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 25
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 25
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field, Mass., Sarah Severance, born June 30, 1816, a daughter of Rufus and Tirzah (Root) Severance, the former of whom was a hatter by trade. She spent her girlhood with her widowed mother (her father having died when she was three years old), and at the age of fourteen years entered the young ladies' high school, where she remained until her education was completed. To Doctor and Mrs. Long was born one daughter (now deceased), who became the wife of Dr. Trip- lett, of Aurora. Under the hard and incessant toil incident to farm life, Dr. Long's health was impaired, and, having studied medicine with his father, he abandoned farming for the medical profession, in which he enjoyed a large and lucra- tive practice. He was a member of the Fox River Medical Association. He died July 3, 1874; his widow still survives him. The Doctor was benevolent, kind and charitable to all, ever among the foremost in promoting the welfare of the com- munity. He was a pillar of and a shining light in the Congregational Church. In politics Dr. Long was a Republican.
H M. CRAWFORD, M. D. The following sketch of the life and services of this eminent physician-one of the best known in the county-is copied, principally from the recently published "Historical Sketches" printed in the St. Charles Valley Chronicle. In the fall of 1848 Dr. H. M. Crawford came to St. Charles. Of Scottish ancestry and Irish nativity, he belongs to that race called "Scotch-Irish "-in this respect like their congeners, the "French.Canadians " and "Pennsylvania Germans" -and which has made its mark on this continent, as it has done in all other places to which it has migrated.
Born at Belfast in 1820, he received his clas- sical education at a suburban academy, and his technical at the Royal Institution of that city, graduating in 1848, at the Royal Belfast College, an affiliated college of the London University. He holds a surgeon's diploma of prior date, and pros. ccuted his studies at other places, notably at Dub- lin and Edinburgh. His pronounced secularism impeded but did not bar the ardent and successful
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student, and theological tests were as powerless then, as cowardly abuse or spiteful malignity was afterward to clog the progress of the veteran prac- titioner. His settlement here, as indeed, his ad- vent to America was singularly fortuitous and un- premeditated. Early in the spring of 1848 he was engaged in an arduous hospital and dispensary practice, and new orders being stringent for emi- grant ships to carry qualified surgeons, he was applied to, by the officer of the port, to supply a ship with a surgeon, and, not getting one to suit, ultimately consented to go himself, take the ship to New York, and return by the next steamer. He left on four hours' warning, appointing a substi- tute. Arrived in New York he happened to meet, in the British consul's office, an eminent med- ical gentleman of that city, an author on hy- giene, who had seen some of the Doctor's writings on that subject. Both were enthusiastic sanitari- ans. To be brief, the New York doctor proposed to the ship's surgeon for the latter to sit down in the office of the former, and assist him to write a work in the interest of sanitary science, for the city council, for which he was acting. "Pleas- ant. congenial and fairly-paying work, some pri- vate practice, access to libraries, public and pri- vate, admission to the clinics of all the hospitals, state your own terms." This reads as if the stran- ger was going to be taken in, but no, the Quaker and the Freethinker were friends for life. The work was honestly done and honestly paid for, and all promises more than kept. Yet the sum- mer's work was a hard one for a young man near- ly worked to death, for three years, without a day's rest, in hospital wards and dispensary rounds, where typhus claimed its victims by the thousand.
At home he had now lost his grip by this unex- pected adventure, and a cherished intention of casting his life and lot in India was frustrated. His colleague urged him to see the West and Can- ada before going home, and it was while en route that he put up at Tufft's Hotel, St. Charles, one evening in September, 1848. Next morning the stage stopped on Millington's Hill, and standing with his back to the old flagstaff, he made a hasty sketch of the beautiful river and village, and wrote
in a notebook, still extant, "this is the finest site for a town I have seen since I landed. Illinois has, also, its Rhine, and St. Charles is the Bingen of that Rhine." If with prophetic eye he could now have scanned the future, he, if made of ordi- nary mold, might have shuddered at the prospect of the coming decades, of a practice on this, as it were, widely expanded battlefield, scarcely ever paralleled in the State in its persistency, in the hardships endured, and in the thankless drudgery, often undertaken in the interest of humanity only; but, it must be noted, more than offset by the countless friends and patrons treasured up. But the "merciful veil" hid the future, and with a sigh he remounted and moved west, never expecting to see St. Charles again. The winter set in fierce and early, and it was judged best to return by St. Charles, where, late in October, he was overtaken, with many others, by a snow-storm blocking all roads; and thus he got acquainted with friends whose persuasions to settle here, though at first lightly regarded, prevailed in the end.
His life in Europe had been so eventful, his friends there had often importuned him to write a sketch of it. That he has got similar hints, as to his career here, from his American friends, will be readily believed. Among some notable points would be the stage accident suit, "Bolton ts. Frink & Walker," in which he was a principal witness in the three trials. This booked him for surgical practice more than any other circumstance. He took the post of danger during the cholera inva- sions from 1849 to 1854. He it was who managed the Swede Cholera Hospital, for which he got am- ple credit in Sweden, if not here. As an item of local interest, he held a commission as surgeon of the St. Charles Grenadier Guards bearing date 1854. The War of the Rebellion came, and though he had more than one offer, he accept- ed with alacrity the surgeoncy of the Fifty-eighth Illinois Infantry, and served with unswerving fidelity to the Union, doing his duty to the end of the contest as regimental, brigade, division and army corps surgeon, chief of hospitals, etc. Few worked harder, and, as can be attested, lie got neither rest nor sleep for four days and nights in succession at Donelson, and fared nearly as hard
A. S., leluck NOW,
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at Shiloh. He was a chief division operator at the second Bull Run battle, at Nashville, and the bat- tles on the Red River, during Gen. Banks' cam- paign. .
The war closed, he resumed his practice, which he continues with the same unflagging energy as he did forty years ago. Right or wrong, popular or unpopular, regardless of the cost, he maintains and defends, when occasion demands, the princi- ples of thought and action he formulated when eighteen, without a shadow of turning. Has always, since then, been a Radical of Radicals, that is "wishing to pluck up error by the roots and plant truth in its place; agnostic, that is when he does not know a thing, he is honest enough to say so; cosmopolitan, Democratic, and of course Re- publican; teetotaler (of course), anti-slavery, sec- ularistic, altruistic, no privilege, free trade, free thought and speech, provided there is no free force or intimidation implied, right of way and domicile for the law-abiding nations, equality be- fore the law." Far dearer to him than life itself, he intends to die advocating these principles. Dr. Crawford was married to Miss Margaret P. McWill- iams, at St. Charles, in 1855, and she and one son and two daughters constitute his family.
A NSON LUMAN CLARK, M. D., although one among the comparatively young men in professional life, has reached an eminence for scientific attainments, as well as thorough scholarship, that is attained by few even of those who have devoted a long life of patient toil in the walks of their profession. When a young man he prepared himself to enter upon the study of his chosen profession by a thorough training in the best literary and classical schools of the country. He was by nature a student of nature, as well as a diligent student of books, and in early life followed the bent of his mind, and realized his fond young dreams when he received his diploma from one of the best schools of the country. After graduation, he did not fold his hands, or turn his sole atten- tion, as is too often the case with graduates, to the one subject of bread-winning, to the exclusion of further study and investigation in the line of
his profession. Indeed, it was but a new and added impulse, and it is now difficult to tell whether as a practitioner or as a student in the science of his chosen profession he is the harder or closer worker. His worth as a man, a citizen, social companion, and as a physician, was at once recognized when he first came to Elgin to reside, and in all these respects no man in the community can justly take precedence of him. His prom- inence in his profession is not confined to the vicinity of Elgin, but in the great city of Chicago he is one of the best known physicians, is highly esteemed, and his aid and counsel in difficult cases are eagerly sought by other practitioners. In the Bennett Medical College, of Chicago, he holds the important position of president, and also is pro- fessor of obstetrics and diseases of women. He has held these important positions since the col- lege was organized in 1869. He is also gynecolo- gist of Bennett Medical Hospital. Added to all these important posts of duty is his extensive practice in the city of Elgin and vicinity.
Dr. Clark is a native of Massachusetts, born in Clarksburg, October 12, 1836, the son of Thomas S. and Almeda (Ketchum) Clark, natives of that State, and descendants of some of the early settlers on the new England shores. The Clarks and Ketchums were of a strong and sturdy race of men, of fearless integrity of purpose, and who instinct- ively loved liberty. The little ancient town of Clarksburg, Mass., was named in honor of one of the members of the Clark family. In 1841 Thom- as S. Clark removed with his family from their old eastern home to Illinois, and first settled in Cook County. The son at that time was but five years of age. All the recollections of his life are there- fore connected with their home in the West, and amid these surroundings he grew to manhood. In his father's household were himself and three broth- ers. The father was a thrifty and industrious cit- izen. He was devoted to his family, and gave his sons good advantages in the way of training at home and in the schoolroom. The Doctor is the eldest son. The second, Arthur F., was quite young when the War of the Rebellion broke upon the country; he entered the country's service, volunteering in Company F. Eighth Illinois Cav
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alry, died in the service, in hospital in the city of Washington, January 21, 1863. Horace G., now a contractor and builder in Chanute, Kas., and Her- bert T., a druggist in Chicago, are the third and fourth sons. The father departed this life at a ripe old age in Elgin; he was born January 27, 1809, and died April 3, 1881. His widow is sur- viving, and has her home with her son, the Doctor. She was born September 17, 1815, in Clarksburg, Mass.
Anson L. received a good education in the pub- lic schools, and, when he had successfully passed these, became a student at Lombard University, at Galesburg, Ill., from which institution he was graduated B. A. in 1858, and received his M. A. from the institution in 1868. At the age of seven- teen he began teaching in the public schools to as- sist in defraying the expenses of gaining his edu- cation. In the meantime he had commenced a regular course of reading medicine while a student in Lombard University, and while teaching, subse- quent to his graduation, continued his reading dil- igently. When fully prepared he attended the Eclectic Medical Institute at Cincinnati, Ohio, from which institution he graduated in 1861. As soon as he had secured his diploma he located at Franklin Grove, Ill., and engaged in the practice of his profession. In May of the following year he removed permanently to Elgin, and opened an office. In August, 1862, he entered the army, and served as assistant surgeon of the One Hun- dred and Twenty-seventh Illinois Infantry, until the close of the war. On his return to Elgin he at once was given by the people a large practice. In 1869 some eminent gentlemen moved in the ques- tion of starting a medical college in Chicago. In this organization Dr. Clark took an efficient part, and when the institution was launched he was elected professor of obstetrics and diseases of wom- en. So valuable were his services considered that in 1872 he was elected president of the institution, a position he continues to occupy. He has been too busy in professional work to give much heed to politics, or seriously enter the field where men contend for the honors of official promotion. How- ever, in 1870, through the expressed desires of many friends, he was induced to stand for the of-
fice of representative in the State General Assem- bly, and was elected, where he performed valuable service. His love of science and general literature has made him a student all his life, and to a mind naturally vigorous and alert are added culture and that refinement that comes of the communion of ripened intelligence witli the mental and physical laws of life. He has contributed to the knowledge of his profession by adding a valuable text book entitled "Diseases of Women," that is now in all the public libraries, and most of the private shelves of the members of this school of practice.
Dr. Clark and Phœbe J. Lemon were united in marriage August 20, 1859. She was a daugh- ter of George C. and Anna (Lewis) Lemon. Of this union were two sons. The one, Otis Ains- worth, born May 20, 1861, was a bright and anti- ful son, who had grown nearly to young manhood in his parents' home, a graduate of Elgin Academy, full of hope and future promise, when he was stricken down, and died at the age of eighteen years, February 14, 1880. The other son, Percival Lemon, born October 17, 1866, graduated B. S. at the University of Illinois, making a specialty of chemistry, and is now reading medicine. A dangh- ter, Anna Almeda, was born April 13, and died April 14, 1868. The loving wife, and mother of these children, departed this life, and is laid to rest in the Elgin Cemetery. She died in the com munion of the Universalist Church.
In addition to the numerous important posi- tions held by Dr. Clark already mentioned, he was appointed by the Governor, in 1877, a member of the State Board of Health, where he has given the State his eminent services, and, having twice been reappointed, continues to the present time in this position; he is also a member of the National Eclec- tic Medical Association, and of the State Society; of the National Public Health Association; a Knight Templar in Bethel Commandery, of which he is Past E. C., also Past Master for some years of El- gin Lodge, No. 117. For some years he has been associate editor of the Chicago Medical Times.
January 22, 1872, Dr. Clark and Mary F. Dun- ton were united in the bonds of marriage. She is a native of Spencer, Mass., born April 28, 1841, daughter of Hiram P. and Belinda (Harvey) Dun-
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ton, a consistent member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, a much-esteemed lady in the society circles of Elgin, and a member of the Every Wednesday Literary Club. Dr. Clark is a member of the G. A. R., Post No. 49, and has been post surgeon several years.
E DGAR BANGS HUBBARD. This well- known merchant of Aurora, is a native of the State of New York, born in Madison County, June 23, 1833, and is a son of Daniel and Sophronia (Bangs) Hubbard, who came west in the fall of 1836, and located at Meacham's Grove, Ill., where they had friends. They sub- sequently made a permanent settlement at Bang's Lake, now Wauconda, Lake Co., Ill., and where the father carried on farming. He died there in 1865, his widow surviving him until 1886; they are buried side by side in the Wauconda Cemetery.
Edgar B. Hubbard was reared to farming, and lived upon the homestead laid out by his father until the latter's decease, when he moved to Aurora, and engaged in mercantile pursuits, with which interest he has since been successfully con- nected. In 1857 he was united in marriage to Fanny Maria Bowen, who was born in Washington County, N. Y., and is a daughter of Cyrus Bowen, now deceased. They have no children. Mr. Hub bard is a thorough-going business man and citizen, fully alive to the progress of the times, and a lib- eral contributor to all worthy measures tending to the development of the industrial life of the city of his adoption. He is a member of the K. of H., and of the M. W. of A.
OHN JONES, a well-known farmer of Big Rock Township, is a native of Llandevalley, Brecknockshire, Wales, born August 20, 1828, and when twelve years of age went to work in the mines of Monmouthshire. November 1, 1851, he married Sarah Williams, a daughter of Edmund and Margaret (Morgan) Williams, by whom he had a family of seven children, five of whom are now living: Margarette A., born July 19, 1854, married, in December, 1876, to George
Wilcox, a resident of Kaneville, Ill. ; Rachel Jane, born May 26, 1862; Louisa S., born December 27, 1864, married, May 27, 1885, to Edson J. Davis, of Aurora; Martin Darwin and Milton David (twins), born October 22, 1870.
In 1868 Mr. Jones came to Big Rock Town- ship direct from his native land, and for two years lived in the "Parsonage" on Section 18. He rented land for seven years, and then bought his present place of 100 acres on Section 35, where he carried on mixed farming, raising grain and cattle. Mr. Jones and his entire family are mem- bers of the Congregational Church, in which he has served as deacon six years, at the same time holding the position of superintendent of the Sun- day-school.
A LEXANDER H. STONE was born at Wya- lusing, Bradford Co., Penn. October S, 1820, a son of Raphael and Sarah (Ingham) Stone, who were of a family of Scotch- Irish descent on the father's side, and English on the mother's side, who came to this country in its early history, landing at Stonington, Conn. Our subject's grandfather, on the mother's side, landed at Philadelphia in the time of William Penn; his brother, Samuel D. Ingham, was Secretary of the Treasury under President Jackson. The early life of Mr. Stone was spent on his father's farm, and he attended the district school, when home duties would permit, until fourteen years of age. After the death of his parents . he entered an academy at Wilkesbarre, Penn. Having finished the course there he taught school and graduated at Harvard Academy; he studied law for two years with the late Col. Hendrick B. Wright, of Wilkesbarre, but has never practiced it as a profession. In 1844 Mr. Stone went to Beloit, Wis., where he taught the Rock River High School for five years, and then engaged in mercantile business, having had some experience in that line with Anning O. Chahoon & Co., merchants and contractors in Pennsylvania.
August 3, 1847, he married Hannah A. Cort- right, who was born April 15, 1825, a daughter of John and Louisa (Searls) Cortright. Her parents
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having died when she was young (only four years old), Mrs Stone was educated by her aunt Ruth and uncle John Gore, with whom she lived up to the time of her marriage, at the age of twenty-two. Her grandfather was one of the early settlers of Wyo- ming Valley. Mr. and Mrs. Stone have had four children, three of whom are now living: Mary E .. wife of W. J. Hancock. of Council Bluffs, Iowa ; Har- riet F., wife of J. M. Bigger, of Dallas, Tex., and William G., married to Jessie A. Ogden, and resid- ing in Kansas City, Mo. In 1854 Mr. Stone moved to Freeport, Ill., and here engaged in merchan- dising, banking and real estate. In 1868 he came to Geneva, where he lived only six months, during which time he bought his present home property at North Aurora. In politics he is independent. He takes an active part in local public affairs; was a Republican during the war for the Union, is a Prohibitionist now, and will be until the liquor business is brought under control of the State, and ceases to be a political power in controlling elections and the politics of the country. Mr. Stone is a fair sample of a good citizen, and has the reputa- tion of being an honest man and a Christian gen- tleman, to all intents and purposes. Though belonging to no church, he believes that Christian- ity is the basis of our advancing civilization.
EVI HULL WATERHOUSE, contractor and builder, of Aurora, was born at Clinton. Middlesex Co., Conn., September 19, 1824, and is the son of Rev. John and Lucy (Hull) Waterhouse, former a Baptist minister, also a car- riage-maker and stone-mason, who during the later years of his life devoted his attention to the latter trade at Essex, Conn., to which place he had re- moved when the son was but ten years of age. By this time and subsequently Levi H. obtained a good common-school education, and soon after arriving at Essex began to learn the general trade of mason. After completing his apprenticeship he worked at the business in his native State, and in the south un- til 1847, when he came west, locating at Chicago, where for fifteen years he was identified with the contracting and building interests of that city. In 1862 he removed to Aurora, since which time
he has conducted the same business. During a long and successful career he has earned an envi- able reputation for integrity, fair dealing and effi- ciency in his chosen vocation.
Mr. Waterhouse was married in De Kalb County, Ill., to Harriet Hongh, a native of New York, a most estimable lady, who was for many years a member of Park Place Baptist Church. In 1871 she was laid to rest in Spring Lake Cem- etery, and her only son, Fletcher L., who died December 27, 1885, lies beside her. There were four other children by this union, all daughters: Mary, now the wife of Edward Y. Fowler; Ger- trude, now Mrs. Jeff T. Parker; Harriet, at home; and Elizabeth, the wife of Darwin Royston. Mr. Waterhouse formed a second matrimonial alliance, this time with Miss Clara Buchanan, a native of Angelica, N. Y., a popular and talented lady, who was, for a time, a teacher in the Aurora schools, being formerly of Grand Rapids, Mich. The fam- ily are attendants of Park Place Baptist Church. The progenitors of the Waterhouse and Hull fami- lies, from whom Mr. Waterhouse is descended, were of English origin, and of old New England stock, the historical annals of both Massachusetts and Connecticut making mention of them as early as the middle of the seventeenth century. Rev. John Waterhouse was one of the first three members of the Baptist Church, who resided or held meetings in the town of Clinton, Conn. In the annals above referred to many of them are spoken of as holding prominent positions in the learned professions, in trade and in politics.
E DWARD R. LONG, a farmer of Big Rock Township, was born September 21, 1827, at Greenfield, Mass., the youngest of a family of ten children born to Dr. Silas and Ma- tilda (Stratton) Long. In 1840 he came with his parents to Kane County, and November 13, 1854, he was married in Trinity Church, Aurora, Ill., to Emma, daughter of Thomas and Ann (Stoddard) Dale. Their living children are Fred E., born March 23, 1859; Caroline A., born May 4, 1860, the wife of William Price, of Big Rock; Harry S., born August 22, 1864, and Minnie E., born April
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15, 1869. They lost by death one child, Alice, born December 28, 1855, and whose funeral was the first held from the Baptist Church of Big Rock. Mr. Long now operates a farm of 226 acres on Sections 19 and 20, where he pays consid- erable attention to stock raising. The family at- tend the services of the Baptist Church, though Mrs. Long is a member of the Episcopal Church. In politics Mr. Long is a Republican.
H OLMES MILLER. Among all the eminent and deservedly popular business men of Aurora, there is and has been none whose name ranks above that of this gentleman, because none is more thoroughly identified and honorably connected with the social and commer- cial affairs of the city of Aurora, or, indeed, of Kane County, as no other person within its limits is better known among its inhabitants. He was born in the town of Ulysses, Tompkins Co., N. Y., July 5, 1829, and is the son of John M. and Lydia A. (Mack) Miller, who were pioneers of that county, and worthy people. They came to Illinois in 1842, bringing with them five sons and one daughter, and the family located at Aurora.
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