Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 8th ed., Part 34

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 34

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Having made some successful investments in Chicago during his previous visits here, he de- cided to settle here, a-resolution which was, prob- ably, strengthened by his marriage, in 1857, to one of Chicago's fair daughters. This was Miss Blanche, only daughter of the late Daniel Elston, one of Cook County's most worthy and honored pioneers. In 1859 Mr. Clark turned his atten- tion to the fuel trade, and later dealt in lumber, but his chief occupation has been the handling of realty. For the last twenty years he has made a specialty of leasing residence property to others who would improve it, and has been largely in- strumental in building up what was formerly a suburb known as Lake View, now a part of the great metropolis in name as well as in fact. He has naturally taken a keen interest in the moral and material welfare of that section, and has act- ively participated in the government of the town and village of Lake View. In political affilia- tion he is found with the Democratic party on national issues. In religious belief he is ex- ceedingly liberal, and very independent in all thought and action. His early experience tanght him self-reliance, and his history should serve as a worthy example to the ambitious young man. He is still the owner of the old homestead in New York. Mr. Clark is fond of hunting, and is a member of the Poygan Shooting Club, whose members spend much of the duck-hunting season on Lake Poygan, in Wisconsin.

LIBRARY OF THE MNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

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G. M. PULLMAN.

GEORGE MORTIMER PULLMAN.

G EORGE M. PULLMAN was born in Brocton, Chautauqua County, New York, March 3, 1831, and is the third child of James Lewis and Emily Caroline Pullman. The father was a native of Rhode Island. Emily C. Pullman was the daughter of James Minton, of Auburn, New York. She was a good wife and inother, and assisted her husband in implanting in the minds of their children the best moral principles, while inculcating habits of industry and careful study. The father was a builder and house-mover, and George early began to observe his methods, while assisting in his operations. Some very useful ap- pliances of the business are the invention of the elder Pullman. He died in 1853, and the respon- sibility of head of the family fell upon George, who was the eldest unmarried son. Through almost forty years of her widowhood, he was the stay and loving aid of his mother, who passed away in May, 1892, after seeing all her seven chil- dren occupying responsible and useful positions in life.

Royal H., the first-born, is pastor of the First Universalist Church of Baltimore. His interest in public affairs is demonstrated by the fact that he was the candidate of his party for Congress in 1890. Albert B., who died in 1893, occupied up to 1882 responsible positions in the Pullman Palace Car Company, which is the creation of his younger brother, George. James M. Pullman, D. D., is pastor of the Universalist Church at Lynn, Massachusetts, the leading parish of that sect in America. Charles L. was, until Septem- ber, 1894, contracting agent for the Pullman Com- pany, but is now engaged in other business in Chicago; and Frank W. was Assistant United States District Attorney of New York, where he died in 1879. Helen A. is the wife of George

West, of New York; and Emma C. is the wife of Doctor William F. Fluhrer, chief surgeon of Belle- vue Hospital, New York.

George M. Pullman was always of a practical turn of mind, and was a diligent student of branches which were calculated to fit him for a business life. He enjoyed the benefit of a com- mon-school education, and is remembered as an industrious and hard-working pupil. At the age of fourteen, le undertook to sustain himself, his first employment being that of a clerk at $40 per year. Neither his remuneration nor his tastes or habits were likely to lead him into dissipation, and he seems to have done his work with credit to himself and satisfaction to his employer. At the end of the year he joined his eldest brother, who had a cabinet-making shop at Albion, New York. This pursuit was well calculated to pre- pare him for the subsequent conduct of the larg- est building and furnishing enterprise in the world, though he was, probably, wholly uncon- scious of his future at that time. He persevered and was faithful, because it was part of his nature, as well as the natural result of liis teachings and early surroundings. He continued in the cabinet work until the death of his father, in 1853. The long illness of the head of the family, who wasted away in gradual decline, had exhausted the means of the common purse, so that the widow was con- fronted with the necessity of providing for her- self and her minor children. In doing this, she was not left to battle alone, for her son George at once took up the responsibility of head of the household and relieved hier of financial burdens.

The Erie Canal was about to be enlarged, and the commissioners had asked for bids for raising or removing many buildings along its banks. Young Pullman was the successful bidder on some

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of these contracts, and so well did he manage his enterprise that he was enabled to maintain the family in comfort, and arrived in Chicago in 1859 with a capital of $6,000 as the result of liis sav- ings. About this time the courts decided that Chicago had the power to grade the streets, and hie quickly found ample employment in raising the buildings to correspond with the grade. Probably but few of the modern residents of the city know that the streets of the South Side are some ten feet above the original prairie level, and that the buildings standing in 1856 had to be raised that distance to meet the street level. In 1860 Mr. Pullman was occupying a lot of two hundred feet front, at the corner of Washington and Franklin Streets, with his machinery and ap- pliances, and a small one-story building for an of- fice. He was full of the spirit of push and prog- ress which animated Chicago in those days, and did not hesitate to enter upon undertakings of great magnitude. Among these was the lifting of the entire block of brick buildings facing the nortlı side of Lake Street, between Clark and La Salle. This was successfully accomplished by the aid of six thousand jackscrews, without in- terruption to the business conducted in the struc- tures, or the breaking of a single pane of glass or a yard of plaster.

A recent writer says: "His true mission was the creation of the sleeping-car system. * Nowhere else las tlie matter of splendid, ingen- ious, artistic appliances for indoor comfort been carried to such a pitch as in the devising and constructing of the palace car, of which thousands have been built; and each year, if not each day and each car, brings a studied advance on its pre- decessor. * Giving his days to labor and his nights to restful travel, a man may spread his field of usefulness over a continent, without the sapping of his strength or the shortening of luis days."

The idea of the sleeping-car came to him one night while observing his fellow train-passengers buying head-rests from a vendor to mitigate the discomfort of an all-night ride. Soon after, he took passage on one of the "night cars" of the time, and while seeking repose on the comfortless

shelf provided, evolved the idea of the modern sleeper. His knowledge of cabinet-making here came to his aid, and he met and overcame many difficulties in the preparation of a model. The general plan varied but little from the present form, having comfortable berths that could be put away during the day, leaving a coach suitable for day travel. In 1859 he secured from the Chicago & Alton Railway two old passenger coaches to experiment with, and in an unused railway shed, on the present site of the Union Passenger Station at Chicago, he worked to realize his idea, wholly at his own expense. The result was the first pair of real "sleepers" in the country, which were put in successful operation on the night trains between Chicago and St. Lonis.

This result did not deter him from an under- taking which he had for some time contemplated, namely, a trip to the gold fields of Colorado. After three years of mining, he returned to Chi- cago very little richer in purse, but with addi- tions to his stock of experience. He now set to work to improve his original design of sleeping- cars, which no one had had the shrewdness to take advantage of during his absence. The cars which he had remodeled were too small and not of sufficient strength to carry out his ideas, and lie set to work to construct one especially for the purpose. The car must be higher, the berths wider, and more taste and elegance employed in its furnishing. At an expenditure of one year's time and $18,000 in money, he produced the first real "palace car." It was named the " Pioneer," and is now stored in honorable retirement at Pullman; but it was found to be too high to go under some of the viaducts spanning the rail- roads, and the wide steps would not pass the platforms of many stations. It began to look as if he muist build a railroad to accommodate his invention. Just at this time the body of the martyred President, Lincoln, was to be brought from Washington to his native state, and the obstacles to the passage of the "Pioneer " were removed, in order that it might be employed in that sad funeral journey. It formed a part of the train which took the body to its last resting- place at Springfield. From that time the eastern

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roads were open to it and its counterparts. The present wide use of the Pullman sleepers, in Europe as well as in · America, is too well known to need comment. The history of the Pullman Palace Car Company is almost as well understood, though many who enjoy the facilities for comfort- able travel afforded by it know little of the labors of its founder in establishing a happy and desira- ble home for its employes at Pullman.

The history of the great strike at Pullman and among railway employes in 1894 is also now a matter of history. During its progress Mr. Pull- man maintained a dignified and consistent atti- tude, notwithstanding much harsh and unjust criticism; and the course of the Pullman Com- pany in that struggle has been generally vindi- cated.

The Nation, in its issue of November 22, 1894, refers to the general feeling that the existence of the Government and of society itself was at stake in this strike, and that to give in to the strikers at that point, or at any point, would have been a deadly blow to liberty and the rights of property; and says: "What account of the circumstances accompanying this strike, which was not so much a strike as a social convulsion, can be complete if it leaves out the intense anxiety of the best citizens lest a fatal surrender of principle should be made ?" * *

* " There were hundreds of thousands of the best American citizens who re- joiced with great joy at that critical moment that Mr. Pullman was unyielding;" and " Americans abroad anxiously scanned the fragmentary des- patches and prayed fervently that Mr. Pullinan would at any rate stand firm."

Mr. Pullman has been identified as an initial force with other large enterprises than the Palace Car Company, of which he is the head. Among these may be mentioned the Metropolitan Ele- vated Railway of New York, which was con- structed in the face of determined and powerful opposition. He has taken an active interest in the project for the construction of a canal across the isthmus of Nicaragua. Another work in which he rendered great public service was in the distribution of relief funds after the great fire of 1871. At the earnest appeal of Mayor Mason,

he accepted the charge of disbursements as trus- tee, which was accomplished without the loss of a dollar, though to the detriment of his private interests through consumption of his time.

In private life Mr. Pullman is a patron of art and literature, and a supporter of elegance and refinement in society. In 1867 he married Miss Hattie A., daughter of James Y. Sanger (whose biography appears elsewhere in this work). Two daughters, who are active in philanthropic and religious work, and twin sons complete the fam- ily. They are: Florence Sanger; Harriet S., now the wife of Francis J. Carolan; George M., Jr., and Walter Sanger.

It has been Mr. Pullman's happy privilege to erect for the Universalist Society at Albion, New York, a memorial of his parents, in the form of a handsome and substantial church edifice. It is built of dark brown Medina stone, 125x80 feet in ground dimensions, with perfect furnishings and decorations. On the right and left, as one enters the auditorium, are placed the bronze medallion portraits of Mr. Pullman's father and mother. They were designed by Sculptor Carl Roll Smith, of Chicago. They are oval, two feet five inches by one foot nine inches, and framed in a narrow moulding, ornamented with pearls. The tablet inscription is as follows:

Erected by a Son as a Memorial to His Father, JAMES LEWIS PULLMAN, In Recognition of His Love and Work for the Universalist Church and Its Faith, and In Memory of His Mother, EMILY CAROLINE PULLMAN, One with Her Husband in the Joys and Hopes of Religion. Dedicated January, 1895.

It is inclosed in a border composed of a wreath of ivy, the symbol of affection. A beautiful ine- morial window is in the west transept.

The dedicatory services were held on the last day of January, 1895, the sermon being delivered by Rev. R. H. Pullman, of Baltimore. At the installation of the pastor, on the same day, the

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C. G. HUTCHINSON.

Rev. James M. Pullman, of Lynn, Massachusetts, preached the installation sermon, when the Rev. Charles Fluhrer, D. D., late of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was made pastor. Others who officiated

in the services were the Rev. Dr. C. H. Eaton, D. D., of New York; the Rev. Dr. J. K. Mason, D. D., of Buffalo; and the Rev. Asa Saxe, D. D., of Rochester.

CHARLES G. HUTCHINSON.

& HARLES GROVE HUTCHINSON, a pro- gressive and energetic business man of Chi- cago, was born in Williamsville, Erie Coun- ty, New York, January 24, 1847, and is a son of William H. Hutchinson and Jane Grove. The Hutchinson family, which is, doubtless, of Eng- lish origin, located in the Connecticut Colony as early as the seventeenth century. Josepli, the father of William H. Hutchinson, served through the War of 1812, as lieutenant of a company of Connecticut troops. He took part in the campaign about Fort Erie and Buffalo, and the close of the war found him stationed at Detroit. Soon after the cessation of hostilities lie resigned his commission and settled in western New York. His sojourn in this locality during the war had revealed to him its pre-eminent advantages as an agricult- ural country. For many years he was landlord of the Mansion House at Williamsville. His deatlı occurred in Chicago in 1877, at the age of seventy-nine years.

William H. Hutchinson, who was born in Leb- anon, Connecticut, removed with his family to Chicago in the spring of 1849. Soon after com- ing to this city he began the manufacture of soda water, which he continued up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1880, at the age of six- ty-five years. His place of business was at the corner of Randolph and Peoria Streets, where he erected a large factory, which escaped destruction in the Great Fire. The family residence, at the

corner of North State and Erie Streets, was swept away in that conflagration. His prompt loan of a quantity of soda-water boxes, which afforded admirable pigeon-holes at the time, enabled the .

postoffice to resume the distribution of the mails with little delay after the fire. He was ever a public-spirited citizen and an enthusiastic ad- hierent of the Democratic party, contributing much of his time as an organizer and worker for its success, though always refusing to be himself a candidate for any office.

Mrs. Jane (Grove) Hutchinson was born in New York. Her father, who was a native of Penn- sylvania, was of Dutch descent. The name was originally written Groff. While returning from a visit to Mackinaw, in 1856, Mrs. Hutchinson became a victim of one of the saddest disasters which ever occurred upon Lake Michigan, being one of the passengers of the ill-fated steamer " Niagara," which burned off Port Washington, Wisconsin. She was the mother of four sons: Chester M., of Hawthorne, Cook County, Illi- nois; William A., who is in the United States revenue service at Port Townsend, Washington; and George C. and Charles G., both of whom are residents of Chicago. William H. Hutchinson was married a second time, to Miss Mary M. Warner, of Williamsville, New York, and they became the parents of two sons, Douglas and Eugene, the latter of whom is now deceased, and the former resides in Chicago.

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G. M. ROGERS.

Charles G. Hutchinson attended the Washing- ton School of Chicago until he was fifteen years old, after which he was a student for four years at the Military Academy at Fulton, Illinois. After the close of the Civil War-there being no further promise of demand for military service-he re- turned to Chicago, and became identified with his father's business, which he continued to con- duct for some time after the death of its founder. In 1879, in company with his brother, George C. Hutchinson, he established a factory for the pro- duction of bottlers' supplies and extracts, under the firm name of W. H. Hutchinson & Son, which is still retained. Two years later the present factory on Desplaines Street was built, and about forty men are employed therein. The subject of- this notice is also identified with several other im- portant industries. He is a stockholder and Treasurer of the Independent Brewing Associa- tion, and President of the Chicago Fountain Soda Water Company. He is one of the stockholders

of the Coit Paint Company (incorporated), and is the inventor and patentee of the Hutchinson Spring Bottle Stopper, a unique and useful ap- pliance, which has come into almost universal use.

Mr. Hutchinson is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, being identified with D. C. Cregier Lodge, Washington Chapter, Chicago Commandery, Knights Templar, Oriental Con- sistory and Medinah Temple of the Mystic Shrine. Like his father, he has been a life-long Democrat, but never seeks public position. He is an en- thusiastic and successful sportsman, and makes frequent excursions to the woods of Northern Wisconsin for the purpose of indulging his taste for fishing and hunting. He is a member of the Eagle River Fishing and Shooting Club, and of the Cumberland Gun Club, two of the leading sportsmen's organizations of Chicago. In all his business and social relations he is deservedly pop- ular, through his genial and social disposition and his kind and courteous manners.

GEORGE M. ROGERS.

EORGE MILLS ROGERS is not only dis- tinguished as one of the foremost attorneys and jurists of Chicago, but has given much study and careful attention to the leading public questions of the day. He is well versed in prob- lems relating to political economy and municipal reform, and his views are never narrowed by con- siderations of party policy, nor are his expressions colored by mere personal or mercenary motives. His professional integrity and his reputation as a citizen have been equally well maintained, and 10 modern record of Chicago's representative men would be complete without some notice of his achievements.

Mr. Rogers was born at Glasgow, Kentucky, on the sixteenthi day of April, 1854, and is a son of the Hon. John Gorin Rogers and Arabella E. Crenshaw, extended notice of whom, together with the genealogy of their families, is given elsewhere in this volume. The subject of this sketch was but four years old when the family came to Chicago. He was educated at the public schools and the Chicago University, supplement- ing the instruction so received by a course at Yale College, from whichi famous institution he was graduated in 1876. He began his legal studies in the office of Crawford & McConnell, and con- tinued the same in the Union College of Law-

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G. M. ROGERS.

now the law department of the Northwestern University.

In 1878 he was admitted to the Bar, and began practice in partnership with Samnel P. McConnell, a well-known barrister, since one of the Judges of "the Circuit Court of Cook County. During the continuance of this partnership he was chosen at- torney for the Citizens' Association, and was a member of the committee which prepared and secured the passage of the original reform city election law. He also personally prepared the primary election law, which was adopted verbatim by the committee of the association having that subject in charge, and was presented to the Legis- lature for adoption. Owing to the fact that this bill was in charge of Senator Crawford during its passage, it became known as the "Crawford Election Law."

His services in behalf of this association could not fail to attract attention to his signal ability as a lawyer and a statesman, and caused his ap- pointment as Assistant City Attorney. This po- sition he filled with such credit that, in 1886, he was appointed City Prosecuting Attorney, but ow- ing to the ill-health of his wife, which demanded that he should travel with lier, lie resigned the office in April of the following year. After return- ing to the city he was appointed, in November, 1887, to the office of Assistant United States At- torney, but resigned that position in the following March, to re-engage in private law practice. With this business he has combined that of real- estate and loans, and his transactions have grown to such volume as to require the assistance of several clerks.

On the Ist of February, 1889, he was ap- pointed : Master in Chancery of the Circuit Court of Cook County, and has discharged the duties of that judicial office with such candor and im- partiality as to earn and receive the approbation of courts, attorneys and litigants.

In 1893 it was deemed advisable by the leading lawyers of Chicago to take some practical steps toward the separation of judicial affairs from the contamination of political interests. With this end in view, they placed in nomination eight candidates for judicial positions, who were equally

divided in political affiliations between the two leading parties. Mr. Rogers received the highest vote of any candidate before the Bar Association -the total number being 1346, out of which he received 1222. This nomination came to him without any solicitation on his part, and, although the "party machine" which dominated the Dem- ocratic convention prevented the endorsement of his nomination, which he made no effort to secure, his endorsement by the members of the Bar, who were influenced by 110 political consid- erations, but by a desire to elevate the judiciary and purify the administration of justice, was re- garded as a far greater compliment than an elec- tion as a candidate of any political party could have been.

On the 3d of June, 1884, Mr. Rogers was mar- ried to Philippa Hone Anthon, a daughter of the late Hone Anthon, of New York City, whose family is conspicuous for the large number of eminent professional men among its members.

Mr. Rogers is one of the founders of the Iro- quois Club, and among the other clubs with which he is prominently identified may be men- tioned the Illinois, University and Law Clubs. In the fall of 1888 he united with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which his father had been one of the leading spirits, and he has repre- sented his lodge in the Grand Lodge of Illinois. In 1882 he made a foreign tour in company with his brother, who was suffering from ill-health, and visited the principal cities and other poiuts of interest in Europe. His active mind and keen observation could not fail to make this trip of value to him in broadening his experience and extending his knowlege of men and the affairs of the world.

For a number of years after beginning his pro- fessional career, he was prominent in the political counsels of the Democratic party. In 1880 he was nominated as the candidate of his party for State Senator. His personal popularity may be judged from the fact that the usual Republican majority of two thousand in his district was re- duced to eight hundred. For some time he was Vice-President of the Cook County Democratic Committee, and labored diligently, though in

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ROBERT HERVEY.

vain, to bring about some needed reforms in the organization and methods of the party. Becom- ing displeased with the methods of politicians, he became one of the organizers of the Iroquois Club, which was established for the purpose of

exerting an influence in National politics, leaving local strife to those whose taste led in that direc- tion, and he was elected one of its first Vice- Presidents.

ROBERT HERVEY, LL. D.

OBERT HERVEY, LL. D., who was for nearly forty years a familiar figure in Chi- cago court rooms, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, August 10, 1820. Heis a son of Alex- ander and Elizabeth (Gibson) Hervey. The fa- ther was a son of Robert Hervey, who founded a mercantile establishment at Glasgow, in which Alexander succeeded him. The business career of the latter was cut short by his death, when his son Robert was but eleven years of age. Mrs. Elizabeth Hervey afterward came to America, and for a number of years resided with her son in Chicago. She died at Brockville, Canada, in 1862.

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Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 8th ed., Part 34

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