USA > Illinois > Kane County > Commemorative portrait and biographical record of Kane and Kendall Counties, Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographicalsketches of prominent and representative citizens of Kane and Kendall Counties, together with portraits and biographies of the presidents of the United States > Part 17
USA > Illinois > Kendall County > Commemorative portrait and biographical record of Kane and Kendall Counties, Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographicalsketches of prominent and representative citizens of Kane and Kendall Counties, together with portraits and biographies of the presidents of the United States > Part 17
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Mr. German is of Scotch-English extraction, and his grandfather was a patriot soldier in the War of the Revolution. Three of his sons did brave service in the Union army during the Civil War. In politics Mr. German is a Republican, and has held many positions of trust in the home of his adoption. At present he is a commissioner of highways. By strict attention to business and unswerving uprightness he has accumulated an ample competence, and gained the respect of his fellow men.
NCREASE CHILD BOSWORTH. This gen- tleman is president of the First National Bank of Elgin. In after years a history of the growth and spread of the financial interests of Elgin can not well be written without containing considerable account of the enterprises, as well as the public improvements, with which his name has, in the past fifty years, been prominently ident- ified. This bare statement is of itself no empty culogium. It is the assignment to a place in life, a position in the ranks of the toilers in carrying on
the great affairs of society, of prominence to that extent, that the careful historian of the times will look into and weigh, and estimate accurately. It is the men who quietly move with force and shap- ing influence along the line of our material prog- ress, who are coming to attract the attention of the chronicler of events, far more than was the case a generation or so ago.
Increase Child Bosworth, the youngest and only surviving member of the family, was born in Green- field Township, Saratoga Co., N. Y., April 2, 1812. His parents were Alfred and Olive Child Bosworth, the father a native of Bristol, R. I., whose ancestors came to America in the early days of the country's settlement. The mother was a daughter of Increase and Olive Pease Child, whose progenitors were early settlers in the land of the sturdy and liberty-loving old Knickerbockers of New York. Capt. Increase Child was a conspic- uous officer in the ranks of the colonial armies in the War of Independence, and was one who had the great pleasure and distinction of being present at the surrender of Gen. Burgoyne at Saratoga. The paternal and maternal ancestors of Mr. Bos- worth were soldiers of the Revolutionary War, freely offering their lives, and enduring the sore trials of that protracted and cruel war in behalf of the liberties that now bless this happy country. It is said of the Bosworths that, so far back as they can be traced in history, it was always difficult to tell whether their love of freedom exceeded or not their earnest and enthusiastic love of their favorite church, and the name grows as familiar in the old records of the Congregational Church as it becomes in the pages of the early wars for human rights and liberty. Tracing back through a long line of gen- erations of men, we find them adding branches to the family tree of strong and forceful men-men with an admixture of iron in their blood, and who never knew how to halt or turn back in their selected line of duty toward the State or their God. The contemplation of the lives of such men is a wholesome and pleasant duty, for, on the whole, although, ever here and there, it may present a bloody tragedy, it is always one in behalf of virtue, patriotism or the independence and true manhood of a race of men who have had to carve their way
IG Bosworth
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from bondage through living walls of the armed oppressors.
The children of Alfred and Olive Child Bos- worth were, in the order of their births Mary C., who became Mrs. Harry Weed, born in Saratoga County, N. Y., October 17, 1799, died in Rock County, Wis., September 20, 1846, leaving two sons and one daughter (one son is now deceased, the other lives in Spokane Falls, W. T .; the daugh- ter is living in Brookville, Fla.); Benjamin F., born October 7, 1801, died in McHenry County, Ill., September 8, 1843 (he married first a Miss Smith, and after her death Elizabeth Nixon; he was a graduate of Union College, read law, then studied medicine, and finally became a prosperous mer- chant; the husband and wife are now deceased; one son survives, F. S. Bosworth, lumber merchant, of Elgin); Oliver C., born December 30, 1803, died in Chautauqua County, N. Y., July 15, 1835 (three children-two sons and a daughter-survive: Hale Bosworth, in Washington Territory; Julia, who married E. L. Bishop, of Elgin, and Augus- tus Bosworth, in Silver Creek, Chautauqua Co., N. Y.); Lucinda S., who became Mrs. Alfred Ed- wards, was born March 29, 1806, died July 12, 1849, in Dundee, Ill. (she left surviving one son and three daughters; Henry C. Edwards, a resident of Dundee; a daughter, now Mrs. Dr. Cleveland, also of Dundee; another daughter, now Mrs. Wil- der, of Elgin; and the third daughter, now Mrs. Mary E. Carpenter, also of Elgin; Abigail M., mar- ried to Benjamin Simons (now deceased), was born June 18, 1809, and died June 4, 1885; and Increase Child.
Mr. Bosworth's parents were farmers, indus- trious, thrifty people, who reared their family of children amid better surroundings than in those times came to the average youths of the country. They taught their boys industry, as well as econ- omy, but at the same time they gave them oppor- tunities by which to pave the way to future ad- vancement in the scale of social life. They gave their children all the advantages of the best com- mon schools of the day, and we find that the son, Increase C., when yet but a well-grown youth, was prepared to go out and take a position as school teacher. He taught two winters in the vi-
cinity where he was born and reared. His thorough preparation for this duty had amply prepared him to discharge them well, and some of his friends supposed that in this line of work lay his future life work. But this was not to be so. In 1836 he laid aside the duties of the pedagogue, and directed his steps toward the setting sun, filled with the one idea that there was more room and wider fields in the West for young men of good intelligence to win success than in a humdrum life in the old States-a happy thought, which it seems has crossed the mind of many of the young men born in these older sections of the country. This is much of the secret of the marvelous development of the West the past half century. It brought to the Mississippi Valley the brawn and brain that was the magician which has wrought the unequaled chapter in the movements of the human race.
November 12, 1836, the young man landed in the then straggling, unkempt town of Chicago, and at once became employed as a clerk in the store of Edwards & Bosworth, Alfred Edwards being his brother-in-law, and B. F. Bosworth his brother. Here he soon learned something of the ways of the West, and was inspired with the energy and push that surrounded him, all so different from his former experiences. After two years of valuable experience in Chicago he had sufficiently mastered the business of merchandising, so that he was pre- pared to commence business in his own behalf. During one season, Mr. Edwards, having purchased his partner's interest, went east, and left young Bosworth in charge of the business. In a little while he learned that one of the debtors on Fox River was about shipping away his goods without paying his liabilities. He mounted his horse, came out, and was in time to save a little of the debt. He returned to Chicago after this experi- ence, and learned that another debtor, near Aurora, was smuggling his goods out of the country. Again he rode out horseback, overhauled the party, and, after a hard struggle, secured the whole of this debt to his employer. This, it will be remembered, was in the commencement of what was known as the great panic of 1837. So promptly and effi- ciently had he acted that it pleased his patron greatly, and established his reputation as a young
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man who could be entirely trusted. Then, too, he had had an opportunity of seeing the Fox River Valley, and he told his employer that Dundee, where they were just completing a large grist-mill, would be an eligible point where to sell goods. His employer offered to furnish him all the goods he wanted, and wait for his pay until he had sold. The offer was gladly accepted, and it is largely due to the attempt of the two slippery merchants that the valley is indebted for the acquisition of one of its oldest and leading business men, who has been among them now over fifty years.
In January, 1838, Mr. Bosworth went to Dun- dee, Kane County, and opened a store, containing, after the manner of the stores of that time, a curi- ous miscellaneous assortment of what it was known the people wanted to purchase. He had made no mistake. He prospered from the day he opened his place to the public, and so continued for the years that he followed it up, extending his opera- tions with the growth and demands of the rapidly advancing country about him. He closed up his business in Dundee soon after the termination of the war of the Rebellion, in May, 1867, and re- moved to Elgin, his present place of residence, en- gaging for the next nine years in merchandising. It was to gain a larger field of operation that caused him to make the change, as he saw that this new point was destined to a rapid and solid growth, which judgment the city is to-day a marked affirma- tion of.
In 1876, after about ten years' residence and prosperous business in Elgin, was formed the pri- vate banking house of Bosworth, Carpenter & Co., which at once became one of the leading money institutions in this part of the State. This private bank at once entered upon a large and paying bus- iness. The members comprising the firm were known all over the country, and the business was established without the ordinary slow processes of building up. About eighteen months after they were asked to take a controlling interest in the First National Bank, and the purchase was made. In a short time afterward the private bank was discon- tinued and merged into the First National Bank. Mr. Bosworth was elected president of the bank, and has filled this position continuously since.
These are some of the outlines of a business career in Kane County of over fifty years, and something of what lay in the power of a respect- able young man to do, who possessed no outside aid to fortune. So får it is in reference solely to his private business affairs, while running parallel with his unusual successes has ever been that spirit of public advancement that was so essential to the development and growth of the country. In this respect there are few if any deserving a more permanent place in the history of the advance of the Fox River Valley than Mr. Bosworth. In an early day he foresaw the wants of this rich ag- ricultural country of cheap and speedy transporta- tion to the markets of the world. He perfectly understood that here lay the secret of the future of the Prairie State. He became interested in the manufacturing mill at Dundee, and afterward in a similar factory in Elgin. It is impossible now to enumerate all the public concerns that were greatly indebted to his encouraging assistance. He was among the founders of the Chicago & Northwest- ern, the Chicago & Pacific and the Fox River Valley Railroads. In these he was a stockholder, and among the chief promoters. In all these and many others of the larger affairs of the country he was a prominent figure. Yet he has never been what men call a speculator-neither speculating in railroad stocks, town sites nor land. He has been content to pursue a strictly legitimate business, satisfied with his prosperity in the lines he had marked out in his start of life, and at all times deeply interested in promoting the public weal in the development of important manufactories and ways of transportation. In all these busy and large affairs of men he has taken a prominent part, and yet he has never neglected the natural claims of the young for education, or of the afflicted and poor for that true charity that mitigates suffering and that brightens the lives of the poor and unfortu- nate. For a number of years he was one of the active and painstaking trustees of the Illinois Northern Hospital for the Insane, at Elgin. In behalf of education he acted some years as trustee of the Chicago University; as trustee of the Baptist Theological Seminary, of Morgan Park, and also of Elgin Academy.
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Mr. Bosworth was united in marriage, Decem- ber 24, 1844, with Mary Ann, daughter of Dr. Anson and Lucinda (Wilson) Root. In this family were eight children-two sons and six daughters- as follows: Eliza, who became wife of Joshua E. Ambrose, a Baptist minister living at LaGrange, near Chicago (Mrs. Eliza Ambrose died in 1854); Mary Ann, born June 4, 1814, in Genesee County, N. Y., and now wife of Increase C. Bosworth; Julia A., married to Milo Kemp, now a widow living in Batavia (she was one of the early settlers of that place, 1837; two of her daughters are now living); Orpha S., married to Samuel Burdick, who died in 1873 (Mrs. Burdick, who resides in Elgin, has two sons and three daughters); Anson W., a resi- dent of Elgin; Harriet G., (married to A. D. Gif- ford) died about 1853; Martha, who became Mrs. Anderson, was widowed, and then became Mrs. Loomis (she resides in California); William, the youngest, when quite a young man went, in 1850, to California, where he died.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Bosworth are three sons and one daughter: Alfred, born April 1, 1846, married Eleanora M. B. Wheeler, September 10, 1872 (they have five children: Edith E., born September 28, 1873; Neil, born May 25, 1878; Louise Marion, born July 11, 1881; Roland Increase, born December 25, 1883; Winifred Sarah, born August 18, 1885); William Eugene, born October 5, 1848, married Ida L. Woodruff, May 12, 1874 (has two sons: Cyrus I., born March 20, 1875, and Ralph R., born December 13, 1882); Abbie L. Bosworth, born June 1, 1851, and Henry Increase, born Sep- tember 10, 1854. The two latter are with their parents in their pleasant home, Henry I. being assistant cashier of the First National Bank; Alfred is cashier of the same insti- tution, and William Eugene is a prominent mer- chant, all residing in Elgin. Mr. and Mrs. Bos- worth are members of the Baptist Church, and toward the building of the fine edifice of that denomination they contributed largely. In the church society he has acted for years as treasurer and church trustee. During his residence in Dundee he served the people in several minor offices, and was supervisor two terms. In Elgin
he served as supervisor two terms, as alderman two terms, and was for some years president of the Elgin Public Library. During the War of the Rebellion he was one of the active and tireless friends of the Union cause, inspiring the people with some of the fire of his own deep-seated patriotism, and ever contributing to sustain the men in arms at the front, as well as their friends and dependent ones at home.
This is a happy family where Providence has dealt out only the terms of existence with a light and generous hand. They have been given an unusual degree of health, and across no member of this family's path in life has fallen a single darkening shadow. Moderate in ambition and moderate in wants, they have all been blessed with that bounteous plenty in every respect that makes the sweetness and sunshine of life's jour- ney. Mr. and Mrs. Bosworth are now at that time of life when the senses generally dull, and the aches and pains of age ordinarily begin to make life a heavy burden. Yet, so perfect has been their health, neither scarcely knowing what it is to feel the pain of sickness, that they retain that zest of life, that simple joy of existence, that we have been taught to look for in the young and hopeful. Cheery, active, with faculties unim- paired, vigorous and full of precious life and vivac- ity, they have, in a most remarkable degree, defied time, and have sowed and reaped, labored and lived, in only the laughter and song that wells up in the untroubled soul. Mr. Bosworth al- though seventy-five years of age is, to all appear- ances, in full possession of every faculty, and, save the gray hair on his head, is the picture of a robust, healthy and active man. He is about five feet, nine inches in height, stoutly built. His hair originally was black, his eyes dark, and his shoulders broad, indicating a sturdy build. He has lived a life that has earned him, surely, the boundless blessings that have fallen to his lot.
Postscript-Immediately after the above had been prepared and put in type, the silent and mysterious angel of death cast the great shadow of his wings over this peaceful household, and the loved and honored head of the house was turned to sacred dust. Wednesday, January 11, 1888, at a little past 6 o'clock in the morning,
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Mr. I. C. Bosworth peacefully passed away. The fatal illness commenced during the holidays, at first only an abscess, which soon resulted in malig- nant carbuncle, involving the throat and head, and then the brain, causing, for the last few days, most of the time, partial and total unconsciousness. Sunday he seemed to rally, and friends were led to hope for ultimate recovery, but the fatal change was near at hand. Impressive funeral services were held at the family residence and at the church, and the remains temporarily placed in a vault, preparatory to removal to the final resting place in the beautiful cemetery at Dundee, where rest several of his friends and relatives.
H ON. SAMUEL DRAKE LOCKWOOD, born at Poundridge, Westchester Co., N. Y., August 2, 1789, died at Batavia, Kane County, April 23, 1874. He was a resident of the State of Illinois, from 1818 till the time of his death; elected State's attorney by the General Assembly of the State of Illinois in 1821; appointed secretary of the State by Gov. Coles in 1822; ap- pointed receiver of public moneys in the Edwards- ville land office in 1823, by President Monroe; associate justice of the supreme court of Illinois from 1824 to 1848; State trustee of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, from its organization in 1851 till his death.
This brief statistical statement of the official positions held by Judge Lockwood is a clear indi- cation of his high standing in the estimation and confidence of his fellow citizens, and of the im- portant part which he took in laying the founda- tions of our noble State. The statistical statement may be extended to show the important positions held by Judge Lockwood in connection with our educational and eleemosynary institutions. He was president of the board of trustees of the first college in the State, and also of the first female academy. The first meeting in the State to con- sider the condition of the insane was held in his parlor in Jacksonville. At that meeting Miss Dor- othy Dix, the evangel of the insane, was present, and, by her earnest appeal in behalf of these un- fortunates, moved the hearts of all who listened to her, and put into operation those forces which, in a short time, secured the first hospital for the in- sane in this State. Judge Lockwood took a like
interest in the blind and deaf and dumb, and ex- erted a strong influence in securing institutions for their benefit, and so long as he was able to attend to the duties he held the position of trustee in each of these institutions. The influence of such men can not be overestimated, and no name is more worthy of a place in the annals of our State ..
Only a few of the important incidents in Judge Lockwood's life can be noticed in this article. He was the eldest son of Joseph and Mary (Drake) Lockwood, both of New England origin, and well established in puritan ideas of life. By the death of his father in 1799 the family was left in strait- ened circumstances, and his opportunities for an education were greatly limited. When fourteen years of age he was taken into the family of his uncle, Francis Drake, a prominent lawyer in Wa- terford, N. Y., with whom he studied law, and to whose Christian influence he attributed much of his success in life. In 1811 he opened a law of- fice in Batavia, N. Y., and commenced the prac- tice of his profession, being in debt for his outfit and traveling expenses, and wholly dependent upon his own resources. He soon after removed to Auburn, and in six years' successful practice gained a well-earned reputation as a lawyer of marked ability, strict application to business, and of unswerving integrity, a reputation which he held unquestioned through a long, eventful life.
In the summer of 1818 he decided to commence a new home in Illinois, and find in that new State his life work. In the fall of that year he made his western trip, in company with a few friends, in a flatboat down the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers to Shawneetown, and thence by foot to Kas- kaskia, the State capital, which he reached on Christmas day. The country was new, but every- thing was stirring with life and activity. His let- ters of introduction gave him access to the best so- ciety, and he at once won the confidence and friend- ship of such men as Gov. Edwards and Judge Pope, and his services were in immediate demand, principally in preparing documents for those hold- ing official positions. Even at that early day the question of slavery was agitating the people, and it was well understood that Illinois was to be the battle-ground of the first conflict. Notwithstand-
James Lockwood
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ing the provisions in the ordinance establishing the Northwest Territory, slavery in various forms existed in the State, and there was a well-under- stood plan cherished by many prominent men in the State, aided and encouraged by outside influ- ences, to amend the constitution, and make Illi- nois a slave-holding State. At the organization of the State government, a large majority was in favor of, or at least not opposed to, slavery, and this majority included every State officer, both United States Senators, and our member in Congress. The first break in this solid line was the election of Judge Lockwood as State's attorney, by the General Assembly of 1820-21. This was the first skirmish in the great conflict. The contest was a fierce one. It lasted over three days. Forty- five ballots were taken before the conclusion was reached. This first victory marked Judge Lock- wood as the recognized leader of the anti-slavery party.
An incident in Judge Lockwood's record as State's attorney deserves special attention, and is thus mentioned in Gov. Ford's History: "In 1820 was fought the first and last duel in Illinois. One of the parties fell mortally wounded, the other was tried and convicted of murder, and suffered the extreme penalty of the law by hanging. Judge Lockwood was then the attorney of the State, and prosecuted in the case. To his talents and success as a prosecutor, the people are indebted for this early precedent and example, which did more than is generally known to prevent the barbarous prac- tice of dueling from being introduced into the State." The second anti-slavery victory was the election of Gov. Coles in 1822. The election was wholly providential. It was brought about by an unaccountable division in the other party, which elected every other State officer, and secured a large majority in both branches of the General Assembly. Thus Gov. Coles found himself, officially, stand- ing alone, but he could appoint a secretary of State, which he did by selecting Judge Lockwood, knowing that he could be relied upon in any emer- gency in the coming conflict. These two men la- bored together, consecrating their lives and prop- erty to the cause of freedom, till the great tri- umph was achieved in 1824. Judge Lockwood is
most generally known in the State from that offi- cial position which gives him his title, a position he filled with marked ability, which secured for him the high esteem and most favorable regard of bench and bar.
In October, 1826, the Judge married Miss Mary Nash, of St. Louis County, Mo., a most estimable lady, of whom President Lincoln, an intimate friend, once said; "She is the best woman I ever knew." Their first home was in Edwardsville. In 1828 they removed to Jacksonville, where they resided till 1853, when they came to Batavia, and here spent the last years of their happy, useful lives, most tenderly endeared to all who knew them. Mrs. Lockwood survived her husband only one year. They left three married daughters: Mrs. Mary L. Coffin, who in a few years joined her parents in the spirit world; Mrs. C. W. Por- ter, now residing in Hudson, Wis., and Mrs. W. E. Merreman, of Boston, Mass.
S AMUEL HARTER. In describing the men who have taken an active part during the last thirty-five years in the administration and civil affairs of Kaneville Township it would be difficult to find one who has been more largely identified with it officially than he whose name heads this sketch, or one who is more thor- oughly esteemed as a man of good judgment and thorough honesty. Mr. Harter was born in Pot- ter Township, Centre Co., Penn., January 5, 1821, of pure German extraction, and of the fourth gen- eration born in Centre County, Penn., a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Kerrn) Harter, the former of whom was a son of Andrew and Mary Harter, all natives of Centre County. Our subject's great-grandparents were natives of that county, and his great-great-grandparents were residents of the same, though natives of Germany, settling there at a very early date in colonial times.
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