Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 8th ed., Part 11

Author: Calumet Book & Engraving Company, Chicago
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Chicago : Calumet Book and Engraving Co.
Number of Pages: 930

USA > Illinois > Cook County > Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 8th ed. > Part 11

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FRANK KUHN.

brated their golden wedding, which was attended by all their children and grandchildren, as well as by all of Mr. Haggard's brothers and sisters.

For thirty years past Mr. Haggard has been connected with the Baptist . Church, and his career has been in all respects well worthy the emulation of posterity. Though in the eighty- third year of his age, he is still quite vigorous and his mind is clear and active. He distinctly remembers events which occurred when he was but three and one-half years old, and is likewise well posted on current events. He has always

kept well informed on public affairs and remem- bers the presidential election of 1824, at which J. Q. Adams was elected by the House of Repre- sentatives, the opposing candidates being Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson and William H. Crawford. He cast his first presidential ballot in 1836 for William Henry Harrison and has voted for every · Whig and Republican candidate for that office since that time. He has affiliated with few social organizations, but is a member of the old Tippe- canoe Club of Chicago, and is held in the highest regard by his contemporaries.

FRANK KUHN.

RANK KUHN. Among the German citi- zens of Chicago, who, by their world-re- nowned thrift and economy accumulated wealth, was the subject of this sketch. He was born February 27, 1827, in Elsass, then in France, but now a part of Germany. He came to Amer- ica when quite a young man, in a sailing-vessel which anchored at the port of New Orleans, be -. ing thirteen weeks on the voyage. He soon af- ter left New Orleans on account of the yellow fever and went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he re- mained one year.

In 1853 he came to Chicago, where he worked two years at the cabinet-maker's trade, which he had learned from his father, who was a skilled mechanic. He then, in company with Peter Schmidt, established a retail store for the dispens- ing of beverages, on Kinzie Street, which was a resort for the early inhabitants of the West Side. After two years he moved to the corner of Mil- waukee Avenue and Des Plaines Street, where he was, until 1859, a landmark. At this time he removed to the corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Erie Street, and here conducted business for

almost eight years, when lie removed to Kuhn's Park, which pleasure resort he built up and im- proved and conducted for five or six years.

He was married August 10, 1859, to Miss Katharine Otzel, a native of Kur-Hessen, Ger- inany. They had eight children, four of whom are now living, namely: Frank C .; Emma, wife of John Spenger; Adolph A., and Annie, wife of Herman Bartells, a bookkeeper for thirteen years in the Hide and Leather National Bank in Chi- cago, where he enjoys the confidence and respect of all its officers and employes. Another son lived to the age of thirty years and was married to Miss Ida Koch, whose father was an old and respected citizen of Chicago.

Mr. Kuhn died May 31, 1890, in Chicago, of poison, administered in some unknown way to his entire family, though he was the only one who died from its effects. His large property is still in possession of his widow, who, as a good Ger- man wife often does, assisted greatly in its ac- cumulation. Mr. Kulın also left a good name, and is remembered as an upright citizen, honest and true to every obligation.

CAPT. DANIEL QUIRK.

APT. DANIEL QUIRK, whose life caine to an end as the result of his exposure to the hardships of war, was a native of County Kerry, Ireland, born about 1826. His parents, Francis and Eleanor (Lynch) Quirk, came to Chicago when Daniel was ten years old, and lived for several years on the North Side. Later they removed to Woodstock, McHenry County, Illinois, where they passed the balance of their days.

Daniel Quirk attended the first free school in Chicago, located near the present site of Mc- Vicker's theatre. While yet a boy he was em- ployed in a book and news store kept by John McNally, where John R. Walsh, now president of the Chicago National Bank, was a fellow- clerk. The outbreak of the Civil War found him here. He had joined a militia company known as the Shields Guards. April 15, 1861, this company enlisted in the Twenty-third Regular Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and in July of the same year the regiment was sent to the front in Missouri. Daniel Quirk was elected captain of Company K, and served in that capacity; but the period of enlistment of the men was short, and he re-enlisted and went to Virginia, where he was in the Army of the Potomac. Within a few days after entering field service, in July, 1861, he was taken prisoner by General Early's command. He was quickly exchanged, and im- mediately re-entered the service, as before re- lated. In all his campaigns he was accompanied by his faithful wife, who shared the hardships and chances of war. She was also taken prisoner by the rebels, who treated her with great courtesy. After one week's detention she was released by the chivalrous rebel, General Early. Among their

fellow-prisoners were Mrs. Dr. John Taylor, of Chicago, and Nathan Goff, afterward a member of President Garfield's cabinet.

On Sunday, July 4, 1854, Mr. Quirk was mar- ried to Miss Margaret, daughter of Thomas and Margaret (O'Connor) Moore, the latter a native of Sligo, Ireland. The former was a native of Dublin, and a relative of Thomas Moore, the poet. The Moore family came to America in 1837, and for some years the father kept a grocery store in Albany, New York. In 1847 they came to Chicago.

Mrs. Quirk was born March 15, 1834, in Dublin. She showed the most heroic devotion through hard campaigns, and many sick and wounded bear testimony to her skill as a nurse, and kindness of heart. For some time before leaving the service, Captain Quirk was ill, and the faithful nursing of his wife saved his life for many years, though he was forced to resign on account of his inability to perform military duty. After having served over three years, in July, 1864, he reluctantly abandoned military scenes and returned to Chicago. He never entirely recovered from the effects of his military priva- tions, although his partially disabled limb did not prevent him from volunteering for active duty in Ireland, when James Stephens proposed to figlit there in 1865. Like many another pa- triotic Irish-American, Captain Quirk discovered that Mr. Stephens had miscalculated his military resources, and when the Irishi people's office was seized, and most of the leaders arrested, he was compelled to escape by way of England; in this expedition he was also accompanied by his faith- ful wife. But Captain Quirk remained as enthu- siastic as ever-Ireland was never absent from

C. M. LEONARD.

his thoughts, and it is doubtful whether, during his periods of comparative health, he was ever absent from any gathering having for its object the advancement of the Irish cause.

The Great Fire of 1871 burned Captain Quirk out of house and home. He set to work again with energy to regain a competency, and in this he was moderately successful. Although an invalid he responded promptly to his country's call when the Haymarket riot called out the Second Regiment. He commanded Company E in person till quiet was restored. The Govern- ment, mindful to some extent, at least, of his services to the Union, gave him a post office clerkship, which he retained till two years before his death. In 1880, accompanied by his wife, he went to Europe in the hope of recovering his lost vigor, but in vain, and the end came at his home on Superior Street, July 29, 1882. At the present writing Mrs. Quirk has resided a period of forty-four years in this house, where, sur- rounded by many of life's blessings, she is still devoted to the memory of her brave husband.

Captain Quirk was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of Holy Name Church. He and his good wife adopted and reared a

daughter, Leonora M. Quirk, who is now the wife of Nicholas Neary, of Chicago. From early youth Mrs. Neary has been devoted to art, of which she is a critical judge, and her home is adorned with some of the choicest gems of paint- ing and kindred arts. She is a painter of no mean ability, and excels especially in portrait work.

The appended document is self-explanatory : HEADQUARTERS SECOND REGIMENT.

May 13, 1877. Capt. Daniel Quirk, Commanding Co. E.

Sir :- The Board of Officers unanimously press you to withdraw the letter of resignation lately addressed to the Colonel commanding.

They are of one mind that your withdrawal at this juncture would be a disastrous blow to Com- pany E, and a calamity to the entire regiment. Your conspicuous zeal in the organization and maintenance of the regiment, and the fidelity with which you have promoted its best interests and welfare, are appreciated by every member of the command and all would deplore your with- drawal.

We therefore earnestly urge you to still stand by the colors of the Second and maintain the in- tegrity of Company E.

JOSEPH T. TORRENCE, COL.

Signed

CHESTER M. LEONARD.

HESTER MARSHALL LEONARD, an honored veteran of the late Civil War, was born in 1845, in Granville, Washington County, New York, and is a son of Elijah D. and Matilda (Harrington) Leonard, natives of that State. Mrs. Matilda Leonard died in 1865, and her husband survived her until 1896, when he passed away, at the age of eighty-four years.

When Chester M. Leonard was seven years of age his parents moved to the West, locating in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, where they were among the earliest settlers. They shared the hard life of the pioneer, and were deprived of many advantages. The schools of that section were then very poor, but Chester M. Leonard received a fair education, and he has supple-

JOHN BUCHANAN.

mented it with observation and experience throughout his life, having always striven for improvement and advancement. His early life was spent with his parents on the farm, and when he was a young man he found employ- ment in the Kenosha Carriage Works, where he remained until the outbreak of the Civil War.

In 1861 he enlisted at Ripon, Wisconsin, in the First Wisconsin Cavalry, and served under General Sherman at the battles of Stone River, Chickamauga, Altoona, Atlanta and many others.

He married Miss Lydia A. Burdock, a native of Trenton, New York, in Racine, Wis., in 1866, and they became the parents of five boys, namely: Arthur Lee, William H., Adelbert Ellsworth, Herbert and Clarence.

Since the war Mr. Leonard has been engaged

in engineering, which trade he now follows, with especial attention to mechanical engineering, in which he takes great interest. From a boy his tastes have been in the direction of mechanical labor, and he has always improved every oppor- tunity for enlarging his knowledge and skill in that branch of work. He is genial and friendly of manner, and has the warm friendship of a large circle of acquaintances and associates. He has the confidence of his employers, and despite the fact that he has lived through many trying experiences during the war, he is as capable of doing his work well as many younger men, and is always found at the post of duty in civil life, as he was in military service. He is ever ready to favor any movement calculated to promote human progress and improvement.

JOHN BUCHANAN.

OHN BUCHANAN, a citizen of South Chi- cago, was born May 10, 1859, in Ireland, and is a son of John and Mary (Welsh) Buchan- an, both natives of the Emerald Isle. His par- ents lived all their lives in their native country, but John was such an ambitious youth that he became possessed of a desire to try his fortunes in the New World, by himself. He cherished this ambition until he was eighteen years old, and then he was able to emigrate.

John Buchanan arrived in New York in 1877, and after spending a short time in that city, removed to Philadelphia, where he found employ- ment at various occupations, being some of the time with the firm of French & Richards. Not

being very well satisfied with his life in Phila- delphia, he removed to Chicago in 1881, and after a few years' residence there, found employ- ment with the Illinois Steel Company, where he is at present engaged.

November 12, 1884, Mr. Buchanan married Miss Annie Egan, and they became the parents of the following children: Denis Patrick (de- ceased), Mamie, John, Robert Emmett, Frank and Joseph Stephen.

Mr. Buchanan is a thoroughly reliable citizen, and has an interest and pride in the progress of his adopted country. He and his family are com- municants of Saint Patrick's Roman Catholic Church.

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

1 ₼

ELISHA GRAY

ELISHA GRAY.

ROF. ELISHA GRAY, whose inventive genius and persevering industry have played no inconspicuous part in revolutionizing the business methods of the modern world, bears in his veins the sturdy and vigorous blood of some of America's founders. His grandfather, Johu Gray, was of Scotch-Irish descent, and was a farmer in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he died. Mary Moore, wife of John Gray, was a native of Delaware, presumably of English blood. She survived her husband and moved, with her younger children, to the vicinity of Georgetown, Ohio, and afterward to Monroe County, in the same State, where she died. She was the mother of Thomas, Elijah, Elisha, David, Johu and Samuel Gray.

David Gray was an Orthodox Quaker; a quiet man, of noble character, and beloved by all who came within his benign influence. He was a farmer, and lived near Barnesville, Ohio, whence he moved to Monroe County, in that State, where he died, in 1849, in the prime of life, at the age of about forty years. His wife, Christiana Edg- erton, was a native of Belmont County, Ohio, where her parents, Richard and Mary (Hall) Edgerton, were early settlers. Richard Edgerton was born in North Carolina, of English descent, and was a prominent member of the Society of Friends. The family was noted for the large size of its members, all being six feet or more in height. They were also brainy people. John Edgerton was a noted leader of the "Hicksite" Quakers, and a powerful anti-slavery agitator in Ohio and Indiana. His brother, Joseph Edger- ton, was the leading Orthodox Quaker of his day, and a great preacher. He was vigorous to the

end of his life, which came after he had attained the age of eighty years. The Halls were also a vigorous and intelligent people, and prominent among the Quakers.

David Gray and wife were well-read and intell- igent, and engaged in teaching in early life. Mrs. Gray was liberally educated for that day in Ohio, and her influence went far in preparing her son for the prominent part he was destined to take in the development of modern practical science. She survived her husband many years, reaching the venerable age of seventy-eight, and died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Sarah Cope, in New Sharon, Iowa.

Elisha Gray was born near Barnesville, Bel- mont County, Ohio, August 2, 1835. From a recent work, entitled "Prominent Men of the Great West," the following elegant and carefully prepared account of Professor Gray's life is taken :

"When young Gray was but twelve years of age, he had received three or four months of dis- trict schooling and the usual industrial training given to farmers' lads of his age and condition of life. Over forty years ago his father died, leav- ing Elisha in a large measure dependent upon his own resources for a living. When fourteen years of age he apprenticed himself to a blacksmith, and partly mastered that trade, but, his strength being greatly overtaxed, he was forced to give it up and joined his mother, who had removed to Brownsville, Pennsylvania. Here he entered the employ of a boat-builder, serving three and a- half years' apprenticeship, learning the trade of ship-joiner.

"At the end of this time he was a first-class mechanic and began to give evidence of his

ELISHA GRAY.

inventive genius. He was handicapped, low- ever, by the meagreness of his education, and was little more than able to experiment with the simplest contrivances. The testimony of one who knew him intimately at this time indicates that he had a consciousness of his own resources and was of the belief that Nature had destined him to accomplish some important work in life. He had a great desire to acquire that funda- mental knowledge which would open for him the way to intelligent research, investigation and ultimate achievements.

"While working as an apprentice, lie formned the acquaintance of Prof. H. S. Bennett, now of Fisk University, then a student at Oberlin College, Olio, from whom he learned that at that institution exceptional opportunities were afforded to students for self-education; and immediately after he had completed his term of service he set out for the college, with barely enough money in his possession to carry him to his destination. He arrived in Oberlin in the summer of 1857, at once going to work as a carpenter, and supported himself by this means during a five-years course of study in the college. As a student he gave especial attention to the physical sciences, in which he was exceptionally , proficient, his ingenuity being strikingly mani- fested from time to time in the construction of the apparatus used in the classroom experiments .. His cleverness in constructing these various appliances made him a conspicuous character among the students. While pursuing his college course he was not fully decided as to what pro- fession he would take up, and, at one time, he is said to have contemplated entering the ministry, finally deciding, however, not to do so. Perhaps the course of his life was decided by a remark of the mother of the young lady who afterwards became his wife. This was in a joking spirit, to the effect that 'it would be a pity to spoil a good mechanic to make a poor minister.' In fact, to this casual remark the now famous in- ventor has declared himself to be, in great meas- ure, indebted for what he has since accomplished. Truly, the worthy lady must have been of a sound and discriminating judgment, to discover

the hidden worth of the young man, and she, doubtless, more than any one else, in his earlier days, fanned the latent sparks of genius into the flame which, in later days, revealed to his brain the contrivances which have made his name famous, and which have proved of inestimable value to civilization.

"From 1857 to 1861 the Professor devoted himself to unremitting toil and study, and the result was that his naturally delicate constitution was impaired by the great strain upon his mental powers. In 1861, just when the future was brightening with the promise of success, and when he thought his days of struggling were past, he was stricken with an illness from which he did not recover for five years. After his mar- riage, in 1862, to Miss Delia M. Sheppard, of Oberlin, and, with a view to the betterment of his health, Mr. Gray devoted himself for a time to farming as an occupation. This experience was disappointing, both in its financial results and in its effects upon his healtlı, and lie returned to his trade, working in Trumbull County, Ohio, until he was again prostrated by a serious illness. Following this, came two or three years of strug- gle and privation; of alternate liope and disap- pointment, during which he experimented with various mechanical and electrical devices, but was prevented by his straitened circumstances from making any headway in profitable invention. Pressed by his necessities, he was once or twice on the point of giving up his researches and investigations entirely and devoting himself to some ordinary bread-winning industry; but he was stimulated by his faithful and devoted wife and her mother, both of whom had an abiding faith in his genius, and who aided him in his work with all the means at their command, and to whose influence was largely due the fact that he continued his efforts in the field of invention.

"In 1867 a more prosperous era dawned upon him, with the invention of a self-adjusting tele- graph relay, which, although it proved of no practical value, furnished the opportunity of in- troducing him to the late Gen. Anson Stager, of Cleveland, then General Superintendent of the Western Union Telegraph Company, who at once

ELISHA GRAY.

became interested in him and furnished him facil- ities for experimenting on the company's lines. Professor Gray then formed a co-partnership with E. M. Barton, of Cleveland, for the manufacture of electrical appliances, during which time he invented the dial telegraph.

" In 1869 he removed to Chicago, where he continued the manufacture of electrical supplies, General Stager becoming associated with him. Here he perfected the type-printing telegraph, the telegraphic repeater, the telegraphic switch, the annunciator and many other inventions which have become famous within the short space of a few years. About 1872 he organized the West- ern Electrical Manufacturing Company, which is still in existence and is said to be the largest establishment of its kind in the world. In 1874 he retired from the superintendency of the elec- tric company and began his researches in teleph- ony, and within two years thereafter gave to the world that marvelous production of human genius, the speaking telephone. Noting one day, when a secondary coil was connected with the zinc lining of the bath tub, dry at the time, that when he held the other end of the coil in his left hand and rubbed the lining of the tub with his right, it gave rise to a sound that had the same pitch and quality as that of the vibrating contact- breaker, he began a series of experiments, which led first to the discovery that musical tones could be transmitted over an electrical wire. Fitting up the necessary devices, he exhibited this inven- tion to some of his friends, and the same year went abroad, where he made a special study of acoustics and gave further exhibitions of the invention, which he developed into the harmonic, or multiplex, telegraph. While perfecting this device, in 1875, the idea of the speaking tele- phone suggested itself, and in 1876 he perfected this invention and filed his caveat in the Patent Office at Washington. That another inventor succeeded in incorporating into his own applica- tion for a telegraph patent an important feature of Professor Gray's invention, and that the latter was thereby deprived of the benefits which he should have derived therefrom, is the practically unanimous decision of many well informed as to

the merits of the controversy to which conflict- ing claims gave rise; and the leading scientists and scientific organizations of the world, accord- ing to a certain periodical, have accredited to him the honor of inventing the telephone. In recog- nition of his distinguished achievements, he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor at the close of the Paris Exposition of 1878, and Amer- ican colleges have conferred upon him the degrees of Doctor of Laws and Doctor of Science.

"For several years after his invention of the telephone he was connected with the Postal Tel- egraph Company, and brought the lines of this system into Chicago, laying them underground. He also devised a general underground telegraph system for the city, and then turned liis attention to the invention of the 'telautograph,' a device with which the general public is just now becom- ing familiar through the public accounts of its operation. On March 21, 1893, the first exhibi- tions of the practical and successful operation of this wonderful instrument were given simultane- ously in New York and Chicago, and on the same day the first telautograph messages were passed over the wires from Highland Park to Waukegan, Illinois. The exhibitions were wit- nessed by a large number of electrical experts, scientists and representatives of the press, who were unanimous in their opinion that Professor Gray's invention is destined to bring about a revolution in telegraphy.

"One of the beauties of electrical science is the expressiveness of its nomenclature, and among the many significant names given to electrical inventions none expresses more clearly the use and purpose of the instrument to which it is applied than the term, 'telautograph.' As its name signifies, it enables a person sitting at one end of the wire to write a message or a letter which is reproduced simultaneously in fac simile at the other end of the wire. It is an agent which takes the place of the skilled operator and the telegraphic alphabet. Any one who can write can transmit a message by this means, and the receiving instrument does its work perfectly, without the aid of an operator. The sender of the message may be identified by the fac simile of

ELISHA GRAY.

his handwriting which reaches the recipient, and pen-and-ink portraits of persons may be as readily transmitted from one point to another as the written messages. In many respects thie telautograph promises to be more satisfactory in its practical operations than the telephone. Com- munications can be carried on between persons at a distance from each other with absolute secrecy, and a message sent to a person in his absence from his place of business will be found awaiting him upon his return. These and many other advantages which the telautograph seems to possess warrant the prediction that in the not very distant future telautography will supplant in a measure botli telephony and telegraphy. The transmitter and the receiver of the telauto- graplı system are delicately constructed pieces of mechanism, each contained in a box somewhat smaller than an ordinary typewriter machine. The two machines are necessary at each end of a wire, and stand side by side. In transmitting a message an ordinary feed lead pencil is used. At the point of this is a small collar, with two eyes in its rim. To each of these eyes a fine silk cord is attached, running off at right angles in two directions. Each of the two ends of this cord is carried round a small drum supported on a ver- tical shaft. Under the drum, and attached to the same shaft, is a toothed wheel of steel, tlie teeth of which are so arranged that when either section of the cord winds upon or off its drum, a number of teeth will pass a given point, corres- ponding to the length of cord so wound or un- wound. For instance, if the point of the pencil moves in the direction of one of the cords a dis- tance of one inch, forty of the teeth will pass any certain point. Each one of these teeth and each space represents one impulse sent upon the line, so that when the pencil describes a motion one inch in length, eighty electrical impulses are sent upon the line. The receiving instrument is prac- tically a duplicate of the transmitter, the inotions of which, however, are controlled by electrical mechanism. The perfected device exhibited by Professor Gray, and now in operation, is the result of six years of arduous labor, an evolution to which the crude contrivance used in his earliest

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Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 8th ed., Part 11

Author: Calumet Book & Engraving Company, Chicago Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Chicago : Calumet Book and Engraving Co. Number of Pages: 930

Author: Calumet Book & Engraving Company, Chicago
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Chicago : Calumet Book and Engraving Co.
Number of Pages: 930