Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 2nd ed., Part 28

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago : Calumet Book & Engr. Co.
Number of Pages: 808

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Mrs. Clarissa Filkins was born at Hoosac Falls, New York, in October, 1806. She made the journey from New York to Cook County in a wagon, accompanying friends who came in 1836. She brought her eldest child, who was then an infant, on this journey, and joined her husband at Wheeling, where he had erected a log dwell- ing before her arrival. This child was Elizabeth, who became the wife of I. L. Runyon, and is now deceased. Mrs. Filkins was a daughter of Capt. Rufus Johnson, who commanded a com- pany of mounted New York troops in the Revolu- tionary War. His ancestors accompanied Roger Williams in founding the colony of Rhode Island. He was born in that State, and removed while a young man to New York, and married Sarah Gardner, a native of Bennington, in Vermont, whose father, Samuel Gardner, lost his life in the famous battle at that place.

Edward A. Filkins was the only child of his parents besides the sister previously mentioned. After completing the course in the Chicago pub- lic schools, he attended a preparatory school at New Haven, Connecticut. Owing to his father's failing health, he abandoned the intention of en- tering Yale College, and returned to Chicago. He began his business career as salesman in a wholesale dry-goods store, in which employment he continued until the secession of the Southern States. He was one of the first to offer his serv- ices in defense of the Union, and enlisted on the 19th of April, 1861, as a member of Company A, Chicago Zouaves, an organization which is en- titled to much credit for having captured and held the important strategic point of Cairo at the very outset of the conflict. On the 17th of June, 1861, he was mustered into the Nineteenth Regiment, Illinois Infantry, and was soon after- wards promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant of Company C. He took part in engagements at

Green River and Bowling Green, Kentucky, and was among the Union troops that entered the city of Nashville. He afterwards participated in the engagements of McMinnville and Chattanooga, in 1862, the two-weeks campaign at Stone River, and the bloody battle at Chickamauga and Look- out Mountain. In the spring of 1864 he was de- tailed to fill a position in the Quartermaster's De- partment at Knoxville and Loudon, Tennessee. In June of the same year he was sent to Chicago in the same capacity, and continued to serve un- til October, 1865, when he was honorably dis- charged. Although he spent four and one-half years in the service of the Government, he never received a dollar of bounty, and has never applied for a pension.

In 1866 he was appointed a clerk of the Board of Public Works of Chicago, and continued to hold clerical positions in the city or county for the next twenty-six years. He served success- ively in the office of the County Clerk, Circuit Court, as Secretary of the Board of County Com- missioners, and from 1882 to 1892 was chancery record writer of the Superior Court. From 1872 to 1877 he filled a position in the United States Revenue service in Chicago, and was afterward for a time confidential secretary of Mayor Heath. Since 1893 he has been manager of the Chicago interests of a firm of commission merchants in San Francisco, California.

On the tenth of October, 1865, Mr. Filkins was married to Sadie H. Copelin, daughter of Thomas and Julia Copelin, who now reside at Winnetka. Mrs. Filkins was born at the Cape of Good Hope, her father being at that time attached to the med- ical corps of the British army in that colony. Mr. and Mrs. Filkins are the parents of three children: Edward B., Claire and Arthur J. The family attends the Episcopal Church, and Mr. Filkins is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Illinois Society, Sons of the American Revolution. Since attaining his major- ity he has been a steadfast Republican. His life has been a busy one, most of which was devoted to the public service, in either a civil or military capacity.

William Early

247

W. J. GOUDY.

WILLIAM J. GOUDY.

ILLIAM JUDD GOUDY. "Like father, like son" is a sentiment often syllabled, with little or no apparent sense; but in su- perlative meaning may it be borne in mind while considering the subject of this sketch, William Judd Goudy.

Mr. Goudy, son of one of the most distin- guished jurists who has ever lived in our midst (the Hon. William Charles Goudy-see sketch in this volume), was born in Chicago, June 7, 1864. Intended by his parent for a successor in his own professional labors, his studies were very care- fully and classically planned in Mr. Barnes' local School for Boys; after which he was finally fitted to enter Princeton College by a proficient private tutor. He entered Princeton in the fall of 1882, in the Class of'86, at which latter time he would have been entitled to the degree of Bachelor of Arts.

Filled to overflowing with that pent-up energy which craves useful and fame-bringing exercise (so characteristic of the young men of our time), he could not remain at literary studies beyond the end of his third, the junior, year. At this time, on his return home from college, he began reading law in the office of his father, attending lectures the while at the Chicago Law School, from which institution, in 1887, he took a de- gree, which entitled him to practice in the Illinois State Courts.

His first business affiliations was as junior partner of the firm of Goudy, Green & Goudy, of which his honored father was the senior member. Their office was located at No. 161 La Salle

Street, where they made a specialty of corpora- tion law, as well as of that branch relating to real property, Mr. Goudy, Sr., being for a long period General Counsel for the Chicago & North- western Railway.

In 1892 William J. Goudy withdrew from said firm in order to form with a friend in business life, Mr. Robert F. Shanklin, a new firm, under the style of Goudy & Shanklin, whose office, situated at No. 84 La Salle Street, was the scene of many a transaction in the mortgage brokers' arena.

If it be a lamentable truth that "Death loves a shining mark," one cannot say further than this, that the untimely fall of precociously ambitious young manhood certainly strikes home with un- wonted awfulness. The gloomy sequel of this remorseless stroke (saddest view of all) is the not infrequent doubt thereby brought into being whether all things, even the termination of ex- istence under circumstances most harrowing, real- ly do inflexibly happen for the best. Alas, in the sacred presence of death we can only bow, if possible, with resignation to the Supreme, "As God wills!"

In the latter part of the spring of 1894 Mr. Goudy, who had been remarkably free in youth from juvenile diseases, was stricken, together with his little girl, by one of the illnesses whichi usually befall earlier years of life. His daughter recovered, but the parent, as frequently occurs in similar kinds of affliction, was, after some weeks of painful malady, hurried into an acute pneu- monial complication, whose end became speedily fatal on the afternoon of Saturday, May 26, 1894.

248

W. J. GOUDY.

The Rev. Mr. Tompkins, pastor of St. James' Episcopal Church, of which the deceased had been a faithful attendant, officiated at the obse- quies, after which the mortal body was borne to Graceland Cemetery, there to rest beside the de- parted form of his beloved father, who only the preceding spring had been called away in even more tragic suddenness.

True to intelligent family tradition, Mr. Goudy was an unswerving Democrat in politics, in which field he took a very active and influential interest, not, however, in the way of personal glory and preferment, but as advocate and furtherer of wise party actions and the bringing into power of the best citizenship. Long time a member of the Waubansee Club, a very conspicuous political or- ganization, he became one of its Directors; and finally, at about the time of his death, was ad- vanced to the responsible position of its President. There has never been any division of opinion on the part of those informed as to how well he per- forined the exacting functions of this office. He was likewise a member of the Union, Washing- ton Park and University Clubs, and the Chicago Athletic and Chicago Bar Associations.

In personal and mental characteristics there was a marked resemblance to his illustrious fa- ther, although, probably owing to absence of hardships in earlier years, without some of the rugged lines of the elder. Nothing could be more touching than the fondness of these two men, father and son, for each other. Despite the disparity of ages, it was a modern exemplifi- cation of the almost fabulous attachment of Da- mon and Pythias of ancient times. All their plans, thoughts and nobler emotions were enjoyed along the unvarying higher level together. In truth, so profound was this silent bond of union, that one almost finds himself pondering, Was not this unseen paternal soul force, which the year previous had gone to his Maker, exercising, un- known to us mortals, its inalienable birthright with a potency which drew his son so untimely to himself again?

As illustrating the fondness of the parent, it is related that the father, soon after the time of his son's marriage, built and gave him a magnificent

stone mansion, No. 46 Astor Place, at the corner of Goethe Street, and diagonally across the street from a small private park running by the side of the father's mansion home, that they night al- ways be close beside each other, actually within full view and hailing distance while seated on their individual premises. There is no more complete residence to be found in our city of choice homes than this, which was so generously donated.

Mr. Goudy, younger, was by nature a reserved, reticent, conservative kind of man. He gave lib- erally, but not ostentatiously. He did not like either to talk about himself or have others make him the subject for conversation. He would spare no trouble or expense to serve a friend. He was a domestic man; a dutiful son, a faithful devoted husband, a loving, generous father.

He was married on the 14th day of December, 1887, in this city, by the Rev. Dr. Vibbert, of St. James' Episcopal Church, to Miss Carolyn Har- vey Walker, with whom he enjoyed the most perfect wedded life. Slie survives her deeply la- mented husband, together with their one child, Helen, who was born October 5, 1889.

From what data is available at this writing concerning the family lineage of Mr. Goudy, the reader is referred to the sketch of Hon. Will- iam C. Goudy, to be found elsewhere herein. Mrs. Goudy is tlie daughter of Samuel J. Walk- er and Amanda (Morehead) Walker, of Chi- cago. Mr. Walker, one of the old settlers of the city, was during his lifetime a very active man on the real-estate market, having at one time accumulated quite a fortune, which suffered heavily by the panic of 1873. The beauty of Ashland Boulevard upon the West Side, of which he may almost be called the father, is largely owing to his interested foresight.

Samuel J. Walker was a son of James Walker, of Dayton, Kentucky, who married a Miss Caro- lyn Cooper.

Mrs. Goudy's maternal grandfather was the very distinguished Hon. Charles S. Morehead, of Frankfort, Kentucky, a lawyer of rare talents, and at one time Chief Executive of his native state.

R. R. ROLLO.

249

RALPH R. ROLLO.

ALPH RODOLPHUS ROLLO, whose death occurred in Chicago, March 22, 1872, was a man of Christian principles and sterling in- tegrity of character. He was born at Gilead, Connecticut, on the 25th of September, 1811, and was a son of Ralphı R. Rollo and Sibyl Post, whose genealogy may be seen in connection with tlie biography of William E. Rollo, which ap- pears upon another page of this volume.

The subject of this notice was educated at the public schools of South Windsor, Connecticut, and for a time was engaged in teaching in his na- tive state. About 1838 he moved to Conneaut, Ohio, where he kept a book store for some years. While there he also became the editor and pub- lisher of the Conneaut Reporter. He thus ac- quired considerable local fame as a journalist. In 1844 he removed to New Brunswick, New Jersey, and became the proprietor of a large rubber-man- ufacturing establishment. This enterprise was continued until 1861, when, at the solicitation of his aged father, he returned to South Windsor and resided upon the homestead farm until the death of the latter.

The following year, 1870, he came to Chicago and engaged in the fire-insurance business in con- nection with his brother, William E. Rollo, who had preceded him hither. His business career in this city was but fairly begun when it was cut short by an attack of pleurisy, which terminated in his death, as above noted.

He had been an active member of the Congre- gational Church from boyhood, and while living in New Jersey was an Elder in the New Bruns- wick Church of that sect. Upon coming to Chi- cago, he united with the First Congregational Church of this city. He had been a firm Repub- lican in political sentiment from the organization

of the Republican party, but was seldom an active participant in political strife. He hield liberal and progressive views upon all public questions, and wherever his lines were cast was certain to win numerous friends and make no enemies.

On the 10th of August, 1842, Mr. Rollo was married to Miss Gennett Chester, who still sur- vives and is a resident of Chicago. She is a daughter of Dr. Lemuel L. Chester and Jeruslia Clark, both of whom were natives of Connecti- cut, and were descendants of early New England colonists. Mrs. Rollo was born at Westmore- land, New York, and while a child removed with her parents to Rome, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Rollo were the parents of four children, namely: Charles Egbert; Alice Amelia, who died in childhood; Lewis Chester; and Lily Agnes. All the living reside in Chicago.

Charles Egbert Rollo was born in Conneaut, Ohio, and was educated at the high school in East Hartford, Connecticut, completing the course at the age of eigliteen years. He then came to Chi- cago and became connected with the Merchants' Insurance Company, in the capacity of special agent. He continued with that corporation until it succumbed to the consequences of the great fire of 1871, when he became identified with the Trad- ers' Insurance Company. He was afterward a member of the firm of William E. Rollo & Com- pany, insurance agents. In 1882 he organized the firm of C. E. Rollo & Company, fire-insur- ance agents and brokers, which is still engaged in conducting a flourishing business, and occu- pies handsome offices in the Temple Building. Mr. Rollo is a member of the Illinois and Harvard Clubs, and is a popular citizen socially, as well as in business circles.

Lewis Chester Rollo was born at New Bruns-

250

STEPHEN REXFORD.

wick, New Jersey, December 23, 1858. He came with his parents to Chicago, where he attended the Skinner and Brown Schools, leaving the lat- ter at the age of seventeen years, to enter the office of W. E. Rollo & Company, insurance agents, and he remained with them until May, 1882, when he became the junior member of the firm of C. E. Rollo & Company, which connection he still maintains. He was married on the 15th

of February, 1888, to Edith May Van Schoick, a daughter of William and Cynthia Van Schoick, of Bloomington, Illinois. Their only child, Van Schoick Rollo, is a boy of seven years. Mr. Rollo is a member of the Athletic and Menoken Clubs, and has a host of friends and acquaintances, by whom his company is sought at all opportune moments.

STEPHEN REXFORD.

TEPHEN REXFORD, one of the earliest and most esteemed pioneers of Cook County, was born in Charlotte, Vermont, May 4, 1804, and died at Blue Island, Illinois, October 7, 1880. He was the second son of Benajah Rexford, whose genealogy will be found in the sketch of Norman Rexford, elsewhere in this book.

While a boy, Stephen witnessed the battle of Plattsburgh from the top of a mountain near his home, whither he went with his father and others for that purpose. When he was twelve years old the family removed to Westfield, Chautauqua County, New York, where he attended the public schools. On reaching manhood he went to Buf- falo, New York, and became a clerk for a commis- sion firm of that city. He continued with this fırın several years, winning the confidence and es- teem of his employers to a remarkable degree, and by their advice, in June, 1832, he went to Chicago with a view to engaging in a commission business in that place. After a year or two, however, he decided to engage in farming, and so took up a "claim" at Bachelor's Grove, being one of the four single men for whom that place was named. He built a large double log house, then the most pretentious residence in that part of the country, and otherwise improved this farm, which he con-

tinued to own for many years. A few years after coming to this county he and his brother Norman purchased most of the land on the east side of Western Avenue, in the present village of Blue Island, and in 1843 lie removed thither and began dealing in general merchandise, erecting for that purpose a large building, which he purchased at Hobart, Indiana, and which was brought to Blue Island in pieces by team. He also built a large warehouse on the "feeder" to the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and engaged in shipping grain, lumber and provisions on quite an exten- sive scale. When the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad was built, however, and the canal ceased to be a route of commerce, he dis- posed of his warehouse and dealt in live stock. He carried on an extensive business, his method being to purchase large droves of cattle in central and southern Illinois, have them driven to Blue Island, where he fattened them on the prairies adjacent for the Chicago market. Subsequently he disposed of his business in Blue Island and again engaged in farming for a few years, later returning to Blue Island where he lived several years before his death.

I11 the year 1835 Mr. Rexford married Miss Susan Wattles, daughter of Chandler Wattles, of Ripley, New York, where Mrs. Rexford was

251

J. A. SEXTON.

born. She died in Blue Island in 1849, having borne her husband the following children: Julia Ellen, wife of Dr. Charles Morgan, of Chicago; Susan Eliza, wife of Dr. John Waughop, of Fort Steilacoon, Washington; Alma, superintendent of the Home for the Friendless, in Chicago; Sarah Elsie (Mrs. E. E. Bellamy), of O'Neil, Holt County, Nebraska; and Anna Louise (Mrs. Charles A. Bellamy), of Chicago. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Rexford married Miss Elvira Barber, of Wardsboro, Vermont, who still resides at Blue Island. To the last union were born the following children: Stephen Barber, who is deceased; Henry Lee, of Chicago; Fannie Isabel (Mrs. John H. Clark), of Longwood, Illi- nois; Lewis Averill, of Seattle, Washington; and Mary Cushing (Mrs. Joseph P. Eames), of Blue Island.

In religious faith Mr. Rexford was a Universal- ist, being a member of the church of that denom- ination at Blue Island. In early life he was a rigid Democrat, but with Buchanan's administration he changed his political adherence, becoming a very stanch Republican. He was one of the three

commissioners appointed to divide Cook County into townships, and served as postmaster at Blue Island for many years, and as supervisor of Worth Township for several years. Beyond this lie did not aspire, and he refused to consider fur- ther promotions which were offered him. During his residence in Chicago he was at one time at Fort Dearborn with Colonel Whistler, and assisted in throwing out the provisions to the assembled Indians, which were given them by the United States Government in accordance with a treaty made previous to their removal from Illinois. Mr. Rexford always averred that the distribution was made in a most unjust fashion, the goods being thrown from an upper window and the In- dians dividing them according to their respective strength and agility in seizing them.

Mr. Rexford was a man of exemplary charac- ter and distinctive business qualifications, and bore an important part in the transformation of Cook County from the hunting-grounds of a sav- age race to the abode of a populous, civilized community.

COL. JAMES A. SEXTON.

) OL. JAMES ANDREW SEXTON, a rep- resentative Chicago business man, and one of the most efficient Postmasters of the city, is descended from Scotch and Irish ancestors. Ex- tended mention of his father, Stephen Sexton, will be found on another page of this volume. His maternal grandmother was a relative of President Andrew Jackson, for whom Colonel Sexton re- ceived his second baptismal name.

James A. Sexton is among Chicago's most worthy sons, having been born ten years after his parents' arrival here-on the 5th of January,

1844. His youth was spent in his native city, the public schools furnishing all the training given to his mind, except that afforded by his varied experiences-the latter forming, perhaps, the most practical and valuable portion of his ed- ucation. Within a few days after he saw his be- loved parents placed in their last resting-place, the land was convulsed by the sound of civil war. He was then but little past his seventeenth birth- day anniversary, but he at once enrolled his name among the defenders of the Union. He first en- listed April 19, and went out on the 21st as a pri-

252

J. A. SEXTON.

vate in the three-months service. At the expi- ration of that period he was appointed a sergeant and authorized to recruit Company I, Fifty-first Volunteer Infantry, of which he was to be Cap- tain. In June, 1862, he was transferred to Com- pany E, Sixty-seventh Illinois Infantry, and pro- moted to a lieutenancy, and within three imonths thereafter was elected Captain of a company re- cruited under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Association of Chicago, which became Company D, Seventy-second Illinois.

He commanded the regiment at the battles of Columbia, Duck River, Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee, and in the Nashville campaign. In 1865 he was assigned to duty on the staff of Gen. A. J. Smith, Sixteenth Army Corps, acting as Provost-Marshal, and served until the close of the war, leaving a record on its an- nals which added lustre to the pages, and which will compare favorably with that of any officer from Illinois. At Spanish Fort, on the 8th of April, 1865, Colonel Sexton's left leg was broken by a piece of a shell which exploded over his head. He also received gunshot wounds at Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee. The Seven- ty-second bore a part in seven battles and eleven skirmishes, being under the enemy's fire one hundred and forty-five days. It went out with a force of nine hundred and sixty-seven officers and men, and came back with three hundred and thirty-two. During its three years' service it had received two hundred and thirty-four recruits- more than two-thirds the total number mustered out at the close of the war.

After the close of hostilities Colonel Sexton purchased a plantation in Alabama, which he tilled two years, and then returned to Chicago, which has ever since been his home. Soon after his return he engaged in the foundry business, founding the immense stove factory now opera- ted by Cribben, Sexton & Company, occupying large grounds on Erie Street.

Colonel Sexton takes a sincere interest in Grand Army affairs, and is a Past Commander of the Department of Illinois. He is a member of the Loyal Legion, the Chicago Union Veteran Club, the Veteran Union League, and a Mason of high

degree; has held the highest positions in them, and is an honored and esteemed comrade and friend in all. He has never applied for nor re- ceived a pension.

On the 22d of February, 1868, Colonel Sexton married Miss Laura L. Wood, daughter of Will- iam Wood and Dorcas Sophronia Case. Her fa- ther was of English birth, and the mother a lineal descendant of a Revolutionary soldier, and repre- sentative of one of the earliest American families. Mrs. Sexton died in October, 1876, leaving four sons. In 1878 another wife was taken, in the person of Augusta Loewe, who is of German ex- traction. Five daughters have blessed this union, and the children of the family are named in order of birth as follows: Stephen W., George W., Ira J., Franklin Tecumseh, Laura A., Mabel Ne- vada, Leola Logan, Edith M. and Alice E.

A recent publication compiled by the Chicago Postoffice Clerks' Association says of Colonel Sexton in most fitting terms:

"A veritable and notable son of Illinois is Col. James A. Sexton. He is a man of noble and dignified appearance, and is essentially a self- made man in the true sense of tlie term. He was appointed Postmaster of Chicago by President Harrison, May 1, 1889, and his administration has been so superior as to receive merited recog- nition from the department at Washington and the public which is served at this office, and that means the entire civilized world, in one way and another. While Colonel Sexton was not trained in postoffice duties, he lias evinced remarkable administrative ability in his management of the second office in the United States, as to the ex- tent of business and amount of mail matter han- dled. He has administered the duties of the im- portant trust confided to him with fidelity and competency, and has evinced singular ability and aptitude; is zealous, vigilant and competent, hence the man especially needed at the helm, so to speak, of this great office, which is now man- aged with the accuracy of a mathematical form- ula; brought about by his skill, tact and constant attention. He is patient, persevering, industri- ous, of urbane and unassuming manner, always at his post of duty, and does his work conscien-

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Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 2nd ed., Part 28

Author: Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Chicago : Calumet Book & Engr. Co. Number of Pages: 808

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago : Calumet Book & Engr. Co.
Number of Pages: 808