to  the  bar  of  his  native  state  having  been 
virtually  coincident  with  his  reception  of  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws.  In  addition  to 
being  successfully  established  in  the  general 
practice  of  his  profession,  with  special  em- 
phasis given  to  corporation  and  probate  mat- 
ters and  the  legal  phases  of  the  life  insurance 
business,  he  is,  as  previously  stated,  general 
counsel  for  the  Chicago  Fraternal  Life  Asso- 
ciation, of  which  he  is  likewise  a  director. 
This  fraternal  insurance  corporation  and  asso- 
ciation has  its  general  offices  in  Chicago  and 
is  a  substantial  concern  that  has  developed 
along  normal  and  well  regulated  lines  a  large 
business  that  is  constantly  expanding  in  scope 
and  importance,  the  while  it  conforms  to  all 
laws  and  regulations  prescribed  by  the  differ- 
ent states  into  which  its  business  is  extended. 
The  association  has  been  licensed  in  twenty- 
six  states,  in  each  of  which  its  business  is  of 
substantial   and   representative   order. 


ILLINOIS 


373 


Mr.  Geier  is  a  member  of  the  board  of 
directors  of  the  Independent  Producers  Oil 
Company,  is  a  director  also  of  the  Adept  Art 
Studio,  his  political  alignment  is  with  the  Re- 
publican party.  In  the  Masonic  fraternity  he 
is  affiliated  with  both  York  and  Scottish  Rite 
bodies,  besides  being  a  noble  of  Medinah 
Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  and  a  member 
of  the  Medinah  Country  Club,  and  his  frater- 
nal associations  are  extended  also  to  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  and  other  organizations. 
In  Chicago  was  solemnized  his  marriage  to 
Miss  Jean  Butler,  and  their  one  child  is  a 
daughter,  Loraine. 

A.  Fred  Kendall,  state's  attorney  of  Iro- 
quois County,  has  proved  a  vigorous  and  re- 
sourceful public  prosecutor,  even  as  he  had 
previously  been  successful  in  the  private  prac- 
tice of  his  profession.  His  law  office  is  main- 
tained in  the  First  Trust  &  Savings  Bank 
Building  in  Watseka,  judicial  center  of  his 
native  county.  Mr.  Kendall  is  a  representative 
of  one  of  the  old  and  honored  families  of 
Iroquois  County  and  the  family  history  traces 
back  to  the  Colonial  period  in  American  annals. 

A.  Fred  Kendall  was  born  on  the  parental 
farm  in  Belmont  Township,  Iroquois  County, 
November  12,  1886,  and  is  the  youngest  in  a 
family  of  three  children,  his  brother,  W.  Rufus 
Kendall,  being  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law 
in  Chicago,  and  his  sister,  Miss  Wanda,  is 
principal  of  the  South  Side  grade  school  in 
Watseka.  Mr.  Kendall  is  a  son  of  Alfred 
Franklin  and  Josephine  (Frame)  Kendall,  the 
former  of  whom  was  born  in  Montgomery 
County,  Indiana,  and  the  latter  in  Huntington 
County,  that  state,  she  having  been  ten  years 
of  age  at  the  time  of  the  family  removal  to 
Iroquois  County,  Illinois,  where  she  was  reared 
and  educated  and  where  she  still  maintains  her 
home,  at  Watseka,  aged  seventy-six  years  in 
1932. 

Alfred  Franklin  Kendall  was  a  child  when 
he  accompanied  his  mother  from  Indiana  to 
Iroquois  County,  Illinois,  where  the  home  was 
established  on  a  farm  and  where  he  was  reared 
to  manhood  and  profited  by  the  advantages  of 
the  schools  of  the  period.  He  was  long  num- 
bered among  the  substantial  exponents  of  farm 
industry  in  this  county,  served  more  than 
twelve  years  as  highway  commissioner  and 
long  held  the  office  of  school  director  in  his 
home  district.  His  death  occurred  in  April, 
1913,  the  old  home  farm  being  still  retained 
by  his  widow,  who  now  resides  in  Watseka. 
His  father,  Alfred  Kendall,  was  a  pioneer 
settler  near  New  Richmond,  Indiana,  where 
his  death  occurred.  The  original  American 
representative  of  the  Kendall  family  came 
from  England  on  the  historic  ship  Mayflower, 
and  one  or  more  representatives  of  the  family 
were  patriot  soldiers  in  the  Revolution.  James 
Kendall,  another  ancestor,  was  born  in  Vir- 
ginia and  was  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  1812. 


The  present  state's  attorney  of  Iroquois 
County  has  in  his  possession  tax  receipts  and 
other  ancient  documents  that  were  the  prop- 
erty of  his  ancestor  James  Kendall,  and  one 
of  these  is  an  army  paper  signed  by  Major 
George  Edwards,  an  officer  in  the  War  of  1812. 
The  Kendall  family  has  been  represented  in 
pioneer  settlement  in  Kentucky,  Ohio  and  In- 
diana. The  late  Alfred  F.  Kendall  was  a 
Republican.  Mrs.  Kendall  is  a  daughter  of 
the  late  Abner  D.  and  Nancy  (Mitchell) 
Frame,  who  became  pioneer  settlers  in  Iro- 
quois County,  where  they  passed  the  remainder 
of  their  lives  and  where  Mr.  Frame  was  a 
successful  farmer  in  Belmont  Township,  which 
he  served  some  time  as  assessor,  his  death 
having  occurred  about  1906  and  that  of  his 
wife  several  years  previously.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Seventy-second  Indiana  Volunteer 
Infantry  in  the  Civil  war. 

In  the  Watseka  High  School  A.  Fred  Ken- 
dall was  graduated  in  1905.  In  the  law  de- 
partment of  the  University  of  Illinois  he  was 
graduated  as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1912, 
and  in  the  meantime  he  had  taught  three 
years  in  the  district  schools  of  his  native 
county.  After  receiving  his  degree  of  Bache- 
lor of  Laws  and  being  admitted  to  the  bar, 
Mr.  Kendall,  in  1912,  became  associated  with 
his  older  brother,  W.  Rufus,  in  the  practice 
of  law  at  Watseka,  under  the  title  of  Kendall 
&  Kendall,  the  partnership  having  been  dis- 
solved in  1921,  upon  the  removal  of  the  senior 
member  of  the  firm  to  Chicago.  A.  Fred  Ken- 
dall has  since  continued  in  the  individual  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  at  Watseka  save  for  the 
interval  of  his  World  war  service,  in  which  he 
well  upheld  the  patriotic  spirit  and  military 
honors  of  the  family  name. 

Mr.  Kendall  enlisted  in  the  United  States 
Army  in  September,  1917,  and  at  Camp  Grant 
won  commission  to  the  rank  of  second  lieu- 
tenant. His  first  assignment  was  to  Company 
B,  Three  Hundred  Thirty-first  Machine  Gun 
Battalion.  From  Camp  Grant  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  Camp  Pike,  Arkansas,  and  four 
weeks  later  was  sent  to  Camp  Hancock, 
Georgia,  where  he  was  advanced  to  the  rank 
of  first  lieutenant  and  served  as  director  of 
training.  He  there  remained  in  service  until 
the  close  of  the  war,  returned  to  Camp  Grant 
and  was  mustered  out  February  10,  1919.  He 
retained  for  four  years  thereafter  the  rank 
of  first  lieutenant  in  the  Officers  Reserve 
Corps  of  the  United  States  Army. 

After  resuming  his  law  practice  at  Watseka 
Mr.  Kendall  received  the  appointment  of  sec- 
retary to  the  appropriations  committee  of  the 
state  senate.  In  1917  he  had  become  clerk 
of  the  board  of  review  of  Iroquois  County,  he 
was  city  attorney  in  the  period  of  1919-21, 
was  master  in  chancery  of  the  Circuit  Court 
in  1921,  and  clerk  of  Belmont  Township  in 
1921-28,  in  the  latter  year  he  was  elected  to 
his  present  office  of  state's  attorney,  a  position 


374 


ILLINOIS 


in  which  he  has  made  a  splendid  record.  Mr. 
Kendall  has  membership  in  the  Iroquois 
County  Bar  Association  and  the  Illinois  State 
Bar  Association.  He  is  a  stalwart  in  the 
local  ranks  of  the  Republican  party.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Watseka  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce. 

Mr.  Kendall  is  a  past  commander  of  Wat- 
seka Post,  No.  23,  American  Legion  and  a 
past  eminent  commander  of  Mary  Command- 
ery  of  Knights  Templars,  his  other  Masonic 
affiliations  being  with  Watseka  Lodge,  No. 
446,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  Watseka  Chapter, 
No.  114,  R.  A.  M.  He  has  membership  also 
in  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
the  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men  and  the  Phi 
Alpha  Delta  law  college  fraternity.  He  has 
membership  in  the  Shewami  Country  Club. 

August  27,  1921,  Mr.  Kendall  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Kathryn  M.  Keenan,  who 
was  born  at  Streator,  La  Salle  County,  where 
she  received  her  early  education.  Mrs.  Ken- 
dall was  graduated  as  a  trained  nurse  in  the 
school  connected  with  the  Francis  Willard 
Hospital,  Chicago,  and  prior  to  her  marriage 
had  followed  her  profession  successfully,  in- 
cluding her  service  as  a  Red  Cross  nurse.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Kendall  are  popular  factors  in  the 
social  and  cultural  life  of  their  home  city. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Mary  (Cos- 
tello)  Keenan,  the  former  of  whom  was  born 
in  Scotland  and  the  latter  at  Lacon,  Illinois. 
Mr.  Keenan  was  a  young  man  when  he  came 
to  the  United  States  and  settled  at  Streator, 
Illinois,  where  his  marriage  occurred  and 
where  he  became  a  pioneer  leader  in  organized 
labor  affairs.  His  death  occurred  at  Spring- 
field, Illinois,  and  his  widow  now  resides  at 
Fairview,  Fulton  County. 

Rev.  Harrison  A.  Darche,  the  loved  priest 
of  St.  Joseph's  Church  at  Bradley,  is  a  native 
of  Kankakee  County,  having  been  born  at 
Bourbonnais  June  8,  1888. 

He  is  a  son  of  William  and  Charlotte  (Near- 
castle)  Darche.  His  father  was  born  in 
Canada  and  his  mother  in  Bourbonnais,  Kan- 
kakee County,  Illinois.  William  Darche  for 
many  years  was  in  the  service  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railway  and  later  a  merchant  and 
postmaster  at  Bourbonnais. 

Harrison  A.  Darche  was  educated  in  St. 
Viator  Academy  and  College,  graduating  in 
June,  1909,  and  on  June  1,  1912,  completed 
his  training  for  the  priesthood  at  St.  Viator. 
His  first  assignment  was  as  assistant  pastor 
of  Notre  Dame  Church  in  Chicago,  where  he 
remained  until  1917. 

Father  Darche  was  a  chaplain  during  the 
war.  _  In  August,  1917,  he  enlisted  and  was 
commissioned  a  chaplain  in  the  navy.  His 
special  assignment  was  with  the  Sixth  Regi- 
ment of  U.  S.  Marines.  He  was  overseas,  and 
after  the  armistice  was  on  the  battleship  Kan- 
sas until  October,  1920.      He  made  a  notable 


record  in  the  World  war  and  was  decorated 
with  the  Legion  of  Honor,  the  Croix  de  Guerre 
and  the  Navy  Cross  with  four  citations. 

After  his  release  from  military  duty  he  was 
located  in  Chicago  until  1923,  when  he  became 
pastor  of  St.  Joseph's  Church  at  Bradley, 
which  he  has  found  a  pleasant  and  congenial 
community,  and  one  in  which  his  labors  have 
been  much  appreciated.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Knights  of  Columbus,  and  in  1925  was 
state  chaplain  of  the  American  Legion,  De- 
partment of  Illinois.  At  the  American  Legion 
convention  at  Detroit  in  1931  Father  Darche 
was  elected  as  national  chaplain  of  the  Ameri- 
can Legion. 

Father  Darche  has  over  300  families  in  his 
parish  and  258  children  are  enrolled  in  the 
parochial  schools,  with  five  teachers.  He  is 
state  chaplain  of  the  Daughters  of  Isabella. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Kankakee  Country 
Club  and  has  been  a  patron  of  all  wholesome 
sports  and  athletics.  His  membership  in  the 
American  Legion  is  with  the  Marine  Post  at 
Chicago.  At  St.  Viator  he  won  his  letter  in 
football.  Father  Darche  was  reported  killed 
at  the  battle  of  Belleau  Wood  in  France,  and 
the  report  remained  uncorrected  so  long  that 
funeral  services  were  held  for  him.  Later  he 
was  wounded  while  on  the  front.  Father 
Darche  was  ordained  by  the  late  Archbishop 
Quigley  in  Chicago. 

Ralph  T.  Hinton,  M.  D.,  has  spent  twenty- 
five  years  in  professional  service  among  Illi- 
nois state  hospitals,  including  the  hospitals 
at  Jacksonville,  Elgin,  Peoria  and  Manteno. 
He  is  the  present  superintendent  of  what  is 
known  as  the  Manteno  State  Hospital,  located 
at  Manteno  in  Kankakee  County. 

Doctor  Hinton,  who  has  a  rare  measure  of 
qualifications  for  the  public  service  side  of  his 
profession,  was  born  at  Payson,  Adams 
County,  Illinois,  February  19,  1881,  son  of 
Newton  J.  and  Lois  (Thompson)  Hinton.  His 
people  have  been  in  Illinois  since  pioneer 
times.  His  grandfather,  Samuel  Hinton,  was 
born  near  Belleville,  Illinois.  His  grandfather, 
Isaac  N.  Thompson,  was  also  a  native  of  Illi- 
nois, and  both  were  farmers,  though  Isaac 
Thompson  in  his  later  years  was  a  rural  mail 
carrier.  Newton  J.  Hinton  was  born  in  Mis- 
souri and  was  educated  in  Chaddock  College 
at  Quincy,  and  spent  all  his  active  career  as 
a  school  man.  He  was  a  Mason,  a  Republican 
and  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  He  died  in  1923.  His  wife  was  born 
in  Adams  County,  Illinois,  and  lived  with  her 
only  son  and  child,  Doctor  Hinton. 

Doctor  Hinton  attended  public  school  at 
Payson,  the  Quincy  High  School,  and  spent 
two  years  in  Chaddock  College  in  Quincy.  In 
1904  he  was  graduated  from  the  medical  de- 
partment of  the  University  of  Illinois,  had  his 
interne  training  at  the  Michael  Reese  Hos- 
pital and  in  1906  located  at  Quincy  for  prac- 


' 


&#*^  ^>«>C^ 


<4P**jt> 


ILLINOIS 


375 


tice.  The  following-  year,  in  1907,  he  entered 
the  service  of  the  state  in  the  State  Hospital 
at  Jacksonville.  In  1911  he  was  appointed 
superintendent  of  the  State  Hospital  at  Elgin 
and  was  superintendent  there  during  the  early 
part  of  Governor  Dunne's  administration.  In 
1914  he  took  charge  of  the  Peoria  State  Hos- 
pital, but  in  1917  was  returned  to  Elgin.  Alto- 
gether he  gave  fifteen  years  to  the  manage- 
ment of  the  great  hospital  at  Elgin.  In  1930 
he  accepted  transfer  to  Manteno  as  superin- 
tendent of  the  Manteno  State  Hospital. 

On  June  17,  1908,  Doctor  Hinton  married 
Miss  Alma  Thompson,  who  was  born  in  Adams 
County,  Illinois,  where  her  father,  Josiah 
Thompson,  was  a  farmer.  She  attended  school 
at  Quincy  and  was  a  teacher  before  her  mar- 
riage. Doctor  and  Mrs.  Hinton  have  two  chil- 
dren: Ralph  T.,  Jr.,  of  Wisconsin;  and  Eliza- 
beth Rose.  Both  are  students  in  Beloit  Col- 
lege. Doctor  Hinton  is  a  Methodist,  a  York 
and  Scottish  Rite  Mason,  and  is  past  com- 
mander of  the  Knights  Templar  Commandery 
at  Elgin.  He  also  belongs  to  the  B.  P.  O. 
Elks  and  the  Loyal  Order  of  Moose.  Amateur 
photography  and  golf  are  his  pastimes. 

James  R.  Quinn,  former  assistant  state's 
attorney  and  now  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Aldermen  as  representative  of  the  Fiftieth 
Ward  of  Chicago,  has  been  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  law  in  his  native  city  since  1912 
and  has  office  headquarters  at  111  West  Wash- 
ington Street. 

Mr.  Quinn  was  born  in  Chicago  December 
27,  1890,  a  son  of  James  M.  and  Mary  Eliza- 
beth (Lynch)  Quinn,  the  former  of  whom 
was  born  and  reared  in  Chicago  and  the  lat- 
ter of  whom  was  born  in  Boston,  Massachu- 
setts, she  having  been  a  successful  school 
teacher  prior  to  her  marriage.  James  M. 
Quinn  has  functioned  as  a  salesman  and  a 
manufacturer  in  Chicago  and  is  a  substantial 
business  man  of  the  city  which  has  repre- 
sented his  home  from  the  time  of  his  birth. 
The  other  two  children  of  his  family  are  Harry 
A.,  who  is  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  in 
Chicago,  and  Mrs.  Mary  (Quinn)  Wright, 
likewise  a  resident  of  this  city. 

James  R.  Quinn  received  his  early  and  also 
his  professional  education  in  Chicago,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  April,  1912.  He 
forthwith  engaged  in  the  work  of  his  profes- 
sion, and  during  the  period  of  1914-17  served 
as  assistant  state's  attorney  for  Cook  County. 
His  professional  activities  were  interrupted 
when  he  enlisted  for  World  war  service,  with 
assignment  to  the  aviation  corps.  His  unit 
was  not  called  overseas,  but  he  continued  in 
service  until  the  close  of  the  war  and  his 
reception  of  honorable  discharge.  Mr.  Quinn 
has  been  active  in  local  councils  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  and  is  now  giving  loyal  and 
constructive  service  in  the  City  Council,  as 
alderman   from   the   Fiftieth   Ward.     He   has 


membership  in  the  Chicago  Bar  Association 
and  the  Illinois  State  Bar  Association,  is 
affiliated  with  the  American  Legion  and  is  a 
communicant  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

James  Charles  McShane  has  been  an 
active  member  of  the  Chicago  bar  for  forty- 
five  years  and  as  a  lawyer  and  citizen  his 
activities  have  brought  him  in  touch  with 
all  the  prominent  men  of  his  profession,  in 
business  and  in  public  affairs  during  that 
time. 

Mr.  McShane,  whose  offices  are  at  39  South 
LaSalle  Street,  was  born  at  Litchfield,  Illi- 
nois, December  12,  1862,  son  of  James  and 
Mary  (Loye)  McShane.  He  chose  the  method 
of  hard  work  and  concentration  at  an  early 
age  as  a  means  of  reaching  his  goal  of  a  pro- 
fessional career.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Illi- 
nois bar  in  1887  and  since  that  year  has  prac- 
tice in  Chicago.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Chicago,  Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  As- 
sociations, the  Chicago  Law  Institute.  Mr. 
McShane  is  a  Democrat  and  a  member  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  Among  other  organizations 
with  which  he  is  identified  are  the  Chicago 
Athletic  Association  and  the  South  Shore 
Country  Club.  He  married  in  1904  Miss  Hen- 
riette  A.  Lonstorf,  of  Milwaukee.  His  home 
is  at  the  Webster  Hotel. 

William  Bertram  Greene  is  one  of  the 
founders  and  an  active  executive  of  one  of 
Illinois'  most  rapidly  growing  industries,  the 
Barber-Greene  Company  at  Aurora,  manu- 
facturers of  machinery  and  mechanical  devices 
of  national  and  international  use  wherever 
heav^  and  bulk  materials  have  to  be  handled, 
particularly  in  building  construction  work  and 
in  road  construction.  Mr.  Greene  is  the  vice 
president,  treasurer  and  general  manager  of 
the  company,  and  the  president  is  Mr.  Harry 
H.  Barber,  whose  numerous  inventions  pro- 
vide the  foundation  of  the  company's  manu- 
facturing activities. 

Mr.  Greene,  like  Mr.  Barber,  is  a  native  of 
Illinois.  He  was  born  on  a  farm  at  Lisle, 
DuPage  County,  September  4,  1886.  This 
Greene  farm  has  been  in  the  family  since  1845, 
when  his  grandfather,  William  Briggs  Greene, 
came  to  Illinois  and  settled  there.  The  pres- 
ent occupant  and  owner  of  the  farm  is  Wil- 
liam Spencer  Greene,  who  likewise  was  born 
there  and  has  lived  on  it  all  his  life.  William 
Spencer  Greene  married  Jessie  Hibbard,  a 
native  of  Chicago.  They  have  a  family  of 
six  children,  of  whom  William  B.  is  the  third. 

William  B.  Greene  while  a  boy  on  the  farm 
attended  a  district  school,  completed  his  high 
school  course  in  Northwestern  (now  North 
Central)  College  at  Naperville,  and  in  1908 
was  graduated  in  the  mechanical  engineering 
course  in  the  University  of  Illinois.  Mr. 
Greene  from  1910  to  1916  was  with  the  Ste- 
phens-Adamson    Manufacturing    Company    at 


376 


ILLINOIS 


Aurora,  manufacturers  of  conveyors  and  other 
machinery.  Then,  in  1916,  he  and  Mr.  H.  H. 
Barber  organized  the  Barber-Greene  Company. 

In  addition  to  the  successful  business  to 
which  he  devotes  his  time  Mr.  Greene  has 
many  interests  in  community  affairs.  He  is  a 
director  of  the  Aurora  Boy  Scouts  and  former 
president  of  the  Scouts,  is  chairman  of  the 
board  of  the  Aurora  Playground  Commission, 
and  is  a  director  of  the  Alumni  Board  of  the 
University  of  Illinois.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Union  League  Club  of  Aurora,  the  Kiwanis 
Club  and  Aurora  Country  Club. 

He  married,  December  27,  1910,  at  Auburn, 
New  York,  Miss  Eva  Jane  Smith.  She  was 
born  at  Auburn  and  attended  Wells  College 
of  Aurora,  New  York.  Her  parents  were  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  I.  W.  Smith,  her  father  a  hardware 
merchant  at  Auburn,  where  her  mother  still 
resides.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Greene  had  four  chil- 
dren: Maxson  Hibbard,  Sarah  Jane,  Wil- 
liam Alexander  and  Anthony  Storm.  Maxson 
died  at  the  age  of  seven  years. 

Robert  Eaton  Fedou.  Publicity  and  news- 
paper work  have  absorbed  the  energies  and 
talents  of  R.  Eaton  Fedou  since  he  was  a  stu- 
dent in  the  Elgin  High  School.  His  home  has 
been  in  Elgin  practically  all  his  life. 

Mr.  Fedou  was  born  in  Chicago,  August  5, 
1885,  and  was  two  years  of  age  when  his  par- 
ents moved  to  Elgin.  His  father,  Francis  C. 
Fedou,  was  born  in  Baltimore,  Maryland. 
For  many  years  he  was  an  Elgin  business 
man,  conducting  a  wholesale  and  retail  coal 
business.  Later  he  took  up  publishing,  con- 
ducting a  trade  journal  in  Chicago.  Francis 
C.  Fedou  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Eaton,  of 
Chicago. 

R.  Eaton  Fedou  was  graduated  from  the 
Elgin  High  School  in  1904.  While  in  high 
school  he  was  business  manager  of  the  High 
School  Mirror  and  at  the  same  time  was  high 
schoool  reporter  for  the  Elgin  Courier.  In 
this  work  he  showed  both  taste  and  talent, 
and  immediately  after  his  graduation  from 
high  school  he  entered  the  advertising  depart- 
ment of  the  Elgin  Courier.  He  was  manager 
of  that  department  from  1907  to  1916.  In 
1916  he  joined  his  father,  who  was  publishing 
the  Operative  Miller,  a  trade  journal  covering 
the  flour  milling  industry.  The  Operative 
Miller  in  1921  was  merged  with  the  National 
Miller,  at  which  time  Francis  C.  Fedou  retired 
from  business. 

In  September,  1921,  R.  Eaton  Fedou  be- 
came advertising  manager  of  the  Elgin  Daily 
News.  In  1926  the  News  and  Courier  were 
consolidated,  at  which  time  Mr.  Fedou  took 
charge  of  the  national  advertising,  and  in 
1927  was  promoted  to  the  post  of  advertising 
director,  taking  charge  of  both  the  local  and 
national  advertising.  Since  May,  1930,  he 
has  been  president  of  the  Elgin-Courier-News 
Publishing  Company  and  general  manager  of 


the  publication,  which  is  the  leading  news 
and  publicity  medium  throughout  the  Elgin 
district,  and  is  one  of  the  leading  newspapers 
of  Northern  Illinois. 

Mr.  Fedou  is  vice  president  of  the  Elgin 
Chamber  of  Commerce.  He  is  a  member  of 
St.  Mary's  Catholic  Church,  is  an  Elk  and 
Knight  of  Columbus.  He  married  in  1910 
Marion  Torrey.  They  have  three  children: 
Nancy  Ruth,  born  August  23,  1911;  Elizabeth 
Eaton,  born  January  11,  1914;  and  Willard 
Torrey,  born  June  30,  1915. 

Bruce  Alexander  Campbell,  member  of 
the  East  St.  Louis  law  firm  of  Kramer,  Camp- 
bell, Costello  &  Wiechert,  has  had  a  notable 
career  both  as  a  lawyer  and  citizen.  Mr. 
Campbell  is  of  undiluted  American  stock,  and 
his  Campbell  ancestors  were  among  the  first 
settlers  of  Southern  Illinois,  where  the  family 
have  had  an  honorable  record  since  territorial 
times. 

The  Campbells  first  settled  in  Wayne  Coun- 
ty, where  Mr.  Campbell's  great-grandfather, 
Alexander  Campbell,  arrived  before  Illinois 
became  a  state  and  while  Wayne  County  was 
a  part  of  Edwards  County.  He  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  Second  General  Assembly 
in  1820,  and  introduced  and  had  passed  the 
act  for  the  creation  of  Wayne  County.  The 
act  provided  that  the  county  seat  should  be 
at  his  home  until  the  county  seat  was  estab- 
lished. In  1822  the  people  of  Wayne  County 
reelected  him  to  the  General  Assembly,  and 
he  also  served  as  sheriff  of  Wayne  County. 

Mr.  Campbell's  grandfather,  also  Alexander 
Campbell,  was  at  one  time  sheriff  of  Wayne 
County  and  also  a  member  of  the  General 
Assembly  in  the   1850s. 

His  father,  Judge  Joseph  N.  Campbell,  was 
a  Union  soldier  from  Illinois,  being  mustered 
out  as  second  lieutenant  of  Company  G,  Eigh- 
teenth Illinois  Infantry.  From  1865  to  1918 
he  practiced  law  at  Albion.  Though  a  staunch 
Democrat  in  an  overwhelmingly  Republican 
county,  he  was  county  judge  of  Edwards 
County  from  1873  to  1886,  master  in  chancery 
of  Edwards  County  for  more  than  twenty-five 
years  and  president  of  the  Board  of  Education 
for   over  twenty  years. 

Mr.  Campbell's  maternal  grandmother  was 
born  at  Albion,  in  1821,  her  parents,  Henry 
Bowman  and  wife,  having  been  among  the 
original  settlers  in  the  English  colony  at  Al- 
bion in  1818.  His  maternal  grandfather,  Dr. 
Frank  B.  Thompson,  came  to  Albion  from  Eng- 
land in  1829  and  for  more  than  fifty  years 
was  a  pioneer  physician.  His  medical  prac- 
tice was  interspersed  with  service  in  the  Black 
Hawk,  Mexican  and  Civil  wars. 

Bruce  Alexander  Campbell  was  born  at  Al- 
bion, Edwards  County,  October  28,  1879,  son 
of  Judge  Joseph  N.  and  Amabel  (Thompson) 
Campbell.  In  1894  he  was  graduated  from 
the  Albion  High  School  and  from  the  Southern 


ILLINOIS 


377 


Collegiate  Institute  at  Albion  in  1897.  Enter- 
ing the  University  of  Illinois  in  the  fall  of 
1897,  he  graduated  from  that  institution  in 
1900,  with  the  degree  of  A.  B.  At  the  uni- 
versity he  was  two  and  a  half  years  president 
of  the  Students  Democratic  Club,  a  member 
of  the  debating  team,  a  member  of  the  Sigma 
Alpha  Epsilon  fraternity.  Later,  after  his 
graduation,  when  the  honorary  scholarship 
fraternity  Phi  Beta  Kappa  was  established 
at  the  university,  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  it.  Mr.  Campbell  in  1894  had  commenced 
the  study  of  law  with  his  father.  This  study 
was  continued  during  vacations  until  he  grad- 
uated from  the  university  in  1900  and  after 
that  on  full  time  until  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  December,  1901.  He  practiced  law 
at  Albion  until  May,  1905,  when  he  moved 
to  East  St.  Louis.  Here  he  associated  himself 
with  E.  C.  and  R.  J.  Kramer.  On  June  1, 
1906,  the  firm  of  Kramer,  Kramer  &  Camp- 
bell was  formed,  which  partnership  was  dis- 
solved in  1931,  by  reason  of  the  death  of 
Judge  E.  C.  Kramer,  after  having  existed 
without  change  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

Mr.  Campbell  during  1903-04  was  village 
attorney  of  Albion.  During  the  administration 
of  Governor  Deneen  he  was  appointed  a  mem- 
ber of  the  commission  to  recommend  changes 
in  the  law  of  practice  and  procedure  in  Illi- 
nois. In  1902  he  was  an  unsuccessful  candi- 
date for  the  Democratic  nomination  for  the 
General  Assembly.  In  1904  he  was  nominated 
and  elected  to  the  General  Assembly  as  repre- 
sentative from  the  Forty-eighth  District,  com- 
prising the  counties  of  Crawford,  Lawrence, 
Wabash,  Edwards,  White,  Gallatin  and  Har- 
din. He  served  in  the  Forty-fourth  General 
Assembly.  After  his  removal  to  East  St. 
Louis  he  was  the  Democratic  nominee  for 
Congress  in  the  Twenty-second  District  in 
1910,  but  was  defeated.  From  that  time  he 
was  never  a  candidate  for  public  office,  until 
1932,  when  he  was  a  candidate  in  the  Demo- 
cratic primary  for  the  nomination  for  gov- 
ernor. While  defeated  he  made  a  remarkable 
showing  and  carried  overwhelmingly  the  down 
state  territory  and  was  only  defeated  by  rea- 
son of  the  tremendous  vote  in  Cook  County 
for  his  successful  Chicago  opponent.  While 
busy  with  a  general  law  practice,  he  has 
manifested  a  keen  interest  in  politics.  He 
has  been  a  delegate  at  every  Democratic  state 
convention  since  1900,  served  as  the  district 
delegate  from  the  Twenty-second  District  in 
the  Democratic  National  Convention  at  Balti- 
more in  1912,  as  delegate  at  large  from  Illi- 
nois at  the  New  York  Convention  in  1924, 
at  the  Houston  Convention  in  1928,  and  at 
the  Chicago  Convention  in  1932.  He  was 
temporary  and  permanent  chairman  of  the 
Democratic  State  Convention  in  1922,  1926 
and  1932,  and  temporary  chairman  of  the 
Democratic  State  Convention  in  1930.  In 
the  campaign  of  1928  he  served  as  vice  chair- 


man of  the  Central  Region  of  the  Democratic 
National  Committee,  composed  of  eight  states. 
He  has  taken  an  active  part  in  every  campaign 
since  1900,  making  speeches  for  Democratic 
candidates.  In  1913  he  declined  the  position 
of  assistant  attorney  general  of  the  United 
States.  In  1922  he  declined  a  position  as  the 
Democratic  member  of  the  War  Frauds  Com- 
mission, created  by  the  attorney  general  of 
the  United   States. 

Mr.  Campbell  has  been  active  in  bar  asso- 
ciation work.  He  was  president  of  the  East 
St.  Louis  Bar  Association  in  1912,  president 
of  the  Illinois  State  Bar  Association  in  1922 
and  1923,  is  a  member  of  the  American  Bar 
Association  and  a  life  member  of  the  American 
Law  Institute. 

His  civilian  record  during  the  World  war 
is  a  notable  one.  During  1918-19  he  was 
grand  exalted  ruler  of  the  Order  of  Elks,  was 
a  member  of  the  Elks  War  Relief  Commission, 
and  in  addition  he  made  many  war  speeches, 
took  part  in  the  drives,  organized  the  Four 
Minute  Men  of  East  St.  Louis,  and  he  also 
organized  and  commanded  the  American  Pro- 
tective League,  a  subsidiary  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Justice,  in  a  district  composed  of 
ten  counties  in  Southern  Illinois.  He  also 
acted  as  general  chairman  of  the  local  com- 
mittee to  welcome  and  receive  returning  sol- 
diers after  the  war. 

Among  various  organizations  of  which  he 
is  a  member  his  chief  interest  has  been  con- 
centrated in  the  Elks.  He  was  exalted  ruler 
of  the  Elks  Lodge  at  East  St.  Louis  in  1909-10, 
and  president  of  the  Illinois  Elks  Association 
in  1911-12.  He  served  as  a  member  of  the 
National  Elks  War  Relief  Commission  from 
1918  until  it  completed  its  work,  and  since 
1921  has  been  a  member  of  the  Elks  National 
Memorial  Headquarters  Commission,  and  its 
successor,  the  Elks  Memorial  and  Publication 
Commission,  which  erected  the  National 
Memorial  Building  at  Chicago  and  established 
and  now  conducts  the  Elks  Magazine  as  the 
official  organ  of  the  order.  Mr.  Campbell  is 
now  vice  chairman  of  the  commission.  He  is 
also  chairman,  and  has  been  since  its  institu- 
tion, of  the  Illinois  Elks  Association  Crippled 
Children's  Clinic,  which  is  now  holding  more 
than  sixty  clinics  in  the  State  of  Illinois  and 
is  maintaining  a  hospital  at  Chicago.  Mr. 
Campbell  is  a  York  and  Scottish  Rite  Mason 
through  all  the  bodies  including  the  Knights 
Templar  Commandery,  thirty-second  degree 
of  the  Scottish  Rite  and  the  Shrine.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  the  Modern  Woodmen  of 
America.  He  is  a  member  and  former  presi- 
dent of  the  East  St.  Louis  Rotary  Club,  and 
has  served  as  a  director  of  the  East  St.  Louis 
Chamber    of    Commerce. 

He  married  at  Marissa,  Illinois,  in  1905, 
Miss  Beulah  Wilson  Campbell,  whose  father, 
Dr.  J.  M.  Campbell,  was  a  pioneer  physician 
and  former  coroner  of  St.  Clair  County.    They 


378 


ILLINOIS 


have  one  son,  Joseph  Bruce  Campbell,  now 
in  the  advertising-  business  in  Chicago,  and 
who  lives  at  Evanston,  and  one  grandson, 
Bruce  Alexander  Campbell  II. 

Mrs.  Campbell  is  also  an  active  Democrat. 
In  1924  and  in  1926  she  was  the  nominee 
of  her  party  as  trustee  of  the  University  of 
Illinois.  While  Mr.  Campbell  maintains  his 
office  and  business  and  civic  connections  at 
East  St.  Louis,  he  built  in  1926  a  home  about 
eight  miles  from  the  business  district  of  East 
St.  Louis.  His  home  address  since  that  time 
has  been  21  Oak  Knoll,  Belleville. 

Thomas  P.  Williams,  M.  D.  Recognized  as 
one  of  the  able  and  representative  members 
of  the  medical  profession  of  Vermilion 
County,  Dr.  Thomas  P.  Williams  has  won 
distinction  as  well  as  a  loyal  citizen  of  West- 
ville,  and  as  one  interested  in  the  welfare  of 
his  community  and  its  maintenance  among 
progressive  towns.  He  was  born  in  Coles 
County,  Illinois,  February  19,  1873,  a  son  of 
Jacob  B.  and  Martha  J.  (McAlister)  Williams, 
pioneer  farmers  of  Coles  County.  Both  died 
in  that  county,  he  in  1880  and  his  widow  in 
1890,  and  they  lie  side  by  side  in  the  local 
cemetery  near  their  homestead.  Five  children 
were  born  to  the  parents:  George  C.  Wil- 
liams, who  resides  in  Hackensack,  Minnesota; 
John  D.  Williams,  who  resides  in  Cleveland, 
Ohio;  Doctor  Williams,  whose  name  heads 
this  review;  Louis  R.  Williams,  who  resides 
in  Cleveland,  Ohio;  and  Minnie  M.  Williams, 
who  is  a  school  nurse  in  Danville,  Illinois. 

Early  determining  upon  a  professional 
career,  Doctor  Williams  made  the  most  of  the 
opportunities  afforded  him  in  the  grade  and 
high  schools  of  Coles  County,  after  which 
he  had  one  year  of  work  in  Lincoln  Univer- 
sity. For  two  years  thereafter  he  was  a 
student  of  Central  Normal  College,  Danville, 
after  which  he  took  his  medical  training  in 
the  Louisville,  Kentucky,  Medical  College,  and 
was  graduated  therefrom  in  1901,  with  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  For  four  years 
he  was  engaged  in  a  general  practice  at 
Reardon,  Illinois,  and  for  the  subsequent  five 
years  he  practiced  at  Danville.  Then  going 
to  Fierro,  New  Mexico,  he  remained  there  in 
practice  for  six  years.  Returning  to  Danville, 
he  was  in  that  city  for  a  few  months,  but  once 
more  left  it,  and  located  permanently  in  West- 
yille,  where  he  has  found  the  environment  that 
is  congenial  and  appreciative.  While  he  car- 
ries on  a  general  medical  and  surgical  prac- 
tice, he  is  coming  more  and  more  to  specialize 
in  diseases  of  the  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat, 
and  has  attained  in  this  branch  a  reputation 
that  extends  all  over  Vermilion  and  surround- 
ing counties.  His  religious  home  is  the  Pres- 
byterian Church.  A  Mason,  he  has  risen  to 
the  thirty-second  degree  in  his  fraternity, 
and  lie  maintains  membership  with  Danville 
Consistory.     He  also  belongs  to  the  Benevolent 


and  Protective  Order  of  Elks.  He  holds  mem- 
bership in  the  Vermilion  County,  and  the  Illi- 
nois State  Medical  Societies  and  the  American 
Medical  Association  and  believes  in  them  and 
gives  them  an  intelligent  and  valued  support. 
On  September  22,  1901,  Doctor  Williams 
was  married  to  Miss  Pearl  Newman,  a 
daughter  of  John  W.  and  Jennie  (Campbell) 
Newman,  the  former  of  whom  was  for  years 
a  stock  dealer  at  Oakland,  Illinois,  but  is  now 
retired  and  lives  at  Lovington,  Illinois.  Mr. 
Newman  has  been  spared  to  pass  the  eigh- 
tieth milestone  on  the  road  of  life  and  Mrs. 
Newman,  the  eighty-first  milestone.  Mrs. 
Williams  attended  the  public  schools  of  Oak- 
land through  the  high  school,  and  was  active 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  On  January  22, 
1917,  she  died,  and  is  buried  in  the  cemetery 
near  Oakland.  She  bore  her  husband  four 
children,  as  follows:  Barthel  L.,  who  was 
graduated  from  Westville  High  School  and 
had  one  year  in  the  University  of  Chicago  and 
two  years  with  Millikin  University,  is  now 
with  the  International  Harvester  Company, 
and  resides  in  Covington,  Indiana.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Fern  Kirkpatrick,  of  Oakland,  Illi- 
nois, and  they  have  one  son,  John  Thomas. 
Helen  C,  who  was  graduated  from  Danville 
High  School,  had  three  years  in  a  nurse's 
training  school.  She  married  Dr.  L.  A. 
Richburg,  a  physician  and  surgeon  at  Glen- 
coe,  Illinois,  and  they  have  one  daughter, 
Muriel  Ann.  Thomas  C,  who  was  graduated 
from  Westville  High  School,  had  one  year 
in  the  University  of  Arizona,  and  is  now  at 
home  in  Westville.  Louise  K.,  who  was  grad- 
uated from  Georgetown  High  School,  had  one 
year  in  the  University  of  Missouri,  taught 
school  for  two  years,  and  is  a  student  at  the 
University  of  Illinois.  Doctor  Williams  en- 
joys hunting,  fishing  and  golf,  and  endulges 
in  these  recreations  when  professional  cares 
permit. 

Theodore  Flint,  president  of  the  Flint 
Sanitary  Milk  Company  of  Joliet,  is  the  son 
of  one  of  the  brothers  who  established  the 
business  more  than  forty  years  ago.  His 
uncle,  Axel  Flint,  in  1888  established  a  plant 
at  Joliet  for  handling  milk  both  wholesale 
and  retail.  In  1893  Thomas  Flint  came  into 
the  business  and  in  1894  Oliver  Flint.  These 
three  brothers  organized  the  Flint  Sanitary 
Milk  Company.  Axel  Flint  retired  from  the 
business  in  1923  and  Oliver  Flint  in  Decem- 
ber, 1929.  For  many  years  the  Flint  Sanitary 
Milk  Company,  located  at  406-410  Collins 
Street  in  Joliet,  has  been  the  largest  organi- 
zation, with  the  most  expensive  facilities  and 
equipment  in  Will  County  for  the  manufac- 
ture and  handling  and  distribution  of  milk 
and  dairy  products,  including  ice  cream. 

The  chairman  of  the  board  of  the  Flint 
Sanitary  Milk  Company  is  Mr.  Thomas  Flint, 
who  has  been  continuously  associated  with  the 


INOLA  S.  AEBY 


ILLINOIS 


379 


business  since  1893.  He  was  born  at  Skone 
in  Southern  Sweden,  in  1869,  son  of  Nels  and 
Gertrude  (Nelson)  Flint.  His  mother  died 
in  Sweden,  in  1881,  and  a  few  months  later 
he  accompanied  his  father  to  the  United 
States.  Nels  Flint  found  employment  in  the 
stone  quarries  at  Lemont  in  Cook  County, 
Illinois.  After  1883  he  lived  for  several  years 
on  a  farm  in  Kentucky,  then  returning  to 
Lemont  and  in  1889  established  his  home  at 
Joliet,  where  he  lived  until  his  death  in  1914. 

Thomas  Flint  was  educated  in  Sweden  and 
at  Lemont,  Illinois.  In  1895  he  married  Miss 
Anna  Marie  Anderson.  She  was  born  in 
Sweden  and  came  alone  to  the  United  States 
when  sixteen  years  of  age,  locating  at  Joliet, 
where  she  met  Mr.  Thomas  Flint.  They  had 
four  children:  Clemens;  Mrs.  Edwin  Johnson; 
Theodore;   and  Gertrude. 

Theodore  Flint  was  born  at  Joliet,  June  27, 
1900.  He  was  given  liberal  advantages  in 
school  and  college.  While  in  high  school  and 
only  sixteen  years  of  age  he  enlisted  for  serv- 
ice in  the  World  war.  He  was  one  of  the 
youngest  recruits  from  Joliet.  He  went  over- 
seas and  for  nine  months  was  with  the  Thirty- 
fourth  Artillery  Brigade  in  France.  On  re- 
turning home  he  received  his  honorable  dis- 
charge at  Camp  Grant,  Illinois,  March  14, 
1919. 

After  his  military  service  he  returned  to 
high  school,  and  graduated  in  1921.  He  then 
entered  the  University  of  Illinois,  where  he 
received  his  Bachelor  of  Science  degree  in 
1925.  During  all  his  summer  vacations  he 
worked  in  his  father's  dairy  plant,  and  this 
experience  made  him  familiar  with  the  tech- 
nical operations  of  every  department.  In  1928 
he  became  sales  manager  of  the  company,  and 
when,  in  December,  1929,  his  father  retired  to 
become  chairman  of  the  board,  he  was  elected 
president. 

In  May,  1930,  the  Flint  Sanitary  Milk  Com- 
pany was  consolidated  as  to  financial  control 
with  the  Beatrice  Creamery  Company,  being 
one  of  the  many  units  of  this  widespread  dairy 
organization.  However,  the  name  Flint  has 
for  so  many  years  been  a  synonym  of  pure 
milk  products  in  Will  County  that  the  plant  at 
Joliet  is  still  continued  under  the  name  of 
Flint  Sanitary  Milk  Company. 

Mr.  Theodore  Flint  while  in  college  was  a 
member  of  the  track  team  and  was  president 
of  the  sophomore  class.  His  hobby  is  outdoor 
sports.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  Lodge, 
the  American  Legion  Post,  Harwood,  the 
Joliet    Chamber    of    Commerce,    Rotary    Club, 

B.  P.    O.    Elks,    Joliet    Country    Club,    Y.    M. 

C.  A.,  and  the  Swedish  Lutheran  Church.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  International  Milk  Dealers 
Association,  the  National  Ice  Cream  Manufac- 
turers Association  and  the  Illinois  State  Ice 
Cream  Manufacturers  Association. 

Theodore  Flint  married,  September  14,  1927, 
Miss  Esther  Levings.     She  was  born  at  Paris, 


Illinois,  and  was  graduated  from  the  Univer- 
sity of  Illinois,  Bachelor  of  Arts  degree,  with 
the  class  of  1926.  Her  father,  Edward  Lev- 
ings, is  president  of  the  National  Bank  of 
Paris.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Flint  have  two  children, 
Ann  Burnett,  born  June  12,  1928,  and  Thomas 
Levings,  born  July  12,  1930. 

Richard  Aeby,  manager  of  the  Hotel  Astor 
at  176  North  Clark  Street,  is  one  of  Chicago's 
younger  sons,  a  thoroughgoing  business  man, 
with  a  commendable  record  of  individual  ini- 
tiative. His  father  is  Mr.  Louis  Aeby,  a 
property  owner  and  business  man  of  Chicago, 
and  the  son  for  several  years  was  closely  asso- 
ciated with  his  father's  interests. 

Richard  Aeby  was  born  in  Chicago  May  29, 
1907.  Until  he  was  seventeen  he  attended 
public  schools  at  East  Chicago,  Indiana,  and 
during  several  summer  vacations  he  assisted 
his  father.  After  leaving  school  he  entered 
the  office  of  the  Inland  Steel  Corporation, 
where  he  remained  until  1926.  During  the 
following  year  he  was  in  Florida,  but  in  July, 
1927,  returned  to  East  Chicago,  and  was  asso- 
ciated with  his  father  until  March  1,  1928. 
He  then  returned  to  Florida  and  joined  the 
St.  Petersburg  establishment  of  the  S.  H. 
Kress  Company.  In  March,  1929,  he  was 
transferred  to  the  Kress  Store  at  Jacksonville, 
Florida,  and  in  October,  1929,  to  the  store 
at  Waycross,  Georgia,  and  in  February,  1930, 
was  given  another  transfer  and  promotion  to 
the  Kress  business  at  Tampa.  The  transfers 
and  promotions  were  part  of  the  series  of 
training  which  had  in  view  the  responsibilities 
of  manager.  However,  in  August,  1930,  Mr. 
Aeby  resigned  to  return  to  Chicago  to  look 
after  his  father's  real  estate  properties.  He 
has  been  manager  of  the  Hotel  Astor  in  Chi- 
cago since  1931,  and  is  also  associated  with 
his  father  in  the  real  estate  business. 

Mr.  Aeby  married  Inola  S.  Slane,  of  Way- 
cross,  Georgia.  They  were  married  in  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Chicago,  August 
29,  1931. 

Gerry  D.  Scott,  prominent  in  Illinois  news- 
paper circles  and  immediate  past  president  of 
the  Illinois  Press  Association,  is  owner  and 
publisher  of  the  Post-Herald  at  Wyoming  and 
the  Princeville  Telephone  at  Princeville.  Mr. 
Scott  resides  at  Wyoming. 

He  was  born  in  Green  Castle,  Missouri,  Sep- 
tember 26,  1890,  but  his  family  were  early  set- 
tlers in  Illinois.  His  paternal  grandparents, 
Winfield  and  Nancy  (Hanes)  Scott,  came  to 
Illinois  at  an  early  date.  The  parents  of 
Gerry  D.  Scott  are  Charles  F.  and  Olive  M. 
(Phillip)  Scott.  His  father  was  born  in  Stark 
County,-  August  7,  1856,  and  in  1883  moved 
to  Missouri,  where  he  was  in  the  insurance 
business.  In  1891  he  returned  to  Illinois, 
where  he  has  since  resided,  and  is  in  the  in- 
surance business  at  Wyoming.     He  has  been 


380 


ILLINOIS 


the  head  of  that  business  for  more  than 
twenty-five  years  and  has  made  it  one  of  the 
largest  farm  insurance  agencies  in  the  state. 

Gerry  D.  Scott  attended  public  schools  in 
Stark  County  and  was  only  thirteen  years  of 
age  when  he  began  his  apprenticeship  in  the 
office  of  the  Wyoming  Post-Herald.  He  was 
there  until  he  was  seventeen,  and  then  broad- 
ened his  training  by  work  with  metropolitan 
newspapers.  He  spent  four  years  with  the 
Peoria  Journal  and  in  1909  went  to  Chicago 
to  take  a  winter  course  in  the  Inland  Techni- 
cal Schoool,  and  at  the  same  time  was  em- 
ployed by  the  Chicago  Examiner. 

Mr.  Scott  in  1914  with  his  brother  formed  a 
partnership  to  purchase  the  Post-Herald  at 
Wyoming.  In  1918  he  acquired  his  brother's 
interest  and  has  since  been  sole  owner  and 
publisher  of  the  Post-Herald,  a  successful  and 
influential  weekly  newspaper.  In  1923  he  also 
bought  the  Princeville  Telephone,  and  now  has 
both  newspapers  under  his  personal  manage- 
ment. 

Mr.  Scott  was  elected  president  of  the  Illi- 
nois Press  Association  in  1931,  after  having 
held  other  offices  in  the  association.  He  is 
Illinois  State  vice  president  of  the  National 
Press  Association.  He  is  also  a  member  of 
the  Illinois  Associated  Weeklies.  He  has 
served  as  president  of  the  Sandham  School 
Board  at  Wyoming,  is  a  staunch  Republican 
and  was  the  charter  president  of  the  local 
Kiwanis  Club.  In  Masonry  he  is  affiliated 
with  Lodge  No.  479,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  Chapter 
No.  133,  Royal  Arch  Masons,  Chapter  No.  8  of 
the  Eastern  Star  at  Wyoming,  and  the  Scot- 
tish Rite  Consistory  at  Peoria.  During  the 
World  war  both  as  a  newspaper  man  and 
individual  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  Lib- 
erty Loan  drives. 

Mr.  Scott  married,  March  6,  1911,  Miss 
Ruth  Reynolds,  daughter  of  George  and 
Martha  (Barnett)  Reynolds,  of  Toulon,  Illi- 
nois. They  have  two  children,  Martha  Vir- 
ginia, born  March  20,  1914,  and  Gerry  D., 
Jr.,  born  August  26,   1925. 

Oliver  Allstorm.  Poetical  talent  has 
seldom  connoted  financial  success,  but  Oliver 
Allstorm  has  boldly  blasted  the  rule  that  is 
supposed  to  hold  good  along  this  line.  He  was 
born  in  Chicago,  here  he  assumed  the  stately 
prerogatives  of  newsboy,  where  he  produced 
his  first  published  poem,  and  the  passing  years 
marked  splendid  achievement  on  his  part  as 
author,  journalist,  poet  and  popular  figure  on 
the  lecture  platform.  Mr.  Allstorm  has  found 
all  sorts  of  things  to  think  and  to  do,  and  he 
has  done  many  unusual  things,  far  outside  the 
realm  of  poesy.  He  long  staged  his  pro- 
ductive activities  in  Texas,  and  has  been  re- 
ferred to  as  "the  Texas  Kipling,"  a  title  that 
has  ample  justification.  He  has  been  a  verit- 
able globe-trotter,  he  served  in  the  World  war, 
and   he   made   it   possible   to   obtain   a   secure 


grasp  of  the  somewhat  elusive  hand  of  ma- 
terial prosperity.  He  has  gained  substantial 
rewards  from  his  activities  as  an  investor  in 
the  oil  fields  of  Texas,  and  though  he  has  but 
recently  passed  the  half -century  milestone  on 
the  journey  of  life  he  is  now  living  retired 
from  active  business  and  looks  upon  Chicago 
as  his  home — the  city  endeared  to  him  by 
gracious  childhood  memories  and  associations. 
He  likes  Chicago  and  his  native  city  likes 
him.  It  is  well  that  he  is  here.  What  can  be 
more  consistent  and  diverting  than  to  offer 
and  perpetuate  here  the  following  quotations, 
with  minor  paraphrase,  from  an  article  that 
appeared  in  the  Chicago  Daily  News  of  Sep- 
tember 4,  1920. 

"The  young  Chicago  newsboy  who  sold  his 
first  successful  poem  to  The  Daily  News  is 
back  in  his  old  home  town,  after  an  absence 
of  twenty-three  years,  one  of  the  wealthiest 
poets  in  the  world.  Oliver  Allstorm,  today  a 
successful  poet,  has  reaped  a  fortune  in  both 
the  poetry  field  and  the  oil  fields  of  Texas. 
Today  he  is  fifty  years  old,  slightly  gray,  but 
with  the  apparent  youth  and  vigor  of  one- 
half  his  age.  During  his  stay  in  Chicago  he 
plans  to  gain  inspiration  for  his  poems  on  the 
basis  of  the  new  developments  in  the  city  in 
which  he  was  born  and  which  was  just  getting 
back  to  normal  after  the  effect  of  the  World's 
Fair  of  1893  when  he  decided  to  try  his  luck 
in  another  section  of  the  country — Texas. 
*  *  *  Since  he  left  Chicago,  when  about 
nineteen  years  old,  he  has  published  hundreds 
of  poems,  including  ten  books,  and  is  the 
author  of  several  widely  known  songs,  among 
the  greatest  and  most  popular  of  which  is  the 
official  state  song  of  Texas:  'They  Say  That 
Old  Texas  Ain't  Got  Any  Style,'  while  almost 
equal  approval  has  been  given  to  his  songs 
of  army  life,  his  productions  on  juvenile 
themes  and  those  in  Negro  dialect.  Since 
leaving  Chicago  he  has  been  a  reporter  on 
several  newspapers  in  California  and  Texas, 
but  for  the  past  ten  years  he  has  devoted 
most  of  his  time  to  his  writings  and  oil  in- 
terests. In  the  World  war  period  he  was  in 
the  secret  service  in  Paris,  France,  and 
Coblenz,   Germany." 

From  the  same  article  from  which  the  fore- 
going extracts  were  taken  is  gained  the  follow- 
ing interesting  estimate  as  expressed  by  Mr. 
Allstorm  himself:  "I  receive  thrill  after 
thrill  as  I  view  the  marvelous  changes  and 
wonderful  transformation  which  have  oc- 
cured  in  Chicago  during  the  last  twenty-three 
years.  To  me  the  greatest  and  most  beneficial 
change  has  been  the  development  and  improve- 
ment in  the  district  about  Wacker  Drive  and 
the  near  North  side.  Chicago  now  appears  to 
be  as  beautiful  as  many  of  the  foreign  cities 
I  have  visited  during  my  many  travels,  and 
I'm  going  to  be  one  of  the  city's  biggest  boost- 
ers for  the  coming  Century  of  Progress  Ex- 
position of  1933." 


ILLINOIS 


381 


In  an  unpretentious  little  house  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Division  and  Sedgwick  streets, 
Chicago,  the  birth  of  Oliver  Allstorm  occurred 
August  7,  1879,  and  he  is  a  son  of  the  late 
Carl  M.  and  Olive  (Sunnons)  Allstorm.  Carl 
M.  Allstorm,  whose  death  occurred  in  1917, 
was  born  in  Massachusetts,  was  a  young  man 
when  he  came  to  Chicago,  and  for  many  years 
was  here  a  valued  and  honored  member  of 
the  executive  staff  of  the  Newberry  Library, 
where  he  carried  forward  extensive  research 
work,  particularly  along  historical  lines.  He 
was  author  of  the  volume  entitled  "Dictionary 
of  the  Royal  Lineage  of  the  World,"  a  notable 
work  of  1,000  pages  and  one  that  is  a  widely 
accepted  authority  on  the  chronology  of  royal 
families  and  rulers,  with  data  extending  back 
to  the  most  ancient  times.  Mr.  Allstorm 
gained  distinction  as  a  scholar  and  linquist. 

Oliver  Allstorm  was  a  boy  when  the  family 
moved  to  a  home  near  Lincoln  Park,  and  his 
literary  and  poetic  talent  early  became  mani- 
fest, as  he  was  reared  in  a  home  of  distinctive 
culture  and  refinement.  He  was  about  nine- 
teen years  of  age  when  he  went  to  Texas,  and 
after  working  for  a  time  on  a  farm  near  the 
Red  River  he  went  to  the  City  of  San  An- 
tonio, where  he  was  variously  employed  until 
he  found  a  position  as  a  newspaper  reporter 
on  the  staff  of  the  San  Antonio  Express,  and 
later  he  became  similarly  associated  with  the 
Houston  Chronicle.  It  was  in  Houston  that 
he  gained  his  major  success  and  reputation  in 
the  newspaper  field,  and  finally,  with  the  great 
expansion  of  the  oil  industry  of  the  Texas 
fields,  he  became  publicity  man  for  a  large 
oil  corporation.  From  this  experience  he 
moved  forward  into  a  successful  individual 
career  as  an  oil  investor,  and  he  still  retains 
important  oil  interests  in  the  Lone  Star  State. 

In  the  meanwhile  Mr.  Allstorm  had  taken 
up  more  serious  literary  work,  especially  of 
poetical  order,  and  he  has  to  his  credit  ten 
volumes  of  published  verse.  His  eleventh 
volume,  just  off  the  press,  contains  300  pages 
and  is  titled  Windy  City  Poems,  published 
by  the  Progress  Publishing  Company,  Chi- 
cago. Other  writings  of  his  are  scores  of 
newspaper  and  magazine  articles  in  prose  and 
on  diverse  subjects  and  topics.  His  versatility 
has  alike  been  shown  in  his  appearance  on  the 
lecture  platform,  and  it  was  in  this  connection 
that  he  won  the  sobriquet  of  the  "Texas 
Kipling."  Perhaps  his  best  known  and  most 
popular  book  is  The  Thinker  and  Other  Poems, 
with  a  letter  of  introduction  by  his  valued 
friend,  Clarence  Darrow,  the  distinguished 
Chicago  lawyer.  His  book  entitled  What  Is 
the  Old  Flag  Made  Of?  was  written  in  the 
period  of  his  World  war  service  and  was  pub- 
lished soon  afterward.  Other  works  from  his 
pen  are  the  volumes  entitled  That  Place 
Called  Hades  and  Immortality,  while  he  pro- 
duced also  a  prose  book  for  children — The 
Life   of   Mr.   Santa   Claws.     Among   his   best 


known  poems  may  be  mentioned  They  Shall 
Not  Pass,  What  Right  Has  Old  Glory  in 
Heligoland?  Old  Glory  Watches  on  the  Rhine, 
Our  Debt  to  Lafayette  is  Paid,  At  Poe's  Cot- 
tage, etc.-  Among  his  Negro  dialect  poems 
may  be  noted  Pythias  Bound  in  Black,  and  A 
Visit  to  Ol'  Black  Mammy.  After  reading 
one  of  the  books  of  Mr.  Allstorm  David 
Belasco,  the  distinguished  New  York  play- 
wright and  producer,  wrote  to  the  author  in 
the  following  words:  "A  charming  book  of 
poems.  The  verse  is  most  interesting.  I  en- 
joyed them  very  much."  The  Chicago  Daily 
News  speaks  of  his  latest  volume,  Windy  City 
Poems,  as  the  work  of  a  "robust  thinker  and 
a  real  singer." 

When  the  nation  entered  the  World  war  Mr. 
Allstorm  enlisted  for  service  in  the  United 
States  Army,  he  having  been  given  prelimin- 
ary training  at  Camp  Beauregard,  near  Alex- 
andria, Louisiana,  where  he  became  a  non- 
commissioned officer  and  was  assigned  to  the 
military  intelligence  division  of  the  army,  in 
which  capacity  he  served  in  France  and,  after 
the  armistice,  at  Coblenz,  Germany.  After 
the  close  of  his  war  service  Mr.  Allstorm  in- 
dulged his  vital  penchant  for  travel  and 
visited  every  continent  except  Africa.  In  this 
connection  he  continued  to  contribute  to  news- 
paper columns,  through  several  newspaper 
syndicates.  Mr.  Allstorm  still  maintains  a 
home  in  Houston,  Texas,  but  more  recently 
he  has  devoted  most  of  his  time  to  leisurely 
traveling,  to  lecturing  and  to  literary  work, 
with  headquarters  in  Chicago,  the  home  of 
his  childhood. 

Mr.  Allstorm  was  married  twice,  first  to 
Miss  Sarah  Davies,  in  1902.  She  died  in 
1908.  One  daughter,  Beatrice,  was  born  in 
1904  and  died  in  1912. 

In  Texas  in  1912  Mr.  Allstorm  married 
Miss  Bess  Rice  in  the  City  of  Houston.  Her 
death  occurred  in  1925.  The  one  surviving 
child,  Oliver,  Jr.,  was  born  in  that  city  in 
1915  and  is  now  a  student  at  Rice  Institute, 
Houston,  Texas. 

It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  accord  this 
slight  personal  tribute  to  Mr.  Allstorm  in 
this  history  of  his  native  state. 

William  Erastus  Williams  was  a  promi- 
nent figure  in  Illinois  journalism,  a  real  news- 
paper man  who  in  his  early  years  came  in 
contact  with  all  the  prominent  writers  of  the 
Chicago  papers,  but  whose  permanent  ac- 
chievement  was  the  founding  and  upbuilding 
of  the  Chicago  Heights  Star,  an  institution  of 
which  that  southern  Cook  County  community 
is  justly  proud  and  which,  continued  in  the 
ownership  of  his  family,  remains  a  monument 
to  the  virile   character  of   its  founder. 

William  E.  Williams  was  born  in  Ohio, 
June  2,  1859,  and  died  April  2,  1922.  He 
worked  his  way  through  school,  served  his 
apprenticeship   as   a   printer   in   the   plant   of 


382 


ILLINOIS 


the  Cleveland  Plain-Dealer,  and  from  there 
went  to  Chicago.  He  was  well  versed  in  all 
branches  of  the  art  of  printing  and  newspaper 
work,  was  an  expert  proof  reader,  and  in  his 
work  he  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  such  men 
as  George  Ade,  Finley  Peter  Dunne,  Eugene 
Field,  Opie  Read  and  others  who  made  the 
routine  work  of  journalism  a  symbol  for  high 
literary  expression. 

On  March  18,  1901,  Mr.  Williams  founded 
the  Chicago  Heights  Star.  This  was  then  a 
small  suburban  community  and  one  newspaper 
was  already  well  established  in  the  field.  Mr. 
Williams'  ability  as  an  editor  and  business 
man  soon  won  recognition  for  himself  and  the 
Star.  In  its  management  he  displayed  his 
characteristic  fearlessness  and  honesty,  and 
the  Star  became  the  rallying  point  for  all  the 
most  substantial  interests  of  the  community. 
All  who  are  familiar  with  the  history  of  the 
community  during  the  past  quarter  of  a 
century  recognize  the  truth  of  the  declaration 
that  Mr.  Williams  never  consciously  used  his 
newspaper  for  anything  but  a  force  for  public 
good. 

Mr.  Williams  married  Miss  King,  of  Chi- 
cago. For  several  years  after  his  death  she 
carried  heavy  responsibilities  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Star  and  was  president  of  the 
Williams  Press,  Incorporated.  While  most 
of  those  responsibilities  have  since  been  taken 
from  her  by  her  son,  Mr.  King  Williams,  she 
still  exercises  a  strong  influence  over  the 
destiny  of  the  paper.  The  Star  plant  is  a 
model  of  its  kind,  and  the  building,  with  its 
equipment,  at  1526  Otto  Boulevard,  was  dedi- 
cated in  October,  1928,  just  six  years  after 
the  death  of  Mr.  W.  E.  Williams.  The  three 
sons  who  continue  active  in  the  business  are 
W.  E.  Williams,  Jr.,  King  Williams  and  Nor- 
man J.  Williams.  Mr.  King  Williams  was 
educated  at  the  University  of  Illinois  and 
began  newspaper  work  with  his  father  when 
a  boy.  He  is  a  member  of  the  board  of  direct- 
ors of  the  Illinois  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

Among  other  facts  that  should  be  remem- 
bered to  the  credit  of  the  late  Mr.  Williams 
was  his  vigorous  and  effective  advocacy  of  a 
plan  to  establish  a  local  public  library.  Out 
of  this  movement  came  the  aid  of  Andrew 
Carnegie,  resulting  in  the  Carnegie  Building, 
which  is  now  one  of  the  centers  of  community 
life  in  Chicago  Heights. 

Very  Rev.  Joseph  P.  Morrison,  rector  of 
the  Holy  Name  Cathedral,  the  mother  church 
of  the  archdiocese  of  Chicago,  is  a  native  Chi- 
cagoan,  and  member  of  a  family  who  have 
been  prominent  in  the  city  for  over  ninety 
years  and  closely  identified  with  the  Holy 
Name  Cathedral.  His  grandfather  and  grand- 
mother were  married  in  this  church.  It  was 
at  the  Holy  Name  Cathedral  that  Father  Mor- 
rison himself  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood 
by  Cardinal  Mundelein. 


At  the  time  of  his  birth  the  home  of  his 
parents  was  at  Garfield  Avenue  and  Fremont 
Street,  in  Saint  Vincent's  parish.  Joseph  P. 
Morrison  was  born  January  24,  1894,  son  of 
James  D.  and  Christina  (Grant)  Morrison, 
and  grandson  of  John  C.  Morrison.  John  C. 
Morrison  was  a  native  of  Rochester,  New 
York,  came  to  Chicago  in  1840,  when  a  young 
man,  and  for  a  number  of  years  was  active 
in  the  shipping  business  on  the  Chicago  River 
and  old  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal.  He 
reared  a  family  of  eleven  children. 

James  D.  Morrison  was  also  a  well  known 
figure  in  the  business  and  public  life  of  the 
city,  for  many  years  being  in  business  in  the 
old  South  Water  Street  produce  district.  He 
was  a  stanch  Republican,  and  held  a  number 
of  public  positions,  including  that  of  presi- 
dent of  the  Civil  Service  Commission  of  Chi- 
cago. He  was  the  leader  in  a  small  group 
that  organized  the  Chicago  Council  of  the 
Knights  of  Columbus,  the  first  council  of  that 
order  in  Chicago  and  one  of  the  first  in  the 
West.  It  was  organized  here  shortly  after 
the  institution  of  the  Order  at  New  Haven, 
Connecticut.  Christina  Grant,  mother  of 
Father  Morrison,  was  educated  in  the  School 
of  the  Holy  Cross  Academy  at  Holy  Name 
Cathedral,   Chicago. 

Joseph  P.  Morrison  received  his  early  edu- 
cation under  the  Sisters  of  Charity  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  Mary  at  Saint  Vincent's 
School.  After  completing  the  work  of  the 
grammar  grades  he  was  sent  to  France,  where 
he  took  his  college  course  at  St.  Pe-de  Bigorre, 
where  he  finished  the  course  in  the  petit  Semi- 
naire  of  the  Diocese  of  Tarbes  and  Lourdes, 
later  studying  at  St.  Meinrad's  Seminary.  His 
philosophical  and  theological  courses  were 
completed  in  the  United  States.  He  spent 
three  years  in  St.  Bernard's  Seminary  at 
Rochester,  two  years  at  St.  Mary's  Seminary 
at  Baltimore,  and  his  last  year's  theology  was 
taken  at  the  Sulpician  Seminary  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C. 

He  was  ordained  by  Cardinal  Mundelein  at 
the  Holy  Name  Cathedral,  September  21,  1918. 
Soon  afterward  he  was  made  assistant  to  the 
pastor  of  Saint  Patrick's  Church  at  Joliet, 
and  in  January,  1923,  was  made  assistant 
priest  at  Saint  Andrew's  Church.  On  Sep- 
tember 29,  1923,  he  was  made  assistant  at 
the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Name  and  on  Feb- 
ruary 15,  1928,  was  appointed  administrator 
of  the  Cathedral,  owing  to  the  ill  health  of 
Rt.  Rev.  Monsignor  FitzSimmons.  After  the 
death  of  Rt.  Rev.  FitzSimmons,  Father  Mor- 
rison was  called  by  Archbishop  Mundelein  to 
the  official  post  of  rector  of  the  Cathedral,  on 
March  19,  1932.  Thus  for  a  number  of  years 
great  responsibilities  have  devolved  upon  him 
in  connection  with  the  multitudinous  duties 
in  the  parochial  affairs  of  the  Cathedral 
church.  Many  improvements  are  imputed  to 
his    credit.      He    built    the    magnificent    new 


ILLINOIS 


383 


cathedral  rectory  on  the  site  of  the  old  Chan- 
cery office.  He  introduced  the  innovation  of 
continuous  confessions  at  the  Cathedral,  and 
in  calling  attention  of  the  members  of  the 
parish  and  the  public  at  large  to  the  service 
of  the  Cathedral  he  has  utilized  the  modern 
vehicle  of  publicity,  the  radio.  Father  Mor- 
rison during  the  Eucharistic  Congress  at  Chi- 
cago was  master  of  ceremonies  and  secretary 
of  French  correspondence. 

Hon.  Joseph  L.  Meyers.  The  various  busi- 
ness and  other  interests  which  have  occupied 
the  career  of  Hon.  Joseph  L.  Meyers,  of  Scioto 
Mills,  would  have  alone  been  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  make  him  one  of  the  outstanding 
citizens  of  Stephenson  County,  but  added  to 
these  have  been  his  activities  in  public  service, 
covering  a  quarter  of  his  life,  including  mem- 
bership in  the  State  Legislature  and  State 
Senate,  of  which  latter  he  is  now  a  member. 

Senator  Meyers  was  born  September  8,  1868, 
on  a  farm  in  Buckeye  Township,  Stephenson 
County,  and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Anna  M. 
(Emrick)  Meyers.  John  Meyers  was  born 
in  Alsace-Lorraine,  of  French  descent,  and 
was  educated  in  Germany,  where  he  was  mar- 
ried. As  a  young  married  man  he  immigrated 
to  the  United  States  and  first  located  at  Chi- 
cago, subsequently  going  to  LaPorte,  Indiana, 
where  he  followed  various  employments. 
Finally  he  settled  down  on  a  farm  in  Buck- 
eye Township,  Stephenson  County.  He  and 
Mrs.  Meyers  became  the  parents  of  seven 
children,  Joseph   L.  being  the  youngest. 

Joseph  L.  Meyers  after  attending  public 
schools  in  Stephenson  County  studied  tele- 
graphy, but  did  not  take  it  up  as  an  occupa- 
tion. Instead  he  became  associated  with  his 
brother,  Peter  Meyers,  in  the  firm  known  as 
Meyers  Brothers,  with  headquarters  at  Scioto 
Mills,  dealing  in  lumber,  grain,  coal  and  gen- 
eral hardware.  This  business  was  established 
forty-three  years  ago  and  is  one  of  the  sub- 
stantial business  houses  of  Stephenson 
County.  Mr.  Meyers  has  always  been  in- 
terested in  farming  and  operates  extensive 
farming  interests  in  Stephenson  County,  but 
makes  his  home  at  Scioto  Mills.  A  Republican 
in  his  political  views,  he  started  his  public 
career  as  a  member  of  the  school  board.  He 
was  then  sent  to  the  State  Legislature,  in 
1916,  as  representative  from  the  Twelfth 
Senatorial  District,  comprising  the  counties 
of  Stephenson,  Jo  Daviess  and  Carroll,  and 
made  a  commendable  record  in  that  body, 
serving  four  terms  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. In  1924  he  was  elected  to  the 
State  Senate,  in  which  he  is  now  serving  his 
second  term,  being  a  member  of  several  im- 
portant committees:  Appropriations,  agri- 
culture, banks,  building  and  loan  associations, 
fish  and  game,  revenue  and  many  others. 
Having  spent  approximately  a  quarter  of  his 
life    in    the    public    service,    Senator    Meyers 


feels  that  he  has  discharged  fully  his  share 
of  the  duties  of  citizenship,  and  it  is  his  inten- 
tion to  retire  from  public  life  at  the  end  of 
his  present  term.  He  has  been  an  energetic 
and  constant  advocate  of  good  roads  and  other 
civic  improvements,  and  both  he  and  Mrs. 
Meyers  are  active  members  of  the  local  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church. 

Senator  Meyers,  on  October  10,  1894,  in 
Stephenson  County,  married  Miss  Carrie  E. 
Wade,  who  was  born  in  Stephenson  County, 
a  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Anna  (Mayer) 
Wade,  a  family  which  settled  in  Pennsylvania 
in  the  Colonial  period  and  came  to  Illinois  in 
1847.  To  this  union  there  were  born  two  chil- 
dren: Joseph  W.,  who  was  a  student  at  the 
University  of  Illinois,  and  whose  death  oc- 
curred in  1926,  in  young  manhood,  at  Scioto 
Mills,  and  a  daughter  who  died  in  infancy. 

Dwight  Herbert  Green  was  graduated 
from  the  University  of  Chicago  School  of  Law 
in  1922.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  bar, 
but  also  spent  several  years  in  Washington 
and  is  now  assistant  United  States  attorney 
with  headquarters  in  the  Federal  Building  at 
Chicago. 

Mr.  Green  was  born  at  Ligonier,  Indiana, 
January  9,  1897,  son  of  Harry  and  Minnie 
(Gerber)  Green.  His  mother  lives  at  Ligo- 
nier. His  father,  who  died  in  1930,  was  a 
prominent  farmer,  live  stock  man  and  banker 
in   Northern   Indiana. 

Dwight  H.  Green  attended  grammar  and 
high  school  in  Ligonier.  After  that  he  spent 
two  years  in  Wabash  College  at  Crawfords- 
ville,  a  year  at  Leland  Stanford  University 
in  California,  and  in  1920  was  graduated 
Bachelor  of  Philosophy  from  the  University 
of  Chicago.  He  then  spent  two  years  in  the 
law  school  and  received  the  Juris  Doctor 
degree  in  1922.  For  two  years  he  was 
associated  in  practice  in  Chicago  with  Gen. 
Roy  D.  Keehn.  Mr.  Green  in  1925  went 
to  Washington  as  special  attorney  of  the  Bu- 
reau of  Internal  Revenue.  He  remained  there 
until  April,  1927,  and  was  then  returned  to 
Chicago  as  representative  of  the  General  Coun- 
cil of  the  Bureau  of  Internal  Revenue,  with 
the  rank  of  special  assistant,  United  States 
attorney  in  charge  of  income  tax  matters. 
In  specified  cases  he  served  in  Chicago  as 
special  assistant  to  the  United  States  attorney- 
general,  and  is  now  appointed  United  States 
district  attorney  at  Chicago.  On  June  15, 
1917,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  army. 
On  May  29,  1918,  he  was  commissioned  a 
second  lieutenant  in  the  Air  Service.  He 
was  an  instructor  in  the  Air  Service  until 
his   honorable  discharge   on  January  3,   1919. 

Mr.  Green  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois,  Chi- 
cago and  American  Bar  Associations,  is  a 
Kappa  Sigma,  Phi  Alpha  Delta,  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Legion.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Briergate  Golf  Club,  and  has  his  Ma- 
sonic  membership   at   Ligonier,   Indiana.     He 


384 


ILLINOIS 


married  at  Washington,  Miss  Mabel  Kings- 
ton, who  was  born  in  Missouri.  They  have 
two  daughters,  Nancy  Kingston  and  Gloria 
Kingston.  He  and  his  family  reside  at  200 
East  Chestnut  Street. 

Bernard  D.  Connelly,  chairman  of  the 
book  committee  of  the  Rock  Island  Library, 
is  himself  one  of  the  oldest  patrons  of  the 
library.  He  was  born  in  Rock  Island, 
October  19,  1868,  and  had  just  entered  school 
when  the  public  library  was  organized.  He 
is  a  son  of  Henry  Clay  and  Adelaide  (McCall) 
Connelly.  His  father,  who  was  born  at 
Petersburg,  Pennsylvania,  in  1831,  came  to 
Rock  Island  in  February,  1855.  He  was  one 
of  the  city's  prominent  men  for  many  years. 
He  completed  his  education  in  the  Johnstown 
Academy  at  Pennsylvania,  and  before  he  was 
twenty-one  years  of  age  was  editor  of  the 
Beaver  Star  at  Beaver  in  that  state.  A  few 
years  after  coming  to  Illinois  he  entered  the 
Union  army  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  major 
in  the  Fourteenth  Illinois  Cavalry,  serving 
three  years.  After  the  war  he  took  up  the 
law,  and  achieved  a  large  measure  of  success 
and  prestige  at  the  Illinois  bar.  In  politics 
he  was  a  Democrat  until  1896,  when  he  cast 
his  first  Republican  vote,  for  Major  McKinley. 
He  died  December  30,  1916.  His  wife  passed 
away  in  June,  1917.  They  were  members  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  Of  their  five  chil- 
dren two  are  living,  Bernard  D.  and  Mabel  C. 
The  latter  lives  in  Pasadena,  California,  and 
is  the  widow  of  Dr.  C.  W.  McGavren,  an  Iowa 
physician  and  surgeon. 

Bernard  D.  Connelly  was  graduated  with 
the  A.  B.  degree  from  the  University  of  Iowa 
in  1887  and  began  the  study  of  law  at  Topeka, 
Kansas,  with  the  firm  of  Jones  &  Mason.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  Kansas  bar  and  then 
returned  to  Illinois  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  of  this  state  in  1894.  For  a  number  of 
years  he  was  associated  with  his  father  in 
practice,  in  the  firm  of  Connelly  &  Connelly. 
Later  he  was  a  member  of  the  firm  Connelly 
&  Walker  and  is  now  senior  partner  of  Con- 
nelly, Walker,   Searle  &   Hubbard. 

Mr.  Connelly  married,  December  22,  1903, 
Miss  Elizabeth  Chamberlain,  who  was  born 
in  Rock  Island,  daughter  of  Robert  C.  Cham- 
berlain, a  Rock  Island  banker.  Mrs.  Connelly 
attended  school  in  Rock  Island.  They  have 
two  children,  Bernard  C,  a  member  of  the 
class  of  1930  in  Princeton  University,  and  now 
a  career  officer  in  the  foreign  service  of  the 
United  States  Government,  having  just  com- 
pleted his  tour  as  vice-consul  at  Trieste, 
Italy;  and  Elizabeth  Adelaide,  born  in  1915, 
a  student  at  Ferry  Hall,  Lake  Forest,  Illinois. 
Mr.  Connelly  and  family  are  members  of  the 
Trinity  Episcopal  Church  and  he  has  served 
on  the  vestry.  He  is  a  Phi  Delta  Theta  and 
is  former  president  of  the  Rock  Island  County 
Bar  Association,  a  member  of  the  Rock  Island 


Arsenal  Golf  Club,  and  is  vice  president  of 
the  State  Bank  of  Rock  Island.  He  served  one 
term  as  master  in  chancery  in  the  Circuit 
Court.  He  has  never  sought  public  office  but 
has  furthered  the  interest  of  the  Government 
and  has  been  valuable  to  the  Republican  party 
organization.  He  had  charge  of  Lowden's  first 
campaign  and  during  the  World  war  was  a 
member  of  the  Local  Exemption  Board  No. 
1  of  Rock  Island  County. 

Herbert  Lane  Miller.  The  business  in- 
terests of  Danville  are  varied,  as  well  as  im- 
portant, and  one  of  the  men  who  has  been 
active  during  a  long  period  in  conserving 
them  is  Herbert  Lane  Miller,  owner  of  L.  F. 
Miller  &  Son,  one  of  the  largest  fruit  and 
produce  houses  in  Eastern  Illinois,  a  man 
whose  name  stands  for  honesty,  uprightness 
and  sagacity.  He  was  born  at  Clarence,  Illi- 
nois, July  2,  1878,  and  comes  of  one  of  the 
substantial  families  of  the  state.  His  parents, 
Luther  F.  and  Ruie  Anna  (Lane)  Miller,  are 
both  deceased,  he  dying  June  5,  1908,  and  she 
August  2,  1924,  and  both  are  buried  in  Spring- 
hill  Cemetery,  Danville.  Luther  F.  Miller 
was  born  in  Germany,  but  was  brought  to  the 
United  States  by  his  parents  in  an  early  day, 
when  he  was  but  seven  years  of  age.  The 
Millers  located  in  Ohio,  and  the  lad  began 
attending  the  public  schools.  When  only  fif- 
teen years  old  he  enlisted  in  the  Union  army, 
Forty-fifth  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  during 
the  war  between  the  states,  and  after  his 
honorable  discharge,  following  the  close  of  the 
war,  he  came  to  Illinois,  making  the  trip  on 
horseback.  Securing  employment  with  the 
Henderson  cattle  interests  near  Paxton,  Illi- 
nois, he  served  as  a  foreman  for  some  years, 
then  bought  a  farm  at  Clarence.  In  1877 
he  was  married,  and  lived  on  his  farm  until 
1883,  when  he  moved  to  Milford,  Illinois, 
where  he  was  in  the  mercantile  business  with 
his  brother-in-law,  under  the  name  of  Button 
&  Miller.  This  association  was  maintained 
until  1893,  when  Mr.  Miller  moved  to  Danville 
and  went  into  business  with  Jacob  Wittmeyer, 
under  the  name  of  Jacob  Wittmeyer  &  Com- 
pany, wholesale  fruit  and  produce.  Two  years 
later  he  purchased  the  interest  of  his  partner, 
and  since  then  the  business  has  been  con- 
ducted under  the  name  of  L.  F.  Miller  &  Son. 
Both  as  a  Mason  and  member  of  the  First 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Danville  he 
was  connected  with  uplift  work,  and  he  .was 
a  member  of  the  official  board  of  the  church 
and  a  teacher  in  the  Sunday  school.  His  wife, 
Ruie  Anna  Lane,  was  born  in  Dresden,  Ohio, 
and  when  she  was  two  years  old  she  was 
taken  to  Illinois,  the  family  moving  overland 
in  wagons,  driving  their  live  stock.  The  trip 
took  about  six  weeks.  They  lived  at  Perrys- 
ville,  Indiana,  the  first  winter,  moving  to  a 
farm  four  and  one-half  miles  west  the  next 
spring.      Still   later   removal   was    made    to   a 


ILLINOIS 


385 


farm  four  miles  east  of  Paxton,  Illinois,  and 
she  grew  up  and  attended  the  local  public 
schools  and  subsequently  Valparaiso,  Indiana, 
University.  For  seven  years  prior  to  her 
marriage  she  was  engaged  in  teaching  school, 
and  all  her  life  she  was  active  in  church  work, 
being  a  Methodist,  and  in  the  Missionary  So- 
ciety. Three  children  were  born  to  her  and 
her  husband :  Herbert  Lane,  whose  name  heads 
this  review;  Ruie  Myrtle,  who  is  the  wife  of 
Clarence  Baum,  manager  of  Lake  View  Hos- 
pital, Danville;  and  Faye  Ruth,  who  is  the 
wife  of  John  C.  Emison  and  resides  at  Scar- 
boro-on-the-Hudson,    New    York. 

After  he  had  been  graduated  from  the  Mil- 
ford,  Illinois,  High  School  Herbert  Lane  Miller 
took  special  courses  in  the  University  of  Chi- 
cago, following  which  he  came  into  his  father's 
business  as  a  partner,  becoming  the  "Son"  of 
L.  F.  Miller  &  Son.  When  his  father  died 
he  assumed  charge,  conducting  the  business  as 
his  mother's  partner,  and  when  she  passed 
away  he  purchased  the  interests  of  the  other 
heirs  in  the  concern,  still  continuing  under 
the  original  name  established  by  his  father 
when  the  latter  became  sole  owner.  Mr.  Miller 
is  a  thirty-second  degree  Mason,  Danville  Con- 
sistory, and  is  most  wise  master  in  the  Seven- 
teenth Degree.  He  belongs  to  the  Rotary  Club 
of  Danville.  For  many  years  he  has  been  an 
active  church  worker. 

On  January  1,  1907,  Mr.  Miller  was  married 
in  Wyoming,  Illinois,  to  Miss  Sarah  Anne 
Walters,  a  daughter  of  John  W.  and  Alice 
(Wrigley)  Walters.  Mr.  Walters  was  born 
and  reared  in  England,  and  attended  school 
in  Derbyshire,  England,  until  he  came  to  the 
United  States  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years. 
Settling  at  Wyoming,  Illinois,  in  the  course 
of  time  he  became  a  banker  and  very  promi- 
nent citizen,  and  active  in  the  Congregational 
Church.  He  died  about  1927,  and  is  buried  in 
Wyoming  Cemetery.  His  wife  was  born  at 
Wyoming,  but  her  father  was  an  Englishman 
by  birth.  Mr.  Wrigley  was  the  pioneer  banker 
of  Wyoming,  establishing  its  first  bank,  in 
1871,  in  partnership  with  George  W.  Scott. 
Mrs.  Miller  attended  the  Wyoming  High 
School,  the  University  of  Chicago  and  Smith 
College  for  Girls,  Northampton,  Massachu- 
setts. She  is  a  member  of  the  St.  James 
Church.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Miller  have  had  five 
children  born  to  them:  Alice  Anne,  Jane  Wal- 
ters, Frederick  Lane,  Rosemary  and  Ruth 
Dexter.  Jane  Walters  was  graduated  from 
DePauw  University,  Greencastle,  Indiana,  in 
1932;  and  Frederick  Lane  is  attending  the 
Northwestern  University  and  will  graduate 
with  the  class  of  1934.  Very  fond  of  fishing 
and  hunting,  Mr.  Miller,  with  several  asso- 
ciates, keeps  a  houseboat  on  the  Wabash 
River,  and  enjoys  outings  whenever  business 
cares  will  permit  him  to  leave  home.  His 
business  is  now  in  its  fortieth  year.  They 
have  handled  the  entire  crop  of  apples  grown 


by  Cafnng  Brothers  of  Silverwood,  Indiana. 
This  year  the  crop  amounted  to  87,000  bushels. 
The  firm  handles  about  one  hundred  cars  of 
bananas  a  year,  they  having  the  most  up-to- 
date  automatic  refrigeration  equipment.  The 
total  carloads  handled  in  the  past  year  were 
almost   four   hundred    and   fifty   cases. 

William  Henry  Graham,  Aurora  building 
contractor,  has  made  his  success  in  business 
productive  in  many  ways  of  substantial  civic 
benefits  to  his  community. 

Mr.  Graham  came  to  Aurora  a  compara- 
tively poor  man,  and  today  there  is  hardly  a 
citizen  better  known  for  generous  expression 
of  public  spirit  and  kindly  interest  in  his 
fellows.  He  was  born  on  a  farm  in  the  Prov- 
ince of  Quebec,  Canada,  November  6,  1876. 
His  parents,  John  and  Margaret  (Cleland) 
Graham,  were  also  natives  of  Canada.  His 
mother's  people  came  from  Scotland  and  Ire- 
land. She  died  in  Canada  in  1894.  John 
Graham  was  of  Scotch  parentage.  He  was  an 
active  farmer  in  Canada  un^il  1896  and  then 
retired  and  went  to  live  with  a  daughter  at 
South  Haven,  Michigan,  where  he  remained 
until  his  death  in  1906. 

William  H.  Graham  was  educated  in  public 
schools  near  his  father's  farm  in  the  Province 
of  Quebec.  When  his  father  retired  in  1896 
he  took  over  the  management  of  the  farm, 
and  that  was  his  work  until  1900. 

In  that  year  he  came  to  the  United  States 
and  located  at  Aurora,  where  for  two  years 
he  worked  at  the  carpenter's  trade.  Since 
1902  he  has  been  in  business  for  himself  as 
a  building  contractor.  During  this  time  much 
of  the  public  and  private  architecture  of  Au- 
rora has  represented  the  skill  of  his  organi- 
zation. Some  of  the  larger  buildings  erected 
by  him  include  the  Aurora  Hospital,  Berthold 
Garage,  Odd  Fellows  Building,  Western 
United  Corporation  Building,  old  Second  Na- 
tional Bank  Building,  Graham  Office  Building, 
and  he  has  also  erected  a  number  of  the  finer 
homes  of  the  city.  The  Graham  Building, 
of  which  he  is  the  owner,  is  the  finest  office 
building  in  the  city.  It  was  erected  in  1926 
and  is  eight  stories  high,  but  the  foundation 
and  walls  were  built  with  a  view  to  carrying 
four  more  stories.  He  owns  other  real  estate 
and  is  a  director  of  the  Durabilt  Steel  Locker 
Company   of   Aurora. 

In  expressing  his  civic  interest  perhaps  the 
chief  medium  has  been  the  Y.  M.  C.  A..  For 
the  past  six  years  he  has  been  president 
of  the  Aurora  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  is  also  a 
member  of  the  board  of  the  Illinois  State 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  Mrs.  Graham  has  been  actively 
identified  with  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  They  have 
contributed  generously  of  their  means  to  these 
and  other  organizations  for  juvenile  welfare. 
Mr.  Graham  is  a  member  of  the  Aurora  City 
Planning  Commission  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce.     He    belongs    to    the    Aurora    Union 


386 


ILLINOIS 


League  Club,  Kiwanis  Club,  Aurora  Country 
Club,  the  local  chapter  of  the  Red  Cross, 
is  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows,  and  teaches  a  young-  men's  Bible 
class  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church.  Dur- 
ing the  World  war  he  was  a  team  captain  in 
the  Red  Cross  drives. 

Mr.  Graham  married,  October  24,  1905,  Miss 
Jessie  May  Kennedy.  She  was  born  in  Au- 
rora, daughter  of  J.   M.   Kennedy. 

Harold  Patrick  Sullivan,  physician  and 
surgeon  for  the  Chicago  Fire  Department, 
is  a  highly  trained  and  accomplished  member 
of  his  profession.  Doctor  Sullivan  has  lived 
all  his  life  in  Chicago,  and  his  abilities  and 
energy  have  enabled  him  to  accomplish  a  great 
deal  both  for  himself  and  for  the  public. 

He  was  born  in  Chicago  December  27,  1896, 
son  of  Michael  and  Margaret  (Morissey)  Sul- 
livan. His  mother  is  living.  Michael  Sullivan 
was  born  in  Ireland  and  came  to  Chicago 
when  a  youth.  For  many  years  he  was  with 
the    Chicago   Fire   Department. 

Harold  P.  Sullivan,  probably  from  the  fact 
of  his  father's  service,  was  interested  in  fire 
fighting  from  almost  his  earliest  recollection. 
He  was  only  a  boy  when  his  father  died  and 
the  family  were  in  extremely  moderate  cir- 
cumstances, so  that  the  son  had  no  other 
alternative  but  to  work  his  way  through 
school.  After  the  parochial  schools  he  at- 
tended Saint  Ignatius  College  and  finally 
Loyola  University.  The  work  he  had  to  do 
to  support  himself  was  not  apparently  a  seri- 
ous handicap  to  his  progress  through  school, 
since  by  the  time  he  was  twenty-one  he  had 
earned  his  Doctor  of  Medicine  degree  at 
Loyola.  While  in  college  he  had  served  his 
time  as  an  active  member  of  the  Chicago  Fire 
Department.  He  was  in  every  branch  of  the 
service,  as  pipe  man,  hook  and  ladder  man, 
engine  foreman,  and  finally  on  the  fire  boat. 
In  December,  1922,  he  left  the  fire  boat  to 
become  an  interne  in  Mercy  Hospital,  and  soon 
afterward  engaged  in  private  practice.  He 
has  been  one  of  the  busy  professional  men  of 
the  city  for  the  past  ten  years. 

However,  his  heart  always  beat  faster  when 
he  saw  fire  apparatus  go  by  or  had  his  atten- 
tion in  any  way  called  to  the  work  done  by 
his  former  comrades.  That  interest  has  never 
waned  through  all  his  successful  professional 
career  as  a  physician.  For  that  reason  he 
more  than  welcomed  the  opportunity  presented 
when  in  1929  he  was  appointed  department 
physician  and  surgeon  for  the  Chicago  Fire 
Department,  since  in  that  way  he  is  able  to 
feel  that  he  is  once  more  in  the  fire  fighting 
service.  Doctor  Sullivan  was  the  first  in- 
cumbent of  this  office  and  he  immediately  in- 
stituted a  system  of  regular  instruction  and 
examination  as  well  as  an  accurate  account- 
ing of  all  time  lost  to  the  department  as  a 
result  of   sickness   and   injury.     The   methods 


he  established  have  brought  about  a  remark- 
able improvement  in  the  efficiency  of  the  de- 
partment. Doctor  Sullivan's  report  for  the 
year  ending  in  December,  1930,  showed  that 
savings  of  approximately  $300,000  had  been 
effected  as  a  result  of  his  system.  These  re- 
sults are  brought  about  by  a  thoroughly  or- 
ganized service  of  medical  examination  and 
treatment  of  the  firemen,  under  which  firemen 
are  not  only  treated  for  injuries  and  casual- 
ties while  on  duty,  but  are  examined  and 
treated  for  all  functional  diseases  or  ailments 
that,  if  left  without  attention,  would  lead  to 
unnecessary  illness  and  consequent  loss  of 
time.  Thus  the  official  report  of  Doctor  Sulli- 
van disclosed  the  fact  that  over  two-thirds  of 
the  time  lost  by  firemen  in  previous'  years  had 
been  due  to  ailments  not  directly  attributable 
to  the  rigors  of  active  service,  but  to  more 
remote  causes.  This  lost  time  has  been  largely 
eliminated  through  regular  examinations  and 
preventive  measures.  Doctor  Sullivan  has 
also  made  substantial  reductions  in  time  lost 
by  instituting  a  system  of  better  care  of  in- 
jured firemen  through  the  use  of  department 
ambulances  and  the  establishment  of  the  prac- 
tice of  conveying  sick  or  injured  firemen  to  a 
select  group  of  first  class  hospitals  which  pro- 
vide only  the  highest  grade  of  medical  and 
surgical  service.  Thus  an  earlier  and  more 
complete  recovery  is  made  in  many  cases.  He 
also  inaugurated  a  system  of  light  duties 
that  can  be  performed  by  firemen  while  con- 
valescing or  partially  recovered.  Statistics 
compiled  since  Doctor  Sullivan  became  depart- 
ment surgeon  show  that  the  daily  average  of 
sick  and  incapacitated  firemen  dropped  from 
175  or  150  a  day  down  to  twenty  a  day 
within  two  years. 

Doctor  Sullivan  is  a  member  of  the  Chi- 
cago, Illinois  State  and  American  Medical 
Associations,  the  Society  of  Industrial  Sur- 
geons and  of  other  professional  organizations. 
He  belongs  to  the  Press  Club  and  Midwest 
Club.  He  married  Miss  Alice  Hagan,  of  Chi- 
cago. They  have  two  children,  Shirley  Patricia 
and  Jacqueline  Cecelia.  Doctor  Sullivan  re- 
sides at  5018  Washington  Boulevard. 

Merle  Clare  Champion,  postmaster  at 
Byron,  Ogle  County,  was  one  ofthe  earliest 
representatives  of  the  United  States  in  over- 
seas service  in  the  World  war,  where  his  unit 
was  attached  to  the  French  Army  until  the 
arrival  of  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces, 
to  which  it  was  then  transferred.  He  remained 
in  overseas  service  two  years,  and  during  the 
greater  part  of  this  period  his  command  was 
in  important  stations  near  the  front — in  the 
Verdun,  Argonne  and  other  sections  of  the 
conflict  area. 

Mr.  Champion  was  born  at  Bearber, 
Nebraska,  December  16,  1889,  a  son  of  Richard 
G.  and  Martha  E.  (Morgan)  Champion.  Rich- 
ard G.   Champion  was  born  in  Ohio  and  was 


I 


3 


ILLINOIS 


387 


a  resident  of  the  State  of  Georgia  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  he  having  there  taken  a  land 
claim.  His  widow  now  maintains  her  home 
at  Byron,  Illinois,  and  is  a  representative  of 
a  family  that  early  made  settlement  in  Ogle 
County. 

The  present  postmaster  of  Byron  was  here 
graduated  in  the  high  school,  and  here  he 
continued  his  association  with  the  mercantile 
business  until  he  entered  World  war  service. 
He  enlisted  in  April,  1917,  and  was  assigned 
to  the  Third  Reserves,  Thirteenth  Engineer 
Corps,  his  initial  training  having  been  re- 
ceived in  the  station  established  on  the  cele- 
brated Municipal  Pier  in  Chicago  and  his 
original  overseas  service  having  been  with  the 
French  forces,  as  previously  stated.  After 
the  war  he  received  honorable  discharge  at 
Camp  Grant,  Illinois,  May  14,  1919,  and  there- 
after he  was  for  a  time  associated  with  rail- 
road construction  service.  He  then  resumed 
his  connection  with  the  merchandising  busi- 
ness at  Byron,  and  here  he  is,  in  1932,  serving 
his  third  consecutive  term  in  the  office  of 
postmaster.  He  was  first  appointed  under 
President  Coolidge  and  re-appointed,  under 
President  Hoover.  He  is  a  Republican,  and 
is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fraternity  and 
with  the  Philip  LaFagna  Post  No.  209  of  the 
American  Legion,  of  which  he  is  a  past  com- 
mander. 

In  June,  1927,  Mr.  Champion  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Cora  M.  Etnyre,  daughter 
of  L.  A.  and  Alice  (Black)  Etnyre,  who  re- 
side on  their  farm  near  Adeline,  Illinois.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Champion  have  two  children,  Joan 
and   William. 

Frank  Melahn,  who  is  giving  at  the  time 
of  this  writing,  in  1932,  a  characteristically 
loyal  and  effective  administration  as  mayor  of 
East  Dundee,  Kane  County,  is  a  native  son 
of  Dundee,  where  he  was  born  August  4, 
1872.  He  is  a  son  of  Fred  and  Mary  (Fierke) 
Melahn,  the  names  of  whose  children  are 
here  recorded  in  respective  birth  order:  Min- 
nie, Frank,  Bertha,  Herman,  Ella  (deceased), 
William,   Louis,   Walter   and   Otto    (deceased). 

Fred  Melahn  was  born  and  reared  in  Ger- 
many and  came  to  the  United  States  after  he 
had  served  in  the  German  army  and  within 
a  short  period  after  the  close  of  the  Civil 
war  in  the  land  of  his  adoption.  He  followed 
various  occupations  after  coming  to  Kane 
County,  Illinois,  and  finally  engaged  in  inde- 
pendent farm  enterprise,  which  he  followed 
until  his  retirement.  He  and  his  wife  passed 
the  closing  years  of  their  lives  in  Kane  County. 

Frank  Melahn  received  the  advantages  of 
the  Kane  County  public  schools,  and  was 
nine  years  of  age  when  the  family  home  was 
established  on  a  farm  near  Dundee.  He  con- 
tinued to  be  associated  with  farm  enterprise 
fourteen  years,  and  he  has  long  been  con- 
nected  with   the   Illinois   Iron   &   Bolt  Works. 


one  of  the  leading  industrial  concerns  of  Dun- 
dee. With  this  corporation  he  served  in  vari- 
ous capacities  and  made  advancement  to  posi- 
tions of  increasing  responsibility,  he  being 
now  general  foreman  of  the  factory  and  a 
stockholder  in  its  operating  corporation.  He 
and  his  family  are  communicants  of  the  Beth- 
lehem Lutheran  Church,  he  is  a  Democrat  in 
political  alignment  and  in  1932  is  serving  as 
mayor  of  East  Dundee  and  giving  a  most 
progressive  administration.  His  wife,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Caroline  Rakow,  is  a  daugh- 
ter of  John  and  Mary  (Steffen)  Rakow.  Of 
the  four  children  of  this  union  the  eldest  is 
Hulda,  wife  of  William  Woessner,  and  they 
have  three  children,  William,  Ronald  and  Caro- 
line. Rose  is  the  wife  of  Leonard  Hoeft,  and 
they  have  two  children,  Harold  and  Leonard. 
Martin  married  Miss  Leora  Krunfus.  Elbert 
married  Miss  Clara  Fitchie,  and  they  have 
two  children,   Sallie   L.   and  Jerry   E. 

Melvin  Jones,  founder  and  secretary- 
treasurer  of  the  International  Association  of 
Lions  Clubs,  has  had  his  home  in  Chicago  for 
thirty  years.  Mr.  Jones  abandoned  a  pros- 
perous business  career  in  order  to  build  up 
the  Association  of  Lions  Clubs,  and  through 
his  official  connection  with  that  organization 
is  known  to  tens  of  thousands  of  business 
and  professional  men  all  over  the  United 
States  and  Canada. 

Mr.  Jones  was  born  at  Fort  Thomas,  Ari- 
zona, January  13,  1880,  and  his  earliest  recol- 
lections are  of  frontier  posts  and  frontier 
scenes  in  the  Southwest.  .  His  great-grand- 
father was  one  of  three  brothers  who  came 
from  Wales  soon  after  the  American  Revolu- 
tion. His  paternal  grandfather,  John  Martin 
Jones,  was  born  in  North  Carolina  July  29, 
1827.  The  father  of  Melvin  Jones  was  Capt. 
John  Calvin  Jones,  who  was  born  at  Young 
Cane,  Union  County,  Georgia,  June  2,  1850. 
Though  too  young  to  carry  a  musket  in  the 
Civil  war,  he  ran  away  from  home  and  wit- 
nessed the  desperate  fighting  around  Vicks- 
burg.  After  the  war  he  was  a  merchant, 
ranchman  and  soldier.  The  greater  part  of  his 
active  life  was  spent  in  the  romantic  country 
of  the  Southwest.  He  participated  in  several 
Indian  wars  and  was  a  scout  under  Gen.  Nel- 
son A.  Miles  in  the  campaign  which  ended 
with  the  capture  of  the  famous  Apache  chief- 
tain Geronimo.  He  died  at  Douglas,  Arizona, 
September  24,  1931. 

If  from  his  father  Melvin  Jones  inherited 
the  qualities  of  adventure  and  courage,  he  is 
indebted  to  his  idealistic  mother  for  his  taste 
for  vocal  music,  his  love  of  poetry  and  the 
facility  for  remembering  and  quoting  verse. 
His  mother  was  Lydia  M.  Gibler,  daughter 
of  Frederick  S.  Gibler.  She  was  born  at  St. 
Louis,  Missouri,  and  was  of  French  and 
Dutch  lineage.  Her  grandfather  came  from 
Holland    and    her    mother   was    member    of   a 


388 


ILLINOIS 


French  family  of  New  Orleans.  Mrs.  Jones 
was  well  educated  in  St.  Louis,  was  devoted 
to  her  church  and  was  especially  fond  of  re- 
ligious music. 

Melvin  Jones  opened  his  eyes  on  the  ro- 
mantic environment  of  the  Southwest.  His 
earliest  connected  memory  is  of  a  day  when 
he  lay  under  a  wagon  behind  a  hasty  barri- 
cade of  stone,  watching  with  his  mother  while 
the  soldiers  drove  off  an  Indian  attack.  In 
that  fight  his  father  was  wounded  in  the 
head,  the  hand  and  thigh.  Other  similar 
scenes  were  impressed  upon  his  memory  dur- 
ing early  boyhood.  The  family  lived  on  an 
Arizona  ranch  and  he  grew  up  under  the 
primitive  Spartan  training  of  learning  to  ride, 
learning  to  shoot  and  learning  to  speak  the 
truth.  For  his  formal  education  he  was  sent 
to  St.  Louis  to  attend  school,  was  a  student 
in  Chaddock  College  at  Quincy,  and  also  took 
a  course  in  the  Union  Business  College.  At 
the  same  time  he  applied  himself  to  the  art 
of  music  and  did  some  law  reading.  Mr. 
Jones  was  twenty  years  of  age  when  he  came 
to  Chicago  for  the  purpose  of  continuing  the 
study  of  law  and  carrying  on  his  voice  train- 
ing. Here  he  joined  a  number  of  musical 
societies  including  the  Apollo  Club.  For  years 
he  was  in  great  demand  as  a  tenor  soloist, 
especially  on  church  programs.  He  soon  gave 
up  the  law  in  favor  of  insurance,  and  spent 
two  years  in  the  office  of  Johnson  &  Higgins, 
insurance  brokers,  after  which  he  established 
a  business  of  his  own  known  as  the  Melvin 
Jones   Insurance   Agency. 

While  building  up  this  business  the  idea 
came  to  him  which  changed  the  entire  course 
of  his  life.  He  began  to  study  means  of 
bringing  men  together  in  terms  of  good  fel- 
lowship,, where  fellowship  would  result  in  un- 
selfish service  to  each  other  and  to  their  com- 
munities. He  joined  other  business  and 
professional  men  in  organizing  the  Business 
Circle  at  Chicago,  of  which  he  was  secretary. 
In  1914  he  sent  out  letters  to  independent 
clubs  of  various  names  all  over  the  country 
asking  them  to  consider  uniting  and  forming 
an  association.  As  a  result  of  several  years 
of  correspondence  twenty  delegates  repre- 
senting fifty  clubs,  met  at  the  Hotel  LaSalle, 
June  7,  1917,  and  formed  the  International 
Association  of  Lions  Clubs.  The  first  general 
convention  was  held  at  Dallas,  Texas,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1917,  at  which  time  Mr.  Jones  was  elected 
secretary-treasurer  of  the  International  Asso- 
ciation. He  has  held  that  office  constinuously 
since,  and  finally  he  severed  all  other  business 
connections  in  order  to  devote  his  full  time  to 
this  great  work.  At  322  South  Michigan  Ave- 
nue, Chicago,  he  has  full  charge  of  the  Interna- 
tional headquarters,  which  is  the  clearing 
house  for  the  affairs  of  more  than  2,700 
individual  Lions  Clubs.  The  total  member- 
ship is  now  over  80,000,  and  the  normal  in- 
crease is  about  10,000  a  year.     Mr.  Jones  is 


also  editor  of  The  Lion,  official  organ  of  the 
association. 

Lionism  has  been  the  life  of  Mr.  Jones  for 
the  past  fifteen  years.  He  has  derived  the 
greatest  satisfaction  from  the  spirit  of  the 
order  rather  than  its  numerical  growth,  and 
there  is  today  hardly  a  progressive  community 
anywhere  in  the  United  States  or  Canada 
which  is  not  acquainted  with  some  of  the 
splendid  achievements  of  the  organization,  in 
which  men  work  together  without  thought  of 
material  reward,  teaching  and  practicing 
charity,  education,  patriotism,  kindness,  a 
closer  brotherhood  of  men.  The  Lions  in  a 
notable  measure  actually  live  the  Golden  Rule. 

Mr.  Jones  is  a  Republican.  He  was  reared 
in  the  Baptist  Church,  later  became  a  Meth- 
odist, and  in  earlier  life  he  sang  in  the  choirs 
of  Presbyterian  and  other  churches.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  His  home 
is  at  Flossmoor.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Lin- 
colnshire Country  Club  and  his  favorite 
recreations  are  voice  culture,  golf  and 
floriculture. 

American  devotees  of  golf  everywhere  know 
the  name  of  Mrs.  Melvin  Jones,  who  has  set 
some  of  the  highest  marks  of  women  amateurs. 
Mrs.  Jones  before  her  marriage  was  Miss  Rose 
Freeman.  They  were  married  at  Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin,  in  1909.  Her  father,  F.  W.  Free- 
man, is  a  retired  farmer  of  Kearney, 
Nebraska. 

Mrs.  Melvin  Jones  broke  all  records  for 
golf  by  women.  For  fourteen  years  she  has 
been  the  holder  of  more  important  golf  titles 
than  any  other  woman  and  often  has  held 
several  championships  at  once.  She  has  six 
times  won  the  title  of  Chicago  Woman's  Golf 
Champion.  She  has  been  three  times  West- 
ern Medal  Champion  and  in  1921  won  the 
Woman's  Western  Championship.  She  has 
won  the  Pebble  Beach,  California  Champion- 
ship, the  North  and  South  Championship,  the 
Florida  State,  and  the  Pan-American.  She 
has  won  many  open  championships,  and  holds 
the  course  record  for  women  on  many  courses 
all  over  the  country. 

Ralph  E.  Diffenderfer,  prominent  physi- 
cian and  surgeon  at  East  Moline,  is  a  grad- 
uate of  Rush  Medical  College  of  Chicago,  and 
after  a  thorough  training  in  college  and  hos- 
pital work  came  to  East  Moline. 

Doctor  Diffenderfer  was  born  September  13, 
1898,  at  Blue  Island,  Chicago,  son  of  Harry 
M.  and  Blanche  (Guest)  Diffenderfer.  The 
Diffenderfer  family  were  Colonial  pioneers  of 
Lancaster  County,  Pennsylvania,  and  members 
of  the  family  were  represented  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary war.  His  father,  Harry  M.  Diffen- 
derfer, was  born  at  Columbia  in  Lancaster 
County,  was  educated  in  local  public  schools 
and  learned  the  carpenter's  trade.  For  a  time 
he  worked  at  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  and 
then  settled  at  Blue  Island,  Illinois,  where  he 


ILLINOIS 


389 


established  and  built  up  a  successful  business 
as  a  carpenter  and  contractor.  He  and  his 
wife  are  still  living  in  Blue  Island  and  he  is 
one  of  that  community's  successful  business 
men  and  public  spirited  citizens.  He  and  his 
wife  had  six  children:  Louise,  wife  of  Elmer 
Heinecke;  Ralph  E.;  Glenn  and  Harry; 
Nannie  and  Fannie,  twins,  both  deceased. 

Doctor  Diffenderfer  grew  up  at  Blue  Island, 
attended  grammar  and  high  school  there,  and 
after  leaving  high  school  he  paid  the  expenses 
of  his  higher  education.  He  took  his  pre- 
medical  work  in  the  University  of  Chicago 
and  then  entered  Rush  Medical  College,  where 
he  graduated  with  the  M.  D.  degree  in  1930. 
He  was  an  interne  in  St.  Luke's  Hospital  at 
Chicago  one  year.  While  in  university  and 
medical  college  he  was  employed  by  the  Rock 
Island  Railroad,  by  the  First  Trust  &  Savings 
Bank  of  Chicago,  and  also  worked  for  a  brick 
company.  After  completing  his  interneship 
he  came  direct  to  East  Moline,  where  he  has 
built  up  a  very  successful  practice.  His  offices 
are  over  the  State  Bank  on  Fifteenth  Avenue. 
He  is  a  member  of  Rock  Island  County  and 
Illinois  State  Medical  societies  and  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association,  and  of  the  Phi  Delta 
Theta  and  the  Nu  Sigma  Nu  fraternities.  His 
hobby  is  golf  and  out-door  sports. 

Doctor  Diffenderfer  married  at  Blue  Island, 
September  18,  1926,  Miss  Grace  Luscombe, 
daughter  of  Nicholas  and  Sarah  (Turner) 
Luscombe.  Her  father  came  from  England 
to  America  nad  for  many  years  was  connected 
with  the  Illinois  Brick  Company. 

Girth  N.  Hicks.  An  exponent  of  progres- 
sive business  methods  and  a  man  of  sound 
and  reliable  character  both  in  commercial  and 
civic  activities  is  found  in  Girth  N.  Hicks, 
half  owner  of  the  Millikin  Dry  Cleaning  Com- 
pany, one  of  the  up-and-going  concerns  of 
Danville. 

Mr.  Hicks  was  born  at  Vincennes,  Indiana, 
January  6,  1888,  a  son  of  George  W.  and  Me- 
lissa (Bonewits)  Hicks,  and  a  grandson  of  a 
pioneer  of  Vincennes  who  came  from  North 
Carolina  during  the  Civil  war  period.  George 
W.  Hicks  was  born  and  reared  at  Vincennes, 
where  he  was  educated  in  the  public  schools 
and  first  engaged  in  the  decorating  business, 
subsequently  becoming  the  owner  of  a  res- 
taurant, which  he  conducted  until  his  death 
in  1896.  He  married  Melissa  Bonewits,  who 
was  born  and  reared  near  Vincennes,  and  who 
was  active  in  Presbyterian  Church  work  until 
her  death  in  1905.  They  became  the  parents 
of  two  children:  Girth  N.,  of  this  review;  and 
Oscar  C,  a  clerk  for  the  Big  Four  Railroad 
at  Mattoon,  Illinois. 

Girth  N.  Hicks  attended  the  public  schools 
of  Vincennes,  Indiana,  following  which  he 
worked  as  a  farm  hand  for  several  years,  and 
at  the  age  of  seventeen  entered  the  service  of 
the    Big   Four   Railroad    as   call   boy.      Subse- 


quently he  was  promoted  to  brakeman  and 
then  to  conductor,  but  resigned  to  enter  the 
dry  cleaning  business  at  Danville  in  1911. 
At  present  he  is  half  owner  of  the  Millikin 
Dr>  Cleaning  Company  of  Danville,  one  of 
the  largest  establishments  of  this  kind  in  the 
state,  located  at  605  North  Vermillion  Street, 
where  employment  is  given  to  from  thirty-five 
to  fifty  persons.  Mr.  Hicks,  on  January  1, 
1932,  established  the  G.  N.  Hicks  Laundry  at 
Danville,  a  well  equipped  plant  located  at 
325  North  Washington  Avenue.  He  is  the  sole 
owner  of  this  establishment.  He  is  well 
thought  of  in  business  circles  as  an  aggres- 
sive and  energetic  man  of  affairs  and  an  em- 
ployer who  is  popular  with  his  employes.  He 
is  active  in  civic  matters  as  a  member  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the  Exchange  Club 
and  belongs  to  Emanuel  Presbyterian  Church. 
Politically  a  Republican,  he  has  not  sought 
office.  A  true  son  of  Izaak  Walton,  he  enjoys 
fishing  and  possesses  a  number  of  mounted 
specimens  which  speak  for  his  prowess  in  the 
piscatorial  art  at  Miami  Beach  and  other 
points. 

At  Danville,  February  25,  1911,  Mr.  Hicks 
married  Eva  M.  Crawford,  daughter  of  Sam- 
uel F.  and  Mary  (Young)  Crawford.  Mr. 
Crawford,  who  was  a  locomotive  engineer  for 
many  years,  died  at  Campbell  Station,  In- 
diana, February  5,  1911,  his  widow  now  being 
a  resident  of  Danville.  Mrs.  Hicks  received 
a  high  school  education  at  Danville,  and  is 
an  active  member  of  and  worker  in  the  Eman- 
uel Presbyterian  Church.  They  are  the  par- 
ents of  one  son,  Sheldon,  who  is  now  attend- 
ing Danville  High  School. 

Emil  Joseph  Benson  has  earned  a  success- 
ful place  for  himself  as  a  member  of  the 
Kane  County  bar.  His  home  is  at  Batavia, 
where  he  is  member  of  the  law  firm  of  Kuhn 
&  Benson.  There  are  a  number  of  business 
and  civic  relationships  which  have  served  to 
make  Mr.  Benson's  name  and  influence  felt 
throughout  his  community. 

He  was  born  at  Batavia,  December  12,  1890. 
His  parents,  John  and  Hanna  (Anderson) 
Benson,  were  natives  of  Sweden  and  lived  in 
Batavia  from  1880.  His  father,  who  died  in 
1920,  was  a  Batavia  merchant,  a  furniture 
dealer.  The  mother  passed  away  in  1924. 
There  were  two  younger  sons:  Arthur,  who 
is  a  manufacturer  and  dealer  in  furniture 
novelties  at  Elgin;  and  Arnold  P.,  editor  of 
the  Batavia  Herald  and  Republican  nominee 
for  state  senator  from  the  Fourteenth  Dis- 
trict. Thus  it  is  evident  that  the  Benson 
family  has  been  one  of  prominence  in  Batavia 
for  over  half  a  century. 

Emil  Joseph  Benson  graduated  from  the 
Batavia  High  School  and  supplemented  this 
early  education  by  work  at  the  University  of 
Illinois.  From  1910  to  1917  he  was  deputy 
probate    clerk    of    Kane    County,    and    at    the 


390 


ILLINOIS 


same  time  utilized  his  time  and  opportunities 
to  study  law,  chiefly  at  night.  In  1916  he 
was  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar. 

During  the  World  war  Mr.  Benson  was  with 
the  Thirty-seventh  Infantry.  After  the  war 
he  settled  down  to  the  routine  of  a  general 
law  practice,  which  he  has  since  continued. 
Since  1920  he  has  been  city  attorney  of  Batavia 
and  since  1922  has  handled  the  legal  work  for 
North  Aurora  and  Elburn.  Among  other  busi- 
ness interests  Mr.  Benson  is  a  director  of  the 
Batavia  National  Bank,  director  of  the  Ba- 
tavia Building  &  Loan  Association. 

As  a  community  worker  he  is  active  in  the 
Boy  Scout  movement,  and  is  vice  president 
of  the  Fox  Valley  Chapter  of  the  Red  Cross, 
secretary  of  the  Batavia  Community  Chest, 
treasurer  of  the  Kane  County  Bar  Associa- 
tion and  is  a  former  president  of  the  Kiwanis 
Club.  He  is  affiliated  with  the  Masons,  Odd 
Fellows,   Moose,  Vikings,  Knights  of  Pythias. 

Mr.  Benson  married,  October  11,  1919,  Miss 
Virginia  Leff.  She  was  born  at  Geneva,  Illi- 
nois, daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  G.  A.  Leff. 
They  have  three  children:  Gordon  Roger, 
Jeanne  Marion  and  Betty  Lou. 

Levi  Perrin  was  a  man  whose  sterling  char- 
acter and  worthy  life  caused  him  to  gain  and 
retain  the  utmost  confidence  and  good  will  of 
his  fellow  men,  and  he  was  one  of  the  hon- 
ored citizens  of  Waukegan,  Lake  County,  Illi- 
nois. He  was  in  the  service  of  the  Chicago  & 
Northwestern  Railroad  nearly  a  quarter  of 
a  century,  held  the  position  of  roadmaster  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  and  was  killed  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duty  near  the  City  of  Mil- 
waukee, his  death  having  occurred  .  Decem- 
ber 12,  1878. 

Mr.  Perrin  was  born  at  Granville,  Wash- 
ington County,  New  York,  August  7,  1830, 
and  was  reared  and  educated  in  his  native 
state,  where  likewise  he  gained  his  earlier 
experience  in  connection  with  railroad  service. 
He  continued  to  be  employed  in  the  East  some- 
what more  than  twenty  years,  and  in  1909 
came  with  his  family  to  Illinois  and  estab- 
lished his  residence  at  Waukegan,  where  he 
continued  to  maintain  his  home  during  the 
remainder  of  his  earnest  and  useful  life,  he 
having  been  in  the  employ  of  the  Chicago  & 
Northwestern  Railroad  twenty-three  years. 
The  political  allegiance  of  Mr.  Perrin  was 
given  to  the  Republican  party,  and  in  Wau- 
kegan his  civic  loyalty  was  constructively 
shown  in  his  service  as  alderman  from  the 
Second  Ward. 

January  6,  1868,  recorded  the  marriage  of 
Mr.  Perrin  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Curran,  of  Lake 
Geneva,  Wisconsin,  and  her  death  occurred 
February  23,  1916.  They  became  the  parents 
of  one  son  and  two  daughters,  and  the  son 
died  when  about  fifty-six  years  of  age.  The 
two  daughters  are  still  living,  and  one  of 
them  is  giving  most  effective  communal  serv- 


ice in  Waukegan,  where  she  is  the  popular 
librarian  of  the  Waukegan  Public  Library. 
This  efficient  executive  is  Miss  Laura  J. 
Perrin,  and  she  has  been  actively  identified 
with  library  work  nearly  thirty  years.  Miss 
Perrin  is  one  of  the  prominent  exponents  of 
the  cultural  interests  of  the  community,  her 
study  and  experience  have  given  her  broad 
intellectual  ken  and  also  mature  judgment, 
and  she  has  much  of  leadership  in  connection 
with  general  cultural  and  social  interests  in 
her  home  city.  She  is  one  of  the  active  and 
influential  members  of  the  Waukegan  Wo- 
man's Club  and  is  frequently  called  upon  for 
addresses  before  this  club  and  other  social 
organizations. 

Jean  Francis  De  Villard,  one  of  America's 
oldest  and  most  distinguished  figures  in  avia- 
tion, is  a  resident  of  East  Saint  Louis,  presi- 
dent of  the  De  Villard  Aircraft  Corporation. 

He  was  born  at  Fordyce,  Arkansas.  His 
great-grandfather  was  Etienne  De  Vilier,  a 
name  that  has  since  been  changed  to  the  form 
of  De  Villard.  His  father's  name  was  Francois 
De  Villard,  of  Louisiana.  There  were  several 
children,  some  of  whom  went  to  Illinois  and 
others  to  New  York  and  Oklahoma.  His 
mother's  maiden  name  was  Glass.  Jean 
Francis  De  Villard  was  a  youthful  soldier  in 
the  Spanish-American  war.  He  was  in  the 
Quartermaster's  Department,  under  Capt.  W. 
Scott,  Major  Aleshire,  at  Santiago,  Cuba. 
While  coming  home  on  the  transport  McPher- 
son  the  boat  was  wrecked  on  the  coast  of 
Cuba,  near  Manzanillo. 

His  early  education  was  acquired  in  public 
schools.  In  1901  he  left  the  United  States 
for  Singapore,  where  he  was  employed  as 
assistant  electrical  engineer  during  the  con- 
struction of  a  tramway.  Following  that  he 
was  employed  by  the  Siamese  government  as 
chief  mechanical  and  electrical  engineer.  He 
left  Bangkok,  Siam,  for  the  United  States  by 
way  of  Hongkong,  crossed  the  Pacific  to  San 
Francisco  and  for  some  years  made  his  home 
at  Los  Angeles. 

It  was  in  1909  that  he  became  directly  in- 
terested in  aviation.  He  built  his  own  Bleriot 
monoplane,  using  a  two-cycle  Eldridge  motor. 
He  took  his  plane  to  the  Presidio,  San  Fran- 
cisco, making  his  first  solo  flight  in  February, 
1910.  On  the  fuselage  of  his  plane  he  had 
printed  the  words  "Wake  Up  United  States." 
He  established  one  of  the  pioneer  factories 
and  aviation  schools  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  In 
1911  he  went  to  the  Mexican  border,  where  he 
met  General  Madero,  and  was  employed  as 
chief  of  the  aviation  department  for  the  revo- 
lutionists. In  this  capacity  he  bought  several 
planes.  To  the  best  of  his  knowledge  Mr. 
De  Villard  believes  that  the  first  aerial  attack 
on  troops  was  made  during  the  Mexican  Revo- 
lution, at  which  time  bombs  were  dropped 
from     the     planes.       The     originator     of     the 


Jh 


^CAsO 


ILLINOIS 


391 


bombs  was  Mr.  Barlow,  who  afterwards  sold 
his  patent  rights  to  a  government.  Among 
the  pilots  in  Mexico  at  that  time  were  Mc- 
Guire,  Farman-Fish  and  others,  McQuire  hav- 
ing been  killed  at  Aguascaliente. 

Mr.  De  Villard  after  returning  to  the  United 
States  became  interested  in  the  Oklahoma  oil 
fields  and  acquired  considerable  money  to 
finance  him  on  his  next  experiences  as  a  pro- 
moter. While  at  Los  Angeles  he  decided  to 
enter  the  motion  picture  industry  as  a  pro- 
ducer. He  leased  the  California  studios, 
brought  out  several  pictures,  but  all  the  while 
the  aviation  industry  was  calling  to  him. 
From  the  picture  studios  he  joined  with  Alvin 
K.  Peterson,  one  of  the  best  known  designers 
and  engineers  in  aviation.  From  that  time 
onward  Mr.  De  Villard  has  been  connected 
with  aviation  as  adviser  and  technical  engi- 
neer. In  1911  he  made  application  for  pat- 
ents on  an  airplane.  The  patents  were 
granted. 

Mr.  De  Villard  established  his  home  at  East 
St.  Louis  in  1928.  East  St.  Louis  he  foresaw 
would  inevitably  become  the  center  of  avia- 
tion activities  in  the  United  States.  Since 
becoming  a  resident  of  Illinois,  Mr.  De  Villard 
has  perfected  what  is  called  a  Slotted  Wing 
and  Bifold  Flap,  which  prevents  tail  spin, 
stalling,  nose  dive,  nose  over,  side  slip.  The 
slots  and  flaps  will  float  any  plane  at  the  low 
rate  of  thirty  miles  per  hour,  land  at  eighteen 
miles  per  hour,  take  off  and  land  in  forty 
feet.  Aviation  engineers  have  also  taken  a 
lively  interest  in  a  tractor  and  pusher  pro- 
peller in  one,  which  he  perfected.  This  elimi- 
nates the  torque,  gives  more  speed  without 
vibration.  A  number  of  other  devices  well 
known  in  the  aviation  industry  were  created 
by  this  noted  East  St.  Louis  engineer.  He 
has  numerous  letters  from  the  United  States 
Government  and  private  manufacturers,  com- 
prising test  reports  or  making  inquiries  con- 
cerning his  devices.  One  interesting  letter  is 
from  a  division  manager  of  the  Parks  Air 
College,  from  which  the  following  two  para- 
graphs are  quoted: 

"From  every  standpoint  I  consider  him  one 
of  the  finest  men  of  my  acquaintance.  His 
personality  and  his  ability  to  make  friends 
and  keep  them  is  extraordinary.  His  business 
ability  makes  him  stand  out  head  and  shoul- 
ders above  the  people  around  him,  because 
he  combines  a  great  amount  of  energy  with 
an  equal  amount  of  intelligence  and  judgment. 
He  has  that  admirable  faculty  of  being  able 
to  see  into  the  future,  make  his  plans  accord- 
ingly, and  has  the  courage  of  his  convictions 
in  sufficient  degree  to  carry  them  to  conclu- 
sion. This  has  been  proved  to  me  by  his 
almost  uncanny  analysis  of  the  aviation  situa- 
tion in  this  locality. 

"Mr.  De  Villard  has  been  pioneering  in  avia- 
tion since  before  the  war  and  he  has  developed 
an   apparatus   for   the   control   of   aircraft   in 


the  air  that  is,  I  believe,  going  to  revolutionize 
the  industry  once  he  demonstrates  it  on  a 
full  sized  ship.  I  can  see  no  reason  why  his 
controls  added  to  the  present  day  aircraft 
will  not  bring  volume  sales  to  those  manufac- 
turers that  adopt  it,  and  when  a  few  of  the 
machines  are  in  the  hands  of  the  public  the 
ease  and  safety  of  operation  of  the  ships  so 
equipped  will  soon  be  learned  by  the  flying 
public,  with  the  result  that  there  will  be  a 
greatly  increased  use  and  demand  of  these 
ships." 

Mr.  De  Villard  married  Betty  Lee  Dean, 
member  of  the  well  known  Dean  family  of 
Glendean,  Kentucky,  which  town  was  named 
for  the  Deans.  Mrs.  De  Villard's  great-great- 
grandfather was  Silas  Dean,  the  first  Ameri- 
can diplomat  appointed  by  the  United  States. 
Recently  Mr.  De  Villard  received  the  enthusi- 
astic support  of  the  aviation  industry  as  can- 
didate for  mayor  of  East  St.  Louis,  in  Febru- 
ary, 1931. 

At  the  present  time  his  associates  are  nego- 
tiating for  capital  to  erect  a  twenty-two  story 
combined  office  and  hotel  building  in  East  St. 
Louis,  and  also  to  start  several  routes  on  the 
river  by  using  amphibians,  and  acquire  a  site 
for  a  factory  to  build  the  De  Villard  planes, 
motors,  propellers,  slots  and  flaps. 

Mr.  De  Villard  was  vice  president  for  the 
Pacific  Coast  of  the  Aero  Club  of  America 
and  was  executive  director  for  the  United 
States  Air  Force,  an  organization  of  bird 
men  headed  by  Col.  William  Mitchel,  Ricken- 
backer  and  others.  In  1928  the  Early  Birds 
met  at  Chicago,  among  them  being  such  men 
as  Anthony  Fokker,  designer  of  the  Fokker 
planes,  General  Faulois,  Wright,  Curtiss,  Lam- 
bert, Vilas,  Parmaley  and  others.  Mr.  De 
Villard  as  one  of  the  oldest  men  in  the  in- 
dustry was  honored  with  election  as  vice 
president  of  this  organization. 

George  Thomas  Rogers  was  admitted  to  the 
Illinois  bar  in  1905  and  for  the  past  twenty- 
one  years  has  been  member  of  one  of  the 
leading  law  firms  in  the  City  of  Chicago.  His 
home  is  at  Lake  Forest,  and  he  has  been  one 
of  the  constructively  useful  citizens  of  that 
North  Shore  community. 

The  Rogers  family  have  a  long  and  hon- 
orable identification  with  the  history  of  Illi- 
nois and  is  of  distinguished  New  England 
ancestry.  The  founder  of  the  American 
branch  of  the  family  was  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Rogers,  who  came  to  America  in  1636.  He 
was  a  grandson  of  Rev.  John  Rogers, 
who  was  burned  at  the  stake  in  1655 
as  the  first  martyr  in  the  religious  persecu- 
tions under  Queen  Mary.  A  son  of  Rev.  Na- 
thaniel Rogers  was  John  Rogers,  president  of 
Harvard  University  from  1682  to  1684.  The 
Chicago  attorney  is  also  in  the  sixth  genera- 
tion from  the  famous  New  England  heroine, 
Hannah    Dustin,   and   in   the   family   relation- 


392 


ILLINOIS 


ship  are  included  such  military  heroes  as 
Gen.  Ethan  Allen  and  George  Rogers  Clark. 
Mr.  Rogers  had  a  direct  ancestor  who  was  an 
officer  in  the  Revolution,  Nathaniel  Rogers, 
who  was  born  November  15,  1750.  The  father 
of  Mr.  Rogers  earned  distinction  as  an  Illi- 
nois soldier  in  the  Civil  war.  He  was  George 
Clark  Rogers,  who  was  born  at  Piermont,  New 
Hampshire,  November  22,  1836.  In  the  cam- 
paign of  1860  he  was  active  in  support  of 
Stephen  A.  Douglas.  He  raised  the  first  com- 
pany in  Lake  County,  and  during  the  war  was 
promoted  from  first  lieutenant  to  colonel  of 
the  Fifteenth  Illinois  Infantry,  commanded  a 
brigade  two  years  and  in  1865  was  brevetted 
a  brigadier-general.  He  was  four  times 
wounded  at  Shiloh,  once  at  the  battle  of  Big 
Hatchie,  and  twice  at  the  battle  of  Champion 
Hills.  George  Clark  Rogers  after  the  war 
engaged  in  law  practice  at  Chicago.  After 
the  fire  of  1871  he.moved  to  Kansas.  In  1885 
he  was  appointed  chairman  of  the  Board  of 
Pension  Appeals  by  President  Cleveland,  and 
for  four  years  lived  in  the  City  of  Washing- 
ton. On  returning  west  in  1889  he  established 
his  home  at  Waukegan.  He  died  February 
28,  1915.  General  Rogers  married  Joanna 
Carey,  daughter  of  Thomas  Carey. 

Their  son,  George  Thomas  Rogers,  was  born 
at  Eureka,  Kansas,  October  25,  1875,  and 
was  about  ten  years  of  age  when  the  family 
moved  to  Washington,  D.  C.  He  attended 
school  there,  later  the  high  school  at  Wauke- 
gan and  was  graduated  Bachelor  of  Arts  from 
Lake  Forest  University  in  1902.  He  had  his 
professional  training  in  the  Chicago-Kent  Col- 
lege, then  the  law  department  of  Lake  Forest 
University. 

Since  his  admission  to  the  bar  he  has  been 
associated  with  the  well  known  group  of  Chi- 
cago attorneys,  at  first  Tenney,  Coffeen,  Hard- 
ing and  Wilkerson.  He  was  made  a  member 
of  the  firm  in  1911.  The  firm  at  the  present 
time  is  Tenney,  Harding,  Sherman  and  Rogers. 
Mr.  Rogers  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago,  Illi- 
nois State  and  American  Bar  Associations  and 
is  a  director  of  the  First  National  Bank  of 
Lake  Forest. 

Mr.  Rogers  was  city  attorney  of  Lake  For- 
est from  1912  to  1917,  and  for  a  number  of 
years  has  been  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation of  the  Deerfield-Shields  Township  High 
School.  He  is  a  trustee  of  Lake  Forest  Uni- 
versity, a  president  of  the  Lake  County  Law 
and  Order  League,  and  during  the  World  war 
was  chairman  of  the  Four-Minute  Men  in 
Lake  Forest.  For  a  number  of  years  he  has 
been  an  elder  in  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Lake  Forest. 

Much  of  his  recreation  is  supplied  by  two 
farms  which  he  owns  near  Lake  Forest,  and 
he  indulges  in  other  outdoor  sports,  including 
hunting,  riding,  fishing  and  golf.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Union  League  Club  of  Chicago, 


the  City  Club,  the  Winter  Club  of  Lake  Forest 
and  Knollwood  Club  of  Lake  Forest. 

He  married  at  Boston,  Massachusetts,  June 
24,  1908,  Miss  Belle  Joyce  Bartlett,  daughter 
of  Charles  H.  Bartlett.  Mrs.  Rogers  is  a 
direct  descendant  of  Governor  John  Winthrop. 
She  is  a  great-grandniece  of  Josiah  Bartlett, 
who  was  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  a  member  of  Continental 
Congress,  chief  justice  of  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas  and  the  first  governor  of  the  State 
of  New  Hampshire.  Mrs.  Rogers  is  a  member 
of  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution. 
The  four  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rogers 
are:  George  Bartlett,  born  June  10,  1909; 
Eleanor  Bartlett,  born  April  10,  1912;  Charles 
Bartlett,  born  October  22,  1914;  and  Ann 
Josephine  Bartlett,  born  March  2,  1918. 

Samuel  H.  Zink,  prominent  in  the  business 
and  civic  affairs  of  Buda,  has  been  long  and 
favorably  known  in  that  community  of  North- 
ern Illinois.  Mr.  Zink  owns  land  that  was 
taken  up  by  his  grandfather  at  the  time  of  the 
earliest  settlement  of  this  portion  of  the 
state.  He  has  been  a  farmer,  a  man  of  ex- 
tensive interests  in  a  business  way,  and  has 
always  been  prompt  in  response  to  the  de- 
mands of  the  community  for  public  service. 

Samuel  H.  Zink  was  born  in  Bureau  County, 
March  2,  1871,  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth 
(Sensel)  Zink.  His  grandfather,  Samuel 
Zink,  was  born  in  Bedford  County,  Pennsyl- 
vania, August  23,  1813,  and  in  1846  arrived 
in  Bureau  County,  Illinois,  after  having 
walked  the  entire  distance  from  Pennsylvania. 
He  was  one  of  the  prominent  pioneers  of 
Bureau  County,  where  he  lived  the  remainder 
of  his  life,  devoted  to  farming.  John  Zink 
was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania  and  was  a 
small  child  when  his  parents  come  overland 
to  Illinois.  His  wife,  Elizabeth  Sensel,  was 
born  in  Ohio.  John  Zink  devoted  his  life's 
work  to  farming  and  owned  extensive  hold- 
ings for  his  day. 

Samuel  H.  Zink  was  educated  in  rural 
schools  in  Bureau  County  and  from  early 
manhood  engaged  in  farming,  which  has  al- 
ways constituted  his  major  interest.  He 
bought  both  of  the  farms  at  one  time  owned 
by  his  father  and  grandfather,  and  still  owns 
this  land,  comprising  well  improved  and 
equipped  farms  of  400  acres,  devoted  to  gen- 
eral farming  and  stock  raising. 

Mr.  Zink  since  1918  has  made  his  home 
in  Buda  and  has  found  time  to  devote  to  local 
community  affairs.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
school  board  for  several  years  and  was  on 
the  board  when  the  fine  school  plant  was 
erected.  He  was  a  road  commissioner  for 
over  nine  years  in  Macon  Township.  Mr. 
Zink  served  continuously  as  mayor  of  Buda 
from  1921  until  1931.  He  is  a  staunch  Re- 
publican, a  member  of  the  Independent  Order 


ILLINOIS 


393 


of    Odd    Fellows    and    the    Buda    Community 
Club. 

Mr.  Zink  married,  December  18,  1895,  Miss 
Nellie  Carper,  of  Bureau  County,  daughter 
of  Frederick  and  Mary  (Fisher)  Carper.  The 
Carper  family  came  to  Illinois  in  1851.  Both 
her  parents  were  born  in  Pennsylvania.  Fred- 
erick Carper  enlisted  in  Company  K,  Fifty- 
seventh  Illinois  Volunteer  Regiment  for  serv- 
ice in  the  Civil  war,  and  served  throughout 
the  war,  taking  part  in  many  major  engage- 
ments. He  devoted  his  life  work  to  farming, 
and  died  September  4,  1897.  Mrs.  Zink's 
mother  died  at  Buda  June  28,  1931,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-three.  Mrs.  Zink  is  a  past 
president  of  the  Macon  Community  Club,  and 
the  family  are  identified  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  To  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Zink  were  born  four  children,  three 
of  whom  died  in  childhood,  Mary  Elizabeth, 
Esther  Grace  and  Nellie  Arlene.  Their  living 
daughter  is  Mrs.  Ethel  Whited,  who  with  her 
husband,  Lester  Whited,  lives  on  one  of  the 
Zink  farms. 

Rev.  John  Peona  came  to  Chicago  in  1921. 
Since  that  date  he  has  been  pastor  of  the 
Church  of  Sancta  Maria  Incoronata,  a  parish 
composed  mostly  of  people  of  the  Italian  race. 
Here  he  has  found  opportunity  for  a  great 
work  commensurate  with  his  splendid  talents 
and  early  training  and  experience.  Among 
the  people  of  his  parish  he  has  not  only  been 
a  valued  adviser  in  spiritual  matters,  but  has 
acted  as  counsel  for  his  people  in  their  do- 
mestic relations,  their  business  affairs  and 
their  hopes  and  aims  in  education  and  culture. 

Rev.  Doctor  Peona  was  born  at  Caluso, 
Turin,  Italy,  May  20,  1886.  He  was  educated 
for  the  priesthood  in  Ivrea  Seminary  at  Turin, 
where  he  graduated  with  the  degree  Ph.  D. 
He  was  ordained  in  1910  and  soon  settled 
down  to  the  routine  of  his  priesthood  duties 
in  his  native  province.  Then  came  the  war, 
which  found  him  an  opportunity  for  active 
service  as  a  chaplain.  A  tribute  to  him  by 
the  American  Legion  affords  the  following 
facts : 

"Rev.  John  Peona  rendered  patriotic  service 
to  the  Allies  during  the  World  war.  He  en- 
tered the  Italian  army  May  10,  1916;  served 
as  a  private  in  the  First  Medical  Company  in 
the  Alps.  In  June,  1916,  he  was  promoted 
to  lieutenant  chaplain  of  the  Ninth  Regiment 
of  Bersaglieri.  He  took  part  in  the  battle  of 
Mount  Zebio  in  July  and  August,  1916;  was 
wounded  in  June,  1917,  in  the  battle  of  Mount 
Ortigara;  served  later  in  the  Machine  Gun 
Training  School  at  Brescia,  and  during  this 
time  he  was  chaplain  to  Duke  Adalbert  of 
Savoia-Genova,  a  cousin  of  the  King  of  Italy, 
after  which  he  was  transferred  to  the  Alpine 
Corps,  Sixth  Regiment,  as  chaplain.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1918,  he  was  transferred  to  the  Hos- 
pital   Corps    at    Codego.      In    May,    1919,    he 


was  transferred  to  Albania  and  was  attached 
to  the  Expedition  Corps  until  October,  1919. 
He  was  decorated  for  bravery  by  the  Italian 
government." 

Soon  afterward,  early  in  1920,  Father 
Peona  came  to  America  and  after  about  a  year 
as  a  priest  in  Boston  and  in  Utica,  New  York, 
he  came  to  Chicago.  In  this  city  his  culture 
and  scholarship  have  won  him  many  friends 
among  learned  men  and  professors,  not  alone 
in  Catholic  institutions,  but  at  the  University 
of   Chicago  and   Northwestern   University. 

In  recognition  of  his  faithful  services,  not 
only  to  his  native  country,  but  the  Italian 
people  in  America,  the  King  of  Italy  in  Sep- 
tember, 1931,  bestowed  upon  him  the  Cross  of 
the  Order  of  Saint  Maurice  and  Saint  Lazare. 
The  great  honor  implied  in  this  decoration 
may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  it  is  second  in 
rank  among  the  Italian  orders,  the  only  one 
above  it  being  bestowed  only  on  members  of 
the  royal  family  and  the  nobility.  The  Order 
of  Saint  Maurice  and  Saint  Lazare  is  of  very 
ancient  origin.  For  many  centuries  members 
of  the  order  have  been  engaged  in  works  of 
education  and  in  the  maintenance  of  hospitals 
for  the  sick.  Its  votaries  founded  and  for 
hundreds  of  years  maintained  the  famous 
hospices  in  the  high  Alps  where  dogs  are  used 
for  rescuing  and  succoring  distressed  moun- 
tain climbers,  the  romantic  stories  of  which 
are  familiar  to  all  school  children. 

Lawrence  Thompson  Allen  is  one  of  the 
representative  members  of  the  bar  of  Danville, 
Vermilion  County,  and  has  served  on  the  bench 
of  the  County  Court.  He  was  born  and  reared 
in  this  county.  Since  his  retirement  from  the 
bench  he  has  continued  in  the  active  practice 
of  law  at  Danville,  as  senior  member  of  the 
firm  of  Allen  &  Dalbey. 

Judge  Allen  was  born  at  Hoopeston,  Ver- 
milion County,  October  24,  1882,  a  son  of 
Charles  A.  and  Mary  (Thompson)  Allen,  the 
former  Of  whom  was  born  at  Danville,  this 
county,  and  who  in  1874  was  graduated  in  the 
law  department  of  the  University  of  Michi- 
gan. Charles  A.  Allen,  a  member  of  the  bar 
of  his  native  county,  was  engaged  in  practice 
at  Hoopeston,  and  represented  Vermilion 
County  in  the  State  Legislature  for  a  period 
of  twenty-eight  years.  He  was  a  Republican, 
was  identified  with  the  Vermilion  County  and 
Illinois  State  Bar  Associations  and  was  affili- 
ated with  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  Modern 
Woodmen  of  America.  His  birth  occurred 
July  25,  1851,  and  he  died,  at  Hoopeston,  in 
the  year  1927.  Charles  A.  Allen  was  a  son 
of  William  I.  and  Emily  (Newell)  Allen  and 
his  father  was  one  of  the  pioneer  settlers,  in 
1846,  of  Vermilion  County,  to  which  he  came 
from  Bellefontaine,  Ohio.  William  I.  Allen 
was  a  school  teacher  in  Illinois,  a  veteran  of 
the  Civil  war  and  was  thereafter  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  law  and  he  served  a  number 


394 


ILLINOIS 


of  years  as  county  tax  collector.  Both  he  and 
his  wife  were  pioneer  citizens  of  Vermilion 
County  at  the  time  of  their  death. 

Mary  (Thompson)  Allen  was  born  and 
reared  at  Rossville,  Vermilion  County,  and  did 
not  long  survive  her  husband,  as  her  death 
occurred  in  1929,  she  having  been  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Mrs.  Al- 
len was  a  daughter  of  Lewis  and  Esther 
(Burroughs)  Thompson.  Her  father  was  born 
near  Catlin,  Vermilion  County,  in  1826,  a  son 
of  John  and  Esther  (Payne)  Thompson,  who 
settled  in  this  county  in  the  early  period  of 
Illinois  statehood.  Charles  A.  and  Mary 
(Thompson)  Allen  became  the  parents  of 
three  children:  John  N.  resides  at  Hoopeston; 
Lawrence  T.  is  the  immediate  subject  of  this 
review;  and  Esther  is  the  wife  of  Louis  V. 
Petry,  of  Hoopeston. 

Judge  Lawrence  T.  Allen  was  graduated 
in  the  Hoopeston  High  School  in  1899,  and 
in  the  law  department  of  the  University  of 
Illinois  as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1905, 
which  year  marked  his  admission  to  the  Illi- 
nois bar.  He  was  for  one  year  a  student  of 
the  University  of  Chicago.  He  has  been  con- 
tinuously engaged  in  the  active  practice  of  his 
profession  at  Danville  save  for  the  interval 
of  his  service  as  judge  of  the  County  Court, 
1908-1918.  He  was  assistant  United  States 
district  attorney  from  1922  to  1926,  and  has 
since  given  undivided  attention  to  his  law 
business,  is  a  member  of  the  Vermilion  County 
Bar  Association,  Illinois  State  Bar  Associa- 
tion and  American  Bar  Association,  is  a  Re- 
publican, he  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  he  is  affiliated  with 
the  Masonic  fraternity  and  the  Benevolent 
and  Protective  Order  of  Elks.  In  the  World 
war  period  he  was  a  member  of  the  National 
Guard., 

November  4,  1911,  Judge  Allen  was  married 
to  Miss  Bess  Trevett,  daughter  of  John  R. 
and  Helen  M.  (Lennington)  Trevett,  of  Cham- 
paign, Illinois.  Mrs.  Allen  attended  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois  and  also  Mount  Vernon 
Seminary,  Washington,  D.  C.  She  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  local  chapter  of  the  Daughters  of 
the  American  Revolution.  Judge  and  Mrs. 
Allen  have  two  sons:  John  Trevett  Allen  was 
graduated  in  the  Swaveley  Academy  at  Ma- 
nassas, Virginia,  and  is  now  a  member  of 
the  class  of  1933  in  the  University  of  Illinois. 
Lawrence  Thompson  Allen,  Jr.,  is,  in  1932, 
a  student  in  Tabor  Academy  at  Marion, 
Massachusetts. 

Hon.  Frank  M.  Padden.  The  election  of 
1924  brought  to  the  Municipal  Court  of  Chi- 
cago a  very  forceful  figure  and  one  who  dur- 
ing the  past  eight  years  has  exerted  himself 
with  a  fine  degree  of  integrity,  fearlessness 
and  sound  sense  to  raising  the  Chicago  judi- 
ciary to  a  higher  plane  of  efficiency.  The 
bench  and  bar  credit  Judge  Patten  with  having 
aided  toward  a  more  rapid  disposition  of  the 


immense  amount  of  business  which  had  clogged 
the  dockets  of  the  Municipal  Court.  This 
congestion  had  for  years  constituted  one  of 
the  major  problems  in  the  city's  affairs.  In 
handling  the  business  before  his  own  court 
Judge  Padden  has  exhibited  none  of  the  undue 
haste  or  the  short  cuts  of  expediency  which 
have  militated  against  the  fine  and  just  quality 
of  the  product  of  the  mills  of  justice.  On  the 
contrary  the  bar  and  the  public  have  given 
him  a  high  degree  of  credit  for  the  compre- 
hensive knowledge  and  understanding  of  legal 
principles  from  which  have  proceeded  all  his 
decisions.  His  rulings  have  been  eminently 
fair,  and  have  been  rendered  only  after  a  care- 
ful consideration  of  the  facts  and  the  laws 
applicable  to  them. 

Judge  Padden  came  to  the  bench  well 
equipped  and  with  a  good  background  of  edu- 
cation and  training  for  a  judicial  career.  A 
native  of  Chicago,  he  was  born  February  12, 
1880,  son  of  Martin  and  Mary  (Maloney) 
Padden.  There  are  a  number  of  interesting 
facts  in  connection  with  his  family  history. 
His  mother  was  born  in  Chicago  in  1857,  her 
parents  having  come  from  Ireland  several 
years  before.  In  the  early  '70s  she  went  with 
her  people  to  Nebraska,  where  they  took  up 
a  claim  on  the  prairies.  It  was  in  Nebraska 
that  she  was  married  to  Martin  Padden,  who 
was  born  in  County  Mayo,  Ireland,  and  came 
to  America  in  1862.  Fresh  from  the  sod  of 
Ireland,  he  joined  the  Union  army  in  a  Penn- 
sylvania cavalry  regiment,  and  was  in  Gen- 
eral Sheridan's  campaign  through  the  Shenan- 
doah Valley.  He  was  twice  wounded  and  had 
a  horse  shot  while  under  him.  Martin  Padden 
spent  practically  all  his  life  at  the  bench  as  a 
metal  worker,  but  his  attainments  and  in- 
terests were  not  limited  to  the  routine  of  a 
day's  labor.  He  was  a  scholar  and  linguist, 
speaking  French  and  German,  was  also  well 
versed  in  the  old  Gaelic  and  in  Latin.  Some 
of  his  favorite  reading  was  Caesar's  Com- 
mentaries. A  brother  of  Judge  Padden  is 
Edward  Padden,  who  has  been  chief  deputy 
city  clerk  of  Chicago  for  many  years.  Tom, 
another  brother,  was  in  the  Spanish-American 
war  and  in  the  Philippine  insurrection.  There 
were  three  younger  brothers  of  the  Judge, 
Fred,  Harold  and  Robert,  who  saw  overseas 
service  in  the  World  war.  At  the  close  of 
that  war  there  were  five  living  veterans  of 
three  American  wars  in  the  Padden  family. 
Frank  M.  Padden  attended  grammar  and 
high  schools  in  Chicago,  afterwards  attended 
the  Northwestern  University  School  of  Com- 
merce and  studied  law  in  the  John  Marshall 
Law  School.  He  was  graduated  with  the 
LL.  B.  degree  in  1904  and  for  several  years 
was  engaged  in  a  general  law  practice.  In 
1922-23  he  was  master  in  chancery  of  the  Cir- 
cuit Court,  and  from  1923  to  1924  was  first 
assistant  corporation  counsel  of  Chicago. 
Then,  in  1924,  came  his  election  as  a  judge 
of   the    Municipal    Court.      To    a    large    share 


ILLINOIS 


395 


of  the  general  public  he  is  best  known  through 
his  efficient  work  for  several  years  in  the 
Traffic  Court.  This  court  is  a  thoroughly 
modern  branch  of  the  judiciary,  and  in  dis- 
charging the  responsible  duties  of  judge  Mr. 
Padden  has  shown  not  only  the  requisite 
knowledge  of  the  law  but  that  fine  understand- 
ing of  human  nature  which  is  indispensable 
to  an  official  who  presides  over  such  a  court. 
He  has  balanced  a  keen  regard  for  the  rights 
of  the  accused  with  an  equal  regard  for  the 
rights  of  the  public,  and  in  his  administration 
he  has  reached  out  beyond  the  individual  cases 
before  him  in  an  effort  to  make  his  decisions 
an  effective  influence  in  the  local  and  national 
campaigns  of  education  for  an  observance  of 
the  law  that  is  prompted  not  merely  by  penal- 
ties but  by  a  deeper  sense  of  individual  justice, 
consideration  of  the  rights  of  others  and  the 
responsibility  of  the  individual  to  society. 
With  the  number  of  accidents  and  fatalities 
from  automobiles  increasing  every  year  Judge 
Padden  realizes  the  seriousness  of  the  traffic 
problem,  and  when  he  has  imposed  a  penalty 
upon  an  individual  offender  it  is  usually  ac- 
companied with  advice  and  admonition  which 
have  a  far  wider  effect  in  impressing  the 
offender  and  all  his  associates  with  the  impera- 
tive need  of  restraint  and  caution  on  the  pub- 
lic highways.  Few  offenders  who  have  expe- 
rienced the  penalties  of  the  traffic  force  pre- 
sided over  by  Judge  Padden  have  gone  away 
without  a  genuine  respect  for  the  honesty, 
integrity  and  fair-mindedness  of  the  Judge. 

Judge  Padden  married,  November  24,  1923, 
Miss  Mae  Myers,  of  Chicago.  They  have  two 
children,  Mary  Frances  and  Edith  Patricia. 
Their  home  is  at  5316  West  North  Avenue. 

George  A.  Heckman,  sheriff  of  Livingston 
County,  brought  to  that  office  the  experience 
and  qualifications  of  a  thoroughly  capable 
business  man. 

Mr.  Heckman  was  born  at  Fairbury,  Liv- 
ingston County,  Illinois,  March  31,  1880,  son 
of  I.  J.  and  Margaret  (O'Maller)  Heckman. 
His  father  was  a  native  of  France,  and  came 
to  Livingston  County,  Illinois,  when  young. 
For  a  number  of  years  I.  J.  Heckman  was  in 
the  shoe  business  at  Fairbury.  In  1890  the 
Heckman  family  moved  to  Chicago,  where 
I.  J.  Heckman  lived  practically  retired  until  his 
death  in  1916.  His  wife  was  born  in  Ireland 
and  is  still  living  at  Chicago. 

Sheriff  Heckman  was  the  fourth  in  a  family 
of  eight  children,  five  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters, seven  of  whom  are  living.  He  was  ten 
years  of  age  when  the  family  moved  to  Chi- 
cago. His  early  schooling  was  obtained  at 
Fairbury  and  he  was  a  pupil  in  Chicago  pub- 
lic schools.  While  there  he  learned  the  trade 
of  tailor,  and  when  a  young  man  returned  to 
Fairbury,  his  native  town,  and  was  a  mer- 
chant tailor  in  that  city  until  elected  to  the 
office  of  sheriff  in  November,  1930.  He  still 
has  his  home  and  legal  residence  at  Fairbury, 


but  occupies  the  sheriff's  residence  at  Pontiac, 
the  county  seat. 

Mr.  Heckman  is  an  active  Republican.  For 
a  number  of  years  he  was  an  alderman  at 
Fairbury  and  served  two  terms  as  mayor,  be- 
ing in  his  second  term  when  elected  to  the 
office  of  sheriff.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Pontiac  Golf  and  Country  Club  and  during 
the  World  war  was  a  leader  in  the  local 
drives. 

He  married  November  10,  1904,  Miss  Aline 
Gertrude  Remington.  She  was  born  at  Fair- 
bury, daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  H.  Rem- 
ington. Her  father  was  a  merchant  at  Fair- 
bury and  among  his  property  interests  had  a 
farm  in  Northwestern  Missouri  which  is  now 
owned  by  Mrs.  Heckman.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Heck- 
man have  two  children,  Charles  N.  and  George 
R.  Charles  N.  was  graduated  from  the  Fair- 
bury Township  High  School  and  George  R.  is 
a  member  of  the  class  of  1933. 

'Luther  B.  Bratton,  Kankakee  lawyer, 
farmer  and  banker,  was  born  on  a  farm  in 
Kankakee  County,  and  on  both  sides  repre- 
sents the  sound  inheritance  and  traditions  of 
old  settled  families  of  the  Middle  West. 

His  maternal  grandfather  was  Henry  W. 
Bowdle,  a  native  of  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  who  came 
to  Illinois  as  early  as  1844  and  settled  on  a 
farm.  Mr.  Bratton's  paternal  grandfather, 
John  L.  Bratton,  was  a  farmer  by  occupation 
and  also  a  circuit  riding  Methodist  minister 
in  the  early  days. 

The  Kankakee  attorney  is  a  son  of  L.  B. 
and  Ursula  E.  (Bowdle)  Bratton,  his  father 
was  born  August  5,  1834,  a  native  of  Wash- 
ington, Indiana,  and  his  mother  born  August 
25,  1836,  in  Allen  County,  Ohio.  They  were 
married  at  Kankakee,  Illinois,  January  12, 
1860,  and  spent  their  lives  on  a  farm.  His 
father  died  May  19,  1903,  and  his  mother  in 
1917.  They  were  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  and  the  father  was  a 
staunch  Republican. 

Luther  B.  Bratton  was  the  sixth  in  a  fam- 
ily of  nine  children,  six  of  whom  are  living. 
He  was  educated  in  the  Kankakee  High  School, 
graduated  Bachelor  of  Science  from  Northern 
Indiana  Normal  School,  now  Valparaiso  Uni- 
versity of  Indiana.  He  taught  school,  studied 
law  and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  1912. 
Since  his  admission  to  the  bar  he  has  looked 
after  a  general  law  practice  and  has  fre- 
quently been  called  to  offices  of  trust  and 
responsibility.  He  served  as  supervisor,  as 
circuit  clerk  and  city  attorney,  and  in  Novem- 
ber, 1930,  was  elected  on  the  Republican  ticket 
a  member  of  the  Illinois  Legislature,  where 
he  has  rendered  valuable  service  as  member 
of  the  committees  on  agriculture,  banks  and 
banking,  building  and  loan  associations,  farm 
drainage,  judiciary,  apportionment,  revenue 
committee  and  the  committee  on  uniform  laws. 
He  was  reelected  to  this  office  in   1932.     He 


396 


ILLINOIS 


is  a  director  and  vice  president  of  the  First 
Trust  and  Savings  Bank  of  Kankakee,  and 
among  his  clients  are  several  corporations. 

Mr.  Bratton  while  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Supervisors  and  chairman  of  that  body- 
sponsored  the  movement  which  made  possible 
the  erection  of  the  Kankakee  County  court- 
house, which  was  completed  in  1912  and  today 
is  one  of  the  finest  in  the  state. 

He  took  an  active  part  during  the  World 
war  in  various  capacities  and  particularly 
in  the  Selective  Service,  for  which  he  received 
the  recognition  of  President  Wilson  and  Gov- 
ernor Lowden.  He  was  Secretary  of  the 
Local  Exemption  Board  throughout  the  whole 
period  of  its  existence. 

He  has  two  brothers,  Walter  G.  Bratton 
who  is  serving  his  twentieth  year  as  Super- 
visor of  Limestone  Township.  He  served  two 
terms  as  Chairman  of  the  County  Board  of 
Supervisors  of  Kankakee  County  and  has  done 
a  great  deal  to  promote  the  construction  of 
modern  good  roads  throughout  his  community 
and  county. 

Through  his  efforts  practically  all  of  the 
roads  of  his  township  are  improved  with 
hard  surfaces.  His  other  brother  H.  Ray 
Bratton  has  the  active  management  of  the 
Bratton  farms  upon  which  are  raised  full 
blooded  stock  consisting  chiefly  of  Short-Horn 
and  Holstein  cattle.  He  has  three  sisters 
living,  all  in  Kankakee,  Miss  Katherine  Brat- 
ton, Mrs.  M.  Falter  and  Mrs.  A.  W.  DeSelm. 
A  niece,  Miss  Edith  E.  Smith  is  his  secretary 
and  makes  him  an  able  assistant. 

Robert  T.  Welsch,  a  resident  of  Joliet  for 
half  a  century,  is  a  pioneer  building  contractor 
of  that  city.  He,  is  also  founder  of  the  Welsch 
Waterproof  Block  Company,  one  of  the  lead- 
ing manufacturers  of  concrete  products  in  the 
Middle  West. 

Mr.  Welsch  has  achieved  a  successful  career 
and  high  station  in  the  community  of  Joliet 
on  the  strength  of  honest  and  unfailing  indus- 
try beginning  in  boyhood  and  extending  up 
to  recent  years,  since  which  time  he  has  en- 
joyed a  well  earned  leisure.  Mr.  Welsch  was 
born  in  Saxony,  Germany,  December  8,  1860. 
His  parents,  Karl  and  Pauline  (Henchel) 
Welsch,  lived  all  their  lives  in  Germany.  His 
father  was  a  cabinet  maker  by  trade.  Rob- 
ert T.  Welsch  acquired  his  education  in  Sax- 
ony and  while  there  completed  an  apprentice- 
ship with  a  carpenter  in  his  native  town.  He 
was  twenty-two  when,  in  1882,  he  came  to 
America.  Joliet  was  his  first  permanent  loca- 
tion and  has  remained  his  permanent  home, 
and  in  his  successful  business  career  he  has 
endeavored  to  make  his  presence  in  the  city 
mean  something  in  the  way  of  good  construc- 
tive citizenship.  In  1884  he  had  entered  the 
ranks  of  local  building  contractors,  and  he 
was  in  that  business  for  thirty-six  years,  until 


1920.  During  this  time  many  of  the  more 
substantial  homes  and  commercial  buildings 
of  the  city  were  erected  by  him.  His  genius 
extended  not  only  to  the  practical  work  of 
building,  but  he  drew  the  plans  for  many  of 
his  contracts. 

Mr.  Welsch  in  1920  expanded  his  business 
enterprise  so  as  to  permit  the  active  coopera- 
tion of  his  two  sons,  Roland  W.  and  Walter* 
W.  In  that  year  they  organized  the  Welsch 
Waterproof  Block  Company.  They  utilized 
not  only  all  the  experience  gathered  by  many 
years  of  cement  and  concrete  manufacture  on 
the  part  of  others,  but  Mr.  Welsch  out  of  his 
individual  experience  as  a  building  contractor 
was  able  to  contribute  to  the  special  excellence 
of  the  product  from  the  first.  They  followed 
the  latest  approved  methods  of  manufacture 
and  from  time  to  time  new  methods  of  treat- 
ing, forming  or  using  concrete,  and  the  Joliet 
firm  has  always  been  at  the  forefront  in  the 
application  of  methods  that  experience  has 
tested  and  approved.  In  the  small  plant  es- 
tablished by  the  firm  the  first  waterproof 
block  in  Joliet  was  manufactured.  At  the 
beginning  there  were  just  four  workmen,  and 
the  total  daily  capacity  of  the  first  plant  was 
210  concrete  blocks.  Contractors  and  other 
users  of  concrete  blocks  knew  that  Robert  T. 
Welsch  would  not  place  his  name  and  guar- 
antee behind  a  product  that  would  not  stand 
up  in  lasting  service.  The  Welsch  waterproof 
block  was  a  new  unit,  convenient  to  handle 
and  place,  adaptable  to  all  forms  and  kinds 
of  buildings,  possessed  absolute  strength  and 
other  lasting  wearing  quality,  and  also  beauty 
of  appearance,  which  was  perhaps  the  chief 
factor  in  the  rapidly  growing  demand  for  the 
new  block  for  the  higher  class  of  building  con- 
struction. In  four  years'  time  the  company 
had  outgrown  its  original  facilities.  At  that 
time  the  output  had  reached  1,650  concrete 
blocks  daily  and  220  lineal  feet  of  building 
trim.  Twelve  workmen  were  employed  at  the 
time,  and  four  trucks  were  used  in  carrying 
the  material  to  all  the  Joliet  district.  Then, 
in  June,  1924,  a  new  plant  was  put  in  opera- 
tion, but  in  a  few  years  even  this  was  unequal 
to  the  constantly  increasing  demand  for  the 
firm's  products.  Then,  in  1931,  the  company 
completed  and  occupied  one  of  the  finest  and 
most  efficient  plants  of  its  kind  in  the  entire 
country.  This  new  plant  and  factory  is  on 
the  Manhattan  Road,  just  south  of  Joliet.  It 
comprises  a  frontage  of  330  feet  to  the  depth 
of  925  feet.  The  normal  output  of  the  plant 
is  now  4,800  blocks  daily,  in  addition  to  the 
concrete  building  trim  and  a  wide  variety  of 
ornamental  pieces  and  other  concrete  special- 
ties. The  working  personnel  is  now  twenty- 
six  men  in  addition  to  the  office  force,  the 
truck  drivers  and  others.  With  the  great 
increase  in  ten  years  the  output  of  the  Welsch 
waterproof  blocks  is  now  sent  to  different 
markets    by    rail    as    well    as   by   truck.      The 


ILLINOIS 


397 


company  is  today  the  second  largest  users  of 
cement  of  all  the  concrete  products  manufac- 
turers in  the  State  of  Illinois.  The  Welsch 
Company  also  manufacture  under  the  Straub 
patents  the  cinder  concrete  blocks,  which  have 
many  advantages  in  modern  building  construc- 
tion over  the  older  forms  of  concrete  blocks. 
One  of  the  handsome  public  buildings  in  Will 
County  which  exemplifies  the  output  of  the 
cinder  block  department  of  the  Welsch  Com- 
pany is  the  new  addition  to  the  Lockport 
Township  High  School,  where  48,000  of  these 
cinder  blocks  were  used  in  exterior  wall  con- 
struction and  in  load-bearing  partitions.  The 
company  also  manufacture  a  large  line  of 
concrete  specialties,  including  fireplaces,  porch 
columns,  gas  adornments,  posts,  septic  tanks 
and  other  forms. 

As  noted  above,  Mr.  Robert  T.  Welsch  in 
recent  years  has  turned  over  the  active  man- 
agement of  the  business  to  his  sons.  He  spends 
his  winters  in  Florida,  and  has  also  taken  ex- 
tended vacations  to  return  to  his  old  home  in 
Germany,  where  he  has  a  sister  living.  Mr. 
Welsch  is  a  Republican.  He  and  his  family 
have  been  active  in  the  German  Lutheran 
Church  at  Joliet  since  1889. 

He  married,  April  16,  1887,  at  Joliet,  Miss 
Hulda  Gierich.  She  was  born  in  Germany 
and  came  to  Joliet  when  twenty-four  years  of 
age.  The  oldest  of  their  four  children  is 
Arnold,  a  general  contractor  at  Joliet.  He 
was  born  February  5,  1888,  and  was  a  soldier 
during  the  World  war,  spending  nine  months 
overseas.  The  second  child,  Selma,  born  June 
5,  1889,  lives  at  home.  Roland  W.  Welsch, 
who  is  manager  and  one  of  the  owners  of  the 
Welsch  Waterproof  Block  Company,  was  born 
January  20,  1894.  He  married  Hulda  E. 
Haldemann,  a  native  of  Will  County,  and  they 
have  a  son,  Robert  II,  born  July  22,  1925. 
Walter  W.  Welsch,  who  was  born  January  28, 
1896,  is  also  active  in  the  management  of  the 
company.  He  served  six  months  during  the 
World  war.  He  married  Mabel  M.  Myers,  of 
Joliet,  and  they  have  two  children,  William 
Walter,  born  December  12,  1926,  and  Marilyn 
Jean,  born  March  16,  1931.  The  deceased 
child  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robert  T.  Welsch  was 
Frieda,  born  December  4,  1891,  and  died  in 
August,  1892. 

Hon.  James  Earl  Major,  congressman 
from  the  Twenty-first  Illinois  District,  is  a 
resident  of  Hillsboro,  where  for  over  twenty 
years  he  has  been  practicing  law  and  has 
achieved  a  reputation  as  one  of  the  leaders  in 
his  profession  and  as  a  man  with  unusual 
qualifications  for  public  service,  qualifications 
that  have  been  recognized  repeatedly  in  im- 
portant honors  and  responsibilities  conferred 
upon  him  by  popular  vote. 

Montgomery  County  has  been  his  heme  since 
birth.  He  was  born  at  Donnellson  in  that 
county  January  5,  1887,  son  of  Charles  R.  and 


Emma  (Jones)  Major.  His  paternal  grand- 
parents, James  and  Catherine  Major,  were 
natives  of  Kentucky  and  moved  to  Missouri 
about  the  close  of  the  Civil  war,  but  later 
settled  in  Montgomery  County,  Illinois,  where 
they  were  respected  farmers  until  their  death. 
James  Major  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-six  and 
his  wife  at  eighty-four.  The  names  of  their 
eight  children  were  John,  Allen,  Joseph,  Ben- 
jamin, Charles,  Mary,  Dunham  and  Hattie. 
The  maternal  grandparents  of  Congressman 
Major  were  Joshua  and  Mary  (Keel)  Jones. 
They  lived  in  Minnesota  a  few  years  during 
the  Civil  war,  but  about  the  close  of  that 
struggle  located  in  Grisham  Township,  Mont- 
gomery County,  Illinois,  where  they  were 
farmers.  Their  four  children  were  Stephen, 
Horace,  Reuben  and  Emma.  Emma  Jones 
was  born  in  Minnesota.  Charles  R.  Major 
was  born  in  Missouri  and  was  a  small  child 
when  his  parents  settled  at  East  Fork  in 
Montgomery  County.  He  followed  farming 
as  his  occupation,  and  on  his  farm  reared  and 
trained  his  children  in  habits  of  industry  and 
sound  ideals.  He  died  in  1928,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-two,  and  his  wife  died  in  1906,  at  the 
age  of  forty-two.  Their  seven  children  were: 
James  Earl,  of  Hillsboro;  Edgar,  of  Norman, 
Oklahoma;  Joseph,  of  Hillsboro;  Russell,  of 
Kansas  City,  Missouri;  Mary,  now  Mary  Al- 
vord,  of  Auburn,  Alabama;  Charles,  of  Don- 
nellson, Illinois;  and  Samuel,  of  Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin. 

James  Earl  Major  grew  up  on  a  farm,  and 
had  the  advantages  of  the  district  schools, 
supplemented  by  a  course  in  Brown's  Business 
College  at  Decatur.  He  studied  for  his  pro- 
fession in  the  Illinois  College  of  Law  at  Chi- 
cago, graduating  in  1909  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  the  same  year.  He  has  been  in 
practice  at  Hillsboro  since  1910.  Since  1920 
he  has  been  a  member  of  the  prominent  law 
firm  of  Miller,  Major  &  Major. 

His  forceful  leadership  has  meant  a  great 
deal  to  the  Democratic  party  of  Montgomery 
County  and  the  congressional  district.  In 
1912  he  was  elected  state's  attorney  of  Mont- 
gomery County  and  was  reelected  in  1916.  He 
was  state's  attorney  throughout  the  World 
war  period.  During  the  past  ten  years  the 
Twenty-first  Illinois  District  has  alternated 
in  its  representation  in  Congress  between  the 
Republican  and  Democratic  parties.  In  1922 
Mr.  Major  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Sixty- 
eighth  Congress  for  the  term  1923-25.  In 
1926  he  was  elected  to  the  Seventieth  Con- 
gress, 1927-29,  and  in  November,  1930,  was 
elected  to  the  Seventy-second  Congress  by  a 
majority  of  more  than  10,000  over  his  Repub- 
lican opponent. 

Mr.  Major  is  a  thirty-second  degree  Scottish 
Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  member  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  B.  P.  O.  Elks, 
Loyal  Order  of  Moose  and  the  Presbyterian 
Church.     He  married,  August  13,  1913,   Miss 


398 


ILLINOIS 


Ruth  Wafer,  daughter  of  C.  Lewis  and  Nettie 
(Ross)  Wafer.  Mrs.  Major  was  born  in  Bond 
County,  Illinois,  not  far  from  Donnellson,  Mr. 
Major's  birthplace,  on  January  20,  1889,  and 
her  parents  still  live  in  Bond  County.  She 
was  one  of  four  children,  Dwight,  Clare,  Er- 
nest and  Ruth.  Mrs.  Major  completed  her 
musical  education  in  the  Strasbourg  College 
of  Music  at  St.  Louis.  They  have  two  chil- 
dren: Dorothy  Jean,  born  April  4,  1917,  and 
Mildred,  born  August  5,  1919. 

Gustaf  Albert  Anderson  realtor  and  in- 
surance man  at  Aurora,  has  been  a  resident 
of  that  city  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  and 
his  name  is  associated  in  many  ways  with  its 
civic  and  philanthropic  affairs. 

Mr.  Anderson  was  born  at  Hannibal,  Marion 
County,  Missouri,  August  27,  1872.  His  par- 
ents, Olof  and  Anna  (Erikerson)  Anderson, 
were  born  and  married  in  Gothenburg,  Swe- 
den. On  coming  to  the  United  States  they 
first  located  at  Chicago,  but  spent  the  greater 
part  of  their  lives  in  America  at  Hannibal, 
Missouri.  Olof  Anderson  was  a  cabinet 
maker  by  trade. 

Mr.  G.  A.  Anderson,  the  fourth  in  a  family 
of  seven  children,  all  of  whom  are  living,  ac- 
quired his  grammar  school  education  in  Han- 
nibal. He  has  been  accustomed  to  work  since 
boyhood,  carried  a  newspaper  route  while  in 
school,  and  at  the  age  of  thirteen  was  em- 
ployed in  a  book  and  stationery  store.  Later 
he  clerked  in  a  railroad  office,  and  it  was 
work  in  transportation  lines  that  brought  him 
eventually  to  Aurora.  For  the  benefit  of  his 
health  he  moved  to  Denver,  Colorado,  in  1903, 
and  while  there  was  a  clerk  in  the  office  of 
the  auditor  of  the  Globe  Express  Company. 

Having  regained  his  health  by  his  western 
sojourn  Mr.  Anderson  returned  east  and  in 
July,  1905,  located  at  Aurora.  The  first  year 
in  the  city  he  was  in  the  local  offices  of  the 
Burlington  Railway.  Since  1906  he  has  been 
conducting  a  general  real  estate  and  general 
insurance  business.  For  a  time  he  contracted 
for  construction  work,  but  gradually  broad- 
ened into  the  handling  of  real  estate,  includ- 
ing insurance,  and  has  built  up  one  of  the 
largest  independent  real  estate  and  insurance 
organizations  in  the  city.  His  offices  are  on 
the  first  floor  of  the  Graham  Building.  He 
and  Mr.  W.  H.  Graham  developed  and  own  a 
fifty  acre  subdivision,  "Lakeland,"  in  the 
eastern  part  of  Aurora. 

Mr.  Anderson  has  been  a  live  cooperator 
with  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  bringing 
new  industries  to  the  city.  He  is  president 
of  the  G.  W.  Eade  &  Company,  manufacturing 
women's  garments,  a  prosperous  business  at 
Aurora.  Much  of  his  time  has  likewise  been 
given  to  institutions  that  express  the  civic 
and  philanthropic  aims  of  the  community.  He 
is  a  director  and  recording  secretary  of  the 
Aurora  Y.   M.   C.  A.,  has  been   a  member   of 


the  board  since  1911  and  is  now  president  of 
the  Aurora  Hospital  Association,  now  known 
as  the  Copeley  Hospital.  During  the  World 
war  he  enlisted  for  Y.  M.  C.  A.  war  work. 
He  was  in  France  and  Germany  from  April, 
1918,  to  May,  1919.  Prior  to  the  armistice  he 
had  charge  of  the  outpost  canteens,  with  head- 
quarters at  Coeguidan,  near  Rennes,  France. 
After  the  armistice  he  was  with  the  Army  of 
Occupation  at  Bendorf,  Germany.  Mr.  An- 
derson teaches  the  Woman's  Bible  Class  in  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  and  has  been  a 
prominent  layman  in  religious  work,  serving 
on  the  Illinois  Committee  of  Religions  Educa- 
tion. He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity, Rotary  Club,  Union  League  Club  and 
B.  P.  O.  Elks. 

Mr.  Anderson  married,  December  22,  1897, 
Miss  Mary  Eva  Popenoe.  She  was  born  at 
Hannibal,  Missouri,  where  her  people  were  an 
old  time  family.  Mrs.  Anderson  is  likewise 
much  interested  in  church  matters.  They  have 
one  daughter,  Marjorie  Clark,  born  Septem- 
ber 10,  1910,  who  attended  Aurora  College 
and  Fairmont  College  of  Washington,  D.  C. 

Charles  Emmet  Jeter,  now  living  virtually 
retired  at  Piano,  Kendall  County,  has  been  a 
successful  exponent  of  the  lumber  business 
and  also  of  farm  enterprise  in  this  county. 
He  is  a  representative  of  a  family  that  was 
here  established  nearly  fifty  years  ago,  his 
paternal  grandfather,  Gideon  Jeter,  having 
moved  to  Woodford  County  in  1853  and  hav- 
ing become  one  of  the  successful  farmers  and 
stock  growers  of  his  day.  Gideon  Jeter  was 
born  and  reared  in  Virginia,  of  sterling  Co- 
lonial ancestry,  and  he  passed  the  closing 
years  of  his  life  on  his  farm  in  Woodford 
County,  Illinois,  a  substantial  citizen  and  a 
staunch  supporter  of  the  cause  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  in  the  local  affairs  of  which  he 
had  no  minor  leadership. 

C.  E.  Jeter  was  born  at  Roanoke,  Woodford 
County,  March  3,  1875,  and  is  a  son  of  Luther 
Jeter,  who  was  long  numbered  among  the 
prominent  lumber  dealers  of  the  county  and 
one  of  the  representative  business  men  of 
Yorkville.  He  was  active  in  the  local  councils 
of  the  Democratic  party,  a  member  of  the 
Democratic  Central  Committee  for  Kendall 
County,  for  ten  years,  and  served  as  mayor 
of  Piano  sixteen  years,  in  a  strong  Republi- 
can city.  He  and  his  wife  were  members  of 
the   Methodist   Episcopal   Church. 

After  being  graduated  in  the  high  school 
at  Yorkville,  C.  E.  Jeter  was  a  student  three 
years  in  Northwestern  University,  at  Evans- 
ton,  and  he  then  became  associated  with  his 
father  in  the  lumber  business  at  Piano.  In 
1898  he  removed  to  Piano,  where  he  estab- 
lished the  lumber  business  that  is  still  con- 
ducted under  his  name,  though  he  has  largely 
retired  from  its  active  management.  He  has 
been  likewise  a  successful  buyer  and  shipper 


7,. 


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ILLINOIS 


399 


of  grain,  is  the  owner  of  his  fine  home  prop- 
erty at  Piano  and  also  of  a  well  improved 
farm  of  300  acres  that  virtually  lies  adjacent 
to  this  city.  He  retains  the  political  faith 
of  his  ancestors  and  is  a  stalwart  in  the 
ranks  of  the  Democratic  party,  is  affiliated 
with  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  the  Modern 
Woodmen  of  America,  and  has  membership  in 
the  Piano  Country  Club. 

On  June  28,  1899,  Mr.  Jeter  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Mae  E.  Cotton,  who  was 
born  and  reared  in  Livingston  County,  a 
daughter  of  Byron  and  Priscilla  (Kerr)  Cot- 
ton, the  former  of  whom  was  born  near  New 
Castle,  Pennsylvania,  and  the  latter  of  whom 
was  born  in  Scotland,  she  having  been  a  child 
when  her  parents  came  to  the  United  States 
and  established  the  family  home  in  Illinois. 
Byron  Cotton  was  reared  and  educated  in  the 
old  Keystone  State  and  was  seventeen  years 
old  when  he  came  to  Illinois,  he  having  become 
a  merchant  in  Kendall  County,  where  both 
he  and  his  wife  passed  the  closing  years  of 
their   lives. 

David  John  Morris.  A  resident  of  Big 
Rock  for  more  than  half  of  a  century,  D.  J. 
Morris  has  been  one  of  his  community's  lead- 
ing citizens,  and  practically  from  the  time 
that  he  reached  his  majority  has  been  in- 
separably identified  with  all  matters  of  im- 
portance in  his  locality.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  town  board  and  has  held  almost  every 
other  local  office  within  the  gift  of  his  fellow- 
citizens,  has  served  as  postmaster  from  the 
time  of  President  Wilson's  first  administra- 
tion, and  is  Big  Rock's  leading  merchant. 

Mr.  Morris  was  born  at  Delafield,  Wiscon- 
sin, April  27,  1863,  and  is  a  son  of  Hugh  K. 
and  Jeanette  (Williams)  Morris,  natives  of 
Wales.  Shortly  after  their  marriage  the  par- 
ents came  to  the  United  States  and  settled 
in  Wisconsin,  where  Hugh  K.  Morris  became 
the  owner  of  a  valuable  and  well-cultivated 
farm,  upon  which  he  and  his  wife  passed  the 
remainder  of  their  lives.  Mr.  Morris  was 
particularly  prominent  in  the  Congregational 
Church,  and  founded  the  first  Sunday  School 
at  Delafield.  He  was  likewise  active  in 
politics  as  a  Democrat  and  served  for  some 
years  as  a  member  of  the  school  board.  He 
and  Mrs.  Morris  were  the  parents  of  five  chil- 
dren: One  who  died  in  infancy,  Sarah,  Jean- 
ette, Mary  and  David  J. 

After  attending  country  school  in  the  Blue 
District,  Wisconsin,  D.  J.  Morris  completed  his 
schooling  at  Oshkosh,  Wisconsin,  where  he  re- 
sided six  years,  working  on  a  farm  and  also 
gaining  some  experience  in  mercantile  affairs. 
Upon  coming  to  Big  Rock  he  embarked  in 
business  as  a  general  merchant,  and  has  since 
built  up  the  leading  store  of  the  town,  being 
now  associated  in  business  with  his  son.  Mr. 
Morris  has  an  excellent  reputation  in  business 
circles    and    his    business    is    conducted    along 


the  most  modern  and  progressive  lines.  During 
President  Wilson's  administration  he  was  ap- 
pointed postmaster,  and  so  ably  has  he  dis- 
charged the  duties  of  his  office  that  he  has 
been  retained  therein  through  the  Republican 
administrations  that  have  followed.  From 
young  manhood  he  has  been  interested  in 
politics  and  has  held  all  of  the  local  offices, 
and  for  many  years  has  been  a  member  of  the 
town  board,  where  he  has  worked  construc- 
tively for  the  general  welfare  and  given  his 
earnest  support  to  every  movement  which  he 
has  believed  would  benefit  Big  Rock  and  Kane 
County.  Mr.  Morris  is  a  member  of  the  Mod- 
ern Woodmen  of  America,  the  Knights  of  the 
Maccabees  and  the  Postmasters  Association, 
and  has  been  very  active  in  the  work  of  the 
Congregational   Church. 

On  December  22,  1886,  Mr.  Morris  married 
Miss  Elizabeth  N.  Williams,  a  daughter  of 
Richard  and  Margaret  Williams,  and  they  are 
the  parents  of  two  children:  Ivor  Hugh,  a 
dentist  practicing  at  Aurora,  Illinois,  who 
married  Hazel  Perry  and  has  three  children, 
Birdine,  Ivor  Hugh,  Jr.,  and  David  John; 
Stanley  Richard,  engaged  in  the  mercantile 
business  at  Big  Rock,  Illinois,  with  his  father, 
who  has  -been  in  this  business  for  forty-five 
years,  married  Edna  Dettra.  Both  the  Perry 
and  Dettra  families  are  well  known  at  Big 
Rock. 

Edward  Andrew  Burtle.  One  of  the  oldest 
families  of  Sangamon  County  is  that  of 
Burtle,  which  traces  its  residence  here  back 
to  the  year  1826  and  the  members  of  which 
have  been  worthy  and  enterprising  agricul- 
turists, who  have  tilled  the  soil  intelligently 
and  have  contributed  to  the  development  of 
this  section  of  the  state  both  as  farmers  and 
as  public-spirited  citizens.  In  a  direct  line 
from  the  earliest  ancestor  is  found  Edward 
A.  Burtle,  the  owner  of  thirty-three  acres  of 
fine  land  in  Ball  Township  and  280  acres  in 
Auburn  Township,  who  carries  on  general 
farming,  but  who  is  best  known  as  a  success- 
ful hog  raiser. 

Mr.  Burtle  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Ball 
Township,  in  1865,  and  is  a  son  of  John  T. 
and  Elizabeth  (Boll)  Burtle.  His  great- 
grandfather was  William  Burtle,  who  was 
born  in  1780,  in  Maryland,  and  moved  from 
his  native  state  with  his  wife,  Sarah  Ogden, 
to  Kentucky,  whence  he  brought  the  family 
to  Illinois  in  1826.  During  the  administra- 
tion of  President  Monroe  he  entered  land 
from  the  Government  in  Sangamon  County, 
in  what  is  now  Ball  Township,  put  up  some 
of  the  first  buildings  in  the  county,  overcame 
the  hardships  and  inconveniences  of  pioneer 
existence  in  a  new  and  raw  community,  and 
eventually  became  a  substantial  farmer,  the 
owner  of  much  land,  and  a  citizen  who  was 
looked  up  to  and  esteemed.  His  son,  Thomas 
Burtle,  was  born  in  Kentucky  and  was  a  young 


400 


ILLINOIS 


man  when  he  accompanied  the  family  to  San- 
gamon County,  where  he  married  Ann  Simp- 
son and  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  farming 
and  raising  stock.  John  T.  Burtle,  father  of 
Edward  A.,  was  born  in  Ball  Township,  where 
he  went  to  the  country  school  during  the  short 
winter  terms  during  his  youth  and  for  the 
rest  of  the  time  assisted  his  father  and  broth- 
ers in  the  work  of  the  home  farm.  On  arriv- 
ing at  man's  estate  he  engaged  in  farming 
on  his  own  account  and  continued  therein 
during  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  and  his  wife 
were  the  parents  of  nine  children:  One  who 
died  in  infancy;  Edward  A.,  of  this  review; 
Jacob;  Annette,  deceased;  another  who  died 
in  infancy;  Clara,  Margaret,  Garrett  and 
Lawrence. 

Edward  A.  Burtle  attended  the  O'Neil 
School  at  Auburn,  and  worked  on  the  farm 
with  his  father  and  brothers  during  his  en- 
tire school  period.  He  remained  at  home  until 
he  was  thirty-three  years  old,  and  in  Jan- 
uary, 1898,  married  Mary  Curtin,  a  daughter 
of  Cornelius  and  Sarah  (Molohon)  Curtin. 
Cornelius  Curtin  was  born  at  Knocktrack, 
Ireland,  and  came  to  the  United  States  as  a 
boy,  settling  in  Illinois,  where  for  many  years 
he  carried  on  farming  operations.  He  is  now 
retired  from  active  labors  and  a  resident  of 
Taylorville,  this  state.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Burtle 
had  six  children:  Raymond,  who  married  a 
Miss  Brose;  Irene,  who  married  Joseph 
Presser  and  had  three  children,  William, 
Harold,  Eileen;  Harold;  Sarah;  John,  who 
married  Betty  Timmons;   and  Joseph. 

Edward  A.  Burtle,  following  his  marriage, 
settled  down  to  farming  on  his  own  account, 
and  through  industry  and  good  management 
has  developed  a  valuable  property  of  313 
acres,  .which  he  devotes  principally  to  general 
farming,  although  he  makes  a  specialty  of  hog 
raising,  a  field  in  which  he  has  gained  more 
than  ordinary  success  and  distinction.  He  is 
greatly  interested  in  civic  improvements  and 
public  affairs,  although  the  only  office  that  he 
has  held  personally  is  that  of  township  clerk. 

Charles  Elvil  Peel,  M.  D.,  one  of  Ver- 
milion County's  outstanding  physicians  and 
surgeons,  is  a  resident  of  Catlin.  Doctor  Peel 
has  practiced  medicine  in  Illinois  since  he 
graduated  from  medical  college  at  St.  Louis. 
He  is  a  Kentuckian  by  birth,  and  comes  of  an 
old  and  prominent  family  of  the  blue  grass 
region  around  Lexington. 

Doctor  Peel  was  born  near  Lexington,  Ken- 
tucky, November  8,  1872,  son  of  James  and 
Emily  (Burton)  Peel.  His  grandfather  came 
from  England  and  settled  at  an  early  day  at 
a  point  about  six  miles  south  of  Lexington. 
He  ac  uired  in  the  course  of  time  a  full  sec- 
tion of  land  and  was  a  well-to-do  and  sub- 
stantial citizen  of  the  Blue  Grass  State.  He 
married  Margaret  Sparks,  a  Scotch  girl,  who 
had     two      distinguished      nephews,      Senator 


Sparks  and  Senator  Roberts  of  Kentucky. 
James  Peel  was  born  and  reared  in  Jessamine 
County,  Kentucky,  and  for  many  years  was 
a  horseman  and  stock  shipper.  During  the 
Civil  war  he  bought  live  stock  for  the  United 
States  Government.  He  died  in  1886,  at  the 
age  of  sixty,  and  is  buried  near  his  parents  in 
the  Mount  Zion  Cemetery  near  Lexington. 
His  wife,  Emily  Burton,  was  born  and  reared 
in  Garrard  County,  Kentucky,  attended  public 
school  and  the  Elliott  Institute  at  Kirkville, 
Kentucky,  and  was  a  trained  nurse.  She  was 
active  in  community  work  and  a  member  of 
the  Christian  Church.  Her  father,  Alford 
Burton,  was  a  Kentucky  pioneer.  Her  brother, 
Capt.  Irvin  Burton,  was  captain  of  the  Thirty- 
first  Kentucky  Cavalry  in  the  Union  army 
during  the  Civil  war.  James  Peel  and  wife 
had  a  large  family  of  children,  the  oldest 
dying  in  infancy.  Alexander  McKee  and 
Flavius  are  both  deceased;  Cordelia  is  the 
wife  of  John  Willis,  a  stock  dealer  in  Jessa- 
mine County,  Kentucky;  Irvin  lives  in  Jessa- 
mine County;  Hugh  is  a  resident  of  Danville, 
Kentucky;  Doctor  Peel  is  next  in  age;  Thomas 
A.  is  a  chemist  at  the  University  of  Illinois; 
and  Rhoda  is  the  wife  of  Thomas  House,  of 
Kokomo,  Indiana. 

Dr.  Charles  E.  Peel  attended  grade  school 
in  Jessamine  County,  Kentucky,  the  high 
school  at  Nicholasville,  and  had  two  years  in 
the  Normal  College  at  Glasgow.  After  teach- 
ing a  year  he  entered  the  Barnes  Medical  Uni- 
versity at  St.  Louis,  now  Washington  Univer- 
sity, where  he  was  graduated  M.  D.  in  1906. 
Doctor  Peel  has  practiced  medicine  in  Illinois 
for  over  a  quarter  of  a  century.  For  six 
years  he  was  located  at  Monticello,  and  four 
years  at  Decatur,  where  he  began  specializing 
in  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat  diseases.  For 
eight  years  he  was  located  at  Iroquois  and 
since  1928  has  been  busy  with  a  general  prac- 
tice of  medicine  and  surgery  at  Catlin.  In 
1926  he  took  graduate  work  at  the  University 
of  Louisville.  He  is  a  member  of  the  various 
medical  associations,  and  was  for  years  active 
in  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
Knights  of  Pythias,  Woodmen  of  the  World 
and  Court  of  Honor.  In  politics  he  votes  Re- 
publican. Doctor  Peel  is  a  football  and  base- 
ball fan,  and  he  also  enjoys  the  old  Virginia 
and  Kentucky  sport  of  fox  hunting. 

He  married  at  Lancaster,  Kentucky,  No- 
vember 15,  1893,  Miss  Rose  Wearren,  daugh- 
ter of  Howard  and  Almira  (Davidson) 
Wearren.  Her  father  was  a  Union  soldier  in 
the  Civil  war  and  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser 
near  Lancaster,  Kentucky.  He  died  in  1898 
and  her  mother  in  1912.  Mrs.  Peel  attended 
school  at  Lancaster,  Kentucky.  They  have 
two  daughters,  Allene  and  Almarie.  Allene 
is  the  wife  of  H.  M.  Cross,  a  contractor  and 
builder  at  Watseka,  Illinois,  and  has  three 
sons,  Billie,  Bobbie  and  Dickie.  Almarie  is 
the   wife    of    Walter   A.    Schuck,   formerly   of 


ILLINOIS 


401 


Urbana,  now  of  Catlin,  who  is  an  accountant 
with  the  Indianapolis  offices  of  the  New  York 
Central  Railway.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schuck  have 
a  daughter,  Frances  Jane. 

Guy  W.  Akin.  In  Macon  Township  of 
Bureau  County  is  a  tract  of  land,  now  a  fine 
dairy  and  stock  farm,  which  has  been  con- 
tinuously in  the  ownership  and  control  of 
members  of  the  Akin  family  through  three 
successive  generations,  for  almost  a  century. 
It  is  an  interesting  and  also  an  honorable 
distinction  of  the  Akin  family  that  they  have 
always  been  farmers,  and  successful  ones,  and 
have  borne  a  more  than  ordinary  share  of 
the  burdens  of  community  life. 

The  pioneer  of  the  family  in  Bureau  County 
was  James  B.  Akin,  who  came  from  New- 
castle, Pennsylvania.  The  first  members  of 
the  Akin  family  in  America  were  from  Ireland 
and  settled  in  Pennsylvania  about  1753. 
James  B.  Akin  entered  his  land  in  Macon 
Township  July  4,  1838.  On  the  same  farm 
members  of  three  successive  generations  of 
the  Akin  family  have  been  born,  including 
Lewis  Akin,  his  son,  Guy  W.  Akin,  and  the 
latter's  son,  Max  E.  Akin.  The  family  still 
cherish  the  possession  of  the  sheepskin  deed 
which  the  Government  gave  James  B.  Akin 
when  he  paid  $1.25  an  acre  for  this  piece  of 
Illinois  soil. 

Lewis  Akin  is  a  retired  resident  of  Buda. 
He  married  Carrie  Crisman,  now  deceased, 
whose  father,  William  Crisman,  located  near 
Buda  in  1854.  He  was  both  a  millwright  and 
farmer. 

Guy  W.  Akin,  son  of  Lewis  and  Carrie 
(Crisman)  Akin,  was  born  on  the  old  home- 
stead November  13,  1886.  In  1905  he  was 
graduated  from  the  Buda  High  School.  Then 
came  a  few  years  of  business  experience,  dur- 
ing which  he  was  associated  with  the  H.  M. 
Waite  Mercantile  Company  in  Buda,  and  for 
three  years  was  an  employee  of  the  Woolworth 
Store  in  Minneapolis,  Minnesota.  In  1910  he 
returned  to  the  old  home  locality,  and  has 
since  confined  himself  to  the  routine  of  farm- 
ing and  stock  raising,  operating  the  320  acre 
Akin  farm.     His  chief  feature  is  dairying. 

Mr.  Akin  during  the  World  war  was  en- 
gaged in  several  patriotic  duties  besides  the 
intensive  production  of  food  crops,  and  had 
a  part  in  the  Red  Cross  and  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows  and  his  family  are  Baptists.  In 
politics  he  is  a  Republican. 

Mr.  Akin  married,  June  7,  1911,  Miss  Mabel 
E.  Radford,  who  was  born  at  Kewanee, 
daughter  of  Heber  and  Minnie  (ReQua)  Rad- 
ford. Heber  Radford  was  also  born  at 
Kewanee,  of  English  ancestry.  Her  mother 
was  a  native  of  New  York  State,  of  French 
ancestry.  Mrs.  Akin  graduated  from  the 
Wethersfield  High  School  in  1907  and  from 
the    Kewanee    Business    College.      Their    son, 


Max  E.  Akin,  was  born  August  30,  1913,  and 
was  graduated  from  the  Buda  High  School  in 
1931.  In  the  summer  of  1930  he  took  the 
Basic  Course  at  the  Citizens  Military  Train- 
ing Camp  at  Fort  Sheridan,  Illinois,  and  was 
promoted  to  corporal  for  1931.  He  is  now  a 
candidate  for  admission  to  Annapolis  Naval 
Academy. 

William  Alphonso  Johnson.  Among  the 
citizens  of  Kane  County  who  have  risen  to 
positions  of  importance  in  their  various  com- 
munities, one  who  has  the  respect  and  esteem 
of  his  fellow-citizens  is  William  A.  Johnson, 
of  Sugar  Grove.  Reared  to  the  life  of  a 
farmer,  he  still  carries  on  an  extensive  live 
stock  business,  and  is  also  the  proprietor  of 
a  prosperous  farm  implement  store.  He  has 
been  active  in  community  affairs,  serving  in 
several  offices,  and  at  present  is  a  notary 
public. 

Mr.  Johnson  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Sugar 
Grove  Township,  Kane  County,  July  12,  1876, 
and  is  a  son  of  Rufus  F.  and  Harriet  (King) 
Johnson.  He  is  of  Revolutionary  ancestry, 
his  great-great-grandfather  having  seen  ser- 
vice during  the  winning  of  American  inde- 
pendence with  a  New  York  regiment.  Mr. 
Johnson's  grandfather  was  Deacon  Johnson, 
who  came  to  Illinois  as  a  pioneer  and  settled 
on  Government  land  in  what  is  now  Sugar 
Grove  Township,  where  he  erected  a  log  cabin 
near  the  timber  and  passed  the  remainder  of 
his  life  in  the  development  of  a  farm.  He  was 
one  of  the  strong  and  capable  men  of  his  com- 
munity during  early  days,  and  held  the  uni- 
versal respect  of  the  people  among  whom  he 
lived.  He  was  also  a  stalwart  churchman, 
and  donated  the  land  for  the  cemetery  and 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Rufus  F.  Johnson  was  born  in  New  York, 
where  he  attended  public  school,  and  was 
twelve  years  of  age  when  he  accompanied  his 
parents  to  Kane  County.  During  the  war  be- 
tween the  states  he  enlisted  in  an  Illinois  in- 
fantry regiment  in  the  Union  army  and  saw 
active  service  in  West  Virginia.  Returning 
from  the  war,  he  applied  himself  to  agricul- 
tural pursuits  and  rounded  out  a  well-filled 
and  honorable  career  on  his  farm.  He  and  his 
wife  were  the  parents  of  four  children: 
George,  who  is  deceased,  Alpha,  Elora  and 
William  A. 

William  A.  Johnson  attended  the  Jericho 
district  school  and  supplemented  this  training 
by  a  course  at  the  Sugar  Grove  School  and 
later  a  business  college  at  Valparaiso,  Indiana. 
He  worked  on  the  home  farm  during  the  entire 
period  of  his  schooling,  but  following  his  grad- 
uation from  business  college  struck  out  for 
himself  and  gradually  turned  his  attention  to 
the  live  stock  business,  in  which  he  has  met 
with  merited  success.  He  also  established  a 
farm  implement  business  at  Sugar  Grove,  and 
this   venture   likewise   has   proved    successful, 


402 


ILLINOIS 


due  to  his  energy  and  good  business  manage- 
ment. Always  interested  in  politics  and  in 
all  matters  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of  his 
community,  he  has  seen  service  in  public  office, 
being  at  present  assessor  of  Sugar  Grove 
Township  and  a  member  of  the  high  school 
board,  and  also  holds  a  license  as  notary  pub- 
lic. Mr.  Johnson  is  an  intense  admirer  of  all 
athletic  sports  and  manly  pastimes. 

Mr.  Johnson  married  Nellie  Lye  and  they 
are  the  parents  of  four  children:  Lucille, 
the  wife  of  C.  Coddington;  Kenneth;  Mrs. 
Genevieve  Lingren;  and  William  A.,  Jr.,  who 
resides  at  home  and  is  his  father's  business 
associate.  The  family  is  one  of  the  most 
highly  respected  in  their  part  of  Kane  County. 

Albert  Leander  Hall.  In  the  City  of 
Waukegan,  the  county  seat,  a  firm  that  is 
making  its  work  and  influence  definitely  and 
worthily  manifest  in  the  field  of  jurisprudence 
in  Lake  County  is  that  of  Hall  &  Hulse,  of 
which  the  subject  of  this  review  is  the  senior 
member,  his  colleague  in  the  firm  being  Min- 
ard  E.  Hulse,  who  is  individually  represented 
on  other  pages  of  this  publication.  The  firm 
controls  a  substantial  law  business  that  shows 
a  constantly  expanding  tendency  and  its  con- 
stituent members  have  representative  status 
at  the  Lake  County  bar. 

Albert  L.  Hall  was  born  in  the  City  of 
Worcester,  Massachusetts,  November  25,  1889, 
and  is  a  son  of  John  E.  and  Augusta  (Olson) 
Hall,  who  were  born  in  Sweden  and  who  now 
maintain  their  home  at  Waukegan,  Illinois, 
John  E.  Hall  being  a  skilled  mechanic  and 
having  long  been  connected  with  the  steel- 
rod  manufacturing  industry.  He  is  a  Re- 
publican in  politics  and  he  and  his  wife  are 
zealous  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  both  having  received  liberal  educa- 
tional advantages  in  their  youth.  Of  their 
eight  children  the  subject  of  this  review  is 
the  first  born. 

Albert  L.  Hall  was  a  boy  at  the  time  of  the 
establishing  of  the  family  home  at  Waukegan, 
and  here  his  public-school  discipline  included 
that  of  the  high  school.  He  early  formulated 
definite  plans  for  his  future  career,  and  in 
consonance  with  his  ambition  he  finally  com- 
pleted a  course  in  the  law  department  of  the 
University  of  Illinois,  in  which  he  was  grad- 
uated as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1912.  After 
thus  receiving  his  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws 
he  went  to  Hawaii  and  had  eight  months  of 
professional  experience  in  the  City  of  Hono- 
lulu, and  during  the  ensuing  eight  years  he 
was  engaged  in  practice  in  the  City  of  Chi- 
cago, in  the  metropolitan  area  of  which  he 
still  continues,  as  he  has  been  established  in 
practice  at  Waukegan  since  1921. 

Mr.  Hall  has  membership  in  the  Chicago 
Bar  Association,  the  Lake  County  Bar  As- 
sociation, the  Illinois  State  Bar  Association 
and  the  American  Bar  Association.     He  is  a 


stalwart  in  the  local  ranks  of  the  Republican 
party  and  he  attends  and  supports  the  Bap- 
tist Church,  of  which  his  wife  is  a  zealous 
member.  Mr.  Hall  is  affiliated  with  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity,  including  the  Waukegan 
Commandery  of  Knights  Templar,  and  also 
with  the  American  Legion,  the  Benevolent  and 
Protective  Order  of  Elks,  the  Knights  of 
Pythias,  the  Delta  Tau  Delta  and  the  Phi 
Delta  Phi  (legal)  college  fraternities.  In  his 
home  community  he  has  membership  in  the 
Rotary  Club  and  the  Glen  Flora  Country  Club, 
of  which  latter  he  is  the  president  at  the 
time  of  this  writing,  in  the  winter  of  1930-31. 
He  is  a  devotee  of  golf  and  handball. 

Mr.  Hall  was  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession  in  Chicago  when  the  nation  entered 
the  World  war,  and  early  in  1918  he  enlisted 
for  service  in  the  United  States  Army.  He 
was  stationed  at  Camp  Taylor,  Kentucky, 
when  the  armistice  brought  hostilities  to  a 
close,  and  after  receiving  his  honorable  dis- 
charge he  resumed  his  professional  practice  in 
Chicago.  He  is  a  past  commander  of  Homer 
Dahringer  Post  No.  281,  American  Legion, 
and  takes  deep  interest  in  this  great  patriotic 
organization.  In  connection  with  his  profes- 
sional activities  Mr.  Hall  served  one  term  as 
assistant  state's  attorney  of  Lake  County,  and 
he  has  served  also  as  corporation  counsel  of 
Waukegan. 

The  year  1915  recorded  the  marriage  of 
Mr.  Hall  to  Miss  Orpah  Starratt,  who  was 
born  in  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick, 
Canada,  but  whose  youthful  education  was 
acquired  largely  in  the  public  schools  of 
Waukegan,  including  the  high  school  in  her 
present  home  city,  where  she  is  a  popular 
figure  in  church,  social  and  cultural  circles. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hall  have  three  children,  Kath- 
erine  Starratt,  Elizabeth  Starratt  and  Albert 
Leander,  Jr. 

Harry  Haughey  Barber,  mechanical  engi- 
neer, inventor,  president  of  the  Barber-Greene 
Company  of  Aurora,  is  a  native  of  Illinois,  I 
and  has  employed  his  talents  and  energies  in 
a  constructive  way  toward  lightening  and  sim- 
plifying some  of  the  heaviest  manual  toil  con- 
nected with  great  construction  projects  such 
as  road  building  and  other  work  requiring  the 
handling  and  placing  of  great  masses  of  heavy 
material. 

Mr.  Barber  was  born  on  a  farm  near  Free- 
port  in  Stephenson  County,  Illinois,  January 
18,  1878.  His  grandfather,  Henry  S.  Barber, 
a  pioneer  of  North  Central  Illinois,  also  had 
a  considerable  genius  as  an  inventor.  He  was 
bom  in  Pennsylvania  and  moved  to  an  Illinois 
farm  in  1849.  He  invented  a  number  of  parts 
for  farm  machinery.  The  parents  of  Harry 
H.  Barber  were  Ashley  and  Mary  (Haughey) 
Barber.  His  father,  who  died  in  1896,  was 
born  on  a  farm  near  Rock  Grove,  Illinois,  and 
spent    his    life    as    an    agriculturist.      Mary 


M^t,^^ 


ILLINOIS 


403 


Haughey  was  born  in  Shannon,  Illinois,  and 
now  lives  at  Aurora.  Harry  H.  Barber  has 
a  younger  sister,  Miss  Ruth,  of  Aurora. 

His  early  life  was  spent  on  a  farm,  his 
first  educational  opportunities  were  acquired 
in  a  district  school,  and  he  graduated  from 
the  Freeport  High  School.  He  left  the  farm 
at  the  age  of  seventeen,  and  after  completing 
a  course  in  the  Freeport  Business  College  was 
employed  in  a  railroad  freight  office  for  five 
years.  The  money  thus  earned  he  used  to  put 
into  the  University  of  Illinois,  where  he  was 
graduated  in  the  mechanical  engineering 
course  in  1907. 

Mr.  Barber  had  his  fundamental  training 
with  the  Stephenson-Adamson  Manufacturing 
Company  of  Aurora,  manufacturers  of  convey- 
ors and  other  machinery.  He  was  with  that 
firm  from  1907  to  1916.  The  first  two  years 
he  worked  in  the  engineering  department, 
then  was  foreman  of  the  structural  steel  de- 
partment two  years,  after  which  he  was 
brought  back  into  the  engineering  department 
to  oversee  the  firm's  special  work  in  engineer- 
ing. 

It  was  in  1916  that  Mr.  Barber  and  Mr. 
W.  B.  Greene  organized  the  Barber-Greene 
Company.  This  company  has  since  developed 
one  of  Aurora's  extensive  industries,  located 
at  631  West  Park  Avenue,  and  practically 
every  year  some  addition  has  been  made  to  the 
plant.  The  Barber-Greene  Company  is  one 
of  America's  best  known  organizations  manu- 
facturing machinery  and  equipment  for  the 
handling  of  such  materials  as  enter  into  mod- 
ern building  and  road  making  construction. 
Mr.  Barber  as  president  of  the  company  has 
devoted  his  full  time  to  engineering  its  pro- 
ducts, and  his  inventive  skill  has  given  the 
company  over  a  hundred  patents  on  machines 
and  devices  for  the  handling  of  material,  for 
conveyors  and  for  feeding  devices.  In  the  con- 
struction of  massive  buildings  in  Chicago  and 
other  cities  various  types  of  the  Barber-Greene 
machinery  are  in  daily  use.  These  include 
loading  machines,  machines  expediting  the  re- 
moval of  material  from  railroad  cars  or  other 
containers  to  tracks,  ditching  machines,  coal 
conveyors,  concrete  conveyors,  etc.  During 
the  winter  of  1930-31  Mr.  Barber  applied  his 
inventive  skill  and  within  five  weeks  of  in- 
tensive research  and  construction  rushed 
through  to  completion  a  special  machine  to 
combine  the  many  operations  and  overcome  the 
problems  in  the  laying  of  asphalt  or  bitumin- 
ous roads.  It  is  a  self-sufficient  unit  which 
combines  approximately  sixteen  formerly  sep- 
arate operations  and  leaves  a  smooth  layer 
of  roadway  in  its  wake  as  it  travels  along  at 
a  rate  of  approximately  a  mile  every  working 
day.  Mr.  Barber  has  not  only  been  a  busy 
executive  but  is  one  of  Aurora's  most  public 
spirited  citizens.  He  has  been  second  vice 
president  of  the  Aurora  Y.  M.  C.  A.  for  sev- 
eral years.     For  six  years  he  was  a  member  of 


the  school  board  and  is  also  a  member  of  the 
board  of  the  Juvenile  Protective  Association. 
He  is  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
member  of  the  Rotary  Club  and  Chamber  of 
Commerce. 

He  married  in  1907  Miss  Blanche  M. 
Capron,  who  was  born  in  Nebraska,  but  is  a 
graduate  of  the  Illinois  State  Teachers  Col- 
lege at  DeKalb,  and  was  formerly  a  teacher 
in  the  grade  schools  at  Freeport.  They  have 
three  children :  Alice  Capron  is  a  graduate  of 
Sweet  Briar  College  at  Sweet  Briar,  Virginia, 
and  is,  in  1932,  doing  social  service  work  with 
the  United  Charities  in  Chicago.  Harry  Ash- 
ley is  a  student  at  the  University  of  Illinois, 
and  Margaret  Jane  is  in  the  Aurora  High 
School. 

Oliver  Flint,  the  popular  sheriff  of  Will 
County,  is  not  a  politician,  though  he  has 
been  a  leader  in  the  Republican  party  in  his 
county,  and  he  was  practically  drafted  for  the 
office  he  now  holds.  Mr.  Flint  was  associated 
with  his  brothers  for  a  long  period  of  years 
in  the  milk  industry  at  Joliet. 

He  was  born  at  Skone,  south  of  Sweden, 
August  23,  1872,  son  of  Nels  and  Gertrude 
(Nelson)  Flint.  His  mother  died  in  Sweden 
in  1881.  A  few  months  later  Nels  Flint  came 
to  the  United  States,  accompanied  by  two  of 
his  sons,  Oliver,  then  nine  years  old,  and 
Thomas.  Nels  Flint  first  located  at  Lemont 
in  Cook  County,  Illinois,  where  he  worked  in 
the  stone  quarries.  In  the  fall  of  1883  he 
moved  to  Edmonson  County,  Kentucky,  and 
bought  a  farm.  Later,  however,  he  returned 
to  Lemont  and  in  1889  established  his  home 
at  Joliet,  where  he  lived  until  his  death  in 
1914.  Nels  Flint  was  the  father  of  the  fol- 
lowing children:  Nels,  Jr.,  who  remained  in 
Sweden;  August,  of  Joliet;  Alex,  of  Joliet; 
Johanna,  wife  of  Peter  Munson,  of  Joliet; 
Thomas,  of  Joliet;  Oliver;  Anna  P.,  wife  of 
M.  C.  Lindberg,  of  Rock  Island;  and  Wil- 
helmma,  deceased,  was  the  wife  of  Ernest 
Anderson,  of  Joliet. 

Mr.  Oliver  Flint  had  some  educational  ad- 
vantages in  his  native  land.  He  attended  his 
first  English  school  at  Lemont,  and  a  district 
school  while  living  on  a  farm  in  Edmonson 
County,  Kentucky.  He  completed  his  high 
school  education  after  the  family  returned  to 
Lemont. 

In  1888  his  brother  Alex  started  a  dairy 
business  at  Joliet,  handling  milk  both  whole- 
sale and  retail.  In  1893  Thomas  Flint  joined 
him,  and  in  1894  Mr.  Oliver  Flint  went  into 
the  firm.  For  upwards  of  forty  years  the 
business  has  been  conducted  as  the  Flint  San- 
itary Milk  Company.  For  some  years  past  it 
has  been  the  largest  manufacturers  and  dis- 
tributers of  milk,  ice  cream  and  other  dairy 
products  in  Will  County.  Since  1900  the  loca- 
tion of  the  plant  has  been  at  406-410  Collins 
Street  in  Joliet.     The  founder  of  the  business 


404 


ILLINOIS 


Alex  Flint,  retired  in  1923.  After  that  the 
business  was  carried  on  by  Thomas  and  Oliver 
Flint  until  December,  1929,  when  Mr.  Oliver 
Flint  sold  out  his  interest,  after  thirty-five 
years  of  continuous  work  and  association  with 
the  dairy  business. 

As  a  loyal  and  public  spirited  citizen  he 
has  filled  several  offices  in  Joliet  and  Will 
County.  He  was  superintendent  of  streets 
from  1913  to  1915  under  Mayor  Harvey  Wood. 
He  represented  the  First  Ward  on  the  Board 
of  Aldermen  from  1925  to  1927,  and  has  been 
a  member  of  the  Will  County  Central  Repub- 
lican Committee.  He  was  on  the  Will  County 
Board  as  assistant  supervisor  from  1926  to 
1930.  Then  in  1930  his  friends  put  him  in 
the  race  for  sheriff  and  he  was  elected  in 
November  of  that  year. 

Mr.  Flint  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Pythias,  Loyal  Order  of  Moose,  the  Eagles 
Lodge,  Izaak  Walton  League  and  the  Swedish 
Lutheran  Church.  He  married  Miss  Blanche 
B.  Bell,  who  was  born  on  a  farm  near  El- 
wood,  Illinois.  They  have  two  children.  The 
son,  Leonard  0.,  who  lives  in  Joliet,  married 
Mary  Hinemarch  and  has  two  children,  Leon- 
ard 0.,  Jr.,  and  Marion.  The  daughter  is 
Eunice,  wife  of  John  Neilson,  of  Joliet,  and 
they  have  a  son,  John,  Jr. 

Dwight  Kenneth  Emigh  is  senior  mem- 
ber of  the  law  firm  of  Emigh  &  Cockfield  in 
the  Aurora  National  Bank  Building  at 
Aurora.  Mr.  Emigh  is  a  native  of  Aurora,  but 
during  the  World  war  and  afterwards  spent 
a  number  of  years  abroad  and  in  school  and 
other  work  in  the  United  States. 

He  was  born  September  22,  1894,  son  of 
William  J.  and  Charlotte  (Evans)  Emigh. 
His  father  was  born  at  Fairfax  Courthouse, 
Virginia,  son  of  Thomas  Emigh.  Thomas 
Emigh,  though  a  Virginian,  served  in  the 
Union  army  during  the  Civil  war.  After  the 
war  he  moved  to  LaSalle  County,  Illinois, 
and  in  his  later  years  went  farther  west  and 
homesteaded  in  Nebraska,  where  he  died. 
William  J.  Emigh  grew  up  on  the  old  farm  in 
LaSalle  County,  Illinois.  At  one  time  he  was 
a  successful  breeder  of  race  horses.  From 
LaSalle  County  he  moved  to  Aurora,  and  in 
1895  established  his  home  at  Batavia  in  Kane 
County.  There  since  1915  he  has  been  em- 
ployed as  a  mail  carrier.  His  wife,  Charlotte 
Evans,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania.  She  died 
in   January,  1920. 

Dwight  K.  Emigh  was  one  year  old  when 
the  family  moved  to  Batavia.  He  is  a  grad- 
uate of  the  Batavia  High  School,  and  in  1916 
was  graduated  LL.  B.  from  Northwestern 
University  of  Chicago.  He  had  just  a  year 
of  practice  at  Aurora  when  America  entered 
the  war,  and  in  1917  he  enlisted. 

Mr.  Emigh  was  overseas  seventeen  months 
with  the  Twenty-third  Engineers.  He  shared 
in    the    notable    battle    front    record    of    this 


organization,  including  the  offensive  in  the 
St.  Mihiel  and  Meuse-Argonne  campaigns. 
After  the  armistice  Mr.  Emigh  was  one  of 
the  American  soldiers  detached  for  study  in 
foreign  universities  and  he  attended  the  Uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh,  at  Edinburgh,  Scot- 
land, and  the  University  of  London.  The  sub- 
jects he  emphasized  were  international  law 
and  banking.  In  July,  1919,  he  returned  by 
order  to  Brest,  France,  and  came  home  from 
there. 

From  1921  to  1924  he  was  associated  with 
the  American  Manufacturers  Underwriters 
Association  of  Chicago  and  New  York. 

In  1924  he  returned  to  Aurora,  and  in  the 
fall  of  1924  took  in  as  a  partner  Mr.  Douglas 
W.  Cockfield.  Their  firm  specializes  in  chan- 
cery, insurance  and  corporation  law,  and  also 
handles  the  general  trial  work  in  cases  before 
the  state  and  federal  courts. 

Mr.  Emigh  married,  November  20,  1924, 
Miss  Izero  Virginia  English.  She  was  born 
at  Baraboo,  Wisconsin,  and  is  a  graduate  of 
the  University  of  Wisconsin  and  also  attended 
the  Milwaukee-Downer  College  for  Girls  at 
Milwaukee.  She  was  a  teacher  in  Wisconsin 
and  later  was  a  member  of  the  faculty  at 
Mooseheart,  Illinois.  Both  her  parents  are 
deceased.  Her  father,  Thomas  English,  was 
president  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Bara- 
boo and  also  acted  as  financial  adviser  to  the 
Ringling  Brothers,  whose  home  was  at  Bara- 
boo, where  they  had  the  winter  headquarters 
for  the  Ringling  Circus. 

Mr.  Emigh  is  an  honorary  life  member  of  the 
Masonic  Lodge,  Caledonian,  No.  392,  at  Edin- 
burgh, Scotland.  He  also  belongs  to  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  Elks,  the 
Aurora  Country  Club,  American  Legion,  the 
Kane  County  and  Illinois  State  Bar  Associa- 
tions. He  enjoys  golf  as  an  outdoor  recrea- 
tion and  his  year  round  hobby  is  music. 

Capt.  Michael  P.  Evans.  In  the  history  of 
the  Chicago  Police  Department  no  name 
stands  out  more  prominently  for  achievement, 
stark  courage  and  intelligent  police  work  than 
that  of  the  late  Capt.  Michael  P.  Evans.  The 
founder  of  the  department's  Bureau  of  Identi- 
fication, he  continued  actively  as  its  head  until 
his  death,  October  7,  1931,  and  rendered  serv- 
ice of  incalculable  value  to  his  community. 

Captain  Evans  was  born  in  Ireland,  in 
1846,  and  first  came  to  the  United  States  as  a 
lad  of  twelve  years.  Later  he  returned  to 
Ireland,  and  as  an  enthusiastic  partisan  of 
Irish  liberty  took  a  prominent  part  in  revo- 
lutionary movements  that  eventually  led  to  his 
arrest  by  the  British  authorities.  He  was 
given  the  choice  of  imprisonment  in  Mount 
Joy  Prison  or  leaving  Ireland,  and  decided  on 
the  latter  course,  coming,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one  years,  to  Chicago,  which  was  des- 
tined to  be  his  home  during  the  rest  of  his 
life.      For    a    time    he    worked    as    a    cabinet 


ILLINOIS 


405 


maker,  but  in  1881  joined  the  Chicago  Police 
Department,  and  by  1884  had  been  advanced 
to  the  post  of  desk  sergeant,  and  while  thus 
engaged  took  a  special  course  in  photography. 
This  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Bureau  of 
Identification,  which,  as  first  constituted,  only 
took  photographs  of  criminals.  Later,  in  1888, 
the  Bertillon  system  was  adopted,  and  every- 
thing now  connected  with  the  bureau,  includ- 
ing albums  and  cards,  were  the  creatures  of 
Captain  Evans'  brain,  and  were  originated 
and  patented  by  him.  In  1905  the  finger  print 
system  was  adopted.  It  has  been  claimed  that 
the  Chicago  bureau  was  the  first  ever  estab- 
lished, antedating  that  of  Scotland  Yards  by 
several  months.  Through  all  police  adminis- 
trations it  was  said  of  Captain  Evans  that 
he  never  forgot  a  face.  He  took  the  greatest 
of  pleasure  and  interest  in  his  work,  and  dur- 
ing his  fifty  years  of  connection  with  the  de- 
partment made  countless  friends,  including 
the  famous  detective,  William  Allan  Pinker- 
ton,  and  Governor  Dunne,  with  whom  in  young 
manhood  he  was  a  member  of  the  Irish  Fel- 
lowship Club.  Although  eighty-four  years  of 
age,  he  was  still  active  and  in  full  charge  of 
his  department  in  1931  when  he  was  suddenly 
stricken  and  an  operation  was  found  neces- 
sary. He  did  not  recover  from  this,  dying  at 
the  Little  Company  of  Mary  Hospital. 

In  1881  Captain  Evans  married  Katherine 
Keefe,  and  they  became  the  parents  of  eight 
children,  three  now  living:  Edward  A., 
Emmet  and  Loretta,  the  latter  now  Mrs. 
Joseph  Flannery.  Emmet  A.  Evans  attended 
public  school  and  De  LaSalle  Institute,  im- 
mediately after  graduation  from  which  he 
joined  his  father  as  assistant  in  the  Bureau 
of  Identification.  Since  his  father's  death  he 
has  been  nominally  in  charge  of  the  depart- 
ment, although  no  official  appointment  has 
been  made  at  this  writing.  Emmett  Evans 
married  Mary  Flanagan,  daughter  of  Judge 
P.  J.  Flanagan,  and  to  this  union  there  has 
been  born  one  son,  John  Michael,  who  is  now 
attending  John  Marshall  Law  School.  The 
Evans  family  home  is  situated  at  8013  Phillips 
Avenue. 

Hon.  Edward  Skarda,  representative  in  the 
Illinois  State  Legislature  from  the  Fifteenth 
District,  has  for  many  years  been  active  and 
influential  in  civic  and  public  affairs  in  Chi- 
cago. Born  and  reared  in  the  same  block 
where  he  still  lives,  his  personal  and  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  people  he  represents  makes 
him  peculiarly  Qualified  to  look  after  their 
interests  and  to  be  of  the  highest  service  to 
them,  not  only  as  a  friend  and  neighbor  but 
in  his  official  capacity  as  a  state  official  and 
law  maker. 

Although  still  young  in  years,  Mr.  Skarda 
has  had  a  long  and  useful  career  in  public 
and  political  life.  He  served  as  deputy  tax 
collector,   was   clerk   of   the   Municipal    Court, 


and  was  deputy  sheriff  and  chief  bailiff  of  the 
County  Court  under  five  county  judges.  In 
each  of  these  positions  he  discharged  his 
duties  so  faithfully  and  efficiently  as  to  win 
the  highest  commendation  from  the  higher 
officials  with  whom  he  worked  and  a  wide 
appreciation  from  the  public  that  he   served. 

In  1928  Mr.  Skarda  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  Legislature,  representing  the  Fifteenth 
District,  and  served  as  such  in  the  Fifty-sixth 
General  Assembly  in  the  session  of  1929.  He 
was  reelected  in  1930.  His  district  embraces 
parts  of  the  Twentieth  and  Twenty-first  wards 
of  Chicago,  a  thickly  populated  section,  in- 
cluding various  racial  groups  that  typify  this 
city  as  a  great  melting  pot. 

In  the  Fifty-seventh  Session  of  the  Legis- 
lature, held  in  1931,  Mr.  Skarda  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  following  committees:  Banks, 
banking  and  building  and  loan  associations, 
conservation,  fish  and  game,  education,  judi- 
cial department  and  practice,  judiciary,  rules, 
senatorial  apportionment,  and  uniform  laws. 
He  took  an  active  part  in  the  deliberations 
of  the  session  and  particularly  supported  those 
measures  that  were  for  the  benefit  of  his 
home  city. 

His  outstanding  achievement  was  in  secur- 
ing the  enactment  of  what  was  designated  as 
House  Bill  909,  for  the  benefit  of  adopted  chil- 
dren. This  bill  is  an  amendment  to  the  law 
covering  the  registration  of  births  and  deaths 
in  the  state,  generally  known  as  the  Child 
Adoption  Act,  and  comes  under  the  head  of 
"Sealing  Embarrassing  Records."  During  Mr. 
Skarda's  fifteen  years  of  service  as  chief 
bailiff  and  in  other  positions  that  brought  him 
in  contact  with  deeply  vital  concerns  in  the 
lives  of  thousands  he  became  greatly  inter- 
ested as  a  humanitarian  in  matters  growing 
out  of  child  adoption  and  the  birth  records 
of  the  adopted  children.  Thousands  of  such 
cases  during  his  official  service  came  under 
his  care.  Out  of  this  experience  he  resolved 
to  find  a  way,  through  proper  legislative 
channels,  that  would  eliminate  the  embar- 
rassment adopted  children  had  been  subjected 
to  in  presenting  their  birth  certificates  upon 
entering  school  or  on  other  occasions  where  a 
birth  certificate  is  necessary.  Membership  in 
the  Legislature  afforded  him  the  opportunity 
to  introduce  and  secure  the  enactment  of  a 
bill  which  not  only  gives  adopted  children 
their  full  legal  status  exactly  as  children 
brought  up  by  their  natural  parents,  so  far 
as  the  matter  of  inheritance,  property  rights 
is  concerned,  but  also  by  having  their  birth 
certificates  enrolled  and  inscribed  in  the  same 
manner  as  those  of  children  living  with  their 
natural  parents.  Such  a  just  and  simple  pro- 
vision relieves  such  children  of  any  stigma 
or  embarrassment  in  cases  where  they  might 
have  been  born  out  of  wedlock. 

This  law  drew  from  Mr.  William  H.  Stuart, 
veteran    political    writer    and    legislative    cor- 


406 


ILLINOIS 


respondent  for  thirty  years,  the  following 
tribute  in  the  Chicago  Evening  American  in 
August,  1931:  "The  Skarda  Law,  in  the 
cause  of  adopted  children,  has  attracted 
national  attention.  Magazines  and  out  of 
town  papers  have  given  it  much  space  and 
favorable  comment.  The  Fifteenth  District 
representative  did  a  big  thing  in  securing  the 
enactment  of  that  law.  Now  school  and  other 
official  records  of  Illinois  will  contain  no  ref- 
erence to  unfortunate  birth  circumstances 
which  may  have  been  the  lot  of  some  adopted 
children.  The  record  will  read  the  same  as 
though  the  child  were  the  natural  offspring 
of   the   parents   who    adopted   the   little   one." 

It  is  just  such  acts  as  this  that  have  made 
Mr.  Skarda  strong  in  the  affections  of  his 
constituents.  While  these  constituents  are  of 
varied  racial  groups,  he  understands  them 
thoroughly,  their  problems  and  difficulties,  and 
they  often  bring  their  troubles  to  him  and  at 
all  times  look  upon  him  as  their  wise  counsel- 
lor and  friend. 

Mr.  Skarda  during  his  younger  years 
attended  the  Chicago  public  schools.  He 
studied  law  in  Hamilton  and  Mayo  Colleges  of 
law.  While  he  does  not  practice  the  profes- 
sion, his  legal  knowledge  is  used  advantage- 
ously in  the  conduct  of  his  real  estate  business 
and  other  matters  relating  to  property  and 
in  probate  business. 

Mr.  Skarda  is  a  member  of  many  clubs, 
lodges,  fraternal  and  charitable  organizations. 
He  is  a  Democrat,  but  in  each  of  his  three 
elections  to  the  Legislature  he  was  chosen  in- 
dependently, receiving  the  support  of  both 
parties.  He  was  an  important  and  influential 
leader  who  brought  about  the  great  Demo- 
cratic victory  in  Chicago  in  the  fall  of  1930, 
as  also  in  the  municipal  election  in  the  spring 
of  1931. 

Mr.  Skarda  married  Miss  Marie  Kurka,  who 
was  born  in  Philadelphia.  She  has  been  a 
most  helpful  assistant  to  Mr.  Skarda  in  his 
business  and  political  as  well  as  social  life. 
They  have  two  children,  Edward,  Jr.,  and 
Robert  E.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Skarda  live  at  1314 
West  Nineteenth  Street  and  have  a  summer 
home  in  Wisconsin. 

Hon.  Claude  P.  Madden.  An  outstanding 
citizen  of  Danville,  Hon.  Claude  P.  Madden, 
mayor  of  this  thriving  and  progressive  city, 
is  also  prominently  known  in  business  circles, 
being  a  successful  farmer  and  stock  raiser 
and  proprietor  of  the  Danville  Community 
Auction  Company. 

Mayor  Madden  was  born  at  Kingman,  Indi- 
ana, June  24,  1880,  the  only  child  of  Anson 
G.  and  Marilda  (Pithoud)  Madden.  The  fam- 
ily was  founded  in  Indiana  by  George  Madden, 
who  went  to  that  community  in  1816  from 
Clinton  County,  Ohio,  becoming  one  of  the 
earliest  pioneers.  George  Madden  was  a 
farmer  and  stock  raiser  and  is  remembered  as 
a   man   of   remarkable   physique,   weighing  in 


the  neighborhood  of  420  pounds.  His  son, 
Samuel  C.  Madden,  was  born  in  Clinton 
County,  Ohio,  and  was  a  child  when  the  fam- 
ily moved  to  Kingman,  Indiana,  where  he 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  was  not 
only  a  successful  farmer  and  mechanic,  but 
also  a  gifted  historian  and  composer  of  poetry. 
He  and  his  wife  rest  in  the  Quaker  Cemetery 
near  Kingman.  Anson  G.  Madden,  son  of 
Samuel  C,  and  father  of  Mayor  Madden,  was 
born  and  reared  at  Kingman,  where  he 
attended  the  "old  field"  schools.  He  has  been 
a  farmer  and  stock  raiser  all  of  his  life  and 
still  resides  on  his  farm  near  Kingman,  where 
for  many  years  he  has  also  been  active  as  an 
auctioneer.  He  is  a  thirty-second  degree 
Mason  and  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Pythias  and  the  Elks,  and  enjoys  a  splendid 
reputation  for  integrity  in  all  of  his  dealings. 
His  first  wife,  Marilda  Pithoud,  was  also  born 
and  reared  at  Kingman,  where  she  was  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools  and  was  very  active 
in  the  work  of  the  New  Light  Church,  in  the 
faith  of  which  she  died  March  19,  1883.  Mayor 
Madden  was  the  only  child  born  to  his  parents. 
Following  his  first  wife's  death  Anson  G. 
Madden  was  married  twice,  and  had  children 
by  both  subsequent  marriages. 

Claude  P.  Madden  attended  public  school 
at  Kingman,  Indiana,  and  enjoyed  the  ad- 
vantages of  instruction  at  Bloomingdale 
Academy,  a  Quaker  institution.  After  his 
graduation  he  became  associated  with  his 
father  in  the  live  stock  business  and  farming, 
and  also  learned  the  business  of  auctioneering 
from  the  elder  man.  He  is  still  the  owner  of 
a  200-acre  farm  near  Kingman,  and,  as  noted 
above,  is  president  of  the  Danville  Auction 
Company,  a  community  organization.  He  is 
a  Master  Mason  of  Anchor  Lodge  No.  980, 
A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  and  belongs  also  to  the  Elks. 
A  Democrat  in  politics,  he  was  first  elected 
mayor  of  Danville  in  1919,  for  a  two-year 
term,  and  was  reelected  in  1921.  He  again  be- 
came the  choice  of  the  people  in  1925,  and, 
after  an  interim,  once  more  assumed  the 
mayoralty  responsibilities  by  reason  of  his 
election  in  1931.  His  administrations  have 
been  consistently  marked  by  energetic  and 
constructive  work,  and  at  all  times  he  has 
been  prominent  in  civic  affairs,  having  been 
a  leader  in  Rotary  Club  enterprises.  He  is  a 
Baptist  in  religious  faith. 

On  February  4,  1928,  at  Danville,  Mayor 
Madden  married  Mary  Catherine  Pemberton, 
daughter  of  W.  S.  and  Lucy  (Guthrie) 
Pemberton,  the  latter  now  deceased.  Mr. 
Pemberton  has  for  many  years  been  a  promi- 
nent dairyman  and  farmer  near  Danville.  Mrs. 
Madden  is  a  graduate  of  Danville  High  School 
and  is  active  in  church  and  club  work.  By  a 
former  marriage  Mayor  Madden  is  the  father 
of  two  children:  Conrad  E.;  and  Margaret 
M.,  who  graduated  from  high  school  in  1931 
and  is  now  a  student  at  the  University  of 
Illinois. 


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ILLINOIS 


407 


Benjamin  F.  Shaw,  identified  in  the 
history  of  journalism  in  Northern  Illinois  as 
the  first  editor  of  Dixon's  first  newspaper,  the 
Dixon  Telegraph  and  Lee  County  Herald,  was 
born  at  Waverly,  New  York,  March  31,  1831. 
He  was  a  descendant  of  William  Bradford, 
first  governor  of  Plymouth  Colony.  His  grand- 
mother on  the  paternal  side  was  the  last  sur- 
vivor of  those  who  suffered  at  the  Wyoming 
massacre  of  1778,  her  father  and  two  brothers 
having  been  killed  during  the  onslaught  of  the 
savages  upon  that  peaceful  settlement.  His 
mother's  father,  Maj.  Zehton  Flower,  was  a 
soldier  in  the  Revolution.  Mr.  Shaw's  par- 
ents, Alanson  B.  and  Philomela  (Flower) 
Shaw,  died  in  Bradford  County,  Western 
Pennsylvania. 

Left  an  orphan,  he  soon  went  west.  One  of 
his  youthful  experiences  was  carrying  mail 
by  horseback  from  the  Mississippi  River  into 
interior  Iowa.  At  Rock  Island  he  learned  the 
printer's  trade,  and  coming  to  Dixon,  became 
editor  of  the  Dixon  Telegraph  and  Lee  County 
Herald  when  its  first  edition  appeared  May  1, 
1851.  Dixon  has  had  many  other  newspapers 
since  that  time,  but  today  the  Dixon  Telegraph 
alone  survives.  After  a  short  time  Mr.  Shaw 
became  the  owner  of  the  paper.  In  1859  he 
left  this  quiet  environment  to  join  the  gold 
rush  to  Pike's  Peak,  Colorado,  but  having  no 
success  as  a  miner  he  became  a  typesetter 
for  the  first  issue  of  the  Rocky  Mountain 
News,  still  the  standard  paper  of  the  Rocky 
Mountain  region.  After  returning  home  he 
bought  the  Amboy  Times,  in  1860,  published 
it  for  ten  years,  and  then  again  became  sole 
proprietor  of  the  Dixon  Telegraph,  which  he 
published  until  his  death  on  September  18, 
1909.  For  a  time  in  1868  he  acted  as  Wash- 
ington correspondent  for  the  Chicago  Evening 
Journal. 

Benjamin  F.  Shaw  was  one  of  the  organ- 
izers of  the  Republican  party  in  Illinois.  In 
February,  1856,  he  was  one  of  twelve  Illinois 
editors  who  met  with  Abraham  Lincoln  at 
Decatur.  This  meeting  called  a  convention  to 
be  held  at  Bloomington  in  June  of  that  year, 
at  which  time  the  Republican  party  was  form- 
ally launched.  Mr.  Shaw  served  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  resolution  committee  in  the  con- 
vention, and  consulted  with  Mr.  Lincoln  about 
the  resolutions  to  be  presented.  He  had  to 
his  credit  other  public  services.  For  two 
terms  he  was  circuit  clerk  of  Lee  County,  and 
for  a  number  of  terms  was  Dixon's  post- 
master, filling  that  office  at  the  time  of  his 
death. 

Benjamin  F.  Shaw  married  Anna  E.  Eus- 
tace, daughter  of  Thomas  and  Fannie  (Olm- 
stead)  Eustace,  who  came  from  Dublin,  Ire- 
land. Mrs.  Shaw  died  in  1905.  Of  the  three 
sons,  Fred,  Eustace  Edward  and  Dr.  Lloyd 
L.,  the  one  who  continued  the  newspaper  tra- 
dition was  Eustace  E.  He  was  for  many 
years  associated  with  his  father  as  assistant 


editor,  managing  editor  and  business  manager. 
He  was  born  at  Dixon,  March  27,  1857,  and 
died  September  5,  1902.  Eustace  E.  Shaw 
married,  May  22,  1889,  Mabel  Smith. 

The  Dixon  Evening  Telegraph  is  now  being 
published  by  the  B.  F.  Shaw  Printing  Com- 
pany, with  Mrs.  Eustace  Shaw  as  president. 
George  B.  Shaw  as  editor  and  Robert  E.  and 
Benjamin  T.  Shaw  also  in  executive  capaci- 
ties with  the  firm. 

Samuel  L.  Harnit  is  owner  and  developer 
of  Fruitdale,  famous  orchard  and  general  fruit 
farm  located  on  the  banks  of  the  Kankakee 
River,  one  of  the  most  successful  properties 
of  its  kind  in  Northern  Illinois. 

Mr.  Harnit  is  now  only  a  prominent  Illi- 
nois horticulturist  but  a  man  of  long  and 
varied  business  experience.  He  was  born  in 
Kentucky,  July  20,  1856,  and  the  child  was 
brought  to  Illinois  by  his  parents,  John  and 
Ellen  (Wood)  Harnit.  His  father  was  born 
and  educated  in  Pennsylvania.  He  taught 
school  for  a  number  of  years,  also  sold  fruit 
trees,  and  was  always  more  or  less  interested 
in  fruit  culture.  Samuel  L.  Harnit  was  two 
years  old  when  his  parents  came  to  Illinois  and 
settled  in  Champaign  County.  After  the 
death  of  his  father  there  he  went  to  Perry 
County,  Ohio,  to  live  with  his  grandparents, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lewis  Wood.  A  country  school 
education  and  work  on  the  farm  gave  him 
his  chief  preparation  for  a  career  of  useful- 
ness. After  returning  to  Illinois  he  was  on 
his  father's  farm  for  a  few  years.  He  left 
the  farm  to  go  into  the  undertaking  business 
at  Gibson  City,  Illinois.  Then  in  1900  he 
came  to  Kankakee  County  and  set  out  an 
orchard.  After  selling  this  he  planted  his 
present  property  on  the  river  frontage  in 
Aroma  Park  Township,  four  miles  from  Kan- 
kakee, known  as  the  Fruit  Dale  Farm. 

On  November  4,  1878,  at  Ludlow,  Illinois, 
Mr.  Harnit  married  Abbie  D.  Holmes,  born 
July  2,  1853,  at  Pittsfield,  Pike  County, 
daughter  of  Cyrus  and  Calista  S.  (Bennett) 
Holmes.  Her  father  was  born  at  Dudley, 
Massachusetts,  April  17,  1918,  and  first  set- 
tled in  Pike  County,  Illinois.  He  later  moved 
to  Champaign  County  and  died  at  Ludlow, 
Illinois,  May  7,  1886.  His  widow  survived 
until  January  28,  1890.  She  was  a  native  of 
Chardon,  Ohio,  being  born  there  February 
12,  1820.  Cyrus  Holmes  was  a  man  of  con- 
siderable wealth  in  his  day  and  at  the  time 
of  his  death  had  extensive  land  holdings.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Harnit  had  three  children:  Lou, 
deceased;  Shirley,  who  married  Dora  Shref- 
ler;  and  Dale  S.,  deceased. 

Mr.  Harnit  for  a  number  of  years  was  a 
breeder  of  Shetland  ponies  and  is  a  director 
in  the  American  Pony  Association.  He  has 
devoted  many  years  to  fruit  tree  culture  and 
his  Fruit  Dale  Farm  is  one  of  the  beautiful 
estates  of   Kankakee   County.     He  is   a   mem- 


408 


ILLINOIS 


ber  of  the  Masonic  Lodge  at  Kankakee.  While 
living  in  Gibson  City  he  belonged  to  a  number 
of  fraternities  and  other  organizations.  He 
and  his  wife  are  active  members  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  Kankakee.  In  1917  they  built 
their  beautiful  home  at  Fruitdale. 

The  Morris  Daily  Herald  is  the  oldest  and 
only  daily  newspaper  in  Grundy  County.  Its 
history  began  with  the  arrival  of  the  Rock 
Island  Railroad  at  Morris  in  1851.  At  that 
time  J.  C.  Watters  started  a  little  paper,  the 
Yeoman,  printed  on  a  single  sheet  twenty- 
four  by  thirty-six  inches.  It  was  printed  on 
a  Franklin  press,  and  of  course  the  type  was 
all  set  by  hand.  The  Yeoman  was  an  anti- 
slavery  paper.  In  1854  Henry  C.  Buffington 
and  Charles  E.  Southard  bought  the  Yeoman 
and  changed  the  name  to  the  Morris  Herald. 
The  first  issue  under  the  new  name  appeared 
July  29,  1854.  Soon  afterward  Mr.  Southard 
became  sole  proprietor  and  continued  the  pub- 
lication until  he  entered  the  military  service 
in  the  Civil  war.  Later  he  returned  to  Mor- 
ris, and  failing  in  his  negotiations  to  repur- 
chase the  Herald,  he  established  a  new  plant 
and  a  new  paper,  the  Advertiser.  After  an- 
other year  he  was  able  to  buy  out  the  Herald 
and  combine  the  two  plants  into  one.  In 
1874  he  sold  the  paper  to  P.  C.  Hayes,  who 
was  its  publisher  until  1891,  when  it  was 
bought  by  William  L.  Sackett. 

The  Morris  Daily  Herald  has  been  under 
the  ownership  of  the  Sackett  family  now  for 
just  forty  years.  William  L.  Sackett  was 
born  in  1866  and  acquired  his  journalistic 
experience  with  the  Illinois  State  Journal  at 
Springfield.  He  became  night  editor  of  that 
old  paper.  He  resigned  to  become  confidential 
secretary  of  John  R.  Tanner,  then  state  treas- 
urer. When  he  bought  the  Herald  it  was  one 
of  three  publications  at  Morris.  Under  his 
management  the  Herald  grew  and  prospered. 
In  1905  it  absorbed  the  Daily  Post  and  in 
1915  took  over  the  last  of  its  competitors,  the 
Gazette.  W.  L.  Sackett  lived  during  the  later 
years  of  that  journalistic  period  when  a 
newspaper  sanctum  was  a  battleground  of 
bitter  partisanship  and  even  of  personal 
feuds.  He  realized  that  the  interest  and  wel- 
fare of  the  community  were  not  advanced  by 
such  methods,  and  that  the  community  as  a 
whole  was  not  being  benefited  by  the  private 
differences  of  editors  and  factions.  He  em- 
phasized the  principle  of  service.  His  progres- 
sive ideas  were  illustrated  from  time  to  time. 
In  1892  he  installed  the  first  linotype,  and  the 
Herald  was  one  of  the  first  newspapers  in 
Illinois  to  adopt  this  modern  mechanical 
agency  of  typesetting.  Later  he  put  in  a 
modern  drum  cylinder  press  and  in  1902  a 
double  feed  high  speed  cylinder  press.  In 
1912  was  installed  a  web  perfecting  press, 
capable  of  printing  5000  eight  page  papers  per 
hour.  The  mechanical  facilities  have  been  in- 
erasing  with  the  growing  ideals  of  a  thorough 


newspaper  service.  The  Daily  Herald  has 
brought  to  Morris  not  only  local  news  but  a 
full  digest  of  world  news,  through  a  leased 
wire  service  and  the  cooperation  of  some  of 
the  great  news  agencies. 

The  influence  and  ideals  of  William  L. 
Sackett  are  upon  the  Daily  Herald  today.  He 
died  December  17,  1924.  A  tribute  paid  him 
by  one  of  his  old  friends  and  fellow  citizens 
is  as  follows: 

"No  more  loyal  friend  ever  lived  and  his 
greatest  pleasure  was  in  doing  something  for 
some  one  else.  In  this  practice  he  did  not 
limit  himself  to  friends  but  gave  a  helping 
hand  to  whosoever  asked  or  needed  it.  To 
ask  a  favor  of  Bill  Sackett  was  to  receive  it 
if  the  granting  lay  within  his  power. 

"He  went  quietly  about  doing  good  for 
others  and  secretly  carried  on  his  many  plans 
of  charity.  No  more  honorable,  more  con- 
scientious man  ever  accepted  the  trust  of  a 
public  office.  Illinois  may  never  realize  the 
long  struggle  he  fought  against  great  odds  to 
bring  about  the  realization  of  his  greatest  am- 
bition in  public  service — the  completion  of  the 
Lakes  to  the  Gulf  waterway.  Through  his 
efforts  many  objections  which  the  Federal 
Government  had  to  the  plan  were  entirely  re- 
moved and  he  lived  to  see  the  first  great  lock 
of  this  waterway  program  at  Marseilles 
finished  and  the  one  at  Lockport  started.  The 
good  work  he  did  in  this  project  will  go  on 
and  within  a  few  short  years  his  dreams  will 
be  fulfilled  for  the  benefit  of  future  genera- 
tions that  follow. 

"He  was  called  a  dictator,  but  he  was  not. 
He  was  an  organizer  of  men,  a  true  leader. 
He  carried  in  his  head  a  veritable  library  of 
data  and  details  of  his  work,  upon  which  he 
could   converse   without   reference." 

The  editor  and  publisher  of  the  Daily 
Herald  is  now  Loren  B.  Sackett,  who  was 
born  in  Springfield,  Illinois,  September  8, 
1888,  and  was  three  years  of  age  when  his 
parents  came  to  Morris.  Here  he  attended 
grade  and  high  schools,  and  practically  grew 
up  in  the  atmosphere  of  his  father's  news- 
paper office.  He  has  been  continuously  as- 
sociated with  the  Daily  Herald  in  various 
capacities  and  since  his  father's  death  has 
had  active  control  as  owner  and  publisher. 
Mr.  Sackett  in  1930  remodeled  the  entire 
Sackett  building,  installing  a  number  of  new 
machines  and  a  new  press,  so  that  the  Daily 
Herald  today  has  one  of  the  most  complete 
newspaper  plants  in  any  of  the  smaller  cities 
of  the  state. 

Loren  B.  Sackett  is  a  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity,  Knights  of  Pythias,  Rotary 
Club,  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Morris  Country 
Club  and  the  Federated  Church.  He  married 
Lura  Vey  Wiswell.  She  was  born  in  Morgan 
County.  Her  father,  George  T.  Wiswell,  is 
deceased  and  her  mother  is  Mrs.  G.  T.  Wis- 
well, of  Jacksonville.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sackett 
have  two  children,  Shirley  and  William. 


ILLINOIS 


409 


Fred  A.  Nott.  The  extent  of  the  activities 
of  Fred  A.  Nott,  and  the  success  which  he 
has  achieved  in  all  of  his  operations,  establish 
him  permanently  as  one  of  the  leading  citizens 
of  Byron.  Having  accumulated  a  sufficiency 
of  this  world's  goods,  he  is  known  as  being 
retired,  but  still  has  an  active  participation 
in  business  and  civic  affairs. 

Mr.  Nott  was  born  March  22,  1867,  at  East 
Bethel,  Vermont,  a  son  of  Edgar  A.  and  Sarah 
(Jones)  Nott.  The  Nott  family  originated  in 
England,  and  Mr.  Nott's  great-grandfather 
participated  in  the  early  Colonial  wars,  and 
fought  with  a  Virginia  regiment  during  the 
war  of  the  American  Revolution.  The  grand- 
parents of  Fred  A.  Nott  were  James  H.  and 
Melissa  (Chamberland)  Nott.  James  H.  Nott 
was  born  in  Vermont,  where  he  was  educated 
and  became  a  school  teacher.  Subsequently 
he  came  to  Illinois,  became  a  farmer,  and  died 
at  Byron  while  on  a  visit. 

Edgar  A.  Nott  was  born  on  his  father's 
farm  in  the  vicinity  of  Barnard,  Vermont,  in 
which  locality  he  received  his  education.  As 
a  young  man  he  came  to  Byron,  where  two  of 
his  sisters  had  preceded  him  and  entered  upon 
his  career  as  a  school  teacher.  During  the 
Civil  war  he  served  as  a  member  of  the  State 
Militia,  not  being  allowed  to  enter  active 
service  at  the  front  because  of  his  age.  After 
giving  up  school  teaching  as  a  profession  he 
entered  mercantile  pursuits  as  a  clerk,  and 
through  energy  and  ability  made  himself  one 
of  the  leading  merchants  of  Byron,  a  standing 
which  he  maintained  until  his  death  in  1892. 

Fred  A.  Nott  received  a  somewhat  limited 
education  in  a  local  school  at  Byron,  and  dur- 
ing his  school  period  worked  for  his  father  in 
the  elder  man's  store.  After  his  father's 
death  he  entered  into  partnership  with  his 
younger  brother,  George  W.  Nott,  and  con- 
tinued to  conduct  the  business  under  the  name 
of  E.  A.  Nott  &  Sons.  This  was  a  mer- 
chandise concern  which  also  dealt  in  insur- 
ance, and  was  sold  when  Fred  A.  Nott  organ- 
ized the  Byron  Telephone  Company,  a  cor- 
poration of  which  he  was  manager  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century.  In  1928  Mr.  Nott  dis- 
posed of  his  interests  and  retired  practically 
from  business,  although,  as  before  noted,  he 
still  has  holdings  in  business  enterprises.  Al- 
ways a  leader  in  civic  affairs,  Mr.  Nott  has 
been  town  clerk,  mayor  for  two  years,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Town  Council  for  many  years  and 
deputy  county  clerk,  in  all  of  which  relations 
he  has  rendered  valued  service. 

In  1886  Mr.  Nott  married  Jessie  B.  Dodds, 
daughter  of  William  and  Ella  W.  (Ercan- 
brack)  Dodds.  Mr.  Dodds,  a  native  of  Ohio, 
came  to  Illinois  as  a  young  man,  and  enlisted 
in  the  Seventeenth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infan- 
try for  service  during  the  Civil  war.  As  a 
member  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  under 
General  Grant,  he  took  part  in  the  engage- 
ment at  Fort  Donelson,  where  he  was  wounded 


so  seriously  that  he  was  incapacitated  for 
further  service  and  was  given  his  honorary 
discharge.  Following  this  he  settled  at  Byron, 
where  he  completed  his  career  as  a  traveling 
salesman.  He  and  Mrs.  Dodds  became  the 
parents  of  five  children:  Ross,  deceased; 
Charles;  William,  deceased;  Mrs.  Nott;  and 
Grace.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nott  have  one  son, 
Claton  A.,  engaged  in  the  bond  and  insurance 
business  at  Dubuque,  Iowa,  who  married  Vera 
Gifford  and  has  one  daughter,  Loraine,  who  is 
now  attending  high  school  at  Byron. 

David  Irvin  Rock.  The  general  superin- 
tendent of  the  United  States  Fuel  Company 
at  Danville,  David  Irvin  Rock  entered  the 
service  of  this  concern  in  1910,  in  the  capacity 
of  a  coal  miner,  and  through  unfaltering  en- 
ergy and  developed  ability  has  risen  to  his 
present  position  through  successive  and  de- 
served promotions. 

Mr.  Rock  was  born  at  Lehmaster,  Penn- 
sylvania, March  2,  1879,  and  is  a  son  of  John 
H.  and  Laura  C.  (Hollman)  Rock,  natives  of 
the  Keystone  State,  of  German  ancestry.  The 
parents  passed  their  lives  on  a  Pennsylvania 
farm  in  Franklin  County,  where  Mrs.  Rock 
died  July  23,  1903,  and  Mr.  Rock  November 
9,  1928,  and  both  were  buried  in  their  native 
state.  They  were  the  parents  of  thirteen 
children,  of  whom  two  died  in  infancy,  the 
others  being:  David  Irvin;  Thomas  O.,  of 
Hagerstown,  Maryland;  Mrs.  Ida  Reese,  of 
that  place;  John  F.,  of  Mercersburg,  Pennsyl- 
vania; Nathan  A.,  of  Baltimore,  Maryland; 
Lila  E.,  the  wife  of  William  Neurath,  of  Tiffin, 
Ohio;  Lottie  E.,  the  wife  of  Elmer  Peck,  of 
Carlysle,  Pennsylvania;  Laura  E.,  the  wife  of 
John  Neurath,  of  Tiffin,  Ohio;  Lulu  E.,  of 
Greencastle,  Pennsylvania;  Ira  L.,  of  Hagers- 
town, Maryland ;  and  James  0.,  of  Tiffin,  Ohio. 

David  Irvin  Rock  attended  public  school  at 
Lehmaster,  Pennsylvania,  and  upon  complet- 
ing his  education  became  associated  with  his 
father  in  agricultural  work.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-one  years  he  left  the  home  farm  and 
went  to  Canton,  Illinois,  where  for  four  years 
he  was  employed  by  the  P.  &  O.  Implement 
Company.  For  a  like  period  he  was  with  the 
Big  Creek  Coal  Company,  at  St.  David,  Illi- 
nois, and  in  1910  joined  the  United  States 
Fuel  Company,  of  Danville,  a  subsidiary  of 
the  United  States  Steel  Company,  and  for 
a  few  months  worked  as  a  coal  miner.  He 
was  then  promoted  assistant  mine  foreman, 
and  in  1916  became  mine  foreman,  remaining 
as  such  until  1925,  when  he  was  made  super- 
intendent. In  1927  he  was  advanced  to  his 
present  post  as  general  superintendent,  a 
capacity  in  which  he  has  served  ably  and  en- 
ergetically. He  is  well  known  in  his  vocation 
and  is  a  member  of  the  American  Iron  and 
Steel  Institute  of  New  York  City  and  the 
Illinois  Mining  Institute.  Mr.  Rock  is  active 
in  Rotary  Club  work  and  in  Masonry,  being 


410 


ILLINOIS 


a  thirty-second  degree  Mason  and  a  member 
of  Danville  Consistory  and  Ansar  Temple  of 
the  Mystic  Shrine  at  Springfield.  He  likewise 
belongs  to  the  Elks  and  is  a  Republican  in 
his  political  allegiance. 

On  December  31,  1908,  at  Lewiston,  Illi- 
nois, Mr.  Rock  married  Katherine  Pringle, 
daughter  of  John  and  Janet  (Means)  Pringle, 
natives  of  Scotland,  where  they  were  reared 
and  married  and  where  their  three  eldest 
children  were  born.  On  coming  to  the 
United  States  they  settled  at  Canton,  Illinois, 
where  both  passed  the  remainder  of  their 
lives,  Mr.  Pringle  having  been  connected  with 
coal  mining  there  for  many  years.  Mrs.  Rock 
attended  public  school  near  Canton,  and  is 
active  in  the  Eastern  Star,  the  Presbyterian 
Church  and  in  Woman's  Club  and  relief  work. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rock  are  the  parents  of  two 
children.  Edna  May,  the  elder,  is  a  graduate 
of  Danville  High  School,  class  of  1928,  after 
which  she  attended  Stephens  College,  Colum- 
bia, Missouri.  She  is  now  at  home,  and 
a  popular  member  of  the  younger  set  at  Dan- 
ville, and  is  much  interested  in  domestic 
science.  Sherman  Thomas  Rock,  only  son  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rock,  is  a  graduate  of  Danville 
High  School  and  Mexico  (Missouri)  Military 
Academy,  class  of  1931,  and  is  now  a  student 
at  Westminster  College,  Fulton,  Missouri. 

Edward  Bevan  Thomas,  whose  death  oc- 
curred at  his  home  in  Piano,  Kendall  County, 
July  5,  1927,  passed  his  entire  life  in  Illinois 
and  here  made  a  record  of  success  in  connec- 
tion with  farm  enterprise  and  business  activi- 
ties that  included  the  handling  of  farm  im- 
plements and  machinery  and  the  operating  of 
grain  elevators  at  Piano  and  Yorkville. 

Mr..  Thomas  was  born  on  his  father's  farm 
near  Sugar  Grove,  Kane  County,  May  25, 
1872,  and  was  a  son  of  David  and  Ann 
(Bevan)  Thomas,  who  were  born  and  reared 
in  Wales  and  who  established  residence  in 
Illinois  soon  after  their  arrival  in  the  United 
States.  David  Thomas,  who  had  been  identi- 
fied with  mining  industry  in  his  native  land, 
located  in  Kane  County  and  became  a  farmer 
near  the  village  of  Sugar  Grove.  He  became 
one  of  the  substantial  and  influential  expon- 
ents of  agricultural  and  live  stock  enterprise 
in  this  part  of  Illinois  and  was  active  in 
community  affairs  as  a  liberal  and  progres- 
sive citizen.  After  retiring  from  his  farm  he 
established  residence  at  Piano,  where  he  and 
his  wife  passed  the  remainder  of  their  lives, 
both  having  been  members  of  the  Baptist 
Church.  Of  their  three  children  Edward  B. 
is  the  eldest;  Minnie  is  the  wife  of  C.  Winans, 
and  Sarah  is  the  wife  of  Perry  Fuller.  These 
children  were  born  on  the  old  home  farm  near 
Sugar  Grove,  Kane  County. 

Edward  B.  Thomas  was  a  child  of  about  one 
year  at  the  time  of  the  family  removal  from 
the  Sugar  Grove  community  in  Kane   County 


to  a  farm  in  Kendall  County.  He  early  gained 
practical  experience  in  farm  enterprise  and 
as  a  youth  attended  the  Piano  public  schools, 
including  high  school.  He  finally  purchased 
his  father's  farm,  by  buying  the  interests  of 
the  other  heirs,  and  after  giving  nine  years 
to  the  active  management  of  this  well  im- 
proved farm  he  removed  to  Piano,  where  he 
engaged  in  the  farm  implement  business  and 
became  one  of  the  organizers  and  a  director 
of  the  Piano  Grain  Elevator,  besides  being 
likewise  a  stockholder  in  the  elevator  at  York- 
ville, the  county  seat.  He  was  a  staunch  and 
active  supporter  of  the  Republican  party  and 
was  called  upon  to  serve  in  various  local 
offices  of  public  trust.  He  was  thistle  com- 
missioner of  Little  Rock  Township,  was  road 
commissioner  twelve  years  and  was  township 
assessor  six  years — preferments  that  showed 
his  secure  place  in  popular  esteem  and  also 
indicated  his  civic  loyalty  and  executive  abil- 
ity. Mr.  Thomas  was  a  Knight  Templar  and 
Shrine  affiliate  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and 
had  membership  also  in  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows,  Benevolent  and  Protective 
Order  of  Elks  and  Modern  Woodmen  of  Amer- 
ica. He  attended  and  supported  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  of  which  his  widow 
continues  a  zealous  member. 

On  October  16,  1901,  Mr.  Thomas  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Cora  Schneider,  who 
since  his  death  has  continued  to  reside  in  the 
beautiful  family  home  at  Piano.  Mrs.  Thomas 
was  born  and  reared  in  Illinois  and  is  a 
daughter  of  John  N.  and  Mary  E.  (Schneider) 
Schneider.  John  N.  Schneider  left  his  native 
Germany  before  he  was  called  upon  to  serve 
the  regulation  term  in  the  German  army,  and 
his  parents,  John  and  Eva  Schneider,  passed 
their  entire  lives  in  Germany,  both  having 
died  prior  to  the  son's  immigration  to  the 
United  States,  where  he  became  a  naturalized 
citizen  in  the  year  1866.  Through  his  service 
as  a  farm  hand  John  N.  Schneider  saved 
enough  money  to  buy  a  farm  of  125  acres, 
which  was  the  nucleus  of  the  fine  farm  estate 
to  which  he  gave  his  attention  during  the  re- 
mainder of  his  active  career  in  Kendall 
County,  Illinois.  Of  the  three  children  the 
first  was  John  E.,  Jr.,  who  is  deceased;  Mrs. 
Thomas  was  next  in  order  of  birth;  and  Fred 
F.,  a  resident  of  Kendall  County,  married 
Alameda  Schneider,  their  children  being  three 
in  number. 

George  Carlton  Scott.  Perhaps  no  man 
is  better  known  throughout  Kane  County  both 
as  a  farmer  and  public  official  than  George 
C.  Scott,  assessor  of  Blackberry  Township,  and 
a  member  of  one  of  the  old  families  of  this 
locality.  He  was  born  in  Campton  Township, 
February  13,  1868,  a  son  of  Lucian  B.  and 
Eliza  J.  (Blackman)  Scott.  The  Scott  ances- 
try is  traced  back  in  a  direct  line  to  George 
Scott,    a    native    of    Donegal,    Ireland,    son    of 


ILLINOIS 


411 


Thomas  Scott,  the  latter  of  whom  was  born 
in  Scotland,  but  lived  and  died  in  Ireland. 
The  family  is  of  Scotch-Irish  origin. 

George  Scott  came  to  America  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  settled  in 
Madison  County,  New  York,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  logging  until  his  death,  through 
an  accident  connected  with  this  industry.  He 
is  buried  in  that  same  county.  There  his 
son  Thomas,  grandfather  of  George  C.  Scott 
of  this  review,  was  born,  and  there  he  was 
married  to  Rozellar  Wheeler.  A  farmer  by 
occupation,  like  his  grandfather  for  whom  he 
was  named,  his  attention  was  called  to  Illi- 
nois by  the  reports  sent  back  by  the  two 
sisters  of  his  wife  who  had  located  in  Kane 
County.  Eventually  the  Scotts,  in  November, 
1844,  joined  these  relatives  and  took  up  Gov- 
ernment land  in  section  27,  Campton  Town- 
ship, their  grant  bearing  the  signature  of 
Andrew  Jackson.  The  little  log  cabin  in 
which  he  reared  his  children  Thomas  Scott 
built  on  the  edge  of  the  timber,  and  he  became 
a  well-known  figure  in  the  life  of  his  town- 
ship, and  a  prosperous  farmer. 

Lucian  B.  Scott  was  born  in  Madison 
County,  New  York,  March  13,  1834,  and  ac- 
companied his  parents  in  their  migration  to 
Illinois,  and  was  reared  to  useful  manhood  by 
wise  and  watchful  methods,  from  childhood 
being  taught  the  dignity  of  honest  labor  faith- 
fully performed.  The  local  schools  of  Camp- 
ton  Township  gave  him  his  education,  and  he 
remained  on  the  home  farm,  where  he  had 
worked  from  the  time  of  settlement,  until  he 
was  twenty-six  years  old.  At  that  time  he 
enlisted  in  Company  G,  Fifty-eighth  Illinois 
Infantry,  and  participated  in  the  campaign 
against  Fort  Donelson,  but  was  honorably  dis- 
charged following  its  close,  on  account  of  dis- 
ability. His  commanding  officer  was  General 
Grant,  for  whom  he  cherished  an  undying  ad- 
miration the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  be- 
longed to  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and 
the  Union  Veteran  Legion,  and  was  active 
in  both  organizations.  All  of  his  four  children 
were  born  in  a  log  cabin,  and  were  taught 
farming. 

George  C.  Scott  first  attended  school  in  the 
old  red  schoolhouse  of  his  native  township, 
and  later  had  one  winter's  work  in  the  Sugar 
Grove  High  School.  During  all  of  his  school 
period  he  worked  on  the  farm  and  when  he 
started  out  for  himself  he  adopted  an  agri- 
cultural career,  not  only  because  he  had  been 
trained  for  it,  but  also  because  his  inclina- 
tions led  him  in  that  direction.  His  efforts 
have  met  with  a  well-deserved  success,  and 
today  he  owns  two  farms,  both  of  which  are 
improved,  and  on  them  he  carries  on  general 
farming.  His  herd  of  dairy  cows  is  a  noted 
one,  and  his  milk  is  in  great  demand.  His 
premises  show  that  he  takes  a  pride  in  his 
surroundings,  and  his  equipment  is  modern 
and  well  kept.     What  he  has  and  is  are  the 


results  of  his  own  work  and  efficiency  and  he 
is  proud  of  the  fact  that  he  is  a  selfmade 
man. 

On  December  23,  1890,  George  C.  Scott 
married  Miss  Delia  Johnson,  a  daughter  of 
John  and  Mary  (Nash)  Johnson,  early  set- 
tlers of  Illinois,  who  came  to  Kane  County 
from  Michigan.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scott  have 
four  children,  namely:  Mary,  who  is  the  wife 
of  Paul  Brundadge,  and  mother  of  Scott 
Brundadge;  Eleanor,  who  is  the  wife  of 
Leveret  Drury,  and  mother  of  Paul  Junior 
and  Beverly  Jean;  and  Lillian  B.  and  George 
C,  Junior,  both  of  whom  are  at  home. 

From  the  time  he  cast  his  first  vote  George 
C.  Scott  has  been  active  in  politics,  and  has 
held  many  local  offices  in  addition  to  the  one 
to  which  he  was  recently  elected,  that  of  as- 
sessor of  his  township,  he  having  been  judge 
of  elections,  school  director  and  school 
trustee.  His  advice  is  sought  by  his  fellow 
citizens,  for  he  is  recognized  as  a  man  whose 
judgment  is  just  and  logical  and  whose  ex- 
perience has  been  wide  and  varied.  In  his 
fraternal  life  he  maintains  membership  with 
the  Masonic  Order  and  the  Modern  Woodmen 
of  America,  and  has  held  numerous  offices  in 
both.  He  and  his  family  belong  to  the  local 
Methodist  Church,  and  are  among  its  most 
valued  members.  Few  enterprises  are  inaug- 
urated and  carried  out  to  successful  comple- 
tion without  the  aid  of  George  C.  Scott  when 
they  have  for  their  object  the  betterment  of 
his  township  or  county,  and  his  support  can 
be  relied  upon  whenever  needed. 

Albert  Goodknecht,  sheriff  of  Kankakee 
County,  has  been  known  to  the  people  of  that 
county  all  his  life,  has  been  a  successful 
farmer  as  well  as  a  trusted  public  official. 

He  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Kankakee  County, 
December  15,  1885.  All  his  grandparents 
came  from  Germany  and  were  early  settlers  in 
this  section  of  Illinois.  His  parents  were 
Gustav  and  Elizabeth  (Heil)  Goodknecht,  both 
born  in  Illinois.  His  mother  is  still  living. 
His  father,  who  died  in  1917,  as  a  boy  drove 
ox  teams  along  the  Kankakee  Valley,  and  he 
spent  his  active  career  as  a  farmer.  The 
parents  were  members  of  the  German  Lutheran 
Church.  There  were  three  children:  Harry, 
now  employed  by  Kankakee  County;  Albert; 
and  Katherine,  wife  of  Lewis  Huey,  a  railroad 
man  at  Columbus,  Ohio. 

Albert  Goodknecht  grew  up  on  a  farm,  at- 
tended public  schools  in  the  county,  and  fin- 
ished his  education  in  the  Onarga  Seminary. 
Since  early  manhood  he  has  had  practical  con- 
tact with  the  farming  business  of  his  native 
county.  Mr.  Goodknecht  was  for  eight  years 
state  sergeant  of  the  highway  police,  holding 
that  position  under  two  governors,  Governor 
Len  Small  and  Governor  Emmerson.  In  No- 
vember, 1930,  he  was  elected  sheriff  on  the 
Republican   ticket   and    gives    all    his   time   to 


412 


ILLINOIS 


the  important  responsibilities  of  this  office. 
Mr.  Goodknecht  has  been  well  known  in  local 
Republican  politics.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  the  Gleaners,  the  Loyal 
Order  of  Moose  and  Knights  of  Pythias. 

He  married  December  8,  1908  at  Kankakee, 
Miss  Nellie  DuBois,  a  native  of  Kankakee 
County  and  a  daughter  of  Walter  K.  and  Delia 
(Eggleston)  DuBois.  Mrs.  Goodknecht  is 
prominent  in  social  and  civic  work  and  is  state 
supervisor  of  the  Lecture  Bureau  of  the  Glean- 
ers. To  the  union  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Good- 
knecht have  been  born  three  children,  the  two 
living  are:  Elda,  the  wife  of  Lester  Sirois, 
deputy  sheriff  of  Kankakee  County,  and  they 
have  one  child,  Byron,  born  April  5,  1929; 
Harold,  who  operates  the  Fair  Ground  Service 
Station,  married  Darling  Curtis. 

Glenn  R.  Adams.  The  postmaster  of  Car- 
pentersville,  Glenn  R.  Adams  has  been  a  resi- 
dent of  Kane  County  all  of  his  life  and  has 
been  a  constructive  factor  in  various  move- 
ments which  have  been  of  great  benefit  to  his 
community.  He  is  a  self-made  man  in  every 
way  and  has  so  comported  himself  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  duties  as  postmaster  and  council- 
man as  to  win  the  confidence  of  the  people 
among  whom  he  has  passed  his  life. 

Mr.  Adams  was  born  at  Elgin,  Kane  County, 
Illinois,  January  11,  1891,  a  son  of  Henry 
and  May  (Bumstead)  Adams.  Henry  Adams 
was  born  at  Roxbury,  Massachusetts,  and, 
having  lost  his  parents  by  death  when  he  was 
still  a  young  child,  was  adopted  by  D.  C. 
Adams.  With  Mr.  Adams  he  came  as  a  lad 
to  Dundee,  Illinois,  where  he  was  given  a 
country  school  education,  working  on  a  farm 
during  the  entire  period  of  his  educational 
training.  Later  he  was  employed  in  various 
factories  at  Elgin  and  elsewhere.  His  death 
occurred  in  February,  1923,  and  his  widow 
resides  at  Carpenterville.  He  married  May 
Bumstead,  who  was  born  at  Carpentersville, 
a  daughter  of  James  and  Mary  (Chittendon) 
Bumstead,  and  a  granddaughter  of  James 
Bumstead,  a  native  of  England,  who  was  the 
first  of  the  family  to  come  to  the  United 
States,  becoming  a  pioneer  farmer  of  Kane 
County  and  one  of  the  founders  of  Carpenters- 
ville. James  Bumstead,  the  younger,  father 
of  Mrs.  Adams,  was  born  in  England,  and 
after  his  marriage  came  to  Carpentersville, 
where  his  father  had  previously  located.  He 
had  received  a  good  education  in  England  and 
became  one  of  the  good  citizens  of  his  adopted 
community,  where  he  passed  his  life  as  a 
truck  gardener.  He  and  his  wife  were  the 
parents  of  eight  children:  Stephen,  deceased; 
William,  deceased;  Lilian;  James;  Jennie,  de- 
ceased; George;  Charles;  and  May,  who  be- 
came Mrs.  Adams. 

Glenn  R.  Adams  attended  the  grade  and 
high  schools,  from  the  latter  of  which  he  was 
graduated  with  a  good  mark,  and  during  his 


school  days  evidenced  his  industry  by  accept- 
ing such  odd  jobs  as  came  his  way.  After 
school  he  secured  a  position  as  office  boy  in 
the  offices  of  the  Star  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, by  which  concern  he  was  employed  for 
twelve  years,  and  subsequently  was  connected 
with  other  companies  in  his  home  town,  work- 
ing his  way  up  to  the  position  of  traveling 
salesman,  in  which  capacity  he  spent  four 
years  as  a  "knight  of  the  grip."  He  likewise 
sold  insurance  in  his  home  community  and 
was  thus  engaged  in  April,  1925,  when  he  was 
appointed  postmaster  by  President  Coolidge 
and  has  retained  this  position  to  the  present. 
Mr.  Adams  has  greatly  improved  the  service 
at  Carpentersville,  which  is  a  second  class 
office  and  which  recently  moved  into  its  hand- 
some new  building.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
National  Association  of  Postmasters,  of  the 
Blue  Lodge  of  Masonry  and  of  the  Modern 
Woodmen  of  America.  His  religious  faith  is 
that  of  the  Congregational  Church.  A  Repub- 
lican in  his  political  allegiance,  he  has  always 
been  active  in  local  affairs  and  is  serving  as 
town  councilman,  in  which  capacity  he  has 
lent  his  virile  support  to  all  measures  which 
have  contributed  to  the  improvement  and 
progress  of  Carpentersville  and  Kane  County. 
He  is  also  a  great  lover  of  athletic  sports. 

On  September  3,  1914,  Mr.  Adams  married 
Miss  Edna  Ehlert,  daughter  of  John  C.  and 
Hattie  A.  (Wall)  Ehlert  and  a  member  of  a 
well-known  family  of  Kane  County.  To  this 
union  there  have  been  born  two  children: 
Glenn  R.,  Jr.,  and  Donald,  both  of  whom  are 
attending  public  school. 

Henry  Thomas  Chamberlain,  founder  of 
Henry  T.  Chamberlain  &  Company,  certified 
public  accountants  at  Chicago,  is  probably 
even  better  known  as  dean  of  the  School  of 
Commerce  of  Loyola  University.  In  this  posi- 
tion he  has  found  great  opportunities  as  an 
educator,  and  has  been  proud  to  be  identified 
with  an  institution  which  in  recent  years  has 
advanced  to  a  foremost  position  in  Chicago's 
educational  interests,  and  with  all  its  broad- 
ening development  represents  the  ideals  of  its 
Jesuit  founders  in  their  rigid  adherence  to 
the  highest  standards  of  learning  and  scholar- 
ship. 

Mr.  Chamberlain  was  born  in  Chicago, 
December  16,  1894,  son  of  Henry  and  Cath- 
erine (Lynch)  Chamberlain.  His  father  was 
a  native  of  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  and  his 
mother  was  also  born  in  Chicago.  Mr. 
Chamberlain  attended  public  and  parochial 
schools  and  acquired  his  higher  education  in 
the  University  of  Chicago,  Northwestern  Uni- 
versity and  Loyola  University.  He  received 
his  Bachelor  of  Philosophy  degree  from 
Loyola.  From  1924  to  1927  he  was  associated 
as  instructor  with  the  Walton  School  of  Com- 
merce of  Chicago.  In  the  meantime  he  had 
begun  his  professional  career  as  a  public  ac- 


ILLINOIS 


413 


countant.  He  passed  the  C.  P.  A.  examination 
of  the  University  of  Illinois  in  1925  and  a 
similar  examination  in  the  State  of  Wisconsin 
in  1926.  In  the  latter  year  he  founded  the 
firm  of  Henry  T.  Chamberlain  &  Company, 
certified  public  accountants,  with  which  he  is 
still  associated  as  consulting  accountant. 

Mr.  Chamberlain  became  head  of  the  ac- 
counting department  of  the  School  of  Com- 
merce of  Loyola  University  in  1927.  He  has 
been  dean  of  its  School  of  Commerce  since 
July,  1931.  Mr.  Chamberlain  is  author  of  two 
approved  text  books  on  accounting,  "Intro- 
ductory Accounting"  and  "C.  P.  A.  Problems." 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Society  of  Cer- 
tified Public  Accountants,  the  National  As- 
sociation of  Cost  Accountants  and  the  Ameri- 
can Association  of  University  Instructors  in 
Accounting. 

Mr.  Chamberlain  and  family  reside  in 
Evanston.  By  his  marriage  to  Miss  Mary 
Josephine  Hayes  he  has  two  sons,  Henry 
Thomas,  Jr.,  and  John  Hayes. 

Curtis  W.  Rork.  This  substantial  farmer 
and  sterling  citizen  of  Long  Creek  Township, 
Macon  County,  was  born  January  1,  1863, 
and  the  place  of  his  nativity  was  his  father's 
farm  in  Christian  County,  Illinois.  Mr.  Rork 
is  a  son  of  Joseph  and  Ellen  E.  (Murray) 
Rork,  who  were  residents  of  Macon  County  at 
the  time  of  their  death  and  both  of  whom 
were  earnest  communicants  of  the  Catholic 
Church. 

Joseph  Rork  was  born  in  County  Kerry, 
Ireland,  where  he  was  reared  to  adult  age 
and  where  his  parents  passed  their  entire 
lives.  He  was  a  youth  of  twenty  years  when 
he  severed  the  ties  that  bound  him  to  home 
and  native  land  and  set  forth  to  seek  his 
fortunes  in  the  United  States,  about  1847.  He 
had  no  financial  resources  and  thus  depended 
upon  his  own  ability  and  efforts  in  making  his 
way  to  the  goal  of  independence  and  prosper- 
ity. He  landed  in  New  York  City,  and  for  a 
number  of  years  was  employed  at  farm  work 
in  the  old  Empire  State.  He  subsequently 
worked  at  the  painter's  trade  in  the  City  of 
Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  it  was  from  that 
state  that  he  came  to  Illinois  and  established 
residence  in  Christian  County.  There  he 
eventually  was  able  to  purchase  a  tract  of 
thirty  acres  and  engaged  in  farm  enterprise 
in  an  independent  way.  He  was  drafted  for 
military  service  in  the  Civil  war,  but  was 
not  called  to  the  stage  of  active  conflict.  The 
passing  years  brought  to  him  increasing  pros- 
perity in  his  farm  enterprise  and  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  November  5,  1893,  he  owned  a 
fine  farm  estate  of  590  acres  and  he  was  one 
of  the  substantial  and  honored  citizens  of 
Macon  County.  His  widow  died  December  2, 
1900.  Of  the  three  children  the  eldest  was 
Elizabeth,  deceased,  who  was  the  wife  of 
James  Foley;  Joseph,  Jr.,  also  deceased,  and 


Curtis  W.,  of  this  review,  the  youngest  of  the 
number. 

While  rendering  his  due  quota  of  service  in 
the  work  of  the  home  farm  Curtis  W.  Rork 
did  not  fail  to  profit  by  the  advantages  of  the 
local  schools,  and  the  combined  discipline 
caused  him  to  wax  strong  in  both  mind  and 
body.  He  continued  to  be  actively  associated 
with  his  father  in  farm  enterprise  until  he 
initiated  his  independent  career  in  the  same 
domain  of  industry.  In  1894  he  first  pur- 
chased 120  acres  of  land  in  Douglas  County, 
twenty  odd  miles  from  his  present  home  farm 
in  Long  Creek  Township  in  Macon  County. 
He  now  owns  and  supervises  240  acres  in 
Long  Creek  township,  devoted  to  general 
farming  and  stock  raising.  He  is  one  of  the 
progressive  and  successful  representatives  of 
agricultural  and  live  stock  industry  in  Macon 
County,  where  his  is  an  inviolable  place  in 
communal  confidence  and  good  will.  Mr. 
Rork  served  one  term  as  a  county  commis- 
sioner of  Macon  County.  For  a  number  of 
years  he  devoted  considerable  time  to  the  rais- 
ing of  fine  horses  and  took  part  in  competi- 
tion at  fairs,  winning  a  number  of  prizes. 
His  political  alignment  is  in  the  ranks  of  the 
Republican  party  and  he  is  an  earnest  com- 
municant of  the  Catholic  Church,  in  which 
he  is  a  member  of  St.  Patrick's  Church  in 
Decatur,  as  was  also  his  wife,  whose  death 
occurred  July  1,  1922,  and  whose  mortal  re- 
mains rest  in  the  Calvary  cemetery  at 
Decatur,   the  county  seat. 

February  10,  1909,  was  solemnized  the  mar- 
riage of  Mr.  Rork  to  Mary  Welsh,  who  was 
born  and  reared  in  Indiana,  a  daughter  of 
Daniel  and  Bridget  (Burke)  Welsh,  and 
whose  death  was  deeply  mourned  in  her  home 
community,  as  her  circle  of  friends  was 
limited  only  by  that  of  her  acquaintances. 
Mrs.  Rork  is  survived  by  two  children,  Mary 
Geraldine,  a  graduate  of  St.  Teresa's  Academy, 
Decatur,  class  of  1928,  who  also  attended 
Milliken  University,  and  Ellen  Eloise,  a  grad- 
uate of  the  Cerro  Gordo  High  School,  class 
of  1932,  who  still  remains  at  the  paternal 
home. 

Claire  Churchel  Edwards  had  sixteen 
years  of  characteristically  loyal  and  able 
service  on  the  bench  of  the  Circuit  Court 
of  the  Seventeenth  Illinois  Circuit,  and  by 
resignation  retired  from  this  office  April  1, 
1930,  to  resume  the  active  and  independent 
practice  of  his  profession  at  Waukegan,  the 
judicial  center  of  his  native  county.  Judge 
Edwards  is  not  only  one  of  the  representa- 
tive members  of  the  bar  of  Lake  County,  but 
also  has  the  distinction  of  being  a  scion  of 
one  of  the  honored  pioneer  families  of  this 
county,  with  whose  history  the  family  name 
has  been  prominently  and  worthily  identified 
during  a  period  of  nearly  a  century,  his  pa- 
ternal   grandfather,    Churchel    Edwards,   hav- 


414 


ILLINOIS 


ing  been  born  and  reared  in  or  near  Middle- 
ton,  Connecticut,  and  having  come  to  Illinois 
and  settled  in  Lake  County  in  the  year  1833. 
Here  he  entered  claim  to  Government  land, 
which  he  developed  into  one  of  the  productive 
pioneer  farms  of  the  county,  and  it  is  inter- 
esting to  record  that  this  old  homestead  is 
still  retained  in  the  possession  of  the  Ed- 
wards family.  William  Sherman,  maternal 
grandfather  of  Judge  Edwards,  was  a  native 
of  Pennsylvania  and  came  to  Illinois  in  1847, 
he  likewise  having  become  a  pioneer  farmer 
in  Lake  County,  and  having  represented  Illi- 
nois as  one  of  the  California  argonauts  of 
1849,  the  year  that  marked  the  discovery  of 
gold  in  that  state. 

Judge  Edwards,  eldest  in  a  family  of  seven 
children,  of  whom  five  are  living,  was  born 
on  the  parental  home  farm  in  Avon  Township, 
Lake  County,  Illinois,  August  31,  1876,  and 
in  this  county  likewise  were  born  his  parents, 
Henry  C.  and  Margaret  (Sherman)  Edwards, 
the  latter  of  whom  passed  to  the  life  eternal 
in  the  year  1914,  on  the  home  farm,  where 
her  husband  remained  until  1920,  when  he 
retired  and  removed  to  the  City  of  Waukegan, 
where  he  has  since  maintained  his  home  and 
has  standing  as  one  of  the  venerable  and  hon- 
ored native  sons  of  Lake  County,  he  having 
celebrated  in  1932  his  eighty-fifth  birthday 
anniversary.  Henry  C.  Edwards  has  not  only 
functioned  as  one  of  the  substantial  and  in- 
fluential exponents  of  farm  industry  in  Lake 
County  but  has  also  been  influential  in  com- 
munity affairs.  He  held  for  sixteen  years  the 
office  of  supervisor  of  Avon  Township,  gave 
several  years  of  service  as  township  assessor, 
and  long  had  much  of  leadership  in  com- 
munal sentiment  and  action.  He  is  a  veteran 
in .  the  local  ranks  of  the  Republican  party 
and  has  long  been  affiliated  with  the  Modern 
Woodmen  of  America. 

The  boyhood  and  early  youth  of  Judge  Ed- 
wards were  compassed  by  the  invigorating  in- 
fluence and  activities  of  the  home  farm,  and 
he  supplemented  the  discipline  of  the  public 
schools  by  continuing  his  studies  one  year  in 
Wheaton  College,  at  the  county  seat  of  Dupage 
County,  and  for  one  year  in  Northwestern 
University,  Evanston.  In  Valparaiso  Univer- 
sity, at  Valparaiso,  Indiana,  he  was  graduated 
as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1898  and  with 
the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  In  prepara- 
tion for  his  chosen  profession  he  thereafter 
completed  a  course  in  the  Kent  College  of 
Law  in  Chicago  and  was  graduated  in  1899  at 
the  Chicago  Law  School.  His  admission  to 
the  bar  of  his  native  state  was  in  1900. 
While  pursuing  his  law  studies  he  was  em- 
ployed two  years  in  the  Chicago  law  office  of 
Edmond    S.    Cummings. 

Judge  Edwards  initiated  the  practice  of  his 
profession  at  Waukegan.  His  ability  and  his 
diligence  soon  gained  to  him  a  representative 
clientage,  and  he  became  known  as  a  resource- 


ful trial  lawyer  and  well  fortified  counsellor. 
He  continued  to  give  his  undivided  attention 
to  his  individual  law  practice  until  1914,  when 
Governor  Dunne  appointed  him  to  fill  a  va- 
cancy on  the  bench  of  the  Circuit  Court  of 
the  Seventeenth  Judicial  Circuit.  By  suc- 
cessive reelections  he  was  retained  in  this 
office  sixteen  years,  or  until  his  rsignation, 
which  occurred  April  1,  1930,  and  his  able 
administration  on  the  bench  has  become  a 
part  of  the  history  of  jurisprudence  in  the 
counties  constituting  this  important  Illinois 
circuit.  His  private  law  practice  is  now 
mainly  in  the  domain  of  corporation  law,  and 
he  is  retained  by  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern 
Railroad,  the  First  National  Bank  of  Wau- 
kegan and  other  important  corporations. 

Judge  Edwards  has  long  been  influential 
in  the  councils  and  campaign  activities  of  the 
Republican  party  in  this  part  of  the  state,  in 
the  Masonic  fraternity  he  is  affiliated  with 
the  York  Rite  bodies  and  the  Mystic  Shrine, 
and  in  the  time-honored  fraternity  he  has 
passed  various  official  chairs.  He  is  affiliated 
also  with  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Or- 
der of  Elks,  has  membership  in  the  Lake 
County,  the  Illinois  State  and  the  American 
Bar  Associations,  he  has  been  for  twenty- 
seven  years  a  member  of  the  Hamilton  Club 
in  Chicago,  and  in  his  home  community  he  is 
an  active  and  honored  member  of  the  Glen 
Flora  Country  Club,  through  the  medium  of 
which  he  finds  opportunity  to  indulge  in  his 
favorite  recreation,  golf.  Judge  Edwards  has 
continued  a  close  and  appreciative  student  and 
reader,  and  has  given  much  time  to  psychol- 
ogy. His  wife  and  children  are  communicants 
of  the  Catholic  Church. 

June  30,  1908,  marked  the  marriage  of 
Judge  Edwards  to  Miss  Harriet  Erskine,  who 
was  born  and  reared  at  Waukegan,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Frederick  Erskine  and  a  representative 
of  one  of  the  old  and  influential  families  of 
Lake  County.  Erskine,  eldest  of  the  three 
children  of  Judge  and  Mrs.  Edwards,  is,  in 
1932,  a  student  in  fine  old  Notre  Dame  Uni- 
versity at  South  Bend,  Indiana;  Avis  Harriet 
is  a  student  in  the  Senior  High  School  of 
Waukegan;  and  Eleanor  Churchel  is  a  grade- 
school  pupil  in  her  home  city. 

Charles  Carroll  Crawford  is  a  member  of 
an  old  and  honored  family  of  Southern  Illi- 
nois, and  his  own  attainments  and  activities 
have  increased  the  prestige  of  the  family 
name.  Mr.  Crawford  for  many  years  has 
practiced  law  at  Jonesboro,  and  also  has  the 
responsible  management  of  a  large  amount  of 
farming  land. 

He  was  born  at  Jonesboro,  September  13, 
1872.  His  grandparents  were  John  and  Eliza- 
beth (Randolph)  Crawford,  of  the  Crawford 
and  Randolph  families  of  Virginia.  John 
Crawford  was  born  in  Virginia,  and  in  1811 
settled   in    Southern   Illinois.      He   married  in 


ILLINOIS 


415 


1830,  and  lived  in  Franklin  County,  where  he 
laid  out  a  town  on  his  farm  and  named  it 
Crawfordsboro. 

The  father  of  Charles  C.  Crawford  was 
Judge  Monroe  Carroll  Crawford,  who  was 
born  on  a  farm  in  Franklin  County,  Illinois. 
He  achieved  a  distinctive  position  in  his  pro- 
fession and  in  the  public  affairs  of  the  state. 
For  many  years  he  practiced  at  Jonesboro, 
served  as  state's  attorney  and  county  judge, 
and  also  as  a  judge  of  the  Circuit  Court.  He 
died  March  19,  1919,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four. 
Judge  Crawford  married  Sarah  Illinois  Wil- 
banks,  who  was  born  at  Mount  Vernon,  Jeffer- 
son  County,   Illinois. 

Charles  Carroll  Crawford  was  one  of  a 
family  of  nine  children.  He  attended  the 
Jonesboro  grade  schools  and  the  Union 
Academy,  and  after  having  had  a  business 
experience  for  some  years  studied  law  with 
his  father.  In  1900  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar,  and  for  three  years  was  state's  attorney 
of  Union  County  and  for  two  terms  city  attor- 
ney at  Jonesboro.  He  is  local  attorney  for 
the  Illinois  Central  Railway  and  the  Missouri 
Pacific  Railway,  but  otherwise  handles  a  gen- 
eral law  practice.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Illinois  State  Bar  Association. 

Mr.  Crawford  for  several  years  has  super- 
vised the  farming  of  a  thousand  acres  of  land 
in  the  Mississippi  River  Bottoms,  where  he 
employs  ten  men  and  specializes  in  the  grow- 
ing of  corn,  alfalfa  and  hogs. 

Mr.  Crawford  married,  September  25,  1904, 
Miss  Emma  Lence,  who  was  born  in  Union 
County,  daughter  of  Alfred  and  Martha 
(Hardin)  Lence.  Mrs.  Crawford  was  edu- 
cated in  public  schools,  in  St.  Vincent's 
Academy  at  Cape  Girardeau,  Missouri,  and 
the  Southern  Illinois  Normal  University,  and 
before  her  marriage  was  a  kindergarten 
teacher  and  also  a  teacher  in  the  primary 
department  of  the  Jonesboro  public  schools. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Crawford  have  two  daughters. 
Martha  attended  the  Lindenwood  College  for 
Girls  at  St.  Charles,  Missouri,  graduated  in 
1926  from  the  Southern  Illinois  Teachers  Col- 
lege at  Carbondale,  taught  for  a  time  at 
Jonesboro,  and  is  now  the  wife  of  Samuel  R. 
Johnson.  Mary  was  educated  in  Jonesboro, 
in  the  Northwestern  University  at  Evanston 
and  the  Southern  Illinois  Teachers  College 
and  is  now  a  student  at  the  University  of 
Illinois,  class  of  1932. 

Mr.  Crawford  is  a  past  master  of  Jonesboro 
Lodge  No.  Ill,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  also  the 
Royal  Arch  Chapter,  the  Council,  Knights 
Templar  Commandery  and  the  Mississippi 
Valley  Consistory,  and  Mystic  Shrine  at  East 
St.  Louis.  His  father  was  for  two  terms 
grand  master  of  the  Illinois  Grand  Lodge  of 
Masons.  Among  other  distinguished  services 
of  his  father  it  should  be  noted  that  he  was  a 
Union  soldier  in  the  Civil  war,  reaching  the 
rank  of  lieutenant  colonel  in  the  One  Hundred 


Tenth  Illinois  Infantry,  and  it  was  only  a 
year  or  so  after  the  war  that  he  was  elected 
for  his  first  term  as  judge  of  the  First  Judicial 
Circuit  of  Illinois.  He  was  for  thirty-two 
years  judge  of  the  County  Court  of  Union 
County.  Charles  C.  Crawford  is  a  Democrat 
and  several  times  has  been  a  delegate  to 
state  conventions. 

Waino  Matthew  Peterson,  who  has  made 
a  profession  and  career  out  of  his  extended 
service  as  a  police  officer,  is  chief-of-police 
of  the  North  Shore  suburb  of  Winnetka. 

Mr.  Peterson  was  born  at  Abo,  Finland, 
in  1884  and  was  eight  years  of  age  when  he 
came  with  his  mother  in  1892  to  the  United 
States.  They  first  lived  in  Chicago  and  later 
in  Lake  County,  Illinois.  There  Mr.  Peterson 
grew  up  and  attended  public  school.  For  a 
period  of  two  and  one-half  years  he  acted  as 
a  range  rider  in  Idaho,  Montana  and  the  Dako- 
tas,  and  for  a  time  he  was  engaged  in  farming 
in  Michigan,  and  in  that  state  had  his  first 
experience  in  police  work,  when  in  the  fall  of 
1905  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  force 
at  Manistee.  He  remained  there  during  the 
winter  of  1905-06  and  then  returned  to  Lake 
County,  Illinois.  For  some  years  he  was 
marshal   and   constable   in   that  county. 

In  the  spring  of  1913  he  was  called  upon 
by  the  Village  of  Winnetka  to  take  charge 
of  the  police  force.  He  has  held  the  office  of 
chief  since  April  22,  1913.  In  this  office  he 
has  made  an  enviable  record.  In  1913  there 
were  only  three  other  men  on  the  force  under 
his  supervision.  He  now  has  a  personnel  of 
nineteen  regular  police  officers,  including  one 
policewoman.  His  department  has  been 
built  up  according  to  modern  police  standards, 
and  includes  every  equipment  for  successful 
work.  His  office  records,  finger  print  bureau 
and  other  facilities  constitute  a  model  of 
efficiency  in  record  and  filing  systems.  The 
department  also  has  squad  cars,  chief's  per- 
sonal car,  motorcycles,  providing  almost  instant 
mobility  for  the  members  of  the  department. 

Winnetka  being  a  community  of  the  best 
class  of  citizens,  many  of  them  leaders  in 
business  and  professional  life  in  Chicago,  is 
proud  of  its  village  government,  which  in 
many  ways  has  an  outstanding  record. 
Unhampered  by  political  restrictions,  Mr. 
Peterson  has  organized  and  conducts  his  force 
in  keeping  with  the  general  wholesomeness  of 
the  community.  He  insist  on  efficiency  and 
courtesy  on  the  part  of  those  working  under 
him,  all  of  whom  are  appointed  strictly  on 
merit. 

Chief  Peterson  is  a  member  of  the  executive 
board  of  the  Police  Chiefs  Association  of  the 
State  of  Illinois,  and  for  several  years  has 
been  an  active  participant  in  the  affairs  of 
the  National  Association  of  Chiefs  of  Police. 
For  a  number  of  years  he  was  a  member  of 
the    board    of    directors    of   the    International 


416 


ILLINOIS 


Association  of  Chiefs  of  Police.  In  1931  he 
was  made  a  member  of  the  committee  in 
charge  of  the  proposed  police  exhibit  to  be 
held  at  the  Century  of  Progress  Exposition 
in  1933  under  the  auspices  of  the  International 
Association  of  Chiefs  of  Police.  Mr.  Peterson 
is  also  a  member  of  this  association's  com- 
mittee which  is  to  meet  at  the  exposition  with 
a  committee  from  the  American  Bar  Associ- 
ation for  the  purpose  of  working  out  better 
court  procedure  in  controlling  the  crime  situ- 
ation. He  is  a  member  of  the  Regional  Police 
Association,  concerned  with  police  activities 
in  the  Chicago  metropolitan  area. 

Mr.  Peterson  is  a  Mason.  He  married  Miss 
Nellie  Beall  of  Michigan.  They  have  two 
children,   George   and  Ada  Peterson. 

Pence  Billings  Orr  has  for  over  a  quarter 
of  a  century  been  one  of  the  leading  members 
of  the  Joliet  bar.  That  city  has  honored  him 
in  many  ways.  He  has  gained  success  and 
prestige  in  his  professional  work  and  in  many 
different  ways  has  used  his  influence  in  a 
helpful  way  in  civic  and  other  organizations. 

Mr.  Orr  was  born  at  Columbus,  Bartholo- 
mew County,  Indiana,  March  9,  1883,  son  of 
Hon.  John  Crane  and  Rose  Edith  (Billings) 
Orr.  The  Orr  family  were  Scotch-Irish,  and 
were  transplanted  to  America  from  County 
Antrim,  Ireland.  Three  brothers,  James, 
John  and  Robert  Orr,  came  from  County 
Antrim  in  1719  and  settled  in  Lancaster 
County,  Pennsylvania.  From  one  of  these 
was  descended  the  branch  of  the  family  to 
which  the  Joliet  attorney  belongs.  Mr.  Orr 
is  a  grandson  of  James  and  Jane  (Miller) 
Orr;  great-grandson  of  James  and  Mary  Orr: 
and  a  great-great-grandson  of  Robert  and 
Margaret  (Donaldson)  Orr.  The  Orr  family 
record  includes  many  lawyers,  judges  and 
patriots.  One  of  them,  James  Lawrence  Orr, 
was  at  one  time  governor  of  South  Carolina. 
James  Orr,  Mr.  Orr's  grandfather,  was  one 
of  the  early  judges  in  Indiana.  John  Crane 
Orr,  who  was  born  in  Attica,  Fountain 
County,  Indiana,  December  4,  1853,  and  died 
at  Columbus  in  that  state  April  27,  1893, 
was  a  graduate  of  the  law  department  of  the 
University  of  Michigan,  practiced  his  pro- 
fession and  served  as  judge  of  the  Circuit 
Court  at  Columbus. 

The  mother  of  Mr.  Orr,  Rose  Edith  Billings, 
was  born  at  Oxford,  Ohio,  April  21,  1854, 
and  died  at  Columbus,  Indiana,  August  6, 
1929.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Samuel  Dwight 
and  Henrietta  (Ely)  Billings,  granddaughter 
of  Abraham  and  Sophia  (Morton)  Billings, 
great-granddaughter  of  Lieut.  Abraham  and 
Lydia  (Morton)  Billings,  great-great-grand- 
daughter of  Stephen  and  Elizabeth  (Fenno) 
Billings,  great-great-great-granddaughter  of 
Roger  and  Sarah  (Payne)  Billings,  and  great- 
great-great-great-granddaughter  of  Roger 
Billings  I,  who  settled  in  Massachusetts,  com- 


ing from  England  in  1635.  Another  ancestor 
of  Rose  Billings  Orr  was  Seth  Pomeroy,  the 
first  brigadier-general  appointed  by  Conti- 
nental Congress.  She  was  also  related 
through  the  Mortons  to  Levi  P.  Morton,  for- 
mer vice  president,  and  Oliver  P.  Morton,  war 
governor  of  Indiana.  Her  great-grandfather, 
Lieut.  Abraham  Billings,  was  a  soldier  under 
Washington  in  the  Revolution.  In  the  Pom- 
eroy line  she  was  a  descendant  of  Ralph 
Pomeroy,  who  fought  in  the  battle  of  Hastings 
in  the  English  conquest  in  1066.  In  this  same 
line  was  Eltweed  Pomeroy,  who  presided  over 
the  first  town  meeting  in  America  in  1630. 

Pence  B.  Orr  was  the  second  in  a  family 
of  three  children.  His  brother,  Lawrence 
Freeman  Orr,  born  June  1,  1881,  lives  at  In- 
dianapolis, and  for  the  past  twelve  years  has 
been  chief  examiner  of  the  State  Board  of 
Accounts  of  Indiana,  and  is  a  lawyer  by 
profession.  He  was  prominently  mentioned 
as  a  candidate  for  governor  of  Indiana  in 
1932.  He  married  Ethel  Fix.  Pence  B.  Orr's 
sister,  Ella  Miller,  born  March  30,  1885,  lives 
at  Columbus,  Indiana,  where  for  a  quarter  of 
a  century  she  has  been  a  teacher  in  the  pub- 
lic schools.  The  mother  of  these  children, 
Rose  Edith  Billings  Orr,  was  married  Decem- 
ber 25,  1894,  to  George  Pence,  the  husband 
of  her  deceased  sister.  George  Pence,  who 
was  an  expert  accountant  and  historian  in 
Indiana,  died  at  Columbus  September  13, 
1929.  By  this  marriage  there  was  a  daughter, 
Rose  Ada,  who  married  Bert  Pruitt,  and  still 
lives  at  the  old  family  homestead  in  Columbus. 

Pence  Billings  Orr  was  graduated  from  rhe 
Columbus  grade  school  in  1897  and  from  high 
school  in  1901,  and  in  1905  took  his  law  de- 
gree at  the  University  of  Indianapolis,  being 
president  of  his  graduating  class.  The  col- 
lege sport  in  which  he  was  most  interested 
in  was  baseball.  In  the  choice  of  the  law  lie 
followed  the  family  tradition  and  also  par- 
ticularly the  example  of  his  honored  father. 
Mr.  Orr  was  admitted  to  the  Indiana  bai 
May  23,  1905,  and  a  few  days  later,  on  May 
29,  arrived  in  Joliet.  Here  he  worked  in  the 
law  offices  of  Judge  George  L.  Cowing  and 
George  Young  until  admitted  to  the  Illinois 
bar  on  October  16,  1905.  Since  that  date  he 
has  practiced  law  continuously  both  in  fed- 
eral and  state  courts.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  firm  of  Kelly  &  Orr,  his  partner  being 
Bernard  L.  Kelly,  and  later  of  Orr  &  Bru- 
mund  (Frank  G.  Brumund),  but  for  the  past 
five  years  has  conducted  an  individual 
practice. 

Mr.  Orr  for  seven  years,  1917-1925,  ex- 
cluding the  period  when  he  was  in  the  army, 
was  assistant  to  Attorney-General  Brundage, 
and  is  now  assistant  commerce  commissior»er 
of  the  Illinois  Commerce  Commission.  He  was 
Republican  candidate  for  the  State  Senate  in 
1922.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Will  County, 
Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  Associations. 


ILLINOIS 


417 


In  1918  he  enlisted  as  a  private  of  infantry, 
serving  as  a  non-commissioned  officer  at  Camp 
Gordon,  Georgia,  from  August  29,  1918,  to 
January  2,  1919.  He  had  been  a  member 
of  the  State  Militia  during  1917-18  and  took 
an  active  part  in  the  Liberty  Loan  drives 
until  he  joined  the  colors.  Since  the  war  he 
has  been  prominent  in  the  American  Legion. 
He  was  one  of  the  organizers  and  is  a  char- 
ter member  of  Harwood  Post  No.  5  of  the 
American  Legion  at  Joliet.  He  served  or.  the 
first  and  second  state  executive  or  organiza- 
tion committees  of  the  American  Legion  in 
Illinois  from  May,  1919,  to  October,  1920. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Sons  of  the  Union 
Veterans. 

He  has  been  prominent  in  fraternal  organ- 
ization work.  In  the  Knights  of  Pythias  he  is 
affiliated  with  Paul  Revere  Lodge  No.  371,  and 
during  1924-25  was  grand  chancellor  for  the 
State  of  Illinois  and  is  now  representative 
from  Illinois  to  the  Supreme  Lodge.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  the  Dramatic  Order  of  the 
Knights  of  Khorassan.  In  Masonry  he  is 
affiliated  with  Matteson  Lodge,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  Joliet  Chapter  No.  27,  Royal  Arch 
Masons,  Joliet  Commandery,  Knights  Templar, 
Ansar  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  and  the 
Eastern  Star  Chapter.  He  also  belongs  to 
Lodge  No.  300,  Loyal  Order  of  Moose,  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  Mod- 
ern Woodmen  of  America.  He  was  one  of  the 
organizers  and  in  1921  president  of  the  Joliet 
Lions  Club,  has  been  a  member  of  the  local 
directing  board  of  the  Red  Cross  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Joliet  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Central  Presbyterian 
Church.  Since  university  days  he  has  been  a 
steady  baseball  fan,  and  he  also  enjoys  the 
sports  of  swimming,  fishing  and  golf. 

Mr.  Orr  married  at  Joliet,  February  1,  1919, 
Miss  Edith  Vendella  Johnson.  She  was  born 
at  Joliet,  August  30,  1896,  daughter  of  Fred- 
erick and  Emma  (Johnson)  Johnson.  Her 
parents  were  natives  of  Sweden,  and  both  of 
them  came  to  this  country  when  about  sixteen 
years  of  age.  Her  mother  was  a  descendant 
in  a  direct  line  from  General  Hjalm,  '.ne  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus'  generals.  Before  her 
marriage  Mrs.  Orr  was  deputy  probate  clerk 
of  Will  County.  They  have  one  daughter, 
Ernita  Rose,  born  June  11,  1931.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Orr  have  a  beautiful  home  at  213  Grand 
Boulevard,  Joliet.  Mr.  Orr  is  also  interested 
as  one  of  the  owners  in  a  240  acre  farm  in 
the  artistic  region  of  Brown  County,  Indiana. 

Carl  J.  Ekman,  postmaster  of  Batavia  and 
former  mayor  of  that  Fox  River  city,  has  been 
a  prominent  figure  in  the  business  life  there 
for  many  years. 

Mr.  Ekman  was  born  in  Sweden,  January 
29,  1866.  He  was  reared  and  educated  there, 
and  had  a  sound  and  fundamental  training 
in    the    building    profession.      When    he    was 


twenty-two  years  of  age  he  came  to  America 
and  for  nine  years  lived  at  Boston.  Since 
then  his  home  has  been  in  Batavia,  Illinois. 
He  came  to  Illinois  as  an  expert  and  thor- 
oughly experienced  carpenter  and  soon  built 
up  a  contracting  business.  While  a  contractor 
he  erected  many  homes  in  Batavia  and  some 
of  the  public  buildings  that  are  evidence  of 
his  skill  and  handiwork  are  the  Batavia  High 
School,  K.  of  P.  Building,  Townley  Building, 
and  he  had  the  contract  for  the  remodeling 
of  both  of  Batavia's  banks. 

Mr.  Ekman  retired  from  the  business,  sell- 
ing out  in  1922,  and  since  then  has  been  a 
part  owner  in  the  firm  of  Ekman  &  Anderson, 
Batavia   hardware   merchants. 

Public  affairs  have  always  constituted  a 
share  of  Mr.  Ekman's  life  and  for  ten  years 
he  was  mayor  of  Batavia.  He  was  mayor 
of  the  city  during  1918-1922,  a  period  when 
most  of  the  streets  were  being  paved.  Presi- 
dent Coolidge  appointed  him  postmaster  of 
Batavia  December  11,  1926.  Postmaster 
Ekman  and  the  entire  community  are  very 
proud  of  the  Batavia  postoffice  building,  one 
of  the  most  complete  and  attractive  buildings 
of  its  kind  and  size  in  the  United  States.  It 
was  erected  in  1928,  while  Mr.  Ekman  was 
postmaster. 

Mr.  Ekman  married  in  1898  Miss  Augusta 
Emelia  Johnson.  She  was  also  born  in  Swe- 
den, and  has  lived  at  Batavia  since  she  was 
twenty-four  years  of  age.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Ekman's  hobby  is  travel  and  in  1926  they 
made  a  trip  back  to  their  native  land.  They 
have  three  children:  Melba  Emelia  is  the  wife 
of  James  K.  Aver  ill,  a  farmer  in  Geneva 
Township,  and  has  two  children,  Frank  John 
and  Barbara  June;  Carl  Philip,  of  Batavia, 
married  Eilene  Sniveley  and  has  one  child, 
Ellen;  and  Rolan  Folke  is  still  at  home.  Mr. 
Ekman  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity, Knights  of  Pythias,  Kiwanis  Club,  the 
Swedish  organization  Northern  Sons  and  the 
Swedish   Lutheran   Church. 

James  W.  McGrath  is  president  of  the 
McGrath  Sand  &  Gravel  Company,  whose 
home  office  is  at  Lincoln,  with  plants  located 
at  Forreston,  Chillicothe,  Pekin,  and  Macki- 
naw, Illinois.  The  McGrath  plants  serve  prac- 
tically all  points  in  Illinois  and  many  in  Wis- 
consin and  Iowa.  The  material  is  prepared 
with  the  same  careful  skill  and  the  same  ex- 
pert ^  knowledge  as  is  employed  in  the  prep- 
aration of  any  standard  building  material. 
Besides  the  great  physical  and  business  facil- 
ities represented,  an  interesting  feature  of 
the  business  is  its  chief  personnel,  compris- 
ing three  brothers,  who  for  a  number  of  years 
had  the  pleasure  of  being  associated  with 
their  father.  The  business  of  the  McGrath 
brothers  started  in  1906,  with  a  single  small 
plant  producing  sand  and  gravel  for  build- 
ing   purposes.      The    history    of    the   business 


418 


ILLINOIS 


almost  coincides  with  the  developments  which 
are  often  described  as  the  "concrete  age." 
Sand  and  gravel,  laid  down  by  geological 
processes  and  sifted  and  sorted  by  ages  of 
water  erosion,  are  the  indispensable  basic  ma- 
terials which  when  combined  with  Portland 
cement  make  our  hard  roads,  bridges,  sky- 
scraper buildings  and  enter  in  a  thousand 
other  ways  into  the  material  environment  of 
the  modern  age. 

The  McGrath  brothers  have  built  up  a 
great  industry.  In  so  doing  they  have  had  a 
sense  of  the  romance  as  well  as  the  practical 
phases  of  a  business  which  means  so  much 
to  every  one.  One  of  the  brothers,  T.  E.  Mc- 
Grath, supplies  many  of  the  pithy  bits  of 
wisdom  and  business  sense  which  are  found 
in  the  official  trade  publication,  entitled  Ink 
Prints  on  The  Sands  of  Time,  issued  every 
month  from  the  McGrath  offices.  The  business 
of  McGrath  brothers  has  been  built  upon  ex- 
perience, expert  knowledge,  modern  methods 
of  publicity,  a  growing  organization  of  effi- 
ciency and  expert  men,  and  also  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  supplying  material  representing  the 
last  degree  of  faithfulness  to  specifications. 
The  interesting  slogan  of  their  business  has 
given  the  firm  notice  throughout  the  country 
—"It  Takes  Sand  to  Make  Money." 

The  first  plant  of  McGrath  brothers  was 
a  pumping  plant  on  Kickapoo  Creek,  north  of 
Lincoln.  The  first  year's  production  amounted 
to  about  6,000  tons  of  gravel.  The  supply  on 
Kickapoo  Creek  was  soon  exhausted,  and  in 
1910  the  brothers  moved  to  a  new  location 
at  Mackinaw,  taking  the  name  of  Mackinaw 
Sand  &  Gravel  Company.  Later  they  took  the 
permanent  title  of  McGrath  Sand  &  Gravel 
Company.  In  1914  a  large  plant  was  erected 
at  Chillicothe,  on  the  Illinois  River.  Another 
plant  was  built  at  Pekin  in  1917  and  a  second 
and  larger  plant  was  built  there  in  1926.  The 
Forreston  plant  was  built  in  1918.  Some  five 
or  six  years  ago  the  company  acquired  float- 
ing river  equipment,  including  a  dredge 
pumping  plant,  at  Shawneetown,  sucking  up 
sand  and  gravel  from  the  Ohio  River  bed. 
The  firm  started  with  a  capitalization  of 
$2,500  and  about  1926  the  capitalization  was 
increased  to  $1,000,000.  The  facilities  of  the 
company  enable  them  to  produce  approxi- 
mately one  and  a  half  million  tons  annually, 
and  they  have  upwards  of  one  hundred  men 
in  the  different  departments  of  the  business. 
The  McGrath  firm  supplied  sand  and  gravel 
for  nearly  two  thousand  miles  of  Illinois  state 
highways,  supplied  all  the  sand  and  gravel 
used  in  the  construction  of  the  million  dollar 
dam  at  Lake  Decatur,  and  immense  quantities 
of  their  material  have  also  been  used  in  in- 
dustrial, domestic  and  other  forms  of 
construction. 

The  McGrath  family  came  from  Ireland  to 
America  about  1849.  At  that  time  Patrick 
McGrath  was   six  months  old.      He  was  born 


in  County  Cork.  After  a  brief  stay  in  Bos- 
ton the  family  came  west  to  Logan  County, 
Illinois.  Patrick  L.  McGrath  spent  his  active 
life  as  a  farmer  in  Broadwell  Township  and 
about  1914  became  associated  with  his  sons 
in  the  McGrath  Sand  &  Gravel  Company  and 
retained  an  active  part  in  the  business  until 
his  death  in  1919.  He  married  Harriet  Sny- 
der, who  was  born  at  Mount  Pulaski  in  Logan 
County  in  1856.  The  Snyder  family  is  of 
English  ancestry,  while  her  mother's  people 
were  Pennsylvania  Dutch.  The  Snyders  were 
pioneer  settlers  of  Logan  County  and  the  older 
members  of  the  family  knew  Abraham  Lin- 
coln when  he,  in  riding  the  circuit,  visited 
the  old  courthouse  at  Postville.  Patrick  L. 
McGrath  and  wife  had  a  family  of  seven 
children:  Shelton  F.,  an  attorney  at  Peoria; 
James  W.;  Harry  E.  (T.  E.)  ;  Agnes  E., 
who  died  at  the  age  of  two  years;  Thomas  P.; 
Grace,  wife  of  W.  K.  Maxwell,  of  Evanston, 
Illinois;  and  Marguerite,  wife  of  Dr.  Wallace 
Perry,  of  Lincoln.  Harry  E.  (T.  E.)  Mc- 
Grath was  educated  at  Lincoln  College,  is 
vice  president  of  the  McGrath  Sand  &  Gravel 
Company,  a  director  of  the  Illinois  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  and  is  a  past  president  of  the 
Illinois  State  Sand  &  Gravel  Association. 
Thomas  P.  McGrath,  the  third  of  the  brothers, 
was  also  educated  at  Lincoln  College  and  is 
secretary-treasurer  of  the  McGrath  Sand  & 
Gravel   Company. 

James  W.  McGrath  was  born  in  Logan 
County,  November  29,  1882.  He  attended  the 
grammar,  high  school  and  Lincoln  Business 
College  of  Lincoln,  and  the  St.  Viator's  Col- 
lege at  Kankakee.  He  spent  his  school  vaca- 
tion periods  on  the  old  farm  in  Broadwell 
Township  and  later  the  McGrath  brothers 
acquired  the  old  homestead,  having  added  to 
it  until  it  now  consists  of  490  acres.  Farming 
is  his  hobby.  Mr.  McGrath  is  also  a  director 
of  the  Illinois  China  Company  of  Lincoln  and 
a  director  of  the  Lincoln  Savings  &  Building 
Association. 

The  McGrath  Company  is  a  member  of  the 
Illinois  Sand  &  Gravel  Association,  the  Na- 
tional Sand  &  Gravel  Association,  the  United 
States  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Illinois 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Lincoln  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  the  Springfield  Chamber  of 
Commerce  and  the  Peoria  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce. Mr.  McGrath  is  a  member  of  the 
Lincoln  Country  Club,  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  and 
is  a  Republican.  During  the  World  war  he 
helped  with  the  Red  Cross  and  Loan  drives. 
Mr.  McGrath  has  put  a  tremendous  amount 
of  energy  into  the  upbuilding  of  the  sand 
and  gravel  company.  He  also  enjoys  the 
cultural  things  of  life.  He  has  made  several 
tours  of  Europe,  Mexico  and  the  Orient,  but 
before  doing  so  saw  America  first. 

He  married  at  Lincoln.  November  15,  1919, 
Miss  Mary  Elizabeth  Albertsen.  She  was 
born  at   Pekin,   Illinois,  daughter  of   Mr.   and 


^^ 


ILLINOIS 


419 


Mrs.  Albert  H.  Albersen,  now  deceased.  Mrs. 
McGrath  attended  Wilson  College,  a  girls' 
school  near  Chambersburg,  Pennsylvania. 

Bryant  Family.  The  Bryant  family  of  Bu- 
reau County  are  among  the  most  conspicuous 
of  Illinois'  centennial  families.  The  Bryants 
lived  for  generations  at  Cummington,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  are  of  old  New  England 
ancestry. 

Cummington  was  the  home  of  Dr.  Peter 
Bryant,  whose  widow,  Mrs.  Sarah  Snell  Bry- 
ant, came  to  Illinois  in  1835  to  live  with  her 
children  at  Princeton.  She  died  at.  Princeton 
in  1847,  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine,  and  was 
buried  in  Oakland  Cemetery,  where  the  orig- 
inal stone  erected  by  her  children  still  remains. 
Five  of  her  children  lived  in  Princeton,  and  to 
this  new  family  seat  in  the  West  there  came 
several  times  on  a  visit  another  son,  the  loved 
and  honored  American  poet,  William  Cullen 
Bryant.  The  children  of  Dr.  Peter  and  Sarah 
Snell  Bryant  who  located  at  Princeton  were: 
Arthur  Bryant,  who  came  to  Illinois  in  1830 
and  died  at  Princeton  in  1883,  at  the  age  of 
eighty  years;  Cyrus  Bryant,  who  came  in 
1831  and  died  at  Princeton  in  1865,  aged  sixty- 
six.  John  H.  Bryant,  who  came  to  Illinois  in 
1831;  Austin  Bryant,  who  came  to  Illinois  in 
1835  and  died  at  Princeton  in  1866,  at  the  age 
of  seventy;  and  Louisa  Bryant,  Mrs.  Justin 
Olds,  who  came  to  Illinois  in  1835  and  died  at 
Princeton  in  1868,  at  the  age  of  sixty-three. 

John  Howard  Bryant  located  at  Princeton 
in  1831.  His  fine  old  home  and  its  grounds 
have  been  a  landmark  in  that  Illinois  city  for 
generations.  John  Howard  Bryant,  who  was 
himself  a  man  of  superior  literary  culture, 
made  his  most  important  contributions  to  the 
community  in  behalf  of  its  educational  insti- 
tutions. He  conceived  the  idea  of  a  township 
high  school  while  a  member  of  the  local  school 
board.  Through  his  influence  a  charter  was 
secured  from  the  Legislature,  and  Princeton 
thus  gained  the  distinction  of  having  the  first 
township  high  school  in  Illinois.  A  special 
charter  was  drawn  and  granted  on  February 
5,  1867,  and  was  signed  by  Governor  Oglesby. 
The  original  building  was  erected  at  a  cost  of 
$62,000,  including  the  furnishings.  It  was 
ready  for  occupancy  in  June,  1867.  That 
building,  with  subsequent  additions  and 
changes,  was  completely  destroyed  by  fire  in 
1924.  On  the  site  was  built  in  1925-26  the 
present  edifice,  at  a  cost  of  $450,000.  In  archi- 
tectural beauty  and  adequacy  this  is  one  of 
the  finest  buildings  in  Illinois  devoted  to  the 
cause  of  education.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  the  bonds  issued  for  the  original  build- 
ing were  sold  not  only  locally,  but  part  of  them 
in  New  York  City.  John  Howard  Bryant  went 
east  and  with  the  aid  of  his  four  brothers 
sold  $30,000  worth  of  the  bonds  in  New  York 
City.  The  campus  of  the  school  includes  a 
ten-acre  athletic  field  known  as  Bryant  Field. 


Arthur  Bryant,  who  was  also  born  at  Cum- 
mington, Massachusetts,  came  to  Princeton  in 
1830  and  settled  on  a  tract  of  land  just  south 
of  the  town.  On  this  Bryant  farm  his  son 
Lester  R.  is  still  living,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
three.  Both  he  and  his  father  were  horticul- 
turists and  their  artistic  taste  did  much  for 
the  development  and  beautifying  of  the  local- 
ity. The  thirty-five-acre  apple  orchard  is  still 
cared  for  after  the  modern  methods.  The 
Bryant  nurseries,  established  by  Arthur  Bry- 
ant, comprise  over  300  acres,  and  have  been 
a  reliable  source  of  fruit  stock  for  Illinois  and 
other  states  through  eighty-five  years.  These 
nurseries  are  now  in  the  ownership  of  the 
third  and  fourth  generation,  headed  by  Guy 
Bryant  and  his  son  Miles. 

Rev.  William  Joseph  Roberts  is  the  pastor 
and  founder  of  St.  Odilo's  Parish  at  Berwyn. 
The  church,  known  as  the  Shrine  of  the  Poor 
Souls,  is  unique  among  American  Catholic 
churches,  being  the  only  one  in  this  country 
dedicated  to  the  souls  in  purgatory.  It  de- 
rives its  name  from  the  saintly  Abbot  of 
Cluny,  St.  Odilo,  a  nobleman  and  a  scholar 
who  lived  in  the  tenth  century,  relinquishing 
the  royalty,  luxury  and  splendor  of  court  life 
to  enter  the  priesthood  and  who  as  Abbot  of 
Cluny  gave  to  the  church  and  the  world  the 
great  feast  known  as  All  Soul's  Day. 

Father  Roberts  was  born  in  Chicago,  in 
1889,  and  is  of  Irish  ancestry,  being  a  son  of 
James  A.  and  Elizabeth  (O'Connor)  Roberts. 
He  was  educated  in  parochial  schools  and  in 
St.  Ignatius  College,  and  studied  for  the 
priesthood  in  the  University  of  Niagara,  at 
Niagara  Falls,  where  he  was  graduated  in 
1914.  His  first  appointment  was  as  assistant 
pastor  of  St.  Leo's  Church,  at  Seventy-ninth 
Street  and  Emerald  Avenue  in  Chicago.  Later 
he  was  with  the  Church  of  the  Resurrection 
and  Our  Lady  Help  of  Christians  Parish. 

With  the  heavy  migration  of  Catholic  fami- 
lies into  the  Berwyn  district  it  was  decided 
by  the  church  authorities  of  the  diocese  to  in- 
stitute a  new  parish  in  the  territory  border- 
ing Twenty-second  Street  and  the  Metropoli- 
tan Elevated  Lines.  These  plans  were  com- 
pleted in  April,  1927,  the  approximate  geo- 
graphic center  of  the  new  parish  being  at  the 
corner  of  Twenty-third  Street  and  Clarence 
Avenue.  To  Father  Roberts  was  entrusted 
the  work  of  organizing  the  new  parish,  and 
as  a  result  of  his  zeal  he  soon  had  organized 
an  enthusiastic  band  of  Catholic  lay  workers. 
For  a  time  the  communicants  of  the  parish 
worshipped  in  temporary  quarters  in  a  store- 
room, the  chapel  seating  about  200  persons. 
The  first  mass  was  celebrated  by  Father  Rob- 
erts June  12,  1927.  Within  seven  months  the 
hard  work  of  the  pastor  and  his  parishioners 
had  raised  the  sum  of  $22,000  for  a  new 
church,  and  in  1928  the  Shrine  of  the  Poor 
Souls  was  dedicated.     In  the  meantime  a  rec- 


420 


ILLINOIS 


tory  and  convent  were  procured  at  Twenty- 
third  and  East  Avenue,  and  the  educational 
work  of  the  parish  was  entrusted  to  five  Sis- 
ters of  Charity,  B.  V.  M.  At  the  present  time 
Father  Roberts  has  a  convent  and  school  as 
well  as  a  church,  and  there  are  also  the  rep- 
resentative parish  organizations,  such  as  the 
Holy  Name  Society,  Altar  and  Rosary  So- 
ciety, laboring  with  him  to  realize  his  great 
ideals.  The  communicants  in  the  parish  num- 
ber approximately  1,500  and  there  are  over 
400  pupils  enrolled  in  the  school. 

Hon.  Charles  Boeschenstein,  president  of 
the  Edwardsville  National  Bank  &  Trust  Com- 
pany, was  for  many  years  an  outstanding 
figure  in  the  Democratic  party  of  Illinois.  His 
splendid  enthusiasm,  his  remarkable  energy, 
his  executive  ability  and  his  generous  public 
spirit  have  been  especially  bestowed  upon  his 
home  county  and  home  city,  and  it  would  be 
difficult  to  name  a  man  who  has  done  more 
for  the  beautiful  town  which  is  the  county 
seat  of  Madison  County  than  Charley  Boesch- 
enstein. 

His  birthplace  and  the  home  of  his  early 
years  was  Highland,  an  old  community  of 
Madison  County  which  still  reflects  some  of 
the  social  and  intellectual  ideals  of  its  foun- 
ders, a  group  of  sturdy  colonists  who  came 
from  Switzerland.  The  Boeschenstein  family 
came  to  America  and  settled  at  Highland  in 
1848.  Charles  Boeschenstein,  Sr.,  was  born  in 
Canton  Schaffhausen,  Switzerland,  March  9, 
1929,  son  of  John  M.  and  Anna  (Singer) 
Boeschenstein.  Charles  Boeschenstein,  Sr.,  at 
one  time  operated  a  mill  and  stage  line  be- 
tween Highland  and  Saint  Louis.  He  died 
March  23,  1883.  His  wife  was  Louisa  R. 
Leder,  daughter  of  John  and  Mary  Leder,  who 
were  another  Swiss  family  that  settled  near 
Highland.     She  died  May  13,  1901. 

Charles  Boeschenstein  was  born  at  Highland 
October  27,  1864,  attended  school  there  and  in 
Washington  University  at  Saint  Louis.  For 
many  years  he  followed  the  line  of  his  first 
enthusiasm,  printing  and  publishing.  At  the 
age  of  fifteen  he  owned  a  small  printing  outfit. 
On  August  20,  1881,  at  the  age  of  seventeen, 
he  bought  the  Highland  Herald,  a  recently 
established  paper  and  printed  in  the  English 
language.  In  the  Herald  office  at  Highland 
was  owned  the  first  typewriter  in  Madison 
County,  a  Remington  machine.  In  January, 
1883,  Mr.  Boeschenstein  acquired  the  Edwards- 
ville Intelligencer,  and  under  his  ownership 
and  management  he  made  this  old  paper  one 
of  the  most  influential  in  Southern  Illinois.  In 
1907  he  began  publishing  the  Intelligencer  as 
a  daily.  The  first  linotype  machine  in  Madi- 
son County  was  installed  in  the  Intelligencer 
office. 

Mr.  Boeschenstein  remained  the  active  head 
of  the  Intelligencer  until  1917.  In  1897  he 
helped  organize  and  became  director  and  secre- 


tary of  the  Madison  County  State  Bank.  Two 
years  later  it  was  consolidated  with  the  Bank 
of  Edwardsville,  and  Mr.  Boeschenstein  was 
director  and  vice  president  until  1907.  On 
July  21,  1917,  he  became  president  of  the  Ed- 
wardsville National  Bank,  now  the  Edwards- 
ville National  Bank  &  Trust  Company. 

Mr.  Boeschenstein  in  1883  helped  organize 
the  Southern  Illinois  Press  Association.  Later 
he  became  president  of  the  Illinois  Press  As- 
sociation. He  was  mayor  of  Edwardsville  in 
1887-89  and  while  in  that  office  the  city  made 
its  first  contract  for  lighting  the  streets  by 
electricity.  In  1898  he  was  one  of  the  organ- 
izers of  the  Edwardsville  Water  Company  and 
for  a  number  of  years  was  vice  president  of 
the  company.  He  assisted  in  securing  the  dona- 
tion from  Andrew  Carnegie  for  the  erection  of 
the  library  building  in  1903,  and  for  a  number 
of  years  was  president  of  the  library  board. 
He  was  president  of  the  association  which 
planned  and  carried  out  an  elaborate  celebra- 
tion of  Madison  County's  Centennial  in  1912. 

For  a  long  period  of  years  he  labored  un- 
selfishly and  disinterestedly  in  behalf  of  the 
Democratic  party,  neither  desiring  nor  expect- 
ing public  reward  in  the  form  of  official 
honors.  He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Cen- 
tral Committee  from  1900  to  1912  and  its 
chairman  during  the  last  eight  years.  In  1912 
he  became  Democratic  national  committeeman 
from  Illinois  and  served  in  that  capacity  until 
1924.  He  received  the  Democratic  vote  in  the 
Legislature  in  1913  for  United  States  senator 

Mr.  Boeschenstein  married,  November  10, 
1892,  Miss  Bertha  Whitbread,  of  Edwards- 
ville, daughter  of  James  and  Mina  (Rinne) 
Whitbread.  Her  grandfather,  John  Whit- 
bread, was  a  native  of  London,  England,  and 
came  to  Edwardsville  in  1842.  He  established 
the  stock  yards  at  Venice  in  Madison  County, 
the  first  enterprise  of  the  kind  in  the  county. 
Mrs.  Boeschenstein's  maternal  grandparents, 
William  and  Sophie  Rinne,  came  from  Ger- 
many. The  three  children  of  Mr.  and  Mis. 
Boeschenstein  are  Eleanore,  Harold  and 
Charles  Krome. 

Louis  L.  Edgar  is  one  of  the  most  popular 
business  men  of  East  Saint  Louis.  He  is  pro- 
prietor of  the  Edgar  Transportation  Company, 
which  has  its  headquarters  at  2201  Market 
Avenue.  Mr.  Edgar  is  an  ex-service  man,  and 
was  wounded  while  on  the  front  line  with 
the   American  forces  in   France. 

He  was  born  at  Ava,  Illinois,  October  21, 
1882.  His  parents,  Robert  William  and  Nan 
(Cohn)  Edgar,  were  also  born  in  Illinois,  the 
Edgar  family  coming  to  the  United  States 
from  Canada.  Robert  William  Edgar  has  for 
a  number  of  years  been  a  contractor  and 
builder  at  East  Saint  Louis.  He  is  a  Repub- 
lican. 

Louis  L.  Edgar  had  his  early  education 
in  the  schools  of  East  Saint  Louis.     Immedi- 


ILLINOIS 


421 


ately  after  leaving  school  he  took  up  the 
mastery  of  a  trade.  His  trade  was  bottle 
blowing-.  For  twelve  years  he  worked  in  a 
glass  and  bottle  factory  at  East  Saint  Louis. 
With  his  experience  and  ability  and  capital 
he  next  put  himself  into  the  confectionery 
business,  and  developed  a  large  and  prosper- 
ous trade  at  East  Saint  Louis.  He  continued 
in  that  for  fourteen  years,  and  on  selling  out 
organized  the  Edgar  Transportation  Company, 
which  represents  a  large  amount  of  invested 
capital,  employs  a  number  of  men,  and  has  a 
large  and  growing  clientele  among  industrial 
and  commercial  interests. 

Mr.  Edgar  on  enlisting  for  service  in  the 
World  war  spent  ten  days  at  Jefferson  Ear- 
racks  in  Saint  Louis,  for  about  two  weeks  was 
at  Syracuse,  New  York,  and  in  1917  went 
across  as  member  of  Company  L,  Ninth  In- 
fantry, in  the  Second  Regular  Army  Division. 
While  overseas  he  participated  in  six  major 
engagements.  His  wound  came  during  the  St. 
Mihiel  drive,  only  a  few  weeks  before  the 
armistice.  He  was  in  hospitals  until  able  to 
return  home,  and  at  Newport  News  was  sta- 
tioned with  the  Forty-eighth  Infantry  on  mili- 
tary police  duty  until  1919,  when  he  was 
honorably  discharged  with  the  grade  of 
sergeant. 

Since  the  war  he  has  been  prominent  in 
American  Legion  circles.  He  was  one  of  the 
organizers  of  the  Veterans  Association  of 
Saint  Louis,  which  subsequently  merged  with 
the  American  Legion.  Mr.  Edgar  is  a  Demo- 
crat in  politics. 

He  married  in  1905  Miss  Jennie  Quigley,  of 
East  Saint  Louis.  They  have  a  daughter  and 
a  son.  The  daughter,  Gladys,  was  educated  at 
East  Saint  Louis,  is  the  wife  of  John  Gal- 
loway, of  Saint  Louis,  Missouri,  and  has  a 
daughter,  named  Virginia  May.  The  son, 
William  Lee,  attended  school  at  Saint  Louis, 
Missouri,  and  is  now  in  the  banking  business 
in  that  city. 

Louis  Beasley,  who  was  admitted  to  the 
Illinois  bar  in  1912,  has  won  his  way  to  a 
foremost  position  at  the  bar  of  East  St.  Louis. 
The  firm  of  Beasley  &  Zulley,  of  which  he  is 
senior  member,  has  a  civil  practice  hardly  ex- 
ceeded in  volume  and  importance  by  any  law 
firm  in  the  southern  part  of  the  state. 

Mr.  Beasley  was  born  at  Omaha,  Illinois, 
June  6,  1884,  son  of  William  and  Lettie 
(Cook)  Beasley.  The  Cook  family  has  been 
one  of  prominence  in  business  and  professional 
circles  in  Southern  Illinois  for  many  years. 
The  Beasleys  came  from  the  Carolinas  through 
Tennessee  to  Illinois,  and  William  Beasley  was 
born  in  Gallatin  County  and  spent  his  active 
life  as  a  farmer.  Louis  Beasley  lived  in  Gal- 
latin County  and  attended  school  there  until 
he  was  sixteen,  when  he  moved  with  his 
mother  to  East  Saint  Louis.     In  1905  he  was 


graduated  from  the  East  Saint  Louis  High 
School.  He  looked  forward  to  a  professional 
career,  but  had  no  immediate  means  to  enter 
school  and  carry  on  his  studies.  For  two 
years  he  worked  in  the  office  of  the  city  treas- 
urer, and  for  about  three  years  was  a  teacher 
in  Saint  Clair  County.  While  teaching  he 
took  up  the  study  of  law,  and  later  completed 
his  course  and  was  graduated  in  1911,  with 
the  LL.  B.  degree,  from  the  City  College  of 
Law  at  Saint  Louis.  Mr.  Beasley  in  Decem- 
ber, 1912,  was  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar  and 
has  since  been  admitted  to  all  the  state  and 
federal  courts,  including  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  in  1928.  He  began  practice 
in  East  Saint  Louis,  was  member  of  the  firm 
of  Millard  &  Beasley  until  1917,  since  which 
date  his  partner  has  been  Hon.  Edward  Zulley. 
Mr.  Beasley  specializes  in  a  general  law  prac- 
tice, but  practically  all  his  work  is  in  civil 
cases.  From  1917  to  1921  he  was  master  in 
chancery  for  the  City  Court. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  East  Saint  Louis, 
Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  Associations. 
His  ambition  is  fully  satisfied  with  the  en- 
grossing work  of  his  profession,  and  while 
interested  in  party  politics  he  has  never  con- 
sented to  be  a  candidate  for  office.  He  has 
been  secretary  of  both  the  City  and  Countv 
Democratic  Committees.  Mr.  Beasley  is  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church.  He  married  in 
1911  Miss  Rella  May  Crump,  of  East  Saint 
Louis,  daughter  of  Sterling  P.  and  Caroline 
(Carl)  Crump.  She  attended  high  school  at 
East  Saint  Louis  and  is  a  member  of  'he 
Eastern  Star,  the  White  Shrine  of  Jerusalem, 
and  the  United  Presbyterian  Church.  They 
have  two  children.  The  son,  Louis  Kenr.eth 
Beasley,  born  in  1912,  graduated  from  the 
East  Saint  Louis  High  School,  attended  Mc- 
Kendree  College  and  is  now  a  medical  student 
in  Washington  University  at  Saint  Louis,  Mis- 
souri. The  daughter,  Aral  Beth  Beasley,  bora 
in   1918,  is  a  high  school  girl. 

Hugh  J.  Duffy,  M.  D.,  in  his  many  years 
of  successful  work  as  a  physician  and  surgeon 
has  a  record  that  fits  in  well  with  the  old  and 
prominent  Chicago  family  of  which  he  is  a 
member.  The  Duffys  have  lived  in  Chicago 
since  1847,  and  the  name  has  been  closely  asso- 
ciated with  constructive  lines  of  business,  the 
profession  and  the  public  service. 

Doctor  Duffy's  grandfather,  John  J.  Duffy, 
was  born  in  County  Roscommon,  Ireland.  He 
arrived  at  Chicago  in  1847,  at  the  time  when 
thousands  of  industrious  sons  of  Erin  were 
coming  overseas  to  this  country,  large  num- 
bers of  whom  settled  in  and  around  Chicago. 
John  J.  Duffy  in  after  years  became  a  famous 
contractor  and  builder.  He  did  a  great  deal 
of  work  in  building  sewers,  bridges  and  other 
municipal  improvements.     He  constructed  the 


422 


ILLINOIS 


first  Chicago  Avenue  bridge,  also  the  old  West- 
ern Avenue  bridge,  and  other  similar  struc- 
tures across  the  Chicago  River.  He  had  a 
contract  for  paving  Blue  Island  Avenue  from 
Halsted  Street  to  Twenty-second  Street.  Thus 
his  business  was  a  part  of  the  development 
of  a  real  city,  and  in  his  position  as  a  citizen 
he  was  a  man  of  sterling  influence.  He  was 
never  elected  to  a  political  office,  but  was  an 
intimate  friend  and  associate  of  many  of  the 
political  giants  of  his  day,  including  the  senior 
Carter  Harrison.  John  J.  Duffy's  wife  was 
Elizabeth  Caufield,  who  was  also  born  in 
County  Roscommon,  Ireland.  She  came  to 
Chicago  with  her  parents  in  May,  1852.  John 
J.  Duffy  and  wife  reared  a  large  and  sturdy 
family.  There  were  four  sons,  all  of  whom 
became  well  known.  The  youngest  was  at  the 
time  of  his  death  an  inspector  for  the  South 
Park  Board.  Another,  Joseph  Duffy,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  contracting  business  founded  by 
his  father,  and  continued  the  work  for  many 
years  in  general  contracting  and  in  the  con- 
struction of  municipal  improvements.  He  did 
some  of  the  early  work  for  the  Chicago  Sani- 
tary District,  including  the  construction  of  an 
important  section  of  the  drainage  canal.  One 
of  his  brothers,  Michael  Duffy,  was  for  several 
years  county  jailer  under  Sheriff  Tom  Barrett. 

The  oldest  of  the  four  sons  was  James 
Duffy,  father  of  Doctor  Duffy.  James  Duffy 
was  born  in  Chicago,  and  was  best  known  for 
his  long  connection  with  the  Department  of 
Public  Works  and  the  Board  of  Local  Improve- 
ments. He  was  with  the  Board  of  Local  Im- 
provements at  the  time  of  his  death.  He  had 
been  a  deputy  sheriff  under  Tom  Barrett  and 
was  an  instructor  for  the  Board  of  Local  Im- 
provements under  Mayor  Dewitt  Cregier. 
James  Duffy  married  Lyda  Hawkshaw. 

Their  son,  Dr.  Hugh  J.  Duffy,  was  born  in 
Chicago  May  27,  1888.  As  a  boy  he  fixed  his 
purpose  to  become  a  physician,  and  his  train- 
ing and  education  were  directed  with  that  in 
mind.  He  spent  four  years  as  a  student  at 
St.  Ignatius  College,  1900-05,  and  also  attended 
the  University  of  Chicago  for  two  years,  1905- 
07.  This  was  followed  by  a  full  four  years' 
course  at  the  University  of  Illinois  College  of 
Medicine,  where  he  was  graduated  with  the 
M.  D.  degree  in  1911.  Doctor  Duffy  was  an 
interne  in  the  Alexian  Brothers  Hospital,  and 
since  then  for  twenty  years  has  been  engaged 
in  private  practice.  He  has  won  enviable 
distinction  as  a  surgeon  and  for  many  years 
has  been  a  member  of  the  surgical  staff  of 
St.  Francis  Hospital.  Through  all  the  years 
he  has  been  a  serious  student  and  his  individ- 
ual technique  has  been  broadened  by  work 
in  many  of  the  noted  clinics  of  America. 

Doctor  Duffy  joined  the  Medical  Corps  of 
the  United  States  Army  at  the  time  of  the 
Pershing  expedition  and  the  border  troubles 
in  Mexico  in  1916.     After  several  months  on 


the  border  he  enlisted  in  1917,  in  the  United 
States  Navy.  He  became  a  medical  officer 
with  the  rank  of  captain,  and  spent  some  time 
in  the  foreign  service  with  the  navy.  For 
several  years  he  has  been  active  in  the  affairs 
of  the  American  Legion,  being  a  past  com- 
mander of  the  North  Shore  Post  and  is  now 
district  surgeon  for  the  Seventh  District  of 
the  Legion.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois 
State  and  Chicago  Medical  Societies  and  of  a 
number  of  civic  and  social  organizations.  His 
office  is  at  2345  Devon  Avenue  and  his  home 
at  6444  N.  Francisco  Avenue. 

Judge  Frank  Lingle  Hooper,  of  Watseka, 
has  rendered  a  distinguished  service  as  lawyer 
and  jurist.  At  the  expiration  of  his  present 
term  he  will  have  been  on  the  circuit  bench 
of  Iroquois  County  twenty-eight  consecutive 
years. 

Judge  Hooper  was  born  at  Watseka,  April 
21,  1864,  son  of  John  Burton  and  Sarah  Mont- 
fort  (Harter)  Hooper.  John  Burton  Hooper 
was  born  at  Waterloo,  New  York,  in  1824,  son 
of  Pontius  and  Lydia  (Clark)  Hooper.  Lydia 
Clark  was  a  daughter  of  Gen.  Samuel  Clark, 
a  Revolutionary  officer  who  is  buried  in  Bal- 
sam Spa  Cemetery,  near  Saratoga,  New  York. 
General  Clark  owned  a  large  tract  of  land 
which  was  a  grant  to  him  for  his  military 
services.  The  first  session  of  court  was  held 
in  his  home.  When  John  B.  Hooper  was  a 
child  his  parents  moved  to  Clinton,  Michigan. 
Pontius  Hooper  owned  there  one  of  the  early 
taverns.  This  building  remained  a  historical 
landmark  until  recent  years,  when  it  was  re- 
moved by  Henry  Ford  and  reconstructed  at 
Dearborn,  Michigan,  as  an  interesting1  type  of 
the  pioneer  buildings  of  Michigan.  John  Bur- 
ton Hooper  became  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser. 
For  several  years  he  lived  in  Indiana  and 
about  1857  moved  to  Iroquois  County,  Illinois, 
settling  on  a  farm.  From  1871  to  1881  he 
lived  at  Danville  and  then  returned  to  Wat- 
seka. He  owned  several  farms  in  Iroquois 
County.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity  and  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows and  regularly  attended  church.  He  died 
December  18,  1898,  and  is  buried  in  Oak  Hill 
Cemetery.  His  mother  was  buried  at  Clinton, 
Michigan,  and  his  father  at  Romney,  Indiana. 

Sarah  Montfort  Harter,  mother  of  Judge 
Hooper,  was  born  on  the  banks  of  the  Wea 
River  near  Lafayette,  Indiana,  in  1833.  She 
was  well  educated  in  public  schools  and  in 
higher  schools  and  an  active  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  all  her  life.  She  died 
in  1928,  when  ninety-five  years  of  age.  Her 
parents  were  Phillip  and  Alice  (Van  Arsdahl) 
Harter.  Phillip  Harter  was  a  soldier  in  the 
War  of  1812.  Her  great-grandmother  was 
Sarah  Montfort,  a  French  woman  who  mar- 
ried a  Hollander  named  Van  Arsdahl,  and  in 
order    to    secure    greater    freedom    for    their 


ILLINOIS 


423 


religious  beliefs  they  came  to  America  and 
settled  near  Fredericksburg,  Maryland.  Phillip 
Harter  was  a  pioneer  at  Richland,  Indiana, 
where  he  conducted  the  first  tavern,  and  many 
noted  travelers  were  intertained  there.  In 
1827  he  moved  to  the  Wea  River  near  Lafay- 
ette, Indiana,  where  he  constructed  a  river  mill 
for  sawing  lumber  and  grinding  grain.  It 
was  the  first  flour  mill  in  an  extensive  region. 
He  and  his  wife  are  both  buried  at  Lafayette. 
The  old  brick  house  which  he  built  is  stili 
standing  near  Lafayette. 

Judge  Hooper  was  one  of  five  children.  His 
sister  Alice,  who  died  in  1920,  was  the  wife 
of  Joseph  S.  Campbell,  of  Chicago,  a  Civil  war 
veteran,  and  who  later  became  the  first  audi- 
tor and  freight  agent  of  the  Chicago,  Danville 
&  Vincennes  Railroad,  now  the  C.  &  E.  I. 
Railroad.  Hiram  V.  Hooper,  of  Lafayette, 
Indiana,  never  married,  and  is  now  retired 
after  having  for  forty  years  been  auditor  and 
one  of  the  chief  financial  advisers  of  the  Chi- 
cago Coated  Board  Company.  Dr.  Joseph  L. 
Hooper  was  a  dentist  in  Chicago  for  over 
twenty  years  and  died  at  Watseka  in  1925. 
The  daughter  Sallie  died  at  the  age  of  three 
years. 

Frank  Lingle  Hooper  attended  public  school 
at  Danville  and  Watseka  and  in  1886  was 
graduated  LL.  B.  from  the  law  school  of  the 
University  of  Michigan.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  and  even  be- 
fore graduating  from  law  school  had  some 
practice  at  Watseka.  He  has  had  a  successful 
career  in  his  profession  covering  a  period  of 
forty-five  years.  He  devoted  his  time  to  a 
general  practice  from  1886  to  1905,  and  dur- 
ing that  time  served  two  years  as  city  attor- 
ney. In  1905  he  was  elected  judge  of  the 
Twelfth  Judicial  Circuit  and  has  been  reelected 
at  the  expiration  of  each  term.  His  present 
term  expires  in  1933.  During  his  long  period 
on  the  bench  he  has  heard  hundreds  of  impor- 
tant cases  involving  life,  liberty,  property  and 
domestic  relations,  and  his  understanding,  his 
deep  knowledge  of  the  law  and  his  impartial- 
ity have  won  for  him  the  respect  of  the  bar 
and  the  general  public.  In  politics  Judge 
Hooper  is  classified  as  an  independent  Demo- 
crat. The  best  proof  of  his  popularity  is  the 
fact  that  he  has  been  repeatedly  elected  to 
the  bench  in  a  district  normally  Republican  by 
several  thousand.  Judge  Hooper  is  a  member 
of  Watseka  Lodge  No.  446,  A.  F.  and  A.  M., 
Watseka  Chapter,  Royal  Arch  Masons,  the 
Knights  Templar  Commandery,  is  a  member 
of  the  Iroquois  Club,  the  Sheewanie  Country 
Club.  For  years  he  indulged  a  hobby  as  a 
fisherman,  going  annually  to  Northern  Wis- 
consin. 

He  married,  September  29,  1893,  Miss  Grace 
Willoughby,  daughter  of  Aaron  and  Nancy 
(Jones)  Willoughby.  Her  father  was  an  early 
merchant  at  Watseka  and  Mrs.  Hooper  still 
owns  the  building  in  which  his  store  was  lo- 


cated. Mrs.  Hooper  attended  grammar  and 
high  school  at  Watseka  and  the  Oxford 
Womans  College  at  Oxford,  Ohio.  She  is  an 
active  member  of  the  Woman's  Club. 

Robert  Clark  Duncan,  a  past  president  of 
the  Cook  County  Real  Estate  Board,  is  one 
of  the  most  intensive  Chicagoans  among  his 
contemporaries.  Chicago  development  is  his 
creed,  and  for  years  and  years,  as  he  has  gone 
about  over  the  world,  he  has  found  new  rea- 
sons to  fortify  his  faith  in  the  greatness,  the 
wholesomeness  and  the  mighty  destiny  of  this 
great  central  metropolis. 

Mr.  Duncan  is  a  native  of  Illinois  and  was 
born  in  the  nearby  City  of  Joliet  in  1860,  son 
of  Robert  Calendar  and  Ella  (Cacey)  Duncan. 
He  has  in  his  possession  a  copy  of  the  will 
made  by  his  great-grandfather,  Thomas  Dun- 
can, of  Philadelphia,  where  he  individually 
and  his  family  were  among  the  leading  citi- 
zens in  the  early  part  of  the  past  century. 
The  Duncan  family  came  from  Dundee,  Scot- 
land, in  1740,  settling  at  Carlisle,  Pennsyl- 
vania. The  Duncan  family  were  on  the  com- 
mittee to  entertain  President  Monroe  when  he 
visited  Philadelphia  in  1817,  and  they  also 
helped  entertain  General  Lafayette  on  his  first 
visit  to  this  country  after  the  Revolution.  The 
Duncans  were  stalwart  adherents  of  the  An- 
drew Jackson  type  of  democracy.  Thomas 
Duncan,  the  great-grandfather,  was  an  asso- 
ciate justice  of  Pennsylvania  from  1817  until 
his  death  in  1827.  His  will  showed  that  he 
owned  lands  in  New  York  and  in  several  coun- 
ties of  Pennsylvania,  and  one  of  its  interest- 
ing provisions  is  an  item  that  some  of  his 
grandchildren  "should  receive  a  liberal  edu- 
cation." 

The  father  of  Mr.  Duncan,  Robert  Calendar 
Duncan,  was  a  leading  business  man  of  Joliet 
in  the  early  days.  He  was  a  strong  Demo- 
cratic partisan  and  a  personal  friend  of  Judge 
Douglas,  and  the  first  visit  Robert  Clark  Dun- 
can made  to  Chicago  was  when  he  was  a  few 
weeks  old,  being  brought  to  the  city  by  his 
parents  to  attend  a  great  Douglas  meeting  in 
the  fall  of  1860.  Robert  C.  Duncan  was  a 
merchant  in  Joliet  for  fifty  years,  was  one 
of  the  first  trustees  of  the  village,  the  second 
recorder  of  Will  County,  and  the  first  man 
to  have  a  law  suit  in  the  village.  He  died  in 
the  spring  of  1874.  The  mother  of  Mr.  Dun- 
can was  born  in  County  Tipperary,  Ireland, 
where  the  family  has  been  prominent  for 
centuries.  One  of  her  nephews  was  Rev.  Peter 
Cacey,  a  pioneer  priest  of  his  church  in  Cali- 
fornia, where  he  went  soon  after  the  opening 
of  the  gold  rush  and  had  charge  of  St.  Peter's 
Parish  there  for  thirty-five  years. 

In  the  fall  of  1874,  a  few  months  after  his 
father's  death,  Robert  Clark  Duncan,  then 
fourteen  years  of  age,  went  to  work  for  the 
real  estate  and  insurance  firm  of  Chase  & 
Hobbs,    at   Joliet.      Real    estate    has    been   his 


424 


ILLINOIS 


business  and  profession  ever  since.  Mr.  Dun- 
can became  identified  with  Chicago  real  estate 
about  the  time  of  the  World's  Fair  of  1893. 
For  a  number  of  years  his  special  field  of 
operation  was  in  the  district  south  of  Sixty- 
seventh  Street  and  east  of  State  Street.  Mr. 
Duncan  has  never  married,  and  his  home  is 
one  of  the  comfortable  old  residences  on  Mich- 
igan Avenue,  originally  the  home  of  the 
Mandel  family.  His  offices  are  at  3206  South 
Michigan  Avenue  and  420  East  Seventy-first 
Street.  Mr.  Duncan  has  the  distinction  of  be- 
ing elected  for  two  consecutive  terms  as  presi- 
dent of  the  Cook  County  Real  Estate  Board, 
his  second  election  coming  in  December,  1930. 
This  board  was  first  organized  in  1908,  and 
for  many  years  it  has  exerted  a  powerful  in- 
fluence in  line  with  one  of  the  original  express 
purposes  of  the  board  to  "protect  the  people 
against  legislative  enactments  that  place 
greater  burdens  on  those  least  able  to  bear 
them  and  against  unfair  administration  of 
existing  taxation  laws."  In  line  with  that 
policy  Mr.  Duncan  has  proposed  and  advocated 
an  exemption  of  homesteads  in  Cook  County 
to  the  maximum  amount  of  $5,000  from  gen- 
eral taxes,  a  measure  that  would  lift  some  of 
the  heavy  burdens  of  taxes  from  the  shoulders 
of  the  small  home  owner  and  a  plan  which 
would  be  following  the  general  precedent  set 
by  the  Federal  Income  Tax  Laws. 

Mr.  Duncan,  while  a  thoroughly  practical 
business  man,  immersed  in  large  responsi- 
bilities and  affairs,  has  since  boyhood  been  a 
constant  student  and  reader  of  the  great 
classics  in  literature.  His  hobby  has  been 
travel,  and  these  travels  have  taken  him  to 
every  town  in  Illinois,  to  every  state  and 
large  city  in  the  United  States  and  to  all  im- 
portant cities  and  countries  of  Europe.  But 
always  the  tie  of  home  brought  him  back  to 
Chicago  and  nowhere  has  he  found  a  city 
with  such  a  wealth  of  advantages  and  oppor- 
tunities as  the  one  which  he  early  chose  as  his 
home. 

Col.  R.  R.  McCormick,  editor  of  the  Chicago 
Tribune,  is  a  grandson  of  Joseph  Medill, 
founder  of  the  Tribune.  His  great-grandfather, 
Robert  McCormick,  was  the  farmer  and  me- 
chanic in  Rockbridge  County,  Virginia,  who 
made  some  practical  contributions  to  the  prob- 
lem of  perfecting  a  reaping  machine,  but  left 
the  final  perfection  of  that  revolutionary  and 
epoch  making  device  to  his  sons.  Three  of. 
these  sons,  Cyrus  Hall,  William  S.  and  Lean- 
der  J.  McCormick,  became  residents  of  Chi- 
cago. William  S.  McCormick  was  from  1860 
associated  with  his  two  brothers  in  the  firm 
of  C.  H.  McCormick  &  Brothers,  manufac- 
turers of  the  McCormick  reapers.  William 
Sanderson  McCormick,  who  married  Mary 
Ann  Grigsby,  died  in  1865. 

One  of  his  children  was  the  late  Robert 
Sanderson  McCormick,  who  was  born  in  Rock- 


bridge County,  Virginia,  July  26,  1849,  and 
died  April  16,  1919.  He  attended  the  prepara- 
tory department  of  the  old  Chicago  Univer- 
sity, later  attended  the  University  of  Virginia. 
On  June  8,  1876,  he  married  Katherine  Van 
Etta  Medill,  daughter  of  Joseph  Medill. 

Robert  Sanderson  McCormick  spent  many 
years  abroad  as  an  American  diplomat.  He 
was  secretary  to  the  American  legation  at 
London,  1889-92;  was  official  representative 
of  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  in  Lon- 
don, 1892-93.  In  March,  1901,  he  went  to 
Austria-Hungary  as  envoy  extraordinary  and 
minister  plenipotentiary,  and  from  July  to 
December,  1902,  was  first  ambassador  to  that 
empire.  He  was  American  ambassador  to 
Russia,  1902-05,  during  the  Russo-Japanese 
war.  From  May  1,  1905,  to  March  2,  1907,  he 
was  ambassador  to  France.  In  1907  he  was 
decorated  with  the  Order  of  the  First  Class 
of  the  Rising  Sun  by  Japan. 

Col.  Robert  Rutherford  McCormick  was  born 
in  Chicago,  July  30,  1880.  He  was  educated 
for  the  legal  profession.  He  graduated  with 
the  B.  A.  degree  from  Yale  University  in 
1903,  attended  the  Northwestern  University 
Law  School  and  was  admitted  to  the  Illinois 
bar  in  1908.  In  the  meantime,  soon  after 
completing  his  education,  he  served  a  term 
in  the  Chicago  City  Council,  1904-06.  He  was 
president  of  the  Chicago  Sanitary  District 
from  1905  to  1910  and  a  member  of  the  Chi- 
cago Charter  Convention  of  1907.  He  has  also 
been  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Plan  Commis- 
sion. 

Colonel  McCormick  in  1911  was  elected  ed- 
itor of  the  Tribune  by  the  stockholders  of  the 
Tribune  Company.  During  the  World  war  pe- 
riod he  served  as  major  in  the  First  Illinois 
Cavalry,  on  duty  at  the  Mexican  border,  1916- 
17.  In  1917  he  was  attached  to  General 
Pershing's  staff  with  the  American  Expedi- 
tionary Forces  in  France,  later  was  assigned 
as  major  of  the  Fifth  Field  Artillery,  and 
was  promoted  to  lieutenant-colonel  in  May  and 
to  colonel  in  August,  1918.  From  September 
to  November,  1918,  he  was  commandant  at 
Fort  Sheridan.  He  was  awarded  the  dis- 
tinguished service  medal. 

Emil  C.  Davis,  proprietor  of  the  leading 
general  mercantile  store  at  Bulpitt,  Christian 
County,  is  also  one  of  the  outstanding  men  in 
politics  in  that  section  of  Southern  Illinois. 
He  is  chairman  of  the  Democratic  County 
Committee,  and  has  shown  a  rare  degree  of 
resourcefulness  in  building  up  and  maintain- 
ing the  strength  of  his  party. 

Mr.  Davis  is  a  son  of  Thomas  A.  and  Sarah 
(Topsan)  Davis,  and  a  grandson  of  Thomas 
Davis,  who  came  from  Ireland.  Thomas  Davis 
brought  his  family  direct  to  Illinois  and  set- 
tled on  a  farm.  Thomas  A.  Davis  was  born 
in  Illinois,  was  reared  and  educated  there  and 
followed    farming    until    after    his    marriage. 


ILLINOIS 


425 


He  then  moved  to  Logan  County,  served  on 
the  police  force  at  Lincoln,  and  for  forty  years 
was  identified  with  the  coal  mining  industry. 
He  was  in  the  service  of  the  Peabody  Coal 
Company,  which  sent  him  to  Christian  County 
as  mine  manager,  and  later  he  was  located  at 
Springfield  for  six  years.  He  was  one  of  the 
organizers  of  the  United  Mine  Workers  of 
America  and  was  also  very  active  in  Demo- 
cratic politics.  He  died  as  the  result  of  an 
automobile  accident  and  is  buried  at  Spring- 
field. His  widow  still  lives  in  Springfield. 
They  were  devout  Catholics. 

Emil  C.  Davis  was  born  September  26,  1896. 
He  acquired  his  early  education  in  the  grade 
schools  at  Springfield,  graduated  from  Saint 
Joseph's  School,  and  had  a  year  of  business 
college  training.  He  learned  to  work  while  in 
school  and  has  always  shown  the  ability  to  do 
for  himself  and  work  out  any  problem  with 
which  he  has  been  confronted.  He  has  lived 
at  Bulpitt  since  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age. 
He  was  in  a  grocery  store  there,  and  from 
1918  to  1924  was  in  the  service  of  the  Pea- 
body  Coal  Company.  Following  that  for  about 
two  years  he  managed  the  store,  then  worked 
in  the  office  of  the  Buick  Company  at  Taylors- 
ville,  and  returning  to  Bulpitt,  opened  up  a 
general  merchandise  establishment,  to  which 
he  gives  his  time  and  energies. 

Mr.  Davis  married  Miss  Elma  Gieseke, 
daughter  of  Albert  and  Jennie  (Fesser) 
Gieseke.  Her  grandfather,  William  Fesser, 
was  one  of  the  first  settlers  in  Christian 
County,  a  pioneer  farmer,  and  when  he  died 
he  left  an  estate  of  2,000  acres  of  land. 

Mr.  Davis  served  as  justice  of  the  peace 
and  in  the  spring  of  1931  was  elected  by  a 
vote  of  three  to  one  as  assessor  of  South  Fork 
Township. 

Charles  H.  Markham  on  his  record  was 
one  of  the  great  American  railway  executives 
of  his  generation.  His  experience  was  prac- 
tically nationwide,  though  he  learned  railroad- 
ing in  the  Southwest  and  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 
The  climax  of  his  career  was  the  twenty  years, 
beginning  with  1911  and  ending  with  his  death 
on  November  24,  1930,  when  he  acted  first  as 
president  and  later  as  chairman  of  the  board 
of  the  Illinois  Central  system,  and  it  is  in  this 
period  of  his  career  that  the  people  of  Illinois 
are  particularly  interested. 

Mr.  Markham,  like  many  of  his  distinguished 
contemporaries,  came  up  from  the  ranks, 
where  individual  abilities,  initiative  and  indus- 
try were  the  only  qualities  that  mark  one  man 
from  another.  He  was  born  at  Clarksdale, 
Tennessee,  May  22,  1861.  Nine  years  later 
his  family  moved  to  Addison,  Steuben  County, 
New  York.  The  necessity  of  earning  his  own 
living  caused  him  to  go  to  work  at  the  age 
of  fourteen,  before  completing  a  common 
school  education.  By  day  he  clerked  in  a 
grocery    store,    was    watchman    in    a   bank   at 


night,  and  by  diligent  effort  and  drastic  econ- 
omy saved  enough  to  buy  a  ticket  to  Kansas 
City,  and  after  a  short  period  of  work  as 
laborer  in  a  packing  plant  went  on  to  Dodge 
City,  a  boom  town  in  Western  Kansas,  where 
he  was  given  his  first  opportunity  in  rail- 
roading as  a  section  laborer  on  the  newly 
opened  Santa  Fe  Railroad.  From  there  he 
went  on  to  New  Mexico.  The  Southern  Pa- 
cific &  Santa  Fe  Railroad  had  effected  a  junc- 
tion and  founded  the  town  of  Deming,  in  Luna 
County,  the  year  before.  Here  he  was  first 
employed  at  shoveling  coal  into  locomotive 
tenders,  but  after  a  few  months  obtained  a 
transfer  to  the  Southern  Pacific  station  at 
Deming,  where  he  was  employed  for  the  next 
six  years,  first  as  janitor  and  baggageman  and 
later  as  baggage  master. 

In  1887,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  he  was 
made  station  agent  at  Lordsburg,  New  Mex- 
ico, and  during  the  next  ten  years  served  the 
Southern  Pacific  as  agent  at  various  points, 
including  Benson,  Arizona,  Reno,  Nevada,  and 
finally  at  Fresno,  California.  Fresno  was  an 
important  shipping  center.  In  addition  to  his 
regular  duties  as  agent  Mr.  Markham  was 
given  charge  of  freight  and  passenger  solicita- 
tion for  the  district.  His  record  attracted  the 
attention  of  Julius  Kruttschnitt,  general  man- 
ager of  the  road,  and  in  1897  he  was  promoted 
to  general  freight  and  passenger  agent  with 
the  Southern  Pacific  lines  in  Oregon.  In  that 
capacity  he  launched  the  campaign  to  improve 
the  dairy  herds  and  increase  the  output  of 
dairy  products  in  his  territory.  The  success 
of  this  campaign  was  one  of  the  things  that 
led  to  his  promotion  in  1901  to  assistant 
freight  traffic  manager  of  the  Southern 
Pacific. 

At  the  age  of  forty  Mr.  Markham  was 
elected  vice  president  and  general  manager  of 
the  Houston  &  Texas  Central  Railroad,  a  sub- 
sidiary of  the  Southern  Pacific.  For  the  next 
three  years  he  was  directing  head  of  the  Har- 
riman  lines  in  Texas.  His  efficient  manage- 
ment of  these  properties  won  his  advancement 
in  1904  to  vice  president  and  general  manager 
of  the  Southern  Pacific  Company.  However, 
he  soon  resigned  from  the  Southern  Pacific  to 
become  general  manager  of  the  Guffey  Petro- 
leum Company,  with  headquarters  at  Beau- 
mont, Texas.  In  1910  he  was  elected  president 
of  the  Gulf  Refining  Company,  the  Gulf  Pipe 
Line  Company  and  other  properties  of  the 
Mellon  interests  in  Texas,  Oklahoma  and 
Louisiana. 

In  the  fall  of  1910  Mr.  Markham  was  offered 
the  presidency  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
Company.  He  entered  upon  the  duties  of  this 
office  January  12,  1911.  The  following  month 
he  was  elected  president  of  the  Central  of 
Georgia  Railway  Company  and  the  Ocean 
Steamship  Company  at  Savannah,  both  sub- 
sidiaries of  the  Illinois  Central.  In  April, 
1914,    he   became    chairman    of    the    board    of 


426 


ILLINOIS 


directors  of  the  two  subsidiaries  of  the  com- 
panies. During  the  Government  control  of 
the  railways  in  1918-19  Mr.  Markham  was 
regional  director  of  the  railroads  comprising 
the  southern  region,  with  headquarters  at 
Atlanta,  from  January  1  to  June  1,  1918,  and 
regional  director  of  the  railroads  comprising 
the  Allegheny  region,  with  headquarters  at 
Philadelphia,  from  June  1,  1918,  to  October  1, 
1919.  With  the  return  of  the  railroads  to 
private  operation  in  1920,  he  resumed  his  post 
as  president  of  the  Illinois  Central  system  and 
chairman  of  the  system's  subsidiaries  in  the 
Southeast.  An  illness  in  1926  led  him  to 
relinquish  the  strenuous  duties  of  the  presi- 
dency of  the  Illinois  Central,  and  on  Septem- 
ber 15  of  that  year,  at  his  own  request,  was 
elected  chairman  of  the  board. 

Now  to  note  briefly  some  of  the  outstanding 
features  of  the  Markham  regime  of  the  Illi- 
nois Central  system.  From  1911  to  1926, 
while  he  was  president,  hundreds  of  miles  of 
tracks  were  added;  heavier  rail  was  installed; 
grades  were  reduced;  equipment  was  modern- 
ized, and  terminal  and  port  facilities  improved. 
The  Chicago  terminal  of  the  system  was  prac- 
tically reconstructed,  involving  the  electrifica- 
tion of  the  suburban  passenger  service.  The 
line  between  Edgewood,  Illinois,  and  Fulton, 
Kentucky,  reducing  the  rail  distance  between 
the  North  and  the  South  by  twenty-two  miles, 
was  put  under  construction;  the  Gulf  &  Ship 
Island  Railroad  in  Mississippi  was  acquired 
by  purchase,  and  the  Alabama  &  Vicksburg 
and  the  Vicksburg,  Shreveport  &  Pacific,  in 
Mississippi  and  Louisiana,  were  acquired  by 
lease.  Altogether,  the  Illinois  Central  system 
made  a  net  addition  to  its  property  invest- 
ment from  1911  to  1926  of  more  than  $300,- 
000,000,  a  substantial  part  of  which  was  in- 
vested in  Illinois. 

Mr.  Markham  also  won  national  prominence 
by  his  pioneering  activities  in  the  field  of  pub- 
lic relations.  In  1920  he  initiated  a  new 
policy  on  the  Illinois  Central  system  to  win 
public  favor.  Through  newspaper  advertise- 
ments, public  addresses  and  personal  contacts 
he  presented  the  public  with  the  facts  of  the 
railway  situation.  These  announcements  un- 
doubtedly contributed  in  large  measure  to  the 
education  of  the  general  public  in  its  more 
reasonable  attitude  today  toward  such  funda- 
mental factors  as  railway  earnings,  railway 
policies  and  railway  problems  in  general.  Mr. 
Markham  took  the  public  into  his  confidence, 
expressing  the  desire  to  "take  the  mystery  out 
of  railroading, "  and  a  proof  of  the  success 
of  his  publicity  was  the  fact  that  other  rail- 
way executives  emulated  his  example. 

Mr.  Markham's  progressive  management  of 
the  Illinois  Central  system  and  his  leadership 
in  the  field  of  public  relations  led  other  rail- 
roads to  seek  the  services  of  men  who  were 
associated  with  him.     It  is  noteworthy  that  in 


1930  approximately  24,000  miles  of  railroad 
in  the  United  States  were  being  operated  un- 
der the  direction  of  railway  presidents  who 
received  their  training  on  the  Illinois  Central 
system. 

Alfred  Peters  DeMero  is  a  Chicago  busi- 
ness man  who  has  put  individual  artistic  abil- 
ity into  his  work.  His  place  of  business  is  at 
6408  North  Western  Avenue.  Mr.  DeMero  is 
a  florist,  but  with  a  particular  distinction  ap- 
preciated by  the  patrons  of  his  business.  His 
shop  is  not  merely  a  place  to  buy  flowers,  but 
a  shop  where  patrons  go  and  call  for  distinc- 
tive work  of  the  floral  artist  and  floral  de- 
signer. Mr.  DeMero  has  been  official  florist 
for  hotels  and  other  public  institutions,  and 
probably  the  greater  part  of  his  time  is  taken 
up  in  special  assignments  in  arranging  floral 
designs  and  exhibits  for  social  and  other  oc- 
casions. 

Mr.  DeMero  has  had  a  career  which  testifies 
to  his  unusual  vitality  and  artistic  tempera- 
ment. He  was  born  at  Leavenworth,  Kansas, 
in  1901.  He  is  of  French  ancestry  on  both 
sides.  All  of  his  grandparents  were  born  in 
Canada  and  were  early  settlers  in  Kansas. 
His  paternal  grandfather  was  engaged  in  con- 
struction work  in  the  western  country.  Mr. 
DeMero's  father  was  a  woodcraftsman  of  note 
and  for  many  years  was  in  business  at  Leav- 
enworth. 

When  Alfred  DeMero  was  seven  years  of 
age  the  family  moved  to  Quincy,  Illinois. 
There  he  attended  public  and  parochial  schools, 
and  growing  up  next  door  to  a  greenhouse 
was  an  important  fact  in  solving  the  destiny 
of  his  life  work. 

At  the  age  of  sixteen  Mr.  DeMero  came  to 
Chicago  for  the  purpose  of  joining  the  navy. 
The  World  war  was  in  progress.  The  enlist- 
ment officer  told  him  he  was  too  young,  but 
this  did  not  thwart  his  determination.  Walk- 
ing around  the  block,  he  added  to  his  dignity 
and  manhood's  attitude,  and  at  his  second  re- 
quest stated  that  he  was  seventeen  years  of 
age  and  was  told  to  report  for  duty.  He  was 
sent  to  the  Great  Lakes  Naval  Training  Sta- 
tion, later  assigned  to  the  sub-chasers  with  the 
Atlantic  fleet  and  from  there  transferred  to 
the  mine-laying  and  sweeping  detachment  at 
the  Orkney  Islands  off  the  coast  of  England. 
This  heavy  and  dangerous  work  was  inter- 
rupted at  times  when  he  was  called  for  the 
use  of  dramatic  talents  as  an  entertainer  in 
camps.  He  took  part  in  several  amateur  pro- 
ductions and  one  of  these  amateur  perfor- 
mances was  given  before  the  King  and  Queen 
of  England.  Later  he  took  part  in  a  theatri- 
cal performance  at  Brest  before  the  troops 
sailed  for  home  after  the  armistice.  Several 
opportunities  were  presented  to  him  that  had 
they  been  accepted  might  have  turned  him 
permanently  to  a  stage  career.    After  the  war 


2<rf  tn^x 


ILLINOIS 


427 


he  appeared  in  a  vaudeville  production  at  the 
Illinois  Theater  in  Chicago.  At  a  benefit  mat- 
inee to  raise  funds  for  French  blind  soldiers 
Sarah  Bernhardt  appeared  as  the  star,  and 
Mr.  DeMero  gladly  acceeded  to  the  request 
that  he  vacate  his  dressing  room  for  this 
great  artist.  For  about  a  year  Mr.  DeMero 
was  employed  by  commercial  photographers 
posing  for  the  Arrow  Collar  ads  and  for  Hart 
Schaffner  &  Marx  clothing. 

Eventually  he  returned  to  the  business  in 
which  he  had  had  his  early  training  and  in 
1925  established  his  shop  on  Western  Avenue, 
where  he  has  specialized  in  the  creation  of 
floral  arrangements.  At  one  time  he  had 
charge  of  the  Mangel  Florist  shops  in  the 
Drake  Hotel,  and  also  worked  with  Wieland's 
at  Evanston  and  with  Fleischman's  flower 
shop. 

Mr.  DeMero  is  one  of  the  popular  citizens 
of  his  section  of  Chicago.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  North  Town  Legion,  the  Indian  Boun- 
dary Post  of  the  American  Legion,  the  Forty 
and  Eight  Society  and  Veterans  of  Foreign 
Wars,  and  was  the  first  secretary  of  the 
North  Town  Kiwanis  Club.  He  has  also  filled 
official  posts  in  the  Rogers  Park  Lions  Club. 

Edward  J.  Moroney  is  chief  of  police  of 
Highland  Park,  a  community  where  he  was 
born  and  where  his  grandfather  settled  in 
1856,  when  this  now  exclusive  North  Shore 
suburb  was  a  sparsely  settled  farming  com- 
munity. 

Edward  J.  Moroney,  whose  leadership  has 
brought  the  Highland  Park  police  force  to  a 
position  of  efficiency  where  it  is  frequently 
pointed  out  as  a  model,  was  born  in  1884,  son 
of  William  and  Annie  (Frampton)  Moroney. 
His  father  was  a  native  of  Ireland  and  was  a 
child  when  the  family  came  to  America  and 
settled  in  Lake  County,  Illinois.  The  Moron- 
eys  were  among  the  first  of  the  families  to 
settle  along  the  lake  shore  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  county  and  the  name  has  been  an 
honored  one  among  the  pioneers  of  the  locality. 

Edward  J.  Moroney  attended  grammar  and 
parochial  schools  in  Highland  Park.  As  a 
youth  he  learned  the  trade  of  electrical  line- 
man. He  was  employed  in  that  capacity  for 
several  years  by  the  Public  Service  Company 
of  Northern  Illinois.  In  1916  he  left  this 
occupation  to  join  the  police  force  of  Highland 
Park  as  a  patrolman.  His  intelligent  work 
brought  him  rapid  promotion,  and  in  1919 
he  was  appointed  chief  of  police.  His  first 
appointment  to  the  office  of  chief  was  given 
him  by  Mayor  Samuel  M.  Hastings,  one  of 
Highland  Park's  most  distinguished  citizens. 
Chief  Moroney  has  shown  a  high  degree  of 
efficiency  as  an  executive,  is  a  close  student 
of  police  discipline  and  efficiency  methods,  and 
is  now  in  charge  of  a  well  equipped  depart- 
ment, including  a  personnel  of  fourteen  men. 


His  headquarters  office  is  in  the  handsome 
new  City  Hall.  His  administration  of  the  po- 
lice department  has  been  in  every  degree  satis- 
fying to  the  residents  of  that  suburban  com- 
munity, and  Highland  Parkers  frequently  ex- 
press their  enthusiasm  and  appreciation  of  the 
local  department  for  its  superiority  over  the 
police  departments  of  other  neighboring  towns 
and  communities.  Mr.  Moroney  gives  all  his 
time  to  this  work,  and  the  department  is  his 
pride  and  his  hobby.  He  is  not  a  member  of 
any  clubs  nor  recreational  organizations,  and 
his  club  aside  from  his  office  is  his  home. 

Mr.  Moroney  married  Miss  Helen-  Carlsen. 
She  was  also  born  at  Highland  Park.  They 
have  six  children,  Ann,  Edward,  Ruth,  Em- 
mett,    Jean    and    Patrick. 

Frank  J.  Novak,  political  and  civic  leader 
in  Cicero,  has  been  an  active  business  man 
of  that  Cook  County  community  since  1916. 

Mr.  Novak,  who  ranks  high  among  profes- 
sional photographers  in  Illinois,  was  born  in 
Czecho-Slovakia,  in  1883.  He  was  seven  years 
of  age  when  his  parents  came  to  America  and 
settled  on  the  Chicago  West  Side.  Here  he 
attended  a  German  parochial  school  for  four 
years,  and  for  thre  years  was  in  the  Chicago 
public  schools.  From  early  youth  Mr.  Novak 
has  followed  a  strong  inclination  toward  ar- 
tistic and  commercial  photography.  For  sev- 
eral years  he  was  employed  in  a  piano  fac- 
tory, and  all  the  time  was  studying  and  doing 
practical  work  as  an  amateur  photographer. 
He  was  eager  to  learn  and  copy  the  methods 
of  eminent  men  in  the  profession,  and  at  the 
same  time  he  developed  a  high  degree  of  skill 
in  the  mechanical  side  of  photography.  Later 
he  took  up  the  work  as  a  permanent  profes- 
sion, and  in  1908  opened  a  studio  in  Chicago, 
at  Twenty-second  Street  and  Kedzie  Avenue. 
This  was  his  location  until  he  removed  to 
Cicero  in  1916.  His  studio  today  is  at  2212 
South  Fifty-sixth  Avenue.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Illinois  and  National  Associations  of 
Photographers. 

Since  coming  to  Cicero  Mr.  Novak  has  been 
deeply  interested  in  civic  and  political  affairs 
and  is  a  recognized  leader  of  the  Democratic 
party  in  that  metropolitan  district.  He  had 
much  to  do  with  organizing  the  party  and 
building  up  its  strength  and  influence,  and 
for  a  number  of  years  has  served  as  Demo- 
cratic county  central  committeeman.  In  1922 
he  was  Democratic  candidate  for  county  com- 
missioner, and  in  1924  for  town  assessor.  In 
1929  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Education  of  District  No.  99.  This  is  one 
of  the  most  populous  and  largely  attended 
school  districts  in  Cook  County.  Mr.  Novak  is 
secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  International  Committee  of 
the    Rotary    Clubs    and    is    affiliated    with    the 


428 


ILLINOIS 


B.  P.  O.  Elks,  Knights  of  Pythias,  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Sokol  Chicago 
Turner  Society. 

Mr.  Novak  married  in  1907,  Miss  Rose 
Zettek.  They  have  three  children:  Frank  J., 
Jr.,  in  the  automobile  business;  Harold  G.,  a 
commercial  artist;  and  Lucille,  attending 
school. 

Henry  J.  Gahagan,  M.  D.,  is  a  noted  psy- 
chiatrist and  neurologist  whose  professional 
services  have  been  broadly  extended  to  the 
public  welfare.  The  people  of  Illinois  will 
recall  with  special  gratitude  the  great  work 
he  did  as  managing  officer  of  the  Elgin  State 
Hospital,  an  institution  that  was  practically 
reorganized  and  reconstructed  in  its  system 
of  the  treatment  of  the  unfortunate  while  he 
was  in  charge. 

Doctor  Gahagan  is  proud  to  claim  Illinois 
as  his  native  state.  He  was  born  at  Grafton 
in  Jersey  County  in  1867.  His  parents,  Ber- 
nard and  Ellen  (Armstrong)  Gahagan,  were 
natives  of  Ireland,  and  when  their  son  was  ten 
years  of  age  the  family  moved  to  Chicago,  in 
1878.  Doctor  Gahagan  grew  up  in  Chicago, 
attended  public  schools  and  completed  his  med- 
ical education  at  Rush  Medical  College.  He 
was  graduated  M.  D.  in  1893.  For  nearly 
forty  years  he  has  had  a  busy  career  of  hard 
and  earnest  work.  His  first  connection  with 
the  Elgin  State  Hospital  began  during  the 
Governor  Altgeld  administration,  when  he  be- 
came an  attending  physician,  remaining  there 
four  years.  For  seventeen  years  after  resign- 
ing he  was  engaged  in  the  private  practice 
of  medicine  at  Elgin.  Early  in  1914  Governor 
Dunne  appointed  him  managing  officer  of  the 
Elgin  State  Hospital  for  mental  and  nervous 
diseases.  He  remained  nearly  four  years  and 
in  1917  returned  to  Chicago,  where  he  has 
engaged  in  private  practice  as  a  specialist  in 
psychiatry  and  neurology.  In  addition  he  is 
medical  director  of  the  Mercyville  Sanitarium 
at  Aurora,  an  institution  for  the  treatment  of 
mental  and  nervous  diseases  conducted  by  the 
Sisters  of  Mercy.  He  is  also  an  attending 
physician  and  consultant  on  the  staff  of  the 
Cook  County  Psychopathic  Hospital.  Doctor 
Gahagan  has  frequently  been  called  as  an 
expert  witness,  usually  for  the  state,  in  im- 
portant cases  in  the  local  courts.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Chicago,  Illinois  State  and 
American  Medical  Associations  and  the  Amer- 
ican Psychiatric  Association.  His  chief  recrea- 
tion from  his  vocation  is  golf  and  other  out- 
door sports.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Bartlett 
Hills  Country  Club  and  the  Midland  Club. 
Doctor  Gahagan  married  Miss  Delia  Cullen, 
of  Amboy,  Illinois.  Their  three  children  are 
Edna,  wife  of  W.  R.  Meadows,  of  Elgin;  Harry 
W.  and  Paul  H. 

Under  his  administration  as  executive  officer 
of  the  Elgin  State  Hospital  a  number  of  new 
buildings  were  erected  and  the  institution  com- 


pletely modernized.  The  grounds  were  beauti- 
fied, a  golf  course  was  established,  these  being 
material  aspects  of  an  administration  which 
introduced  everywhere  an  atmosphere  of 
cheerfulness  and  hopefulness.  His  reformation 
extended  to  the  professional  and  ethical  stand- 
ards of  the  entire  hospital  management.  In- 
stead of  an  institution  that  represented  a  rou- 
tine of  public  administration,  the  hospital 
came  to  attract  the  attention  of  experts 
throughout  the  nation.  In  order  to  bring 
about  improved  conditions  in  all  the  Illinois 
state  hospitals  Doctor  Gahagan  with  a  num- 
ber of  members  of  the  State  Board  of  Admin- 
istration made  an  official  visit  to  and  inspec- 
tion of  similar  institutions  in  Pennsylvania, 
Ohio,  New  York,  New  Jersey  and  Massachu- 
setts. The  observations  made  during  this  tour 
of  inspection  were  carefully  digested  and  em- 
bodied in  a  report  of  recommendations  and 
plans  for  practical  reform,  the  result  of  which 
has  been  a  much  higher  standard  in  all  the  in- 
stitutions for  mental  and  nervous  diseases  in 
the  state.  That  Illinois  enjoys  a  reputation  as 
being  one  of  the  foremost  states  in  the  Union 
in  looking  after  this  class  of  unfortunates  is 
due  in  no  small  measure  to  Doctor  Gahagan's 
persistent  effort  and  influence.  He  brought 
about  changes  that  made  the  operation  of  the 
hospitals  more  humane  and  helpful  in  every 
way.  Among  other  things  he  abolished  all 
physical  restraints  and  other  hard  methods  of 
treatment  which  had  no  doubt  come  down  from 
the  dark  ages.  Frequent  articles  in  the  gen- 
eral press  of  the  country  and  in  medical  mag- 
azines attested  the  good  work  accomplished  by 
his  administration  at  Elgin. 

Doctor  Gahagan  was  the  first  to  introduce 
occupational  therapy  in  the  State  Hospital  at 
Elgin,  a  system  subsequently  adopted  by  other 
similar  public  institutions  in  the  state.  He 
instituted  the  work  at  Elgin  in  1915,  a  year 
after  his  appointment,  and  two  years  before 
America  entered  the  World  war.  Designed 
primarily  as  a  means  of  improving  the  condi- 
tions of  the  patients  of  the  state,  the  work 
at  Elgin  was  a  pattern  and  an  object  of  study 
during  the  period  of  hostilities,  and  the  Elgin 
Hospital  was  selected  as  a  school  for  occupa- 
tional therapists,  in  special  training  for  serv- 
ice at  the  cantonments  and  army  hospitals. 
Methods  developed  by  Doctor  Gahagan  at 
Elgin  were  widely  copied  in  the  allied  coun- 
tries, and  have  since  become  a  standard  prac- 
tice in  such  institutions  throughout  the  world. 

It  was  in  keeping  with  his  advanced  ideas 
as  to  occupational  therapy  that  Doctor 
Gahagan  introduced  a  nine-hole  golf  course 
on  the  hospital  grounds.  It  was  the  first 
adaption  of  this  ancient  sport  as  an  adjunct 
of  curative  agencies  in  the  treatment  of  mental 
cases.  The  site  chosen  for  the  golf  course  had 
formerly  been  the  Black  Hawk  Indian  camp- 
ing grounds.  Doctor  Gahagan  received  many 
tributes  from  the  press  and  foreign  countries 


ILLINOIS 


429 


commenting  upon  this  unusual  improvement. 
Dr.  William  A.  Evans,  the  well  known  health 
authority,  and  also  the  former  golf  champion 
Chic  Evans  both  played  the  course.  Chic 
stated  that  it  was  the  most  natural  Scotch 
course  in  this  country  and  wrote  an  article 
praising  the  efforts  of  Doctor  Gahagan  for 
the  benefits  rendered  the  patients.  Doctor 
Evans  in  his  column  of  the  Tribune  wrote  of 
the  splendid  results  attained  at  Elgin  through 
this  method  of  out-door  treatment.  Various 
medical  authorities  were  enthusiastic  in  their 
opinion  as  to  the  beneficial  results  of  afford- 
ing mental  patients  in  hospitals  the  opportu- 
nity of  playing  this  game  as  a  means  to  their 
eventual  restoration. 

Burton  F.  Peek.  Commencing  his  career 
as  a  member  of  the  profession  of  law,  in  the 
practice  of  which  he  was  engaged  successfully 
for  a  period  of  thirteen  years,  Burton  F.  Peek 
has  been  identified  with  the  great  industry  of 
Deere  &  Company  at  Moline  since  1907  and 
at  present  is  the  incumbent  of  the  vice  presi- 
dency. Likewise,  he  is  connected  with  several 
other  large  enterprises  as  a  director,  and 
occupies  a  commanding  position  in  business 
and  financial  circles  and  as  a  constructive 
citizen  of  marked  public  spirit. 

Mr.  Peek  was  born  at  Colorado,  a  little 
hamlet  in  Pipe  County,  Illinois,  March  5,  1872, 
and  is  a  son  of  Henry  C.  and  Adeline  (Chase) 
Peek.  His  paternal  grandfather  was  William 
Peek,  a  native  of  Vermont,  who  was  a  pioneer 
farmer  of  Ogle  County,  Illinois,  where  he 
passed  the  greater  part  of  his  life  and  became 
a  substantial  citizen  and  the  owner  of  valuable 
agricultural  property.  The  maternal  grand- 
father of  Mr.  Peek,  Edwin  Chase,  was  born 
in  New  York,  and  some  years  after  his  mar- 
riage came  to  Illinois,  where  he  remained  dur- 
ing the  rest  of  his  life,  being  engaged  in 
farming.  He  was  reared  a  Quaker,  but  was 
excommunicated  from  the  Society  of  Friends 
because  of  his  determined  belief  that  the  war 
between  the  states  was  justified. 

Henry  C.  Peek,  father  of  Burton  F.  Peek, 
was  born  in  Vermont,  and  was  two  weeks  old 
when  brought  by  his  parents  to  Illinois,  where 
he  received  a  common  school  education  and 
was  reared  on  the  home  farm.  At  the  out- 
break of  the  war  between  the  states  he  en- 
listed in  the  Union  army,  advanced  to  the  rank 
of  captain  of  the  Fifteenth  Illinois  Volunteer 
Cavalry,  and  subsequently  was  transferred  to 
the  First  Illinois,  with  which  he  served  until 
the  close  of  the  war.  During  his  service  he 
saw  action  in  a  number  of  hard-fought  en- 
gagements and  on  one  occasion  was  slightly 
wounded.  After  the  war  he  resumed  farming 
and  continued  to  follow  that  vocation  until 
the  close  of  his  career,  becoming  a  man  of 
substance  through  industry  and  good  business 
judgment.  He  likewise  was  prominent  as  a  Re- 
publican  and  for  twelve  years   served   in  the 


capacity  of  sheriff  of  Ogle  County.  He  be- 
longed to  the  Masons  and  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic,  and  his  religious  connection  was 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Mr.  Peek 
married  Adeline  Chase,  who  was  born  in  New 
York  and  was  brought  to  Illinois  as  a  child, 
and  she  also  is  deceased.  They  became  the 
parents  of  five  children,  of  whom  three  are 
living:  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Oser,  of  Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin;  Burton  F.,  of  this  review;  and 
George,  also  of  Moline. 

Burton  F.  Peek  attended  the  public  schools 
of  Oregon,  Illinois,  and  in  1888  came  to  Mo- 
line, where  he  secured  employment  in  the 
office  of  Deere  &  Company,  remaining  three 
years.  During  this  time  he  began  the  study 
of  law  in  his  spare  hours  and  eventually  en- 
tered the  University  of  Iowa,  from  which 
institution  he  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Arts.  Later  he  enrolled  at  Harvard  Uni- 
versity and  completed  his  law  course  as  a 
member  of  the  class  of  1895,  receiving  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws.  Going  then  to 
Chicago,  he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law, 
and  for  thirteen  years  was  identified  with 
much  important  litigation,  in  the  handling  of 
which  he  won  a  substantial  reputation  as  a 
reliable,  thorough  and  energetic  attorney, 
thoroughly  grounded  in  all  branches  of  his 
calling.  During  this  time,  in  1902  and  1903, 
he  served  as  United  States  attorney  at  Chi- 
cago. During  his  law  practice  Mr.  Peek  came 
into  frequent  contact  with  large  business  in- 
terests, and  in  1907  he  was  induced  to  give 
up  his  profession  to  become  vice  president  of 
Deere  &  Company,  to  the  duties  of  which  posi- 
tion he  has  since  given  his  attention,  and  in 
the  discharge  of  which  his  great  executive 
ability  has  been  of  incalculable  value  in  ad- 
vancing the  interests  of  this  big  and  important 
industry.  While  he  gives  his  principal  atten- 
tion to  this  concern,  he  has  other  interests  and 
is  a  member  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the 
Central  Trust  Company,  of  Chicago,  and  the 
Peoples  Savings  Bank.  Mr.  Peek  is  a  Scottish 
Rite  Mason  and  a  member  of  the  Benevolent 
and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  the  University 
Club  of  Chicago,  the  Rock  Island  (Illinois) 
Arsenal  Country  Club,  the  Short  Hill  Country 
Club  and  the  Davenport  Country  Club.  Golfing 
is  his  hobby  and  he  is  accounted  one  of  the 
star  players  on  the  various  courses.  He  is  a 
Republican,  but  of  late  years  has  taken  only 
a  good  citizen's  interest  in  politics. 

In  1898  Mr.  Peek  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Alice  L.  Crawford,  who  was  born 
at  Traverse  City,  Michigan,  where  she  re- 
ceived her  early  education,  subsequently  tak- 
ing a  musical  course  at  Oberlin,  Ohio.  Mrs. 
Peek  died  May  18,  1908,  leaving  three  children, 
of  whom  two  survive:  Katherine  Mary,  who 
is  a  teacher  at  Bryn  Mawr,  Pennsylvania;  and 
Alice,  the  wife  of  Glenn  McHugh,  an  attorney, 
identified  with  the  Equitable  Life  Insurance 
Company  of  New  York  City.     On  March  30, 


430 


ILLINOIS 


1910,  Mr.  Peek  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Anita  Bell,  who  was  born  at  Columbus, 
Mississippi,  and  educated  at  Miss  Brown's 
School,  New  York  City,  and  to  this  union 
there  were  also  born  three  children,  of  whom 
two  are  living:  Eloise,  who  is  attending  Vas- 
sar  College;  and  Adeline,  also  a  student.  Mrs. 
Peek  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church  and 
active  in  its  work. 

Michael  J.  Neary,  who  achieved  both  na- 
tional and  international  fame  as  a  detective 
and  police  officer  during  his  service  in  the 
Chicago  department,  has  a  service  record  in 
business  as  well  and  has  associations  that 
have  made  him  a  familiar  figure  in  the  life  of 
his  home  city.  Mr.  Neary  for  many  years 
has  been  in  the  insurance  business,  and  he  is 
vice  president  of  the  Motorists  Association  of 
Illinois. 

He  was  born  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  grew  up  and 
received  his  high  school  education  there,  and 
soon  afterward  came  to  America  with  his  par- 
ents, locating  in  Chicago.  A  splendid  speci- 
men of  young  physical  manhood,  and  with 
qualities  that  made  him  a  natural  leader  of 
men,  and  possessed  of  unusual  intellectual 
ability,  he  was  recognized  as  an  ideal  member 
of  the  police  force  when  he  joined  the  depart- 
ment in  1906,  at  the  time  Gov.  Edward  F. 
Dunne  was  mayor.  His  skill  and  acumen  in 
capturing  criminals  led  to  his  steady  advance- 
ment in  the  Detective  Bureau,  and  many  stories 
have  been  told  in  the  press  and  around  the 
different  police  quarters  of  his  prowess  and 
skill.  He  was  often  assigned  as  an  escort  of 
celebrities  visiting  Chicago,  including  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  and  William  Howard  Taft.  He 
was  likewise  assigned  similar  duty  for  Jack 
Dempsey  when  the  heavyweight  champion  vis- 
ited Chicago.  Several  times  he  was  detailed 
to  go  abroad  and  visit  Scotland  Yard  in  effort 
to  apprehend  criminals.  A  short  trip  to  Scot- 
land Yard  in  London  was  made  in  1914  for  the 
purpose  of  bringing  back  to  this  country 
Adolph  Schmidt,  a  notorious  check  forger  of 
Chicago.  Armed  with  extradition  papers  is- 
sued by  Governor  Dunne  and  the  State  Depart- 
ment officials  at  Washington,  he  carried  out 
his  mission  successfully,  returning  with 
Schmidt  to  Chicago.  Schmidt  was  tried  and 
sent  to  the  penitentiary.  Other  trips  to 
Europe  followed,  his  repeated  entrustment 
with  such  responsibilities  indicating  his  high 
standing  in  the  Chicago  police  department. 
Once  while  in  England  he  appeared  at  hhe 
Buckingham  Palace  armed  with  a  revolver, 
and  it  was  a  matter  of  considerable  embarrass- 
ment to  him  when  he  learned  that  not  even 
the  authorized  guards  carried  firearms  in  the 
palace.  Mr.  Neary's  name  is  still  carried  on 
the  roles  of  the  Chicago  Police  Department, 
and  he  is  subject  to  call  when  needed. 

For  a  number  of  years  he  has  been  in 
the   insurance   business,   and   is   a   director   of 


the  Central  States  Insurance  Company,  at 
3254  South  Michigan  Avenue.  As  vice  presi- 
dent of  the  Motorists  Association  of  Illinois 
he  has  given  the  association  a  valuable  service 
in  the  department  for  the  recovery  of  stolen 
cars.  While  he  was  still  connected  with  the 
Detective  Bureau,  under  former  police  com- 
missioner Charles  C.  Fitzmorris,  Mr.  Neary 
located  more  than  500  automobiles  in  a  stone 
quarry  lake  near  Summit.  The  cars  had  been 
sunk  there  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  insur- 
ance. Under  Mr.  Neary's  direction  a  diver 
brought  up  the  license  plates  from  the  cars 
as  evidence  that  they  had  been  located.  Mr. 
Neary  resides  at  5307  Hyde  Park  Boulevard. 

Frank  D.  Rogers  is  a  nationally  known 
poultry  specialist.  His  business  is  now  con- 
ducted as  F.  D.  Rogers  Company,  Incorpo- 
rated, located  at  Elgin,  where  he  has  his 
business  office  at  69  North  Street  and  his 
plant  and  farm  on  a  four-acre  tract  of  ground 
within  the  city  limits.  Mr.  Rogers  has  over 
thirty  years  of  practical  experience  in  his 
field,  and  his  present  business,  established  a 
few  years  ago,  has  grown  from  a  one-man 
plant  to  one  requiring  two  score  or  more  help- 
ers  and   assistants. 

Mr.  Rogers  was  born  September  27,  1884, 
at  Berlin  in  Rensselaer  County,  New  York, 
son  of  Edwin  D.  and  Caroline  (Bonesteel) 
Rogers.  His  mother,  who  died  in  1917,  was 
a  native  of  New  York  City.  His  father  was 
born  in  Berlin,  Rensselaer  County,  New  York, 
for  many  years  was  in  business  as  a  merchant 
at  Berlin,  and  after  retiring  moved  to  Elgin, 
and  later  to  California,  where  he  died  Decem- 
ber 6,  1930.  The  Rogers  family  has  been  in 
America  for  nine  generations,  Frank  D. 
Rogers  of  Elgin  representing  the  ninth  gen- 
eration. There  is  one  other  son,  Fred  B. 
Rogers,  in  the  real  estate  business  at  Los 
Angeles. 

Frank  D.  Rogers  received  his  public  school 
education  at  Berlin,  New  York,  completing  the 
course  of  the  high  school  there.  He  has  been 
a  resident  of  Illinois  since  1909.  After  a 
number  of  years  of  experience  with  feed  com- 
panies, including  seven  years  as  sales  man- 
ager in  Illinois  for  the  Basic  Feed  Com- 
pany of  Lockport,  he  established  in  Septem- 
ber, 1926,  a  business  of  his  own,  first  known 
as  the  F.  D.  Rogers  Feed  Company,  at  Elgin. 
He  specialized  in  the  manufacture  of  poultry 
feeds  and  the  handling  of  poultry  supplies. 
His  investment  was  hardly  more  than  that 
which  would  have  represented  the  purchase  of 
a  small  home.  With  his  knowledge  and  fore- 
sight he  rapidly  broadened  his  service  until 
today  it  includes  the  handling  of  thousands 
of  baby  chicks  every  season,  together  with 
poultry  equipment,  including  the  brooders  and 
laying  houses  manufactured  at  his  plant.  He 
also  sells  a  full  line  of  Rogers  quality  feeds. 
Since  the  incorporation  of  the  business  as  the 


\ 


-■■■■*■■*■■■:■■ 


C72^  cJ^^y 


ILLINOIS 


431 


F.  D.  Rogers  Company  he  has  utilized  a  large 
mill  and  office  building  at  69  North  Street. 
Mr.  Rogers  is  president  and  general  manager 
and  Mrs.  Rogers  is  secretary  and  treasurer 
of  the  company.  There  are  forty-two  persons 
on  the  staff  of  helpers,  with  a  number  of  sales- 
men on  the  road.  It  has  not  been  unusual  for 
the  company  to  sell  in  the  spring  of  the  year 
as  many  as  24,000  chicks  in  a  single  day. 
While  these  baby  chicks  are  produced  in  one 
of  the  greatest  plants  in  the  world,  located  at 
Zeeland  in  Western  Michigan,  Mr.  Rogers  is 
also  a  practical  poultryman  himself,  owner  of 
the  Rogers  White  Leghorn  Farm,  on  four 
acres  of  ground  in  Elgin.  Since  1909  he  has 
been  an  exhibitor  at  the  Chicago  Poultry  Show 
and  other  national  shows,  and  he  is  one  of  the 
well  known  breeders  of  White  Leghorns  in 
the  country. 

Some  interesting  particulars  as  to  his  busi- 
ness and  himself  are  contained  in  the  follow- 
ing quotation  from  an  article  that  appeared 
in  the  Baby  Chick  Magazine  of  Chicago:  "As 
any  business  becomes  more  of  an  exact  science 
the  need  for  'specialists'  to  point  the  way  to 
right  methods  becomes  evident.  Frank  Rogers 
saw  the  light — even  while  he  was  selling  feed 
on  a  salary.  So  he  started  out  to  do  more 
than  'peddle  feed.'  He  had  experience  that 
was  worth  more  to  chicken  farmers  than  the 
best  feed  milled.  Rogers  has  kept  chickens 
for  over  thirty  years — as  a  serious  business. 
For  twenty-one  years  without  a  break  Rogers 
has  been  winning  with  his  White  Leghorns 
at   the   Chicago   Coliseum   Show. 

"  'A  complete  survey  and  service'  is  the  way 
Rogers  sounds  this  note  in  his  printed  matter. 
This  policy  of  helping  the  farmer  get  his  feet 
in  the  right  poultry  path  takes  a  lot  of  time 
but  whereas  in  the  old  days  it  was  a  struggle 
for  a  feed  order,  now  the  'Poultry  Engineer' 
who  gives  good  service  gets  one  large  order 
for  baby  chicks,  brooder  house  and  stove,  feeds 
for  the  year  round,  perhaps  a  permanent 
house  which  Rogers'  carpenters  will  build  from 
proved  designs,  supplies,  and,  in  fact,  'every 
poultry  need.'  Such  orders  naturally  gravi- 
tate to  the  man  who  has  knowledge  and  is 
willing  to  pass  it  along  as  a  part  of  his 
service." 

Mr.  Rogers  is  a  past  president  of  the  Na- 
tional S.  C.  White  Leghorn  Club,  a  past  presi- 
dent of  the  Elgin  Poultry  Association,  and  a 
member  of  the  American  Poultry  Association. 
He  is  affiliated  with  Monitor  Lodge  of  Masons 
and  the  First  Baptist  Church. 

The  best  ally  and  assistant  he  has  had  in  all 
his  business  career  is  Mrs.  Rogers,  who  very 
properly  occupies  the  positions  of  secretary 
and  treasurer  of  the  company.  Her  encour- 
agement and  moral  support  and  working  in- 
terest have  from  the  first  been  big  factors 
in  the  success  of  the  business.  Mr.  Rogers 
married,  October  20,  1920,  Miss  Elsie 
Schwerdtman.       She    was    born    at    Tyndall, 


South  Dakota.  They  have  three  children: 
Paul  D.,  born  July  21,  1921;  Douglas  B.,  born 
February  13,  1924;  and  Florence  C,  born  May 
19,  1929. 

Edward  Roy  Wells  is  county  surveyor  of 
Kane  County,  is  head  of  the  Wells  Engineer- 
ing Company  of  Geneva,  and  is  officially  and 
actively  identified  with  a  number  of  organiza- 
tions that  betoken  his  business  prominence  and 
his  leadership  in  the  affairs  of  this  Fox  River 
community. 

Mr.  Wells  was  born  in  Chicago,  April  3, 
1892.  He  represents  an  old  family  of  the  Fox 
River  Valley.  His  grandfather,  Charles"  B. 
Wells,  was  born  in  Massachusetts  and  came  to 
Kane  County,  Illinois,  in  the  early  1830s.  He 
was  one  of  the  pioneer  members  of  the  bar  of 
Geneva  and  during  the  Civil  war  held  the 
rank  of  major  in  the  Union  army. 

Frederick  A.  Wells  was  born  at  Geneva,  in 
1850,  grew  up  and  attended  school  there,  lived 
for  a  few  years  in  Chicago,  and  in  1896,  when 
his-  son  Roy  was  four  years  of  age,  returned 
to  Geneva,  where  for  a  number  of  years  he 
was  connected  with  the  manufacturing  busi- 
ness. He  died  in  1928.  Frederick  A.  Wells 
married  Maud  M.  Martin,  who  was  born  in 
New  York  State  and  was  reared  in  Illinois. 
She  died  in  1929.  Of  her  five  children  E.  Roy 
is  the  youngest,  and  the  only  other  survivor 
is  a  daughter,  Maude  A.  Peters. 

E.  Roy  Wells  grew  up  in  Geneva,  was  grad- 
uated from  the  high  school  in  1910,  and  in 
1914  took  the  civil  engineering  degree  at  the 
University  of  Illinois.  In  his  profession  he 
has  gained  distinction  as  an  authority  and 
expert  on  sanitary  and  municipal  engineering, 
and  in  that  field  is  widely  known  throughout 
Northern  Illinois.  In  1914,  on  graduating 
from  university,  he  joined  his  brother,  the 
late  Harry  L.  Wells,  in  organizing  the  Wells 
Engineering  Company.  Harry  L.  Wells  had 
practiced  as  an  engineer  at  Geneva  since 
1908.  In  1912  he  became  county  surveyor  of 
Kane  County  and  held  that  office  until  his 
death  in  1918. 

E.  Roy  Wells  since  the  death  of  his  brother 
has  been  county  surveyor  and  had  been  deputy 
county  surveyor  during  the  four  years  1914- 
18.  But  most  of  his  professional  work  is 
rendered  through  the  Wells  Engineering  Com- 
pany, in  which  his  partner  since  1919  has 
been  Mr.  Clifford  A.  Ashley  of  Wheaton.  The 
company  maintains  offices  both  at  Geneva  and 
Aurora.  They  have  handled  work  as  consult- 
ing, construction  and  supervising  engineers 
for  waterworks,  sewerage  and  sewage  treat- 
ment, all  kinds  of  pavement  and  other  munici- 
pal improvements  in  many  communities  of 
Northern  Illinois,  and  they  also  do  a  large 
business  as  land  surveyors. 

In  addition  to  these  interests  Mr.  Wells  is 
a  director  of  the  Geneva  Building  &  Loan 
Association,  is  president  of  the  Geneva  Lum- 


432 


ILLINOIS 


ber  &  Coal  Company,  vice  president  of  the 
Geneva  Lumber  &  Builders  Supply  Company 
and  vice  president  of  the  Community  Shoe 
Store  of  Geneva.  He  is  president  of  the  Board 
of  Education  of  the  Geneva  Community  High 
School  District  and  also  president  of  the 
Board  of  Education  of  the  Geneva  Grade 
Schools.  His  home  is  "Pine  Crest,"  located 
on  a  beautiful  fifteen  acre  tract  of  ground  at 
the  west  end  of  State  Street  in  Geneva.  Mr. 
Wells  is  a  member  of  the  St.  Charles  Country 
Club,  the  Medinah  Country  Club,  and  Geneva 
Gun  Club,  belongs  to  the  Illinois  Society  of 
Engineers,  the  Western  Society  of  Engineers, 
the  Society  of  American  Military  Engineers, 
is  a  thirty-second  degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason 
and  Shriner,  and  a  member  of  the  Loyal  Order 
of  Moose  and  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks. 

He  married,  September  25,  1915,  Miss  Mary 
Elizabeth  Shewalter.  She  was  born  at  St. 
Joseph,  Illinois,  daughter  of  the  late  Clarence 
W.  Shewalter.  Her  mother  lives  in  Geneva. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wells  have  two  children:  Helen 
Jane,  born  September  16,  1918,  and  Margaret 
Ruth,  born  February  4,  1923. 

Herman  Henry  Kohlsaat.  Chicagoans 
who  were  reading  and  thinking  citizens  in  the 
last  years  of  the  preceding  century  and  the 
early  years  of  the  present  pay  tribute  of  re- 
spect to  H.  H.  Kohlsaat  every  time  they  think 
of  the  old  Re  cor  duller  aid  and  the  Evening 
Post,  two  wonderful  newspapers  which  seem 
to  reflect  some  of  the  good  taste  in  make-up 
and  content  and  editorial  tone  of  the  man  who 
turned  from  the  conduct  of  what  was  then 
regarded  as  a  large-scale  business  to  direct- 
ing the  editorial  policy  of  these  two  papers. 

Herman  Henry  Kohlsaat  was  a  native  of 
Illinois.  He  was  born  at  Albion  in  Edwards 
County,  March  22,  1853,  and  died  October  27, 
1924.  He  was  a  son  of  Reimer  and  Sarah 
(Hall)  Kohlsaat.  His  father  had  been  an 
officer  in  the  Danish  army.  He  settled  in  Illi- 
nois in  1835,  and  here  he  met  and  married 
Sarah  Hall,  who  came  from  County  Surrey, 
England,  in  1820.  H.  H.  Kohlsaat  was  a 
younger  brother  of  the  late  Judge  C.  C.  Kohl- 
saat, one  of  Chicago's  ablest  lawyers  and 
jurists.  In  1854  the  Kohlsaat  family  moved 
from  Southern  Illinois  to  Galena,  and  about 
1865  the  family  came  to  Chicago.  At  that 
time  H.  H.  Kohlsaat  was  twelve  years  of  age. 
He  had  attended  school  in  Galena,  and  in  Chi- 
cago was  a  pupil  in  the  Scammon  and  Skinner 
schools.  In  1868,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  he  be- 
came a  cash  boy  for  Carson,  Pirie  &  Company, 
and  subsequently  for  two  years  was  a  cashier 
with  that  firm.  For  a  time  he  was  on  the  road 
as  a  traveling  salesman,  and  in  1875  repre- 
sented on  the  road  the  wholesale  baking  house 
of  Blake,  Shaw  &  Company.  In  1880  he  had 
reached  a  junior  partnership  in  this  firm,  and 
in  April  of  that  year  he  established  a  small 
business  lunch  counter  in  connection  with  the 


bakery.  In  1883  he  bought  that  branch  of 
the  business,  and  this  was  the  beginning  of 
the  H.  H.  Kohlsaat  &  Company,  which  for 
about  thirty  years  operated  one  of  the  largest 
baking  establishments  in  the  city  and  con- 
ducted in  connection  therewith  a  chain  of 
Kohlsaat  restaurants  that  during  lunch  hours 
drew  their  patronage  by  the  tens  of  thousands 
from  the  business  offices  of  the  entire  loop 
district.  In  1884,  when  Chicago  was  a  rela- 
tively small  city,  and  before  the  era  of  "big 
business"  had  arrived,  it  was  the  pride  of  the 
Kohlsaat  Company  that  the  restaurants  served 
a  daily  average  of  2,800  patrons. 

Having  established  and  built  up  a  success- 
ful business,  Mr.  Kohlsaat  found  time  in  sub- 
sequent years  to  follow  the  inclinations  of 
his  taste  for  journalism  and  politics.  In  poli- 
tics he  was  never  a  seeker  for  office,  but  an 
adviser  and  counselor  to  many  prominent  fig- 
ures in  public  life  both  in  the  state  and  nation. 
As  a  boy  it  is  said  that  he  carried  and  deliv- 
ered a  route  for  the  Chicago  Tribune.  In 
1891  he  acquired  an  interest  in  what  was  then 
the  most  influential  Republican  newspaper  in 
the  Middle  West,  the  old  Chicago  Inter-Ocean. 
In  1894  he  launched  himself  in  a  more  inde- 
pendent manner  in  the  publishing  business, 
becoming  editor  and  publisher  of  the  Chicago 
Times-Herald.  He  continued  to  be  interested 
in  this  newspaper  after  it  was  consolidated 
with  the  Chicago  Record  in  1901,  becoming  the 
Record-Herald.  From  1894  to  1901  he  was  also 
the  editor  and  publisher  of  the  Chicago  Eve- 
ning Post.  Mr.  Kohlsaat  was  editor  of  the 
Chicago  Record-Herald  from  1910  to  1912,  and 
in  1913  returned  to  the  Chicago  Inter-Ocean 
as  editor.  Mr.  Kohlsaat  was  a  delegate  to  the 
Republican  National  Convention  of  1896,  and 
until  his  declining  years  his  advice  was  con- 
stantly sought  by  Republican  leaders.  Some 
of  his  boyhood  days  had  been  spent  in  the 
city  in  Northwestern  Illinois  which  was  the 
home  of  General  Grant  before  he  came  out  of 
obscurity  into  the  blazing  light  of  world-wide 
fame.  Mr.  Kohlsaat  was  a  great  admirer  of 
General  Grant  and  he  presented  the  statue  of 
this  great  military  figure  which  stands  in  the 
park  along  the  river  front  in  Galena. 

Mr.  Kohlsaat  married,  March  4,  1880,  Miss 
Mabel  E.  Blake,  daughter  of  E.  Nelson  Blake. 
They  had  two  daughters:  Pauline,  Mrs.  Potter 
Palmer,  Jr.;  and  Catherine,  Mrs.  Roger 
Sheppard. 

Joseph  Arthur,  who  was  a  soldier  in  the 
Civil  war,  spent  most  of  his  active  life  in 
Macon  County,  Illinois,  where  he  gained  a  rec- 
ord as  a  successful  farmer  and  always  a  citi- 
zen who  had  a  high  sense  of  duty  to  both  his 
family  and  the  community. 

He  was  born  near  Springfield,  Ohio,  son  of 
Joseph  and  Nancy  (Albin)  Arthur.  The  Ar- 
thur family  was  of  Scotch-Irish  ancestry,  were 
early   settlers   in   Pennsylvania,   and   were   of 


ILLINOIS 


433 


Revolutionary  stock.  Joseph  Arthur  served 
with  an  Ohio  regiment  in  the  Civil  war,  being 
in  the  company  commanded  by  Capt.  Rufus  B. 
King  and  under  Gen.  Warren  B.  Kiefer,  who 
later  became  a  speaker  in  the  National  House 
of  Representatives.  He  was  in  an  Ohio  bat- 
tery of  artillery.  He  and  his  comrade,  Amos 
Marshall,  were  specially  commended  by  Gen- 
eral Grant  during  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  when 
with  their  cannon  they  shot  down  a  Confed- 
erate flag  flying  over  the  fortress  at  Vicks- 
burg. Joseph  Arthur  after  the  war  kept  up 
his  associations  with  old-time  comrades,  in  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and  in  the  Union 
Veteran  Legion.  He  came  to  Illinois  after 
the  war  and  followed  farming  in  Macon 
County  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  and  his  wife 
are  buried  in  Fair  Lawn  Cemetery.  Joseph 
Arthur  married  Malinda  Clover,  daughter  of 
Benjamin  and  Mary  Anna  (Carson)  Clover. 
She  was  a  school  teacher  before  her  marriage. 
There  were  five  children:  Delia,  wife  of  Wil- 
liam Hedgus,  of  Chicago,  and  mother  of  three 
children,  named  Catherine,  Margaret  and 
Josephine;  Celia;  John  J.,  of  Decatur;  Hil- 
dreth;  and  Howard.  The  daughters  Celia  and 
Hildreth  live  in  Decatur,  from  which  city  they 
supervise  their  farming  interests.  Both  of 
them  were  educated  in  Macon  County. 

Lambert  K.  Hayes  is  a  native  Chicagoan,  a 
member  of  the  bar  since  1920,  and  in  1932 
came  into  more  general  prominence  when  he 
was  nominated  in  the  April  primaries  for 
judge  of  the  Municipal  Court.  In  his  cam- 
paign he  received  the  endorsement  of  the  regu- 
lar Democratic  organization.  The  committee 
of  the  Chicago  Bar  Association  also  strongly 
endorsed  him  and  paid  special  tribute  to  his 
reliability  and  qualifications  for  service  on  the 
bench. 

Mr.  Hayes  was  born  in  Chicago  September 
2,  1892,  son  of  Dr.  Patrick  B.  and  Julia 
(Kevil)  Hayes.  His  mother  is  a  sister  of 
Mrs.  Robert  M.  Sweitzer,  wife  of  the  clerk  of 
the  County  Court  and  one  of  the  most 
thoroughly  popular  public  men  Chicago  has 
ever  had.  Doctor  Hayes  was  a  prominent 
physician  of  Chicago,  practicing  for  many 
years  on  the  West  Side.     He  died  in  1928. 

Lambert  K.  Hayes  was  educated  in  the  pub- 
lic grammar  schools,  and  is  a  loyal  alumnus 
of  old  St.  Ignatius  College,  having  attended 
that  splendid  school  when  it  was  conducted  at 
its  original  location  on  Roosevelt  Road.  He 
graduated  with  the  degree  Bachelor  of  Phi- 
losophy in  1915.  He  studied  law  at  Loyola 
University,  taking  his  LL.  B.  degree  in  1920. 

In  the  meantime  his  career  as  a  student  had 
been  interrupted  by  his  service  in  the  World 
war.  In  1917  he  enlisted  in  the  United  States 
Navy,  serving  in  the  Naval  Officers  Training 
School  at  the  Navy  Pier,  where  he  was  com- 
missioned ensign  in  1918.     He  was  assigned  to 


transport  duty  on  the  U.  S.  S.  Santa  Olivia, 
and  in  that  capacity  took  part  in  the  return 
of  the  American  troops  from  Europe  after  the 
armistice  and  during  a  part  of  1919.  He  was 
honorably  discharged  in  August,  1919. 

Mr.  Hayes  has  his  law  offices  at  No.  1  La- 
Salle  Street.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
Bar  Association  and  the  Hildebrand  Council, 
Knights  of  Columbus.  In  November,  1923,  he 
married  Marie  (O'Connor)  Walsh,  of  Chicago. 

Edward  Henson  Taylor,  who  was  assistant 
attorney  general  of  Illinois  during  the  World 
war  period,  is  a  Chicago  attorney  with  offices 
at  140  North  Dearborn  Street.  Mr.  Taylor  is 
a  man  of  thorough  education  and  of  wide  and 
successful  experience  in  the  legal  field. 

He  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Douglas  County, 
Illinois,  September  25,  1867,  and  represents 
pioneer  American  ancestry.  His  great-grand- 
father, George  Taylor,  was  a  Virginian  and  a 
soldier  of  the  Revolution  who  fought  through 
the  seven  years  in  the  struggle  for  independ- 
ence. He  was  one  of  those  who  took  advantage 
of  George  Washington's  foresight  in  providing 
land  for  Revolutionary  veterans  in  the  Vir- 
ginia grant  in  Ohio.  He  settled  on  his  grant 
in  Pike  County,  that  state,  soon  after  the  close 
of  the  Revolution.  The  grandfather  of  this 
Chicago  attorney  was  William  Taylor,  who 
came  from  Ohio  to  Illinois  during  the  adminis- 
tration of  Martin  Van  Buren  and  purchased 
Government  land  in  Douglas  and  Piatt  coun- 
ties. While  he  did  not  settle  on  these  lands 
himself,  his  son  Abram  B.  Taylor  took  advan- 
tage of  the  ownership  to  acquire  a  home  and 
farm  in  Douglas  County.  Abraham  B.  Taylor 
was  the  father  of  Edward  H.  Taylor,  whose 
birth  occurred  on  a  farm  acquired  by  the 
family  in  pioneer  days. 

Mr.  Taylor's  parents  were  Abraham  Bon- 
nett  and  Nancy  Jane  (Gill)  Taylor.  His 
mother  was  also  descended  from  early  Virginia 
ancestors.  Her  grandfather,  Reuben  Gill,  was 
a  Revolutionary  soldier  from  Virginia,  and  a 
son  of  Edward  Gill,  of  Westmoreland  County, 
that  state.  Reuben  Gill  and  his  family  were 
associated  with  the  pioneers  who  under  the 
leadership  of  Daniel  Boone  settled  in  Ken- 
tucky. The  Gill  descendants  have  lived  in  the 
Blue  Grass  region  of  that  state  since  about 
the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war.  Nancy 
Jane  Gill  was  a  daughter  of  Edward  Gill. 

Edward  Henson  Taylor  acquired  his  early 
education  in  the  common  schools  of  Douglas 
County,  attended  high  school  at  Tuscola  and 
completed  his  literary  and  legal  education  in 
Northwestern  University  at  Chicago.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar  in  1893,  and  has 
had  forty  years  of  consecutive  experience  as 
a  lawyer.  He  has  practiced  in  Chicago  since 
1893.  In  1904  he  became  a  member  of  the  law 
firm  of  Garrison  &  Taylor,  an  association  con- 
tinued  until    1906.      In  that   year   he   became 


434 


ILLINOIS 


assistant  state's  attorney  of  Cook  County, 
serving  until  1911,  when  he  resumed  private 
practice.  In  1917  he  was  appointed  assistant 
attorney  general  during  the  Governor  Lowden 
administration.  He  was  assigned  to  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  Blue  Sky  Laws  of  Illinois 
and  rendered  valuable  assistance  in  the  formu- 
lation of  those  laws  and  their  presentation  to 
the  Legislature  for  enactment.  During  the 
World  war  period  he  was  a  member  of  one  of 
the  prominent  committees  of  the  State  Council 
of  Defense. 

From  1920  to  1929  Mr.  Taylor  was  assistant 
state's  attorney  of  Cook  County,  but  is  now 
engaged  in  a  private  law  practice.  Mr.  Tay- 
lors' views  on  the  heavy  cost  of  real  estate 
foreclosures  and  receiverships  were  extensively 
quoted  in  the  recent  issue  of  the  Chicago  Trib- 
une. In  the  interview  Mr.  Taylor  made  some 
definite  proposals  for  the  adoption  by  Illinois 
of  the  system  prevailing  in  the  State  of  Colo- 
rado and  which  it  was  believed  would  eliminate 
many  of  the  fees  for  lawyers,  masters,  receiv- 
ers incidental  to  foreclosure  proceedings  which 
have  bulked  so  large  in  the  current  history  of 
real  estate  records  in  Cook  County.  Instead 
of  the  opportunities  presented  by  the  Illinois 
procedure  opening  the  way  for  appointment 
of  receivers  for  foreclosed  properties,  with  the 
heavy  expense  involved,  Mr.  Taylor  suggested 
the  Colorado  system  of  a  public  trustee  ad- 
ministering these  duties.  Such  public  trustee, 
as  Mr.  Taylor  explained,  "releases  all  mort- 
gages that  are  paid  and  releases  the  trust  deed 
or  mortgage  of  record.  When  a  default  occurs 
in  the  payment  of  any  of  the  notes  for  which 
the  trust  deed  or  mortgage  is  given,  the  public 
trustee  forecloses  after  notice  given  to  all 
parties  concerned  of  record,  taking  himself 
the  necessary  testimony  connected  with  such 
defaults  and  condition  of  title,  and  issuing  the 
necessary  certificates  and  deeds  to  the  pur- 
chasers under  a  sale  conducted  by  him.  He 
charges  for  such  services  a  nominal  sum  fixed 
by  statute.  Such  fees  go  to  the  public  treas- 
urer and  provide  for  the  supervision  and  man- 
agement of  the  real  estate  pledged  in  the  trust 
deed  during  the  time  of  foreclosure  and  until 
the  purchaser  is  placed  in  possession  of  the 
property  foreclosed  or  redeemed  by  the  owner. 
I  believe  this  method  of  conducting  such  pro- 
ceedings would  obviate  the  necessity  for  the 
appointment  of  expensive  masters  in  chancery 
and  receivers'  and  attorneys'  fees  incident  to 
the  foreclosures  as  now  conducted  in  this 
state.  The  public  trustee,  being  under  bond  to 
the  faithful  performance  of  his  duty  as  such, 
is  liable  for  the  mismanagement  of  the  prop- 
erty, and  this  situation  would  be  of  great  re- 
lief, not  only  to  the  mortgagor,  but  to  the 
mortgagee." 

Mr.  Taylor  is  prominent  in  Masonry,  being 
a  thirty-second  degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and 
Shriner,  member  of  the  Medinah  Athletic  and 
Medinah    Country    Clubs,    is    editor    of    The 


Scimitar,  and  was  vice  president  of  the  club 
at  the  time  of  the  erection  of  the  beautiful 
building  of  the  Medinah  Athletic  Club  on 
North  Michigan  Avenue.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Illinois  State  and  American  Bar  Associa- 
tions, a  Republican  in  politics,  and  an  Odd 
Fellow. 

Mr.  Taylor  married,  September  24,  1902, 
Miss  Helen  H.  Hebel,  of  Chicago.  They  have 
three  children,  Edward  L.,  Paul  H.  and  Ruth. 

George  T.  Jennings.  The  Jennings  family, 
whose  history  has  been  closely  interwoven 
with  the  City  of  Chicago  since  its  early  pioneer 
days,  have  a  historic  background  in  America. 
The  American  progenitor  was  John  Jennings, 
who  came  to  this  country  from  England  about 
1720  and  located  in  Massachusetts.  The 
descendants,  during  all  the  subsequent  genera- 
tions, have  been  leaders  in  business  and  in- 
dustry and  have  consistently  maintained  the 
best   traditions   of  their   race. 

The  direct  ancestor  of  the  Chicago  branch 
of  the  family  was  Samuel  Jennings,  who  was 
born  at  Bethlehem,  New  York,  in  1779,  lived 
for  some  years  in  Vermont  and  in  1820  moved 
to  Lockport,  New  York,  where  he  built  the 
first  frame  house,  known  as  the  Lockport 
Hotel.  Two  of  the  sons  of  Samuel  Jennings, 
Samuel  Harris  Jennings,  Sr.,  and  John  Drake 
Jennings,  became  conspicuous  in  the  early  com- 
mercial life  of  Chicago.  Both  sons  were  born 
in  Rutland  County,  Vermont.  Samuel  Harris 
Jennings,  Sr.,  about  1835  moved  west  and 
established  a  business  at  Niles  in  Cass  County, 
Michigan.  Niles  was  one  of  several  towns 
around  the  southeastern  portion  of  Lake  Mich- 
igan which  were  then  equal  competitors  with 
Chicago  for  the  commerce  of  this  region. 
There  were  no  railroads  for  a  dozen  years 
after  that,  and  Niles,  located  on  the  main 
highway  from  Detroit  and  also  with  water 
transportation  by  the  St.  Joseph  River,  had 
many  advantages  for  sharing  in  the  com- 
merce between  the  East  and  the  West.  In 
1837  came  the  panic,  due  to  a  general  collapse 
of  the  extensive  speculative  schemes  and  in- 
ternal improvement  undertakings  throughout 
the  nation.  John  Drake  Jennings  had  been 
in  business  in  New  York  City,  and  on  July  1, 
1837,  arrived  at  Chicago  with  a  stock  of  goods, 
intending  to  set  up  in  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness. Chicago  was  already  in  the  grip  of  the 
depression,  and  accordingly  he  transferred  his 
merchandise  to  Niles  and  joined  his  brother 
in  conducting  a  general  business,  involving 
also  the  use  of  river  and  lake  boats  for  the 
transportation  of  produce  between  Niles  and 
Chicago  and  thence  east.  John  Drake  Jennings 
began  investing  in  Chicago  real  estate  in  1837 
and  fifty  years  later  he  was  rated  as  one  of 
the  oldest  as  well  as  one  of  the  largest  tax 
payers  in  the  city.  John  Drake  Jennings 
moved  his  family  to  Chicago  in  1843,  and  his 
brother,  Samuel  Harris,  moved  from  Niles  to 


ILLINOIS 


435 


Chicago  two  or  three  years  later.  The  Jen- 
nings brothers  were  pioneers  in  extending  the 
commercial  limits  of  the  downtown  business 
district.  When  John  D.  Jennings  in  1843 
erected  the  first  store  on  Lake  Street  east  of 
State  Street,  at  what  was  long  known  as  56 
Lake  Street,  his  act  brought  down  upon  him 
general  condemnation  because  he  had  thus  in- 
vaded a  strictly  residential  section.  When 
Samuel  Harris  Jennings,  Sr.,  moved  to  Chi- 
cago he  built  a  home  at  the  corner  of  Wabash 
and  Adams  streets.  Besides  his  partnership 
with  his  brother  in  the  commission  business 
on  Lake  Street,  Samuel  Harris  Jennings,  Sr., 
served  as  a  Government  gauger  and  was  a 
leader  in  many  civic  activities.  Both  the 
Jennings  brothers  laid  the  basis  of  their 
fortune  largely  in  Chicago  real  estate. 

Samuel  Harris  Jennings,  Jr.,  was  born  at 
Niles,  Michigan,  but  was  reared  in  Chicago, 
living  during  some  of  his  childhood  years  with 
the  family  in  the  old  Tremont  Hotel  and  after- 
wards in  the  Jennings  home  at  Wabash  and 
Adams  streets.  He  grew  up  in  his  father's 
business  and  after  the  Jennings  Commission 
House  was  discontinued  he  entered  railroad- 
ing as  a  passenger  traffic  official.  As  such  he 
was  located  at  different  times  in  St.  Louis  and 
in  Texas,  finally  becoming  northern  passenger 
agent  for  the  St.  Louis  &  San  Francisco  Rail- 
road in  Chicago.  About  1890  he  established 
a  home  in  Hyde  Park,  on  what  is  now  Ken- 
wood Avenue,  between  Fifty-fifth  and  Fifty- 
sixth  streets,  having  previously  lived  on  the 
North  Side,  at  555  East  Division  Street,  near 
the  lake  front.  Samuel  Harris  Jennings,  Jr., 
married  Sarah  Thornton.  She  was  born  in 
Dodge  County,  Wisconsin,  member  of  a  prom- 
inent family  of  that  name,  particularly  known 
as  horse  breeders  and  founders  of  the  famous 
Thornton  strain  of  horses. 

A  representative  of  the  third  generation  of 
the  Jennings  family,  which  has  now  been 
identified  with  Chicago  history  for  ninety-five 
years,  is  Mr.  George  T.  Jennings,  an  engineer 
by  profession,  and  a  man  with  broad  and  in- 
teresting contacts  in  business  and  civic  affairs. 
He  was  born  May  5,  1889,  while  his  parents 
lived  at  their  East  Division  Street  home  on 
the  North  Side.  He  attended  the  public  schools 
in  Hyde  Park,  graduating  from  the  Hyde  Park 
High  School  in  1907.  He  studied  engineering 
at  the  University  of  Illinois,  following  which 
for  about  seven  years  he  was  with  the  en- 
gineering department  of  the  Chicago,  Milwau- 
kee &  St.  Paul  Railroad.  Later  he  was  associ- 
ated with  the  Brennan  Construction  Company 
of  Chicago.  During  the  World  war  period 
Mr.  Jennings  was  an  engineer  with  the  United 
States  Shipping  Board,  of  which  another  Chi- 
cagoan,  Mr.  Edward  N.  Hurley,  was  chairman. 
His  duties  took  him  to  Philadelphia  and  other 
eastern  seaboard  points,  and  at  the  close  of 
the  war  he  was  appointed  engineer  in  charge 
of   appraisals   for   the    Great    Lakes    District. 


For  a  number  of  years  Mr.  Jennings  has  been 
associated  with  the  firm  of  Cooper,  Kanaley 
&  Company,  one  of  Chicago's  prominent  finan- 
cial houses. 

His  home  since  November,  1919,  has  been  in 
Glen  Ellyn,  DuPage  County.  In  April,  1931, 
his  home  town  honored  him  by  election  as 
president  of  the  village  Board  of  Trustees. 
This  is  an  office  without  profit,  but  an  oppor- 
tunity for  the  exercise  of  the  disinterested 
purpose  and  business  ability  of  the  incumbent. 
The  supporters  of  Mr.  Jennings  at  the  election 
have  felt  repaid  by  the  common  sense,  busi- 
nesslike and  economical  administration  he  has 
given  to  village  affairs.  The  office  has  also 
afforded  him  the  opportunity  for  expressing 
and  developing  some  of  his  ideas  in  modern 
municipal  government,  particularly  those  in- 
volving public  improvement,  zoning,  taxation. 
As  president  of  the  village  board  he  is  also 
president  of  the  Board  of  Local  Improvements, 
and  in  spite  of  the  necessity  for  keeping  public 
expenditures  within  the  limits  of  decreasing 
revenues  his  administration  has  been  a  con- 
structive one  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term. 

Mr.  Jennings  married  Miss  Irma  Martin,  of 
Chicago.  Their  four  children  are  Barbara, 
Caryl,  Judith  and  George,  Jr. 

Stephen  A.  Day.  A  leading  member  of 
the  Chicago  bar,  Stephen  A.  Day  is  also  one 
of  the  outstanding  figures  of  the  country  in 
the  support  of  the  liberty  of  the  people.  As 
an  attorney  he  has  come  into  contact  with 
prominent  men  throughout  the  United  States, 
and  his  experiences  have  led  him  to  a  con- 
clusion that  the  rights  of  the  citizens  are 
being  set  aside  by  fanatics  and  demagogues, 
which  led  him,  in  1930,  to  become  the  founder 
of  the  Lincoln  American  Liberty  League,  of 
which  he  is  the  president. 

Mr.  Day  was  born  at  Canton,  Ohio.  July  13, 
1882,  and  is  a  son  of  Justice  William  Rufus 
and  Mary  Elizabeth  (Schaefer)  Day,  and  a 
descendant  of  Anthony  Day,  who  was  a  resi- 
dent of  Gloucester,  Massachusetts,  in  1635. 
His  father,  now  deceased,  was  secretary  of 
state  in  the  cabinet  of  President  McKinley, 
and  later  was  a  justice  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court.  Stephen  A.  Day  attended 
the  University  School,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and 
the  Asheville  (North  Carolina)  School,  and 
received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  from 
the  University  of  Michigan  as  a  member  of 
the  class  of  1905.  From  1905  until  1907  he 
served  as  private  secretary  to  Chief  Justice 
Melville  W.  Fuller  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  and  in  1907  was  admitted 
to  the  Ohio  bar  and  commenced  practice  at 
Cleveland.  In  1908  he  came  to  Chicago,  where 
he  was  associated  with  the  law  firm  of  Pam, 
Hurd  &  Day  until  1912,  and  from  1912  until 
1914  was  engaged  in  practice  alone.  On  May 
1,  1914,  he  joined  Judge  Peter  S.  Grosscup  in 
a  partnership  that  continued  until  September, 


436 


ILLINOIS 


1920,  since  which  time  he  has  been  engaged 
in  practice  alone,  devoting  special  attention 
to  federal  court  matters  and  corporation,  or- 
ganization and  reorganization.  He  is  counsel 
for  numerous  large  companies,  and  is  secre- 
tary, a  director  and  general  counsel  for  Dawes 
Brothers,  Inc.  In  addition  to  his  Chicago 
office,  at  111  West  Washington  Street,  Mr. 
Day  maintains  an  office  at  Washington,  D.  C, 
where  he  practices  before  the  Supreme  Court, 
the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  etc.  Mr.  Day 
is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Bar  Association, 
the  Illinois  State  Bar  Association  and  the 
American  Bar  Association.  A  stanch  Re- 
publican in  politics,  he  was  candidate  for 
Illinois  congressman-at-large  in  1920  and  for 
attorney-general  of  Illinois  in  1924.  He  was 
the  founder  of  the  League  for  Industrial  Jus- 
tice, and  is  a  member  of  the  Psi  Upsilon  fra- 
ternity, the  Union  League  Club  and  the  Ham- 
ilton Club.  In  1917  he  revised  and  annotated 
Appellate  Jurisdiction  and  Procedure  in  All 
Courts  of  the  United  States.  His  recreations 
are  golf  and  hunting,  and  his  charming  home 
is  situated  at  2242  Ridge  Avenue,  Evanston. 
Mr.  Day  is  at  present  greatly  interested  in 
the  Lincoln-American  League,  which  he  or- 
ganized in  May,  1930,  and  of  which  he  is 
president.  He  is  firmly  convinced  that  the 
enactment  of  the  Eighteenth  Amendment  to 
the  Constitution  in  1919  was  in  itself  uncon- 
stitutional, that  the  methods  of  its  enforce- 
ment are  tyrannical,  that  it  violates  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and 
the  ideas  of  the  Rights  of  Man  as  set  forth 
by  Jefferson,  is  entirely  subversive  of  Demo- 
cratic government  through  minority  domina- 
tion, and  that  unless  a  halt  is  called  upon  such 
domination  the  end  will  be  disastrous  to  this 
Government.  The  purposes  of  the  league  are 
as  follows:  To  restore  liberty  to  the  people 
by  repeal  of  Volsteadism;  to  oppose  the  dicta- 
tion of  the  Anti-Saloon  League;  to  fight  cor- 
ruption in  every  form;  to  fight  intolerance; 
against  socialism  and  communism.  Headquar- 
ters of  the  league  are  at  188  West  Randolph 
Street,  Chicago.  In  an  interview  at  the  time 
of  the  formation  of  the  league  Mr.  Day  said 
in  part:  "We  are  suffering  today  under  the 
narrow-minded  rule  of  a  successfully  organ- 
ized minority.  This  powerful  network,  a 
product  of  the  World  war,  is  founded  upon 
the  Anti-Saloon  League,  the  Ku  Klux  Klan 
and  the  Federal  Council  of  Churches  in 
America,  controlling  the  votes  of  millions.  This 
autocratic  combination  is  allied  with  the  forces 
of  intolerance,  including  the  Democratic  party 
in  the  South  and  numerous  pacifist  organiza- 
tions, many  of  which  are  frankly  communistic 
in  their  appeal.  This  dominant  minority  is 
temporarily  in  control  of  the  Republican 
party  and  a  large  part  of  the  Democratic 
party.  It  has  unlimited  millions  at  its  dis- 
posal. In  Illinois  it  is  impossible  to  win  a 
nomination   in   the   Republican   party   without 


the  consent  and  approval  of  the  Anti-Saloon 
League  and  the  Ku  Klux  Klan.  This  sad  state 
of  affairs  exists  despite  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  guaranteeing  religious  lib- 
erty to  all.  It  cruelly  repudiates  the  ideals 
of  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Abraham  Lincoln. 
We  have,  therefore,  decided  to  build  an  organ- 
ization to  fight  this  curse  in  a  land  of  free 
people." 

On  November  14,  1905,  Mr.  Day  was  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Mary  Thayer,  of  Can- 
ton, Ohio,  and  to  this  union  there  have  been 
born  five  children:  Mary,  Elizabeth,  Helen, 
Stephanie  and  Stephen  A.,  Jr. 

Robert  Clarke,  D.  0.,  one  of  the  outstand- 
ing osteopathic  physicians  and  surgeons  in 
Chicago,  was  honored  in  1932  with  the  office 
of  president  of  the  Illinois  State  Osteopathic 
Society. 

Doctor  Clarke  brought  to  his  profession  an 
unusually  broad  training  and  education  as 
well  as  exceptional  talents  and  personality. 
He  was  born  at  Hamilton,  Ontario,  Canada, 
in  1889,  son  of  Joseph  and  Ellen  (Williams) 
Clarke.  His  father  was  of  Scotch-English  and 
his  mother  of  Welsh  ancestry.  A  few  years 
after  his  birth  his  parents  moved  to  Vancou- 
ver, British  Columbia.  Thus  Doctor  Clarke 
grew  up  in  the  far  Northwest.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  grade  and  high  schools,  and  in  1909, 
at  the  age  of  twenty,  came  to  Chicago.  After 
a  year  in  the  American  College  of  Physical 
Education  he  was  fully  convinced  as  to  the 
career  of  usefulness  which  he  was  to  follow. 
He  then  spent  two  years  in  the  Loyola  Uni- 
versity School  of  Medicine,  followed  by  a  year 
of  special  academic  and  scientific  studies  at 
the  University  of  Chicago.  His  formal  pro- 
fessional education  was  completed  in  the  Chi- 
cago College  of  Osteopathy,  where  he  was 
graduated  with  the  degree  D.  O.  in  1924.  For 
eighteen  months  Doctor  Clarke  was  with  the 
Pennoyer  Sanitarium  at  Kenosha,  Wisconsin, 
and  then  permanently  established  his  home  and 
practice  in  Chicago.  For  a  man  of  his  attain- 
ments it  was  a  matter  of  a  short  time  until 
he  was  fully  embarked  in  the  work  of  his  pro- 
fession, with  a  large  practice.  He  has  likewise 
gained  distinction  in  the  field  of  teaching  and 
in  the  organization  work  of  his  profession. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  faculty  of  the  Chicago 
College  of  Osteopathy,  where  he  holds  the 
chair  of  respiratory  diseases.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Chicago  Osteopathic  Hospital. 

It  was  in  recognition  of  his  individual  high 
standing  and  his  earnest  effort  to  promote 
the  best  interests  of  osteopathy,  including 
favorable  legislation  for  the  practitioners,  that 
he  was  accorded  the  distinction,  at  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Illinois  State  Osteopathic  Society 
at  Peoria  in  May,  1932,  of  being  elected  presi- 
dent of  the  society  for  the  following  year.  He 
is  also  a  member  of  the  American  Osteopathic 
Association,  the  Chicago  Osteopathic  Society, 


ILLINOIS 


437 


and  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  South 
Side  branch  of  the  latter  society  in  Chicago. 
Doctor  Clarke's  office  is  at  1230  East  Sixty- 
third  Street,  and  his  home  at  7861  South 
Shore  Drive. 

He  married  Miss  Anna  Hanson.  They  have 
a  daughter,  Gloria. 

Hon.  James  McAndrews.  A  long  and  hon- 
orable career  in  business  and  public  life, 
marked  by  the  strictest  integrity  and  high 
and  constructive  usefulness,  has  placed  Hon. 
James  McAndrews,  a  retired  business  man 
and  former  member  of  Congress,  among  the 
foremost   citizens   of    Chicago. 

The  family  occupied  a  large  and  beautiful 
home,  with  over  167  foot  frontage,  at  Wash- 
ington Boulevard  and  Western  Avenue,  and 
it  was  there  that  James  McAndrews  of  this 
review  grew  up.  He  attended  the  public  and 
parochial  schools  and  as  a  youth  entered  his 
father's  business,  which  he  continued  to  con- 
duct for  several  years  after  the  elder  man's 
demise.  Mr.  McAndrews  began  to  take  an 
interest  in  politics  early  in  life  and  soon  be- 
came a  figure  of  influence  in  local  affairs, 
particularly  on  the  West  Side.  From  1894  to 
1895  and  from  1897  to  1901  he  served  as 
building  commissioner  of  Chicago.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Democratic  Central  Commit- 
tee over  twenty  years,  serving  as  chairman  of 
the  West  Side  district  ten  years.  He  also 
served  as  chairman  of  the  Executive  Commit- 
tee of  the  Central  Committee.  By  the  year 
1900  his  leadership  had  become  so  pronounced 
that  he  was  given  the  Democratic  nomination 
for  Congress  from  the  Fourth  District,  was 
elected,  and  served  in  the  Fifty-seventh  Con- 
gress, beginning  in  1901;  was  reelected  in 
1902  and  served  in  the  Fifty-eighth  Congress, 
representing  the  Fifth  District,  and  retired  in 
March,  1905.  In  1912  he  was  again  elected, 
to  represent  the  Sixth  District,  in  Congress 
and  by  successive  reelections  served  in  the 
Sixty-third,  Sixty-fourth,  Sixty-fifth  and  Sixty- 
sixth   Sessions,   retiring  in    1921. 

Mr.  McAndrews  gave  a  good  account  of  him- 
self in  Congress  and  represented  his  constitu- 
ency faithfully  and  well.  For  the  most  of 
his  time  during  his  service  he  was  a  member 
of  the  committee  on  appropriations  and  gave 
a  great  deal  of  his  time  to  his  duties  on  that 
committee.  He  formed  many  strong  and  last- 
ing friendships  in  Congress,  particularly 
among  the  Illinois  delegation,  and  the  late 
Hon.  Joseph  G.  Cannon  stated  that  Mr.  Mc- 
Andrews was  his  best  friend,  despite  the  fact 
that  the  two  were  of  opposing  political  belief. 
Mr.  McAndrews  served  as  an  honorary  pall- 
bearer at  the  funeral  of  Joseph  G.  Cannon 
and  also  at  the  funeral  of  Theodore  Roosevelt. 
In  later  years  Mr.  McAndrews  moved  to  the 
North  Side,  Chicago,  but  retained  such  a  firm 
hold  on  the  friendship  and  esteem  of  the 
people  that  in  1932,  after  eleven  years  of  re- 


tirement from  politics,  he  was  again  brought 
forward  by  the  regular  Democratic  organiza- 
tion as  a  candidate  for  Congress  from  what 
is  now  the  Ninth  District  and  was  nominated 
for  the  office.  Mr.  McAndrews  resides  with 
his  wife  and  three  children  at  2440  Lake  View 
Avenue. 

Very  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  Vincent  Corcoran. 
Distinguished  both  as  a  scholar  and  a  college 
administrator,  the  career  of  Dr.  Francis  Vin- 
cent Corcoran,  who  in  1930  became  president 
of  DePaul  University,  Chicago,  has  been 
marked  by  a  record  of  achievement  and  of 
service  to  the  cause  of  education,  both  secular 
and  religious,  of  which  anyone  might  well 
feel  proud. 

Born  at  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  May  6, 
1879,  the  son  of  Martin  and  Rose  (McDer- 
mott)  Corcoran,  Doctor  Corcoran  grew  up  as 
a  boy  at  Chicago,  to  which  city  his  parents 
removed  from  Pittsburgh  in  1883.  His  mother 
died  here,  and  in  September,  1931,  his  father, 
Martin  Corcoran,  also  passed  away,  having 
lived  for  forty-eight  years  in  St.  Vincent's 
Parish.  At  his  funeral  the  Very  Rev.  William 
P.  Barr,  C.  M.,  visitor  of  the  Western  Province 
of  the  Congregation  of  the  Mission,  who  had 
known  Martin  Corcoran  for  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  delivered  a  eulogy  in 
which  he  praised  the  deceased  as  a  "good  and 
faithful  servant,"  having  lived  a  life  devoted 
to  the  simple  virtues. 

Doctor  Corcoran  received  his  preparatory 
education  at  St.  Mary's  Seminary,  Perryville, 
Missouri,  including  studies  at  St.  Mary's 
Scholasticate.  He  then  entered  upon  an  ex- 
tensive course  of  studies  in  Europe,  graduat- 
ing from  St.  Thomas  Academy  of  Philosophy 
in  Rome,  Italy,  where  he  specialized  in  phi- 
losophy and  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Philosophy.  Also,  during  the  three-year  period 
from  1901  until  1903  he  studied  in  Minerva 
(now  Angelica)  College  in  that  city,  receiving 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Sacred  Theology.  In 
1894  he  entered  as  a  novitiate  the  Congrega- 
tion of  the  Mission  founded  by  St.  Vincent  de 
Paul. 

Returning  to  his  native  country,  Doctor 
Corcoran  entered  upon  a  scholastic  career  in 
which  he  has  received  steady  advancement  and 
won  wide  renown.  He  was  professor  of  phi- 
losophy at  Kenrick  Seminary,  St.  Louis,  from 
1903  to  1907,  and  from  the  latter  year  to  1930 
was  professor  of  theology  in  that  school.  Also 
from  1926  to  1930  he  was  vice  president  of 
Kenrick.  In  addition  to  these  duties  he  was 
head  of  the  department  of  philosophy  in 
Webster  College,  Webster  Groves,  Missouri, 
from  1917  to  1930.  In  the  meantime  his  capa- 
city for  business  affairs  brought  him  into  the 
position  of  chairman  of  the  administrative 
board  of  corporate  colleges  of  St.  Louis  Uni- 
versity, which  he  filled  from  1926  to  1930. 
Furthermore,  he  had  an  interesting  journalis- 


438 


ILLINOIS 


tic  experience  at  St.  Louis  as  associate  editor 
of  the  Western  Watchman,  one  of  the  Church's 
most  notable  periodicals,  famed  for  its  trench- 
ant style  and  high  literary  tone. 

In  1930  Doctor  Corcoran  was  honored  by 
being  selected  as  president  of  DePaul  Uni- 
versity, Chicago,  and  in  the  fall  of  that  year 
started  in  with  his  accustomed  vigor  and 
capacity  for  accomplishment  to  guide  this 
splendid  institution  into  still  further  fields  of 
success.  Already  his  skillful  administration 
of  the  university's  affairs  has  met  with  most 
enthusiastic  response  from  both  faculty  and 
students,  and  from  every  indication  it  has 
brighter  prospects  now  than  ever  before  in 
its  history. 

In  September,  1931,  Doctor  Corcoran  in- 
augurated the  second  move  in  his  plan  to  make 
DePaul  foremost  of  American  Catholic  uni- 
versities in  fostering  the  teaching  of  religion, 
by  appointing  Rev.  Dr.  John  M.  Nichols,  C.  M., 
as  director  of  religious  instruction  at  the  uni- 
versity, having  previously,  in  February  of 
that  year,  established  the  Journal  of  Religious 
Instruction,  a  monthly  of  national  circulation 
in  the  interest  of  "invigorated  teaching  of  the 
principles  and  laws  of  Revelation."  Doctor 
Corcoran  is  equally  energetic  in  strengthening 
every  other  department  of  the  university's 
bread  field  of  activities. 

In  the  cause  of  education  generally  Doctor 
Corcoran  has  always  taken  a  very  active  inter- 
est. He  is  a  member  of  the  National  Educa- 
tion Association;  the  National  Catholic  Educa- 
tion Association,  in  which  he  is  chairman  of 
the  Conference  on  Women's  Colleges,  the 
American  Catholic  Philosophical  Association 
and  other  movements  for  raising  academic 
standards.  He  was  the  founder  and  modera- 
tor of  Kappa  Gamma  Pi,  an  honor  society  for 
graduates  of  Catholic  colleges  for  women.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Columbus. 
Over  a  period  of  many  years  he  has  done 
considerable  literary  work,  contributing  arti- 
cles, addresses  and  sermons  to  journals  and 
reviews. 

Norman  B.  Thomson  is  president  of  the 
Illinois  Assets  Corporation,  a  concern  that 
functions  loyally  and  effectively  in  its  financial 
and  fiduciary  sphere,  and  he  has  had  long 
and  influential  experience  in  the  handling  of 
high-grade  securities,  the  while  he  has  figured 
prominently  also  in  civic  affairs  and  business 
organization  service.  He  was  formerly  secre- 
tary of  the  Illinois  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and 
while  an  executive  of  that  body  he  had  super- 
vision of  the  reorganizing  of  similar  institu- 
tions in  eighty  different  cities  of  the  United 
States. 

Mr.  Thomson  was  born  in  the  City  of  Scran- 
ton,  Pennsylvania,  in  1898,  and  in  the  public 
schools  of  that  city  he  continued  his  studies 
until  he  was  graduated  in  the  high  school.  He 
later  was  a  student  in  Pennsylvania  State  Col- 


lege, and  his  higher  academic  course  was 
completed  in  Drake  University,  Des  Moines, 
Iowa,  in  which  he  was  graduated  as  a  member 
of  the  class  of  1920  and  with  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts.  Thereafter  he  did  effective 
post-graduate  work  of  special  order  in  Edin- 
burgh University,  Scotland,  and  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago.  While  attending  the  latter 
institution  he  was  director  of  the  general  ac- 
tivities of  the  Chicago  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

Prior  to  advancing  his  education  as  noted 
in  the  preceding  paragraph  Mr.  Thomson  had 
subordinated  all  personal  interests  to  the  call 
of  patriotism  and  in  April,  1917,  the  month 
in  which  the  nation  formally  entered  the  great 
World  war,  he  volunteered  for  service  in  the 
United  States  Army.  In  New  York  City  he 
enlisted  in  the  aviation  arm  of  the  service, 
and  thence  he  was  assigned  to  Kelly  Field, 
Texas,  where  he  received  thorough  preliminary 
training.  Upon  going  thence  to  England  he 
was  assigned  to  service  in  the  Twentieth 
Squadron  of  the  Royal  Flying  Corps  of  Eng- 
land, and  later  he  was  in  active  service  with 
the  Second  French  Flying  Corps,  in  France. 
He  remained  in  service  two  years  of  the  war 
period  and'  received  his  honorable  discharge 
in  May,  1919.  He  is  now  a  military  intelli- 
gence officer,  with  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant, 
in  the  Officers  Reserve  Corps  of  the  United 
States  Army. 

After  completing  his  war  service  Mr.  Thom- 
son resumed  his  educational  work,  as  previ- 
ously recorded,  and  in  1923  he  became  associ- 
ated with  the  Chicago  Chamber  of  Commerce 
in  the  capacity  of  secretary  and  business  coun- 
selor. In  1926  he  here  organized  and  be- 
came president  of  Thomson,  Laedt  &  Com- 
pany, underwriters  and  distributors  of  invest- 
ment securities.  In  1929  the  business  of  this 
concern  was  consolidated  with  that  of  the  old 
established  firm  of  Peabody  &  Company,  in 
which  he  has  since  continued  a  stockholder, 
though  he  now  gives  his  major  attention  to 
the  affairs  of  the  Illinois  Assets  Corporation, 
which  was  organized  by  him  and  of  which 
he  is  the  president.  From  a  brochure  issued 
by  this  organization  it  is  possible  to  make  the 
following  brief  quotations: 

"The  Illinois  Assets  Corporation,  which  is 
an  investment  company  of  the  management 
type,  operates  under  self-imposed  regulations, 
investing  and  reinvesting  its  funds  in  a  widely 
diversified  field  of  domestic  and  international 
securities  of  various  classes.  The  corporation 
secures  its  funds  by  selling  its  own  shares  of 
stock,  both  preferred  and  common,  to  the  in- 
vestor. The  officers  and  directors  of  the  cor- 
poration pledge  themselves  to  make  its  pre- 
ferred stock  an  absolutely  sound  investment, 
and  to  make  its  common  stock  an  investment 
whose  value  will  increase  as  the  investments 
in  the  portfolio  build  up  larger  and  larger  re- 
serve and  surplus  and  thus  in  time  make  the 
common   stock  sound   dividend-bearing   securi- 


ILLINOIS 


439 


ties.  *  *  *  The  management  of  the  investment 
portfolio  of  the  Illinois  Assets  Corporation  is 
under  the  supervision  and  control  of  the  board 
of  directors  of  the  company,  whose  policy  will 
be  a  conservative  one,  with  due  regard  for 
the  proper  diversification  of  investment." 

The  offices  of  the  Illinois  Assets  Corporation 
are  established  at  120  South  LaSalle  Street 
and  the  home  of  its  president  is  maintained 
in  the  beautiful  Chicago  suburb  of  Park  Ridge. 
In  Chicago  Mr.  Thomson  has  membership  in 
the  Union  League  Club,  Collegiate  Club  and 
Executive  Club,  is  a  director  of  Samaritan 
House,  which  represents  a  noble  philanthropic 
enterprise,  he  is  a  director  of  the  Mid-West 
Lloyds  Underwriters,  is  commissioner  for  the 
Northwest  Council  of  American  Boy  Scouts 
for  Chicago,  and  he  is  affiliated  with  Alpha 
Sigma  Phi  college  fraternity.  He  and  his 
wife  are  zealous  members  of  the  Park  Ridge 
Community  Church,  of  which  he  is  the  treas- 
urer. His  political  alignment  is  in  the  ranks 
of  the  Republican  party. 

In  his  native  City  of  Scranton,  Pennsyl- 
vania, was  solemnized  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Thomson  to  Miss  Rachel  Jones,  daughter  of  the 
late  John  P.  Jones,  who  was  there  a  prominent 
silk  manufacturer  in  association  with  the 
Cheney  silk  industry.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thomson 
have  three  children:  Mary  Louise,  Norman 
B.,  Jr.,  and  Emma  Jones.  The  attractive  fam- 
ily home  in  Park  Ridge  is  at  612  South  Wash- 
ington  Street. 

George  U.  Lipshulch,  prominent  Chicago 
surgeon,  with  offices  at  185  North  Wabash 
Avenue,  is  not  a  man  whose  talents  have  been 
limited  strictly  to  one  field  of  work.  Doctor 
Lipshulch  has  had  a  political  record,  and  his 
activities  in  connection  with  benevolent  and 
philanthropic  organizations  have  made  him  one 
of  the  outstanding  liberal  citizens  of  Chicago. 

He  was  born  at  El  Paso,  Texas,  January  1, 
1881,  and  is  of  German  ancestry.  His  educa- 
tion was  acquired  in  schools  abroad  and  in 
American  academies  and  universities.  In  addi- 
tion to  his  private  practice  Doctor  Lipshulch 
was  at  one  time  professor  of  materia  medica 
and  therapeutics  in  the  National  University; 
associate  surgeon  to  the  National  Emergency 
Hospital;  lecturer  on  internal  medicine  in  the 
Sanitarium  and  Training  School  for  Nurses; 
physician  in  chief  to  the  Park  Sanitarium  for 
Physical  Therapy;  visiting  surgeon  to  the 
Mary  Thompson  Hospital;  secretary  and  di- 
rector of  the  Maimonides  Hospital  Association 
and  associate  attending  physician  to  this  hos- 
pital and  clinician  to  its  dispensary.  He  is 
author  of  a  number  of  professional  and  scien- 
tific monographs  and  lectures  and  was  for- 
merly lecturer  for  the  Haleveai  Lyceum  Asso- 
ciation. He  was  medical  examiner  for  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  Columbian 
Knights,  and  at  one  time  was  with  the  hos- 
pital corps  of  the  Second  Regiment  of  the  Illi- 


nois National  Guard.  Doctor  Lipshulch  was  a 
valued  member  of  the  Forty-ninth  Illinois  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  1914-16,  being  a  representative 
from  the  Second  District. 

He  has  been  connected  with  many  fraternal 
and  philanthropic  associations,  including  the 
Associated  Charities  of  Chicago,  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  Knights  of  Pythias,  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Cook  County  Demo- 
cratic Club,  Iroquois  Club,  and  is  a  member 
of  the  Chicago,  Illinois  and  American  Medical 
Associations. 

Jay  Brown  Conklin.  As  superintendent 
and  general  manager  of  the  Winnebago  Coun- 
ty Farm  Home  and  Hospital,  three  miles  north 
of  Rockford,  on  North  Main  Road,  Jay  Brown 
Conklin  has  gained  for  this  institution  the 
reputation  of  being  one  of  the  best  homes  of 
its  kind  in  Illinois.  He  has  served  in  his 
present  capacity  for  six  years,  his  wife  being 
matron,  and  there  are  at  present  more  than 
200  inmates  and  patients. 

The  farm  consists  of  150  acres,  located  just 
at  the  edge  of  Rockford  and  conducted  along 
thoroughly  modern  and  progressive  lines,  mak- 
ing use  of  the  most  highly  improved  ma- 
chinery, while  the  buildings  are  kept  in  the 
finest  of  order  and  condition.  Mr.  Conklin 
was  born  November  23,  1882,  in  Burritt  Town- 
ship, Winnebago  County,  and  is  a  son  of  Bar- 
ney T.  and  Alice  (Steward)  Conklin.  His 
grandfather,  Jacob  Brown  Conklin,  the  grand- 
son of  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  was  born  in 
1816,  in  Pennsylvania,  where  he  married 
Hannah  Ellis,  and  in  1839  came  to  Illinois. 
In  1849  he  crossed  the  plains  to  California, 
during  which  trip  his  party  met  with  much 
Indian  trouble,  one  man  being  killed.  He  re- 
turned from  California  via  the  water  route 
to  New  York,  but  again  came  to  Illinois  and 
later  made  a  trip  to  Pike's  Peak,  Colorado, 
prospecting,  but  finally  settled  permanently 
in  Winnebago  County,  Illinois,  where  he  took 
up  Government  land  and  was  the  owner  of  a 
valuable  property  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

Barney  T.  Conklin  was  born  November  21, 
1860,  in  Harrison  Township,  Winnebago 
County,  attended  the  public  schools,  and  be- 
came a  large  landholder  in  Burritt  Township, 
where  he  resided  during  his  entire  active  life. 
He  retired  from  active  work  in  the  fall  of 
1910,  moving  to  Rockford,  where  he  lived  in 
comfortable  circumstances  until  his  death.  He 
was  a  substantial  citizen  and  for  three  terms 
served  as  deputy  sheriff.  Barney  T.  Conklin 
died  December  1,  1922,  and  his  widow  survived 
him  until  January  31,  1923,  both  being  buried 
in  the  Burritt  Cemetery.  He  and  his  wife 
were  the  parents  of  one  child,  Jay  B. 

Jay  B.  Conklin  attended  the  Fell  School  in 
Burritt  Township  and  Brown  Business  Col- 
lege at  Rockford  and  worked  on  the  farm 
during  the  greater  part  of  his  school  period. 
For  a  few  years  he  also  was  employed  at  the 


440 


ILLINOIS 


carpenter  trade,  but  returned  to  the  farm, 
subsequently  becoming  engaged  in  merchan- 
dising. Mechanical  work  then  employed  his 
activities  for  a  time  and  he  entered  the  serv- 
ice of  the  Standard  Oil  Company  at  Rockford, 
with  which  concern  he  continued  until  being 
appointed  to  his  present  office.  He  is  also  the 
owner  of  a  grocery  store  and  of  the  building 
in  which  it  is  conducted.  Mr.  Conklin  is  a 
Republican  and  has  served  as  township  treas- 
urer of  schools  and  as  justice  of  the  peace 
in  Harlem  Township.  He  has  always  been 
interested  in  local  and  civic  improvements, 
belongs  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
and  is  a  thirty-second  degree  Scottish  Rite 
Mason  and  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Pythias. 

On  January  27,  1904,  in  Harrison  Town- 
ship, Mr.  Conklin  married  Grace  Alice  Hurd, 
daughter  of  John  M.  and  Letitia  E.  (Bodine) 
Hurd.  Her  grandparents  were  Delsone  and 
Harriet  (Manchester)  Hurd,  the  former  of 
whom  was  one  of  the  early  millers  of  Winne- 
bago County,  going  to  Kansas  late  in  life  and 
passing  away  there.  John  M.  Hurd  was  born 
December  21,  1860,  at  Durand,  Illinois,  and 
started  work  at  the  age  of  eleven  years.  He 
reared  his  family  in  a  log  cabin  home  erected 
in  a  very  early  day  by  William  Bodine,  who 
came  to  Winnebago  County  from  Canada  in 
January,  1840.  John  M.  Hurd  lived  his  entire 
life  in  Winnebago  County,  devoted  his  life's 
work  to  farming  and  died  April  4,  1916.  His 
widow  still  survives  him  and  resides  in  Har- 
rison Township.  He  and  his  wife  had  four 
children:  Mrs.  Conklin,  who  was  born  in  a 
log  cabin;  Bessie,  who  married  Joe  Michael 
and  after  his  death,  Stanley  Boomer;  Delia, 
who  married  David  Syme;  and  Apha,  who 
married  Carlisle  Corson.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Conklin  there  have  been  born  two  daughters: 
Hazel  L.,  who  married  Clarence  B.  Steward 
and  has  two  children,  Richard  A.  and  Burritt 
J.;  and  Lucile  D.,  who  married  Bruner  Carter 
and  has  one  child,  Grace  Lee.  Both  daughters 
have  homes  of  their  own. 

Pingree  Clay  Hughes  has  been  a  close  stu- 
dent of  life  insurance,  has  had  broad  practical 
experience  in  that  field,  and  has  shown  his 
initiative  and  versatility  by  bringing  his 
knowledge  and  experience  into  notably  con- 
structive commission  by  establishing  and  suc- 
cessfully conducting  his  present  business  in 
Chicago,  where  he  serves  the  public  in  the 
capacity  of  life-insurance  actuary  and  con- 
sultant, with  offices  at  100  West  Monroe  Street, 

Mr.  Hughes  was  born  at  Yorktown,  York 
County.  Nebraska,  August  19,  1887,  and  is  a 
son  of  M.  B.  and  Esther  (Saal)  Hughes.  This 
Hughes  family  is  of  Welsh  origin  and  was 
founded  in  America  in  the  Colonial  period 
of  our  national  history.  On  the  paternal  side 
the  subject  of  this  review  is  likewise  a  scion 
of  the  Colonial  Wheadon  family  of  New  Eng- 


land, representatives  of  which,  under  the 
changed  form  of  the  family  name,  Wheaton, 
having  become  early  settlers  in  Dupage 
County,  Illinois,  and  were  the  founders  of  the 
now  beautiful  City  of  Wheaton.  It  is  through 
eligibility  along  this  family  line  that  Pingree 
C.  Hughes  has  affiliation  with  the  Sons  of 
the  American  Revolution. 

M.  B.  Hughes  was  born  in  Indianapolis, 
Indiana,  and  was  reared  and  educated  in  the 
old  Hoosier  State,  whence  he  eventually  re- 
moved to  Monmouth,  Illinois,  from  which  place 
he  soon  went  to  Iowa,  where  his  elder  children 
were  born  and  where  he  remained  until  he 
became  a  pioneer  settler  in  York  County,  Ne- 
braska. 

After  his  graduation  in  the  high  school  at 
Wayne,  Nebraska,  and  in  the  State  Normal 
School  at  that  place,  in  which  latter  he  was 
a  member  of  the  class  of  1909,  Mr.  Hughes 
gave  approximately  two  years  of  service  as  a 
teacher  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native 
state.  He  next  gave  three  years  to  the  study 
of  medicine,  under  the  preceptorship  of  Dr. 
Lutchen,  at  Wayne,  and  though  he  did  not 
practice  medicine  he  attended  many  cases  with 
his  preceptor,  mainly  in  the  capacity  of  anaes- 
thetist. Following  this  experience  Mr.  Hughes 
broadened  his  education  along  another  line, 
by  entering  the  Metropolitan  College  of  Law  in 
St.  Louis,  Missouri.  In  this  institution  he 
was  graduated  in  1912,  and  though  he  was 
duly  admitted  to  the  bar  he  never  engaged 
in  the  active  practice  of  law.  He  has  found, 
as  have  all  other  appreciative  students,  that 
educational  work  along  any  and  all  lines  is 
its  own  justification,  even  aside  from  financial 
returns  thereform.  Instead  of  practicing 
either  of  the  professions  for  which  he  had  forti- 
fied himself,  Mr.  Hughes  directed  his  attention 
to  life  insurance  and  made  intensive  study  of 
its  phases  and  systems,  with  the  intention  of 
adopting  it  as  his  vocation.  In  Nebraska  he 
became  a  representative  of  the  National  Life 
Insurance  Company  of  Chicago,  and  in  1916 
he  came  to  Chicago,  where  he  continued  his 
association  with  the  same  company  until  he 
came  to  a  realization  of  the  exigency,  consist- 
ency and  economic  necessity  for  the  interposi- 
tion of  one  who  was  qualified  to  act  as  actuary 
and  consultant  for  the  insuring  public,  just  as 
the  insurance  corporations  themselves  retain 
the  services  of  actuaries.  In  consonance  with 
his  convictions,  he  established  himself  inde- 
pendently in  business  as  insurance  actuary  for 
the  public,  and  the  unqualified  success  that  has 
attended  his  service  in  this  capacity  offers 
the  best  voucher  for  the  consistency  and  value 
of  such  service.  Years  of  study  and  research 
have  splendidly  reinforced  him  for  this  work, 
and  from  appreciative  clients  he  has  received 
letters  and  statements  that  show  by  actual 
figures  where  he  has  reduced  the  cost  of  their 
life  insurance  to  an  average  of  forty  per  cent 
annually,    besides    bringing    decisive    financial 


ILLINOIS 


441 


benefits  to  their  estates.  Mr.  Hughes  has 
gained  authoritative  status  in  his  field  of  pro- 
fessional service,  has  a  reason  for  the  faith 
that  he  thus  brings  into  practice  for  the  benefit 
of  clients,  and  he  has  received  unequivocal 
commendation  from  many  citizens  of  promi- 
nence and  large  influence. 

Mr.  Hughes  is  loyal  and  public-spirited  as 
a  citizen,  and  it  is  to  be  noted  that  he  was  one 
of  the  early  members  of  the  celebrated  and 
liberal  organization  known  as  the  Forum  Club, 
a  representative  Chicago  organization.  Since 
1924  he  has  been  an  active  member  of  the  Bio- 
logical Group,  which  was  founded  by  Clarence 
Darrow,  distinguished  Chicago  lawyer  of  inter- 
national reputation.  He  continues  a  close 
student  and  thinker,  and  among  his  numerous 
public  lectures  have  been  those  entitled  "Eco- 
nomics," and  "Crime,  Its  Cause  and  Treat- 
ment." His  political  alignment  is  with  the 
Republican  party,  he  is  affiliated  with  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Ham- 
ilton Club  of  his  home  city.  His  residence 
is   at  5449   North   Ashland  Boulevard. 

Peter  Christian  Clemensen,  M.  D.,  an 
eminent  heart  and  lung  specialist  at  Chicago, 
where  he  practiced  from  1902  until  his  death 
in  January,  1932,  had  outside  of  his  profes- 
sion a  notable  career  in  public  and  diplomatic 
life. 

Doctor  Clemensen  came  to  Chicago  in  1889, 
an  immigrant  boy  from  Denmark,  where  he 
was  born  July  11,  1873,  son  of  Soren  and 
Mary  (Habbek)  Clemensen.  He  was  educated 
in  grammar  and  technical  schools  in  Denmark. 
After  reaching  Chicago  he  had  to  work  his 
way  through  school  and  through  the  period  of 
preparation  for  his  professional  career.  He 
attended  Evanston  Township  High  School  and 
the  Northwestern  University  Academy,  and 
in  1902  received  his  M.D.  degree  from  North- 
western University.  Doctor  Clemensen  was 
naturalized  as  an  American  citizen  in  1895. 

In  recent  years  he  limited  his  practice  to 
diseases  of  the  heart  and  lungs.  For  a  num- 
ber of  years  he  had  offices  in  the  loop,  but  in 
the  spring  of  1930  moved  to  the  building  at 
the  corner  of  Cornell  Avenue  and  Seventieth 
Street,  a  structure  he  remodeled  for  his 
requirements  as  both  a  residence  and  office. 
The  original  building  sheltered  Doctor  Clem- 
ensen for  a  time  when  he  first  came  to  Chi- 
cago forty  years  ago.  Doctor  Clemensen  was 
a  founder  and  consulting  surgeon  of  the  Jack- 
son Park  Hospital,  served  as  a  member  of 
the  Chicago  health  commissioner's  advisory 
staff,  and  became  president  of  the  Scandi- 
navian-American Medical  Society  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Chicago,  Illinois  State  and  American 
Medical  Associations.  He  was  a  contributor 
to  medical  literature,  being  compiler  of  Fin- 
sen's  Phototherapy,  published  in  1902,  and  of 
Simplified  Technique  of  Intravenous  Injec- 
tions, published  in  1918. 


Of  his  public  service  as  a  citizen  of  Chicago 
he  is  perhaps  best  remembered  for  the  able 
work  he  did  while  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
Board  of  Education  from  1913  to  1917.  Dur- 
ing 1915-17  he  was  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
Small  Parks  and  Playgrounds  Commission. 
His  interests  were  those  of  a  scientist,  an  out- 
door man,  a  scholar,  and  one  of  the  most  in- 
teresting phases  of  his  life  was  his  connection 
with  European  diplomatic  affairs  relating  to 
the  World  war.  Doctor  Clemensen  won  dis- 
tinction as  the  only  American  citizen  of 
foreign  birth  who  ever  went  to  Europe  on  a 
diplomatic  mission  with  special  passport.  In 
1914,  at  the  request  of  Maurice  Francis  Egan, 
minister  plenipotentiary  of  Denmark,  Doctor 
Clemensen  was  sent  by  President  Wilson  to 
Denmark  to  join  in  a  conference  on  Danish 
affairs.  Later,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Egan, 
he  journeyed  on  a  mission  to  the  Vatican  at 
Rome,  in  quest  of  certain  data  regarding  Dan- 
ish possessions.  Doctor  Clemensen  is  probably 
the  only  Chicago  citizen  who  had  any  import- 
ant relation  to  the  acquisition  of  the  Virgin 
Islands  from  Denmark.  In  1917,  at  President 
Wilson's  request  and  upon  Mr.  Egan's  urgent 
recommendation,  Doctor  Clemensen  returned 
to  Denmark  entrusted  with  matters  directly 
relating  to  the  purchase  of  the  Virgin  Islands. 
This  purchase  was  soon  afterward  consum- 
mated, and  at  that  time  was  regarded  as  a 
measure  of  highest  importance,  since  it  re- 
moved the  possibility  of  Germany  getting 
possession  of  these  islands  and  using  them  as 
a  base  for  operations  against  North,  Central 
and  South  America.  Another  diplomatic  experi- 
ence and  honor  came  to  Doctor  Clemensen  in 
1921,  when  under  authority  of  President  Hard- 
ing he  again  temporarily  joined  the  staff  of 
Ambassador  Egan.  During  this  trip  abroad 
he  visited  other  European  countries  and  some 
of  the  data  he  gathered  was  contributed  to 
the  mass  of  information  on  which  the  com- 
missioners adopted  the  Dawes  plan  of  repara- 
tions. 

Doctor  Clemensen  volunteered  for  active 
military  service  on  July  12,  1917,  but  was 
disqualified  for  physical  defects.  During  the 
war  he  was  a  four-minute  man  and  active  in 
the  Liberty  Loan  and  War  Savings  Stamp 
drives,  for  which  he  was  honored  with  a  medal 
from  the  Treasury  Department.  Doctor  Clem- 
ensen had  conferred  upon  him  by  the  King 
of  Denmark  the  Knighthood  of  Dannebrog. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  American-Scandina- 
vian Foundation,  the  Danish  Brotherhood  of 
America,  Society  Dania.  In  Chicago  he  was 
a  member  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society, 
the  American  Forestry  Association,  the  Illinois 
Athletic  Club,  was  a  thirty-second  degree 
Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  a  Democrat 
and  a  Methodist.  His  recreations  were  fish- 
ing and  hunting. 

Doctor  Clemensen  married,  July  30,  1910, 
Bodille   Louise   Hansen,  of  Evanston,   Illinois. 


442 


ILLINOIS 


To  their  marriage  were  born  three  sons :  Peter 
Christian,  Jr.,  Charles  Herbert  and  Lloyd 
Julius.     Lloyd   died   in   1917. 

Gaar  Williams  is  an  American  cartoonist 
whose  work  has  been  justly  admired.  Most 
of  his  subjects  deal  with  the  familiar  and  inti- 
mate, but  his  treatment  and  his  original  slant 
lift  them  above  the  commonplace  and  obvious. 
It  is  doubtful  if  the  work  of  any  of  his  con- 
temporaries is  provocative  of  more  laughs  and 
quiet  chuckles. 

Gaar  Williams  was  born  at  Richmond  in 
Wayne  County,  Indiana,  December  12,  1880, 
son  of  George  R.  and  Sarah  E.  (Campbell) 
Williams.  His  father  is  deceased  and  his 
mother  still  resides  at  Richmond.  There  Mr. 
Williams  attended  grammar  and  high  school, 
the  Cincinnati  Institute  of  Fine  Arts  and  later 
the  Chicago  Art  Institute.  His  newspaper 
experience  began  with  the  Chicago  Daily  News, 
where  he  came  under  the  influence  of  that 
master  political  cartoonist,  Luther  Bradley. 

He  then  returned  to  Indiana  and  spent 
twelve  years  with  the  Indianapolis  News. 
During  the  World  war  his  political  cartoons 
attracted  nation-wide  attention.  In  1921  he 
returned  to  Chicago  and  since  then  has  been 
one  of  the  staff  of  artists  of  the  Chicago 
Tribune.  Among  the  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  daily  readers  of  the  Tribune  probably  few 
overlook  the  opportunity  for  temporary  dis- 
traction and  amusement  in  one  of  Gaar  Wil- 
liams' series  of  "Wotta  Life,"  "Something 
Ought  to  be  Done  About  This,"  "Among  the 
Folks  in   History,"  and  "Statics." 

Mr.  Williams'  home  is  in  Glencoe.  He  mar- 
ried Lena  Engelbert,  who  was  also  born  at 
Richmond,  Indiana.  Mr.  Williams  is  a  member 
of  the  Chicago  Yacht  Club,  Indiana  Society 
of  Chicago,  the  Chicago  Art  Institute  and 
Mystic  Tie  Lodge,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  at  Indi- 
anapolis. 

Frederick  H.  Massmann  was  a  Chicagoan 
whose  boyhood  and  youth  in  that  city  com- 
prised a  period  of  struggle  for  an  education 
and  recognition  in  the  business  world  involv- 
ing a  great  deal  of  self  sacrifice  and  patient 
effort,  out  of  which  he  came  on  to  the  high 
road  of  success.  In  his  success  he  has  never 
been  forgetful  of  his  own  early  struggles,  and 
as  a  man  in  comfortable  circumstances  and 
influence  he  has  sought  opportunities  on  every 
hand  to  befriend  and  assist  boys  and  young 
men,  so  that  it  is  in  the  character  of  a  real 
philanthropist  as  well  as  a  business  executive 
that  a  brief  sketch  of  his  career  should  be 
presented  in  this  publication. 

Mr.  Massmann  was  born  in  Hanover, 
Germany,  in  1876.  In  1884,  when  he  was 
eight  years  of  age,  his  parents,  Carl  and 
Minna  (Fricke)  Massmann,  came  to  America 
and  settled  in  Chicago.  His  parents  were 
industrious    people    in    very    modest    circum- 


stances, and  the  son  Frederick  had  no  pros- 
pect of  years  of  carefree  schooling  to  precede 
his  entry  into  the  practical  affairs  of  earning 
a  livelihood.  His  first  effort  was  to  overcome 
the  handicap  of  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  the 
English  language.  He  made  good  progress 
in  this  section  while  in  the  public  schools. 
While  in  school  he  sold  newspapers,  and  until 
he  was  past  fourteen  he  put  in  much  of  his 
time  working  in  grocery  stores,  which  afforded 
him  a  practical  method  of  getting  a  business 
education.  While  thus  employed,  at  a  very 
small  wage,  he  attended  night  schools  and 
thus  acquired  some  of  the  equivalent  of  a 
high  school  training.  At  the  age  of  fourteen 
and  a  half  he  went  to  work  for  the  Brookman 
Manufacturing  Company,  manufacturers  of 
grocery  sundries  and  during  this  period  he 
continued  in  night  school.  After  five  years 
with  this  firm  he  joined  Durand  &  Kasper,  a 
prominent  Chicago  wholesale  grocery  house. 
Here  after  several  years  he  was  advanced  to 
an  executive  position,  and  his  reputation  for 
efficiency  and  dependability  opened  the  way  for 
wider  and  more  important  connections  in  the 
business  world. 

In  1912  Mr.  Massmann  joined  the  National 
Tea  Company.  During  the  past  twenty  years 
he  has  been  with  that  corporation  in  practic- 
ally every  department,  including  organization, 
buying  and  merchandising.  In  1927  he  was 
made  vice  president  of  the  company.  Any  one 
familiar  with  the  high  financial  rating  of  the 
National  Tea  Company  will  understand  that 
its  vice  president  is  a  man  of  unusual  responsi- 
bility. The  National  Tea  Company  is  pecu- 
liarly a  Chicago  organization.  It  started  with 
one  store  in  the  city  many  years  ago,  and 
in  the  course  of  its  evolution  has  become  one 
of  the  great  chain  store  companies  of  the 
world.  This  chain  now  includes  1500  stores, 
many  of  them  being  located  in  the  metropoli- 
tan area  of  Chicago  and  vicinity,  but  the 
chain  also  has  been  extended  throughout  a 
number  of  the  states  of  the  Middle  West, 
particularly  in  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota. 

His  own  career  has  given  Mr.  Massmann 
a  ready  understanding  and  sympathy  of  the 
circumstances  and  obstacles  which  are  in  the 
path  of  an  earnest,  hard-working  poor  boy. 
For  years  it  has  been  his  ambition  to  provide 
opportunities  to  such  boys,  guiding  them  in 
their  efforts  to  lead  the  right  kind  of  life, 
keep  out  of  temptation  and  get  somewhere 
in  the  world.  He  has  given  a  practical  dem- 
onstration of  his  sympathies  in  many  ways. 
While  in  many  cases  he  has  been  able  to 
help  boys  in  individual  cases,  he  has  particu- 
larly worked  through  such  organizations  as 
the  Holy  Name  Society  and  the  Boy  Scouts. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  of  the  Big  Brothers 
in  Chicago,  and  has  been  a  leader  in  the  acti- 
vities of  that  branch  of  the  Holy  Name  Society. 
Among  his  generous  gifts  for  philanthropic 
purposes  should  be  noted  particularly  one  to- 


ILLINOIS 


443 


ward  the  founding-  of  the  Holy  Name  Techni- 
cal School  for  Boys  at  Lockport,  Illinois, 
which   was   started   in    1931. 

It  was  Mr.  Massmann's  earnest  efforts  to 
promote  the  educational  and  philanthropic 
work  of  the  Holy  Name  Society  in  the  Arch- 
diocese of  Chicago  which  brought  him  the 
distinction  of  being  elected  president  of  the 
society.  In  May,  1931,  another  honor  came 
to  him,  also  in  recognition  of  his  splendid 
work  under  the  auspices  of  this  society.  This 
was  the  papal  honor  conferred,  through  the 
recommendation  of  His  Eminence,  Cardinal 
Mundelein,  signalized  by  the  bestowal  of  the 
Pope's  authority  of  the  honor  of  the  Knight- 
hood of  St.  Gregory  the  Great.  As  the  Catho- 
lic publication,  the  New  World,  said  at  the 
time:  "Few,  if  any,  other  Holy  Name  societies 
can  boast  of  a  president  invested  with  mem- 
bership in  the  Knighthood  of  St.  Gregory,  and 
the  honor  paid  to  the  president  of  the  Chicago 
Holy  Name  Society  not  only  should  be  a  cause 
for  pleasure,  but  should  be  a  real  stimulus  to 
every  Holy  Name  man  to  make  special  efforts 
to  aid  Frederick  H.  Massmann,  K.  S.  G.,  in 
his  work  of  carrying  out  the  wishes  of  the 
general  spiritual  director  of  the  Chicago  Holy 
Name  Society." 

Mr.  Massmann  is  a  convert  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion.  He  received  his  communion 
in  St.  Jerome's  Church  in  Chicago.  His  one 
diversion  from  business  and  his  social  and 
philanthropic  activities  is  golf.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Ridgemoor  Country  Club.  Mr. 
Massmann  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Dienes,  of 
Springfield,  Illinois.  Their  two  children  are 
Elizabeth,  wife  of  Paul  R.  Pape,  and  Alfred 
J.  Massmann.  The  family  home  is  at  7000 
Ridge  Avenue. 

Henry  C.  Stickelmaier,  prominent  theatri- 
cal man  of  Peoria,  was  born  in  that  city  March 
4,  1898,  and  all  of  his  business  experience  has 
been  in  connection  with  theaters  and  amuse- 
ment houses. 

His  parents  are  George  and  Sophia  (Weis- 
bruch)  Stickelmaier,  residents  of  Peoria, 
where  his  mother  was  born.  His  father  is  a 
native  of  Germany  and  came  to  Peoria  when 
eighteen  years  of  age.  Henry  C.  Stickelmaier 
after  the  parochial  schools  attended  St.  Francis 
College  in  Cincinnati,  and  then  took  up  theat- 
rical work.  His  career  began  as  an  usher  in 
the  Hippodrome,  and  he  learned  the  business 
from  a  very  practical  angle.  Later  he  was 
made  manager  of  the  Princess,  the  Apollo  and 
Madison  theaters,  and  recently  was  appointed 
district  manager  of  the  Great  States-Publix 
Theatres  in  Illinois,  having  the  supervision 
of  over  forty  theaters  in  the  state  from  the 
southern  suburban  towns  of  Chicago  to  as 
far  south  as  Decatur  and  Bloomington. 

Mr.  Stickelmaier  is  an  active  worker  in  the 
Peoria  Association  of  Commerce  and  is  a 
member  of  the  American  Business  Club,  being 


governor  of  the  Fifth  District,  comprising 
seven  states.  He  has  been  active  in  the 
Knights  of  Columbus  and  is  a  member  of  the 
Creve  Coeur  Club.  He  married  Rosemary  Mc- 
Mahon,  of  Chicago,  where  her  father,  D.  J. 
McMahon,  is  a  prominent  attorney.  They  have 
one  son,  Henry  C.  Jr. 

Frank  Thielen  is  an  Illinois  man  whose 
name  and  career  deserve  all  the  enormous 
popularity  and  prestige  they  have  received. 
An  educated  man  is  one  who  makes  use  of  his 
intellectual  powers  all  the  years  of  his  life, 
and  not  merely  a  man  whose  mind  stops  grow- 
ing when  he  leaves  college.  That  has  been  Mr. 
Thielen's  dominating  characteristic.  He  never 
went  to  college.  He  was  a  poor  boy  in  Aurora, 
having  to  work  for  his  living,  and  in  working 
he  was  constantly  exercising  his  wits,  his 
powers  of  observation,  and  had  that  indispen- 
sable quality  of  being  able  to  translate  what 
he  saw  and  thought  into  terms  of  practical 
achievement.  He  brought  the  motion  picture 
industry  to  Aurora,  but  the  achievement 
which  serves  as  a  monument  to  him  all  over 
the  Middle  West  is  the  creation  of  Aurora's 
unique  amusement  institution,  the  Central 
States  Fair  and  Exposition  and  Amusement 
Park. 

Mr.  Thielen  was  born  at  Aurora  May  27, 
1874,  son  of  George  and  Katherine  Thielen. 
His  parents  were  natives  of  Germany  but 
were  married  in  Aurora.  His  father  lost  his 
life  in  a  railway  accident.  His  mother  died 
at  the  age  of  seventy-two. 

Frank  Thielen  was  the  oldest  of  the  four 
children,  three  of  whom  are  living.  He  had  a 
brief  schooling  at  Aurora,  but  was  only  five 
years  old  when  his  father  died,  and  that  put 
unusual  responsibilities  on  his  young  shoul- 
ders. At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was  driving 
a  laundry  wagon.  The  story  has  been  told 
of  how  he  got  into  business  for  himself.  When 
he  was  nineteen  years  of  age  his  cash  capital 
amounted  to  $1.35.  He  believed  he  saw  an 
opportunity  to  get  into  the  restaurant  busi- 
ness. With  considerable  difficulty,  owing  to 
his  cash  capital  and  limited  credit,  he  per- 
suaded the  man  who  had  a  mortgage  for  eighty 
dollars  on  a  small  restaurant  to  permit  him  to 
take  it  over.  While  running  a  restaurant  he 
made  his  first  venture  in  the  amusement  busi- 
ness. He  had  considerable  success  in  staging 
amateur  theatricals  in  the  old  Brady  Hall,  and 
subsequently  he  built  the  Bijou,  Aurora's  first 
vaudeville  home.  While  in  Chicago  he  ob- 
served the  popularity  of  the  "nickelodeons" 
which  were  then  plentiful  along  State  Street 
and  in  outlying  portions  of  the  city,  present- 
ing a  crude  application  of  the  earliest  motion 
picture  developments.  Then,  in  1902,  he 
opened  the  Star  Theater  at  Aurora,  the  first 
motion  picture  house  in  the  city.  He  was  a 
pioneer  in  that  business  when  the  "movies" 
were  a  distinct  novelty  and  when  practically 


444 


ILLINOIS 


all  the  movie  houses  were  hastily  transformed 
store-rooms.  The  first  film  Mr.  Thielen  ex- 
hibited in  Aurora  was  entitled  "The  Edison 
Train  Robbers,"  a  typical  title  for  the  thrillers 
which  were  then  popular. 

In  1909  Mr.  Thielen  added  the  Palace 
Theater  to  his  holdings,  but  sold  this  in  1911. 
He  then  joined  with  Jules  J.  and  L.  M.  Rubens 
in  the  building  of  the  Fox  Theater.  This  com- 
bination in  1911  was  the  forerunner  of  the 
later  consolidation  known  as  the  Aurora 
Theater  Company,  operating  the  Sylvandale 
Amusement  Company,  of  which  Mr.  Thielen 
later  became  owner.  By  1920  he  was  operat- 
ing a  chain  of  over  twenty  motion  picture 
theaters  in  Illinois.  He  had  made  a  success 
in  the  business,  and  when  he  sold  out  most 
of  his  interests  he  had  to  find  a  substitute  for 
his  energy  and  capital. 

It  was  in  1920  that  he  acquired  a  tract 
of  200  acres  of  land  two  and  a  half  miles 
north  of  Aurora.  Here  he  and  his  associates 
began  the  development  work  for  the  Central 
States  Fair  and  Exposition  grounds.  Mr. 
Thielen  was  president  of  the  association  from 
its  organization  in  1920  until  1931.  In  the 
latter  year  he  requested  relief  from  the  Fair 
management  in  order  that  he  might  give  more 
of  his  time  to  the  development  of  the  amuse- 
ment enterprises  at  Exposition  Park.  He  is 
still  a  member  of  the  board  of  directors  and 
operates  under  lease  all  the  amusements  in 
the  park.  He  is  also  owner  and  manager  of 
the  Exposition  Hotel. 

No  one  thing  has  done  so  much  to  make 
Aurora  the  magnet  of  thousands  and  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  visitors  during  the  summer 
as  the  great  racing  events  and  the  magnifi- 
cent Exposition  Park,  which  has  been  well 
called  the  "Coney  Island  of  the  Middle  West." 
Aside  from  the  horse  and  automobile  racing 
events  Exposition  Park  presents  a  continuous 
program  of  attractions  throughout  the  sum- 
mer season.  It  contains  the  largest  artificial 
swimming  pool  in  the  world  and  has  scores  of 
other  athletic  and  amusement  features.  Mr. 
Thielen's  special  contribution  to  the  attrac- 
tiveness of  the  park  was  the  construction  of 
the  modern  apartment  hotel,  with  its  130 
kitchenette  apartments.  With  this  hotel  the 
amusement  park  becomes  an  ideal  vacation 
ground  which  has  been  used  by  hundreds  of 
guests  every  week  during  the  summer. 

Mr.  Thielen  has  taken  a  keen  delight  in 
anticipating  what  people  in  general  and  chil- 
dren in  particular  would  like  to  have  in  the 
line  of  amusements,  and  he  has  proved  a 
master  in  making  provisions  for  such  whole- 
some forms  of  recreation.  Besides  his  inter- 
ests at  the  park  he  is  owner  of  the  Majestic 
Theater  at  Bloomington,  Illinois,  owns  the 
Jockey  Club  at  Aurora,  and  is  owner  of  the 
land  on  which  the  new  million  dollar  Para- 
mount Theater  was  built  at  Aurora.  He  is 
vice  president  of  the  Broadway  Trust  &  Sav- 


ings Bank.  Mr.  Thielen  is  a  member  of  the 
B.  P.  O.  Elks,  the  Loyal  Order  of  Moose,  the 
Fox  River  Country  Club  and  the  Showman's 
Club  of  Chicago.  He  married  Miss  Stella 
Paul.  She  was  born  in  South  Bend,  Indiana, 
but  was  reared  in  Aurora. 

Chicago  Law  Institute.  (A  law  library). 
Lawyers,  like  others,  need  working  tools,  con- 
sisting chiefly  of  reports,  digests  and  encyclo- 
pedias of  previously  decided  cases,  besides 
statutes  of  all  the  states  and  of  the  United 
States,  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies.  These 
with  text  books  enlighten  the  minds  of  judges 
who  decide  new  cases.  To  save  heavy  expense 
to  lawyers  the  Chicago  Law  Institute  was 
chartered  as  a  corporation  by  the  State  Legis- 
lature of  Illinois  February  18,  1857,  "for  liter- 
ary purposes,  the  cultivation  of  legal  science, 
the  advancement  of  jurisprudence,  and  the  for- 
mation of  a  law  library  in  the  City  of  Chicago, 
in  Cook  County,  to  be  conducted,  maintained 
and  carried  on  by  the  members  of  said  corpo- 
ration." 

The  three  individuals  named  in  the  original 
charter  as  incorporators  were  John  M.  Wilson, 
Van  H.  Higgins  and  Elliott  Anthony,  all  dis- 
tinguished lawyers  at  the  Chicago  bar,  who 
became  respectively  president,  vice  president 
and  secretary  of  the  Institute.  No  treasurer 
or  librarian  were  named  for  a  year,  when 
Charles  B.  Waite  was  elected  treasurer  and 
James  P.  Root,  librarian.  Except  for  several 
religious  bodies  it  is  the  oldest  organization  in 
Chicago. 

At  first  the  Institute  had  little  funds  and 
books  were  contributed.  Gradually  the  library  , 
was  built  up  by  purchase  and  by  gift  until  now 
it  has  over  80,000  bound  volumes  and  1700 
members.  It  may  fairly  be  said  that  this 
library,  while  not  as  large  as  a  few  others, 
is  equipped  with  all  useful  law  books  in  the 
English  language.  This  includes  law  books 
from  as  far  as  British  South  Africa,  Australia 
and  New  Zealand.  Besides,  it  has  many  of 
the  best  works  in  foreign  languages  which 
have  been  translated  into  English. 

About  450,000  books  are  consulted  annually 
in  the  Institute  rooms,  while  86,500  are  with- 
drawn each  year.  The  library  is  open  every 
day,  including  Sundays  (except  for  five  legal 
holidays)  from  8:30  A.  M.  to  11:00  P.  M.  (ex- 
cept Saturday  afternoons  in  the  summer  time). 
It  thus  renders  a  distinct  and  continuous  serv- 
ice at  a  nominal  net  assessment  against  each 
member  of  $15  per  year.  Besides  this  the  In- 
stitute also  renders  free  public  service  by  loan- 
ing its  books  to  all  federal,  state,  county  and 
municipal  judges  and  other  public  officials, 
such  as  district  and  states  attorneys  and  cor- 
poration counsel  and  their  assistants. 

The  Institute  has  never  become  a  social  club 
for  lawyers  but  rather  has  been  a  workshop 
for  its  members  with  a  trained  staff  of  assist- 
ants who  provide  the  facilities  of  the  library 


University  Club,  Chicago 


ILLINOIS 


445 


to  the  active  members  of  the  bar.  For  thirty- 
eight  years  John  W.  Fellows  has  taken  pride 
in  the  gradual  expansion  of  the  library  and 
in  rendering  complete  service  to  the  working 
lawyer.  During  most  of  this  time  he  has  been 
assistant  librarian.  Oliver  H.  Miller,  now  as- 
sistant librarian,  has  also  been  a  faithful  as- 
sistant for  thirty-five  years. 

Many  of  Chicago's  leading  lawyers  and  sev- 
eral eminent  jurists  of  theUnited  States  and 
State  Supreme  Courts  have  presided  over  the 
library.  Among  its  former  presidents  may 
be  named  Walter  B.  Scates,  George  Manierre, 
William  H.  King,  James  P.  Root,  John  M. 
Rountree,  John  N.  Jewett,  Charles  H.  Reed, 
Lambert  Tree,  Sidney  Smith,  William  C. 
Goudy,  Melville  W.  Fuller,  Thomas  Dent,  Rob- 
ert Hervey,  Julius  Rosenthal,  George  Gardner, 
George  W.  Smith,  John  P.  Wilson,  Oliver  H. 
Horton,  James  K.  Edsall,  Israel  N.  Stiles, 
Farlin  Q.  Ball,  John  Barton  Payne,  John  S. 
Miller,  Merritt  Starr,  John  J.  Herrick,  Donald 
L.  Morrill,  Wells  M.  Cook,  John  D.  Black, 
D.  J.  Normoyle. 

The  librarians  have  been  James  Root  (1857- 
1861),  George  Payson  (1861),  Charles  F. 
Peck  (1862-1864),  John  Mattocks  (1864-1867), 
Julius  Rosenthal  (1867-1877  and  1888-1903), 
W.  Irving  Culver  (1877-1887),  William  H. 
Holden  (1903-1924),  Captain  Edward  Maher 
(1924-1932),  William  S.  Johnston  (1932—). 
The  president  for  1932  is  George  W.  Under- 
wood. 

The  library  has  always  been  located  in  the 
Court  House  and  now  occupies  quarters  on  the 
tenth  floor. 

University  Club  of  Chicago.  The  desire 
of  college  graduates  to  continue  relationships 
of  ^  student  years,  by  means  of  alumni  associ- 
ations and  similar  groups,  has  been  expressed 
and  perpetuated  in  many  American  cities  by 
the  formation  of  University  Clubs.  So  it  was 
that  representatives  of  alumni  of  Harvard, 
Yale,  Princeton  and  other  colleges  began,  as 
early  as  1885,  discussions  of  plans  for  forming 
a  University  Club  in  Chicago,  resulting  in  its 
organization  and  acceptance  of  a  charter  dated 
February  10,  1887.  Edward  Gay  Mason,  a 
graduate  of  Yale  and  a  leading  member  of  the 
bar  in  Chicago,  was  elected  president  and,  at 
a  meeting  held  March  16  of  that  year,  three 
hundred  and  seventeen  former  students  of  for- 
ty-six colleges  and  universities  joined  in  mem- 
bership. The  charter  stated  the  objects  of 
the  club  to  be:  "The  promotion  of  literature 
and  art  by  establishing  a  library,  reading 
room  and  gallery  of  art  and  by  such  other 
means  as  shall  be  expedient  and  proper  for 
such  purposes."  Primarily,  however,  the  Uni- 
versity Club  of  Chicago,  as  elsewhere,  was  to 
be  the  gathering  place  of  men  made  kindred 
of  mind  and  habit  by  their  years  of  college  life. 
The  first  club   rooms,   occupying  three   upper 


floors  of  the  building  at  125  Dearborn  Street, 
were  opened  May  9,  1887,  and  provided  such 
accommodations  as  were  then  required  in 
lounge,  restaurant,  billiard  rooms  and  other 
facilities.  Rapid  growth,  in  membership,  soon 
taxed  the  capacity  of  these  quarters  and,  in 
1890,  the  building  at  116  Dearborn  Street 
was  purchased,  rearranged  and  adequately 
equipped  for  the  various  departments.  Here, 
under  the  devoted  and  efficient  leadership  of 
Mr.  Mason,  who  continued  in  the  office  of 
president  for  seven  years,  and  with  the  cordial 
cooperation  of  officers,  directors  and  members, 
the  club  established  itself  as  the  favored  ren- 
dezvous of  congenial  college  men,  and  at- 
tracted to  its  membership  increasing  members 
residing  in  Chicago  and  a  non-resident  list 
representative  of  the  entire  country.  This 
continued  growth  soon  demanded  still  more 
room  and  as  early  as  1895  inquiries  were  made 
concerning  possible  location  of  a  club  house 
to  be  erected  on  Michigan  Avenue,  Chicago's 
unrivalled  lake  front  boulevard. 

Several  years  later  these  suggestions  took 
form  in  plans,  presented  by  William  Cowper 
Boyden,  president  of  the  club,  a  graduate  of 
Harvard  and  member  of  the  bar  in  Chicago, 
and  his  associates  on  the  directorate,  which 
resulted  in  securing  options  on  a  property,  60 
by  180  feet,  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Michi- 
gan Avenue  and  Monroe  Street  and  the  incor- 
poration of  the  University  Auxiliary  Associa- 
tion, a  stock  company  to  secure  the  property, 
erect  the  building  and  lease  it  to  the  Univer- 
sity Club.  This  was  a  financial  undertaking 
of  substantially  more  than  a  million  dollars  set 
up  and  carried  to  successful  accomplishment 
under   Mr.   Boyden's  direction. 

First,  securing  the  cooperation  of  five  promi- 
nent members  and  the'ir  subscriptions  for  fifty 
thousand  dollars,  each,  of  stock  in  the  Auxil- 
iary corporation,  Mr.  Boyden  and  the  directors 
called  a  meeting  of  club  members  to  decide  on 
the  plan.  At  this  meeting,  following  a  dinner 
at  the  club  house  on  the  evening  of  May  7, 
1906,  inspired  by  addresses  of  leading  mem- 
bers and  to  the  accompaniment  of  college 
songs  and  club  songs  prepared  for  the  occasion, 
the  new  and  ambitious  project  was  launched 
and  subscriptions  for  stock  in  the  proposed 
corporation  were  made  to  the  amount  of  nearly 
seven  hundred  thousand  dollars.  This  is  said 
to  be  an  accomplishment  unequalled  of  its  kind 
and  its  success  was  soon  followed  by  subscrip- 
tions in  excess  of  the  entire  sum  required. 

Martin  Roche,  a  distinguished  architect  and 
member  of  the  club,  with  an  associate,  went 
at  once,  on  his  own  initiative,  to  Oxford,  mak- 
ing an  intensive  study  of  Tudor  Gothic  and, 
in  London,  secured  plans  of  Crosby  Hall  and 
its  banquet  room,  which  have  been  famous 
for  more  than  four  hundred  years.  From 
these  studies  Mr.  Roche  prepared  plans  for  a 
building  sixteen  stories  in  height,  strictly  Tu- 


446 


ILLINOIS 


dor  or  College  Gothic  in  type,  which  is  said 
to  be  the  first  of  its  kind  in  height  and  capacity 
and  of  modern  construction. 

The  crowning  feature,  in  these  plans,  was 
the  great  dining  room,  on  the  ninth  floor,  in 
which,  on  an  extended  scale,  is  reproduced  the 
ceiling  of  Crosby  Hall,  London.  This  noble 
room,  with  its  stone  arches  and  interior  en- 
riched by  the  design  and  coloring  of  its  win- 
dows and  surmounted  by  this  elaborate  and 
unusual  ceiling,  has  become  widely  celebrated 
as  an  outstanding  achievement  in  art  and  ar- 
chitecture and  is  a  monument  to  its  designer, 
Martin  Roche,  whose  name  alone  is  carved  in 
the  stone  near  the  table  at  which  he  sat  for 
many  years. 

Designs  for  stained  glass  windows  and  other 
decorations,  unusual  in  scope  and  elaboration, 
were  prepared  by  Frederic  Clay  Bartlett,  a 
club  member  and  graduate  of  the  Royal  Acad- 
emy of  Bavaria,  which  adequately  supple- 
mented the  structural  plans,  and  received  ex- 
tended commendation. 

Following  the  adoption;  of  these  plans  was 
the  devoted  work  of  officers,  directors,  building 
committees,  architects,  artists  and  contractors, 
resulting  in  the  completion  of  the  building  and 
its  furnishings  early  in  1909  and  to  it,  in  joy- 
ful celebration,  the  club  removed  on  the  even- 
ing of  April  3  of  that  year. 

Forming  in  procession  at  the  old  building  on 
Dearborn  Street,  after  singing  songs  of  fare- 
well to  the  old  and  hail  to  the  new,  club  mem- 
bers marched  in  procession  to  the  new  build- 
ing, resplendent  in  exterior  illumination.  Here 
they  found,  as  their  own,  a  club  house  whose 
beauty,  in  dignified  and  classic  outline  and 
completeness,  in  all  of  its  facilities,  marks  a 
distinct  advance  in  buildings  of  this  character 
and  stands  a  monument  to  American  college 
traditions  and  their  perpetuation. 

Appropriately  capped  and  gowned,  led  by 
the  glee  club  and  the  music  of  organ  and  or- 
chestra, the  members  then  assembled  in  col- 
lege groups  in  the  great  hall,  singing  as  they 
marched : 

"Domini  Salvam  Fac  Patriam  nostram, 
Americam, 

Et  exaudi  nos  in  die  qua 
Invocaverimus  te." 

After  an  impressive  pause  there  floated  from 
the  west  balcony  the  American  flag  and  fol- 
lowed the  National  Anthem,  in  a  mighty 
chorus.  Then  came  the  Harvard  flag,  the 
Harvard  cheer  ond  song.  Then  Yale,  Princeton, 
Michigan,  Dartmouth,  Amherst,  Northwestern, 
Cornell,  Chicago,  all  the  colleges  with  flags, 
cheers  and  songs  having  climax  in  a  jubiant 
"serpentine"  march  of  near  a  thousand  men, 
club  fellows  and  companions  rejoicing  in  a 
great  achievement.  And  the  years  continue  to 
prove  the  greatness  of  the  achievement,  the 
wisdom  of  its  founders,  the  devotion  and  sup- 
port of  this  band  of  loyal  collegians. 


Today,  with  more  than  three  thousand  mem- 
bers, of  whom  about  eight  hundred  are  non- 
resident, the  University  Club  of  Chicago  finds 
on  its  roster  the  names  of  many  of  America's 
most  distinguished  citizens,  including  a  former 
Vice  President  of  the  United  States,  five  ex- 
cabinet  members,  judges,  doctors,  lawyers, 
bishops,  priests,  teachers,  scientists,  editors, 
authors,  composers,  leaders  in  business  and 
professional  life  and  representatives  of  col- 
leges and  universities  in  all  parts  of  the  land. 

The  building  provides  lounges;  reading  and 
writing  rooms;  a  library  of  above  thirty-two 
thousand  volumes;  general  and  private  dining 
rooms,  including  special  accommodations  for 
wives  and  families  of  members;  living  rooms; 
billiard  and  card  rooms;  racquet  and  squash 
courts;  baths  and  swimming  pool. 

Field  days  and  indoor  events  afford  oppor- 
tunity for  athletics.  Lectures,  recitals,  con- 
certs, plays,  smokers  and  similar  gatherings 
have  provided  formal  and  informal  entertain- 
ment, aided  by  an  efficient  glee  and  banjo  club. 
At  college  dinners  and  other  gatherings  fa- 
mous men  of  many  countries  have  been  enter- 
tained. 

And  so  the  club  continues,  after  forty-five 
successful  years,  the  daily  meeting  place  of 
college  alumni,  their  friends  and  associates, 
and  the  center  of  activities  imbued  with  that 
rare  indefinable  quality  called:  "College 
Spirit,"  worthy  of  the  institution  it  represents 
and  of  the  great  city  in  which  it  stands. 

Frank  Willey,  Jr.,  was  appointed  in  June, 
1930,  by  President  Hoover,  postmaster  of  Alto 
Pass,  Union  County.  He  lived  all  his  life  in 
that  locality  and  was  one  of  the  well  esteemed 
young  business  men  and  a  member  of  an  old 
and  respected  family.  He  met  death  in  an  air- 
plane accident  August  16,  1931.  No  departed 
citizen  of  his  community  was  ever  paid  higher 
respects  or  the  passing  of  one  more  widely 
mourned.  He  was  succeeded  as  postmaster  by 
his  father,  Frank  Willey,  Sr. 

He  was  born  in  Union  County  January  10, 
1906.  His  grandfather,  A.  D.  Willey,  was  a 
soldier  in  the  Civil  war.  His  father,  Frank 
Willey,  is  a  Spanish-American  war  veteran, 
serving  with  the  First  Nebraska  Volunteers  in 
the  Philippines.  Frank  Willey,  Sr.,  was  born 
in  Kansas,  but  in  1900  moved  to  Union  County, 
Illinois.  For  a  number  of  years  he  was  in  the 
employ  of  the  Laclede  Gas  Company  of  St. 
Louis  and  later  became  a  farmer.  Frank 
Willey,  Sr.,  married  Cora  Cauble,  who  was 
born  at  Alto  Pass,  Illinois,  daughter  of  Willis 
Cauble,  former  county  commissioner  and  first 
president  of  the  Alto  Pass  Farmers  State 
Bank  and  one  of  the  organizers  of  that  insti- 
tution. The  Cauble  family  have  been  in 
Southern  Illinois  since  earliest  pioneer  times. 

Frank  Willey,  Jr.,  one  of  a  family  of  three 
children,  and  the  oldest,  his  sister  being  Helen 
and  his  brother  Robert,  attended  the  Alto 
Pass  grade  and  high  school  and  completed  his 


ILLINOIS 


447 


education  in  the  Gem  City  Business  College 
at  Quincy  and  the  Southern  Illinois  Teachers 
College  at  Carbondale.  He  entered  a  business 
career  as  bookkeeper  for  the  Farmers  State 
Bank  of  Alto  Pass,  and  was  with  that  bank 
until  he  took  up  his  duties  as  postmaster  in 
1930. 

He  was  a  member  of  Alto  Pass  Lodge  of 
Masons  and  was  much  interested  in  this  fra- 
ternity. He  was  a  Republican.  His  father  is 
looking  after  farm  lands  that  have  been  in 
the  family  for  fully  a  century. 

Hiram  Dow  Hallett,  a  sanitary  engineer, 
widely  known  as  an  expert  and  pioneer  engi- 
neer and  contractor  on  water  works  and  sewer 
installation,  has  for  many  years  been  a  resi- 
dent of  Aurora. 

Mr.  Hallett  was  born  on  a  farm  near  Fred- 
erickton,  New  Brunswick,  Canada,  February 
12,  1861.  His  parents,  Josiah  and  Elvira 
(Heusts)  Hallett,  were  also  natives  of  New 
Brunswick,  where  they  spent  all  their  lives. 
Hiram  D.  is  the  only  member  of  the  family  in 
the  United  States.  He  was  the  sixth  in  a 
family  of  twelve  children,  four  of  whom  are 
living.  His  father  was  a  farmer  and  also  a 
bridge  contractor. 

Mr.  Hallett  grew  up  on  a  farm  in  Eastern 
Canada,  and  his  bent  toward  engineering  work 
was  encouraged  by  the  experience  of  practical 
employment  under  his  father  in  bridge  build- 
ing. He  is  a  graduate  of  the  University  of 
New  Brunswick,  where  he  took  his  civil  engi- 
neer degree.  For  four  years  he  was  in  rail- 
road work,  and  in  1889  he  came  to  the  United 
States,  first  locating  in  Chicago.  For  one 
year  he  was  employed  in  the  office  of  the  Cook 
County  surveyor.  During  1890-92  he  was  as- 
sociated with  a  consulting  civil  engineering 
firm  in  Chicago.  During  that  time  he  was  put 
in  charge  of  some  of  the  first  sewers  con- 
structed at  LaGrange. 

Mr.  Hallett  in  1892  came  to  Aurora  and  was 
appointed  city  engineer.  In  that  capacity  he 
supervised  the  construction  of  the  first  sewer 
system  in  the  city.  For  over  forty  years  he 
has  specialized  in  sanitary  engineering,  and 
his  successful  experience  has  made  him  an 
expert  in  all  the  practical  problems  connected 
with  the  construction  of  water  works  and 
sewerage.  A  few  years  after  coming  to 
Aurora  he  took  up  contracting,  and  has  had 
contracts  for  sewer  and  water  works  construc- 
tion in  many  towns  and  cities  of  Illinois  and 
Indiana.  Mr.  Hallett  laid  out  the  grounds 
and  did  all  the  water  and  sewer  work  for 
Mooseheart.  He  has  frequently  handled  con- 
tracts for  the  Government.  He  laid  the  first 
sewers  at  the  Great  Lakes  Naval  Training 
Station,  and  was  again  called  there  for  ex- 
tensions and  equipment  during  the  World  war. 

Mr.  Hallett  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois 
Society  of  Engineers  and  the  Western  Society 
of  Engineers.     He  owns  much   real  estate  in 


Aurora.  He  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason, 
member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows, the  Union  League  Club  of  Chicago  and 
the  Union  League  Club  of  Aurora,  the  Y.  M. 
C.  A.,  and  is  a  charter  member  of  the  Aurora 
Country  Club. 

Mr.  Hallett's  first  wife  died  in  August,  1926. 
They  had  one  adopted  daughter.  On  July  11, 
1929,  he  married  Mrs.  Cliggitt,  widow  of  Wil- 
liam Cliggitt.  William  Cliggitt  for  twenty- 
five  years  was  a  grain  dealer  at  Oswego  and 
a  large  property  owner  in  that  section  of  Illi- 
nois. He  died  in  October,  1924.  After  his 
death  Mrs.  Cliggitt  moved  her  home  to 
Aurora.  She  owns  a  large  farm  near  that 
city  and  also  has  several  hundred  acres  of 
land  in  Oklahoma.  Mrs.  Cliggitt  has  an 
adopted  daughter,  now  the  wife  of  Judge 
L.   J.   Galvin,   of   Aurora. 

Hon.  Alphonse  De  Luca,  M.  D.  The 
friendly  relations  which  have  always  existed 
between  the  United  States  and  South 
America's  largest  and  most  powerful  nation, 
Brazil,  were  greatly  strengthened  and  aug- 
mented in  1931,  when  Dr.  Alphonse  De  Luca 
was  appointed  by  his  government  to  the  post 
of  consul  at  Chicago.  A  physician  and  sur- 
geon of  high  standing  both  in  his  own  and 
this  country,  and  a  veteran  of  the  World  war 
in  which  he  was  decorated  by  two  countries 
for  valor  and  exceptional  service  in  the  line 
of  duty,  Doctor  De  Luca  combines  the  qualities 
of  professional  ability  and  statesmanship 
which  cannot  fail  to  be  of  value  in  diplomatic 
circles. 

Doctor  De  Luca  was  born  in  Italy  in  1889, 
and  when  twelve  years  of  age  accompanied 
his  parents  to  Brazil,  receiving  his  primary 
education  at  the  State  of  Rio  Grande  do  Sul 
(Porto  Olegre).  Subsequently  he  pursued  his 
medical  studies  at  the  University  of  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  from  which  splendid  institution  he 
was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Medicine  as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1913. 
In  that  year  he  commenced  practice  in  the 
same  city,  but  in  1916  returned  to  Italy,  and, 
joining  the  Italian  Army,  was  commissioned 
a  lieutenant  for  service  in  the  World  war. 
Beginning  this  service  at  Naples,  he  was  as- 
signed to  duty  in  the  Tenth  Sanitary  of  the 
Medical  Corps,  and  later  was  assigned  to  the 
Ninety-seventh  Regiment  Fantery  of  the 
Genoa  Brigade.  He  participated  in  the  war 
on  the  Eastern  Italian  front  and  was  at  the 
battles  of  Isonzo,  Gorizia  and  Monte  Nero. 
He  rose  to  the  rank  of  captain  and  by  valor- 
ous service  was  awarded  the  Italian  War 
Cross  for  merit  and  a  French  war  medal. 

After  receiving  his  honorable  discharge  in 
1919,  Doctor  De  Luca  returned  to  the  United 
States  and  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion. In  1921  he  came  to  the  United  States 
and  took  up  his  residence  at  Chicago,  where 
he  has  built  up  a  large  and  lucrative  practice 


448 


ILLINOIS 


in  medicine  and  surgery  and  is  considered  one 
of  the  leaders  of  his  calling,  his  offices  being 
located  at  201  North  Wells  Street.  Me  is 
a  valued  member  of  the  Chicago  Medical  So- 
ciety and  the  American  Medical  Association, 
and  serves  as  staff  physician  at  Mother  Ca- 
brini  Hospital. 

In  1923  Doctor  De  Luca  was  appointed  vice 
consul  of  Brazil  in  Chicago,  and  served  in 
that  capacity  for  eight  years.  In  August, 
1931,  he  was  appointed  by  his  government  to 
the  post  of  consul  in  this  city,  and  in  Septem- 
ber of  the  same  year  he  received  the  official 
recognition  of  President  Herbert  Hoover  and 
Secretary  of  State  Henry  L.  Stimson.  The 
strong  friendship  and  diplomatic  intimacy  that 
have  always  existed  between  Brazil  and  the 
United  States  give  Doctor  De  Luca  particular 
importance  as  Brazil's  representative  in  this 
country's  second  largest  city. 

Leslie  L.  Urch,  county  treasurer  of  Kane 
County,  is  an  Illinois  citizen  well  known  to 
the  people  of  his  home  county,  where  he  has 
lived  for  over  thirty  years  and  where  he  has 
made  an  honorable  record  both  in  business 
and  in  public  affairs. 

Mr.  Urch  was  born  at  Burr  Oak,  Kansas, 
May  18,  1880,  son  of  Henry  and  Sally  (Kemp) 
Urch.  His  father,  a  native  of  Portsmouth, 
New  Hampshire,  was  a  pioneer  settler  in 
Kansas,  going  to  that  state  in  1876  and  taking 
up  Government  land,  which  he  developed  into 
a  farm.  In  1891  he  returned  east  and  settled 
with  his  family  in  Will  County,  Illinois.  There 
for  eighteen  years  he  was  foreman  of  a  bridge 
building  carpenter  gang  for  the  Chicago,  Rock 
Island  &  Pacific  Railway  Company.  He  lived 
to  advanced  years,  passing  away  November  19, 
1930,  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine.  Mr.  Urch's 
mother  was  a  native  of  Illinois,  born  at 
Momence.  She  died  May  14,  1930,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-six.  Of  her  seven  children  Leslie  L. 
was  the  third.  He  has  three  living  brothers 
and  one  sister. 

Leslie  L.  Urch  was  eleven  years  old  when 
the  family  established  their  home  in  Will 
County,  Illinois.  Here  he  continued  to  attend 
school,  but  at  the  age  of  sixteen  went  to 
Florida,  where  he  lived  three  years.  In  1899, 
on  returning  to  Illinois,  he  took  up  insurance 
work,  which  was  his  business  for  some  years. 
For  three  years  he  was  assistant  superin- 
tendent of  the  Metropolitan  Life  Insurance 
Company  at  Aurora  and  for  three  years  at 
Joliet.  For  two  years  he  was  with  the 
Equitable  Life  Insurance  Company  at  Joliet. 
He  left  the  insurance  business  to  become  a 
salesman  for  the  Grand  Union  Tea  Company, 
for  three  years  having  territory  in  and 
around  Piano,  Illinois.  On  the  death  of  his 
wife's  mother  he  located  in  her  home  town 
of  Batavia,  and  while  there  continued  in  the 
tea  business  for  several  years.  For  two  years 
he  operated  a  bowling  alley  and  billiard  hall 


in  Aurora,  but  in  1910  returned  to  Batavia, 
where  for  eight  years  he  had  an  ice  cream 
parlor  business. 

Since  1918  Mr.  Urch  has  been  continuously 
in  public  office.  He  was  chief  of  police  of 
Batavia  until  1926.  In  that  year  he  was 
elected  sheriff  of  Kane  County.  During  the 
four  years  of  this  administration  he  made  his 
home  in  the  sheriff's  residence  at  Geneva.  In 
November,  1930,  he  was  elected  county  treas- 
urer, at  which  time  he  returned  to  his  old 
home  at  Batavia  as  a  place  of  residence. 

Mr.  Urch  has  always  been  a  good  mixer  and 
has  a  host  of  friends  throughout  Kane  County. 
He  is  prominent  in  fraternal  organizations, 
being  a  member  of  the  Masonic  Lodge,  is  now 
grand  junior  warden  of  the  State  of  Illinois 
in  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  is 
a  member  of  the  Moose,  Elks,  St.  Charles 
Country  Club,  Fox  Valley  Country  Club,  and 
the  Congregational  Church  at  Batavia. 

He  married,  November  25,  1903,  Miss  Emma 
F.  Selfridge.  She  was  born  at  Batavia.  Their 
oldest  child  and  only  son,  LeRoy,  died  at  the 
age  of  eight  months.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Urch 
have  four  daughters:  Virgil,  a  graduate  of 
the  DeKalb  State  Teachers  College,  now 
deputy  county  treasurer  under  her  father; 
Mildred,  a  graduate  nurse  from  the  Commu- 
nity Hospital  of  Geneva;  Vivian,  a  student  in 
the  DeKalb  State  Normal;  and  Geraldine,  at 
home. 

James  Arthur  Miller  has  brought  to  bear 
the  best  of  academic  and  technical  training  to 
the  work  of  his  profession  and  has  been  en- 
gaged in  the  practice  of  law  in  Waukegan, 
judicial  center  of  Lake  County,  since  1917. 
He  specializes  in  insurance  law  and  in  this 
field  is  local  legal  representative  of  fifty-one 
important  insurance  corporations,  besides 
which  he  is  retained  as  an  attorney  for  the 
Chicago  Motor  Club,  one  of  the  foremost 
organizations  of  this  order  in  the  Chicago 
metropolitan  area. 

Mr.  Miller  is  able  to  claim  Chicago  as  the 
place  of  his  nativity,  his  birth  having  there 
occurred  January  7,  1892,  and  he  being  now 
one  of  the  representative  lawyers  of  the 
younger  generation  in  Lake  County.  He  is  a 
son  of  Isadore  and  Minne  (Meyer)  Miller, 
who  were  born  in  Lithuania,  and  who  were 
young  when  they  came  to  the  United  States, 
their  marriage  having  been  solemnized  in  Illi- 
nois and  their  home  being  now  maintained  at 
Waukegan.  Isadore  Miller  was  formerly  en- 
gaged in  the  wholesale  grocery  business  in 
Chicago  and  is  now  living  virtually  retired. 
Both  he  and  his  wife  are  active  members  in 
the  Jewish  Synagogue  in  Waukegan  and  he 
is  a  Republican  in  politics. 

James  A.  Miller,  eldest  in  a  family  of  five 
children,  continued  his  public-school  studies  in 
Chicago  until  he  had  completed  his  high- 
school  course,  and  his  higher  academic  educa- 


ILLINOIS 


449 


tion  was  obtained  in  Northwestern  University, 
in  which  he  was  graduated  as  a  member  of 
the  class  of  1909  and  from  which  he  received 
at  that  time  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts. 
In  the  law  college  or  department  of  the  same 
university  he  was  graduated  in  1912,  and  after 
thus  receiving  his  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws 
and  being  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar  his  pro- 
fessional activities  were  staged  in  Chicago 
until  1917,  since  which  year  he  has  been  estab- 
lished in  successful  practice  at  Waukegan.  He 
has  membership  in  the  Lake  County  Bar  As- 
sociation, the  Illinois  State  Bar  Association 
and  the  American  Bar  Association. 

Mr.  Miller  is  unswerving  in  his  allegiance 
to  the  Republican  party,  in  adhering  to  the 
ancestral  religious  faith  he  is  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  Jewish  Synagogue,  he  is  affiliated 
with  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  the  Benevo- 
lent and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  and  he  has 
membership  in  the  Hamilton  Club  in  Chicago. 

The  year  1913  marked  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Miller  to  Miss  Anna  Slater,  their  wedding 
having  occurred  on  the  14th  of  December  of 
that  year.  Mrs.  Miller  was  born  in  the  State 
of  Texas,  her  high-school  studies  having  been 
completed  in  Chicago,  where  her  marriage  oc- 
curred. The  two  children  of  this  union  are 
Herbert  Lee  and  Armin.  The  older  son  is  a 
student  cadet  in  Culver  Military  Academy,  on 
the  shore  of  Lake  Maxinkuckee,  Indiana,  and 
the  younger  son  is  a  pupil  in  the  Waukegan 
public  schools. 

Peter  P.  Lucas,  was  one  of  the  grand  old 
men  of  the  Illiopolis  community  of  Sangamon 
County,  a  Civil  war  veteran,  and  to  whom 
among  other  distinctions  is  accorded  probably 
the  longest  record  of  continuous  service  in  the 
office  of  justice  of  the  peace  ever  given  to  an 
Illinois  man. 

Judge  Lucas  was  born  at  Indiana,  Indiana 
County,  Pennsylvania,  March  26,  1841,  son 
of  John  and  Mary  (Palmer)  Lucas.  His 
paternal  grandfather,  John  Lucas,  came  from 
Scotland,  and  his  grandfather,  Peter  Palmer, 
was  of  Scotch  parentage.  Peter  Palmer  lived 
to  be  a  hundred  years  old.  John  Lucas  was 
born  in  Pennsylvania,  as  was  also  his  wife. 
He  was  a  farmer  by  occupation,  a  man  of 
leadership  and  influence  in  his  community,  and 
during  the  Civil  war  ably  supported  the  Gov- 
ernment in  the  struggle  for  the  Union  and 
took  an  active  part  in  the  Union  League.  He 
was  a  trustee  and  class  leader  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal   Church. 

Peter  P.  Lucas  attended  school  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  as  a  boy  served  an  apprenticeship 
at  the  shoemaker's  trade.  This  was  the  busi- 
ness he  followed  at  Illiopolis  for  nearly  forty 
years.  Mr.  Lucas  came  to  Illiopolis,  April 
28,   1866. 

He  came  with  the  record  of  a  veteran  Union 
soldier  to  his  credit.  On  April  17,  1861,  he 
enlisted  in  response  to  Lincoln's  first  call  for 


ninety  days  men.  When  that  term  was  over 
he  reenlisted  in  Company  E  of  the  Seventeenth 
Ohio  Infantry,  later  was  corporal  in  Company 
C  of  the  Sixty-second  Ohio,  and  served  the 
full  period  of  three  years.  The  first  import- 
ant battle  in  which  he  was  engaged  was  at 
Winchester,  Kentucky.  He  was  also  at  Port 
Republic,  Virginia,  Malvern  Hill,  Petersburg, 
and  in  many  other  campaigns  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac.  While  a  soldier  in  the  field 
he  cast  his  first  presidential  vote,  in  1864,  for 
Abraham  Lincoln,  being  located  at  that  time 
at  Bermuda   Hundred,   Virginia. 

Judge  Lucas  in  1867,  a  year  after  establish- 
ing his  home  at  Illiopolis,  was  elected  con- 
stable. He  also  served  as  town  clerk  and 
assessor  four  years.  In  1874  he  was  elected 
justice  of  the  peace,  and  in  that  office  he 
served  by  repeated  reelections  for  fifty-four 
years,  until  he  finally  retired  in  1928. 

Judge  Lucas  married  at  Illiopolis  in  1866, 
Miss  Lydia  Wilcox,  daughter  of  Henry  Wil- 
cox, a  Sangamon  County  farmer  and  land 
owner.  To  their  marriage  were  born  twelve 
children,  ten  of  whom  are  living.  One  child 
died  in  infancy.  One  son,  Elmer  E.,  who  died 
at  the  age  of  fifty-eight,  was  a  hotel  proprietor 
at  Glenwood  Springs. 

Judge  Lucas  was  a  devout  Methodist  and 
was  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  from 
1865,  having  held  all  the  chairs  in  his  lodge 
and  was  chosen  worshipful  master  in  1900.  He 
was  for  a  number  of  years  high  priest  of  the 
Royal  Arch  Chapter.  Just  prior  to  his  death 
he  was  one  of  the  two  surviving  members  of 
the  Grand  Army  Post  of  Illiopolis,  and  was 
its  commander. 

Samuel  F.  Hanlon,  former  brick  manufac- 
turer, now  in  business  as  a  merchant  tailor  at 
East  St.  Louis,  was  born  at  Elliottsville,  Ken- 
tucky, January  1,  1884,  son  of  James  H.  and 
Elizabeth  (Williams)  Hanlon.  His  father,  a 
native  of  Ireland,  came  to  America  when  a 
young  man  and  lived  out  his  life  in  Kentucky. 
He  was  a  machinist. 

While  a  boy  in  Kentucky  Samuel  F.  Hanlon 
made  a  definite  choice  of  business  as  a  career. 
After  attending  school  in  Carter  County  he 
went  to  work  as  clerk  in  a  general  mercantile 
establishment.  After  three  years  he  went 
with  a  plant  manufacturing  fire  brick,  where 
he  laid  the  foundation  of  an  experience  and 
knowledge  which  he  later  turned  to  use  in  a 
business  of  his  own.  In  the  meantime  he  spent 
eleven  years  at  Chicago  with  the  Chicago 
Terminal  &  Transportation  Company,  For 
three  years  after  returning  to  Kentucky  he 
was  in  the  engine  service  for  the  Chesapeake 
&  Ohio  Railway. 

Mr.  Hanlon  then  became  assistant  superin- 
tendent of  the  Ashland  Fire  Brick  Company 
at  Ashland,  Kentucky.  After  three  years  he 
resigned  to  establish  a  plant  of  his  own.  This 


450 


ILLINOIS 


plant  was  first  located  at  Grayson,  Kentucky, 
and  later  moved  to  Olivehill,  Kentucky.  He 
built  up  an  extensive  business  as  a  brick 
manufacturer.  After  accumulating  a  com- 
fortable fortune  he  sold  out  and  moved  to  East 
St.  Louis,  where  he  has  since  carried  on  a 
merchant  tailoring  business. 

Mr.  Hanlon  has  been  active  in  the  Y.  M.  C. 
A.  and  in  community  and  civic  undertakings 
of  different  kinds.  He  married  in  1911  Miss 
Cora  Christian,  of  Grayson,  Kentucky.  The 
two  children  of  their  marriage  were:  Juliett, 
who  died  in  1928;  and  Elbert  H.,  now  in 
school  in  Kentucky. 

Julius  W.  Hegeler.  Prominent  among  the 
citizens  of  Danville,  particularly  along  the  line 
of  manufacture,  is  Julius  W.  Hegeler,  presi- 
dent of  the  Hegeler  Zinc  Company  and  a  suc- 
cessful man  of  affairs  and  of  rare  versatility, 
a  scientist,  philanthropist  and  inventor. 

Mr.  Hegeler  was  born  at  LaSalle,  Illinois, 
September  18,  1869,  and  is  a  son  of  Edward 
C.  and  Camilla  (Weisbach)  Hegeler.  His 
maternal  grandfather  was  Julius  Weisbach, 
who  for  many  years  was  professor  of 
mechanics  at  the  University  of  Freiberg, 
Germany.  Edward  C.  Hegeler  was  born  in 
Germany,  where  he  received  a  splendid  edu- 
cation, and  while  at  a  school  of  mines  met 
F.  W.  Matthiessen,  a  fellow  student,  who  later 
became  his  partner  in  the  zinc  business.  Hav- 
ing traveled  together  on  the  European  conti- 
nent and  in  England,  they  embarked  for 
America  and  landed  at  Boston,  Massachusetts, 
in  March,  1857.  While  looking  over  the  coun- 
try for  a  suitable  location  they  learned  of 
Friedensville,  Pennsylvania,  where  a  zinc  fac- 
tory stood  but  was  idle  because  the  owners 
had  not  been  able  to  manufacture  the  metal. 
Mr.  Matthiessen  and  Mr.  Hegeler,  both  in  their 
early  twenties,  stepped  in  and  with  the  same 
furnace  succeeded  in  producing  spelter,  which 
at  that  time  was  pioneer  work  in  America, 
for  hitherto  this  metal  had  been  imported  from 
Europe.  On  account  of  the  financial  strin- 
gency of  1856,  which  still  persisted  in  1857, 
the  owners  of  the  Friedensville  works  refused 
to  put  any  money  into  the  enterprise,  while 
neither  of  the  young  men  felt  disposed  to  risk 
any  of  their  own  capital,  mainly  because  they 
had  no  confidence  in  the  mines,  which  actually 
gave  out  eight  years  later.  They  investigated 
other  places  and  finally  settled  at  LaSalle,  Illi- 
nois, because  its  coal  fields  were  nearest  to  the 
ore  supply  at  Mineral  Point,  Wisconsin. 

Here  they  started  the  famous  Matthiessen 
&  Hegeler  Zinc  Works,  at  first  upon  a  com- 
paratively low  scale,  but  within  a  short  time 
the  original  few  employes  had  been  increased 
to  a  force  of  about  1,000  men,  and  the  modest 
smelting  plant  developed  into  one  of  the  most 
modernly  equipped  smelters  in  the  Middle 
West.  Capable  management,  unfaltering  en- 
terprise and   a  spirit  of  justice  were   always 


well  balanced  factors  in  the  business  career 
of  Mr.  Hegeler,  while  he  carefully  syste- 
matized the  establishment  in  all  of  its  depart- 
ments in  order  to  avoid  needless  expenditures 
of  time,  material  and  labor.  The  personality 
of  Mr.  Hegeler  was  that  of  a  man  of  great 
force  of  character.  The  sunny  smile  which 
illuminated  his  countenance  was  the  outward 
manifestation  of  a  genial  nature  which  recog- 
nized and  appreciated  the  good  in  others.  He 
was  ever  ready  to  aid  the  distressed,  to  watch 
over  the  interests  of  the  unfortunate,  and  to 
accord  the  laborer  his  hire.  He  held  member- 
ship in  the  American  Society  of  Mining  En- 
gineers and  the  Press  Club  and  Art  Institute 
of  Chicago.  In  1887  Mr.  Hegeler  founded  the 
Open  Court  Publishing  Company,  which  was 
placed  under  the  editorship  of  his  son-in-law, 
Dr.  Paul  Carus,  who  is  still  its  active  head. 
The  purpose  of  this  institution  is  the  free  and 
full  discussion  of  the  religious  and  psychologi- 
cal problems  of  today  on  the  principle  that  the 
scientific  world  conception  should  be  applied 
to  religion.  Mr.  Hegeler  believed  in  science, 
but  he  wished  to  preserve  the  religious  spirit 
with  all  its  seriousness  of  endeavor,  and  in 
this  sense  he  pleaded  for  the  establishment  of 
a  religion  of  science  and  a  science  of  religion. 
He  rejected  dualism  as  an  unscientific  and 
untenable  view  and  accepted  monism  upon  the 
basis  of  exact  science,  and  for  the  discussion 
of  the  more  recondite  and  heavier  problems 
of  science  and  religion  he  founded  a  quarterly, 
The  Monist,  in  October,  1890. 

Among  the  many  contributions  that  Mr. 
Hegeler  made  to  the  world  were  numerous 
important  scientific  discoveries  and  improve- 
ments which  were  the  result  of  investigations 
and  experiments  conducted  by  himself  and  his 
associate.  Many  of  their  discoveries  were  em- 
bodied in  patents  for  inventions  taken  out 
jointly  in  the  names  of  both.  Although  a  very 
wealthy  man,  Mr.  Hegeler  lived  simply  and 
quietly.  He  was  one  who  looked  upon  himself 
as  a  trustee,  holding  his  great  worldly  posses- 
sions for  the  best  benefit  of  all.  About  1910 
the  heirs  of  Mr.  Hegeler,  desiring  to  perpetu- 
ate his  name  in  a  substantial  way  for  the 
high  school  and  children  of  LaSalle,  conveyed 
to  the  city  fourteen  acres,  formerly  owned  by 
Mr.  Hegeler  on  St.  Vincent  Avenue,  as  a  park, 
five  acres  being  set  apart  for  the  use  of  the 
high  school  for  experimental  agricultural  pur- 
poses. 

In  1905  Herman  and  Julius  W.  Hegeler 
moved  to  Danville  and  established  the  Hegeler 
Zinc  Works,  of  which  Julius  W.  Hegeler  is 
president.  This  is  one  of  the  largest  plants 
of  its  kind  in  the  country,  usually  employing 
about  700  people,  inclusive  of  the  employes 
of  the  company  coal  mines.  The  plant  covers 
about  thirty-six  acres,  as  well  as  a  coal  field 
adjoining  of  about  1,000  acres.  Edward  C. 
Hegeler  died  in  1910,  having  been  the  father 
of  ten  children.     Three  who  died  in  infancy; 


'cu^    ^^A_^ 


ILLINOIS 


451 


Mary,  the  wife  of  Dr.  Paul  Carus;  Camilla, 
now  the  widow  of  Professor  Burcher,  formerly 
president  of  the  University  of  Bonn,  Germany; 
Julius  W.;  Annie,  now  the  wife  of  Dr.  Rufus 
Cole,  head  of  the  Rockefeller  Institute,  New 
York  City;  Lika,  now  Baroness  von  Vieting- 
hof,  of  Berlin,  Germany;  Herman,  deceased; 
and  Olga,  now  Mrs.  Bai  Lihme,  whose  hus- 
band, now  retired,  was  for  years  president  of 
the  Matthiessen  &  Hegeler  Zinc  Company  at 
LaSalle. 

Julius  W.  Hegeler  graduated  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan  in  the  class  of  1890  and 
until  1904  was  associated  with  his  father  in 
the  zinc  business  at  LaSalle.  He  then  came  to 
Danville  with  his  brother  Herman  and  estab- 
lished the  Hegeler  Brothers  Zinc  Company, 
this  partnership  continuing  until  the  death 
of  Herman  in  1914.  At  that  time  Mr.  Hegeler 
established  the  present  Hegeler  Zinc  Company. 
He  is  an  active  member  of  the  Manufacturers 
Association,  the  United  States  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  the  Danville  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, the  B.  P.  0.  Elks,  Kiwanis  Club,  Dan- 
ville Country  Club,  and  Union  League  Club 
and  Chicago  Athletic  Association  of  Chicago. 
Politically  he  is  a  Republican. 

On  February  13,  1895,  at  New  York  City, 
Mr.  Hegeler  married  Josephine  Caesar,  daugh- 
ter of  Paul  Caesar,  of  New  York  City.  Mrs. 
Hegeler  was  educated  at  the  Packer  School  for 
Girls,  Brooklyn,  New  York.  She  has  been 
active  in  the  Salvation  Army  philanthropy, 
Young  Women's  Christian  Association,  as  a 
member  of  all  the  boards  of  charity,  hospitals 
and  children's  home  work,  the  Associated 
Charities  and  the  Community  Chest.  Four 
children  have  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hegeler:  Camilla,  now  Mrs.  Buckingham,  of 
Danville;  Edward  C,  of  Danville,  vice  presi- 
dent of  the  Hegeler  Zinc  Works;  Clara,  now 
Mrs.  John  Wholly,  of  San  Francisco;  and  Miss 
Louise,  of  Danville.  Camilla  completed  her 
education  at  Miss  Bennett's  School  at  Mil- 
brook,  New  York,  and  has  two  children: 
George  T.  II.  and  Josephine,  both  attending 
public  school  at  Danville.  Edward  C.  attended 
a  preparatory  school  in  the  East  and  Yale 
University,  which  he  left  in  1921  to  become 
associated  with  his  father  in  business,  being 
in  charge  of  sales.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Chi  Psi  fraternity, 
the  Elks,  Danville  Country  Club,  Union 
League  Club  of  Chicago  and  Louisville  Coun- 
try Club.  He  is  independent  in  politics.  At 
Louisville,  Kentucky,  October  11,  1924,  he  mar- 
ried Madelle  Goodloe  Lyons,  daughter  of  H. 
J.  and  Madelle  (Goodloe)  Lyons,  the  former 
of  whom  was  for  years  a  prominent  broker, 
W.  L.  Lyons  &  Company  of  Louisville.  He 
died  in  1918,  at  Louisville,  where  his  widow 
survives  him.  Mrs.  Hegeler  attended  Wel- 
lesley  University  and  graduated  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Louisville  and  is  active  in  civic 
affairs   and  women's  clubs.     Mr.   Hegeler  en- 


joys hunting  and  fishing.  He  and  his  wife 
are  the  parents  of  three  children:  Edward  C. 
III.,  who  is  attending  public  school  at  Dan- 
ville; Julius  W.,  Jr.,  and  Madelle  Goodloe. 
Clara  and  Louise  Hegeler  were  educated  in  the 
East.  Miss  Louise  Hegeler  makes  her  resi- 
dence at  Danville,  but  spends  a  great  deal  of 
her  time  in  travel,  both  in  this  country  and 
abroad. 

Francis  A.  Harper  has  been  a  member  of 
the  Illinois  bar  for  over  thirty  years.  His 
offices  are  now  at  111  West  Washington  Street. 

Mr.  Harper  was  born  at  Ora,  Ontario, 
Canada,  March  28,  1874.  When  he  was  twelve 
years  of  age  his  parents,  Marmaduke  and 
Margaret  (Thompson)  Harper,  moved  to 
Northern  Michigan.  His  father  was  a  lum- 
berman. Francis  A.  Harper  attended  the 
grade  and  high  schools  at  Champion,  Michi- 
gan, and  then  entered  the  University  of  Michi- 
gan for  his  academic  and  law  course.  He  took 
the  LL.  B.  degree  in  1896  and  soon  after  grad- 
uating moved  to  Chicago,  being  admitted  to 
the  Illinois  bar  in  the  same  year.  He  has 
sustained  a  fine  reputation  as  a  lawyer,  and 
both  he  and  his  firm  have  specialized  in  cor- 
poration and  real  estate  law.  Mr.  Harper 
among  other  professional  connections  is  gen- 
eral consul  for  the  Bond  and  Mortgage  Com- 
pany. From  1899  to  1906  he  was  a  member 
of  the  faculty  of  instruction  in  the  Chicago 
Law  School. 

Mr.  Harper's  home  is  at  Tinley  Park,  one 
of  Cook  County's  most  interesting  suburban 
towns.  He  has  been  quite  active  in  local 
affairs  there,  is  a  former  president  of  the 
village  board,  and  for  several  years  was  vice 
president  of  the  Bremen  State  Bank  of  Tinley 
Park. 

Mr.  Harper  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  and 
Illinois  Bar  Associations,  the  Chicago  Law 
Institute,  the  Michigan  Society  of  Chicago. 
He  is  a  Republican  and  a  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Columbus.  His  recreations  are 
farming  and  automobiling. 

He  married,  October  12,  1898,  Miss  Mary 
Angela  Kennedy,  daughter  of  the  late  Judge 
Cornelius  Kennedy,  of  Ishpeming,  Michigan. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harper  have  three  children, 
Francis  A.,  Ellen  and  Mary  Angela. 

Jerry  E.  Hussey  is  president  of  M.  H. 
Hussey,  Incorporated,  an  old  established  firm 
of  lumber  dealers,  the  headquarters  of  the 
business  being  in  Waukegan,  but  its  affiliated 
retail  establishments  are  found  in  many  towns 
and  cities  in  Northern  Illinois  and  Southern 
Wisconsin. 

Jerry  E.  Hussey  was  born  at  Manitowoc, 
Wisconsin,  January  17,  1883.  He  is  a  son  of 
Michael  H.  and  Margaret  (Earles)  Hussey, 
both  of  whom  were  born  in  Wisconsin  and  both 
of  Irish  ancestry.  Michael  H.  Hussey  in  1892 
moved    his   home   to   Waukegan.      He   died   in 


452 


ILLINOIS 


that  city  November  22,  1929.  His  widow  is 
still  living.  Michael  H.  Hussey  organized  the 
lumber  business  which  he  operated  until  his 
death,  and  for  twenty-five  years  was  one  of 
the  prominent  figures  in  lumber  circles.  He 
was  a  man  of  unusual  education,  was  a 
Democrat  in  politics,  a  devout  Catholic  and  a 
member  of  the  Knights  of  Columbus.  Of  his 
eight  children  seven  are  living,  Jerry  E.  being 
the  oldest  of  the  number. 

Jerry  E.  Hussey  attended  high  school  in 
Waukegan  and  left  school  to  go  to  work  in 
his  father's  office,  and  in  that  way  prepared 
himself  fully  for  the  duties  and  responsibili- 
ties that  devolved  upon  him  as  president  of 
the  company  since  his  father's  death. 

He  married  in  1908  Mabel  M.  Mackey,  who 
was  born  at  Waukegan,  daughter  of  W.  C. 
Mackey,  a  pioneer  druggist  of  that  city.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Hussey  are  members  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  He  is  a  member  of  the  B.  P.  0. 
Elks  and  is  an  independent  voter.  He  be- 
longs to  the  Glen  Flora  Country  Club. 

Dwight  Hart,  who  is  now  retired  and  liv- 
ing at  Sparksburg,  has  spent  many  years  as 
a  leader  in  the  farm  and  stock  breeding  indus- 
try of  Christian  County.  He  took  a  great 
deal  of  pride  in  building  up  a  herd  of  pure 
bred  Shorthorn  cattle. 

Mr.  Hart  was  born  December  3,  1872,  in 
Buckhart  Township  of  Christian  County,  son 
of  Harvey  G.  and  Margaret  E.  (Duggar) 
Hart,  and  grandson  of  David  and  Elizabeth 
(Rhodes)  Hart.  David  Hart  brought  his  fam- 
ily to  Illinois  from  Tennessee  when  a  young 
man  in  the  early  days  and  settled  in  Morgan 
County.  Harvey  G.  Hart  was  born  on  a  farm 
in  Morgan  County,  Illinois,  August  16,  1836, 
and  spent  his  active  life  as  a  farmer.  He 
died  in  July,  1908,  his  widow  having  died 
November  2,  1904.  They  are  both  buried  in 
the  Bethel  Cemetery  in  Christian  County. 
They  were  the  parents  of  eight  children :  Belle, 
Douglas,  Mary,  Dean,  Malinda,  Mariah, 
Dwight  and  Carroll,  all  living  but  Douglas, 
who  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-six. 

Mr.  Dwight  Hart  was  educated  in  country 
schools  and  in  the  Sharpsburg  public  school, 
had  an  environment  which  taught  him  the 
fundamentals  of  farming  even  while  going  to 
school,  and  when  he  started  his  individual 
career  he  began  the  cultivation  of  an  eighty 
acre  farm.  Later  he  moved  to  the  homestead 
place  of  240  acres,  where  he  lived  and  pros- 
pered as  a  farmer  and  stockman  until  he  re- 
tired in  1925  and  moved  to  the  village  of 
Sharpsburg.  Mr.  Hart  took  an  active  part  in 
the  Farm  Bureau,  holding  several  offices  in 
that  organization,  and  was  also  a  township 
officer  and  member  of  the  school  board.  Since 
1925  he  has  supervised  his  farming  interests. 

He  married  on  May  20,  1892,  Dora  Donner, 
who  died  October  10,  1902,  the  mother  of  two 
children:   Earl  and  Fern,  the  latter  the  wife 


of  Floyd  Brown  and  mother  of  two  daughters, 
Ledora  and  Margaret.  Earl  was  in  the  army 
during  the  World  war  and  died  in  the  service 
at  Fort  Hancock,  Augusta,  Georgia,  being 
buried  at  Sharpsburg.  Mr.  Hart  on  December 
19,  1904,  married  Bessie  Hooper,  daughter  of 
William  and  Emma  (Western)  Hooper.  The 
Hooper  family  came  from  England.  By  this 
marriage  he  has  a  daughter,  Elma.  William 
Hooper  was  born  in  England,  at  Devonshire, 
and  came  to  the  United  States  in  early  man- 
hood and  settled  in  Christian  County,  Illinois, 
where  he  devoted  his  active  life  to  farming. 
He  was  living  retired  at  the  time  of  his  death 
in  1912.  His  widow  survived  and  resides  in 
Edinburg.  They  were  married  in  England  and 
became  the  parents  of  three  children:  Bessie, 
the  wife  of  Mr.  Hart  and  the  oldest  of  the 
children;  Lena,  the  wife  of  Dr.  J.  H.  Smith, 
of  Riverton,  Illinois,  and  Arthur,  who  operates 
the  old   Hooper  homestead. 

Jean  Jacques  Rene  Weiller  since  Febru- 
ary 3,  1932,  has  been  French  consul  in  Chi- 
cago. In  that  time  Chicagoans  have  learned 
to  appreciate  this  splendid  French  gentleman, 
not  only  as  a  diplomat  but  as  a  man  of  pol- 
ished manners,  courtly  bearing  and  versatile 
scholarship. 

He  was  born  March  8,  1878,  at  Angouleme, 
France,  son  of  Albert  and  Mathilde  (Weiller) 
Weiller.  His  mother  is  still  living,  a  resident 
of  Paris.  Mr.  Weiller  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated in  France,  and  since  the  age  of  twenty- 
five  has  been  in  the  French  diplomatic  service, 
during  which  time  he  has  been  assigned  duties 
in  Italy,  Germany,  Russia,  Norway,  in  the 
foreign  office  in  Paris.  For  five  years  he  was 
French  consul  at  Philadelphia  prior  to  coming 
to  Chicago. 

Some  of  the  marks  of  distinction  that  have 
been  accorded  him  in  the  service  are  the  fol- 
lowing decorations:  Chevalier  de  la  Legion 
d'Honneur,  Commander  of  the  Star  of  Ru- 
mania, Commander  of  the  Star  of  Ethiopia, 
Officer  d'Academie,  Officer  De  l'Etoile  Noire, 
Officier  du  Nicham  Iftikar,  Chevalier  du 
Merite  Agricole. 

He  married  Marie  Hunault,  and  they  have 
four  children:  Suzanne,  wife  of  Edward 
Nouveau,  of  Besancon,  France;  Genevieve, 
wife  of  Gaston  Thenoz,  an  engineer  at  Tou- 
louse; Odile,  living  with  her  grandmother  in 
Paris;  and  Albert  Rene,  a  former  student  at 
Saint  John's  Academy,  Annapolis,  Maryland, 
now  studying  law  at  the  University  of  Paris. 

Edward  J.  Malson,  of  3215  Edgewood 
Street,  Alton,  is  a  member  of  one  of  the  old 
and  substantial  farmer  families  of  Madison 
County.  Farming  has  been  his  chief  interest 
through  the  years  since  he  attained  his 
majority. 

Mr.  Malson  was  born  at  Alton,  May  21, 
1881,  son  of  Emery  E.  and  Myrtle  (Levering) 


ILLINOIS 


453 


Malson.  His  father  was  also  a  native  of 
Madison  County,  and  spent  a  long  and  useful 
life  as  a  successful  farmer  in  Foster  Town- 
ship. He  accumulated  several  farms  in  the 
vicinity  of  Fosterburg.  During  the  last  five 
years  of  his  life  he  was  retired  from  any 
except  self-imposed  responsibilities.  He  died 
in  1914.  For  four  terms  he  served  as  super- 
visor of  Foster  Township. 

Edward  J.  Malson  was  educated  in  public 
schools  and  from  early  youth  followed  the 
vocation  of  his  father.  His  experience  as  a 
farmer  covers  more  than  thirty  years.  For 
a  time  he  conducted  a  store  at  Fosterburg,  but 
finding  that  this  interfered  with  his  farm 
duties  he  gave  it  up.  In  1922  he  sold  some  of 
his  farm  properties  in  the  Fosterburg  district 
and  since  then  has  supervised  his  agricultural 
affairs  from  his  home  in  Alton.  He  retains 
three  of  the  farms  left  him  by  his  father,  and 
leases  these  on  the  shares.  He  is  an  active 
and  influential  member  of  the  Foster  Town- 
ship Farm  Bureau,  is  a  Republican  voter  and 
a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Mr.  Malson  married,  August  12,  1904,  Miss 
Lula  Spillman,  of  Moro,  Illinois.  They  have 
two  children,  Myrtle,  wife  of  Mr.  L.  E. 
Schmidt,  of  Fosterburg,  and  Miss  Ethel,  at 
home. 

Cameron  Latter,  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
bar  since  1913,  has  attained  a  high  standing  in 
his  profession.  Mr.  Latter's  home  community 
is  Rogers  Park,  where  he  has  been  a  leader. 

Mr.  Cameron  Latter  was  born  at  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  February  14,  1890.  He  ac- 
quired his  early  education  in  the  schools  of 
Boston.  In  1905  the  family  moved  to  Chicago, 
where  he  continued  his  education  in  the  Hyde 
Park  High  School.  He  spent  two  years  in  the 
academic  department  of  the  University  of 
Chicago  and  is  a  graduate  of  the  Law  School 
of  the  university,  taking  his  LL.  B.  degree  in 
1913.  Mr.  Latter  was  admitted  to  the  Illinois 
bar  in  1914.  His  ability  and  industry  have 
won  him  a  large  and  busy  practice  before  the 
state  and  federal  courts.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  well  known  law  firm  of  Edelson,  Latter  & 
Wise,  at  111  West  Washington  Street. 

Mr.  Latter  is  a  Democrat  in  politics  and  has 
come  to  wield  much  prestige  and  influence  in 
his  home  ward.  Mr.  Latter  is  president  of  the 
West   Rogers   Park   Civic   Association. 

Louis  A.  Doman.  Since  1918  Louis  A. 
Doman  has  been  identified  with  the  business 
life  of  Alton  in  connection  with  the  Miller 
Lime  &  Cement  Company,  of  which  thriving 
enterprise  he  is  now  treasurer.  A  native 
son  of  Alton,  during  his  early  career  he  spent 
some  years  at  St.  Louis,  but  returned  to  his 
native  heath  to  make  a  business  success  and 
to  achieve  a  personal  standing  as  an  executive 
and  a  citizen. 

Mr.  Doman  was  born  at  Alton  May  6, 
1883,   and  is   a  son   of  B.   F.   and   Mary   E. 


(Wildman)  Doman.  B.  F.  Doman  became  a 
resident  of  Alton  in  1867,  and  for  a  time 
was  a  telegraph  operator  engaged  in  railroad 
work,  but  subsequently  turned  his  attention 
to  the  mercantile  business,  which  he  followed 
until  1898,  in  which  year  he  retired.  He  was 
very  successful  as  a  merchant,  and  during 
his  business  career  interested  himself  in  real 
estate  operations,  financing  the  erection  of 
many  buildings  and  homes  in  the  district 
between  Alton  and  Upper  Alton  in  the  period 
between  1890  and  1900.  His  death  occurred 
in  1916.  Mr.  Doman  was  very  active  in  civic 
affairs  and  served  two  terms  as  a  member  of 
the  City  Council.  He  was  the  father  of  two 
children:  Louis  A.,  of  this  review;  and  Mrs. 
Mary  Elizabeth  Murry,  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

Louis  A.  Doman  attended  the  public  schools 
of  Alton,  and  after  graduating  from  high 
school  pursued  a  course  at  Shurtleff  College, 
from  which  institution  he  was  graduated  as 
a  member  of  the  class  of  1904,  receiving  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  At  that  time 
he  went  to  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  where  he 
entered  a  brokerage  office,  remaining  in  the 
Mound  City  for  a  number  of  years,  during 
which  time  he  improved  his  standing  materi- 
ally. Returning  to  Alton  in  1918,  he  became 
interested  in  the  Miller  Lime  &  Cement  Com- 
pany, and  in  1925  was  made  treasurer,  a 
position  which  he  still  retains.  Mr.  Doman 
is  a  Democrat,  but  has  found  little  time  to 
engage  in  politics,  although  as  a  good  citizen 
of  enlightened  views  he  keeps  in  touch  with 
civic  affairs  and  gives  his  support  to  pro- 
gressive movements  and  projects.  He  belongs 
to  Alton  Lodge  No.  25,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  and 
as  a  churchman  is  an  Episcopalian. 

On  June  8,  1910,  Mr.  Doman  married  Miss 
Elizabeth  A.  Wilkins,  of  Alton,  and  to  this 
union  there  have  been  born  three  children: 
Mary,  Arnett  and  Louis  A.,  Jr. 

Potter  Palmer  as  much  as  any  other  one 
man  laid  the  sound  foundation  of  Chicago's 
greatness  as  a  commercial  city.  He  was  one 
of  the  co-founders  of  a  great  mercantile  insti- 
tution. He  was  closely  associated  with  the 
early  history  of  the  old  Board  of  Trade  and 
the  Chicago  Chamber  of  Commerce.  He  was 
a  patron  of  the  early  libraries  and  other  civic 
enterprises,  was  a  patron  of  Chicago's  original 
professional  baseball  organization,  and  his 
name  appears  repeatedly  in  connection  with 
other  civic  and  welfare  organizations.  One 
of  his  greatest  achievements  was  in  pioneer- 
ing the  development  of  the  business  district 
from  the  east  and  west  axis  of  Lake  Street 
to  the  new  thoroughfare  of  State  Street.  State 
Street  as  the  retail  shopping  district  of  Chi- 
cago  is   Potter   Palmer's  monument. 

Potter  Palmer  was  born  in  New  York  State, 
in  1826,  came  to  Chicago  in  1852,  and  died 
May  4,  1902.  Thus  for  fully  half  a  century 
his  career  was  identified  with  the  metropolis 
of   the   West.      In   1852   he   entered   business 


454 


ILLINOIS 


as  a  merchant  on  Lake  Street,  where  prac- 
tically all  the  commercial  houses  were  then 
concentrated.  As  a  dry  goods  merchant  Pot- 
ter Palmer  instituted  some  new  policies,  poli- 
cies that  are  incorporated  in  the  business 
methods  of  nearly  all  reputable  and  substan- 
tial concerns  today,  and  yet  when  examined 
in  the  light  of  the  old  trade  practices  of 
"let  the  buyer  beware"  still  have  the  aspect 
of  novelty  and  arouse  a  sense  of  admiration 
for  the  merchant  of  eighty  years  ago  who 
had  the  courage  and  the  confidence  to  put 
such  practices  into  effect.  Any  patron  who 
bought  goods  at  his  store  and  desired  to 
exchange  them  for  other  goods,  or  for  any 
reason  asked  to  have  the  purchase  money 
refunded,  would  be  accommodated.  It  was 
at  the  Potter  Palmer  Store  that  the  rule  was 
first  announced  in  Chicago,  as  the  result  of 
which  a  customer  could  have  goods  sent  home 
and  examined  before  consummating  the  pur- 
chase. This  act  of  taking  the  public  into 
confidence  and  trusting  the  public  did  not 
bring  failure,  as  was  generally  predicted,  but 
instead  brought  to  Potter  Palmer  a  steadily 
increasing  volume  of  business,  and  inaugu- 
rated policies  that  subsequently  became  stan- 
dard throughout  the  shopping  district.  In 
January,  1865,  two  other  pioneer  Chicago  mer- 
chants came  into  partnership  with  Mr.  Palmer, 
Marshall  Field  and  Levi  Z.  Leiter,  making 
the  firm  of  Field,  Palmer  &  Leiter.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1867,  Mr.  Palmer  retired,  and  in  the 
following  year  the  firm  of  Field,  Leiter  & 
Company  moved  their  store  from  Lake  Street 
to  the  present  site  of  Marshall  Field  &  Com- 
pany. 

In  1868,  after  an  extended  tour  of  Europe, 
Potter  Palmer  returned  to  Chicago  and  turned 
his  genius  into  a  new  field,  that  of  real  estate 
development.  After  the  close  of  the  Civil 
war  real  estate  values  had  been  rapidly  ad- 
vancing throughout  the  area  south  of  Lincoln 
Park  and  from  the  river  south  to  Harrison 
Street.  In  spite  of  these  advances  Potter 
Palmer,  realizing  that  the  logical  development 
of  the  business  district  was  in  the  area  par- 
allel to  the  lake,  rather  than  along  the  old 
established  thoroughfare  of  Lake  Street,  began 
purchasing  frontage  on  State  Street,  which 
at  that  time  was  only  a  narrow  plank  road. 
He  bought  outright  an  entire  mile  of  frontage, 
acquiring,  it  is  said,  the  ground  on  which  he 
subsequently  built  the  Palmer  House  at  less 
than  a  dollar  and  a  half  per  square  foot. 
One  of  his  first  acts  in  development  was  to 
widen  State  Street.  During  1869-70,  at  the 
northwest  corner  of  State  and  Quincy,  he 
built  the  original  Palmer  House,  eight  stories 
in  height,  with  225  rooms.  The  house  was 
completed  and  opened  September  26,  1870, 
and  the  following  year  was  completely  de- 
stroyed by  the  great  fire.  That  conflagration 
ruined  other  business  blocks  which  Mr.  Palmer 
had  also  erected  along  State  Street.     Before 


the  fire  Potter  Palmer  had  been  active  in 
the  Board  of  Trade  and  was  one  of  the  incor- 
porators of  the  Chicago  Chamber  of  Commerce 
in  1863.  He  was  a  member  of  the  library 
association  which  provided  some  of  the  early 
library  facilities  prior  to  the  establishment 
of  the  Chicago  Public  Library  after  the  fire. 

To  the  historian  the  chief  significance  of 
the  Chicago  fire  was  not  the  appalling  dis- 
aster itself,  but  the  prompt  response  made 
by  Chicago  citizens  to  the  work  of  rehabili- 
tation. In  that  work  none  responded  more 
readily  than  Potter  Palmer.  His  credit  abroad 
was  so  sound  that  he  was  able  to  make  a  loan 
of  $1,700,000  from  the  funds  of  a  life  insur- 
ance company.  This  was  the  largest  individual 
loan  that  had  ever  been  recorded  up  to  that 
date.  With  this  fund  he  set  about  the  re- 
building on  his  own  considerable  share  of  the 
burned  district.  He  began  the  rebuilding  of 
the  Palmer  House  shortly  after  the  fire.  On 
account  of  the  expensive  character  of  the 
structure  designed  it  was  slow  in  completion 
and  was  not  opened  until  the  fall  of  1873. 
It  was  built  on  a  scale  of  physical  size  and 
magnificence  that  made  it  an  object  of  wonder 
to  all  the  Chicagoans  and  to  hosts  of  trav- 
elers in  that  generation.  The  new  hotel  had 
850  rooms,  could  accommodate  a  thousand 
guests,  and  the  building  itself  cost  about 
$2,000,000.  No  hotel  in  the  Middle  West  had 
more  associations  than  the  old  Palmer  House, 
which  was  one  of  the  last  of  the  large  build- 
ings on  State  Street  to  yield  to  the  twentieth 
century  construction  era,  making  way  for  the 
Palmer  House  of  today. 

The  Palmer  House  was  only  one  of  the 
large  and  valuable  properties  developed  and 
owned  by  Potter  Palmer,  and  since  his  death 
controlled  by  the  Palmer  estate. 

Potter  Palmer  was  one  of  the  liberal  donors 
to  the  Chicago  Musical  Festival  Association 
in  the  '80s,  an  association  that  backed  the 
pioneer  efforts  to  make  Chicago  the  center 
of  musical  culture,  the  program  being  directed 
by  two  cherished  names  in  Chicago's  musical 
history,  Theodore  Thomas  and  William  L. 
Tomlins.  From  1871  to  1874  Mr.  Palmer 
served  as  a  member  of  the  South  Park  Com- 
mission. During  this  time  the  basis  was  laid 
for  what  has  since  been  known  as  the  South 
Park  system  of  boulevards  and  parks,  includ- 
ing the  original  South  Park  and  Lake  Shore 
Park,  now  Washington  and  Jackson  parks. 

In  1871  Mr.  Palmer  married  Bertha  Honore. 
To  most  Chicagoans  the  name  of  Mrs.  Potter 
Palmer  is  linked  with  the  undisputed  social 
leadership  which  she  enjoyed  for  over  forty 
years,  until  her  death  on  May  5,  1918.  That 
social  leadership  was  a  free  tribute  to  the 
charm  and  grace  and  character  of  a  noble 
woman.  She  lived  in  a  generation  when  the 
highest  expression  of  a  woman's  genius  was 
in  social  leadership,  whereas  women  with  sim- 
ilar gifts  in  the  modern  era  have  made  bril- 


k 


u-mruk?  dd^wi^f^l 


ILLINOIS 


455 


liant  careers  in  politics,  business  and  the  arts. 
That  Mrs.  Potter  Palmer  possessed  other  than 
purely  social  talent  was  demonstrated  after  her 
husband's  death,  when  she  took  control  of  his 
affairs  and  managed  them  so  that  her  fortune 
was  doubled.  For  many  years  the  Potter 
Palmer  "Castle"  on  the  North  Shore  was  the 
rendezvous  of  the  city's  social  elite,  and  there 
Mrs.  Potter  Palmer  presided  in  the  entertain- 
ment of  many  of  the  nation  and  world's 
celebrities.  Mrs.  Palmer  was  born  at  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky,  daughter  of  Henry  H.  and 
Eliza  Dorsey  (Carr)  Honore.  She  was  a 
graduate  of  a  convent  school  in  Kentucky  and 
she  possessed  much  of  that  innate  charm  asso- 
ciated with  the  old  South.  Mrs.  Palmer  in 
1891  was  elected  president  of  the  Board  of 
Lady  Managers  for  the  World's  Columbian 
Exposition,  and  she  traversed  Europe  inter- 
esting foreign  governments  in  the  Fair.  The 
President  of  the  United  States  appointed  her 
the  only  woman  member  of  the  National  Com- 
mittee for  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1900,  and 
she  was  decorated  by  the  French  government. 

In  the  management  of  the  Palmer  estate 
and  in  the  active  contact  with  the  civic  and 
business  life  of  the  city  today  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Potter  Palmer  are  represented  by  their  two 
sons,  Honore  Palmer  and  Potter  Palmer,  Jr. 
Honore  Palmer,  who  was  born  in  Chicago 
February  1,  1874,  is  a  graduate  of  Harvard 
University  and  in  1898  entered  his  father's 
office  and  had  four  years  of  association  with 
the  Palmer  holdings  before  his  father's  death. 
Honore  Palmer  has  taken  an  active  part  in 
Chicago  politics.  He  was  elected  in  1901 
and  reelected  an  alderman  from  the  Twenty- 
first  Ward.  He  is  a  Democrat.  Honore  Pal- 
mer married  in  1903  Grace  Greenway  Brown. 
His  two  sons  are  Potter  Palmer  III  and  Car- 
roll Honore. 

Potter  Palmer,  Jr.,  was  born  in  Chicago 
October  8,  1875,  and  is  also  a  Harvard  gradu- 
ate and  for  many  years  has  been  associated 
with  the  business  of  the  Palmer  estate.  He 
married  in  1908  Miss  Pauline  Kohlsaat,  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  Herman  H.  Kohlsaat,  of 
Chicago. 

Leonard  W.  Volk  was  born  at  Wellstown, 
New  York,  November  7,  1828,  and  died  August 
18,  1895.  He  learned  the  trade  of  marble 
cutter,  but  abandoned  it  to  achieve  success  in 
the  field  of  art.  He  opened  his  first  studio  at 
St.  Louis  in  1849,  and  subsequently  married 
Emily  C.  Barlow,  after  a  long  romance.  She 
was  a  cousin  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and  sub- 
sequently through  the  influence  of  Senator 
Douglas,  Mr.  Volk  was  enabled  to  study 
abroad.  In  1857  he  opened  a  studio  opposite 
the  Sherman  House  in  Chicago,  and  from  that 
time  his  public  career  was  almost  identical 
with  the  history  of  art  in  Chicago.  The  first 
important  work  he  did  was  the  execution  of  a 


bust  of  Senator  Douglas.  He  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Academy  of  Design  and  served 
as  its  president  over  eight  years.  He  executed 
the  mask  of  Lincoln,  the  statue  of  Douglas  on 
the  Douglas  Monument,  the  statues  of  Lincoln 
and  Douglas  at  the  statehouse  at  Springfield, 
and  many  other  notable  pieces  of  portrait 
sculpture. 

James  Arnold  was  one  of  the  honored  citi- 
zens and  respected  farmers  of  LaSalle  County, 
where  he  lived  many  years  of  his  useful  life. 
On  what  is  known  as  the  Arnold  homestead 
near  Lostant,  his  widow,  Mrs.  Jennie  Arnold, 
continues  to  reside.  This  has  been  her  home 
for  over  forty-eight  years. 

Mr.  James  Arnold  was  born  April  4,  1858, 
within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  Arnold  home- 
stead, son  of  Pinkney  T.  and  Mary  (Ellis) 
Arnold.  Pinkney  Arnold  was  born  near  Rich- 
mond, Virginia,  attended  school  there  and 
later  went  to  live  with  a  sister  in  Ohio,  where 
he  .continued  his  education.  At  the  time  of 
his  death  the  following  paragraph  appeared 
in  a  local  publication: 

"The  first  time  Mr.  Arnold  was  in  Illinois 
he  came  on  horseback  from  his  home  in  Ohio. 
At  that  time  he  had  a  brother  living  at  Long 
Point,  whom  he  visited,  and  also  prospected 
the  country  about  Magnolia.  When  he  went 
back  to  Ohio  the  same  horse  carried  him  home. 
Soon  after,  in  the  year  1853,  he  and  his  family 
moved  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Magnolia.  Then 
he  rented  land  and  worked  hard  and  faith- 
fully until  he  had  accumulated  enough  to  buy 
a  home  of  his  own.  He  never  ceased  to  work 
and  with  the  aid  of  his  sons  everything  seemed 
to  prosper.  In  the  year  1892  he  had  enough 
of  this  world's  goods  to  live  comfortably  and 
he  then  built  a  handsome  residence  furnished 
with  everything  needed  for  the  comfort  and 
pleasure  of  himself  and  family.  But  soon 
after  it  was  completed  in  the  year  1893,  his 
wife  died,  living  only  a  few  short  days  to 
enjoy  the  beautiful  home  prepared  by  him  for 
the  remainder  of  their  lives  here.  She  passed 
peacefully  away  into  that  'house  not  made 
with  hands.'  Mr.  Arnold  has  been  sick  for 
four  months,  and  during  it  all  never  mur- 
mured or  complained  of  his  lot  but  bore  his 
suffering  and  sickness  most  patiently.  His 
children  feel  that  they  have  lost  a  good  and 
kind  father.  Thus  has  passed  from  us  an 
early  settler,  an  honest  and  industrious  neigh- 
bor and  citizen.  And  as  Pope  in  'Essay  on 
Man'  said — 'An  honest  man  is  the  noblest 
work  of  God'." 

Pinkney  T.  Arnold  was  a  man  of  fine  in- 
fluence in  his  community  and  reared  a  family 
of  five  children:  Mary  married  James  Weir, 
of  Streator,  and  both  are  deceased;  Amelia 
Ann  became  the  wife  of  Miller  Barnhardt,  of 
Lostant,  and  both  are  deceased;  Elizabeth 
became  the  wife  of  Charles  Hoge,  of  Wenona, 


456 


ILLINOIS 


Illinois,  now  deceased;  John  is  deceased,  and 
the  fifth  child  was  the  late  James  Arnold.  Mr. 
Pinkney  Arnold  died  May  17,  1901. 

James  Arnold  attended  the  Arnold  School 
near  the  old  farm  and  as  a  youth  took  up 
farming  as  his  vocation.  His  farm  in  LaSalle 
County  comprised  240  acres.  Mr.  Arnold  was 
much  interested  in  politics,  was  a  staunch 
Republican,  but  though  once  elected  a  member 
of  the  school  board  he  declined  the  office.  He 
was  always  a  supporter  of  worthy  movements 
in  his  community.  He  was  known  by  every 
man,  woman  and  child  in  his  community  and 
was  beloved  by  all.  He  was  of  a  quiet  and 
retiring,  but  always  cheerful,  disposition,  and 
his  death  on  December  24,  1923,  after  an  ill- 
ness of  three  years  of  heart  trouble,  was  re- 
garded as  an  affliction  to  the  entire  com- 
munity. 

Mr.  Arnold  married,  September  18,  1883, 
Miss  Jennie  Burnworth,  daughter  of  Eli  and 
Rachel  (Liston)  Burnworth.  Her  father  came 
from  Somerset  County,  Pennsylvania,  about 
1879  and  settled  six  miles  south  of  Bloom- 
ington,  where  he  engaged  in  farming.  His 
four  children  were:  Mrs.  Arnold;  Atha  L., 
widow  of  Eugene  Boshell,  of  Lostant;  Thomas 
J.,  deceased,  who  married  Minnie  McManus, 
whose  home  is  at  Wellington,  Kansas;  and 
John,  who  lives  in  Oklahoma.  Mrs.  Arnold's 
grandparents  were  Jonathan  and  Minerva 
(Hartzell)  Burnworth.  Her  grandfather  was 
a  Pennsylvania  farmer  and  later  a  mail  car- 
rier. It  is  said  that  he  was  so  punctual  that 
people  could  depend  on  his  arrival  at  the 
exact  scheduled  moment  every  day.  At  the 
time  of  her  marriage  Mrs.  Arnold  came  to 
Arnold  farm,  which  has  been  her  home  now 
for  nearly  half  a  century. 

Hon.  Charles  S.  Deneen.  Of  the  public 
service  of  Charles  Samuel  Deneen  the  record 
is  a  part  of  modern  state  history.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  short  biography  of  a  man  who  has 
probably  been  honored  as  frequently  and  in 
as  distinguished  a  manner  as  any  Illinoisan 
of  his  contemporaries. 

The  traditions  of  public  service  in  his  family 
were  influences  from  his  earliest  boyhood.  His 
great-grandfather,  Risdon  Moore,  of  Dela- 
ware, was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  war 
and  settled  in  St.  Clair  County,  Illinois,  in 
1812.  Almost  immediately  he  entered  politics 
and  in  1814  was  chosen  speaker  of  the  Illi- 
nois House  of  Representatives  in  the  Terri- 
torial Legislature.  He  was  chosen  a  member 
of  the  First,  the  Third  and  Fourth  Legisla- 
tures after  Illinois  entered  the  Union. 

The  grandfather  of  Governor  Deneen  was 
Rev.  William  L.  Deneen,  who  was  born  in  Bed- 
ford County,  Pennsylvania,  October  30,  1798. 
He  came  to  Illinois  in  1828.  After  nineteen 
years  of  activity  as  a  Methodist  minister  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  state  he  retired  and 
took  up  the  profession  of  surveying  and  served 


as  county  surveyor  of  St.  Clair  County  from 
1849  to  1851,  and  again  from  1853  to  1855. 

From  the  time  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
Charles  S.  Deneen  has  had  his  home  in  Chi- 
cago, but  he  has  always  been  regarded  as  a 
favorite  son  of  Southern  Illinois.  He  was  born 
at  Edwardsville,  May  4,  1863.  His  father, 
Samuel  H.  Deneen,  was  born  near  Belleville, 
December  20,  1835,  was  a  graduate  of  Mc- 
Kendree  College  where  for  thirty  years  he 
was  professor  of  Latin  and  ancient  and 
mediaeval  history.  During  the  Civil  war  he 
was  an  adjutant  in  the  One  Hundred  Seven- 
teenth Illinois  Volunteers,  and  during  the  ad- 
ministration of  President  Harrison  served  as 
United  States  counsel  at  Belleville,  Ontario. 
The  mother  of  Governor  Deneen  was  Mary 
Frances  Ashley,  who  was  born  at  Lebanon, 
Illinois,  was  educated  in  the  Illinois  Woman's 
College  at  Jacksonville  and  the  Cincinnati 
Wesleyan  Female  College  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

Charles  Samuel  Deneen  grew  up  in  an  at- 
mosphere of  classic  culture,  living  in  the 
college  community  at  Lebanon,  where  he 
attended  public  schools  and  McKendree  Col- 
lege. He  graduated  with  the  A.  B.  degree  in 
1882  and  in  1885  finished  the  work  of  the 
professional  law  school.  Subsequently  he  also 
attended  the  Union  College  of  Law,  now  the 
law  department  of  Northwestern  University 
of  Chicago.  In  the  meantime  he  had  his  ex- 
perience as  a  teacher,  spending  one  year  in 
a  country  school  near  Newton,  in  Jasper 
County,  and  two  years  near  Godfrey,  in  Madi- 
son County.  As  a  young  lawyer  in  Chicago 
he  taught  classes  in  an  evening  school  for  four 
years  at  Polk  and  Halsted  streets. 

In  1887  he  entered  the  practice  of  law  at 
Chicago.  He  was  in  private  practice  until 
1895,  and  in  1913,  after  his  return  from 
Springfield,  resumed  his  connections  with  the 
bar.  He  is  now  head  of  the  law  firm  Deneen, 
Healy  &  Lee,  at  120  South  LaSalle  Street. 

The  Republican  party  in  Chicago  early 
learned  to  respect  the  clear  and  straightfor- 
ward character  of  Charles  S.  Deneen,  his 
abilities  as  a  fighter  and  the  integrity  of  his 
motives.  In  1892  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  Illinois  Legislature  from  the  Chicago  dis- 
trict. In  1895  he  was  elected  attorney  for  the 
sanitary  district  board,  and  in  1896  was  made 
state's  attorney  of  the  county.  It  was  his 
record  in  this  office  that  opened  the  way  for 
his  larger  career  in  state  politics.  He  was  re- 
elected state's  attorney  in  1900.  In  1904  he 
was  chosen  governor  of  Illinois  and  by  reelec- 
tion in  1908  served  in  that  office  from  1905 
to  1913.  After  more  than  ten  years  of  devo- 
tion to  his  law  work,  though  all  the  time  a 
prominent  participant  in  the  Republican  party 
organization,  he  again  became  a  candidate  for 
office  in  1924,  when  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  United  States  Senate.  On  the  death  of 
Medill  McCormick  he  was  given  the  honor  of 
appointment  as  his  successor  on  February  28, 


ILLINOIS 


457 


1925.  On  March  4,  1925,  he  took  the  oath 
of  office  for  United  States  senator  for  the 
term  to  which  he  had  been  elected  in  1924  and 
served  out  the  six  years  in  office,  until  March, 
1931. 

Governor  Deneen  has  been  very  active  in 
Masonry,  has  been  given  the  thirty-third,  su- 
preme honorary,  degree  in  Scottish  Rite,  and 
in  1924  was  orator  of  the  Masonic  Grand 
Lodge  in  Illinois.  He  is  a  member  of  the  In- 
dependent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Knights  of 
Pythias  and  Loyal  Order  of  Moose,  Union 
League,  Hamilton,  Exmoor  and  Beverly  Coun- 
try Clubs,  and  retains  his  membership  in  the 
First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Engle- 
wood,  the  section  of  the  city  in  which  he  estab- 
lished his  home  as  a  young  Chicago  lawyer. 
He  married  at  Princeton,  Illinois,  May  10, 
1891,  Bina  Day  Maloney,  daughter  of  James  S. 
and  Frances  V.  (Bashaw)  Maloney,  of  Mount 
Carroll,  Illinois.  Mrs.  Deneen  finished  her 
education  in  the  Frances  A.  Schimer  Academy 
at  Mount  Carroll.  They  have  four  children: 
Charles  Ashley  Deneen,  who  married  Miss 
Avis  Dawson,  of  Springfield;  Dorothy,  wife  of 
Allmand  M.  Blow,  of  Tulsa,  Oklahoma; 
Frances,  wife  of  Carl  Birdsall,  of  Chicago; 
and  Miss  Bina  Day,  the  wife  of  Thomas  W. 
House  IV,  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

Arthur  E.  Dyer,  who  is  president  of  the 
Dyer  &  Zeller  Coal  Company,  wholesale  fuel 
dealers  of  Chicago,  is  a  native  of  that  city, 
and  has  made  an  interesting  career  for  him- 
self, both  in  his  personal  activities  and  accom- 
plishments and  in  his  relationships  to  business 
and  public  life. 

Mr.  Dyer  was  born  in  a  house  at  2512 
Wabash  Avenue,  son  of  Dr.  Arthur  E.  and 
Elizabeth  (Jones)  Dyer.  Through  both  par- 
ents he  has  kinship  with  old  historic  American 
and  Illinois  families.  His  grandfather  was  a 
native  of  Vermont,  of  New  England  stock,  de- 
scended from  the  family  of  which  the  distin- 
guished Bishop  Cheney  was  a  member.  At  an 
early  day  in  the  development  of  the  Middle 
West  the  grandfather  moved  to  Beloit,  Wis- 
consin. Dr.  Arthur  E.  Dyer,  who  died  in 
1917,  was  a  Chicago  physician  and  business 
man.  His  wife,  Elizabeth  Jones,  who  is  still 
living,  is  a  daughter  of  Joseph  Russell  Jones, 
who  formerly  lived  at  Galena,  Illinois,  where 
he  was  a  neighbor  and  personal  friend  of  the 
Grant  family.  Members  of  the  Jones  and 
Dyer  families  have  had  affiliations  with  the 
Mayflower  Revolutionary  and  various  Colonial 
societies.  This  branch  of  the  Jones  family  is 
the  same  as  that  of  the  late  Breckenridge 
Jones,  Kentuckian,  who  became  a  prominent 
banker  at  St.  Louis,  and  another  representa- 
tive of  the  same  family  was  Senator  Jones  of 
Arkansas.  Joseph  Russell  Jones  was  also  a 
friend  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  During  the  Grant 
administration  he  was  appointed  ambassador 
to  Belgium  and  his  children  were  educated  in 


Belgian  schools.  After  giving  up  his  diplo- 
matic post  he  settled  in  Chicago,  was  ap- 
pointed collector  of  customs  and  was  promi- 
nently identified  with  banking,  being  a  director 
of  the  old  Third  National  Bank  and  of  the 
Illinois  National  Bank,  now  the  Continental- 
Illinois  Bank.  He  was  one  of  the  first  presi- 
dents of  the  Illinois  Bell  Telephone  Company 
and  was  one  of  the  builders  and  president 
of  the  West  Division  Street  Railway  Company. 
He  was  one  of  the  supporters  of  the  old  Chi- 
cago May  festivals  and  a  generous  contributor 
to  other  phases  of  the  city's  institutional 
progress. 

Arthur  E.  Dyer  was  therefore  during  his 
boyhood  associated  with  some  of  Chicago's 
leading  families.  His  spirit  of  enterprise  was 
early  awakened,  and  after  completing  his  edu- 
cation he  began  work  with  the  Illinois  Central 
Railway  at  the  age  of  twenty-two.  He  was 
started  at  the  bottom  and  given  no  favors.  He 
worked  in  the  drafting  room,  and  later  was 
made  assistant  superintendent  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Shops  in  Chicago.  Engineering  and 
machinery  have  been  his  constant  hobby.  In 
the  meantime  his  education  was  not  neglected. 
He  attended  public  schools  in  Hyde  Park,  the 
South  Side  Academy  and  the  University  High 
School,  was  one  of  the  early  students  enrolled 
in  the  Armour  Institute  of  Technology  and 
completed  his  education  at  the  University  of 
Chicago,  where  he  won  honors  as  a  scholar 
and  as  member  of  the  football  team  of  1901. 
Up  to  the  time  of  the  World  war  Mr.  Dyer 
was  president  of  the  Dyer  Oil  &  Supply  Com- 
pany of  Chicago.  Since  the  war  he  has  been 
engaged  in  other  lines  of  business,  chiefly  the 
Dyer  &  Zeller  Coal  Company.  Mr.  Dyer  was 
supervisor  of  banks  and  sub-stations  in  the 
Cook  County  treasurer's  office  in  1926-30. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Blue  Lodge,  Royal 
Arch  Chapter  and  Council  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, belongs  to  the  Beachview  and  Cycraft 
clubs.  Mr.  Dyer  married  Miss  Sarah  Cam- 
eron, and  both  are  prominent  socially.  Mrs. 
Dyer  is  active  in  civic  and  club  work  and  is 
first  vice  president  of  the  Jackson  Park 
Sanitarium. 

John  F.  Hahn  is  president  of  the  John  F. 
Hahn,  Incorporated,  real  estate  operators  at 
Evanston.  Mr.  Hahn  is  a  native  of  Evanston, 
member  of  one  of  the  old  and  substantial  pio- 
neer families  of  that  city,  and  his  own  life 
has  brought  him  in  very  close  touch  with  its 
public  as  well  as  its  business  affairs.  For  over 
a  quarter  of  a  century  he  was  city  clerk  of 
Evanston. 

Mr.  Hahn  was  born  there  November  19, 
1867,  son  of  Maxmillian  and  Anna  (Schneider) 
Hahn.  Maximillian  Hahn  was  born  at  Munich, 
Bavaria,  Germany,  in  December,  1834.  He 
settled  at  Evanston  in  1857,  and  was  one  of 
the  early  business  men  in  a  village  which  at 
that  time  was  far  north  of  the  Chicago  city 


458 


ILLINOIS 


limits.  He  was  an  Evanston  business  man 
until  his  retirement  in  1885,  and  he  also  had 
important  associations  with  the  civic  and 
political  life  of  both  Evanston  and  Chicago. 
He  held  several  offices  in  Evanston  and  for 
about  four  years  was  assistant  postmaster  at 
Chicago.  Maximillian  Hahn  died  in  1921,  at 
the  age  of  eighty-seven.  Anna  Schneider, 
whom  he  married  in  Evanston,  was  also  a 
native  of  Germany,  having  come  to  America 
when  she  was  three  years  old. 

John  F.  Hahn  attended  public  schools  in 
Evanston.  At  an  early  age  he  went  to  work 
for  the  wholesale  hardware  house  of  Wells  & 
Nellegar  in  Chicago,  at  first  as  a  salesman  in 
the  store  and  later  as  traveling  representa- 
tive for  the  firm  in  the  Northwest,  his  chief 
territory  being  in  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota. 
Mr.  Hahn  in  1892  took  a  managing  position 
with  the  hardware  house  of  J.  C.  Connor  at 
Evanston.  In  1899  he  was  elected  city  clerk, 
and  by  successive  elections  served  in  that  ca- 
pacity for  twenty-six  years,  until  he  retired 
in  1925.  His  long  period  of  public  service 
was  not  only  an  evidence  of  his  great  popu- 
larity but  his  quiet  efficiency  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  affairs  of  that  office. 

While  city  clerk  Mr.  Hahn  entered  the  real 
estate  field,  founding  the  firm  of  John  F. 
Hahn,  Incorporated.  This  has  had  a  long  and 
successful  career  in  real  estate  and  in  hand- 
ling investments  and  the  management  of  prop- 
erties. The  John  F.  Hahn,  Incorporated, 
which  occupies  its  own  building,  the  Hahn 
Building  on  Sherman  Avenue,  is  one  of  the 
large  firms  operating  in  Chicago's  metropoli- 
tan area  on  the  north.  Mr.  Hahn  is  frequently 
referred  to  as  the  dean  of  Evanston's  realtors. 

Mr.  Hahn's  long  service  as  city  clerk  was  as 
a  matter  of  fact  incidental  to  a  prominent 
participation  and  interest  in  the  public  life  of 
his  community  since  early  manhood.  In  the 
spring  election  of  1931  he  was  brought  out  by 
his  friends  as  a  candidate  for  mayor.  Al- 
though he  got  a  late  start  in  the  campaign, 
he  made  a  highly  creditable  race,  losing  the 
election  by  a  small  majority.  Mr.  Hahn  has 
been  a  delegate  to  a  number  of  county  and 
state  Republican  conventions,  being  a  mem- 
ber of  the  convention  that  nominated  Deneen 
for  governor  in  1904.  Mr.  Hahn  is  a  member 
of  the  Real  Estate  Board,  Evanston  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  Evanston  Club,  Shawnee  Coun- 
try Club  of  Evanston,  the  Big  Foot  Country 
Club  of  Lake  Geneva,  Wisconsin,  and  is  affili- 
ated with  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks  and  Knights  of 
Columbus. 

He  married  Miss  Josephine  McGuire.  They 
have  one  living  son,  John  F.  Hahn,  Jr.,  who 
is  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  College  and  now 
connected  with  the  Midland  United  Company 
(public  utilities)  of  Chicago.  The  two  daugh- 
ters of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hahn  are:  Elizabeth, 
Mrs.  Reginald  Cooke,  and  Josephine,  Mrs. 
Richard  E.  Williamson. 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hahn  had  the  mosfortune 
to  lose  a  promising  and  brilliant  son,  Edmund 
Francis  Hahn,  who  died  in  1928.  He  was  a 
graduate  of  Dartmouth  College,  and  for  two 
years  served  with  distinction  in  the  Signal 
Corps  of  the  United  States  Army  in  France. 
After  the  war  he  took  up  educational  work 
and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  a  teacher 
of  English  in  Harvard  University. 

John  G.  Nicolay,  whose  monumental  work 
and  lasting  fame  is  his  voluminous  history  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  in  compiling  which  John 
Hay  was  his  collaborator,  was  born  in  Bava- 
ria, February  26,  1832,  and  died  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  September  26,  1901.  He  was 
brought  to  America  at  the  age  of  six,  lived 
for  a  time  in  Cincinnati,  and  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  entered  the  office  of  the  Pike  County 
Free  Press  at  Pittsfield,  Illinois.  A  few  years 
later  he  was  editor  and  proprietor  of  the 
paper.  In  1860  he  became  private  secretary 
to  Abraham  Lincoln  during  the  presidential 
campaign,  and  after  the  election  accompanied 
Mr.  Lincoln  to  Washington  as  private  secre- 
tary, and  so  continued  until  the  death  of  the 
President.  From  1865  to  1869  he  was  United 
States  consul  at  Paris,  for  a  brief  time  edited 
the  Chicago  Republican,  and  from  1872  to 
1887  was  marshal  of  the  United  States  Su- 
preme Court  at  Washington. 

Hon.  David  E.  Shanahan,  of  Chicago,  as  a 
political  figure  in  Illinois  has  been  as  a  light 
set  on  a  hill,  since  he  has  throughout  thirty- 
eight  years  of  consecutive  membership  in  the 
Illinois  House  of  Representatives  stood  out 
amidst  scores  of  factional  conflicts  and  the 
changing  vicissitudes  of  political  control,  grow- 
ing steadily  stronger  in  his  personal  influence 
and  in  his  power  as  one  of  the  ablest  public 
men  of  Illinois. 

Mr.  Shanahan,  who  was  honored  six  times 
with  the  office  of  speaker  of  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, was  born  on  a  farm  in  May 
Township,  Lee  County,  Illinois,  September  7, 
1862.  His  parents  were  George  and  Catherine 
Vale  (Power)  Shanahan.  His  father  was  a 
native  of  Ireland  and  was  a  child  when  he 
came  to  America,  first  settling  in  New  York 
State  and  thence  came  to  Illinois  in  1851  and 
settled  in  Chicago.  Later  the  family  moved  to 
a  farm  in  Lee  County,  and  three  months  after 
the  birth  of  David  E.  they  returned  to  Chi- 
cago. Thus  David  E.  Shanahan  is  thoroughly 
a  Chicago  product.  He  was  educated  in  pub- 
lic schools,  graduating  from  the  Holden 
Grammar  School,  the  South  Division  High 
School,  and  took  his  law  degree  at  the  Chicago 
Law  College.  While  he  has  become  an  im- 
portant figure  in  his  profession,  in  business 
and  finance,  his  political  career  overshadows 
other  associations. 

For  over  forty-five  years  he  has  been  a  leader 
in  the  Republican  party  and  has  attended  as 


jk$  Qda  qjlu  e 


ILLINOIS 


459 


a  delegate  scores  of  city,  county,  state  and 
national  conventions  of  the  party.  His  first 
public  office  came  in  1885,  when  he  was 
twenty-three  years  of  age.  At  that  time  he 
was  elected  South  Town  supervisor  and  in 
1886  reelected.  Mr.  Shanahan  was  first  elected 
a  member  of  the  Illinois  General  Assembly  in 
1894.  As  a  staff  correspondent  of  the  Daily 
News  said  recently:  "Dave  Shanahan  has 
been  a  member  of  the  Legislature  for  thirty- 
seven  years  without  a  break.  He  has  been 
speaker  of  the  House-  six  times.  There  is  no 
man  in  Chicago  as  widely  known  personally  as 
Shanahan,  or  who  has  so  many  friends.  Dur- 
ing his  thirty-seven  years  in  the  Legislature 
he  has  met  thousands  of  other  legislators  and 
down-state  politicians.  Everybody  seems  to 
like  Dave  Shanahan.  He  doesn't  seem  to  have 
♦an  enemy." 

This  was  written  in  July,  1931,  when  Chi- 
cago newspapers  had  several  new  stories  com- 
menting upon  Speaker  Shanahan's  three 
weeks'  service  as  acting  governor  of  Illinois. 
He  was  acting  governor  by  the  legal  succes- 
sion due  to  the  absence  of  both  Governor  Em- 
merson  and  the  lieutenant-governor  from  the 
state.  It  was  recalled  that  this  was  the  first 
time  a  Chicago  man  had  been  governor  of  the 
state  since  Gov.  Edward  F.  Dunne. 

Mr.  Shanahan  was  elected  temporary 
speaker  of  the  House  in  the  Forty-third  Gen- 
eral Assembly.  He  was  chairman  of  the  im- 
portant committee  on  appropriations  for  the 
Forty-fifth,  Forty-sixth,  Forty-seventh  and 
Forty-eighth  General  Assemblies.  Then  he 
was  again  elected  speaker  of  the  House  in  the 
Forty-ninth  Assembly  and  served  consecutively 
through  four  successive  general  assemblies, 
and  in  the  1931  session  was  again  honored  with 
this  office.  There  are  many  other  political 
services  to  his  credit.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Chicago  Charter  Convention  of  1905. 
Mayor  Harrison  appointed  him  a  member  of 
the  Permanent  Charter  Commission  in  1914. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Commission 
to  the  Panama-Pacific  Exposition  at  San 
Francisco  and  during  the  World  war  was  a 
member  of  the  State  Council  of  Defense.  In 
1919  he  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention.  In  the  Legislature  some  of 
his  outstanding  services  have  been  in  behalf 
of  the  improvement  and  expansion  of  the  park 
and  boulevard  system  of  Chicago. 

Mr.  Shanahan  is  honorary  chairman  of  the 
board  of  the  Construction  Material  Corpora- 
tion and  the  E.  L.  Essley  Company,  Chicago. 
He  is  an  officer  in  other  corporations  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Chicago  Real  Estate  Board,  the 
Cook  County  Real  Estate  Board,  the  Chicago 
Board  of  Underwriters,  the  Chicago  Historical 
Society,  the  Chicago  Zoological  Society,  the 
Union  League  Club,  the  Central  Manufactur- 
ing District  Club,  City  Club,  Phi  Alpha  Delta 
fraternity,  Knights  of  Pythias  and  Elks.  He 
is  unmarried. 


Hon.  Augustus  H.   Cohlmeyer,  sheriff  of 
Washington  County,  and  owner  of  one  of  the 
best  improved  and  modern  farms  in  this  part 
of    Illinois,    has    been   in   the    public    eye    for 
many  years,  and  during  all  of  that  time  has 
ably  and  conscientiously  discharged  all  of  the 
duties  pertaining  to  the  offices  in  which  he  has 
served.    He  was  born  in  Madison  County,  Illi- 
nois, December  5,  1859,  a  son  of  William  and 
Christina  (Meyer)   Cohlmeyer.     William  Cohl- 
meyer was   born  in   Germany,  where   he  was 
reared  to  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  but  then, 
running  away  from  home,  he  became  a  stow- 
away  on   a   vessel   sailing   for   New   Orleans. 
Discovered,   he  was  put   to   work  to   pay  for 
his  passage,  and  when  the  boat  docked,  was 
permitted  to  land.    From  New  Orleans,  Louisi- 
ana, he  made  his  way  to  Saint  Louis,  Missouri, 
and  thence  to   Highland,  Illinois,   earning  his 
way  from  place  to  place  by  working  at  such 
odd    jobs    as    he   could    find.      After    reaching 
Highland  he  worked  as  a  farm  hand  until  he 
was  able  to  rent  land.     Still  later  he  bought 
a  farm,  and  on  it  he  continued  the  remainder 
of  his  useful  and  honorable  life.     The  follow- 
ing children  were  born  to  him  and  his  wife: 
William,  Mary,  Samuel  and  Carl,  all  of  whom 
are  deceased;  Augustus  H.,  George  and  Elzie 
Cohlmeyer,  all  of  whom  are  living.  The  father 
was   one   of  the  very  active  members   of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Highland,  and 
he  and  his   wife   are   buried   in  the   cemetery 
in  Nashville,  Illinois.     Mr.  Cohlmeyer  was  one 
of  the  first  of  his  nationality  to  locate  in  the 
Highland  community,  and,  as  he  belonged  to 
that  fine  class  of  industrious,  frugal  and  patri- 
otic German-Americans  which  have  played  so 
important  a  part  in  the  development  and  im- 
provement of  this  country,  he  won  and  held 
the  confidence  and  respect  of  his  fellow  citi- 
zens, and  when  he  died  his  passing  was  de- 
plored,  and   his   loss   was   felt   by   the  entire 
neighborhood. 

Sheriff  Cohlmeyer  attended  the  local  schools 
and  until  he  reached  his  majority  he  worked 
on  his  father's  farm.  At  that  time  he  rented 
land,  having  decided  to  make  farming  his  life 
work,  and  in  conjunction  with  this  calling  for 
the  past  thirty  years  he  has  been  an  auc- 
tioneer, one  of  the  best  in  the  county.  As  soon 
as  he  had  sufficient  funds  Sheriff  Cohlmeyer 
bought  his  present  farm,  two  miles  east  of 
Nashvttle,  which  comprises  120  acres  of  land, 
and  this  property  he  has  brought  into  a  high 
state  of  cultivation.  The  improvements  on  the 
farm  have  been  made  by  him  and  he  takes 
great  pride  in  having  everything  modern  and 
keeping  the  premises  in  first-class  order. 

On  November  5,  1884,  Sheriff  Cohlmeyer 
was  married  to  Miss  Ada  Alice  Haun,  a 
daughter  of  John  E.  and  Mary  Ann  (New- 
man) Haun,  who  came  to  Washington  County, 
Illinois,  from  Tennessee,  and  became  success- 
ful farmers  here.  Mrs.  Augustus  H.  Cohl- 
meyer   served    four    years    as    chief    deputy 


460 


ILLINOIS 


sheriff  under  Sheriff  Cohlmeyer,  being  the  first 
woman  to  be  appointed  deputy  sheriff  in  Illi- 
nois. Sheriff  and  Mrs.  Cohlmeyer  have  two 
living  children:  Otto  R.,  who  married  Emily 
Skilton,  a  native  of  London,  England,  and 
has  one  child,  Pauline  Patricia;  and  Dr.  John 
William  Cohlmeyer,  of  Detroit,  who  married 
May  Dickerson.  Both  sons  attended  the  pub- 
lic schools  through  the  high  school,  and  are 
fine  young  men,  held  in  high  esteem.  In 
political  faith  Sheriff  Cohlmeyer  is  a  Demo- 
crat, and  has  been  active  in  his  party  through- 
out his  mature  years.  Not  only  has  he  held 
all  of  the  township  offices,  but  he  was  deputy 
United  States  marshal  in  East  Saint  Louis, 
Illinois,  for  six  years;  served  for  two  terms 
as  a  member  of  the  Illinois  State  Legislature, 
Lower  House,  representing  Washington  Coun- 
ty, and  is  now  in  his  third  term  as  sheriff.  For 
two  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Equalization,  and  for  two  years  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Nashville  City  Council,  and  he  also 
has  been  a  school  director  and  road  commis- 
sioner. As  sheriff  he  has  proved  himself  fear- 
less, efficient  and  incorruptible,  and  his  long 
continuance  in  office  speaks  eloquently  of  the 
regard  in  which  he  is  held  by  the  people  of  the 
county.  Like  his  father  he  is  an  active  Metho- 
dist, as  is  his  wife;  he  has  held  all  of  the 
church  offices,  has  been  a  steward  for  thirty 
years  and  Sunday  School  superintendent  for 
twenty-five  years.  For  thirty-five  years  he  has 
been  a  zealous  member  of  the  Independent  Or- 
der of  Odd  Fellows. 

Tyrrell  A.  Richardson,  who  was  born  in 
Chicago,  in  1898,  is  a  World  war  veteran,  and 
after  the  war  studied  law  and  since  1924  has 
.made  a  splendid  record  in  private  practice  and 
in  public  duties  in  the  county  and  city  ad- 
ministrations. 

Mr.  Richardson's  parents  were  Capt. 
Frank  and  Tillie  (Tyrrell)  Richardson.  The 
Richardsons  were  prominent  in  Illinois  for 
several  generations.  One  of  the  name,  James 
Richardson,  was  among  those  who  partici- 
pated in  the  famous  escape  from  Libby  Prison 
during  the  Civil  war.  The  maternal  grand- 
father was  widely  known  as  Capt.  Dick  Tyr- 
rell, a  prominent  ship  master  on  the  Great 
Lakes,  with  headquarters  in  Chicago.  He  led 
a  very  interesting  and  eventful  life.  The 
Tyrrells  were  pioneers  of  Chicago,  and  many 
of  the  name  have  been  prominent  in  the  history 
of  the  city.  One  of  them  is  Capt.  Frank  J. 
Tyrrell,  now  a  retired  police  captain.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  police  department  on 
duty  at  the  Haymarket  riots  in  1885.  He  is 
president  of  the  Association  of  Haymarket 
Veterans. 

Tyrrell  A.  Richardson  grew  up  in  Chicago. 
He  was  educated  in  public  schools,  and  at  the 
age  of  eighteen,  in  1916,  enlisted  in  the  United 
States  Army  for  service  on  the  Mexican  bor- 
der.    He  was  in  the  Seventh  United   States 


Cavalry,  one  of  the  army's  most  historic  regi- 
ments, made  famous  as  the  Garry  Owens  in 
Custer's  last  fight.  With  his  regiment  Mr. 
Richardson  was  a  member  of  the  punitive  ex- 
pedition against  Villa  in  Mexico  and  spent 
several  months  on  the  Mexican  border.  His 
army  record  continued  and  brought  him  into 
the  World  war  in  April,  1917.  Mr.  Richard- 
son has  medals  for  his  service  on  both  Mexi- 
can border  campaigns  and  in  the  World  war. 

When  he  took  up  the  study  of  law  after  the 
war  he  had  the  benefit  of  instruction  and 
guidance  by  one  of  the  city's  distinguished 
attorneys,  Daniel  L.  Cruise,  known  as  the  fore- 
most labor  lawyer  of  his  time.  Mr.  Richard- 
son was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1924  and  has 
since  given  all  his  time  and  energies  to  the 
work  of  his  profession.  He  served  as  assistant 
state's  attorney  for  Cook  County  during  the 
administration  of  Robert  E.  Crowe.  For  a 
period  he  was  also  assistant  corporation  coun- 
sel during  the  administration  of  William  Hale 
Thompson  as  mayor.  These  public  services 
have  been  an  invaluable  preparation  for  the 
work  of  the  general  private  practice  in  which 
he  is  now  engaged.  He  has  offices  at  11  South 
LaSalle  Street.  His  home  is  at  2912  North 
Albany  Street. 

Mr.  Richardson  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
Bar  Association  and  the  American  Legion.  In 
the  primaries  of  1932  he  was  a  candidate  for 
the  Republican  nomination  for  congressman 
at  large  from  Illinois  and  made  a  most  credit- 
able race  against  several  men  much  older 
and  of  wider  political  prestige.  Mr.  Richard- 
son married  Miss  Rose  Foreman,  of  Chicago. 
They  have  a  daughter,  Jessica  Richardson. 

Raymond  A.  Carey  is  a  native  Chicagoan, 
with  a  record  of  consecutive  activity  in  busi- 
ness life  since  early  boyhood.  Mr.  Carey  since 
1912  has  been  a  resident  of  Evanston.  He  is 
president  of  the  Evanston  Rotary  Club  and 
manager  of  the  Evanston  branch  of  the  Illi- 
nois Bell  Telephone  Company. 

His  Chicago  birthplace  was  a  home  on  Wash- 
ington Boulevard  at  Peoria  Street.  His  par- 
ents were  E.  A.  and  Estella  M.  (Towne) 
Carey,  his  father  a  native  of  New  York  State 
and  his  mother  of  Massachusetts.  Raymond  A. 
Carey  while  attending  school  on  the  West  Side 
spent  his  hours  after  school  and  on  Saturdays 
as  a  clerk  in  his  father's  grocery  store,  located 
four  blocks  west  of  the  Chicago  &  Northwest- 
ern Station.  Later  for  a  few  years  he  was 
an  employee  of  the  W.  M.  Hoyt  wholesale 
grocery  company. 

Mr.  Carey  left  the  grocery  business  to  go 
with  the  Illinois  Bell  Telephone  Company  and 
was  still  a  junior  in  years  when  he  made  this 
transfer  to  a  new  vocation.  His  first  employ- 
ment was  in  the  installation  department  at 
Oak  Park.  His  work  brought  him  promotions 
and  new  assignments  to  different  suburbs,  and 
in   1912,   at  the   age   of   twenty-one,   he  was 


ILLINOIS 


461 


made  assistant  to  Mr.  H.  B.  Gates,  district 
manager  at  Evanston.  He  has  been  with  the 
Evanston  district  ever  since.  This  is  one  of 
the  largest  districts  of  the  Illinois  Bell  Tele- 
phone Company  in  point  of  number  of  tele- 
phones and  volume  of  business  transacted 
through  the  exchange.  The  value  of  his  serv- 
ice and  abilities  as  a  telephone  operating 
executive  was  signalized  when,  in  1926,  he  was 
promoted  to  manager  of  the  Evanston  branch. 
The  Evanston  branch  building  of  the  telephone 
company,  completed  in  1931,  is  regarded  as  a 
modest  model  of  modern  telephone  operating 
exchanges.  The  Evanston  Art  Commission 
awarded  it  the  prize  as  the  most  distinctive 
business  building  erected  during  that  year. 
With  heavy  responsibilities  of  a  business  and 
executive  nature  Mr.  Carey  has  at  the  same 
time  been  one  of  the  leaders  of  civic  affairs  in 
Evanston.  He  is  a  member  of  the  board  of 
directors  of  the  Evanston  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce and  has  served  on  some  of  the  Cham- 
ber's most  important  committees.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Forward  Committee  of  the 
City- Wide  Emergency  Campaign.  Mr.  Carey 
has  been  a  member  of  the  Evanston  Rotary 
Club  since  1926,  was  its  vice  president  in 
1931,  and  in  the  spring  of  1932  was  honored 
by  election  as  president  of  the  club  for  the 
year  ending  in  July,  1933.  He  is  also  a  mem- 
ber of  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks  and  the  North  End 
Men's  Club. 

Mr.  Carey  married  Miss  Jane  McVicker,  of 
Aurora.  She  was  born  in  Illinois.  They  have 
a  beautiful  home  at  2616  Thayer  Street, 
Evanston. 

Capt.  George  T.  Hammer,  whose  headquar- 
ters are  in  the  Federal  Building  at  Chicago, 
where  he  is  an  official  of  the  United  States 
Naval  Hydrographic  Office,  possesses  in  his 
bearing  and  characteristics  all  the  qualities 
of  the  old-time  master  mariner.  Captain  Ham- 
mer spent  many  years  on  the  Great  Lakes  as 
a  sailing  master,  and  in  that  respect  was  fol- 
lowing in  the  footsteps  of  his  father,  one  of 
the  early  pioneers  in  the  Great  Lakes  trans- 
portation service.  The  Hammers  were  among 
the  earliest  settlers  of  Highland  Park. 

Capt.  George  T.  Hammer  was  born  at  Chi- 
cago, in  1859,  son  of  Capt.  George  Nelson  and 
Regina  (Wigeland)  Hammer.  His  father  was 
born  in  Norway,  and  took  to  the  sea  when 
only  a  boy.  He  made  two  journeys  around 
the  world  before  he  came  to  Chicago  in  1847. 
From  that  year  onward  he  was  a  sailing 
master  and  vessel  owner  on  the  Great  Lakes. 
Throughout  the  season  of  navigation  every 
year  he  handled  vessels  carrying  great  car- 
goes of  lumber  into  Chicago  ports.  He  was 
one  of  the  best  known  of  the  old-time  lake 
captains,  held  in  high  esteem  for  his  able  sea- 
manship and  skill  as  a  navigator  and  com- 
manding officer.  After  a  long  career  in  buf- 
feting the  waves  and  with  hazardous   expe- 


riences on  the  ocean  main  and  on  the 
tempestuous  lake  waters,  he  lost  his  life  while 
a  passenger  crossing  the  Atlantic  on  a  steam- 
ship for  a  visit  to  his  old  home  in  Norway 
in  1888. 

From  Chicago  the  Hammer  family  moved  to 
Highland  Park  in  Lake  County  in  1865.  This 
was  then  a  small  settlement  on  the  lake  shore, 
with  only  a  few  houses,  and  the  community 
possessed  no  indication  of  the  later  richness 
in  beautiful  homes  and  estates  which  make 
Highland  Park  today  one  of  the  wealthiest  and 
most  attractive  suburban  cities. 

Highland  Park  schools  gave  Capt.  George 
T.  Hammer  his  early  education.  But  he  in- 
herited a  passion  for  the  sea,  and  most  of 
his  thorough  knowledge  of  the  technical 
science  of  navigation  came  to  him  during  the 
years  he  was  serving  his  apprenticeship  as  a 
seaman  on  the  Great  Lakes.  During  his  early 
manhood  he  received  successive  promotions, 
and  eventually  became  a  sailing  master.  His 
latest  commission  as  sailing  master  was  given 
him  by  the  United  States  Government  in  1880. 
However,  he  retired  from  his  active  work  on 
the  lakes  about  1918.  For  a  number  of  years 
he  has  been  connected  with  the  branch  hydro- 
graphic  office  of  the  United  States  Navy  at 
Chicago,  being  at  the  present  time  nautical 
expert. 

Captain  Hammer  tells  a  wealth  of  interest- 
ing stories  and  historical  facts  relating  both 
to  Highland  Park  and  to  the  old-time  lake 
traffic  when  Chicago  was  one  of  the  busiest 
ports  in  the  country,  and  when  scores  of  lum- 
ber boats  were  a  commonplace  in  the  lists  of 
arrivals  and  departures  at  the  wharves.  Cap- 
tain Hammer  left  Highland  Park  when  a 
young  man,  and  for  many  years  has  been  a 
resident  of  Chicago.  His  home  now  is  at  5936 
Oconto  Avenue  in  Norwood  Park. 

Noble  Cain  is  the  Chicago  musician  whose 
achievements  as  choral  director  distinguish 
him  as  one  of  the  master  musicians  whose 
work  in  the  past  has  made  Chicago  one  of  the 
great  centers  of  musical  creation  and  expres- 
sion for  the  world. 

Mr.  Cain  inherited  some  of  his  musical  tal- 
ent from  his  father,  a  talented  band  master. 
Noble  Cain  was  born  at  Aurora,  Indiana, 
September  25,  1896,  son  of  William  Robert 
and  Daisy  (Noble)  Cain.  Four  years  later 
his  parents  moved  to  Wichita,  Kansas.  He 
was  reared  and  educated  there,  attending  pub- 
lic schools,  and  in  1916  was  graduated  with 
the  B.  A.  degree  from  the  Friends  College  of 
Wichita.  From  early  youth  he  had  thought 
of  no  serious  career  outside  the  realm  of 
music.  But  unlike  many  professional  musi- 
cians he  did  not  neglect  his  academic  educa- 
tion. After  leaving  the  College  of  Wichita 
he  continued  his  education  in  Chicago,  and  in 
1918  he  took  his  Master  of  Arts  degree  at  the 
University   of   Chicago.     In   March,    1918,   he 


462 


ILLINOIS 


volunteered  in  the  United  States  Navy,  and 
was  sent  to  the  training  school  at  the  Great 
Lakes  and  from  there  to  the  Officers  Naval 
Training  School  at  Princeton  University.  He 
was  commissioned  an  ensign  and  was  on  duty 
with  the  navy  until  March,  1919.  Mr.  Cain 
is  also  a  graduate  of  the  American  Conserva- 
tory of  Music.  The  foundation  of  his  musical 
studies  was  the  piano.  One  of  his  early  in- 
structors was  Rafael  Navas  of  Madrid,  Spain. 
He  studied  composition  under  Leo  Sowerby,  a 
great  Chicago  teacher  with  an  international 
fame  as  a  composer.  Mr.  Cain  also  studied 
the  organ,  and  for  many  years  has  been  a 
profound  student  of  the  choral  art.  He  was 
associated  with  a  number  of  prominent  church 
choirs  in  Chicago  and  for  ten  years  has  en- 
joyed a  steadily  growing  fame  as  a  conductor. 

The  organization  through  which  some  of  his 
most  finished  work  as  conductor  has  been  pre- 
sented to  the  public  has  been  the  Chicago  A 
Cappella  Choir.  This  choir,  organized  in  Jan- 
uary, 1930,  has  been  developed  by  Mr.  Cain 
to  a  proficiency  that  commands  for  it  an  im- 
portant place  among  American  choral  groups. 
Prominent  musical  critics  of  New  York,  Chi- 
cago and  other  cities  have  accorded  it  the 
highest  of  praise,  and  occasional  appearances 
over  the  radio  have  placed  the  largest  of  all 
audiences  under  a  special  debt  of  gratitude. 
The  Chicago  Tribune  musical  critic,  Edward 
Moore,  calls  the  A  Cappella  Choir  the  "most 
interesting  organization  of  its  kind  in  theory 
and  accomplishment,"  and  describes  the  choir 
as  "an  astonishing  band."  Continuing  he  says: 
"The  A  Cappella  Choir  is  well  on  the  way  to 
set  new  standards  for  choral  singing.  They 
are  expressive  no  end,  with  a  variety  of  tone 
•color,  volume,  range,  shading  that  transcends 
that  of  any  other  choral  body  within  my 
memory."  "I  have  always  insisted,"  declared 
Herman  DeVries,  of  the  Chicago  Evening 
American,  "that  Cain's  trick  of  obtaining  and 
sustaining  their  pitch  accuracy  is  nothing 
short  of  witchcraft."  Another  well  known 
critic,  Karleton  Hackett,  said  of  Mr.  Cain's 
work  with  his  choir:  "He  has  developed  the 
instinct  or  intelligent  research,  if  that  may  be 
called  an  instinct,  which  is  very  likely  only 
a  willingness  to  take  great  pains.  At  all 
events,  he  found  enough  new  music  for  one 
program  that  was  lovely  and  well  contrasted. 
And  if  he  could  not  find  exactly  what  he 
wanted  to  round  out  his  program  he  could 
write  the  needed  numbers  himself."  The  Chi- 
cago A  Cappella  Choir  under  Mr.  Cain's  direc- 
tion has  made  a  number  of  notable  records 
for  the  Victor  Phonograph  Company. 

Hundreds  of  thousands  and  perhaps  millions 
of  music  lovers  throughout  the  Middle  West 
will  recall  Mr.  Cain's  prominent  part  in  con- 
nection with  the  Chicagoland  Music  Festival, 
sponsored  each  year  by  the  Chicago  Tribune. 
On  these  occasions,  beginning  in  1930,  he  has 
conducted    the    rendition    of    the    Hallelujah 


Chorus  with  six  thousand  voices  in  open  air 
singing,  a  feat  never  before  attempted.  It 
was  at  his  suggestion  that  the  great  group 
singing,  participated  in  by  as  many  as  a  hun- 
dred thousand  voices,  was  carried  out  at  these 
festivals.  Mass  and  community  singing  on  a 
large  scale  is  one  of  Mr.  Cain's  particular 
hobbies,  and  he  is  deserving  of  a  great  deal 
of  credit  for  promoting  this  form  of  musical 
expression,  which  is  the  most  direct  step  to- 
ward a  general  democracy  of  music. 

Mr.  Cain  is  the  studio  director  for  choral 
music  with  the  National  Broadcasting  Com- 
pany, whose  Chicago  studios  are  located  in 
the  Merchandise  Mart.  In  this  position  he  is 
responsible  for  a  great  deal  of  the  splendid 
choral  work  which  goes  out  over  the  air.  For 
several  years  Mr.  Cain  has  also  been  on  the 
faculty  of  the  Northwestern  University  Sum- 
mer School  of  Music.  One  of  the  critics 
quoted  previously  refers  to  Mr.  Cain's  ability 
as  a  composer.  He  has  to  his  credit  about 
seventy-five  choral  compositions,  published  by 
such  firms  as  Witmark,  G.  Schirmer  &  Son, 
Oliver  Ditson  and  Hall  &  McCreary.  He  is 
the  author  of  a  standard  work,  "Choral  Music 
and  Its  Practices,"  published  by  Witmark. 

As  a  diversion  Mr.  Cain  in  1930  began  his 
apprenticeship  as  an  aviator.  He  now  has  a 
pilot's  license.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Cliff 
Dwellers  Club.  By  his  marriage  with  Miss 
Frances  Burch,  of  Michigan,  he  has  four 
children,  Marian,  Harriet,  Charlotte  and 
Joanne. 

Elliott  Anthony  who  had  come  to  Illinois 
from  New  York,  was  an  educated  and 
cultured  gentleman,  a  lawyer  in  whom  his 
fellow  citizens  found  the  ideals  of  that  pro- 
fession exemplified.  He  served  as  general 
solicitor  for  the  Chicago  Northwestern  rail- 
way. He  was  a  delegate  in  the  Convention 
of  1862  as  well  as  that  of  1870  and  his  pres- 
ence was  a  balance  wheel  for  the  ongoing  of 
the  convention.  Mr.  Anthony  wrote  a  history 
of  great  merit  on  the  Constitutional  History 
of  Illinois.  He  also  wrote  extensively  on 
kindred  subjects. 

Adrian  Verbrugghen,  M.  D.,  who  has  been 
a  resident  of  Chicago  since  January,  1932,  is 
neurological  surgeon  at  the  Presbyterian  Hos- 
pital. His  talents  have  brought  him  rapid 
recognition  in  America,  and  before  coming  to 
Chicago  he  was  connected  with  the  Mayo 
Clinic  at  Rochester,  Minnesota. 

Doctor  Verbrugghen  is  the  son  of  one  of  the 
world's  most  famous  orchestra  conductors, 
Henri  Verbrugghen,  who  recently  retired  from 
his  post  as  conductor  of  the  Minneapolis  Sym- 
phony Orchestra.  To  him  was  given  the  prin- 
cipal credit  for  making  that  one  of  the  most 
finished  musical  organizations  in  America. 
Henri  Verbrugghen  was  born  at  Brussels,  Bel- 
gium, in   1873.     His  study  of  the  violin  was 


y£~yJ<  73.  lOJLr^  >w  f  %-^Jl^r^ 


ILLINOIS 


463 


directed  by  such  great  masters  as  Hubay  and 
Ysaye,  and  his  first  appearance  as  a  virtuoso 
was  made  at  the  age  of  eight  years.  Ysaye 
took  him  to  England  when  he  was  fifteen.  In 
1893  he  became  a  member  of  the  Scottish 
Orchestra  at  Glasgow,  and  during  1894-95 
was  first  violinist  in  Lamoreaux's  Orchestra 
in  Paris.  Returning  to  Great  Britain  in  1895, 
he  was  for  two  years  leader  and  assistant 
conductor  of  Julius  Riviere's  Orchestra  at 
Llandudno,  Wales. 

In  1915  he  went  to  Sydney,  Australia,  and 
for  eight  years  continued  as  director  of  the 
New  South  Wales  State  Conservatory  of 
Music.  Henri  Verbrugghen  has  conducted 
orchestras  and  directed  concerts  in  many  of 
the  famous  musical  centers  of  the  world.  As 
head  of  the  Verbrugghen  String  Quartette  he 
performed  complete  cycles  of  the  Beethoven 
Quartette  in  cities  of  Great  Britain,  Australia 
and  America.  In  1918  he  made  a  tour  of  the 
United  States  to  study  methods  of  musical 
instruction  in  the  conservatories,  universities 
and  public  schools.  During  1922-23  he  was 
guest  conductor  of  the  Minneapolis  Symphony 
Orchestra,  and  in  1923  was  chosen  permanent 
conductor  of  that  organization. 

It  is  perhaps  inevitable  that  Doctor  Ver- 
brugghen should  have  some  of  the  musical 
talent  of  his  distinguished  father.  However, 
music  with  him  has  been  a  diversion.  He  is 
a  valued  member  and  one  of  the  cellists  in  the 
Chicago  Business  Men's  Orchestra.  His  cello 
is  an  ancient  and  highly  valued  instrument, 
made  by  Ruggeri  in  Cremona  in  1698,  while 
the  bow  is  of  the  craftsmanship  of  the  famous 
Francois  Tourte  of  France. 

Doctor  Verbrugghen  acquired  his  primary 
education  in  Wales  and  Scotland.  He  was  a 
boy  when  the  family  moved  to  Sydney,  Aus- 
tralia, where  he  completed  his  general 
academic  education  and  studies  for  his  pro- 
fession in  the  medical  school  of  Sydney 
University.  He  was  graduated  in  1922  with 
the  degrees  of  Bachelor  of  Medicine  and  Mas- 
ter of  Surgery.  Doctor  Verbrugghen  spent 
five  years  in  private  practice  in  Sydney.  On 
the  score  of  his  special  achievements  in  sur- 
gery he  was  awarded  a  fellowship  in  the  Mayo 
Clinic  at  Rochester,  and  went  to  that  medical 
center  in  1927.  Besides  his  graduate  work 
there  he  also  pursued  special  courses  in  the 
medical  department  of  the  University  of 
Minnesota. 

In  January,  1932,  Doctor  Verbrugghen  was 
called  to  his  present  post  as  neurological  sur- 
geon at  the  Presbyterian  Hospital  of  Chicago. 
Besides  that  responsible  post  he  is  also  assist- 
ant clinical  professor  of  surgery  in  Rush 
Medical  College.  Much  of  his  operating  work 
as  neurological  surgeon  is  done  in  the  Cook 
County  Hospital. 

Doctor  Verbrugghen  has  also  been  a  con- 
tributor to  the  literature  of  his  profession.  In 
the  October,  1932,  number  of  Surgical  Clinics 
of  North  America  appeared  two  articles  under 


his  name:  "Cerebellar  Abscess,"  and  "Tri- 
geminal Neuralgia  Associated  with  Multiple 
Sclerosis." 

Frank  B.  Wilson  represents  one  of  the  old 
and  substantial  families  of  Ogle  County,  a 
section  of  Illinois  that  has  contributed  of  the 
wealth  of  its  farms  and  industries  and  of  the 
high  character  of  its  men  and  women  to  Illi- 
nois history  for  fully  a  century. 

His  grandparents,  Benjamin  Franklin  and 
Susan  (Bridenbaugh)  Wilson,  left  their  home 
State  of  Pennsylvania  in  1856  and  established 
their  home  on  a  farm  in  Lee  County,  Illinois. 
One  of  the  children  of  these  pioneer  parents 
was  the  late  James  P.  Wilson,  for  many  years 
an  outstanding  figure  in  the  agricultural  and 
political  affairs  of  Ogle  County  and  of  the 
state.  James  P.  Wilson  was  born  in  Penn- 
sylvania, June  7,  1854.  He  grew  up  in  Lee 
County,  was  educated  in  rural  schools,  the 
high  school  at  Dixon,  and  Knox  College  at 
Galesburg.  He  had  a  year  of  experience  as 
a  -school  teacher.  He  then  joined  his  brothers 
in  farming,  and  in  1876  he  bought  the  farm 
near  the  village  of  Woosung,  Ogle  County, 
where  his  son  Frank  now  resides.  He  had 
the  capacity  of  men  of  his  generation  to  make 
farming  pay  long  before  the  introduction  of 
power  machinery  revolutionized  agricultural 
practice. 

James  P.  Wilson  steadily  extended  his  in- 
fluence in  public  affairs  from  his  immediate 
community  until  he  became  one  of  the  ac- 
knowledged leaders  in  the  state.  He  was  the 
first  supervisor  of  his  township  and  later 
chairman  of  the  County  Board  of  Supervisors. 
He  served  five  terms  in  the  Illinois  Legisla- 
ture, being  elected  in  1886,  1890,  1892,  1900 
and  1902,  serving  in  the  Thirty-fifth,  Thirty- 
seventh,  Thirty-eighth,  Forty-second  and 
Forty-third  sessions  of  the  General  Assembly. 
While  in  the  Legislature  he  was  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  appropriations  and  minority 
leader  of  the  House.  For  several  years  he 
and  his  wife  made  their  home  in  Polo,  but  in 
1907  he  returned  to  the  farm  and  lived  out 
his  remaining  years  in  the  rural  surroundings 
which  he  loved.  James  P.  Wilson  in  1906 
was  Democratic  nominee  for  Congress  from 
the  Thirteenth  Illinois  District.  His  Republi- 
can opponent  was  Frank  O.  Lowden,  and  the 
district  was  Republican  by  a  large  normal 
majority,  but  Mr.  Wilson  was  defeated  by 
only  about  1,400  votes.  When  Judge  E.  F. 
Dunne  became  governor  of  Illinois  he  ap- 
pointed James  P.  Wilson  a  member  of  the  first 
State  Highway  Commission.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  commission  four  years,  and  in  that 
capacity  directed  some  of  the  important  plans 
out  of  which  developed  Illinois'  great  high- 
way system.  He  was  a  member  of  the  com- 
mission when  the  state  made  its  first  bond 
issue  for  the  construction  of  hard  roads.  He 
was  the  first  to  advocate  a  $30,000,000  bond 
issue  for  good  road  construction,  and  both  in 


464 


ILLINOIS 


the  Legislature  and  outside  of  it  campaigned 
effectively  and  vigorously  in  behalf  of  the 
bond  issue  bill.  James  P.  Wilson  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

He  died  at  his  home  farm  in  Ogle  County 
May  3,  1923,  when  in  his  sixty-ninth  year.  In 
recognition  of  his  important  services  as  a 
statesman  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  Fifty-third  General  Assembly  adopted  spe- 
cial memorial  resolutions.  The  resolutions 
were  presented  by  Hon.  John  Divine  and  were 
adopted  under  the  direction  of  Speaker  David 
A.  Shanahan.  An  engraved  copy  of  the  reso- 
lutions was  presented  to  Mr.  Frank  B.  Wilson. 

James  P.  Wilson  married  Miss  Mary  Rogers. 
She  died  March  9,  1920.  Both  are  buried  in 
the  Fairmont  Cemetery  at  Polo.  Their  two 
sons  are  Frank  B.  and  Jay  P.  Jay  P.  Wilson 
married  Mary  Gilbert  and  has  a  daughter, 
Florence  E. 

Frank  B.  Wilson  was  born  at  the  old  home- 
stead farm  in  Ogle  County,  March  22,  1879. 
He  attended  public  school  at  Dixon,  gradu- 
ated in  a  business  course  at  Dixon  College, 
and  from  early  youth  had  received  a  prac- 
tical training  under  the  able  direction  of  his 
father  in  the  routine  responsibilities  of  the 
farm.  Farming  has  been  his  vocation  and 
occupation  since  he  was  eighteen  years  old. 
His  farm,  the  place  of  his  birth,  is  about  mid- 
way between  Dixon  and  Polo,  on  Highway 
No.  26.  The  farm  is  known  as  the  Everview 
Stock  Farm,  comprising  320  acres,  and  its  suc- 
cessful management  reflects  the  enterprise  of 
its  present  owner  and  the  traditions  of  one 
of  the  old  agricultural  families  in  this  section 
of  the  state.  Mr.  Wilson  is  president  of  the 
Ogle  County  Farm  Bureau. 

Like  his  father  he  has  been  a  stanch  Demo- 
crat in  politics.  He  served  twelve  years  in 
the  office  of  township  supervisor.  In  1928  he 
accepted  the  nomination  of  his  party  for  rep- 
resentative in  the  General  Assembly.  That 
was  a  year  when  the  Republicans  swept  the 
state  and  in  a  district  where  Republican  ma- 
jorities prevail  under  normal  conditions.  Mr. 
Wilson  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that 
he  polled  more  votes  than  any  other  candidate 
on  the  Democratic  ticket.  He  has  served  as 
Democratic  committee  chairman  in  his  town- 
ship, and  in  the  spring  of  1932,  at  the  pri- 
maries, he  was  again  awarded  the  Democratic 
nomination  for  state  representative  from  the 
Tenth  Senatorial  District,  comprising  Winne- 
bago and  Ogle  counties.  He  won  the  nomina- 
tion over  two  opponents. 

Mr.  Wilson  is  a  past  commander  of  Dixon 
Commandery  No.  21,  Knights  Templars,  and 
is  a  member  of  the  Scottish  Rite  Consistory 
at  Freeport.  He  married,  February  12,  1903, 
Miss  Dora  Miller,  daughter  of  T.  J.  and  Mary 
(Emmert)  Miller,  of  Dixon.  The  Miller  fam- 
ily came  to  Illinois  from  Pennsylvania  in 
pioneer  times.  T.  J.  Miller  served  with  a 
Pennsylvania    regiment    in    the    Union    army, 


joining  the  colors  when  only  sixteen  years  of 
age.  After  the  war  he  came  west  and  settled 
in  Lee  County.  For  over  half  a  century  he 
conducted  the  T.  J.  Miller  Music  Company  at 
Dixon.  He  is  now  retired  from  business,  and 
his  son,  Ray  Miller,  continues  this  old  and 
well  known  house.  The  Emmert  family  were 
also  early  settlers  of  Lee  County,  coming  from 
Maryland  and  traveling  overland.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Wilson  have  one  daughter,  Mary  Frances. 
She  is  the  wife  of  Claude  E.  Horton,  in  the 
automobile  business  at  Dixon,  and  has  one 
child,  Nancy  Ann. 

Jay  P.  Wilson  is  the  owner  of  a  fine  farm 
of  two  hundred  acres  and  is  well  upholding 
the  honors  of  a  family  name  that  has  been 
one  of  prominence  in  the  civic  and  industrial 
annals  of  Ogle  County.  His  home  farm  is  situ- 
ated adjacent  to  the  thriving  little  City  of 
Polo,  and  he  has  made  a  record  of  success  as 
agriculturist  and  stock-grower,  as  did  also  his 
father,  the  late  Hon.  James  P.  Wilson.  Fur- 
ther data  concerning  the  family  history  appear 
in  the  personal  sketch  of  Frank  B.  Wilson, 
the  oldest  son  in  the  preceding  sketch. 

Jay  P.  Wilson  was  born  on  his  father's 
farm  estate  in  Ogle  County,  February  24, 
1889,  a  son  of  James  P.  and  Mary  (Rogers) 
Wilson.  Hon.  James  P.  Wilson  was  born  in 
Pennsylvania,  at  Altoona,  Blair  County,  June 
7,  1854,  a  son  of  Benjamin  Franklin  and 
Susan  (Bridenbaugh)  Wilson,  who  likewise 
were  born  in  the  old  Keystone  State,  of 
Scotch-Irish  and  German  ancestry  respec- 
tively. James  P.  Wilson  was  about  two  years 
of  age  when,  in  1856,  his  parents  came  to 
Illinois  and  made  settlement  in  Palmyra 
Township,  Lee  County,  where  his  father  ac- 
quired Government  land  and  initiated  the  de- 
velopment of  a  farm,  the  parents  having 
passed  the  remainder  of  their  lives  in  that 
county.  James  P.  Wilson  attended  the  rural 
school  near  the  home  farm  and  thereafter  was 
a  student  in  turn  in  the  Dixon  High  School, 
the  University  of  Iowa  and  Knox  College  at 
Galesburg,  Illinois.  He  taught  school  one 
year  and  then  resumed  his  active  association 
with  farm  enterprise.  In  1876  he  purchased 
the  Ogle  County  farm  now  owned  and  occupied 
by  his  oldest  son,  Frank  B.,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing year  his  marriage  occurred.  He  was  long 
numbered  among  the  leading  exponents  of 
agricultural  and  live  stock  industry  in  Ogle 
County  and  became  a  citizen  of  exceptional 
prominence  and  influence  in  communal  and 
political  affairs.  He  was  the  first  supervisor 
of  his  township  and  was  made  chairman  of 
the  County  Board  of  Supervisors.  He  long 
represented  Ogle  County  in  the  State  Legisla- 
ture, to  which  he  was  elected  in  1886,  1890, 
1892,  1900,  1902.  In  1906  he  was  Democratic 
nominee  for  representative  of  his  district  in 
the  United  States  Congress,  and  while  he  ran 
ahead   of   the   party  ticket  in   the   district   he 


ILLINOIS 


465 


was  unable  to  overcome  the  large  and  normal 
Republican  majority,  his  opponent  having 
been  Hon.  Frank  Lowden,  former  governor  of 
Illinois.  Mr.  Wilson  served  four  years  as  a 
member  of  the  state  highway  department, 
under  appointment  by  Governor  Dunne,  and 
he  was  a  member  of  this  body  when  the  state 
made  its  first  bond  issue  for  the  construction 
of  modern  roads.  Mr.  Wilson  passed  the  clos- 
ing years  of  his  life  on  his  old  home  farm 
and  was  one  of  the  honored  and  influential 
citizens  of  this  section  of  the  state.  His  death 
occurred  May  3,  1923,  and  his  wife  died  March 
9,  1920.  Both  are  buried  in  the  Fairmount 
Cemetery  at  Polo. 

After  attending  the  village  schools  at  Woo- 
sung  and  the  high  school  at  Polo,  in  which 
latter  he  was  graduated.  Jay  P.  Wilson  re- 
sumed his  active  association  with  farm  enter- 
prise, in  connection  with  which  he  has  brought 
to  bear  energy,  progressiveness  and  good 
judgment,  with  the  result  that  his  success 
has  been  substantial  during  the  years  of  his 
independent  operation  as  an  agriculturist  and 
a  feeder  of  live  stock,  in  which  latter  depart- 
ment of  his  activities  he  has  been  exception- 
ally prominent  and  successful.  He  is  a  Demo- 
crat and  has  been  active  in  the  local  councils 
and  service  of  his  party.  His  home  place, 
known  as  Greenview  Stock  Farm,  is  recog- 
nized as  one  of  the  best  in  Ogle  County  and 
its  improvements   are   of  modern   order. 

On  September  16,  1920,  Mr.  Wilson  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Margaret  E.  Gil- 
bert, a  representative  of  one  of  the  sterling 
pioneer  families  of  Ogle  County.  Mrs.  Wilson 
is  a  daughter  of  Frank  and  Emma  (Wilger) 
Gilbert.  Frank  Gilbert  was  born  at  Woosung, 
this  county,  January  18,  1866,  a  son  of  Daniel 
and  Elizabeth  (Hardnock)  Gilbert,  the  for- 
mer of  whom  was  born  in  Washington  County, 
Maryland,  and  the  latter  in  Hesse-Darmstadt, 
Germany.  Daniel  Gilbert  came  to  Ogle  County 
in  1857,  depended  upon  his  own  resources  in 
making  his  way  to  the  goal  of  independence 
and  eventually  became  the  owner  of  a  valuable 
farm  estate  of  more  than  600  acres.  Both  he 
and  his  wife  died  in  this  county,  he  having 
passed  away  in  1905,  and  the  mortal  remains 
of  both  rest  in  the  cemetery  of  Pine  Creek 
Church.  Frank  Gilbert  and  his  wife  reside 
on  their  farm  three  miles  south  of  Polo,  in 
Ogle  County.  He  farms  a  fine  property  of 
two  hundred  acres.  He  is  a  Republican  in 
politics  and  his  wife  is  a  member  of  the 
Dunkard  Church.  Mrs.  Wilson  is  eldest  in 
a  family  of  seven  daughters  and  was  born 
January  17,  1896;  Ethel  is  the  wife  of  John 
Dohlen;  Myrtle  M.  was  next  in  order  of  birth; 
Grace  is  the  widow  of  George  McNamee; 
Pearl  is  the  wife  of  Melvin  Lemanski;  Eva  is 
the  wife  of  Merrill  Reynolds;  and  Loretta  is 
the  youngest  of  the  number.  Florence  E., 
only  child  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wilson,  was  born 
January  30,  1923,  and  is  now  (1932)  attend- 
ing the  public  schools  at  Polo. 


Frederick  O.  Fredrickson,  M.  D.,  noted 
Chicago  physician,  specialist  in  internal  medi- 
cine, has  received  many  distinguished  honors 
in  his  professional  career.  Among  others  he 
is  a  former  president  of  the  Illinois  State 
Medical  Society. 

A  native  of  Chicago,  son  of  A.  and  Gretha 
(Holan)  Fredrickson,  his  early  lot  was  en- 
vironed by  circumstances  that  made  it  neces- 
sary for  him  to  work  and  earn  his  way  even 
during  his  early  school  years.  This  inter- 
rupted the  continuity  of  his  education,  but  no 
doubt  strengthened  the  fiber  of  his  character 
and  his  self  reliance  of  manhood.  He  attended 
grammar  and  high  school  in  Chicago,  the 
Lewis  Institute,  and  had  his  professional 
training  in  the  Rush  Medical  College  of  the 
University  of  Chicago.  He  took  his  M.  D. 
degree  in  1908.  This  was  followed  by  an  in- 
terneship  in  St.  Joseph's  Hospital.  Since  en- 
tering private  practice  his  reputation  has 
steadily  grown.  For  a  number  of  years  he 
has.  limited  his  practice  entirely  to  internal 
medicine.  His  professional  colleagues  in 
Chicago  have  often  spoken  of  him  as  one  of 
the  ablest  diagnosticians  in  the  city.  Doctor 
Fredrickson  is  on  the  staff  of  St.  Joseph's 
Hospital  as  internist,  and  is  assistant  clinical 
professor  of  medicine  in  Rush  Medical  College. 

It  was  a  well  deserved  honor  when,  in  1929, 
he  was  chosen  president  of  the  Illinois  State 
Medical  Society  for  the  year  1929-30.  Prior 
to  that  he  had  been  president  of  the  North 
Shore  branch  of  the  Chicago  Medical  Society, 
and  has  long  been  a  member  of  the  council  of 
the  Chicago  Medical  Society.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Medical  Association,  a 
fellow  of  the  American  College  of  Physicians 
and  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Internal 
Medicine. 

Doctor  Fredrickson  held  the  rank  of  major 
in  the  Medical  Corps  during  the  World  war. 
He  volunteered  his  services  in  the  Medical 
Corps  of  the  old  Illinois  National  Guard  dur- 
ing the  Mexican  border  troubles  in  the  summer 
of  1916.  At  that  time  he  held  the  rank  of 
captain.  In  the  spring  of  1917,  after  America 
entered  the  World  war,  he  was  commissioned 
to  organize  Field  Hospital  No.  130.  He  was 
put  in  command,  with  the  rank  of  major.  His 
unit  became  a  part  of  the  Thirty-third  or  All- 
Illinois  Division.  He  commanded  his  unit  with 
this  division  in  France  and  until  its  return  to 
America  in  the  spring  of  1919.  While  in 
France  he  also  was  assigned  to  duty  as  divi- 
sion medical  gas  officer,  engaged  in  the  treat- 
ment of  gas  victims. 

Thousands  of  World  war  veterans  know  him 
particularly  for  his  service  in  the  capacity  of 
department  surgeon  for  the  Department  of 
Illinois  American  Legion.  He  was  elected  to 
that  position  in  1930,  and  in  October,  1932, 
was  reelected.  Doctor  Fredrickson  organized 
the  Medical  Commission  of  the  American  Le- 
gion for  the  State  of  Illinois.  Its  object  being 
to  bring  about  cooperation  and  better  under- 


466 


ILLINOIS 


standing  between  the  American  Legion  and 
Veterans  Bureau,  with  the  established  medical 
profession  as  represented  by  the  county  and 
state  medical  societies  in  matters  related  to 
hospitalization  of  veterans. 

These  many  professional  activities  reaching 
over  into  avenues  of  public  service  have  left 
Doctor  Fredrickson  little  time  to  cultivate  the 
ordinary  social  diversions  and  interests.  How- 
ever, from  youth  he  has  retained  a  keen  in- 
terest in  and  appreciation  of  music.  While  at 
the  University  of  Chicago  he  was  a  tenor 
soloist  and  member  of  the  University  choir, 
and  at  different  times  has  been  a  member  of 
other  vocal  and  choral  societies.  His  home  is 
at  1214  Elmdale  Avenue  and  his  office  at  4700 
Sheridan  Road. 

Hon.  Walter  W.  L.  Meyer,  who  was  elected 
assessor  of  Cook  County  on  November  4,  1930, 
by  an  overwhelming  majority,  is  known  among 
his  professional  associates  and  many  friends 
as  a  talented  and  successful  lawyer,  possessed 
of  an  abundance  of  physical  vitality,  enthusi- 
asm for  his  work,  and  a  magnetic  personality 
that  has  gained  him  friendships  without  re- 
gard to  the  boundary  lines  of  politics,  profes- 
sional or  social  cleavage. 

Mr.  Meyer  is  a  native  son  of  Chicago,  born 
in  that  city  June  23,  1892,  son  of  John  J. 
and  Maria  (Gareiss)  Meyer.  He  was  educated 
in  the  Lutheran  parochial  schools,  graduated 
from  public  school,  was  an  honor  graduate 
of  the  Armour  Scientific  Academy  in  1908,  and 
subsequently  entered  the  University  of  Illinois. 
He  graduated  from  the  law  department  of 
Northwestern  University  in  1915.  It  was  his 
fortune  as  a  young  licensee  of  the  Illinois 
bar  to  receive  appointment  as  assistant  state's 
attorney  under  Maclay  Hoyne,  in  whose  office 
he  worked  during  1915-18.  For  over  seventeen 
years  Mr.  Meyer  has  been  engaged  in  private 
practice,  being  a  partner  of  Otto  C.  Rentner 
in  the  firm  Rentner  &  Meyer,  with  offices  at 
160  North  LaSalle  Street,  but  his  chief  work 
in  his  profession  has  been  as  master  in  chan- 
cery, and  he  was  first  elected  to  that  office 
by  the  Circuit  Court  judges  in  1922  and  was 
reelected  in  1924,  1926  and  1928. 

Mr.  Meyer  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
and  Illinois  Bar  Associations.  He  is  professor 
of  law  at  Loyola  University  and  is  also  a 
member  of  the  law  faculty  of  Northwestern 
University.  Mr.  Meyer  married,  June  27,  1917, 
Miss  Louise  Wilkin,  of  Chicago.  They  have 
one  son,  named  John  Joachim  Christian  Meyer. 

Walter  W.  L.  Meyer  is  an  interesting  ex- 
ample of  the  professional  man  who  realized 
the  ideal  of  living  a  full  life,  one  of  many 
contacts  with  the  working  interests  of  his 
fellow  citizens.  He  has  an  honorary  life 
membership  in  the  Illinois  Police  Association, 
was  appointed  by  President  Coolidge  captain 
of  the  Military  Intelligence  Reserves,  is  an 
honorary  life  member  and  former  president  of 


the  Forest  Park  Kiwanis  Club,  and  is  well 
known  in  the  Kiwanis  movement  throughout 
the  Chicago  district.  He  was  vice  dictator 
of  the  Greater  Chicago  Lodge  No.  3  of  the 
Loyal  Order  of  Moose,  was  deputy  commis- 
sioner of  the  Boy  Scouts  of  America,  and  a 
life  member  of  the  Illinois  Good  Roads  Asso- 
ciation. He  is  an  honorary  member  of  the 
Chicago  Motor  Club,  member  of  the  Delta 
Theta  Phi  Alumni  Association,  the  German 
Club,  was  vice  president  of  the  Steuben  Club 
of  Chicago,  and  had  the  honor  of  being  ap- 
pointed a  member  of  the  executive  committee 
of  the  German  group  of  the  Chicago  World's 
Fair  Centennial  celebration.  He  was  vice 
president  of  the  Pistaqua  Heights  Country 
Club.     Mr.  Meyer  is  a  Democrat  in  politics. 

Lawrence  Weldon  was  born  in  Muskingum 
County,  Ohio,  in  1829,  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated in  that  state,  being  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1854,  and  in  the  same  year  came  to  Illinois, 
engaging  in  practice  at  Clinton.  He  was 
elected  to  the  General  Assembly  in  1860  and 
was  one  of  the  presidential  electors  for  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  that  year.  President  Lincoln 
appointed  him,  in  1861,  United  States  district 
attorney  for  the  Southern  district.  He  re- 
signed in  1866  and  engaged  in  private  prac- 
tice at  Bloomington.  In  1883  President  Arthur 
appointed  him  an  associate  justice  of  the 
United  States  Court  of  Claims  at  Washington, 
and  he  held  that  office  until  his  death,  on  April 
10,  1905.  In  the  early  days  he  had  practiced 
law  on  the  circuit  with  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  was 
the  source  of  many  of  the  interesting  stories 
concerning  the  great  Illinois  statesman. 

Maurice  F.  Kavanagh,  Chicago  capitalist 
and  public  official,  has  lived  in  that  city  for 
over  forty  years.  He  laid  the  foundation  of 
his  business  success  before  consenting  to  enter 
the  political  field. 

Mr.  Kavanagh  was  born  at  Coldwater,  Mich- 
igan, September  17,  1868,  son  of  James  and 
Mary  (Reynolds)  Kavanagh.  He  had  a  public 
school  education  in  Coldwater.  His  education 
was  limited  to  the  public  schools,  and  there 
was  no  opportunity  for  him  to  attend  college. 
Almost  immediately  after  leaving  school  he 
found  work  in  a  railway  and  express  office. 
While  a  clerk  with  the  Adams  Express  Com- 
pany he  was  sent  to  different  parts  of  the 
country.  In  1888  his  duties  brought  him  to 
Chicago.  Except  for  a  short  time  at  New 
Orleans  he  has  been  a  resident  of  the  city  ever 
since.  When  he  left  the  express  company  he 
engaged  in  the  restaurant  business,  and  that 
gave  him  the  surplus  which  he  has  since  con- 
verted by  capable  management  into  varied  real 
estate  investments,  including  apartment  build- 
ings and  hotels. 

Always  interested  in  local  affairs,  he  got 
into  politics  in  the  old  Eighteenth  Ward  and 
was  elected  and  served  as  alderman  of  that 


ILLINOIS 


467 


constituency.  Since  1922  he  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  of  Cook  County  Commis- 
sioners and  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  most 
valuable  members  of  the  Commission.  Mr. 
Kavanagh  has  never  married.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Knights  of  Columbus  and  is  a  life 
member  of  the  Chicago  Art  Institute  and  the 
Field  Museum.  His  home  is  at  312  South 
Ashland  Avenue. 

Hon.  Conrad  Morris  Bjorseth,  mayor  of 
the  City  of  Aurora,  has  been  a  resident  of 
that  community  for  over  forty  years,  and 
other  members  of  the  family  as  well  as  him- 
self have  played  a  useful  and  constructive  part 
in  the  business  and  civic  life  of  Aurora. 

Mr.  Bjorseth,  who  since  1899  has  conducted 
one  of  the  most  familiar  mercantile  institu- 
tions of  the  city,  the  C.  M.  Bjorseth  Grocery 
Store,  at  79  South  LaSalle  Street,  was  born 
in  Trondhism,  Norway,  April  23,  1879,  son 
of  Christian  and  Gusta  (Hoem)  Bjorseth. 
In  1887  his  parents  brought  their  family  to 
America  and  immediately  located  in  Aurora. 
Christian  Bjorseth  was  a  stationary  engineer, 
and  for  many  years  was  an  employee  of  the 
Aurora  Automatic  Sprinkler  Company.  He 
died  in  1916  and  his  wife  in  1901.  Of  their 
nine  children  Conrad  M.  was  the  eighth,  and 
seven  are  living,  all  of  them  active  in  various 
lines  of  business  in  and  around  Aurora. 

Conrad  M.  Bjorseth  started  to  attend  school 
in  Norway.  He  was  seven  years  old  when  he 
came  to  Aurora,  and  here  he  continued  his 
education  in  the  grammar  and  high  schools. 
Work  as  a  boy  in  local  grocery  stores  opened 
for  him  the  road  to  the  line  of  business  which 
he  has  followed  since  he  was  twenty  years  old, 
and  since  that  time  he  has  made  his  name  a 
synonym  of  service  in  all  the  commodities 
which  go  to  supply  the  daily  food  of  Aurora 
households.  Mr.  Bjorseth  owns  the  business 
block  in  which  his  store  is  located,  and  the 
second  floor  provides  the  rooms  for  his  home. 

While  an  active  Republican  he  has  never 
been  a  professional  politician.  His  public  serv- 
ice has  been  in  response  to  his  recognition 
of  the  need  and  duty  of  citizens  to  bear  their 
share  in  local  government.  For  eight  years 
he  was  treasurer  of  the  Police  Pension  Fund, 
under  Mayor  J.  E.  Harley.  In  1928  he  was 
appointed  to  the  Kane  County  Board  of  Re- 
view, but  resigned  his  place  on  the  board 
when  he  was  elected  mayor  of  Aurora  in  April, 
1931.  Aurora  citizens  have  had  many  reasons 
to  congratulate  themselves  upon  the  efficiency 
and  economy  of  the  Bjorseth  administration. 

Mr.  Bjorseth  is  president  of  the  Riverside 
Cemetery.  During  the  World  war  he  had 
charge  of  the  war  drives  and  Red  Cross  work 
among  local  Norwegians,  and  it  has  been  a 
great  satisfaction  to  him  that  ninety-seven 
per  cent  of  local  Norwegians  bought  Liberty 
Bonds.  He  is  chairman  of  the  board  of  trus- 
tees of   St.   Olaf's   Church,   a   member   of  the 


Cosmopolitan  Club,  the  Loyal  Order  of  Moose, 
B.  P.  O.  E.,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  the  Aurora 
Historical  Society. 

Mr.  Bjorseth  married  at  Aurora,  October 
10,  1900,  Miss  Alma  Sophia  Anderson.  She 
was  born  in  Sweden  and  was  a  small  girl 
when  her  parents  came  to  America  in  the  early 
'90s.  Both  parents  are  now  deceased,  but 
several  of  her  brothers  and  sisters  are  well 
known  people  in  Aurora.  Mrs.  Bjorseth  on 
June  1,  1931,  died  as  a  result  of  injuries 
received  when  she  fell  forty  feet  from  the  rear 
outside  stairway  leading  to  the  roof  of  her 
home,  which  is  over  the  store  on  South  LaSalle 
Street.  This  tragedy  occurred  only  a  few 
weeks  after  Mr.  Bjorseth  had  been  inducted 
into  office  as  mayor,  and  it  was  regarded  as 
something  affecting  the  entire  community  as 
well  as  the  immediate  family  and  friends. 
Her  funeral  services  were  attended  by  one  of 
the  largest  concourses  of  people  in  the  history 
of  the  city.  Mr.  Bjorseth  has  one  adopted 
daughter,  Jerene,  born   October  30,   1921. 

Andrew  Karzas'  most  particular  contribu- 
tion to  the  artistic  and  institutional  advance- 
ment of  Chicago  are  the  World's  Most  Beauti- 
ful Ballrooms,  the  Trianon,  situated  on  the 
South  Side,  at  Cottage  Grove  Avenue  and 
Sixty-second  Street,  and  the  Aragon,  at  Law- 
rence, between  Winthrop  Avenue  and  Broad- 
way, in  uptown  Chicago.  He  has  also  con- 
tributed extensively  to  the  modern  day  motion 
picture  situation  of  Chicago  with  the  erection 
of  several  fine  theatres,  principal  among 
which  was  the  famous  Woodlawn  Theatre,  ac- 
cepted as  the  artistic  and  majestic  precedent 
that  has  undeniably  governed  the  latter  day 
conception  for  all  motion  picture  edifices  of 
extravagant  proportions  and  presentations. 

Andrew  Karzas  was  the  first  showman  in 
Chicago  to  visualize  and  adopt  the  exotic  com- 
prehension of  the  warmth  and  color  of  Euro- 
pean and  Asiatic  architecture  as  the  motif  for 
the  treatment  of  entertainment  centers — a 
motif  and  a  treatment  that  have  extensively 
spread  throughout  the  entire  America.  The 
creative,  inspirational  and  financial  acumen 
of  Andrew  Karzas  is  founded  on  more  than 
pronounced  business  ability.  He  has  much  of 
that  priceless  advantage  that  emanates  from 
a  brilliant  European  training  and  education, 
combined  with  vision,  sagacity  and  the  envi- 
able and  progressive  American  born  "go 
getiveness." 

The  principal  life  studies  of  Mr.  Karzas 
have  been  art,  architecture,  engineering  and 
human  nature.  The  Trianon  was  opened  to 
the  public  on  December  6,  1922,  and  was  one 
of  the  most  important  and  outstanding  social 
events  of  Chicago  history.  Many  distin- 
guished social  leaders  and  personages  lent 
prestige  to  the  occasion.  Among  those  present 
were  General  Pershing  and  Mrs.  Potter 
Palmer.      Dignitaries    and    representatives    of 


468 


ILLINOIS 


Chicago  and  America's  international  and  dip- 
lomatic life  were  guests  of  the  occasion  and 
page  after  page  of  local  and  syndicated  news- 
paper columns  commented  on  the  beauty  of  the 
assembly  and  the  splendid  institution  itself. 

The  Trianon  is  patterned  after  the  original 
Trianon  at  Versailles,  which  was  built  by 
Louis  XIV  and  which  Louis  XV  gave  to  his 
queen,  Marie  Antoinette.  The  interior  is  a 
breath-taking  combination  of  the  genius  of 
modern  architecture  and  treatise,  with  all  the 
beauty  that  can  be  bestowed  by  the  decorative 
treatment  and  furnishings  of  the  old  world. 
It  is  said  that  the  art  galleries  of  Europe  were 
ransacked  for  tapestries  and  furnishings,  some 
taken  from  the  original  Trianon  itself  and 
from  the  celebrated  art  centers  of  Europe  in 
order  to  complete  the  ideals  of  the  designer 
of  the  American  Trianon. 

In  1925  Andrew  Karzas  began  his  plans  for 
the  famous  Aragon  Ballroom.  Aragon  was 
opened  to  the  public  on  July  14,  1926,  with  a 
fanfare  as  auspicious  as  the  Trianon  opening. 
Aragon  has  proved  to  be  an  artistic,  important 
and  financial  success  and  has  been  written 
high  in  the  foremost  records  of  "greater 
achievements"  of  "A  Century  of  Progress." 

Trianon  and  Aragon  are  looked  to  for  guid- 
ance by  the  entire  dancing  world.  Everything 
of  social  dance  importance  has  had  its  incep- 
tion in  these  two  internationally  known  and 
approved  ballrooms,  listed  importantly  among 
the  "Places  to  See"  when  in  Chicago.  The 
majority  of  visitors  to  Chicago  do  not  consider 
their  visit  complete  until  they  have  seen  them 
or  danced  within  Trianon  and  Aragon. 

Philip  R.  Clarke,  president  of  the  City 
National  Bank  &  Trust  Company,  came  into 
Chicago  banking  circles  as  soon  as  he  left 
college. 

Mr.  Clarke  was  born  in  Hinsdale,  Illinois, 
June  10,  1889,  son  of  Robert  W.  and  Mary  E. 
(Foster)  Clarke.  Robert  William  Clarke  was 
born  in  1849,  came  to  Chicago  when  a  youth 
and  for  many  years  was  active  on  the  Board 
of  Trade  and  senior  partner  in  the  firm  of 
Robert  W.  Clarke  &  Company.  He  died  in 
1898. 

Philip  R.  Clarke  completed  his  education 
in  Beloit  College.  During  1905-06  he  was  an 
employee  of  Farson,  Son  &  Company,  bankers. 
Following  that  he  was  Chicago  manager  for 
O'Connor  &  Kahler,  investment  bankers  of 
New  York,  and  in  1914  became  president  and 
treasurer  of  Clarke  &  Company.  In  1919 
he  organized  and  became  president  of  the 
Federal  Securities  Corporation,  and  in  1929 
was  elected  president  of  the  Central  Trust 
Company  of  Illinois.  He  became  president  of 
the  Central  Republic  Bank  &  Trust  Company 
in  1931  and  of  the  City  National  Bank  & 
Trust  Company  in  1932,  when  that  institution 
succeeded  to  the  banking  business  of  the  Cen- 
tral  Republic.     He   has   also   been   an  official 


in  a  number  of  other  financial  and  industrial 
corporations. 

Mr.  Clarke  was  chairman  of  the  Illinois 
Unemployment  Relief  Commission  in  1930-31. 
During  the  World  war  he  was  one  of  the 
organizers  of  the  Chicago  Liberty  Loan  Com- 
mittee and  had  charge  of  solicitation  in  all 
the  five  campaigns.  In  his  home  town  of 
Hinsdale  he  has  been  president  of  the  Board 
of  Education  and  a  trustee  of  various  welfare 
and  public  service  institutions.  He  was  a 
director  of  the  Union  League  Club  of  Chicago 
in  1921-24,  was  president  of  the  Hinsdale 
Club,  1920-23,  and  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Chicago,  Old  Elm,  Commercial,  Industrial,  Chi- 
cago Golf,  Hinsdale  Golf  Clubs,  the  Spring 
Lake  Country  Club,  The  Attic,  and  the  Recess 
Club  of  New  York.  He  is  president  of  the 
Hinsdale  State  Bank.  He  is  a  Republican  and 
a  Presbyterian.  Mr.  Clarke  married,  Sep- 
tember 17,  1910,  Louise  Hildebrand,  of  Hins- 
dale. Their  children  are  Philip  R.,  Norman 
F.  and  David  G. 

Saint  Augustine  Parish  and  High  School. 
In  1879,  in  response  to  the  request  of  a  number 
of  German  residents  in  the  Town  of  Lake, 
Rev.  Father  Fischer,  then  pastor  of  Saint 
Anthony's  parish,  erected  a  small  frame 
church  at  Forty-ninth  and  South  Laflin 
streets,  and  a  little  schoolhouse.  Due  to  the 
scarcity  of  priests,  Holy  Mass  could  not  be 
said  until  two  years  later.  The  first  services 
were  held  October  2,  1881,  by  Rev.  William 
de  la  Porte,  assistant  at  Saint  Anthony's 
Church,  and  assigned  by  Father  Fischer  to  the 
new  parish.  In  the  middle  of  October,  1881, 
he  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  John  Westkamp,  but 
he,  in  turn,  was  replaced  by  Rev.  Dennis 
Thiele,  the  first  resident  pastor  of  Saint  Au- 
gustine Parish,  which  then  contained  seventy 
families.  Father  Thiele  enlarged  the  church 
by  adding  the  school  building,  while  in  the  new 
basement  beneath  the  church  two  schoolrooms 
were  provided.  The  following  year  a  residence 
for  the  priest  was  built  at  the  side  of  the 
church.  About  this  time  Father  Thiele  had  a 
very  successful  mission  preached  by  Reverend 
Jesuit  Fathers  Port  and  Asthenbauer.  Shortly 
thereafter  Father  Thiele  was  transferred,  and 
the  parish  was  administered  successively  by 
Rev.  Panoratius  Diedrich,  O.  S.  B.,  and  Rev. 
M.  Welby  until  August  1886. 

At  that  time,  to  comply  with  the  urgent 
request  of  the  Archbishop,  the  Franciscan  Fa- 
thers agreed  to  take  permanent  charge  of 
Saint  Augustine  Parish.  Consequently  the 
Reverends  P.  P.  Symphorian  Frostmann  and 
Anselm  Puetz,  with  two  lay  brothers,  were 
entrusted  with  the  new  charge  in  August, 
1886.  At  that  time  the  parish  had  grown  until 
there  were  nearly  300  families  on  its  records. 
As  the  original  buildings  could  no  longer  ac- 
commodate the  parishioners  a  new  church  was 
erected  upon  the  newly  acquired  grounds,  be- 


l;iSliP§K? 


ILLINOIS 


469 


tween  Fiftieth  and  Fifty-first  streets,  on  Laflin 
Street.  The  old  buildings  were  removed  to 
the  new  property,  to  be  used  for  school  pur- 
poses. However,  the  continued  rapid  growth 
of  the  parish  soon  demanded  a  more  spacious 
church.  Accordingly  the  cornerstone  for  this 
new  edifice  was  laid  September  13,  1892,  but 
for  want  of  funds  only  the  nave  was  com- 
pleted. Upon  his  own  request  Rev.  P.  Sym- 
phorian  was  relieved  of  his  position  in  1900 
and  transferred  to  Quincy,  Illinois,  to  take 
charge  of  Saint  Anthony's  Parish  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  that  city. 

The  successor  to  Father  Symphorian,  Rev. 
P.  Benignus  Schuetz,  0.  F.  M.,  a  native  of 
Germany,  completed  the  church  in  1904.  It 
is  a  spacious,  beautiful  Gothic  building,  an 
ornament  for  the  South  Side  of  Chicago.  It 
is  188x70x62  feet,  inside  dimensions,  with  a 
tower  225  feet  in  height. 

In  1907  a  new  schoolhouse  was  erected,  and 
the  original  plan  completed  in  1911.  This  is 
a  commodious  brick  building,  with  twenty-six 
rooms  for  school  purposes,  including  class- 
rooms for  the  commercial  course,  and  one  sew- 
ing room,  while  the  basement  affords  conven- 
iences for  the  different  societies.  The  old 
church  and  school  were  remodeled  into  a  par- 
ish hall. 

After  twelve  years  of  labor  in  behalf  of 
Saint  Augustine's  Father  Schuetz  was  trans- 
ferred to  Saint  Louis,  Missouri,  July  24,  1912. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Matthew  Schmitz, 
also  a  native  of  Germany.  Under  his  direc- 
tion many  practical  improvements  were  made, 
but  his  administration  was  interrupted  by  a 
six-month  period,  during  which  the  parish  was 
in  charge  of  Rev.  P.  Mauricius  Bankholt,  O. 
F.  M.  In  1918  Father  Schmitz  organized  the 
Holy  Name  Society,  with  great  success.  In 
1919  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  P.  Timothy 
Magnien,  O.  F.  M.  The  latter  thoroughly 
renovated  the  Young  Men's  clubhouse  so  as  to 
afford  the  young  men  an  excellent  place  for 
recreation,  and  for  physical  and  moral  ad- 
vancement. 

Following  Father  Magnien  came  the  six- 
years  pastorate  of  Very  Rev.  Vincent 
Schrempp,  O.  F.  M.,  who  subsequently  was 
elected  minister  provincial  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
Province.  In  1927  Charles  Schlueter,  O.  F.  M., 
became  pastor. 

Saint  Augustine  School  first  opened  in  1879, 
with  Mr.  Weimann  as  teacher.  He  was  fol- 
lowed not  long  thereafter  by  Miss  Margaret 
Oswald,  who  continued  in  charge  until  1884, 
when  Father  Thiele  obtained  two  Sisters  from 
the  Poor  Handmaids  of  Jesus  Christ.  Today 
the  school  is  taught  by  these  same  Sisters, 
twenty-four  in  number.  This  school  has  been 
productive  of  many  religious  vocations.  A 
large  number  of  Sisters  owe  to  it  their  ele- 
mentary education,  as  also  do  two  dozen 
members  of  the  priesthood.  There  are  over 
1,200  pupils  enrolled  in  the  school,  over  one 
for  each  family  enrolled  in  the  parish. 


The  following  societies  are  connected  with 
the  parish,  and  all  are  in  a  flourishing  condi- 
tion: The  Third  Order  of  Saint  Francis; 
Saint  Aloysius  Y.  M.  and  the  Y.  L.  Sodality 
of  B.  V.  M.;  Holy  Name  Society;  Saint  Anne's 
Society  of  Christian  Mothers;  Saint  Vincent 
de  Paul  Conference;  the  Sacred  Heart 
League;  Saint  Augustine's  Men  and  Ladies 
Benevolent  Society;  the  Catholic  Foresters  of 
America  in  five  courts;  the  Catholic  Knights 
of  America  in  two  branches;  the  Catholic 
Guard  of  America;  and  the  Dramatic  Society. 

William  Sew  all  Goodell  was  a  prominent 
factor  in  the  business  life  of  Southern  Illinois, 
where  for  over  forty  years  he  held  a  com- 
manding position  in  the  lumber  industry  and 
as  a  constructive  citizen. 

He  was  born  on  a  farm  near  Chandlerville, 
Illinois,  September  16,  1872,  representing  one 
of  the  pioneer  families  in  that  section  of  the 
state.  His  grandparents  were  Horace  and 
Lucy  (Richard)  Goodell.  One  branch  of  his 
ancestry  included  the  Holbroke  family,  of 
French  Huguenot  stock.  Horace  Goodell  was 
an  Illinois  pioneer,  having  traveled  overland 
and  by  boat  to  Illinois  in  1837  from  his  birth- 
place in  Connecticut.  He  took  up  eighty  acres 
of  land  during  the  administration  of  President 
Tyler  and  the  first  home  of  the  family  in  Illi- 
nois was  a  log  cabin. 

The  late  William  Sewall  Goodell  was  a  son 
of  John  H.  and  Harriet  A.  (Sewall)  Goodell. 
His  parents  were  married  December  28,  1865. 
John  H.  Goodell  was  born  in  Windham  County, 
Connecticut,  April  15,  1832,  and  was  a  child 
of  five  years  when  his  parents  made  the  over- 
land trip  to  Illinois.  He  grew  up  on  a  farm. 
During  the  Civil  war  he  enlisted  and  served 
in  Company  A,  One  Hundred  and  Fourteenth 
Illinois  Infantry,  under  Captain  Johnson, 
attached  to  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  He 
was  in  Sherman's  Army,  but  he  did  not  march 
to  the  sea.  Sherman  was  in  command  of  the 
Western  Army.  Mr.  Goodell  was  with  Mc- 
Millan's Brigade,  MacArthur's  Division  of 
Gen.  A.  J.  Smith's  Army  Corps,  and  his  col- 
onel was  Colonel  Judy.  He  was  present  at 
Corinth  and  Vicksburg,  Mississippi;  Mont- 
gomery, Alabama;  Black  River,  Mississippi, 
and  was  with  Banks  on  the  Red  River  Expe- 
dition. This  regiment,  organized  in  1862,  was 
mustered  out  August  16,  1865.  For  two  months 
Mr.  Goodell  was  a  patient  in  the  base  hospital 
at  Memphis,  and  then  joined  General  Sher- 
man's army.  He  was  mustered  out  of  the 
army  at  Vicksburg,  Mississippi,  at  the  close 
of  the  war.  Returning  home,  he  followed  the 
trade  of  carpenter  at  Jacksonville  for  a  time, 
later  bought  a  farm  near  Chandlerville,  and 
in  1876  opened  a  lumber  yard  in  that  town. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  the  Goodell  lumber 
business.  John  H.  Goodell  was  active  as  a 
lumber  dealer  until  his  retirement  in  1908, 
when  he  sold  out  his  interest  to  his  son,  Wil- 
liam   S.      John    H.    Goodell    died    October    17, 


470 


ILLINOIS 


1908.  His  widow,  Harriet  A.  (Sewall)  Goodell, 
survived  him  until  1916. 

The  Sewall  family  in  America  dates  back  to 
the  early  Colonial  period.  Henry  Sewall  II 
was  the  founder  of  the  family  in  America. 
He  was  born  April  8,  1576,  at  Coventry,  Eng- 
land, and  came  to  America  in  1634.  He  died 
at  Rowley,  Massachusetts,  in  1657.  Harriet 
A.  (Sewall)  Goodell,  mother  of  William  S., 
was  a  daughter  of  Elizabeth  W.  (Adams) 
Sewall,  and  a  granddaughter  of  Gen.  Henry 
Sewall,  a  Revolutionary  soldier.  She  was 
born  in  Cass  County,  Illinois,  April  14,  1838, 
her  father  having  settled  in  Morgan  County 
among  the  very  early  pioneers  in  1829.  To 
the  union  of  John  H.  and  Harriet  (Sewall) 
Goodell  were  born  six  children:  Mrs.  Lucy 
Struble,  deceased;  Mrs.  Lida  Wellenreiter, 
William  S.,  John,  Andrew  J.  and  Mrs.  Susan 
West. 

William  Sewall  Goodell  was  valedictorian  of 
the  class  of  1891  when  he  graduated  from  the 
Chandlerville  High  School.  The  following  year 
he  completed  his  course  in  a  business  college 
at  Davenport,  Iowa,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  became  associated  with  his  father  in  the 
lumber  business  at  Chandlerville,  under  the 
firm  name  of  J.  H.  Goodell  &  Son  Lumber 
Company.  This  continued  until  the  retire- 
ment of  his  father  from  business  in  1908.  Mr. 
Goodell  then  bought  his  father's  interest.  In 
the  meantime,  in  1907,  under  his  own  name, 
he  had  started  a  lumber  yard  at  Kilbourne. 
With  these  two  yards  he  formed  a  partnership 
with  L.  H.  Skiles,  of  Virginia,  Illinois,  and 
with  additional  capital  they  extended  their 
business,  with  branches  at  Havana,  Chandler- 
ville, Virginia  and  Literberry.  The  partner- 
ship of  Goodell  &  Skiles  continued  until  1921, 
when  Mr.  Goodell  bought  out  his  partner,  and 
continued  his  business  as  the  Goodell  Lumber 
Company  until  he  sold  out  to  the  LaCrosse 
Lumber  Company  of  Louisiana,  Missouri,  in 
1928.  During  these  years  he  had  set  a  high 
mark  of  efficiency  in  conducting  his  business, 
and  his  executive  qualities  found  an  outlet  in 
various  forms  of  community  endeavor.  It  was 
as  a  result  of  failing  health  that  he  disposed 
of  his  lumber  business.  He  traveled  to  South- 
ern California  in  an  effort  to  regain  it,  but 
died  at  the  Blackstone  Hotel  in  Long  Beach, 
March  3,  1929.  He  was  laid  to  rest  at  Vir- 
ginia, Illinois.  The  late  Mr.  Goodell  was  a 
Republican  in  politics  and  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity. 

He  married,  April  25,  1900,  Miss  Martha  J. 
Harbison,  daughter  of  Moses  and  Lydia 
Frances  (Mason)  Harbison,  and  a  grand- 
daughter of  Adam  B.  and  Hannah  (Rhea) 
Harbison.  Adam  Harbison  was  a  native  of 
the  State  of  Virginia,  moved  over  the  moun- 
tains to  Kentucky,  where  his  son  Moses  was 
born,  and  from  there  came  to  Illinois,  settling 
among  the  pioneers  of  Mason  County  in  1831. 
Here   the   Harbison   homestead   farm   was   lo- 


cated, a  log  house  was  built,  in  1868  he  built 
a  substantial  farm  house,  and  there  for  fully 
a  century  the  family  have  been  prominent. 
Moses  Harbison  came  to  Cass  County  in  1848. 
Mrs.  Goodell  resides  in  her  beautiful  home 
of  Virginia.  No  children  were  born  to  their 
marriage.  Mrs.  Goodell  had  an  adopted 
daughter,  Bernice,  daughter  of  Mrs.  Stella 
Workman,  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Goodell.  Bernice 
is  now  the  wife  of  Dr.  Walter  J.  Furie,  of 
Long  Beach,  California. 

William  Allen  Pusey,  one  of  Chicago's 
most  distinguished  physicians,  has  been  en- 
gaged in  practice  in  that  city  since  1889.  In 
1894  he  was  made  professor  of  dermatology 
in  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of 
the  University  of  Illinois,  and  since  1915  has 
been  professor  emeritus. 

Doctor  Pusey  was  born  in  Kentucky,  Decem- 
ber 1,  1865.  He  is  a  graduate  of  Vanderbilt 
University,  a  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  and  in  1888 
took  his  degree  in  medicine  at  the  University 
Medical  College  of  New  York.  Doctor  Pusey 
was  president  in  1924-25  of  the  American 
Medical  Association,  was  president  in  1910  of 
the  American  Dermatological  Association,  is 
former  president  of  the  Chicago  Dermato- 
logical Society,  was  president  in  1918-19 
of  the  Chicago  Medical  Society,  and  is  a 
former  president  of  the  Chicago  Institute 
of  Medicine.  During  the  World  war  he  was 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  venereal  dis- 
eases in  the  surgeon  general's  office  of  the 
United  States  Army.  He  is  the  author  of  sev- 
eral books  on  medical  and  scientific  subjects. 

Doctor  Pusey  has  had  a  prominent  part  in 
the  organization  of  the  Century  of  Progress 
Exposition.  He  was  chosen  a  member  of  the 
executive  committee,  chairman  of  the  advisory 
committee  on  exhibit  of  medical  sciences,  and 
member  of  the  executive  committee  of  the 
National  Research  Council. 

Frank  J.  Kasper,  one  of  the  Board  of  Com- 
missioners of  Cook  County,  is  a  resident  of 
Berwyn  and  has  been  prominently  connected 
with  the  business  life  of  that  section  of  the 
metropolitan  district  of  Chicago  for  the  past 
ten  years. 

Mr.  Frank  J.  Kasper  is  a  man  of  unusual 
attainments  and  experience.  He  was  born  in 
Chicago,  August  16,  1889.  His  parents,  Frank 
J.  and  Mary  (Krokop)  Kasper,  were  natives 
of  Czecho-Slovakia.  By  the  time  Frank  J. 
Kasper  was  twelve  years  of  age  he  had  lost 
both  of  his  parents  by  death.  He  was  next 
to  the  oldest  in  a  family  of  five  children,  the 
youngest  being  then  two  years  of  age.  Strug- 
gle and  hardship  were  inevitable  in  such  cir- 
cumstances. Frank  J.  Kasper  put  forth  the 
utmost  of  his  energy  and  talents  when  only  a 
boy,  realizing  an  unusual  sense  of  responsibil- 
ity, helping  himself  and  helping  others.  One 
of  the  satisfactions  he  has  felt  in  later  years 


ILLINOIS 


471 


has  been  the  results,  partly  due  to  his  early 
sacrifice  and  efforts,  in  that  his  brothers  and 
sisters  were  all  properly  reared  and  educated. 
He  himself  attended  public  schools,  also  had 
a  business  college  course,  and  among-  other 
duties  he  performed  during  these  tender  years 
was  work  as  copy  boy  in  the  office  of  the  Chi- 
cago Daily  News. 

Mr.  Kasper  has  the  tendency  of  his  race 
toward  music.  At  the  age  of  ten  he  took  up 
the  study  of  the  violin.  He  displayed  such  un- 
usual talent  that  when  he  was  fourteen  years 
of  age  he  had  attracted  the  attention  of  an 
artist  known  throughout  the  world.  This  mas- 
ter presented  the  boy  Frank  Kasper  with  a 
fine  instrument.  He  made  use  of  his  talents 
and  skill  as  a  violinist  in  a  professional  way 
for  several  years.  He  went  into  vaudeville,  at 
one  time  appeared  with  Charlie  Chaplin,  and 
was  on  several  prominent  circuits  in  leading 
theaters  throughout  the  country. 

Mr.  Kasper  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  en- 
gaged in  the  delicatessen  and  grocery  business, 
and  that  was  his  chief  business  for  about  ten 
years.  Since  1920  his  home  has  been  in  Ber- 
wyn.  He  is  now  a  prominent  automobile  man, 
being  manager  of  the  Berwyn  and  Cicero  Nash 
Sales  and  Service  organization,  at  6420-24 
West  Twenty-second  Street  in  Berwyn. 

Mr.  Kasper  along  with  business  has  culti- 
vated an  interest  and  participation  in  civic  af- 
fairs and  politics.  He  is  district  leader  of  the 
Democratic  party  of  Cook  County  for  Berwyn. 
He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Cook  County 
Board  of  County  Commissioners  in  November, 
1930.  He  represents  the  country  towns,  and  is 
one  of  the  capable  members  of  the  present 
board. 

Mr.  Kasper  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  the  Elks  and  the  Eagles.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Mae  Hruby,  of  Chicago.  They  have 
two  children,  Vivian  and  Marilyn. 

William  Oscar  Trainer  has  been  a  resident 
of  Chicago  more  than  thirty  years,  and  since 
1912  has  been  independently  engaged  in  the 
real-estate  business,  of  which  he  has  become 
a  prominent  and  successful  exponent  as  execu- 
tive head  of  the  William  O.  Trainer  Real  Es- 
tate Company,  the  offices  of  which  are  estab- 
lished at  333  North  Michigan  Avenue  and  307 
North  Michigan  Avenue.  Mr.  Trainer  has 
made  a  record  of  distinctive  success  in  general 
real-estate  operations  in  the  Chicago  metro- 
politan area  and  in  building  management.  He 
has  membership  in  the  National  Association 
of  Real  Estate  Exchanges,  the  Chicago  Real 
Estate  Board  and  the  Chicago  Association  of 
Commerce. 

William  0.  Trainer  was  born  at  Hopedale, 
Harrison  County,  Ohio,  July  17,  1876,  and  is 
a  son  of  the  late  James  and  Christiana  (Gra- 
ham) Trainer.  His  public-school  discipline 
included  that  of  the  high  school  and  he  likewise 
attended  a  business  college  in  Topeka,  Kansas. 


In  the  period  of  1894-97  he  was  a  reporter 
on  the  staff  of  the  Topeka  Daily  Capital,  and 
in  the  latter  year  he  came  to  Chicago  and 
entered  the  employ  of  the  real-estate  firm  of 
Southard  &  Trainer.  In  1912  he  established 
himself  independently  in  this  same  line  of 
enterprise,  and  in  the  intervening  years  his 
operations  have  become  of  broad  scope  and 
important  order. 

Mr.  Trainer  is  a  Republican  in  political 
adherency,  and  in  his  home  community  has 
membership  in  the  South  Shore  Country  Club 
and  Lake  Shore  Athletic  Club,  while  in  Los 
Angeles,  California,  he  has  membership  in 
the  Southern  California  Athletic  and  Country 
Club.  His  Chicago  residence  is  on  the  South 
Side,  at  5555  Everett  Avenue. 

On  February  21,  1900,  Mr.  Trainer  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Florence  Rose,  of 
Adelphi,  Ohio. 

Hon.  Timothy  J.  Scofield  was  a  member 
of  the  Illinois  bar  for  over  half  a  century  and 
"for  over  thirty  years  of  this  time  had  practiced 
in  Chicago.  He  long  enjoyed  a  reputation 
among  the  foremost  lawyers  specializing  in 
transportation  matters,  and  in  his  early  years 
won  more  than  statewide  distinction  as  a 
political  orator. 

The  Scofield  family  and  their  connections 
have  supplied  many  notable  men  to  the  public 
life  and  professional  history  of  Illinois  during 
the  past  century.  Charles  Rollins  Scofield, 
father  of  the  late  Timothy  J.,  came  from  New 
York  State  and  was  a  pioneer  lawyer  at  Car- 
thage, Hancock  County.  Charles  Rollins  Sco- 
field married  Elizabeth  Crawford,  and  among 
their  children  were  two  sons  who  entered  the 
legal  profession,  Timothy  J.  and  Charles  J. 
Judge  Charles  J.  Scofield  is  still  engaged  in 
practice  at  Carthage.  Illinois  attorneys  par- 
ticularly recall  his  name  for  his  distinguished 
service  as  a  judge  of  the  Illinois  Appellate 
Court.  Many  of  his  decisions,  models  of  accu- 
racy and  elucidation,  are  frequently  quoted  in 
the  courts  and  in  law  schools. 

Timothy  J.  Scofield  was  born  at  Carthage, 
Illinois,  March  20,  1856,  and  died  at  his  home 
in  Chicago  October  4,  1932.  He  completed  his 
education  at  Carthage  College,  after  which  he 
studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  Au- 
gust 1,  1879.  He  practiced  for  eleven  years 
in  Carthage,  and  from  January,  1890,  to  Janu- 
ary, 1893,  lived  at  Quincy,  where  he  was  mem- 
ber of  a  firm  who  were  general  attorneys  for 
the  Quincy,  Omaha  &  Kansas  City  Railroad, 
the  State  Savings,  Loan  &  Trust  Company,  the 
Quincy  Gas  Company  and  the  Quincy  Water 
Works. 

During  the  Altgeld  administration  from  Jan- 
uary, 1893,  to  January,  1897,  Timothy  J.  Sco- 
field was  first  assistant  attorney  general  of 
Illinois.  He  was  an  ardent  Democrat  and  dur- 
ing these  years  was  regarded  as  one  of  Illinois' 
foremost   campaign   orators.     He  was   one   of 


472 


ILLINOIS 


the  original  friends  and  backers  of  the  late 
William  Jennings  Bryan,  and  made  scores  of 
speeches  in  behalf  of  his  candidacy  for  Presi- 
dent in  1896. 

On  January  15,  1897,  Mr.  Scofield  located  in 
Chicago.  For  a  number  of  years  he  acted  as 
district  attorney  for  the  Chicago  &  Alton  Rail- 
road. For  several  months  in  1899  he  was  first 
assistant  city  attorney  under  Andrew  J.  Ryan, 
resigning  to  become  assistant  to  James  W. 
Duncan,  attorney  of  record  for  the  Chicago 
Union  Traction  Company  and  Chicago  Consoli- 
dated Traction  Company.  In  September,  1901, 
he  succeeded  Mr.  Duncan  as  attorney  of  record 
for  these  companies  and  served  in  that  capacity 
until  May,  1906.  For  over  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury Mr.  Scofield  was  a  member  of  the  promi- 
nent Chicago  law  firm  of  Loesch,  Scofield  & 
Loesch,  counsel  for  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
Company. 

As  a  corporation  and  public  utilities  lawyer 
he  possessed  an  extensive  and  accurate  knowl- 
edge that  made  his  services  invaluable  to  the 
interests  he  represented.  In  many  important 
cases  he  was  confronted  with  the  ablest  mem- 
bers of  the  Chicago  bar,  and  his  abilities  won 
him  a  constantly  growing  respect  and  admira- 
tion. Throughout  his  career  he  upheld  the 
best  traditions  of  his  profession.  He  was  an 
honored  member  of  the  Chicago  and  Illinois 
State  Bar  Associations,  the  Chicago  Law  Insti- 
tute and  the  American  Bar  Association.  He 
belonged  to  the  Illinois  Athletic  Club  and  was 
a  Knight  Templar  Mason  and  Shriner. 

His  first  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Judge 
George  Edmunds,  a  pioneer  lawyer  and  jurist 
of  Carthage.  Timothy  J.  Scofield  was  survived 
by  three  sons  and  three  daughters:  Dr.  Charles 
J.,  a  Chicago  physician;  Jessie  J.,  Mrs.  Henry 
A.  Boyle;  Cora  K.,  Mrs.  L.  G.  Hand;  Junius  C; 
Thomas  E.;  and  Edith  E.,  Mrs.  Robert  B.  New- 
ton. 

Charles  J.  Scofield,  M.  D.,  son  of  the  late 
Hon.  Timothy  J.  Scofield,  prominent  Chicago 
attorney,  has  devoted  all  his  active  life  to  the 
routine  of  a  general  medical  practice  and  as  an 
active  community  worker  in  the  Woodlawn  and 
South  Shore  district,  where  he  is  honored 
both  as  a  doctor  and  citizen. 

Doctor  Scofield,  son  of  Timothy  J.  and 
Georgia  A.  (Edmunds)  Scofield,  was  born  in 
1888,  while  his  parents  were  spending  the  sum- 
mer at  Manitou,  Colorado.  He  attended  school 
at  Springfield,  Illinois,  while  his  father  was 
living  there  as  first  assistant  attorney  general, 
and  after  1897  continued  his  education  in  Chi- 
cago. Doctor  Scofield  graduated  in  1901  from 
the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  the 
medical  department  of  the  University  of  Illi- 
nois. Doctor  Scofield  has  found  satisfaction 
and  success  in  the  field  of  general  practice,  as 
a  "family  physician,"  and  in  this  field  of  serv- 
ice he  has  long  enjoyed  a  splendid  reputation 
throughout  Woodlawn  and  the  extensive  South 
Shore  region. 


As  a  community  worker  he  has  found  his 
largest  opportunities  in  his  church.  He  is  sen- 
ior warden  of  Christ  Episcopal  Church  of 
Woodlawn,  and  as  the  executive  business  offi- 
cial has  given  a  great  deal  of  his  time  to  fur- 
thering the  interests  of  his  church,  has  been  a 
leader  in  the  social  life  of  the  parish  and  has 
been  diligent  in  its  missionary  and  benevolent 
activities.  His  many  years  of  unselfish  devo- 
tion to  his  church  is  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant elements  of  his  life  and  character. 

Doctor  Scofield  married  Elizabeth  Stewarta 
Clingman,  of  Chicago.  They  have  two  sons, 
Charles  J.  and  Timothy  Clingman  Scofield. 
The  son  Charles  at  an  early  age  decided  to 
place  his  talents  and  abilities  into  service 
where  so  many  members  of  the  Scofield  family 
have  won  distinction,  the  law.  He  is  a  gradu- 
ate of  the  Law  School  of  Northwestern  Uni- 
versity, is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  firm  of 
Beach,  Fairchild  &  Scofield,  and  with  the  heri- 
tage of  a  distinguished  legal  ancestry  seems 
destined  for  an  unusually  successful  career. 

Clarence  Olds  Sappington,  M.  D.,  spe- 
cialist in  public  health  and  industrial  medicine, 
has  been  a  resident  of  Chicago  since  1928.  He 
was  formerly  director  of  the  Industrial  Health 
Division  of  the  National  Safety  Council.  Since 
his  graduation  from  Stanford  University,  Doc- 
tor Sappington's  time  and  talents  have  been 
concentrated  on  various  phases  of  public  health 
work,  and  in  that  field  his  record  is  one  of  the 
highest  distinction. 

Doctor  Sappington  was  born  at  Kansas  City, 
Missouri,  September  29,  1889,  son  of  Lewis 
James  and  Cecelia  May  (Thompson)  Sapping- 
ton. His  early  life  was  spent  at  Kansas  City 
and  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  In  1907  he  gradu- 
ated from  the  high  school  at  Walla  Walla, 
Washington,  took  his  A.  B.  degree  at  Whitman 
College  at  Walla  Walla  in  1911,  and  subse- 
quently entered  the  Medical  School  of  Stanford 
University  in  California.  He  was  graduated 
M.  D.  in  1918.  During  1918-19  he  was  assis- 
tant resident  physician  of  the  San  Francisco 
County  Hospital,  and  in  1919  held  a  similar 
position  at  the  San  Quentin  Prison.  During 
1919-20  he  was  alternating  chief  of  the  Wom- 
an's Clinic  in  the  Stanford  University  Medical 
School  at  San  Francisco,  and  chief  surgeon  for 
the  Pacific  Coast  Ship  Building  Company  at 
Bay  Point. 

Doctor  Sappington  in  1920  joined  the  United 
States  Public  Health  Service,  and  has  been 
connected  with  that  service  ever  since,  being 
now  on  the  inactive  list.  From  1922  to  1924 
he  was  a  fellow  and  teaching  fellow  in  indus- 
trial nygiene  at  the  Harvard  School  of  Public 
Health  at  Boston.  In  1924  he  was  awarded  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Public  Health  by  Har- 
vard University,  being  the  first  American  to 
receive  this  honor  in  the  field  of  industrial 
hygiene. 

Returning  then  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  Doctor 
Sappington   served  as  special  lecturer  on  in- 


I 


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«¥/ 


ILLINOIS 


473 


dustrial  hygiene  at  Stanford  University  from 
1924  to  1928,  during  the  same  period  was  med- 
ical director  for  Montgomery  Ward  &  Com- 
pany at  Oakland,  was  special  lecturer  in  Stan- 
ford University  and  the  University  of  Califor- 
nia on  industrial  medicine  and  special  editor 
on  this  subject  for  California  and  Western 
Medicine. 

He  then  moved  to  Chicago,  to  take  up  his 
work  as  director  of  the  Division  of  Industrial 
Health  for  the  National  Safety  Council.  The 
operations  of  this  council  are  nation-wide  and 
practically  every  large  industrial  organization 
and  occupation  in  which  hazards  to  health  and 
safety  are  involved  have  been  benefited  by  its 
cooperation. 

When  Doctor  Sappington  retired  from  the 
position  of  director  in  the  fall  of  1932  he 
opened  a  private  office  in  Chicago  to  continue 
the  work  for  which  his  experience  and  special 
training  and  talents  have  so  well  fitted  him. 
He  is  a  consultant,  with  advisory  services  in 
practice  involving  the  problems  of  industrial 
medicine  and  hygiene,  with  particular  empha- 
sis on  medico-legal  work,  occupational  disease 
hazards  and  the  administrative  problems  for 
medical  departments  of  industries. 

Doctor  Sappington  is  consultant  on  the  staff 
of  the  magazine  Industrial  Medicine,  formerly 
conducted  the  Department  of  Industrial  Health 
in  the  National  Safety  News,  and  is  a  member 
of  the  board  of  editors  of  the  Sight  Saving  Re- 
view. He  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Medical 
Society  and  Illinois  State  Medical  Association, 
the  American  Association  of  Industrial  Physi- 
cians and  Surgeons,  American  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science,  and  is  a  fellow 
of  the  American  Medical  Association  and  the 
American  Public  Health  Association.  Doctor 
Sappington  is  a  Delta  Omega  and  Alpha 
Kappa  Kappa,  a  Mason,  Congregationalist  and 
Republican.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Stanford 
Club  of  Chicago.  His  favorite  recreation  is 
music,  and  he  is  one  of  the  active  members 
of  the  noted  Chicago  amateur  organization 
known  as  the  Business  Men's  Orchestra,  in 
which  he  plays  a  bass  viol  in  the  strings  sec- 
tion. 

Robert  I.  Kruse  is  superintendent  of  the 
American  Can  Company  Plant  at  Waukegan. 
Mr.  Kruse  has  been  with  the  American  Can 
Company  in  different  localities  for  twenty 
years  or  more,  and  is  a  man  of  unusual  under- 
standing and  experience  in  everything  con- 
nected with  the  industry. 

He  was  born  at  Columbus,  Indiana,  Novem- 
ber 11,  1887,  son  of  Henry  and  Hannah 
(Shiner)  Kruse.  His  mother  was  born  in  Bar- 
tholomew County,  Indiana,  while  his  father 
was  a  native  of  Germany,  son  of  a  German 
magistrate.  Henry  Kruse  came  to  this  coun- 
try at  an  early  day  and  was  in  business  as  a 
hotel  man  and  Opera  House  manager  in  Indi- 
ana. He  was  a  Democrat  in  politics  and  both 
parents  were  members  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 


Robert  I.  Kruse,  the  youngest  in  a  family 
of  five  children,  attended  school  at  Columbus, 
Indiana,  and  the  Indianapolis  High  School. 
He  served  an  apprenticeship  at  the  machinist's 
trade,  working  for  a  time  for  Nordyke  &  Mar- 
mon  at  Indianapolis.  In  1907  he  went  with 
the  American  Can  Company  at  Indianapolis, 
then  known  as  the  Sanitary  Can  Company, 
a  plant  that  in  1909  was  taken  over  by  the 
American  Can  Company.  In  1917  he  was 
transferred  to  Hoopeston,  Illinois,  in  charge 
of  a  branch  of  the  business  there,  and  in  1919 
came  to  Waukegan,  where  his  ability  advanced 
him  to  the  position  of  superintendent  in  1923. 
The  branch  plant  at  Waukegan  employs  about 
forty  persons,  and  is  one  of  the  major  indus- 
tries of  the  city. 

Mr.  Kruse  is  unmarried.  He  is  a  York 
Rite  Mason,  and  has  been  junior  warden  of 
the  Knight  Templar  Commandery.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  the  Glen  Flora 
Country  Club,  and  golf  is  his  favorite  pastime. 

William  Frank  Bishopp,  manufacturer  of 
white  corn  products  at  Sheldon,  Iroquois 
County,  was  born  on  the  parental  home  farm 
near  this  place,  June  16,  1872,  a  son  of  Barton 
and  Martha  Ann  (Moore)  Bishopp,  the  for- 
mer of  whom  was  born  in  the  County  of  Kent, 
England,  November  28,  1838,  and  the  latter  of 
whom  was  born  and  reared  in  Iroquois  County, 
representative  of  a  sterling  pioneer  family  of 
this  part  of  Illinois. 

Barton  Bishopp  obtained  his  early  educa- 
tion in  the  schools  of  his  native  land  and  was 
about  sixteen  years  of  age  when  he  accom- 
panied his  parents  to  the  United  States,  the 
family  home  having  been  established  on  a  pio- 
neer farm  in  Stockland  Township,  Iroquois 
County,  in  the  year  1855.  On  this  farm  Bar- 
ton Bishopp  remained  fifteen  years,  and  in 
the  meanwhile  became  a  skilled  artisan  at  the 
carpenter  trade.  September  4,  1867,  he  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Martha  Ann 
Moore,  and  during  the  ensuing  four  years  he 
was  engaged  in  farm  enterprise  in  Stockland 
Township.  He  then  engaged  in  the  lumber 
business  at  Sheldon,  where  he  became  also  a 
contractor  in  the  erection  of  buildings.  Later 
he  was  a  successful  manufacturer  of  hominy 
and  white  corn  products  and  found  ready  mar- 
ket for  his  superior  product.  In  1878  Mr. 
Bishopp  was  elected  township  supervisor  of 
Sheldon  Township,  an  office  which  he  retained 
fifteen  years.  He  has  held  other  offices  of 
public  trust,  including  that  of  village  trustee 
of  Sheldon,  where  he  and  his  wife  resided 
until  their  deaths  as  venerable  and  honored 
pioneer  citizens.  Mr.  Bishopp  was  the  owner 
of  about  500  acres  of  valuable  farm  land  in 
Iroquois  County.  He  was  a  lifelong  friend 
of  the  late  Hon.  Joseph  Cannon,  who  long 
represented  Illinois  in  the  United  States  Con- 
gress and  who  was  frequently  a  guest  in  the 
home  of  Mr.  Bishopp.  Barton  and  Martha  A. 
(Moore)   Bishopp  became  the  parents  of  eight 


474 


ILLINOIS 


children:  Edward  B.  was  born  July  24,  1870; 
William  .F.,  born  June  16,  1872;  Vergie 
Minerva  was  born  March  13,  1874;  Harry  B. 
was  born  December  29,  1876;  John  Alpha  was 
born  February  20,  1878;  Arthur  Allen  was 
born  June  20,  1882;  Martha  Weller  was  born 
August  6,  1885;  and  Benjamin  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 4,  1889. 

William  F.  Bishopp  supplemented  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  Sheldon  public  schools  here  by 
taking  a  business  course,  and  in  1880  he  be- 
came associated  with  his  father  in  the  Bishopp 
Hominy  Company.  He  has  continued  to  be 
identified  with  the  manufacturing  of  food 
products  during  the  intervening  years  and 
has  gained  success  and  high  repute  in  the 
manufacturing  of  products  from  white  corn, 
with  well  equipped  mills  and  general  offices  at 
Sheldon.  During  the  World  war  period  these 
mills  were  in  operation  day  and  night  for  four 
years,  in  supplying  the  extraordinary  demand 
made  upon  them. 

Mr.  Bishopp,  like  his  father,  is  a  stalwart 
Republican,  and  has  served  as  representative 
of  Sheldon  Township  in  the  Republican  County 
Committee  more  than  twenty  years.  He  is 
one  of  the  charter  members  of  the  Sheldon 
fire  department,  and  he  and  his  wife  are  ac- 
tive members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

At  Chenoa,  McLean  County,  on  October  24, 
1900,  Mr.  Bishopp  married  Miss  Olive  Branch 
Jones,  one  of  twin  daughters  of  Rev.  Alvin 
Robbins  and  Elizabeth  H.  (Waddle)  Jones, 
her  father  having  given  thirty-nine  years  of 
service  as  a  clergyman  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  and  having  held  many 
important  pastorates  in  Central  Illinois,  as 
well  as  in  Iowa.  His  death  occurred  April  23, 
1907,  and  his  widow  passed  away,  at  Texar- 
kana,  Arkansas,  June  1,  1922,  their  mortal 
remains  being  given  interment  in  the  cemetery 
at  Sheldon,  Illinois.  Edward  Jones  Bishopp, 
first  born  of  the  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Bishopp,  was  born  June  30,  1903,  and  died 
on  the  2d  of  the  following  month.  Lillian  E., 
born  July  18,  1905,  is  the  wife  of  Alfred  A. 
Tennison,  their  marriage  having  occurred  at 
Watseka,  November  26,  1925,  and  they  have 
a  son,  William  Alfred  Tennison;  William  F., 
Jr.  was  born  September  7,  1915,  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  class  of  1933  in  the  Sheldon  High 
School.  John  Hunter  Jones,  born  August  23, 
1910,  a  nephew  of  Mrs.  Bishopp  and  whose 
mother  died  at  his  birth,  was  reared  by  Mrs. 
Bishopp  and  is  a  member  of  the  family  circle. 

Mr.  Bishopp's  hobbies  are  golf  and  horses, 
and  his  wife  is  a  member  of  the  ladies  sec- 
tion of  the  Hazleton  Golf  Club.  Mrs.  Bishopp 
organized  in  1908  the  Woman's  Club  of  Shel- 
don, and  she  has  membership  also  in  the  Nickel 
Plate  Club  and  the  local  bridge  club,  and  in 
1931  and  1932,  president  of  the  Republican 
Woman's  Club  of  Iroquois  County. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frank  Bishopp  in  October, 
1931,  moved  to  the  old  Barton  Bishopp  home 


that  was  built  in  1872.  It  was  remodeled  at 
a  cost  of  many  thousands  of  dollars  and  is 
today  one  of  the  most  beautiful  homes  of  Iro- 
quois County. 

Vernon  M.  Welsh  came  into  the  work  of 
his  career  as  a  practicing  attorney  in  Chicago 
at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  and  quickly  won 
recognition  for  himself.  Since  1925  he  has 
been  associated  with  one  of  the  outstanding 
law  firms  of  Illinois,  Kirkland,  Fleming,  Green 
&  Martin,  with  offices  at  33  North  LaSalle 
Street. 

Mr.  Welsh  was  born  at  Galesburg,  Illinois, 
in  1893,  member  of  one  of  the  prominent  fami- 
lies of  that  city.  His  parents  were  J.  D.  and 
Ella  (McCullough)  Welsh.  Mr.  Welsh  attend- 
ed the  Galesburg  public  schools  and  from  them 
entered  Knox  College,  where  he  received  his 
A.  B.  degree  in  1913.  He  then  entered  Har- 
vard Law  School,  took  his  LL.  B.  degree  in 
1916,  and  after  a  brief  experience  in  the  law 
at  Galesburg  came  to  Chicago.  During  the 
past  fifteen  years  Mr.  Welsh  has  won  enviable 
distinction  in  the  field  of  real  estate  and  cor- 
poration law.  His  experience  and  work  in  this 
line  have  earned  him  a  reputation  usually  asso- 
ciated only  with  men  much  older.  In  1925 
he  became  associated  with  the  firm,  which 
then  included  Col.  Robert  R.  McCormick  and 
J.  M.  Patterson.  He  is  now  member  of  the 
firm  of  Kirkland,  Fleming,  Green  &  Martin, 
who  act  as  general  counsel  for  the  Chicago 
Tribune  and  for  a  large  number  of  other  im- 
portant interests  in  Illinois. 

Mr.  Welsh  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago,  Illi- 
nois State  and  American  Bar  associations. 
He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Sunset  Ridge  Coun- 
try Club.  His  residence  for  a  number  of  years 
has  been  in  Winnetka,  where  he  has  one  of 
the  beautiful  homes,  and  he  has  been  one  of 
the  valuable  citizens  of  that  North  Shore  com- 
munity. He  married  Miss  Fanita  Ferris, 
member  of  a  family  that  has  been  identified 
with  the  City  of  Galesburg  since  early  days. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Welsh  have  two  daughters,  Sal- 
lie  Ellen  and  Rosanna  Emily. 

Robert  Harvey  Gault,  Ph.  D.  That  por- 
tion of  the  general  public  which  derives  its  in- 
formation concerning  the  progress  of  science 
and  the  activities  of  scientific  men  from  the 
newspapers  has  frequently  in  recent  years  had 
its  attention  called  to  some  of  the  important 
work  being  done  at  Northwestern  University 
by  its  distinguished  professor  of  psychology, 
Dr.  Robert  Harvey  Gault.  His  contributions 
to  the  science  of  criminology  have  made  his 
name  internationally  well  known.  He  has  also 
been  responsible  for  directing  investigation  and 
research  leading  to  important  discoveries  that 
promise  to  restore  something  akin  to  the  world 
of  sound  to  the  deaf. 

Doctor  Gault  has  been  connected  with  North- 
western University  since  1909.     He  had  been 


ILLINOIS 


475 


engaged  in  educational  work  ten  years  prior 
to  that  time  and  had  won  his  Doctor's  degree 
in  1905.  He  was  born  at  Ellsworth,  Ohio, 
November  3,  1874,  son  of  Andrew  Robinson 
and  Martha  (McCullough)  Gault.  From  1896 
to  1898  he  was  a  student  at  Wooster  Univer- 
sity in  Ohio,  took  his  A.  B.  degree  at  Cornell 
University  in  1902,  and  was  a  graduate  stu- 
dent at  Clark  University  in  1902-03,  and  then 
at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  where  he 
obtained  his  Doctor  of  Philosophy  degree.  He 
was  principal  of  Poland  Academy  in  Ohio  in 
1898-1900,  and  for  four  years  before  coming 
to  Northwestern  University  was  professor  of 
psychology  and  education  at  Washington  Col- 
lege in  Maryland.  His  first  place  in  the  fac- 
ulty of  Northwestern  was  as  instructor  and 
assistant  professor  of  psychology;  was  made 
associate  professor  in  1913;  and  since  1917 
has  held  the  chair  of  professor  of  psychology. 
During  1924-28  he  was  given  leave  for  special 
work  with  the  National  Research  Council  at 
Washington,  and  was  research  associate  of  the 
Carnegie  Institution  in  Washington  in  1926-28. 

In  1912  Doctor  Gault  became  editor  of  the 
Journal  of  the  American  Institute  of  Criminal 
Law  and  Criminology.  In  recognition  of  his 
twenty-one  years'  service  as  editor-in-chief, 
the  May,  1932,  issue  of  the  Journal  was  dedi- 
cated to  him.  It  contained  editorial  tributes 
from  a  number  of  his  associates,  including 
Dean  Emeritus  John  H.  Wigmore  of  the 
Northwestern  University  Law  School;  Edward 
Lindsey  of  Warren,  Pennsylvania,  formerly 
presiding  judge  of  the  Thirty-seventh  Judicial 
Circuit  of  Pennsylvania;  Dr.  William  Healy, 
director  of  the  Judge  Baker  Foundation  of 
Boston,  formerly  director  of  the  Juvenile  Psy- 
chopathic Institute  of  Chicago,  which  is  now 
the  Institute  of  Juvenile  Research;  Dr.  Adolph 
Meyer,  professor  of  psychiatry  in  Johns  Hop- 
kins University,  and  Judge  Andrew  A.  Bruce, 
president  of  the  American  Institute  of  Crimi- 
nology and  professor  of  law  in  Northwestern 
University.  Among  other  tributes  Doctor 
Gault  was  given  recognition  for  having  es- 
tablished the  prestige  of  the  Journal  "as  the 
best  publication  of  its  kind  in  any  language," 
and  in  building  up  its  influence  through  the 
contributed  articles  of  an  eminent  array  of 
intellectual  leaders  in  many  fields. 

A  number  of  Doctor  Gault's  monographs  on 
criminal  science  have  appeared  in  the  Journal 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Criminal  Law  and 
Criminology.  He  is  also  author  of  Social  Psy- 
chology, and  co-author  of  An  Outline  of  Gen- 
eral Psychology  (revised  in  1932).  He  con- 
tributed chapters  to  Recent  Development  in 
the  Social  Sciences  and  Abnormal  Minds  and 
the  Law,  also  articles  and  reviews  to  the  scien- 
tific periodicals  in  the  fields  of  psychology  and 
education.  His  latest  volume,  published  in 
1932,  is  entitled  Criminology.  It  is  a  compre- 
hensive treatment  of  the  personality  of  crimi- 
nals, and  it  contains  also  a  review  of  the  sys- 


tematic efforts  which  have  been  made  to  pre- 
vent the  development  and  activity  of  criminals. 

Doctor  Gault  has  been  a  regular  contributor 
to  scientific  literature  since  1923.  His  re- 
searches on  "hearing  through  the  fingers"  have 
made  him  internationally  known.  In  connec- 
tion with  this  work  he  has  developed  the  Gault- 
Teletactor,  by  means  of  which  upwards  of 
forty  or  fifty  deaf  folk  can  simultaneously 
feel  spoken  language,  and  thus  make  their 
sense  of  touch  in  their  fingers  a  partial  substi- 
tute for  their  ears,  both  in  connection  with  the 
interpretation  of  spoken  language  and  the  de- 
velopment of  speech.  This  work  offers  one  of 
the  most  promising  aids  that  have  come  to 
light  in  recent  years  in  connection  with  the 
education  of  the  deaf,  the  hard  of  hearing  and 
the  deaf-blind.  His  successful  work  in  this 
connection  has  led  to  the  incorporation  of  the 
American  Institute  for  the  Deaf-Blind,  of 
which  Doctor  Gault  is  director. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Psychologi- 
cal Association,  American  Institute  of  Crimi- 
nal Law  and  Criminology,  Sigma  Xi,  Phi  Eta, 
is  a  fellow  of  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,  and  of  the  Acousti- 
cal Society  of  America.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  University  Club  of  Chicago  and  the  Uni- 
versity Club  of  Evanston.  It  may  be  recalled 
that  he  wrote  an  important  section  of  the  re- 
port of  the  Chicago  City  Council  Committee 
on  crime.  He  was  president  of  the  Illinois 
Social  Hygiene  League  from  its  origin  in  1914 
until  1924. 

Doctor  Gault  married,  July  23,  1907,  Anne 
Lee,  of  Poland,  Ohio.  Their  home  is  at  2332 
Bryant  Avenue,  Evanston. 

Herbert  Wells  Fay,  custodian  of  the  Lin- 
coln tomb  at  Springfield,  famous  as  the  "man 
with  a  million  pictures,"  has  in  the  pursuit  of 
his  hobby  as  a  collector  rendered  a  distin- 
guished service.  His  name  and  his  work  are 
known  and  are  represented  in  scores  of  publi- 
cations, among  historians  and  other  literary 
men  throughout  the  United  States  and  abroad. 
While  he  has  specialized  as  a  collector  of  pic- 
tures relating  to  Lincoln  and  the  Lincoln  era, 
yet  all  the  countries  of  the  civilized  world  are 
represented. 

His  Lincoln  collections  include  300  different 
sittings  of  Lincoln,  pictures  of  people  asso- 
ciated with  him,  all  places  frequented  by  him. 
His  collection  has  been  further  enriched  by 
documents,  letters,  copies  and  originals,  maps, 
surveys,  statuary,  medallions,  badges,  coins, 
stamps  and  personal  belongings  and  everything 
that  would  suggest  Lincoln. 

Mr.  Fay  was  led  to  specialize  in  pictorial 
representations  because  he  realized  that  pic- 
tures and  data  explaining  them  are  the  most 
direct  and  graphic  means  of  answering  while 
you  wait,  the  countless  questions  which  have 
been  asked  him  concerning  the  personality,  the 
life  and  times  of  the  great  emancipator.     It 


476 


ILLINOIS 


was  his  aim  to  get  and  classify  the  answers 
of  all  historical  inquiries  of  this  nature.  Five 
thousand  questions  have  been  suggested  by  the 
two  million  people  who  have  seen  the  collec- 
tion. Educators,  authors  and  students  of  Lin- 
coln recognize  the  great  debt  they  owe  to  the 
Fay  collection. 

It  is  possible  to  note  here  only  a  few  con- 
spicuous items  in  his  great  collection.  One  of 
the  outstanding  is  the  German-Butler-Mc- 
Nulty  original  negative  of  Lincoln,  the  only 
original  plate  west  of  Philadelphia,  a  histori- 
cal treasure  upon  which  authorities  have 
placed  a  value  of  from  $10,000  to  $50,000. 
Among  the  ten  paintings  and  miniatures  of 
Lincoln  in  his  collection  the  outstanding  is  a 
duplicate  of  the  $10,000  portrait  which  hangs 
in  the  Administration  Building  at  Lincoln 
Park  in  Chicago.  The  original  was  painted  by 
Willam  Patterson  and  is  considered  the  most 
realistic  likeness  of  Lincoln  before  his  nom- 
ination for  the  presidency. 

Mr.  Fay  has  supplemented  the  work  of  col- 
lectors who  have  compiled  lists  of  the  books 
which  Lincoln  read  and  which  influenced  him, 
by  obtaining  pictures  and  data  about  the  au- 
thors of  these  volumes.  This  division  of  his 
collection  alone  comprises  several  thousand 
items.  He  has  made  systematic  effort  to  ob- 
tain the  portraits  of  the  men  who  served  in  the 
Legislature  with  Lincoln;  the  Springfield  post- 
masters and  mayors,  many  of  whom  were  per- 
sonal friends  of  Lincoln ;  one  hundred  men  who 
signed  the  note  with  Lincoln  for  $16,666.67  to 
secure  the  money  to  make  the  last  payment  on 
the  bonus  of  $50,000  offered  by  Springfield  to 
secure  the  state  capitol;  portraits  of  about 
three  hundred  Lincoln  authors,  copies  of  their 
works,  many  of  which  are  autographed.  He 
has  a  collection  of  copies  of  nearly  3,000  Lin- 
coln letters,  and  in  most  cases  a  portrait  of 
the  person  to  whom  the  letter  was  written. 
By  Mr.  Fay's  systematic  and  unique  arrange- 
ment of  Lincoln  letters  and  documents  he  has 
compiled  what  is  the  nearest  equivalent  to  a 
Lincoln  diary,  as  these  letters  and  documents 
show  something  Lincoln  did  on  two  thousand 
days  of  his  life.  It  is  invaluable  for  research 
work.  One  interesting  novelty  is  a  portfolio 
showing  what  Lincoln  wrote,  did,  or  said  on 
each  day  of  the  calendar  year  and  with  proof 
in  each  case.  Mr.  Fay  has  also  prepared  a  col- 
lection of  a  hundred  Lincoln  stereopticon 
slides,  which  have  supplemented  special  exhibi- 
tions of  Lincolniana  and  addresses  and  lectures 
on  Lincoln  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States. 

Another  division  of  his  collection  includes 
scores  of  affidavits,  statements,  maps,  letters, 
pictures  and  other  data  which  have  been  used 
to  establish  the  route  traveled  by  the  Lincolns 
in  coming  to  Illinois,  thus  affording  historical 
authority  for  the  modern  motor  trail  desig- 
nated as  the  Lincoln  Way. 

Among  the  other  original  manuscripts  in 
his  collection  are:     "America,"  by  Rev.  S.  F. 


Smith;  "Sweet  Bye  and  Bye,"  by  S.  Fillmore 
Bennett;  "Mocking  Bird,"  by  Sep.  Winner; 
"Lincoln  Walks  at  Midnight,"  by  Vachel  Lind- 
say; "Lincoln,"  by  J.  T.  Trowbridge.  On  a 
Lincoln  portrait  in  the  collection  is  an  inscrip- 
tion reading  "Lincoln — the  love  of  Jonathan, 
the  patience  of  Job — Herbert  Hoover."  Still 
another  inscription  is:  "Lincoln:  The  strength 
of  Hercules,  the  sense  of  Socrates,"  to  which 
is  signed  the  name  of  Joaquin  Miller.  The  col- 
lection contains  a  letter  mailed  to  Fay  by  Col. 
Charles  Lindbergh  and  carried  by  him  on  his 
first  official  postal  flight.  A  New  York  stamp 
collector  offered  over  a  thousand  dollars  for 
the  envelope.  One  of  the  many  Lincoln  relics 
is  the  tassel  of  the  opera  cloak  worn  by  Mrs. 
Lincoln  on  the  fatal  night  in  Ford's  Theater, 
the  tassel  being  stained  with  Lincoln's  blood. 

Mr.  Fay  supplied  500  portraits  for  the 
American  edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britan- 
nica,  over  a  thousand  pictures  for  White's 
Encyclopaedia  of  Biography,  and  other  pic- 
tures have  been  loaned  to  hundreds  of  publica- 
tions. He  furnished  illustrations  or  data  for 
the  following  Lincoln  authors:  Ida  Tarbell, 
Albert  J.  Beveridge,  Emanuel  Hertz,  Raymond 
Warren,  Eleanor  Gridley,  Lloyd  Lewis,  Fred 
L.  Holmes,  J.  B.  Oakleaf,  Dr.  W.  A.  Evans, 
William  E.  Barton,  Norman  Hapgood,  Carl 
Sandburg,  Paul  M.  Angle,  William  E.  Curtis, 
Rexford  Newcomb,  Dr.  Lewis  A.  Warren, 
James  Morgan,  O.  T.  Corson,  Edward  Baley 
Eaton  and  George  W.  Smith.  Material  col- 
lected by  Mr.  Fay  has  become  a  part  of  many 
famous  Lincoln  collections,  including  those  in 
the  Chicago  Historical  Society  and  of  hundreds 
of  private  displays  over  the  country,  including 
the  collections  of  O.  R.  Barrett,  of  Chicago, 
and  that  of  former  judge,  now  governor, 
Henry  Horner. 

One  of  Lincoln's  biographers  in  dedicating 
his  two  volume  work  to  the  collection  wrote: 
"To  Herbert  Wells  Fay,  the  man  who  has 
gathered  a  collection  of  portraits  and  docu- 
ments which  Lincoln  students  and  historians 
will  have  to  see  and  consult  when  the  final 
estimate  of  that  First  American  will  have  to 
be  made,  so  this  book  gratefully  inscribed  by 
— Emanuel  Hertz." 

Herbert  Wells  Fay  is  a  native  of  Illinois. 
He  was  born  in  DeKalb  County,  February  28, 
1859.  His  grandfather,  Horace  W.  Fay,  a 
native  of  New  York  State,  was  a  pioneer  of 
DeKalb  County,  represented  it  in  one  of  the 
early  legislatures,  and  was  a  stanch  friend  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  who  wrote  three  letters  to 
him  on  political  matters.  Horace  W.  Fay 
enlisted  under  Governor  Oglesby  in  the  Eighth 
Illinois  Infantry  and  died  while  in  service  at 
Vicksburg,  Mississippi.  The  father  of  Herbert 
WTells  Fay,  Edwin  Horace  Fay,  was  born  in 
New  York  State  and  was  a  youth  when  the 
family  moved  to  DeKalb  County  in  1836.  In 
1847  he  enlisted  in  Company  G  of  the  Six- 
teenth Kentucky  Volunteer  Regiment  for  serv- 


JOSEPH  F.  PESCHEL 


ILLINOIS 


477 


ice  in  the  Mexican  war.  Edwin  Horace  Fay 
married  Ann  Webb  Haywood,  who  was  born 
in  Maine.  They  had  three  sons:  Arthur,  of 
Nevada,  Iowa;  Herbert  Wells  and  Oscar  H., 
of  Florida. 

Herbert  Wells  Fay  attended  public  schools 
in  DeKalb  County,  and  was  a  student  of  Mon- 
mouth College  in  the  class  of  1880.  Later  he 
became  owner  and  editor  of  DeKalb  County 
papers,  and  devoted  forty-two  years  to  the 
newspaper  business  and  profession.  Mr.  Fay 
is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  Wood- 
men and  Royal  Arcanum.  He  married  Nellie 
A.  Sebree,  whose  family  were  the  earliest  per- 
manent white  settlers  of  DeKalb  County.  They 
have  one  son,  Earl  Owen  Fay,  now  advertis- 
ing manager  for  the  Wurlitzer  Piano  Com- 
pany with  western  factory  at  DeKalb,  Illinois. 

Mr.  Fay  was  made  custodian  of  the  Lincoln 
tomb  at  Springfield  in  1921.  In  this  position 
he  has  found  the  opportunity  to  pursue  a  hob- 
by which  has  represented  not  only  the  gratifi- 
cation of  an  individual  intellectual  interest, 
but  has  been  made  the  medium  of  a  great  serv- 
ice to  mankind.  Every  year  thousands  of 
American  and  foreign  visitors  have  learned  to 
appreciate  not  only  the  wonderful  collection 
that  has  been  built  up  by  him,  but  something 
of  his  personal  enthusiasm  and  his  broad  cul- 
ture. To  attain  what  he  has  accomplished  re- 
quires that  quality  of  genius  which  consists 
of  an  infinite  capacity  for  taking  pains. 

Newton  Bateman.  The  following  is  a  quo- 
tation of  the  brief  biography  that  appears  on 
the  west  side  of  the  Centennial  Memorial 
Building  at  Springfield: 

"Newton  Bateman,  educator,  superintendent 
of  public  instruction  from  1859  to  1875,  with 
exception  of  the  two  years  1863-65,  when  he 
was  defeated  for  reelection;  during  his  in- 
cumbency, the  Illinois  common  school  system 
was  developed  and  brought  to  the  efficiency 
which  it  has  so  well  maintained;  editor  of  the 
Illinois  Teacher,  and  was  one  of  a  committee 
of  three  which  prepared  the  bill  adopted  by 
Congress,  creating  the  National  Bureau  of 
Education;  president  of  Knox  College,  at 
Galesburg,  from  1875  to  1893.  He  was  born 
in  Fairfield,  New  Jersey,  July  27,  1822,  and 
died  at  Galesburg,  Illinois,  October  21,  1897." 

Britton  I.  Budd,  one  of  the  leading  figures 
in  public  utility  management  in  the  United 
States,  had  his  first  contact  with  the  local 
transportation  system  of  Chicago  as  an  em- 
ployee of  the  Metropolitan  West  Side  Elevated 
Railway  Company  in  1895. 

Mr.  Budd  was  born  in  San  Francisco,  Sep- 
tember 7,  1871,  but  spent  part  of  his  early  life 
in  Chicago,  where  he  attended  public  schools. 
After  fifteen  years  of  service  with  the  elevated 
companies  he  was  made  president  of  the  Met- 
ropolitan Elevated  Railroad  in  1910,  and  in  the 
following   year  also   became   president  of  the 


Northwestern  and  South  Side  elevated  com- 
panies, and  was  appointed  chief  executive  for 
the  receiver  of  the  Chicago  &  Oak  Park  Ele- 
vated. Mr.  Budd  in  1924  became  president  of 
the  Chicago  Rapid  Transit  Company.  In  1916 
he  was  made  president  of  the  Chicago,  North 
Shore  &  Milwaukee  Railroad,  was  made  presi- 
dent in  1923  of  the  Public  Service  Company  of 
Northern  Illinois,  and  in  1926  president  of  the 
Chicago,  Aurora  &  Elgin  Railroad.  He  has 
been  director  in  half  a  dozen  or  more  of  the 
public  utility  corporations,  involving  transpor- 
tation, gas  and  electric  power,  in  the  Chicago 
and  Middle  West  territory.  Mr.  Budd  was 
honored  with  election  asi  president  of  the 
American  Electric  Railway  Association  in 
1923. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  executive  committee 
and  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Century  of 
Progress  Exposition.  During  the  World  war 
period  he  held  the  successive  ranks  of  captain, 
major  and  lieutenant  colonel  in  the  Eleventh 
Regiment  of  the  Illinois  National  Guard.  Mr. 
Budd  is  a  trustee  of  the  John  Crerar  Library, 
member  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society  and 
the  Western  Society  of  Engineers. 

Joseph  Francis  Peschel  was  an  Illinois 
manufacturer  who  helped  establish  a  com- 
paratively new  branch  of  industry  in  the 
state,  that  of  making  furniture.  Mr.  Peschel 
had  been  trained  in  the  furniture  business 
from  early  youth,  and  for  many  years  was 
associated  with  the  Joseph  Turk  Manufactur- 
ing Company  at  Bradley,  of  which  he  was 
president  at  the  time  of  his  death  on  Octo- 
ber 21,  1931. 

Mr.  Peschel  was  born  at  Clinton,  Iowa,  De- 
cember 17,  1870,  and  was  left  an  orphan  at 
an  early  age.  His  parents,  Joseph  and  Mary 
(Turk)  Peschel,  were  born  in  Austria,  came 
to  the  United  States  when  young  and  were 
married  in  this  country.  His  father  was  a 
soldier  in  the  Civil  war  and  after  the  war 
followed  farming  in  Iowa.  He  was  a  Demo- 
crat and  both  parents  were  Catholics.  They 
had  three  children,  all  of  whom  are  now  de- 
ceased. 

Joseph  Francis  Peschel  attended  public 
school  in  Iowa,  and  for  a  time  was  a  student 
at  Shannon,  Illinois.  He  completed  his  edu- 
cation in  parochial  schools  and  collegiate  in- 
stitutions in  Chicago.  His  first  experience 
in  the  business  field  was  with  Frank  Mayer 
&  Company  at  Chicago.  Later  he  became 
identified  with  the  Turk  &  Voss  Furniture 
Company.  The  head  of  this  company  was  his 
mother's  brother,  Joseph  Turk,  who  later 
founded  the  Joseph  Turk  Furniture  Company. 
In  1890  the  plant  of  the  company  was  moved 
to  Bradley,  Illinois,  where  it  has  been  an  im- 
portant industry  for  over  forty  years.  Origi- 
nally they  manufactured  wooden  furniture, 
but  since  1896  have  specialized  in  the  produc- 
tion   of    metal    beds.       When    Joseph     Turk, 


478 


ILLINOIS 


founder  of  the  business,  died  he  was  succeeded 
by  Joseph  Francis  Peschel.  After  the  death 
of  Mr.  Peschel  he  was  succeeded  as  president 
of  the  company  by  his  son,  Joseph  Kaspar 
Peschel. 

The  late  Mr.  Peschel  was  a  Republican  in 
politics,  and  besides  being  a  successful  manu- 
facturer took  a  whole  hearted  interest  in  social 
and  community  life.-  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Catholic  Order  of  Foresters,  the  Kankakee 
Country  Club,  Chicago  Athletic  Club,  the 
South  Shore  Country  Club  of  Chicago.  He  and 
his  family  were  members  of  Saint  Patrick's 
Catholic  Church  at  Kankakee. 

Mr.  Peschel  married  at  Chicago,  February 
14,  1901,  Miss  Belle  Kaspar.  She  was  born 
and  educated  in  Chicago.  Her  parents,  Wil- 
liam and  Julia  (Von  Dreyka)  Kaspar,  were 
born  and  married  in  Austria,  and  after  com- 
ing to  Chicago  William  Kaspar  became  a 
banker. 

Joseph  Kaspar  Peschel,  only  son  of  the  late 
Joseph  F.  Peschel,  was  educated  in  the  public 
and  parochial  schools  of  Kankakee,  in  the  Cul- 
ver Military  Academy  of  Indiana,  and  also 
pursued  his  studies  in  Notre  Dame  University 
and  the  University  of  Chicago.  He  married 
Dorothy  Onken,  of  Cincinnati,   Ohio. 

The  late  Joseph  F.  Peschel  was  a  notable 
figure  in  Kankakee  County  citizenship.  A  very 
capable  executive  and  successful  business  man, 
he  was  idolized  in  labor  circles,  his  workers 
having  the  highest  confidence  in  his  integrity 
and  his  justice.  He  was  liberal  in  contribu- 
tions to  all  worthy  causes  and  to  all  religious 
denominations.  In  1919  he  established  a  beau- 
tiful country  home  known  as  Linden  Lodge, 
close  to  Kankakee  and  bordering  the  Kanka- 
kee River.  There  he  and  Mrs.  Peschel  lived 
for  over  twelve  years  and  this  is  still  the  home 
of  Mrs.  Peschel.  Linden  Lodge  is  surrounded 
by  eight  acres  of  grounds,  ornamented  by  na- 
ture and  the  skill  of  landscape  architects. 

Hon.  Frank  Ryan,  who  has  rendered  a 
continuous  constructive  service  to  the  State  of 
Illinois  since  he  first  became  a  member  of 
the  Legislature  in  1914,  is  a  resident  of  Chi- 
cago, and  one  of  the  prominent  business  men 
of  that  city.  Mr.  Ryan  is  a  grain  broker  with 
membership  on  the  Board  of  Trade  and  until 
recently  was  vice  president  of  the  Material 
Service  Corporation. 

Born  in  Chicago  February  22,  1886,  son 
of  John  and  Mary  (Hanrahan)  Ryan,  he  was 
educated  in  parochial  schools  and  the  St. 
Charles  School,  and  his  career  has  been  one 
of  initiative  and  self  directed  effort  from  the 
time  he  was  thirteen  years  of  age.  He  was 
employed  as  a  messenger  boy,  was  a  newsboy 
on  the  streets  of  Chicago,  and  his  first  connec- 
tion with  the  Board  of  Trade  was  in  the  ca- 
pacity of  messenger  boy.  He  thus  acquired  an 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  workings  of  that 
great  institution,  of  which  for  many  years  he 


has  been  a  member.  He  also  became  inter- 
ested in  the  construction  industry.  The  Ma- 
terial Service  Corporation,  of  which  he  was 
vice  president,  is  a  business  institution  that 
handles  and  supplies  enormous  quantities  of 
the  materials  used  in  building,  paving  and 
other  forms  of  construction,  and  it  was  the 
first  organization  to  attempt  a  solution  of  the 
problem  arising  from  the  passage  of  barges 
and  other  vessels  through  the  open  bridges  of 
the  Chicago  River  by  building  and  putting  into 
service  a  fleet  of  boats  of  enormous  capacity, 
but  low  enough  to  pass  under  the  bridges 
without  interruption  of  traffic. 

Mr.  Ryan  has  had  a  long  and  creditable  ca- 
reer in  politics  and  public  affairs.  A  Democrat 
since  boyhood,  he  gained  increasing  influence 
in  party  circles,  and  in  1914  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  from 
the  Second  District.  Every  two  years  since 
he  has  been  reelected,  and  his  nine  consecutive 
terms  have  provided  unusual  opportunities  for 
the  exercise  of  his  business  and  political  judg- 
ment on  the  course  of  legislation.  On  Novem- 
ber 8,  1932,  Mr.  Ryan  was  reelected  for  his 
tenth  consecutive  term,  and  by  reason  of  his 
long  legislative  experience  and  his  proved  lead- 
ership he  will  be  one  of  the  most  influential 
members  of  the  Legislature  during  the  Demo- 
cratic administration  of  Governor  Horner. 

Mr.  Ryan  during  his  first  term  in  the  Legis- 
lature was  at  Springfield  when  Governor  Ed- 
ward F.  Dunne  was  in  the  executive  mansion. 
Mr.  Ryan  in  this  session  was  one  of  the  men 
who  foresaw  the  national  and  international 
emergencies  being  created  by  the  war  situations 
in  Mexico  and  in  Europe,  and  as  a  measure 
toward  military  preparedness  he  introduced  a 
bill  whereby  the  National  Guard  of  Illinois 
was  increased  from  three  batteries  of  artillery 
to  six  batteries.  During  succeeding  sessions 
he  has  been  active  in  all  matters  pertaining 
to  the  welfare  of  both  Chicago  and  the  state. 

In  the  1931  session  Mr.  Ryan  was  a  member 
of  the  committees  on  appropriations,  charities 
and  corrections,  municipalities,  public  utilities 
and  transportation,  and  senatorial  apportion- 
ment. He  was  responsible  for  some  important 
and  notable  legislation  in  the  1931  session. 
One  was  the  bill  which  he  introduced  and  had 
passed  appropriating  $350,000  for  Illinois'  par- 
ticipation in  the  Century  of  Progress  Exposi- 
tion in  Chicago  in  1933.  Mr.  Ryan  is  a  com- 
missioner of  the  Century  of  Progress,  having 
been  appointed  by  Governor  Emmerson,  and  is 
one  of  the  two  Democratic  commissioners.  Mr. 
Ryan  introduced  and  had  passed  House  Bill 
No.  927,  under  which  the  Department  of  Public 
Welfare  and  the  University  of  Illinois  coop- 
erate in  the  management  and  educational  de- 
velopment of  the  great  medical  research  hos- 
pital and  affiliated  institutions  in  Chicago. 
Another  bill  he  introduced  but  which  failed  of 
passage  provided  for  the  establishment  of 
chain    banks    by    big    banking   institutions    in 


ILLINOIS 


479 


cities  of  over  50,000  population.  Mr.  Ryan  like 
many  other  financial  thinkers  was  strongly 
impressed  by  the  situation  resulting  from  the 
failure  of  great  numbers  of  independent  banks, 
and  in  his  bill  proposed  a  substitution  of 
branch  banks  affiliated  with  and  backed  by  the 
resources  of  institutions  of  unassailable 
strength. 

Mr.  Ryan  has  always  been  an  advocate  of 
clean  sports.  Not  only  Illinois  people  who  are 
interested  in  sports,  but  people  throughout  the 
Middle  West  owe  him  a  special  debt  of  grati- 
tude for  his  successful  efforts  in  the  Legisla- 
ture of  1931  to  modify  some  of  the  obsolete 
restrictions  which  an  earlier  generation  im- 
posed on  the  manly  art  of  pugilism.  He  intro- 
duced and  secured  the  passage  through  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  bill  permit- 
ting in  Illinois  a  heavyweight  championship 
fight  to  go  the  limit  of  fifteen  rounds.  Mr. 
Ryan,  like  all  other  judicious  followers  of  this 
branch  of  sport,  recognized  that  a  ten-round 
limit  was  not  enough  to  test  the  stamina  of 
a  real  battling  fighter,  particularly  where  a 
world's  championship  was  involved. 

Mr.  Ryan  is  a  member  of  the  Midland  Club, 
the  Knights  of  Columbus  and  the  Catholic 
Order  of  Forresters.  He  resides  at  1307  South 
California  Avenue.  He  married  Miss  Helen 
Mackenzie,  of  Chicago. 

Jonathan  B.  Turner.  The  following  is  a 
quotation  of  the  brief  biography  that  appears 
on  the  west  side  of  the  Centennial  Memorial 
Building  at  Springfield: 

"Jonathan  B.  Turner,  educator  and  agri- 
culturist; instructor  in  Illinois  College  from 
1833  to  1847;  introduced  osage  orange  hedge 
plant  in  Illinois  and  other  western  states;  in 
1850  began  formulating  the  system  of  indus- 
trial education  which,  after  twelve  years  of 
labor  and  agitation,  resulted  in  the  act 
adopted  by  Congress  and  approved  by  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  in  July,  1862,  making  liberal 
donations  of  public  lands  for  the  establishment 
of  industrial  colleges  in  the  several  states,  out 
of  which  grew  the  University  of  Illinois.  He 
was  born  in  Templeton,  Massachusetts,  Decem- 
ber 7,  1805,  and  died  at  Jacksonville,  Illinois, 
January  10,  1899." 

Leonarde  Keeler  is  a- Chicago  scientist  who 
has  added  to  the  long  list  of  achievements  cred- 
ited to  Northwestern  University.  Mr.  Keeler 
is  director  of  the  psychology  department  of 
the  Scientific  Crime  Detection  Laboratory,  an 
affiliated  institution  of  the  university  and  a 
research  assistant  in  the  physiology  depart- 
ment. 

Mr.  Keeler  was  born  in  Berkeley,  California, 
in  1906,  and  was  educated  at  the  University  of 
California  and  Sanford  University.  From  the 
latter  institution  he  took  his  Bachelor  of 
Science  degree  in  1929. 

While  in  university  Mr.  Keeler  became  in- 
terested in  investigations   and  research  work 


being  done  in  applying  technical  and  psycho- 
logical tests  to  criminal  characters.  In  1924 
Mr.  Keeler  was  employed  by  Chief  Vollmer, 
who  for  twenty-five  years  was  Chief  of  Police 
of  Berkeley,  California,  and  was  professor  of 
Police  Administration,  in  conducting  detection 
tests  at  Los  Angeles,  and  he  also  did  similar 
work  with  the  Berkeley  Police  Department. 

After  his  graduation  in  1929  Mr.  Keeler 
came  to  Chicago.  Since  then  his  time  has  been 
fully  taken  up  in  connection  with  the  police 
department,  various  civic  organizations,  and 
more  particularly  with  the  Scientific  Crime 
Detection  Laboratory,  affiliated  with  North- 
western University.  Mr.  Keeler  has  also  been 
associated  with  the  Institute  for  Juvenile  Re- 
search at  Chicago  and  the  Criminologist  Bu- 
reau of  the  State  of  Illinois.  Out  of  his 
extended  experience  he  has  written  a  number 
of  bulletin  and  special  reports,  and  one  of  his 
scientific  articles  of  great  interest  to  the  lay- 
man as  well  as  to  the  criminal  expert  was 
entitled  "A  Method  for  Detecting  Deception," 
which  appeared  in  the  American  Journal  of 
Police  Science.  In  this  article  Mr.  Keeler  re- 
views the  history  of  the  practical  application 
of  detection  tests  in  criminology.  In  these 
tests  he  has  made  extensive  use  of  the  poly- 
graph, popularly  known  as  the  lie  detecting 
machine.  Such  a  device  had  been  experi- 
mented with  in  Chicago  by  Dr.  John  A.  Lar- 
sen,  a  psychiatrist  with  the  Institute  of  Juve- 
nile Research  of  the  University  of  Illinois  and 
it  was  with  Doctor  Larsen  and  Chief  Vollmer 
that  Mr.  Keeler  started  his  work  in  this  field. 
During  his  association  with  the  institute  Mr. 
Keeler  has  carried  these  experiments  farther, 
and  is  generally  credited  with  having  perfected 
the  device  as  it  is  used  today.  It  has  found 
valuable  application  not  only  in  Chicago  but 
in  many  other  cities  of  the  country. 

One  of  the  recent  Northwestern  University 
bulletins  explains  the  great  value  of  this  new 
addition  to  scientific  method  not  only  in  the 
field  of  investigating  crimes  committed,  but 
in  the  still  more  important  precautions  for 
preventing  crime.  The  bulletin  says:  "Our 
Psychological  Department  of  the  Crime  De- 
tection Laboratory,  which  is  directed  by  Mr. 
Leonarde  Keeler,  has  so  perfected  the  use  of 
the  instrument  popularly  known  as  the  lie- 
detector  that  we  have  been  able  to  build  up 
around  it  a  personnel  service  which  various 
commercial  institutions  are  finding  extremely 
useful.  This  service  consists  of  two  classes. 
The  first  involves  routine  examinations  of  can- 
didates for  positions  of  trust.  Each  individual 
examined  is  questioned  upon  the  lie-detector 
concerning  important  events  in  his  past  his- 
tory. If  he  has  ever  been  a  defaulter,  has 
served  time  in  penal  institutions,  or  has  been 
discharged  for  dishonesty  or  incompetency 
such  facts  are  brought  out."  This  is  the 
prophylactic  side  of  the  service.  The  second 
class  of  service  involves  the  examination  on 
the   lie  detector  of  persons   suspected  of  em- 


480 


ILLINOIS 


bezzlement,  petty  thievery,  etc.  "So  accurate 
are  these  records,"  asserts  the  bulletin,  "that 
even  though  confessions  are  not  obtained  em- 
ployers accept  their  verdict  and  usually  find 
substantiating  evidence. 

Loy  N.  McIntosh,  member  of  the  firm  of 
Gann,  Secord  &  Stead,  for  many  years  one  of 
the  leading  law  firm's  of  Chicago,  was  born 
at  Bridgeport,  Illinois,  December  29,  1891,  the 
son  of  Rev.  S.  A.  and  Laura  (Hicks)  Mcintosh, 
both  of  which  names  stand  out  prominently 
in  early  Illinois  history.  Rev.  S.  A.  Mcintosh, 
who  is  now  retired  from  the  Methodist  minis- 
try and  living  in  Florida,  was  in  his  earlier 
years  a  circuit-riding  preacher  of  the  denomin- 
ation in  the  pioneer  days  of  Illinois  Methodism, 
and  is  affectionately  remembered  as  such  by  a 
host  of  members  of  this  church  and  their 
descendants  throughout  the  central  and  south- 
ern portions  of  the  state.  In  his  ministry  of 
that  period  he  was  a  representative  of  the 
best  type  of  devoted  and  self-sacrificing  relig- 
ious leaders  whose  zeal  and  high  character 
were  a  lasting  influence  for  good  upon  the 
community.  In  his  later  years  he  served  larger 
churches,  in  such  cities  as  Danville  and  Bloom- 
ington.  Reverend  Mcintosh,  although  born  in 
this  country,  is  a  descendant  of  the  noted  Mc- 
intosh clan  of  Inverness,  Scotland,  a  strong 
race  of  men,  representatives  of  which,  immi- 
grating to  America,  located  both  in  New  Eng- 
land and  the  southern  states,  particularly 
Georgia  and  Kentucky.  The  family  has  con- 
tributed some  notable  names  to  American  his- 
tory. Mrs.  Mcintosh  is  a  member  of  the  Hicks 
family,  well  known  in  the  pioneer  annals  of 
Illinois. 

.Loy  N.  Mcintosh  received  his  academic  edu- 
cation in  Illinois  Wesleyan  University  at 
Bloomington,  from  which  he  was  graduated 
with  the  B.  S.  degree  in  the  class  of  1913.  He 
took  his  law  in  Northwestern  University  Law 
School  in  Chicago,  which  conferred  upon  him 
the  degree  of  LL.  B.  in  1915.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  Illinois  bar  in  that  year  and  began  his 
practice  in  Chicago,  with  the  firm  of  Gann, 
Secord  &  Stead,  with  which  he  has  remained 
ever  since  (with  the  exception  of  the  period 
of  his  war  service)  and  is  now  a  member  of 
this  firm,  which  is  engaged  largely  in  corpora- 
tion practice.  Mr.  Mcintosh  has  advanced  to 
a  leading  place  among  the  younger  members  of 
the  bar  of  this  city.  Skilled  in  all  phases  of 
jurisprudence,  he  has  an  accurate  and  exten- 
sive knowledge  of  the  law,  and  his  clients 
always  know  that  legal  matters  entrusted  to 
him  are  in  the  hands  of  a  safe  counsellor. 

Mr.  Mcintosh's  service  in  the  World  war 
took  him  away  from  the  work  of  his  profession 
for  more  than  two  years.  He  volunteered  soon 
after  this  country  entered  the  war  in  the 
spring  of  1917,  and  attended  the  First  Officers 
Training  Camp  at  Fort  Sheridan.  From  here 
he  was  assigned  duty  at  Camp  Grant  with  the 


Eighty-sixth  Division,  commissioned  as  second 
lieutenant.  He  became  a  machine  gun  instruc- 
tor and  in  this  capacity  trained  many  battal- 
ions preparing  for  service  overseas.  These 
duties  kept  him  in  this  country  until  Septemr 
ber,  1918,  when  he  was  transferred  overseas, 
first  to  England,  then  to  France  as  machine 
gun  instructor  for  the  American  Expeditionary 
Forces.  In  France  he  was  advanced  to  the 
rank  of  first  lieutenant  and  transferred  to  the 
Thirty-third  Division,  as  assistant  G-3  on  the 
staff  of  that  division,  with  which  he  went  to 
the  front  in  the  Troyon  sector  at  Verdun. 
Upon  returning  to  America  in  the  summer  of 
1919  he  was  assigned  to  duty  at  Washington 
as  assistant  chief  of  staff  in  the  Transporta- 
tion Division  Council  for  the  Contact  Board  of 
Adjustment.  He  received  his  discharge  in 
August,  1919. 

Mr.  Mcintosh  is  a  member  of  the  American, 
Illinois  State  and  Chicago  Bar  Associations, 
the  Chicago  Athletic  Club  and  the  Traffic  Club, 
and  is  treasurer  and  director  of  the  Dairymen's 
Country  Club.  In  1932  he  was  honored  by 
election  to  the  office  of  president  of  the  Beach- 
view  Club,  a  fine  organization  representing  the 
South  Shore  district  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Mcin- 
tosh married  Miss  Evelyn  Wanzer,  daughter 
of  Mr.  H.  H.  Wanzer,  member  of  the  famous 
family  of  that  name  who  founded  the  dairy 
industry  in  Elgin  and  Chicago,  carried  on 
under  the  name  of  Sidney  Wanzer  &  Sons. 
She  is  a  granddaughter  of  Sidney  Wanzer,  who 
established  the  business  at  Elgin  in  1857,  and 
a  niece  of  the  late  William  Bradley  Wanzer, 
who  brought  the  business  to  Chicago  in  1875. 
The  Wanzer  family  originally  settled  near 
Elgin  in  1840.  Originating  in  Holland,  the 
American  forbears  settled  at  New  Amsterdam 
in  early  Colonial  days  and  have  been  dairymen 
for  many  generations. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mcintosh  have  a  son,  Robert. 
Their  home  is  at  6756  South  Shore  Drive,  and 
their  names  appear  prominently  in  the  social 
and  civic  activities  of  that  beautiful  and  inter- 
esting section  of  the  city. 

Arthur  C.  Lueder,  postmaster,  Chicago, 
Illinois,  was  chosen  from  a  list  of  more  than 
fifty  Chicagoans  who  took  the  eligibility  exam- 
ination under  the  merit  rule  issued  by  Presi- 
dent Harding  early  in  his  administration.  He 
was  born  at  Elmhurst,  Illinois,  March  12,  1876, 
and  after  graduating  from  Elmhurst  College, 
where  his  father,  Rev.  John  Lueder,  was  a 
professor,  he  came  to  Chicago  and  graduated 
from  the  Chicago  Law  School  in  1902,  but  in- 
stead of  following  up  the  law  he  engaged  in 
the  real  estate  business,  and  at  the  time  he 
was  made  postmaster  was  at  the  head  of  a 
very  successful  business  of  his  own. 

Mr.  Lueder  made  his  presence  felt  in  the 
post  office  almost  from  the  first  day  he  entered 
the  service,  and  veterans  in  the  post  office  as- 
sert that  by  assuming  active  management  of 


^n^^^o  cs.  /xA^a^ 


ILLINOIS 


481 


postal  affairs  he  has  brought  about  a  greater 
coordination  between  the  divisions  and  sec- 
tions, and  with  his  tact  in  dealing  with  men, 
his  executive  ability  and  his  faculty  of  inspir- 
ing those  about  him  with  a  spirit  of  friend- 
liness and  confidence,  has  contributed  to  the 
efficiency  of  what  was  already  a  very  efficient 
institution. 

Mr.  Lueder  made  such  a  favorable  impres- 
sion upon  the  business  men  of  Chicago  in  his 
administration  of  the  postal  service  that  in 
April,  1922,  he  was  chosen  as  the  Republican 
nominee  for  the  mayoralty  of  Chicago. 

He  married  Martha  Mueller  in  1904,  and  has 
two  children,  Roland  and  Ruth.  He  resides 
at  636  Gary  Place. 

Mr.  Lueder  is  secretary  of  the  Chicago  Real 
Estate  Board;  secretary,  treasurer  and  direc- 
tor of  the  Cook  County  Real  Estate  Board;  sec- 
retary of  the  Secretaries  Association  of  the 
National  Association  of  Real  Estate  Boards; 
and  president  of  the  National*  Association  of 
Postmasters.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Oriental  Consistory,  Mystic  Shrine,  and  Soci- 
ety of  Santiago  de  Cuba. 

Samuel  W.  Allerton,  who  died  February 
22,  1914,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six,  was  a  con- 
temporary and  associate  of  the  first  genera- 
tions of  the  Fields,  Armours,  Morris,  Pullmans, 
Swifts,  Palmers  and  other  founders  of  the 
great  industrial  and  commercial  fabric  of  the 
City  of  Chicago. 

Samuel  W.  Allerton,  who  represented  the 
ninth  generation  of  the  Allerton  family  in 
America,  was  born  in  New  York  State,  May 
26,  1828.  Financial  reverses  overtook  his 
father  and  when  he  was  twelve  years  of  age 
Samuel  W.  Allerton  began  providing  for  his 
own  support.  The  basis  of  his  business  career 
was  farming.  He  had  a  genius  for  stock  deal- 
ing, traded  in  live  stock  in  various  parts  of 
the  East  and  later  came  to  Illinois,  where  he 
began  raising  and  feeding  cattle  in  Fulton 
County.  In  March,  1860,  Mr.  Allerton  estab- 
lished his  home  and  headquarters  in  Chicago 
and  was  one  of  the  pioneer  live  stock  commis- 
sion men  of  the  city.  In  1860  he  ran  a  corner 
on  the  local  hog  market.  Samuel  W.  Allerton 
was  one  of  the  founders  and  organizers  of  the 
Union  Stock  Yards  and  for  many  years  was 
president  of  the  Allerton  Packing  Company. 
He  was  also  one  of  the  original  directors  of 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Chicago,  and  for 
many  years  the  Allerton  family  have  been 
among  the  largest  stockholders  of  that  institu- 
tion. Samuel  W.  Allerton  owned  and  developed 
thousands  of  acres  of  farm  lands  in  Illinois 
and  in  western  states,  and  had  one  of  the  model 
live  stock  farms  of  the  world,  near  Monticello. 
While  a  stockholder  in  the  old  South  Side 
Traction  Company  he  advocated  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  cable  system.  For  many  years  he 
was  a  director  of  the  Chicago  City  Railway 
Company.      He    put   his   large   wealth   to .  the 


benefit  of  the  world  in  behalf  of  many  philan- 
thropies and  benevolences.  He  was  a  director 
of  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  of  1893. 
He  married  Pamilla  W.  Thompson,  of  Illi- 
nois. His  only  son,  Robert  Allerton,  was  born 
in  Chicago,  March  20,  1873.  Robert  Allerton 
has  his  father's  place  as  a  director  of  the  First 
National  Bank,  and  was  formerly  president  of 
the  Pittsburgh  Union  Stock  Yards  Company. 
During  his  youth  he  spent  several  years 
abroad  as  an  art  student,  and  is  one  of  the 
liberal  supporters  of  art  work  in  Chicago, 
being  a  vice  president  of  the  Chicago  Art 
Institute.  The  daughter  of  Samuel  W.  Aller- 
ton, Kate  Allerton  Johnstone,  was  born  June 
10,  1863.  ijg 

Minard  Edwin  Hulse,  one  of  the  able  and 
successful  younger  members  of  the  bar  of 
Lake  County  and  one  who  here  has  repre- 
sentative professional  status  in  the  Chicago 
metropolitan  area,  is  engaged  in  the  general 
.  practice  of  law  at  Waukegan,  the  county  seat. 

Mr.  Hulse  is  able  to  advert  to  the  Hawkeye 
State  as  the  place  of  his  nativity.  He  was 
born  in  the  little  City  of  Keota,  Keokuk 
County,  Iowa,  December  16,  1895,  and  is  a 
son  of  L.  Elmer  Hulse  and  Margaret  (Daiber) 
Hulse,  both  likewise  natives  of  that  state, 
where  the  respective  families  were  established 
in  the  pioneer  days.  L.  Elmer  Hulse  was 
reared  and  educated  in  Iowa  and  eventually 
became  one  of  the  representative  citizens  of 
Keota,  where  he  was  engaged  in  the  shoe 
business  and  where  also  he  served  as  post- 
master. He  there  continued  his  residence  until 
1914,  when  he  came  with  his  family  to  Wau- 
kegan, Illinois,  and  here  became  identified  with 
the  publishing  of  a  newspaper.  After  this 
paper  had  been  consolidated  with  another 
local  paper  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  real- 
estate  business,  of  which  he  has  here  continued 
an  influential  representative  to  the  present 
time.  Both  he  and  his  wife  are  active  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  his 
political  allegiance  is  given  to  the  Republican 
party,  and  he  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic 
fraternity  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias.  His 
parents  came  from  one  of  the  eastern  states 
to  gain  pioneer  honors  in  Iowa,  in  which  state 
his  wife's  parents  likewise  were  early  set- 
tlers, they  having  been  natives  of  Germany. 

Minard  E.  Hulse,  second  in  order  of  birth 
in  a  family  of  four  children,  received  his  early 
education  in  the  public  schools  of  Keota,  Iowa, 
and  was  about  twenty  years  of  age  at  the  time 
of  the  family  removal  to  Waukegan,  in  1914. 
In  advancing  his  education  along  academic  or 
literary  lines  he  profited  by  the  advantages  of 
Northwestern  University,  at  Evanston,  Illi- 
nois, in  which  he  was  graduated  with  the  de- 
gree of  Bachelor  of  Arts,  as  a  member  of  the 
class  of  1920.  In  the  law  department  of  the 
university  he  was  graduated  in  1922,  and  his 
reception  of  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws 


482 


ILLINOIS 


was  forthwith  followed  by  his  admission  to 
the  Illinois  bar. 

In  the  meanwhile  patriotism  had  made  in- 
sistent call  to  Mr.  Hulse,  in  connection  with 
the  nation's  entrance  into  the  World  war.  In 
1917  he  enlisted  for  service  in  the  United 
States  Army,  his  preliminary  training  having 
been  received  at  Camp  Grant,  Illinois,  and  he 
having  thereafter  had  eleven  months  of  active 
service  with  the  American  Expeditionary 
Forces  in  France.  He  had  his  full  share  of 
service  in  France,  and  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  second  lieutenant,  after  having  there 
attended  an  officers  training  school.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Three  Hundred  and  Forty- 
second  United  States  Infantry,  Eighty-sixth 
Division,  and  after  the  armistice  brought  the 
war  to  a  close  he  returned  in  due  course  to 
his  native  land  and  received  his  honorable  dis- 
charge at  Camp  Dix,  New  Jersey. 

After  his  admission  to  the  bar  Mr.  Hulse 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  at 
Waukegan,  where  he  has  since  continued  a 
member  of  the  law  firm  of  Hall  &  Hulse,  his 
coadjutor  being  Albert  L.  Hall,  and  the  busi- 
ness of  the  firm  being  of  substantial  and  rep- 
resentative order.  Mr.  Hulse  has  membership 
in  the  Lake  County  Bar  Association  and  the 
Illinois  State  Bar  Association,  his  political 
alignment  is  with  the  Republican  party,  he  is 
a  past  president  of  the  Waukegan  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  in  the  American  Legion  he  is  a 
past  commander  of  Waukegan  Post,  No.  281, 
and  he  is  affiliated  also  with  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  Delta 
Theta  Phi  law  college  fraternity.  In  his  home 
city  Mr.  Hulse  is  a  popular  member  of  the 
Lions  Club,  the  University  Club  and  the  Phi 
Gamma  Delta. 

On  September  12,  1931,  he  was  united  in 
marriage  with  Evelyn  Elliot,  of  Chicago, 
Illinois. 

A.  William  (Billy)  Cepak  is  a  native  Chi- 
cagoan,  widely  known  throughout  the  city  in 
the  world  of  sports  as  well  as  in  the  newspa- 
per business.  Mr.  Cepak  has  been  a  promoter 
of  one  of  the  most  important  phases  of  modern 
journalism,  the  community  and  suburban 
journals,  and  is  publisher  of  three  of  the  larg- 
est and  most  successful  enterprises  of  the  kind 
around  Chicago,  the  Suburban  Leader,  the 
Cicero  Life,  and  the  Berwyn  Life. 

Mr.  Cepak  established  the  Suburban  Leader 
at  Cicero  seven  years  ago  and  more  recently 
he  began  the  publication  of  the  Cicero  Life 
and  the  Berwyn  Life,  community  newspapers 
that  enter  most  of  the  30,000  homes  in  these 
suburbs. 

He  was  born  in  Chicago  May  12,  1891,  son 
of  James  and  Anna  Cepak.  His  brother,  the 
late  Joseph  Cepak,  who  died  in  1932,  was  al- 
derman from  the  Twenty-second  Ward.  Mr. 
Cepak  was  educated  in  Chicago,  and  as  a 
youth    earned    considerable    distinction    as    a 


boxer,  and  for  three  years  most  of  his  time 
was  devoted  to  the  promoting  of  boxing  exhi- 
bitions. Since  then  he  has  been  in  the  news- 
paper business.  He  is  one  of  Cicero's  out- 
standing civic  leaders,  a  member  of  the  Cicero 
Athletic  Club,  the  Loyal  Legion,  and  the  B. 
P.  O.  Elks. 

He  married  Miss  Pauline  Enninger.  They 
have  three  children,  Adeline,  William  Jr.  and 
Ralph. 

Charles  Chester  Worrell,  of  the  Commer- 
cial Investment  Company  of  Galesburg,  has 
had  a  widely  extended  experience,  beginning  as 
a  soldier  in  the  World  war,  subsequently  as  a 
merchant   and  manufacturer. 

He  was  born  at  Bardstown,  Kentucky,  April 
12,  1897.  Bardstown  is  one  of  the  famous 
centers  of  Kentucky,  noted  for  its  religious, 
social  and  political  activities.  Within  a  mile 
of  Mr.  Worrell's  birthplace  was  the  haven  of 
refuge  sought  by  Louis  Phillippe  of  France 
when  he  came  to  America  after  the  French 
Revolution.  The  farm  adjoining  that  on  which 
Mr.  Worrell  was  born  was  the  home  of  one 
of  America's  best  loved  composers,  Stephens 
Collins  Foster,  who  wrote  the  immortal  song, 
My  Old  Kentucky  Home,  on  this  farm. 

The  Worrell  family  came  to  Kentucky  at  an 
early  date.  Mr.  Worrell's  grandfather,  Henry 
E.  Worrell,  was  born  in  Sussex,  England,  and 
came  to  America  with  his  father  in  1854. 
Henry  E.  Worrell  was  a  captain  in  the  Confed- 
erate army  during  the  Civil  war,  and  after- 
wards became  a  leading  merchant.  He  died 
at  the  age  of  eighty-two,  in  1913.  Charles  W. 
Worrell,  father  of  the  Galesburg  business  man, 
was  born  April  18,  1858,  and  died  April  27, 
1900.  He  was  a  pharmacist,  and  always  took 
a  keen  interest  in  the  affairs  of  his  home  town 
and  held  many  offices  in  the  county.  He  mar- 
ried Cecelia  Ellen  Shanley,  who  was  born  at 
Fairfield,  Kentucky,  December  19,  1858,  and 
died  January  12,  1930.  Her  father,  Richard 
E.  Shanley,  was  a  native  of  County  Cork,  Ire- 
land, and  he,  too,  was  a  soldier  in  the  Civil 
war.  He  was  a  Republican,  having  been  with 
the  Union  forces  in  the  war,  and  for  many 
years    was    postmaster    of    Fairfield. 

Charles  Chester  Worrell  grew  up  in  Bards- 
town, attended  school  there,  and  about  the  time 
he  was  ready  to  enter  high  school  the  family 
moved  to  Louisville,  where  he  continued  his 
education  in  St.  Xavier  College.  After  gradu- 
ating from  there  he  attended  the  University  of 
Louisville  and  spent  one  year  in  the  law  school. 

Mr.  Worrell  was  one  of  the  early  volunteers 
after  America  entered  the  World  war.  He  en- 
listed April  30,  1917,  was  assigned  to  Battery 
A  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-eighth  Field 
Artillery  and  was  at  an  officers  training  school 
at  Camp  Shelby,  Mississippi,  and  later  at  the 
Field  Artillery  Training  School  at  Camp  Tay- 
lor, Kentucky,  where  he  was  commissioned 
a  lieutenant  in  September,  1918.     He  was  held 


ILLINOIS 


483 


at  Camp  Taylor  until  after  the  armistice  and 
received  his  honorable  discharge  December  24, 
1918.  He  was  in  the  Army  Reserve  Corps  for 
five  years  after  the  armistice. 

After  his  release  from  military  duty  Mr. 
Worrell  returned  to  Louisville.  He  was  in  the 
wholesale  coffee  business  until  1923  and  then 
organized  the  Ford  Rubber  Company  of  Louis- 
ville, manufacturing  automobile  tires.  He 
built  up  the  business  to  extensive  proportions, 
distributing  its  products  throughout  the  South. 
At  the  time  the  British  secured  a  monopoly 
on  raw  rubber  Mr.  Worrell  accepted  an  oppor- 
tunity to  merge  his  plant  with  larger  compa- 
nies and  sold  out  to  a  syndicate  in  1925.  Fol- 
lowing that  he  was  engaged  in  the  real  estate 
and  investment  business  in  Louisville  and  be- 
came one  of  that  city's  prominent  realtors.  He 
was  chosen  to  represent  Louisville  as  an  ad- 
visor on  the  Advertising  Advisory  Council  of 
the  National  Real  Estate  Board. 

Mr.  Worrell  located  at  Galesburg  on  January 
1,  1930,  and  here  he  opened  a  brokerage  office, 
handling  investments  and  securities.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Cosmopolitan  Club,  the  Ameri- 
can Legion,  and  in  politics  is  an  independent 
voter. 

Col.  John  A.  Nyden,  until  his  death  Sep- 
tember 4,  1932,  was  president  of  John  A.  Ny- 
den &  Company.  He  had  earned  a  distin- 
guished record  in  his  profession  and  also  an 
interesting  record  of  military  experience  and 
service  as  a  business  man  and  community 
leader. 

He  was  born  in  Moheda,  Sweden,  March  25, 
1878,  and  came  to  America  when  a  boy.  In 
this  country  he  continued  his  education 
through  public  schools  and  college,  attending 
Valparaiso  University  of  Indiana  in  1898-99. 
His  practical  studies  in  construction  work  and 
architecture  included  a  year  with  the  George 
A.  Fuller  Company  of  New  York  City,  and 
during  1900-01  he  attended  classes  in  archi- 
tecture and  related  subjects  at  the  Chicago 
Art  Institute.  Practical  experience  and  train- 
ing were  supplemented  by  extended  study  of 
old  world  art  and  architecture.  He  was  abroad 
for  the  first  time  in  1902  and  made  extended 
trips  to  Europe  in  1914,  1924,  1929  and  1931. 
He  was  licensed  to  practice  architecture  by  the 
State  of  Illinois  in  1904.  For  several  years 
he  had  charge  of  the  offices  of  several  promi- 
nent Chicago  architects,  and  on  May  1,  1907, 
engaged  in  practice  individually.  Out  of  his 
practice  developed  the  well  known  organiza- 
tion the  John  A.  Nyden  &  Company,  of  which 
he  was  president,  with  offices  and  studio  at 
190  North  State  Street.  Colonel  Nyden  de- 
signed and  acted  as  supervising  architect  for 
a  large  number  of  buildings,  including 
churches,  schools,  apartments,  residences  and 
other  structures  throughout  the  country.  In 
Chicago  the  characteristic  features  of  his  work 
may  be  observed  in  the  eleven-story  Admiral 


Hotel,  the  fourteen-story  Commonwealth  Ho- 
tel, the  eleven-story  Fairfax  Hotel,  the  Mel- 
rose Hotel,  the  Builders  and  Merchants  Bank 
Building,  the  Belmont-Sheffield  Trust  &  Sav- 
ings Bank  Building,  the  Bethany  Old  Peoples 
Home,  North  Park  College,  the  Edgewater 
Mission,  First  Swedish  Baptist,  and  Bethany 
Swedish  Methodist  churches,  the  Humboldt 
Gospel  Tabernacle,  the  monument  to  the  Three 
Hundred  and  Seventieth  Regiment,  Illinois  Na- 
tional Guard,  and  the  Henry  P.  Kranz  resi- 
dence. He  also  designed  the  Evanshire  Hotel, 
the  Oscar  H.  Haugan  home,  the  Church  Street, 
Main  Street,  Hahn  and  City  National  Bank 
buildings,  all  of  Evanston,  Illinois,  Minnehaha 
Academy  at  Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  the  John 
Morton  Memorial  Building  at  Philadelphia, 
the  Goddard  Memorial  at  Marion,  Illinois,  the 
new  stadium  for  the  State  of  Illinois  at 
Springfield,  the  Children's  Home,  Princeton, 
Illinois,  and  the  country  estates  for  George  E. 
Van  Hagen,  Sr.,  and  Jr.,  at  Barrington,  Illi- 
nois. 

In  the  early  part  of  1926  Colonel  Nyden  was 
appointed  state  architect  of  Illinois,  serving 
for  two  years.  To  the  office  of  state  architect 
is  assigned  the  responsibility  for  the  design, 
erection  and  supervision  of  all  state  buildings 
and  monuments. 

During  the  World  war  he  was  commissioned 
as  major  in  the  Construction  Division  of  the 
army,  Quartermaster  Corps,  May  23,  1918. 
While  in  active  service  he  was  supervising 
construction  officer  of  the  army's  general  and 
debarkation  hospitals,  forty-two  in  all,  located 
in  the  various  parts  of  the  United  States,  with 
a  total  expenditure  of  about  $22,000,000.  In 
addition  he  acted  as  liaison  officer  between  the 
Construction  Division  and  the  Surgeon  Gen- 
eral's Office.  After  the  war  he  was  commis- 
sioned a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  Quartermas- 
ter Reserve  Corps,  July  12,  1923,  and  was 
given  a  certificate  of  capacity  for  the  rank  and 
duties  of  colonel  on  June  29,  1926. 

In  addition  to  his  practice  as  an  architect 
Colonel  Nyden  was  a  director  of  the  City  Na- 
tional Bank  &  Trust  Company  at  Evanston, 
of  the  Belmont-Sheffield  Trust  &  Savings  Bank 
of  Chicago,  and  president  of  the  Admiral  Ho- 
tel Company.  He  served  as  a  director  of  the 
Chicago  Chapter  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Architects,  was  vice  president  of  the  Illinois 
Society  of  Architects,  vice  president  of  the 
Evanston-North  Shore  Association  of  Archi- 
tects, treasurer  of  the  Swedish  Historical  So- 
ciety of  America,  and  vice  president  of  the 
Construction  Division  Association.  His  club 
and  social  connections  included  membership  in 
the  Westmoreland  Country  Club,  the  Svecia 
Country  Club,  University  Club  of  Evanston, 
Swedish  Colonial  Society  and  American  Sons 
and  Daughters  of  Sweden.  He  was  one  of  the 
founders  and  a  member  of  the  Edgewater 
Swedish  Mission  Church  in  Chicago.  Colonel 
Nyden  was   particularly  fond   of  all  the   fine 


484 


ILLINOIS 


arts.  Painting  was  his  chief  avocation.  He 
was  author  of  The  Story  of  Our  Forefathers. 
Colonel  Nyden  married  Miss  Alma  Ottilia 
Hemmings,  of  Chicago,  in  1902.  His  two 
daughters  are  Adelaide  Nyden  Hill,  wife  of 
Robert  Kermit  Hill,  and  Valborg  Nyden. 
Colonel  Nyden's  home  was  at  1726  Hinman 
Avenue,  Evanston,  Illinois. 

James  L.  D.  Morrison  was  born  April  12, 
1816,  at  Kaskaskia,  Illinois,  where  his  father, 
Robert  Morrison,  settled  in  1793.  He  studied 
law  under  Judge  Nathaniel  Pope  and  prac- 
ticed at  Belleville,  being  elected  from  St.  Clair 
County  to  the  Legislature  in  1844  and  to  the 
Senate  in  1848  and  1854.  It  is  said  that  he 
drafted  the  charter  of  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad,  introduced  into  the  Legislature  in 
1851.  He  was  Whig  candidate  for  lieutenant- 
governor  in  1852,  but  subsequently  became  a 
leader  in  the  Democratic  party  in  Southern 
Illinois.  He  was  chosen  to  Congress  to  suc- 
ceed Lyman  Trumbull  in  1855,  and  in  1860 
was  candidate  for  the  Democratic  nomination 
for  governor.  He  was  lieutenant-colonel  of 
the  Second  Illinois  Regiment  in  the  Mexican 
war.     He  died  August  14,  1888. 

Robert  Francis  Burns,  who  served  with  the 
Marines  during  the  World  war  and  was  the 
first  commander  of  the  Marine  Post  of  the 
American  Legion  in  Chicago,  is  a  native  of 
this  city  and  since  the  war  has  achieved  rec- 
ognition as  an  attorney-at-law. 

He  was  born  in  1898,  son  of  Francis  E.  and 
Mary  E.  (Sheak)  Burns.  His  father  was  the 
foster  son  of  Mrs.  O.  L.  Amigh,  member  of  a 
pioneer  family  of  Illinois,  and  who  is  still  liv- 
ing at  the  age  of  ninety.  Mrs.  Amigh  has  led 
a  notable  career.  She  was  a  volunteer  nurse 
during  the  Civil  war,  at  the  time  her  husband 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Union  army.  For  four- 
teen years  she  was  superintendent  of  the 
State  Training  School  for  Girls  at  Geneva, 
Illinois.  She  now  lives  retired  at  Birmingham, 
Alabama. 

Robert  F.  Burns  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  of  Chicago.  He  was  nineteen  years 
old  when  America  entered  the  World  war,  and 
in  the  spring  of  1917  volunteered.  After  pass- 
ing the  rigid  examination  he  was  admitted  to 
service  in  the  United  States  Marine  Corps. 
After  training  at  Paris  Island,  South  Caro- 
lina, he  was  assigned  duty  in  the  Eighty- 
fourth  Company  of  the  Sixth  Regiment  of 
Marines.  With  this  regiment,  attached  to  the 
Second  Division,  he  went  overseas  in  1917.  Be- 
ginning early  in  the  spring  of  1918  he  was 
with  his  regiment  in  almost  continuous  com- 
bat service  at  various  points  in  France,  at- 
tached at  different  times  to  the  French  as  well 
as  the  American  armies.  He  served  in  the 
great  major  campaigns  that  brought  the  war 
to  a  close,  including  the  fighting  in  the  Cham- 
pagne, at  St.  Mihiel  and  the  Meuse-Argonne. 


After  the  armistice  his  regiment  was  part  of 
the  Army  of  Occupation  along  the  Rhine, 
where  he  was  stationed  until  July  21,  1919. 
He  received  his  regular  discharge  from  the 
Marines  in  August,  1919,  after  a  continuous 
service  of  over  two  years. 

After  the  war  Mr.  Burns  took  up  the  study 
of  law  in  the  Chicago-Kent  College  of  Law. 
He  received  his  LL.  B.  degree  in  1923,  was 
admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar  the  same  year,  and 
has  won  a  successful  place  among  the  younger 
members  of  the  Chicago  bar. 

On  the  organization  of  Marine  Post  No.  273 
of  the  American  Legion  at  Chicago  in  1923 
Mr.  Burns  had  the  honor  of  being  elected  its 
first  commander.  He  has  been  continuously 
active  in  this  branch  of  the  organization.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Bar  Association, 
the  Interfraternity  Club,  the  Second  Division 
Association,  and  is  a  Republican.  His  law 
offices  are  at  176  West  Adams  Street  and  his 
home  in  Western  Springs. 

Hon.  Oscar  E.  Carlstrom  in  November, 
1924,  was  elected  attorney  general  of  Illinois 
and  in  1928  was  reelected  by  a  vote  that  was 
impressive  evidence  of  the  satisfaction  with 
which  the  people  of  Illinois  regarded  his  offi- 
cial competence,  his  integrity  and  responsi- 
bility in  handling  many  important  affairs 
coming  under  his  official  supervision. 

Mr.  Carlstrom  achieved  his  early  education 
as  a  lawyer  and  as  a  public  man  in  Mercer 
County.  He  was  born  near  New  Boston  in 
that  county  July  16,  1878,  son  of  Charles  A. 
and  Clara  Carolina  (Spang)  Carlstrom.  He 
began  life  with  an  educational  equipment  con- 
sisting of  a  high  school  diploma,  and  in  1899, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  enlisted  as  a  soldier 
in  the  Thirty-ninth  United  States  Volunteer 
Infantry.  He  was  in  the  Philippines  sixteen 
and  a  half  months,  remaining  until  those 
islands  were  pacified.  He  received  his  hon- 
orable discharge  May  6,  1901.  On  returning 
home  he  began  the  study  of  law  in  an  office 
at  Aledo,  and  on  February  20,  1903,  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Illinois  bar.  He  was  associated 
with  his  preceptor  in  the  firm  of  Bassett  & 
Carlstrom  at  Aledo  for  a  year,  after  which 
he  practiced  alone  until  1913.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  firm  Graham  &  Carlstrom, 
1913-1915,  was  senior  partner  in  the  law  firm 
of  Carlstrom  &  Hebel  from  1919  to  1922. 

General  Carlstrom  was  city  attorney  of 
Aledo  four  years,  served  as  state's  attorney 
of  Mercer  County  from  1916  to  1920,  but  soon 
after  his  election  to  that  office  he  again  re- 
sponded to  the  call  of  patriotic  duty.  On 
November  26,  1916,  he  enlisted  in  the  Sixth 
Illinois  Infantry,  was  commissioned  a  captain 
of  infantry  December  12,  1916,  and  on  Sep- 
tember 19,  1917,  was  transferred  to  the  ar- 
tillery and  assigned  to  command  Battery  B 
of  the  123rd  United  States  Field  Artillery. 
He  was  overseas  a  year,  being  in  France  from 


^^^^L^^*^C>C__ 


ILLINOIS 


485 


May  26,  19.18,  to  May  24,  1919.  His  honor- 
able discharge  was  dated  June  7,  1919. 

One  of  the  first  public  honors  conferred 
upon  him  after  his  return  from  overseas  was 
his  election  as  a  delegate  to  the  Illinois  Con- 
stitutional Convention  of  1920.  From  1921 
to  1924,  inclusive,  he  served  as  a  member  of 
the  Illinois  State  Tax  Commission,  this  ser- 
vice being  followed  by  his  inauguration  as 
attorney  general  of  the  state  in  1925. 

General  Carlstrom  still  has  his  legal  resi- 
dence at  Aledo.  He  is  a  member  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  that  city,  and  has 
fraternal  affiliations  with  the  Masons,  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  B.  P.  0.  Elks 
and  Loyal  Order  of  Moose.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Aledo  Club,  the  Oak  View  Country  Club 
at  Aledo,  the  Illini  Country  Club  at  Spring- 
field, the  Hamilton,  Swedish  and  Svithiod  So- 
ciety of  Chicago.  He  married,  December  30, 
1903,  Miss  Alma  C.  Nissen,  and  has  one  son, 
Charles  Henry,  and  one  daughter,  Marilyn 
Lucille. 

Many  honors  have  been  paid  him  by  mili- 
tary organizations.  He  is  a  member  by  offi- 
cial adoption  of  Company  C  of  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Second  Infantry,  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic.  He  has  served  as  department  com- 
mander and  commander-in-chief  of  the  United 
Spanish  War  Veterans.  General  Carlstrom 
participated  in  three  meetings  in  Paris  in 
1919,  which  resulted  in  the  organization  of  the 
American  Legion  abroad  and  at  that  time  was 
chosen  a  member  of  the  original  committee  of 
fifty  to  represent  the  two  million  men  of  the 
A.  E.  F.  in  the  organization  of  the  Legion. 
He  is  a  past  commander  of  Post  No.  121,  De- 
partment of  Illinois,  and  for  three  years  rep- 
resented the  Fourteenth  Congressional  Dis- 
trict as  a  member  of  the  executive  committee 
of  the  Department  of  Illinois,  American 
Legion. 

John  G.  West,  of  Riverton,  Sangamon 
County,  was  born  at  Memphis,  Tennessee,  Jan- 
uary 31,  1880,  son  of  John  West.  His  father 
was  a  native  of  England,  came  to  America 
when  a  boy  and  followed  an  active  business 
career  for  many  years.  He  was  salesman  for 
a  machine  company  at  Little  Rock,  Arkansas, 
where  he  established  his  family  home.  There 
were  two  children:  John  G.  and  Mamie,  the 
latter  the  wife  of  Lee  Heulett,  of  Sangamon 
County.  These  children  were  left  orphans  and 
were  brought  to  Riverton,  Illinois,  by  their 
grandfather,  Andrew  Wilson,  and  both  grew 
up  in  the  home  of  their  uncle  and  aunt,  John 
and  Ephema   (Wilson)    Stell. 

John  G.  West  had  the  advantages  of  the 
common  schools  through  the  sixth  grade  and 
then  had  to  go  to  work.  Work  has  been  the 
essential  part  of  his  career  since  he  was  sev- 
enteen years  of  age.  He  has  had  a  long  and 
successful  experience  as  a  miner,  until  com- 
pelled to  leave  this  work  because  of  an  acci- 


dent. He  is  now  tax  collector  in  his  township. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Miners  Union  and  the 
Christian  Church. 

Mr.  West  married  Orphie  Safford,  now  de- 
ceased. They  were  the  parents  of  six  chil- 
dren: Ruth,  wife  of  Earl  Johnson;  Helen,  de- 
ceased; Joseph,  Maude,  Mannie  and  Orphie. 

William  J.  Allen  was  a  typical  Southern 
Illinois  Democrat  who  had  come  from  Ten- 
nessee and  resided  in  Shawneetown  when  that 
city  was  in  its  glory.  He  was  a  boon  com- 
panion of  John  A.  Logan,  Robert  G.  Ingersoll 
and  a  group  of  law  students  in  that  city.  His 
father  was  a  judge  and  the  son  was  destined 
to  follow  in  his  footsteps.  William  J.  Allen 
became  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  and  was 
appointed  United  States  Attorney  for  the 
Southern  District  of  Illinois  by  President 
Pierce.  He  followed  John  A.  Logan  as  mem- 
ber of  Congress  from  the  Cairo  district,  the 
9th.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional 
Convention  of  1862  and  of  the  Convention  of 
1870,  and  was  a  delegate  to  the  National 
Democratic  Conventions  from  1864  to  1888. 
In  1887  he  was  United  States  District  Judge 
for  the  Southern  Illinois  district. 

John  Redman  Marshall,  who  is  serving 
as  postmaster  of  the  City  of  Yorkville,  judicial 
center  of  Kendall  County,  extends  his  com- 
munal influence  through  his  association  with 
a  local  newspaper,  in  which  connection  he  is 
a  representative  of  the  third  generation  of 
the  Marshall  family  in  journalistic  enterprise 
at  Yorkville. 

Mr.  Marshall  was  born  at  Hamilton,  On- 
tario, Canada,  July  26,  1905,  and  is  a  son  of 
Hugh  Rice  and  Pearl  (Fletcher)  Marshall. 
H.  R.  Marshall  was  born  and  reared  at  York- 
ville, Illinois,  and  much  of  his  active  career 
was  given  to  the  newspaper  business.  After 
having  been  a  student  in  Northwestern  Uni- 
versity he  was  for  a  time  in  the  service  of 
the  old  Chicago  Chronicle,  and  he  then  en- 
tered the  employ  of  the  International  Har- 
vester Company,  by  which  great  corporation 
he  was  transferred  from  Chicago,  Illinois,  to 
Hamilton,  Canada,  where  he  remained  about 
four  years.  He  then  returned  to  Yorkville  and 
became  associated  with  his  father  in  the  news- 
paper business,  he  having  subsequently  as- 
sumed control  of  this  business,  as  editor  and 
publisher  of  the  Kendall  County  Record.  His 
two  children  are  Robert  F.  and  John  R.,  and 
both  are  associated  with  the  newspaper  enter- 
prise with  which  the  family  name  has  been 
long  and  prominently  identified  at  Yorkville. 

John  R.  Marshall  was  graduated  in  the 
Yorkville  High  School  in  1923  and  thereafter 
was  a  student  two  years  in  Armour  Institute 
of  Technology,  Chicago.  During  the  ensuing 
two  years  he  held  a  position  in  a  leading  bank 
at  Yorkville,  and  he  next  passed  two  years  at 
Wheaton,  in  the  employ  of  the  Western  United 


486 


ILLINOIS 


Electric  Company.  He  was  thereafter  asso- 
ciated for  a  time  with  the  Lyon  Metal  Products 
Company  at  Aurora,  and  he  then  took  a  course 
of  two  and  one-half  months  in  the  St.  Louis 
Parks  Air  College.  Upon  the  death  of  his 
father  he  returned  to  Yorkville,  where  he  has 
since  been  actively  identified  with  the  family 
newspaper  business  and  where  he  has  served 
as  postmaster  since  1929.  Mr.  Marshall  is 
a  Republican,  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic 
fraternity  and  the  Armour  Institute  chapter 
of  the  Triangle  fraternity,  is  interested  in  all 
out-door  sports  and  boating  is  his  special 
hobby. 

January  17,  1930,  Mr.  Marshall  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Gladys  M.  Beecher,  daugh- 
ter of  Newton  and  Dora  Beecher  and  grand- 
daughter of  Merritt  and  Ina  (Norton)  Beecher. 
Merritt  Beecher  was  born  at  Bristol,  Kendall 
County,  and  was  long  one  of  the  representa- 
tive farmers  of  this  county,  besides  having 
been  influential  in  the  local  councils  of  the 
Democratic  party.  He  was  the  father  of  three 
children:  Newton,  Clarence  and  John.  Newton 
Beecher  is  street  commissioner  of  Yorkville 
and  superintendent  of  the  city  waterworks,  his 
wife  being  deceased.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Marshall 
have  no  children.  They  are  popular  in  the 
social  life  of  their  home  community  and  also 
that  of  the  neighboring   City  of  Aurora. 

Peter  Cartwright  came  into  Illinois  in  the 
spring  of  1823.  He  bought  an  "improvement" 
in  Sangamon  County  for  $200,  and  moved 
there  in  the  fall  of  the  year  1824.  He  was  a 
private  in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  and  he  served 
in  the  Illinois  Legislature.  He  preached  up 
and  down  the  state  and  was  considered  the 
most    noted    camp    meeting    preacher    in    Illi- 


Edmund  G.  Brust,  M.  D.,  prominent  Cook 
County  surgeon,  who  was  a  captain  in  the 
Medical  Corps  during  the  World  war,  is  a 
resident  of  Melrose  Park  and  is  president  of 
that  village. 

Doctor  Brust  was  born  at  Addison,  Illinois, 
in  1893.  He  acquired  a  liberal  education,  at- 
tending St.  Ignatius  College  in  Chicago  and 
graduated  from  the  Loyola  University  Med- 
ical School  in  1915.  Shortly  after  beginning 
practice  he  enlisted  for  service  during  the 
World  war.  He  was  made  assistant  division 
surgeon  of  the  Fourteenth  Division  and  has 
since  continued  an  active  member  of  the 
Medical  Reserve  Corps,  in  which  he  holds  a 
commission  as  major. 

Doctor  Brust  is  one  of  the  outstanding  sur- 
geons in  his  community  of  Melrose  Park.  He 
is  senior  surgeon  of  the  Westlake  Hospital 
and  is  commanding  officer  and  chief  surgeon 
of  the  Forty-seventh  Surgical  Hospital  of  the 
United  States  Army.  Doctor  Brust  is  a  prom- 
inent Republican,  and  in  1932  was  candidate 
for  the  Republican  nomination  for  county  cor- 


oner of  Cook  County.  He  has  served  two 
terms  as  president  of  the  village  of  Melrose 
Park  and  prior  to  that  had  been  a  village 
trustee.  He  is  a  past  commander  of  the 
Sarlo-Sharp  Post  of  the  American  Legion,  a 
member  of  the  Kiwanis  Club  and  a  thoroughly 
public  spirited  citizen. 

Doctor  Brust  married  Miss  Julia  G.  Gregor. 
She  was  born  at  Melrose  Park,  daughter  of 
Michael  Gregor.  They  have  two  children, 
Edmund  G.,  Jr.,  and  Dorothy  Jule.  Doctor 
Brust  resides  at  518  North  Eleventh  Avenue. 

Loyola  University,  conducted  by  the  Jesu- 
its is  the  development  of  St.  Ignatius  college 
which  was  founded  on  Chicago's  great  West 
Side  in  1869.  A  new  charter  was  obtained  in 
1909  in  the  name  of  Loyola  University  of 
Chicago. 

From  a  struggling  institution  of  thirty- 
seven  college  students  and  five  faculty  mem- 
bers, in  1870,  it  has  grown  into  an  urban 
university  with  eight  divisions,  six  thousand 
students,  and  four  hundred  and  eighty  faculty 
members.  More  than  a  thousand  high  school 
students  are  affiliated  with  the  institution  in 
Loyola  Academy  and  St.  Ignatius  High 
School. 

In  Rogers  Park,  on  a  twenty-acre  campus 
fronting  on  Lake  Michigan,  are  the  main 
administration  building,  the  library,  gymna- 
sium, the  Cudahy  Science  laboratories,  one  of 
the  Colleges  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and  Loyola 
Academy.  In  the  Downtown  College  building 
at  Franklin  and  Washington  streets  are  the 
Schools  of  Law,  of  Commerce,  and  of  Social 
Work,  the  Graduate  School  and  the  second 
College  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  The  schools  of 
Medicine  and  of  Dentistry  are  on  the  West 
Side,  adjacent  to  the  Cook  County  Hospital 
and  to  one  of  the  world's  greatest  medical 
centers. 

As  a  Jesuit  school,  Loyola  is  a  very  definite 
kind  of  school,  with  a  character,  purpose  and 
procedure  fixed  for  it  by  the  Institute  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  and  by  some  three  hundred 
and  fifty  years  of  educational  experience.  A 
Jesuit  school  aims  at  giving  a  distinctive  sort 
of  education,  based  upon  an  experience  which 
goes  much  farther  back  than  the  history  of 
the  Jesuits  themselves.  The  Jesuits  did  not 
invent  that  sort  of  education;  they  inherited 
it. 

The  story  of  the  founding  and  growth  of 
Loyola  University  is  closely  connected  with 
the  history  of  Chicago  and  of  Illinois.  The 
seed  for  the  religious  and  educational  develop- 
ment of  "The  Country  of  The  Illinois"  was 
planted  by  that  intrepid  Jesuit  missionary- 
explorer,  Father  Jacques  Marquette,  S.  J., 
who,  in  1674,  built  a  hut  near  the  present  site 
of  the  South  Damen  Street  bridge.  He  was 
the  first  white  man  to  erect  a  permanent  resi- 
dence in  Chicago.  After  spending  the  winter 
here,   Father   Marquette  and  his   French   and 


ILLINOIS 


487 


Indian  companions  portaged  into  the  Des 
Plaines  River  and  proceeded  down  the  Illinois 
River  to  Kaskaskia. 

The  next  link  in  the  bond  between  Chicago 
and  Loyola  University  was  supplied  by  Father 
Arnold  Damen,  S.  J.,  father  of  the  great  Holy 
Family  parish  and  builder  of  Chicago's  West 
Side.  Father  Damen  became  a  permanent 
resident  of  Chicago  on  May  4,  1857.  He 
erected  a  temporary  church  on  the  south  side 
of  Eleventh  Street  between  May  Street  and 
Blue  Island  avenue  and  held  first  services 
there  on  July  12  of  the  same  year.  Simul- 
taneously with  the  building  of  the  church, 
Father  Damen  provided  a  school  for  children 
of  the  parish  by  adding  wings  on  each  side 
of  the  church  for  use  as  class  rooms. 

When  Father  Damen  first  organized  the 
parish,  almost  all  that  portion  of  the  city  was 
still  unsettled  prairie.  The  locality  was  speed- 
ily settled  by  a  population  drawn  thither 
largely  by  Father  Damen  and  his  church.  By 
1870,  5,000  children  were  being  educated  in  . 
the  five  parochial  schools  of  the  parish  and  in 
St.  Ignatius  College.  In  1900  there  was  at- 
tached to  Holy  Family  parish  a  congregation 
of  more  than  25,000  persons. 

Father  Damen  was  appointed  vice-rector,  or 
the  first  president,  of  St.  Ignatius  College 
when  it  opened  its  doors  on  September  5,  1870, 
to  admit  thirty-seven  students.  The  first 
board  of  trustees  was  composed  of  the  Rev- 
erends J.  S.  Verdin,  S.  J.,  J.  DeBlieck,  S.  J., 
M.  Oakley,  S.  J.,  and  J.  G.  Venneman,  S.  J. 
All  of  these  men  had  the  usual  course  of 
studies  prescribed  to  a  member  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  which  was  up  to  the  standards  of  a 
master's  degree,  although  it  was  not  cus- 
tomary at  the  time  to  take  out  a  degree. 

St.  Ignatius  College  awarded  its  first  de- 
gree, master  of  arts,  to  Philip  J.  Reilly  on 
June  25,  1873.  Registration  passed  the  300 
mark  during  the  presidency  of  the  Rev.  Joseph 
G.  Zealand,  S.  J.,  1884-87,  and  reached  496 
students  during  the  regime  of  the  Rev. 
Thomas  S.  Fitzgerald,  S.  J.,  1891-1894. 

When  a  new  charter  was  obtained  in  1909, 
the  Rev.  Alexander  J.  Burrows,  S.  J.,  became 
the  first  president  of  the  newly  named  Loyola 
University  of  Chicago.  A  School  of  Law  was 
established  in  the  downtown  district  in  the 
same  year.  The  School  of  Social  Work  and 
extension  classes  in  the  College  of  Arts  and 
Sciences  were  organized  in  the  Downtown  Col- 
lege building  during  the  presidency  of  the 
Rev.  John  L.  Mathery,  S.  J.,  1912  to  1915. 

The  School  of  Medicine  was  made  an  in- 
tegral part  of  the  university  by  the  Rev. 
John  B.  Furay,  S.  J.,  who  occupied  the  presi- 
dent's chair  from  1915  to  1921.  Under  the 
guidance  of  the  Rev.  William  H.  Agnew,  S.  J., 
who  was  president  from  1921  to  1927,  the 
College  of  Arts  and  Sciences  was  moved  to 
the  Lake  Shore  Campus;  a  Home  Study  divi- 
sion was  established;  the  School  of  Commerce 


was  opened;  and  the  Chicago  College  of 
Dental  Surgery  became  Loyola's  dental  divi- 
sion. 

The  various  divisions  of  the  university  have 
been  strengthened  and  consolidated  by  the 
Rev.  Robert  M.  Kelley,  S.  J.,  president  since 
1927.  The  erection  of  the  Elizabeth  M. 
Cudahy  Memorial  library,  a  $330,000  gift  with 
an  additional  endowment  of  $100,000  given 
by  Edward  A.  Cudahy  as  a  memorial  to  his 
wife,  and  an  athletic  field  and  stadium  are 
the  important  physical  improvements  of  the 
Lake  Shore  Campus  of  the  university. 

Charles  Slade,  in  1820,  was  a  member  of 
the  Second  General  Assembly  from  Washing- 
ton County.  He  donated  the  twenty  acres  of 
ground  as  the  site  for  the  courthouse  at  Car- 
lyle,  the  first  county  seat  of  Clinton  County, 
which  was  created  in  1824.  In  1826  he  was 
elected  to  the  General  Assembly  from  Clinton 
County.  After  the  census  of  1830  Illinois 
was  entitled  to  three  congressmen,  and  Charles 
Slade  was  one  of  the  three  elected  in  August, 
1832.  He  represented  the  First  District.  He 
attended  the  first  session  of  the  Twenty-third 
Congress,  and  while  returning  home  died  of 
the  cholera  near  Vincennes,  Indiana,  July 
11,  1834. 

Edward  A.  Prindiville.  The  Prindivilles 
are  one  of  Chicago's  oldest  families.  The 
name  has  been  prominent  in  the  history  of  the 
city  since  the  1830s,  when  the  first  of  the 
name  to  locate  there  arrived  from  Ireland. 
The  ancestry  of  the  Prindivilles  is  Norman- 
English-Irish.  The  first  Prindiville  accom- 
panied William  the  Conqueror  to  England. 
Later  generations  crossed  the  channel  and 
settled  in  County  Kerry  and  County  Cork, 
Ireland. 

Mr.  Edward  A.  Prindiville  is  a  Chicago 
lawyer,  and  an  active  figure  in  politics  and 
civic  affairs.  He  was  born  in  Chicago  in  1883. 
His  father  was  also  Edward  Prindiville.  His 
grandfather,  William  Prindiville,  was  born  in 
Chicago.  A  brother  of  William  Prindiville, 
Maurice  Prindiville,  established  a  9-cent  store 
in  the  city.  This  was  the  origin  of  the  idea 
that  has  been  copied  and  has  broadcast  chains 
of  five  and  ten  cent  stores  all  over  the 
country. 

Edward  A.  Prindiville  was  liberally  edu- 
cated. He  attended  Valparaiso  University  of 
Indiana  Law  School,  and  holds  two  degrees 
from  that  institution,  Bachelor  of  Laws  and 
Master  of  Laws.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1905,  and  in  the  same  year  entered  upon 
his  career  as  a  practicing  attorney.  During 
the  administration  of  Mayor  Edward  F. 
Dunne  in  1905-07,  he  was  assistant  city 
prosecuting  attorney.  Along  with  his  law 
practice  he  has  filled  various  other  public  po- 
sitions in  the  city  and  county.  For  four 
years   he   was   city   attorney   during   the   ad- 


488 


ILLINOIS 


ministration  of  Mayor  Carter  Harrison,  Jr. 
He  was  assistant  state's  attorney  of  Cook 
County  under  Maclay  Hoyne  for  five  years, 
and  during  the  last  year  of  this  time  was 
first  assistant  in  charge  of  the  office.  For 
several  years  he  was  an  active  associate  of 
Charles  E.  Barrett.  These  activities  and  as- 
sociations have  made  him  one  of  the  outstand- 
ing leaders  in  the  Democratic  party  of  the 
city  and  county.  He  served  as  secretary  of 
the  regular  Democratic  organization,  and  as 
a  political  organizer  he  has  a  reputation  for 
rare  skill  and  efficiency. 

Benjamin  F.  Lindheimer,  president  of  the 
Board  of  Local  Improvements  of  the  City  of 
Chicago,  has  been  a  figure  in  real  estate  and 
development  work  in  that  city  for  the  past 
twenty  years. 

Mr.  Lindheimer  was  born  in  Chicago, 
October  1,  1890,  son  of  Jacob  and  Lillie  Lind- 
heimer. His  father  at  one  time  was  alderman 
in  the  City  Council  and  assistant  county 
treasurer  of  Cook  County.  Benjamin  F.  Lind- 
heimer has  been  in  the  real  estate  business 
since  1912.  He  and  his  organization  have 
owned  and  controlled  a  group  of  widely  known 
structures  both  in  the  downtown  and  outlying 
business  sections.  Mr.  Lindheimer  was  vice 
chairman  of  the  Julius  Rosenwald  Michigan 
Boulevard  Garden  Apartment  Project  for 
Colored  People,  a  project  which  aroused  wide- 
spread interest  as  a  unique  and  dividend- 
paying  effort  toward  solving  the  housing  needs 
of  a  great  city.  After  the  building  was  com- 
pleted he  became  a  trustee  and  a  member 
of  the  executive  committee  in  the  management 
of  the  apartments.  Mr.  Lindheimer  has  been 
a  director  and  trustee  of  the  Blind  Service 
Association  and  a  director  of  the  Jewish 
Peoples  Institute. 

In  1925  he  was  appointed  an  appraiser  of 
the  Board  of  Education.  In  1930  he  was  elected 
by  the  circuit  court  judges  as  South  Park 
Commissioner.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Chi- 
cago Association  of  Commerce,  the  Chi- 
cago Real  Estate  Board,  National  Association 
of  Real  Estate  Boards,  The  Greater  South 
Side  Chamber  of  Commerce;  is  a  life  member 
of  the  Art  Institute,  and  a  member  of  the 
Standard  Club. 

He  married  Miss  Vera  Burnstine  and  they 
reside  at  4805  Drexel  Boulevard.  His  chil- 
dren are  Walter,  Patricia  and  Marjorie. 

Edward  L.  Lalumier  is  a  native  of  South- 
ern Illinois,  a  comparatively  young  man,  who 
has  had  a  rapid  series  of  promotions  and 
advancements  during  his  service  with  Armour 
&  Company  and  is  now  vice  president,  comp- 
troller and  secretary  of  that  great  corpora- 
tion, with  offices  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  Lalumier  was  born  in  1890,  on  a  farm 
near  East  St.  Louis  in  St.  Clair  County,  Illi- 
nois.   His  father,  Louis  S.  Lalumier,  was  born 


on  the  same  homestead,  originally  part  of  an 
extensive  farm,  situated  about  five  miles 
southeast  of  East  St.  Louis.  The  land  was 
acquired  in  the  early  days  by  Edward 
Lalumier's  grandfather,  a  native  of  Canada 
and  of  French  ancestry.  Louis  S.  Lalumier, 
now  deceased,  married  Elizabeth  Estes,  who 
continues  to  reside  on  the  old  homestead  with 
one  daughter  and  one  son.  The  Estes  family 
were  pioneer  settlers  in  the  same  community 
of  St.  Clair  County. 

Edward  L.  Lalumier  attended  school  in  East 
St.  Louis,  and  while  working  in  St.  Louis 
attended  night  classes  of  St.  Louis  University. 
In  that  way  he  acquired  the  equivalent  of  a 
good  practical  education,  and  experience  has 
developed  in  him  the  powers  to  meet  men  and 
situations  successfully.  After  leaving  school 
he  was  for  eight  years  employed  as  a  clerk 
in  the  First  National  Bank  of  East  St.  Louis, 
and  it  was  in  that  city  that  he  made  his  first 
connection  with  Armour  &  Company.  In  1916 
he  was  sent  to  Chicago  and  was  a  clerk  in  the 
general  offices  of  the  company.  During  1918 
he  volunteered  for  service  in  the  World  war, 
but  was  not  called  to  active  duty.  After  the 
war  he  resumed  his  work  in  the  general  offices 
of  Armour  &  Company  and  was  soon  ad- 
vanced to  executive  responsibilities  in  the  ac- 
counting department.  He  was  made  assistant 
treasurer,  then  comptroller,  and  resigned  this 
office  in  1928  to  accept  the  position  of  treas- 
urer of  the  Studebaker  Corporation  at  South 
Bend,  Indiana.  This  office  he  held  less  than 
a  year,  and  in  May,  1929,  he  returned  to 
Chicago  to  become  vice  president,  comptroller 
and  secretary  of  Armour  &  Company. 

During  his  residence  in  St.  Louis  Mr. 
Lalumier  interested  himself  in  civic  affairs 
and  was  clerk  of  the  Commercial  Club  and 
assistant  city  comptroller.  He  is  well  known 
and  very  popular  in  business  circles  in  the 
Stock  Yards  district  and  in  social  affiliations 
in  the  city  at  large.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Union  League  Club  of  Chicago,  the  Olympia 
Field  Country  Club  and  the  South  Shore  Coun- 
try Club.  Mr.  Lalumier  resides  at  4950  Chi- 
cago Beach  Drive.  He  married  Miss  Clara 
Jean  Corbett,  of  New  Albany,  Indiana. 

Major  Charles  Benson,  whose  recent  death 
removed  a  prominent  figure  from  the  ranks 
of  Chicago  business  men,  earned  his  military 
rank  and  title  as  an  officer  of  the  Thirty-third 
All  Illinois  Division  in  the  World  war.  He 
shared  in  the  glorious  record  of  that  division 
overseas  and  after  the  war  lent  his  time  and 
influence  in  many  ways  to  promote  the  wel- 
fare of  disabled  veterans  and  the  ex-service 
men  associated  in  the  Order  of  the  American 
Legion. 

Major  Benson  became  a  resident  of  Illinois 
in  1893,  when  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age.  He 
was  born  at  Gualov,  Sweden,  in  1878.  He  was 
unable  to   speak  the   English   language  when 


ILLINOIS 


489 


he  arrived  in  Illinois  and  the  first  employment 
given  him  at  Gibson  City  was  at  common 
labor  on  railroad  construction.  From  Gibson 
City  he  went  to  Monmouth,  and  that  city  was 
his  home  until  he  came  to  Chicago  in  1906. 
In  the  meantime  he  had  learned  the  brick 
mason's  trade,  developed  into  a  skilled  crafts- 
man, and  from  the  practice  of  his  individual 
skill  built  up  an  organization  employing  others 
in  a  contracting  business.  For  many  years 
he  was  one  of  the  successful  building  con- 
tractors in  the  Chicago  district.  At  the  time 
of  his  death  he  was  president  of  the  Benson 
Construction  Company,  with  offices  at  228 
North  LaSalle  Street.  This  company  provided 
the  complete  facilities  for  financing  as  well 
as  construction  activities  involved  in  the  build- 
ing of  apartment  houses  and  general  industrial 
construction  throughout  the  Chicago  district, 
and  handled  a  number  of  contracts  in  other 
cities  of  the  country. 

Major  Benson's  military  experience  began 
before  the  World  war,  as  a  member  of  the  old 
Illinois  National  Guard.  He  rose  from  the 
ranks  to  commissioned  officer  in  the  Sixth 
Illinois  Infantry.  This  regiment  was  called 
to  active  training  March  26,  1917,  and  when 
mustered  into  the  National  Army  it  became 
the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-third  Field 
Artillery,  Thirty-third  Division.  In  the  mean- 
time he  was  promoted  to  captain  of  his  regi- 
ment, and  in  March,  1918,  went  overseas  with 
his  division  and  in  France  was  promoted  to 
the  rank  of  major  in  July,  1918.  He  was  with 
the  Thirty-third  Division  in  its  campaigns  on 
the  western  front.  He  later  had  the  rank  of 
major  of  infantry  in  the  Officers  Reserve 
Corps,  United  States  Army.  While  in  France 
he  was  on  General  Bell's  staff  as  assistant 
operations    officer. 

Major  Benson  gave  much  of  his  time  to 
the  American  Legion  and  the  Disabled  Vet- 
erans Association.  In  1930  he  was  chosen 
grand  marshal  of  the  fifth  annual  Liberty  Ball 
of  Woodrow  Wilson  Chapter  No.  4,  for  dis- 
abled American  veterans,  a  notable  local  event, 
the  proceeds  of  which  were  devoted  to  the  aid 
of  hundreds  of  disabled  veterans.  Major  Ben- 
son was  a  member  of  the  Forty  and  Eight 
Military  Society,  state  president  of  the  United 
Republican  War  Veterans  League  of  Illinois, 
and  a  member  of  the  Lake  Shore  Athletic, 
Hamilton,  Steuben  and  Swedish  clubs  of 
Chicago. 

Major  Benson  married  Miss  Esther  M.  Eck- 
land,  of  Geneva,  Illinois.  They  had  three 
children,  Jack  Ogden,  Barbara  and  Jean  Olga. 
Barbara  was  born  in  Camp  Logan,  Texas,  and 
was  two  months  old  when  Major  Benson  went 
to  France.  She  was  killed  in  an  automobile 
accident  in  Chicago  on  August  9,  1920.  Mrs. 
Benson's  chief  activity  outside  her  home  has 
been  through  the  American  Legion  Auxiliary. 
She  was  president  of  the  Dumeresq  Spencer 
Unit   of   the   American    Legion   Auxiliary    of 


Highland  Park,  Illinois,  and  later  district  com- 
mitteewoman  of  District  No.  8.  She  was  chair- 
man of  the  Cooperation  Unit,  World  war 
Veterans,  of  the  Highland  Park  Woman's  Club 
and  worked  at  Great  Lakes,  North  Chicago 
Hospital  in  the  interests  of  the  veterans.  Mrs. 
Benson,  like  the  Major,  took  a  very  great 
interest  in  the  World  war  veterans.  Major 
Benson  died  very  suddenly  at  the  Hinsdale 
Sanitarium  August  3,  1931.  He  was  buried 
with  military  honors  at  Geneva,  Illinois. 

Earle  A.  Soule,  M.  D.  Among  the  physi- 
cians and  surgeons  of  Rock  Island  County, 
one  who  has  won  well  merited  success  and 
esteem  through  the  medium  of  his  own  efforts 
is  Dr.  Earle  A.  Soule,  who  has  been  engaged 
in  practice  at  East  Moline  since  1913.  His 
has  been  a  career  of  exceptional  breadth  and 
usefulness,  in  which  he  has  exercised  the  fine 
professional  talents  with  which  he  is  endowed, 
at  the  same  time  finding  the  opportunity  to 
■consider  those  subjects  which  interest  men  of 
enlightened  public  views. 

Doctor  Soule  was  born  at  Monmouth,  Illi- 
nois, November  23,  1876,  and  is  a  son  of  Rev. 
Melville  C.  and  Ina  Belle  (Smith)  Soule.  The 
Soule  family  traces  its  ancestry  directly  back 
in  this  country  to  George  Soule,  who  was  a 
passenger  on  the  good  ship  Mayflower,  the 
vessel  on  which  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  sailed  to 
America,  arriving  in  Cape  Cod,  in  November, 
1620.  His  paternal  grandfather  was  Rev. 
Justice  F.  Soule,  a  native  of  New  York  State, 
who  came  as  a  young  man  to  Illinois  and  be- 
came a  pioneer  circuit  rider  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  faith,  for  many  years  riding  horse- 
back to  various  charges  and  missions  all  over 
the  state.  The  maternal  grandfather  of  Doc- 
tor Soule  was  William  F.  Smith,  who  was  born 
in  1822,  in  Kentucky,  and  in  1842  came  to 
Illinois,  where  he  settled  in  Warren  County. 
During  the  remainder  of  his  life  he  devoted 
himself  to  the  conduct  of  a  drug  store.  He 
was  a  man  of  character  and  energy,  and  at 
the  time  of  his  death  was  one  of  the  substan- 
tial citizens  of  Monmouth. 

Rev.  Melville  C.  Soule  received  his  educa- 
tion in  New  York  State,  and  was  still  a  young 
man  when  he  accompanied  his  parents  to  Illi- 
nois. For  a  time  he  was  a  Methodist  Epis- 
copal minister,  but  eventually  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  real  estate,  and  continued  to  be  en- 
gaged along  those  lines  until  his  death  in 
1912.  For  twenty-eight  years  he  was  super- 
intendent of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Sunday 
School  at  Monmouth,  belonged  to  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  during  his 
entire  life  was  a  stanch  Republican,  although 
rather  as  a  supporter  of  candidates  and  poli- 
cies than  as  a  seeker  for  personal  preferment. 
He  married  Ina  Belle  Smith,  who  was  born  at 
Monmouth,  and  still  survives  him  as  a  resident 
of  Tacoma,  Washington.  She  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Pi  Phi  fraternity  while  attend- 


490 


ILLINOIS 


ing  Monmouth  College.  They  became  the  par- 
ents of  five  sons  and  three  daughters,  of  whom 
Dr.  Earle  A.,  one  of  twins,  was  the  fourth  in 
order  of  birth. 

Earle  A.  Soule  attended  the  Monmouth  pub- 
lic schools  and  Monmouth  College,  following 
which  he  enrolled' as  a  student  in  Hahnemann 
Medical  College,  Chicago,  and  was  graduated 
therefrom  as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1901, 
receiving  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine. 
From  1901  until  1907  he  was  connected  with 
the  East  Moline  (Illinois)  Hospital,  under  Dr. 
W.  E.  Taylor,  and  in  the  latter  year  engaged 
in  private  practice  at  Rock  Island,  where  he 
remained  until  locating  permanently  at  East 
Moline  in  1913.  Doctor  Soule  engages  in  gen- 
eral medicine  and  surgery,  has  built  up  a 
large  and  representative  practice,  is  known 
as  a  skilled  diagnostician,  practitioner  and 
operator,  and  has  the  confidence  and  esteem 
of  his  fellow-citizens  and  fellow-practitioners. 
As  a  student  he  majored  in  mathematics,  and 
his  professional  connections  include  member- 
ship in  the  Rock  Island  County  Medical  So- 
ciety and  the  Illinois  State  Medical  Society. 
Doctor  Soule  is  a  great  lover  of  baseball  and 
all  athletic  games,  and  is  a  member  of  the 
Short  Hills  Country  Club.  He  has  numerous 
other  interests  and  belongs  to  the  Phi  Kappa 
Pi  literary  fraternity,  is  a  thirty-second  de- 
gree Scottish  Rite  Mason,  is  a  director  of  the 
Boy  Scouts,  in  which  organization  he  has 
taken  an  active  and  helpful  part,  and  is  also 
chairman  of  the  East  Moline  Park  Board. 

On  December  7,  1910,  Doctor  Soule  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Laney  Dutcher, 
who  was  born  near  Davenport,  Iowa,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Jerome  Dutcher,  who  came  to  Illinois 
during  the  '50s  and  passed  the  rest  of  his  life 
in  agricultural  pursuits.  His  wife  was  a  Miss 
Mitch,  of  Peoria,  whose  family  came  from 
Germany,  and  whose  mother  was  a  descendent 
of  the  immortal  composer  Bach.  To  Doctor 
and  Mrs.  Soule  there  has  been  born  one  son: 
John  Dutcher,  who  is  attending  school  at  East 
Moline.  Doctor  Soule's  well-appointed  office 
is  situated  at  843%  Fifteenth  Avenue. 

Pliny  Russell  Blodgett,  M.  D.,  in  his  home 
community  of  Chicago  Heights,  Cook  County, 
is  recognized  as  an  outstanding  physician  and 
surgeon,  a  man  with  a  very  busy  practice  and 
active  in  connection  with  hospitals.  Doctor 
Blodgett  is  a  native  Illinoisan,  and  his  great 
enthusiasm  for  many  years  has  been  work 
for  the  conserving  of  the  state's  natural 
beauties  and  resources.  He  has  the  distinc- 
tion of  being  president  of  the  Izaak  Walton 
League  of  Illinois. 

Doctor  Blodgett  was  born  at  Harvard,  Illi- 
nois, March  4,  1892,  son  of  John  W.  and  Nina 
(Blanchard)  Blodgett.  During  part  of  his 
boyhood  the  family  lived  at  Lake  Geneva, 
Wisconsin.  Doctor  Blodgett  was  graduated 
Bachelor  of  Science  in  1914  from  the  Univer- 


sity of  Illinois,  doing  his  pre-medical  work 
there,  and  completed  his  professional  training 
in  the  medical  department  of  the  University 
of  Illinois  at  Chicago,  where  he  received  the 
M.  D.  degree  in  1916. 

It  was  three  years  before  he  had  oppor- 
tunity to  settle  down  to  private  practice. 
Shortly  after  graduating  he  was  commissioned 
by  Governor  Dunne  a  lieutenant  in  the  Illinois 
National  Guard,  Medical  Division,  and  was 
attached  to  the  Third  Illinois  Infantry.  He 
was  called  out  for  active  duty  on  the  Mexican 
border  in  the  summer  of  1916  and  remained 
there  until  February,  1917.  Then,  in  April, 
1917,  he  was  commissioned  a  captain  in  the 
Army  Medical  Corps,  and  with  the  123rd 
Machine  Gun  Battalion,  a  unit  in  the  Thirty- 
third  or  All  Illinois  Division,  went  to  Camp 
Logan,  Houston,  Texas.  In  the  spring  of  1918 
he  accompanied  the  Thirty-third  Division  over- 
seas and  was  in  France  for  a  year.  Doctor 
Blodgett  was  discharged  in  June,  1919,  and 
during  the  past  ten  years  has  continued  an 
active  interest  and  official  connection  with 
the  state  military  organizations,  holding  the 
rank  of  major  in  the  Reserve  Officers  Corps, 
Medical   Corps. 

Doctor  Blodgett  established  himself  in  pri- 
vate practice  in  1919  at  Chicago  Heights. 
Besides  his  individual  practice  he  is  attending 
surgeon  at  the  St.  James  Hospital  of  Chicago 
Heights  and  the  Ingalls  Memorial  Hospital  at 
Harvey.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
Medical  Society,  Illinois  Medical  Association, 
American  Medical  Association,  Association  of 
Military  Surgeons  of  the  United  States,  has 
been  a  member  of  the  Council  of  the  Chicago 
Society  since  1922  and  is  president  of  the 
South  Side  Physicians  Fellowship  Club.  He 
is  president  of  the  Chicago  Heights  Kiwanis 
Club.  Doctor  Blodgett  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Medical  Authors'  Club.  He  has 
contributed  a  number  of  articles  of  a  scien- 
tific nature  to  medical  journals  and  to  the 
newspaper  press. 

Most  of  his  literary  work  is  incidental  to 
his  deep  interest  as  a  sportsman,  hunter  and 
lover  of  outdoor  life.  He  has  long  cultivated 
the  habit  of  scientific  observation,  and  has 
used  his  own  influence  and  allied  himself  with 
various  organizations  to  promote  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  beauty  spots  of  his  native  state 
and  conservation  of  the  resources  for  recrea- 
tion and  sport.  He  is  editor  of  the  Illinois 
Waltonian,  the  organ  of  the  Illinois  division 
of  the  Izaak  Walton  League  of  America.  He 
has  held  various  positions  in  the  Chicago 
Heights  and  Cook  County  Chapters  of  this 
league,  and  in  1929  was  elected  president  of 
the  Illinois  division.  The  Illinois  division  was 
organized  February  28,  1923,  and  representing 
several  hundred  local  chapters  it  has  been  a 
powerful  influence  in  securing  a  better  regula- 
tion of  the  use  of  our  state's  game  and  other 
resources  and  the  extention  of  such  resources 


ILLINOIS 


491 


for  the  future.  The  League  had  much  to  do 
with  the  establishment  of  the  Illinois  Con- 
servation Department  in  1925.  The  League 
was  one  of  the  organizations  that  induced 
the  state  to  purchase  the  last  remaining  white 
pine  forest,  now  known  as  the  Pines  State 
Park,  between  Oregon  and  Polo.  Some  of  its 
most  effective  influence  has  been  exerted  in 
behalf  of  the  campaign  for  preventing  stream 
pollution  and  in  promoting  the  proper  utiliza- 
tion of  the  game  resources  along  the  low  lands 
of  the  Illinois  and  other  rivers.  In  1920  the 
Illinois  division  of  the  League  announced  a 
general  plan  looking  toward  the  eventual 
reforestation  of  a  large  portion  of  the  state, 
the  aim  being  in  the  course  of  time  to  secure 
a  million  wooded  acres  in  the  state.  Illinois 
is  the  prairie  state,  but  originally  fully  two- 
fifths  of  its  area  was  timbered  land,  though 
now  only  about  ten  per  cent  of  the  area  is 
in  forest. 

Doctor  Blodgett  married  Miss  Gladys  Grif- 
fiths. They  have  two  children,  Pliny  Russell, 
Jr.,  and  Gladys. 

William  McKendree,  a  pioneer  church  man 
whose  name  in  Illinois  is  commemorated  in 
McKendree  College  at  Lebanon,  was  born  in 
Virginia  in  1757,  was  a  soldier  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  about  1788  entered  the  Methodist 
ministry.  In  1800  he  came  West  as  a  mission- 
ary in  the  Illinois  district,  and  in  1808  was 
elevated  to  the  office  of  Bishop  of  the  church. 
He  died  near  Nashville,  Tennessee,  March  5, 
1835. 

Elmer  E.  Cowdrey  is  a  prominent  business 
leader  in  what  is  known  as  the  "Uptown 
District"  of  Chicago.  He  is  president  of  the 
Uptown  Lions  Club,  and  is  also  president  of 
Cowdrey  &  Adams,  oils  and  gasoline. 

Mr.  Cowdrey  has  had  an  exceedingly  inter- 
esting career,  most  of  which  has  been  spent 
in  Chicago.  He  is  a  World  war  veteran,  and 
one  of  the  few  men  in  the  United  States  who 
saw  actual  submarine  service  in  the  war  zone. 

Mr.  Cowdrey  is  a  native  son  of  Illinois. 
He  was  born  at  Aurora  March  24,  1896,  and 
is  not  only  a  member  of  a  pioneer  family 
of  Kane  County  but  of  old  American  stock, 
of  English  ancestry.  His  ancestors  came  to 
this  country  in  Colonial  times  and  were  New 
Englanders.  Cowdrey  has  been  an  honored 
name  in  different  sections  of  the  country  for 
many  generations.  On  coming  to  Illinois  the 
Cowdreys  settled  and  took  up  a  government 
land  claim  about  fifteen  miles  southwest  of 
Aurora.  Mr.  Cowdrey's  grandfather,  William 
Cowdrey,  was  a  Union  soldier  in  the  Civil 
war.  Elmer  E.  Cowdrey  is  a  son  of  Fred  J. 
Cowdrey. 

Mr.  Cowdrey  attended  school  in  Aurora  and 
Chicago.  Circumstances  compelled  him  to  earn 
his  own  way  from  the  time  he  was  thirteen 
years  of  age.     For  several  years  he  was  em- 


ployed by  the  Schiller  Floral  Company 
of  Chicago,  and  he  learned  that  business 
thoroughly. 

He  was  just  twenty-one  years  of  age  when 
America  intervened  in  the  World  war.  He 
was  one  of  the  first  Americans  to  volunteer, 
enlisting  at  Chicago  April  6,  1917.  He  was 
immediately  assigned  to  the  submarine  service, 
which  at  that  time  was  a  separate  branch  of 
the  military  establishment  and  not  a  part  of 
the  navy.  He  was  on  one  of  the  submarines 
the  United  States  had  in  the  war  zone.  Alto- 
gether he  spent  two  years  and  eleven  months 
in  the  service.  He  helped  bring  back  captured 
submarine  undersea  craft,  including  the  UB- 
148  and  the  UC-97,  which  were  displayed  in 
Chicago.  He  crossed  the  Atlantic  six  times. 
He  was  on  the  submarine  L-9  of  the  United 
States  Submarine  Service,  which  had  only 
fifteen  members  until  it  was  merged  with  the 
navy.  Probably  no  branch  of  work  in  the 
war  called  for  greater  qualities  of  courage 
-and  endurance  than  submarine  duty. 

Mr.  Cowdrey  did  not  return  home  until 
1921,  and  on  being  relieved  of  military  duty 
he  reengaged  in  the  floral  business,  opening 
a  floral  store  of  his  own.  Later  he  entered 
the  gasoline  and  oil  business.  He  is  a  senior 
member  of  the  firm  of  Cowdrey  &  Adams, 
which  has  built  up  an  extensive  business, 
operating  two  prominent  stations,  the  larger 
located  at  4900  North  Broadway,  at  the  corner 
of  Ainslee  Street,  and  the  other  at  3601  North 
Kedzie,  at  the  corner  of  Addison.  Mr.  Cow- 
drey is  a  member  and  was  the  first  commander 
of  Rogers  Park  Post  No.  108  of  the  American 
Legion.  He  was  honored  by  election  as  presi- 
dent of  the  Uptown  Lions  Club  in  June,  1932. 
Throughout  that  district  of  Chicago  he  takes 
a  prominent  part  in  civic  affairs,  has  done  a 
great  deal  of  work  for  boys,  and  is  a  member 
of  Rogers  Park  Lodge  No.  843,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  Park  Chapter  No.  213,  Royal  Arch 
Masons,  Illinois  Commandery  of  Knights  Tem- 
plar, the  Oriental  Consistory  of  the  Scottish 
Rite  and  the  Mystic  Shrine.  His  favorite 
recreation  is  fishing. 

Mr.  Cowdrey  married  Miss  Rose  Mertel,  of 
Chicago.  They  have  a  daughter,  Beatrice 
Jane  Cowdrey.  Their  home  is  at  1246  Fletcher 
Street. 

Richard  J.  Hamilton  was  born  near  Dan- 
ville, Kentucky,  August  21,  1799,  and  died 
December  26,  1860.  About  1820  he  settled  in 
Union  County  and  in  1821  was  appointed 
cashier  of  the  Branch  State  Bank  at  Browns- 
ville in  Jackson  County.  In  1831  he  removed 
to  the  village  of  Chicago,  where  Governor 
Reynolds  had  appointed  him  the  first  probate 
judge  of  Cook  County.  He  also  served  as 
circuit  and  county  clerk,  recorder  and  com- 
missioner of  school  lands.  In  1856  he  was 
unsuccessful  candidate  for  lieutenant-governor 
on  the  Democratic  ticket. 


492 


ILLINOIS 


Arthur  G.  Erdmann  was  in  January,  1933, 
named  president  of  the  Seventh  District  Fed- 
eral Home  Loan  Bank  of  Evanston.  This 
was  a  high  honor  and  a  great  responsibility, 
and  came  in  recognition  of  Mr.  Erdmann's 
proved  skill  as  a  financier  and  an  authority 
on  home  building  .problems.  Mr.  Erdmann 
since  1925  has  been  secretary  of  the  Bell  Sav- 
ings, Building  &  Loan  Association  of  Chicago. 

He  was  born  in  Chicago,  in  1890,  son  of 
Gustav  and  Catherine  (Lober)  Erdmann.  The 
record  of  his  career  shows  that  he  has  first 
and  last  depended  primarily  upon  his  own 
initiative,  his  industrious  abilities,  rather  than 
upon  outside  advantages  and  influences.  He 
was  educated  in  the  grade  and  high  schools 
of  Chicago,  and  after  he  went  to  work  took 
up  the  study  of  law,  which  he  pursued  in 
evening  classes.  From  high  school  he  found 
work  in  the  office  of  one  of  the  assistant 
superintendents  of  Marshall  Field  &  Company. 
From  there  he  went  into  the  money  order 
department  of  the  Chicago  Postoffice.  In  1911, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  became  identified 
with  the  Illinois  Bell  Telephone  Company,  with 
which  corporation  he  has  been  identified  in 
numerous  responsibilities  for  over  twenty 
years.  A  number  of  substantial  promotions 
have  rewarded  his  increasing  abilities.  He 
started  in  the  maintenance  department,  held 
several  clerical  positions,  was  then  made 
supervisor  and  then  chief  clerk  to  the  super- 
intendent of  the  maintenance  department. 
From  that  he  was  transferred  to  chief  assign- 
ment clerk  in  the  same  department  and  then 
became  department  statistician. 

He  assisted  in  organizing  the  Bell  Savings, 
Building  &  Loan  Association,  which  began 
operations  in  1925,  with  Mr.  Erdmann  as 
secretary.  As  the  name  indicates,  the  mem- 
bership of  this  company  is  made  up  of  officers 
and  employees  of  the  Illinois  Bell  Telephone 
Company.  Its  affairs  have  been  ably  man- 
aged, its  resources  have  been  thoroughly  con- 
served and  used  in  encouraging  the  home 
builders  and  in  promoting  thrift  of  its  mem- 
bership. 

This  company  was  among  the  first  to  qualify 
for  membership  in  the  Illinois-Wisconsin  re- 
gional unit  of  the  Federal  Home  Loan  Bank, 
which  was  organized  in  October,  1932.  Its 
first  staff  of  officials  served  until  the  following 
January,  at  which  time  Mr.  Erdmann  was 
chosen  president.  The  basic  principles  of  the 
Federal  Home  Loan  banking  system  were  out- 
lined by  Herbert  Hoover  in  1921,  while  he 
was  Secretary  of  Commerce.  It  was  called 
into  actual  being  as  one  of  the  emergency 
measures  designed  to  combat  the  financial  and 
industrial  depression,  and  while  it  has  special 
features  designed  to  meet  the  demands  of  the 
current  emergency,  leaders  in  finance  believe 
that  its  essential  purposes  will  be  adapted  for 
a  permanent  institution  to  play  its  part  in 
normal  as  well  as  abnormal  times.     The  Fed- 


eral Home  Loan  Bank  has  been  described  as 
almost  an  identical  counterpart  of  the  Federal 
Reserve  System,  designed  to  deal  with  mort- 
gages instead  of  short-term  commercial  paper. 
This  new  position  and  honor  in  financial 
circles  does  not  interfere  with  Mr.  Erdmann's 
executive  position  with  the  Bell  Savings, 
Building  &  Loan  Association.  Mr.  Erdmann 
is  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Mortgage  Bankers 
Association,  the  Midland  Club,  Chicago  Rotary 
Club  and  the  Telephone  Pioneers  of  America. 
He  married  Miss  Anne  Gill,  of  Chicago.  They 
reside  at  5447  Agatite  Avenue.  Their  four 
children  are  Ruth,  June,  Rita  and  Arthur 
G.,  Jr. 

Horace  White  was  born  at  Colebrook,  New 
Hampshire,  August  10,  1834,  and  died  Sep- 
tember 16,  1916.  He  was  educated  in  Beloit 
College  in  Wisconsin,  graduating  in  1853. 
What  gives  him  a  place  among  distinguished 
Illinoisans  of  the  past  was  the  many  years 
he  spent  with  the  Chicago  Tribune.  He  was 
editor  and  one  of  the  chief  proprietors  of 
the  Tribune  from  1864  to  1874.  In  his  later 
years  he  was  in  the  newspaper  business  in 
New  York,  becoming  identified  with  the 
Evening  Post  in  1883,  and  was  president  of 
the  company,  editorial  writer  and  editor-in- 
chief.     He  retired  January  1,  1903. 

Hon.  Edward  Fitzsimons  Dunne,*  It  was 
my  interesting  fortune  (good  or  bad)  to  be 
associated  with  the  Fourth  Estate  through- 
out virtually  the  three  phases  of  Mr.  Dunne's 
public  service — jurist,  Mayor  of  Chicago  and 
Governor  of  Illinois.  As  a  day-by-day  work- 
ing newspaper  man,  first  as  a  reporter  on 
routine  assignments  and  subsequently  as  a 
political  writer  on  the  Inter  Ocean,  Tribune 
and  Herald-Examiner,  I  was  thrown  into  in- 
timate contact  with  the  man,  particularly  dur- 
ing the  more  thrilling  episodes  of  his  career. 
It  may  be  set  down  as  a  truism  that  trained 
newspaper  men  develop  an  unerring  precision 
in  delineating  the  character  of  men  in  public 
life,  and  almost  at  first  sight.  It  is  a  sort 
of  sixth  sense  and  almost  invariably  it  is 
correct. 

My  judgment  is  that  without  a  single  ex- 
ception we  newspaper  men  who  were  early 
assigned  to  the  Dunne  Sector,  though  not 
agreeing  with  all  his  political  views,  received 
two  definite  and  ineradicable  impressions. 
First,  that  he  was  an  honest  man.  And  in 
those  hectic  days  honesty  in  public  service 
was  a  quality  that  shone  forth  brilliantly,  if 
lonely.  Second,  that  his  private  morals  were 
unassailable.  And  that  achievement,  it  might 
be  added  parenthetically,  was  not  to  be  over- 
looked in  those  not  altogether  halcyon  days  in 
Chicago  political  circles  just  after  the  turn 
of  the  century. 


*An  appreciation  by  Charles  N.  Wheeler. 


ILLINOIS 


493 


An  episode  will  illustrate,  perhaps,  the  sound- 
ness of  these  two  early  impressions.  It  was 
in  the  mayoral  campaign  of  1907.  Mayor 
Dunne  was  a  candidate  for  re-election.  It  was 
one  of  the  more  dramatic  campaigns  of  the 
city's  history.  The  outstanding  issue  was 
municipal  ownership  and  operation  of  the 
street  cars.  Dunne  was  for  municipalization. 
There  were  arrayed  against  him  nearly  all 
the  financiers  and  substantial  business  leaders 
of  the  city.  Many  of  these  men  I  knew  then 
and  know  now  were  motivated  not  by  crass 
selfishness  but  by  a  genuine  fear  and  horror 
of  "socialism."  Many  were  not  so  actuated. 
But   that's   another   story. 

The  bitterness,  intensified  by  unbridled  ridi- 
cule, was  indescribable.  Feeling  ran  high. 
The  political  reporters  knew  the  result  would 
be  comparatively  close.  About  two  weeks  be- 
fore the  balloting,  a  West  Side  Democratic 
leader,  who  wielded  tremendous  influence 
throughout  the  river  wards,  was  ushered  into 
the  mayor's  office.  In  substance,  after  the 
friendly  greeting,  the  following  conversation 
took  place:  j 

Leader — Mr.  Mayor,  we  are  practical  men. 
There  is  much  at  stake  in  this  election.  You 
want  to  be  reelected.  You  have  it  in  your 
power  to  be  reelected,  if  you  will  do  one  little 
thing. 

Dunne — Well,  that  makes  it  easy,  doesn't  it? 
(The  Mayor  smiled).  What  is  this  little 
thing? 

Leader — Well,  Mr.  Mayor,  this  is  it: 
Through  your  chief  of  police  you  control  the 
inspectors.  The  boys  want  you  to  promise 
that  if  reelected  they  can  name  the  police  in- 
spectors who  will  have  charge  of  the  First, 
Eighteenth  and  Twenty-first  wards. 

Dunne — What's  that  you  say?  You  want 
me  to  promise  now  that  I  will  turn  over  the 
police  in  the  river  wards  to  these  men?  (The 
mayor's  smile  had  departed.  With  all  his  lov- 
able and  humane  qualities  he  would  be  as  stern 
and  forbidding  and  ominous  at  times  as  a 
Milesian  broadswordsman). 

Leader — Yes.  It  ain't  much.  The  boys'll 
handle  things  all  right.  And  I  can  guaran- 
tee you  right  now  that  it  will  mean  your  elec- 
tion. 

Dunne,  rising,  with  fire  in  his  eye — That 
means  that  in  the  event  of  my  reelection  these 
men  you  mention  are  to  take  charge  of  the 
gambling  and  the  disorderly  houses  in  the 
river  wards  with  the  cooperation  and  protec- 
tion of  the  police  of  Chicago! 

Leader — Well,  I  wouldn't  put  it  quite  as 
strong  as  that,  but — in  a  way,  yes. 

Dunne — That  proposition  is  offensive  and  in- 
sulting. I  know  these  leaders  don't  mean  it 
that  way,  but  it  is,  profoundly  so.  Now  listen 
to  me.  This  might  elect  me.  My  refusal  to 
accede  to  your  request  may  mean  my  defeat. 
But  I  just  want  to  say  to  you  that  if  I  made 
this  offensive  promise  I  could  not  go  home  and 


look  that  good  wife  of  mine  in  the  face.  I 
would  not  do  that  to  gain  the  greatest  polit- 
ical office  on  God's  footstool.     Good  day. 

A  certain  other  political  leader  who  has  since 
gained  international  fame  came  in  as  the  other 
went  out.  He  found  the  mayor  somewhat  per- 
turbed, and,  under  a  pledge  of  confidence,  was 
told  in  substance  the  proposal.  This  political 
leader  exploded.  "Aw,"  he  growled,  "why 
didn't  you  tell  him  to  go  ahead?  After  elec- 
tion you  could  tell  him  to  go  to  hell!"  Dunne 
was  defeated  by  a  comparatively  small  margin. 

Another  episode:  One  of  the  social  prob- 
lems Dunne  refused  to  ignore  was  the  exten- 
sion of  the  "oldest  profession"  to  the  very 
heart  of  the  city.  The  present  generation  can 
have  no  adequate  conception  either  of  the  effi- 
ciency with  which  these  hataerae  were  com- 
mercialized or  the  blatancy  with  which  they 
were  advertised,  as  the  city  swung  into  the 
twentieth  century. 

A  man  of  elevated  moral  sensibility,  Dunne 
was  appalled  by  the  extent  of  the  traffic  and 
the  ramifications  of  the  organization  which 
controlled  it.  As  a  jurist  and  private  citizen 
he  knew  what  most  every  one  knew,  namely, 
that  the  vice  existed  and  probably  on  a  com- 
paratively large  scale.  He  did  not  know  until 
he  became  chief  executive  and  the  opportunity 
was  afforded  to  view  the  whole  picture  in  its 
stark  realities  rather  than  in  an  obscure  per- 
spective, what  a  staggering  price  the  commun- 
ity was  paying  in  missing  girls,  dislocated 
morals,  expanding  infection  and  the  corruption 
of  law-enforcing  agencies. 

It  required  nearly  a  year's  time  to  make  the 
complete  survey  and  marshal  the  forces.  Then 
he  struck.  His  laconic  order,  transmitted 
through  the  Chief  of  Police,  was:  "Get  out!" 
Dunne's  reprobations  were  not  directed  at  the 
unfortunates;  he  pitied  them.  They  were  di- 
rected at  the  traffic;  and  his  reprehensions 
were  flung  into  the  faces  of  the  vice  barons 
who  had  capitalized  the  delinquencies  of  the 
erring  sisters. 

The  decision  no  sooner  had  been  announced 
than  the  expected  eventuated.  A  person  was 
ushered  into  the  mayor's  office.  His  proposi- 
tion was  quickly  outlined.  A  little  more  than 
twelve  months  remained  of  the  mayor's  term. 
If  he  would  recall  his  order  as  to  Custom 
House  Row  alone,  or  allow  it  to  be  pigeon-holed 
in  the  office  of  the  chief  of  police  $10,000  in 
cash  would  be  advanced  immediately  and  $10,- 
000  monthly  thereafter,  a  total  of  $130,000,  all 
to  be  turned  over  to  the  campaign  committee 
for  use  in  his  behalf  in  the  election  contest 
one  year  later. 

Dunne's  reply  was  made  to  the  chief  of  po- 
lice. It  was:  "Proceed  at  once  to  carry  out 
my  instructions  and  with  every  ounce  of  power 
the  city  can  muster!"  That  marked  the  be- 
ginning of  the  end  of  open  and  commercialized 
prostitution  in  Chicago  with  the  connivance 
and    tacit    protection   of   the    police.      It   was 


494 


ILLINOIS 


Dunne's  bold  and  sensational  assault  that 
aroused  the  public  conscience  and  led  to  final 
suppression  of  the  segregated  "Red  Light"  dis- 
trict in  the  last  administration  of  Carter  H. 
Harrison   (1911-1915). 

Dunne's  reaction  in  these  two  instances  was 
characteristic  of  the  mental  processes  through- 
out his  political  career.  His  habitual  exhibi- 
tion of  this  unvarying  uprightness  suggested  a 
mind  of  fine  integrity,  not  fully  comprehended 
by  those  who  were  incapable  of  penetrating 
beyond  the  surface  manifestation  of  his  whole- 
some amiability. 

And  yet  no  man  more  than  he,  perhaps,  so 
utterly  despised  racketeering  reformers — those 
garrulous  polemics  whose  righteous  horror  too 
often  may  be  predicated  on  the  vision  of  a 
meal  ticket.  The  devout  laborer  in  the  field  of 
social  reform  had  no  stancher  supporter.  His 
enthusiasm  for  this  sort  of  public  service 
flowed  from  an  inherent  moral  quality  and  not, 
we  may  safely  assume  after  twenty-five  years 
of  frequent  contact  with  him,  from  considera- 
tion of  expediency.  It  was  as  natural  for 
him  to  be  personally  honest  in  public  office  as 
it  was  for  him  to  breathe,  and,  therefore,  no 
particular  credit  to  him  that  he  was  so. 

There  was,  moreover,  another  influence  that 
doubtless  would  have  sustained  him  against 
every  art  of  those  who  sought  to  purchase  the 
right  to  promote  unsocial  undertakings  had  he 
experienced  the  slightest  susceptibility  to  their 
blandishments.  That  was  his  home  life.  Here 
Dunne  was  truly  admirable.  The  exquisite 
grace  and  tranquillity  which  hedged  about  the 
well-sheltered  brood  may  not  inappropriately 
suggest  The  Cotter's  Saturday  Night. 

On  one  occasion  he  said  to  me:  "These  men 
(who  sought  special  privileges  of  an  unlawful 
nature)  do  not  understand  the  love  I  bear  my 
wife  and  children.  I  suppose  most  men  think 
they  have  wonderful  wives  and  no  doubt  they 
have,  but  I  am  certain  Almighty  God  blessed 
me  with  the  noblest  woman  for  a  wife  in  this 
whole  world.  And  there  are  those  children. 
Nine  sons  and  daughters.  And  not  a  black 
sheep  among  them.  (One  of  these  nine  chil- 
dren, let  me  suggest  parenthetically,  was  with- 
in the  last  few  days  inducted  into  the  office  of 
Municipal  Judge  of  the  City  of  Chicago.) 
Does  any  one  suppose  I  deliberately  could  do 
a  hurt  to  my  conscience  with  that  picture  con- 
stantly before  me?  I  haven't  many  illusions. 
I  know  I'm  just  the  ordinary  run  of  clay.  I 
have  my  faults,  and  God  knows  they're  num- 
berless. When  I  reflect,  however,  that  the  just 
man  spoken  of  in  the  Bible  was  not  considered 
without  the  pale  if  he  fell  no  more  than  seven 
times  a  day  I  figure  I'm  not  so  hellish  after 
all."  He  leaned  over  the  desk,  his  face  broke 
into  a  smile  and  he  laughed  right  heartily  as 
he  pronounced  the  last  three  words. 

Withal,  in  his  more  intimate  social  contacts 
he  rarely  disclosed  the  "veritas  that  lurks  be- 


neath." He  was  almost  boyish,  always  witty, 
never  supercilious,  and  ever  enjoyed  a  good 
story.  In  truth  the  stories  might  verge  a  little 
to  Lincoln's  idea  of  "broadness,"  but  the  slight- 
est stepping  across  the  line  into  the  realm  of 
vulgarity  and  obscenity  offended  him  deeply 
and  called  forth  his  instant  resentment.  He 
had  no  zest  for  Rabelassain  pleasantries. 

He  enjoyed  immensely  the  society  of  con- 
genial spirits  and  was  not  averse  to  a  "Scotch 
and  Soda"  in  its  proper  place.  Though  tem- 
perate in  all  things  he  was  not  a  tee-totaller 
and  for  possibly  sixty  years  of  his  marvelous 
life  span  he  has  indulged  moderately  his  usque- 
baughan  appetite.  And  in  all  the  years  no  one 
was  known  to  observe  his  surrender  to  John 
Barleycorn  beyond  the  point  where  wits  were 
sharpened,  humor  mellowed  and  friendship  hal- 
lowed. He  rarely,  if  ever,  stepped  out  of  his 
character  as  a  gentleman.  What  vices  he 
owned  "even  leaned  to  virtue's  side."  He  could 
swear — not  picturesquely  nor  profanely.  Yet 
he  could  consign  an  unworthy  antagonist  to 
the  abode  of  lost  souls  with  an  unction  and 
finality  that  were  immense. 

His  sympathies  were  profound,  but  so  wide 
and  undisciplined  as  not  to  have  been  bestowed 
discreetly  or  worthily  at  all  times.  It  was 
because  this  element  was  ever  a  determining 
factor  in  his  political  formula  that  his  adver- 
saries were  enabled  to  concentrate  their  major 
assault  upon  his  "economic  fallacies." 

In  sheer  courage  he  represented  the  absolute. 
So  much  so  that  the  epithets  "bull-headed," 
"stubborn"  and  "obstinate"  were  not  altogether 
undeserved.  Here  the  point  around  which  the 
controversy  rages  was  as  to  whether  this  per- 
tinacity was  employed  on  the  side  of  "right 
and  progress." 

Finally,  he  was  never  known  to  have  counte- 
nanced a  disparaging  observation  concerning 
any  man's  religion.  Freedom  of  conscience 
was  the  high  point  in  his  metaphysical  flights. 

Dunne's  career  illustrates  how  accidental 
trivialities  determine  human  destiny.  The  send- 
ing of  a  telegram  by  Dunne  in  Switzerland  in 
the  summer  of  1900  led  straight  to  the  mayor's 
chair  in  the  Spring  of  1905.  The  message  cost 
about  6  or  8  cents  in  American  money,  as  com- 
pared with  a  charge  of  50  cents  for  a  similar 
message  in  the  U.  S.  A.     This  intrigued  him. 

With  that  admixture  of  industry  and  enthus- 
iasm which  has  characterized  his  robust  men- 
tality he  pursued  an  inquiry  into  European 
state  socialism  during  his  leisurely  jaunt  back 
home.  He  returned  with  the  fixed  notion  that 
the  cost  of  public  utility  service  could  be  re- 
duced through  government  ownership  and  op- 
eration. The  Iroquois  Club,  of  which  he  was 
a  member,  gave  a  dinner  in  his  honor.  His  im- 
pressions of  Europe  were  confined  almost  en- 
tirely to  government  operation  of  utilities,  with 
the  6-cent  telegram  as  the  text.  The  public 
prints  devoted   space  generously  in   reporting 


ILLINOIS 


495 


the  survey.  Public  reaction  was  instantaneous 
and,  outside  financial  circles,  generally  favor- 
able. 

The  mayoral  campaign  was  not  far  in  the 
offing.  Mayor  Harrison,  who  was  completing 
his  fourth  consecutive  term,  had  announced  his 
decision  to  retire  to  private  life.  Chicago  then 
was  suffering  with  perhaps  the  worst  street 
car  system  in  the  country.  The  service  was 
rotten.  It  was  due  largely  to  a  combination 
of  corrupt  politics  and  "high  finance"  juggling 
that  smelled  to  high  heaven.  Charles  T.  Yerkes 
was  charged  with  being  the  evil  genius  who 
had  "salted"  the  mines  in  Chicago's  transpor- 
tation system. 

It  was  a  scandalous  and  conscienceless  ex- 
ploitation that  involved  the  state  legislature, 
the  Chicago  city  council  and  many  public  of- 
ficials. The  juggling  of  securities,  pyramiding 
and  unloading  of  worthless  paper  on  the  gul- 
lible bankers  of  Chicago  and  New  York,  and 
the  contempt  shown  for  public  comfort  had 
enraged  the  populace  to  the  point  of  mass  re- 
bellion. Both  Republican  and  Democratic  lead- 
erships were  in  a  state  of  bankruptcy,  super- 
induced by  imbecility,  greed  and  the  attempt  to 
select  mayoral  candidates  who  at  the  same 
time  would  appeal  favorably  to  the  electorate 
and   protect,  if  elected,  the   promoters'   stake. 

There  was  on  the  Circuit  bench  of  Cook 
County  a  popular  and  learned  judge — Murray 
F.  Tuley.  He  had  attended  the  Iroquois  Club 
reception  to  Dunne.  A  short  while  later  he 
summoned  the  newspaper  men  to  his  chambers 
and  handed  them  copies  of  a  letter  he  had 
prepared  for  the  press.  It  was  a  clarion  call 
to  the  citizenry  to  rise  up  and  terminate  the 
saturnalia  of  exploitation  by  uniting  upon  a 
man  for  mayor  whose  name  theretofore  had 
not  been  mentioned — Judge  Edward  Fitzsim- 
ons  Dunne. 

The  newspaper  boys  hastened  to  Dunne's 
residence  to  get  an  interview  to  be  run  with 
the  letter.  They  found  him  in  the  basement  in 
his  shirt  sleeves,  shoveling  a  cheap  grade  of 
coal  into  the  furnace.  He  did  not  take  the 
suggestion  seriously.  He  received  it,  in  fact, 
with  some  levity.  With  a  single  laugh  he  said : 
"Well,  boys,  I  don't  know  what  kind  of  a  mayor 
I'd  make,  but  you  can  see  I'm  a  first  class 
coal-heaver,  if  that's  any  recommendation." 
The  rank  and  file  of  the  Democratic  party  re- 
sponded vociferously.  The  Dunne  sentiment 
rolled  up  like  a  tidal  wave,  brushed  the  gen- 
erals to  one  side  and  swept  him  into  office. 

The  record  of  his  two-year  struggle  to 
achieve  municipal  ownership  would  fill  volumes 
of  highly  dramatic  narrative.  While  he  failed 
of  this  purpose,  the  fineness  of  his  character, 
his  unimpeachable  forthrightness  and  exem- 
plary private  life  were  impressed  on  the  whole 
community,  and,  indeed,  on  the  nation.  The 
opposition  were  forced  to  confine  their  attacks 
to  vehement  enfillading  of  the  entire  front  of 


his  "socialistic"  proposals.  The  impious,  the 
mendacious  and  the  shameless  resented  him. 

Dunne's  service  on  the  Circuit  Court  bench 
was  distinguished  for  industry,  patience,  im- 
partiality and  courage.  What  criticism  there 
was,  was  directed  at  his  exercise  of  discre- 
tionary prerogatives.  Quite  often  these  were 
resolved  on  the  side  of  the  "under  dog."  He 
was  keenly  conscious  of  the  inequality  of  op- 
portunity and  the  immunities  which  seemed  to 
be  enjoyed  occasionally  by  the  powerful  and 
highly-placed.  It  is  perhaps  not  too  much  to 
here  record  that  he  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
present  probationary  system  in  Illinois  under 
which  poor  and  weak  wretches  not  innately 
bad  but  caught  in  the  undertow  of  economic 
determinism,  are  afforded  an  opportunity  to 
redeem  themselves  without  suffering  incarcera- 
tion. 

Afterward,  as  governor,  he  gave  a  practical 
demonstration  of  his  sympathetic  attitude  to- 
ward unfortunates  by  allowing  convicts  with 
good  records  to  leave  the  penitentiary  and, 
under  the  supervision  of  wardens,  to  work  on 
the  public  highways  of  the  state.  He  exacted 
from  them  only  the  pledge  that  they  would  not 
attempt  to  escape.  They  were  enrolled  as  the 
honor  men.  Violators  of  this  pledge  numbered 
less  than  one-half  of  one  per  cent. 

There  were  instances  when  his  "impartial- 
ity" as  judge  was  marked  by  a  tempering  of 
justice  with  that  mercy  which  "falls  as  the 
gentle  rain  from  heaven."  He  had,  in  fact,  an 
exalted  compassion  for  the  frail,  the  poor  and 
the  ignorant.  On  the  other  hand,  no  sterner 
exemplar  of  the  majesty  of  the  law  could  be 
imagined  when  he  was  dealing  with  those  who, 
by  gracious  voice,  sought  to  "obscure  the  show 
of  evil"  in  a  tainted  and  corrupt  plea. 

Some  of  his  judicial  decisions  have  been  ac- 
cepted in  American  jurisprudence  as  undying 
precedents.  His  dicta  on  the  freedom  of  the 
press  was  one  such.  He  focused  on  this  de- 
cision the  immense  scope  of  his  legal  acumen. 

The  limitations  of  space  do  not  permit  a 
survey  of  these  rulings  here.  For  those  who 
may  desire  to  know  more  in  detail  the  Dunne 
organon  as  to  juridical  matters,  politics,  eco- 
nomic panaceas  and  social  science,  we  heartily 
recommend  the  library  volume  edited  and  pub- 
lished in  1916  by  his  secretary,  William  L.  Sul- 
livan, under  the  title  of  Dunne — Judge,  Mayor, 
Governor.  It  contains  not  only  the  textual 
decisions  from  the  bench  but  practically  all  his 
state  papers  and  many  of  his  more  notable 
public  addresses.  It  is  an  indispensable  ref- 
erence book  if  one  would  know  well  the  versa- 
tility of  the  man. 

When  the  Roosevelt  (T.  R.)  schism  of  1912 
smashed  the  Republican  party,  it  became  ap- 
parent that  whomever  the  Jeffersonians  nomi- 
nated would,  in  all  human  probability,  become 
the  second  Democratic  governor  of  Illinois 
since  the  Civil  war.     John  Peter  Altgeld  was 


496 


ILLINOIS 


the  first  one.  As  if  by  instinct,  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  party  again  turned  to  Dunne  in  the 
statewide  primary  and,  under  the  skillful  di- 
rection of  his  manager,  William  L.  O'Connell, 
he  was  nominated  and  triumphantly  elected. 

Those  four  years  at  Springfield  were  replete 
with  brilliant  successes  and  honorable  defeats 
in  his  endeavors  to  reshape  the  form  of  gov- 
ernment in  Illinois.  He  lost  by  one  vote  in  the 
lower  branch  of  the  Assembly  his  bill  provid- 
ing a  constitutional  vehicle  for  the  initiative 
and  referendum  which  required  a  two-thirds 
vote  in  both  houses.  He  was  unsuccessful  in 
advocating  abolition  of  capital  punishment. 
Meanwhile,  he  had  the  distinction  of  being  the 
first  governor  of  an  American  state  east  of 
the  Mississippi  river  to  enact  a  woman's  suf- 
frage law.  By  virtue  of  this  extension  of  suf- 
frage, women  in  Illinois  were  eligible  to  vote 
for  statutory  officers  in  all  political  divisions 

including   that    of    presidential    elector. The 

amendment  had  not  then  been  written  into  the 
federal  constitution.  He  succeeded  in  placing 
upon  the  statute  books  a  law  permitting  all 
cities  to  own  and  operate  or  lease  public  utilities. 

While  the  impress  of  his  character  is  re- 
flected in  many  salutary  laws  enacted  during 
his  regime,  it  is  rather  upon  the  devotion  he 
gave  to  the  state  institutions  under  his  guid- 
ance— schools,  asylums,  reformatories  and  pen- 
itentiaries— that  his  enduring  fame  rests.    He 


brought  to  the  care  of  the  sick  and  insane 
wards  of  the  state,  as  well  as  the  penal  colo- 
nies, a  broad  humanitarianism  and  an  under- 
standing sympathy  which  have  made  them 
models  for  the  country  over.  His  record  in 
support  of  educational  institutions,  particular- 
ly the  state  university  and  the  normal  schools, 
forms  a  very  bright  chapter  in  his  adminis- 
tration. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  his  already 
great  soul  swelled  to  new  dimensions  as  he 
came  to  appreciate  more  fully,  by  personal  con- 
tact with  all  its  phases,  the  vastness  and  gran- 
deur of  his  state.  From  this  well  nigh  limit- 
less storehouse  of  knowledge — student,  jurist, 
mayor  and  governor — he  has  assembled  the 
new  and  up-to-date  historical  narrative  of  Illi- 
nois. 

With  the  early  scholastic  background  of  old 
Trinity  at  Dublin,  his  scholarship,  ripening 
through  the  years,  fitted  him,  from  that  angle 
alone,  to  write  understandingly  and  philo- 
sophically the  prose  epic  of  his  State  and  his 
time. 

It  would  be  extremely  difficult  to  name  a 
person  better  fitted  for  the  task — who  more 
than  he  could  bring  to  his  labor  a  rich  and 
varied  mental  equipment,  and  those  rare  ex- 
periences that  must  have  blended  and  refined 
in  him  the  elements  with  which  nature  already 
had  fashioned  nobly  the  scholar,  statesman, 
public  benefactor  and  gentleman. 


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