Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 19th ed., Part 74

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

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The members of the family are all communi- cants of the Universalist Church of Blue Island, and Mr. Massey has served as one of its Trustees and as Treasurer during the greater part of the time since its organization. Socially, he is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is Treas- urer of the Illinois Universalist State Convention, of which organization he was a charter member. In politics, he is a stalwart Republican, and never fails to vote in support of the men and measures of his party, although he has never sought office for himself. With the educational interests of the community he has long been identified, serving as School Treasurer of Worth Township for twenty years. He has also been Notary Public since 1856. He takes a commendable interest in all questions of public concern, and is one of the most esteemed citizens of Blue Island. Mr. Mas- sey remembers when there was only one house at Washington Heights and one at Auburn Park.

LIBRARY OF THE DIVERSITY OF ILLIN

Orington Luni

503

ORRINGTON LUNT.

RRINGTON LUNT is one of the founders of Evanston, and of the Northwestern Uni- versity, and has been one of the important factors in the upbuilding of Chicago. In the days of the infancy of the city, he cast in his lot with its settlers, and his interests have since been con- nected with theirs. Many monuments to his handiwork still stand, and the history of Cook County would be an incomplete volume without the record of his life. He was born December 24, 1815, in Bowdoinham, Me. His father, William Lunt, was a leading merchant of that place, and represented his district in the State Legislature. He was a direct descendant of Henry Lunt, of Newburyport, Mass., who emigrated to the United States from England in 1635. The mother of our subject died when he was ten years old, and his father afterwards married again. He lived to a ripe old age, and both he and his second wife died December 31, 1863.

Mr. Lunt of this sketch attended the public and private schools of his native town, and in his fourteenth year entered his father's store, serving as clerk until he attained his majority, when he was admitted to partnership. They safely passed through the financial panic of 1837, for their busi- ness had been prudently managed, and they could thus meet the crisis. Soon after, the father re- tired, and a partnership was formed between Or- rington and his brother W. H. They did a good business, and besides dealing in dry goods traded largely and shipped hay and produce to the South. In 1842, Mr. Lunt sold out, preparatory to mov- ing westward. He believed that better advant- ages were furnished by the new and rapidly grow- ing West, and the then young town of Chicago attracted him. He left home on the Ist of No- vember, and on the 11th reached his destination. This western town had then not a single railroad, and its business at that time was very slack, not

much being done through the winter season. Mr. Lunt hoped for better opportunities in the spring, but his wife's health at that time forced him to return to Maine. The many discourage- ments which he met disheartened him, but he would not give up, and in the latter part of July we again find him in Chicago. He had no capi- tal, but was furnished with letters of recommen- dation from leading merchants in the East. He began business as a commission merchant, and soon had built up a flourishing trade. In the summer of 1844 he began dealing in grain, and in the following winter packed pork to a limited extent. Both of these ventures proved profitable, and he then leased one hundred feet of ground on the river front for ten years, erecting thereon a grain house. With the growth of the city his business increased, and in those early days he made one sale of fifty thousand bushels, which was considered a large transaction. He had now made about $10,000, but trade the following spring proved disastrous, and he lost all he had. He never shipped grain East, Chicago being his only market, and through the experience gained by his losses he became a prudent and careful busi- ness man. He has been a member of the Board of Trade since the beginning, but the business done there in early years was little, as the organi- zation had to struggle for existence for some time, notwithstanding a lunch of crackers and cheese served as an attraction. In 1853 he aban- doned the grain trade, and retired for a time from commercial life.

Mr. Lunt has been connected to a considerable extent with official positions. He was first called to office when in his twenty-second year, being elected Clerk and Treasurer of his town, and also appointed Justice of the Peace. In 1855 he was elected to the office of Water Commissioner for three years for the south division of the city.

504

ORRINGTON':LUNT.

On the expiration of his first term he was re-elect- ed, and during the last three years he served as Treasurer and President of the Board. At the end of the six years the city departments were con- solidated in the Board of Public Works. He was made a Director of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad in 1855, and continued as such until the consolidation of the road with the Northwestern. For several years he was one of the Auditors of the Board of Directors, and his time was largely given to the business of the office. During his last two years with the road lie served as its Vice- President. In 1877 Mr. Lunt was elected by the lot owners of Rose Hill Cemetery Company as one of the three trustees for the care of the lot owners' fund. He was President of the Board, and for the last few years its Treasurer. It has been well managed, and a fund of $100,000 col- lected and now in their hands has been invested in Cook County and city bonds.

Mr. Lunt had previously leased his warehouse, but the parties failed after the panic of 1857, and he took possession of it in 1859. Forming a partnership with his brother, S. P. Lunt, they used the warehouse as a canal elevator, and did a large business, sometimes handling three and a- half million bushels annually. Impaired health, however, forced him to abandon the grain trade in 1862, and in 1865 he started for the Old World with his family, spending two years abroad, dur- ing which time he visited many of the famous cities of Europe and Asia.

Mr. Lunt was united in marriage, on the 16th of January, 1842, to Cornelia A. Gray. Her father, Hon. Samuel Gray, was a prominent attorney of Bowdoinham, his native town, and was Repre- sentative, Senator and a member of the Gover- nor's Council of the State. He was also promi- nent in commercial circles. Four children were born unto Mr. and Mrs. Lunt, three sons and a daughter, but one son died in infancy. Horace, who graduated from Harvard University, is a leading attorney; and George is a sturdy busi- ness man. Cornelia G., the accomplished daugh- ter, seems to have inherited her father's philan- thropic nature, and takes a most active part in charitable and benevolent work.

During the late war the Union found in Mr. Lunt a faithful friend. He was a member of the Committee of Safety and War Finance, appointed at the first meeting, which convened April 13, 1861. The Sunday after the fall of Sumter he spent in raising supplies and in preparing the first regiment to start from this city to Cairo. His labors in behalf of the army and the Union then continued until victory perched on the banners of the North. Four years after the commencement of the struggle he had the pleasure of being present when the Old Flag was again flung to the breeze from the battlements of the fort, attending the Grand Review of the victorious army, and visiting the principal cities of the late Confed- eracy.

When about twenty years of age, Mr. Lunt joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, and his name is inseparably connected with the history of its growth in this locality. For about twenty years he was Trustee of the Clark Street Method- ist Church, and during much of that time was Secretary of the Board. He bought several lots on the corner of State and Harrison Streets in 1848, and five years later sold them on three years' time to the church at cost price. That ground was afterwards exchanged for the site of the Wabash Avenue Methodist Church, to which he transferred his membership in 1858. He has always given most liberally for the erection of church edifices, both of his own and other denom- inations in the city, and struggling churches in the West. Of the Clark Seminary at Aurora, he was one of the first Trustees. This was built by a private company, but subsequently turned over to the church without . compensation. He was one of the charter members, and has been Secre- tary, Treasurer and General Business Agent of the Garrett Biblical Institute from its organiza- tion in 1853. In company with a few others, he procured the charter for and incorporated the Northwestern University of Evanston. The com- mittee was appointed to secure a site. They wished to get land on the lake front, but could find none which they thought near enough to the city, and were almost closing a deal for property in Jefferson. Through the instrumentality of

505

MATERNUS SCHAEFER.

Mr. Lunt, however, who, in riding one day, vis- ited the present site of Evanston, the business was deferred, and his judgment led to the selection of the spot where now stands the University. To this institution he has contributed in time, energy and money, and while he was in Europe the board set aside land, now valued at $100,000, which he had given, as the Orrington Lunt Library Fund. Desirous, also, to render possible the erection of a suitable library building, he has given $50,000 toward the one now in process of completion. This splendid building is of Bedford stone, beau- tiful in style, graceful and enduring. The finest structure on the campus, it is a fitting memorial of the man whose name it perpetuates in the let- ters carved upon its noble entrance: THE OR- RINGTON LUNT LIBRARY. He has always been on the executive committee of the school, and has been largely instrumental in the success of the institution. He was early connected with the Chicago Orphan Asylum, and raised nearly $20,- 000 to complete the edifice, while a member of the building committee in the summer of 1854.

The Chicago fire consumed the home of Mr. Lunt and all of the buildings from which he de- rived an income. The winter following he served on the Special Fire Relief Committee. Many Methodist Churches and the Garrett Biblical In- stitute also suffered great losses, and a committee to devise means for their relief was appointed by the Rock River Conference. Arrangements were made to solicit funds, and Mr. Lunt became Sec-

retary and Treasurer. For eighteen months he was actively engaged in tlie disbursement and collection of the money raised, about $150,000. By this means he was enabled to rebuild the Gar- rett building, the structure being finer than the former one. When he could find time for his own work he built the fine banking-house occupied by Preston, Kean & Co. He has truly borne his part in the upbuilding of Chicago.

On the 16th of January, 1842, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Lunt, and a half- century later was celebrated their golden wedding. Two hundred friends met to extend to this worthy couple their congratulations for the happy years that had passed, to review the lives so well spent, and to wish them the return of many more such pleasant occasions. The co-workers of Mr. Lunt in church, in business and in his university labors all bore their testimony, not only to his pleasant companionship, but to his honorable, upright life and exemplary character. Many beautiful gifts attested the esteem and love of guests, which could not be expressed in words alone. Al- though Mr. Lunt has led a very prominent life, he is yet retiring and very unassuming in man- ner. He has followed the Golden Rule, has walked in the light as he saw it, has been un- wearied in well-doing, and when he shall have been called to the home beyond he will leave to his family what Solomon says is better than great riches, "a good name."

MATERNUS SCHAEFER.

M ATERNUS SCHAEFER, a retired farmer residing in Gross Point, has, as [the result of his enterprise and industry in former years, acquired a competency that now enables him to lay aside business cares. He claims Prus- sia as the land of his birth, which occurred on the 26th of August, 1833. He is the eldest in the family of thirteen children born to Peter and

Lena (Bleser) Schaefer. In 1843 the parents bade adieu to the Fatherland, and, having crossed the briny deep to the New World, took up their residence in New Trier Township, Cook County, where they continued to make their home until called to their final rest. The father died June 12, 1894, in his ninetieth year, and his wife passed away in 1891, at the age of seventy-nine. They

506

GEORGE WEIMER.

were well-known and highly-respected people, and further mention of them and their children is made in connection with the sketch of John Schaefer, on another page of this work.

The gentleman of whom we write became fa- miliar with farming in all its details at an early age. He was married on the 26th of August, 1854, to Miss Mary Schaefer, daughter of Jolin Schaefer, a tanner. She was born in Prussia, November 4, 1835, and died May 21, 1891, the last of lier family to pass away. Fourteen chil- dren were born of this union, seven sons and seven daughters, of whom two sons and six daugh- ters are yet living, namely: Katrina, who was bori March 4, 1856, and is the wife of Louis A. Brucks, a real-estate dealer and insurance agent of Englewood; Christina, who was born Deceni- ber 19, 1857, and is the wife of Mathias Wagner, a carpenter and contractor of Englewood; Anna Maria, who was born March 26, 1861, and is the wife of Gerhard Steffens, a liquor dealer of Gross Point; Peter Joseph, who was born December 29, 1862, and is a contractor and builder of Wilniette; Frank, who was born October 18, 1864, and fol- lows farming at Gross Point; Helena, who was born February 21, 1867, and is the wife of Peter

Sesterhenn, an agriculturist of the same locality. Margarite, born November 24, 1868, wife of Max Engels, who is engaged in the beer-bottling busi- 11ess at Gross Point; and Eva, who was born No- vember 13, 1870, and is the wife of William Wer- ner, a teamister of Chicago.

Mr. Schaefer and his family are Catholics in religious faith, belonging to St. Joseph's Church in Gross Point. He cast his first Presidential vote for Buchanan, then supported Lincoln, and lias since been a stanch Republican. He has filled the offices of Town Collector, was President of the Village Board for thirteen years, and has been School Director for a quarter of a century. He is a member of St. Josepli's Library and Sick Benefit Association, and is a loyal citizen, devoted to the best interests of the community. He now owns thirty-five acres of valuable land on section 33, New Trier Township, besides a number of residences in Wilmette. He is a worthy repre- sentative of an honored pioneer family, and is a highly-respected citizen, whose excellencies of character have gained for him the confidence and esteem of all with whom he has been brought in contact.

GEORGE WEIMER.

EORGE WEIMER is one among the repre- sentative citizens of Lemont. He was born in Nassau, Germany, on the 23d of Septem- ber, 1835, and is a son of John and Margaret (Weis) Weimer. The father was a blacksmith, and died when George was only five years old. Three years later, Mrs. Weimer became the wife of John Noll.

Our subject was the third in a family of four

children, two sons and two daughters. At the age of five years, he began to attend the public schools, and finished the course at the age of twelve. During the next two years he attended the high school and also took lessons as a private student, acquiring a good practical education. In 1853, he left Germany for the United States, and landed at New York on the 23d of August of that year. In New York City and Raritan, New Jer-

507

GEORGE WEIMER.

sey, during the succeeding two years, he learned the cabinet-maker's trade, after which he started westward, arriving in Chicago August 23, 1855. There he learned carpentering and made the city his home until the latter part of 1857, a portion of the time being engaged as a carpenter and builder. In November of that year he went to Europe and returned with his parents and their family the following spring. They settled near Downer's Grove, Du Page County, and Mr. Weimer resided in Chicago, where he did business as a contractor. He erected many buildings in various parts of Cook County. In 1860, he came to Lemont.

On the 23d of June, 1861, Mr. Weimer and Miss Elizabetlı C. Hein were united in marriage in this place. The lady is a native of the same town as her husband and came to America with her parents in 1856.

After two or three years' residence in Lemont, Mr. Weimer removed to Chicago, where he was engaged in merchandising until 1865, at which time he went to New Buffalo, Michigan, and car- ried on contracting and building, erecting more than a hundred buildings during his stay there. For years he devoted his time and attention to merchandising, and also held the offices of Asses- sor and Supervisor from 1867 until 1877. For ten years he was also Justice of the Peace. In 1877, he returned to Lemont, where he has since resided. For a short time, in company with his brother, Andrew Weimer, he conducted a wagon and blacksmith shop, but during the greater part of the time he has been a contractor and builder. In 1879, he was elected Justice of the Peace, and held that office for four years. In 1893, he was again elected to that position, and is kept busy during the greater part of the time in the discharge of his official duties.

Mr. and Mrs Weimer have become the parents of seven children, namely: George A .; Rosa, wife of Peter Meilinger, of Chicago; Mary Ann, Joseph M., Maria Elizabeth, Frank Joseph and Benjamin Franklin.

George A. Weimer, of Lemont, is a son of George and Elizabeth C. Weimer, whose sketch is

given above. He was born at this place on the 5th of June, 1862, and obtained a good education in the schools of the town, where he spent his early life, attending until nineteen years of age. In 1882, he began to learn the drug business, and continued in that line until May, 1893, becoming in the mean time a very proficient pharmacist. His first employer was G. A. Bodenschatz, with whom he remained six years, when J. G. Boden- schatz succeeded to the business, and Mr. Weimer spent the remaining years in his employ. His genial disposition and good character made him a favorite with Lemont people, and when but twenty-one years of age, he was elected to office, and from that time to the present he has filled some public position. In 1883, he was elected Town Clerk and filled that office until 1888, when he was appointed City Clerk, thus serving until the next election, when he was elected. In dis- charging the duties of that position his time was passed until April, 1893, he being annually re- elected. At the last-mentioned date, he was elected Township Supervisor, and was again the people's choice in 1894. In 1893, he was ap- pointed to a place in the County Treasurer's office, which he held until February, 1894, when he was made deputy in the office of the Recorder of Deeds in Cook County, in which capacity he is now serving. In the fall of the present year (1894) he was nominated by the Democracy as the can- didate of that party for State Senator from the Seventh Senatorial District.

On the 22d of October, 1883, Mr. Weimer was joined in wedlock with Miss Lizzie V. Hettinger. daughter of George Hettinger, who came to Le- mont about 1863. He was a member of the first volunteer fire company of Chicago. To them four children, two sons and two daughters, were born, all of whom died of diphtheria in less than two weeks' time, in May. 1893. The death of his children destroyed Mr. Weimer's faith in the ef- ficacy of medicines and caused liim to abandon pharmacy. He is an ardent and influential sup- porter of Democracy and a member of several fra- ternal societies.

508

W. S. WHITE.

WILLIAM S. WHITE, M. D.

ILLIAM SEYMOUR WHITE, M. D., is a native of Greenwood, McHenry County, Illinois, and was born on the 30th of De- cember, 1864. The records show, and the Doc- tor modestly admits, that he is descended on the maternal side from Francis Capet (Coquilette), the Huguenot half-brother of Louis XIV., King of France, who, on account of the persecutions to which that sect was subjected, fled to America, and, changing his name to Coquilette, became the progenitor of a numerous family in Westchester County, New York, and later removed with his family to Rockland County, New York. His de- scendant, Willianı Coquilette, the great-grand- father of the subject of this sketch, died in Rock- land County, New York, at an early age. Maria (Garrison) Coquilette, his wife, died at the age of eighty-eight years. Peter Cook, Dr. White's maternal grandfather, a native of New York and a descendant of the Knickerbockers, married Eletta, daughter of William and Maria Coquilette.

Capt. William White, the paternal grandfather of Dr. White, was born in the city of Gottenburg, Sweden, in 1813, and at an early age became a sailor. In his voyages, Capt. White carried troops to Mexico while the United States was at war with that country, transported the first ship- load of stone for the construction of Ft. Moultrie, and twice circumnavigated the globe. His wife, who still survives him, was Mary Ehrhardt, of Philadelphia.

William R. White, the father of the subject of this sketch, and the son of Capt. William and Mary White, was born in New York City, in 1841, and has been engaged in mercantile pur- suits all his life. He married Emily A. Cook, daughter of Peter and Eletta Cook, two children,

William S. and Wilomene T., being the result of this union.

William S. White came to Chicago with his parents in 1865. He received his education in the public schools of Chicago. His first work was in the grocery store of John A. Tolman & Co., where he remained a year. He later entered the employ of D. S. Munger & Co. as office boy, and in three years worked his way upward to the position of cashier. In 1884 he entered the Chi- cago Homeopathic Medical College. At that time the course required only two years, but he at- tended three years, and during the season of 1886-87 demonstrated anatomy to the class of which he was a member, and also a part of that time to the senior class. He graduated in 1888. Following his graduation, he was successful in winning honors in a competitive examination, and during the years 1888 and 1889 was interne in the Cook County Hospital for eighteen months. Subsequently he was called to Rochester, New York, where he opened and put in practical oper- ation the Rochester Homeopathic Hospital, com- monly known as the Monroe Avenue Hospital.

Returning to Chicago, Dr. White entered into the general practice of medicine and dermatology, „in which he has since been engaged, with office at No. 70 State Street. In the fall of 1889 he re- ceived the appointment of Demonstrator of An- atomy in the Chicago Homeopathic College. In 1890 he was made clinical assistant in the depart- ment of dermatology, and in 1893 was appointed Adjunct Professor of Physiology in the same insti- tution. In January, 1893, he received the ap- pointment of Dermatologist in the homeopathic department of the Cook County Hospital, and still fills all of these positions. He is a member

509

JEROME BEECHER.

of the Illinois Homeopathic Medical Association and of the American Institute of Homeopathy. He holds membership in two fraternal organiza- tions, being medical examiner in the Improved Order of Heptasophs.

On the 5th of October, 1892, Dr. White was united in marriage with Miss Isabelle Stone, of Charlotte, Vermont, daughter of Luther D. and Phœbe (Rogers) Stone.

To judge the future from the past, it is not diffi- cuit to predict for Dr. White success in a much

greater measure than usually falls to the lot of the medical practitioner. His mind is active, his memory retentive, his habits studious, his com- prehension of the science of medicine rapid, intui- tive and thorough. His manner is easy, affable and vivacious, with a dash of bonhomie, which, no doubt, is inherited from his Gallic ancestors. It is not too much to say that mental attrition with Dr. White would brighten many preten- tious members of the medical profession.

JEROME BEECHER.

EROME BEECHER, among the early, sub- stantial and most exemplary citizens of Chi- cago, was a scion of old and well-known New England stock. His father, Mather Beecher was one of the pioneers of Central New York, going thither from New Haven, Connecticut. He was a tanner by occupation, and gave to his family the training which has developed so much of thrift, enterprise and morality among the sons of New England, and has made an indelible impres- sion upon the religious, educational and mercan- . tile conditions of the United States, and particul- arly the northern half of the country. Wherever a leaven of Yankee blood is found in a community, there are sure to be found churches, schools, fac- tories and sound business men, Chicago was es- pecially fortunate' in that the major portion of her pioneers came from the land of industrious habits and careful economy, and to this cause alone may be attributed her wonderful progress in busi- ness supremacy, as well as in social and moral culture.

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Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 19th ed., Part 74

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