USA > Illinois > Kendall County > Genealogical and biographical record of Kendall and Will Counties, Illinois : containing biographies of well known citizens of the past and present > Part 12
USA > Illinois > Will County > Genealogical and biographical record of Kendall and Will Counties, Illinois : containing biographies of well known citizens of the past and present > Part 12
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In 1844 Valmar Brown left home for the west. He landed in Chicago at midnight, October 12, of that year. His sole possession was a twenty- five cent piece. Not caring to spend it he spent the balance of the night in exploring the city.
The next day he found a man from Naperville who had brought a load of wheat to market, and this farmer agreed to take him to Naperville for twenty-five cents. Upon reaching the man's house, Saturday night, the latter not only re- fused to accept the money, but invited him to stay over Sunday. Finally the young man made an arrangement to spend the winter with his kind friend, who was a carpenter and joiner, and to whom he could therefore be of some aid. In the
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spring he secured employment on a farm some iniles away. His employer, Mr. Sheldon, gave him charge of one of the two threshing machines that he owned, and he brought it to Kendall County for the season. The machine was a new Buffalo Pitts, but recently patented, and the farmers, not knowing him or his machine, felt afraid to trust them. The first man who risked him in the work was David Lord, of Big Grove Township, and the work was done in so satisfactory a manner that afterward he had no trouble in securing steady employment during the season. He spent the fall and early winter in threshing in Kendall, LaSalle and Kane Countics, working up the Fox River Valley to within eight miles of Chicago, and continuing until early in December, when he took the ma- chine back to the owner.
While at Mr. Lord's, in Kendall County, Mr. Brown had met Miss Emeline Lord and the at- traction was sufficient to draw him back to the county when the threshing season ended. He secured work with Thomas Spencer, a well- known carpenter of the day. During the winter he saved enough money to buy forty acres of government land at $1.25 per acre. The next summer he worked as a carpenter in this county, thus saving enough money to build a small house 011 liis place. He was then ready to begin house- keeping, and on the 31st of October, 1847, lie and Miss Lord were married, coming at once to their little 18x22 cottage. Mrs. Brown was born in Oswego County, N. Y., September 15, 1828, and in 1843 accompanied her parents to Illinois.
For some years after his marriage Mr. Brown worked as a carpenter. He hired a neighbor to break the sod of his new farm, paying him $12 for one day's work by himself and five yoke of oxen. In 1856 he sold out and bought one lun- dred and thirty-eight acres on sections 14 and 15, this being the Lot Scofield place. Afterward he engaged in farming, besides following his trade. In 1875 he became traveling salesman for the Marseilles Manufacturing Company, for whom he sold windmills in Illinois for a period of one year. During one season he sold farm imple-
ments for a firm in Ottawa, then for two years traveled for a manufacturer in Millbrook, after which he introduced the disc harrow in Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Wis- consin and Minnesota, this machine being manu- factured by Budlong & Co., of Aurora. Finally, however, he became so lame with rheumatism that traveling was no longer practicable and he retired. In 1880 he moved from the farm into Newark, but five years later returned to the homestead, and here his wife died January 6, 1887. Her body was interred in the Millington cemetery. A few years later her only son, George, died. Her only daughter, Cora A., was first married to Frederick Redfield, by whom she had one son, Tracy Redfield. She is now the wife of James Lawrence, of Aurora, by whom she has a son and daughter, William and Lila Lawrence.
It is an interesting fact that Mr. Brown has in liis possession the original patent from James K. Polk for his forty-acre tract in LaSalle County. In politics he is a Republican. He has always refused office, but was once elected highway com- missioner without his knowledge and consent. Converted at eighteen years of age, he has since been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and during much of that time he served on the official board. During early days his home was headquarters for the circuit riders and ministers of his denomination.
OHN CYRENUS SHAW, supervisor of Lisbon Township and a widely known breed- er of blooded live-stock in Kendall County, was born in the township and county mentioned, May 7, 1846. He is the son of Thomas and Ellen (Smethurst) Shaw, natives of Lancashire, England. His father was born in 1809 and liis mother in 1811. They were married in 1835, emigrated to America seven years later and es- tablislied their home in Lisbon Township, where Mr. Shaw entered a claim of eighty acres. From childhood both himself and wife had worked in the woolen mills of Ashton, England, his special occupation being that of a finisher of cloth.
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Doubtless this was one reason why they entered so heartily into their new farming life and the establishment of their homestead, on which they lived for a period of forty-five years. In 1887 they removed to Yorkville, but a short time after- ward located in Newark, where Mr. Shaw died April 17, 1891, and his wife February 7, 1896.
At the time of his death Thomas Shaw owned four hundred acres of land in Lisbon Township and was accounted a man of thrift and sound business judgment. During most of his active life he was officially connected with the Method- ist Episcopal Church and was prominent in the establishment of several societies of that denomi- nation. He not only prospered financially, but his religious and moral worth was unquestioned. In civic affairs he was retiring, invariably declin- ing public office. The family consists of nine children, all still living. Elias, the eldest, is a fruit grower in Santa Rosa, Cal. Anna is the wife of Joseph Fielding, of Scranton, Iowa. William is a resident of Waupaca, Wis. The fourth child, Mary, is the widow of Matthew Cocksford and resides in Chicago. Thomas is a wholesale music dealer of Wichita, Kans. Our subject is the sixth of the family, the seventh being Samuel S., a farmer of Scranton, Iowa. Elizabeth is married to Otto Worsley, of New- ark, and Maggie to Hiram Worsley, of Scranton.
John C. Shaw, a self-made man, as was his father, and almost self-educated, was born on the family homestead and lived with his parents un- til the date of his marriage, July 15, 1874. His wife, Barbara (née Fletcher), was the daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Becker) Fletcher, and was born in Pennsylvania, one of a family of nine children, namely: Mary, who married James Runner and resided in Kendall County until her death in 1899; Lucinda, wife of John Brickley, of Chatsworth, Ill .; Samuel, a resident of Hoopes- ton, Ill .; Ellen, widow of Ezekiel Pletcher, of Plattville, Ill .; Joseph, who died in Coffey County, Kans .; Barbara, wife of Mr. Shaw; Eliza, who is unmarried and lives in Plattville, Ill., David, of Hoopeston; and Frank, who died in California.
After his marriage Mr. Shaw bought one hull-
dred and sixty acres, now included in the home- stead, and commenced life in a very simple home. He improved the farm, added one hun- dred and sixty acres to it and in 1895 erected the comfortable residence in which he now lives. He is now the owner of three hundred and twenty acres in one body and fifty acres in Seward Township. He operates the entire farm, feeding his grain to live stock, which includes some sixty head of cattle annually. For the past fifteen years, however, he has given special attention to the breeding of thoroughbred Poland-China swine. His herd averages one hundred head per year, which he sells for breeding purposes only. It has a place in the "American Record," at its head being "Model" (44,789) son of the famous "Klever's Model." He has kept pace with the best strains of this noted breed and his herd has a wide reputation. It has been represented at all the fat stock shows held in Chicago and has never been defeated.
Mr. Shaw is a practical man of action and has taken a leading part in local politics. Until 1884 he supported the Republican party, but since that year he has worked within the temperance orga- nization. He lias held the office of supervisor for the past eighteen years, and with the excep- tion of one year his election has always been unanimous. In religion he is a stanch Meth- odist of long standing, joining that church when he was fifteen years of age, and being identified with it in an official capacity for a quarter of a century. For twenty-five years he has also been a worker in the Sunday-school.
The life of Mr. Shaw furnishes a marked ex- ample of the success to be attained by a persistent concentration of one's abilities and energies. As stated, he was virtually without the benefit of schooling. Until he was twenty-one years of age he had never been more than twenty miles from home and had never spent $5 at one time. His standing is the result of his own unaided effort, based upon strict temperance as to tobacco and liquor. Although he and his wife have no children of their own, they have an adopted daughter, Fannie, who formerly resided in York- ville.
Photo by Benensohn, Yorkville, Il1.
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
WILLIAM McMINN HANNA, M. D.
ILLIAM MCMINN HANNA, M. D., of Lisbon, was born at Spring Mills, Centre County, Pa., July 18, 1840, a son of Samuel C. and Susan R. (Miles) Hanna, both natives of Centre County. Samuel C. Hanna was a son of Andrew and Margaret (Cook) Hanna, who were born in this country. The father of Andrew Hanna came from Scotland, and the wife of the last named was of Welsh extrac- tion. Samuel C. Hanna grew to manhood upon a farm and followed agricultural pursuits in his native county until 1854, when he removed to Crawford County, Pa., there spending his re- maining years and cultivating a farm. He was a Whig and took an interest in public affairs. As class-leader and member of the official board, for years he was a leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which he belonged. Both he and his wife were born in 1806. He died March 17, 1857, and she October 7, 1882, at her daughter's home in Chicago. Of their ten children seven attained mature years, one having died in in- fancy, another at nine months, and the second son, Samuel M., at the age of three years.
The oldest son, Edward B., came to Illinois in 1854 and settled at Morris, Grundy County, where he was postmaster for ten years (a part of the time under President Lincoln). In 1872 he removed to Chicago and embarked in the whole- sale drug business. He died in that city Janu- ary 12, 1892. Thomas B., who was a student in the University of Michigan and a graduate of Rush Medical College, practiced medicine in
Lisbon ten years, removing to Chicago to asso- ciate himself with his brother in the drug busi- ness; in 1875 he went to Denison, Tex., and en- gaged in professional practice and the drug business. He died there May 7, 1890. In the year after the outbreak of the Civil war he or- ganized Company E, Ninety-first Illinois Infan- try, and was mustered into service September 8, 1862, remaining at the front until December 20 of the same year. His regiment took part in the capture of guerillas in Kentucky.
The other children of the family were as fol- lows: Sarah J., who married Walter C. Evans, a farmer in Pennsylvania, and died December 18, 1869, aged thirty-three years; Margaret V., wife of William J. McFarland, of Chicago; William M .; Martha E., wife of Albert B. Moore, a farmer of Pottawattamie County, Iowa; and Sep- timus J., an attorney, now editing a Christian Science publication in Boston.
No event of unusual importance occurred to mark the boyhood or youth of William M. Hauna. He attended Alleghany College at Meadville, Pa., after which he matriculated in the University of Michigan. June 2, 1864, he left the classroom to enlist in his country's service, and became a member of Company H, One Hundred and Thir- ty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with a com- mission as second lientenant. This company he assisted in recruiting from Kendall and Grundy Counties. He went into camp at Quincy, Ill., and was thence sent to Leavenworth, Kans., to aid in checking the depredations of the guerilla,
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Quantrell. At the expiration of his time he was mustered out, October 14, 1864, at Springfield, Il1. He remained with his brother, Dr. Thomas B. Hanna, in Lisbon until the winter of 1865, when he returned to the university. After com- pleting his medical studies, in September, 1866, he began to practice at Seneca, Ill., where here- mained two years. During that time he formed the acquaintance of Miss Delight E. Tuttle, daughter of James B. and Loretta (Nichols) Tuttle. She was born in Camden, Oneida Coun- ty, N. Y., and at fourteen years of age accom- panied her parents to Seneca, Ill., where she be- came the doctor's wife January 26, 1868.
In the fall of 1868 Dr. Hanna returned to Lis- bon and associated himself in practice with his brother until the latter removed to Chicago, since which time he has been alone. In 1886 he took a post-graduate course in Rush Medical College, and in 1897 a post-graduate course in the Chicago Polyclinic. In his thirty-two years of continuous practice in Kendall County he has built up an enviable reputation for skill and painstaking care as a physician, as well as for many admirable personal traits of character. Aside from profes- sional duties he has found time to identify him- self with matters of a political and social nature. He has been an earnest supporter of the Repub- lican party, served as supervisor of Big Grove Township in 1883-84, during which time the bridges were built across the Fox River at Mill- ington and Yorkville; and for twelve years he has been a member of the board of education. In the fall of 1884 he was elected to the state legis- lature, and during his term in that body was act- ive in securing the passageof what was known as the demonstrator's bill, a measure legalizing and providing for the procuring of bodies for dissect- ing and demonstration work in medical colleges. He is deeply interested in every measure pertain- ing to or for the benefit of his profession, and is an active member of the Illinois Medical Asso- ciation; also belongs to the LaSalle County Med- ical Society. The Grand Army post at Morris has his name on its muster roll, and he is also a member of Orient Lodge No. 323, A. F. & A. M., at Lisbon, in which he is past master.
In his home life Dr. Hanna has had many be- reavements, and is now left alone, the sole sur- vivor of his family. His wife was taken from him by death October 15, 1885. Their daughter, who was born April 2, 1872, died April 11, 1874, when but two sunny years had crowned her par- ents' hearts with joy and pride. The only son, Willie T., was born January 19, 1876, and died July 16, 1887, when eleven years of age.
LFRED A. ZELLAR. The Zellars were numbered among the early settlers of north- eastern Illinois, and half a century ago the birth of Alfred A., of this sketch, took place upon his father's homestead, three miles north of Plano, in which locality he always has dwelt. His father, Joel Zellar, was a native of Jefferson County, N. Y., and lived in that section of the state until he was twenty years old. In 1838 he concluded to try his fortunes in the west, and go- ing to Buffalo by way of the canal he there em- barked on a ship bound for Chicago, where he safely arrived in due time. From that place, whose great future was unimagined, he pro- ceeded across the country to Kendall County and took up one hundred and four acres of land near Plano. He suffered the vicissitudes common to the pioneer, and in the developing of his farm he was first obliged to break the prairie with oxen and old-fashioned plows. Having harvested his crops, he then had to haul the grain to Chicago, and every department of agriculture was attended by special hardships. Nobly he played his part in the founding of this county and in the main- tenance of its structure.
Early in the agitation in this country on the slavery question Joel Zellar became an Abolition- ist, and when the Republican party was organized he was one of its most loyal adherents. When the Union seemed, indeed, in a grave crisis he left his young wife and little ones and went to the defense of his country. Enlisting in Com- pany F, One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Illi- nois Infantry, he went to the front and took part in several important campaigns, including
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
the celebrated march through Georgia, under the leadership of General Sherman. His long and forced marches, exposure to all kinds of weather and the numerous hardships of the sol- dier's life, undermined his health gradually, and finally he contracted the disease to which his deatlı, June 5, 1865, is directly attributable. He left to mourn his loss a great multitude of sincere friends, and his widow, whose maiden name was Lydia E. Robbins, was thus invested with a double parental responsibility. Amelia, the only daughter, is deceased, and Edward, the third child, died when in his third year. Men- tion of the second follows:
The date of Alfred A. Zellar's birth is March 17, 1850, and thus he had only attained his thir- teenth year when his father left home and went to lay his life upon the altar of his country. The lad attended school only during the three months' winter terin for three or four years. He man- fully took up as many of the duties of the farm as his strength allowed, and was very young when he mastered the different departments of the work. When he had reached his majority the homestead was sold, and he soon invested his funds in another farm, this tract, comprising one hundred and fifty acres, being situated in the township of Bristol and Plano. After spending five years in the cultivation of this finely im- proved place, Mr. Zellar came to Plano and ein- barked in the grocery business, later adding a stock of bakery goods. He has disposed of his country home and bought a comfortable modern residence here instead.
Politically Mr. Zellar has been an acknowledged factor in the Republican party, as he has been a delegate to conventions and served for four years as a member of the Plano city council. He was the only man ever elected in the second ward on the anti-license ticket, and for a period of six months he acted in the capacity of mayor pro tem. He has been president of the school board, and is a member of Little Rock Lodge No. 171, I. O. O. F., and of the Woodmen of the World. Religiously he is a Methodist in faith, and is connected with the Plano congregation.
'The marriage of Mr. Zellar and Celia Daley
took place February 8, 1872. Four children blessed their union, namely: Charles, who died in infancy; Willard J., now a resident of DeKalb; Edna, wife of Hermon Jones, of Big Rock Town- ship; and Vera, who is at home. The mother was born in New York City, and is a daughter of John Daley, a native of England. He died when the daughter was only three years old. His wife, Margaret Daley, was a native of Ireland.
EW W. MASON. Nearly two score years ago the Masons became identified with the business men of Yorkville, and father and sons have maintained an enviable reputation for integrity and honor, enterprise and general finan- cial ability. Their influence has been cast upon the side of progress and the right in every in- stance, and Yorkville has been able to boast of no more patriotic citizens.
Lew Wallace Mason is of the third generation in direct line of descent, connected with the hide and leather business. His grandfather, Caleb Mason, who was born near Boston, Mass., learned the tanner's trade, and for several years followed that line of business. Removing to Ohio at an early period he there gave his attention chiefly to the cultivation of a farmi, which was located in the vicinity of Painesville. He came to Illinois at a very early day and in 1866 settled at York- ville, where he spent the remainder of his life, which came to a close when he had attained thie age of ninety years.
Wellington Mason, father of our subject, was born on the old homestead near Painesville, Ohio, and accompanied the family to Illinois. Here he taught school when he was only seventeen years old, and later was similarly occupied in different parts of the state and at St. Louis, Mo. Coming to Yorkville in 1866 he embarked in the tannery business, and for twenty-one years was ranked among the leading and successful business m11en of this place. He made a record of which he has just reason to be proud, and his name has been a synonym for uprightness in every town where he has dwelt. In 1887 he sold out liis business here
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
and went to Kossuth County, Iowa, where he purchased a large tract of land, and since that time has been actively engaged in agricultural pursuits. Fraternally he is a member of the Ma- sonic order, and in political opinion is a Repub- lican of firm convictions.
For a helpmate and companion along the journey of life Mr. Mason chose Sarah B. Neff, of a prominent family in LaSalle County, Il1. She departed this life in April, 1899, and is deeply mourned by a host of friends, as well as by her immediate family. Five sons and a daughter are thus left motherless. Frank, the first-born, resides in Marseilles, Ill., and Laura, the second child, is the only daughter. Ells- worth C. is engaged in the harness business in Somonauk. Curtis is in partnership with our subject; and Lisle is a resident of Dixon, Cal.
The birth of Lew W. Mason took place Febru- ary 7, 1862, near Gardner, Grundy County, Il1. After completing a common school education he entered a business college at Geneseo, Ill., and then established a harness shop in Yorkville. For the past year he has been in partnership with his brother, and they have continually extended their trade. They manufacture a fine grade of harness, and command the respect of the public by their methodical, thorough way of transacting business.
In Republican circles Mr. Mason takes an in- fluential part. He has often acted as a delegate to conventions of his political brethren, and is a member of the Illinois Republican League. So- cially he is very popular, and in the Masonic or- der belongs to the blue lodge of Yorkville, the chapter of Sandwich, Ill., and the commandery at Aurora, Ill. A few years ago he built a resi- dence here, but subsequently removed to his present home on Main street, North Yorkville, which he purchased. He and his wife are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The marriage of Mr. Mason and Mary E. Hop- kins took place June 30, 1887. She is a daugh- ter of Dr. Robert and Mary E. (Cook) Hopkins, the former a graduate of Rush Medical College, of Chicago. He was born in Washington Coun- ty, N. Y., in 1822, and in 1843 became a citizen
of Yorkville. He was but little past his majority when he established himself in professional prac- tice, and, as there were few physicians in this region at that early period, he was called to many distant points, and, indeed, he might have been termed a "circuit rider," for his patients were scattered over a large district, his rides often ex- tending twenty or twenty-five miles. His was a very busy and useful career, and his friends were innumerable in this county. He was, altogether, in active practice here for thirty-five years, and by strict attention to business made a snug for- tune, investing his funds from time to time in farm lands until his possessions amounted to about three thousand acres of land in this county. Though not an office-seeker, nor a politician, he was a stalwart Democrat, and religiously he was a Congregationalist. His death occurred June 1, 1878, and though more than a score of years have since rolled away his memory is tenderly cherished in the hearts of his many old friends.
ILLIAM A. JESSUP. For half a century Mr. Jessup has dwelt in Kendall County, and though he has led a very active, pro- gressive-spirited life during this entire period, and notwithstanding the fact that he is more than three score and ten years old, he retains his deep interest in everything pertaining to the wel- fare of the community and has not relaxed his many business affairs.
The father of our subject, Daniel Jessup, was born in Orange County, N. Y., July 1, 1795. He was a man of wide information and local im- portance in his community and time, and for many years he was successfully engaged in teach- ing. He served as captain of a company of mil- itia, and in religious circles also his position was not without wide influence, for he aided loyally in the support of the Presbyterian Church and Sunday-school of his neighborhood. William A. is the only survivor of the first marriage of Daniel Jessup, and the wife, Sarah, was a sister of the father of Edmund Seely, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. For a second wife Daniel
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