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 58
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 58
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In the pursuit of his early education James E. was
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for a time a student at the Elgin Academy, and then taught one term of school in Kane County, and one in Iowa. In 1871 he went to Rockford, and spent one year as a printer in the office of the Golden Censer. While there he decided to become a physician, and, wishing to lay the foundation of a good preliminary education, attended the Marengo High School one year, and then entered the Uni- versity of Illinois, at Urbana, in 1873. In the department of literature and science he labored diligently for four years, paying especial attention to chemistry and other branches that he should use in his profession. He met the expenses of his education by working spare hours in the university printing office, where he was for a time foreman, and by what he could earn elsewhere during vaca- tion. He graduated in 1877 with the double honor of being class president and valedictorian. Entering at once upon his medical studies proper, he took a three years' course in the Chicago Medi- cal College, graduated in 1880, and located in Dundee the same year.
The following year Dr. Bumstead formed a matrimonial alliance with Justina A., the daughter of Rev. J. G. Pingree. The latter was born in Norway, Me., in 1813. When a young man he went as a missionary to Africa, but, being unable to endure the climate, returned to America. In 1838 he entered the Maine annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church; in 1844 was married, in Farmington, to Lucy H. Huse; came west with his family in 1860; joined the Wisconsin Conference, and preached three years, when, his health failing, he went into business at Evanston, Ill. Here he remained twenty years, and in 1883 removed with his wife to Dundee, where she died a year later, since which time he has lived with his daughter. His family consisted of but two chil- dren-Melvin A, and Justina. The former gradu- ated from the Northwestern University, at Evans- ton, and, being a good stenographer, obtained a position at Washington under Mr. Harlan, Secre- tary of the Interior. On making a trip to the Indian Territory, as secretary of a commission, he fell a victim to cholera, in Memphis, Tenn., at the age of twenty-one. He was a young man of rare endowment of mind and heart, and was working
to acquire means to pursue a theological course with the view of entering the ministry.
Justina was born in Southport, Me., in 1847, and when a young woman graduated from the Wesleyan College, Cincinnati, and spent some time in teaching in this State and Iowa. In 1882 she graduated in the first class of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle. She is a stenog- rapher, is active in various reform movements, and has held important positions in the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and Woman's Foreign Missionary Society.
Dr. and Mrs. Bumstead are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They have four children: Frank M., Arthur P. and Alice A. (twins) and Ernest E. Dr. Bumstead is a member of the American Medical Association, to which body he was a delegate at the meeting of 1887, held in Chicago; and also of the Fox River Valley Medical Society. He is one of the most successful physi- cians in the place, and, withal, a gentleman and scholar, ever interested in his county and State.
W ILLIAM M. TITUS is a retired farmer, who is spending the evening of his days in his quiet and comfortable home in the city of Aurora, Ill. He is descended from a long line of pioneer ancestors, who came to America when civilization was a mere fringe of population, scattered along the eastern shores of the continent.
His grandfather, Joel Titus, served seven years in the British army (Colonial troops), and was in the army when Quebec was taken by the English in the old French and Indian War. At the close of the war he settled in the State of Connecticut, where the father of William M. Titus was born in October, 1777. This grandfather died in Ohio, at the advanced age of one hundred and six years. His grandfather, Jonathan Brigham, was a native of Massachusetts, where the mother of William M., Susanna, was born in 1783; she died in Ontario, N. Y., in 1832. This grandfather (who died at the age of ninety-six at Mayville, N. Y.), moved to Oneida County, N. Y., where our subject's par- ents were married, and his father, Henry Titus,
PHOTO BY D. C. PRATT.
Lucinda WV Pilão
PHOTO BY D. C. PRATT.
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with his brother Billy, built an iron factory in Forge Hollow. Henry removed from there to Sandy Creek, Jefferson Co., N. Y., where he established another forge, and built a dwelling house, all of which he lost by fire. He next re- moved to Ontario, Wayne Co., N. Y., and es- tablished himself in that then forest-covered country. It was there the subject of this sketch was born September 22, 1819. He had three broth- ers and two sisters, all older than himself, and he is now the last one left of his father's family. In early life he learned the trade of a collier, or burner of charcoal, afterward that of sand molder. He lived at his father's old home, working at his trade and on his father's small farm, which he had helped to redeem from the wilderness, until he came to the West, nearly empty in pocket, but with a firm resolution to win.
His brother, Franklin, came to Aurora, Ill., in June, and engaged in teaching school, an occupa- tion he followed during the following year. Being pleased with the country, he wrote for William M., who joined him September 22, 1842, and immedi- ately purchased a claim of about 300 acres in the township of Blackberry (giving three months' work for it), also twelve acres of timber, one- half paid in work. At the land sale in January, 1843, the two brothers jointly made out to deed one quarter sec- tion of their land, and William M., not having his share of the money required, had to make up in work on the land. The next two years were try- ing ones for him-without money, with no team, wages low, nothing, indeed, but his hands to aid him, working much of the time during more hours than there were of daylight. At the end of the second year, however, he was out of debt, his land all paid for, and a good field plowed and fenced, ready for crops. The next year his brother, Haven W., joined them, bringing their aged father and a sister; more land was bought, and all settled down to farming. Soon after his arrival Haven's health failed and he was confined to the house for nearly a year, but the brothers managed to get along, and for the next ten years all lived and worked together and prospered.
August 20, 1849, William M. Titus and Miss Lucinda Wesson were married in Shabbona, Ill.
She was the daughter of James W. Wesson, a pio- neer of Illinois, residing in De Kalb County. Her place of nativity was the town of Gerry, Chautau- qua Co., N. Y. The issue of this union was four children, in the following order: Ida M., wife of James D. Sheahan, of Minneapolis (they have three children); Agnes A., now Mrs. C. P. Dutton, of Aurora (they have three sons); Sarah Irene, now Mrs. J. M. Conway, of Milwaukee (has one girl), and William H. W., the only son, who died Janu- ary 15, 1874, aged eighteen years and three months, and is buried in Spring Lake Cemetery; he was esteemed as one of the brightest and most promis- ing among the young men of Aurora, and his premature demise was a deep and lasting affliction to his family as well as a large circle of friends and acquaintances.
In the fall of 1866 Mr. Titus, in order to better educate his children, moved to the city of Aurora, where he has since resided. He has engaged in several branches of business; for several years in the grocery trade, with the usual success; then for some years in the wood, fuel and real estate busi- ness. Quitting this, he, in company with his son- in-law, J. D. Sheahan, purchased a flouring mill in Portland, Cerro Gordo Co., Iowa, which they operated between two and three years. Here Mr. Titus met, by flood, his first severe commercial loss. Closing out his business there, he returned and car- ried on his farm, lying just out of the city, until he retired, as before stated.
The above is a short record of the facts in the life of one of Kane County's citizens; a man who sought no special notoriety, and who never made any pretensions to public distinction. As a farm- er, energetic and progressive, he claims to have raised more bushels of wheat than any other one man in Kane County. Before the Rebellion he was known to be anti-slavery in principle, and polit- ically attached himself to the Republicans during the war-a stanch patriot. Rheumatism, that ter- ror of the pioneer, prevented him from going to the field, yet he spent time and money to assist others to go, and to send them aid and comfort. From his early youth he has always been a great reader, and is, where known, considered a well- read man. Mr. Titus has the warm respect of his
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friends, and in the afternoon of life is enjoying those marks of esteem and confidence that are the rewards of honest labor. He has endeavored to be an honest man in all his dealings, and has secured a competence for old age.
H PRUESS, of the firm of Pruess & Rover, merchants, Dundee, was born in the land of the Germans in 1843. His parents came to America and made a home in Dundee in 1863. In 1873 the mother passed from earthı, and two years later the father followed to the grave. Both were members of the Lutheran Church. Nine children were born to them, only three of whom are now living, and they are in Kane County.
In 1872 H. Pruess began business for himself, and in 1884 formed a partnership with H. H. Rover, in the line in which they are now engaged. In 1866 he married Christina Hoeft, who was born in Germany, and in her native land attended school with Mr. Pruess. Her parents came to America, and in 1865 her father died, her mother surviv- ing until 1885. Her wedded life has resulted in nine children: Minnie, John, Gusta, Anna (de- ceased), Bertha (deceased), Anna, Frank. Alma and Albert. Mr. and Mrs. Pruess are members of the Lutheran Church, and he is a member of the G. A. R.
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H H. ROVER, senior member of the firm of Pruess, & Rover, merchants, Dundee, was born in Dundee on the 22d of June, 1860. His father, Charles Rover, was a native of Germany, where he had learned the trade of a cab- inet maker. Minnie (Fischer), the mother, was also born in Germany, where she met Charles Rover and became his wife. Eleven children were born to them, but death has spared but four, all of whom are residents of Kane County. In 1879 the last summons came to the husband and father. He was a prominent and well known citizen of Dundee. The mother is still living, calmly await- ing the final call to her reward.
H. H. Rover had reasonably good educational advantages, and when about twenty-two years of age became a partner with J. W. Grant in the grocery and general merchandise trade. Some eight months later Mr. Grant withdrew, selling liis interest to H. Pruess, and since then Messrs. Pruess and Rover have continued together.
In December, 1884, Mr. Rover was married to Carrie Sagebrecht, daughter of Frederick Sage- brecht, a native of Germany, who came to America in 1865; the mother dying at Arlington Heights, Ill., in 1873, the father married again, and now resides at Dundee. Mr. Rover is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. His family con- sists of two children: William and Henry. He is a prosperous and rising young business man.
W J. MUELLER is the junior member of the well known wagon and blacksmithing firm of Mueller Bros., of Dundee. He was born in the city of Chicago, Septem- ber 9, 1857. His parents, John A. and Louisa Mueller, are at present residents of Chicago, where they came in September, 1853, from Germany. At sixteen years of age W. J. Mueller began learning the trade of carriage making, at which he applied himself several years in Chicago. In 1877 he came to Dundee, and worked in the establishment of his brother, and two years later he purchased an interest in the shops, having since continued as a member of the firm.
In 1879 he was married to Bertha Thoms, daughter of John and Hannah Thoms, who have re- sided in Dundee about fifteen years. Bertha Thoms was born in Germany, and was but a small girl when she came with her parents to America. In the spring of 1887 Mrs. Mueller passed from earth, and soon after her infant child followed. She was a loving wife and mother, and will long be missed by her bereaved husband and a large circle of friends. She left two children who still sur- vive-Albert and Louis. In the fall of 1887 Mr. Mueller married a well-known lady, Miss Alwine Rackow, of Elgin, daughter of Fred and Minne Rackow. Mrs. Mueller was born in Germany, January 11, 1858, came with her parents to Amer-
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ica in 1867, made their first home at Wheaton, Ill., for five years, then removed to Elgin where they have resided for the last, fifteen years. Mr. Mueller is a.man of strict business principles, and the concern is a large and growing one, where good work and dispatch in its execution can always be had.
W ILLIAM GROTE, of the real estate firm of Grote & Waldron, president of the South Elgin Stone Company, secretary of the Elgin Lumber Company, and secre- tary of the Elgin Brick & Tile Company, was born in the village of Winzlar, Hanover, Germany, No- vember 22, 1849, to William and Sophia Eber- hardt Grote, of that hardy class of German peasantry whose possessions consist of a small farm, and a few head of stock.
On his father's farm the boyhood days of Will- iam were spent, and there he was taught the princi- ples of thrift and energy which have so character- ized him during his later years, and which have proven the ladder by which he has risen to his present position.' He received such educational ad- vantages as were common to the boys of his time, and when sixteen years of age he set sail for Amer- ica. Landing at New York, he proceeded toward the land of the setting sun, and purchased a farm near Bartlett, Du Page Co., Ill., where he spent the next five years of his life. The year following his settlement in Illinois his parents came and made their home with him. In 1879 his mother died, at the age of sixty-seven years. His father is still living at his son's pleasant home in Elgin, at the ripe age of seventy-six years.
In 1871 Mr. Grote removed to the city of Elgin, and at once engaged in mercantile business, in which he continued until 1882, when he embarked in his present real estate business. He has taken an active interest in the general upbuilding and advancement of the city, having, as a member of the firms of Grote & Waldron and Grote & Church, aided in laying out fifteen additions to the city. He has also been instrumental in the erection of several fine business houses, among which are the Grote-Waldron and McClure blocks, and the Jen-
nings Hotel block, erected by himself and Mr. A. B. Church.
In political matters Mr. Grote takes a promi- nent part, and gives his support to the Republi- can party. He has served the people as super- visor of Elgin Township two years, also assistant supervisor four years, and is at present a member of the board of education, a position he has held for five years.
In 1872, at Elgin, Ill., Mr. Grote was united in marriage with Miss Kate Deuchler, born in Chi- cago, Cook Co., Ill., November 10, 1848, a daugh- ter of Jacob and Kate (Deuchler) Deuchler, who came to America from Germany in 1839, and set- tled in Dundee Township, Kane County, where they pursued the vocation of agriculturists. To Mr. and Mrs. Grote have been born four children -one son and three daughters, of whom two are now living: Augusta and Anna. The family are members of the German Evangelical Association of Elgin, of the board of trustees of which Mr. Grote is chairman, also superintendent of the Sabbath-school.
T HEODORE SCHROEDER, a veteran in the late war, now chief of the fire department of Elgin, is known widely as a prosperous and successful business man, having long carried on in the city a harness shop. This gentle- man has given his adopted country convincing evidences that he is in sympathy and in fact an American, ready to offer up his all in behalf of the integrity of the Union to which he has sworn allegiance.
He was born in Demmin, Northern Prussia, July 2, 1843, and is a son of Carl and Sophia (Pep- per) Schroeder. His parents' family immigrated to America when he was aged ten years, and located in Elgin, where the boy was reared. The father was by trade a harness-maker, and it was in his father's shop the son learned the art. When the Civil War came the youth heard his country's call, enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Twenty- seventh Illinois Volunteers, and faithfully served his full three-years' term. His history and that of his regiment in battles, sieges and marches are
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*
one and the same. He and his brother Charles enlisted together, and together they were in the army side by side. At Vicksburg Charles fell mortally wounded. Returning from the war, Mr. Schroeder worked at his trade some time in Elgin. In 1874 he established business on his own account, which he has successfully conducted since.
He was united in marriage with Charlotte Fish, and they have four sons and one daughter: Charles, Albert, Ernest, Lottie and Edmund. Mr. Schroe- der has been an active and efficient member of the Elgin Fire Department for the past twenty years, and has filled his present position of chief the past six years. He was four years on the police force. He is a member of the A. O. U. W. His father yet lives, and is for his age remarkably hale and vigorous. His mother departed this life in 1872. Of their three sons and two daughters there are now surviving Adolphine, married to Emil Bæll- hoff, who is in business in Kenosha; Charlotte, now Mrs. Gus. Volstorff, and Theodore. Fred- erick died September 1, 1887.
H ENRY G. SAWYER, secretary and treas- urer of the Star Manufacturing Company, of Carpentersville, manufacturers of plows, cultivators, horse powers, feed cutters, etc., etc., is a native of Illinois, born in Elgin in 1844. His parents, George and Abigail (Blake) Sawyer, came to the West in 1838, and located at Elgin, from which place they removed, when Henry G. was a child, to their farm in Dundee Township. The subject of this memoir received an academical education at Elgin, and when twenty two years of age engaged in mercantile business with his brother, at Carpentersville, continuing the same until 1873, when he entered his present vocation. In political faith he is a supporter of the Re- publican party, and has held various offices, such as postmaster, member of the town and school boards, etc.
Mr. Sawyer has been thrice married. His first wife was Ella A. Brown, a native of New Hamp- shire, to whom he was married in November, 1867; she died in November, 1868. His second wife, whom he married in March, 1871, was Miss Mary
E. Kingsley, daughter of S. W. Kingsley; she died March 25, 1879. Of the five children born to them, four are now living: Lora A., Bertha E., Clara W. and George K. In December, 1880, Mr. Sawyer married Miss Lillian M. Bukitt, and two children have blessed their union-Clarence E. and Ethel M.
Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer worship at the Congre- gational Church, in which he is a trustee. Mrs. Sawyer is prominent in woman's work, and is a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. The family are widely known and uni- versally esteemed for their many excellencies of head and heart.
B LANFORD A. PIERCE. This gentleman is assistant State veterinarian, and is wide- ly known as one of the most thorough and best posted in his profession in the West. He was born in Creston, Ogle Co., Ill., and is a son of Blanford R. and Sarah J. (Potter) Pierce, formerly residents of Utica, N. Y., where they were married; subsequently they were pioneers of Ogle County, Ill., where they still reside, and where the father has for many years been engaged in breeding fine stock. His business naturally re- quired him to learn much in regard to the diseases of stock, and thus in the care of his own animals he became a practical veterinarian. His son, Blanford A., when a boy, became greatly interested in the diseases of animals, which subsequently in- duced him to adopt the study and practice of the veterinarian's art as his profession. In this he was opposed by his family and friends, but he was per- sistent and resolved, which resulted in his becom- ing a student at the Veterinary College, Toronto, Canada, from which, after a thorough course of study, he was graduated in 1877. He soon after- ward began practice at Rochelle, Ill., and in De- cember, 1880, located at Aurora.
The Doctor has attained an enviable reputation as a leader in his profession, and since coming to Aurora has established a veterinary hospital, in which he is aided by an able corps of assist- ants. He has recently completed the erection of a two-story and basement brick building for hos-
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pital purposes, fronting on Broadway, and ex- tending back to Water Street, with a thirty-three feet frontage on both streets. In connection he has a brick horseshoeing shop fronting on Water Street. The building on Broadway will accommo- date thirty-five horses, and between the two build- ings are the Doctor's operating room and the box stalls.
Dr. Pierce is a member of the Illinois State and the United States National Veterinary Associa- tion, and a contributor of articles on his profession to various literary journals throughout the country. He was married to Henrietta Sparling, of Toronto, Canada, a lady of many estimable qualities, who died in February, 1883, leaving two children, Fred and Charles; she lies at rest in Spring Lake Cemetery, Aurora. The Doctor is energetic in all that he undertakes. Socially, he is a thor- ough gentleman, and as a citizen is highly re- spected.
W ILLIAM SMITH. Among the many employes of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, who have their resi- dences in Aurora, is to be found the subject of this memoir. He was born at La Prai- rie, Province of Quebec, Canada, March 6, 1845. His parents were Richard and Ann (Nichols) Smith, both of whom were from near York, York- shire, England, and followed in Canada the busi- ness of farming. William resided until 1863 in his native place, partially learned blacksmithing, and at the age of eighteen he came to Aurora, where he worked at his trade for a few years, and fol- lowed other vocations until 1869, when he com- menced firing on a locomotive. Completing his apprenticeship at the business in three years and eight months, he commenced engineering, and, af- ter a service of about eleven years in the yards, went on the road, where he has since continued in careful and steady service.
Mr. Smith was united in marriage, in Aurora, with Martha Elizabeth Weldon, a native of La Colle, Quebec, who located here in early times, and whose ancestry belonged to the States of New York and Vermont, respectively, and by this union
is one son-Freddie. Mr. and Mrs. Smith both . belong to the Methodist Church, and are much respected by their many friends. Mr. Smith is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi- neers, in which organization he is greatly esteemed.
AMES WALKER. Among those who have presided over the councils of Aurora as its mayor appears the name of this gentleman.
He was born in Wilmington, Del., November 20, 1834, his parents being William and Damaris (Patchett) Walker, who removed to Detroit, Mich., in 1841. There James Walker grew to manhood, and learned the trade at which he has been so successfully employed all his life. After obtain- ing a thorough knowledge of his business young Walker was chosen, when only eighteen years of age, to take charge of the blacksmithing department of the Chicago Steam Engine Works, in Chicago, a position he acceptably filled for some time. He afterward held a position with what is now the Chicago & North-Western Railway Company, and on June 1, 1857, accepted employment with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, with which corporation he has since been, over thirty years as foreman of the blacksmithing department of their shops at Aurora.
Mr. Walker was united in marriage in Chicago with Miss Jane A. Atkinson, of New Haven, near Oswego, N. Y., and to them has been born a daughter, Alice, now the wife of Carroll C. Nichols, chief clerk in the trainmaster's office at Chicago, but a resident of Aurora, and an active and enter- prising citizen. In 1870 the citizens of Aurora elected Mr. Walker as their mayor by a handsome majority. He is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, having attained high rank in that organization. Mrs. Walker is an active and honored member of the Eastern Star, and is Past Grand Matron of the State of Illinois. Mrs. Nichols is a co-worker with her mother. and Mr. Nichols takes high rank among the Masons of Aurora. Mr. Walker was also for many years prominent in Odd Fellowship.
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