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Gc 977.302 C43bio v. 1 1517060
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02114 0568
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
https://archive.org/details/biographicaldict01amer_0
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Ch Columbo
THE GUNTHER COLUMBUS .
i. f. u or 1542. at the bour of Phillip JI. Spain. by Sir Antonio Moro, from two miniature the Plove of Parsop. c'nce burned.
THE
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
AND
PORTRAIT GALLERY
OF
REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF CHICAGO,
MINNESOTA CITIES
AND THE
WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
->
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS ON STEEL.
V.I
Gc 977,302 C43 bio V.I
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK:
AMERICAN BIOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, H. C. COOPER, JR., & CO., PROPRIETORS.
1892.
PRESS OF KNIGHT, LEONARD & CO. CHICAGO.
1517060
PREFACE.
T HE compiling and publishing in permanent form, biographies of our successful and representative business and professional men is of comparatively recent date. Our work in this line began in 1873; and such has been the favor with which our former books have been received by our patrons and the public, that we were encour- aged to prepare this volume to be issued simultaneously with the celebration of the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.
The value of such a work is commensurate with the character of those whose life- histories it contains, and the accuracy of the statements that are made concerning them. We have tried to exercise due care in selecting our subjects and in avoiding superfluous statements-the task has been a difficult one-and while we have spared neither time, labor, nor money, in carrying out our purpose, our experience teaches us not to flatter ourselves that we have, in every instance, realized our ideal.
The large number of steel-plate portraits with which this volume is adorned, are life-likenesses wrought in the highest style of the engraver's art.
Our earnest purpose has been to make a book that should be worthy of the time and the subject-matter represented. In as far as we have done this, our success is the highest reward we could ask. Wherein we have failed, we may be pardoned if we crave that indulgence which, we believe, a generous public will cheerfully grant to those who have conscientiously tried to do their best.
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Philip & Arman
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
AND
PORTRAIT GALLERY.
PHILIP D. ARMOUR,
CHICAGO, ILL.
M R. ARMOUR is distinctively American. So were his ancestors both lineal and col- lateral for generations. In the early history of the paternal wing of the family, special mention is made of the ancestors as having " bright ideas, and noted for their clever acts." The maternal branch of the family is of old Puritan stock, and said to possess an unusual amount of good com- mon-sense. Such was the ancestry of Danforth Armour and Julianna Brooks, the father and inother.
They left Union, Conn., September, 1825, and settled at Stockbridge, Madison Co., N. Y., where Philip D. Armour was born, May 16, 1832. There were six brothers and two sisters. Farm- ing was their occupation. Habitual frugality and industry were the fundamental principles and characteristic features of the parents. These family tenets were laid down in their simplest forms and instilled with human sunshine into the life of each child. Their school days were the best the local red school-house could afford. Some of the children were fortunate enough to attend the neighboring village seminary. This was the case with Philip, and many are the anec- dotes that are related of him. He was genial to a degree, healthy, resolute and strong; he held his own wherever events found him; not a fol- lower, but a leader, of his schoolmates, as latter events were bound to make him among his fellow- men.
During the winter of 1851 and 1852, the ex-
citement attending the gold discovery in Cali- fornia having spread over the country, a party was organized to make the overland trip. Mr. Armour was invited to join them, and was in- fluenced by a growing desire to get out into the world. A country life on Stockbridge hills was too obscure for one so tempered. He was enter- ing his manhood, and to go was only to satisfy his ambition. The party left Oneida, N. Y., in the spring of 1852, and reached California six months later. In making this trip they were not exempt from the trials and dangers attending similar journeys.
A miner's life, as everyone knows, has its pri- vations and uncomfortable surroundings. These were not to be endured in vain. The pitfalls and vices so common in a country that was turned over to so many adventurers could not find lodgment with one of so resolute a character and fixed a purpose. The vicissitudes of his early experience rather tended to broaden his views and knit together his dominant characteristics.
In 1856 he returned to the East and visited his parents, whom he always held in reverential affection. He minutely laid before them all he had accomplished during his absence. To a few of the most intimate friends of the family the father whispered the fact of the young man hav- ing brought back some money with him.
After remaining with them for a few weeks, he once more turned westward and finally located in Milwaukee, where he formed a co-partnership and
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BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
entered the commission business with Frederick B. Miles. After a successful run they dissolved in 1863. The dogmatic and persistent way in which he pursued his business, his characteristic manner in grasping out for new ideas, brought him prominently before his fellow townspeople. Though yet young, he was looked upon by many with almost envy at the prestige he had attained.
In the spring of 1863, there occurred what later years proved the forerunner of a very successful business engagement in the joint co-partnership arrangement between Jno. Plankinton and Philip Armour. Mr. Plankinton had been for some years previously engaged in the pork-packing industry with Frederick Layton. This firm had dissolved as that also of Miles & Armour before mentioned. Mr. Plankinton was Mr. Armour's senior, and had been a resident of Milwaukee for a much longer period. He had established a most thriving business, which had been conducted with unerring judgment. He stood high as a mer- chant and commanded the respect of all as a public-spirited citizen. This was Mr. Armour's opportunity. How well he handled himself and the business that fell to him, the history of the commercial world is alone our witness. To the pork-packing business of Mr. Plankinton he brought that unremitting labor and concentration of thought that were so peculiarly his own. The fluctuations in the price of provisions at the closing scenes of the war left the firm with a fortune. This with the developments of the country gave them an opportunity of extending their growing business.
At Chicago, in 1862, Mr. Armour's brother, Herman O. Armour, had established himself in the grain commission business, but was induced to surrender this to a younger brother, Joseph F. Armour, in 1865, and take charge of a new firm in New York, then organized under the name of Armour, Plankinton & Co. The organization of the New York House was most obvious. Thc financial condition of the West at that period did not permit of large lines of credit necessary for the conducting of a business assuming such magnitude, and it was, therefore, as events proved, most fortunate that the duties devolving on the head of this house should fall to one so well qualified to handle them. He was not only equal to the emergency, but soon became favorably known
as a man possessing great financial ability, and was, in fact, the Eastern financial agent of all the Western houses.
The firm name of H. O. Armour & Co. was continued at Chicago until 1870. They continued to handle grain, and commenced packing hogs in 1868. This part of the business, however, was conducted under the firm name of Armour & Co., and in 1870 they assumed all the business trans- acted at Chicago. The business of all tliese houses, under their efficient managements, grew to dimensions that were the marvel of the trade. Their brands became as well known in all the markets of the world as at home.
It became evident in 1871 that the stock pro- ducing power of the country was migrating west- ward, and in order to keep abreast of the times they established at Kansas City the firm known as Plankinton & Armours. This enterprise was under the immediate supervision of Mr. Simcon B. Armour, an elder brother. The failing health of Joseph, at Chicago, necessitated assistance, and Milwaukee, as we have already seen, had brains to spare; consequently Philip moved to Chicago in 1875, where he has since resided.
The fraternal feelings manifested on every occasion for the welfare and prosperity of his own family were noticeable in the organization of the Armour Bros. Banking Co., at Kansas City, Mo., in 1879. At that time there remained at the old homestead at Stockbridge, the last of the Armours, Andrew Watson. This new institution was created for this brother, and he assumed the presidency of its management, conducting its affairs with signal ability. As an illustration of the acuteness and quick perception which is the fam- ily trait, we must be allowed to digress and relate an incident of this man. Soon after first having been installed in office, a member of a Montreal firm, who had enjoyed extensive transactions with the Chicago house, and stood high in commercial circles, while at Kansas City, on his way to a depot from his hotel, it occurred to him he had not sufficient money to procure the necessary transportation to a point in Texas where he was en route. Looking around he noticed the bank- ing sign and thought of his relations with the Chicago house. It occurred to him that the bank might be induced to cash a draft on his Montreal house for twenty-five dollars, notwith-
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BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
standing he was a total stranger. He applied to the teller and related his story, who promptly refused, but told him he had better see the cash- ier. He also declined, but told him to lay the matter before Mr. Armour. So, for the third time, he repeated his story to Mr. Armour, who asked him if twenty-five dollars was not a pretty small amount, and if he would not be better pleased with fifty dollars. He replied in the nega- tive, and said twenty-five dollars was sufficient. As quick as a flash the farmer president told him he could have the money. If he had been a rascal he would have taken the fifty dollars. It is needless to say the draft was paid.
It is not to be wondered at that the manage- ment of the many millions that were invested at the other points mentioned, should take their cue and follow in the footsteps of the wise and in- trepid California pioneer at Chicago. This was done invariably with alacrity, and so harmonious- ly that it has made them all renowned. It is im- possible to convey to one not familiar with the scope of the business its magnitude. The dis- tributive sales of the Chicago house alone are in excess of the gross receipts of any railroad cor- poration of the world. Even in a business of these dimensions there was nothing too great for Mr. Armour to handle, nothing so small that he could overlook.
Mr. Armour's capacity for work is something wonderful. He is at his desk by 7 A. M., and fre- quently before. Fatigue is an unknown term. He has traveled extensively, but wherever time has found him, it has been among those who con- sumed his products, and where, necessarily, his agencies had been established, his mind would turn intuitively to his industries, and thus his recreation became a source by which he qualified himself as to the merits of his representatives as well as the requirements of the people and their condition. He is a close observer, and can give as clear and accurate a forecast of the coming finan- cial condition of the country as it is possible to do.
At the earnest solicitation of the late Alex. Mitchell, he became one of the directory of the St. Paul Railway. This is the only office he has ever held. Political preferment is not the bent of his mind or his ambition. He was never known to occupy a public office.
Mr. Armour was married to Belle Ogden, at Cincinnati, Ohio, in October, 1862. She was the only daughter of Jonathan Ogden. In making mention of this circumstance, it must occur to anyone who has been fortunate enough to have been at all intimate with the family history, that their home life has been singularly happy. Domestic economy was no more truly one of the hearthstones of Mr. Armour's inheritance than it was of Mrs. Armour's. These family pre- cepts were laid down and fostered in every way. They have two sons, Jonathan Ogden and Philip D., both under thirty years of age, and active partners with their father. He has made them millionaires. It can safely be said they will carry their honors gracefully and with becoming mod- esty. They are quiet in manner; nothing can agitate them, and it is pretty sure guessing that the name of Armour will never be tarnished by their acts.
Their father, the most affable of men, approach- able, notwithstanding his great cares and re- sponsibilities, leaves all of this at his office and enters his family circle to find that joy and con- tentment which alone springs from an adminis- tration of home life that is so simple, gracious, and of such an unostentatious character.
In January, 1881, Joseph F. Armour died, and bequeathed one hundred thousand dollars for the founding of a charitable institution. He wisely directed that the carrying out of his benevolent design should be chiefly entrusted to his brother, the subject of this sketch. In accepting the trust so imposed, he has given to it the same energetic and critical attention that he has given to his private affairs, and has added a large amount to his brother's bequest.
And it may also be said of Mr. Armour, that while he is disposed to be liberal in his religious views, his time on the Sabbath day is mainly given to the churches of his choosing. In the afternoon of every Sunday during the year this wonderful protégé, founded by his brother, and cherished by himself, receives his individual care and attention, and it is the individuality of the patron that gives so much life to the insti- tution.
It is this combination of industry, untiring energy and philanthropy that has made the name of Philip D. Armour not only so potent in the
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BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
West, but a recognized leader among the mer- chants of the world.
Such is a brief history of a man who, by his own energy, perseverance and indomitable strength of character, has achieved a reputation that entitles him to rank among the leading merchants of the world, duc alone to his keen foresight and honesty of purpose, and a bright example to the rising generation of what can be accom- plished by untiring energy and attention to busi- ness.
His success has been truly wonderful, and due alone to his individual efforts. One of the most active of men, never idle, and keeping his wealth in motion for the interests of the city he lives in, his name in commercial circles is a tower of strength, and with him there is no such word as " fail " in anything he undertakes. Of medium height, with a keen and expressive eye, he is to- day the embodiment of health, and it is to be hoped he may "live long" to enjoy the fruits of his industrious life.
LYMAN J. GAGE,
CHICAGO, ILL.
T HE subject of this biography has been a resident of Chicago for thirty-seven years and during that time has come to be known as one of the leading financiers, not only of that city, but also of the nation. He is a native of Madison county, New York, and was born in 1836, the son of Eli A. Gage, one of the early settlers of that county, and a hatter by occupa- tion. When seventeen years of age, Lyman closed his studies in school, and accepting a posi- tion in the Oneida Central Bank at Rome, New York, began that business career in which he achieved a most laudable success, and made for himself an honorable name. In 1855 he removed to Chicago, and for some three years was em- ployed by a lumber and planing-mill firm, located at the corner of Canal and Adams strects. His natural liking for the banking business, however, led him to make a change as soon as a suitable opportunity offered, and in 1858 he became a book-keeper for the Merchants' Loan and Trust Company of Chicago, at a salary of five hundred dollars per annum, and held that position till 1863, when he was made assistant cashier of the bank. During this time Mr. Gage made a careful study of the banking business, familiarizing himself with all its minutest details, and came to be known in local financial circles as a man of progressive yet conservative ideas, and unusual executive ability. In recognition of this ability and fitness he was, a few months later, made cashier of the First National Bank of Chicago, which had been organ- ized May 1, 1863, with a capital of $100,000,
which was speedily increased to $1,000,000, with Mr. E. Aiken as president ; Mr. Samuel W. Aller- ton, vice-president ; Mr. E. E. Braisten, cashier, and Messrs. E. Aiken, S. W. Allerton, S. G. D. Howard, B. P. Hutchinson, Samuel M. Nickerson, Tracy J. Brown, John B. Sherman, Byron Rice and E. G. Hale as directors. Upon the death of Mr. Aiken, in 1867, Mr. Samuel M. Nickerson was elected president, and in August of the following year Mr. Gage was made cashier. The bank was at that time located at the southwest corner of Clark and Lake streets, but afterwards was removed to the southwest corner of State and Washington streets. During the general conflag- ration of October 9, 1871, its safes and vaults were but little damaged and not a security or valuable was lost, and after a temporary removal, on January 1, 1872, again occupied its rebuilt structure. The capital remained $1,000,000 until the expiration of the charter in 1882, when the reserve or surplus fund over and above dividends was found to be over $1,800,000. In May of that year a new organization was effected under the same designation, with a cash capital of $3,000,- 000, with Samuel M. Nickerson as president ; Lyman J. Gage, vice-president ; H. R. Symonds, cashier ; H. M. Kingman, assistant cashier, and R. J. Street, second assistant cashier, and the business was removed to its present magnificent building at the northwest corner of Dearborn and Monroc streets. During the time since the new organization Mr. Gage has been the general man- ager and chief executive officer of the institution,
The Century Publishing & Engraving Co Chicago 2 lyman & Hage Iran sky
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BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
and has come to be recognized as among the most far-sighted, broad-minded and substantial bankers of his time. He is now president of the bank.
In 1883 he was elected president of the Ameri- can Bankers' Association, at their meeting held in Louisville, and the following year was re-elected at the meeting of the association in Saratoga. He was one of the prime movers in the economi- cal conference of 1888-89, looking to the welfare and interests of wage workers. From the incipi-
ency of the World's Columbian Exposition he has been untiring in his efforts in its behalf and foremost among its promoters, and from his com- manding position, and in recognition of his emi- nent fitness, was naturally selected as president of its local Board of Directors, bringing to the office, as he did, the ripe fruitage of a rich and varied experience in financial and business affairs. Mr. Gage is now serving as a member of the local Board of Directors and is one of the most ac- tive members of that body.
CHARLES LAWRENCE HUTCHINSON,
CHICAGO, ILL.
THE subject of this biography is pre-eminent- ly a Chicago product, than whom no one is worthier of representation in a work illustra- ting the lives and deeds of leading men.
A native of Lynn, Massachusetts, he was born on March 7, 1854, the son of Benjamin P. Hutch- inson and Sarah M. (Ingalls) Hutchinson. The father is one of Chicago's most successful busi- ness men, whose operations in the commercial world, and especially on the Chicago Board of Trade, have won for him a national reputation as a far-sighted financier, a shrewd trader and a man of indomitable will and unfaltering courage. The mother of our subject is a woman of exemplary Christian character, esteemed and loved for her kindness and nobility of character and her chari- table and benevolent deeds. When Charles was two years old, his parents removed to Chicago, where he received his education in the public schools, growing up with the growth of the city. Upon his graduation from the High School in 1873, being then seventeen years of age, he at once engaged in business with his father, and began that business career which has, throughout, been characterized by persevering energy, unflag- ging enterprise and honorable dealing, and crowned with success. His first year in business was in the grain trade ; the second in the packing busi- ness, after which he was for three years connected with his father's banking house, in every depart- ment of which he became thoroughly versed, making the business a special study. On the organization of the Corn Exchange Bank, Mr.
Hutchinson was made president. Under his careful and able management this has prospered, increasing in public esteem until it stands to-day one of the solid and substantial financial institu- tions of Chicago. As a member of the Chicago Board of Trade he is held in high esteem and in recognition of his ability and fitness as an execu- tive officer and leader, his fellow members in 1888 elected him president of that organization. He is largely interested in Chicago's packing interests ; is a director in the Chicago Packing and Provision Co .; a director in the Chicago Street Railway Co .; a director in the Auditorium Co., and officially connected with other business and financial concerns.
Aside from his business relations, Mr. Hutch- inson has always shown a commendable public- spiritedness, and has always stood ready to devote his time and energy and money to the welfare of Chicago and the public good. To his enterpris- ing spirit and personal effort is, in large measure, due the renown of the Art Institute of Chicago, of which he is president, and to which he has contributed time and money without stint. As an instance of his deep interest, it may be stated that in order to secure for the Institute a valuable collection of celebrated paintings, he and Mr. Martin A. Ryerson voluntarily advanced $200,000. After the selection of Chicago by the United States Congress as the place in which to hold the World's Columbian Exposition, Mr. Hutchinson was one of the forty-five men who, by reason of their peculiar fitness, were chosen by the stock-
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BIOGRAPIIICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
holders as directors of that mammoth organi- zation.
He is a man of intense activity, and notwith- standing his extended business relations, has found time to travel extensively, having made several European trips, from which, and his careful observation and study of men and things, he has acquired a most valuable fund of information that renders him at once an instructive and interesting conversationalist and charming companion. In his personal characteristics Mr. Hutchinson com- bines the business ability, keen foresight, persever- ance and nerve of his father with the Christian
virtues, amiability, generosity and goodness of heart of his mother, and is, in the truest sense, a high-minded gentleman.
Mr. Hutchinson is a leading member of St. Paul's Universalist Church, and superintendent of the Sunday-school, in which he takes great pride. In political sentiment he is a Repub- lican, and takes an active interest in political affairs in as far as using his influence, and doing what he can to secure and maintain good government.
He was married in 1881 to Miss Frances Kins- ley, daughter of Mr. H. M. Kinsley, of Chicago.
COL. GEORGE R. DAVIS,
CHICAGO, ILL.
T HE subject of this biography is a born leader. A native of the old Bay State, he was born in the town of Palmer, in the year 1840, the son of Benjamin and Cordelia (Buffington) Davis, the former a native of Ware, Massachu- setts, and the latter a member of a well-known Quaker family of Connecticut. George attended the public schools, and in other respects passed his boyhood after the manner of New England boys, and later prepared for college, graduating from Williston Seminary at Easthampton. This was just prior to the opening of the war of the rebellion, so that instead of entering college, as he had anticipated, he, at the age of twenty- two, responded to the call for volunteers and enlisted in the army, as a private in Company H, Eighth Regiment Massachusetts Infantry. By gradual promotion he rose to the rank of captain, and in that capacity served with the Eighteenth Army Corps in the North Carolina campaign until August, 1863. Resigning his commission, he now returned to Massachusetts clothed with proper authority, and recruited and organized a battery of light artillery. From this he was soon transferred to the Third Regiment Rhode Island Volunteer Cavalry, with the rank of major, and commanded it until the close of the war in 1865. After the war was over, Col. Davis received an appointment in the civil department of the regu- lar army, and was attached to the department of the Missouri, of which General Sheridan was then in command. He served in the West with Gen-
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