USA > Illinois > Cook County > Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, 8th ed. > Part 90
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Frank Kemper was a laborer, who saw little hope of bettering his condition in his native land, and, when his family included three children, he determined to seek a home in America. Bidding a sad farewell to wife and children, he set out, strong in hope and faithful resolve to carve out his fortune in an unknown land, whose language was as strange to him as its people. Arriving in New York, he shortly found employment in the city, but soon removed to Woodstown, New Jersey. In the course of a year he saved up enough to send for his wife, and with her aid he was able, within the next year, to send for two of the children. Henry, whose name heads this article, was the last to come, arriving in January, 1860. Another child, Christina, was born to the
parents after their arrival in this country, but she is now deceased. The others are, beside the sub- ject of this sketch: William, his partner in busi- ness; and Anna, wife of Albert Westphal, of No. 661 North Halsted Street. The family remained in New Jersey until 1868, when they removed to Chicago. Soon after his arrival Mr. Kemper bought forty acres of land on the present site of Grogan, then called Whiskey Point, half a mile south of Fullerton Avenue, and engaged in farm- ing for a few years. He then sold his land and moved into the city. At the time of the Great Fire he lost nearly all lie possessed, but he ulti- mately recovered his fortune, and is now living in honored retirement. Mrs. Kemper died in 1890, aged seventy-two years.
Henry Kemper was educated in the public schools of his native place, and was employed in practical pursuits from the time of his arrival in this country. He remained with his parents and assisted in the labors of the farm until he was of age. In 1872 he began the business in which he is now engaged, and located in his present store
621
FREDERICK BRISTLE.
about ten years since. Although he began life with few advantages, lie has steadily advanced to a position of affluence and importance in the com- imunity. In 1891 he built the handsome and commodious residence in which he has since dwelt, at No. 3749 North Paulina Street, Chi- cago.
In 1868 Mr. Kemper was married to Miss Anna Stilling, a native of Westphalia. Three of the children born of this union are now living, name- ly, William, Albert and Clara. Deatlı robbed the children of their mother in July, 1887. In the spring of 1888 Mr. Kemper inarried Miss Kath- erine Altenhofen, who was born in Prussia, across the river opposite Lunenburg, Germany. By this
marriage there are five children: Lena, Frank, Hubert, Matthias and Carrie.
Mr. Kemper is a public-spirited citizen, and a thorough American in ideas and principle, be- lieving this to be the best country in the world .. In State and National elections he supports the candidates of the Republican party, but in local affairs, the man he deems best fitted to administer affairs receives his vote. Both he and his family are faithful communicants of Saint Henry's Ro- man Catholic Church, and he enjoys the confi- dence and esteem of the entire community in which he lives. His example of energy, industry and fair dealing is commended to the youth of the land as worthy of emulation.
FREDERICK BRISTLE.
REDERICK BRISTLE (deceased) was a native of Chicago, born in that portion of the city then called Lake View, August 21, 1857. Extended mention of his parents, Chris- tian and Katharine Bristle, is made in this vol- ume, in connection with the biography of Conrad Bristle.
The boyhood of the subject of this sketch was spent beneath the parental roof and he was edu- cated in the public schools. During his early youth he was taught the rudimental branches of learning. His school days, however, were of brief duration. When he became large enough it was necessary for him to perform his part of the manual labor required for the support of the family. It was early in life that he learned the all-important lesson of depending upon his own efforts, and as well did he recognize and respect the rights of dependence upon himself of those who had just claim upon his strength.
At the age of twenty-one he began life on his own account, as a market-gardener. The frugal
and industrious boy soon developed into a shrewd and energetic man of business. He exercised good judgment in the investment of his surplus capital in real estate, and its rise in value in a short time made him comfortably well off.
He was married June 27, 1883, to Miss Mary E. Johnston, who was born July 30, 1861, in Chi- cago, and is a daughter of John and Jane (Keys) Johnston, natives of County Tyrone, Ireland, where they were married. Immediately after, in 1860, they came to the United States, and resided in Pike County, Illinois, nearly a year before coming to Chicago. The father was first em- ployed in the old Chicago Cemetery, and about 1867 he bought five acres of land in Lake View Township and engaged in gardening, at which he was very successful. He departed this life in 1889, at fifty-five years of age, surviving his wife a period of eighteen years. They were the par- ents of seven children, three of whom died in infancy. Those living are: Mary E. (Mrs. F. Bristle); Arthur, residing on Ridge Avenue, Chi-
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REV. OTTO GRÆNEBAUM.
cago; Jane, wife of John B. Sanderson, of the same city; and William, of Downer's Grove, Illi- nois. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston were adherents of the Episcopal Church, and lived in strict con- formity to the requirements of their creed and religions convictions.
To Mr. and Mrs. Bristle were born three chil- dren: Frederick John, Joseph Henry and Jennie Katharine. Mr. Bristle's death was untimely and unexpected. His career was full of promise, and his early achievements predicted for him assured success, had his life been spared. He passed away August 21, 1887. His early religious
training was in the Lutheran faith, but in mau- hood he became a member of the Congregational Church, of which he was a liberal supporter. His devoted wife survives him, and has proven her- self equal to the emergencies incumbent upon widowhood, and has managed the unfinished life- work of her husband, as contemplated by him, with an adroitness that has crowned her efforts with success. She combines with her business acumen all the graces of true womanhood, and her. mind and heart are in her home, where her domesticity is apparent to her large circle of friends and acquaintances.
REV. OTTO GRÆNEBAUM.
1
EV. OTTO GROENEBAUM. Among the highly esteemed and respected citizens of South Evanston, none are more worthy than Rev. Otto Grænebaum, who is now pastor of Saint Nicholas' Roman Catholic Church. He was born in the Province of Westphalia, Ger- many, August 28, 1837. His parents were Frank and Ludovika Grænebaum, natives of that place. In the parochial schools of his native place he re- ceived his rudimentary education. When a young man he entered the gymnasium of Warendorf, from which he graduated in 1859, after which he spent four years at the University of Munster, in the Province of Westphalia, completing his philo- sopliical and theological education.
In May, 1864, he came to America, locating in Wisconsin, and for over two years was a teacher in different academies in Milwaukee. In the fall of 1866 he resumed his studies for the priesthood, and was ordained February 15, 1867, at Milwau- kee. Subsequently he assumed charge of a church in Omaha, Nebraska, where for fourteen years he labored faithfully and efficiently. In 1881 he came to Illinois, and for several years he had
charge of different congregations. In 1887 he or- ganized Saint Nicholas' Church in South Evans- ton, with sixty-three families. In that year he purchased the ground and built the church and residence, at an expense of twenty thousand dol- lars. The church is a plain, but substantial structure, the upper part being used for the church and the lower or ground floor for a school room and dwelling for the Sisters.
Under the careful and able management of Father Grænebaum the church has prospered and grown, until the congregation numbers about one hundred seventy families. His own excellent education eminently fitted him to look after the welfare of the school, and at present it has an av- erage attendance of about one hundred fifty scholars. Father Grænebaum is loved by all his flock, for his careful watch over them and his kindness to the poor. Not only is the church out of debt, but it has a handsome surplus in its treasury. Father Grænebaum is a ripe scholar, a kind, genial gentleman, and deservedly popular, not only with the members of his large congrega- tion, but also with the community.
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
GEORGE A. PHILBRICK
(From Photo, by W. J. ROOT)
G. A. PHILBRICK.
623
GEORGE A. PHILBRICK.
G EORGE ALBERT PHILBRICK, who has been connected with public affairs in the town of Cicero for over a quarter of a century, is a descendant of one of the oldest New England families. The Philbricks have always belonged to the great middle class, which is the mainstay of our modern civilization. While re- ceiving their share of public offices, they have never been willing to sacrifice their independence to se- cure any position, either political or commercial. Thomas Philbrick was a sea captain, and many of his descendants have followed the sea, or made their homes near the ocean or some other body of water. They have usually been fairly prosper- ous men, none of them being either very rich or very poor.
The first of the family in America was Thomas Philbrick, who emigrated from Lincolnshire, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, about 1630. He was a shipmaster, and, about 1650, removed to Hampton, New Hampshire, where two of his sons had preceded him. He died in 1667, surviving his wife, Elizabeth, who passed away in 1663. The names of the parents in direct line from Thomas to George A. Philbrick, are as follows: James (eldest son of Thomas) and Ann Roberts (daughter of Thomas Roberts); Capt. James and Hannah (Perkins); Deacon Joseph and Elizabeth (Perkins); James and Tabitha (Dow); David and Jane (Marston); and Simon and Louisa (Young). The family has been known in England for many centuries; one member (then called De Philbrique ) was one of the followers of William the Conqueror, in his conquest of that country. In England the name is gen- erally spelled Philbrick, though by some it is still called Philbrique.
Simon Philbrick was born in Ossipee, New Hampshire, and there learned the trade of car- penter. After his marriage he removed to Corinna, Maine, where he purchased a farm and lived for the remainder of his life. He was a man universally loved and respected, being noted for his strict honesty and integrity. He was a sin- cere member of the Free Will Baptist Church, and his house was the meeting place for all the clergy, who always found a warm welcome. He died June 19, 1878, aged seventy-five years. Mrs. Louisa Philbrick was of Scotch descent. She passed away in 1888, aged eighty-two years. They were the parents of three sons, as follows: Jacob, a farmer in Corinna, Maine; George, the subject of this notice; and John W., who died in Corinna in 1873. . The latter, who was a most estimable young man, contracted the small-pox of a woman for whom he did a service on a rail- way train, which caused his death.
George A. Philbrick remained on the home farm until he reached the age of twenty years, at- tending the country schools and the academy at Corinna and Fox Croft. He then taught school two years in the country schools of his native State, and the same length of time in Delaware and Maryland. In 1857 he removed to Illinois, where he taught one year in Adams County, and then served six years as principal at Hamilton. In 1864 he entered the employ of Gafford & Com- pany, pork packers in Iowa, as bookkeeper, and in May, 1865, he came to Chicago. In the school year of 1868-69 he taught in a part of Cicero, which is now included in the city, and in the meantime was elected town clerk, also receiving at this time the office of secretary of the, Union Park Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted
624
JOHN BARTELS.
Masons. He held the office of town clerk four and one-half years, and April 24, 1874, was ap- pointed treasurer of the school trustees of Cicero. The latter position he has ever since retained, his term expiring in 1898, and making twenty-four years of continuous service. During that time the town of Cicero has had remarkable develop- ment, and though of much smaller area than for- merly, its population is made up largely of wealthy and intelligent men, who take great pride in their schools, and insist upon having the best in the State. The amount expended through Mr. Philbrick, as shown by his report for the year from April, 1896, to April, 1897, was $235, 593. 72.
On the organization of the Cicero Building and Loan Association, in 1886, Mr. Philbrick became a director and was four years treasurer, and since 1891 he has been secretary. At the time of the Great Fire of 1871 he was in charge of the books of the township treasurer of Cicero and many corporations, and so thoroughly familiar was he with their financial affairs, that, though the books were destroyed, including many notes, he was able to supply substitutes for all the missing papers and the names of all the debtors of the town in school matters. It is doubtful if there is another record of such powers of concentration and memory in America or elsewhere. At this time he filled the following offices and kept their
accounts: secretary of Union Park Lodge; town clerk of the town of Cicero; ex-officio secretary of the board of trustees of the town of Cicero; secretary of the Chicago Asphalt Company and secretary and treasurer of the Chicago and Joliet Gravel Company, also secretary of the town treasurer and supervisor. Over one and a-lialf million accounts were destroyed and not a dollar was lost track of, owing to his remarkable memory.
October 25, 1855, Mr. Philbrick married Mary Hinds Stevens, who was born in Dover, Maine, and is a daughter of Nathaniel M. and Betsy (Hinds) Stevens. One daughter was born of this union, Mary A., now the wife of Oliver W. Marble, an architect of Chicago. Mrs. Philbrick is an enthusiastic disciple of Christian science, devoting much of her time to that study. She is one of three ladies that prevented saloons from being established in Austin. Her husband also takes great interest in this subject, feeling that he has had practical demonstration of the truth of this science. Mr. Philbrick was initiated into Masonry in Penobscot Lodge, Dexter, Maine, in 1855. He was subsequently connected for ten years with Union Park Lodge, of Chicago. He is now a member of Cicero Chapter, No. 180, Royal Arch Masons, at Austin, and has been its treasurer since 1878. He is also a member of Siloam Commandery.
JOHN BARTELS.
OHN BARTELS was born December 4, 1828, in Luderditmarshen, Holstein, Germany, of honored German ancestry. He came to America when he was twenty-four years of age, being an ambitious youth, and attracted thither by the great opportunities offered to men of en- terprise. He settled in Chicago, and being a frugal and industrious man, worked and saved
until he was able to engage in business for him- self, and gradually gained prosperity. In 1880 he started a flour and feed store on the corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Pratt Street, and two years later lie was able to buy a lot on the corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Carpenter Street, where he built a store. This was about the time of the assassination of President Lincoln. Mr. Bartels
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625
W. L. WILCOX.
continued business there until his death. For many years John Baumgartner was his partner.
January 7, 1871, Mr. Bartels' death occurred, resulting from an injury done by a wagon. His wife continued the business many years, with commendable commercial tact and enterprise. She finally sold out and began improving the real estate she owned, and in this she was also successful. John Bartels was well and favorably known by the community, and especially by the German element. He was a shrewd business man and had a remarkably large acquaintance.
He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Schleswig-Holstein Verein and the German Lutheran Church.
January 9, 1872, Mrs. Bartels married Jacob Bartels, a brother of her first husband. She was married the first time on June 14, 1857, and by this union had two children, Robert Herman and Lewis. She and her second husband became the parents of two children, Alvina A. and Alfred J. The family is connected with the Lutheran Evangelical Church, and its members are honored and respected by all wlio know them.
WILLIAM L. WILCOX.
ILLIAM LE ROY WILCOX was born, November 13, 1859, in Allegany County, New York. He was the son of William and Elizabeth (Van Velzor) Wilcox, of Allegany County, near the town of Friendship. The famn- ily moved in 1871 to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where, a few years later, his mother died, leaving the other children in his care. Notwithstanding this heavy responsibility, he was able to enter the Michigan Agricultural College at Lansing at the age of eighteen years, teaching school during vacations and pursuing the study of medicine without a preceptor, when not engaged at his regular duties.
In 1881 he moved to Chicago and entered Ben- nett Medical College, where a number of prizes for scholarship marked his devotion to his work. Upon his graduation, in 1883, lie began tlie prac- tice of his profession at Irving Park, near Chi- cago, at the same time occupying successively the chairs of Demonstrator of Chemistry and Assist- ant Professor of Surgery in his alma mater. In time his increasing practice compelled a relin- quisliment of these positions. He graduated
from Rush Medical College in 1889, and was health inspector of the Twenty-seventh Ward until his trip to Europe in 1891. He took his family with him and spent a year abroad, most of it in the London hospitals and Heidelberg University, Germany.
December 18, 1883, Dr. Wilcox married Miss Mary Elma Adams, daughter of James W. and Lee (Bowman) Adams-the - former of Scotch descent and a native of Ohio, and the latter a native of Canada. Four children blessed their union, namely: Hazel Lee, Leon Bowman, Albyn Adams and Mary Eula.
Dr. Wilcox was always true to the trust left him by his mother, and never forgot the welfare of his brothers and sisters. He was the architect of his own fortunes and made a success in life, under circumstances that would have appalled most men. In his noble life-work he was ably assisted by his wife, who survives him and who was a worthy companion of such a man. She was ever ready to aid and support him in all his un- dertakings, with her encouragement and faith in him. Bothı were active members of the American
626
ARCHIBALD CLYBOURN.
Reformed Church of Irving Park. At the time of Dr. Wilcox' death he was a member of the Illinois State Medical Society and Chicago Medi- cal Society. He was a member of the Masonic
order, being a Master Mason; a member of Irving Park Chapter and Saint Elmo Commandery. He died from an accident, September 22, 1895, and was buried with Masonic honors.
ARCHIBALD CLYBOURN.
A RCHIBALD CLYBOURN, the second civil- ian settler of Chicago, might with much truth be called the first. Though he was preceded by Gurdon S. Hubbard, the latter came here to trade with the Indians, and it is an open question whether he intended at the time to make a permanent location. Mr. Clybourn left his Vir- ginia home with the intention of settling here, be- cause he had heard glowing accounts of the beauty and fertility of the country. In his day he saw the wilderness grow to be a city, having a popu- lation of many hundreds of thousands.
He was born in the second year of the present century, on the 28th day of August, at Pearis- burgh, Giles County, Virginia, and was a son of Jonas and Elizabeth (Mackenzie) Clybourn. His mother, with a sister, was stolen from their home near Pearisburgh, by the Indians in child- hood, but was afterward restored to her friends. While in captivity she married a trader named Clark; and her sister married John Kinzie, of whom extended mention appears elsewhere.
Archibald Clybourn lived on a Virginia farm until he attained his majority, enjoying the limited advantages of that period and region. On the 24th day of August, 1823, he arrived in Chicago, and soon afterward took a position in the store of John A. Kinzie at that point. In 1826 he was located on the Fox River, engaged in trade with the Indians. The next year, in com- pany with his brother, Henly Clybourn, he en- tered into a contract with the United States Government to furnish beef to its soldiers in this section, and for several years traveled over the
State and Northwest, buying up and driving in cattle with which to carry out this agreement. On one occasion, the Rev. Peter Cartwright, afterward celebrated as a pioneer preacher, was assisting him to drive in some cattle which Cly- bourn had purchased from Cartwright; and being provoked at the clergyman's clumsiness in hand- ling cattle, the frontiersman, with characteristic bluntness, assured the preacher that he would have to be a better herder of sinners than of cattle or he would never make his salt in the business. During the Black Hawk War, when thousands of settlers flocked to Fort Dearborn for protection, Mr. Clybourn drew heavily on his large flocks for the sustenance of the refugees, for which he never received any appreciable remuneration, and this liberality was all that avoided a famine in the little hamlet of Chicago.
After a short time Mr. Clybourn bought out his brother's interest in the beef contracts, which he continued to fulfill until the removal of the garrison from Chicago to Green Bay. He con- tinued extensively in the meat business at Chi- cago until his death, which occurred on the 23d of August, 1872.
In the course of his life Mr. Clybourn dealt con- siderably in real estate, and one of the principal North Side avennes is named in his honor. For a short period, at the time of the first settlements at Milwaukee, he was interested with Byron Kil- bourn in the site of that town, and one of its thoroughfares now bears his name, but he soon returned to Chicago. Mr. Clybourn took an active interest in the affairs of this city during its
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627
ARCHIBALD CLYBOURN.
formative period, and was called upon to bear his share in the conduct of local affairs. He served several years as a justice of the peace, being appointed in 1831 the first in Chicago, and was the first treasurer of Cook County. While Chi- cago was yet a precinct of Peoria County, he was made its constable, and later served as trustee of the school section. In early life he was in polit- ical sentiment what was known as a Henry Clay Whig, was an ardent Abolitionist and was among the founders of the Republican party, which he lived to see in possession of all the departments of the National Government; and was able to rejoice with many others in the emancipation of the American slave. In religious faith he was a Uni- versalist, and was one of the organizers of Saint Paul's Church of that denomination in Chicago. He helped to build Baptist and Methodist churches, and in every way sustained his part in developing the moral, as well as the material, wel- fare of his home city. In the memory of the pioneers of Chicago he has ever been cherished as one of her most upright and worthy citizens. .
Jonas Clybourn was descended from one of the founders of the American Nation, Capt. Will- iam Clayborne, a member of the council and secretary of the colony of Virginia. Captain Clayborne was the first to settle on lands now within the State of Maryland, and contested the - possession of Kent Island, in Chesapeake Bay, with Lord Baltimore. From him are descended all bearing the name, which has undergone sev- eral changes in spelling, being often written Clai- borne, as well as Clybourn, in America. The Magazine of Western History says: "Coming of this stock on his father's side, Archibald Clybourn inherited in addition, from his mother, a love of the broad, grassy plains, the hills and dales, the riv- ers and lakes, of the far West with which she had become acquainted in childhood and young wo- manhood. The acquaintance was not made under the most favorable circumstances, it is true, but the natural beauty of the country had ap- pealed to her in the midst of her savage surround- ings." After eighteen years of captivity-1777 to 1795-she was restored by the treaty of Wayne to her parents and friends, and was married in
her native Virginia to Jonas Clybourn. At the time of her capture by predatory Shawnees, her mother, brother and older sister and a baby were killed. The father and a brother were at the time at a fort in quest of protection for the settlers.
Archibald Clybourn was one of the three origi- nal white settlers of Chicago. The first was John Kinzie, who married Clybourn's aunt while she was in Indian captivity, and who came to Chicago in 1804. Following him was Gurdon S. Hubbard, who arrived in 1818 and engaged in trade with the Indians. The story of Clybourn's journey to Chicago is thus interestingly told by the same writer quoted above-Mr. Howard Louis Conard: "Accepting from his father a pres- ent of one hundred dollars in money and a horse, he left his Virginia home on the 23d day of May, 1823. He had determined to make the trip to Fort Dearborn on horseback, and the journey which commenced when he turned his back on the place of his birth was a long and tedious one. After leaving Chillicothe, Ohio, his course lay through an almost unbroken wil- derness until he reached the open, prairie coun- try. There were no roads and in many places no well-defined trails to be followed, and his progress was necessarily slow. For hundreds of miles he traveled through a country-almost as thickly settled now as New England-in which there was not to be found so much as a settler's cabin. When he laid down at night it was with no other shelter than the starry canopy overhead, while for protection against wild animals and savages alike he could only rely upon the rifle, which was always at his side. The same trusty rifle fur- nished him the means of subsistence, which con- sisted of the game shot from day to day and cooked in the most primitive fashion over a camp fire." Two years later he induced his parents to come to Chicago, with the entire family. "Jonas Clybourn, the father, was a sturdy old Virginian, who had served his country in the War of 1812, fought Indians in his boyhood and early man- hood, and felt quite at home among the natives of the prairie region. * * Mrs. Clybourn found herself in a familiar locality. Twenty-five years
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