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 18
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 18
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During the eighteenth century the Lichten- walter family was founded in America by a German, who settled in Adams County, Pa., and remained there from that time until his death. The descendants of one of his sons may now be found in Lehigh County, Pa. Another of his sons, Abraham, was a native of Adams County, but spent his last years on a farm in Stark County, Ohio, and was buried at Canton, that state. His son, Solomon, was about twenty-one when the family removed from Pennsylvania to Ohio. He took up a tract of wild land, which he
cleared and improved, and there he spent his re- maining years. He was one of the leading farmers of Stark County. For many years he was an elder in the Lutheran Church and the old house of worship he helped to build is still stand- ing, in good repair. The honor of being a dele- gate to the Ohio conference was conferred upon him. At the time of his death he was eighty- eight years of age. His wife was Catherine Hane, a native of Pennsylvania, who at four years of age had been taken to Ohio by her father, Charles Hane; afterward she resided in Stark County until her death, at fifty-two years. Of her twelve children seven are now living, namely: Samuel, a farmer of Stark County; Sarah, wife of Martin Metz, of Elwood, Ill .; John, also of Elwood; William, whose home is in Manhattan; Henry H .; Christian, a farmer and stock-raiser in Thayer County, Neb .; and Amanda, who married William Young and lives in Stark County.
The education acquired by our subject was suf- ficient to enable him to teach school, and in this occupation he continued for two years. For five years he followed the carpenter's trade. August 31, 1856, he bade farewell to his relatives and started for the west, full of hope for the future, and with all the determination that youth and health and an earnest spirit can give. He arrived in Joliet on the Ist of September. After two months in the city he went to the country, where he followed his trade for two years. In 1858 he rented a farm six miles south of Joliet, and there he tilled the soil for eleven years. In 1869 he purchased a farm in Florence Township and at once commenced the improvement of the prop- erty, on which he made his home for the next twenty-three years, meantime following the gen- eral lines of farming and stock-raising. He owned four hundred acres in partnership with his brother-in-law, Hiram E. Guiss. With him he also, for sixteen years, operated a threshing ma- chine, having contracts for work of this kind in Florence, Jackson, Manhattan and Wilton Town- ships. Their machine was one of the first threshers brought to the county. In 1886 he bought a farm in Jackson Township and five
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years later he moved to it. He remained there until March, 1900, when he removed with his wife and daughter to Manhattan, his son remaining on the farm.
Politically a Republican, Mr. Liclitenwalter was on that ticket elected supervisor of Florence Township, road commissioner, justice of the peace, collector, school trustee, etc. In 1858 he married Leah, daughter of John Guiss. They have six children living, viz .: Orlando, Frank, Albert (of Florence Township), Frances (wife of R. F. Weibel), John and Addie. The family are active workers in Grace Evangelical Church. Mr. Lichtenwalter was converted at the age of sixteen years and has since lived an exemplary Christian life. Since 1890 he has been a mem- ber of the Illinois conference and in 1898 he was a delegate to the general conference of the United Evangelical Church at Johnstown, Pa. In 1894 he donated land for a church building and he also contributed largely to the erection of the same, since which time he has been a liberal con- tributor to its maintenance. He has filled the office of Sunday school superintendent constantly and for some years has been a trustee of the church.
EV. MOTHER ALEXANDER MUNCH, who is at the head of the community of Fran- ciscan Sisters, located at Joliet, has for years been a potent factor in the advancement of its work and growth. St. Francis' convent, which the Sisters have in charge, was founded in 1865, its first location being on the corner of North Broadway and Division street, Joliet, but in 1882 it was removed to the present location, in the most elevated part of the city, away from the din of the busy streets. The cornerstone of the large main building was laid in 1881, but the building was not completed until 1882. From the time of its establishment in 1865 this convent has been the mother-house of this community. About 1874 St. Francis' Academy was started, and it is now one of the best schools of its kind in the county. The
building is provided with dormitories, class rooms, music rooms, studio, a recreation hall, an extensive library and scientific apparatus and specimens for illustrating the various branches of science. The course of study comprises three departments, each consisting of four grades, and each grade requires one year's time. Special attention is given to the department of music, which aims at thoroughness and adapts the most improved methods to the cultivation of correct taste and an appreciation of classical music. Students are drilled in harmony, the technique and theory of music. Attention is also given to oil painting and water colors. The large studio affords the students excellent facilities for the study ofdrawing and painting; a special feature has been made of china painting, and a kiln for firing is in charge of one of the Sisters. As a stimulus to effort, gold medals are awarded each year to those attaining the highest standard of excellence. The work of the academy has been thoroughly sys- tematized, so that the best results may be obtained from the pupils, and their progress in study is judiciously promoted.
Upon the establishment of the convent in 1865, Rev. Mother Alfreda Moes, a French lady, was placed at its head. She was followed successively by Rev. Mother Alberta Stockhof, Mother .Mary Frances Shanahan, Mother Mary Celestine Son- tag, Mother Lucy Raub (a native of Joliet), Mother Mary Angela Rosenberger and Mother Alexander Munch. Mothers Sontag, Raub and Rosenberger each held the position for six years. In August, 1899, Rev. Mother Alexander Munch was placed at the head of the convent. She was born in Joliet, a daughter of Xavier Munch, and received her education in Catholic schools, grad- uating in 1870, since which time she has been connected with the work of the Franciscan Sisters.
Under the supervision of the Franciscan Sisters of this community are thirty mission houses in various parts of this state, Ohio, Wisconsin, Mis- souri and Pennsylvania, where they have charge of the instruction of eight thousand children, in- cluding St. John's, St. Joseph's and Holy Cross parochial schools in Joliet. In 1898 they estab- lished the Guardian Angels' Home for Children
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and erected a building on Buell avenue with accommodations for sixty. Already fifty-five orphans have been placed under their care in this institution. In the rearing of the children given to their charge they show a painstaking thoroughness and the most earnest desire to im- plant in their hearts pure and lofty purposes and to cultivate good morals.
ILLIAM M. CLOW owns an improved stock and dairy farm on section 14, Wheat- land Township. Born on a farm, he se- lected agriculture as his life occupation; the suc- cess he has met proves he made no mistake. Under his father he acquired some knowledge of many details connected with cultivating the soil and raising stock. At the time of his marriage he started for himself, bought one hundred and fifteen acres of unimproved land, which he has since added to by the purchase of one hundred and twenty acres. He assisted in incorporating the creamery, which proved to be profitable. He has held the offices of township clerk, road com- missioner and school director, and in politics is a Democrat.
The grandfather of our subject, Robert Clow, a native of Dumfrieshire, Scotland, brought his family to America in 1837. He and his family (six sons and two daughters) rented the old Shaker farm on Sodus Bay, N. Y., which they worked six years. In 1843 they came west via the Erie canal and the lakes to Chicago. Set- tling in Will County, he and his sons pre-empted and purchased some fourteen hundred and eighty acres. He resided on the place until his death in 1877, aged eighty-five years. His wife died in Scotland. They had six sons and four daughters.
At the time the family came to America, Rob- ert Clow, Jr., father of our subject, was eighteen years old. He accompanied his father to this county in 1844 and was identified with its farm and public interests all his life. In 1849, at the age of thirty-one, he married Miss Rosanna
McMicken, who was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, and came to Illinois with her parents in 1843. Their home was the southeast quarter of section 15. He was a Republican in politics. He served one term in the Illinois legislature, two terins as circuit clerk of the county, and also as justice of the peace, township clerk and super- visor. He died September 15, 1888, and his wife in 1895, at the home of her son, John B. They had eight children, five of whom are living, namely: William M .; Ellen J., wife of Charles H. Farquhar, of Chicago; Adam S., who farms his grandfather's homestead; John B., who has succeeded to the ownership of his father's place; and Rose, wife of H. H. Hyland, of Lamar, Mo.
The eldest child of his parents, our subject was born December 18, 1850. His education was obtained in local schools and four terms at Aurora. In 1874 he married Eliza V. Cherry, of Kendall County, an estimable woman and con- sistent member of the Presbyterian Church. They have five children, namely: Ida G., de- ceased; Robert C., Annie L., Charles H. and Lena. The family stand high among the people of the township, and are respected in the best social circles, their intelligence and refinement bringing them many friends.
ANIEL C. MASON resided on his farm adjoining Joliet from the fall of 1869 until his death in 1896. During these years he engaged in farming and built up a homestead that won admiring notice from passers-by. His original tract comprised seventy-one acres in the home place, to which he added until he was the owner of two hundred and fifty acres, improved with all needful buildings, and bearing every evi- dence of the owner's judicious oversight. He was born January 12, 1811, the seventh among eleven children that attained mature years, whose parents, Arnold and Mercy (Coman) Mason, re- moved after marriage from Berkshire County, Mass., to New Hartford, near Utica, N. Y.
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There he remained until twenty-one years of age. Upon leaving home he went to New Jersey and worked under his father, who had a contraet for building a portion of the Delaware and Raritan eanal. After a year there he joined the firm of Mason & Downing in a contraet for excavating through Bergen Hill for the old Jersey Central Railroad, and also helped to dig the Morris eanal from there to Jersey City. The next contraet was for building two seetions of the Croton water works, in New York City. Later he engaged in farming near his old home until 1869, when he came to Illinois.
April 16, 1844, Mr. Mason married Miss Cor- nelia H. Kellogg, the second in a family of two sons and two daughters, whose parents were Truman and Melinda (Marsh) Kellogg, natives of Oneida County, N. Y. Mrs. Mason was born June 8, 1824, and was reared on her father's farm. She became the mother of two children, Truman A. Mason, of Joliet, and Mrs. Sherwood, who oceupies the family homestead. Through- out the entire period of his residenee in this coun- ty Mr. Mason proved himself to be a progressive eitizen, an enterprising farmer, warm friend and accommodating neighbor, and his death was mourned by the many to whom his sterling qual- ities had endeared him.
RUMAN A. MASON. The value in any community of a eitizen is not marked mere- ly by the success that has attended his ef- forts in business, but also by his elaraeter in pri- vate life, his progressive spirit as a citizen, and the interest he maintains in measures affeeting the publie welfare. Judged by these standards, Mr. Mason may be elassed among the most val- ued citizens of Joliet. While various enterprises have felt the impetus of his aid, he is most wide- ly known as president of the Joliet National Bank, which he organized Mareh 2, 1891, and of which he has sinee been the head. This institution has enjoyed a remarkable growth. Within eight
years after its organization its deposits had reached $750,000, and it ranks among the first in the state in the extent of its transactions and in reliability. The eo-laborers of the president have remained unehanged from the first, and are as fol- lows: R. T. Kelly, cashier; H. O. Williams, tel- ler; and Charles G. Pieree, bookkeeper; nor has the board of directors been altered in any appre- ciable degree.
Tracing the history of the Mason family, we find that the grandfather of our subjeet, Arnold Mason, was born in Cheshire, Mass., September 10, 1777, and died Mareh 9, 1862. His marriage, December 29, 1796, united him with Mercy Co- man, who was born October 20, 1776, and died November 9, 1850. Her father, Daniel Coman, a native of Swansea, R. I., was a captain in the Revolutionary war, and married Hannah Angell, whose birth oeeurred in Barrington, R. I., Deeem- ber 14, 1750. This entire Rhode Island eolony came from Suffolk, England, and settled in Swan- sea and Rehoboth. Hannah Angell was a daugh- ter of Nedabiah Angell, who was born April 29, 1712, and died April 19, 1786; her mother, Mary Winsor, was born September 2, 1718, and died June 9, 1758. Nedabiah's father, Daniel Angell, was born May 2, 1680, and died June 16, 1750; lie married Hannah Winsor. He was a son of John Angell, born in Rhode Island in 1643, and died July 27, 1720; he married Ruth Field, a daugliter of William Field.
The first member of the Angell family in Ameriea was John's father, Thomas Angell, who was born in Suffolk County, England, in 1618, and died in September, 1694. He came to Amer- iea with Roger Williams in the ship "Lion," Capt. A. Pearee, in 1631. His wife, Alice, died in Rhode Island in January, 1695. Mary Win- sor, wife of Nedabiah Angell, was also his eousin, he being a son of Hannah, daughter of Samuel and Merey (Williams) Winsor, the latter a daugh- ter of the illustrious Roger Williams by his mar- riage to Mary Wanton.
After his marriage Arnold Mason removed to New Hartford, N. Y., where he was a large farmer and also for many years proprietor of Mason's inn, the old "half-way" house on the
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Albany turnpike. He was one of the contrac- tors for the Harlem high bridge in New York City and for a majority of the high rocky cuts out of Jersey City and Bergen, N. J. ; also had contracts on the Erie canal, being one of the largest con- tractors of his day. During the war of 1812 he served as a captain and took part in the battle of Sackett's Harbor. When he settled in New Hartford he had only $100, but by his own ener- gy and the aid of his wife he became very suc- cessful. In religion he was an ardent Baptist.
Levi, father of Arnold Mason, was born in Swansea, R. I., October 15, 1752, and was acci- dentally killed August 20, 1844. His wife, Amy Gilson, who was born June 30, 1751, died six days after her husband, her death being the re- sult of grief over his loss. He and six of his brothers were in the thickest of the fight at Ben- nington during the Revolutionary war. For some years he lived in Cheshire, Mass., but his last days were spent with his son, Arnold, in New Hartford, N. Y. His father, Nathan, was born May 10, 1705, and died in 1758; August 26, 1731, he married Lillis Hale, daughter of John and Hannah (Tillinghast) Hale. It was Nathan Mason who established the family in Cheshire, Mass., removing there from Swansea. He was a son of Isaac Mason, born July 15, 1667, and died January 25, 1742, who was a deacon in the Sec- ond Baptist Church in Swansea from its organi- zation in 1693 fintil his deathı. Isaac was a son of Sampson Mason, who emigrated from Suffolk, England, and settled in Dorsetshire, Mass., in 1649, thence in 1657 removed to Relioboth, R. I. From all the best authorities the statement is made that he was a dragoon in Cromwell's army. He married Mary Butterworth, a sister of Deacon John Butterworth, at whose home in Swansea the Baptist congregation of the town was organized in 1663.
The record of the son of Arnold and father of Truman A. Mason appears on another page of this volume. Daniel C. Mason had two children: Mrs. Cornelia Sherwood and Truman A. Mason. The latter was born in New Hartford, N. Y., March 14, 1846, and was reared in Utica, attend- ing public schools and Whitestown Academy.
At nineteen years of age he rented his father's farm and for a year carried on a stock business. In the spring of 1866 he came to Illinois, thence went to Missouri, and returning to Chicago, be- came assistant pilot on the Chicago & Alton Rail- road. After eight months he accepted a position with a wholesale house in Utica, where he re- mained for six months as an employe. He then became a member of the firm of Rawley Bros. & Co., which continued in business for some years. In the fall of 1869 he sold out and settled in Jo- liet, where, in the spring of 1870, he engaged in the lumber business with H. W. and F. B. Plant, as Mason & Plant, this firm continuing to oper- ate a planing mill and lumber yard until 1880, when the partnership was dissolved. In 1880 he opened a wholesale and retail lumber yard on the Michigan Central Railroad, shipping lumber from the Michigan pine woods in large quantities; he was the first lumberman in Joliet who shipped exclusively by rail, which he found to be more rapid and satisfactory than by canal. His health becoming impaired by the pressure of business, he deemed it advisable to sell out, which he did i11 1887, and afterward recuperated until his strength was regained.
As a Republican Mr. Mason is interested in politics. He served for one term each as alder- man from the third ward and assistant supervisor. He is a member of the township board of educa- tion and one of the city school inspectors, being chairman of the committee on buildings, which work takes much of his time. He is vice presi- dent of the State Bankers' Association and one of its leading members. Socially he is connected with the Union Club. In Masonry he is a mem- ber of Matteson Lodge No. 175, A. F. & A. M .; Joliet Chapter No. 27, R. A. M .; and Joliet Com- mandery No. 4, K. T. His marriage, which took place in Joliet, united him with Anna E., daughter of W. P. Caton, who settled in Chicago during the '30s. They are the parents of three children: Cornelia Louise, who graduated from Houghton Seminary in Clinton, N. Y., and is now the wife of John H. Garnsey, of Joliet; William C., of Mankato, Minn., who is a civil engineer with the Northwestern Railroad; and Elizabeth C.
E. no accistor
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
CAPT. EDWARD McALLISTER.
APT. EDWARD MCALLISTER. As the name indicates, the McAllister family is of Scotch origin. The first to seek a home in America were three brothers, one of whom settled in New York, another in Philadelphia, and the third in Pelham, Mass. The latter, Hon. Hamil- ton McAllister, moved to Salem, N. Y., in 1760, when all of Washington County was a wilderness and the surrounding country was sparsely settled. The nearest mill was at Albany, forty-five miles distant, and thither his wife, Sarah, rode on horseback with a sack of wheat, returning home with the flour. He was the first representative ever elected from Washington County to the state legislature. In those days the members were obliged to pay their own expenses, and it was his custom to take with him to Albany enough but- ter to pay his board. He was one of the first sheriffs of Washington County. In political views he was a Whig.
The youngest son of Hamilton McAllister was William, who was born in Salem in a house that had been built on the home place in 1785. While engaged in lumbering he accidentally split his foot with an axe, inflicting an injury so serious that he was unable to serve in the war of 1812. However, two of his brothers represented the family in the army. He assisted in clearing the liome place, which was covered with pine; the stumps of these hie pulled and with them built a fence that remains to this day. Buying the interest of the other heirs in the homestead, he spent his remaining years thereon, meantime taking great pains to place the land under culti- vation. In politics he voted with the Democrats. He was a strict supporter of Scotcli Presby-
terian doctrines and for many years served as trustee of his church. When General Burgoyne - passed through on his way to Bennington he used the church building as a barracks and afterward burned it; on two other occasions the church was burned to the ground, but each time the McAl- listers assisted liberally in rebuilding.
One of the brothers of William McAllister was John, who in young manhood started for the west. Going down the Ohio River in a flatboat, he proceeded up the Mississippi and the Illinois and in 1819 settled in Jersey County.
The marriage of William McAllister united him with Hannah Shoudler, whose father, Andrew, was a descendant of an old Holland family of New York, while her mother was of English lineage. Five children were born to their mar- riage who attained mature years, namely: Archi- bald, deceased, who was for years a successful farmer of this county, but whose last days were spent in Chicago; William K., who was a judge on the supreme bench of Illinois fromn 1870 to 1873, later was judge of the circuit court of Cook County, and at the time of his death held office as judge of the appellate court; Mrs. Catherine Walker, who resides in Salem, N. Y .; Edward; and Jesse, who engaged in the wool and com- mission business in Chicago, but was killed in a collision on the Panhandle Railroad.
In the house built by his grandfather in 1785, the subject of this article was born December 24, 1828. His education was largely acquired in Washington Academy at Salem, an institution his grandfather had helped to build and support. His favorite recreation in boyhood was hunting, and he became an expert shot. When twenty-
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four years of age he came to Illinois and bought one hundred and sixty acres in Plainfield Town- ship, Will County, where he now resides. It was raw prairie land, without any buildings or fences. Borrowing the money to make the first payment, he began to improve the place. He has put in eleven miles of tiling, so that every foot of ground is tillable. At one time he was heavily engaged in raising hogs, but owing to the cholera scourge he dropped the business. One of his specialties has been dairying. For about ten years twenty-five hundred pounds of butter were made on his place each year, for which he was paid twenty-five cents a pound. Prior to 1899 he not only managed the place, but did much of the active work himself, but recent- ly, owing to heart trouble, he has confined his attention to superintending the work of others. Since the organization of the party he has been a Republican, and for years has been the head of the party delegation in his township, but has held no office except that of supervisor in 1885.
June 4, 1860, Captain McAllister married Fan- nie Beebe, by whom he had two sons and three daughters. The oldest son died when six years of age. Carrie is the wife of Edward R. Mc- Clelland, of Plainfield Township; Ada married Dr. Evans, of Spring Valley; Jessie was a teacher in this county and is the wife of Fred Foss, youngest son of L. T. Foss, an old settler of Plainfield Township; and Clyde assists his father in the management of the farm.
At the opening of the Civil war Captain Mc- Allister was among the first to offer his services to the Union. In 1856 he had assisted in organ- izing the militia here which was known as the Plainfield Artillery, and he was the first man in this part of the country to enlist in the Civil war. April 19, 1861, his name was enrolled for service. He was elected captain of artillery and commanded the best battery of artillery in the Army of the Tennessee. His company enlisted for three months. At the end of that time he or- ganized a company for three years' service. He proceeded first to Cairo. In September he was sent to Fort Holt, Ky., which at that time was the lowest Union fort on the river. In February,
1862, he joined the Army of the Tennessee. His was the first battery to enter Fort Henry, and Captain McAllister was put in command of the fort. From there he was ordered to Fort Don- elson, where his was the first shot fired by the Army of the Tennessee Saturday morning, Feb- ruary 15, 1862. Finding that the enemy were preparing to break through the lines he opened on them with one of his guns without orders, thus waking all the troops around him, and this, the first gun fired in the battle, was the noti- fication to the entire army of the opening of that
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