USA > Illinois > Cook County > Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 2nd ed. > Part 18
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Thomas F. McClintock, as well as his father, was a capital marksman, but had no love of cruel sports. His first independent effort in life was probably made at the United States harbor im- provement works of Dunkirk, N. Y., when twen- ty-two years of age. In the fall of 1833, he came to Chicago, where he remained until the follow- ing spring. He and his brothers, James and Wilson (who was the first Street Commissioner in Chicago), each pre-empted a farm in West Lyons, and later he returned to Westfield, N. Y., where he was married, at the age of twenty-three, on March 20, 1834, at the home of the bride's parents on Westfield Hill, to Laura R., daughter of Samuel Wheeler, Esq. She was a beautiful, highly educated and rarely gifted young lady, es- teemed as a correspondent of various papers, in-
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THOMAS F. MCCLINTOCK.
cluding the Literary Emporium of Westfield, N. Y., and the Hampshire Gazette, still published at Northampton, Mass. The lady was born in Cummington, Mass., where the homestead build- ings (new in 1789), the house with its two great fireplaces, and even the barn, from whose "great beam" the children in their play often took the daring leap to the hay-mnow, are, according to the latest accounts, still standing. Her father, Samuel Wheeler, was born in January, 1764, and at the age of sixteen enlisted in the Fourth Regiment, Massachusetts Line, Army of the Revolution. He had two brothers in the army, one in Wayne's regiment, and the other in the company with him- self. Samuel served three years and eight months, and was honorably discharged at the close of the war. In February, 1787, at the age of twenty- three, he married Ruby Dewey, of Pittsfield, who was born August 7, 1767, and was a daughter of Amos Dewey. Her mother was a Boswortli, and her grandmother a Hinckley. In alluding to his ancestry, Rev. Joseph Bosworth, in his "Poems Addressed to Aurora," says:
"O scorn me not; I come of noble line:
For by the Norman dukes our brows were crowned With laurel branches, and our namnes renowned."
The first representatives in America of the an- cient and illustrious family of Bosworth came to New England early in the seventeenth century. Hinckley is also an ancient name in England, for John Hinckley, Esq., is handsomely remembered in the will of Hugh, Earl of Stafford, September 25, 1385. The Hinckleys have borne coat armor for at least five hundred years. In America, the last Governor of Plymouth Colony was Thomas Hinckley. The Hinckleys settled at Barnstable about 1635.
The children of Samuel Wheeler were nine in number: Samuel; Daniel, who died in his fifth year; Ruby; Dewey, who served in the War of 1812; Clara; Laura; Daniel; next a boy that died 111 infancy; and Marian. Mr. Wheeler died May 23, 1847, aged eighty-three years and four months, and Mrs. Wheeler died the same year. Samuel Wheeler, grandfather of Mrs. McClintock, was born in 1720, and on the 30th of August, 1746, married Betliiah Webb, who was born in June, 1730, and was a daughter of Daniel Webb, who
married Priscilla Mclaughlin, a native of Scot- land, whose life is sketched in the "New England Pedigrees." Samuel Wheeler, Sr., died in 1810, at the age of ninety, and was buried in the old Presbyterian church-yard in Cummington. His wife survived him eighteen years, and died in De- cember, 1828, aged ninety-eight years and six months. She was the mother of ten children: Sarah; Hannah; Daniel, who was an officer and served in the American Revolution seven years; Bethiah; Samuel, who enlisted at the age of six- teen and served three years and eight months; Moses, who enlisted at the age of fourteen; Elias, who enlisted at the age of twelve, but was sent home on the request of his brother Samuel; two sons who died of canip fever at the time of the war; and Betsy. Samuel Wheeler, the great- grandfather of Mrs. McClintock, was born in Norwich, Con11., about 1680, and married Han- nah Arnold, granddaughter of Gov. Arnold, the successor of Roger Williams as Colonial Gov- ernor of Rhode Island. The Wheelers came to New England as early as 1635. They had great independence of character and strong convictions, were fond of books, and noted for heroic endur- ance. In England they belonged to the landed gentry; and in America at least eighteen or twenty counties, villages and postoffices bear the name of Wheeler.
In the fall of 1834, Mr. McClintock and his wife started with a good horse to go to Illinois, but when near Cleveland they were delayed for a few days, and as Mrs. McClintock had a brother, Dewey Wheeler, living in Coshocton County, Ohio, they went to that place and thence to Hock- ing County, where they made a home. Mr. Mc- Clintock, in partnership with Joe Green, took a Government contract on the Hocking Valley Canal, then just begun, and superintended a por- tion of the work. He suffered from the prevail- ing malady, fever and ague, but persevered nev- ertheless. Another misfortune befell him. His partner failed and contrived to throw the weight of the failure on Mr. McClintock. Discouraged, and almost ruined in purse, he returned to Pike Township, Coshocton County, which was the birthplace of all his children except one. There
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THOMAS F. MCCLINTOCK.
he carried on farming and teaching. In 1849 he assisted in surveying the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- road, and in 1850 came to Blue Island, arriving on the 21st of May. In Blue Island he lived for nearly thirty-seven years. One winter he taught school in the town of Palos, and for thirty years practiced surveying and carried on a real-estate business, enjoying the confidence of all who knew him. He was entrusted with the Cook County landed interests of many non-resident owners, and had a very extensive business correspondence. As a surveyor and engineer he had no superior in the county.
In 1853 the loss of some hundreds of dollars in- vested in a farm that proved to be heavily mort- gaged was a discouraging circumstance.
Mr. McClintock was self-denying in many things, preferring plain living, with square ac- counts, to luxury with indebtedness, and pos- sessed the rare gift which by some writer has been aptly termed "paying one's way to obscurity." In his later years, both he and his wife gave con- siderable attention to astronomy. His sight was so good that only in middle life, for about ten years, did he use glasses. As late as 1877, he could with unassisted vision follow the planet Venus in her course from sunrise to twelve o'clock noon. He was a conscientious man, usually cheerful, naturally inclined to look on the bright side of things, and was fond of good society. Al- though not a church member, he had a prefer- ence for the Methodist Episcopal faith. He was a diligent Bible student, could quote scripture readily and correctly, and detested profanity and any jesting on religious subjects. Like his fa- ther before him, he was a Whig in politics, and on the dissolution of the Whig party became a Republican. For years he held the office of As- sessor in Calumet Township, and showed neither fear nor favor in the discharge of his duties. In 1861 he ran for County Surveyor, and received the support of both Democrats and Republicans, but was defeated by a contemptible trick played by personal enemies, who disliked him on account of his independence, and who managed to have the name of James instead of Thomas F. printed on a large number of the tickets. In 1865, on a
ticket where eight names out of eleven were those of soldiers, liis naine appeared, and his nomina- tion was accompanied by the following com- mendation: "Mr. McClintock is well known as an engineer of excellent qualifications for the post of County Surveyor." However, wishing no longer to continue the unequal battle against chicanery and the "court house clique," he with- drew his name.
Mr. and Mrs. McClintock in 1884 celebrated their golden wedding. The five children of Mr. and Mrs. McClintock are as follows: Marion Laura Webb; next a daughter that died in in- fancy; Eugene Franklin; Clarissa Flora; and Sylvia Malvina, wife of E. R. Lewis, of Evan- ston.
Marion and Flora Mcclintock were both em- ployed in 1863 at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., as commissioned nurses, in caring for sick and wounded soldiers, and the entire family con- tributed as liberally as they were able to the re- lief of soldiers and refugees. Frank Mcclintock in 1862 prepared to enlist, but, seeing his mother overcome by the thought of sending her only son into the conflict, he relinquished his desire, ob- taining from her a promise, however, that if he should be drafted she would not oppose liis going. To the last day of his mother's life, devotion to her was her son's most powerful incentive, and with no idea of doing anything heroic he quietly sacrificed much to her wishes. When about seventeen it was his earnest desire to become a sailor, but this cherished hope he also abandoned in compliance with his mother's wish, and never afterward once complained of the sacrifice. He contented himself with becoming a school-master and surveyor, and with his sister Marion still re- sides at the homestead in Blue Island. They have inherited the family love of books and have a good library, containing choice works of all ages, and their intimate friends are always people of culture. Clarissa Flora, who possessed decided literary ability, died on the 15th of March, 1867, after two years' illness. Thomas Franklin Mc- Clintock died of typhoid-pneumonia, after six days' illness, February 11, 1887. Mrs. Laura R. McClintock, after suffering severely for thirty-
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PETER LUSSON.
seven days, died on the gth of October, 1889. All are buried in the family lot in the Blue Island Cemetery.
The history of the Mcclintock and Wheeler families possesses many points of much interest. Frank Mcclintock's great uncle, Wilson Smith, a Colonel in the Revolutionary army, having captured some of Great Britain's Hessian mercen- aries, sent them to work on his farmn, where they doubtless smoked their pipes contentedly, thus saving to liis regiment rations that could ill be spared, and, with true Scottish-American thrift, securing at the same time some needed work in his corn and wheat fields. On a certain review occasion, Samuel Wheeler, of Cummington, Mass., saw Gen. Waslington and his wife, but did not find the lady as good-looking as he had expected. He also related as an amusing inci- dent how Baron De Kalb, looking critically at some continental soldiers, said to tlie Colonel, "You should get some chairs for your regiment." Mr. Wheeler was a powerful swimmer. At one time while bathing in the river one of his soldiers became friglitened, and he saved the life of the man. "They were one day in a boat on the
Hudson, and one of the soldiers let a new pewter basin fall into the river. It was plain to be seen on the sand at the bottom of the deep river, and young Wheeler dived from the boat and brought up the basin. It would not do to lose a new basin in those hard times." In his busy after-life he found time for reading and also for studying as- tronomy, and on clear starry evenings pointed out and named to his children the constellations and the planets. Through life he retained his soldierly bearing. His language was of the purest Englishi, and his letters to his daughter, Laura, still carefully preserved, are models of composi- tion. He said, "Read only the best authors, and you need not study grammar." His children were "brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," to which end they were on Sabbath days diligently instructed in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. His daughter Laura used to wonder how long the longer catechism might be, and prepared for her children a much shorter form, entirely omitting the doctrine of decrees which had caused her youthful mind too much perplexing thought.
PETER LUSSON.
12 ETER LUSSON, deceased, one of the lion- ored pioneers of Cook County, who for some years was prominently identified with the growth and development of Blue Island, was born in Belgium, on the 2 1st of October, 1833, and died in this city, April 7, 1894. He acquired a good ed- ucation in his native land, being a very apt schiol- ar, and at the early age of fourteen began teacli- ing. When a young man of twenty-three, he de- termined to seek a liome and fortune in America, and the year 1856 witnessed his emigration to the New World.
Mr. Lusson first located in Chicago, where he spent one year, and removed thence to Mokena, Ill., where he obtained employment on the Chi- cago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad. Thus his time was passed for many years. In 1862, he came to Blue Island, and soon after opened a grocery store, which he successfully carried on until 1892, when, owing to failing health, he re- tired from business. His capable management and persistent efforts won him success, the liber- al patronage he received yielding him a good income.
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ROBERT STUART.
Mr. Lusson was married May 2, 1858, the lady of his choice being Miss Susan Folmann, of Mo- kena, and a native of Belgium. They became the parents of eleven children: Mary; Anna; William and Joseph, who constitute the firm of Lusson Bros., dealers in groceries at Grand Crossing; and Henry, Nicholas, Albert, Philip, Susie, Law- rence and Frank.
Mr. Lusson served as Collector of Calumet Township for fourteen years, and was for several years one of the Village Trustees. He aided in organizing the Catholic Church at this place and was one of its earnest adherents. He was a man of sound judgment and unquestioned integrity, who achieved a comfortable competence by perse- verance and industry. His counsel was often sought by his neighbors and fellow-citizens on matters of business or public policy. He had little to say on political affairs, but gave his sup- port to the Democratic party. His wife and chil- dren all survive him.
Henry Lusson, who is recognized as one of the representative business men of Blue Island, was born near this place on the 13th of February, 1870, and attended its public and parochial schools. At the age of seventeen he entered the employ of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company, serving as Collector during
the greater part of the time for a period of five years. In the fall of 1893, he and his brother Nicholas bought out the grocery store of their father, and still carry on the business, under the name of Lusson Bros. They are wide-awake and enterprising young business men, and by fair and honest dealing and courteous treatment of their patrons they have secured and retain a large number of customers.
Mr. Lusson was married on the 11th of April, 1893, to Miss Mary Krug, of Chicago, daughter of Charles Krug. One child graces this union, a little daughter, to whom they have given the name of Edna. They are well-known people of this community, and have many warm friends, who esteem them highly for their many excellen- cies of character.
In his political views, Mr. Lusson is a stalwart Democrat, and was made the candidate of his party for Collector of Calumet Township in 1894. Although the township is strongly Republican, he ran far ahead of his ticket, receiving a larger vote than any other candidate. He belongs to the Catholic Church, and, socially, is a member of the Royal League. His entire life has been passed in Blue Island, and he is a worthy repre- sentative of one of the honored pioneer families
ROBERT STUART.
R OBERT STUART, as his good old Scotch name indicates, had the blood of a royal line in his veins. His father and mother were natives of Scotland, and emigrated to Canada, settling in Cornwall, Lower Canada, as it was then called. Robert, the eldest son and second child of a family of seven, was born at Abernethy,
Scotland, on the 3d of September, 1825. The father died when Robert was but a lad of eleven or twelve years, and upon the son devolved the support of the mother and the younger members of the family. Under such circumstances the ac- quisition of anything more than an ordinary com- mon-school education was impossible. The boy,
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ROBERT STUART.
however, was bright, active and competent, and at the age of thirteen secured a position as clerk in the store of Mr. McDonald, in his native town. After a short time he became head clerk in the establishment, which did a large business. His position and pay were much above those of liis age, and he was soon able to save money enough to build for his mother and her children a comfortable home, which she enjoyed to the end of her life.
When he attained his majority, Mr. Stuart en- gaged in the dry-goods business for himself, and was rapidly accumulating a fortune, when he was seriously wounded by the accidental discharge of a gun in the hands of a companion, while hunt- ing. This caused him to give up mercantile bus- iness for outdoor employment, and he came to Chicago, reaching this city in 1855. At the time of his arrival the question of paving the muddy and often alınost impassable streets of Chicago was receiving considerable attention, and contracts for paving were about to be let. A friend intimated that Mr. Stuart might do well at the business if he chose to engage in paving, and he at once acted upon the suggestion, put in a bid, and secured a large contract for paving with cedar blocks, the first that were ever laid in Chi- cago. From that time forward, for seventeen years, Mr. Stuart was constantly employed in lay- ing cedar-block pavements, Madison, Wells, Di- vision and Canal Streets and Chicago and Wa- bash Avenues being among the thoroughfares which he paved. His energy and executive abil- ity led him to give his attention to the construc- tion work of the firm of which he was a mem- ber, and he left the matter of finances in the hands of his partner. After the great fire, litiga- tion between members of the firm was decided adversely to Mr. Stuart, and a large part of the fine property he had amassed had to be sacrificed at ruinously low prices to pay the firm's liabilities.
In 1866 Mr. Stuart bought land occupied by the old Fair Grounds, at what is now Thirty- second Street and Wabash Avenue, in the heart of the city. It was then a tract of very sandy land and was considered "out in the country," the neighbors in that locality being far apart.
There he built what was then considered a fine frame residence, making it his home for several years, and then erected and occupied another dwelling on Thirty-second Street, near State.
On the 3d of September, 1874, Robert Stuart married Miss Hulda Eldridge, a daughter of Lo- renzo and Mary E. (Vader) Eldridge, of Chau- tauqua County, N. Y. Her parents were de- scended from early settlers of New England. The father was a merchant, who realized a fortune from mercantile pursuits in Michigan, and then spent his latter years in Chicago, where he died in 1870.
Mr. Stuart lived a retired life from 1872 until his deatlı, which occurred on the 8th of July, I893. He left surviving besides his widow a daughter, Mary Louise, who is now a student in the Chicago University. Mr. Stuart was a pub- lic-spirited man, and took a hearty interest and prominent part in public improvements in vari- ous sections of the city, and especially in his own neighborhood. He was largely instrumental in opening up Thirty-second Street west of State, as well as in having good pavements and handsome sidewalks laid westward from the Lake. He was a man of great executive ability, but not a finan- cier. Had he been as successful in financial management as he was in conducting the opera- tions incident to his business, lie would doubtless have amassed a splendid fortune. In politics, he was an active Republican, but was never de- sirous of office. He was not a church member, but the Reformed Episcopal was the church of his choice. He belonged to the Masonic fraternity and to St. Andrew's Society, the latter a Scotch association, in which he was prominent.
Mr. Stuart looked the man he was. His ani- mated, open countenance and clear blue eye in- dicated a clear conscience and a trusting confi- dence in others, while his firm-set mouth and prominent nose indicated decision of character, energy, perseverance and courage, characteristics that distinguished him as much as the filial affec- tion that prompted his care for his mother and her dependent children. His generous nature and domestic turn of mind made him fond of home, and made his family a happy one.
JONATHAN CLARK
Photo'd by W J. ROOT
JONATHAN CLARK.
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JONATHAN CLARK.
ONATHAN CLARK, prominent among Chi- cago contractors and builders, was born at West Walton, in the county of Norfolk, Eng- land, May 28, 1828. His parents were William and Christina Clark, and his father died when Jonathan, the eldest of four children, was only seven years old. At the age of eight he was put to work herding sheep on the Norfolk commons and keeping the birds off the fields of grain, for which he received two shillings (fifty cents) per week. He went out to service on a farm at twelve years of age. His earnings during the last year of service he saved to pay his way to America. Previous to that time he had contributed his wages to the support of his widowed mother and his younger brothers.
On the 21st of September, 1848, Mr. Clark sailed from England, and arrived in Chicago on the 27th of November, via New York, being nearly ten weeks on the journey. He came by way of the Lakes directly to Chicago, penniless and friendless, but resolute and ready for whatever came. His first employment was hauling wood into Chicago. The winter was very severe, and he froze his feet, and, through the dishonesty of his employer, he lost his wages. In the spring of 1849 he worked six weeks for Jefferson Mun- son, of Downer's Grove, and then returned to Chicago and became an apprentice to P. L. Up- dyke and John Sollitt, with whom he spent three years, learning the trade of carpenter and joiner, and at the expiration of that time receiving the sum of $200 for his services. He spent six months as a journeyman, and then began contracting 01 his own account, and was successful, accumulat-
ing money from the start. By saving his earn- ings, he was able to pay his brother's passage to America in 1849, and in 1850 the two brought over the remainder of the family.
In 1860, in company with his brother, Mr. Clark went overland to Denver, where they fitted up the first express building and the post- office. After spending the summer there, they returned in the fall by team, as they had gone. On the Platte River Mr. Clark's horse was stolen, and while trying to recover it, he traveled on foot in the night, and was surrounded by wolves, barely escaping with his life. The thief was captured, and Mr. Clark's companions wanted to try him, but as that meant conviction and hang- ing, he refused to allow it, and the offender was permitted to accompany the outfit to Omaha, and to go unpunished. In1 1867 Mr. Clark was ap- pointed by Gov. Oglesby to superintend the con- struction of Illinois buildings at the Paris Expo- sition. There the United States Government, recognizing his worth, secured his services in the Department of Works, and appointed him assist- ant to the Superintendent of the American por- tion of the exposition. Before returning to the United States, he visited his old home and por- tions of Switzerland and Germany.
During the years he was engaged in contract- ing, Mr. Clark did an immense business, and erected many residences, stores and business houses. Among them were the Bowen Block, McCormick Hall Block, Kingsburg Music Hall, Kingsburg Block, the Chicago Water Works, Bigelow Hotel, the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation building and Academy of Design, the
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GEORGE G. CUSTER.
Brother Jonathan building and the First National Bank building. The reconstruction of the Chi- cago Water Works was the first job he did after the fire, and the embers were still hot when he began work on it. The Bigelow Hotel occupied the site of the present postoffice, and disappeared in the great fire. Mr. Clark was both builder and owner of the Academy of Design, which was the first building ever erected in Chicago for a fine-arts exhibit.
In 1852 Mr. Clark married Miss Alice Sarde- son, a native of Lincolnshire, England, but then a resident of Chicago. Of the marriage, five chil- dren were born and all are now living in Chicago. They are: Euna, the wife of Shea Smith, of Shea Smith & Co .; F. W .; George T .; Retta M., now the wife of Dr. Kauffman, of Chicago; and J. Y. The sons F. W. and G. T. are members of the firm of Jonathan Clark & Sons Co., contractors, who have erected many buildings, notable among which are the Art Institute and the Government buildings at Ft. Sheridan. The senior member of
this firm is not now actively connected with the company, but is employed in erecting and manag- ing buildings, of which he has about a score, built on ground held on ninety-nine-year leases.
Mr. Clark is a Republican, a member of the Union League and Sunset Clubs, and a Thirty- second Degree Mason, in which order he has held many high offices. He attends, but is not a mem- ber of, Dr. Thomas' Church. In his later years he lias traveled largely through the United States, including the Pacific Coast and Florida. He has a fruit farm and an elegant residence at Fra ._ tland Park, in the latter State.
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