USA > Illinois > LaSalle County > Biographical and genealogical record of La Salle County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 34
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be truthfully said to its credit that workmen have been well paid for their labor and have been in more than one way shown consideration. Among the laborers employed no strike was ever inaugurated.
In 1881 the company began the manufacture of sulphuric acid. and in this department of the business wonderful progress has been achieved and an immense volume of profitable business transacted. The zinc ore is brought principally from Missouri. First, it is desulphurized in the acid works, where tons of acid are made daily. Then the process of smelting takes place, and many tons of spelter are produced each day, and rolled in the rolling-mills into sheet zinc. The first street railway in LaSalle, which was nominally owned by an independent company, was really an appendage to the zinc works, Messrs. Matthiessen and Hegeler paying a certain sum annually for the use of the tracks for the purpose of conducting freight to and from the works.
The zinc company was incorporated in 1871, Messrs. Matthiessen and Hegeler holding the greater part of the stock, the latter president and the. former secretary.
Mr. Matthiessen has been and is connected with and interested in sev- eral other business enterprises. He was interested in the LaSalle Pressed Brick Company and now has interest in the Western Clock Manufacturing Company, of LaSalle. In the growth and development of LaSalle no other citizen has taken greater interest than has he. The city owns a fine electric light plant and water works system, which was gained through the gener- osity of Mr. Matthiessen, who purchased and gave them to the city. Educa- tional facilities in LaSalle have been increased through his manifested inter- est and efforts, assisted by other progressive citizens. From 1887 to 1897, a period of ten years, lie served as mayor of the city, and declined further election to this office.
In his personal relations Mr. Matthiessen is unostentatious and con- siderate. In business affairs, to his foresight and sagacity, his extraordinary success may well be attributed. His has been a business career well rounded with success.
In 1864 Mr. Matthiessen married Fannie Clara Moeller, in Mineral Point, Wisconsin.
JOHN NICHOLSON.
It is always a pleasure to see true merit suitably rewarded, to behold the prosperity of those who eminently deserve it, as does the subject of this review. At an early age he learned one of the great lessons of life, that there is no "royal road" to wealth, and as he was not above work he toiled
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industriously until he won not only a snug little fortune, but also the esteem and confidence of the people with whom he has been associated for many years. Work, the true friend of mankind, has developed his latent resources and brought out the strong, self-reliant force of his character.
John Nicholson of this sketch bears the same Christian name as did his two grandfathers. His father's father, a carpenter, was born near the village of Lowder, Westmoreland, England. and passed his entire life there, dying at an advanced age, as did also his wife. They were the parents of four children. John Moffatt, the maternal grandfather, was born, lived and died in England, and for nearly seventy years was actively engaged in the milling business. He had several children, only one of whom was a son. He was signally a patriarch at the time of his death, as he had seen about ninety winters ere he was summoned to his reward.
The parents of our subject were John and Elizabeth (Moffatt) Nichol- son, natives of England. The father pursued his calling, that of shoe- making, in the English isle until 1860, when he crossed the Atlantic, accom- panied by his wife and a daughter. He came to Lowell, LaSalle county, where he lived retired until his death about five years later, when he was in his sixty-seventh year. He was survived about eight years by his widow, and four of their seven children have also passed to the better land. John, William, and Elizabeth, Mrs. Joseph Warner, are all living in Lowell. The. parents were devout members of the Episcopal church.
John Nicholson was born in Westmoreland, England, April 10, 1831, and when he was fourteen years old he was apprenticed for a term of seven years to the miller's trade. Having thoroughly mastered this calling, he pro- ceeded to devote his energies solely to this line of business until he retired some ten years ago. In 1855 he came to the United States, and at once located in Lowell, where he has dwelt for the long period of forty-four years. During the first two years, he worked in the mill here at a small salary, after which he grew more ambitious and rented the mill himself, running it with very fair success from the beginning. Later he purchased the mill property and in time bought some excellent farm land. The story of his business career may be briefly summed up as follows: He was honest and just in all of his transactions, courteous and accommodating to his patrons, and strictly reliable and punctual always. He still owns three hundred and seventeen acres of land and several substantial residences in Lowell. For nearly twenty years he served as a school director, and for five years he was the supervisor of this township. Politically he is rather independent, but in national elections usually favors the Democratic party.
In September, 1863, Mr. Nicholson married Miss Martha, daughter of Benjamin Huss. They have three children-a son and two daughters.
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Alvin W. married Cynthia Haldeman, and has six children, namely: Ralph A., Alice V., Vincent R., J. Allen, Edna L. and Elmer Dewey. Mar- garet Nicholson is unmarried and resides with her parents, and Harriet is the wife of Joseph Dodd, of Farwell, South Dakota. In their religious faith, Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson adhere to the creed in which they were reared, the Episcopalian.
BRUCE C. MILLER.
Bruce Clawson Miller, a successful agriculturist of Eden township, LaSalle county, has been the architect of his own fortunes, as he started out in the battle of life empty handed and by the exercise of his native powers has won an honored place and an assured competence for his later years.
The parents of our subject, Seymour and Polly (Clawson) Miller, were natives of New York state. They had four children, but one son and one daughter have died and only Bruce C. and Dwight, of Prattsville, New York, survive. The mother died when our subject was a small boy, and the father subsequently married her sister, Lydia, and had one child by that union. After her death he wedded Harrict Goodsell, and in his old age, as death had once more deprived him of a companion and helpmate, he mar- ried Mary Goodsell, a sister of his third wife. He was of Irish descent, and his father, John Miller, a farmer, was born in New York state. He passed his entire life there, dying when upward of three-score and ten years. The father of Mrs. Polly (Clawson) Miller also was born in the Empire state and followed agriculture as a means of livelihood. Seymour Miller learned the carpenter's trade, which he pursued to some extent, later managing a farm and running a hotel. His whole life was spent in Greene county, New York, the place of his birth, and he reached the age allotted to man, three-score and ten. He was a conscientious, upright man and was a worthy member of the Baptist church.
The birth of Bruce C. Miller took place in Greene county, New York, July 24, 1836. He remained with his father, working on the farm and in the hotel, until he had reached his majority. Desiring to locate permanently in the west, he came to Illinois in 1862 and for some time worked for a farmer in the vicinity of Tonica. At length he had saved sufficient capital to buy a farm of eighty acres in Livingston county, but this being in the nature of an investment, he did not go there to live. A few years later, he rented a homestead in LaSalle county, selling the other place, and at the end of seven or eight years he purchased his present farm of one hundred and fifty acres, which he had previously leased for three years. In time he added another tract of forty acres to his original farm, but this property he
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afterward sold. Since 1877 he has lived upon his now well improved home- stead one mile east of Tonica, on section 24, Eden township. Altogether he owns three hundred and ten acres, one farm of a quarter-section being in Franklin county, Iowa. He is engaged in general farming and stock-raising, and has been very successful, as he justly deserves.
On the 15th of April, 1876, Mr. Miller married Miss Sarah Scott, a daughter of William and Nellie (Hill) Scott. who were natives of Ohio, and farmers by occupation. Mrs. Miller's grandfathers, likewise, were born in the Buckeye state, and her mother's father participated in the war of 1812. Mrs. Miller had one sister, who is deceased, and her only brother, Mitchell Scott, who was sergeant in a company of an Ohio regiment of volunteers during the civil war, is now a resident of Ayr, Nebraska. Four children were born to our subject and wife. Willie, who died when about twelve months old, and Ralph, Verna and Roy, who are yet at home. Mrs. Miller's parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and she conse- quently was an attendant at the services of that denomination. In his political belief Mr. Miller is a Democrat. but he devotes little of his time to public affairs, as his business and domestic interests take the first place in his heart.
ISAAC RAYMOND.
One of the venerable and highly honored citizens of Tonica is he of whom the following sketch is penned. For forty-four years he has dwelt in this immediate locality, thoroughly interested in its development and pros- perity, and doing his full share toward the transforming of the unbroken prairie into the garden spot of the west, as it is to-day.
In tracing his history it is learned that he comes of fine old Puritan stock on the paternal side, his grandfather, Abraham Raymond, having been a native of Connecticut and a farmer by occupation. His last years were spent in New York state, his death taking place when he was more than seventy years of age. Of his large family, Isaac Raymond, born in Saratoga county, New York, became the father of our subject. In his young manhood he was a blacksmith, later he was engaged in merchan- dising in Brooklyn, and his last years were spent in agricultural pursuits. After he had carried on a farm in Saratoga county for some years he came to Illinois, and died in Tonica in the eighty-fifth year of his age. His first wife, Esther, was, like himself, born in Saratoga county, New York, and in the Empire state her death took place in 1842. She was a daughter of John Hayes, a native of New York state, and of German descent. He, too,
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"was a tiller of the soil, reared a large family and attained a ripe age. For his second wife, Isaac Raymond chose Ann Underhill, who died before he came to Illinois. She was the mother of two children that survive, namely: Clara, widow of Eugene Hamer, and Harriet, wife of Leonard Perry. Isaac, Jr., and his brother, John H., of Odell, Illinois, are the only children of the marriage of Isaac and Esther (Hayes) Raymond. The father served as a justice of the peace for a long period, and in politics was first a Whig and later a Republican.
The birth of Isaac Raymond occurred on the old homestead in Sara- toga county, New York, December 18, 1830. His education, begun in the district schools, was completed in the excellent schools of Brooklyn, and subsequent years of observation and experience added to this until he became the broad-minded, well informed man to whom his numerous friends have looked for counsel for many years. After leaving school he returned to his native county and rented land there for several years, engaging in its culti- vation. In 1853 he went to California, leaving New York on a steamer and going by the isthmus of Panama route. A year later he returned home, this time coming by way of Nicaragua. In 1855 he came to Illinois, locat- ing in Eden township, LaSalle county: and though he had no capital at the time of his arrival here he industriously worked for others, saving his wages. After renting farms for four years he bought a homestead of eighty acres, three miles southwest of Tonica and partly improved the place, which he then sold and invested the proceeds in another farm of like acreage, but nearer town. In time he added to the original tract other land, thus making his place one of two hundred and twenty-five acres. He built a good modern house and made other substantial improvements on his homestead, which is now carried on by his son Frederick, his only child, a young man "of excellent business ability.
The first marriage of Isaac Raymond was to Mrs. Mary Underhill, nee Brandow, who died in 1892, leaving one son, Frederick. On the Ist of March, 1894, Mr. Raymond wedded Mrs. Lou M. Cox, the widow of Davis G. Cox and a daughter of William B. and Mary Jane (Harris) Magee. By her previous marriage Mrs. Raymond had one daughter, Lulu M., who died when seventeen years of age. Her parents were natives of Wilmington, Clinton county, Ohio, and early settlers in Illinois, coming in 1840 from Ohio to Princeton, and later to Eden township. Here the father died in 1886, aged sixty-eight years, and the wife and mother is yet living and residing in Tonica.
Mr. and Mrs. Raymond are members of the Congregational church, The being a deacon and a trustee. Politically he is affiliated with the Repub- lican party. For about ten years he served in the capacity of township
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- assessor; for one term he was the collector for his district, and was a school director in Tonica twelve years, discharging his duties in a thoroughly sat- isfactory manner to all concerned.
OLIVER M. KELLEY.
Oliver M. Kelley, grain and stock buyer and dealer in farm machinery, at Dana, Illinois, is one of the prominent business factors in the town in which he has lived for the past four years. A resume of his life is as follows:
Oliver M. Kelley was born in Morris, Illinois, February 5, 1857, a son of Alfred and Louisa (Ferguson) Kelley, natives of Ohio. In the Kelley fam- ily were seven children, four sons and three daughters, all of whom, with one exception, are still living, namely: Sara A., the widow of Lloyd Wright; Franklin P., of Peoria, Illinois; Oliver M .; Inez, deceased; Alice, wife of An- drew McBride, of Livingston county, Illinois; Willard, of Groveland town- ship, LaSalle county; and Presley, of Dana. Their father was a farmer who came from Ohio to Illinois in the year 1855, locating at Morris and carrying on farming operations there for eight years. He then came to LaSalle county and purchased eighty acres of land in Groveland township, where he lived until a few months before his death. He died in 1895, at the age of sixty-eight years. His widow still survives him and makes her home in Dana. She belongs to the "Holiness" organization.
James Kelley, the grandfather of Oliver M., was a native of Ohio and lived and died in that state, his age at death being about ninety years. He was the father of seven or eight children. Grandfather Ferguson also was a native of Ohio. He was a shoemaker and farmer, passed his whole life in the Buckeye state, and was sixty years old at the time of his death. He had several children.
Oliver M. Kelley was seven years old when his parents moved to La- Salle county. Reared on a farm, he naturally engaged in farming when he started out in life for himself. At first he rented land, next worked by the month, and then for two years farmed at home. After his marriage he rented in this county, remaining here thus occupied for several years, and then moved to Nebraska. He remained in that state, however, only one year, at the end of that time returning to Groveland township, LaSalle county, where he resumed farming and continued the same seven years. In 1895 he decided upon a change of occupation and came to Dana and en- gaged in the grain, coal, live-stock and farm-implement business, and the: past year has also run an elevator at Leeds.
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September 28, 1882, Mr. Kelley married Miss Jessie Mooney, a daugh- ter of John and Lucinda (Ramsey) Mooney. They are the parents of six children, four sons and two daughters, namely: John C., Mary G., Roscoe M., Hurless L., Cassius O. and Leota.
Mrs. Kelley is a member of the Christian church. Fraternally Mr. Kelley is identified with Rutland Lodge, No. 163, I. O. O. F., and also with the M. W. A. Politically he has always been a Democrat He served as school director in Groveland township several terms, and is now serving his fourth year as a member of the village board of Dana.
JUSTIN W. RICHARDSON.
The publisher of the Tonica News and the Lostant Local, at Tonica, Justin W. Richardson, is one of the chief builders of the material interests. of Tonica. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, March 31, 1836, a son of Henry and Lucy (Fisher) Richardson, both natives of Massachusetts. These parents had six children, of whom four are now living-Justin W., Lunsford P., William F. and George Herbert. The fatlier in earlier life was. employed in the woolen mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, and moved to Lex- ington, Kentucky, on account of poor health, and after a residence of two years at that place removed to Illinois, locating on a farm near Bloom- ington. In 1852 he moved into that city and conducted a grocery the re- mainder of his life, his death occurring in December, 1872, when he had attained the age of sixty-five years. His wife died in 1858. Both were mem- bers of the Congregational church. For a number of years Mr. Richardson was treasurer of the board of education of Bloomington. For his second wife he was united in marriage with Mrs. Caroline Robertson, a native of Vermont, and she still resides in Bloomington.
The paternal grandfather of our subject, Gideon Richardson, was a native also of the Bay state and a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He was of English descent, and had thirteen children. Mr. Richardson's ma- ternal grandfather, John Fisher, was the operator of a machine and black- smith shop in Lowell. He also was of English ancestry, had two children, and died at the age of sixty-nine years.
Justin W. Richardson was brought up on his father's farm near Bloom- ington from the age of one year to sixteen, meanwhile attending the dis- trict school in the winter. At length he enjoyed the opportunity of attending the university at Bloomington, and afterward he taught school for seven or eight years. Next he was employed on the Bloomington Pantagraph
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as a reporter, and also on the Journal. In 1863 he went to Peoria and became associate editor of the Peoria Transcript; later he was city editor of the Quincy Whig and Republican, which position he filled for a period of four years. Then for a time he was again engaged in the pedagogical profession and in work on the Bloomington papers, and then two years in newspaper work in Farmer City. In the fall of 1872 he came to Streator, next went to Millington, where he remained two years, and then for three years was in Sheridan, still engaged in newspaper work.
In February, 1878, he came to Tonica and re-established the Tonica News, which he has ever since conducted as a local weekly gazetteer, with the success that only comes of intelligence and enterprise.
Politically he is a Republican; was postmaster at Millington a short time. and has been village clerk here in Tonica for six years: he has been a resident of this place twenty-two years. He is a member of Tonica Lodge, No. 364, A. F. & A. M .; of Tonica Lodge, No. 298. I. O. O. F .. and with his wife is also a member of Rebekah degree order. In religion both him- self and wife are members of the Methodist church.
On the 25th day of June. 1878. Mr. Richardson was united in marriage with Miss Adelaide S. Partridge, the daughter of L. H. and Maria A. (Sea- ver) Partridge. They have had a son and a daughter-Raymond and Alma.
JAMES C. BROWN.
To the memory of a distinguished citizen, a man of sterling worth, integrity of purpose and purity of ambition, this biographical sketch is recorded.
November 2, 1802, in Brandon. Vermont, a son was born to Micah and Phoebe (Merriam) Brown. He was given the name of James C. Brown, and it is of him that we write. His father was a native of Connecticut and his ancestors were of Welsh origin. Micah was a major in the war of 1812 and did active service in that conflict. He resided in Brandon and died there in 1863, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. His wife, Phoebe Mer- riam. was of an old New England family and laterally related to Ethan Allen. the famous Revolutionary general.
James C. Brown obtained a liberal education in his native town, and early in life took up the study of medicine, in which he graduated at the Medical College of Castleton, Vermont. Deciding to seek his fortune in the west. Dr. Brown removed, in 1830, to Zanesville, Ohio. Here was begun his professional and business career. In his profession Dr. Brown
Liler Brown
Ann
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won an enviable reputation, and in business achieved far more than ordinary success. In 1851 he became a citizen of LaSalle, Illinois, and here he died June 12, 1883, in the eighty-first year of his age.
In tracing the career of Dr. Brown, we find that he was a regularly enlisted soldier of the war of 1812, though then but ten years of age. His duty then was to keep the roll-book for his father, Major Brown. Here we catch a gleam of his character. From early childhood he was fond of books and study. He became not only a proficient and skillful physician, but also a well-informed man, conversant with a multitude of subjects. Like Abou ben Adhem, "he loved his fellow men," and with those whose good fortune it was to know him there was no lack of respect and esteem for him. In support of any principle he believed to be right, he was fearless and courageous. Such men are likely to receive determined opposition, and this was true of Dr. Brown. In the early agitation of Abolitionism he took a bold stand against slavery, and at a time and in a vicinity wherein his stand on this great question was very unpopular. So bitter was the opposition given him that it militated much against his professional and business interests, and especially in social circles. Nothing daunted him, however, and he even held on to his views all the firmer. He never aspired to public or political life, yet he was a stanch Republican.
As observed above, he came to LaSalle in 1851. Here he practiced medicine until 1855, when on account of failing health he gave up the pro- fession. He became interested in the banking business, in connection with the old First National Bank of LaSalle, in the history of which we find him serving as its president in 1865. Becoming displeased with the business plans incorporated in the management of the bank, it was pur- chased by him, in 1872, and merged into a private bank and placed under the management of his sons, James P. and William C. Brown, who con- ducted it until 1880, when it was sold, its purchasers merging it into the pres- ent LaSalle National Bank.
Dr. Brown was a consistent Christian. For years he was a leading spirit in the Congregational church of LaSalle. He was twice married. His first wife, nee Elizabeth Tupper, died a few weeks after her marriage. Sub- sequently the Doctor married, in Zanesville, Ohio, Ann Day, who was born in South Hadley, Massachusetts, April 9, 1813. She is now in the eighty-seventh year of her age and is still a remarkably well preserved woman. Mrs. Brown's life has been an exemplary one, and she has reared an interesting family. Her children are: Mrs. Elizabeth B. Adams, of Indianapolis, Indiana; James P. Brown, a banker, residing in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Henry D. Brown (deceased), born in Ohio, January 26, 1839, died in Omaha, Nebraska, September 10, 1896, was for years a prominent
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dry goods merchant of LaSalle; William C. Brown, and Mrs. Mary Kate Page, residing in LaSalle. The oldest child, Albert, died aged eight months.
William C. Brown was born in Utica, Ohio, April 6, 1842, and was educated at Illinois College, Jacksonville. For several years he was in the coal business in LaSalle. Then from 1869 to 1874 he was assistant treasurer of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad. On resigning this position he entered the banking business in LaSalle. In 1880 he became a partner in the Collins Plow Company, of Quincy, Illinois. While in the factory he met with an accident, breaking both of his arms, and for nearly three years thereafter was disabled from business. For ten years (up to 1895) he was sales agent for the Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Company, of LaSalle, but is now living a retired life, residing in Chicago.
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