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 48
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 48
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Mr. Barrett was married in Aurora, to Mrs. Amarett Rosier, nee Seeley, born in Erie County, Penn., her ancestors being from the State of New York. This union has been blessed with two daughters, who, together with a son and two daughters of Mrs. Barrett by her previous hus- band, comprise the family. Their names are Fan- ny Edith Rosier, now the wife of Frank H. Reese, of whom a biographical record appears elsewhere; George Rosier, locomotive engineer on the St. Louis division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quin- cy Railroad; May Rosier, and Emma and Sadie Barrett, the three latter living at home. Mr. Bar- rett is public spirited and progressive, and assists all worthy measures. He is an F. & A. M. of long standing, a worthy Sir Knight of Aurora Com- mandery, and the Scottish Rite. Mrs. Barrett enters into the full spirit of her husband's Masonic work, and is a member of the "Eastern Star." He was for many years a member of the I. O. O. F., but was compelled to drop out of that work through lack of time to give it due attention. Up- on the organization of the Locomotive Department Relief and Aid Society of the railroad shops here Mr. Barrett contributed liberally, and aided mate- rially in the consummation of this beneficial body, whose aim is relief and support to fellow workmen in their distress. Mr. and Mrs. Barrett worship at the Methodist Church, and are esteemed by all their acquaintances.
0 H. SMITH, one of the business men of Carpentersville, was born in Cabot, Vt., March 31, 1848, and is the son of Daniel and Fanny (Russell) Smith. The Smiths emigrated from Barrington, N. H., to Cabot. . The Russells were from Claremont, same State, and both were of English extraction. Mr. Smith's great-grandfather, Russell, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and his great-grand- father, Smith, served seven years in the same war, and to this day in the family possession in Ver- mont is the musket he carried.
Daniel Smith, a farmer by occupation, and a prominent and influential man, was several years sheriff of his county, and filled many other minor
offices. He died April 8, 1884, aged seventy-six years. His widow, Fanny Smith, survives, at the age of eighty, and is with her son, O. H. in Car- pentersville. Daniel and Fanny Smith were the parents of twelve children, all of whom grew to maturity, as follows: Alvina S., of Springfield, Mass .; Calista H., now Mrs. Newcomb, of Dart- ford, Wis .; Adelina F., who became Mrs. Tibbitts, of Gardiner, Me .; Abbie R., who became Mrs. Carle, of Sacramento, Cal., and died May 24, 1877; Lieut. Oliver W., of Bangor, N. Y., who served in the army during the Rebellion; Releif W., now Mrs. Mower, of Calais, Vt .; Harvey S., residing on the old family homestead, Cabot, Vt .; Lucy A., who married Mr. Davidson, and died at Cabot, May 25, 1886; Mary R., who died at the old homestead November 18, 1862; J. R., who enlisted in the army in the fall of 1861, and died in Bellevue Hospital, September 28, 1862; O. H., of whom this sketch is written, and Jennie L., now Mrs. Malings, of Carpentersville, Ill.
October 11, 1863, O. H. Smith being then fif- teen years old, received his parental blessing, and with a fortune of an extra shirt and a pair of socks, commenced trudging along the road that lay ahead. He found a stopping place that winter with the family of A. J. Mower, of Calais, Vt., where he worked for his board, and attended a winter's schooling. In the summer months he worked on the farm. In the fall of 1864 he went to Brandon, N. Y., where he remained working on a farm until the winter of 1865, when he de- termined to try his fortune in the West, and came to Palatine, Cook County, where he commenced to learn the carpenter's trade, at which he worked for several years, alternating at times by attending or teaching school in the winter months.
June 28, 1871, Mr. Smith married Anna M. Bellows, born June 4, 1851, daughter of Warren and Adelia (Wilson) Bellows, of Palatine, Ill., and to them were born the following named chil- dren: Ina A., born August 22, 1873, and died at Carpentersville, September 10, 1880; O. Harvey, born April 12, 1878; Don Carpenter, born Novem- ber 27, 1879; Hosea Warren, born September 13, 1882; Leon Percy, born June 20, 1884, died Oc- tober 13, 1887, and Zoe L., born March 24, 1887,
OH. 2Smith
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all except the first named being born at Carpen- tersville.
Mr. Smith, while residing in Palatine, suc- ceeded in business fairly well. and in the fall of 1871 he purchased a farm, becoming a prosperous agriculturist. In 1873 he sold his farm, removed to Carpentersville, and engaged in the building and carpentering business very successfully until 1878, when he formed a partnership with Hon. J. A. Carpenter, establishing a lumber and coal yard, and a grain warehouse. This was also a successful enterprise, and continued until Mr. Car- penter's death, Mrs. Carpenter retaining her hus- band's interest in the firm until the spring of 1886, when she sold to Mr. Smith, who has since car- ried on the business. In connection with his lumber, coal and feed trade he has a large mill used in grinding feed. His sales for the past year amounted to over $50,000.
R EV. NORMAN ALLING PRENTISS, superintendent of the East Aurora Public Schools, was born at Prattsburgh, Steuben Co., N. Y., January 12, 1829 to Harvey Pratt and Livonia (Loomis) Prentiss. His father was a farmer, to which occupation Mr. Prentiss was reared. His parents, with their family, removed west in 1846, locating within the limits of what is now Quincy, Ill. Previous to coming west the young man had obtained a fine school education, had taught one term in New York, and after his arrival in Illinois continued to teach in the winter, assisting on the farm in the summer; in the meantime studiously applying himself, pre- paratory to entering college. When twenty-one years of age he became a student at Amherst Col- lege, Mass., and at intervals in his college course taught school. With funds thus earned he paid his way, graduating from that institution after four years' attendance, with the degree of A. B., and subsequently taking the degree of A. M. at Illinois College, Jacksonville. On leaving Amherst he returned to Illinois and accepted charge of the Union Seminary, Danville, as its principal, for three years, followed by four years as principal of the Carrollton Academy, in Greene County, Ill.,
and three years in charge of the High School at Warsaw, Ill. During much of this time he had been prosecuting theological studies, under the direction of the Illinois Presbytery. He was ordained to the ministry in 1860.
While teaching at Danville, Mr. Prentiss mar- ried at South Coventry, Conn., Miss Emelie Moore Hovey, daughter of Enoch Hovey, of that place. On retiring from charge of the Warsaw schools he removed to Philadelphia, and for a short time was engaged as bookkeeper and cashier in the mer- cantile house of a brother-in-law; then was appointed to and accepted the pastorate of the Second Presbyterian Church, at Mantua, remain- ing two years. In 1869 he again came west, and accepted a call to occupy the pulpit of the Congre- gational Church at La Salle, Illinois, remaining four years. In June, '1873, he became pastor of the First Congregational Church of Aurora, and was its minister until 1884, when he resigned to occupy his present position. A conscientious gentleman and thorough scholar, Mr. Prentiss ranks among the best of the educators of the State of Illinois. He and his wife have had born to them the following named children: Dwight Hovey (deceased); Lily, wife of E. B. Case, of Chicago; and Abbie Louise (deceased).
The Prentiss family were early settlers at Wal- pole, N. H., while the Loomis kindred were from Coventry, Conn., descended from one Joseph Loomis, a native of England who settled in Con- necticut early in its colonial days, many of his descendants occupying prominent positions in society and in the professions. The grandfather of Mr. Prentiss, Stephen Prentiss, was a prominent attorney, also judge in his county, and served his country with distinction in the War of 1812.
HARLES PIERCE BURTON, the eldest son and child of Pierce Burton, was born in Anderson, Ind., March 7, 1862. He came with his father. when eleven years old, to Aurora, where he has since made his home. His early education was received in Adams, Mass., and he graduated from the East Aurora High School in 1880. He served long enough at
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the printers' case in his father's newspaper office to learn the rudiments of the typographical art.
In 1881 he became city editor of the Aurora Weekly Herald, and the next year added to his labors by assuming the same position on the Aurora Daily Express, and is now filling these positions. He is a master of his arduous duties and wields a pointed pen. He holds very proper- ly high rank among the young and rising journal- ists of the State, and is personally popular in his business and social life. May 25, 1887, he was married to one of Aurora's fair daughters, Miss Cora L. Vreeland. Their wedding tour was to the East. In 1886 Mr. Burton spent some time in Bos- ton, and acted as a general reporter for the Boston Journal. His pen is seldom idle, and he has fur- nished at intervals articles for the New York Sun, the Boston Globe and other papers.
L EWIS S. EATON. The family name of Eaton is well known in localities in nearly every State of the Union. The original immigrants of that name were a hardy and prolific race of people, who gave their adopted country strong and healthy boys and active patri- ots. Many of their descendants were bold and pushing pioneers to many parts of the new Terri- tories, as they have been added to the domains of the Union, and the majority of them has been noted chiefly for enterprise and industry.
Lewis S. Eaton was born in Plainfield Town- ship, Otsego Co., N. Y., May 22, 1817, the son of farmer Erastus Eaton, a native of Connecticut, and by trade a machinist. Even in the old State of Connecticut the Eatons were among the early pioneers. The son was reared on his father's New York farm, and when still very young was given his first lessons in such labor as his tender age en- abled him to perform. He attended the district schools, but only for a short time, spending some years as an apprentice to the trade of a carpenter. At that time a boy owed the labor of his hands to his parents until he had reached the age of ma- turity, when he was allowed to consider himself free to follow the bent of his own will. The boys were, very differently from now, required generally
to discharge this debt to the last hour of reaching twenty-one years of age.
When of age (1838) Lewis S. quitted home and friends, and came to Illinois. After one year spent in the State working at his trade of carpen- ter he located in Elgin, here to make his perma- nent home. He entered actively into the work of car- pentering and building, and soon became a promi- nent and trusted contractor. From the first he was successful, and prospered well. After some time he retired from building, and engaged in the grain and commission trade, operating mostly in the Chicago markets. In 1863 he established a pork packing establishment in Elgin, which he managed successfully some years. In 1873 he opened a lumber yard, and gave his attention to establishing a good trade, in which line of business he is still employed as a member of the firm of Eaton & Bosworth.
Mr. Eaton was married in St. Charles Town- ship. Kane County, to Miss Jane N. Fay, a native of Barre, Mass., and to them have been born four sons and two daughters: A. W., now a book- keeper in Chicago; Frank E., a railroad con- ductor in San Francisco; Charles L., a hardware merchant in Leadville, Colo .; Rose, at the pleasant home of her parents; Marion, wife of C. H. Wood- ruff, of Elgin, and W. R., who died and is buried in the Elgin Cemetery (he was a youth of bright future promise, very popular with all his associ- ates.) Mr. Eaton has invested in real estate in Elgin and vicinity, and has grown and prospered with the beautiful city. He has gratified all rea- sonable ambition in the accumulation of wealth and the esteem and confidence of a wide acquaintance. He has served several terms as a member of the Elgin Board of Education, and was six years deputy sheriff of the county. He bears his years lightly, and is still one of the hale and active busi- ness men of the place.
S AM OPPENHEIMER was born at Fort Wayne, Ind., December 26, 1851, and is a son of Abraham Oppenheimer, a native of Germany, who came to this country when a lad, and who, after following mercantile business in different localities, located in Fort Wayne,
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where he is at present a prominent merchant. The son acquired a knowledge of his business in New York City, after serving in his father's store, and in Hampton Roads, Va. In 1870 he left New York City to accept employment as a travel- ing salesman for a Chicago house, and for five years afterward was an active "Knight of the Gripsack."
Traveling through this western country, he se- lected Elgin as a suitable location, and in 1876 located here as manager of the " Cheap Charley Clothing House," of Elgin, his connection with which he severed in 1887 to embark in an independ- ent business for himself. Mr. Oppenheimer has drawn around him a host of friends and customers, and "Little Sam's Place" is a popular resort in Elgin for his class of trade.
He married in Logansport, Ind., Nellie Phillips, who has blessed their union with two sons: Harry and Jay. Mr. Oppenheimer is a member of the Modern Woodman, and K. of P. societies, and of the order of the B'nai B'rith. He is public-spirited and progressive, and takes pride in placing him- self on the list of the most liberal contributors to the development of Elgin.
P ATRICK MANN, an old settler and well- known citizen of Elgin, was born in County Westmeath, Ireland, December 22,1814.
His parents, John and Cecelia (Feery) Mann, were both natives of Ireland, the former of whom, a cotton and linen weaver by trade, died in his native country in 1850, at the age of seventy-seven. In the same year the remainder of the family immigrated to America, and lo- cated at Elgin, where the mother died in 1866, aged seventy-nine years.
After settling in Elgin, Patrick Mann purchased some property, and began working in a foundry in the city, and after remaining at this industry seven years engaged in mercantile trade, in which he continued until 1877, when he retired from active business. Mr. Mann has been twice mar- ried, first in 1855 to Ellen O'Donovan, who was born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1828. Her father,
Jerry O'Donovan, while on his way to America died and was buried at sea. To Mr. and Mrs. Mann have been born five children, of whom four are now living, as follows: John P., born in May, 1857; Jeremiah J., born in January 27, 1859; Ceci- lia E., born September 9, 1861; Edward F., born September 14, 1865. August 15, 1869, the mother passed from earth, a devoted adherent of the Roman Catholic faith. Mr. Mann now resides on his place of seventeen acres within the city limits. His property, of which he has an abun- dance, has been made by strict application of business principles and personal economy, and his success is a striking example of how a youth of pluck and energy may start from the lowest round in the ladder of prosperity, and from the merest standpoint of a beginning prove successful in all his undertakings. In politics Mr. Mann is a Democrat.
A H. LOWRIE is a native of Berwickshire, Scotland, born October 29, 1836, son of David and Margaret (Selby) Lowrie, natives of that place. David Lowrie died June 12, 1843, and Mrs. Margaret Lowrie departed this life April 25, 1861. After a residence of four years in England, the parents immigrated to Amer- ica in 1841, bringing with them their. family of ten children, seven boys and three girls. When they came to this country, A. H. Lowrie was about six years old. In the home of his parents in Cleveland, and then in the home of his mother, after his father's death, the lad and youth grew to manhood, and was given a careful and intelli- gent mother's training. He successfully passed through the schools of that city, which for years have been noted as the best in the country. He graduated from the Cleveland High School in 1854. He then studied in Adrian College and the Michi- gan State University, from which former institu- tion he graduated in 1858. For a short time he filled the position of tutor in the college, but re- turned to Cleveland and became superintendent of schools, filling the same position in Bellefontaine and Marion. In these different positions, or rather the same position in different places, he was occupied
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seven years. He was then offered and accepted the chair of mathematics in Adrian College, which he filled one year. He was then made professor of political science and English literature in this college, and continued in this position the next fif- teen years. Interested in higher education in the South, he received the honorary degree of Ph. D. from the Florida University, in 1884.
Having resigned his professor's chair he came to Elgin in 1882, and purchased the Elgin Advo- cate printing establishment, and continued the publication of the daily and weekly paper. In September, 1883, he purchased the Elgin Daily News, consolidated the two offices, and in company with his present partner, Willis L. Black, contin- nes the publication of the weekly Advocate and Daily News. [See chapter on press. ]
September 11, 1858, A. H. Lowrie and Mattie B. Pease were joined in marriage. Mrs. Lowrie's parents, on the maternal side, were of the noted Waldos, who were voyagers to the New World in the ship "Mayflower." Mr. and Mrs. Lowrie have three children: Harry R. (born July 25, 1865), Will L. (born March 8, 1869), and Alfred Rich- ard, born February 28, 1876.
N ELSON BURR, one of the oldest experi- enced and most successful manufacturers in the town of Batavia, is a native of Wyo- ming County, N. Y., born April 13, 1833. He is a son of Curtis A. and Bethsheba (Gaines) Burr, natives of Connecticut, the former of whom, a farmer by occupation, died in New York State in 1852, aged sixty-three years; the latter died in Batavia, in 1872, aged seventy-two years ( her father was the founder of Gainesville, N. Y.).
Nelson Burr was reared on the farm until seventeen years of age, receiving the ordinary school training of a farmer's son; but his natural gift being largely mechanical, and his perceptive and constructive faculties being fairly prominent, he turned his attention to mechanics, and at the age mentioned began manufacturing a patent fence at Tonawanda, N. Y., afterward, in connection with same, operating a sash and door factory in the same place. Ever since his seventeenth year
he has occupied his time exclusively in manufact- uring. In looking over the past, Mr. Burr says, he realizes vividly the neglect of what might have been important events in his life; but the bump of self-esteem being left out of his makeup, he doubted if any good would come out of him: so he let many of his own valuable mechanical constructions and devices pass unemployed, which he saw in after years importantly applied by others. The non- friction bearings of the great sheave, successfully employed on the east end of the Brooklyn bridge the past two years (all devices before it being failures), Mr. Burr put in model identical in 1853. In 1854 he put in model a system of automatic registering of weights in one place drawn by any combination of public or corporation scales similar to that now in use at the stock yards and vicinity, in Chicago. In this was suggested the gravity scale which is now being introduced, called the "Ideal " or "New Departure." In 1858 Mr. Burr took up the investigation of the then abandoned metallic grinding surface for grinding grain, and in 1859 took out the first patent for same. In 1860 lie took out second patent, and in 1869 the last one, under which the machine is at present being manu- · factured by the Challenge Wind Mill & Feed Mill Company, and the proof of Mr. Burr's suc- cess in the matter is the now world-wide use of the machine. Previous to 1858 immense sums of money had been expended in experimenting on inetallie grinding surfaces, all of which, proving failures, went to record as impracticable. In the early introduction of the gradual reduction system of making flour, he constructed metallic surfaces for the purpose, which were used largely by many leading manufacturers. And many more of Mr. Burr's mechanical inventions or improvements, of more or less importance, and in use, might be mentioned, such as cotton seed hulling machine, rice hulling machine, etc., etc.
In 1857 he came to Batavia, where he erected a mill and entered upon, the manufacture of wooden pumps, becoming the first pump manu- facturer in Illinois. In 1866 he established the Challenge Mill Company, in Batavia, which was subsequently reorganized, and since carried on under name of the Challenge Wind Mill & Feed
dr Bum
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Mill Company. In 1872 the company suffered loss by the departure of its president with its funds, and four months later it suffered a total loss of $53,000 by fire; yet in thirty days the factory was rebuilt and manufacturing recommenced. Its products are known and used in nearly all portions of the globe.
In 1853 Mr. Burr became united in wedlock with Frances Fesler, born in Williamsville, N. Y., in March, 1833, by whom he has three children: Frances E., born October 30, 1857, now Mrs. T. P. Hall, of Rochester, Minn .; Nellie W., born May 5, 1860, and Fannie M., born August 19, 1863, in which year the mother died. The children have had excellent educational advantages, all becoming accomplished ladies, Mrs. Hall holding an honorary membership in the State Board of Education of Minnesota. March 13, 1865, Mr. Burr married Mrs. Christine Hapner, a native of Portage County, Ohio, born April 21, 1843, daughter of Anthony and Mary Haines. Mr. and Mrs. Burr are mem- bers of the Christian Church, of which he is trus- tee. In politics he is a Republican. Besides his interest in the Challenge Mill Company, Mr. Burr holds real estate in Batavia and Aurora, Ill., and in Indiana and Michigan.
S AMUEL WILKINS DURANT was born October 8, 1827, in Springfield, Wind- sor Co., Vt. His father, Samuel W. Du- rant, and his mother, Desdemona Field, were both natives of the same town. His father was a miller by trade, and operated mills in Spring- field, Woodstock, Bellows Falls and Hartford, Vt. While living at White River village in Hartford he died quite suddenly, October 15, 1833, when the subject of this memoir was six years old, leaving a wife and four children-two sons and two daugh- ters-of whom Samuel was the eldest. In the spring of 1834 the widow, with her children, removed to Springfield, where she purchased a home, and resided until September, 1845. At the age of ten years, Samuel began to work out and carn his living. July 3, 1838, he went to live with Daniel Lockwood, a cousin of his mother, who re- sided in the beautiful village of Woodstock, the
seat of justice for Windsor County, Vt., where he remained until October 31, 1839, when, in conse- quence of harsh treatment, he ran away and trudged home, a distance of twenty-four miles, on foot, arriving in the dusk of evening at his mother's residence. He remained at home, attending the district school three months in the winter season, until the spring of 1841, when, on March 21, he went in a big double sleigh over the Green Moun- tains to the picturesque little town of Waitsfield, on Mad River, where he lived for two seasons with Hon. Orson Skinner, one of the associate justices of the supreme court of the State. Judge Skinner had also been a colonel in the State Militia, and led his regiment in September, 1814, to Plattsburg to assist in repelling the British invasion under Gen. Sir George Prevost. He remained with Judge Skinner until about the middle of September, 1842, when he returned to his mother's home in Spring- field. During his sojourn with Judge Skinner he attended the district school in winter, and learned much that was valuable in after life from the wise teachings of the Judge, who was a very intelligent gentleman. £ August 5, 1844, occurred the death of his eldest sister, Desdemona, who expired after a lingering sickness of pulmonary disease, in the six- teenth year of her age, her death casting a gloom over the whole family. September 26, 1845, Mrs. Durant and her three remaining children, having sold her property in Springfield, started on the long journey to the West, coming by teams to Troy, N. Y., thence via the Erie Canal to Buffalo, and thence by the steamer " New Orleans" around the lakes to Chicago, which port was reached on the night of October 14, 1845, a few days after Samuel was eightcen years of age. Chicago. was then a small wooden city of 12,000 inhabitants, and he has lived to see it expand into a great metropolis of 800,000 people. From Chicago the family went by teams with their household goods to Elk Grove, in Cook County, where Mrs. Durant had a brother living, (Olive: Field) wbo had migrated from Waitsfield, Vt., in 1843. After visiting a few days, the fam- ily, on the 21st of October, came over to St. Charles across the prairie, then sparsely settled, to see friends who had emigrated from Springfield Vt., the spring before. Liking the town much better
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