USA > Illinois > Cook County > Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 2nd ed. > Part 41
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For several years Mr. Hurd has been at the head of the Committee of Law Reformn of the Illinois State Bar Association, and is the author of the able reports of that committee in favor of extending the American policy of breaking up large estates througli the operation of the laws of descent and wills, by so amending the laws as to limit the amount one may take by descent or will from the same person; and in favor of a system of registra- tion of titles which will make transfers of real es- tate as simple, inexpensive and secure as the trans- fers of personal property. The latter of these re- ports has already borne substantial fruit in the shape of a commission to consider the matter of transfers of title, which was created by the action of the last General Assembly. Of that commission Mr. Hurd was chairman, and in the report of De- cember 10, 1892, it recommended a system of regis- tering titles substantially embodying the essential principles of the Australian or Torrens system. The bill recommended to the convention passed the Senate, but was defeated in the House of Representatives of the Illinois Legislature, lack- ing only seven votes, however, of a majority and becoming a law. Since the report of the commis- sion, commissions of a like character have been raised in a number of States, and the bill which was written by Mr. Hurd bids fair to become the basis of bills for the adoption of the system in the United States.
Among the charities which receive Mr. Hurd's attention and aid are the Children's Aid Society of Chicago, whose work it is to find homeless children and place them in families,
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T. F. WITHROW.
THOMAS F. WITHROW.
HOMAS FOSTER WITHROW was born in Kanawha County, Virginia (now West Virginia), March 6, 1832. His father, who was a physician, was bound his son should be a medical practitioner, but the son had an early bent for the law, which brooked no opposition; on this account, as his father would not furnish necessary funds, his early years were mainly self-educated. When sufficiently advanced, he taught district schools, thereby earning the means wherewith to attend the Western Reserve College, situated at Delaware, Ohio. By reason of his father's death during his youth, he was obliged to drop his books, leave college, and forthwith pro- ceed to business life in order to support his wid- owed mother and his sister.
Adopting for a season the journalistic field, that he might lay up inoney to prosecute ultimate legal aims, at the age of twenty-one he was ap- pointed local editor upon the Republican, pub- lished at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, removing in 1855 to Zanesville, in the same State, to assume editor- ship in chief of the Free Press. Although excep- tionally brilliant in this sphere of occupation (a fact amply vouched for by his rapid rise therein), he felt that his powers were not called upon to their fullest extent, and that he would be alto- gether unable in any field, save the law, to find a theme whose ringing echoes should sound the melody of his life.
Upon the death of his dearly beloved mother in the fall of 1856, he commenced the study of law in the offices of Miller & Beck, of Fort Madi- son, Iowa. The following year witnessed his admission to the practice of the local bar of his newly acquired home in Des Moines, Iowa, where hie first opened his office. Directly his unusual abilities became voiced, he was sought for private secretary by Governor Ralph P. Lowe (the first
Republican to assume the gubernatorial functions in that State), as also by his successor in office, Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood. Fancy can read- ily picture what flames were added to his aspira- tions by such distinguished environment at the inception of his young career. Prosperity, low- ever, far from spoiling him, amplified both his talents and his tact; wherefore, recognizing his fitness for so exacting a function, the proper au- thorities selected our modestly-laureled subject to act as Official Reporter of the Supreme Court of the State of Iowa; the well-digested results of his long incumbency of such office being embodied in some fourteen volumes of Iowa State Reports, containing decisions upon all branches of law as issues were made on appeals, and which, as the decrees of the court of dernier resort, are prece- dents in that State for future adjudication.
I11 1863 the deserts of his exceedingly enthusi- astic political services were formally acknowledged in his elevation to the highly responsible position of Chairman of the Iowa State Republican Com- mittee. During this period his alert faculties were so impressed by the necessities calling for better ineans for effectual campaign work, that he originated a new code of methods, thereupon proven to be so superior in conception that they have been very largely followed and patterned after ever since. The unusual needs of these "war times" so enthused his impressionable mind that he foresaw and spoke as a party prophet or law- giver. None has left a brighter, more wholesome memory in the political annals of that State, so long his honored and honoring home.
In 1866 he was made local Division Attorney for the Rock Island & Pacific Railway, his ser- vices manifesting such activity and success that in 1873 he was rewarded by an advancement to the chief post of his department, under the title
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T. F. WITHROW.
of General Solicitor, whereupon removal of resi- dence was made to the situs of the general offices of that road at Chicago. Litigation increased in bulk to such a degree, that in after years they found it would be expedient to select two such solicitors, at which juncture Mr. Withrow was installed in the newly created office of General Counsel for the entire system, having a general supervision over a corps of able legal subordi- nates, in person only going into the highest courts upon questions of weightier import. These duties he continued with conscientious energy to administer until the time of his decease, Febru- ary 3, 1893, since which time the Rock Island Railway has withheld from elevating any suc- cessor to his so peculiarly honored seat.
On the occasion set apart by the Supreme Court of Iowa for the delivering of eulogies upon the life-work and character of Mr. Withrow, among numerous eloquent tributes paid to his superlative worth on the part of professional old friends and associates, we find in the address par excellence, spoken by Judge Wright, the follow- ing passage: "As a lawyer, he was industrious, conscientious, aggressive, and of the quickest perceptions. He had a genius for hard and ef- fective work, all of which was done thoroughly, slighting nothing. He was the very soul of fidelity to his client. His greatest power was fertility of resource. * Generous and considerate, alas, that he must pass away in the prime of life!"
It was this "genius for hard and effective work" which led to his untimely, sudden death, through heart failure. The fall previous, in the retirement of his summer home at Lake Geneva, he had spent several very laborious weeks in pre- paring for hearing an extremely important case for his corporation, from which particular over- work, though he respited, he never fully recov- ered. Sturdy as an oak, which under careful cherishing outstands the violence of myriad sea- sons, his ardent temperament recked not of the prudences of life; with him it was always-"This is the battle! This must end in victory!" And so into the seething flames of a too consumingly brilliant professional life, he had cheerfully thrown
that score of years of reserved force which, along more conservative lines, would undoubtedly have sufficed him to meet with heroic fortitude the slowly gathering shadows of a quite advanced age. But who will take upon him to assert that he was not well contented on the whole that it befell as indeed it did? For had not the solicita- tions of friends often cautioned him against his so lavish expenditure of exceptional energies? Let us take example of this "faithfulness unto death," his most fitting eulogy, and rarest, pure balm of solace to the bereaved.
By religious faith he was a Unitarian; always in attendance upon the inspiring services of the Rev. Dr. Robert Collyer while he so long and efficiently filled the pulpit of Unity Church of this city. Of later years a warın friendship had grown up between him and the late Rev. Dr. David Swing, who officiated so feelingly at the obsequies, unspeakably regretful over the loss of liis lawyer- naturalist comrade; for they were boon mates together in the woods and fields, mutually wor- sliping the omnipresent God as they walked.
Like his father, Mr. Withrow was an exceed- ingly devoted abolitionist, at a period when Vir- ginia was not at all prolific of such citizenship. Many a colored man was able through their agency to breathe the free air of the North. In- deed, so bitter grew tlie local sentiment engen- dered by the temerity of so exceptional an attitude, altogether hostile to southern tenets, that it became expedient, and was the chief cause of, the family removal to Ohio. No less zealous in this new field, and grown to great prominence in the dominant party, what pleasure our friend must have experienced over that im- mortal proclamation of President Lincoln, with its ensuing complete practical ratification! We sincerely believe that no happier moments than these crowned his life, unless, possibly, the con- templation of these signal, national transactions in later years, while seated upon his own mag- nificent premises overlooking Chicago Lincoln Park, of which he was a Commissioner, being thus in full view of the superb bronze statue of the President himself, of the fund for erecting which he had been a trustee.
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J. M, WARREN.'
Vivacious and sociable, a semi-public life had found him a member of many choice clubs and societies; but with growing domesticity necessi- tated by maturer years, added to the drains made by constant prefessional duties upon his vitality, he withdrew more and more into the quiet enjoy- ments afforded by home life, especially delighting in belles lettres, in whose rich domain he was during the thirty-five most busily occupied years of professional activity, never less than an ambi- tious student and philosophic meditator. Here the richest verbal expressions of genius became again his living legacy, always ready at a neces- sitous crisis to do his eloquent bidding. At the time of his demise he was still enrolled with the Chicago Literary Club, as for the many years past, as well as with the famous Grolier Club of New York City.
Mr. Withrow was married October 27, 1859, at Hamilton, Madison County, New York, to Miss Jane Frances Goodwin, who survives him, together with three children born unto them, as follows: Henry Goodwin Withrow, born April 29, 1861, whose advanced education was com- pleted in the University of Michigan, now being engaged in railroading; Charles LeBaron With- row, born in June 1866, matriculated at the Cam- bridge (Massachusetts) Law School, but now in journalistic labors with the Associated Press in New York City; Bonnie Withrow, born in Au- gust, 1867, educated at Ogontz, near Philadel- phia, now largely devoted to philanthropic work,
especially the welfare of young women whom fate has thrown upon their own resources.
Mrs. Withrow is a daughter of the sea captain, LeBaron Goodwin, of Old Plymouth, Massachu- setts, and Mary, his wife (nee Leggett), of Sarato- ga Springs, New York. Her father removed in mature years to De Ruyter, Madison County, New York, where he led a retired and studious life. The said Mary Leggett was a daughter of Samuel and Susannah Leggett (nee Smith) ; Sanı- uel being a son of Isaac and Rebecca Leggett (nee Starbuck), a daughter of Benjamin and Hepsibalı Starbuck (nee Bunker). The said LeBaron Good- win was a son of William and Lydia C. Goodwin, (nee Sampson), the former a son of Nathaniel and Lydia Goodwin (nce LeBaron), a son of John and Mary Goodwin (nee Roby), a son of Nathan- iel (who died in 1754) and Elizabeth Goodwin.
Mrs. Withrow is related to eminent families, as will be seen from the fact that through her pa- ternal grandmother, Lydia C. Sampson, she traces back to Nathaniel Cushing, born in 1588 (a son of Peter Cushing, of Norfolk, England), an early American colonist; also to Henry Pitcher, born in 1586, who came early to Hingham, Massachu- setts, in the ship "Delight;" also to Capt. Miles Standish, famous of the "Mayflower" crew; also to Henry Sampson, compeer of Standish, whose grandson Isaac married Lydia, a granddaughter of Captain Standish, and who became in due time grandparents of the said Lydia C. Sampson, the grandmother of Mrs. Withrow.
JULIUS M. WARREN.
ULIUS M. WARREN, only son of Daniel Warren, a pioneer settler of Du Page Coun- ty (see biography elsewhere in this volume), was born in Fredonia, New York, June 13, 18II, being the first white child born in Chautauqua
County. He became a member of the New York militia, in which he attained the rank of colonel. With the family, he came to Du Page County in the autumn of 1833, and spent the balance of his life there. He was a very genial and happy-dis-
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J. M. WARREN.
positioned gentleman, and early became a favorite in society. A recent writer in the Chicago Her- ald speaks thus of the society of that day: "The so- ciety of all this region, including town and coun- try, forty-five years ago, had its attractive seat and held its principal revelries in the valley of Fox river. 'The best people' that came out from the eastern states to settle in this region did not stop in Chicago, but made for the magnifi- cent farming lands in this vicinity. Some came from central and western New York, where they had seen families of the aristocracy plant them- selves and flourish on the fat lands of the Mohawk and Genesee valleys. To clear off timber and re- duce those great farms to productivity, had taken half a century of time and had exhausted the lives of three generations. This was known to the new emigrants, and as they heard of or saw these Illinois lands, bare of obstinate trees, but clothed with succulent grasses, of nature's sowing; in a climate that possessed no torridity, nor yet any destructive rigors; all this being known before- hand, many refined and cultivated families came out with all their effects, and bought or entered land and proceeded to make themselves homes, which, they had no doubt, would be homes to them for their natural lives."
Mr. Warren had a keen sense of humor and was always amiable and cheerful, which made him a favorite in all circles. Instead of disaprov- ing the amusements of the young people, he al- ways had a strong sympathy and interest in their pleasures. He was the constant attendant of his sisters, and often laughingly mentioned them as seven reasons why he should not marry. He was also devotedly attached to his mother who was justly proud of her only son. Together they kept house until her death, when he induced his nephew to bring his family to live on the old homestead at Warrenville, where he continued to reside. He passed away on the first of May, 1893, his last words being, "Take me home to my mother."
In speaking of Colonel Warren and the village of Warrenville, we again quote from the Herald: "He called in a storekeeper, a blacksmith, a coop- er and a carpenter, and a tavernkeeper came in good time. Naperville was a smaller village, hav-
ing but two log houses. Aurora scarcely had a being, and St. Charles was not. But all along on the banks of the Fox river were settlers of a high class, who had knowledge of and corres- pondence with the eastern portions of the United States. Foremost among these was Judge Whip- ple, who, acting with the Warrens, father and son, organized and gave direction to local affairs. They were without postal facilities of any kind, and every family had to send a member into Chicago for letters and papers. A letter from Buffalo to any place on the Fox river was from four to six weeks in coming, and to Chicago cost fifty cents postage. Colonel Warren making use of eastern friends, got a postoffice (the first in the valley) established at Warrenville in 1833, and himself appointed postmaster. He was his own mail-carrier, making weekly trips, on foot some times, to Chicago and out again, with letters and papers for distribution through his office to people in all that section. Colonel Warren held this of- fice for fifty years, and only lost it when President Cleveland came in the first time."
Although chiefly self-educated, Colonel Warren was a thoroughly well-read man, and was admir- ably fitted for a leader in politics, as well as in so- ciety. He represented his district for three suc- cessive terms in the State Legislature, from 1840 to 1843, but refused to longer remain in public life, preferring the quiet joys of his home and neighborhood to anything the capital or metropo- lis might offer. He continued to manage the large homestead farm until his death. He was a loyal adherent of the Republican party, having espoused its leading principles before its organi- zation.
The following incident will indicate the kindly nature of Colonel Warren and his noble mother, as well: A young lawyer of Chicago, now known throughout Illinois as the venerable ex-Chief Jus- tice of the State, John Dean Caton, fell sick of fever while staying at the log tavern in Naper- ville, one of the two buildings of that village. Hearing of the case, Colonel Warren went at once to see what he could do to render the suf- ferer comfortable, and soon decided to remove him to his own home, where he could receive better
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F. W. PECK.
nursing than at the little frontier tavern. This probably saved the life of the patient, who attrib- utes his recovery to the careful nursing of Mrs. Warren and her daughters, with such aid as Colonel Warren could apply. The last-named saw the completion of his eighty-second year,
full of humor and harmless badinage to the last, and died as the result of an attack of pneumonia, after an illness of only two days, leaving as an inspiration to those who come after the record of a well-spent life.
FERDINAND W. PECK.
ERDINAND W. PECK. Among Chicago's native sons, of whom she is justly proud, is the subject of this sketch. He is the youngest son of P. F. W. Peck, the pioneer settler and merchant of the city (for biography see another page), and was born in the family residence, which stood on ground now covered by the Grand Pacific hotel, July 15th, 1848.
It is not often that one not stimulated by necessity or forced to cultivate self-reliance achieves anything worthy of note among thie active men of to-day. Without this stimulus, Mr. Peck applied himself first to the acquirement of an education, passing through the grades of the city schools, graduating at the High School, the Chicago University and the Union College of Law. Next he took up the practice of his chosen profession, and met with the full measure of success vouchsafed to the young lawyer in a field already occupied by a multitude of able and experienced jurists and attorneys. After several years of practice, with growing business that is bound to come to one of his energy and ability, he was forced to abandon the law to engage in caring for the estate which his father had left to the charge of his sons, at his demise. This property consisted principally of real estate, much of which had been stripped of its im- provements by the great fire of 1871, and which now required constant and careful attention. Under the conservative management of the senior
Peck's sons, the estate has prospered, at the same time it has conferred upon the city some of its most valuable and permanent features.
Mr. F. W. Peck is a devotee of music and a lover of art, and has been the means of bringing to Chicago much of its culture in these elevating and ennobling studies. For some years he cher- ished the idea of providing the city with facilities sufficiently ample and substantial to bring hither all that was best in the line of intellectual and refining entertainments. The Opera Festival of 1885, of which Mr. Peck was President, brought to the city the finest musical and dramatic enter- tainments ever offered to an American audience, and made apparent to the citizens the need of better facilities for such entertainments. Mr. Peck seized upon this sentiment and organized the Auditorium Association, of which he was unanimously chosen President. The stock was distributed among three hundred subscribers, including the most prominent and wealthy citizens, and the result is known to every denizen of the city, in one of its most conspicuous land- marks-the Auditorium.
A recent writer says: "The genius of the world has exhausted itself in devising and erecting architectural edifices. The Parthenon in the age of Pericles, glorious in all the adorn- ments of art wrought by the chisel of Phidias and brush of Praxiteles, was a temple of heathen worship; the mighty walls of the Coliseum were
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F. W. PECK.
raised to furnish an arena for gladiatorial brutal- ity. Mediæval architects reared the clustered columns and vaulted arches of Gothic cathedrals to woo men to pious aspirations; the chaste lines and sculptured walls of the "Nouvelle Opera " were raised as a temple of music and dramatic art; each had or has its beauties and special use; but it remained for the genius of Chicago to con- ceive and its enterprise to provide, by private munificence, a structure as perfect as any in sub- stantial utility, both as a gathering place of the multitude and a temple of all the arts; the per- fection of architectural genius. It is more capa- cious than the Albert Hall of South Kensington, more substantial than the new opera of Paris; chaste, solid and sublime."
Mr. Peck has shown the same zeal, energy and ability in the conduct of public business which has been placed in his charge that mark all his own undertakings. As chairman of the finance committee of the World's Columbian Ex- position he assumed a heavy responsibility, and aided in bringing that stupendous enterprise through successfully and paying every pecuniary obligation. This involved the expenditure of over $30,000,000, and was calculated to test the capacity of the greatest financiers. Mr. Peck is also associated in official capacity with many of the permanent institutions of the city, including most of those calculated to promote an æsthetic sentiment among the people. Some of these official positions are the presidency of the Chicago Athenæum, the Auditorium Association and the Union League Club; he has been Vice-president of the Board of Education of the city of Chicago, and was Vice-president of the World's Columbian Exposition, with a seat in its board of reference and control, on its executive committee, commit- tee on legislation and special committee on cere- monies, in addition to the finance committee, as above noted.
mer he spends much time out of doors, and main- tains a summer home at Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, and enjoys the honor of being Commodore of the Wisconsin Yacht Club. His favorite yacht is named the "Tarpon," in honor of his good for- tune in capturing an enormous tarpon while fish- ing off the coast of Florida at one time. In his handsome home on Michigan Avenue, in the city, are found a happy and congenial wife, four sons and two daughters. Mrs. Peck is the daughter of the late William A. Spalding, a sketch of whom appears on another page.
In speaking of Mr. Peck, the History of Chi- cago says: "One only slightly familiar with the telltale disclosures of physiognomy, looking upon his mild, refined and thoughtful features, cannot fail to be impressed that behind them is character of more than ordinary delicacy of sentiment and maturity of mind, that belongs rather to the æs- thetic than to the gross and material lines of thought and action. While not an artist, he is a lover of art; his mind has a constructive qual- ity, which, with sympathy with human needs and enthusiasm for the uplifting of the standard of life among the masses of the people, calls him to undertake enterprises of pith and magnitude, for the education of the people, for inspiring them with higher ideals of life, and leading them from the indulgence of degrading passions, through the ministries of the 'diviner arts,' to higher planes of living and enjoyment. This type of mind is not often found amid the rush and com- petition of life in our great cities. To its pos- session and well-developed proportions by so many of the well-to-do young men of Chicago, whose names will readily occur to the observant student of her inner life, is due in great part the æsthetic character which Chicago has taken on, despite her unwonted devotion to the more sordid pursuits of her gigantic enterprises. With her university and schools of every sort, with her art studios and collections, with her social clubs, inu- sical festivals and dramatic entertainments, and especially since her magnificent triumph in con- structing and maintaining the grandest exhi- bition of art and industry which the world has
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