USA > Illinois > Biographical and memorial edition of the Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 46
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ـعد سة
Geo Besome
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John Conrad and Lucinda (Johnson) Denton, and to this union were born the following ch !!- dren: Ida May, who was born on August 1. 1872, married Thomas Arthur Burt, October 1S, 1894, and died May 16, 1908, leaving four chil- dren, Josephine, born September 7, 1896, George Henry, born November 7, 1898, Frederick Jack- son, born October 19, 1900, and Dorothy Pauline. born August 26, 1004; Nellie, who was born Oc- tober 4, 1874, married June 20, 1599, William Everett Sears, and they have a daughter, Mar- garet Denton Sears, born at Waterloo, la., March 21, 1900, and now live at Urbana, Ijl. : and Jessie, who was born April 26, 1877, mar- ried her brother-in-law, Thomas Arthur Burt, July 10, 1909, and they have a son, John Besore Burt, born December 23, 1910, and live at Ur- bana, Il1.
The death of George Besore occurred on De-
cember 23, 1900, and in speaking editorially of this loss to Champaign County the editor of an Urbana newspaper may be quoted as follows: "Mr. Besore was especially an unostentatious man who attended strictly to his own affairs, accumulated means, and was able and ready to aid all worthy ends and enterprises. He served his city as a member of the Common Council, was o director of the building and loan association, a director of the Public Library and a trustee of the Presbyterian Church. He was a citizen who was strictly reliable and his word was every where as good as his bond. The vacaney caused by his death will be hard to fill." He was a consistent temperance man and lent his influence to the cause. One who knew bim well sunis up his salient points thus: "He was jovial, kindly, honest, unassuming, indus- trious, patient, pure and true."
CHARLES DAVISON.
The substantial results of years of effort, in- telligently directed by a trained mind, are grati- fying to the one who has devoted his life to car- rying out the highest ideals of a certain calling. No man can be greater than his appreciation of the debt he owes the world, and the professional men who rise highest, are those who endeaver to aid humanity and assist their associates. One of the distinguished medical men of Chicago, whose career shows marked capability, and whose companions in his profession admire and revere, is Dr. Charles Davison. He was born in Lake County, Ill., January 13, 1858, a son of Peter and Martha Maria ( Whedon) Davison, descendants of old Colonial families. In 1876, Dr. Davison was graduated from a four years' course at the Barrington High school, and the fol- lowing year from the Wauconda school, and then for another year took up special studies, includ- ing Latin, mathematics and physiology. The succeeding year was spent as a school teacher in Lake County, Ill., when be matriculated at the Chicago Medical College, the medical depart- ment of the Northwestern University, and was graduated therefrom after three years, in 1853, with the degree of M. D. To further perfect him- self, Dr. Davison spent the next eighteen months, during 1883 and 1884, as an interne at Cook County Hospital, being under Dr. Christian Fenger in the surgical service, and then, in IS$4, established himself at Chicago in a general prac- tice in medicine and surgery, thus continuing until 1894, but in that year he began specializing
in a general surgical practice, and has so con- tinued
Dr. Davison has held some very important positions relative to surgical teaching, among them being that of professor of surgery, Chi- cago Clinical School (Post-Graduate), 1896-1906 ; in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Med- ical Department of the University of Illinois, as follows: professor of surgical anatomy, 1899- 1900 : adjunct professor of clinical surgery, 1900- 1003; adjunct professor of surgery and clinical surgery 1903-1904 ; and professor of surgery and clinical surgery, 1004 to the present date. IIIs hospital positions have been equally important, for he has been assistant surgeon of the Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, 1887-1892; attending surgeon, Cook County Hospital, 1894 to date ; attending surgeon, West Side Hospital, 1896-1907; and attending surgeon, The Univer- sity Hospital, 1908 to date. He has held the fol- lowing surgical clinics for the College of Physi- cians and Surgeons : Cook County Hospital, 1899 to date; West Side Hospital, 1901-1907 ; College Ataphitheatre. 1007 to 1908; and the University Hospital, 1908 to date.
Dr. Davison is affiliated with the American Medical Association, the Illinois State Medical Society, the Chicago Medical Society, the Chicago Surgical Society, the Medical History Society, the Alpha Omega Alpha (honorary medical fra- ternity), American College of Surgeons, and the Alpha Kappa Kappa. He was one of the found- ers of the West Side Hospital in 1896, and the
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editor of The Chicago Clinic, 1899, Vol. XII., and 1900, Vol. XIII. He was a trustee of the University of Illinois, 1905-1910, and one of the founders of The University Hospital of Chicago in 1907. During 1911 and 1912, he was president of the Cook County Hospital Interne Alumni Association, and during 1912 and 1913, was presi- dent of the Chicago Surgical Society. During 1913 and 1914, he has been a member of the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons, and in 1913 and 1914 was a member of
the committee on Standardization of Surgery of the American Congress of Clinical Surgeons. To comment more fully upon the work of Dr. Day- ison seems unnecessary, for he is as well known to the people of Chicago as any other of its prominent men, and to his profession as one of its most able exponents. A man of broad ideas, comprehensive knowledge and varied ability, he has put to good use the talents he possessed, and given to the world gifts of skill and scientific research not easily requited.
FRANCIS NICHOLSON.
A few of the earliest settlers of Joliet have a very delightful advantage which those of less long residence do not possess, for they have a most interesting fund of reminiscence, making real the conditions in the earlier days, when the prairie schooner did the work of today's locomotives and steel coaches; when deer paths served for roads; when Joliet, as a busy, thriv- ing city was not even a dream. These things the most recent generations know more or less dimly as hearsay. One of the real pioneers of the locality was Francis Nicholson, born in New Hartford, Oneida County, N. Y., August 31, 1803. He was of direct English descent, a son of Jared and Hannah (Hull) Nicholson, natives of Hartford, Conn. His first experience of work came to him on his father's farm, his time being divided between school and farming. After school days were over, he took a decided inter- est in farming and continued his operations, in that immediate neighborhood, until he was thir- ty-three years of age. In 1863 he, in company with his family, came to Illinois to make their future home. They made the long and danger- ous trip in a covered wagon, locating in Joliet, arriving so that their first meal there was Christmas dinner. Joliet, when they first knew it, was a mere stopping place, with less than forty buildings constituting the town. Every- thing was then exactly as might be expected in a typical frontier town, no conveniences and few comforts; and from December, 1536, until his death February 24, 1596, Mr. Nicholson watched the town's growth from a smail settle- ment of widely scattered cabins into a bean- tiful city. He enjoyed the distinction of seeing
the first state coach, the first canal boat, and the first train that came to Joliet.
Mr. Nicholson served an apprenticeship of about four years in Mayville, N. Y., and learned his trade there. When he first came to Illinois to live Mr. Nicholson worked at his trade; he then clerked a few years; then he and his son kept a grocery store for a few years; but later he opened a tailoring establishment on his own responsibility, and in this business he remained active until his death. Back in 1843 he erected his home at 5131% West Jefferson street, which place is now occupied by his daughter, Kath- erine S. Nicholson.
Mr. Nicholson was married to Miss Matilda Russell, who died less than two years later, leaving him a daughter, Sarah M., deceased. Some years subsequently Mr. Nicholson was married again, to Miss Mary Ann Burdge, a native of Schoharie, N. Y. To Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson four children were born: Francis Henry, Harmon F., Katherine S., and Sultana E. Katherine is now the only living child. The family were communicants in the Episcopal Church, and Mr. Nicholson was, for years, a warden and choir leader. Their acquaintance in Joliet was very large and intimate, Mr. Nich- olson being remarkably well-known and re- spected in business circles, His wealth of past experience added greatly to the interest and weight of his conversation; and to hear him retail the stories of experiences of former days was the delight of the younger boys, who all considered Mr. Nicholson one of their most dear friends. He was a member of the Sons of Tem- perance.
CHARLES FINNEY LOVE.
To a young man starting out in life, business seems a fairly simple proposition. He sees a prescribed formula of work ahead of him,
but he does not doubt his ability to work to ad- vantage, and he realizes a contented independ- ence is the sure wage of his labor. This opti-
HISTORY
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dolares 7 Jours
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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
mistic faith in the world is the heritage of a rising generation; but how many, when they arrive at stern realities, have clear grit enough to hold to their high ambitions and work with an unchanged purpose. Only a very few, for on the up-hill climb to success, far easier than pushing doggedly ahead is it to turn aside into a complacent rut of mediocrity. The struggle for supremacy is won, or lost in the soul; and the indomitable will of Charles Finney Love, which afforded him little satisfaction iu his achievements until the goal of his ambi- tion was reached, made his life a marked suc- cess. Charles Finney Love was born in Waukesha, Wis., March 29, 1845, a son of Robert and Martha ( Barnett) Love, natives of Albany and Brockport, N. Y., respectively. His par- ents were among the earliest settlers of Wis- consin, and here, in the typical environment of the frontier, they reared their family of nine children. There were five sons and four daughters born to Mr. and Mrs. Love, and their names were: Sarah, deceased; Jerome, deceased; Mrs. I. P. Tichenor, deceased; Mrs. A. C. Codding, deceased ; Mrs. W. C. Davis, of Tucson, Ariz .; George, deceased; Henry M .; George M .; and Charles F.
Charles F. Love was the youngest of the family, and received his education in the public schools of Waukesha. As he grew to a more mature age, he decided that his time would be better spent in gaining a practical business knowledge than in taking additional scholastic work, and he became an employe of Giles Brothers, Chicago jewelers, representing them in Monroe, Wis., later going on the road for the same firm. He then went into their Chi- cago house and remained with them there for a short time, leaving to enter the commission business with his brother, H. M. Love. In this work he continued until the great Chicago fire, after which he entered the employ of the Charles Todd commission house. In 1889 he severed this connection and established the C. F. Love commission house, with offices at No. 89 South Water street. This firm was incor-
porated, under the original name, in 1004, and the following officers were elected: Charles F. Love, president; II. M. Love, vice president ; and C. B. Ayers, treasurer. In the field of general commission business this firm was a pioneer, and is now rated as one of the more prominent houses devoted to this line of en- deavor.
On November 22, 1877, Mr. Love was united in marriage to Miss Ula Wilkins, of Blooming- ton, MeLean County, Ill., the service being per- formed at her Chicago residence, by Rev. II. Thomas of the Methodist church. Mrs. Love was a daughter of Daniel and Ellen ( Platt) Wilkins, of Bloomington, where they had long been residents and where the father had been president of the Illinois Wesleyan University, during the Civil war. Mr. Wilkins was an intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln, and in speaking of the earlier days of his life in Illi- nois, recounts the drives he made from Bloom- ington to Chicago, there being then no rail- roads. Mr. Wilkins moved to Chicago in 1875. Mrs. Love was the second, in order of birth, of five children, namely : Morris D., Mrs. C. F. Love, Mrs. Clara W. Grant, of New York City, DeLos of Los Angeles, Calif., and Frederick, deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Love no children have been born.
In his political affiliations Mr. Love was a Republican, though party prejudice failed to restrain him from voting for the man he judged best titted to serve the country. He had no membership in any of the various churches, but frequently attended their services and through- out his life was governed by the doctrines of the Goklen Rule. While at Gasport. N. Y., on a business trip, Mr. Love died, September 4, 1912. His life teaches a highly instructive les- son on the power a man has over his own destiny and his death occasioned deep regret among his innumerable friends. The services over his tem- poral body were held at the Love home, in Chicago, and his remains were laid to rest, near his father and mother, in Milwaukee, Wis.
FREDERIC ADRIAN DELANO.
One of the prominent men Chicago still claims, whose activities, however, have long extended over a territory much wider than that embraced within the confines of that city, is Frederic Adrian Delano, formerly the executive
head of the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railroad, known as the Monon system, and con- spicuously identified with the leading railway lines of the country through many years. Since August 10, 1914, he has been a member of the
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Federal Reserve Board, to which high and responsible office he was appointed by Presi- dent Woodrow Wilson,
Frederic Adrian Delano was born at Hong Kong, China, September 10, 1863, while his parents, Warren and Catherine Robbins (Ly- man) Delano, were residing there, the father having been engaged as a merchant in China, where he spent over thirty years of his life. Mr. Delano senior was a member of the firm of Russell & Company, which had branches in all the leading cities of China. At the time of his retirement, in 1866, he returned to New- burgh, N. Y., on the Hudson River, where he lived until his death in 1898, when he was eighty-nine years old. His ancestors were French Huguenots and English Pilgrims, early settlers of Plymouth, Mass. The history of the Delano family in America begins with the settlement of Phillippe de Lannoy, at Plymouth, who came on the ship Fortune, from Leyden, Holland, in 1621, and from him the line de- scends as follows :
Jonathan. Thomas, Ephraim, Warren, Warren, and Frederic .\. The Delano family is connected by marriage with some of the best known families of New Eng- land, including those of Church, Warren, Aller- ton, Cushman, Hathaway and Swift. On the maternal side of the house, Frederic A. Delano is of English and Scotch ancestry. Members of the family emigrated to Boston and Salem, Mass., between 1630 and 1700. Mr. Delano's mother was born at Northampton. Mass., of a well known family, and was in the seventh gen- eration descended from Jonathan Lyman, who located in the Colonies during the early part of the seventeenth century. The Lymans are connected by marriage with the Strongs. Shel- dons, Dwights, Hutchinsons, Clarks, Robbins and Murrays, and these branches produced two governors of Massachusetts. Mrs. Delano passed away in 1897, when seventy-three years old. She and her husband were the parents of eleven children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the tenth.
Growing up at Newburgh, N. Y .. Frederic .A. Delano later attended Adams Academy, at Quincy, Mass., and still later, Harvard Univer- sity, from which he was graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1885. In spite of the fact that he was fully qualified for a scholastic career, Mr. Delano followed his inclination and began work with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, beginning with an engineering party in Colorado, August 1, 1885, and after three
months entering the company's shops at Aurora, Ill., as a machinist's apprentice. The work was so to his liking that he made good progress. In April, 1St, he was temporarily appointed acting engineer of tests at Aurora. His next promotion was his appointment as assistant to the second vice president, at Chi- cago, in April, 1859; then as superintendent of freight terminals at Chicago in July, 1890, and after nearly nine years in that position, was made superintendent of motive power, at Chica- go, February 1, 1809. On July 1, 1901, Mr. Delano was honored by being made general manager of this same road, which position he held until January 10, 1905. After a vacation of two months he took up consultation work, in this connection serving without compensation, for the war department of the government in re- lation to railroad construction in the Philippine Islands. Mr. Delano returned to the railway service in May, 1905, as president of the Wheel- 'ing & Lake Erie Railroad Company, and the Wabash-Pittsburgh-Terminal Railway, and as vice president of the Wabash Railroad Com- pany. Within six months, he was placed at the head of the Wabash system, continuing in that capacity until he resigned to accept the presidency of the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louis- ville Railway Company. In addition, Mr. De- lano has been chairman of the board of di- rectors of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad Company of Chicago. Professionally, he belongs to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Franklin Insti- tute, the American Master Mechanics' Associa- tion, and the American Railway Association, having served as president from 1907 to 1909, and also of the Western Railway Club for one term. He has been a member of the board of overseers of Harvard University, a trustee of Chicago University, and president of the board of directors of the Chicago Lying-in-Hospital.
President Taft appointed Mr. Delano a mem- ber of the Federal Industrial Commission, but the senate failed to act on the nominations, but he was named again in the commission chosen by President Wilson and confirmed. He resigned August 10, 1914, on account of his appointment on the Federal Reserve Board.
As president of the Chicago Commercial Club, Mr. Delano has proven his interest in municipal affairs. He has also been active in connection with the Chicago Plan Commission of the city, and supported the movement since 1907. Dur-
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ing the late Mayor Busse's incumbency of the executive office, Mr. Delano was appointed, in January, 1008, a member of the Harbor Com- mission of the city of Chicago. He is an Uni- tarian in religious belief, and has served as vice president of the American Unitarian Asso- ciation. He is a member of the Chicago, Union League, the University, the Chicago Literary, Engineers Club. City Club, Western Society of Engineers, the Commercial and other clubs of .
New York, Chicago, and now of Washington, D. C.
The marriage of Mr. Delano took place No- vember 22, 1888, at Chicago, when he was united with Miss Matilda Peasley, a daughter of J. C. Peasley. Mr. and Mrs. Delano have had five children, of whom there are these daughters liv- ing: Catherine, Louise and Laura. The family has resided at No. 510 Wellington avenue, but has recently moved to Washington, D. C.
LEON McDONALD.
A powerful and interesting personality was removed from the stage of life in the death of Leon McDonald, who was justly named, on account of the number and importance of his activities, the most prominent citizen of his time at Lockport, Ill. That a life so useful and inspiring should have closed so early is one of the mysteries unsolvable by human understand- ing. Illinois has produced few men so vari- ously gifted, and he was known all over the state, primarily as a brilliant journalist, also as politician, editor and publisher, sound busi- ness man and banker, his interests and activities not only covering substantial, material lines, but reaching to the higher levels of culture and social effort. For seventeen years he was super- intendent of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, his jurisdiction extending on the Illinois River from La Salle to Copperas Creek, and it was the unrealized dream of his life that there should be a deep waterway to the Gulf of Mexico. His efforts and achievements in this direction alone would reflect credit enough on the life of the ordinary man.
Leon McDonald was born in New Leuox Township, Will County, Ill., November 2, 1860, and was a son of Jonathan S. MeDonald, for some years connected with the banking interests of Lockport. The family comes of Scotch an- cestry, and the first authentie records trace back to Michael McDonald, a seafaring man, who crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Canada, later making his home in New England. Michael MeDonald was drowned in Lake Ontario, leav- ing his widow, and at least one son, Asa Mc- Donald, then living at Lockport, N. Y. Asa McDonald, the grandfather of the late Leon Me- Donald, in his youth served as a drummer boy in a company raised to oppose the British at Niagara in the War of 1812. Later he became prominent in the state militia. In 1836 he moved to Joliet, Ill., later to Five Mile Grove,
and subsequently to New Lenox Township in Will County. Ile married Olive Rudd at Syra- cuse, N. Y., and they had six daughters and one son, the latter being Jonathan S. McDonald.
Jonathan S. MeDonald was born at Liverpool. N. Y., April 17, 1829, and was seven years old when the family reached Will County. In the early days he taught school and in 1819 went to California as a gold miner, and upon his re- turn established a bank at Lockport. Early in the Civil war he recruited a company for serv- ice, which became a part of the One Hundredth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, served faithfully through four years and then returned to Will County, and for many years prior to the death of his beloved son, had been an object of loving, filial care in the latter's beautiful home at Lockport. On December 12, 1857, Jonathan S. MeDonald married Miss Louisa Snoad, a daughter of Col. George Snoad, of England, and to them was born one son, Leon, and a daughter, Olive, who died while a young child.
Leon MeDonald was about sixteen years of age when he became a student in the Wiscon- sin State University, where he remained two years. Ile then mastered the printer's trade in his father's office, serving in all capacities from the humblest to that of editor. In 1880 he entered individually into the newspaper field, becoming first a reporter and later city editor of the Joliet News. He was one of the founders of the Joliet Press, which proved an exceptionally successful undertaking as long as the original promoters remained in charge, and he continued identified with this journal until 1854 when he sold his interest and returned to Lockport. Here he assumed control, as pub- lisher. of the Lockport Phoenix, which was still in his possession until the time of his death. Hle had made it an effective factor for the pro- motion of the city's interests and at the same time it led Republican sentiment in Will
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County. He was also president of the Will County Printing Company, and additionally was president of the First National Bank of Lock- port, as well as general superintendent of the Illinois & Michigan Canal. It was in 1897 that Mr. McDonald was appointed superintendent of this important waterway, which begins at Bridgeport in Chicago, five miles from Lake Michigan, and ends at La Salle, on the Illinois River, 96 miles distant.
To the French explorer, Louis Joliet, un- doubtedly belongs the credit of the first sugges- tion of the possibility of making a navigable waterway from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. The benefits of such an undertaking were extensively discussed by other explorers but stupendous difficulties barred the way. In 1795, however, in a treaty with the Indians, the representatives of the Government made pro- visions recognizing the possibility of and look- ing to the ultimate construction of such a water- way. When Illinois was admitted to State- hood, in 1818, the possibility of a canal again became the subject of public discussion, and in 1820 the State Legislature took up the mat- ter, a partial survey for the route of the canal was made and in 1822 Congress authorized the construction of such canal. The work of con- struction began in earnest in 1839, when the population of the now vast city of Chicago did not much exceed 3,000 individuals, and with- out it Chicago could never have had its won- derful growth. No man of the many connected with the great subject of a waterway, free and unobstructed from the lakes to the gulf, ever cherished more belief in the enterprise or built higher hopes than did Leon MeDonald.
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