Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 2nd ed., Part 44

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

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In 1788 Lemuel Shedd became one of the first settlers of Norway, Maine, where Joseph Stevens built the first house in 1786. He married Ruth Simonds, a descendant of Samuel Simonds, a prom- inent Puritan of Boston. They had four children, three of whom grew up, namely: Nathaniel P., Abigail (Mrs. Joseph Holt), and John S. The last named lived and died upon a farm in Norway. He passed a peaceful, uneventful life, and was never involved in litigation of any kind. He first married Miss Alice Noyes, by whom he had two children-Clarissa wife of Francis Blake, of Lar- amie, Wyoming; and Ward Noyes, who lost his life during the Kansas Border War in 1857. Af- ter the death of his first wife Mr. Shedd married Miss Sally Coffin, a native of Conway, New Hampshire. The names of their children are, Augustus F. of Chicago; Alice Augusta, widow of Moses Rolfe, now living on the old homestead at Norway, Maine; Ezra T .; and John Wesley, who died in infancy. Sally Coffin was a daugh- ter of James Coffin, and her mother was a daugh- ter of Phœbe (Richardson) Stevens.

James Coffin was a descendant of Tristam Cof- fin, who settled at Salisbury, Massachusetts, in 1642. As early as the fourth century the Coffin family had extensive estates in Normandy. Sir Richard Coffin, knight, accompanied William the Conqueror to England in 1066, and the manor of Alwington, in Devonshire, was assigned to him in recognition of his services. His descendants were prominent knights through several succeed- ing reigns. Tristram Coffin was born at Brixlin, near Plymouth, England, in 1605, and married Dionis Stevens. A few years after coming to

Massachusetts, he became one of a party of ten who purchased Nantucket Island from the In- dians. The original deed is still preserved in the family. He and liis sons at one time owned one- fourth of the whole island. He transacted much important public business for the settlers, and was a man of affairs. Of his numerous descend- ants many were Quakers, among tlien Levi Coffin, of Newport, Indiana, the so-called "presi- dent of the underground railroad," and the original "Uncle Phineas" of "Uncle Tom's Cab- in." The number also includes two admirals of the British navy and a number of eminent Amer- icans, among them John G. Whittier, Lucretia Mott and Carleton Coffin, the journalist and his- torian of Boston.

Ezra T. Shedd was named in honor of Ezra Twitchell, of Bethel, Oxford County, Maine, the husband of Betsey Coffin, who was a sister of James Coffin. In 1856 he left home and came to Illinois, locating at Aurora, where he engaged in mercantile business. In 1868 lie removed to Chicago, which has since been his residence and business headquarters. During this time he has represented several of the leading wholesale houses of the city, and was for ten years employed by one concern. Since 1888 he has served the interests of Sweet, Dempster and Co., in Illinois. He has also been successfully engaged in building houses for sale for some years past. He was inarried, in 1863, to Helen Scarritt, daughter of the Rev. Josialı A Scarritt, of Sandwich, New Hampshire. The lady was born at Warren, New York, and died in Chicago, June 16, 1894, at the age of fifty-three years. She possessed marked literary ability and was recognized as one of the greatest female parliamentarians of the West. Her life was largely devoted to philanthropical labors. She was a charter member and first vice- president of the Philosophical Society, the nucleus of all the literary societies of the city. She was a charter member and at one time president of the Woman's Club, and for many years served as chairman of the reform committee of that organ- ization, which was largely instrumental in secur- ing the apprehension and conviction of the noto- rious Chicago "boodlers." Through an address

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delivered before the County Board, she secured the appointment of the first lady physician on the staff of the Cook County Insane Asylum. She was also identified with the Fortnightly Club, serving re- peatedly as its secretary, and for ten years was president of the Physiological Society. At the United States Woman's Congress, held at Denver in 1889, Mrs. Shedd read a paper entitled "Wo- man in Affairs," which attracted much attention throughout the country. She was a charter member of the Saracen Club, and was an inde- fatigable worker in every field devoted to the ad- vancement of modern progress and reform.

Mr. Shedd is liberal in religious views. He is the first vice-president of the Sons of Maine, and has been for years actively identified with the Saracen Club, the Sunset Club and the Philo- sophical Society. He has always voted with the Republican party on State and National issues,

but is independent in municipal and judicial elec- tions. He is a moderate protectionist, believes in the maintenance of a stable and honest cur- rency and an economical administration of the gov- ernment. He is a careful student of American history, and his far-sightedness has enabled him to foretell many important political events. Soon after the beginning of the Lincoln-Douglas sena- torial campaign, lie predicted that Mr. Lincoln would be the next President of the United States, a forecast which was received with much skepti- cism by his associates. He also predicted the nomination to the presidency of R. B. Hayes im- mediately after his triumph over "Bill" Allen in the contest for the Ohio Governorship. Mr. Shedd is a gentleman of genial, open character, and enjoys the friendship of a large number of leading citizens throughout the Northwest.

ROBERT A. KINZIE.

OBERT ALLEN KINZIE. The history of Rome will never be considered complete without the story of Romulus and Remus; the history of New England will always find its most interesting chapter that which tells of the Pilgrim fathers; and the history of Chicago will always begin with the account of the Kinzies and Whistlers. These were the earliest of the pioneers of the settlement which has developed into the present city of Chicago. The father of John Kinzie, our early pioneer, was a Scotch- man; his name was John Mckenzie, and he lived at Quebec, and, lastly, at Detroit, where he died. The wife of this gentleman, we are told in "Wau-bun," was Mrs. Haliburton, whose daughter by her previous marriage was mother of the late General Fleming and Nicholas Low, of New York. Mr. Kinzie (the name was con- tracted to Kinzie because of its constant inis-

pronunciation in this country) at his death left a widow and a son, John Kinzie. The widow mar- ried William Forsythe. John Kinzie, son of the above John McKenzie, is said to have been born in Quebec in the year 1763, but lost his father in infancy. The step-father and mother removed to New York, and, finally, to Detroit. John Kinzie acquired some knowledge of the business of a silversmith, which occupation he followed in connection with his trade with the Indians. He early entered the Indian trade and had establish- ments at Sandusky, Maumee, and afterward pushed west, about 1800, to St. Josephs.

He had been doing business in Detroit from 1795 to 1798. He was a grantee of lands from the Ottawa Indians. In the year 1804 he took up his residence, as sutler, at the post of Chicago -the first entry in his books bearing date May 12 of that year. He remained here until after

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the Chicago massacre, August 15, 1812, his fam- ily escaping unharmed by the Indians on account of the universally kind and courteous treatment accorded to them by the Kinzies, whose friend- ship for the Indians had always been true and unswerving. No more emphatic statement of the regard of the Indians for the Kinzie family could be made than that "the Indians had not attacked Fort Dearborn the autumn preceding the massa- cre out of regard for one family-that of Mr. Kinzie." The years between 1812 and 1816- the latter being the date of the return of the fam- ily to Fort Dearborn-were spent in Detroit.

John Kinzie married Margaret Mackenzie, a native of the vicinity of Pearisburglı, Virginia, who, together with her sister, was captured by the Indians about the time of the American Rev- olution, when she was eight or ten years old. Three children were born of this marriage, name- ly: William, James and Elizabeth Kinzie. John Kinzie and his wife afterward separated, and eaclı married again. Mr. Kinzie's second wife was Mrs. Eleanor (Lytle) McKillip, and from this marriage are descended the subject of this sketch and others. The oldest of these, John Harris Kinzie, afterward Colonel Kinzie, was the husband of Juliette A. Magill, a very elegant and accomplished woman, who gained the reputation of a graceful and intensely interesting writer, which the volume, entitled " Wau-bun, the Early Day in the Northwest," clearly proves. This couple came to live in Chicago in 1833, and the advertisement of John H. Kinzie, forwarding and commission merchant, appears in the Chicago Democrat of that year. Colonel Kinzie filled successively the offices of Registrar of Public Lands, Collector of Tolls of the Illinois Canal at Chicago, and Paymaster in the United States Army, which latter position he held at the time of his death in 1865. He was one of the founders of St. James Episcopal Church, and a valuable member of the Chicago Historical Society, which he helped to organize.

The other members of the family were: Eleanor, who became the wife of Dr. Wolcott, of Chicago, and after liis death married George C. Bates, of Detroit; Maria, who was the wife of that gal-

lant soldier, Gen. David Hunter, of the United States Army; and Robert, of this sketch, the youngest.

On his arrival in Chicago in 1804, with his family, John Kinzie took possession of the cabin lately occupied by Le Mai, a French trader, who succeeded the builder of the cabin-Baptiste Point de Sable, the first settler on the site of Clii- cago. This historic structure stood on the north side of the river, and has been stated to have been one hundred feet east of the present Pine Street, near Michigan Street, and occupied a portion of the quarter section taken up by Mr. Kinzie, which to-day is worth millions of dollars. Kin- zie's occupation of silversmith, or his paying the natives in silver, caused them to name him Shaw-nee-aw-kee, meaning silver man, and after his death this title descended to his son John. The house of John Kinzie was the first hotel in Chicago, for travelers were entertained there. It was the scene of the first marriage, for here his daugliter, Eleanor, was wedded to Dr. Alex- ander Wolcott, Sunday July 20, 1823. It was, probably, the first court house in Chicago, for Mr. Kinzie was commissioned a Justice of the Peace December 2, 1823, and he doubtless held court at his residence. Mrs. Eleanor Kinzie died in 1834.

Robert A. Kinzie, son of John and Eleanor, was born in Chicago, February 8, 1810. He was a child two and a-half years old, but he could remember, as he told in 1872, sixty years after the battle of Chicago, of the family returning to their old home again, and also the circumstance of his father's cutting a ball from the arm of Mrs. Heald, immediately after the massacre. After a four years' absence the family were again at their old home in Chicago.

The only public school education which he seems to have received was at Detroit. He thus describes his return, overland, from that point on horseback: "Ten days was the distance, and, in company with a couple of half breeds I started, supplied with rations for the whole journey. We were five days out, and our provisions were out also. We ate faster than we traveled. When we came to a stream of any ambition we had to con-

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struct a raft to cross it. Hungry and tired, we reached Coldwater, Michigan, then known as Nagg's Trading Post. Nagg was out of every- thing but cake sugar, and so we stayed our stomachs with that, and would doubtless have died of surfeit of sweetness, but for the fact that one of the Indian boys shot twenty-three pigeons. We ate all at one meal, and reached Chicago heaven knows how."

In 1825 Mr. Kinzie was sent to Prairie du Chien, where he took a position as clerk in the post agency, then conducted by Dousman. John Kin- zie, then head clerk, later became agent, and Robert Kinzie succeeded to his place. The latter returned to Chicago in 1827 and in the following year went to Detroit. Returning, he was em- ployed by Captain Leonard, sutler at Fort Win- nebago, where he remained six months, but was recalled to Chicago by the death of a sister. From 1825 to 1840 he remained mostly here, including several years in trade at Wolf Point. Early in the year 1832 he erected a store, which was the first frame building in Chicago, except one-that is, the Government structure built by William Caldwell. Mr. Kinzie sent to Du Page for car- penters to build it, and the builders were two old deacons.

Mr. Kinzie became a member of the firm of Kinzie, Davis & Hyde in the year 1835. They were dealers in hardware. In 1840 he moved to a farm at Walnut Grove, Illinois, where he re- mained three years. In 1845 he was at Des Moines, and thence went beyond the Missouri River to trade with the Indians. He was located at Uniontown, on the Pottawattomie reservation, and later at what is now Greenwood, on the res- ervation of the Sacs and Foxes. He and his broth- er-in-law both owned farms, upon which they laid out the town of Burlington, Kansas, named in honor of the birthplace of the subsequent proprietors of that town. In May, 1861, he was appointed Paymaster in the army, with the rank of Major, and remained in the service until the time of his death, December 13, 1873. From 1861 to 1864 he was in Washington, District of Columbia; from 1864 to 1868 in Santa Fe, New Mexico; and was then ordered to Chicago, where

he was Paymaster on General Sheridan's staff. Major Kinzie was a very powerful as well as active man. His deatlı, caused by heart disease, was very sudden. He breathed liis last at liis residence on Thirty-fifth Street, Chicago. It may be truly said of him that he was a man of sterling character and honesty. While his life presented no brilliant succession of great achievements, he deserves a testimonial to his honesty and fidelity in the performance of his duties as a citizen and public officer.

In 1834 Mr. Kinzie married the beautiful and accomplished daughter of Col. William Whistler, an early pioneer, who saw placed or laid the first palisades and timbers of Fort Dearborn. Her grandfather, Captain John (afterward Major) Whistler, the builder and commandant of tlie first Fort Dearborn, was an officer in the Revolution- ary Army. From the time of its construction until 18II he was in command of the post of Chicago, but left a year before the massacre. He died at Bellefontaine, Missouri, in 1817.

William, son of Major John Whistler, was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, about 1784, and at the time of his marriage (in May, 1802) was a Second-Lieutenant in his father's company, then stationed at Detroit. The maiden name of his wife was Julia Ferson. She was born in Salem, Massachusetts, July 3, 1787, and lier parents were John and Mary (La Duke) Ferson. In childhood she removed with her parents to Detroit, where she met her future husband. In the summer of 1803 Capt. John Whistler, Mrs. Whistler, their son George W. (then three years old), Lieutenant Whistler and his wife came to Fort Dearborn. After five years' sojourn here, Lieutenant Whistler was transferred to Fort Wayne, having previously been made a First Lieutenant. He distinguished himself at tlie battle of Maguago, Michigan, August 9, 1812, was in Detroit at Hull's surrender, and with Mrs. Whistler, was taken prisoner to Montreal; was promoted to Captain, December, 1812, to Major in 1826, and Lieutenant-Colonel in 1845. He died in Newport, Kentucky, December 4, 1863, having rendered sixty-two years' continuous ser- vice in the army. In the fall of 1875 Mrs. Whis-

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tler visited her daughter, Mrs. R. A. Kinzie, in Chicago. Surrounded by her children, grand- children and great-grandchildren, she was found in good health and in the full possession of her faculties, both intellectual and physical, though over eighty-eight years old. Her appearance in- dicated that she had been a woman of tall form, and verified the truth of the common report that in her earlier years she had been a person of sur- passing elegance. She died at her home in New- port, Kentucky, at the age of ninety-six years.

The fifth child of Colonel and Mrs. Whistler was born at Green Bay, July 20, 1818, and given the name of Gwinthlean Harriet. In 1832 Lieu- tenant (now Captain) Whistler was again sta- tioned at Fort Dearborn, and here his daughter met and married Robert Allen Kinzie, the flour- ishing, and, indeed, the only merchant at that time in Chicago. Mrs. Kinzie died on the 9th of September, 1894, while on a visit at the home of her son in Omaha. At the time of her death she was the oldest resident of Chicago, except Alexander Beaubien, whose biography will be found on another page of this volume. Miss Eliza Allen Starr, in speaking of her, says she was "of a majestic height and carriage, classical head and features; the expression charming and ingenuous; her soul never losing its enthusiasm and lier gen- erosity bounded only by her means." She was spoken of as the "Beautiful Gwinthlean," and to their mansion Mr. Kinzie and his charming wife called around them the choicest and best of Chi- cago's society, which numbered among its mem- bers many enterprising young scions from the most highly educated families of the East. At the time of her death nine of Mrs. Kinzie's chil- dren were still living.

Gwinthlean, the eldest of these, is now the wife of Dr. William Manson, of Burlington, Kan- sas; Maria is the wife of Gen. George H. Stewart, who was a distinguished officer in the Confederate Army, and is at present a resident of Colorado Springs, Colorado; Maj. David H. Kinzie, of the United States Army, educated at West Point, is stationed at the Presidio, San Francisco, California; Julia Whistler is the widow of the late William B. Parsons, whose biography appears

elsewhere in this volume; Marian, now the wife of John Sneden, resides with him in Algiers, Africa; Capt. John Kinzie, of the Second Infantry, United States Army, stationed at Fort Omaha, was appointed Second Lieutenant by President Grant in 1872.

Frank X. Kinzie, born in Chicago on the 4th of April, 1854, was educated at Barre, Vermont, and in the public schools of Chicago. He was in the office of his father at Chicago for a time, and in 1876 was appointed Second Lieutenant by General Grant and assigned to the Twentieth United States Infantry. He joined his command at Fort Pembina, Dakota, and spent four years on the western frontier. He was second in command of the Gatling battery in the expedition against the Sioux in 1876, and was within a day's march (fifteen miles) of the fatal field where the massa- cre of Custer and his command took place. At the close of that campaign he married Miss Julia F. Mallory, daughter of the late Herbert E. Mal- lory and his wife, Lucy (Wakefield) Mallory. He resigned his command January 1, 1879, after having spent some time on the Texas frontier. The following twelve years he was with the firm of Mallory & Brother. He has six children, namely: Claude F., Percy, Earle D., Homer B., Harold and Frank X., junior.

Walter Henry Kinzie, born March 16, 1857, at Burlington, Kansas, then a frontier town in the Indian country, received his education in the public schools, at the College of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, and the Jesuit College of Chicago. At the age of eighteen he was ap- pointed to a place in the Water Department of Chicago, and subsequently entered the employ of B. F. Stauffer, a prominent Board of Trade oper- ator. In 1882 he was with H. E. Mallory & Brother, and later with Martin Brothers, stock commission merchants. Since 1885 he has been in the office of the Union Stock Yards & Transit Company. On the 24th of January, 1885, he married Miss Fanny Kintz, daughter of Stephen Kintz, an early settler of Ottawa, Illinois, and now a resident of Chicago. Miss Nellie D. Kin- zie resides with her brother at Fort Omaha.

WILLIAM C. MAGILL

Photo'd by W. J. Root

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W. C. MAGILL.

WILLIAM C. MAGILL.

ILLIAM CHARLES MAGILL, a busi- ness man of Chicago, residing at Evanston, was born in Buffalo, New York, June 14, 1850. He is a son of Charles J. and Esther S. Magill, extended notice of whom appears on an- other page of this work.

William C. Magill was about four years old when the family came to Chicago. His primary education was obtained at the Skinner School of this city, and he afterward took a course at Im- manuel Hall, a military school at Ravenswood, now a part of Chicago. Leaving school at the age of seventeen years, he entered his father's office as clerk and cashier. The name of the firm at that time was Magill & Latham, but it after- ward became Magill & Hall. He was subse- quently connected with other commission houses, dealing "on change," and in April, 1874, became the representative on the Board of Trade of the insurance firm of George C. Clark & Company. He continued to be the solicitor and manager of the inarine department of this concern for some years. As his time was not all occupied in this manner, he began to devote a portion of his at- tention to fire insurance. Since 1880 he has given almost exclusive attention to fire under- writing, being successively a member of the firms of Magill & Nichols, George W. Montgomery & Company and Magill & Chamberlain. The last- mentioned firm, which was organized October I, 1889, is one of the leading concerns among the

many engaged in that line of business on La Salle Street.

On the 12th of November, 1873, Mr. Magill was married to Mary C. Montgomery, daughter of Robert Montgomery, a prominent shipper and vessel-owner of Buffalo, New York. Of the six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Magill, Robert, the eldest, is a clerk in his father's office, and the names of the others are: Esther, Irving, Laura, Marion and Eunice. The members of this fam- ily are regular communicants of St. Mark's Epis- copal Church at Evanston, which suburb has been their home since 1874.

Mr. Magill is prominently identified with the Masonic order, holding membership with Evans Lodge, Evanston Commandery and Oriental Con- sistory. At different times he has been associated with several other social and fraternal organiza- tions, but is not now in affiliation with any. A life-long adherent of tlie Republican party, he has never been a seeker for public patronage. In deference to the wishes of his friends, he served for four years as a Trustee of the village of Evans- ton, but has peremptorily declined to accept the office of Alderman since the incorporation of tliat place as a city. His career has been one of ac- tivity and enterprise, and he is accustomed to dis- patch business with readiness and decision. All who have occasion to call upon Mr. Magill in re- lation to business or social matters are certain to receive just and considerate attention.

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M. W. HAYNES.

REV. MYRON W. HAYNES, D. D.

EV. MYRON WILBUR HAYNES, D. D., pastor of the Englewood Baptist Church of Chicago, was born in Lunenburg, Massa- chusetts, on the Ist of January, 1855, and is a son of Elnathan and Saralı (Wheeler) Haynes, who were natives of the same State. The pa- ternal grandfather was also born in Massachusetts, and was of English descent. The father of Dr. Haynes was a farmer, and died in the Bay State when Myron was a child of eight years. The mother, who is still living, is now the widow of L. Holt, and makes her home in Ayer, Massachu- setts. To Mr. and Mrs. Haynes were born nine children, six sons and three daughters, namely: Alfred, deceased; Rev. Edwin M., D. D., a min- ister of Rutland, Vermont; Nathan J., who was a member of the Twenty-second Massachusetts Sharpshooters and lost his life during the Civil War; Alonzo J., deceased; Sarah H., deceased, wife of George F. Parker, of Shirley, Massachu- setts; Melissa A .; George H., who belonged to the Fifty-third Massachusetts Infantry and died during the war; Amanda M., wife of Leonard Spaulding, of Ayer, Massachusetts; and Myron W.

Our subject was reared in Lunenburg and Roy- alston, Massachusetts, until about seventeen years of age, and acquired his early education in the district schools. He afterwards attended Belle- ville Academy, of Belleville, New York, and completed his academic course in Colgate Acad- emy, at Hamilton, New York, after which he was graduated from Colgate University. When his literary education was completed he at once

entered upon the work of the ministry, his first charge being at Frankfort, New York. He was afterward at Marblehead, Massachusetts, and Kalamazoo, Michigan, and in 1888 came to Eng- lewood, where he was one of the prime movers in the erection of the large and handsome edifice known as the Englewood Baptist Church, which has a membership of one thousand .. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Shurtliff College, of Alton, Illinois, in May, 1893.

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Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 2nd ed., Part 44

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