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 47
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 47
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competence, owning a fine farm and valuable city real estate. In politics he has always been a Republican.
M RS. REBECCA MORRIS, widow of John W. Morris, was born in Monmouth Coun- ty, N. J., February 15, 1824, daughter of Henry and Jennie (Newmans) You- mans, also natives of New Jersey, where the father was a farmer and ship-builder. Of their family of eight children Rebecca is the fourth. Decem ber 26, 1843, she married John W. Morris, who was born in New Jersey, December 10, 1819, son of Samuel and Catherine (Bennett) Morris, natives of the same State, where they died.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Morris be- gan farming their place of 400 acres, and in 1865, came to Illinois, where they purchased a 400-acre farm on Sections 8 and 9, in Blackberry Township. They had a family of eleven children, four girls and seven boys, whose names in order of their ages are as follows: Jane (now Mrs. Levi Bond), Adeline (now Mrs. James Ravatt), Henry, John Wesley, Ceriah F. L. (now Mrs. Henry Robinson), Edgar T., Joseph M., Franklin L., Walter K., Ella R. and Lester M. It is a remarkable fact that all the eleven children are now (1888) alive, the youngest being twenty-one years of age.
J. W. Morris, Sr., died March 30, 1880. He was a man of influence, much respected for his kind-heartedness and honesty, and was especially noted for the generous hospitality with which he entertained his numerous friends. Mrs. Morris now resides in Aurora, Ill. By conditions of her husband's will, she has entire control of the estate containing 300 acres of land.
ACOB MARX. This enterprising dry goods and grocery merchant, and popular citizen of Aurora, was born March 19, 1857, in Aurora Township, and is a son of Peter and Marguerite (Coster) Marx, who were both na- tives of Prussia. Peter Marx, when a young man came to Illinois, locating for some time at Naper- ville, and subsequently settled in Aurora Township with his family, where he purchased a farm, and
reared a family of five sons and two daughters, of whom Jacob is the eldest child.
He grew to manhood on the farm, in the mean- time obtaining a good education, which was sup- plemented by a thorough course of commercial study at Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College. He afterward served an apprenticeship at the gro- cery business, and in 1877, he, as proprietor, established his present business, which soon grew into a large and flourishing trade. The elegant block on Broadway, which he now partly occupies, was built by him in 1886. He is a member of St. John's Society, a branch of the Western Catholic Union, and a member of the Athletic Boat Club, of which he is treasurer.
Mr. Marx was married at Aurora to Miss Nettie Zacks, a native of the city, and a daughter of a substantial farmer of the township, Michael Zacks, who was a native of Bohemia. By this marriage were born the following named children: Annie, Frances, Peter and Charles, the last two named now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Marx are full com- municants of the German Catholic Church of Aurora.
OHN BUNN ROBERTS, proprietor of a first- class confectionery and bakery establishment on Fox Street, Aurora, was born in the city of Newark, N. J., July 6, 1843. His parents were Charles and Mary (Bunn) Roberts, descend- ants of pioneer families in New Jersey and New York, respectively, of Scotch-Welsh and English ancestry. The forefathers on the Roberts side served in the War of the Revolution, and in that of 1812. Charles Roberts and his family migrated west and settled at the present site of Oswego, Kendall Co., Ill., in September, 1843, the member of that family, whose name heads this sketch, being but an infant at that time.
John B. Roberts was reared on the farm in Kendall County, and gleaned his education from the common schools of the vicinity. In August, 1862, he responded to his country's need, and en- listed in Company A, One Hundred and Twenty- Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and soon after was in active service at the front. He participated in many battles, and, while with Sher-
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man on his famous march to the sea, was wounded in the battle of Atlanta, Ga., July 28, 1864, from which he never fully recovered. At the close of the war, after three years' service, he returned home, and commenced farming, an occupation that he followed until 1882, when he removed to Aurora, and engaged in trade, which he has con- tinued in to the present time.
Mr. Roberts was married at Oswego, Ill., to Mary Elizabeth McConnell, of Oswego, formerly of Middlesex, Mercer Co., Penn. They have one child living, Marietta Belle, and one, Mamie Bunn, lies at rest in the Oswego Cemetery. Mr. Roberts is a member of the G. A. R., and for over twenty years has been a F. & A. M. The family are at- tendants of the Presbyterian Church.
W ILLIAM WAGNER, a grocery merchant of Aurora, was born at Consdorf, Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, Germany, July 7, 1844, and is the son of John and Ger- trude (Hurt) Wagner. His father was an orna- mental painter, though in later years identified with the insurance business. William was thoroughly educated in his native land, both in the German and French languages, and subse- quently became prominently identified with the educational interests there as a teacher in the pub- lic schools of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg; he afterward for some time followed the same·voca- tion in Paris, France, as instructor in the German language. At the age of twenty-seven he decided to emigrate to America, sailing from Antwerp. October 12, 1871, landing first at New York City, and arriving in Aurora November 5, of the same year. He soon after became employed as a clerk, and continued in the same until 1880, when he established himself in the grocery trade, which he has successfully conducted to the present time (1887). Mr. Wagner is a representative of the best class of our German citizens, thoroughly enterprising, and is numbered as one of Aurora's most substantial and worthy residents. Beside his grocery and provision business he is also identified with other enterprises that have assisted materially toward the city's growth and
prosperity. He is a stockholder in the Aurora Cotton Mill; a member of the I. O. O. F. and Encampment, serving officially in both branches of that fraternity. He was married at Aurora to Matilda Kasel, born July 28th, 1854, a native of Metz, France, and a daughter of Matthias and Kate Kasel. To this marriage have been born two sons, George Ernst and Edgar William Leon.
D. DAY. Just as the war clouds that were so soon to break with such dreadful fury were hovering upon this nation, one of the most eminent and esteemed men that have ever adorned the walks of life in Aurora was breathing out his life in the South, where he had gone in the hope of regaining his shattered health, in the land of strangers, with whom only was his dying bed surrounded. In the bare meridian of his life he was stricken with consumption, and, as his beloved wife and child had preceded him to the other and better world, he, the great, strong man, was stricken by the storm, truly "alone, all, all alone," and possibly he welcomed in his dying hour those who knew not his sad story, and could now, therefore, mock his overwrought soul with sympathy.
O. D. Day died at the young age of forty years, and, as eminent as was the bar of Kane County at that time with such lawyers as Fridley, Judge Wilson, and many others of national fame, he was reckoned through all this part of Illinois in the front rank of attorneys. He was a great lawyer, a brilliant social companion, genial and witty, and had just enough eccentricity in his nature to make him fame and friends. Beneath these qualities lay his deep sense of right and justice, an intense morality that won the hearts of all with whom he came in contact. In his forensic encounters his wit was keen and polished as was Sheridan's, and it came to be dreaded by opposing attorneys. An instance of this is related by Hon. B. F. Parks, in a communication in the Aurora News of April 28, 1886, in which he says: "He had the best and largest library in the county; he knew a great deal of law, and he was not cer- tain of anything. He would strike right and left,
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and he struck so many blows, and in such various directions, that one of his stray random shots was likely to hit the spot. When he was driven to the wall he would quote from the 29th of Wendall- a book that never existed-and it was many years before the bar knew that his quotations were myth- ical." From the same paper we quote Mr. Park's estimate of him as follows: "O. D. Day was a use- ful citizen of Aurora. He settled here when there were not five hundred inhabitants in the town. He worked faithfully for the interests of the town, made all his money here, invested it here, believed in the growth and future prosperity of Aurora. He was propular with the common people, and was a fine-looking man." He was mayor of the city of Aurora at the time of his death. T. H. Day and S. D. Seamans, of Aurora, were his nephews.
F RANCIS L. YOUNG. This resident of Kaneville is prominently known throughout the county as one of its most enterprising and substantial men. He is a native of the Green Mountain State, born in the town of Straf- ford, Orange County, December 1, 1828, a son of Nathan and Hannah (Smith) Young, the former born in 1792, in Grantham, N. H., and the latter in 1799, in Vermont. Nathan Young was at one time an officer in the regular army, but was for many years engaged in mercantile pursuits. He with his wife and four children: George, Nathan, Francis L. and Marcella, came to Blackberry, Kane County, in 1843 (one other son, Peleg, came to Janesville, Wis., in 1838, but in 1841 settled in Kane County). The parents died-the mother in October, 1863, the father in June, 1869, and they are buried in the west side graveyard, in Batavia.
Francis L. Young acquired a good education in the schools of his native town, which was after- ward supplemented by attendance at the Kane County schools. Seven years subsequently the family removed to the town of Kaneville, and in 1871, Mr. Young became a resident of Kaneville village, where he has continued to live up to date. In 1857 he married Bettie B. Patterson, also a native of Vermont, who died November 3, 1871,
leaving two children: Jennie M., who married Charles L. Cary, and died at Geneva, in Feb- ruary, 1885, and Frank P. Mr. Young afterward married in May, 1873, Mrs. Annis, nee Eliza A. Patterson, widow of Eli Annis; she was born in Strafford, Vt., in 1828. Mr. Young is an ardent Republican, and for over thirty-five years has been an active and influential worker in Repub- lican councils, in connection with county politics. He was elected commissioner of highways in 1857, and subsequently to the offices of township asses- sor, justice of the peace, township clerk, school director, etc., and in 1879 was elected treasurer of Kane County, holding the latter position until the fall of 1886, a period of seven years, it being the longest time tliat office has been held by one individual since the county was organized. For over thirty years Mr. Young has, for a greater part of the time, served his vicinity or the county in some office of trust or honor; and as a public servant or private citizen, he has won the respect and esteem of all classes in an eminent degree.
M RS. HANNAH WILDER. The subject of this biography ranks with the pioneer men and women whose lives have been spent in developing Kane County. She was born in the town of Lymne, New London Co., Conn., in 1810, and in 1830 removed to the State of New York, where she was united in marriage in 1833 with Clark Wilder. With their two sons and a daughter they came west, in 1837, and located in Kane County, where they led active and useful lives, engaged in farming and rearing and educat- ing their family, whom they lived to see grow up to be honored and useful citizens. George, the eldest child, is an official of Aurora, a civil engineer; Bert is located at Cedar Falls, Iowa, in the elec- tric light business; Mary is the widow of Peter Lossing, of near Yates Centre, Kas .; Emeline is the wife of Fred H. Hotz, a merchant of Aurora; Wallace gave up his life in the Union army, and is buried in Aurora Cemetery; Lewis also did worthy service as a soldier in the Civil War, and is a business man and farmer, of Aurora; Joel is a farmer of Yates Centre, Kas; Frankie was killed
F & Young
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by a runaway team in his twentieth year, in 1869; aud a son and daughter died young.
In August, 1870, death took the kind and loving husband and father. He was known to the people of his locality as a man full of benevolence, and the beggar was never turned from his door without both material support and kind words. As a public official he was ever active and honored, and upon his demise was laid to rest by a large concourse of citizens, mourned by all. Mrs. Wilder, whose maiden name was Lord, continues the busi- ness of her farm and dairy, and still retains remark- able vigor, although long past the allotted three score and ten years, and is yet ambitious in her daily concerns. Mr. and Mrs. Wilder instilled in their children those principles which had been the guiding star of their own lives, and which have made them respected citizens of the localities where they have made their homes.
EORGE FREDERICK SCHOEBERLEIN. Among the substantial and enterprising young business men of Aurora stands prom- inently the one whose name heads this bio- graphical notice. He is a native of the city, born May 21, 1857. His father, John Adam Schoeber- lein, was born at Gundelshalm, kingdom of Bava- ria, March 11, 1813, whence he emigrated to America, settling in Aurora in 1854, where he was subsequently married to Barbara Pfeiffer, a native of Wasserzell, Bavaria. George F. was reared in the city, and obtained a good education in its schools, supplementing same at Jennings Semi- nary by a literary and commercial course of study. During the following four years he was foreman of the plating department of the Aurora Silver Plate Company, but, his health failing, he was obliged to resign this position, and soon after- ward he formed a partnership with his brother, John Adam, in their present mercantile business.
Mr. Schoeberlein was married at Nashville, Ill., to Miss Rosette C. Thomas, daughter of Rev. J. H. Thomas, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They have two children-Elma Sybilla and Cla- rence Thomas. Mr. and Mrs. Schoeberlein are both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
In politics he is a Republican, and takes an active part in the public affairs of the city. When but twenty-three years of age he was elected city alderman, of which office he is the present incum- bent from the Fifth Ward, it being his third term.
E T. PRINDLE is a descendant of one of the earliest pioneer families of Connecti- cut, in the neighborhood of Bridgeport. They were farming people. well-to-do, and noted for being physically vigorous, athletic and long lived. The were earnest churchmen, and belonged to the better class of society in their vicinity. E. T. Prindle was born in Litchfield County, Conn., November 26, 1826, a son of Philemon and Sybil M. (Root) Prindle. He learned the trade of a machinist at Skaneateles, N. Y., and in 1850 went to Detroit, Mich., where he found employment with Col. C. G. Hammond, and soon became general foreman of the works, which he afterward leased, and carried on upon his own account. He was subsequently one year with the Michigan Central Railroad Company. Col. Hammond having become general superin- tendent of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, young Prindle was induced to go further west. He was placed in charge of the machine shops at Galesburg, Ill., under the superintend- ency of Col. Hammond, continuing in that posi- tion four years.
In 1859 he was transferred to Aurora, where he continued with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, first as general foreman of the locomotive department, and afterward as division master mechanic. He resigned his position with this road in November, 1873, and accepted a posi- tion as superintendent of the machinery depart- ment in the large establishment of Crane Bros., Chicago, and one year and a half afterward resigned and devoted eighteen months to studying and practicing patent laws in Washington City. He returned to Aurora in 1876, since when he has been the vice-president and superintendent of the Prindle Manufacturing Company. He is a mem- ber of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. was one of the original members of the
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Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Protective Aid Asso- ciation, assisting very materially in its successful organization.
Mr. Prindle was married in Detroit, Mich., to Miss E. Louisa Clay, of that place, and they have a family of five sons: William E. (with his father), Fred J., Frank, George T. and Winslow W. (yet in school). Mr. Prindle has been a constant student and a great reader of works relating to machinery and mechanical engineering. Although avoiding public life he has on several occasions served in official positions, such as supervisor, member of school board, etc., and has for many years been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. As one of the leading citizens and business men of Aurora, he ranks among the best.
M ARCUS O. SOUTHWORTH, attorney, was born in La Salle County in 1841. He is a son of George A. and Cornelia (Bowen) Southworth, who came from New York in 1835, and at first settled near Au- rora on a tract of land which now comprises the Joseph Stolp and Sullivan farms, and other land on the Batavia road. They afterward removed to Chicago, where they resided about a year, and in 1837 came to La Salle County, took up a large tract of land, and lived there until 1870, when he sold out and came to Aurora, where Mr. South- worth died in 1871. The Southworth family are truly American, tracing their record in an unbroken line to colonial times, in Boston and vicinity. Mr. Southworth, Sr., was liberally educated, and was (as is his widow) a member of the Congregational Church nearly all his life. He helped to organize, and was one of the principal supporters of that church at Newark, Ill. Originally a Democrat, he was one of the first to assist in the formation of the Republican party, which he ever afterward supported. He took great interest in political matters, was broad gauge in every respect, with doors open to all, and he died, as he lived, with the record of a true and honorable man. He had two children, Marcus O., and Mary J., who is married and resides at Wabasha, Minn. The widow lives with her son.
Marcus O. Southworth, until about fourteen years of age, passed his time at his father's home in La Salle County, attending the public schools which were of the best that could be maintained, owing in a great measure to the efforts of his father, who took a great interest in such matters. He then went to a private academy at Batavia, and afterward to Beloit College, Wis., where he grad- uated from the classical course in 1863. He chose the profession of the law and to that end entered the office of De Wolf & Pinkney, at Dixon, Ill., where he remained about a year. Owing to his father's ill health he then went home and remained · about five years.
He then entered the University of Michigan, department of law, and graduated in 1871, was at once admitted to the Kane County bar, and opened an office at Aurora. Two years afterward he formed a partnership with S. W. Brown, one of the most prominent and well-known attorneys of the Kane County bar. This partnership continued until the death of Mr. Brown, which occurred in 1878, since which time Mr. Southworth has formed no other partnership, enjoying an excellent prac- tice and holding the esteem of a large circle of clients. Like his father, he is a stanch Repub- lican, and takes an active interest in political matters. He has occupied a number of responsible positions in public matters and at present is a member of the board of education, director of the Aurora National Bank, and trustee of the First Congregational Church society. Is careful, pains- taking and successful in what he undertakes.
S AMUEL WHITING GILBERT. The Gil- bert family, from whom the gentleman whose name heads this brief memoir is de- scended, is mentioned in the early annals of New England, and is of some antiquity on both the paternal and maternal sides. They were of En- glish origin, prominent and worthy people, num- bering among them many who reached eminence in the walks of commerce, and others who held high places in professional and other callings.
Mr. Gilbert was born at Belchertown, Mass., August 15, 1820, to Samuel Whiting and Polly
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(Hatch) Gilbert. He is one of a family of three sons and three daughters, and grew to manhood at Holliston and at Medway, Mass. The elder Gilbert was by trade a wheelwright. The son early in life learned the boot and shoe trade, and later turned his attention to mercantile pursuits at Milford, Mass. In 1869 he located at Aurora, Ill., and has been successfully identified with the busi- ness interests of the city to the present time. He was married at Milford, Mass., to Firilla S. Cook, by which union there are the following named children: William C. and Amos W., who conduct a grocery store at 59 South River Street; Anna S., the wife of Myron G. Stolp, Esq., of Aurora. The family are attendants of the People's Church.
AMES STOUGHTON HOLMES. This gen- tleman was born in Fairfax, Franklin Co., Vt., March 15, 1834, and is descended from Scotch-Irish ancestors, who were Covenanters, and who sought in the New World the freedom to worship God in their own way, which was denied them in their native land. The parents of Mr. Holmes were Harry P. and Hannah (Richardson) Holmes, both natives of Franklin County, Vt., where the former was a successful farmer, the occupation of his ancestors. James S. is the sec- ond child in a family of three sons and two daugh- ters. He worked on the farm in summer, attend- ing school in winter, until he was eighteen years old, and thus acquired a good common-school edu- cation. Having determined to become a merchant he entered the hardware store, at Burlington., Vt., of A. G. Strong, where he gained a thorough knowledge of that branch of trade.
In 1856 he came west, locating in Elgin, Ill., where he renewed the same line of business in the employ of E. A. Kimball, whom he bought out in 1861, forming a partnership with D. F. Barclay. The firm of Barclay & Holmes was in successful operation until 1863, when Mr. Holmes was per- suaded to sell his interest and join his brother, William E., an experienced practical druggist, in the purchase of a drug business in Aurora. After an experience of four years in which they pros- pered, the brothers sold out and embarked in the
hardware trade, taking as a partner their brother- in-law, R. W. Stone. Some years later they again sold out, and established their present drug busi- ness of Holmes Bros., one of the best and most widely known firms in this line in the county.
While in Elgin James S. Holmes was married to Rhoda Foster, daughter of Charles and Rhoda (Foster) Stone, who were from his native county, where she also was born. The result of this union was two sons, Arthur E. and Charles, the latter of whom died when four years old. Mr. Holmes is a stockholder in the First National Bank of Aurora, and also in the cotton mills at that place; and pro- bably no citizen of the place is more universally esteemed or has the confidence of its people in a greater degree than he. Mr. Holmes is an active member of the Masonic fraternity, in the Lodge, Chapter and Council. He is a worthy Sir Knight in Aurora Commandery, No. 22, K. T. He has never sought office, being rather averse to it, but has served with credit in the city council as alder- man, and as member of the Board of Health for several years. In politics he is a pronounced Re- publican. He and his wife attend the People's Church.
W ILLIAM H. BARRETT, the spring maker in the locomotive department of the Chi- cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, at Aurora, was born in London, England, August 13, 1831. His parents were William H. and Sarah (Liddiard) Barrett, natives of that city, the former of whom, a merchant tailor, came in 1833 to America with his family, settling at De- troit, Mich. Our subject grew to manhood there, and at the age of fourteen became an apprenticed blacksmith. He worked at the trade first with Thomas Hall, then in the Michigan Iron Foundry, in Detroit, serving nearly two years. Next he worked for the Michigan Central Railway Compa- ny, completing a thorough training in blacksmith- ing, and learning the art of spring making. He afterward was engaged in the shops of the Detroit & Milwaukee Railway Company, and in 1864 came to Aurora, where he has since remained in the em- ployment of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company.
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