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 88

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 88
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 88

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).

The subject of this biographical memoir, losing his mother when he was but a boy, left home at

an early age, and commenced the battle of life for himself. He had been brought up to farm occupations, but circumstances led him into learn- ing the milling trade, and he worked in a mill for several years. His first wages were $4 per month, and when they were increased to $6 he thought he was becoming a Crœsus. April 23, 1828, he mar- ried Freelove Vantassell, who was born August 11, 1808, in Dutchess County, N. Y., daughter of Green and Deborah (Shaw) Vantassell, who both died when Mrs. Serrine was young. To this union were born eleven children: Ann, Sabrina, Elias, Alanson, Jacob, Tunis, Samuel, Philip, Mary Jane, and two that died in infancy.

Of these six are now living, viz: Sabrina, mar- ried to Abram Brown, of Big Grove Township, Kendall County; Alanson, at home, unmarried; Jacob, in Tama County, Iowa; Tunis, in Milling- ton, Kendall County; Philip, in Yorkville, Ken- dall County; and Mary Jane, married P. Scoggons, living at Sandwich, Ill .; Ann (deceased) married Peter Ladew; Elias (deceased) married, and had one son; Samuel was drowned.

After his marriage Mr. Serrine rented land for some time in his native county, but in the spring of 1838, resolved to try his fortune in the Far West. Making his journey via Albany, Buffalo and Chicago by canal, lake and wagon, respect- ively, he in due time arrived in Fox Township, Kendall County, and located on a claim purchased by Alanson Robinson, of Demarkus Misner, and which was surveyed at 156 acres. None of it was broken land, and a small log shanty was the only thing on the wild primitive place that could be called an "improvement." However, with a will, Mr. Serrine set to work to subdue the wilderness, and make a home for himself and family, and here they lived several years. This property he sold about the year 1850, and then moved to where he now lives, in Fox Township, now a highly culti- vated farm of 150 acres, having many substantial improvements thereon.

Mr. Serrine used tobacco for sixty years, but abandoned the habit entirely about eleven years ago. Politically, he was originally a Democrat, later a Republican, until 1885, since when he has been an out-and-out Prohibitionist. He has been

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a member for over fifty years of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which, for several years, he has officiated as local minister. Mr. Serrine has ever been benevolent, giving freely of his substance to charitable purposes. His worthy wife, who has for so many years been his faithful companion, is yet living, though frail and in poor health.

C ONOVER REZO COOK. The Cook family were among the early arrivals in Kendall County. John Cook, the grandfather of our subject, was a native of Monmouth County, N. J., a blacksmith by trade, of an invent- ive turn of mind, which he turned to good use, and accumulated several thousand dollars in his native State. In 1837 he came west and made a claim on what is now Section 1, in Fox Township. For some time he lived in a log house, 16x16, which afforded shelter, for a short time, to eighteen in- mates, being parts of two or three families who made it their home until houses of their own could be provided. It is said that several, for lack of room, slept out of doors, and it was nothing unus- ual in the morning to find rattlesnakes in the bed- ding, and sometimes coiled about the bedposts in the cabin. After several years' residence here, Mr. Cook located, in 1848, on land now embraced in Sections 14 aud 15, known as the "Highland Farm," where a large nursery was established. He was an active, useful man in his time, and re- spected by all who knew him. His death occurred September 21, 1852, at the age of sixty-two years eleven months and twenty- two days. His wife was Mary Morris, who was born March 4, 1794, in Mon- mouth County, N.J., and died November 26, 1870. Nine children were born to John and Mary Cook, seven of whom grew to maturity, viz .: Charles M., Peter, John A., Ellen, Ann, Mary E. and Martha. Of this number, Peter and John A. are now residents of Olympia, Washington Territority; Ellen married Dr. W. H. Hubbard, of New Jersey; Ann became the wife of Jacob Pope, and settled on Section 1, Fox Township; Mary E. married Dr. Robert Hopkins, and settled in Bristol Township; Martha, the youngest, married Thomas Atherton, a prominent citizen of Fox Township. Charles M.,

the eldest son of the family, and the father of our subject, was born in Monmouth County, N. J., June 26, 1815, and January 31, 1838, married Mary S. Conover, who was born in the same county, September 23, 1819, and the same year of their marriage came to this township. Mary S. Conover was the daughter of Garrett Rezo Con- over and Maria (Schenck) Conover. The latter was a daughter Chrineyonce Schenck, who was born December 29, 1760, and married Margaret Pol- hemus, born March 11, 1766, both of Dutch de- scent. Their children were Maria, born February 2, 1795; John C. (1), who died young; Eleanor and Eliza (twins), Margaret, John C. (2), Daniel, Abigail. Garrett Rezo Conover was born in New Jersey, December 29, 1786, and December 14, 1814, married Maria Schenck, who was born Feb- ruary 2, 1795. They reared a family of children whose names are John P., Margaret, Mary S., Daniel S., Eleanor. Charles M. Cook, the father of C. R., married Mary S. for his first wife, and after her death married Margaret; he died at his native home in December, 1881.

Conover Rezo Cook was born February 1, 1842, at Tinton Falls, N. J., the youngest of two children born to his father by his first wife, Mary S. The other child was Mary M., who married Jaques S. Stryker and settled at Long Island, but afterward removed to Brooklyn, N. Y., where she died without issue. Conover R. has been a resident of this township since he was four years of age, and has been en- gaged in farming pursuits. He is now owner of the farm he now occupies on Section 11, consist- ing of 104 acres, and has placed the principal buildings on the farm. Like his grandfather Cook, he is of an inventive turn, and has recently invented a car-coupler, which bids fair, in time, to be adopted by the railroads. March 2, 1865, he married Arvilla L. Brown, who was born in Chau- tauqua County, N. Y., February 16, 1848, a danghter of Orsemus T. Brown, a son of John Brown. Orsemus married Harriet, daughter of Josiah Ward. Mrs. Cook came west in 1855, with hier parents, who settled in Kendall Township, this county. Her father died April 9, 1876, but his widow yet survives. Mrs. Cook has three brothers: Byron served in the late war in the

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Forty-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and now resides in McLean County, this State; Frank is in Beadle County, Dak., and John M. is in Calhoun County, Iowa. She has also three sisters: Ida and Inez (twins) and Ella. Ida is the wife of Charles Cornell, and resides in Bristol Township; Inez married David Draffen, of Rochester, N. Y., and Ella resides in Calhoun County, Iowa, the wife of Leroy Cornell. For five years after his marriage Mr. Cook resided on the Charles M. Cook farm, and then located on the farm he now owns. To him and Mrs. Cook have been born nine chil- dren, of whom the living are Charles B., Frank R., Mary E., John J. and Robert Lee Cook.

J HOMAS ATHERTON. The Atherton fam- ily trace its antecedents to Atherstone, England, from which place two brothers, James and John, came to America, accord- ing to tradition, in the year 1600, and located in Massachusetts. Subsequently they joined a col- ony that went to Pennsylvania, and settled in Wy- oming Valley, where they purchased from the Indians thirteen square miles of land, for which they paid one-half bushel of silver. Our subject was born in the Wyoming Valley, Kingston Town- ship, Luzerne Co., Penn., February 13, 1825, a son of Valentine and Sarah (Miller) Atherton, of Philadelphia. The maternal grandsire of our sub- ject was Christopher Miller. Thomas came west with his parents in the fall of 1850, and located first in Monmouth. In the spring of 1851 they purchased about 220 acres of improved land on Section 11, for about $11 dollars per acre, which was first taken up by Robert Ford, and on this tract the family have since been represented. The father of our subject died January 24, 1885, aged eighty-seven years, and his widow now resides in Yorkville, aged eighty-one years. Thomas re- mained with his parents until his marriage, which oc- curred September 18, 1853, with Martha Cook, who was born June 21, 1835, in Monmouth County, N. J. She was the youngest daughter of John and Mary (Morris) Cook, both of Monmouth County, N. J., who came west in 1838. After Mr. Atherton mar- ried he moved on the farm he now owns and is

the possessor of 800 acres, embraced in three farms. Mr. and Mrs. Atherton have had four children, three now living: Eugene Cook, Sarah C., wife of Frank J. Shepherd, a railroad man, and Thomas V. The deceased was Maggie, who died October 5, 1881, aged eighteen years. Mr. Atherton, polit- ically, is a Republican, and has filled several offi- ces of trust.

J HOMAS FINNIE. Prominent among the old settlers and substantial citizens of Kendall County who have attained financial success is the enterprising, public spirited son of Scotia whose name heads this" biographical me- moir. He was born in Galashiels, July 25, 1809, and when twelve years of age came with his par- ents, Alexander and Mary (Mercer) Finnie, to this country, Jocating at Broadalbin, a Scotch settle- ment, in Montgomery County, N. Y. The father was a woolen manufacturer, a business he con- tinued to follow after coming to the United States; the mother was a daughter of George Mercer. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Finnie had four sons: Thomas, George, Alexander and Mercer, born in Scotland, and one daughter, Mary, born in New York State. George married, and had two chil- dren (he died in La Salle County, Ill); Alexander married and had two children (died in La Salle County, Ill.); Mercer and Mary (latter widow of Orrin Kennedy) reside in Bristol Township, Ken- dall County. The father of this family died about the year 1823, and some years after his death George and Alexander removed to Orleans County, N. Y., whither Thomas subsequently followed, and there carried on the business he had learned of his father, in a country " shop " or factory, until June. 1838, when he came west, to what is now Fox Township, Kendall County, by way of lake to De- troit, thence by wagon. A year previous to this his brother George came out and purchased a claim for the sum of $100, situated on Sections 17 and 18, Fox Township, which surveyed about 178 acres, This piece of land Thomas purchased of his brother, who had made no improvements what- ever on the place. Thomas made his first improve- ments on the burr-oak ridge, above the river flats, built a frame house and a stable of sod.

Thomas Lima

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KENDALL COUNTY.

October 24, 1839, here, in his primitive new home, Mr. Finnie married Mary Aldrich, who was born in Montgomery County, N. Y., December 3. 1817, eldest daughter of Nathan Aldrich (a native of Rhode Island) and Naomi (Kellogg) Aldrich (a native of Vermont), parents of three daughters and one son, and who came to Illinois in 1838, settling on the place now owned by Lyell Aldrich. In 1861 Mr. Finnie moved to his present home, where he had previously built a substantial resi- dence, with outbuildings, and here he and his worthy life partner are spending the remainder of their days in peaceful retirement and enjoyment of a well-earned and handsome competency. Mr. Finnie has several well-cultivated farms, aggre- gating many hundred acres. He is a stanch Re- publican, was one of the first supervisors of his township, and in that office served eighteen terms; was a member of the Constitutional Convention, in 1860, and in many ways has been prominently identified with the best interests of the county. He has a good library, and is well read and thor- oughly posted on the topics of the day. Mrs. Finnie is a great lover of house plants, and the conservatory, which helps to beautify their elegant home, is filled with many choice plants and flowers.

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Finnie have four chil- dren, one son and three daughters: Mary L., widow of D. R. Ballou, of Fox Township, Ken- dall Co., Ill .; Irene, wife of Charles M. Scoggin, living on part of the Finnie estate; Walter, un- married, carrying on the home farm, and Addie, single, at home with her parents.

H ENRY G. SMITH, agent of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, at Oswego, was born in Whiting, Addison Co., Vt., July 19, 1844, the son of Phineas and Eliza (Plumb) Smith. In 1852 the father came West and settled at Pavilion, Ill., where Henry G. grew to manhood. Upon the outbreak of the Rebellion Henry G. enlisted as a soldier September 15, 1861, in Company A, First Regiment of Wisconsin Caval- ry, and served over two years, when he was honora- bly discharged on account of disability, caused by injury from a horse, in the service, and for which he

now draws a pension. On leaving the army he returned home, and was engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1871, when he became an employe of the railroad company at Yorkville, and, having made himself a proficient telegraph operator, was appointed station agent at Big Rock when that station was first established; he subsequently acted in the same capacity for four years at Fox Station, and for two and a half years at Fox River Junc- tion, and in 1880 was appointed to his present po- sition. He was married October 21, 1863, to Christina Harkness, who died May 13, 1871, a member of the Methodist Church. By this union there were two daughters: Nellie J. and Mamie S. For his second wife Mr. Smith married, while at Fox River Junction, Miss Josie A. Samse, a daughter of Charles Samse, Esq., of Oswego, Ill. Mr. Smith is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the G. A. R. Post, No. 20, at Aurora. He is much respected as a citizen, and is popu- lar with the public for his courtesy and prompt- ness as an official of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.

R OBERT BARRON, one of the sturdy, hon- est, Yorkshire farmers who, leaving for- ever their native homes in England, make good citizens wherever they may go, and as immigrants are a credit to the land of their adoption, has been a resident of Kendall County, Ill., for over forty-two years. He was born No- vember 1, 1820, to William and Esther (Speck) Barron, who were the parents of three children, viz .: William, Hannah and Robert. Hannah also came to America, married Robert McMurtrie, and now resides in Bristol Township, Kendall County.

Robert, being bereft of his mother, when four- teen years of age, left home, and from that time until he was twenty-five years old, worked for himself at whatever he could lay his hand to. In 1845 he immigrated to this country, arriving in July of that year, and came direct to Fox Town- ship, Kendall County, where he engaged in farm- ing, renting for nearly twenty years. By this time he had accumulated sufficient to enable him to purchase of one William Vernon, just prior to the civil war, 143 acres of but little improved

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land, on Sections 3, 4, 9 and 10, Fox Township, and for which he paid the sum of $3.666. In 1867 he bought another piece of land, 135 acres, in Lisbon Township, for which he paid $6,750. After Mr. Barron had purchased his farm in Fox Township he took up his residence thereon, com- menced making improvements, and here resided until about the year 1878, when he removed into the town of Milbrook Station, where he had built a handsome and commodious residence, and here he is now enjoying in comfort the fruits of his labors.

Mr. Barron married, in England, in 1845, Hannah Dickinson, also a native of Yorkshire, born in February, 1820, a daughter of Marmaduke and Elizabeth (Coates) Dickinson. By this union seven children were born, four of whom grew to manhood and womanlıood, viz .: William, a farmer in Lisbon Township, Kendall County; Mary, deceased wife of George Nichols; Hannah, at home with her parents; and George, on the homestead farm, in Fox Township; two died in infancy, and Elizabeth when twelve years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Barron are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which they have been identified for about thirty-five years, and in which Mr. Barron has been class leader, trustee and steward. Politic- ally, he is a Republican.

YELL T. ALDRICH. This gentleman rep- resents one of the pioneer families of Ken- dall County. His father, Nathan Aldrich, was born in Kingston, R. I., a son of John Aldrich, of Connecticut, who was a surgeon in the Colonial army, and whose twin brother, William, was confined for some months on the " old Jersey prison ship," while John lay for two years in the Tower of London as a prisoner of war. Nathan Aldrich, when a lad, accompanied an uncle to Montgomery County, N. Y., where he grew to manhood, married and engaged in farming. His wife was Miss Naomi Kellogg, daughter of Seth and Naomi Kellogg, and by her he had a family of four children, one son and three daughters, as follows: Mary, wife of Thomas Finnie, residing in Kendall County; Caroline, now deceased, who

married Lindsay H. Carr, and located in Sand- wich, De Kalb Co., Ill. (he was a soldier in the Mexican war, and at the breaking out of the Civil War, became a captain in the Tenth Illinois Vol- unteer Infantry, having enlisted twice, and was killed at the battle of New Madrid); Lyell T., and Naomi E., who married A. S. Johnson, also a sol- dier in the War of the Rebellion (she died at Mil- lington, Ill.). The father of these children died April 22, 1844, at the age of forty-seven years, and the mother in February, 1884, aged eighty-seven years. Nathan Aldrich came with his family to what is now Kendall County in the fall of 1838, locating on Section 18, Fox Township, where he bought a claim of William Pickering, of Boston, for the sum of $200. He was a stanch Whig, and a friend to the bondman.

On the death of his father Lyell T. fell heir to the home farm, where he has since followed agri- cultural pursuits with success,

He was married, November 7, 1850, to Miss Delia A. Southworth, born in Camden, Oneida Co., N. Y., the third daughter of James and Delia W. (Day) Southworth. Her paternal grandfather, James Southworth, for many years a Congrega- tional minister at Bridgewater, N. Y., married Susan Vail, and her maternal grandsire, Ezra S. Day, a native of New Hampshire, and a physician by profession, married Lucy Welch. To James and Delia W. Southworth were born one son and three daughters: Larue P., Delia A., Lucy Marie and Caroline Jane. Of these, Larue P. is a ranch- man in Russell County, Kas. (he served four years in the Civil War in the Thirty-sixth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry); Lucy M., married James H. Whitney, and resides at Adrian, Bates Co., Mo .; Caroline J. is the wife of Fielding Heavanhill, and resides in La Salle County, Ill. The parents of Mrs. Aldrich came to Mission Grove, in La Salle County, in August, 1838, from New York. The father, a lawyer by profession, moved to Newark in 1839, and died in the spring of 1841; his widow, who afterward married Jesse Jackson (now deceased), is living at Millington, Kendall County, at the advanced age of eighty- seven years. Mr. and Mrs. Aldrich have three children: Nathan James, an attorney at law in

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Aurora, member of the firm of Hopkins, Aldrich & Thatcher; Lizzie, wife of George J. Marvin, and residing near Rochester, N. Y .; and Edward P., preparing for the position of locomotive engineer.

For nearly twenty years Mrs. Aldrich has been a correspondent for several journals, her articles appearing over the nom de plume of "Galva."

A NDREW BRODIE was born September 18, 1817, in Forfarshire, Scotland. In 1841 he immigrated to the United States, and in August of the same year located in Fulton County, Ill., where he spent his first

winter. In the spring of 1842 he removed to the foot of Somonauk Creek, where he remained near- ly one year in the employ of his brother, William, who carried on blacksmithing. From there they went to Munson Town, where they resided four years, and while there they lost their shop and tools by fire. From Munson Town they moved to Hardin, and there remained until 1850, in which year Andrew made an overland trip to California, a journey for him of five months and twenty days. He took with him from Ottawa, Ill., by team, thirty-three passengers. In the Golden State he remained until the fall of 1851, freighting and teaming, and in the provision business, meeting with marked success.

Returning to Illinois, Mr. Brodie purchased in Section 19, Fox Township, Kendall County, 226 acres, for which he paid $1,500, there being about fifty acres of broken land with a log cabin thereon. In January, 1852, he moved into the log cabin, and commenced improving the place, and, in 1854, was enabled to take up his abode in his present fine, substantial dwelling, adjacent to which are commodious barns and other outhouses, one of the barns being built of stone. The entire place, about forty rods square, is enclosed with a mas- sive stone wall, laid in mortar, three feet in the ground and four feet above.

For some years Mr. Brodie was interested in a woolen factory in Fox Township, which, however, did not prove a financial success; but his chief business since coming here has been farming and stock raising. He was married February 25,

1848, to Margaret Jones, a native of Wales, born May 2, 1830, daughter of Jenkin and Margaret (Williams) Jones. Mrs. Brodie came to this coun- try in June, 1842, with her parents, who settled in Northville Township, La Salle Co., Ill. Eight children blessed this union, four dying in infancy. Those now living are William A., Eliza J., Graham S. and Frederick M., all at home except William A., who is a farmer in Fayette County, Iowa. Mr. Brodie was formerly a Democrat, but since the Missouri Compromise he has been a stanch Repub- lican. For twenty-one years he has been township commissioner.

Robert Brodie, father of the subject of this memoir, and a miller by occupation in Scotland, died when Andrew was very young. He married a Miss Jane Rattray, who bore him seven chil- dren, six sons and one daughter, namely: Robert, Thomas, William, Graham, Andrew and John (twins), and Janet, all now deceased except John, Graham and Andrew. Janet married James Mole- son, and both died in Scotland; Robert became the father of three daughters and one son, and died in Canada; Thomas remained in Scotland, married, and had three children; John is a farmer in Story County, Iowa, and has a family of nine children; William and Graham also married, but have had no family.

W ALTER C. BEANE. England has not been behindhand in furnishing its quota to Kendall County of good substantial citizens, who have done honor alike to their native country and the land of their adoption by their sobriety, honesty and industry. Among this class stand prominent the Beane family, who hail from the city of Norwich, where was born Jan- uary 19, 1828, the gentleman whose name heads this memoir. His father, John Cook Beane, came with his wife and family to America in 1840, and located in Will County, Ill., near Joliet. There were five children in the family: Emily who mar- ried Robert Beane, a distant relative; Frederick J., in Plattville, Kendall County; Wallace, now in Minnesota; Horace, who died in California, and our subject.

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KENDALL COUNTY.

Walter C. Beane was married March 5, 1857, to Miss Sarah Pooley, a native of Norwich, Eng- land, born May 6, 1839, daughter of John and Mary (Miller) Pooley, who immigrated to Illinois in 1856, and settled in Will County. Mr. and Mrs. Pooley had fourteen children, three sons and eleven daughters, as follows: Clara, William, Mary, Ellen, Sarah, Maria, Susan, Martha, John, Bessie, Sophia, Julia, Emma and Robert. These children are scattered in various States, and some are deceased, among them being William and John, who were both members of the One Hun. dred and Twenty-seventh Illinois Volunteer In- fantry. William was killed in battle; John died of disease in the hospital. Walter C. Beane and wife have been blessed with seven children, named as follows: Frank C., who married Emma J. Ken- nedy, and lives near the homestead of his father; Fred J. married Rhoda E. Wait, and lives in Kos- suth County, Iowa; Emma; Lizzie, who married William Crimmin, of Kendall Township; William A., Etta and Edith. Those not married are living on the homestead with their parents. Mr. and Mrs. Beane are very pleasantly located with their family on a fine farm of 240 acres that he owns on Section 1, of Fox Township, one of the best in the vicinity, on which is erected a commodious resi- dence and other good outbuildings, suitable for the proper care of his farm products and live stock. He is known and recognized as one of the fore- most men of his vicinity.

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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 88

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