Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 19th ed., Part 16

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago : La Salle Book Co.
Number of Pages: 908

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He was the father of three sons and eight daugh- ters, all of whom lived to extreme old age, and his house was the favorite gathering-place of his descendants. His son, Frost Powell, lived until 1840 in Dutchess County, New York, where he married Katharine Nelson, who was of Dutch descent. In 1840 he removed to Waterford, Ra- cine County, Wisconsin, where he died a few years later.

His son, George N. Powell, whose name heads this article, was born August 13, 1807, in Dutchess County, New York. He received the best edu- cation that the locality afforded at that time, and early in life became a general contractor. Being convinced that the West offered great business opportunities, he removed in 1833 to Chicago. Here he rented a tract of land from Archibald Cly- bourn, and engaged in farming and gardening. In 1836 he located in what was afterwards known as Jefferson Township, making claim to the north-, east quarter of section thirty-six, which he pur- chased at the land sale of 1838. He at once com- menced the improvement of a farm on this land, which was then in a state of nature, and for sev-

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eral years kept a public house for the entertain- ment of travelers. While still in the prime of life, and apparently having many years of active usefulness before him, he was stricken with cholera and died August 18, 1850. Besides being a careful and successful business man he was ever active as a citizen and took a great interest in pub- lic affairs, affiliating in politics with the Dem- ocratic party.

March 22, 1835, Mr. Powell married Miss Ara- mesia Harmon, who was born in Montgomery County, Virginia, February 27, 1820. Her par- 'ents, Henry Harmon and Mary Ann Horn- barger, were natives of that state, and the chil- dren of Revolutionary soldiers. Henry Harmon enlisted as a soldier in the War of 1812, but peace was declared before his services were called for. He died October 29, 1829, and his widow mar- ried Jacob Miller. In 1832 this couple came to Chicago, where Mr. Miller worked as a carpen- ter. In 1849 he made the overland journey to California, and died there in the fall of that year. His widow died December 27, 1876, in Minne- sota. The family arrived in Chicago at the time of the Black Hawk War, and took refuge in Fort Dearborn. The daughter, Aramesia, was but twelve years of age at that time, and received her education and grew to womanhood in the pioneer settlement. She has been an observant witness of the marvelous growth of Chicago from a mere hamlet of log huts to the second city in the land.

George N. and Aramesia Powell were the par- ents of six children, the first of whom, George W., died in childhood. John Frost, the second, is a prominent citizen of Waukegan, Illinois, where for some years he was largely engaged in manufacturing. He is especially active and in- fluential in the municipal affairs of that city, where he served many years as alderman, and was Mayor three terms. He is largely interested in Chicago property. William H., the third son, was a dealer in real estate in Chicago from 1870 until his death, in August, 1896. He inarried Elizabeth J. Ritchie, who bore him a son, George H. Powell, now engaged in the real-estate bus- iness in Chicago. Mrs. Elizabeth J. Powell died in 1886.

Daniel N. and Mary C., the fourth and sixth, are deceased. A sketch of the fifth, Perry P., appears below. In 1862 Mrs. Powell married Theodore Mismer, a native of Strasburg, which was at the time of his birth, in France, but now belongs to Germany. They have one daughter, Clara, now the wife of Fred C. Irwin, of Chicago.

Perry Polk Powell, the youngest son of George N. and Aramesia Powell, was born January 11, 1845. He remained at home assisting in the cultivation of the farm and attending the district school until he reached the age of seventeen years. At that time the Civil War was stirring the martial spirit of every patriotic American, and young Powell was no exception to the rule. Though still very young, he enlisted, July 6, 1862, in Battery A, First Illinois Light Artillery. In the fall of that year he took part in the Vicks- burg Campaign under General Sherman, and celebrated his eighteenth birthday by participat- ing in the Battle of Arkansas Post. On account of sickness he was discharged August 7, 1863, but on his recovery re-enlisted in Battery G of the First Illinois Light Artillery, and was discharged at the close of the war at Memphis, Tennessee.

After farming for one year in Cook County, Mr. Powell removed to Blairstown, Iowa, where he carried on a general store for about two years. He then returned to Cook County, and lias since followed farming and gardening. In 1870 he also engaged in the real-estate business, in which he has been very successful. He has given his hearty support to the Republican party and was a member of the first board of trustees of Jeffer- son after its organization as a village. He was initiated into Masonry in July, 1867, in Lincoln Lodge No. 199, at Blairstown, Iowa. He is a member of Winfield Chapter No. 42, Royal Arch Masons, and is Past Commander of Winfield Com- mandery No. 15, Knights Templar, both of Win- field, Kansas. He is also a member of Siberd Post No. 58, Grand Army of the Republic, De- partment of Kansas. Mr. Powell was married January 10, 1872, to Miss Mary E., daugliter of Thomas and Christie McGregor. Three children lave blessed this union, named in order of birth, Maud, Frank and Ethel.

III

C. B. DUPEE.

CHARLES B. DUPEE.

HARLES BILLINGS DUPEE. Among the business men who helped to promote the growth of Chicago, both materially and morally, the subject of this sketch should receive honorable mention. His ancestors were the de- voted French Huguenots, whose love of liberty and freedom of religious thought induced them to leave old France and settle in the New World. James, grandfather of Charles B. Dupee, was born in Walpole, Massachusetts. He was among the most progressive of the citizens of the old Bay State. (See sketch of H. M. Dupee for com- plete genealogy.)

Their son, Cyrus Dupee, was also born in Wal- pole, and learned the mercantile business in Bos- ton. For a long period he was engaged in the wholesale provision trade in Brighton, Massachu- setts. He was married at Brighton (now Alls- ton), Massachusetts, to Miss Elizabeth English, of that place. He died there in 1841, leaving eight children. Three of his sons, Charles B., Cyrus and Horace Dupee, became prominent bus- iness men of Chicago, where the last two are still engaged in active life. He was a man of sterling character, devoted to his family and diligent in business. The family has for many generations been noted in mercantile business, and has al- ways maintained a high reputation for integrity.

Charles B. Dupee was born in Brighton, Mass- achusetts, May 12, 1823. His first business under- taking was in the meat and ice trade at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, in which he was moderately suc- cessful. In 1854 he became a resident of Chicago, establishing himself here in June of that year- his family, which at that time consisted of a wife

and two children, following in September. He continued in the meat business in Chicago, and after a time began putting up hams by a process of his own, which secured for him an excellent reputation and trade, and he grew prosperous and extended the business by adding the wholesale provision trade. He exercised great care in the preparation of his goods, which he insisted on giving his personal inspection, and the result was an ever-increasing trade and a high reputation for his wares, which continued to be popular on the market long after his demise. He was in- dustrious and economical, and his painstaking care provided him a handsome competence. For many years he carried on a large trade in supplies for the United States Government.

Among his brother merchants, Mr. Dupee was known for his unswerving fidelity to those prin- ciples of true manhood that lift a man high above the rank of ordinary men and make for him a name in commercial centers that will forever be worthy of remembrance and emulation. He was a shrewd, far-seeing business man, and his advice, often sought by friends, was safe and reliable. For about twenty years he was a resident of Hyde Park, and was higlily esteemed by the res- idents of that suburb for his many noble qualities. He was identified with the Republican party, but was never connected with any office or political work, and was in every way a model citizen, and, above all, an honest man-the noblest work of God.

After retiring from business, Mr. Dupee made good investment in real estate, and the rapid ap- preciation in value of his holdings added mate-

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rially to his resources, so that his declining years were passed in the enjoyment of the competence which his long years of industry had earned. He passed away at his home in Chicago August 12, 1887, and his last words were: "I have been an honest man." He left the impress of his strong character upon the business world of Chicago, and a good name that will be ever cherished by his family.

On the 7th of April, 1847, at Boston, Massaclıu- setts, Charles B. Dupee was married to Miss Em- meline, daughter of Seth and Louise (Miles) Wellington, old and respected residents of Bos- ton. The Wellingtons were among the noted pio- neers of the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Mrs. Dupee's ancestor, Roger Wellington, mar- ried Miss Foster, a daugliter of Dr. Foster, who was the first settled physician in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The Wellington monument,

standing in the Watertown (Massachusetts) cem- etery, was erected over two hundred years ago. Three children came to bless the home of Charles B. and Mrs. Dupee. Their names are, Charles Frederick, Elizabeth A. and Emma M. The sec- ond is now deceased, and the last is the wife of Reuben D. Coy, of Chicago. Her only child is a daughter, named Margaret Wellington Coy. Charles F. Dupee came with his parents to Chi- cago in 1854. His father admitted him to part- nership in his growing business in order to have his aid in its conduct. Since the business was closed out he has given his attention to the care of his large property interests. He has two children, Elizabeth S. and Charles Edward Du- pee.

In 1890 Mrs. Emmeline Dupee built one of the handsomest residences in Glencoe, Illinois, where her family now resides.

JOHN A. PEARSONS.

C OHN ALONZO PEARSONS, an early set- tler of Evanston, was born in Bradford, Ver- mont, September 8, 1818. He is a son of John Pearsons and Hannah Putnam, natives, re- spectively, of Lyndeborough and Francestown, New Hampshire. John Pearsons was a promi- nent farmer and lumberman of Bradford, where he located at the age of twelve years. For some years he also kept a hotel there, known as the Mann House. . He was a soldier of the War of 1812, serving throughout that struggle. His death occurred in Bradford, October 7, 1857, at

the age of sixty-five years. His mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Kimball, also died there at an extreme old age.

Mrs. Hannah Pearsons died at Holyoke, Mass- achusetts, in 1888, at the age of ninety-one years. She was a daughter of John Putnam, a Revolutionary soldier, and a relative of Gen. Israel Putnam. John Putnam served seven years in the Continental army, and was at one time a member of General Washington's Life Guard. He afterward became an Adjutant of Vermont militia, and, with two of his sons, participated in

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the War of 1812. In later life he was a car- penter and bridge-builder at Bradford. His wife, Olive Barron, lived to the age of ninety-three years.

John A. Pearsons spent his boyhood in Brad- ford, where he attended the district school, and, at the age of nineteen years, began teaching, a calling which lie continued for four winters at and in the vicinity of Bradford. He helped to con- duct his father's hotel, and subsequently carried on the same business at White River Village and Norwich, Vermont. The latter place was then the seat of General Ransom's Military School.

In September, 1852, he arrived in Chicago, where he was employed for a time by John P. Chapin, a prominent pioneer of Chicago. In March, 1854, he located at Evanston, being in- duced to settle there through the influence of Dr. Hinman. Mr. Pearsons was the first to build a house on the university lands, the location be- ing identical with his present residence on Chi- cago Avenue. Others soon followed his example, and when the Chicago & Milwaukee Railway reached that point the next winter, there was a rapid influx of people. Such was the demand for building materials and other merchandise, that Mr. Pearsons found it advantageous to engage in the business of general teaming. For eighteen years he operated Pearsons' Evanston Express, employing a number of teams and wagons on the road between Chicago and Evanston, and the business which he started has ever since been continued, and is still a prosperous enterprise. For some time he also kept a livery stable at Evanston.

In 1872 Mr. Pearsons sold out his express line, and spent the following winter in the woods of northern Michigan in the interest of his brother, D. K. Pearsons, the well-known lumberman and philanthropist. Becoming interested in the lum- bering industry, and finding the business agree- able to his health, which had become considerably impaired, he spent the ensuing twelve years in the lumber woods, during a part of which time he operated a lumber-yard in Evanston. In 1885 lie disposed of his lumber interests, since which time he has lived in practical retirement. He

has filled nearly every office in the township, vil- lage, and city of Evanston, and his official as well as business obligations have always been dis- charged in a creditable and efficient manner.

On the twenty-fifth day of October, 1842, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Pearsons and Miss Hannalı Stevens Bayley, of Newbury, Vermont, a daughter of Amherst Bayley and Melissa Stev- ens, both natives of Newbury. Mrs. Pearsons' paternal grandfather was the distinguished Gen- eral Jacob Bayley, of the Continental army. Her maternal grandfather, Simeon Stevens, was an extensive farmer and highly exemplary citizen of Newbury, distinguished also for his musical tal- ents, being the possessor of a strong and very sweet voice, which he retained even in old age. He survived until nearly ninety years of age.

Mrs. Pearsons is a lady of many graces of mind and heart. In her youth she won considerable celebrity as a participant in the State Musical Conventions of Vermont. She was one of the prime movers in organizing the Woman's Ed- ucational Aid Association, which was formed in 1871, and has been an officer of the association from its inception, and for eighteen years las served as its President. The object of this society is to assist worthy young ladies of lim- ited means in obtaining an education. The Col- lege Cottage, which was built soon after the or- ganization of the association, has been several times enlarged and improved, and now accommo- dates about fifty-five students, and is recognized as a worthy adjunct of the Northwestern Univer- sity at Evanston.

Mr. and Mrs. Pearsons are the parents of two children, and have lost two by death, one passing away in infancy. The eldest, Henry Alonzo, is a business man of Chicago, residing in Evanston. Isabella is the wife of Wilbur F. Mappin, of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Helen, who was the wife of Rev. Harvey R. Calkins, died March 27, 1892, at the age of twenty-six years. Two grandchildren, Harry Putnam Pearsons and Lil- ian Mappin, make glad the hearts of this worthy couple.

In October, 1892, the golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Pearsons was celebrated, and they are

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R. C. HALLETT.

still in the enjoyment of excellent health and that contentment of mind which is "a continual feast," and few of their acquaintances, and none among strangers, can readily believe the number of their years of usefulness already spent. They are members of the First Methodist Church of Evan- ston, which they helped to organize in the sum- mer of 1854, at which time the society comprised but six members. Mr. Pearsons was the Chorister of the church for many years, and is one of the Trustees of the Des Plaines Camp-Meeting Asso- ciation. Mr. Pearsons cast his first vote for Will- iam Henry Harrison, and was a member of a military band which furnished music for

many of the public gatherings of the famous po- litical campaign of 1840. He played in this band for ten years. Since the organization of the Re- publican party, he has been an adherent of its principles. When he first located in Evanston, a large portion of the present site of the city con- sisted of a marsh covered with water, and none of the streets had been improved. He has wit- nessed the material development of the town until it has come to be recognized as the first sub- urb of Chicago, and has simultaneously watched its intellectual and moral growth, in the promo- tion of which lie has been an interested factor.

REUBEN C. HALLETT.

EUBEN CROWELL HALLETT, grandson of one of the hardy pioneers of the Missis- sippi Valley, and son of James Hallett, of whom extended mention is inade elsewhere in this volume, has the proud distinction of being a native of Illinois. He was born at Mount Car- roll, in Carroll County, on the 15th day of Octo- ber, 1857, and grew up in his native village, where he received his primary schooling. He attended Beloit College, Wisconsin, and finished his education at the Wesleyan University, Bloon1- ington, Illinois, where he received instruction in the law department from Adlai E. Stevenson, Gen. Ira J. Bloomfield, John M. Hamilton, and other noted attorneys of the state.

He was admitted to the Bar in 1880, and be- gan the practice of law at Mount Carroll, but soon turned his attention to other and more con- genial pursuits. He became the owner and pub- lisher of the Herald at Mount Carroll, which he retained about a year. He then went to Rock- ford, Illinois, where he was connected with the

Rockford Watch Company seven years. He re- sided in Cleveland, Ohio, for a year, being iden- tified with the Arctic Ice Machine Manufacturing Company. During the last three years he lias been the western representative of the Hildreth Varnish Company of New York, with headquar- ters in one of the Grand Pacific offices, on Jack- son Street, Chicago.

Mr. Hallett possesses a keen business instinct, and his kind and genial manners and knowledge of human nature make him an exceptionally suc- cessful salesman. His dealings are largely with railroad companies, and cover many large con- tracts. He takes an active interest in all that pertains to the general welfare, and is thoroughly posted on questions that engage the public mind. He was the independent candidate for States At- torney of Carroll County in 1880, but usually acts with the Republican party. He was made a Master Mason at Mount Carroll, and is now en- tering upon the work of the exalted degrees.

LIBRARY OF THE „IVERSITY OF ILLIN

John beam baton

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J. D. CATON.

JOHN D. CATON.

OHN DEAN CATON was born in Monroe, Orange County, New York, March 19, 1812. He is the fifteenth of the sixteen children of Robert Caton, and the third child of his mother, Hannah (Dean) Caton, who was the third wife of Robert Caton. The latter was born March 22, 1761, on a plantation owned by his father (Robert Caton) in Maryland. He joined the Continental Army at the age of fourteen. Though very young at the outbreak of the Revolution, he gave good service to his native land in that struggle, and after the triumph of colonial arms, settled on the Hudson River, in New York. He died in 1815.

Robert Caton, grandfather of the subject of this biography, was born in England, of Irish de- scent, and served in the English army before set- tling in Maryland. He was a prominent citizen of that colony long before the Revolution, and the name is a conspicuous one in Maryland soci- ety to-day. Robert Caton, during the life of his second wife, joined the Society of Friends, and became a preacher in that denomination, his third wife being a member also. His four children by his third wife, according to the rules of that de- nomination, became birthright members, and so has the subject of this sketch continued; lie is now a member of the society in good standing.

When John D. Caton was four years old, his widowed mother took him to Oneida County, New York. His advantages were few, but he re- ceived the primary training of a common school. At the age of nine years, he was set to work with a farmer, at two and one-half dollars per month, and brought home a quarter of beef as the fruit of his first earnings. Work was afforded only in the summer, and his winters were spent in school un- til he was fourteen. It had been his father's wish

that he should be equipped for life with a trade, and he was apprenticed. A weakness of the eyes interfered with the completion of his time, and at sixteen, he joined his mother at Utica, New York, where he was enabled to put in nine months at the academy. He was so diligent and apt that he was thus equipped for earning by surveying and teaching school. While teaching, he pursued the study of the classics, and also did a little work in the law by practicing in justices' courts. He entered the office of Beardsley & Matteson, at Utica, as a student, at the age of nineteen years. He later studied with James H. Collins, who af- terward became a leader at the Chicago Bar and was a partner in practice with Mr. Caton.

Having become well grounded in the theory of law, and having attained man's estate, he resolved to settle in the new West and establish himself in practice. He had a special incentive in this de- termination, in the fact that he was the accepted lover of one of "York State's" fairest daughters, and was anxious to secure a permanent home. Having reached Buffalo by canal, he took pas- sage on the steamer "Sheldon Thompson," which brought him to Detroit, and thence he took stage to Ann Arbor, still undetermined as to his loca- tion. Still pushing westward, he rode in a wagon to White Pigeon, and here, by pure accident, he fell in with a cousin, whose husband, Irad Hill, was a carpenter and was employed by Dr. John T. Temple, of Chicago, to build a house for him there. The doctor and Mr. Hill were then in White Pigeon getting lumber for this purpose. Young Caton joined the rafting party which transported the lumber down the St. Joseph River, and took passage on the schooner which conveyed it to its destination. This was the

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J. D. CATON.

"Ariadne," whose cargo of lumber and immi- grants was about all she could carry.

He soon determined to locate here, and in a few days set off on horseback for Pekin, one hun- dred and fifty miles away, to seek admission to the Bar. Here he met Stephen T. Logan, after- wards partner of Abraham Lincoln, and other leading attorneys of the State. After court ad- journed and supper had been taken, the young applicant accompanied Judge Lockwood, of the Supreme Court, in a stroll on the river bank, and after being plied with questions on the theory and practice of law, was addressed in these words: "Well, my young friend, you've got a good deal to learn if you ever expect to make a success as a lawyer, but if you study hard I guess you'll do it. I shall give you your license." It took but nine years for the new licensee to attain a place beside his examiner on the supreme bench of the State.

Mr. Caton's first case was in the first lawsuit in the village of Chicago, in which he appeared as prosecutor of a culprit accused of stealing thir- ty-six dollars from a fellow-lodger at the tavern. When the defendant was brought before Squire Heacock, Caton insisted that he be searched, and he was stripped to his underclothing. Before he could replace his apparel, as directed by the court, the prosecuting attorney discovered a suspicious lump in his stocking. Seizing hold of this lump, he turned down the stocking and disclosed the missing bills. The case was then adjourned till next day, and a Constable watched the prisoner all night, having confined him under a carpenter's bench. Next morning when he was arraigned, Spring and Hamilton appeared for the defence and took a change of venue to Squire Harmon, who held court in the old tannery, on the North Side near the river forks. The whole town was now agog with the novel spectacle of a public trial; and Harmon, in order to give all a chance to en- joy the show, adjourned to Wattle's Tavern, on the West Side, where the case came off with much eclat; all the young attorneys "spreading them- selves" in their respective speeches. Judge Caton remembers that he dwelt particularly on the enor- mity of the act of this serpent who had brought

crime into this young community where it had been unknown. The thief was hield for trial, but the device (then new) of "straw bail" gave him temporary liberty, which he made permanent by running away as soon as the money was recovered; and as the public had had the fun and excitement of a "lawsuit" nobody cared much what became of the author of this welcome break in the village monotony. If he had been tried and convicted it would have been only the beginning of trouble, for there was no jail wherein to keep him. Young Caton got ten dollars for liis fee-the first money he had ever earned in Illinois by his profession- and it just paid the arrears of his board bill .- (History of Chicago, edited by Moses and Kirk- land. )

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Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 19th ed., Part 16

Author: Publication date: 1900 Publisher: Chicago : La Salle Book Co. Number of Pages: 908

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago : La Salle Book Co.
Number of Pages: 908