Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, Volume 1899, Part 54

Author: La Salle Book Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : La Salle Book Co.
Number of Pages: 910

USA > Illinois > Cook County > Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, Volume 1899 > Part 54

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In November, 1867, Mr. Darrow was married to Miss Susan C. Johnston, daughter of William Johnston, of Marshall, Michigan, an early settler of that place. Mrs. Darrow is also a sister of Col. Thomas W. Johnston, of the Second Mich- igan Cavalry, who was for some years subsequent to the war a resident of Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Darrow are the parents of five children, the two eldest sons being employed in connection with their father's business. Their names are: Will- iam H., Robert Lee, Zoe, Chrystal and Alexan- der H., junior.

Mr. Darrow is a member of the Illinois Club, the Masonic fraternity and Columbia Post, Grand Army of the Republic. He supports the Repub- lican party, though never an active politician. His life has been one of quiet, unostentatious industry and sobriety, and all who enjoy his ac- quaintance accord him the highest respect.

F. M. BUCK.

369

FRANCIS M. BUCK.

FRANCIS MARION BUCK. Among the self-made men of Chicago-that city em- bodying the most wondrous aggregation of human energy, perseverance and enterprise and their results-is found the subject of this notice. He was born on the 30th of July, 1855, in Ger- mantown, Tennessee, and is the second child of Edwin Gorum and Sophronia Melvina (Harrall) Buck. The family is an old one in America, of undoubted English origin, but little is now posi- tively known of the time of its planting here. Frederick Buck, father of Edwin G., was born in Pitt County, North Carolina, in 1793, and died in Henderson County, Illinois, in 1871. Edwin G. Buck was born January 31, 1823, in North Carolina, and his wife, October 12, 1830, in Ten- nessee. They were married in the latter State November 7, 1850. Only two of their nine chil- dren are now living, most of them having died from the effects of la grippe, and all having passed away within recent years. Following is the record of their birth: Cornelius, October 12, 1851, and Mary Ellen (now living, married), May 12, 1858, in Tennessee; Sarah M., Septem- ber 21, 1860, in Southern Illinois; Louisa D., May 15, 1864, and Etta S., October 18, 1866, in Henderson County, Illinois; Eddie, March 11, 1869, in Tecumseh, Kansas; Irvin, January 23, 1872, and Alice, March 25, 1874, near Topeka, Kansas. From Tennessee the father of this fam- ily removed to Illinois, living for a short time near Golconda, whence he removed to Henderson County, in the same State. In October, 1868, he moved to Kansas by team, and after living a short time in Tecumseh he took a homestead in Dover, near Topeka, where he now resides, at

the age of seventy-two years. His faithful help- meet and companion passed away in June, 1894, in her sixty-fourth year.

Francis M. Buck was in his ninth year when his parents came to reside near Oquawka, Illinois, and his education, as far as school attendance goes, was completed in the grammar school of that place before the removal of the family to Kansas. When he was about fourteen years old he left home and has since maintained himself. From a humble sphere of life he has risen to a position of great responsibility in the management of one of Chicago's largest enterprises. His father prophesied, on his leaving home, that, on account of his positive and determined character, he would either make a great success or a com- plete failure. His first employment was in a liv- ery stable in Topeka, where lie was engaged by Silas Rain. His first care was to make himself useful, and with such energy and tact did he pro- ceed that he was placed in charge of the barn at the end of two months, and remained in that po- sition over two years. Returning then to Hen- derson County he was employed by the month as a farm hand by Lewis Duke, of Rozetta, with whom he remained during the summer most of the time, until his removal to Chicago in Janu- ary, 1879. In the mean time he found employ- ment in winter in the village of Oquawka.

On his arrival in Chicago Mr. Buck began to look for employment, with varying success. In March, 1880, he engaged in the manufacturing department of the Western Toy Company, at $4.50 per week. Within three months his salary was raised to $7, and later to $10. In the mean time he purchased a membership in the night

370

F. M. BUCK.

school of the Bryant & Stratton Business College, and on resigning his position with the Toy Com- pany at the end of a year, he attended the day sessions of the business college for several months. His next engagement was with Sprague, Warner & Co., wholesale grocers, being placed in charge of their branch warehouse at 39 River Street, where he continued nearly a year. He now re- signed to engage in business on his own account. In partnership with H. Jaeschke, a practical butcher, he purchased a meat market at Division and Moore Streets, and immediately took charge of the business management, and in a short time built up from a small patronage a flourishing trade among the best people of the North Side. When his partner undertook to supply their cus- tomers with inferior meats, a dispute arose, and Mr. Buck withdrew from the firm, disposing of his interest at a handsome profit on his original investment.

When he took employment with the Chicago Telephone Company, Mr. Buck became associated with employers who soon recognized his ability and appreciated his conscientious efforts to suc- ceed. He was first placed in charge of its Amer- ican District Telegraph office at 515 Wabash Avenue, with four messengers, In nine months lie had so extended the business that it required eleven messengers, and he was then transferred to the main office of the district business, at 118 La Salle Street, with the position of assistant manager. His effort to improve the service here resulted in a strike of the messengers. This he speedily overcame, with the result that the serv- ice was improved and the business became at once more profitable to his employers. Soon after this he was appointed assistant superintendent of the American District Telegraph in Chicago, and after a few months general agent, in charge of all its contract work in the messenger, burglar- alarm and watch service. After discharging the duties of this position for a year, he was made contract agent of the Chicago Telephone Com- pany for the city of Chicago, and six months afterward his territory was extended to include its entire field of operations, reaching out about seventy-five miles in every direction from the city.

His responsibility was again extended, at the end of one and one-half years, when he was given en- tire charge of rates as well as contracts. Some idea of the growth of the business of this concern may be gained from the statement that when Mr. Buck became contract agent there were twenty- five hundred subscribers, while there are now more than ten thousand in the city alone. His practical experience in various subordinate posi- tions made him familiar with the remotest detail of the business, and he is now able to perform more work, and in a much more satisfactory man- ner at the same time, than one not having had the benefit of a similar training. In this connec- tion it may be mentioned that he was never dis- charged from any position which he undertook to fill, but has always made himself a useful and profitable assistant to his employers. He is an affable, genial gentleman, and always finds time to be courteous in the midst of a busy and re- sponsible life. He is a member of the Union League Club and the Art Institute, and a Deacon of the Englewood Baptist Church-one of the largest congregations in the city. In political strife he has usually acted with the Democratic party.

In August, 1880, Mr. Buck married Miss Nettie A. Russell, who was born in Dundee, Illi- nois, January 5, 1862. One child is the result of this union, born in April, 1881, and named Bessie Rue Rose Buck. Mrs. Buck's parents, Ruell D. Russell and Sarah A. Wilbur, were born, respect- ively, January 22, 1821, and May 11, 1837, and were married November 1, 1855. Mrs. Nettie A. Buck died April 15, 1886.

Mr. Buck was again married, this time, June 30, 1887, to Miss Mollie K. Duke, who was born at Rozetta, Henderson County, Illinois, June 4, 1864. Mrs. Buck's father, Lewis Duke, was born in England on the 30th of December, 1832, and her mother, Fannie King (Coghill) Duke, in Henderson County, Illinois, December 23, 1842.

The history of the Coghill family in England and America is an interesting and well-authen- ticated one. The founder, so far as the records show, was John Cockhill, who lived in the castle

371

JOHN NAPER.

of Knaresborough, in the County of York, during the reigns of Richard III. and Henry IV., between 1377 and 1413. Either he or his only heir changed the name to its present form, and it thus appears in all the records of marriages, baptisms and burials in Knaresborough Church. The records show a will, dated October 9, 1585, made by Thomas Coghill, of Tentergate, in the town- ship of Scriven, and parish of Knaresborough, who was the eldest son of Marmaduke Coghill. The family was prominent in military and naval affairs. Three fell in battle-one in Africa, one in Europe, and the third in America. One served with distinction in Asia, and another was vice- admiral on the high seas.

Benjamin C. Coghill, grandfather of Mrs. Buck, was born in Carolina County, Virginia, in 1826, and died in 1880. The records of the family, in his handwriting, show that a son of Thomas Cog- hill, Sr., left England in 1664 and settled in Essex County, Virginia, where he died in 1685. In 1764 a portion of Essex County became merged in Carolina County, Virginia, in which precinct the father and grandfather of Benjamin C. Cog- hill, William and Thomas Coghill, Sr., respect- ively, were prominent citizens. The children of Benjamin C. Coghill were Benjamin C., Millicent E., Fannie K. and J. W. Coghill. Mrs. Buck is a worthy descendant of her noble ancestors, and the congenial wife of a worthy husband.

JOHN NAPER.

OHN NAPER. If New Germany, like New England, is a part of America, surely its capital is not far from our chief metropolis, Chicago, in the fair state of Illinois. Like the early settlers Down East, most of our Teutonic citizens first come among us with limited means, but with a determined will to do and become something respectable, and often honorable. As a race very industrious, sober, healthy and in- telligent, they soon prove their right to enjoy in the highest sense the full responsibilities of Amer- ican freemen; we therefore frequently find those of the second and third generations have become some of our best educated, richest and most influ- tial leaders in both private and public life.

One of these early Germans was born at Han- over in the year 1814, his name being John Na- per, the subject of this sketch, who, as one of Chicago's early settlers, and the father of children who already have proven their abilities as repre- sentative citizens of the United States, is entitled

to have the worthiest facts of his useful life pre- served herein for the benefit of future genera- tions.

Mr. Naper's father was a Catholic, while his mother was a Lutheran. He himself. as often happens, finding his chief strength in the faith of his maternal ancestor, became a conscientious Lutheran, and was for long years preceding his death a member of St. Paul's Church of that denomination in this city.

Coming to America in 1842, he directly made his way to Chicago, and the following year con- summated a real-estate transaction which will suffice to keep his offspring in comfortable cir- cumstances for many years to come. It is hard for one, looking at Chicago as it is to-day, to fully realize the village (nothing more) which greeted the eyes of those earlier comers; and thereby hangs the circumstance which enabled those of foresight, within the span of a single lifetime, to become wealthy, by the simple method of holding

372

JOHN NAPER.

to a moderate piece of land. In the spring of 1843 Mr. Naper bought, for the very small price of $200, two-thirds of the block of real estate now in the center of activity upon the North Side, and within three squares of the great New- berry Library. It is situated between Rush and State Streets, and Walton and Delaware Places, but at that time was without highways, even without survey, being a portion of the old Canal Lands. This right he acquired from a Norwegian named Johnson, who had it direct from the Gov- ernment. Mr. Naper held it to the time of his death, when it was peaceably subdivided among his large family. A small part of it, at the south- west corner of Rush Street and Walton Place, is now occupied by that magnificent family hotel, The Majestic.

On this block, on the Rush Street side, in the '4os there was a district school, which at the end of that decade was done away with, and aside from a few still remaining building sites of choice property, the ground is now entirely built over with substantial residences.

Here Mr. Naper set up his humble home soon after his arrival in America, and he clung to it with all the tenacity of those home-loving people. His first home was on Rush Street; thence le re- moved to the Walton Place side, where he was burnt out by the big fire of 1871, after which he constructed at what is now No. 43 Delaware Place a neat frame residence, where his widow and some of his younger children at present reside.

In the earlier days there was less of class dis- tinction, more of common-sense, in men's rela- tions one with another; and so, although but a market-gardener, being an honest man, he was greeted with respect by many of our most famous men, such as Judge Skinner, Cyrus H. McCor- mick, J. Y. Scammon, John Kinzie, and others, who have, like Mr. Naper, now passed to their long home. Upon this block, Mr. Naper main- tained a well-regulated, valuable market-garden, and those whose tables were supplied from the produce of his lands knew they were getting the best and purest that careful husbandry could raise. He was a quiet, peaceable, honest, indus- trious citizen, of the sort of stuff that best befits

men who start in to build up a new country. A stanch Republican in politics, he never sought public life, though he left a son whose services have been conspicuous in the city's annals.

For about two years prior to his death, he was a quiet but excessive sufferer from that bodily scourge, gastritis. Resigned to the will of his Maker, he passed away on the 15th of October, 1882, and was interred in the family lot at Grace- land, overlooking the lake whose sounds were such music to him in life's struggles.

Mr. Naper was twice married; first, in 1843, to Anna Stuven, who came from Schauley, Ger- many (near the boundary of Holland) in that year, with her parents. They had three children, two of whom died in infancy, but Henry G. Na- per, born September 30, 1848, lived to grow to an honorable manhood, connected in various ca- pacities with the city government since he became seventeen years of age, having been Chief Permit Clerk in the Water Department at the time he was retired by Mayor Hopkins in 1894, after which he took a trip to California. He married, in 1876, Louise Deverman, of this city, by whom he has four children: Herbert J. (now in the senior class of the Chicago Manual Training School), George H., May A. A. and Erwin G.

Mr. Naper, Sr., married for his second wife Miss Augusta Catherine Dorothea Hufmeyer, a daughter of John Adam and Gertrude (Gang) Hufmeyer. She was born near Osnabruck, Han- over, and came to America with her parents when a little girl of only three years of age, first to Syr- acuse, but shortly to their future home, Chicago, where she was educated, and married to the sub- ject of this sketch on the 6th of March, 1850. Nine children blessed their happy wedded life, all but one of whom lived to be a comfort to their parents. John Adam was born June 7, 1851, became a bookbinder by trade, and has consider- able real-estate interests; he married Frederica Abel, July 4, 1889, by whom he has a pretty daughter, Mabel. Herman, born October 1, 1853, is yet a single man, and for long years has worked for "Uncle Sam" as letter carrier. Helen M., born April 1, 1856, married, October 19, 1886, Frank L. Smith, of this city, where he is employed as a

373

G. W. SPOFFORD.

soliciting agent, having been for a time Govern- ment Storekeeper in early days. Mary L. was the next: Lizzie J., born July 17, 1861, married, March 29, 1887, Charles E. Barmm, Ph. D., M. D., Professor of Chemistry, Toxicology and Urinalysis of the American Medical College, of In- dinapolis, Indiana. Louise W. died single, after she had grown to the flower of womanhood. Ed- ward J., born June 17, 1867, married, April 14, 1892, Anna M. Horn, of this city; he is a book-

keeper by occupation. Amelia B. is the youngest child.

On an opposite page will be seen the honest, kindly face of Mr. Naper, which will be viewed with a proud satisfaction by his descendants for many generations to come, as they turn to this dignified source of information to learn how their first parents in America made the beginning of future prosperity to unborn hundreds.

GEORGE W. SPOFFORD.

G EORGE WASHINGTON SPOFFORD, a well-known citizen of Chicago, was born in Peterborough, New Hampshire, August 9, 1831. He is a son of Ira and Miriam (Atwood) Spofford. The first authentic record of the Spof- ford family is found in the "Domesday Book," showing the allotment of lands in England to the followers of William the Conqueror in 1066. By that division this family was dispossessed of its lands, which were given to the Earl of Percy. Eleven generations of the family are traced in England, and among its members were very many prominent ecclesiastics, one of whom was Thomas Spofford, Lord Archbishop of York. The family coat-of-arms is still preserved, bearing the motto, "Rather deathe than false of faythe." Spofford Castle, in Yorkshire, is said to be the best pre- served ruin in England. The earlier generations were devout Catholics, but in 1554 Rev. Bryan Spofford, a contemporary of the Earl of Canter- bury, having married, refused to put away his wife and children in accordance with the edict of the church, and became a Protestant.

The first American ancestor was Rev. John Spofford, son of an Episcopalian minister, who came from Spofford, Yorkshire, and settled at Georgetown, Massachusetts, in 1634. The subject of this notice represents the eighth generation in America. His grandfather, Amos Spofford, served three years in the Continental army, entering the service at the age of fourteen years as a sub-

stitute for his father, who was drafted. When the family received notice of this conscription, a sheep was hastily shorn, and from the fleece his mother spun and wove cloth to equip him for this duty.

Ira Spofford, who was a stone-cutter and con- tractor, lived and died at Peterborough. While but a lad, he also entered the military service of his country, which was then engaged in the War of 1812. He was a relative of General McNeal, a prominent officer of that conflict, who afterward became Governor of Arkansas. Ira Spofford was a man of resolute character and stern convictions. In common with many of his relatives who re- sided in the South, he gave unswerving allegi- ance to the Democratic party, and could tolerate no deviation from its doctrines in his family. The names of Ira Spofford's children were Will- iam, Nancy (who was successively married to John Challis, Thomas Upton and Joseph Knowl- ton), Ira A., Nathan H., Miriam A. (Mrs. F. Farwell), George W., John L., Elizabeth (Mrs. Joseph Alexander), and twin brothers, Albert and Alvah. Of this family but three now survive.

Mrs. Miriam Spofford's father, Jeremiah At- wood, served for seven years in the Continental army, enlisting from Chester, Vermont. During this time he had no furloughs, and was constantly in the field. After the battle of Yorktown he was honorably discharged from the service, and started for his home on foot. There being no means of public conveyance, most of the veterans were

374

G. W. SPOFFORD.

obliged to travel in this way, and were heartily welcomed by the citizens whom they met along the way, and who were pleased to extend to them their best hospitality and hear the news from the seat of war. Among that number was Mr. At- wood's wife, whose maiden name was Bacon. All the returning soldiers who passed her door were kindly entertained, and when Mr. Atwood ar- rived, footsore and weary from his journey of several weeks, she failed to recognize him, but gave him the same kind and hearty welcome, at once providing him with a bountiful dinner, but was considerably surprised to find that he did not resume his journey after the repast. Her joy on discovering his identity can easily be imagined.

At the age of thirteen years, George W. Spof- ford left home and went to Boston in search of employment. He subsequently spent four years at Phillips Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire, with a view to entering Harvard University, and completed the freshman year at Exeter. He abandoned this purpose on account of failing eye- sight, and began the study of law in the office of Hon. Edward S. Cutler, of Peterborough, New Hampshire. This pursuit also proved too trying for his eyes, and, coming to Chicago in 1856, he accepted the position of Principal of the Foster School.

He acceptably carried this trying responsibility for fourteen years, retiring in 1871. Since that date he has devoted his attention chiefly to the management of his extensive real-estate interests. He had just completed a fine building at the southeast corner of Clark and Madison Streets when the fearful holocaust of 1871 swept over the city, annihilating the structure and causing a loss which at that time was a serious one. He recovered no insurance, but immediately built with borrowed capital the structure which now adorns that site. He has since erected a number of business blocks in the city, and is the present owner of considerable choice city and suburban property. Among these parcels is a fine farm near Wheaton, Illinois, dotted with several nat- ural groves and pretty little lakes.

For four years Mr. Spofford served as County

Commissioner, during which time he was Chair- man of the committee in charge of the county in- stitutions at Dunning. For some years past he has spent his winters in the South, where he has a number of relatives who are prominent public citizens, and has acquired an extensive acquaint- ance throughout that section of the Union. In the interests of the management of the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, he visited several Southern cities and secured their endorse- ment of this undertaking.

In 1859 Mr. Spofford was married to Miss Hannah M. Morrison, daughter of Orsemus Mor- rison, a well-known pioneer of Chicago, whose biography will be found on another page of this volume. Mrs. Spofford was born at the corner of Clark and Madison Streets, and has become the mother of five children, three of whem passed away in childhood. The others are Percy and Florence M., the latter a graduate of Ogontz Seminary, near Philadelphia. Mr. and Mrs. Spofford are leading members of the Seventh Presbyterian Church of Chicago, and move in the best social circles. Mr. Spofford is identified with the Menoken and Ashland Clubs, and is prominent in the Masonic fraternity, being a member of National Lodge, York Chapter, St. Bernard Commandery and the Mystic Shrine. Having been reared in the atmosphere of Dem- ocracy, he cast his first Presidential vote for James Buchanan, but, upon the opening of the Civil War, he became a stanch Republican, al- though he incurred the displeasure-amounting almost to enmity-of his father and most of his family by so doing.

When Mr. Spofford first came to Chicago the ground now composing Garfield Park, opposite his present residence, was worth but $9 per acre, and the present value of many other portions of the city real estate was proportionally unforeseen. He has seen Chicago successively become the ri- val of Milwaukee, Detroit, Cincinnati, St. Louis and New York. He is one of its most loyal citizens, considering it one of the most auspicious fields of investment in the Union, with nearly every part of which he is familiar.

OF THE L."""VERSITY OF ILLIN";)

Elliott Anthony

ELLIOTT ANTHONY.

375

ELLIOTT ANTHONY, LL. D.

LLIOTT ANTHONY, LL. D. In the ca- reer of Judge Anthony, who for twelve years honored the Bench of Chicago, the ambitious attorney may read the way to honor and success. He was born in Spafford, Onondaga County, N. Y., June 10, 1827, and is descended from Quaker ancestors, who early located in New Eng- land. Many of the members of the family ac- quitted themselves with credit as soldiers and officers of the Continental army. It was early in the seventeenth century that Judge Anthony's progenitor located in Rhode Island, whence his grandfather moved soon after the Revolution to Washington County, N. Y. Almost at the same time, his maternal grandfather went from Ver- mont to the same locality. Isaac Anthony, father of the subject of this biography, was born on Rhode Island, eight miles from the island of New- port, and early imbibed the hatred of British ag- gression which had been handed down by his father, on account of the abuses heaped upon him and others at the time the English and Hessian forces occupied Rhode Island during the Revolu- tion. While residing in Cambridge, Washington County, N. Y., he met Miss Parmelia Phelps, a scion of an old New England family, and their acquaintance led to mutual affection and marriage. Isaac Anthony's mother was a member of the noted Chase family, which has given to the United States a famous Chief Justice. Shortly before the birth of Elliott, he moved to the south- western part of Onondaga County, where he en- tered upon the work of clearing a farm. With such energy did he carry out this undertaking that he came to be the foremost and most success- ful farmer of all that region.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, Volume 1899, Part 54

Author: La Salle Book Company (Chicago, Ill.) Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : La Salle Book Co. Number of Pages: 910

Author: La Salle Book Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : La Salle Book Co.
Number of Pages: 910