USA > Illinois > LaSalle County > Biographical and genealogical record of La Salle County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 5
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William B. Chapman was reared on a farm, attending the common schools in the east, and then entered the academy at Granville, Illinois. He remained at home until 1853 and then came to LaSalle and entered the livery business, which he conducted for sixteen years. He then went to Forest. Livingston county, purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. placed it in good cultivation, and remained on it for seventeen years, when he returned to this city and took charge of the land office for the Union Pacific Railroad for eight or ten years. Since that time he has lived a life of retirement from business. He is a stalwart Republican and served under Eli Watterman four years as deputy sheriff of LaSalle county. He was married on December 2, 1857, to Miss Martha Foster, by whom he had four children. all of whom died in childhood. Mr. and Mrs. Chapman are liberal contributors toward the support of the Congregational church. of which organization Mrs. Chapman is a member. Mrs. Chapman is a lady of culture and refinement, having received the advantages of a superior education. She took a preparatory course at Granville Academy and then entered the Albion College, at Albion, Michigan, at which she graduated in the class of 1855. She was the youngest but one in a class of eleven. Her studies having included a business course, she took charge of her father's banking business and acted as his bookkeeper for several years after returning from school.
As the parents of Mrs. Chapman were important factors in the early history of LaSalle county, a brief sketch of their career will here be ad-
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missible. Benjamin G. Foster was born in Barnard. Windsor county, Ver- mont, where he grew to adult years and married Charlotte M. Brown, a native of the village of Swanton, that state. He was a carpenter and con- tractor, and in 1836 came to Peru. LaSalle county, leaving his family in the east in the care of his wife, until a more convenient mode of trans- portation could be provided for them, and it was not until the fall of 1847 that he saw his way to establishing them in this county. With true sturdi- ness of purpose, he at once began work at his trade and soon found steady employment. He erected nearly all the large, heavy buildings put up at that time, such as warehouses, elevators, stores, etc. He constructed the first coal shaft tower in LaSalle, afterward destroyed by fire, and built the first wagon bridge across the Illinois river at LaSalle. He employed a large force of men and made considerable money. He owned four proper- ties on Fifth, one on Wright and one on Union street. The residence now occupied by our subject was owned by Mr. Foster. He was identified with the Whigs, and latterly with the Republicans, but was too much occu- pied with his trade to allow his name to be used as a candidate for office. The only exception to this rule was when he was elected school director. He was a great friend to education and was a member of the first school board in LaSalle. He was a member of the Congregational church. Mrs. Foster, although a Baptist in faith, was not identified with any church. She was of English descent and died in her fifty-seventh year, December 4. 1876. Mr. Foster survived hier until September 1, 1882, when he had reached his seventy-first year of life, joining her in the "city beautiful." An uncle of his. Colonel Joseph Foster, was a well known soldier in the war of the Revolution.
GEORGE M. PINNELL, M. D.
Dr. George M. Pinnell, of LaSalle, is a physician of extensive experi- ence and general information, and in his chosen specialty has met with unqualified success. He has traveled in all parts of this country and in Australia, has met many distinguished people, particularly those of his own profession, and is a most interesting speaker and converser.
Born in Buchanan. Upshur county, West Virginia, February 16, 1840, the Doctor is a son of Dr. David S. and Catherine E. (Wolffenborger) Pinnell, both of whom were natives of the Old Dominion, representing respected Virginia families. Dr. David S. Pinnell, who was a well-to-do planter and slaveholder, was actively engaged in the practice of his pro- fession for the exceptionally long period of fifty-four years. Four of his sons were prominent in the same calling. namely: Dr. P. F. Pinnell, of
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West Virginia; Dr. N. W. Pinnell, of Ohio; Dr. D. S. Pinnell, Jr., of Wheeling, West Virginia, and the subject of this narrative.
Thus it is evident that Dr. G. M. Pinnell comes of a family devoted to the healing of the "ills to which flesh is heir," all, moreover, men of versatile talent and fine education. Reared in his native town, our subject attended the schools of Morgantown, West Virginia, and after completing his literary and scientific studies began reading medicine under his father's instruction. At the end of four years of study and practice as his senior's assistant, he matriculated in the Western Reserve Medical College, at Cleveland, Ohio, where he was graduated in 1867. Two years later he accompanied his father to Melbourne, Australia, the latter having been appointed consul of the United States government at that city. There the young man spent four years more in preparation for his future work, and was graduated in the University of Melbourne in 1873.
Returning to this country soon afterward Dr. Pinnell was married. in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to Miss Cora Spindler. He located in the town of Flemington, West Virginia, where he established himself in practice. remaining there for about four or five years. While pursuing his scientific investigations in Australia, in connection with medical work, he discovered a remedy for rheumatism, with which malady thousands of people in every land are afflicted. This remedy he has prepared and placed on the market under the name of "Dr. Pinnell's Vegetable Germicide Compound for Rheumatism," and for more than a score of years he has traveled, giving lectures on the subject of rheumatism, and treating patients who are afflicted with this painful and disabling disease. He has met with great success and thousands are deeply indebted to him and earnest in their praise of his methods. In December, 1897, he came to LaSalle, where he has since resided, and during the succeeding fourteen months he treated eight thousand three hundred and seventeen patients. There is no question in regard to the efficacy of the celebrated remedy which he uses, and his entire system and theories were far in advance of the times twenty years ago, as he then advocated the germ or bacilli theory, which has since claimed the serious attention and acceptance of the scientific world.
JOHN GIROLT.
The subject of this sketch. John Girolt, a prosperous farmer of North- ville township, LaSalle county, Illinois, is an American by adoption and is thoroughly identified with the interests of this country, having fought for the old flag and the preservation of the Union in the dark days of civil war.
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John Girolt was born in Alsace-Lorraine, Germany (then France), January 21, 1839, a son of John and Magdaline (Dolder) Girolt. In the Girolt family were five children, three sons and two daughters, all of whom are living, and in this country, except one son, deceased. The father died in Alsace-Lorraine, and after his death, in 1853, the widowed mother and her children came to America and settled in Northville township, LaSalle county. She died here in 1892.
At the time of their emigration to this country John was a boy in his fourteenth year. He was reared to farm life, receiving only a common- school education. The war of the Rebellion coming on, he was not long in deciding to enter the service of his adopted country. He enlisted in No- vember, 1861, as a private in Company E, Fifty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, the fortunes of which he shared nine months. He was then trans- ferred to the First Missouri Light Artillery. Company H. and continued in the service until the close of the war. when, in June, 1865, he was hon- orably discharged, coming out of the army with the rank of corporal. He was made corporal during the Atlanta campaign. Among the important engagements in which he participated were the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh and Corinth. He was in the Atlanta campaign and with Sherman on his famous march to the sea, and the last action in which he took part was the battle of Bentonville. South Carolina, going thence to Washington, D. C., to the grand review of the victorious armies. Mr. Girolt is a member of Clayton Beardsley Post. No. 674. G. A. R., and politically har- monizes with the Republican party.
At the close of the war he returned home and has ever since been engaged in farming in LaSalle county. He owns a fine farm of two hun- dred and thirty-five acres on the north bank of Fox river, in Northville township, and is successfully carrying on his farming operations.
Mr. Girolt was married in 1867 to Miss Louisa Bernard, and they are the parents of five children.
LOUIS WALDORF.
Among the wealthier residents of Mendota who have done a great deal for the city and whose money is extensively invested in home enter- prises. is the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this sketch. He is a native of Hesse-Darmstadt. Germany, and was born November 30, 1848. His parents were Phillip and Margaret (Gud) Waldorf, both natives of the same province, where they were married and three of their children were born .- Margaret. Catherine and Louis. They emigrated to America in 1853. landing in New York April 13, and at once came to this county
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and settled in Troy Grove, where the father engaged in farming until 1863, when he died in his forty-ninth year. Three children were born to them after locating in Troy Grove,-Phillip, William and Peter,-the first men- tioned residing on the old homestead and the two latter in Nebraska. Margaret married Ferdinand Kampf, a farmer of Troy Grove township, and Catherine is the wife of Edward Grube, of LaSalle. The mother reached her seventy-fourth year and sank to sleep in 1872.
Mr. Waldorf was educated in the country schools and grew to man- hood on the farm, remaining there until he was twenty-one, when he came to Mendota and with his brother-in-law, Mr. Grube, went to manufacturing and wholesaling vinegar. The business was conducted until June, 1874, when Mr. Waldorf sold his interest in the concern to his partner, who dis- continued it in 1875, as it was not a profitable investment. In October, 1874, he entered into a partnership with M. Abrahams, under the firm name of Abrahams & Waldorf, and engaged in the wholesale liquor busi- ness in this city. On the first of January, 1890, Mr. Waldorf purchased the interest of his partner and has since carried on the business alone. He has been very successful, disposing of large quantities of liquor, and from the modest beginning of two thousand dollars' capital the business has spread to its present gigantic proportions. He is an able business man and is regarded by the citizens as one of the shrewdest in this section of the state. Not only has he guarded his own interests with an eagle eye but has also worked for the municipality, and he has been the means of bring- ing much trade to the merchants of this city. He formerly held the position of vice president of the Mendota National Bank, of which he was one of the organizers, and is one of the foremost citizens of Mendota. He re- signed as vice president of the Mendota National Bank and sold his interest in the institution in September, 1899.
In 1878 he was united in marriage to Miss Josephine Pitts, a native of Luxemburg, Germany. Four children have been the fruits of this union,-Lorena, Arthur, Rufus and Herbert. Lorena and Arthur are graduates of the Blackstone high school. of Mendota, and are remarkably bright pupils. Mrs. Waldorf was a teacher of German in the Blackstone schools of Mendota from 1873 to 1878 and as such made many friends both among parents and pupils. They are members of the German Lutheran church and contribute liberally to the cause of Christianity and the spread of the gospel. Their home is a model of elegance and refined taste. Little short of a mansion in architecture it pleases the eye of all who view its magnificence. Entering the heavy oak doors leading to the vestibule the same refined taste is apparent, everything being of the most elegant but unostentatious character. The vestibule is a spacious room with a mosaic
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floor and leads directly to the hall proper, which can also be used as a reception room and is a circular apartment ornamented with art glass of varied and beautiful tint. Passing to the left we enter the parlor and confront a large mirror built into the wall, the sides of which are green while the ceiling is frescoed with Mexican roses. The finish is birch with a mahogany finish, and in no part of the house has paint or paper been used, natural wood and fresco taking their places. In the rear of the sitting-room, which is finished in light oak with light blue frescoe and ceiling ornamented with morning-glories, is the dining-room, a beautiful creation in dark oak with paneled wainscoting. This, like the sitting-room, has a fire- place, and a handsome sideboard is built in the wall. A butler's pantry connects with the kitchen, which is provided with all the conveniences known to modern housewifery. This floor has a pleasant bed-room, and each floor is supplied with an elegant bath-room, with onyx washstand, porcelain tubs, nickel fixtures, and floors and walls of pure white tile with delicate pink border. Hot and cold water, either hard or soft, can be had whenever needed; and not one point has been forgotten or neglected that would add to the comfort of the inmates. The wood-work of the entire second story is of highly finished cypress, and the large, pleasant bed-rooms are situated on this floor, as is also the library. The room designed for the eldest daughter is peacock blue, with wild-rose ornaments, and is a dream of beauty. The furniture is in keeping with the building and har- monizes with the finish in each room. In the cellar is the laundry, heating plant, etc., and taken altogether it is one of the handsomest and most com- plete residences it has ever been our good fortune to see.
On the close of the year 1899, Mr. Waldorf completed the building of a two-story business block, on the southwest corner of Illinois and Jeffer- son streets in Mendota. The building is the most modern business block in Mendota and is a model structure. Two store-rooms 30x85 feet, each with basements: and the second floor, devoted to office rooms, is heated throughout by steam, and has other conveniences of excellency. The entire building is a monument to the enterprise of Mr. Waldorf.
Mr. Waldorf is a Democrat and served as alderman for ten years. He is also a member of the board of education and a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
CHARLES CLEARY.
The career of an enterprising, honest business man is a matter of interest in any community, and when the public witnesses his gradual advancement and increasing prosperity it rejoices in his justly won success.
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During a period of more than a quarter of a century Charles Cleary has been engaged in business in LaSalle and has won the esteem and best wishes of all with whom he has had dealings.
The paternal grandfather of our subject, John Cleary, was a farmer in Ireland, and died when about sixty-five years of age, from injuries received in a runaway. Of his eight or nine children Peter, the father of Charles Cleary, was a gentleman of excellent education and general attainments. In his early manhood he was a school-teacher, and subsequently to his marriage he turned his attention to agriculture. He was a participant in one of the rebellions in Ireland, but was too great a lover of his country to ever leave her shores. He died December 28, 1896, at the advanced age of eighty-seven, and on the 17th of March, 1898, his faithful wife followed him to the grave, she being in her eighty-seventh year at the time of her death. In her girlhood she bore the name of Frances Flynn, and her father, Henry Flynn, lived and died in Ireland. He was a shepherd much of his life, and for a few years was a pilot in the employ of the government. Peter and Frances Cleary were members of the Catholic church and reared their children in the same faith. Of their three sons and eight daughters nine are yet living, namely: Maria, wife of Thomas Cardon of Easky, Ire- land; Ann, wife of John O'Donnell, of Culleen, Ireland; John, a resident of West Hartlepool, England; Charles; Kate, wife of Michael O'Leary, of Streator, Illinois; Frances, wife of James O'Leary, of the same town; Peter, of Joliet, Illinois; Jane, of Chicago; and Julia, Mrs. Michael Brady, of Culleen, Ireland.
Charles Cleary was born in county Sligo, Ireland, April 3, 1851, and received a common-school education. He was but twelve years old when he commenced learning the grocery business, to which line he has devoted himself chiefly ever since. In 1872 he came to America and for seven months was employed in New York city. The same year he came west and lived in Utica, Illinois, until the fall, when he removed to LaSalle, and for about a year was in the employ of Matthiessen & Hegeler, in their zinc works. The following four years he worked in the coal mines, and at length he commenced clerking in the grocery owned by Mr. Cavanaugh. During the next ten months he thoroughly mastered the details of the business and finally became the manager. In 1879 he purchased Mr. Cavanaugh's stock, and for several years carried on a grocery on First street, one block west of his present location, where he has been for the past fourteen years.
In his political convictions, Mr. Cleary is rather independent, but , inclines to the Democratic party. A friend to education, he is now serving for the ninth year as a member of the school board. Socially, he is a
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member of the Royal Arcanum and the Court of Honor. He is strictly temperate in his habits, leaving all kinds of intoxicating liquor entirely alone, and in every respect his life is worthy to be held up as an example to the young.
On the Ist of May, 1876, Mr. Cleary and Miss Annie, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Manly) Durkin, were united in wedlock. They have had seven children, but Annie Teressa and Teressa Annie died when young. Three daughters and two sons remain to brighten the home, namely: Mary A., Frances, Thomas H., Charles Vincent and Loretto. In 1889 Mr. Cleary purchased his comfortable residence, which is situ- ated at the corner of Fifth and Creve Coeur streets.
JEREMIAH COLLINS.
For almost half a century Jeremiah Collins, justice of the peace, has. been a resident of LaSalle, and numbered among its honest, industrious, patriotic citizens. Believing thoroughly that "there is no royal road" to success, he faithfully and perseveringly worked at his trade, allowed himself to be led aside by no visionary schemes of wealth easily obtained, and now in his declining years he enjoys a competence and the feeling that he has performed his duty nobly and commendably.
One of the sons of the Emerald Isle, Mr. Collins was born December 15, 1834. His parents, Jeremiah and Ellen (Mahoney) Collins, emigrated with their family to the United States in 1851, first locating in Pennsyl- vania, later removing to Indiana and finally taking up their permanent abode in LaSalle in 1852. Here they died, the father at the age of sixty- six years, and the mother when in her seventy-fourth year. Their children were as follows: Mary, deceased; Frederick, deceased; Lawrence, who was a captain in the civil war, and died from the effects of disease con- tracted in the service; Jeremiah; John, who graduated in the Notre Dame (Indiana) College, and took up the practice of law, but died during the war of the Rebellion; and James, who was associated in business with our subject for years.
Jeremiah Collins, Jr., learned the blacksmith's trade of his father, who was one of the early workers in iron in LaSalle. In 1859 the young man, then twenty-five years of age, became imbued with the Pike's Peak excitement, and started for the west overland, making the tedious and dangerous trip across the plains in a wagon. He spent some time in the gold fields, but returned to this place with small reward for his pains, and with the steadfast determination to stick to his trade in the future and
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to earn his bread "by the sweat of his face." Rarely was he absent from his shop, and his patrons came to rely upon him, and to no one else would they give their work.
For eighteen years Mr. Collins served as a member of the LaSalle city school board, and he has always taken great interest in the education of the rising generation. Politically he is affiliated with no party, acting inde- pendently of party lines; and in 1897 he was elected justice of the peace for a term of four years. He is now acting in this position and is a capable, conscientious official, meeting his responsibilities to the satisfaction of all concerned. For twelve years Mr. Collins served as a city alderman, being first elected to the office in 1864.
In 1863 Mr. Collins was married, in this city, to Miss Mary Mccarthy, a native of Ireland. She departed this life in 1874, and is survived by two daughters, namely: Mary and Ellen, who reside with their father, their home being at No. 1012 First street. Ellen is a successful teacher in the public grammar schools, and Mary is the mistress of the pretty and attrac- tive home.
WILLIAM McELHENIE.
William McElhenie, who probably has been longer engaged in the liv- ery business than any one in LaSalle county, is an esteemed citizen of the town of LaSalle. He is a native of Wayne county, Ohio, his birth having occurred September 2, 1846. He is of Scotch-Irish extraction, his ancestors having settled in the United States prior to the war of the Revolution. He is a son of William and grandson of Thomas McElhenie, of Pennsylvania. The former went to Ohio at an early day and there married Harriet Porter, a native of the Buckeye state, and daughter of John Porter, who was born in Ireland, and was a pioneer settler in Ohio. In 1852 our subject's parents came to Illinois, and for four years resided in LaSalle, where he kept the Tremont Hotel, and subsequently the St. Charles Hotel; and then, going to Mendota, engaged in the grocery, grain and commission business. He was very successful and popular as a business man and had a host of friends among his fellow citizens. He died in 1863, at his home in Men- dota, aged fifty years, and his widow, who survived him, departed this life in LaSalle, in 1881, when she was in her sixty-sixth year.
William McElhenie is the only one left of his father's family, his broth- ers, Thomas J. and Albert H., having passed away. He was but six years old when he was brought to this county, and his educational advantages were such as the public schools afforded. When in his fifteenth year he embarked in business as a news agent on trains, and continued in this
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calling until 1866. That year witnessed his permanent settlement in La- Salle, where he at first was interested in the transportation and expressing business. Then, quite naturally, he turned his attention to his present vocation, for which he seems specially adapted. He keeps a fine line of carriages and vehicles of various descriptions and a number of horses suit- able for driving or as saddle animals.
Politically Mr. McElhenie is a Republican, and fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Royal Arcanum, and the Modern Woodmen of America. At the close of the civil war, on the 2d of May, 1865, Mr. McElhenie was married, in Chicago, to Miss Anna Maria Graham, who, like himself, was a native of Wayne county, Ohio. Five children, who are still living, bless the union of this worthy couple, and have been given excellent educational advantages and judicious training for the more serious duties of life. These five children are Arthur J., of Pittsburg, Kan- sas, holding a responsible position with a coal company; Jessie M., wife of Frank Russel Fields, of Denver, Colorado: Pearlie L., George L. and Elsie.
OSCAR D. F. CONKEY.
During a period of forty-five years this honored citizen of Mendota has been very actively associated with the development and prosperity of the place, which was a mere village when he came here and located in June, 1854. When he first visited the place, the preceding November, there were but two buildings there. He aided the town in its early struggles, and has ever been its stanch friend and one of its most substantial and trusted citi- zens.
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