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 75

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

USA > Illinois > Kane County > Commemorative portrait and biographical record of Kane and Kendall Counties, Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographicalsketches of prominent and representative citizens of Kane and Kendall Counties, together with portraits and biographies of the presidents of the United States > Part 75
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 75

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Church, Coulter's Opera House Block, the Brady School building, Alshuler & Cooper's store, the pri- vate residence of T. H. Day, D. W. Simpson, N. L. Janes, etc., some of them large and elegant struct- ures and models of architectural taste and work- manship. Also, in company with E. D. Briggs, he erected the watch factory buildings, store of C. C. Collins, residences of E. W. Trask, Upshaw Hord, F. B. Rice, W. C. Estee and many others. Mr. Min- ium is a Sir Knight and a member of the Scottish Rite. He is a pronounced temperance advocate, po- litically a Republican. He enlisted as a soldier on the Union side in the War of the Rebellion, and subsequently was honorably discharged on account of disability.

Mr. Minium was married at St. Charles, Ill., in 1862, to Miss Marian W. Conklin, by whom he has one daughter, Alice S. In 1875 he was united in marriage with Miss C. M., daughter of J. J. Minium, formerly of Crawford County, Penn., and by her has one daughter-Clara E. The family is prominent in the city's life, materially and socially. Mrs. Minium takes an active part in woman's philanthropic and other societies, as well as in church affairs.

Z APHNA and THEODORE LAKE. These pioneers of Aurora were brothers, and fig- ured prominently in its early history. They were born, respectively, in July, 1798, and February 14, 1801, at East Bloomfield, N. Y., sons of Henry and Abigail (Spring) Lake, and were of German descent. Henry Lake was a hotel-keeper for many years at Buffalo, N. Y., and Conneaut, Ohio. He died in 1850, in Aurora, at the residence of his sister, Mrs. Israel Robinson; his widow died at Conneaut in 1855. At the above named places in New York and Ohio, the two brothers were reared.

At the age of nineteen years, Theodore Lake left his home and found employment with the since well known millionaire, Sam Ward, of Detroit, for whom he chopped and cleared the timber from six acres of land. The proceeds from this labor were his first earnings, which he at once invested in beads and trinkets, and began trading

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for furs and skins among the Indians on the St. Clair River, and as far north as Mackinaw and Sault Ste. Marie. In this trade he continued for three or four years, and then returned to Conne- aut, Ohio, where he formed a partnership with his brother. Zaphna, in general merchandising. He retained the latter interest for nine years, when he changed his business and conducted a farm near Conneaut for two or three seasons. About this time, it was agreed between the brothers that Zaphna should go to Illinois, on a prospecting tour, and on finding a promising location invest in the same for their mutual account. Accord- ingly, Zaphna started for the West in 1834, arriv- ing at the present site of Aurora in July of that year, and was so well pleased that he immediately purchased all of the McCarty claim on the west side of the river, and other land amounting to three or four hundred acres. The same season he went back to Ohio, but in the spring of 1835, ac- companied by his brother Theodore, again came to Aurora, bringing a general stock of goods with which they established the first store with- in the limits of what is now the city of Aurora. It was located on the east side of River Street, midway between Downer Place and Galena Street. Zaphna never became a permanent resident of the place, but left his interests in charge of his brother, making trips to and from Ohio at inter- vals for several years; the brothers subsequently sold the store to John R. and Federal Livingston, the former of whom died at Aurora, and the latter is at present in San Francisco, Cal.

After selling the store, Theodore Lake devot- ed his whole time and attention to the care of his estate and farming, and for the remainder of his life made Aurora his home. He was a good finan- cier, exceedingly active and industrious in looking after his estate and business, but did little or no manual labor. He made two additions to the city-twenty-five acres in east Aurora, just north of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad shops, and twenty-five acres in West Aurora at the west end of Downer Place, adjoining which, 160 acres of his estate are now owned by his son, D'los G. Lake, more than half of it being within the corporation limits, but all at present used for

farming purposes. Theodore Lake was not only thrifty in his private affairs, but was also enterpris- ing and public-spirited. He donated $500 toward building the first bridge, and, although not a mem- ber of any religious denomination, made it a rule to give from $100 to $300 toward the erection of every church edifice in Aurora. He was in an eminent degree hospitable, and worthy charitable objects always found in him a contributor.

During the last four years of his life he was afflicted with successive strokes of paralysis, and died February 16, 1876. His remains were in- terred in the West Aurora Cemetery.

Theodore Lake was thrice wedded, first in 1826, to Mary Gould, who died one year after marriage, leaving an infant son, now D'los G. Lake, of Aurora; second, to Esther Garfield, of Lima, N. Y., by which union there were four children, of whom two died in infancy, a daughter died aged nine- teen, and a son, named Henry, has not been heard from by his relatives since May, 1856; the mother of these children died in 1850, and in 1856 Mr. Lake was married to his third wife, Mrs. Caroline Mighell, who died in 1871, leaving no children.

D'los G. Lake, the son of Theodore and Mary (Gould) Lake, was born at Conneaut, Ohio, April 18, 1828, and 'came to Aurora with his father in 1835. Here he passed his boyhood among pion- eer scenes, and numbered among his playmates Indian children of his own age, whom he still re- members with pleasure (one of them, "Tick Nish," taught him how to swim). He was edu- cated in the schools of the vicinity, and when old enough assisted his father in his varied in- terests; but during young manhood and middle age he was afflicted with poor health, and in hopes of regaining lost strength by change of climate, he visited the Pacific slope, spending some five years in the State of California. Subsequently, for the same purpose, he passed one and a half years in the pineries of Wisconsin and Michigan, and now, in 1887, he is enjoying better health than ever before.

Mr. Lake was married April 20, 1857, to Miss Susan M. Richardson, a native of Watertown, N. Y., and daughter of Sylvester and Mary (Miles) Richardson, of that place.

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Three generations of the families of Richard- son and Miles lie in the same graveyard at Water- town; the first are of Scotch descent, and the grandmother on Mrs. Lake's paternal side was cousin to Gen. Winfield Scott; the Miles family were of English extraction. Sylvester and Mary (Miles) Richardson came to Kane County in 1843, and settled on a farm two and one-quarter miles west of Aurora, where he died in 1870, his widow still surviving him there. Mr. and Mrs. D' los G. Lake have had a family of three children: Robert R .. born January 23, 1858, and Russell C., born November 2, 1862, both of whom are now living at the homestead in Aurora, and Jessie, born May 4, 1872, died December 3, 1876. Mr. Lake is by occupation a farmer.

ROVER SMITH BREESE. This name will be permanently connected with the pio- neer history of Aurora. Mr. Breese was born in Elmira, Chemung Co., N. Y., August 18, 1816, the son of Samuel and Betsy (Smith) Breese. The Breese family were origi- nally from England, being of Welsh descent. Some of them were stanch adherents of the House of Stuart in those bloody times in the history of the Anglo-Saxons, when the national character was receiving its baptism of fire. The first of the name traceable in this country was John Breese, wlio settled in New Jersey. His son was also named John, who was the father of Samuel, and the grandfather of Grover Smith Breese, of whom this short memoir has been prepared. They were a strong and rugged race of men, and from gener- ation to generation they transmitted, unimpaired, those characteristics from father to son. John Breese 2d, and his son Samuel, settled in New York, and were of those who helped to

Hew the dark old woods away, And gore the virgin fields to-day.

Betsy (Smith) Breese was a daughter of Judge Grover Smith, of the superior court of New York, a descendant of one of the oldest families in the Empire State. Samuel Breese came to Illinois in 1842, in search of a place where to make a home in this then but newly settled portion. He gave the

country west from Chicago an examination, select- ing and investing in farm land about four miles west of Aurora. This he improved, and the next year brought his family. On this property he lived until his death in 1849, his wife having passed away in 1846. There was a large family of children in this household, among whom were three pairs of twins, Grover and John Breese, now of Lennox. Neb., being one of the pairs. They all lived to be over seventy years of age, except one who died at about forty years. They had been carefully trained, and had each received a fair rudimentary education in the public schools. The Illinois free schools were about being adopted by the State at the time the family came to Illinois.

Grover S. Breese came to Aurora in 1843, and made this his permanent home. Like most of the young men of that day who came west his fort- une was willing hands and a stout heart. He made his humblest labors respectable by his self- respecting deportment. By patient toil and sav- ing he finally accumulated enough to enter the line of trade and traffic, giving his attention of late years chiefly to dealing in city real estate.

Mr. Breese was united in marriage with Miss Charlotte A. Crandall, who was born in Pendleton, Niagara Co., N. Y., and to this marriage there have been born children, as follows: Oscar F., now in the employ of the Chicago, Burlington & Quin- cy Railroad Company (he is married, and is the father of two sons and three daughters): Helen, wife of J. P. Robson, a farmer of Battle Creek, Mich. (have two sons and two daughters); George C., a clerk at Pullman, Ill. Prior to her mar- riage Mrs. Breese was a school teacher, in which vo- cation she was highly esteemed. The family at- tend the Baptist Church.

L OUIS THON, a successful and enterprising dry goods and grocery merchant, of Aurora, and last, though not least, a war veteran. was born at Waldkappel, in the Electorate of Hesse Cassel, now a province of Prussia, Decem- ber 22, 1846, a son of Eckhardt and Elise (Hue- benthal) Thon. both natives of that place. The senior Thon was a large farmer. His family con-

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sisted of four sons and three daughters. Louis received a good common-school education, and also a thorough training by a private tutor in a scien- tific and literary course.

When but seventeen years old he left his na- tive land, and set sail for America, first landing at Quebec; thence came to Chicago, where he re- mained one month, and from there moved to Aurora, where he arrived in 1864, and began work at farming. Soon afterward, however, he enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Forty-first Reg- iment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in which he served until the close of the war, when he again returned to agricultural pursuits. In the fall of 1865 he visited California, remaining one year, and then returned to Kane County, where he followed his former pursuits, until 1867, when he accepted a clerkship in a store at Aurora. In 1869 he embarked in business on his own account, since when he has been successfully identified with the mercantile interests of the city.

C HARLES HAILE, a son of one of the hardy and strong race of men who settled in the Green Mountain State, was born in the town of Acton, Windham Co., Vt., Novem- ber 26, 1808. In a few months this venerable gentleman will have passed his eightieth birthday, and his present mental and physical vitality bespeak for him yet many pleasant days. At the age of thirty-four he turned his footsteps west. ward, and came to Illinois to make for himself and family a future home and abiding place. Of a large family, he is the second son of Amos and Nancy (Skinner) Haile, respectable farmers in their native State. On his father's farm he spent his boyish days, much after the fashion of the average farmer boy of his time, early learning les- sons of thrift and labor. In the sparse school advantages that were about him, his circumstances allowed him only a limited time to avail himself even of those; and what rudiments he has acquired of a scholastic kind are chiefly due to his family and his own unaided efforts. His success in life best tells the kind and quality, as well as some- thing of the young day lessons his mind picked up

at his work and play. A successful and useful career is, after all, the best and highest diploma of the lessons a man's life has taught him, as well as the highest guarantee of the example he has fol- lowed. When he reached his majority he became the responsible head of the old family homstead, in which capacity he labored until 1842, when lie came to Illinois, and located in St. Charles Town- ship, Kane Co., on his farm, composed mostly of wild land, two miles east of the village. The young farmer at once set about the work of add- ing improvements to his place, and in a few years he was the possessor of an excellent farm. Here he made his home until 1883, when lie sold his farm, removed to the city of St. Charles, and in his com- fortable home is now retired from the active labors of an honored life.

While yet in the old home in his native State, in the year 1837, Mr. Haile was united in mar- riage with Deraxa (Webb) Balch, a native of the same State, of a highly respected family, and born December 25, 1811. Of this union there were born five children, only two of whom are now surviv- ing: Nathaniel A., who, with his wife Mary J. (Morgan), has a fine home residence in Maple Park; and Harriet L., now Mrs. Horatio A. Wright, who, with her two children, Horatio C. and Harriet E., resides in St. Charles. The eldest son, Charles W., died November 21, 1844, in the sixth year of his age. The three sons were born in Ver- mont. When the War of the Rebellion broke out the two remaining sons enlisted in the Union Army; James O., the eldest, enlisted in the year 1861, died November 26, 1863, of lung disease, brought on by exposure while yet in the service of his coun- try; the youngest, Nathaniel A., enlisted in 1862, and served until the close of the war. Sarah D., the eldest daughter, who had become Mrs. Horace T. Dailey, removed from Illinois, her native State, to Dakota, in 1883, hoping her health might be im- proved by the change; but little more than five months had passed ere her friends, with sad hearts, received the casket containing the form of her the memory of whom was so dear, only to gaze once more upon that face before being laid to rest in the home cemetery. She died October 9, 1883, leaving one son, Horace E.

Charles Haile

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In 1887 a great calamity came to this household: Mrs. Haile, though partially paralyzed, had still con- tinued to take interest in the welfare of her friends. Although she had long anticipated death as a mes- senger to be welcomed, yet who could welcome the manner of death coming to her? Notwithstanding the care of her friends and her own cautiousness, in her desire to be helpful she had in some way set fire to her clothing, and was fatally burned, sur- viving only about thirty hours. She was able, however, to assure her friends, even in her latest and severest sufferings, that her faitli in God was real and of inestimable value. She died June 1S, 1887, and, amid the tenderest sympathies of all the people toward the family, a pure and worthy wife, and faithful and loving mother,' was laid to rest.

Mr. Haile is, as was Mrs. Haile during her life, a member of the Baptist Church, of which he has acted as trustee and deacon, and of which church four of his children also became members in early life. In politics he has affiliated with the Repub- lican party, with a strong leaning toward the prin- ciples of the Prohibitionists.

J AMES MADISON KENNEDY. The city of Aurora has many citizens who are popular, but none more generally liked or esteemed by all classes, than the efficient, genial and accommodating city clerk, J. M. Kennedy. It is the city of his nativity, the date of his birth being March 12, 1842. Here he spent his boyhood, and grew to man's estate. On the first call for three- years men to suppress the rebellion of the Slave States, he volunteered as a soldier in Company A, Thirty-sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, and was on active duty with his command during the entire term of his enlistment. On his return from the army he entered the train service of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and was gradually promoted until given the position of pas- senger conductor. His service in this road's em- ploy from first to last covered a period of twenty years, when he retired from railroad work, and soon afterward was elected to the office of which he has ever since been the incumbent. He is Jun- ior Vice-commander of the G. A. R., Aurora Post

No. 20, Department of Illinois; a member of the Masonic fraternity of Aurora.

Mr. Kennedy was married July 12, 1871, to Miss Mary E. Stowe, a daughter of Jasper Stowe, of Colton, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., and to this union the following named children were born: Charles Madison, Roy Stowe, Bessie Maud and Jessie May, the last two named being twins. Mr. Kennedy's ancestors were of Scotch descent on the father's side, and English on the mother's, and pioneers in New York State. They were sturdy and thrifty farmers by occupation. His parents, James and Harriet (Newberry) Kennedy, natives of Schuyler County, N. Y., emigrated west in 1836, walking across the entire State of Michigan, and located the same year near Oswego, Kendall Co., Ill. A year or so subsequently, they settled on a farm in the township of Aurora, where three sons and three daughters grew up around them. They afterward removed to Aurora, where the father died in April, 1SS3; the mother still lives.

W ILLIAM A. TANNER. This gentleman has passed the three score and ten. in years, but is yet active and vigorous in body and mind, and gives to a wide array of ac- quaintances and friends cheering evidences of hav- ing in reserve many days. of usefulness. He has been a citizen of Kane County fifty-two years, and in that time has seen the coming of all we now possess that distinguishes from the early pioneer days, when, instead of the shrill whistle of the locomotive or the factory, the sleep of the cradle was sometimes startled by the war-whoop of the savage.

Mr. Tanner is a native of Watertown, N. Y., born February 17, 1815, and is a son of William and Betsy (Paddock) Tanner, of that State and New England, respectively. On both sides of his family the ancestors were early eminent settlers in America, distinguished by a long line of men, some of them seafarers, who were recognized as honest and patriotic citizens. In his father's family were two sons and six daughters. The family was well to do, but, like the people of their day. were frugal and industrions. In the schools in the vicinity of

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his home the youth received more than the average advantages in the way of an education. He had mastered the higher mathematics, and, when he had retired from his alma mater, he was prepared to enter upon the business of land surveyor, which he followed to a considerable extent in after life. His father was a merchant, and was able to give his son advantages in education that served him a useful purpose.

When Mr. Tanner reached the age of twenty years (in the year 1835) he came to the West, where he found employment as a land surveyor, and when not thus occupied, worked as a clerk in a store. He was engaged as clerk in the store of Jones, King & Clark, and was the surveyor who mapped and platted Philo Carpenter's addition to the city of Chicago; also surveyed the sand-bar on the northwest quarter of Section 15, Chicago, at that time owned by Hiram Pierrons. He sur- veyed lands in the city of Aurora, and made selec- tions for his own choice land from knowledge thus gained of the county of Kane. He improved his land as soon as he could, and built upon it a comfortable residence, for that day. In 1836 he induced his father and family to come to the West, and they made their home on the son's farm. With his father's family he spent the next sixteen years, engaged in farming, and then removed to Aurora. His first operations in the place were large invest- ments in city real estate, and the erection of sev- eral handsome business houses and blocks of build- ings. He engaged in the business of grocery mer- chant, which line he abandoned, turning his atten tion to hardware, and in this trade has continued to the present. In all his business enterprises Mr. Tanner has been unusually successful, and in his real estate has extended his operations to Chicago, where he is now the fortunate possessor of some valuable property. He has also given his atten- tion to the rich lands and real estate in Kansas and Minnesota, in each of which his penetrating judg- ment has never been at fault, and he has added largely to his fortune.

His parents, whom he had induced to come to his Illinois home, were married February 23, 1812, and died in Aurora, the mother in October, 1855, and the father February 22, 1856. William

A. Tanner was married in Watertown, N. Y., in 1840, to Miss Anna Makepeace, and by this mar- riage were born three sons and seven daughters: Lucy, the eldest, died aged two years; Eugene, a farmer, resides on the old homestead; Henry R. is a hardware merchant in Anrora; Florence is the wife of J. L. Patterson, Esq., plumber and gasfit- ter, in Chicago; Amy is the wife of John Johnson, of Du Page County; Imogene is at bome with her parents; Marian is married to Mr. Frank Simpson, of Aurora; Martha is the wife of Rev. Charles Thornton, of the Methodist Episcopal Church; Mary, now Mrs. Hopkins, resides in Orleans, Mich .. and George W. resides in Kansas, engaged in his father's real estate interests in that State. Mr. Tanner is a temperance man in his political faith, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

A ARON COSELMAN was born in Johnstown, Fulton Co., N. Y., March 24, 1817. His parents were Adam and Polly (Staley) Cos- elman. Their circumstances were limited. and upon the death of the father, Aaron, then about nine years old, was compelled to make his own living as best he could, and, with good health, began a life of manual labor with a strong resolu- tion to succeed. At the age of twenty-four he set out for the West, and in 1841 arrived in this locality where he sought work of all kinds, and soon se- cured sufficient means to pay for the pre-emption of eighty acres of land in Sugar Grove Township. The winter of 1843 found him at work in Michigan, where he was united in marriage with Miss Nancy Fikes, whose parents, John and Katy (Kleck) Fikes, had located near Niles, Mich., from near Aaron's old home in New York State, in 1840. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Coselman has proved a happy one.

The young couple came to their Illinois home, where Mr. Coselman subsequently sold his pre- emption and deeded eighty acres in Sugar Grove Township, afterward purchasing eighty acres ad- joining. Himself and wife there engaged in farm life for many years; they had a family of eleven children, of whom they have buried three sons and one daughter: Lydia Ann, now the wife of Joseph

KANE COUNTY.

725

Landis, of Ainsworth, Brown Co., Neb., and the mother of five children; Mary J., who became the wife of William Patterson, of Bristol, Ill., and died, leaving four sons and one daughter, one of whom, Madison, the grandparents are rearing; Charles, the eldest son living, is a citizen of Brown County, Neb., and serves that county as deputy sheriff; Madison and Hudson, twins (Hudson died in infancy, and Madison grew to manhood, learned locomotive engineering, and when thirty-three years of age, while on duty on his engine in New Mexico, was accidentally killed by the discharge of a revolver, that dropped from the pocket of a friend. Mr. Coselman, upon hearing of his death, went to New Mexico and brought the body home); Sarah, is the wife of Cyrus Hopkins, who farms the homestead; Hiram is in the real estate business at Holly Springs, Neb., and has a son and daugh- ter; Elphie is the wife of Charles Eccles, of Bris- tol, Ill., and has a son; Henry C. is with Hiram in the real estate business; Arnold, the eldest son, is interred in the family burial place; Elizabeth, the second daughter, still shares the homestead circle.

Mr. and Mrs. Coselman worship at the Free Methodist Church, in which congregation they have held membership for many years. He has been successful in accumulating property, and gave his children an excellent start in the world, after seeing them well educated and trained in in- dustrial pursuits. Mr. Coselman came to Kane County with no capital, but now owns, besides the old homestead, 480 acres in Brown County, Neb., and other valuable property. Both he and his wife have the respect of the entire community.

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Commemorative portrait and biographical record of Kane and Kendall Counties, Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographicalsketches of prominent and representative citizens of Kane and Kendall Counties, together with portraits and biographies of the presidents of the United States, Part 75

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

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