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 60
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 60
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ville, Ill., where he remained until 1876. In April, that year, he formed a partnership with James Gifford, and carried on the manufacture of forks, rakes, and other farm implements at South Elgin until December, when he disposed of his interest in the firm, and went to Jackson, Mich., where he was engaged as foreman in the shops of the penitentiary. In 1877 he returned to South Elgin, and was at once employed by his former partner. Mr. Gifford, remaining until 1882. Soon after retiring from the machine shops, Mr. Hatch bought the store of T. J. Masterson, where he has a fine assortment of general merchandise, and enjoys a large patronage.
June 15, 1842, Mr. Hatch married Sarah Til- den, daughter of Leonard Tilden, of Barre, Vt., and to them were born eight children, only two of whom survive: Albert T., of Elgin Township, and Harry F., now in Europe studying music and the languages. Mrs. Hatch died in September, 1877, and June 20, 1878, Mr. Hatch married Esther (Muzzy) Hatch, widow of Harry Hatch; they have no children.
While living in Vermont he served as justice of the peace seven years, and was superintendent of schools for Orange County four years. In politics he was at first an Abolitionist, then a Free-Soiler, but now he is a stanch Republican. Mr. Hatch early embraced the Christian religion, and for many years was a class leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
D E LACY L. COLE, a native of Bradford County, Penn., was born March 31, 1843. His parents, Fanning and Caroline (Sar- gent) Cole, natives of Massachusetts, came to Pennsylvania with their parents when children. The subject of this sketch, at the age of eighteen (in 1861), enlisted in the Fifty-third Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, as musician, and at the organization of the bands was placed with the Third Brigade, Second Division, Twentieth Army Corps. At the close of the war he was honorably discharged, and two years later he commenced the manufacture of gloves and mittens. In 1870 he commenced business in that line in Batavia, and
in 1873 formed his present partnership with Mr. Frank P. Conde.
October 31, 1872, Mr. Cole took unto himself a wife in the person of Miss Georgina Conde, a native of Batavia, born February 12, 1848, and who is the mother of one child, Harry E., born June 28, 1876. Mr. Cole is quartermaster of Post No. 48, G. A. R. In politics he is a Republican, and has served as collector two terms.
B. ALCOTT, a representative farmer of St. Charles Township. was born in Madison County, N. Y., December 23, 1819. His parents, Jesse and Lucy (Miner) Alcott, natives of Wolcott, Conn., came to New York when it was comparatively a wilderness, and resided there until their death. Mr. J. B. Alcott, the youngest in a family of nine children, when eleven years of age, lost his father by death, and his life up to his thirtieth year was spent closely at home in the support of his widowed mother. In 1856 he came to Illinois and purchased a farm on Section 31, where he now resides, and which is well im- proved; his pleasant residence is situated in a maple grove planted by himself. He has served his township as commissioner of highways, and is best known as having been the principal mover in bringing about the graveling of the roads; he had some hard opposition in this, but time has proven the wisdom and efficacy of his plans. He has also served as one of the directors of the public schools. He comes of old Puritan stock; his grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and later his father was a captain of militia in Connecticut.
January 18, 1844, Mr. Alcott married Deborah Ann Shaw, born in Rensselaer County, N. Y., in 1820, a daughter of Jesse and Delight (Swan) Shaw, natives of New York State, former of whom was a soldier in the War of 1812. Mr. and Mrs. Alcott's union has been blessed with three children, all born in New York State: Elizabeth D., born May 31, 1847, died June 2, 1848, in New York State; Adelbert D., born May 11, 1849, died December 21, 1877, in Indiana: Jared D., born November 13, 1850, married May 16, 1871, in Illinois, Emma S. Ressegue, and they are the par-
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ents of three children, all born in Illinois, namely: Charles J., born July 25, 1872, died in Illinois March 8, 1875; Willie D., born March 18, 1876; Freddie M., born September 27, 1878, died January 6, 1885, in Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Alcott are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he is a Republican.
H UGH TODD. In 1837, James Todd. a worthy Scotchman, came from his native land, and settled in the New World. His family consisted of his wife, three sons (Hugh, Robert and Thomas), and one daughter. Arriving at Chicago in the autumn, the father and the sons found employment on the canal work dur- ing the winter, but, upon the approach of spring, they started out to find a suitable place where they could engage in farming. They located in Dun- dee, Kane County, where the father purchased a quarter section of land. The family all worked together, and added to the first purchase until they owned in common 360 acres.
Hugh was the first to break the family circle. In 1847 he went to Crystal Lake Prairie, where he bought 200 acres, on which he lived until 1866. He then removed to near Carpentersville, where he bought twenty acres of land, and engaged in the nursery business. In 1871 he sold his nursery and bought 176 acres. In 1886 he purchased 150 acres adjoining, thus aggregating one of the largest and choicest farms in the county. The improvements are of the best, the elegant resi- dence costing $3,000; its smooth lawn and orna- mental trees are in perfect order and keeping, to- gether with the farm buildings, carriage house, barns, dairy house, cribs, etc., forming one of those pleasant pictures of farm life and a farmer's liome that tell of happy content and plenty. In the pastures are grazing a herd of forty-five graded cows, and in the stables are a number of horses- imported draft and some fine roadsters.
Mr. Todd is a man of high moral standing, and is a deacon in the Congregational Church. He was born in Lennoxshire, Scotland, July 24, 1818, his parents being James and Grace (Hamilton) Todd, former of whom died March 21, 1860; lat-
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ter died in 1868. His brother, Robert, is a resident of Dundee, and his other brother, Thomas, lives in Elgin; his only sister became the wife of William Crichton, and lives in Dundee.
January 28, 1847, Mr. Todd was united in marriage with Magdalene Rankin, daughter of William and Jane (Carswell) Rankin. Mr. and Mrs. Todd have eight children: Jennie; Grace, now Mrs. James Hopkins, of Chicago; Mary, now Mrs. Peter Grant, of Dundee; James, of Batavia; William R. ; Hugh; Helen, now Mrs. Samuel Am- brose, of Downer's Grove; and Robert. Mr. Todd is a Republican, and an earnest advocate of tem- perance, both in theory and practice.
M ORRIS CLINTON TOWN, president of the Elgin City Banking Company, presi- dent of the First National Bank of Elgin, and local director of the Elgin National Watch Company, is a man whose name is too closely interwoven with the history of Elgin for the past forty years to suffer an omission in these pages.
His father, Bester Town, was born in New York State, August 20, 1794, and September 22, 1816, he married Betsey M. Martin, a native of Vermont, born in 1795. The young couple, for some years after their marriage, followed agri- cultural pursuits in Washington County, N. Y. In 1824 they removed to Erie County. Penn., where they engaged in hotel business and farming, and later Mr. Town commenced the manufacture of hats, and embarked in mercantile business. His death occurred in Erie County, Penn., Decem- ber 2, 1870, and he was followed to the grave by his faithful wife, January 22, 1872.
Of a family of eight children Morris C. Town is the eldest child. He was born at Granville, Washington Co., N. Y., February 7, 1818. His boyhood days were spent at home with his parents, where he learned the hatter's trade in his father's manufactory, receiving at the same time a common- school education, and at the age of twenty-two began life for himself as a merchant, at North East, Erie Co., Penn. In the spring of 1846 he came west to Chicago, and commenced mercantile business. In the fall of 1847, believing that the
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then almost unknown village of Elgin was destined to a prosperous future, he came here, and for the following three years was one of the prominent merchants of the place. He opened a banking office, and in 1851 it was chartered as a State Bank. In 1858 he sold his banking interest and removed to Chicago, where he remained until 1860; then, returning to Elgin, he once more, for a short time, became a merchant of the city. In 1862 was established the banking firm of Law- rence, Pease & Town, of which Mr. Town was general manager. In the summer of 1865 was organized the First National Bank of Elgin, of which, for the following eighteen years, Mr. Town was cashier, and he is at present president.
Since his first settlement in Elgin he has taken a most active interest in building up the city. He was one of the few to establish the Academy in Elgin, and since its founding he has served as one of the directors. In 1878 he was elected local director of the Elgin National Watch Company, a position he still holds. Besides being a liberal supporter of all public movements, he has added much to the town by the erection of the fine busi- ness block which bears his name; also one since burned down. Mr. Town comes of a long line of English and French extraction, his ancestors set- tling in America prior to the Revolution. His father served as a soldier in the War of 1812.
Mr. Town has been twice wedded. His first wife, whom he married August 27, 1831, was Miss Hannah S. Oviatt, born at Hudson, Ohio, July 27, 1819, and by her he has one child, Helen S., who became Mrs. William O. De Long. £ In 1843 Mrs. Town passed from earth, and Mr. Town married, November 12, 1844, at North East, Penn., Maria Selkregg, a native of Pennsylvania, born at Colts Station, Erie County, December 19, 1821, and a daughter of Osee and Harriet (Robinson) Selkregg, worthy people of Connecticut and Penn- sylvania, respectively. Six children have been born to this last union as follows: Ella L., born September 30, 1845, now Mrs. L. B. Hamlin, of Elgin; Morris Clarence, born July 4, 1847, died January 8, 1850; Frank, born April 27, 1849, died June 5, 1881; Harriet E., born March 27, 1851, became Mrs. John H. Volk; Carrie M., born
May 27, 1855, now Mrs. William W. Sherwin, of Elgin; and Morris Clinton. Politically, Mr. Town is a Republican. He has served his town as alderman.
S WAN BENSON is a leading merchant tailor of Elgin. He was born in Wexiö, Smoland, Sweden, February 25, 1849, his parents be- ing of the respectable well-to-do class in their native land. He is the son of B. Swanson and Catharine (Olson) Benson. Young Benson was put to the trade of tailor in his native place, and when twenty-five years of age sailed for America, coming to Illinois in 1874. He spent some years working at his trade at different places in the State, and then came from Rockford to Elgin, in 1883, where he has made his permanent home. He en- tered at once upon his trade here, and soon had established a successful merchant tailor store, now one of the leading establishments in Elgin.
In Galesburg, Ill., Mr. Benson was married to Sophia Halldahl, and they have four sons: Axel Herman (a tailor), Edward Wallfrid, Charles Ed- win and Claus Harry. Mr. Benson is a skilled workman, and a prosperous and influential busi- ness man. He has reared his family in very re- spectable circumstances, and has accumulated a comfortable competency. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and K. of L. The family are attendants of the First Methodist Episcopal Church.
A. SMITH, one of the earliest settlers in Kane County, was born in England, Novem- ber 22, 1821. When he was a young man his parents immigrated to America, set- tled at Troy, N. Y., in 1836, and came to Dundee, Kane County, in 1839. The father died October 17, 1869, aged nearly ninety years, the mother, Hannah Smith, having preceded him to the grave in 1856, at the age of seventy-four years. The father, by trade a carpenter, worked for a time at the Government arsenal at Watervleit, N. Y. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
When J. A. Smith was in Troy he learned the shoe-making trade, but worked on the farm after
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coming west. October 9, 1865, he married Abbie Birge, daughter of Horace and Elizabeth (Gannet) Birge. Her father was a native of Connecticut, and, at the age of ten years, removed to Vermont with his father's family, and, later, settled in New York State, where he filled the office of sheriff in Le Roy, and while there met and married Elizabeth Gannet, at that time a milliner in the place.
After their marriage they returned to Ver- mont to care for the feeble parents of the husband, remained until their deaths, and then came to Illi- nois in the spring of 1857. The farm they set- tled on was one of the first improved in the county, called "McClure's," after Gen. McClure of the War of 1812. February 9, 1874, Mr. Birge passed from earth, and April 29, 1876, Mrs. Birge followed him to the grave. Four children were born to them, two of whom are living-Mrs. Smith, and Annie, who resides with Mr. Smith. Mrs. Smith was a teacher in Vermont for several years. No children have been born to them. In New Jersey Mr. Smith became a member of the Sons of Temperance, and in 1849 of the I. O. O. F .; in 1853 he became a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is now a Master Mason.
OHN RHUTASEL was born in Paralia, Ger- many, January 6, 1848, a son of Lawrence and Barbara (Rhuder) Rhutasel, who came to Kane County with their family in 1852, and settled in Section 7, Aurora Township, where they resided three years. Mr. Lawrence Rhuta- sel then purchased sixty acres of land in Black- berry Township, to which he, from time to time, added until he became the owner of 200 acres. In 1864 he sold out and moved to Sugar Grove Township, where he bought 320 acres; then sold the same and returned to Blackberry Township. In 1866 he bought 256 acres in Section 5, Aurora Township, and of this he sold, in 1881, a 140- acre piece to his son John, who still owns it.
The subject of this memoir was trained to farm life from boyhood, and at the same time received a good common-school tuition. January 10, 1870, he wedded Louisa, daughter of Peter Plant, of Aurora Township, and to them have been born
five children: Hattic, Minnie, William, Lillie and George, those now living all enjoying modern educational advantages. William died October 23, 1887, aged fifteen years and seven months. Mr. Rhutasel carries on mixed farming, paying, at the same time, considerable attention to dairying, and has a large number of cattle and horses. His pleasant residence he erected at a cost of about $2,400, besides the barns and other out-houses. In addition to this farm he owns 137 acres close by, as well as a quarter section in Iowa. Mr. Rhutasel holds office as school director at pres- . ent; he filled the office of highway overseer ac- ceptably, and the splendid gravel roads in his township attest to his vigilance and zeal. In pol- itics he is a Republican. The family attend the services of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of the Sunday-school of which the children are at- tentive and intelligent members.
ALEB C. CHURCH was born January 15, 1807, in Vernon, Oneida County, N. Y., and is a son of Russell and Rebecca Hurlbut Church. The family were of the American colonists who were prominent and active in the questions which arose between the settlers and the mother country. Russell Church was born in Old Hartford, Conn., in September, 1776, and died September 24, 1847. His wife, Rebecca Hurlbut, was born in Winchester, Litchfield County, same State, November 30, 1779, and died April 7, 1872.
To Mr. and Mrs. Russell Church were born following named children; Hiram C., born October 5, 1797, died November 29, 1857 (when a young man he went South and remained some time; in 1835 he was in St. Louis merchandising, and that year he made the long trip on horseback from St. Louis to Chicago, following nearly all the way an Indian trail; he crossed Fox River where is now Aurora, and was impressed with the beauty of the country, the fine scenery on the river, and the excel- lency of the water power the place afforded; so strong was this impression that in time he returned to the place, and here he made his home until his death as above stated); Samuel H., born November 7, 1800, is now living at Vernon, N. Y .; Emily,
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born October 2, 1804, died September 15, 1868; Caleb C., subject of this memoir; Rebecca E., born March 31, 1820, died March 6, 1875. The only survivors of this family are Caleb C. and Samuel H.
The Hurlbut family were among the early New England settlers. The father of Mrs. Rebecca Hurlbut Church, Capt. Samuel Hurlbut, was a native of Torrington, a farmer by occupation, and removed to Winchester, where he died March 23. 1831, aged eighty-three years; he married, December 1, 1768, in Torrington, Rebecca, daugh- ter of Abel Beach; his wife died October 27, 1829, aged eighty-four years. Their children were as follows: Silas, born July 6, 1769, died a bach- elor December 24, 1793; Leonard, born May 18, 1771; Margaret, born March 2, 1773, married to John McAlpin; Samuel, born March 13, 1775, died October 4, 1776; Lucy, born October 6, 1777, married to Sylvester Hall, of Burke, Vt., May 12, 1797; Rebecca, born November 30, 1779, married Russell Church, the father of Caleb C. Church; Samuel 2d, born October 2, 1783; Lemuel, born September 20, 1785.
Caleb Church, the grandfather of Caleb C., is said to have owned the farm on which stood the famous old "Charter Oak tree;" he had two brothers, and they settled near Hartford. The maternal grandfather of Caleb C. Church was Col. Wadsworth, and he was the person who, in the confusion of the meeting, seized the charter and hid it in the oak tree.
Of the Church family Hiram and Caleb C. were the only ones who came west, and became citizens of Illinois. Caleb C. came in 1854, and first stopped in Chicago, where he was engaged in the lumber business, two years. On account of the prevalence of cholera, however, he remained there but little of the time, and went to Rockton, Win- nebago County, his brother attending to the busi- ness affairs. He then removed to Rockton, where he made his home eleven years. He purchased land near the town, and for three years followed agricultural pursuits. During war times he was appointed deputy collector of internal revenue, and served four years. In 1865 he sold his interests in Winnebago County, and came to Elgin to engage in the Illinois milk-condensing
factory, then being started, and has continued in this to the present. This is now one of the noted industrial institutions of the country.
Caleb C. Church was united in marriage in their native place, August 24, 1831, with Clarissa Beulah Norton, a daughter of Dr. Ariel and Clarissa (Sheldon) Norton, former of Vernon, Oneida Co., N. Y .. born April 26, 1781, and died May 15, 1861; latter was born June 29, 1783, and was a daughter of Samuel and Beulah (Jackson) Sheldon. The children of Mrs. Church's parents were Lavantia P., born July 24, 1810, and died July 8, 1811; Clarissa B. (now Mrs. C. C. Church) born April 18, 1812; Elizabeth Ann, born November 16, 1813, died at Rockford, August 7, 1873, married to Hon. Wait Tolcott; Emily, born Novem- ber 1, 1816, married to Ard Judson, May 4, 1843, died April 22, 1880, in Vernon, N. Y .; Samuel, born February 6, 1819; Mary Almira, born Octo- ber 3, 1821, married to Miles Prentice, of Rockton, Ill. ; Harriet M. , born April 10, 1825, died March 8, 1846. These were all born in Vernon, Oneida Co., N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Caleb C. Church attend the services of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Elgin.
D AVID C. SCOFIELD, a lineal descendant of Daniel and Mary Scofield, of Scofield Manor, Lancashire, England, who came to America in the ship "Susan and Helen," in 1639, and settled in Stamford, Fairfield Co., Conn., is a native of Rensselaerville, Albany Co., N. Y., born December 21, 1803. His parents were Michael and Betsey Nichols Scofield, the for- mer of whom was a native of Pound Ridge, West- chester Co., N. Y .; the latter was born in New Canaan, Conn., daughter of Daniel and Mary Nichols. The Nichols family descended from the line of Allens who came over in the "Mayflower." Michael and Betsey Nichols Scofield had five chil- dren, and of these David C. is the youngest, and the only survivor. The parents were well-to-do farmers, and reared their family in comfortable circumstances.
David C. grew to manhood on his father's farm, and received a good English education in the district schools of the vicinity. At the age of
A
D. C. Scofield
E.W.C. Scofield
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twenty-three years he was married, in Greene County, N. Y., to Sally King, who was born February 4, 1809. To this marriage were born seven children, as follows: Jane Ann, February 5, 1828; Rufus H. and Lewis K. (twins), February 16, 1830 (Rufus H. is living in Brockport, N. Y .; Lewis K. is a citizen of Fort Scott, Kas.); Louisa, March 11, 1832, married to John Herbert, of Bel- videre, Ill., and died in Oregon, October 23, 1866, aged thirty-four years, leaving one son, Phil Her- bert; Mary Elizabeth, October 28, 1833, married to Frank Hickok, of Greenville, Greene Co., N. Y .; Charlotte R., February 9, 1838, and Reuben R., April 10, 1840, and died May 21, 1847, aged six years, eleven months. Mrs. Sally King Scofield, mother of these children, died August 21, 1842.
In 1847 Mr. Scofield came to the West. In 1854 he was married to Mrs. Emily W. Wilcox, of Kane County, Ill., daughter of Cyrus and Sarah Larkin. She was born in Enosburg, Vt., September 6, 1826. By this marriage was born one child, Frank R., who died May 18, 1865, at the age of nine years and six months. Mrs. Emily W. Scofield, while attending a missionary meeting in Chicago, contracted a severe cold, which resulted in a fatal attack of pneumonia, her death occurring February 21, 1884. She died at the age of fifty-seven years, in the prime of her useful life. Mr. Scofield has for the past half century been a prominent member of the Presbyterian Church.
OHN A. RUSSELL was elected State's attor- ney of Kane County at the last election, and is serving the people in this important office with ability and fidelity. He was born in St. Charles, this county, October 4, 1854, and is a son of John and Jane (Beith) Russell, natives of Scotland, from Paisley, near Glasgow. The par- ents died when the son was nine years of age, leaving their boy dependent upon his own strug- gles in the battle of life. He realized his situation, and resolved to work at any honest labor his hands could find to do. He was resolute, ambitious to attend school and educate himself, as well as make a living while he was growing to manhood: and, alone and unaided, by the exercise of energy and
perseverance rarely exhibited in one so young, he was enabled to pass beyond the average boy in the schoolroom.
· He had a strong natural taste for reading and study, and soon determined to study law and pre- pare for the practice of that honorable profession. He passed through Elgin Academy, and at once engaged in reading law in the office of Botsford & Barry, and was thus engaged about two and one-half years, when he passed an examination before. the supreme court, and was licensed an attorney. The thoroughness of his preparation is attested by the fact that when admitted to the bar he formed a partnership with his preceptors, where he at once became engaged in a large practice. He was elected city attorney of Elgin, and his activity and ability displayed here called him to the higher office he now fills. He is a Republican in politics, chairman of the Republican Senatorial Committee of the Fifth Congressional District. He is a Sir Knight in Bethel Com- mandery, and is a member of the K. of P.
E G. KETCHUM was born in the year 1822, in Berkshire County, Mass., where his father, Levi Ketchum, was born in 1794. His ancestry dates back, in America, to the early colonial times, some of them taking active interest in the Revolution, and, though not in the regular army, participating in the battle of Ben- nington, Vt. Nancy Preston, a native of Ver- mont, married Levi Ketchum, and bore him ten children, of whom only four survive, three being in Kane County, namely: Mrs. Thomas S. Clark, Gilbert E. and E. G. Ketchum. Levi Ketchum was for two terms a representative in the State Legislature, at Boston. When about sixty years of age he and his faithful wife came to Kane County, and made a home near Naperville, where they both died, the mother in 1878, aged eighty- two years, and the father three years later.
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