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

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

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As a boy John was noted for his dare-devil pranks, though always popular with his comrades, whom he often led into difficulties, out of which he usually succeeded in bringing them without seri- ous results. He was one of the first students at St. Mary's College, which was located at the cor- ner of Wabash Avenue and Madison Street. Upon one occasion, he led a number of students upon a floating cake of ice near the shore of the lake. The wind suddenly changed, and, before they were aware of their condition, floated their preca- rious barge out into the lake. Upon discovering

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JOHN PRINDIVILLE.

the danger, John promptly led the way back to shore by wading through water breast deep. This prompt action, aided by lis reputation for lionesty and truthfulness, saved him from punishment at the hands of the college authorities. He always had a great desire to live upon the water, and at the age of eleven years he gratified this tendency by shipping as a cook on a lake schooner. Two of the first vessels upon which he sailed were the "Hiram Pearson" and "Constitution." His menial position made liim the butt of the sailors, but he took so readily to the life of a mariner and performed his duties so thoroughly and capably, that he rapidly won promotion to more respon- sible posts, and when but nineteen years of age became the master of the schooner "Liberty," engaged in the lumber trade between Chicago and other Lake Michigan ports. For about ten years he was the skipper of sailing-vessels, abandoning the last of these in 1855, after which he com- manded several steamers, although that was never so much to his taste as sailing. In 1860 he for- sook marine life, though he has been ever since interested in the operation of lake craft. From 1855 to 1865 lie and his brother, Redmond Prin- diville, operated a line of tugs upon the Chicago. River. During this time, in August, 1862, he had a narrow escape from instant death by the explosion of the boiler of the tug "Union." Though not regularly in command of the vessel, he chanced to be on board at that time, and liad just left the wheel, going aft to hail another tug, when the accident occurred. Captain Daly, who took his place at the wheel, and several others were instantly killed.

As a skipper, Capt. John Prindiville was noted for quick trips, always managing to out-distance any competing vessels, though he made wreck of many spars and timbers by crowding on canvas. One of his standing orders was that sail should not be shortened without instructions, though it was allowable to increase it at any time deemed desirable. He was ever on the alert and always took good care of the lives of his crew and pass- engers. He was a strict disciplinarian, but was always popular with his men, who considered it a special honor to be able to sail with him, and

were ever ready to brave any danger to serve him. These included a number of those who had been accustomed to curse liim when he first began lıis marine career in the capacity of cook.

In 1850 Captain Prindiville commanded the brigantine "Minnesota" (which was built in Chi- cago, below Rush Street Bridge), the first Amer- ican vessel to traverse the St. Lawrence River. Her cargo consisted of copper from the Bruce Mines on Georgian Bay, and her destination was Swansea, Wales. Owing to the stupidity and in- capacity of the pilot, she ran upon the rocks in Lachine Canal and was obliged to unload. This was a disappointment to the youthful captain, who was ambitious to be the first lake skipper to cross the ocean. He and his brothers owned the schooner "Pamlico," the first vessel loaded from Chicago for Liverpool. This was in 1873, and the cargo consisted of twenty-four thousand seven hundred bushels of corn.

November 17, 1857, occurred one of the most disastrous storms which ever visited Lake Michi- gan, an event long to be remembered by the fami- lies of those who were sailors at that time. A number of vessels were wrecked off the shore of Chicago, and many lives were sacrificed to the fury of the elements. The number of fatalities would have been far greater but for the bravery and har- diliood of Captain Prindiville and his crew, wlio manned the tug "McQueen" and brought many of the men to land in safety, though at the peril of their own lives. For this act of bravery and humanity, on the evening of that day, Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, in behalf of the citizens, who had assembled at the Tremont House, ten- dered him a purse of $700 in gold. This valua- ble testimonial he modestly declined, recommend- ing that the money be distributed among the families of the crew of the "Flying Cloud," all of whom had been lost in the storm. This is only one of the many instances of his courage and self- sacrifice in belialf of others. It is an acknowl- edged and well-known1 fact that he has saved more human lives than any other navigator on Lake Michigan.

Captain Prindiville is the father of eight living children, the offspring of two marriages. On the

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18th of November, 1845, Miss Margaret Kalehr became his bride. After her death he married Margaret Prendergast, a native of Burlington, Vermont, who came to Chicago with her parents about 1840. Of his three sons, Redmond is now an ex-captain of lake craft, and resides in Chi- cago. James W. and Thomas J. are associated with their father in the vessel and marine busi- ness.

Captain Prindiville has been a steadfast Roman Catholic from boyhood, and is now a communi- cant of the Cathedral of the Holy Name. He is

broad-minded and tolerant toward all sincere Christians. He is a member of the Royal Arca- num, and in national politics has been a life-long Democrat, but gives his support to any good citi- zen for local office, irrespective of party fealty. He has been a member of the Chicago Board of Trade since 1856, and is now one of the oldest citizens connected with that body. His noble, self-sacrificing spirit and unquestioned integrity of character have won a host of friends, by whom his memory will be cherished long after the mere man of millions has passed into obscurity.

JOHN W. CARY.

OHN W. CARY was the lineal descendant in the fifth generation of John Cary, who came from Somersetshire, near Bristol, Eng- land, in 1634, and joined the Plymouth Colony, and a son of Asa Cary, who was born in Mans- field, Connecticut, in 1774. He was born Feb- ruary 11, 1817, in Shoreham, Vermont. Four- teen years later, his parents removed to western New York, where he attended the common school, assisting his father on the farm until, at the age of twenty, he entered Union College. He supported himself through college, and was grad- uated with the Class of 1842. Two years later he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of New York, and followed his profession in Wayne and Cayuga Counties until 1850, when he re- inoved to Wisconsin, taking up his residence at Racine. He took an active interest in educational matters, and as a School Commissioner was in- strumental in developing the public-school sys- tem of Racine. He was elected State Senator in 1852, and Mayor in 1857. Two years later he removed his home to Milwaukee, and was at

once engaged as solicitor and counsel to fore- close tlie mortgages given by the La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad Company. At the resulting sale, the property was purchased by the Milwau- kee & St. Paul Railroad Company (now the Chi- cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul), which he had in- corporated, and of which he continued as the legal adviser and one of the controlling spirits to the day of his death, a period of thirty-six years. Until 1887 he was the General Solicitor of that company, at which time the Board of Directors created the office of General Counsel, and he was then chosen to that position, which he continued to fill up to the time of his death. He was not only the legal adviser of that company, counsel- ing on all questions and conducting all its litiga- tion, in which he was eminently successful, es- pecially before the Supreme Court of the United States, but during all that time he was the chief counselor and adviser of the general policy of the company. He stood high in the legal profession, and was regarded by all as one of the best equip- ped railway lawyers in the country. Some of the

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cases in which he appeared as counsel before the Supreme Court of the United States, and in which he was successful, rank among the most notable cases of that court. He argued before that court what is known as the Milk Rate case, which was the case of the State of Minnesota against the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Com- pany, decided in April, 1890. The magnitude of that case, botli as regards the principle in- volved and the moneyed interest affected, places it by the side of such cases as the Dartmouth College case, the case of McCulloch versus Mary- land, and the Slaughter House cases. The Su- preme Court in that case held, as Mr. Cary had for many years contended, that the reasonableness of a rate of charge for transportation of property by a railroad company was a question of judicial determination, rather than of arbitrary legislative action, and that State Legislatures, in fixing the rates of freight, must fix reasonable rates; that is, rates which are compensatory, such as will per- mit carriers to receive reasonable profits upon their invested capital, the same as other persons are permitted to receive.

The success of Mr. Cary in this case is all the more notable from the fact that fifteen years pre- viously he appeared as counsel for the St. Paul Company in what are known as the Granger cases, in which that court declined to adopt the rule which it afterwards established in the Milk Rate case.

Of the members of that court at the time the Granger cases were argued, but one remains, Justice Field, and of the leading counsel who ap- peared in those cases all have passed away ex- cept William M. Evarts. It is a notable fact that Mr. Cary survived every justice wlio was a ment- ber of that court at the time of his first appearance therein, as well as the leading lawyers who were practicing in that court at that time.

It is told of Mr. Cary that he successfully argued fourteen cases during one session of the Supreme Court, against such men as Caleb Cush- ing, Matt H. Carpenter, Henry A. Cram, of New York, and other eminent men.

I11 1872, while a member of the Wisconsin State Legislature, he was requested to draw a

general railroad law for the state, which he did, and the statute which he prepared was adopted and is still in force, and has passed into history as one of the most important laws ever enacted in Wisconsin, and is regarded by all as a law fair both to the people and the railway companies.

No person in the State of Wisconsin was better or more favorably known than Mr. Cary. His reputation as a lawyer of marked abilities, and his character for candor and integrity as a man, were enviable. At all times and everywhere he maintained the honor of liis profession and the majesty of the law. Those who knew him best respected him the most.

He always took a great interest in political af- fairs, and was unusually well versed in national and political history. Throughout his entire man- liood he was a devoted adherent of Democracy, receiving in 1864 the nomination for Congress, and upon several occasions the complimentary vote of the Legislature for United States Senator. During the long period in which the Democratic party was in the minority, which covered nearly the whole of his maturer years, Mr. Cary re- mained steadfast in his loyalty to its principles. But for this fact his name would undoubtedly have found place on the pages of history among the most eminent statesmen of his generation. A man of vast mental endowment, clear of judg- ment, and true as the needle to the pole was he to the right as he saw the right.

He resided in Milwaukee until 1890, when the general offices of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company were removed to Chicago. At this time he removed his home to Hinsdale, a suburb of Chicago, where he resided until his deatlı, which occurred in Chicago on March 29, 1895.

I11 1844 Mr. Cary was married to Eliza Vilas, who died in 1845, leaving a daughter, Eliza. In 1847 he was married to Isabel Brinkerhoff. He has seven children living, namely: Eliza, who is the wife of Sherburn Sanborn; Frances, the widow of Charles D. Kendrick; Melbert B., Fred A., John W., Jr., George P. and Paul V.

In his intercourse with his fellow-men, and with his associates in professional labor, he was

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E. W. BAILEY.

alway. considerate and gentle. No unkind or reproachful word ever passed his lips. He was true and faithful in friendship, magnanimous in his dealings with others, and every act was prompted by the highest sense of honor. He was modest and unassuming, simple and unaffected in

manner, and admired, trusted and loved by all who knew him.

" In his family and home life He was all sunshine; in his face The very soul of sweetness shone."

EDWARD W. BAILEY.

DWARD WILLIAM BAILEY, a member of the Chicago Board of Trade, was born at Elmore, La Moille County, Vermont, Au- gust 31, 1843. His parents, George W. Bailey and Rebecca Warren, were natives of Berlin, Vermont. The Bailey family is remotely of Scotch lineage. George W. Bailey was one of a family of thirteen children, and was bereft of his father in childhood. He participated in the War of 1812, entering the service of the United States at the age of sixteen years. But little is known of his service, except that he was in the battle of Fort Erie. He be- came a prominent farmer and practical business man, officiating as President of the Vermont Mutual Life Insurance Company, and for many years filled the office of Judge of Probate in Washington County, a circumstance which indi- cates the regard and confidence reposed in him by his fellow-citizens. His death occurred at Montpelier in 1868, at the age of seventy years. Mrs. Rebecca Bailey was a daughter of Abel War- ren. She died upon the homestead farm at El- more in 1885, having reached the mature age of eighty-three years.

Edward W. Bailey is the youngest of ten chil- dren. His education was obtained in the public schools, and in Washington County Grammar School at Montpelier. From the age of seventeen years, lie assisted his father in the management of the homestead farm, thereby developing a strong muscular frame and acquiring strength and endurance for the subsequent battle of life.

He also inherited the upright character and con- scientious principles for which his progenitors had been conspicuous, and when, in 1869, he en- tered upon his commercial career, he was fully competent to meet and master the exigencies and vicissitudes which ever beset the business man. At that date he purchased a grocery store at Montpelier, and the following year he and his partner increased their business by the addition of a gristmill. When the firm dissolved, a few years later, Mr. Bailey retained the mill and still continues to own and operate the same.

In 1879 he located in Chicago, and, in partner- ship with V. W. Bullock, began dealing in grain on commission, an occupation which still em- ploys his time and attention. After the first two or three years, Mr. Bailey became sole proprie- tor of the business, and now occupies commo- dious quarters in the Board of Trade Building. In most instances, he has been successful, and he has ever maintained a reputation for honorable dealing and integrity of character, which has earned him the confidence of all his business as- sociates. There is, perhaps, no man upon the Board of Trade to-day in whom the public has better reason to trust or whose business credit is freer from imputation.

In June, 1869, he was married to Miss Jennie Carter, daughter of Charles H. Carter, of Mont- pelier, Vermont. The lady was born in Wil- mington, Massachusetts, and has become the mother of two children: George C., who holds a

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responsible position with the great packing house of Swift & Company, and Mary D., wife of Fred- erick Meyer, of Chicago. Mr. Bailey holds liberal views on religious subjects, and was for many years a member of the congregation of the late Prof. David Swing. He is not in fellowship with any social or religious organization. Though not an active politician, lie never fails to exercise

the riglit-as well as duty-of casting a vote, and supports Republican principles, believing the Republican party to represent the best social and economic ideas. He is a man of resolution and prompt action, and his industrious habits have inade liin an exemplary business man, whose life and character are worthy of the emulation of the rising generation.

HON. JAMES B. BRADWELL.

ON. JAMES B. BRADWELL. This dis- tinguislied gentleman, an excellent portrait of whom is herewith presented, was born April 16, 1828, at Loughborough, England. His parents were Thomas and Elizabeth (Gutridge) Bradwell. The family left England when James was sixteen months old, and settled in Utica, New York, where they resided until 1833, when they removed to Jacksonville, Illinois. They went from Jacksonville to what is now Wheeling, Cook County, Illinois, in May, 1834. The fam- ily made the trip in a covered wagon drawn by a span of horses and a yoke of oxen, and, although the distance was but two hundred and fifty miles, it took twenty-one days to complete the journey. Young Bradwell spent a number of years upon a farm in Cook County, splitting rails, breaking prairie, mowing and cradling in the old-fashioned way, which aided to give him that strength of body and mind which he possesses at the age of sixty-seven. His early education was obtained in a log schoolhouse; later in Wilson's Academy, of Chicago, in which Judge Lorenzo Sawyer, of California, was tutor; and was completed in Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois. He supported him- self in college by sawing wood and working in a wagon and plow shop afternoons and Saturdays, where he often had to take his pay in orders on stores, which he discounted at twenty-five cents

on the dollar. This resulted in the young man taking an oatlı that if ever he lived to employ men he would never pay them in orders or truck.

Although lie has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for wages, lie has religiously kept his oath. For a number of years before his admis- sion to the Bar he worked as a journeyman at several different trades in Chicago. He is a natural mechanic, and, believing with Solomon that "the rest of the laboring man is sweet," lie aimed, even when on the Bench and at the Bar, to devote a portion of every day to some kind of manual labor. It is said that he could earn his living to-day as a journeyman at any one of sev- enteen trades. As a process artist he has few su- periors. He invented a process of his own for doing half-tone work, and has the honor of hav- ing made the first half-tone cut ever produced in Chicago-that of Chief Justice Fuller, of the United States Supreme Court. Nearly forty years ago he was admitted to the Illinois Bar, and, being a good speaker, a bold, dashing young man, and considerable of a "hustler,"he succeeded in building up a large and paying practice. In 1861 he was elected County Judge of Cook Count- ty by a larger majority than any judge had ever received in the county up to that time; and in 1865 he was re-elected for four years. Judge Bradwell was elected to the Legislature of Illi-

LIBRARY OF THE IVERSITY OF ILLIN

JAMES B. BRADWELL

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MYRA BRADWELL

LIBRARY Ог E IVERSITY OF 11:11

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MYRA BRADWELL.

nois in 1873, and re-elected in 1875. He has held many offices in charitable and other institu- tions; presided at Cleveland during the organiza- tion of the American Woman Suffrage Associa- tion; was President of the Chicago Press Club; President of the Chicago Rifle Club, and for many years was considered the best rifle shot in Chicago; President of the Chicago Bar Associa- tion; President of the Illinois State Bar Associa- tion, and for many years its historian; President of the Chicago Soldiers' Home; Chairman of the Arms and Trophy Department of the Northwest- ern Sanitary Commission and Soldiers' Home Fair in 1865; one of the founders of the Union League Club of Chicago, President of the Board of Directors the first year, and the first man to sign the roll of membership, "Long John" Went- worth being the second; he has been President of the Chicago Photographic Society, and was Chair- man of the Photographic Congress Auxiliary of the World's Columbian Exposition.

When on the Bench he ranked as a probate jurist second only to the distinguished surrogate, Alexander Bradford, of New York.

He was the first judge to hold, during the war, that a marriage made during slavery was valid upon emancipation, and that the issue of such a marriage was legitimate upon emancipation and would inherit from their emancipated parents;

or, in other words, that the civil rights of slaves, being suspended during slavery, revived upon emancipation. The opinion was delivered in the case of Matt C. Jones, and was published ap- provingly in the London Solicitors' Journal, and fully endorsed by Mr. Joel Prentiss Bishop ten years after it was rendered, in one of his works. Judge Bradwell was the friend of the widow and the orphan-an able, impartial judge.

He was an influential member of the Legisla- ture, and aided in securing the passage of a num- ber of measures for the benefit of the State and the city of liis adoption. He holds advanced views as to the rights of women, and introduced a bill making women eligible to all school offices, and, mainly by his influence and power, secured its passage; also a bill making women eligible to be appointed notaries public.

Judge Bradwell has taken the Thirty-third and last degree in Masonry, and is an honorary mem- ber of the Supreme Council with its Grand East at Boston, and also an honorary member of the Ancient Ebor Preceptory at York, England. He has recently published a neat volume of Ancient Masonic Rolls and other matter of interest to the order, showing that there was originally no pro- vision against the admission of women to the fra- ternity.

MYRA BRADWELL.

YRA BRADWELL. In these latter days of the century, a century which has done more for women than any other in the his- tory of the world, it is interesting to record the life of a citizen of Chicago of national reputation, who wrought earnestly, wisely and successfully for woman's advancement.

To follow in a pathway which has been made for one is easy. To be an original and practical

leader, clearing the way for others to come, is a difficult undertaking. Such a leader was Myra Bradwell, one of the pioneers in the movements to give woman equal rights before the law and equal opportunities to labor in all avocations.

Myra Bradwell was born in Manchester, Ver- mont, February 12, 1831. In infancy she was taken to Portage, New York, where she remained until her twelfth year, when she came West with

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MYRA BRADWELL.

her father's family. In the warp of her nature was woven the woof of that sterling New England character which has made such an impress on our national life. On her father's side she was descended from a family which numbers many noble men, philanthropists, eminent divines and noted statesmen. Her father, Eben Colby, was the son of John Colby, a Baptist minister of New Hampshire. Her father's mother was a lineal descendant of Aquilla Chase, whose family gave to the world the noted divine, Bishop Philander Chase, of the Episcopal Church, and Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the United States.

On her mother's side she was a descendant of Isaac Willey, who settled in Boston in 1640. Two members of the family, Allen and John Willey, served in the Revolutionary War, and were in the little army which suffered glorious defeat at Bun- ker Hill. Her family were aggressive Abolition- ists and stanch friends of the Lovejoys. The story of the murdered martyr, Elijalı Lovejoy, as recounted by the friend of her youth, Owen Love- joy, made a deep impression npon her mind. Thus early was implanted a hatred of slavery and injustice in the soul of one who was destined, in after years, to bear a conspicuous part in free- ing her sex from some of the conditions of vas- salage in which it had stood-a champion who broke one of the strongest barriers to woman's enfranchisement, the Bar, and paved the way for women into the upper halls of justice, into the greatest court of the world. As a student, pos- sessed of a keen, logical mind, with the soul of a poet, she early evinced a deep love for learning, and made the most of the limited educational ad- vantages which were then deemed more than suf- ficient for girls. After studying at Kenosha and the ladies' seminary in Elgin, Myra engaged in teaching.

May 18, 1852, Myra Colby was united in mar- riage with James B. Bradwell. Soon after her mar- riage she removed with her husband to Memphis, Tennessee. While there she proved herself a veritable helpmate, conducting with her husband the largest select school in the city. In two years they returned to Chicago, where her hus- band engaged in the practice of the law, and

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

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