USA > Illinois > Cook County > Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 2nd ed. > Part 47
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Ira Spofford, who was a stone-cutter and con- tractor, lived and died at Peterborough. While but a lad, he also entered the military service of his country, which was then engaged in the War of 1812. - He was a relative of General McNeal, a prominent officer of that conflict, who afterward became Governor of Arkansas. Ira Spofford was a man of resolute character and stern convictions. In common with many of his relatives who re- sided in the South, he gave unswerving allegi- ance to the Democratic party, and could tolerate no deviation from its doctrines in his family. The names of Ira Spofford's children were Will- iam, Nancy (who was successively married to John Challis, Thomas Upton and Joseph Know1- ton), Ira A., Nathan H., Miriam A. (Mrs. F. Farwell), George W., John L., Elizabeth (Mrs. Joseph Alexander), and twin brothers, Albert and Alvah. Of this family but three now survive.
Mrs. Miriam Spofford's father, Jeremiah At- wood, served for seven years in the Continental army, enlisting from Chester, Vermont. During this time he had no furloughs, and was constantly in the field. After the battle of Yorktown he was honorably discharged from the service, and started for his home on foot. There being no means of public conveyance, most of the veterans were
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G. W. SPOFFORD.
obliged to travel in this way, and were heartily welcomed by the citizens whom they met along the way, and who were pleased to extend to themn their best hospitality and hear the news from the seat of war. Among that number was Mr. At- wood's wife, whose maiden name was Bacon. All the returning soldiers who passed her door were kindly entertained, and when Mr. Atwood ar- rived, footsore and weary from his journey of several weeks, she failed to recognize him, but gave him the same kind and hearty welcome, at once providing hiin with a bountiful dinner, but was considerably surprised to find that he did not resume his journey after the repast. Her joy on discovering his identity can easily be imagined.
At the age of thirteen years, George W. Spof- ford left home and went to Boston in search of employment. He subsequently spent four years at Phillips Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire, with a view to entering Harvard University, and completed the freshman year at Exeter. He abandoned this purpose on account of failing eye- sight, and began the study of law in the office of Hon. Edward S. Cutler, of Peterborough, New Hampshire. This pursuit also proved too trying for his eyes, and, coming to Chicago in 1856, he accepted the position of Principal of the Foster School.
He acceptably carried this trying responsibility for fourteen years, retiring in 1871. Since that date he has devoted his attention chiefly to the management of his extensive real-estate interests. He had just completed a fine building at the southeast corner of Clark and Madison Streets when the fearful holocaust of 1871 swept over the city, annihilating the structure and causing a loss which at that time was a serious one. He recovered no insurance, but immediately built . with borrowed capital the structure which now adorns that site. He has since erected a number of business blocks in the city, and is the present owner of considerable choice city and suburban property. Among these parcels is a fine farm near Wheaton, Illinois, dotted with several nat- ural groves and pretty little lakes.
For four years Mr. Spofford served as County
Commissioner, during which time he was Chair- man of the committee in charge of the county in- stitutions at Dunning. For some years past lie has spent his winters in the South, where he lias a number of relatives who are prominent public citizens, and has acquired an extensive acquaint- ance throughout that section of the Union. In the interests of the management of the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, he visited several Southern cities and secured their endorse- ment of this undertaking.
In 1859 Mr. Spofford was married to Miss Hannah M. Morrison, daughter of Orsemus Mor- rison, a well-known pioneer of Chicago, whose biography will be found on another page of this volume. Mrs. Spofford was born at the corner of Clark and Madison Streets, and has become the mother of five children, three of whem passed away in childhood. The others are Percy and Florence M., the latter a graduate of Ogontz Seminary, near Philadelphia. Mr. and Mrs. Spofford are leading members of the Seventh Presbyterian Church of Chicago, and move in the best social circles. Mr. Spofford is identified with the Menoken and Ashland Clubs, and is prominent in the Masonic fraternity, being a meniber of National Lodge, York Chapter, St. Bernard Commandery and the Mystic Shrine. Having been reared in the atmosphere of Dem- ocracy, he cast his first Presidential vote for James Buchanan, but, upon the opening of the Civil War, he became a stanch Republican, al- though he incurred the displeasure-amounting almost to enmity-of his father and most of his family by so doing.
When Mr. Spofford first came to Chicago the ground now composing Garfield Park, opposite his present residence, was worth but $9 per acre, and the present value of many other portions of the city real estate was proportionally unforeseen. He has seen Chicago successively become the ri- val of Milwaukee, Detroit, Cincinnati, St. Louis and New York. He is one of its most loyal citizens, considering it one of the most auspicious fields of investment in the Union, with nearly every part of which he is familiar.
Elliott Anthony
ELLIOTT ANTHONY.
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ELLIOTT ANTHONY, LL. D.
LLIOTT ANTHONY, LL. D. In the ca- reer of Judge Anthony, who for twelve years honored the Bench of Chicago, the ambitious attorney may read the way to honor and success. He was born in Spafford, Onondaga County, N. Y., June 10, 1827, and is descended from Quaker ancestors, who early located in New Eng- land. Many of the members of the family ac- quitted themselves with credit as soldiers and officers of the Continental army. It was early in the seventeenth century that Judge Anthony's progenitor located in Rhode Island, whence his grandfather moved soon after the Revolution to Washington County, N. Y. Almost at the same time, his maternal grandfather went from Ver- mont to the same locality. Isaac Anthony, father of the subject of this biography, was born on Rhode Island, eight miles from the island of New- port, and early imbibed the hatred of British ag- gression which had been handed down by his father, on account of the abuses heaped upon him and others at the time the English and Hessian forces occupied Rhode Island during the Revolu- tion. While residing in Cambridge, Washington County, N. Y., he met Miss Parmelia Phelps, a scion of an old New England family, and their acquaintance led to mutual affection and marriage. Isaac Anthony's mother was a member of the noted Chase family, which has given to the United States a famous Chief Justice. Shortly before the birth of Elliott, he moved to the south- western part of Onondaga County, where he en- tered upon the work of clearing a farm. With such energy did he carry out this undertaking that he came to be the foremost and most success- ful farmer of all that region.
Elliott is the youngest of four sons in a family
including the same number of daughters, and all in turn were sent to the Cortlandt Academy, at Homer, the leading educational institution of western New York, to finish their education. Here the future judge prepared for college under Prof. Samuel B. Woolworth, a famous educator of his time. At the end of two years' study here, in the fall of 1847, he entered the Sophomore class of Hamilton College, at Clinton, N. Y., from which he was graduated with high honors in 1850. He then became a resident graduate, and took a special course in law and political economy with Prof. Theodore W. Dwight, who afterward became so highly distinguished as Dean of the Columbia College Law School in the city of New York. With his accustomed vigor and earnest- ness, young Anthony followed his studies and was admitted to the Bar at Oswego on the 7th of May, 1851. While pursuing his law course in company with a classmate, Joseph D. Hubbard, he took charge of the well-known Kirkland Acad- emy at Clinton, and had for one of his pupils Grover Cleveland, now President of the United States.
Being possessed of the same pioneer spirit which led his grandfather and father to settle new re- gions, he resolved to begin practice in the new West, and proceeded to Sterling, Whiteside Coun- ty, Ill., soon after his admission to the Bar. Re- turning East in June, 1852, he was married to Mary Dwight, the sister of his preceptor, and in the fall of 1852 he became a resident of Chicago, which city has been his home ever since. None have been more active in the development of the city and State than he, and in both he takes an honest pride. Chicago, as well as Illinois, was fortunate in the beginning, in the fact that the
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pioneers were of good blood, the blood which has developed the best of the entire Northwest and West. Wherever the New England blood pre- dominates, churches, schoolhouses, manufactories and highways of commerce have appeared simul- taneously and systematically. With a determina- tion to succeed in his chosen profession, Mr. Anthony began practice among the fifty lawyers who constituted the Bar of Chicago at his com- ing. Throughout his long and busy career, he has been a diligent worker, and in less than three years after coming here he was recognized as a leading attorney of the young city, and his rise was quite as rapid as his ambition had dared to hope. He foresaw the rise of a great city, sur- rounded by a tributary country of almost bound- less resources, and became identified with many enterprises and projects for their mutual advan- tage and growth. "If a general diffusion of learning, science and the arts at this time is de- sirable," said he, "then the Mississippi Valley is the chosen spot for their cultivation. The generations are increasing, and the career of duty and usefulness which is to be seen by our chil- dren will be under constantly increasing excite- nent, and the voice which in the morning of life shall awaken a large and patriotic sympathy, will be echoed back by a community vastly swelled in its proportions before that voice shall be hushed in death."
When he arrived in Chicago, the young law- yer had no acquaintance, no influential friends to push his claims to attention, and no capital save individual ability and merit, which won him rec- ognition. During his first year's residence in Chicago, he compiled, with the aid of his devoted wife, "A Digest of the Illinois Reports," which was soon after published and received with great favor by the profession throughout the State. In 1858 he was elected City Attorney for Chicago, and distinguished his administration of that re- sponsible office by the energy and ability with which he conducted the legal business of the city. He became an expert upon all subjects of mu- nicipal corporation law, and was for several years specially retained by the city authorities to con- duct many important cases in the local courts, in
the Supreme Court of the State, and in the United States Supreme Court at Washington. While acting for the city he established several new and interesting law points, among which was that the collection of special assessments could not be en- joined by a Court of Chancery; next, that the city of Chicago could not be garnisheed to collect the salary or wages of any of its officers or em- ployes; and lastly, that no execution could issue against the city to collect a judgment; and at a later period, that the city could not tie up its leg- islative powers by making contracts with the gas companies for the supply of gas, so as to interfere with its legislative prerogatives. These positions were at the time so novel that they were for a time gravely doubted by the most eminent mem- bers of the legal profession, and many of the newspapers subjected him to the severest ridicule; but he was upheld by the highest tribunal in the State on every point, and they are now fixed and settled as the law of the State.
In 1863 he was appointed the General Attorney and Solicitor of the Galena Union Railroad Com- pany and all its branches, then the leading rail- road corporation in the Northwest, and for many years held that position, until, in fact, the con- solidation of that company with the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company was effected. A contest arose over this consolidation, and he was shortly after retained by a number of the bond- holders and non-consenting stockholders to test the validity of the consolidation, and in con- nection with that case prepared and printed a most remarkable argument upon the law of the case, which grew into a treatise, which he entitled, "The Law Pertaining to the Consoli- dation of Railroads," which is unquestionably the most complete and exhaustive treatise upon that subject ever made. It is a marvel of legal research and of acute reasoning, and is a most learned and clear statement of the rights and duties of directors of corporations and the rights of minority stockholders, and called forth the admiration of corporation lawyers throughout the country. The late Samuel J. Tilden was directly interested in the questions involved, as well as many of the leading capitalists and railway mag-
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nates in New York, and the array of legal talent was formidable, the late Judge Beckwith leading the opposition to Judge Anthony. The case was tried in chancery before Judge David Davis, of the United States Supreme Court, and the late Samuel J. Treat, United States District Judge for the Southern District of this State, and Mr. An- thony's position was sustained in almost every particular. The differences of stockholders were shortly settled out of court, however, thus avoid- ing a legal decision, which could not fail to favor Judge Anthony's clients. At this time Mr. Anthony received numerous letters from some of the most distinguished lawyers and judges in this country, complimenting him upon his masterly exposition of the law. Among these were the late Josiah Quincy and Sidney Bartlett, of Boston; Mr. Justice Swayne, of the United States Supreme Court; the late Thomas A. Ewing, of Ohio, and many others. His brief, which was in the shape of a bound volume of several hundred pages, was in great demand in this country and in Europe, and was most kindly reviewed by several of the leading legal periodicals and journals in Great Britain.
In the last two conventions for the revision of the constitution of the State, in 1862 and 1870, Judge Anthony served as a delegate. In the convention of 1862, Mr. Anthony's colleagues were Henry Muehlke, Hon. John Wentworth, and Melville W. Fuller, now Chief Justice of the United States. In both conventions, Mr. An- thony took a leading part, being regarded as one of the most expert members upon constitutional law and methods of procedure. In the conven- tion of 1870 he served on the Executive, Judicial and Railroad Committees, reporting many of the provisions of the present constitution relating to those matters. He was instrumental in provid- ing for Appellate Courts and additional judges in Cook County, when the public business required it. Whenever he spoke in the convention, he commanded attention, and always spoke to the point, clearly and forcibly.
Judge Anthony was one of the founders of the Republican party in Illinois, and was a delegate to the first convention of that party in Cook
County. He took a conspicuous part in the third- term movement in 1880, and was a delegate in the National Convention which nominated Gen. Garfield for President. In the fall of that year he was elected Judge of the Superior Court of the city of Chicago, and re-elected six years later, filling the position twelve years with dignity, im- partiality and expedition of public business. He was the founder of the Chicago Law Institute, having drawn the charter and visited Springfield twice at his own expense to secure its passage by the Legislature, and was three times made President of the Institute. He has been an ex- tensive traveler, both in his native country and over Europe, and the reviews and periodicals of this country have been often enriched by his ob- servations. His ripe scholarship and keen obser- vation conspire to make his utterances and writ- ings valuable to his fellows.
Judge Anthony is a rapid thinker, and grasps a point with a celerity which contributed no little to his advancement in the profession which he adorns. He writes with facility, and his contri- butions to legal periodicals are numerous and able. They cover almost every legal topic, and are authorities wherever found. His descriptions of Russian and British courts and methods of procedure are likely to prove interesting to one not particularly versed in law, and are of especial value to the profession. He also gives much thought and study to historical and philosophical topics, on which he has written much. His treatise on the "Law of Self-Defense" should be read and carefully considered by every citizen.
Judge Anthony is one of the founders of the Chicago Public Library, and was a member of its first Board of Directors. He has been es- pecially active in the effort to preserve thie mem- ory of the pioneers, whose number is now very small. When all have passed away, who shall commemorate their virtues? "Let the record be made of the men and things of to-day, lest they pass out of memory to-morrow and are lost." At the annual meeting of the State Bar Association in 1892, he read a very interesting paper, entitled "Remember the Pioneers," which is replete with interesting reminiscences. At the meeting of the
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F. C. HAGEMAN.
association in 1893, Judge Anthony was elected President, an honor most worthily bestowed. In 1889 the Judge received from his alma mater the degree of Doctor of Laws, to which his merit had long entitled him.
On the 14th of July, 1852, Elliott Anthony married Miss Mary Dwight, a sister of his law pre- ceptor, and grand-daughter of President Dwight, the well-known head of Yale College. A daugh- ter (now deceased) and three sons have been given him, two of whom are associated with him in the practice of law in Chicago.
During his busy life, into which has been crowded an immense amount of labor in the in- terest of his fellow-men, Judge Anthony has ever kept in sight the wish to accomplish something worthy of emulation and commemoration, as evidenced in his remarks upon the virtues and
works of a co-laborer and brother judge, with which this notice may be fittingly closed. He said: "May our successors in the profession look back upon our times, not without some kind re- grets and some tender recollections. May they cherish our memory with that gentle reverence which belongs to those who have labored ear- nestly, though it may be humbly, for the ad- vancement of the law. May they catch a holy enthusiasm from the review of our attainments, however limited they may be, which shall make them aspire after the loftiest possessions of human learning. And thus may they be enabled to ad- vance our jurisprudence to that degree of perfec- tion which shall make it a blessing and protection ' to our own country, and excite the just admiration of mankind."
DR. FREDERICK CHARLES HAGEMAN.
2 R. FREDERICK CHARLES HAGEMAN, one of the most useful and influential citizens of DuPage County, and a former prominent citizen of Chicago, was a son of Dr. Christoph Hageman, and was born at Minden, Prussia, on the 26th of Noveniber, 1817. His mother died when he was a mere child, and at the age of six- teen he set out for America. His first employ- ment was on the Great Lakes as a sailor, and he settled in Chicago in the fall of 1843. His father came to join him, and was one of three persons who escaped from a burning steamer on Lake Erie, the brother and step-mother of our subject being lost in that disaster. The first regular graduating class of five from Rush Medical Col- lege, Chicago, in 1847, included Frederick C. Hageman. In connection with his practice, he opened a drug store on South Water Street, Chi- cago, removing later to North Clark Street, and
thence to Indiana Street, where he built the first brick structure on the North Side. Here lie served as Alderman, and was at one time City Physician.
In the spring of 1852, Dr. Hageman moved to Winfield, DuPage County, and invested in farm lands, becoming in time an extensive owner. He lived there for a few years, but spent most of his remaining years in Wheaton, and was a very suc- cessful physician. He was elected Coroner during the first years after coming here, and filled that position several terms, being the incumbent at the time of his death, which occurred on the 3d of September, 1869.
Dr. Hageman was an active and public-spirited citizen, and did much to promote the prosperity of the community. He was active in securing the county seat at Wheaton, which involved the construction of a court house as a gift to the
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county. He was reared in the Lutheran faith, but espoused Universalism, and was an ardent Democrat in political contests, and a member of the Masonic order. He made many addresses in sup- port of the war for the Union through Kane, Du- Page and other counties, and materially aided in raising the Eighth and Twelfth Illinois Cavalry regiments, and the One Hundred and Fifth In- fantry. He went out as Assistant Surgeon of the One Hundred and Forty-first Infantry, which served a short time in garrison duty. He was a supporter of Abraham Lincoln in his second call- didacy for President.
At Buffalo, in June, 1843, our subject married Miss Margaret Snyder, a native of Elsass, Ger- many, who came to America when seven years old with her parents, George and Anna Mary (Gearhardt) Snyder. George Snyder was a tal- ented architect, but understanding no English, he was obliged to accept any employment that offered when he arrived at Buffalo. While em-
ployed as a hodcarrier in the repair of a church, he noticed that the builders had great difficulty in following the plans. He essayed to explain, and showed such interest and knowledge that an in- terpreter was obtained, through whom he so in- telligently directed the work that he was placed in charge, and from that time had no lack of em- ployment in his profession. Mrs. Hageman was born April 21, 1821, and died November 19, 1887. She was a woman of much intelligence and ability, and conducted her husband's estate with greater skill than had marked his own man- agement of it during his life.
Of the six children of Dr. and Mrs. Hageman, the first died in infancy. Dr. Frederick Christian Hageman, of Chicago, is the second. Mary (Mrs. Henry Grote), George W. and Franklin Julius are residents of Wheaton. Louis B. died at Wheaton February 8, 1892, aged thirty-four years.
BRAMAN LOVELESS.
RAMAN LOVELESS, eldest son and third child of Ariel C. Loveless, is among the suc- cessful business men of DuPage County and Chicago, and prominent in charitable and Chris- tian work. He was born May 27, 1839, in Had- ley, Saratoga County, N. Y. He was fifteen years old when the family came West, and re- mained on the farm with his father until Febru- ary, 1859, when he started for Pike's Peak, to engage in mining, that "El Dorado" having just been discovered. Proceeding by rail to a point forty miles west of Dubuque, Iowa, then the terminus of the railway, he traveled overland, much of the way on foot, to Omaha, where he joined a wagon train. On reaching the moun-
tains, he was stricken with mountain fever, and was obliged to return home. He again took up farming with his father until the spring of 1861. He had just rented a farm and prepared to en- gage in business on his own account, when the War of the Rebellion broke out. Stirred by pa- triotic impulses, he at once offered his services in defense of the Union, and was enrolled as a member of Company A, Thirty-sixth Illinois In- fantry, on the 8th of August. Although a mem- ber of the regimental band, Mr. Loveless carried a musket through part of his service, taking part in some fierce engagements. The regiment was stationed at first at Rolla, Mo., whence it marched in dead of winter to Pea Ridge, Ark., taking
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part in the battle at that point under Gen. Sigel. On the way to Pittsburgh Landing, it marched six hundred miles to Cape Girardeau, Mo., where transportation was taken by boat. Arriving at Pittsburgh Landing, after the famous battle, it proceeded southward, at one time marching eigh- teen miles in the night to aid in investing Cor- inth, Miss. From there it proceeded to Cincin- nati, to join Gen. Lew Wallace, but was soon transferred to Louisville, where it became a part of the Second Division of the Fourth Army Corps, under Gen. Sheridan. From this time the regi- ment participated in many severe battles, among which were Perryville, Stone River, Peach Tree Creek, Kenesaw Mountain, Dallas, New Hope Church, Atlanta and Jonesboro. The history of this campaign is one of almost continual fighting, and Mr. Loveless witnessed many scenes of cruel carnage. He was mustered out September 23, 1864, having more than served out his three- years term of enlistment, and without ever receiv- ing a reprimand.
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