USA > Illinois > Biographical and memorial edition of the Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 36
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the organization of the commission she was elected secretary of this body.
Mrs. Weber was secretary of a State Com- mission which had charge of the erection of the monument in 1912, at Edwardsville, Ill., to Governor Ninian Edwards and the pioneers of Madison County. She bad charge of exhibits of Illinois state historical material and Lin- colniana, at the exposition held at St. Louis, 1901; Portland, Ore., 1905; Jamestown, Va., 1907, and has charge of the same at the Fanama- Pacific Exposition in the current year (1315).
She is a member of the American Historical Association, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the United Daughters of 1812, the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, the National Association of State Librarians and the Illinois State Library Association. Mrs. Weber has devoted berself to the work of the Illinois State Historical Society, and its growth into the largest state historical society in the United States, in point of numbers, has been in a great measure due to ber energy and industry in the management of its affairs.
JAMES ROBINSON SCOTT.
It has often been proved that what at the time seemed a calamity in the end was a bless- ing. Men whose entire plans have been over- thrown by some accident have lived to realize that this was the turning point in their career, and without pain and suffering attendant upon bodily affliction they would have never devel- oped into what they later became. Such was the case with the IIon. James Robinson Scott, now deceased, who for many years was a lead- ing and influential factor in the progress of Champaign, Ill., and its surrounding territory. Had his early plans been carried out it is doubtful if he would have come to Illinois or entered into the public life for which he was so eminently fitted, for he had dedicated him- self to the ministry, but in the work he later entered upon he achieved more for humanity and brought to bear the influence of a blame- less life upon many with whom he was asso- ciated in a business and political way. Mr. Scott was born in Shelby County, Ky., in 1832, a son of Archibald and Ann Robinson Scott. His parents recognized his unusual abilities and gave him an excellent education, he being graduated from the Center College at Danville, Ky., in 1853. Following this for one year he was a teacher, and then entered the theological seminary at Princeton, N. J., purposing to be- come a minister of the gospel. Within a year, however, he suffered injury from a fall from his horse, and owing to his ill health was forced to leave college. Not recovering as he had hoped, he acted upon the advice of his physician and came to Illinois in 1857 to enter upon an outdoor life. In order to do this he located on a farm three and one-half miles north of Champaign, now known as the Scott homestead, and from that time on made his in- fluence felt. A man of progressive ideas and
well read upon many subjects, he put his knowledge to practical purposes, developing his farm to such an extent that he became noted for his agricultural successes. He it was who laid the first drainage tile in the county, and owned the first self-binder, using wire for bind- ing purposes. These were but a few of the improvements he tried out and placed the re- sults before his neighbors for their benefit. Farly recognizing the need for county exhibi- tions for the farmers, he advocated them, and gave his hearty support to the work of holding them. In time his success as a farmer reached out beyond local confines, and he was made a member of the State Board of Agriculture, serv- ing as its president from 1879 until 1883. It was while he was on this board that the first International Fat Stock Show was held at Chi- cago, and he was one of the most active factors in promoting it, and advocating a continuance of these exhibits, as he realized their worth and the benefit accruing to agriculturists the country over. Mr. Scott did not confine his activities to agricultural matters, for he was a man of such broad sympathies that he was able to grasp the needs of the people and work out a practical method of meeting them. Dur- ing 1897 and 1898 he was Mayor of Champaign, and while occupying the chair of the chief ex- ecutive of that city he inaugurated many im- provements, chief among them being the chang- ing of the course of the undesirable Silver Creek, known as the "boneyard," so that the old course could be filled and transformed into the present beautiful Green street. To carry out his ideas of a city beautiful, he and his wife donated East Side Park to Champaign. and both were active in many improvements looking towards the betterment of the people. In 1872 Governor John L. Beveridge appointed
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Mr. Seott a trustee of the Illinois University and he held that office until 1877, being on the executive committee of that institution during the time the late Emery Cobb of Kankakee was its chairman. Acting upon his experience, Mr. Scott exerted himself to secure the location of the State University at Urbana, and induced the Illinois Central Railroad to contribute $50,- 000 in freight service towards the university, which was a very valuable donation. Realizing his strength of character and powerful inda- ence for good, Governor Joseph Fifer appointed him a member of the board of trustees of the State Reform School at Pontiac. In addition to these responsibilities Mr. Scott found time to act as a member of the council of Champaign for ten years and was a member of the county board of supervisors from Henslery Township for some time.
In 1860 Mr. Scott married Miss Lizzie King of Shelby County, Ky., and five of the children born of this union are now living, namely : Mrs. Anna A. Leonard of Twin Falls, Idaho; John
A .; Archibald R .; Stewart R., and Walter W., of Champaign. Mrs. Scott died in 1575, and the following year the family moved to Champaign. On December 15, 1881, Mr. Scott married (sec- ond) Miss Lon Emma King, and their children were: James K. Scott, Jr., who is a civil en- gineer; and Miss Juliet A., who is residing at home. Not only was Mr. Scott a member of the Presbyterian church, but he held official connec- tions with it as well, and always was a liberal supporter of its work. His onty fraternal con- nection was with his college order of Beta Theia Pi. After a long and useful life, filled with good deeds and thought for others, Mr. Scott passed away on November 23, 1910, at his home on South State street, Champaign, and his loss was sincerely mourned by thou- sands, for he was one who made and retained friends, and received a cordial recognition of Lis public spirited efforts from all who were brought into contact with him during his period of service to the people.
WILLIAM WORTH BURSON.
William Worth Burson was the inventor, manufacturer and salesman of what was known up to the time of its dissolution in 1874 as the Burson and Nelson Knitting Company. A remarkable man both as to his impressive personality and the notable achievements of his inventive genius, Mr. Burson has left on record in the commercial world a long list of inventive triumphs relating to harvesting machinery and the knitting industry, more particularly to the latter. To his family and friends he bequeathed a fragrant memory of constant charity and wide generosity, of intellectual ruggedness and a love for all the simple, beautiful things of life.
This remarkable man was born in Venango County, Pa., September 22, 1832, and died at Rockford, Ill., April 10, 1913. He was the son of Samuel and Mary (Henry) Burson, both na- tives of Sussex County, N. J. They removed to the site of what is now Oil City, Pa., where the father engaged in agriculture until the year 1838 or 1839, when he took his family to Pitts- burgh by means of a raft built for that pur- pose. From there they went on down the Ohio River, and by boat and team finally reached Me- Donough County, where they bought a farm, later leaving it for Fulton County, Ill. Here they became owners of seven quarter sections
of land, two sections of which still remain in the family. The father of William Worth was, therefore, one of the pioneers of the state, dying iu 1856 when only about fifty-three or fifty-four years of age. William Burson's first winter in Illinois was called, "The winter of the great snow." For months the roads were drifted full, fences, shrubs and small trees en- tirely covered. It was the coldest winter ever known in Illinois. Mr. Burson often told an incident of how his father gave an ox yoke for their first home in Illinois, and here William and his brother slept through the intensest cold with only an unplastered clapboard roof over them. They would often jump out of bed in the morning, tumbling into a snow drift that had found its way in through the cracks during the night. A lad of but seven or eight years of age when the family came to Illinois, Wil- liam Worth Burson practically grew up in this commonwealth, spending his youthful days on a farm. Life was simple in those days, and the opportunities circumscribed. He often told of a school he attended. The house was of logs, the only board used being made to serve the purposes of a writing desk whereon each pupil displayed his penmanship by means of a quill pen. The school house boasted one window, covered with greased paper in place of glass.
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There was no ceiling, but a roof of rough clap- boards laid in rows and held down by poles arched this intellectual temple. A fireplace filled one end of the room, but was insufficient to heat the whole of it. Against the resulting discomfort the youthful philosopher uttered no complaint save the simple remark, "We did not expect to keep warm." The schools of the time could offer only limited curriculum; history, grammar, advanced arithmetic and geography being absent from the courses of study of thai forlod. To learn to read and write, to be able to cipher the simplest problems of arithmetic, this was thought to represent an adequate edu- cation. The books accessible for reading con- sisted of the Bible and a stray almanac or two, no newspapers being seen until some years Jater.
Mr. Burson did not attend the public schools after his seventh year, although he later be -. came a teacher of others. It will thus be seen that he was largely self-educated, attaining through his own guidance an impressive eff- ciency in many branches of learning even now considered essentials of a broad culture. He was an omnivorous reader, borrowing every book he could. That he might secure more time in which to master them it became a habit with him to tie the open volume to his plough han- dles and read while guiding his horses. So as he plonghed the ground underneath him he at the same time ploughed deep and straight the fur- rows of his future mental power. Hours that should have been spent in sleep his eager mind devoted to study that he might the more quickly pass the examinations that would give him the right to teach school. He achieved the goal of this ambition only to find that the ambition for a still higher education haunted him. Hus- banding his resources, he was at last able to enter Lombard University, Galesburg, Ill., then presided over by Professor John VanNess Standish. He was graduated there in 1856 in the first class ever leaving that institution, and had the honor of receiving the first diploma ever presented to a graduate of Lombard.
Mrs. William Worth Burson was born in New Jersey, but was later brought by her parents to Fulton County, Ill. She and Mr. Burson became schoolmates at Lombard and later fellow teach- ers in the country schools. Mrs. Burson sur- vives her husband, and now resides in Califor- nia. The children born of this union were: Flo- rence Adele, who is residing in Rockford, Ill .; Wilson Worth, who maintains the Burson con-
nection with the Clock and Brown Knitting Company, where the knitting machine he in- vented is being used ; and Ernest Emerson, who is the owner of a large ranch near Orange. Cal., has Jevored his entire life to music. The daughter, Florence Adele, married Seth C. Trufant, u native of Lyna, Mass,, who was con- nected with the knitting company for twenty years. Mir. and Mrs. Trufaut became the parents of three daughters : Grace A., wife of R. Deloss Treadwell of Chicago; Norva, who is at home ; and Hetty Margaret, who married George Searle of Mobile, Ala.
Mr. Burson had a mind that was as inquiring and forward-looking as it was tireless; it was tenacious and of a remarkable power of con- centration. His children might romp about the room while be wrote difficult patent papers, made drawings for the Patent Office; but he was not at all disturbed, declaring that no out- side noise found its way into those depths where lay the secrets of his power. His versa- tility was impressive. The spirit of the poet fused with that of the inventor, and while com- posing beautiful verses, his active mind was also recognizing the need of improved ma- chinery, and later inventing it. By 1856 he had taken out patents on binders and mowers, and in 1859 he secured a patent on a twine binder, later projecting the wire binder. In 1865 he patented the first twine binder to operate suc- cessfully. Mr. Burson then turned the attention of his inventive genius in the direction of solv- ing the problems relating to knitting machines. The story of his progress here may best be shown by excerpts culled from his diary of that period. For more than sixty years he wrote these notes in shorthand, learning the system when it was almost a thing unknown. The excerpts that follow may give a more intimate revelation of the work achieved during some wonderful years.
September 28, '66. "I have a defined plan of a knitting machine for knitting men's socks. The plan of making the stitch is entirely my own, as my partner, Mr. Nelson, is away on a three months' trip." November 29, '66. "I spent evening knitting on a sock and got down to the heel, and on 30th finished same, being the first sock ever knit in this manner. The papers pre- pared by myself and seut to the patent office December 4, '66." February 7, '67. "I spent entire day on knitting machine, knitting first pair of socks." February 17, '67. "Knit mit-
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ten, the first ever knit on machine." This mitten is now in the possession of his daugh- ter, Mrs. Adele Trufant of Rockford. June 24, '67. "Prepared patent papers. Began a new knitting machine, known as parallel row." This is the machine now in universal use. July 31. "Was knitting on same and got patents July 23, 1870, to knit the first sock with a pattern wheel." October 8, '70. "Saw the first sock knit by water power." April 5, '71. "Ran three knitting machines making eighty dozen socks. Took thirty dozen to Dubuque, Ia., and sold the first they had sold outside of Rockford. These were uniform color throughout, and this trip convinced me that we must have white tops." August 8, '71. "Shipped out first lot to Chi- cago, twelve dozen." August 16, 71. "Knit a sock in five minutes today." September 13, '71. "Made a trip to Chicago to sell goods and sold Farwell forty dozen." Today, 1913, the factory is turning out 6,000 dozen per day of 24 hours. "After working hard all day in Chicago, selling socks, went to La Salle, Ill., and have conceived plan for new machine to finish the toe." Here- tofore this had not been done by machinery, but by hand. March 30, '72. "Knit and closed the toe of the first sock ever completed on a ma- chine." May 1, '73. "The knitting machine worked perfectly." October 10, '73. "Knit sock in 334 minutes."
Mr. Burson also designed punches and dies to make various parts of the machines, and in 1SS1 started his Burson machine for knit- ting ladies' fine hose. The factory, now work- ing day and night, gives employment to more than 1,000 people. The present Burson Knit- ting Company was organized in 1892 with a capital of $24,000. Later this was increased to $750,000. Mr. Burson was not content with his work even after these remarkable achievements. He continued his efforts further to perfect them. Some 1,800 machines are now used at Rockford and about 300 at Paris, Canada. A man who can fashion out of the fabric of his dreams machines so uncanny in their intelli- gence as to seem human save for blood and conscience has invited immortality both for himself and his work. As a young man Mr. Burson longed always to do something for his fellow-men, for "poor humanity." He achieved his desire. His inventions have given employ- ment to thousands. Many men and women have been made comfortable in old age through this splendid industry which owes its life to Mr.
Burson. His name belongs with the immortals. Fulton, Morse, Edison and Marcont are his companions in those juventive ministries that have made for the social progress of the race. Hle flung his patiest genius in the face of the world's ridicule and fashioned a machine repre- senting the vapors of doubt cooled into solid forius of human service.
Mr. Burson lived an exemplary life. In the attainments of character be was no less great than in the sweep of his intellectual power. Ilis life was most temperate. He never used tobacco in any form. Alcoholic drinks had no enticement for bon. In eating he never used meat or butter, and never drank tea or coffee. He never shaved after leaving college, but wore a long flowing beard, and often said, "I never paid a barber a cent in my life." Ile estab- lished almost a like record in respect to the medical profession, never having been called upon to receive the ministrations of a physician until in his last brief illness. Those who knew him best declare that he had no morally dis- figuring habits whatever. Profanity was far from hira, nor did any injustice provoke him to harshness. In his greatness he rose above the petty concerns that so often engage the at- tention of smaller minds. His life ranged in those upper immensities where the days are serene and unclouded. His family never recall a quick or a cross word. To his children he was always gentle and kind. Disappointment left no scar upon his face, nor did bitterness sear his soul. He was so compassionate and gentle-spirited that although he loved to wear a flower he never plucked a longer stem than necessary lest he should give needless pain to these fragrant friends of man. Although never formally a member of any church, Mr. Burson was a man of deep religious convictions, and whenever in Rockford attended services at the Church of the Christian Union. He read the New Testament reverently and often. He read it in seven languages, and continued an earnest student of this great Christian document until the day of his death. For years a Mason, he was a charter member of the Chicago Lake View lodge of that order. In politics a Re- publican of Republicans, he adhered to the party from its organization, being a delegate to the first state convention at Bloomington and cast his first vote for John C. Fremont for president, and his last for William H. Taft.
His motto through life was, "Integrity, In-
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dustry and Perseverance." On a monument erected to his father and mother these three words are engraved. Taught the lessons by his father, he later exemplified them in his own life. Two thoughts gave him wonder-the dura- tion of time, and immensity of space. These held the deeper secrets of the eternal which he constantly sought to know, but before which even his persistent intellect paused. Mr. Bur- son's death came after a very brief illness. It was unexpected. He had enjoyed excellent health in such generous measure that the trifling indisposition which attacked him was not deemed serious. But his venerable age joined hands with disease and he died in less than a week at the home of his daughter, Mrs.
Trufant. He was laid to rest in Forest View Abbey in Rockford. His tomb is marked, as was that of his parents, with the motto, "In- tegrity. Industry and Perseverance." Under- standing, feeling and perseverance are the at- tributes of genius, Mr. Burson possessed these and to them added other virtues-contentment of mind, encouragement of generous thoughts, and the exercise of a virile memory. Thus, while his name will ever be associated with the inventions his genins produced, it will also be tenderly connected with his blameless life, his unsullied reputation, and his many deeds of kindly charity which endeared him to all. This way lies immortality.
WILSON WORTH BURSON.
It is not often the case that a son of a distin- guished father follows in the latter's footsteps. Brilliant he may be, but usually along entirely different lines, but this has not been the case . of the original promoters and stockholders. with Wilson Worth Burson of Rockford. Son This company now have 510 knitting machines in operation and are building and installing a machine each day; owns its own factory, and turns out about 1,000 dozen pairs of stockings daily. In time it will be the largest plant of its kind in the world. The company was capital- ized for $300,000, but the stock is worth much more at present. of the man who first lifted from the shoulders of womankind the almost endless task of knit- ting the stockings of the world, he has made many improvements through his inventions, upon knitting machines, and is vice-president of the Burson-Ziock-Brown Knitting Company of Rockford, Ill., and in his way is as great a genius as the remarkable man who gave him birth. Mr. Burson was born in Rockford, IN., May 24, 1864, a son of William Worth Burson, the pioneer inventor of binders, the first knit- ting machine and one hundred other contriv- ances. A biography of the father and the Burson family is given in this work. Grow- ing up amid healthy, normal conditions, sur- rounded by high moral influences, Mr. Bur- son remained at Rockford until he was four- teen years old, when he went to Sioux Falls, S. D., and learned there the watchmaker's trade. After five years in that city he went to southern California and spent four years in the hardware and implement business, being located at Escondido. Having been very sue- cessful in this line of endeavor, he branched out and until 1598 was variously engaged in erecting engineering, mechanical engineering and general refrigerating. In that year he re- turned to Rockford and was with his father. studying under him and developing his inven- tive genius. During the four years' association that followed Mr. Burson proved his mettle and
designed and invented the machinery now in use in the Burson-Ziock-Brown Company, which was organized in 1907, with Mr. Burson as one
In 1800 Mr. Burson was united in marriage with Miss Hettie Hoyt, a native of Illinois, having been born in the vicinity of Rockford. Mr. and Mrs Burson have one daughter, Flo- rence E. Politically Mr. Burson is a Republican. He belongs to Ellis Lodge No. 633, A. F. & A. M., Freeport Consistory, and Tebala Shrine of Rock- ford. Like his father, he is a natural inventor, and has made a great many changes in knitting machines, and produced other inventions of which the world knows nothing, he not having patented them. A man of clean living and high ideals, he is worthy of the name he bears. In the business world his activities have been of great importance. Coming into the knitting business as he has with a new company, he has been able to produce a product similar to, without interfering with that of his father. The two Bursons, father and son, have done much to build up Rockford. Their kindred in- dustries furnish employment to hundreds, and their wages spent in the city for necessities and comforts form no little part of the commercial life of the place. Generous, he gives liberally,
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although his modesty keeps him from appear- ing prominently before the public as a philan- thropist, and his association with civic measures shows that he is always to be found on the
side of progressive movements towards further improvements and the bringing into Rockford of new capital to be used for legitimate pur- poses.
JOHN FITZ RANDOLPH.
The wonderful success which attended the efforts of the late John Fitz Randolph, for sixty years a resident of Fulton County, Ill., stamped him as a man possessed of phenomenal business ability. Adopting farming as his life-work, as a young man he became the owner of 100 acres of fertile Fulton County soil, and through the years that followed continued to add from time to time to his holdings, until he was known as one of the largest landholders of the county. He was not content, however, to contine his ac- tivities to the furthering of his own interests, for his influence was always felt in movements promoting the public welfare, and he continues to be remembered as a helpful figure in social and political life. Mr. Randolph was born May, 26, 1833, in Indiana, a son of John and Nancy (Rawalt) Randolph, natives respectively of New York and Pennsylvania. The father was born in Yates County, N. Y., in December, 1776, and died in 1817, while the mother passed away February 13, 1878. Jeptha Randolph, the grand- father of John Fitz Randolph, was a Revolu- tionary soldier, and the family has since fur- nished a number of men who have taken promi- nent part in military life. John Randolph was a school teacher in the Empire State, but, with the intention of securing land for his sons, migrated to the new West, the family first locat- ing in Indiana, and subsequently, during the early forties, coming to Fulton County, Ill. John Randolph built a saw-mill on Putt Creek, in Joshua Township, and also owned a farm in that locality, where he passed the last years of his life. He and his wife were the parents of eleven children, of whom six survive. The father was a Whig in his political views, while his religious faith was that of the Swedenbor- gian church.
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