Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, Volume 1899, Part 72

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 72

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The gentleman whose name heads this record , was in his tenth year when the family located in Chicago. The house built by his father in 1844 on Curtis Street is still standing. Pleasant Amick,

494

H. T. BYFORD.

his wife, and afterward two of their children, at- tended the Scammon School on Madison Street, the first free-school building in the West Division, of which Prof. A. D. Sturtevant was the Principal, and Pleasant was afterward a pupil in Gleason's Academy. At the age of fifteen he became a clerk in a grocery-store on Clark Street owned by J. B. Doggett, with whom he continued until 1855, when lie embarked in business for himself as a member of the firm of Leybourn & Amick, grocers. In 1859, they sold out, and during the war Mr. Amick served as enrolling officer under Col. William James, of Chicago. In 1864, he was elected Tax Collector for the West Division, on the same ticket with Abraham Lincoln, and served two years. In 1866, he embarked in the real- estate business, which he has followed almost con- tinuously since, being considered one of the best judges of real-estate values in the city. During the three succeeding years he served as City As- sessor, and in 1880 and 1881 he was Assessor of the Town of West Chicago. For fourteen years

he was in the tax department of the West Division, serving in various capacities.

On the 15th of November, 1854, Mr. Amick was joined in wedlock with Julia S. Bishop, a na- tive of Lewis, Essex County, N. Y., and to them have been born three children: Frank S., a real- estate dealer of Chicago; J. Stella; and Mamie, who died at the age of three and a-half years.

Mr. Amick was reared in the faith of the Bap- tist Church, but now holds membership with no religious organization. He is a member of Columbian Lodge No. 819, A. F. & A. M., of Lawndale, and in politics he has been a stalwart Republican since the organization of the party. He is a gentleman of genial and pleasant manner, has an extensive acquaintance among the earlier settlers of Chicago, and feels a keen and abiding interest in their early history. His long residence here makes him familiar with much of its devel- opment, and in the work of advancement he has ever borne his part.

HENRY TURMAN BYFORD, M. D.

ENRY TURMAN BYFORD, M. D., Profes- sor of Gynecology in the College of Physi- cians and Surgeons of Chicago, and in the Chicago Post-Graduate Medical School, and of Clinical Gynecology in the Woman's Medical College of Chicago, and ex-President of the Chi- cago Gynecological Society, is a native of Evans- ville, Ind., born on the 12th of November, 1853. He is the second and only surviving son of the late Dr. William Heath Byford, of Chicago, and Mary Ann Byford, his wife, the latter a daughter of Hezekiah Holland, a physician of Mt. Vernon, Ind., and sister of a physician, Andrew Holland.

Dr. William H. Byford, the pioneer gynecol- ogist of Chicago, was a man whose intelligence

and culture, extended observation and experience, fitted him to fully appreciate the benefits of edu- cation, proper environment and morality upon the young, and took such measures as afforded his sons ample opportunity to enjoy them and to pre- pare to enter one of the learned professions.

The subject of this sketch obtained in the pub- lic schools of Chicago his primary education, and at the age of twelve had completed a large portion of the public-school course. He then accompa- nied his elder brother to Europe, where he spent four years (1865-1868) in travel and study. At Berlin, he learned French and German, and also took a full regular classical course including Lat- in and Greek. It would seem that under the

495

H. T. BYFORD.

circumstances he would have labored under in- surmountable difficulties in competition with the pupils of native birth, but at graduation he took prizes in divinity and also in German composition.

Upon his return to the United States, Dr. By- ford matriculated in the University of Chicago, where he contemplated taking higher honors in the classics; but discovering a preference for the sciences, he entered the scientific department of Williston Seminary in East Hampton, Mass., from which he was graduated in the year 1870. En- tering the Chicago Medical College, he took a three-years course, which he completed in 1873, graduating as valedictorian of his class. It is a matter worthy of remark that the college records show that he was marked one hundred per cent. in all branches of medicine taught, except diseases of the eye and ear, which at that time did not re- ceive so much attention as at the present date. During his second year he attended the lectures and demonstrations given to the senior class, and at the end of the year passed a successful exami- nation in all branches and fairly won the position of interne in Mercy Hospital.

The serious illness of his brother in Louisiana requiring Dr. Byford's presence there, interrupted his hospital course, and prevented his delivering the valedictory address to his class at graduation. Although absent from the commencement exer- cises, his extraordinary proficiency and excep- tional standing were distinctly recognized by the faculty, which granted him his degree of Doctor of Medicine without examination, a very unusual act, but one which the circumstances of the case fully justified. One condition was attached to the granting of the degree, and that was that the young graduate, then hardly twenty years of age, should not enter the active practice of medicine un- til he had attained his majority. This was done out of regard for the ethics of the profession, which does not encourage the practice of medicine by minors, however proficient.

The interim between graduation and the attain- ment of his majority was spent by Dr. Byford in at- tendance upon his brother in Colorado, where lie had the satisfaction of seeing him recover. Declin- ing his father's proffered partnership, the young

physician thought it best to begin professional life independently, and associated himself with his col- lege friend, Dr. J. A. St. John, opening an office in one of the less fashionable districts of the city. The brilliant promise of future success which had appeared in the student was fully realized in the practitioner. He was energetic, competent, pop- ular, and successful from the first. In 1879, he visited Europe a second time, and for a year and a-half devoted his time about equally to study in the hospitals and travel for pleasure.

On his return to Chicago, Dr. Byford associated himself with his father, and directed his attention principally to obstetrics and the diseases of women and children, working steadily toward his life ob- ject-the diseases of women and abdominal sur- gery. Although busy with his private practice he has not spent his whole time therein. He has been Curator in the museum of the Chicago Medi- cal College, lecturer on diseases of children in the' Chicago Medical College, and lecturer on obstet- rics in Rush Medical College. These positions, however, were relinquished on account of their requiring time that he could not spare from his favorite study and specialty. In December, 1888, he received the appointment to the chair of Gynecology in the Chicago Post-Graduate Medi- cal School, of which he is one of the founders; and the following year he was chosen Professor of Clinical Gynecology in the Woman's Medical College, and upon the death of A. Reeves Jack- son, in 1892, was elected Professor of Gynecology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chi- cago. He has also been Gynecologist to St. Luke's Hospital for several years past and surgeon to the Woman's Hospital. He is a member of the American Medical Association, Illinois State Medical Association, of the American Gynecolog- ical Society, of the Chicago Medical Society, the Chicago Gynecological Society (of which he was President in 1887), of the Chicago Academy of Medicine, and the Chicago Medico-Legal Society.

Dr. Byford is known throughout the United States as one of the most original and progressive men in his specialties, and has originated a num- ber of operations which have been approved and adopted by medical practitioners generally.

496

J. A. MACK.

Among these are inguinal suspension of the blad- der, shortening of the sacro-uterine ligaments, bi- lateral anterior elytrorrhaphy, subcutaneous peri- neal tenotomy and the vaginal fixation and vaginal drainage of the stump in abdominal hysterectomy. Not only surgical operations, but also surgical instruments, have been the objects of Dr. Byford's study, and of these latter he has originated many new forms of greater utility than their predeces- sors that are in daily use and called by his name. As a clinical and didactic lecturer he has been very successful, and as a writer on medical topics is able and voluminous. He was one of the edi- tors of "Byford's Diseases of Women," a treatise originally by his father, one of the authors of the

"American Text Book of Gynecology," and also of "A Treatise on Diseases of Women, by Emi- nent American Teachers."

While in Paris, Dr. Byford was a student at the school of Julian, where he studied drawing of the human figure. From other artists of Europe he learned landscape-painting from nature, and now seeks recreation in the study of art and the treas- ures of literature.

On the 9th of November, 1882, Dr. Byford married Mrs. Lucy L. Richard, a daughter of Frederick Larned, who was a near relative of N. P. Willis. They have four children, Genevieve, Mary, Heath Turman and William Holland.

REV. JOSIAH AUGUSTUS MACK.

EV. JOSIAH AUGUSTUS MACK, Gen- eral Secretary and Manager of the Chicago Bible Society, was born in Gilead, Tolland, County, Conn., on the 4th of July, 1828, and is a son of Ela Augustus and Esther (Cone) Mack, who were also natives of Gilead, and came of old New England families. The father was adopted in his infancy by a man bearing the name of Mack, which became his surname, although his own father was named Gillette. The father of Mrs. Esther Mack, John Cone, was killed, dur- ing her childhood, by the accidental explosion of a cannon on one of the training days of the Con- necticut militia. E. A. Mack served as Captain of a company of militia, and made farming his oc- cupation through life. He died at the age of forty-six years, and his wife passed away in Chi- cago at the advanced age of eighty-seven. They came to Illinois in 1836, and the journey by way of the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes covered a period of six weeks. The family settled on a claim near the Fox River, in Kane County, after-

ward purchasing the land of the United States Government, and for several years they lived the typical frontier life. Later they removed to Ba- tavia, Il1.

Josiah A. Mack acquired his early education in the district schools, then the only educational in- stitutions. Afterward he attended a boarding- school in Batavia for several terms. At the age of eighteen he began clerking in a general store in Batavia, and three years later entered into part- nership with his uncle in the same business. After two years he yielded to the desire for Christian work and became agent for the Ameri- can Bible Society, and in that capacity labored in northern Illinois for three years. This occupa- tion gave him experience and training for public speaking and determined him to enter the Chris- tian ministry. A college course being out of the question, he took up the study of theology with Dr. William E. Merriman, who afterward became President of Ripon College, at Ripon, Wis.

After studying for one year, Mr. Mack was

497

REUBEN LUDLAM.

licensed to preach by the Elgin Association of Congregational Churches, and in 1839 he ac- cepted his first pastorate at Udina, Ill., where he was ordained by a special council, Rev. N. C. Clark preaching the sermon. He was later called to Plainfield, where he labored with growing suc- cess for four years. When the war broke out he took an active interest in organizing troops for the service, and during the struggle was sent to Helena, Ark., as a representative of the Christian Commission. There he engaged in Christian work among the soldiers and colored people. He spent some further time in the South for the ben- efit of his health, which had broken down under his labors at Peoria, in the First Congregational Church of that city. He held pastorates also at Moline and other points in Illinois, and in 1876 was called to his native town in Connecticut, where he served as pastor of the church for over six years.

In 1883 Rev. Mr. Mack returned to Illinois and became General Secretary and Agent for the Chi- cago Bible Society, in which service he continues. Under his management the receipts of the society have increased from $2,000 to $14,000 per annum. In 1889 the society was reorganized and special provision made for a Bible-work department, in which fifteen to twenty young women have been

employed, and the force is increased as fast as means justify. This work is undenominational, and the society is supported by benevolent con- tributions. It has been in existence for over fifty years, and is managed on the broad basis of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.

Mr. Mack was united in marriage in 1850 with Eliza Sophia Towne, a native of Troy. N. Y., and a daughter of Deacon Silvanus Towne, of Batavia, Il1. To them were born six children who grew to maturity. Emily Eliza, wife of George C. Clark, of Peoria, Ill .; Charles Augus- tus, pastor of the Congregational Church at Ran- toul, Ill .; Mary L., wife of Charles Alden Smith, Principal of the preparatory school at Lake Forest University; William Howard, of Philadelphia, Pa .; Fannie Cone and Rose C.

Mr. Mack has always taken an intelligent in- terest in political and other public interests, though he is not a partisan politician. Growing up among the people, and earnestly sympathizing with what- ever makes for good government and mutual con- fidence, he has cast his vote and given his influ- ence in ways promotive of these ends. His good judgment and conscientious labors have been of inestimable value to the cause with which he is identified, while his genial, pleasant manner has won him many warm personal friends.

REUBEN LUDLAM, M. D.

2 - EUBEN LUDLAM, M. D., one of the fore- most physicians, surgeons and medical writers in the Northwest, was born in Camden, N. J., on the 7th of October, 1831. His parents, natives of New Jersey, were descended from early Colonial immigrants. His father, Dr. Jacob W. Ludlam, an eminent physician, spent his earlier years in the East, but removed with his family to Illinois in 1856, and died in Evanston

in 1858, after a long life spent in alleviating the sufferings of humanity. His widow, Mrs. Mary Ludlamı, now eighty-six years of age, still resides in Evanston.

Reuben Ludlam's inherited tendencies and early 'training led him to follow in the professional foot- steps of his father. In his childhood he was ac- customed to accompany his father in his daily round of visits, and took great interest in the cases

498

REUBEN LUDLAM.

he saw. His studious habits and thoughtful na- ture caused his rapid advancement at school, and at the age of nineteen he was graduated from the old academy at Bridgeton, N. J., with the highest honors of his class. At the age of sixteen he be- gan the study of medicine in his father's office, and when qualified matriculated at the University of Pennsylvania (where his father had received his medical education), finished the curriculum, and was graduated therein in 1852. He had spent six years in preparation for the practice of his chosen profession.

Soon after receiving his diploma, Dr. Ludlam came to Chicago. He was a young man fresh from the influences of the regular or allopathic school of teachers, but he did not allow his train- ing or environment to overbalance his judgment, and after weighing the doctrines of Hahnemann, the great founder of homeopathy, with care and conscientious attention, he decided they were largely true and should be adopted. To renounce the teachings of those he had learned to re- spect for their great knowledge of the healing art was a matter that required a great effort, but, his mind once made up, he was equal to the effort, embraced the new theory of medicine and became a practitioner of the new school. In 1859, the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago was or- ganized, and he was chosen to fill the chair of physiology, pathology and clinical medicine therein. On account of the high degree of skill he showed in those branches, he was transferred, four years later, to the chair of obstetrics and the dis- eases of women and children. He was made Professor of the Medical and Surgical Diseases of Women a few years later, and elected Dean of the college faculty. In each of these capacities he rendered inestimable service, and his cheerful and attentive manner endeared him to all who came within the circle of his acquaintance. For twenty-five years he was Dean of the faculty, and resigned that place to become President of the college and hospital in 1891, which office he still holds.

From the first Dr. Ludlam gave very close at- tention to gynecology, and after exhausting the opportunities of this country he made four medi-

cal journeys to Enrope, where he spent some years in hard study and painstaking labor in order to make himself complete master of the subject. As might be expected from the man and from the ef- fort, his success was abundant and almost beyond belief. In the department of uterine surgery, his services in difficult operations are constantly in demand throughout the Northwest, and as a con- sulting authority his ability is recognized wherever he is known.

Dr. Ludlam was chosen President of the Amer- ican Institute of Homeopathy, the oldest National Medical Society in America, in 1869, and presided over its deliberations at Boston, and delivered the annual oration, entitled "The Relation of Wo- man to Homeopathy." He was also elected President of the Chicago Academy of Medicine, of the Illinois Homeopathic Medical Society, and the Western Institute of Homeopathy. In 1870, he was offered, but declined, the position of Physician in Chief of the Woman's Homeopathic Infirmary of New York City, and that of Professor of Obstet- rics and Diseases of Women and Children in the New York Homeopathic Medical College.

The confusion and almost total disorganization of mercantile and social functions that succeeded the great fire of 1871, made it necessary to or- ganize a Relief and Aid Society for attending the sick and homeless, who otherwise would have been left to suffer, and in many cases to die, for want of medical attention. Dr. Ludlanı was one of the physicans who with tireless gener- osity devoted their best efforts toward the relief of suffering without pay or hope of reward. In 1877 the State Board of Health was organized, and Gov. Cullom, recognizing Dr. Ludlam's fit- ness for the place, appointed him a member of the Board. He was twice re-appointed and his service extended over a period of fifteen consecutive years.

Although Dr. Ludlam is so well known as a physician and surgeon, it seems probable that he is best known, to the reading and professional world at least, as a writer. For six years, begin- ning in 1860, he was editorially connected with the North American Journal of Homeopathy, publish- ed in New York, and for nine years with the United States Medical and Surgical Journal, pub-

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

STEPHEN D. JONES.

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S. D. JONES

lished in Chicago. Since 1879, he has been edi- tor of the Clinique, a monthly abstract of the work of the Clinical Society and the Hahnemann Hospital. His paper entitled "Clinical Observa- tions Based on Five Hundred Abdominal Sec- tions," was one the most important contributions to this paper. I11 1871 his great work entitled "Clinical and Didactic Lectures on Diseases of Women" was published, and is now in its seven- teenth edition. It is an octavo of over one thous- and pages, employed as a text-book in all home- opathic colleges, and is an acknowledged author- ity among homeopathic physicians both in Ainer- ica and Europe. This work has been trans- lated into French, and has equally as high a standing among the physicians of continental Europe as among the English-speaking med- ical practitioners. In 1863, Dr. Ludlam brought out a volume entitled "A Course of Clinical Lectures on Diphtheria," which was the first work of a purely medical character ever pub- lished in Chicago and the Northwest. In 1880,

in return for the compliment paid him by the translation of one of his volumes into French, Dr. Ludlam rendered into English a valuable work by Dr. Jousset, of Paris, entitled "A Volume of Lectures on Clinical Medicine."

Dr. Ludlam has been twice married. His first wife was Anna M. Porter, of Greenwich, N. J., who died three years after her marriage. His second wife was Harriet G. Parvin. They have one son, Dr. Reuben Ludlam, Jr., a young man ot ability, whose education and habits have enabled him to be of assistance to his father in the perform- ance of his multifarious labors, as well as to estab- lish for himself an enviable reputation as a prac- titioner. Dr. Ludlam is an untiring worker, an enthusiastic student and an accomplished linguist. He is social and a very entertaining conversa- tionalist, whose fund of humor and anecdote en- riches his instructive familiar discourse. As a writer he is forceful, graceful and lucid, and as a physician he stands in the front rank.

STEPHEN DECATUR JONES.

TEPHEN DECATUR JONES, a worthy representative of one of the pioneer families of Cook County, now resides in Blue Island, where he is engaged in business as a dealer in con- fectionery, stationery, etc. This is the place of his nativity, for his birth here occurred on the 23d of October, 1846. His parents were Stephen and Martha (Crandall) Jones. His father, who was a native of Broome County, N. Y., born No- vember 5, 1806, died in Blue Island, June 14, 1851. His ancestors were early settlers of the Empire State, and took part in the War of the Revolu- tion. Mrs. Jones was born in Westford, Chit- tenden County, Vt., on the Ist of November, 1808, and died in Blue Island on the 5th of Au-

gust, 1890. Stephen Jones came to Blue Island in 1836, being one of three who in that year lo- cated there. He opened a wagon-shop, and car- ried on that line of business most of the time un- til his death. His wife came to Cook County in 1836, and the following year they were married. Three children of the six who were born of their union survived the period of infancy: Eda Ann, who was the first white child born in the village which is now her home; Stephen D. of this sketch; and Alice A., now the wife of C. A. Roberts, of Pasadena, Cal. The mother was one of the orig- inal members of the Universalist Church of Blue Island, and in many other ways the family was con- nected with the early history of this community.

500

J. P. YOUNG.

The gentleman whose naine heads this record was. reared and educated in his native town, and at the early age of sixteen years started out in life for himself. He began to earn his livelihood by working at the carpenter's trade, which he fol- lowed in this locality until 1868, when he went to Brushton, Franklin County, N. Y., where he engaged in farming. In 1872, he returned to Blue Island, and followed his trade until 1880, when he embarked in his present line of business. He earnestly desires to please his customers, and his courteous treatment and straightforward deal- ing have won him the confidence and respect of all.

On the 12th of September, 1871, Mr. Jones was joined in wedlock with Miss Martha Slate, daugh- ter of Charles P. and Ann (McElwain) Slate, of Bangor, N. Y. The lady, who was born in Ft. Covington, N. Y., April 24, 1849, was a member of the Universalist Church, and died in Blue Island,

December 17, 1893, at the age of forty-four years. In the family were five children, but two died in infancy. Those still living are Emma Alice, Asa Charles and Martha Lillian.

Mr. Jones was one of the original members of the Universalist Church of Blue Island, and has ever identified himself with those interests calcu- lated to improve the community and promote the general welfare. Socially, he is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Royal Arcanum and the Knights of the Maccabees. In politics, he was formerly a supporter of the Republican party, but now affiliates with the Democracy. For two terms he served as Clerk of Worth Township. He is a man of upright character, of a pleasant and accom- modating spirit and manner, and has the high re- gard of all who know him. He can recall many interesting reminiscences of the early days in Blue Island, and may well be numbered among her pioneer settlers.

JOSHUA PALMER YOUNG.

OSHUA PALMER YOUNG, au honored pioneer of Chicago and Blue Island, was born in Brockport, Monroe County, N. Y., on the 18th of March, 1818, and is a son of Eli M. and Temperance (Palmer) Young. Their family num- bered four children: Eli, a resident farmer of Brockport, N. Y .; William, who died in Morgan- ville, N. Y .; Joshua P. of this sketch; and Reu- ben, who died in Williamston, Mich. The father of this family was killed by a falling tree, when Joshua was about six years old, and his wife died several years later.

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Album of genealogy and biography, Cook County, Illinois, Volume 1899, Part 72

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