Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 19th ed., Part 69

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

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After leaving school in his fifteenth year, young Anton worked on a farm until he was seventeen, and in 1880 turned his face toward the setting sun, to seek a new home and better fortune in a strange land. His first halting place in this country was Racine, Wisconsin, and there and in

the adjacent country the first nine years of his life in America were spent. In 1889 he came to Chicago, and was married, September 10, of that year, in this city, to one of his countrywomen, Miss Annie Nielsen, who had come to the United States two years before.

For a time he worked at cement paving and in . 1892 Mr. Jacobsen was able to set himself up in the milk business. His first location was at Wentworth Avenue and Thirty-eighth Street. From there he removed to No. 3721 Dearborn Street. In 1895 he abandoned the sale of milk and opened a saloon at the corner of Armour Avenue and Thirty-eighth Street. He remained there but a few months, and in September of that year purchased his present establishment, The

468

C. G. BENSON.

Walhalla, at Wentworth Avenue and Thirty- seventh Street. This he refitted and equipped as a first class resort.

Mr. and Mrs. Jacobsen have three children, May, Jacob and Olivia. He is a prominent and active member of Walhalla, the members of the order holding him in high esteem. For three years he was its president. He also takes deep interest in the Danish Brotherhood, to which he belongs, and is a Forester as well, being a mem-

ber of Court General Thomas, Foresters of Amer- ica. He is also active in the Saloonkeeper's As- sociation.

While employed at cement work he was a member of the Cement Paver's Union, hold- ing, at different times, the office of secretary, treasurer and president. He has lost none of his old time sympathy with the working men, whose welfare lie always stands ready to promote and defend.

CHARLES G. BENSON.

HARLES GUSTAVE BENSON was born at Wermland, Sweden, June 10, 1853. He comes of a well-known and widely respected family. His father, Bengt Bengtson, was a grain dealer, and is still living, at the age of eighty-one years. His mother, Anna Maria Swansen, is also alive, having celebrated her seventy-ninth birthday. Their seven children are also living, the family circle having never been broken by the angel of death. A brief mention of their progeny will be found of interest. John August spent eighteen years in America, but returned to Sweden, where he now resides; Mary Sjoling, of Stockholm; Per Adolph lives in Adolphina, Sweden; Andres Theodor is also in his native country, as is Johnson; Emil is a carpenter in Chicago.

Charles G. Benson was the second child in order of birth. His early educational advantages were of the most limited sort, he having left school to go to work upon a farm at the age of ten years. When he was twenty he went to Stockholm, where for nine years he was em- ployed in a fish and game emporium. He came to America in 1882, and, following the example of many of his countrymen, set his face at once toward Chicago. He remained in that city only

three days. Going to a place about one hundred and fourteen miles distant, he hired out as a farm · hand, but returned to the city after six weeks. In the following March he resumed farm labor at Belvidere, Illinois. The employment lasted seven or eight months, at the end of which time lie once more drifted back to Chicago. During the next year he worked in the packing honse of Libby, McNiell & Libby.

At the end of that time, hard work and economy had put a little money in his pocket, while his reputation was of a sort to command credit. The sum which he could command was ridiculously insignificant, but he determined on making a plunge. He opened a grocery and market at No. 3200 Armour Avenue, on his own . account. Thanks to his own unwearied, personal attention and to that fidelity to obligation which has ever marked his business career, he suc- ceeded, even beyond his anticipations.

At the end of seven years he sold out his busi- ness and removed to Joliet, where within one year he lost the accumulations of patient toil, through unfortunate speculation. Coming back to Chi- cago, he once more embarked in business, this time at No. 915 Fifty-ninth Street, and remained there three years. From that location he moved

469

A. C. SKAFGAARD.

to the corner of Fifty-ninth and South Halsted Streets, where he continued until he opened his present place of business (in 1897), at No. 5910 South Halsted Street. Little by little he gained his first start in a commercial life, and step by step he has recovered from the disaster which had well nigh swept away his all. In both in- stances he has had to rely upon his own effort, integrity and pluck.

He was married, in 1888, to Anna C. Free- burg, a Swedish maiden, who came to this coun- try when a child of seven years. The issue of the marriage has been four children, none of whom are living. Mr. Benson comes of long lived an- cestry. Not only did his parents attain extraor- dinary age, but an uncle, at Stockholm, has passed the limit of a century and is still active and vigorous.

ANTON C. SKAFGAARD.

A NTON CHRISTENSEN SKAFGAARD, a conspicuous member of the Danish-Ameri- can colony of Chicago, is a patriotic citizen of his adopted country, though he retains the natural love of all intelligent people for the place ot nativity. Like most of his compatriots, he has worked his way to success by patient labor, thrift and integrity.

Born January 10, 1862, at Vejrum pr Holstebro, in the Province of Jutland, Denmark, he is the third in a family of nine children born to his parents-N. C. Christensen and Anna Nielsen, both of whom were natives of the same province. His grandfather, Charles Skafgaard, was a veter- inary surgeon. N. C. Christensen was a farmer and blacksmith during his active life, and is still living in his native place, having completed his seventy-first year in September, 1899. On the fifteenth day of the previous March he was called upon to mourn the death of his faithful life companion and helpmate. She was the mother of nine children, three of whom died in infancy. Another passed away at the age of seven years. The eldest son, Niels C. Skafgaard, was drowned in Denmark in 1887. Anton is next in order of birth. A daughter, Karen, is the wife of Jens Thomasen, residing in Denmark.

Christ C. is a blacksmith, residing at Dwight, Illinois; and Carl M. C., the youngest, resides with Anton.

The last-named was reared in his native place, where he continued until he reached his majority. From seven to fourteen years of age he attended the public schools, according to the custom of his country, and then entered upon a four-years' apprenticeship to the trade of blacksmith. He had worked as a journeyman only six months when he enlisted as a private in the Danish artil- lery service, in which he continued some sixteen months. He was then forced to leave the army on account of feeble health, and remained at home one year, being nursed to recovery from threatened consumption by the domestic remedies prescribed by an old lady of the neighborhood.

In the spring of 1884 he came to America and proceeded direct to Morris, Illinois, where he found his first employment in digging tile ditches on a farm. He continued in this line of employ- ment two years or more, and subsequently spent one year as a bricklayer. While residing at Morris, September 12, 1886, he was married to Miss Annetta M. Hansen, who is, like himself, a native of Denmark, born April 8, 1864, in Sjal- land.

470

H. C. JORGENSEN.

In June, 1887, he became a resident of Chi- cago, which city has afforded him a home ever since. After being idle about six months he se- cured employment in the capacity of bartender for J. C. Hansen, and continued with the latter's successor a period of one and one-half years altogether. Near the close of the year 1889 he began business for himself at No. 508 Thirty- seventh Street, and continued it there until Octo- ber 4, 1892, when he sold out and was engaged nearly two years as a contractor on cement work for sidewalks and similar uses. August 8, 1894, he repurchased his former business at No. 508 Thirty-seventh Street, and continued it there until May 1, 1897, when he removed to his pres- ent location, corner of Armour Avenue and Thirty-seventh Street.

Mr. Skafgaard stands high among his neigh-

bors, both socially and commercially. His com- panionable nature has made him successful in business and has led him to associate himself with many social and fraternal organizations. He is a prominent member of the Walhalla Soci- ety and is a director and secretary of the board of directors of the Walhalla Hall Association. Since January, 1890, he has been actively iden- tified with Lodge No. 35 of the Danish Brother- hood, which was started in 1889. Beside being a member of Heimdahl Singing Society and Sec- tion No. 1 of the Socialistic-Labor party, he is active in the Liquor Dealers' Protective Associa- tion.

Mr. and Mrs. Skafgaard are the parents of five children, all of whom were born in Chicago, named in order of birth: Charles C. C., Andrew C., John C., Elna C. and Arthur C.

HANS C. JORGENSEN.

ANS CHRIST JORGENSEN was born September 14, 1841, in Schleswig-Holstein. He calls himself-and legitimately-of Dan- ish birth, the Duchy where he was born being theu a portion of the kingdom of Denmark. He is the son of Peter Jorgensen, a Jutlander, and Marie Jessen, who was born in North Schleswig. His father was a farmer. Both his parents are dead, his father passing away at the age of sev- enty-five, and his mother at seventy-four years. He is one of a family of four children, three of whom are yet living (1899).

His boyhood was spent much after the fashion of other Danish youths of his station, partly at school and partly on a farm. At the age of twenty-two years he enlisted in the Danish army, serving six months in the war between Denmark and Germany (1864), which resulted in the ces- sion of Schleswig-Holstein to the country last named.

In 1867 he emigrated to America, and after a brief period spent in Wisconsin, made his home in Chicago. Here he learned the trade of brick laying, through practical experience, and has ever since followed that pursuit. He is not un- naturally proud of the fact that his was the first marriage solemnized after the great fire of 1871. ·His bride was Miss Charlotte M. J. Jensen, one of his own countrywomen.

Seven children have been the fruit of this mar- riage, six of whom are yet living: Peter, Anton (who died in infancy), Tillie, Andrew, Mary, Henry and Charlie. All of the living children reside at home, and five were born at the present residence of the family, No. 4002 Dearborn Street. Peter is married, and occupies separate apartments in the same building with his parents.

Through industry, sobriety and prudence Mr. Jorgensen has attained a competence. Beside the two-story frame building in which he lives (with

471

J. J. MCGRATH.

tenements in the rear) he has a lot in Hyde Park, all of which he owes to his own effort and pluck. He regards himself as being an old settler; for a quarter of a century he hasmade his home on the same corner where he yet lives.

Mr. Jorgensen and two of his sons are members of the Danish Society Walhalla. He was one of the directors of the organization at the time of the building of Walhalla Hall, and is a stockholder in that enterprise.

JAMES J. McGRATH.

( AMES JOSEPH MCGRATH, for many years alderman of the Fourteenth Ward, former member of the state assembly and senate, and at one time acting mayor of Chicago, was a native of County Wexford, Ireland. He was the eldest of the seven sons and three daughters of John and Bridget (McNamara) McGrath.

John, son of Thomas McGrath, was the owner of what is considered in Ireland a large farm at Coole, and was a man of influence in his neigh- borhood. Bridget, the daughter of Michael Mc- Namara, a farmer, was born at Coole. Another daughter of Mr. McNamara was the wife of the mayor of Waterford, who sent relief to the suf- ferers from the great fire of 1871 in Chicago. Michael McGrath, a brother of the subject of this notice, a prominent land-leaguer, former com- missioner and present collector of his native coun- ty, now occupies the old residence of the Mc- Namara family, which was built more than five centuries ago. "

When fourteen years of age, James J. McGrath came to America and lived with his uncle on a farm at Roundstown, New York, where he re- mained four years, working on a farm in summer and attending school in winter. After leaving that place, young McGrathı went to Pekin, Illi- nois, where he learned the cooper's trade.

Settling in Chicago in 1860, he soon became manager for a large firm of coopers at its factory on Rawson Street, which he later purchased and thus became one of the largest operators in his

line in the city. Mr. McGrath associated with himself his brother, John, who was made man- ager, and the firm continued in business until 1873, when it was terminated on account of the financial disasters that visited the country in that year.

Naturally gifted as a manager, Mr. McGrath early became connected with the politics of Chi- cago, in which he took an active part for many years. In 1869 he was elected alderman from the Fourteenth Ward, a position which he filled until 1875, taking an active part in the measures of that period, which had a strong bearing on the prosperity of the city. During the absence of Mayor Joseph Medill in Europe, Mr. McGrath was presiding. officer of the council and acting mayor.

After his retirement from the council he was connected with the county clerk's office eight years, and was for the same period redemption clerk in the recorder's office. He was elected to the twenty-seventh general assembly of Illinois and, following that, represented his district in the state senate one term.

James J. McGrath was three times married. His first wife, to whom he was married in Chi- cago, was a Mary Gibbons, a native of Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland. The children of this marriage are: Nellie, now the wife of Thomas Halliman, of Chicago; John T., president of the board of promotions in the Chicago postoffice; Kittie, Mrs. Joseph Haynes; Nannie and Thomas,

472

PETER ANDRESEN.

the latter a resident of Joliet, Illinois. Mrs. McGrath died on Thanksgiving eve, of the year 1880.

In 1881 Mr. McGrath took for his wife Mrs. Balinda (Fay) Kerwin, daughter of John and Ann Fay, and widow of Edward Kerwin. She became the mother of four children, Irene, Vernie, James J. and Madeline, and died in Oc- tober, 1889. On the twenty-first day of October, 1891, Mr. McGrath was wedded to Miss Mary Lonergan, a native of Buffalo, New York, and daughter of Jackson K. and Eliza (Herbert) Lonergan. J. K. Lonergan, also a native of Buffalo, was an expert bookkeeper and did a great deal of special work in Chicago. He was killed by a train on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad in1 1897. Mrs. McGrath was educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Chicago. She is a lady of fine appearance, an entertaining conversationalist, and possesses many friends. There are no children of this marriage.

Mr. McGrath visited Ireland in 1866, and sub- sequently visited Ireland and the Continent, making the tour of several of the principal European countries. At the time of his death Mr. McGrath was sixty-two years old, and was

the owner of a large amount of property on the Northwest Side of the city. Twenty-nine years ago he built the home which he occupied at the time of his demise. This overlooks Wicker Park, one of the prettiest breathing-spots of the city, the corporate title to which he caused to be perfected while he was an alderman.

For a period of forty-five years James J. Mc- Grath was a resident of Chicago. In that time he made a host of friends, and was never hap- pier than when bestowing favors upon them. He possessed a natural talent for politics, which made him successful in public affairs, and the Republican party had no more staunch supporter than he. In religious faith a Roman Catholic, he was so liberal that he became a member of the Masonic fraternity. In his domestic relations he was a kind husband and an indulgent father, whose memory will long be cherished. With all the calls upon his time, he still found opportunity to indulge his love of study, and often read until two or three o'clock in the morning. It is an appropriate summary of his life to say that he was an energetic and successful business man and politician, a student, a steadfast friend, a whole-souled, genial Irish gentleman.

PETER ANDRESEN.

ETER ANDRESEN. This old resident of Chicago, now in his sixty-third year, was born at Hoir, Schleswig, Denmark, Decem- ber. 23, 1837. His father, Karsten Andresen, was by occupation a laborer, and died in 1844, while yet a young man of thirty-five years. His father, the grandfather of Peter Andresen, was also named Peter, and lost his life in the war of 1813. Karsten Andresen's wife was Margareta Ribe. She too has passed away, dying in her

native country at the extreme old age of eighty- seven years. Karsten Andresen was the parent of four sons and two daughters, but of this family of six, only Peter and one daughter are yet liv- ing. The latter is now Mrs. Christina Wind, and still resides in the land of her birth.

Peter Andresen is the third child in order of birth. His school days ended when he was fifteen years of age, and he was apprenticed to learn the trade of a blacksmith. He served a

473

A. J. LARSEN.

term of four years, and, at the end of that time, began working as a farm hand, being employed on a large farm near Tonderm for six years. He first came to America in 1872, going to North Manistee, Michigan, where he remained four years, and then returned to his native country, becoming foreman on the same farm which he had left before emigrating.

After four years he again returned to the United States, to seek a home and fortune. For about four months he worked in a mine in Penn- · sylvania, and then came West, locating in Chi- cago. His first employment here was in a stone quarry in the West Division, and his next in the stockyards. The latter employment continued only two years, when he began to carry a hod, which occupation he followed for some time. For two years he worked for a cornice-maker. He bought a team, and for a year drove a bakery route, besides doing work in connection with the building of sidewalks and other public works. For about a year he was in the employment of Mr. Wells, on Michigan Avenue, and in 1897 he accepted the position of janitor of the premises at No. 3249 State Street, containing five stores and twenty-one flats. April 1, 1900, he took charge of Walhalla Hall building.

In 1862, while yet living in Denmark, he was united in marriage to Dorothea Mathieson. Mrs.

Andreson is yet living in Denmark, as she did not accompany hier husband to this country. She resides in the village of Abel, in a home owned by him. Two sons and three daughters have been born to them. The sons, Andreas P. and Karsten, live in Chicago, and have been in the employ of Marshall Field & Company for the past twelve years. The daughters were named: Caroline, who died in 1889; Anna and Margareta. The two living are residents of Denmark.

Mr. Andresen is vice president of the Walhalla Society, and a stockholder and director in the Walhalla Hall Society. He is a charter member of the society, and is an active worker in both organizations. It is unnecessary to emphasize the fact that the Walhalla is one of the best and strongest Danish societies in Chicago. It was or- ganized in 1883, and has a present membership of four hundred and fifty. In 1898 it paid out, in benefits, the large sum of twenty thousand, six hundred and eighty-eight dollars and sixty cents.

Mr. Andresen is widely and favorably known among the Danish-Americans of the city which has been his home twenty years. He is unas- suming and affable, of generous impulses and kindly disposition, genial, whole-souled and up- right, readily making friends, whom he retains through the force and worth of his own character.

ANDERS J. LARSEN.

A NDERS J. LARSEN is a native of the City of Hjorreng, Jutland, Denmark, where he was born August 4, 1861. Mr. Larsen be- came a resident of Chicago in 1889. In this city he has built up a prosperous business as a baker. His father, Lars Jensen, was a milk

dealer, and still follows the same avocation in the old country, having attested his loyalty to luis native land by serving as a soldier through the war with Germany in 1864. His mother-whose baptismal name was Karren Jensen-is also yet living.

474

RASMUS SORENSEN.

Anders J. Larsen is one of a family of ten children, of whom eight survive. In order of birth, he is at once the second child and the sec- ond son. Of the eight living children born to his parents four have found homes in America- Anders J .; Emil, who conducts a bakery at the corner of Lake Street and Forty-eighth Avenue, Chicago; Otto, employed by his brother, Emil; and Eunice, the wife of Charles Johnson, a painter, of Harlem, Illinois.

Mr. Larsen learned his trade in his native country, serving an apprenticeship of four years, after leaving school. No sooner had he qualified himself as a journeyman, however, than he made up his mind to look for a wider field and better wages than were afforded by the little kingdom of Denmark, dearly as he loved the country in which he had been born and bred, and tender as were the associations clustering around his home.

His first home in what was to him then a strange land, was at Racine, Wisconsin, where he worked as a journeyman seven years, and for three years conducted business for himself. In

1889 (as has been already said), he removed to Chicago, where he felt confident that energy and industry would find a broader field and reap a richer reward. He chose for a location the premises, No. 502 Thirty-seventh Street, and there he has remained until the present day. He early learned that serving "good goods at honest prices" was the ouly road to success, and this maxim has been his watchword; it is to the strict observance of this rule that his success is attrib- utable.

While he was living at Racine he was married (1887) to Miss Dorothea Petersen, a lady who was born in Denmark but brought to this country by her parents when a child of only two months. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Larsen-Richard, Ernest, Estlier and Eva. The two older were born at Racine; the younger claim Chicago as their birthplace.

Mr. Larsen stands high in the counsels of the Walhalla Society, in which organization he has held several offices, and is a valued member of the singing society known as the "Hamdahl."

RASMUS SORENSEN.

ASMUS SORENSEN was born in Odder, Jutland, Denmark, January 23, 1848. His father, Soren Ottosen, was a farmer, and died at the age of seventy-six years. His mother's maiden name was Maren Nielsen, and she is yet living. To this couple were born four sons and three daughters, and the family circle remains, as yet, unbroken, save by the father's death.

Rasmus was the third son, and next to the youngest child. At the age of fourteen years he left school, to commence work as a boy in the office of the Danish Collector of revenue and taxes, remaining in the employ of that official from 1864 to 1868, in which year he was given

a clerkship in the office of the General Director of the Government Railway. Here he was attached to the corresponding bureau. In 1871 he was made telegraph operator and ticket agent, and in 1876, promoted to the superintendency. In 1883 he resigned his office to come to America. He first visited Chicago, and from there went to Racine, Wisconsin, where he secured a po- sition as shipping clerk for the Racine Hard- ware Company, being assigned to duty in the opera seats department. He remained with this concern until January 10, 1893.

While yet a student in his native land, Mr. Sorensen attracted attention by the superior

475

W. M. MILLER.

character of his handwriting. On one occasion he was sent for to write out some railroad con- tracts for the King, who complimented his work and sent him a sum of money out of his private purse, in addition to his regular compensation. This work led to his connection with the Govern- ment Railway, as before related.

Mr. Sorensen is possessed of a rare musical talent and a fine musical education, and while living at Racine he was an active member of a Danish singing society, out of which grew the Hamlet Singing Society, which was formed Octo- ber 1, 1889. Mr. Sorensen was one of the main promoters and organizers. One of the most pleasant memories of his sojourn in the pretty little Wisconsin city is taking part in a three- nights' musical festival in July, 1887, at Battery D, in Chicago, in which a chorus of sixteen hun- dred voices was heard. Many oratorios were rendered, at various times, and with such success that they were frequently repeated, by request, as often as three times. In 1890 the society gave concerts in Minneapolis on three successive nights, the chorus again numbering sixteen hundred. In

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Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 19th ed., Part 69

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