Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 19th ed., Part 99

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

USA > Illinois > Cook County > Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 19th ed. > Part 99

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

H. K. Weeks is connected with Ben Hur Chapter No. 1041, Royal Arcanum, being very popular with his brothers in the lodge. He is, withal, a very promising young man, bound to make a success of life, no matter what obstacles appear in his way. He is of a highly honored name and does credit in every instance to the name he bears. His wife is a pleasant, genial, young woman and is a blessing to her beloved husband.

HANS WOODRICH.

ANS WOODRICH was a resident of Chicago for more than a quarter of a century. He was born January 3, in the year 1814, 50 pregnant with great events, at Dallen, in Meck- lenburg, Germany. His early manhood was not without exciting features, he having been called upon to render his full meed of military service-

three years. His faitlifulness to every duty as a soldier attested by the paper which certifies to liis honorable discharge, in which it is set forth that his record was absolutely free from any shadow of blame.

On reaching the age of twenty-four he resolved to marry, if he could persuade the right kind of

686

PEDER KRISTENSEN.

woman to accept him. He found her in Marie Consar, who had been born in the same village as himself. Of their four children two died before they set out on their long voyage across the ocean in 1851. Joachim came with them, and Minnie was born in Chicago. Soon after reaching Chicago (which was his objective point), Mr. Woodrich purchased, from John Kuhl, a lot at No. 163 Fry Street. There he erected a small house (the first built on Fry Street). The struc- ture still stands, and is the property of Mr. Charles Kummerow.

In this humble home his son died (1860) and there Mr. Woodrich himself passed away July 1, 1878. His daughter, Minnie, still lives, the wife of Mr. Charles Kummerow, whose biography

may be found elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Woodrich survived him and makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Kummerow, at the ad- vanced age of eighty-three years.

Mr. Woodrich had one of those rare natures which attract affection as readily as the grass absorbs the dew. Industrious at work, his truest happiness was found in his home and his church. He was a devoted husband, a tender father and an earnest Christian. He was one of the founders of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, and always a liberal contributor to its support. He was an earnest worker in the Sabbath-school, his gentle nature and kindly heart endearing children to him, while his charity was best known to those who were his beneficiaries.

PEDER KRISTENSEN.

EDER KRISTENSEN, who conducts a prof- itable business as a dealer in milk and cream at No. 521 West Superior Street, is a native of Stavnstrup, Jutland, Denmark. He is the fourth child of A. Kristensen and liis wife, Ane, both natives of Denmark, and was born March 1, 1865. Mr. Kristensen, Senior, wlio was a tailor, died in his fiftieth year. His wife survived him by many years, passing away in the village where she had been reared, known and universally respected, in 1889.

The first twenty-one years of Peder's life were passed among the scenes and associations of liis childhood. After quitting school he was appren- ticed to a cabinet-maker. He duly served an apprenticeship of four years and after a few years' work as a journeyman resolved to see if better fortune awaited him among his countrymen who had found homes in America. The best solution to the question is to be found in the success which he has achieved through his own unaided

efforts. He arrived in Chicago without financial resources, but he had what often counts for more in the long run-pluck, a trade and native honesty. After seven years' toil and thrift, during which his handicraft had been his main source of income, he was able, in 1893, to buy out a milk business, and established himself in a more remunerative line of industry.

Miss Elizabeth Andersen, a native of Denmark like himself, gave him her hand in marriage in 1888, at Chicago. Their union has been blessed with two children: Dagny and Holger.

Mr. Kristensen has been an active and promni- nent member of the Society Dania, having served as vice-president, secretary and two years as president. He served two years as treasurer of the central committee of the Danish Societies of Chicago. He is also a member of the Danish Young People's Society, and is independent in political matters, though he frequently supports the Democratic ticket.

LIBRARY OF THE - ! IVERSITY OF ILLIN

LORNS WALTER

(From Photo by W. J. ROOT.)

LORNS WALTER.

687

LORNS WALTER.

ORNS WALTER. This old settler and early fireman of Chicago, which city has been his home for more than half a century, has passed the seventy-fifth milestone in life's pathway, and is passing the declining years of life in a well earned repose. He was born De- cember 30, 1823, in Alsace-Lorraine, while that province was under French dominion. He is the son of Diebold and Katherine Walter, and his father was an overseer of forests. In 1832 the family, whichi then consisted of the parents and five children, emigrated from France to the United States, settling at Buffalo, New York. There Mr. and Mrs. Walter resided until their death, the husband dying about 1856, and his widow surviving him nearly twenty years. Five more children were born to them in their new home. Of their large family of ten only three are now living: Lorns, at Chicago; Rockhills, of Dubuque, Iowa; and John J., who still lives in Buffalo.

Until he was seventeen years old Lorns Walter attended the Buffalo public schools, and on leav- ing school was apprenticed for three years to learn the trade of cigar-making. After serving his term he came to Chicago in 1848 and began working as a journeyman. After some years he was given charge of the shop of Mills & Com- pany, the senior member of which firm was the father of the distinguished attorney, Luther Laf- lin Mills. He continued in this employment for about six years, and then embarked in business on his own account, in a modest way, at No. 144 Dearborn avenue. Fortunately for himself, he abandoned business shortly before the holocaust

of 1871, which caused him comparatively little loss, there remaining in his hands only a little raw material and not much of the manufactured products. Since that year he has never engaged in trade. .

The same year in which he came to Chicago he joined the old Volunteer Fire Department. In 1859 the paid department was organized and he at once enlisted in that branch of the city's service. The excitement of the life possessed a fascination for him, while the opportunities which were offered for the exercise and manifes- tation of that personal heroism which was innate to his nature constituted another and potent at- traction. In 1865 he was made assistant mar- shal, a position which he held until after the great fire. He was then appointed captain of Engine Company No. 33. His record while fill- ing this post was one of intrepid service and dar- ing bravery for a quarter of a century. In 1896, having reached the age of seventy-three years, his hair silvered, and bearing on his body the scars of years of gallant service, he was retired upon a pension.

A singular mark of high esteem in which he is lield by his brother firemen, who have had the best and broadest opportunities for gauging his character and capability, is afforded by the fact that he holds the position of treasurer in the bell- efit association formed under the old and new re- gimes.

He belongs to the Masonic order, being affili- ated with Kilwinnig Lodge No. 311, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons.

He married Elizabetlı Bills in 1849. She was

688

S. G. HOOKER.

born in Germany, and a daughter of Conrad and Mary Bills, both of whom died at Akron, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Walter have had a family of seven children, of whom four are living: Frank W., a fireman; Charles H., proprietor of a paint shop on Michigan Street; John H., a manufacturer of cigars; and Josephine. Both parents and chil- dren are communicants in the Roman Catholic Church.

Mr. Walter is at present enjoying the repose which comes to him who has met every duty as it was encountered and never flinched in the face of obligation. During his fifty years residence in Chicago he has seen changes which rival the transmutation wrought by Aladdin's lamp, and in their accomplishment he has played no unim- portant part. He can look back without shame, and forward without fear.

STEPHEN G. HOOKER.

TEPHEN GARDNER HOOKER. To Mr. Hooker belongs the distinction of being one of Chicago's early settlers, he having settled here in 1853, and having been a continual resi- dent ever since. He comes of sturdy New Eng- land ancestry, claiming Brandon, Vermont, as his birthplace. His family is of English origin, and he himself came into the world May 20, 1824. The physician who first looked into his face was Doctor Douglas, the father of the "Little Giant," to whose memory-Illinois yet pays rev- erence.

Mr. Hooker's father was also named Stephen. He was born in New England, but moved to Cattaraugus County, New York, where he died in 1874, in his sixty-fifth year, being buried at Goss, a daughter of Chester Goss, who was a farmer and a pioneer hotelkeeper in the town of Brandon, where he was a prominent and respected citizen. Mr. Hooker was the fourth of a family of seven children.

Gowanda, in that state. He married Abigail . No. 426 Fullerton Avenue, where they lived

Stephen G. Hooker learned the carpenter's trade and while a young man of twenty-five he went to Springville, Erie County, New York, where, June 12, 1849, he was married to Helen N. Norton, a school girl, eighteen years old. Her father was Borrouglis Norton, of Bridgeport,

Massachusetts, who removed from that state to Otsego County, New York, and it was in Rich- field Springs, in that county, that his daughter, Helen, was born. His wife was Margaret Weber, Her family was of Dutch origin, and among the early settlers of the Mohawk Valley, and Mrs. Norton's father owned the site of the present vil- lage of Frankfort, New York, which was laid out on what was once the Weber farm.

Mr. Hooker brought his young wife to Chicago in 1853, and his first home stood within the limits of the block on which the new Government build- ing is being erected. There he lived two years, when he moved to No. 61 Oak Street, where he lived sixteen years, and where he was burned out in the great fire of 1871. His next home was at eleven years, removing from there to No. 300 Webster Avenue, where they have resided ever since.

Mr. Hooker began his business career in Clii- cago as a building contractor, but is best known in commercial circles through his connection with the Board of Trade. He became agent for the Howe scales, and in his efforts to introduce their 11se in place of the Fairbank he became well ac- quainted with grain dealers, and in 1860 bought a seat on, the Board for five dollars, for which he

689

P. A. KAUSTRUP.

was afterward offered five thousand dollars. He became fainous all over the country and even in England, through a "corner" in lard which he once manipulated, with the backing of the two directors of the Bank of Montreal. The story of the deal, as told by himself, is of interest. "In November, they ordered me to get ten thousand tierces of lard" said Mr. Hooker. "That was a big order at the time, and would affect the market

now. I bought ten thousand a week for the next month, and I went along until I bought forty thousand tierces, paying for every option. I had it in private warehouses, with the receipts in the bank. That was the first time a corner was ever run with everything paid for in cash. The time finally came when they found I had a corner on lard. N. K. Fairbank had to get lard. My broker was bidding at twelve cents. Fairbank had sold me short and called me. Finally he bid twelve and one-half cents on five thousand, and I gave it to him. That broke the market. They thought I was "busted" and sold short. I

bought seven thousand more tierces. Lard went to sixteen cents, and I sold everything. My backers made over four hundred thousand dollars. That was the only successful lard corner ever made."

Mr. Hooker's politics are strongly Republican. In the ante-bellum days he was an abolitionist of the most radical type, voting-to quote his own language-"the abolition ticket in Chicago, when it was worse than being an anarchist."

Mr. and Mrs. Hooker have five children and ten grandchildren. The children are: Mrs. H. E. Wadsworth, of No. 1870 Michigan Bonlevard; Edward C. Hooker, foreman of the registry de- partment of the postoffice, and living in Austin; Mrs. Edward Ringberg, the wife of a nobleman in Norrkoping, Sweden; Chester H. and George C. Hooker, who are unmarried and live with their parents. June 12, 1899, the parents cele- brated their golden wedding, receiving the heart- felt expressions of kind wishes from the hosts of friends who know and honor them.

PAUL A. KAUSTRUP.

AUL ANDREASEN KAUSTRUP. Of the many Danish-American citizens who have contributed, if not to the upbuilding, at least to tlie development, of Chicago, the name of Paul A. Kaustrup will be long cherished by the men and women of his own day and generation. His father was Andrew Nielsen Kaustrup and his mother, before her marriage, Elsie Paulsen. His grandfather, Niels Andreasen Kaustrup was a man of more or less local distinction, and for several years filled the office of tax collector and sheriff. He died in 1870. His only son, An- drew Nielsen Kaustrup, was born in 1818, and was considered, in his time, a large land-owner.

He was the proprietor of three farms, which still bear the name of Kaustrupgard. His wife, whose name, as has been said, was Elsie Paulsen, was born in 1828, and came of a highly-respected family. The fruit of their union was thirteen children, seven of whom died in infancy. Three daughters and three sons reached maturity, and of these one has since died.

Paul A. Kaustrup was the ninth of this large family. Like most youths of his native place, he passed through the routine course prescribed for the common school pupils, and at the age of six- teen years began life's battle with such weapons as were furnished him by his limited experience.

690

K. R. KNUDSEN.

He liad, however, the advantage of the better equipment afforded by eighteen months attend- ance upon the high school. He was apprenticed to the trade of a baker and confectioner, becom- ing a journeyman in 1882. In 1886 he sailed for America, and proceeded from New York forth- with to Chicago, reaching this city May 5, the date of the Anarchist riot at Haymarket square. From Chicago he went to Stonebank, Waukesha County, Wisconsin, where for a year and a-half he ran a steam-launch, at the same time driving a coach for W. H. Bradley. From there he went to Milwaukee, where he became coachman for E. D. Matthews, remaining with him three years.

Returning to Chicago he became coachman for the late P. C. Hanford, after whose death he took a similiar position with James Christian Hansen, in whose service he continued until the close of the World's Fair. About 1894 he became coachman for Edson Keith, and has continued in the employ of the Keith family until the present.

Mr. Kaustrup has never married. Among the members of his race in Chicago he has wide ac- quaintance, and is held in high repute for his sound sense, keen judgment and unswerving probity. He is at once astute, yet affable, gen- erous but just. He is a prominent member of the Walhalla Society.

KNUD R. KNUDSEN.

NUD RASMUS KNUDSEN is of Danishı birth and parentage, having been born in Aarhus, · Jutland, December 9, 1864. He enjoys the unique distinction of being the six- teenth of a family of twenty-three children born of one mother, of whom sixteen grew to manhood and womanhood, and eight are now living. His father was Rasmus Knudsen, for many years a stock dealer, but now retired from active busi- ness. He was a soldier during the war of 1848- 1850, serving with distinction, and a man of no little local prominence. His wife's maiden name was Anna Martens, a daughter of an officer who served gallantly throughout the same war. She died in 1898.

Knud R. Knudsen was apprenticed to the tin- ner's trade at the age of fourteen, and after serving a term of five years worked for about a year in his native country, as a journeyman. He then went to Germany, where he traveled extensively, and from there to Paris, all the time supporting him- self by working at his trade. After a short so- journ in Paris, he returned to Denmark, where

he soon afterward engaged in business for him- self at the town of Aarhus. There he remained two years and, in 1888, emigrated to America, coming at once to Chicago.

After arriving here, and while seeking employ- ment at his trade, he willingly turned his hand to any honest labor that presented itself. He final- ly secured a journeyman tinner's position, and was in the employ of one concern three years. By 1894 he had, through industry, perseverance and thrift, accumulated sufficient means to enable him to engage in business on his own account. He opened a hardware store and in connection therewith, a shop for the manufacture of cornices at No. 3446 Cottage Grove Avenue. Later he removed to No. 3450, in the same street, where he yet remains.

The career of Mr. Knudsen stamps hini as a man of intelligence, enterprise and integrity. He reached Chicago, unknown and friendless, with but little more than twenty dollars in his ' pocket. From this slender capital he has devel- oped, through his own handiwork and by the

691

CHARLES MARTENS.

exercise of his brains, his present profitable busi- ness, in which, at times, he employs as many as fifteen men. As he looks back upon his gradual rise from the position of the almost penniless immigrant, he may well be pardoned if he feels a glow of honest pride at the thought that his suc-

cess is due to his own efforts. He has been an active member of the Walhalla Society since 1891.

In 1888 he married, in Denmark, Christina Nelsen, who has borne him four children: Jens, who died in infancy; Anna, Nels and Frederik. The family attends the Danish Lutheran Church.

CHARLES MARTENS.

C HARLES MARTENS. Mr. Martens' bap- . eighty on the north half of the northwest quarter tismal name was much longer than the abbreviation of the same by which he is gen- erally known. He was christened Karl August Gunther, at Gartow, Germany, where he was born October 20, 1827. His father was Charles Christian Martens and his mother's name before marriage was Dorothea Dankert. Gartow is a picturesque Hanoverian village, with a popula- tion of about eight hundred souls, situated on what was then the Prussian frontier, and distant some eighteen miles from Hamburg.

The birthplace of the elder Martens was Quarn- stadt, near Gartow, where he first opened his eyes September 15, 1799. He lived to the age of seventy-seven years, and died in Cook County July 1, 1876. He emigrated to the United States, with his wife and four children, in 1847, taking passage in a sailing vessel leaving Hamburg Au- gust 15 of that year. Sixty-seven wearisome days elapsed before the little party landed at New York, October 4, 1847. The father's objective point was Chicago, where he had a friend and compatriot, Frederick Preusner, whose widow is still living, at Manchester, Iowa. For six weeks he remained in the city, during which time his friend busied himself in making him familiar with the outlying country.

The result of his investigation was, that at the end of that time he bought, from one W. H. Boyle, one hundred and twenty acres of land,

of section 27, aud forty on the southwest quarter of section 22, in Leyden Township. A small house, worth about one hundred and fifty dollars, stood upon the land, and the price paid was seven hundred dollars. About ten acres had been pre- pared for cultivation, but no plowing had been done for several years. He built a house some four hundred yards west of the present residence of Louis Schierhorn, the site now being marked by a solitary elm, the sole survivor of what was once a fine grove. Here he lived until his death. He sleeps in Graceland Cemetery. By trade he was a tailor, having served an apprenticeship of three years, and in Gartow he owned a shop and employed workmen, but he never worked at it in this country, with the exception of a few weeks in Chicago. He was a man of large physique and well proportioned, about five feet nine inches in height and weighing one hundred and seventy pounds. Politically he was a Republican. His religious faith was that of the German Lutheran Church, of which he was a consistent inember. His wife, the mother of Charles Martens, was born at Gartow, December 1, 1798, and died De- cember 24, 1872. She rests beside her husband at Graceland.

Besides Charles, their children were: Charlotte Marie Dorothea, born July 7, 1824, who married John Ruh, in 1846. Her husband was a native of Brerstadt, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, where

692

CHARLES MARTENS.

he was born November 5, 1821. He came to Chi- cago in 1844. By trade he was a tailor, and he followed that occupation for a time, and later en- gaged in the insurance brokerage business, which he pursued until his death. His widow is still living, at No. 548 Wells Street, Chicago. Her life presented some features of unusual interest. She left home at the age of thirteen years, intent upon learning the trade of a professional cook at Hamburg. So proficient did she become in her chosen calling, that she was employed in a noble- man's family, but abandoned her position to join her people in their emigration to a strange land. Mr. and Mrs. Ruh's children were: John, born September 18, 1847, and died in infancy; Carrie, born October 21, 1849, and married to Otto Af- feld, of Brooklyn, New York; George, born Oc- tober 4, 1851, and died at the age of three weeks, and Louise Fredericka, born November 23, 1856, now Mrs. L. A. Kohtz, of No. 650 Fullerton Ave- nue, Chicago. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Affeld with the date of their respective births, are as follows: Charlotta Louise, September 25, 1873; Otto, October 10, 1875; Louise, April 19, 1876; Antoinette, Angust 23, 1879; Carrie, November 29, 1880; Ida Ernestina, July 7, 1885. Mr. and Mrs. Kohtz are the parents of three children, Ida Louise, born October 17, 1879; Louis, June 21, 1888; and Elsie, January 6, 1889. The second child of the Martens family was christened Henry Christian, whose biography may be found on an- other page. The fourth (Charles being the third) and youngest was Fredericka Charlotta, who was born October 4, 1835. On her twentieth birthday she married Valentine Ruh, who was born April 27, 1833, in Brerstadt, Germany. He learned the plumber's trade with Wilson & Hughes, then located at Lake Street and Fifth Avenue, and subsequently opened a shop of his own on North Wells Street, which is still con- ducted by his son, Frank. He was a volunteer fireman, and a member of the famous "Red Jacket" Company, which was officially known as No. 4. He was also a man of considerable promi- nence in municipal affairs, and was a member of the council during the terms of Mayors Rice and Sherman. He started in business in 1872 and

was active and successful until 1889, when he re- tired. He died December 1, 1895, and his grave is at Graceland. Mrs. Ruh survives him, mak- ing her home at Franklin Park. Four children were the fruit of this marriage. The eldest, Frank Edward, was born July 15, 1856; Henry, the second son, was born May 9, 1859, and died July 18, 1866; George was born March 10, 1861, and died August 31, 1862; Edmund, born April 7, 1866, married Clara Hartman, September 18, 1895, by whom he is the father of Harriet Frances, who was born November 10, 1896.

The grandfather of Charles Martens was named Johan Joachim Christian Martens. He was born at Quarnstadt, about five minutes'walk from Gar- tow. He was a tenant and gardener upon the estate of Graff, Earl of Barnstorf. Johan Joachim Martens married Marie Schultz. Their children were: Charles, the father of the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch, and a summary of whose life has been already given; August, a tailor by trade, who removed to Lon- don, England, where he married and whence, after the death of his wife, he emigrated to New York; and Detlow, a carpenter, of whom all trace has been lost since his leaving the Father- land. The Martens family was one of the oldest and most respected in Gartow, and had been con- nected with the Barnstorf estate for many genera- tions.

Charles Martens' maternal grandfather was William Dankert. He was a coachman .for the Earl and married a Miss Schultz, by whom he had two children, Dorothea (the mother of Charles) and William, who went to Paris, where he learned the trade of a piano-maker, and where he passed the remainder of his days, dying un- married.

After the death of his father, Charles Martens remained on the farm, which he continued to cultivate, and to which he added forty acres of prairie land, on the southeast quarter of section 21, and ten acres of timber. He was a young man of but twenty-four years when he took charge of the property, but he was strong, active, energetic and keenly alive to the responsibilities of his position. In the winter of 1868 and 1869,

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 19th ed., Part 99

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