Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, Volume 1899, Part 61

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 61

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).

The late President Garfield, Quartermaster General Meigs, Major Generals Ord, Palmer, and others, addressed the war department, recom- mending the higher promotion of Ducat, but the lack of influence at headquarters, together with his own indifference regarding promotion, seemed to prevent him from receiving appointments to higher commands. He was always fully con- tented in any capacity in the army to which he was appointed.

Soon after the close of hostilities, the Home In- surance Company, of New York, appointed him to superintend its business in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, and shortly afterward he became its general agent in Chicago. His career as an act- ive underwriter was eminently successful, his popularity and acquaintance throughout the West being of great advantage to his employers. The firm of Ducat & Lyon, of which he was the head, carries on a general fire-insurance business. The business under his control has always been successful and profitable. One of the standard works of America is "Ducat's Practice of Fire Underwriting," which he brought out in 1857.

Before the great fire he was chairman of the committee that organized the celebrated Fire Insurance Patrol of Chicago. He remained

chairman of the Patrol Committee five years after the fire, and infused into it the esprit du corps and military spirit that have characterized it and brought about the extension of the fire limits to be co-extensive with the city limits -an important work, adroitly managed in the face of great opposition. He was chairman of the committee which framed the new building law after the great fire, and, in conjunction withi Frederick Baumann, wrote the most elaborate and well-digested building law in this or any other country. The Board of Local Fire Under- writers was organized on the basis of his recom- inendation, in the capacity of committee for that purpose, to which position he was appointed soon after the great fire.

In 1873 there was a movement in Illinois to re- organize the National Guard of the State. The advice of General Ducat on this subject was sought, and the military code upon which the present efficient Guard was organized is the prod- uct of his brain and pen, for which he was made major general and its commander. In 1886 he was elected commander of the Illinois Comman- dery of the military order of the Loyal Legion. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Re- public, and of the Masonic order, being identified with Apollo Commandery, Knights Templar; and a member of the Chicago Club. He was always a staunch Republican, thoughi never a candidate for civil office. He was married to Miss Mary Lyon, daughter of William Lyon, Esq., of Bedford, Pennsylvania. Her death occurred in Chicago, October 26, 1890, at the age of forty- three years. In 1892 he was married to Miss Alice Jane Soutar, daughter of P. J. Soutar, an eminent lawyer of Dunfermline, Scotland. Six of General Ducat's children survive. Arthur C., Jr., a graduate of West Point, is a lieutenant in the United States Army; Kate, the second child, is the wife of C. P. Stivers, of Chicago; and Mary, Reginald, Elizabeth and Alice complete the family, whose members are communicants of the Episcopal Church, in which General Ducat was reared. The latter died January 29, 1896, at his home in Downer's Grove.

418

DANIEL WARREN.

12 ANIEL WARREN, one of the pioneers of Illinois, deserves more than passing notice in this record. He was the representative of one of the oldest American families, which will always live in history because of the brave general who lost his life at the battle of Bun- ker Hill. Daniel Warren was a successful busi- ness man, who came West to embrace the op- portunity to secure a large landed estate at small original outlay. He was a native of Massachu- setts, born about 1780, near Concord, the scene of the first conflict of arms in behalf of colonial in- dependence and American liberty.

In early life, Mr. Warren went to western New York, and opened the first store in Fredonia, Chautauqua County, that State. He afterward lived about fourteen years in Westfield, same county. While a resident of New York, he be- came acquainted with the Naper brothers, who settled the present prosperous town of Naperville, in Du Page County, Illinois. Naturally, when he decided to locate in the West, he called upon them, at their Illinois home, and at once found a satisfactory location about halfway between Na- perville and the present town of Warrenville. This was in the spring of 1833, while Chicago was scarcely thought of as a city, and certainly, its present marvelous development undreamed-of by the wildest speculator on human destiny. In a few years, Mr. Warren sold out his claim and moved to the present site of Warrenville, where he built a sawmill and laid out a town. He also secured nearly a section of land, and made farni- ing his principal industry until advancing years caused his retirement from active life. In all his undertakings, he was assisted by his only son, Col. J. M. Warren, a sketch of whom will be found elsewhere in this volume. The father

passed away at his home in Warrenville in 1866, aged eighty-six years.

Nancy Morton, who became the wife of Daniel Warren, and the mother of a son and seven daughters, was born in Orange, Worcester Coun- ty, Massachusetts, on the ninth day of February, 1785. When nine years old, she went with her parents to Madison County, New York, and was the favorite companion of her brother, Rev. Sal- mon Morton, a well-known pioneer clergyman of western New York. That she was a woman of refinement and graces of mind is shown by the character of her daughters, several of whom be- came ornaments of Chicago society. The pio- neers were largely dependent upon their own re- sources for amusement and culture, and the youth of the time were fortunate whose parents brought educated and refining influences with them. Mrs. Warren took a keen delight in the lives of her offspring, and lived to a great age, retaining her faculties to the end, which came February 4, 1873, and she was buried on the eighty-eighth anniversary of her birth.

Following are the names of the children of Daniel and Nancy (Morton) Warren: Philinda, widow of P. H. Fowler, now in her- ninety-first year, residing at Warrenville; Louisa, married Frederick Bird, and died at Rockton, Illinois; Julius Morton (see biography elsewhere in this volume); Sarah, wife of Abel Carpenter, died in Chicago; she was one of the first teachers in this city, in a select school; Harriet, Mrs. C. B. Dod- son, lived at Geneva, Illinois, where she died; Mary and Maria were twins, the former now re- siding in Chicago, being the widow of Jerome Beecher, and the latter died in the same city, while wife of Silas B. Cobb; Jane inarried N. B. Curtiss, a prominent business man of Peoria.

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF !!! INO'S

CHARLES C. P. HOLDEN.

· CI

MRS. C. C. P. HOLDEN.

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

419

C. C. P. HOLDEN.

CHARLES C. P. HOLDEN.

D HARLES C. P. HOLDEN was born at Gro- ton, New Hampshire, August 9, 1827. His father's name was Phineas H., and his mother, prior to her marriage, was Miss Betsey Parker. His genealogical record shows his earliest American ancestor to have been one Richard Holden, who, in 1634, with his brother Justinian, came from Ipswich, England, in the sailing-ves- sel "Francis," settling in the locality which after- ward became Watertown, Massachusetts. Mr. Holden's maternal grandfather was Lieutenant Levi Parker, a patriot who served in the army of the Revolution, taking part in the battle of Bun- ker Hill and not returning to his fireside until after the surrender of Cornwallis. He chanced to be with Washington at the time of Arnold's trea- son and Andre's capture, and served as one of the guards at the execution of the gallant British officer who was punished as a spy, and whose conspicuous bravery Lieutenant Parker sincerely admired.

Mr. Holden's father, with his family of nine children, came West in 1836, reaching Chicago June 30. With hired ox-teams he at once set out for the prairie, where he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of Government land, selecting as a location Skunk's Grove, on the "Sauk Trail," in the edge of Will County, thirty miles south of the future city. He was the first settler in that region, his nearest neighbor being two miles and a-half distant, and his children being compelled to walk three miles across the trackless prairie to receive instruction in the rude log hut which served as a schoolhouse.

Among such surroundings Charles rapidly de-

veloped great physical strength. When not more than ten years old he drove a breaking team of five yoke of oxen, his father holding the plow, and was able to do all that usually fell to the lot of farmers' boys in those early days. When he was fifteen, his father placed him in Sweet's gro- cery store, on North Water Street, near Wolcott, now North State Street, where for six months lie worked hard for his board. At the end of that time, however, his employer presented him with a pair of cassimere pantaloons, which the young clerk highly prized.

In the spring of 1847 his patriotic ardor, no less than his love of adventure, prompted him to en- list in Company F, of the Fifth Regiment of Illi- nois Volunteers, and after serving until the end of the Mexican War he was mustered out of serv- ice at Alton, Illinois, October 16, 1848. He immediately secured employment in the book store of A. H. & C. Burley, where he remained until March, 1850. On the 19th of that montli he joined a party which set out from Old Fort Kearney, Missouri, for California. The route was overland, and the pilgrims took up their weary journey with two teams. They reached Hangtown July 12 and at once began mining on the Middle Fork of the American River. Young Holden spent two seasons on this stream, pass- ing the second at Coloma Bar. In the fall ot 1851 he began farming and stock-raising at Napa Valley, which pursuits he followed until Decem- ber 1, 1853, when he turned his face eastward. He took passage on the steamship "Winfield Scott," bound from San Francisco for Panama, but the vessel was wrecked in a fog on the reef of Anna Capa Island, at midnight, December 2. As soon as the grinding of the ship's bottom on

* This sketch is taken from the "History of Chicago," by per- mission of the publishers Munsell & Co.

420

C. C. P. HOLDEN.

the rocks aroused the three liundred or more pas- sengers to a comprehension of their danger, they buckled on life preservers, promptly given them by the officers, and anxiously awaited their sup- posed fate. They recalled the doom of the ill- fated "Independence," which had gone to the bottom a few months before with four hundred souls on board. The officers of the "Winfield Scott" did their duty nobly, the furnace fires were promptly extinguished and the first boat- loads of impatient, terror-stricken voyagers were landed on the shelving rocks, which, however, seemed a veritable haven of refuge. The pass- age to these rocks was perilous, but every one was safely transported. The stranded passengers and crew, however, underwent torments of hun- ger and thirst upon a barren ledge until rescued, seven days after the wreck, by the steamship "California," which carried them to Panama. The "Scott" was abandoned to the pitiless buffet- ing of the elements and ultimately went to pieces. Neither cargo, express matter (except the money ), mail nor baggage was rescued. The destitute passengers made the best of their way across the istlimus and were taken to New York by the Pacific Mail steamer "Illinois," landing January 3, 1854. Mr. Holden returned to Chicago, reach- ing this city March 18, 1854, precisely four years (lacking one day) from the date of his departure.

The next important event in his life was his entry into the service of the land department of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, which occurred February 20, 1855.

Seven months later-on September 17, 1855 -he was married to Miss Sarah J. Reynolds, daughter of Isaac N. and Rue Ann Reynolds, of New Lenox, Will County, Illinois. Mrs. Hol- den was the granddaughter of Abraham Holder- man, of Holderman's Grove, Illinois, where he settled in 1830.

Mr. Holden has been a prominent figure in Illinois politics since 1858, when he went as a delegate from Chicago to Springfield to the Re- publican State Convention. The train that car- ried the delegation was decorated with a banner bearing the legend, "For United States Senator, Abraham Lincoln." It was after the adjourn-

ment of this convention that the great commoner uttered those memorable words:

"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this Government cannot endure per- manently, half slave, half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other."

Mr. Holden was elected a member of the city council in April 1861, he representing the old "fifth ward," and continued a member of the municipal legislature until December, 1872. Dur- ing his protracted term of service he had an eye single to the city's good. He worked as did few of his confreres, "public office" being, in his esti- mation, a "public trust." Measures of genuine improvement-not for his own ward, but looking to the benefit of all Chicago-found in him an ardent champion. The improvement of streets was one of his cherished hobbies, of which he never lost sight. In this connection due credit should be given to Mr. Holden's labors. The water supply received his thonghtful considera- tion, and it was largely through his efforts that the present system of abundant distribution through- out the city took its inception and received its im- pulsive force. While a member of the council lie was constantly agitating this question. He was the advocate of pure water, and plenty of it, for every man, woman and child within the corporate limits. Indeed had it not been for him and others like him, Chicago would have been, to-day, as poorly supplied with water as some of her sister western cities. It was through his persistent la- bor that the city authorized the building of the second tunnel under the lake, with its extension, besides the construction of the waterway ending at Ashland Avenne and Twenty-second Street.

As to Mr. Holden's influence in this regard, see proceedings of the common council for 1869 and 1870, pp. 87, 91, III, and page 690, Pro- ceedings 1868-9.

During the dark hours of the nation's history, Mr. Holden was conspicuously loyal. His vote, his voice and his efforts were always in support of the Union. His vote as a municipal legislator

421

C. C. P. HOLDEN.

was always in behalf of aiding the National Gov- ernment with men and money. In 1862 lie raised a company for the Eighty-eighth regiment of Illinois Volunteers, his brother, Levi P., being elected its captain. In 1864, when a draft was ordered in case the quota of troops allotted to Chicago was not furnished through voluntary en- listment, he determined that there should be no draft in his ward-the Tenth. He organized a "Ward Draft Association" and was chosen its president. The members worked with a will, and the sun of $51,912 was raised wherewith to pay bounties to volunteers, thus warding off what Mr. Holden was inclined to regard as a threat- ened disgrace. Mr. Holden furnished three rep- resentatives for his family for the army-Harris Durkee, for his wife; Frederick A. Hausmann, for his sister-in-law, Rowena P. Reynolds; and Alonzo C. Ide for himself.

His part in civic affairs has always been a prom- inent one. He was marshal of the city council on the occasion of the reception of the remains of President Lincoln on their way to their final rest- ing place at Springfield, and chairman of the com- mittee named to secure the attendance of General Grant at the great fair held at Dearborn Park, July, 1865. It was he who introduced the reso- lutions which were adopted by the council relative to Lincoln's funeral .*

At the time of the great fire of 1871, he was president of the council, and rendered valuable service in bringing order out of chaos and secur- ing succor for the destitute. A detailed account of his efficient work at that trying period inay be found in Andreas' History of Chicago, Vol. II, PP. 761-772.1 At the next municipal election both the great political parties-Republican and Democratic-placed Mr. Holden in nomination for the mayoralty, each also nominating a full ticket for the other city offices. But there was an element in the community which was of opinion that political considerations ought not to be re- garded at such a time, and in consequence a com- plete "citizens' " ticket, known as the "fire- proof," was nominated, containing the names of

Joseph Medill for Mayor and David A. Gage foi Treasurer. The "fire-proof" ticket was elected.

I11 1872, Mr. Holden was an elector on the Greeley ticket, but, with liis associates, went down in the political cyclone which swept the country in November of that year.

Previous to this-in March, 1869-Governor Palmer had appointed him a West Chicago Park Commissioner, and re-appointed him in 1871. He accepted the trust, and with his brother commis- sioners laid out the magnificent system of parks and boulevards which has so largely aided in building up the great West Side. He resigned from the board in 1878.

In 1873, he was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who for a lifetime had been his coun- sellor, his helpmeet, and the honored mistress of his happy home. She passed away July 26, after a lingering illness, and was laid to rest at Rosehill. It was a source of regret to both Mr. and Mrs. Holden that tlie latter's youngest sister, Rowena (who had been a member of the family since 1858), was not at home during this protracted sickness, she being absent on an extended tour through Europe and the Orient. An adopted daughter, Sarah J., remained to sustain him in his bereavement.

In February, 1873, Mr. Holden left the employ of the Illinois Central railway, after eighteen years' consecutive service, during which period he had aided in selling two million acres of the corporation's lands. He then took a prominent part in the construction of the Chicago & Illi- nois River Railroad, running from Joliet to Coal City, the charter and organization of which he virtually controlled; he disposed of his interest in this company, whose line ultimately became a part of the Chicago & Alton system.

In 1874, he was elected a County Commissioner, and July 4, 1877, as president of the board, laid the corner stone of the county court house. His investments in real estate proved fortunate, and he has erected several blocks, among them one at the corner of Monroe and Aberdeen Streets and another at Nos. 298 to 302 West Madison Street.

Mr. Holden's adopted daughter, Sarah J., was

* See Council Proceedings for 1866, p. 8. t See also Council Proceedings for 1871, pp. 346, 347.

422

W. B. PARSONS.

married, February 17, 1885, to Mr. George M. Sayre. and now resides at Elmira, New York. They have two children, Charles Holden and Gracie. Some three years later, July 11, 1888, he was married for a second time, his bride being Miss Thelena N. McCoy, daughter of Henry M. and Mary (Lakin) McCoy. She was born at Port Perry, Canada, where she received her schooling and musical education. Her mother died in 1879, and she being the eldest daughter, much fell to her lot in caring for the family, which consisted of her father, two brothers and three sisters. She bravely assumed the responsibility. The children were educated, and while caring for her household she was pursuing her musical and other studies. The western fever having seized her father, he removed with his family to South Dakota, where, in the winter of 1888, they passed through the terrible blizzard that scourged the Dakotas, and where he is now living a quiet life with his second wife, in Mitchell, of that State.

Thelena, who had in previous years met Mr. Holden, was married to him July 11, 1888, and accompanied him to their cozy home in Chicago. Her brother Charles, with his wife and three children, lives in Rapid City, South Dakota. Her brother George and wife reside in Hart, Michi- gan. Her eldest sister, Addie, married Dr. J. H. Reed, of Lansing, Michigan. Her sister Nettie

married Dr. T. Allen, of Garnett, Kansas; and Emma, her baby sister, who was always Mrs. Holden's favorite and especial charge, was mar- ried to Mr. Lu Newman, of Chicago, in 1888. She died December 1, 1893. Mrs. Holden is of a very domestic nature, and strives to make their home pleasant. It is adorned with much of her own work, she being handy both with the brush and needle, as is clearly shown in their domestic home, which is on the great West Side in this city.

Mr. Holden's mother passed away September 23, 1869, and his father February 23, 1872. They died on the farm they had located in 1836. His sister Mary E. (Mrs. J. W. Freer) died November 28, 1845, and his sister Sarah Ann C. February 13, 1847.

In his social relations he is a member of sev- eral well-known organizations, among them the Illinois State Association of Veterans of the Mexican War, the Sons of the American Revolu- tion, the California Pioneers' Association of Chica- go, the Old Settlers' Society of Cook County and the German Old Settlers' Association. By the latter organization he was presented with a gold medal in 1888. At the age of sixty-seven, Mr. Holden still retains his mental and physical faculties un- impaired, hale and hearty in his declining years, one of the distinguished products of Chicago's cosmopolitan influence.

WILLIAM B. PARSONS.

ILLIAM BOSTWICK PARSONS, a for- mer citizen of Chicago, now deceased, is well worthy of a place in the columns of this work, on account of his family connections, his precocity as a child, his ability as a student, and the part which he took in the legal profession and in business. He was born at Burlington, Vermont, on the last day of the year 1833, and was the son of Judge Sylvanus Parsons, a promi- nent citizen and scion of one of the old families of New England.

As a youth he was quiet and studious, much preferring the company of books to the society of other children, and so rapid was his progress in the acquisition of an education that he not only completed the primary studies incident to prepa- ration for college, but mastered Latin and Greek, which he taught in Spalding's School at Barre, Vermont, at the age of thirteen years. Entering Dartmouth College when a mere lad, he made a brilliant record as a student in that institution, and graduated third in his class, the most of

423

WILLARD SCOTT, SR.

whose members were several years older than he. His subsequent career showed that the teachings of this old and honored institution-the alma mater of Daniel Webster and a host of other emi -. nent statesmen, lawyers, orators and men of other professions-were not lost upon him.

At the completion of his college course, stirred by the same spirit which has caused the migration from New England of thousands of her worthy sons, who have contributed in a great measure to people the West, build up our interests and shape the destiny of the Nation, and full of love for the free institutions for which his ancestors had per- iled their lives in the great struggle for freedom, he decided to cast his lot with the liberty-loving people of Kansas, who were then in the throes of that mighty moral struggle which preceded the War of the Rebellion. Settling in Coffee Coun- ty, the young lawyer engaged in the practice of his profession and soon rose to a prominent place at the bar, and was honored by being elected County Attorney. The outbreak of the Civil War interfered with the practice of the law and stirred his patriotism. He volunteered at an early date, as a private in a Kansas regiment, and served out the term of his enlistment, after

which he re-enlisted and was appointed to a place in the Paymaster's department, where he served until the close of the war. Returning to Kansas, he was again elected attorney of his county. .

After spending several years in the profession and acquiring prominence as a lawyer, declining health compelled him to abandon the practice, and he sought a higher altitude and new em- ployment in the mountain districts of Colorado, where he was engaged in mining enterprises until the year 1882. At the latter date he came to Chicago and retired from active life. He died here January 31, 1885.

On the 12th of November, 1861, William B. Parsons and Julia W. Kinzie were united in wed- lock at Burlington, Kansas, the home of Robert A. Kinzie, the pioneer of Chicago, whose biogra- phy appears in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Parsons were the parents of three children, namely: Rob- ert Wilkins, now a resident of Chicago; William Guy, cashier of the United States Rubber Com- pany, of New York; and Frank Kinzie Parsons, who is a stock-raiser in Montana. Mrs. Parsons survives her husband, and occupies a responsible position in the Chicago postoffice, which she has held for twenty years.

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 61

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