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 43

Author:
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Beers, Leggett & Co.
Number of Pages: 1040

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 43
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 43

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In 1883 Mr. Peck returned to Illinois, and set- tled on his farm of 115 acres in Plato Township, which farm is well stocked with horses and cattle, drained and under good cultivation. He also owns twenty-five acres in Hampshire Township.

November 15, 1845, Mr. Peck married Margaret Jane Ash, daughter of William and Jemima (Will- iams) Ash. They are the parents of two children -Josephine, now the wife of David Lester, of Wayne, Du Page County, and Elizabeth, now Mrs. John Beamislı, of Plato Township. Mr. Peck takes a deep interest in public affairs, and sup- ports the Republican party.

E DWARD E. GARFIELD. The progeni- tors of this gentleman were early settlers in Massachusetts in its pioneer history as a colony of Great Britain. The first one of the immediate ancestors that came to America was named Edward Garfield, who was born in the town of Chester, England. He left his native country in 1630, immigrating to the new world with Gov. Winthrop's colony, and was known to have resided at Watertown, Mass., in 1635. The descent to the subject of this sketch is traced as follows: Edward, the first pioneer, was the father of Edward Jr., who was the father of Lieut. Thomas Garfield, who was a direct ancestor of the martyred President, James A. Garfield. Lient. Thomas Garfield was the father of Samuel, a

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resident of Waltham, Mass., who was the father of Samuel, Jr., who was the father of Enoch, who was the father of Timothy P., who was the father of Edward E. Garfield, the subject of this memoir.

Timothy P. Garfield came to Kane County, Ill., in 1837, on a prospecting tour, seeking a loca- tion for a home; he returned the same year to Mount Holly, Vt., where he then resided. The beautiful and fertile country that he had seen in the valley of the Fox River had, however, made such a favorable impression on his mind, that, in 1841, with his wife, Harriet Frosh Garfield, and their family of four boys and four girls, migrated to Kane County; he soon afterward bought a claim with a 16x18 feet log house erected thereon, on the south- east quarter of Section 26, in Campton Township. Into this habitation they moved with their family; subsequently an addition, 18x20, was made to the house, which remained unchanged until 1847, when he built the brick residence now occupied by his son, Robert M. From nearly his first settle- ment until 1852 he conducted a hotel at that place, and until his death was known as one of the most enterprising and substantial men of the county, taking an active part in the public affairs of his vicinity, and was a stanch Whig. He served his township as assessor, treasurer, school inspector, etc .; he was a practical surveyor, and acted in that capacity in laying out nearly all the roads of his vicinity, surveying farms, etc. He was noted for energy in the management of his affairs, and at his death, March 27, 1859, he left an estate of 510 acres of land, located on Sections 25, 26, 27, 35 and 36 in Campton Township, His widow died November 3, 1869, and they lie side by side in the family burial lot on the old home- stead.

Edward E. Garfield was born at Mount Holly, Rutland Co., Vt., December 8, 1835, and came with his parents to Kane County, in 1841, where he was reared and educated; and, since arriving at man's estate, he has taken an active and prominent part in social, financial and other affairs of his section. He is a Republican in politics, and, dur_ ing the Rebellion, was appointed and acted as United States enrolling officer, serving also on the com-

mittee of his township to devise ways and means for filling the war quota. This was accomplished, and Campton was never subjected to the draft. He has also served his neighbors and citizens in various local offices of public trust, such as assessor for five years, highway commissioner, etc., and is at present acting as justice of the peace. Like his father, he is a practical surveyor, and is probably better posted in affairs in his vicinity, relating to surveys, than any other man. He is the owner of 300 acres of choice land in the southeast part of Campton Township, on which he keeps forty or fifty fine cows for dairy purposes. The modern elegant residence and other buildings and improve - ments on this land are the result of his own plans and labor.

Mr. Garfield was married October 7, 1857, to Frances Harriet Wing, a daughter of Dr. Seneca and Jane (Ewing) Wing, natives of Danby and Clarendon Townships, Rutland Co., Vt. When Mrs. Garfield was an infant, her mother died, and was buried at Hague, Warren Co., N. Y. ; her father married again, and came west with his family, settling at Batavia, in 1849, where he practiced his profes- sion, and died in 1851. Mr. and Mrs. Garfield have two children, Mary F. and Earle W. The family are attendants of the Unitarian Church of Geneva, of which church the parents are members.

C OMFORT H. SHAW. Among thie many prosperous and representative farmers of Campton Township there is no one who re- tains the confidence and esteem of its citi- zens to a greater extent than this gentleman. He was born in Annsville, Oneida Co., N. Y., July 21, 1835, and is the son of Jesse and Delight (Swan) Shaw, born, respectively, February 3, 1793, and February 18, 1797, at Stephentown, Rensselaer Co., N. Y. Jesse Shaw was a farmer in Oneida County for over fifty years. He was a volunteer soldier for a short time in the War of 1812, for which service he received from the general Govern- ment a warrant for 160 acres of land. In 1869 Comfort H. Shaw came to Illinois, and lived at Aurora for one year, then in the spring of 1870 he bought 120 acres of land, part of his present farm,

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moving to the same, with his family, the same spring, continuously making it his home to the present time. The homestead now consists of 162 acres of the most fertile land in the county, finely improved, and the dairy stock averages thirty-two head of milch cows, many of them graded cattle.

Mr. Shaw was married February 3, 1862, to a most estimable lady, Miss Lovina Cain, a daugh- ter of Charles and Lydia (Howland) Cain, and born January 20, 1844, in Camden, Oneida Co., N. Y. They have had three children: Ida N., born March 4, 1866, who died, a young lady aged nineteen, June 26, 1885, and is at rest in the Garfield burial place in Campton Township; Ella D., born April 17, 1868, and Clyde C., born October 4, 1873. The parents of Mr. Shaw made their home at his house nearly all the time from his first settlement at this farm, his father, Jesse, dying there April 11, 1882; while his aged widow followed him to the unknown world on the eleventh day of the following Novem- ber. They were original members of the Free- Will Baptist Church, but there being no church of that denomination convenient to their home of later years, they attended the Methodist meetings. Their mortal remains were given burial in the Gar- field Cemetery.

P IERCE BURTON. The press is the fourth estate. In voting, Democratic America the country press is the great national school, and if the reader will excuse a large word, it may be pronounced the palladium of American liberty. It has superseded the necessity for the stump orator, that delightful creature who tuned his harp of a thousand strings in every school "deestrick" in the land, and sailed his eagles so grandly, twisted the lion's tail so gorgeously, and exploited this whang-doodle so swimmingly. The members of the rural press are a guild unto them- selves, and yet the nature of their business is such as to draw them closer, to make them under- stand better the real work-a-day people, than is that of any other class of men. The country press makes more greatness (gratuitously, always,) for other men, and less for publishers and editors, than any other trade or profession in the world. Their

chief pay in this valley and shadow must be an approving conscience, and the absolute certainty of future reward. Few men, even in this business of marvelous experiences, can claim more in this respect than can Mr. Burton, the proprietor of the Aurora Daily Express, and also of the Aurora Weekly Herald and Express.

He is a native of Norwich, Vt., born December 24, 1834, the son of William Smith and Nancy (Russell) Burton. The son was eight years of age when his father died. The mother removed with her family to Republic, Seneca Co., Ohio, in 1844. The boy in his tender years realized that he must share the responsibilities in life's struggle with his mother, and so diligently had he labored that at the young age of sixteen years he was plying the vocation of a pedagogue in Logan County, Ohio. After the winter term he worked diligently on the farm in the summer season .. At the age of eighteen years he found employment in the freight, ticket and grain offices in the town of Republic, and in the meantime learned telegraphy. When only twenty years old he went to Massachusetts, and became assistant to the noted electrician, Henry M. Paine, who was then deeply immersed in the investigation and experiments of electric motors, and of manufacturing gas from water. When through with this work he was for one year telegraph operator, and then accepted the position of general station agent at Anderson, Ind., re- maining there six years.

In the midst of these busy cares it seems the young man found time for social enjoyment, and, meeting Miss Ellen Gertrude Lapham, of South Adams, Mass., they mutually arrived at the same happy conclusion, and were married in 1860. She became the mother of one son, Charles Pierce, born in Anderson, Ind., March 7, 1862. The fond mother and devoted wife died three years after marriage. Following this bereavment Mr. Burton spent some time in Massachusetts.

Early in 1866 he removed to Demopolis, Ala., intending to engage in cotton-raising, but, instead, he accepted an appointment as agent of the Freed- men's Bureau, at that place. His duties in that position made him acquainted with the injustice of the famous cotton tax, and, with an independ-

Pierce Bustaw

PHOTO BY D. C . PRATT.

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ence of mind that has ever characterized him, he exposed its wrongs in a vigorous article that was published in the Springfield (Mass.) Republican. This article was widely copied, and commented upon by other leading journals, and a discussion was aroused that finally led to the repeal of an un - just and oppressive tax. The "powers that be," however, were not well pleased with the independ- ence of a subordinate officer, who had raised such a storm, and not long after the first publication of the cotton tax article he was dismissed from office.

In the meantime Alabama became involved in the throes of reconstruction. Congress had passed a law calling a constitutional convention. A cam- paign ensued, the intense bitterness of which those who have known only the noisy electioneering methods in vogue at the North can have any con- ception. A proud aristocracy saw their late slaves invested with the ballot. Ignorant blacks, who but yesterday were driven like beasts to un- requited toil now had the power to vote themselves into office, make laws for their late masters, and appoint the officers to execute those laws. The haughty Southern leaders felt the situation too intolerable to be borne. Resistance in their eyes became a sacred duty. At first passive, then sul- len, their temper soon passed to a virulence never before known in the political annals of the country. Murder and assassination were openly counseled, and scarce less openly those crimes were perpe- trated. Bloody riots were of frequent occurrance. Assaults and outrages upon individuals conspic- nous in the new movement were almost innumera- ble, sometimes committed in open day, often in darkness of night. The old leaders, threatened with a loss of power, and dominated by vague fears of the dire results of "putting the bottom rail on top," goaded the masses of the white peo- ple into a state of ungovernable frenzy, in which reason and justice were lost sight of; and any out- rage upon a Republican or Union man was consid- ered justifiable. An era of mad passion set in that has had no parallel in any civilized society since the reign of terror in France.

It was in this condition of public feeling that Mr. Burton, while absent from home on a business trip, was elected a member of the constitutional

convention, and subsequently a member of the Lower House of the General Assembly. In these bodies he exerted all the powers of a practical and suggestive mind to secure just and beneficent laws for all classes. He did whatever could be done without sacrifice of principle to allay the anoma- lous state of excitement that prevailed, to disarm the fears of the white people, to protect the rights of the colored people. In the Legislature he was successively chairman of the committee on finance, and of the committee on ways and means, and was the author of nearly all the revenue legislation of the State at that period. The tax laws enacted under his leadership in the House constituted the first successful effort ever made in Alabama to equitably apportion the burdens of taxation be- tween industry and property. Mr. Burton was the uncompromising foe of all vicious, corrupt and dishonest legislation, and his position at the head of these important committees enabled him to save the State millions of dollars. He was a stanch friend of the cause of education, and his vote and voice were always given for the most liberal sup- port of free schools.

In 1868 Mr. Burton began the publication at Demopolis of the Southern Republican, and he conducted it as an organ of the best form of Republican thought. His outspoken convictions, in defense of the Union and of the Republican party, brought upon him the deadly hostility of the old rebel element. He received frequent warnings to leave the State, which were disre- garded, and at Eutaw, Greene County, the head- quarters of the Kuklux gang for that region, he was assaulted by members of that organization, and was left for dead on the street.

In 1870, in recognition of his services in the Legislature, the friends of honest legislation secured his nomination by the Republican State convention for lieutenant-governor. If there ever was a case of the nomination seeking the man, this was one. He never solicited a vote, nor did he say a word or do an act that could be construed into asking his friends to work for him. The ticket nominated by the convention had every pros- pect of success until a few days before the election, when the reactionary element set in motion all the

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machinery of terrorism, violence and fraud, and it was defeated or counted out by a few hundred votes.

What is flippantly called the "carpet-bag " era in the South was a time of portentous impor- tance, not merely to the section lately in rebellion, but to the whole country. It was a time of polit- ical and social turmoil and strife. It was the meeting and conflict of two antagonistic systems of civilization, the reactionary forces in the South sought to hold that section at its old moorings. Slavery was nominally abolished, but a condition of legal peonage was inaugurated for the colored people that would have put them as completely as ever in the power of their old masters. The old semi-feudal condition was to be maintained, under which society consisted of two classes-a few great land holders and a mass of ignorant whites and blacks. No adequate provision was to be for the education of the poor whites, and none at all for the blacks. The burdens of taxation were to be put on the working poor, the privileges and honors were to be reserved for the landholding few. It was against this system of government and society that the Northern men who had settled in the South brought the Northern ideas of the greatest good for the greatest number, of a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people." The clash was tremendous, yet the issue has not been doubtful. The Southern leaders are again in power, and the " carpet-bagger " has vanished; but the Southern idea of a semi-feudal condition of society has been shattered beyond repair; the Northern ideas planted in the South in that con- flict have sprung up as good seed and multiplied a hundred-fold. Provision is made for the educa- tion of the people. Labor is honored as never before, and diversified industries are daily becom- ing better established; the day of the great plan- tation is gone, the era of the farm, the workshops and the factory is at hand. No doubt there were bad men among the carpet-baggers, but there were also good, true and loyal men among them, and the work they did has marked advance movement in the South that is not yet ended.

Finding the publication of a Republican paper, in Alabama, not a very profitable enterprise, Mr.

Burton sold out in 1871, and the same year made his home in Aurora, where he purchased the Herald, an independent journal of Republican proclivities. When the contraction of the currency became an issue in politics, he vigorously opposed that policy, advocating the issue by the Government itself, of all money, whether paper or metal, and its adapta- tion in volume to the increasing business and population of the country. He was drawn to this principle, not less by his conviction of its intrinsic merits than by his belief that its introduction into party politics would do away with old issues, raise new questions, that would divide the white people of the lately rebellious States, and break up the "solid South," so long a menace to the best interests of the Republic.

In 1882, the rapid growth of his business determined Mr. Burton to establish the Aurora Daily Express, which has developed into one of the brightest and most successful daily papers in the State. It has a circulation of nearly 2,000, owns the two-story brick building in which it is published, and is in every way sprightly, vigorous, and as independent as a newspaper needs to be. Every good cause gets a helping hand in its columns. The most practical free schools for the masses, the public library (of which he was one of the prime movers), savings banks for the people, temperance, the development of the industrial and commercial interests of Aurora-for all these, and kindred topics the Express has shed barrels of ink.

In December, 1873, Mr. Burton was united in marriage with Miss Maria A. Sibley, of Athol, Mass., and of this union there are two children living: Claribel Daisy, born September 12, 1875, and Ralph William, born October 19, 1879.

A DDISON GLEASON is a native of Genesee County, N. Y., born June 4, 1827, the son of David and Abigail (Brown) Gleason, na- tives of New York and Vermont, respect- ively. In June, 1837, he came west with his parents, who settled in La Salle County, where they remained until May, 1840, and then removed to Burlington, Kane County, taking up 200 acres

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of land there, and locating until 1848. In that year Mr. Addison Gleason removed to Grundy County, where he remained until 1858, being en- gaged during the last two years in the lumber trade, starting the first lumber yard in Gardner. He then came to Hampshire, and bought the farm where now a portion of the village stands, remain- ing here until 1861; then went to Black Hawk County, Iowa, where he located until 1868, in which year he returned to Illinois, stopping for a time in Grundy County. From there he moved to Marengo, McHenry County, remained until 1881, and then returned to Hampshire, where he opened the lumber yard he is now conducting.

May 23, 1852, Mr. Gleason was married to Louisa Dickson, whose parents, James and Lu- cetta (Gardner) Dickson, were also early settlers in this State. Nine children were the result of this marriage, four of them dying young. Those now living are Homer A. (born January 14, 1854, mar- ried to Jennie Parson, and now living at Hamp- shire), Thirza M. (born September 18, 1855, mar- ried to I. N. Dolph, and living in La Salle County, Ill.), Della L. (born September 15, 1857, married to Charles Kezar, and living in Boone County), Ervin J. (born July 24, 1859, married to Hettie Brewster, and now living in San Benito County, Cal.) and Eddie P. (born August 26, 1867, and now living in Kansas City, Mo.) In politics Mr. Gleason has been a firm supporter of the Repub- lican party, always believing in and working for the principles of temperance, and is now president of the prohibition club at Hampshire. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which they are held in high esteem.

W ILLIAM C. WIDMAYER. In the year 1852 Christian Widmayer came to Amer- ica with his wife, five sons and four daugh- ters, and settled at Niagara, N. Y., where he found employment at his trade of blacksmith; July 9, 1854, he died of cholera. In 1854 Mrs. Widmayer became the wife of Anthony Mooth, a weaver by trade. In 1856 the family removed to

Illinois, and bought twenty acres of land in Sec- tion 14, Hampshire Township, Kane County. The names of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Chris- tian Widmayer are Reka (who became the wife of E. Worthwine), Caroline (now Mrs. August Meyer), Charles (now in Jacksonville, Ill.), Louisa (now Mrs. George Leitner), William C., Gottleib (who died October 1, 1862), Earnest P. (now in Vir- ginia, Cass County, Ill.), Wilhelmina (who became the wife of J. Carlton, of Merced, Cal., ) and Robert, in Virginia, Ill.

Anthony Mooth had no children. He en- listed at Elgin, Ill., in Company K, Fifty-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and died in the hos- pital at Memphis, Tenn., November 27, 1863. Fredericka Mooth was seventy-six years old Jan- uary 6, 1888. Earnest P. Widmayer, brother of William C., also enlisted in Company K, Fifty- second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and when they returned home he veteranized at Pulaski, Tenn .; then went to Chattanooga, following which he was present at the siege of Atlanta., Ga., and was in Sherman's march to the sea. While in South Carolina he would have died had he not been picked up by an ambulance driver, a comrade of William C. Widmayer, named Frank Gardner, who died at Elgin two or three years ago. Upon the death of his father William C. went to work by the month, and found steady employment until September, 1861, when he enlisted in Com- pany K, Fifty-second Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Capt. J. S. Wilcox, same company and regiment as his brother and step-father. He participated in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Atlanta, and in several minor engagements. At Shiloh a ball passed through his cap, and at Corinth he received a ball in his left arm. He was discharged at Rome, Ga., his term of three years' enlistment having expired.

After his return from the army Mr. Widmayer worked by the month until 1870, when he bought forty acres of land in Section 10, Hampshire Township. He has added to it from time to time, and now has a fine farm of 100 acres in Sections 10 and 11, well cultivated; has twenty-five cows, and a fine stock of horses. In 1886 he built a large house after the modern style, with good com-

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modious out-buildings. Mr. Widmayer always takes an interest in things tending to the public good; has been collector one year, and is now act- ing as school director. He is a stanch Repub- lican, a member of Miller Post, No. 453, G. A. R. In early life he embraced the Christian religion, and he is now a member of the German Evangelical Association.

June 20, 1869, Mr. Widmayer was married to Miss Margaret Huber, daughter of Charles and Catherine (Fofoo) Huber, and to them were given five children: Howard O., born March 2, 1870; John C., born November 27, 1872; Lizzie C., born May 5, 1875; Robert A., born September 30, 1877; Willie, born April 27, 1880 (died April 30, 1884). Mrs. Widmayer died of measles May 3, 1880, and January 5, 1881, Mr. Widmayer married Louisa Gerbing, of Sheboygan County, Wis., who became the mother of two sons: Henry G., born October 26, 1881; Frank W., born April 4, 1883. The mother died January 6, 1885. March 10, 1886, Mr. Widmayer mar- ried Mrs. Sarah Wink, widow of William Wink, of Chicago, and daughter of Philip and Sarah (Krimbell) Shuler.

E DWIN ARIUS KILBOURNE, M. D., Med- ical Superintendent of the Illinois Northern Hospital for the Insane at Elgin, was born March 12, 1837, in Chelsea, Orange Co., Ver- mont. When he was five years old his parents re- moved with their family to Montpelier, the capital of the Green Mountain State, where he obtained his elementary education in the public school and after- wards became a student at Washington County Academy, then one of the best educational institu- tions in the State, where he studied several years. During this period he was under the guidance and supervision of a wise and tender Christian mother, who moulded his inclinations and proclivities, and who inspired him with the principles to which he has adhered unswervingly through a long and di- versified experience in the contest with the world, which is the heritage of every citizen of this Re- public. His father's death, when he was seven- teen, impressed him with a sense of responsibility

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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 43

Author: Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Beers, Leggett & Co. Number of Pages: 1040

Author:
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Beers, Leggett & Co.
Number of Pages: 1040