Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 8th ed., Part 39

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 39

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Politically the subject of this sketch is a Dem- ocrat, not an office-seeker, nor fanatic in his views; locally, he invariably selects the best man, in his candid judgment, for support.

Physically Mr. Link is not a large man, but so engaging in manner that he seems to rise at times to the stature of a giant, as he graphically depicts interesting experiences he has passed through in his varied life of many vicissitudes.

He is one of the most unassuming, genial men it is one's good fortune to run across, hospitable and full of good parts. As an instance of the po- etic feeling of his soul (a thing somewhat rare in our crowding, rushing city), at an advanced age, lie bought a fine piano, and started in to learn 111 tisic. He progressed with such amazing rapidity that, althoughi he had but six months' lessons, he really plays very well, and some difficult pieces of classical music, too. It is one of the proudest recollections of his experience that he was per- mitted, on a foreign tour, to play for a few mo- ments upon the piano of Frederick the Great, in the castle at Potsdam, during which exceptionally honored occasion he very touchingly ran through the pathetic bars of "Sad Thoughts of Thee." One can readily picture this inspiring incident, of one returning from a new country, full of honor and wealth, to the home of his nativity, to view for a season the place that gave him birth. Ah, it is a strange world we live in, and strange in- deed are the changes which come to us all!

The incident above related occurred upon his memorable tour of the continent in 1892, when he felt lie must visit again the old endeared scenes of his boyhood. Not alone those, but France, Bel- gium and England were traversed; and if anyone doubts the good use our friend made of liis sight, let him sit for a while listening to the "log book," as it has been the writer's privilege, and doubt · would vanish before the perfect light of enrapt- ured conviction. It is understood that he is plan- ning another trip abroad for the near future, for he is an indefatigable traveler.

In closing, we must not forget to say, that as his earthly life has been correct, and his surround- ings beautiful and uplifting, so he lias had the wise foresight to see to it that liis remains after deatlı may be in a temporary earthly mansion suitable to his wislies. In the family lot at St. Boniface Cemetery, he has finished the construc- tion of a family tomb, which for exquisiteness of design and perfection of execution is unsurpassed. There is no finer owned or erected in this city's places of burial. The exterior facades are of that handsome, durable stone, rock-faced, know11 as Blue Bedford; while the interior rises grace-

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W. W. PHELPS.

fully and without that sense of oppression so fre- quent in low-constructed burial places, being com- posed of English Channel fire brick and elegant imported Italian marbles. In the center rises the catafalque, which will one day contain the last mortal remains of our dear friend and his beloved

spouse. Each one has his themes of delight. Can there be a more beautiful wish than to lie securely safe after one's earthly existence is over, surround- ed by the beauties which, like the hills, pass not away until the judgment day?

WILLIAM W. PHELPS.

ILLIAM WALLACE PHELPS, one of the earliest and most conscientious of our business men, was born at Conesville, Schoharie County, New York, June 17, 1825. His parents were George and Mary (Chapman) Phelps.

Being of the generation of self-made men, he started out with a clear, straightforward mind, aided by a common-school instruction, to do his life work as the Creator foresaw it would come to pass.

First in Oneida, at nineteen years of age, and elsewhere in his native State, he waited upon customers as a clerk behind merchants' counters, and in 1847 went to Catskill, Greene County, New York, to clerk for Potter Palmer. It is needless to add, he did his humble early duties as faith- fully and ably as he bore the later more lion- orable and distinguished burdens which time demonstrated he was more than equal to carrying.

Henceforth he was fated to join forces with that truly royal man, Potter Palmer, the bare mention of whose name thrills the listener with intense admiration, and conjures up in his mind the rapid achievement of our unrivalled city; in all and through all of which none has been more modestly conspicuous and helpful than Mr. Pal- mer. Along with Mr. Palmer, Mr. Phelps was mainly to work out his destiny. It was fitting, for they were brothers-in-law; and so long, un- ruffled and intimate were their mutual relations

and regard for each other, that the two men actually grew more and more in personal appear- ance alike. One glance at Mr. Phelps' face, as the artist left it for our delight, and the lineaments of his "dear friend Potter" suggest themselves. Together they removed, in 1851, to Lockport, New York, there engaging in business for about one year only, for in 1852 they started resolutely for the then Far West, resting their weary limbs by the head of the beautiful Lake Michigan, in which place fortune had decreed they should win honorable names and a goodly portion of the desires of this life. One has quite finished his labors and is at rest above all earthly value. Soon the other will go to his comrade's side, while this scene shall know their presence no more; but history is the better, and future genera- tions, though they may 1ealize it not, will be the happier and better that two such American noble- men were among us in our infancy.

Soon after their advent, Mr. Palmer, having some capital at command, entered into the dry- goods business, wherein Mr. Phelps was his con- fidential friend and financial secretary for long years, always in every way satisfactory in his discharge of onerous trusts.

In 1865 Mr. Phelps went for himself into the wholesale and retail carpet business with a part- ner, under the style of Hollister & Phelps, hav- ing purchased the interest of the former partner, Mr. Wilkins. He sold out his interest in this

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W. W. PHELPS.

paying establishment the June preceding the his- torical fire of 1871. Thereafter for some six months he enjoyed the delights of old Europe, with the keen intellectual appreciation so charac- teristic of him, combining business with health- ful recreation, as he did considerable buying for Mr. Palmer, who was furnishing the Palmer House, recently built at that time.

Returning to the United States in good condi- tion, he lived the easy life of an "old-school" gentleman for a period of eight years. But act- ive life extended too great temptations to one of his temperament; so it is not surprising, when Mr. Palmer made him a flattering offer, that he found it impossible to resist, and so it is chronicled that the last twelve years of his life were spent as confidential financial manager of that great hostelry, one of the grandest and best known in the wide world, the Palmer House. In him Mr. Palmer had full and explicit trust and confidence. He said: "I can go to California; I may be gone six months; and when I return, I feel I shall hear everything has gone on just the same."

Alas, all must pay the sad debt of nature. Mr. Phelps died May 18, 1891, of Bright's Disease, and was interred in the family lot at Graceland, where a fine monument marks his beautiful final resting-place. For many years he was an at- tendant at the Plymouth Congregational Church, where he held a pew. Bishop Cheney, a warm friend, officiated at the funeral obsequies at his magnificent mansion house, No. 2518 Prairie Avenue.

Mr. Phelps married, first, Lydia Palmer, sister of Potter Palmer, in the fall of 1867. She died on the very day of the Fire of 1871, without issue. September 9, 1873, he wedded Miss Cornelia Austina Hubbard, of Spring Prairie, Wisconsin. In good health, she continues to survive her lamented husband, whose memory is sacred in her heart and whose worth she delights to exalt and honor. How strong under such circumstances does the merit of this undertaking appear ! They who make for themselves honorable names, but are barred by fate against leaving children, must herein find their most lasting and fitting monu- ment in this record of their good deeds.

Cornelia A. (Hubbard) Phelps is a daughter of Alfred Hubbard and Hannah Steele, of Wind- ham, Greene County, New York, being the youngest of eight children. Alfred Hubbard was a son of Timothy Hubbard and Dorothy Raleigh, of Connecticut. Hannah Steele was a daughter of Stephen Steele and Hannah Simonds, also of Connecticut.

Mr. Phelps was a stanch Republican, a con- scientious Christian, a gentleman and a lover of home. Tall and straight of stature, his pale blonde face, handsome, yet full of kindly charac- ter, firm mouth, prominent eyes, heavy eyebrows and massive forehead well denoted the strength he possessed. He and Mr. Palmer might have been taken for brothers. Their names are indelibly associated, and those who, in coming years, when the flowers are blossoming over ancient graves, shall read the records of the two lives, will un- derstand more deeply and solemnly than words can depict what this age and this city owe to men like Potter Palmer and William Wallace Phelps.

It is fitting that this work shall record the fol- lowing quite full and satisfactory genealogical descent:

Ichabod Phelps, who was a merchant in Eng- land, married Betsy Bristol, and, coming to this country, in company with three brothers, settled at Salisbury, in Litchfield County, Connecticut. Later he removed to Wyoming, Pennsylvania, where he continued to reside until the historical massacre there by the Indians under the notorious Brant, upon which event he took a fresh depart- ure for Broome, Schoharie County, New York, where he built and conducted a general store. His son, Othniel Phelps, born in 1777, died in 1856. He was twice married; first, to Polly Fiero, and secondly to Hannah Frost, who lived to the remarkable age of ninety-two years, dying in 1876.

The eldest son by the first marriage was George W. Phelps, who was born in 1798, at Conesville, Schoharie County, New York, and died July 3, 1866. He was twice married; first, about the year 1820, to Zerviah Potter, who died three years later, leaving two sons, Othniel B. and Samuel P. (for a sketch of Othniel B. vide

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other pages herein); second, he married, about 1824, Mary Chapman, who was born February 25, 1801, and died January 28, 1879. She was a daughter of Samuel Chapman (born January 13, 1773, died November 30, 1858) and Rhoda Cowles, his wife (born September 3, 1775, and

died in 1801). By this second marriage there were eight children: Helen M., John M., Mary Z., Catherine, Lucinda M., George C., Abbie A. and William Wallace Phelps, the subject of this sketch.

CHARLES E. PIPER.

HARLES EDWARD PIPER was born in the city of Chicago June 12, 1858. His fa- ther, Otis Piper, well and favorably known to the pioneer business men of Chicago, was of English extraction, and traced his descent di- rectly to ancestors who arrived in America and settled at the town of New Salem in 1782. His mother, Margaret (McGrory) Piper, of Scotch- Irish lineage, was a native of Prescott, province of Ontario, Canada, whither her father removed in 1824.

Otis Piper, with his family, came to Chicago in 1851, at a time when the struggling town was barely beginning to give promise of future impor- tance, and cast in his lot with the few fervent- spirited citizens whose eyes of faith saw, above the alternating sand dunes and swamps of that early period, something of the glory of the present me- tropolis. Amid the surroundings common to the pioneer outposts of civilization in our country, Charles Edward Piper, the subject of this sketch, first saw the light of day. The foundation of his education was laid in the public schools of the city, and in the face of many trials and vicissi- tudes was, nevertheless, so firmly planted in the mind of the young boy that an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, and an indomitable deter- mination to obtain it, impelled him to successively graduate from the high school in 1876, the North-

western University in 1882, and the Union College of Law in 1889, earning, in the mean time, his own livelihood and the means to meet his stu- dent's expenses.

After completing his law course, he entered upon practice with Mr. Wilbert J. Andrews, un- der the firm name of Andrews & Piper, a firm which is recognized as one of the leading real-es- tate law firms in Chicago. The business of buy- ing and selling real estate has naturally grown up with the practice of real-estate law, and the sub- urban town of Berwyn was founded by and is to- day, to a considerable extent, the property of Mr. Piper and his associates. Socially Mr. Piper is a genial, warm-hearted gentleman, easy in his man- ners and a favorite in several social organizations with which he is connected, notably the Prairie Club, of Oak Park, and the Lincoln Club, of West Chicago. In religions matters he is a fol- lower of Wesley, and a consistent member of the Methodist Church. He is President of the State Epworth League and Treasurer of the National Epworth League. Politically he is a Republican, "dyed in the wool," is President of the town of Cicero, and has held the office of Supervisor of the town of South Chicago, as well as that of member of the Board of Education of the town of Cicero.

August 15, 1882, he married Carrie L. Gregory,

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FRANCIS WARNER.

daughter of Edwin and Anna S. Gregory, of Nauvoo, Illinois, and granddaughter of Robert Lane, partner of John Morris, of Philadelphia, of Revolutionary fame. The three living children of Mr. and Mrs. Piper are: Carrie E., born May 29, 1884; Lulu L .; and Robert G., December 6, 1889.

Mr. Piper vividly recalls the burning of Chi- cago on the fatal October 8, 1871, but at that time, fortunately, was residing outside of the burnt district, and escaped any serious personal dam- ages or loss. He is the President of the Method-

ist Forward Movement of Chicago, and takes deep interest in the building of the Epworth House, at Number 229 Halsted Street, now in process of erection. This house, like its prototype, Hull House, is designed to serve as an oasis in the desert of poverty and iniquity, and will aid greatly in the regeneration of that benighted re- gion. He was one of the founders, and is now an officer, of the Epworth Children's Home, and is at the present time President of the Chicago Meth- odist Social Union.

FRANCIS WARNER.

RANCIS WARNER, a quiet, worthy citizen of Chicago, is a descendant of very early English and German yeomanry. He was born at Watertown, Massachusetts, January 26, 1819. His parents, George Warner and Mary Salisbury, were natives, respectively, of Pack- ington and Ashby de la Zouche, in Leicestershire, near the border of Nottinghamshire, England. The family name was originally Werner, and was brought to England from Germany, after the Re- formation of Martin Luther. England had just become a Protestant country, and the founder of this family on English soil received a grant of land near the Welsh border. He had a coat-of- arms, the principal objects on which were a castle surmounted by a squirrel, with a motto signify- ing, " Not for ourselves alone, but for others." Mary Salisbury was a lineal descendant of a man- at-arms who flourished long before the first Werner came to England, and was granted a "hide " of land (being all that he could surround with an ox's hide cut into strips) by the lord of the manor, whose life he had saved in battle.

Members of the Warner family came to America in the early Colonial days, and it is a tradition that one settled in each of the colonies of Massa- chusetts, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

George Warner and Mary Salisbury were mar- ried in England in 1806, and removed four years later to Massachusetts, where eight of their eleven children were born. Mr. Warner was a lace weaver, and was employed at his trade in and about Watertown, Massachusetts, until 1837, when he came to Illinois. He engaged in farm- ing in Northfield Township, La Salle County, for over twenty years, and then went to Iowa, and settled on the Soldier River, near the present site of Ida Grove. After he retired from farming he returned to Massachusetts and died at Ipswich, in that State, in 1874, at the age of eighty-nine years. Bothi he and his wife were born in 1785. The latter died in Illinois in 1851, age sixty-six.

All of their seven sons and two of their daugh- ters grew to adult life. Samuel, born in England, and an upholsterer by occupation, passed most of his life in Massachusetts, and died, as the result

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FRANCIS WARNER.

of an accident, in St. Louis, Missouri. George, born in Massachusetts, was a farmer; he died in La Salle County, Illinois, in 1882, from the ef- fects of a fall. Mary, Mrs. Sanford Peatfield, resides in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Alfred is a resident of Michigan, and John died in Newton, Massachusetts, in 1892, at the age of seventy- three. The subject of this sketch is the sixth. Elizabeth, deceased, was the wife of William Powell, a farmer in La Salle County, Illinois. Thomas died in California from the effects of drinking alkali water; and William is engaged in mining in Utah.

Francis Warner was reared in Newton, Massa- chusetts, and was taught to read by his mother. His only attendance at a public school was one half-day, at which time the teacher was absent. At the age of fifteen years he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker, and his articles of indenture stipulated that he was to receive $50 per year and his board. During this apprenticeship he made the most of his opportunities for material and mental advancement. He joined several others in a plan to secure instruction, and they were taught four nights each week, for which the teacher received fifty cents per night. So faith- ful and diligent was young Warner, that he be- came a journeyman at the age of nineteen. He immediately went to Boston, where he continued to ply his trade until 1843, when he came to Illi- nois and took up farming on Somomauk Creek, in La Salle County.

In the spring of 1861 Mr. Warner responded to the call for troops to defend the Union. He first went out in the three-months service, under General McClellan, who was a personal acquaint- ance, in West Virginia. He was a participator in the battle of Rich Mountain, and was one of the detail which accompanied the body of the Confederate General, Garnett, to Washington, en route to his home in Virginia.

In 1862 Mr. Warner again joined the Federal forces, being attached to the Provost-Marshal's department, with the pay and rank of Captain, and was chiefly employed in the charge and hand- ling of prisoners of war, with headquarters in Washington. After the surrender of New Or-

leans, he joined Colonel Wood's command, the First United States Regiment, with which he con- tinued until May, 1865, when he was honorably discharged.

While a resident of La Salle County, Mr. War- ner was twice elected to the office of Sheriff, and demonstrated such superior ability in the capture of offenders, that his services were sought by de- tective agencies throughout the country. Soon after leaving the army he took charge of Allen Pinkerton's New York detective agency, where he continued a year, removing thence to Chicago, where he occupied a similar position until his health failed, in 1879, and he was compelled to resign. After spending three months at the sea shore, on the advice of his physician, he returned to Chicago, very much improved in health and strength, and at once, in 1880, took charge of the detective service of the American Express Com- pany at Chicago. This was his last active em- ployment, in which he still holds an honorary po- sition. Though now in his seventy-seventh year, Mr. Warner exhibits plenty of mental and physi- cal vigor, and is still a useful member of society.

Mr. Warner is a Royal Arch Mason, and was for many years active in the order. He is a mem- ber of the Congregational Church, and a con- sistent and stanch Republican in principle, being one of the founders of that political organization. In 1840 he married Miss Juliette Back, who was born in Burlington, Vermont, August 17, 1819, and is a daughter of Jasper and Sally (Harring- ton) Back. Mr. Back was one of the minute- men who served at the battle of Plattsburgh, during the last war with Great Britain. Four of Mr. Warner's eight children are now living. Francis Armstrong Warner, the eldest, is a resi- dent of Chicago. Alice, the second, died while the wife of Albert Forbes, leaving an infant daughter, who was reared by Mr. Warner. Juli- ette died at the age of eighteen months, and Isabel is the wife of Dr. Edward J. Lewis, of Sauk Cen- ter, Wisconsin. Ernest died at three years of age, Charles at fourteen, and Gray resides at Denver, Colorado. Nellie is the wife of Henry B. Gates and resides in Wilmette.

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LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

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LYMAN J. GAGE.

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LYMAN JUDSON GAGE.

YMAN JUDSON GAGE, President of the First National Bank of Chicago, is widely known as the leading financier of the West, as well as an active power in political and other movements. As a promoter and active Di- rector of the World's Columbian Exposition, he earned and received the good-will of every citi- zen of Chicago, as well as of most of the world be- side.

Eli A. Gage and Mary Judson, parents of the subject of this biography, were natives of New York, of English descent, their ancestors being numbered among the early settlers of New Eng- land. The student of American history cannot fail to note that much of the energy and good sense which gave direction to the development of the entire northern half of the United States was contributed by the New England blood.

Lyman J. Gage was born at De Ruyter, Madi- so11 County, N. Y., June 28, 1836, and passed the first ten years of his life in that village. O11 the removal of the family to Rome, N. Y., in 1846, he entered the local academy, but left school to engage in business life at the age of fourteen. For a year, he was employed as clerk in the Rome postoffice, and was detailed by the Postmaster as mail-route agent on the Rome & Watertown Rail- road at the age of fifteen. I11 1854 he became junior clerk in the Oneida Central Bank at Rome, at a salary of $100 per annum. His duties in that position were somewhat varied, and involved the sweeping of the bank, as well as many other duties which are fulfilled by a janitor in larger institutions. The ambitious soul of the youth who was destined by fate to control in time great financial enterprises, could not always be content in this position, and after a year and a-half of

service, with no immediate prospect of advance- ment in position or salary, he resolved to try his fortune in the growing West.

On the 3d of October, 1855, young Gage, being then a little past the completion of his nine- teenth year, arrived in Chicago with a capital consisting of brains and energy. He shortly found employment in the lumber-yard of Nathan Cobb, a part of the time in keeping books, and often in loading lumber. He continued in this employment until the business changed hands in 1858. The financial depression of that period made many changes, and, rather than remain idle, Mr. Gage accepted the position of night-watcli- man at the same place. At the end of six weeks in this service, in August, 1858, he was offered and accepted the position of book-keeper in the Merchants' Savings, Loan & Trust Company, at an annual salary of $500. Here he found field for the exercise of his abilities, and his advance- ment was rapid. On the Ist of January follow- ing, he was promoted to the position of paying teller, with the accompanying salary of $1, 200 per year. In September, 1860, he became As- sistant Cashier at $2,000 per annum, and a year later was made Cashier. In August, 1868, he resigned this position to accept a similar one in the First National Bank. On the re-organiza- tion of this institution, at the expiration of its charter in 1882, Mr. Gage was elected Vice-Pres- ident and General Manager, and became Presi- dent January 24, 1891. Thus are briefly related the steps of his progress, but they were not the result of accident. Back of them were the quali- ities which inspired the confidence of his fellows, and the ability to make intelligent use of his op- portunities.

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O. P. BASSETT.

Mr. Gage was one of the organizers of the Amer- ican Bankers' Association at Philadelphia, in Oc- tober, 1876, and was made President of that body in 1882, and twice successfully re-elected, a com- pliment both to Chicago and the man. He is a member of two social clubs of the city, the Chi- cago and the Union, an ex-President of the Com- mercial Club (an organization limited to sixty members), and a Director and Treasurer of the Art Institute. Mr. Gage takes a warm interest in all matters affecting the public welfare, and has been quite active as a member of the Republican organization, because he considers the Republi- can party the best exponent of his ideas on the conservation of human liberty and general pros- perity. While somewhat active in promulgating his principles, he is by no means a narrow parti- san, and will not tolerate anything which his judgment or conscience does not approve, because it bears the endorsement of his party. He has been frequently urged to accept a nomination for some public position, as the spontaneous choice of the public urged, but his business interests could not be set aside sufficiently to permit. At the last regular municipal election he could have been almost unanimously elected mayor, had he per- mitted the use of his name. In spite of the cares of his responsible position, he gave much of his energy to the promotion of the World's Fair en- terprise, and was made President of the Board of Directors at its organization in April, 1890. This he resigned on his accession to the bank presi- dency, nearly a year later, but continued as an active member of the Board. It is no injustice to

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Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 8th ed., Part 39

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