USA > Illinois > Biographical and memorial edition of the Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 86
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Henry Augustus Blair was born at Michigan City, Ind., July 6, 1852, a son of Chauncey Buckley Blair, a sketch of whom wid be found elsewhere in this work. He comes of Scotch- Irish stock, grounded upon New England soil. as he is a descendant in the sixth generation of
Robert Blair, who came from County Antrim, Ireland, and located in Worcester County, Mass .. about 1718. The line of descent is as follows : Robert. Rufus, Samuel, and Chauncey Buckley.
In 1571 Henry A. Blair completed his educa- tional training at Williams Seminary at East Hampton. Mass, and entered the Merchants National Bank of Chicago, of which his father was the founder and president. He continued with that institution for ten years, filling vari- ous positions until, on account of ill health. he went to Wyoming in 1881, and purchased a cattle ranch, remaining there until 1591. when he returned to the bank and became its vice- president. In 1902. which year witnessed the expiration of its second twenty-year charter, the Merchants National Bank was consolidated with the Corn Exchange Bank, and Mr. Blair re- tired from active connection with it. His labors since that period have been of a broader scope, and have won for him wide recognition as an able and resourceful financier who looks beyond the exigencies of the moment to the possibilities of the future. During the greater portion of this period, he has devoted his entire attention to the accomplishment of one project, the con- solidating and merging of all transportation lines of Chicago, which he has now accom- plished. He was for some years receiver and director of the North Chicago Street Railway Company, the West Chicago Street Railway Company, and the West Division Railway Com-
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pany. Becoming thoroughly conversant with traction matters through these connections, he foresaw the great advantages which could be obtained through the operation of all lines un- der one management and undertook to merge the several street railway corporations of the city into one operating company. This he ac- complished in 1907, in the organization of the Chicago Railway Company, consolidating under the one management all of the sixteen different surface lines of the city. Of this corporation he has since been the chairman of the board of directors and head of its finance committee. The marked success of this enterprise, in the bene- fits which have accrued both to the stockholders, in the reduction of operating expenses, and to the public in the great improvement in service during the past four years, inspired Mr. Blair to undertake another step in the line, the cou- solidation of all the elevated lines of the city. To this end he devised a plan and organized an operating syndicate which submitted bids for the several elevated properties amounting to forty-four million, five hundred thousand dol- lars. This syndicate incorporated as the Chi- cago Elevated Railways, assumed control on July 1, 1911, of all the elevated lines of Chi- cago. Mr. Blair's next step will be the merger of all transportation lines, including surface. elevated and subway, which will control the operation of all the traction lines of the city and be by far the largest enterprise of its kind in the world. As a result of Mr. Blair's la- bors, Chicago has today the finest traction sys- tem in the world, giving more efficient service and at a lower cost to the public than that of any other city. Still the fruits of these labors have as yet been realized only in part. and the
future promises even greater improvement than has been accomplished in the past five years. In addition to his street railway interests, Mr. Blair has for many years been vice-president of the Illinois Trust & Savings Bank, the Elgin National Water Company, and the Common- wealth Edison Company and a trustee of the Graceland Cemetery Trust Fund. While Mr. Blair found Chicago the place for advancing his personal interests and has attained here notaidle success, his life work in its reflex ac- tion has been of inestimable value to the city. Hle belongs to that class of financiers who have placed the city upon a strong financial basis, and while in all of his business affairs he has sought that success which has its root in prog- ress, his efforts have never been characterized by injudicious speculation, but have rather manifested conservatism of time and energies, yet without sacrifice of results to be attained.
Mr. Blair is a member of the Chicago Asso- ciation of Commerce, the Chicago, Union League, Caxton, Midday, Chicago Golf, Exmoor, South Shore, and Saddle and Cycle clubs of Chicago, and the Metropolitan and Recess clubs of New York City. His principal recreations are golf and hunting, and for a number of years he in- dulged in foreign travel to some extent. He is 2 Republican in politics, and in religious mat- ters a member of Trinity Episcopal Church, of which be has been a vestryman for many years.
On February 19. 1878, Mr. Blair was married to Miss Grace E. Pearce, a daughter of John Irving and Margaret (Wilkins) Pearce of this eity. They have two daughters, namely : Natalie, who is the wife of H. M. Higgin- botham ; and Anita, who is at home. The family residence is at No. 2735 Prairie avenue, Chicago.
WATSON FRANKLIN BLAIR.
The captains of industry who are in com- mand of the mighty financial armies which are fighting to preserve the nation's standing among other civilized countries, as well as against those foes to established currency and methods of transacting business, are the men upon whose shoulders rest the responsibility for prosperity and advancement along every line of commer- cial and industrial activity. Without them and their sound, conservative policies. the coun- try would be at the mercy of every irresponsible speculator or visionary idealist. These men of affairs keep their finger on the pulse of prog- ress and are able to prevent undue stimulation,
or dangerous reflex action. As is but natural, Chicago is becoming more and more the home of some of the greatest banking houses of the country. The time is past when New York C'ity was the center of all the financial . trans- actions of the country. The middle states and the western ones are awakening to the fact that in the second city of the country are offered accommodations and opportunities for sound speculation not to be excelled anywhere. One of the men who has borne far more than his share in the work of bringing about this most desirable state of affairs is Watson Franklin Blair, whose association with the Corn Ex-
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change Bank of Chicago, while important, is but one of the many and varied interests which he is continuing.
Watson Franklin Blair was born at Michigan City, Ind., January 29, 1:54, the youngest son of Chauncey Buckley and Caroline O. (DeGroit) Blair. The founder of the Blair family in this country was Robert Blair, born in County An- tritu, Ireland, who arrived in Worcester County, Mass., about 1718. The line of descent is as follows: Robert (I), Robert (II), Rufus (III), Samuel (IV), Chauncey Buckley (V) and Wat- son Franklin (VI). For a number of years Chauncey Buckley Blair was a leading factor in the financial life of Chicago, where he was intimately associated with some of the leading banks of the city, while his sons have devel- oped along the same line, and are all men of large affairs.
Watson Franklin Blair completed a course at Willeston Seminary, East Hampton, Mass, and then entering the packing house of Culbertson, Blair & Company, he began a business career which was to yield him such handsome remu- 'neration and establish him as one of the fore- most men of his day. He remained with this firm until it was dissolved in 1876, and the year following he embarked in a grain commission business as a member of the Chicago Board of Trade, under the name of Blair & Company, thus continuing until 1890, when he retired from it to give more time to the investment of his capital and the furtherance of the various in- terests with which he is so prominently asso- ciated. For a period antedating the consolidation of the Merchant National Bank and the Corn Exchange Bank, he was a director of the former institution, and since 1903 has held the same office in the new corporation. Mr. Blair is also vice-president of the Field Museum of Natural History, whose sphere of usefulness he has con-
siderably widened ; and is also vice-president of the Children's Memorial Hospital, to which he is a generous contributor.
On November 15, 1853, Mr. Blair was mar- ried to Miss Alice Rose Keep, a daughter of William and Frances ( Rhodes) Keep, both of whom come from old and honored New York state families. Mr. and Mrs. Blair have become the parents of four children, namely : Beatrice, Alice Rose, Watson Keep and Wolcott, the first two of whom are deceased. For many years Mr. Blair and his family have spent considerable time in Europe, but maintain their residence at No. 720 Rush street, Chicago. Mr. Blair is also connected with a number of leading clubs of Chicago and New York, among them being the Chicago, the Chicago Golf, the Onwentsia, the Chicago Athletic and the Saddle and Cycle Clubs of Chicago, and the Union, the Metropolitan, the New York Yacht, the Brook and Automo- bile Clubs of New York ; while abroad he main- tains membership with the Hurlingham Club of London, England, and the Travelers Club of Paris, France.
A man of unusual publie spirit, interested in local affairs and proud of the city in which much of his active and mature manhood has been passed, Mr. Blair is a powerful factor in the furtherance of any measure which has for its aim the advancement of the people or the betterment of existing conditions. Unassuming in his manner, he acts from conviction and holds steadfastly to his friendships, being loyal to those with whom he is associated, and his coun- try. Although his interests are widespread, and the demands upon his time and sympathies countless, Mr. Blair is uniformly courteous, listening patiently and acting wisely accord- ing to the judgment his ripe experience has given him.
ALFRED C. COTTON.
Dr. Alfred C. Cotton, A. M., M. D., of Chi- cago, a distinguished member of the profession of medicine. author, educator and citizen, has won a notable place in the annals of men who bave profoundly influenced their day and genera- tion. He is a direct lineal descendant of the famous puritan, Rev. John Cotton, who, in 1633, found in America a refuge from religious in- tolerance. From him were handed down to his descendants those traits of indomitable cour- age, high moral purpose and love of learning
which characterize New England influences in ' American history.
Melvin Cotton, the grandfather of Dr. S. C. Cotton, was a Revolutionary patriot and leader of distinction, and his son, Porter, a man of unusual literary and professional attainments. was a prominent member of the faculty of Washington University near Natchez, Missis- sippi. early in the eighteenth century. Return- ing thence to his native state, Vermont, he was married to Elvira Cleveland, of Hartland, and
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established a thriving business in general mer- chandise. In 1842 he removed to Illinois and located at Griggsville, where he reared a large family and lived for forty years, merchant, mill owner, grain dealer and scholar. He received the call to return to Mississippi to take the presidency of Washington University, but though that atmosphere of learning was very congenial and attractive, the influence of slavery did not appeal to him as favorable for the future of his growing family. In Griggsville he died, at a venerable age, honored and beloved. He was a lifelong total abstainer, a consistent Christian. an ardent Whig and a pronounced abolitionist. He took a virile part in those early moral, re- ligious and political activities, which ultimately saved Illinois to the Union and helped to change secession sentiment in this border state to the glorious record of union patriotism of which Illinois is justly proud.
Dr. Cotton was the youngest son of a family of six children, inchinling one daughter, Mrs. William H. Collins, of Quincy. His education was begun in the village schools, and later under the personal tutelage of Rev. W. H. Whipple, a Congregational minister, he received a careful preparation for college. But his studies were interrupted in 1863 by his enlistment at sixteen years of age, as a drummer in Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-Seventh Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry. His two older brothers had already enlisted in the Union cause. Half of the sixteen months of his service was spent in Southern prisons, and the wound which he had received rendered his health precarious for months after his honorable discharge at the close of the war. In the fall of 1865 he entered the State Normal University, at Bloomington. Illinois, from which he graduated in 1869, with one of the highest honors to his credit, namely, the presidency of the Philadelphian Literary Society.
Dr. Cotton has ever been a discriminating reader, and acquired a practical knowledge of the natural sciences and an appreciative taste for the classics. The foundation thus laid con- tributed largely to his subsequent successes as a leader and teacher in his chosen profession. It was natural that he should serve for seven consecutive years as principal of grammar and high schools in his native state. In this field he made his mark as a teacher of Latin and of the Natural Sciences, and as an organizer of graded schools. In 1878 he served as Deputy County Superintendent of the Iroquois County
schools. During several years prior to 1876 he had pursued his piedicat studies with Dr. J. R. Stoner, of Griggsvilje, and in the autumn of that year entered Rush Medical College, graduating in 1878 as valedictorian and president of his class. In 1537 be received the degree of Master of Arts from Illinois College at Jacksonville. After leaving medical college, Dr. Cotton entered the practice of medicine and surgery at Turner, DuPage County, Illinois, an important railroad center, receiving the appointment of local sur- goot for the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. Here he was twice elected County Coroner, and served as Healt! Officer. Two years after grad- uating he occupied a position with his Alma Mater as lecturer on Materia Medica and Thera- peutics. He opened an office in Chicago in 1880, traveling back and forth, a distance of thirty miles, daily for two years, to attend to his lec- tures and his city office work.
In May. 1852. Dr. Cotton removed to Chicago, where he rapidly acquired a wide practice, and was in much demand as consultant among his brother practitioners. Ilis efficiency and popu- larity as a teacher shortly led to his appoint- ment as Adjunct Professor of Therapeutics and Attending Obstetrician to the Presbyterian Hos- pital. From 1882 he was Attending Pediatrician to the Central Free Dispensary, and Assistant to the Clinical Chair of Diseases of Children. In 1SS3 and 1884 he devoted a year to post-graduate work in pediatrics in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. A few years later he was elected Professor of Diseases of Children in Rush Medical College, the Chair having been ex- pressi, created for him. To this specialty he was soon forced to give his whole attention, he- cause of the demand made upon his skill and ex- perience. For over thirty years following 1882 he was an active force in the management of the Children's Department of the Central Free Dispensary. as attending and consulting physi- cian, and for many years has served upon the staff of the Presbyterian Hospital in like capac- ity. He was superintendent of Jackson Park Sanatorium for sick children. At the same time he was staff lecturer to the Illinois Training School for Nurses and the Presbyterian Hospi- tal Training School for Nurses. For many years he served on the staff of the County Hospital as Attending Physician, Consultant and Pres- ident of the Consulting Staff. From 1891 to 1893, and 1895 to 1897. he was City Physician of Chicago. By virtue of this position he was a member of the Chicago Board of Health, Med-
your hoy a@ Cotton
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ical Superintendent of the Police Department and the House of Correction, and was in charge of the Chicago Isolation Hospital and the in- fectious disease ward of the Cook County Hos- pital. For a number of years the dortor was examining surgeon on the United States Pension Board, and for years was annually chosen sur- geon of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Veteran Union League.
Dr. Cotton is a prominent member of the Chicago Medical Society, Illinois State Medical Society. American Pediatric Society, American Medical Examiners' Association. and of the American Medical Association and many others. He was twice chosen Chairman of the Pediatric Section of the American Medical Association, at the San Francisco meeting. 1894, and at Balti- more, 1895. He was one of the founders of the Chicago Pediatric Society and twice its pres- ident ; was president of the Chicago Medical Society, 1908-1939; president of the Illinois State Medical Society. 1911-1912; and was one of the founders and later president of the American Teachers' Association for Diseases of Children. He has been president of the Chicago Medical Examiners' Association, Chicago Physi- cians' Club, Chicago Alumni Chapter of Phi Rho Sigma, and of the Grand Chapter of Phi Rho Sigma, and a member of Gamma Chapter: has repeatedly been Councilor of the Chicago Medical Society, delegate to the Illinois State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, and the Triennial International Medical Congress which convened in Moscow, 1897. Buda Pest in 1907, and London in 1913. For nearly thirty years he has been medical referee for Chicago and vicinity, and chief examiner in Chicago of the Prudential Life Insurance Company of America. In addition, he was surgeon to the Artillery Battalion of the Illinois National Guard, and has served as Commander of Amer- ican Post, No. 70%, Grand Army of the Republic.
In spite of the many and varied demands made upon his versatility, Dr. Cotton has found time to write three textbooks, namely. "Lessons on the Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene of In- fancy and Childhood ;" "The Care of the Child," and a textbook on "Medical Diseases of the De- veloping Period." besides scores of contributions to pediatric literature, many of which have ob- tained international recognition. He is one of the few Americans honored with membership in the Société Française d'Hugiene of Paris, be- fore which he presented arguments and samples of hygienic clothing for infants. These gar-
ments have been adopted by many institutions in America and in France. In Masonry he is a member of Garfield Lodge, Chicago ; Dorie Chap- ter, West Chicago; K. T., and Bethel Command- ery. No. 36, Elgin, Illinois, He is a member of Warren Avenue Congregational Church, Chicago, and a life-long Republican.
Dr. Cotton has been twice married. in 1879 to Miss Olive A. Rider, of Griggsville and in 1.93 to Nettie Ustane MacDonald, of Chicago. To the last union were born two children : Mil- dred C .. February, 1895, and John R., January,
In the midst of his many activities, Dr. Cotton has been much sought after as a speaker before professional and civic bodies, where his ripe wisdom, ninible wit. broad philosophy and force- ful personality have made him a great favorite. To illustrate his wide popularity among the members of his own profession, we may call attention to a dinner given to him in 1913 by a spontaneous gathering of his friends, without publicity. to celebrate his sixty-sixth birthday and his safe return from a tour in Europe. Two hundred and seventy five doctors were in attend- aner, and the outhurst of song and congratula- tory speeches was significant. Among their trib- utes the following poem, written for the occa- sion, was recited by its author :
"ALFRED C. COTTON, A. M., M. D .. "Pediatrician and Man Four-Square. "By Arthur M. Corwin. A. M., M. D., "Chicago.
"Good Sir, and Master of this gracious hour. And all ye goodly sirs, both lean and fat. Who count a friend of greater worth
Than name of oligarch or democrat,
And who delight to show esteem to this. The Nestor of them all in matters infantile; Give heed, I pray, to these, my verses blank, For ordinary prose may not express the thought And rhymes with cautions, halting feet Are all too slow.
" 'Tis given to womankind
To draw mere man with silken thread of charm Of mind and heart and fascinating form and face.
And hind him with a golden grace of manner sweet,
With thrilling touch of lip and soft embrace : Her voice like call of mermaid
From an emerakl beckoning wave,
Encaptivates him in its liquid depths,
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And if he struggle from its thrall,
'Tis vain, her soulful eye has shot its conquer- ing shaft ; His virile strength is all her own;
In servitude he bows, her willing slave.
"And yet not all her slave. For as to Jonathan a David clave. And Damon to his Pythias, The brotherhood 'twixt stalwart men Was born of old, Divinely chemical,- Fraternal atoms they Of that primeval plastic clay From which they sprang, In sworn allegiance through a common origin ; 'Tis thus these atoms men cohere To make fair friendship's molecule A most coherent stuff.
"But as the potter molds from out the mass Some fairer shape In skillful likeness of a thing divine, So differ men, and differ too In quality of their ancestral mud; Thereby we humans masculine In recognition of a bit of finer stuff, Though one of us, Rejoice to bring spontaneous offering Of soul and brawn to Cotton, Long our friend, our councilor, And yet our critic just.
"'Tis ours to land the rirtucs rare of this our friend, His faults forget --- What artist would with sooty brush Bedaub the beauties of a sunset sky ? Nor measure we with fulsome flattery Ilis merits fine ; No honor that to him or us And naught to satisfy. 'Tis mete the rather with an eagle's quill, Symbolic of the strength of love we feel, To write indelibly and plain The happy truths we know of him.
"What though of human foibles He may have his share; If they who do no sin shall claim Alone the right to cast a stone at him. No shower of rock shall fall his way, As none of yore.
Of faults he has a few, Some grave, perhaps, why not? So have we all.
We love him for abundant grain of character, A priceless store, And reckon not of chaff.
"A born physician, he, For whom, though men and women look To cure their ills, Especially do infants weep In time of pain and fear. The voices of ten thousand of these little ones, IIe's seen and saved,
I seem to hear in mighty chorus to his praise, From out the tangle of the sleepless nights And weary days he's served-
The children love him so.
As follow fast his trail their flying feet,
Where'er the trumpet of his auto loud they hear, So followed children long ago that other piper dear.
"The corridors of suffering Long years he's paced,
To bless with reassuring smile and healing touch ; .
For decades faced the students' serried ranks Dispensing truth ; And long by pen and voice Made records sure.
"Wide in his knowledge of the crowd, Of books as well;
Big in experience, manifold ;
Broad in his sympathy for every living thing ; Keen for the right when hostile wrong ob- trudes ;
A fearless, able advocate where principle's at stake ;
His word is sacred more than any bond.
Wise in advice, in judgment just ;
Quick to detect a sophistry ; When called extempore to reason on his feet, What scion of the law could hope to meet On equal field the thrust and parry Of his subtle wit? Generous to foe, in sacrifice for friend in need, He'll launch his craft on any sea, And plunge through any storm Nor care what dangers threaten him.
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"In fine, with sunny heart and face benign,
A wondrous fund of illustrative anecdote at ready call,
And bubbling, kindly humor, rich, withal,
He stands unshaken io his faith in God and Three score and six, an optimist,
A loving. loyal, forceful gentleman."
HENRY STUCKART.
Henry Stuckart, who is now filling the re- sponsible position of treasurer of Cook County, is not only numbered among the most promi- nent and efficient officials of the county, but he is likewise one of Chicago's successful business men. He enjoys wide popularity for the active interest he takes in civic affairs and all move- ments tending to the moral betterment and wel- fare of the city and county. His progressive spirit is evident in all commercial enterprises and political affairs with which he is identified, and he has earned an honorable reputation among the leading business men and politicians of the state. He is one of the men who essen- tially belong to the men of action in Chicago, and is recognized as a man of substantial worth, whose judgment is sound and sagacity keen.
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