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 23
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 23
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every gold medal offered, and Holland-Major took the first prize and grand sweepstakes offered at the American Horse Show, in connection with the Fat Stock Show in Chicago, in 1886, in competi- tion open to the world for best draft stallion of any breed. His Holsteins also won the sweepstakes in the cattle competition.
Mr. Brown is a man of business, active, ener- getic and wide-awake, and his enterprise is of great benefit to Aurora, which it makes known all over the country, and to which it attracts many stran- gers. To the farmers of the vicinity it is also of great benefit, bringing to their doors a cash market for the immense quantities of grain, hay, straw, etc., required in his establishments, as over $20,000 per year is paid for hay and grain. Mr. Brown lives at his place in Aurora Township. His family consists of his two children, Ellen A. and Fred H. Charles A. Brown, of Portland, Me., an elder brother, is an equal partner, the firm name being George E. Brown & Co.
E VELIN D. HALL, a well-known citizen of St. Charles Township, is the owner and proprietor of a fine stock and dairy farm of seventy-five acres on Sections 24 and 25, St. Charles Township, and eighty-three acres in Du- Page County, just across the line. He was born in Madison, Madison Co., N. Y., November 29, 1824. His parents, Orin and Nancy (Buell) Hall, came to Illinois in 1844, and located on the farm where our subject now resides, where they re- mained until their deaths. The father was born in Herkimer County, N. Y., February 14, 1792, and died March 11, 1871; the mother was born in New Haven, Conn., August 7, 1791, and de- parted this life April 22, 1877; they were married September 25, 1817.
Evelin D. Hall is the fourth in order of birth in a family of six children. He received the com- mon-school education of the early times, and in 1844 came to the West with his parents. April 22, 1855, he married Miss Adeline E. Brown, who was born at La Porte, La Porte Co., Ind., a daughter of Emery A. and Laura A. (Brown) Brown, who were worthy people of Vermont, re-
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moving from there with their parents to the State of New York, where they were married; from there they came to Indiana, about 1830, being among the first settlers of that region. The Indians were so troublesome that at one time they were compelled to fly to the fort for protection. They removed to Du Page County, Ill., in 1849, and six years later to Iowa, where they died, having passed through the pioneer period of three States. Mr. and Mrs. Hall have resided on their present place since 1871. Four children have been born to them: Ada A. (deceased), Ella A. (Mrs. Charles M. Wheeler, of St. Charles), Alice L. (at home) and Emma L. (deceased). Mr. and Mrs. Hall at- tend the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Hall is a Republican, and has served in local offices.
W ILLIAM HUGHES is a native of Penn- sylvania, born in 1835, and a son of William and Grace (Williams) Hughes, natives of North Wales. A brother of William, Sr., a highly educated Baptist preacher, immigrated to America about 1825, and labored in the ministry in the States of New York, Pennsyl. vania and, lastly, in Ohio, where he died about the year 1850. The father of our subject received a common-school education, spending the earlier years of his life in a woolen factory. In 1827 he married Grace Williams, also a native of Wales, and in 1830 or 1831 sailed with his young wife to the Western Hemisphere, landing first at New Brunswick, N. S., thence coming to New York, where they remained a short time. Removing to Schuylkill County, Penn., Mr. Hughes followed coal mining for twelve years; then, still journeying toward the setting sun, sojourned for a few months in Ohio, finally making Illinois the terminus of his westward march, arriving here in 1843. For a year he resided in Kendall County, then moved to Kane County and bought land in Big Rock Township, where he followed agricultural pursuits the remain- der of his days. He died May 22, 1882, his wife having preceded him in 1865. They had a family of six children, all now deceased except William. The father was a stauch Republican in politics; a con- sistent member of the Baptist Church.
The subject proper of this sketch was brought up to farm life, receiving at the same time an average common-school education. In 1864 he made a western tour, traveling as far as California. Finding attractions in Nevada, he settled in Car- son Valley for twelve years, after which he returned to Illinois, where he commenced farming in Big Rock Township, at which he has ever since been engaged, with the exception of two years, during which he rented his farm, giving himself a rest. He at present owns 120 acres of fine land on Section 14. In 1884 he married Mary Jane Harris, born in Pembrokeshire, South Wales, a daughter of William and Margaret (Thomas) Harris, also natives of South Wales. William Harris, who had followed a seafaring life, and was captain of a vessel seventeen years, came to the United States in 1883, locating in Big Rock Township, and, hav- ing lain aside the tiller, here took up the plow. Mr. and Mrs Hughes are the parents of two chil- dren: Margaret Grace, born December 2, 1885, and Hugh Harris, born December 17, 1886. Mr. Hughes is not an active politician, but is firm in his Republican predilections. He has held town- ship offices, such as school director, road commis- sioner, etc. Mrs. Hughes is a member of the Bap- tist Church, to which her husband gives material support.
L EVI NEWTON. Of those whose names will remain permanently associated witlı the development of the great manufac- turing interests that have grown up along the shores of Fox River, there is none whose mem- ory deserves a more lasting place than the name of this gentleman. He was one of the few men who had learned their trade in their own native State, then had come west, and with little or no means, except their knowledge of business, had started in a small way to make such articles or implements as the new country mostly wanted, and who not only grew with the surrounding country, but who could look into the future and anticipate what was coming, and provide for it. Thus they did more than "grow up with the country;" they, more than the people are now aware ot. aided the growth and development of the material resources
Levi Neutro
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of nature that lay so plentifully in Northern Illinois. The enduring monuments to such men are to be seen in some of the great manufactories, where are tall smoke stacks, and revolving wheels are giving employment to so many men, and are forming and fashioning the articles of commerce that not only supply our own people, but that go wherever civil- ized man makes his abode. Hence, to-day, the travelers from the remote and opposite side of the globe have ceased to be surprised when they find, in the markets of their country, on sale, articles of commerce that bear the mark of some of the great factories along the banks of Fox River. Of this class of men there are none who deserve a more conspicuous place for name and memory than Levi Newton, who has ceased his earthly labors, and gone to dwell in the great, silent city of the dead.
Mr. Newton was born in Darien, N. Y., April 12, 1810. He was a son of Lemuel and Nancy (Taggart) Newton, who had removed to and settled in Western New York about the year 1SOS. Lem- uel Newton was a millwright and farmer. He was a prominent citizen in the Empire State, and a soldier in the War of 1812-15. He was born March 16, 1778, and died April 20, 1861, aged eighty-three years. Mrs. Nancy (Taggart) New- ton was born January 29, 1784, and died January 2, 1859, aged seventy-five years. Both were of the Universalist faith, and lived closely to the tenets of their church. They had five children-four sons and one daughter.
Levi Newton was the eldest child of Lemuel Newton. His childhood was spent on his father's farm, and, when old enough, he assisted in his father's mill. He attended only the public schools in the vicinity, where he gained the rudiments of an English education. When he was eighteen years old he commenced and served an apprentice- ship at the cabinet-maker's and furniture trade. in Buffalo. When he had reached the age of twenty years he commenced work as a journeyman at his trade, and after three years of hard labor and close economy he united with his employer as a partner. The concern soon after failed, and this involved Mr. Newton heavily in debt. He worked out, how- ever, the last dollar the firm owed. When this was off his hands he started a cabinet shop for him-
self, at Alexander, N. Y. This in a short time he changed to a wagon factory, at Wyoming, N. Y., and, after operating this a year, he sold out, moved to Attica, N. Y., and opened a harness shop. He soon made another change in his business, and returned to wagon-making, purchasing a small fac- tory, and in the course of time shipped wagons to Wisconsin and Illinois. especially to Kane County. It was this fortunate circumstance that first directed his mind to the importance of a wagon factory in Illinois. In April, 1854, his factory was destroyed, and, although he had an insurance on it of $4,000, it was a total loss, as he was unable to collect anything from the insurance company. This was a sad calamity to him. It left him nearly without capital. Then, as good fate ordained it, he turned his face to Illinois, and, remembering that the people in the Fox River Valley were ex- cellent customers, he bent his course in that direc- tion, and came to Batavia, where he landed in Sep- tember, 1854. When he came he had precious little in this world except his good wife and children. But he commenced to rebuild his fortune as though it was his first buoyant step in that great highway where so many faint and fall by the wayside, and where so few reach the goal of success. It is hard to conceive that the present great establishment, known as the Newton Wagon Manufactory, is the outgrowth of the little, unpretentious wagon shop that Mr. Newton started soon after he landed in Batavia. In partnership with his eldest son, D. C. Newton, under the firm name of L. &. D. C. Newton, the wagon factory of Batavia was started. At first its progress was visible only for its slowness of pace. But father and son were resolute and in- dustrious, and they never were wholly doubtful of the outcome. In 1858 the firm name became New- ton & Co. In 1865 E. C. Newton, his youngest son, was admitted to the firm. In 1868 H. K. Wolcott was made a member of the firm, the firm name remaining the same. In 1873 the company was incorporated, and took the name of Newton Wagon Company, with Levi Newton president, a place he filled the remainder of his life. He died at his home in Batavia, June 29, 1879.
The work of his life had rounded out to com- pleteness; he lived to see the factory a great and
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prosperous concern. He had labored and toiled, facing, without shrinking, the severest storms of adversity and sore disappointments, and was com- pensated in his last hours by the satisfactory knowledge that the institution would go into the hands of his family, and that his successors were competent to take up the work when his once strong and busy hands were clasped in eternal peace across his breast. He transmitted this, and, what was worth even yet far more, an untarnished name and memory to those for whom he had toiled so long and so hard.
Levi Newton and Rachel Cooley were married May 8, 1831. She was the daughter of Thomas and Rachel (Hubbard) Cooley, of Attica, N. Y. Mrs. Levi Newton is the sister of the illustrious jurist. Judge Thomas M. Cooley, of Michigan, and now president of the Inter-State Railroad Commis- sion. Mrs. Levi Newton survives her husband, and is now seventy-five years of age. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Newton were three sons and two daughters, as follows: D. C. Newton, O. W. New- tou (deceased), E. C. Newton, Helen A. (the wife of H. K. Wolcott), and Mrs. Mary A. Kessler.
S B. HULS, one of the active and prosper- ons merchants of St. Charles, is a native of Seneca County, N. Y., born June 16, 1828, and is a son of James and Sarah (Pruden) Huls, the father of Dutch extraction and the mother of Welsh. The ancestors of the Huls family came from Holland to America, and settled in the Mohawk Valley, prior to the Revolution. James Huls, the father of S. B. Huls, and also a native of the State of New York, enlisted at the age of fourteen, in the War of 1812; his wife was a native of Connecticut, and was brought by her parents to New York State when a child.
In 1850 S. B. Huls made a long and tedious trip overland with a party of emigrants to Cali- fornia, but, in 1853, retraced his steps, coming to Beloit, Wis., where he engaged in the lumber trade. Two years later he removed to St. Charles Township, and here followed farming until 1866, in which year he established himself in mercantile business in the city of St. Charles April 11,
1854, Mr. Huls married Mary J. Mallory, a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1832; she came with her parents, B. D. and Ann (Henderson) Mallory, from the State of New York, in 1845. Her father is now proprietor of the Mallory House, in St. Charles. Mr. and Mrs. Huls have had the follow- ing named children: Nellie and Willie (both de- ceased) and Smith S., who is in partnership with his father in business. The family attend the services of the Congregational Church. Politic- ally Mr. Huls is a Republican, and was the first city treasurer of St. Charles; he has served as member both of the town council and school board, and is a leading citizen. He is a member of St. Charles Lodge, No. 14, I. O. O. F.
OHN P. TRUMBULL. This prominent farmer is a native of Vermont, born near Weathersfield, Windsor County, in 1832. His parents, James W. and Clarissa (Pelton) Trumbull, were very respectable people of Connec- ticut, and from there had, in 1828, removed into the State of Vermont. In 1840 they came to Illinois, having resided a year in New York. They purchased a farm in St. Charles Township, on which they remained some years, the father dying in December, 1857, aged fifty-four years.
Of a family of eight children, John P. is the second in the order of birth. When he was seveu- teen years of age he was apprenticed to learn the trade of a blacksmith, and for his work he was to receive $40 per year from his employer. He has since worked at his trade at various places, at present at Geneva, Ill. In 1862 he enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteers; was disabled and sent to the hospital, and at the close of his term of enlistment was honorably discharged, having served as sergeant.
February 21, 1855, Mr. Trumbull married Miss Lorette Palmer, a native of Warsaw, N. Y., born in 1833, a daughter of Jonathan L. and Laura (Smith) Palmer, natives of that State and Vermont, respectively, and who, in 1835, moved west to Michigan, and located in Hillsdale County, from where, in 1837, they came to Sugar Grove Town-
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ship, Kane Co., Ill., where they resided until 1852, at which time they removed to St. Charles, and later from there they went to De Kalb County. Mr. and Mrs. Trumbull's union has been blessed with two children: Warren Howell and John Huls. Mrs. Trumbull is a member of the Congregational Church, and is president of the Woman's Mission- ary Society. Mr. Trumbull is a Republican, and has served as one of the city aldermen of St. Charles.
B HARRIS, M. D., is a native of Ohio, born September 11, 1824, son of William and Rebecca (Combs) Harris, the former of whom was born in Wales, the latter in England, being a daughter of Malen Combs; they were married in 1812, and had eight children, four now living: The Doctor; Mary, wife of Dr. John Cook, in Neosho Falls, Kas. ; Joseph N., married, in Kendall County, Ill. ; George W., married, also in Kendall County. Mrs. Rebecca Harris dying in 1845, William Harris married, in 1850, the lady of his choice being a native of Maryland, by whom there was no issue. Removing to Illinois in 1831, he engaged in farming in Kendall County, until his death in June, 1864; his widow resides in that county, enjoying a pension from the War of 1812. William Harris, while a resident of Ohio, was a soldier in that war. participating in the battle of Baltimore and several skirmishes; he also took act- ive part in the Black Hawk War. The father of Mrs. Rebecca Harris received a life pension for wounds received in the Revolutionary War.
The subject of this commemorative sketch spent his younger years in farm life, and in the district of his county, after which he attended Prof. Stuart's select school, in Chicago, from which he graduated; then entered Rush Medical College, taking his degree of M. D. from the same in 1859, after which he removed to Pavilion, Ken- dall Co., Ill., where he commenced the practice of his profession. During the War of the Rebellion, Dr. Harris volunteered as a surgeon in the Federal army, and was assigned by the surgeon-general to the Eighteenth A. C. Base Hospital. At the ex- piration of a year, the Doctor's family having been visited with a serious illness, he applied for a per-
mit to return home, and he received in reply the following appreciative answer:
BASE HOSPITAL, 18 A. C., August 10, 1864.
Respectfully and honorably approved, although Dr. Harris' services are very essential at this time. (Signed) H. B. FOWLER, Surgeon Eighteenth A. C. in charge.
On completion of his duties in Base Hospital, the Doctor was assigned as assistant surgeon on the transport boat " George Leary," on which duty he remained until the close of the war. He was dis- charged in the spring of 1865, returned home to Yorkville, Kendall County, and resumed the prac- tice of his profession.
Dr. Harris was married in October, 1862, to Catherine McMullen, a daughter of John McMul- len, natives of Pennsylvania, and by this union there were three children, only one surviving-Ed- win M., a school teacher in Big Rock, having taught eleven terms in Kane County. Mrs. Harris died October 28, 1874, in Philadelphia, and the Doctor then removed to Big Rock. In 1878 he married Adaline Rhodes, a native of this county, daughter of Joshua and Janeta (Powel) Rhodes, and by her there is one son-Dwight B., born October 28, 1882. Joshua Rhodes was a son of John and Ester (Heap) Rhodes, and the parents of John were William and Ellen (Buckley) Rhodes. Since this marriage the Doctor has resided and practiced in the village of Big Rock. He has served as justice of the peace for several years, also as president of the board of school directors; at present he is postmaster at Big Rock. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M. lodge at Yorkville. The Doctor and his estimable lady are members of the Baptist Church. In politics he is a Democrat.
OHN SATTERFIELD. This well-known farmer of St. Charles Township, is a native of Whitehall, Washington Co., N. Y., born November 2, 1827. His parents. John and Sarah (Arnold) Satterfield, came to Shabbona Grove, De Kalb County, in 1852, and five years later removed to Aurora, where they resided until their deaths. The father was a soldier in the War of 1812. and was in the battle of Lake Champlain
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at the capture of the British ship "Confiance." Their son, John, when twelve years of age, began life for liimself as a driver on the old line canal, operated by Peter Cumstock, between Whitehall and Albany; later he drove a packet team to Mechanicsville, connected with the Ballstown & Saratoga Railroad. In 1853 he came to Shabbona Grove and entered land, to pay for which he worked as a steersman on the Michigan & Illinois Canal, and remained in various positions on the canal for eight years. In 1857 lie began as a brakesman on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and was afterward promoted to the position of conductor. In 1867 he met with an accident by being crushed between two cars, which nearly cost him his life; but he fortunately recov- ered, and for several years followed railroading. However, being permanently disabled, he, in 1876, settled on his farm on Section 15, St. Charles Township, where he now resides.
In 1853, at Whitehall, N. Y., Mr. Satterfield married Miss Mary A. Thornton, a native of Poultney, Vt., where she was born June 16, 1832, daughter of William and Mary Ann (Carington) Thornton. Mr. and Mrs. Satterfield have had six children, four of whom are living, as follows: Jeannette, Emma D., Sarah E. and May. Mrs. Satterfield is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Mr. Satterfield is a Republican, but cast a ballot for Horace Greeley, with whom lie was personally acquainted, having been a passenger with him on the boat on one of his western trips. He was running a freight packet between White- hall and Buffalo at the time.
OHN H. PERRY. Among the oldest resi- dents, most respected citizens and successful farmers of Kane County, no one probably. is more deserving of an exhaustive commemora- tive record than Mr. John H. Perry, who has been a resident of the county for nearly half a cen- tury. He was born in 1824, to Jolin and Polly (Freer) Perry, the former a son of Joseph Perry, all natives of New York State. As far as can be ascertained the original immigrants of the family hailed from Scotland, and this before the War of
the Revolution, for the father of Joseph, above mentioned, served in that struggle, Joseph himself having been a soldier in the War of 1812. John Perry was by trade a wagon-maker in New York State, where he died in 1828. He had a family of five children, three of them living at the present time, viz .: Charlotte, widow of Hiram Hopkins, of Aurora, Ill. ; John H., in Kane County, and Charles T., in California.
John H. spent the younger years of his life on the farm and in studying by the dim light of burning pine knots, being entirely self-edu- cated. In July, 1845, he started for the State of Illinois, by way of the lakes, and while in Detroit was robbed of all his money, save a six- pence and his passage ticket to Chicago. In the last named city he bought with his sixpence suffi- cient rope to bundle up his clothes, and thus equipped, and with one hand in a sling (for it had been badly smashed before leaving home) he set out on foot for Kane County, where lived a bro- ther. In course of time he purchased horses, en- gaged in breaking prairie land, and teaming to and from Chicago. In 1847 he bought land on Section 10, Big Rock Township, and commenced farming. In 1852 Mr. Perry was united in mar- riage with Ann, daughter of Alba and Nancy (Sea- vey) Cleveland, all natives of New York State. Mr. Cleveland came to Illinois in 1843, and fol- lowed agricultural pursuits until his death, in 1875; his wife died in 1873. They had born to them nine children, seven of whom are yet living: Sally, widow of Luther Seavey, in Aurora, Ill. ; Eliza, widow of William Perry, of Big Rock; Lucinda, wife of Frederick Morrill, in Blackberry Township; Ann, wife of John H. Perry; Mary, wife of Solomon Tenny, in Kane County, east of Aurora; Smith, in Kaneville, and Frederick, in De Kalb County, Ill.
Mr. and Mrs. Perry are the parents of four children; Annetta, wife of William Rowley, in Iowa; Emma, wife of Milo Boyce, also in Iowa; Alice, wife of William Brackett, in Kane County; and Dora, at home. Mr. Perry for some years after marriage speculated in land considerably, but of late years has cultivated a farm of 189 acres on Section 10, Big Rock Township, where he resides.
Frid O. While
PHOTO BY D. C. PRATT.
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In politics he is a Republican, and has held sever- al township offices, as constable for twenty years, and also collector for two years. The family at- tend the services of the Baptist Church. Since first locating in Illinois Mr. Perry has twice vis- ited New York State, first time making the trip, a distance of 700 miles, in twenty-one days, and last time by railroad.
RED O. WHITE was born in Wrentham, Norfolk Co., Mass., September 30, 1839, a son of Frederick W. and Catherine A. (Ford) White, both natives of the old Bay State, and descended from old English families, dating back to its first settlement. Frederick W. White, by occupation a farmer, came west in 1856, and located in Sugar Grove Township, Kane Co .. Ill. ; his family consisting of a wife and six chil- dren, as follows: Harriet P., the widow of the late J. J. Bent, of De Kalb County; James H., Fred O. and Thomas F., all of Aurora; and Kate and Cromwell W., now deceased. The family removed to Afton, De Kalb County, during the war, where Mrs. White died, December 24, 1877, aged sixty-nine years, and February 23, 1883, Mr. White died at Aurora, aged seventy-three.
Fred O. White was about seventeen years of age when, with his father's family, he came to Kane County, having partly completed an academ- ical course in his native town. During 1859, 1860 and 1861 he attended "Jennings Seminary," teaching school in the winter of 1859-60 to pay his way; this finished his school days. When the War of the Rebellion broke out, he enlisted to serve in the defense of the Union August 2, 1861, in Company A, Thirty-sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, and upon his muster in was made sergeant of the company. The regiment was soon afterward ordered to St. Louis, and then to Rolla, taking part in the battle of Pea Ridge, March 6, 7 and 8, 1862; subsequently did duty in Arkansas, was present at the siege of Corinth, and took part in the battle of Iuka, September 19, 1862. October 3 and 4, 1862, he participated in the battle of Corinth, and was with Grant's army in the advance on Oxford.
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