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 19
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 19
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memorable engagement. His own guns being disabled, he was ordered to select what he wanted from the forty-eight captured from the enemy. As his ammunition did not fit them he objected to their use, and finally secured an order to go to General Sherman at Paducah and get a new out- fit of brass guns. At the battle of Shiloh he had this new and superior outfit. Having erected his battery at the edge of a clearing across which he fought and silenced Stanford's Mississippi bat- tery, he afterward noticed a columnn of infantry, the Fourth Tennessee, in columns of fours, ap- proaching along a road. He sent three cannon to the rear and placed the fourth in the road, then opened on the enemy with canister, killing thirty-one and wounding one hundred and sixty men according to the Confederate reports of the war. The execution of this one gun, served by nine good men, was probably the most severe on record in the War of the Rebellion. Captain McAllister helped to train the gun and only beat a hasty retreat when the enemy was within thirty paces. The nine brave men escaped by the enemy firing at the support of the battery, con- sisting of the Fourteenth Illinois, Twenty-fifth Indiana and Thirteenth Iowa Infantries, which lost one hundred men by the one volley fired by the enemy. Captain McAllister was for years ignorant of the real facts of the fight, until re- vealed to him by old comrades and Confederate soldiers. His gallant service in that engagement was the means of defeating a crack battery that had never before met with defeat. On the last day of the battle, Byrne's battery and two guns of the Washington artillery of New Orleans (the
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crack battery of the Confederacy), were or- dered to dislodge a battery on an eminence that had stopped the advance of the entire army. Captain McAllister and James A. Borland, of Joliet, were riding at the front, preparing to fire at the battery, when a shot killed their horses and General Sherman's horse, which was tied to a sapling. They secured good locations behind a rise in the ground, and carefully biding their time, were able soon to silence and dislodge the battery. Soon after the battle, owing to sickness, the cap- tain resigned his commission and returned home.
In 1894, during a meeting of an association formed to make a national park out of the Shiloh battle ground, Captain McAllister met on a boat one of the members of the Fourth Tennessee In- fantry, Thomas M. Page, of St. Louis, who told him that his one gun killed and wounded one hundred and ninety-one men in seven minutes, and he gave the captain great credit for the defense lie had made. He stated that he was willing to erect a $2,000 monument on the battle ground. Later the government planned to build one at a cost of $750. The government has also appropriated $225,000 for the purpose of making a national park of the battlefield, and Captain McAllister was asked to select four pieces to mark such spots as he desired. He has made four trips to Shiloh to attend meetings of Federals and Confederates. He is a member of the Loyal Legion, and Bartle- son Post, G. A. R., of Joliet, also the Society of the Army of the Tennessee. Fraternally he is connected with Plainfield Lodge No. 536, A. F. & A. M.
J. PERKINS, M. D., the oldest resident physician of Plainfield, is a native of New York, born in Mount Upton, Chenango County, March 20, 1834. His father, Luke, who was also of New York birth, followed the miller's trade during the greater part of his life. When advanced in years he retired from business and came west, his last days being spent in the home of liis son in Plainfield. He voted for General
Jackson when the latter was elected to the presi- dency, and always adhered to the Democratic party. In religion he was a Methodist. He married Sarah Preston and became the father of a large family.
When only fifteen years of age our subject be- gan the study of medicine. In the spring of 1865 he graduated from the Eclectic Medical In- stitute in Cincinnati, Ohio, and came at once to Plainfield, where he opened an office. Having practiced previously in Vermont, he had consid- erable helpful experience, and from the first he met with success, building up a valuable prac- tice. Both in his practice and from a financial standpoint he has been prospered. Of those who represented the fraternity at the time of his arrival in Plainfield he alone survives. Not- withstanding his long professional career, he still retains his keenness of judgment, quick insight into the causes of diseases and skill in their treatment. About a quarter of a century ago he was made a Mason, and since then he has been active in the fraternity, being now a member of Plainfield Lodge No. 536, A. F. & A. M.
In 1860 Dr. Perkins married Eliza, daughter of Rufus W. Bangs, of North Bennington, Vt. The only daughter born of their union was Julia E., who died in childhood. Their son, Harry . A. Perkins, is engaged in business in Plainfield.
Dr. Perkins has been an important factor in the upbuilding of Plainfield. To his energy and public spirit the attractive appearance of the town is in no small measure due. For many years he has been a member of the school board, and during that time he spent a year in securing the erection of a substantial building which was built, jointly, by two districts. At first thie heavy tax necessitated by the work caused dissat- isfaction and criticism, but the good results being apparent to all, he is given the credit due him for the praiseworthy enterprise. 'The two large brick store and office buildings on the north side of Lockport street were erected by him. For his own convenience in 1897 he built a gas plant, and this was so appreciated that he afterward en- larged it in order to furnish light to the entire block. The Republican party receives his sup-
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port and its candidates his vote. For many years he served as a member of the town board, being president of the same during a large part of the time. In this capacity he maintained a deep in- terest in the improvement of the town and the widening of its interests. His term on the board expired in 1895, when, deeming his long period of public service entitled him to a rest from such duties, he refused a continuance in office, retiring with an honorable record for diligent discharge of duties and for the zeal displayed in behalf of local interests.
ENRY STELLWAGEN. In spite of the lapse of years since his death, Mr. Stell- wagen is well remembered by the people of Frankfort Township, among whom he had always made his home. He was a young man possessing many worthy traits of character, and his sudden death, at the very outset of his career, was deplored by all of his acquaintances. Reared on a farm and familiar with agriculture from his earliest recollections, he had drifted easily into the occupation of a farmer, for which he seemed to have a natural aptitude. Thorough-going and progressive, had his life been spared he would- undoubtedly have attained a place among the wealthiest farmers of the township, and prob- ably, too, would have been prominent in local affairs. As it was, he left his family in com- fortable circumstances, his property including a farm in Frankfort Township and another in Greengarden Township.
On a farm owned by his father, Philip, who was a pioneer of this county, Henry Stellwagen was born November 15, 1850. His boyhood
years were passed in the schoolroom and on the farm. Possessing an industrious disposition, he early took a place among the rising young farm- ers of the township. As a tiller of the soil he was energetic and thrifty. In the rotation of crops he showed excellent judgment. It was his aim to secure from each acre of ground the larg- est possible results. He had good ideas in re- gard to farming. Agricultural machinery was introduced whenever possible or expedient. While the management of his farm kept him very busy, he nevertheless found leisure for other interests. He was very fond of music, and for some time was a member of a band. In politics he was not especially interested, although he discharged his duty as a citizen and cast his ballot for Democratic men and measures calcu- lated to advance the public good.
In 1871 Mr. Stellwagen married Miss Mary Bechstein. Five children were born of their union. The oldest daughter, Christina, is the wife of Reinhold Eichenberg, a commission mer- chant in Chicago. Annie, at home, is a teacher; Philip died at the age of two years and six months; Mary is assistant postmistress, and Henry, who attended the Atheneum College, clerks in a wholesale jewelry store in Chicago. August 15, 1882, Mr. Stellwagen was struck by lightning and instantly killed. He was then thirty-two years of age, a strong and active young man, with every prospect of a successful future. Since his death his widow has superin- tended the management of the farm property and the education of her children. She pos- sesses decided business talent, and has superin- tended her affairs in an intelligent manner; at the same time she has held a high position in social circles and has won many warm friends among the people of the village.
Daniel Haydon
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DANIEL HAYDEN.
2 ANIEL HAYDEN, a large farmer and ex- tensive cattle dealer of Florence Township, was born in Kennebec County, Me., August 13, 1839, a son of John and Hannah (Kinsella) Hayden. He was one of seven children, five of whom are living, namely: Mary, who is married, and resides on a farm in Maine; Daniel, of this sketch; Thomas and Jolın, farmers of Florence Township; and Hannah, also of this county. The paternal grandfather, Daniel Hayden, a native of Ireland, was one of the active partici- pants in the rebellion of 1798. When advanced in years, in 1845, he came to America, and a few months later died at the home of his son John. His wife bore the maiden name of Catherine Donahue, and died in Ireland in early woman- hood.
John Hayden was born in Ireland in 1815, and new world. He purchased land in Lincoln County, Me., and for some years cultivated that place. In 1851 he came west to Illinois and set- tled in Joliet, where he bought teams, hired men, and engaged in teaming to the quarries and rail- roads. After five years in that business he re- sumed farming, buying fifty-three acres on section 12, Florence Township. He was prosperous to such an extent that he became the owner of one thousand and two hundred acres, and was rated among the wealthy men of the township. Polit- ically he was a Democrat, and in religion a Ro- man Catholic. His death occurred on his farm, April 5, 1889. His wife, who was born in Ireland and died in this county, February 28, 1890, was
a daughter of Patrick and Bridget (Burns) Kin- sella. Her father died in Ireland, after which her mother, with a sister, came to America about 1850, and afterward made her home with a son until she died. The Kinsella family at one time was very wealthy, and owned valuable landed interests, but, on account of not affiliating with the Established Church, in the seventeenth cen- tury their property was confiscated.
When the family came to Illinois our subject was twelve years of age. He grew to manhood in this county, and attended the country and city schools. January 26, 1862, he went to Wheeling, W. Va., where he secured employment on a gov- ernment commissary boat. In this work he con- tinued until the 4th of July, 1864. His first trip was the conveying of a load of bran from St. Louis to Wheeling, and on the return trip the On his return to this county he resumed work on the home farm. At the death of his father the homestead of four hundred acres and two hundred and forty acres one mile east fell to his mother, sister and himself, and when the mother died her portion fell to him and his sister. He is one of the leading cattle-feeders in the township, and has been especially successful in this line of work. In religion he is connected with the Roman Catholic Church at Twelve- Mile Grove. Politic- ally he votes with the Democrats. He has never married, but with his sister continues to live at the old homestead to which he came in his youth, and in the improvement of which he has been interested ever since.
when twenty years of age sought a home in the ' boat was pressed into the government service.
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YRON P. HOLMES. During the long period of his residence in Spencer, extend- ing from the spring of 1866 to the present time, Mr. Holmes has been proprietor of a gen- eral store in this village and has gained a wide circle of acquaintances among the people in the northern part of this county. He has erected a store building and residence and in other ways has added to the development of the village. Various local offices have been filled by lim, among them those of road commissioner (three years), collector (four years) and assessor (one year). For years he has been a member of the school board, serving much of the time as its treasurer. He has been active in the Republican party ever since he cast his first vote for John C. Fremont, and keeps posted concerning the prob- lems that are of national importance.
In an early day three brothers by the name of Holmes came from England to Connecticut and from there removed to New York state many years before the Revolutionary war. In the lat- ter conflict Orsamus Holmes, our subject's grand- father, bore an active part as a member of the army of the frontier, serving with Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga and being twice taken prisoner. After the war he settled upon a farm in Chau- tauqua County. He was proprietor of a hotel on the stage line from Buffalo to Dunkirk, which was also a changing post for the stages and mails. His son, Asher, was born in Chautauqua County, N. Y., and in 1835 came to what is now Will (then Cook) County, Ill., where he took up a claim on the southeast quarter of section 22, New Lenox Township, and secured the land at the first land sale in Chicago, in 1836. In the spring of 1837 he bought one hundred and sixty acres, upon which he began general farm pursuits. On this place he died in 1853, at the age of fifty-six. A man of mental activity, he took an interest in early political affairs as a Jeffersonian Democrat and served as judge of elections. At the time he settled in this county Joliet contained only nine houses. He lived to see the transformation wrought in the ensuing years, but died before the city reached a high state of prosperity. Chicago being the only market for grain, he was ac-
customed to make frequent trips to that city. During the war of 1812 he took part in the serv- ice as a member of a regiment from Dunkirk that took seventeen prisoners; at the time he was only seventeen years of age.
The lady whom Asher Holmes married was Eliza Ann Elmore, who was born in New York and died at the old homestead in Will County when seventy-five years of age. Of their union six children were born, namely: James, deceased; Myron P .; Eliza A., deceased; Orsamus, of New Lenox; Lydia, wife of Henry Glacier; and Julius, of Chicago. The subject of this sketch was born in Chautauqua County, N. Y., June 8, 1830. He was about four years of age when his parents came to Illinois, and he grew to manhood in the county where he has since resided. His educa- tion was received principally in Albion (Mich.) College. In 1850 he joined a party of Argonauts en route to California, and, reaching the Pacific coast, spent five years engaged in mining, with fair success. On his return to Illinois he spent two years with his mother, then again went to California, where he operated mines and carried on a lumber business. In 1864 he returned to this county and two years later opened the store of which he has since been the proprietor. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Mokena, in which he has been a trustee for years. By his marriage, in 1864, to Lydia Fager, who was born in Ohio and came to Illinois at an early age, he has four children, namely: Ada, wife of E. E. Swing; Mary, who married L. F. Wilson; Myron H., who is in Michigan; and Edith, at home.
ORMAN S. HAMLIN. Although begin- ning his life in this county with very little money, Mr. Hamlin has long been known as one of the substantial and prosperous farmers and citizens of his locality. His life has been characterized by industry and frugality, and in- dividualized by sagacious management and strict integrity. Farming has been his life work and
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in it he has met with signal success; however, years ago he retired from active cares incident to the tilling of the soil and gathering in of the crops, but he still superintends his various in- terests, being of too energetic a nature to content himself in idleness.
In Fenner Township, Madison County, N. Y., Mr. Hamlin was born May 27, 1824. His father, Solomon, a native of Dutchess County, N. Y., removed to Madison County, the same state, with his parents, where he grew to manhood and where he died at the age of forty-four. He was a member of the Baptist Church and a stanch Abolitionist in principle. His father, Louis Hamblin (for in that way the name was spelled originally), was born in Connecticut and settled on a farm in New York in early manhood; he was eighty-seven at the time of his death. The family is of English extraction and was repre- sented in New England at an early period.
The mother of our subject was Lucinda (Stan- nard) Hamlin, a native of Bennington, Vt., but a resident of Madison County, N. Y., from child- hood until some years after her marriage. Her last days were spent in this county in the home of lier son, Norman S., where her death occurred at eighty years of age. As her husband, she held membership in the Baptist Church. Of her four sons and one daughter only two sons are living, Norman S., and Reuben S., of Canada. The subject of this sketch was educated in coun- try schools. After the death of his father, whichi occurred when he was a youth of sixteen, lie was taken into the home of an uncle, with whom he remained for five years. Later he secured work by the month. In the spring of 1851 he came to this county and bought one hundred and eighty- four acres of raw prairie land in Lockport Town- ship, for which he paid $5.50 per acre. Putting up a small ·house he established his home there. By diligent effort he made the necessary improve- ments and placed the soil under cultivation.
In those early days the country was destitute of improvements. While for a number of years settlers had been coming to the county, they had settled here in numbers too small to effect any radical transformation in the appearance of the
prairie, on which one might still ride long dis- tances without fences to impede his progress. The land was not yet under first-class cultivation, towns were small, and the work of progress seemed scarcely begun. Mr. Hamlin bore his share in the development and upbuilding of the county, and as a result of his labors he became known as one of the best farmers in the county. For twenty years it was his custom to buy raw land, improve it and then sell at an advance, and at the same time he bought and sold stock. In the spring of 1870 he sold his farm land and bought a home in Plainfield, where he has since resided.
The marriage of Mr. Hamlin, in 1849, united him with Miss Parnel Keeler, who was born in Madison County, N. Y., December 21, 1822, and died in this county January 30, 1897. The only child born of their marriage is also deceased.
In the matter of good roads Mr. Hamlin has always been interested. Years ago, when the question was agitated, he advocated the buying of gravel pits and the putting of gravel on the roads, a plan that proved successful. For twenty years he served as road commissioner and his work while filling the office was of permanent value, its benefits being reaped at the present time. In politics he is independent, voting for the best men of either party. He is connected with Plainfield Lodge No. 536, A. F. & A. M.
HOMAS BURKE. The duration of Mr. Burke's residence in Joliet covered a period from his earliest recollection to the time of his death. He was a man whose friends were many and whose influence was great, not alone among people of his own religious and political views, but among all citizens who hield in respect a man of undoubted integrity and honor. Twice lie was elected alderman from the fifth ward and he was recognized, during the period of his serv- ice, as one of the prominent and progressive
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members of the board. While in national poli- tics he voted with the Democrats, he was inclined to be independent in local matters, voting for the man rather than the party.
The father of our subject, Richard Burke, came from County Tyrone, Ireland, to America and settled in Lowell, Mass., from which city he moved to Joliet, Ill., in 1839, becoming a foreman in Governor Matteson's woolen factory. He was one of the founders of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church and when he died, October 9, 1858, the last rites over his body were said in that church, and his body was laid to rest in the cemetery adjoining. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Bridget Ryan, died in Joliet in 1854. Their son, Thomas, was born in Lowell, Mass., May 11, 1838, and grew to manhood at the family homestead, No. 150 Comstock street, Joliet, where his widow now lives. He grad- uated from the old Broadway school and afterward became interested in the transfer business, which he carried on for many years. He then bought a livery business at No. III South Bluff street, where he built a stone barn, 54x100 feet, that is still the finest building of the kind in the city. From that time he was actively interested in the management of his business, which grew steadily and brought him large returns. While still in the full possession of his faculties, he died, Sep- tember 12, 1898. His funeral, held at St. Pat- rick's, was one of the largest ever held in Joliet,
and his body was laid to rest in the parochial cemetery.
The church from which his body was carried to its final resting place was also the scene of his marriage more than forty years before. July II, 1856, he was united with Miss Mary Hennessey, who was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, a daughter of John and Bridget (Collier) Hennes- sey, natives of the same county. Her father, who was a well-to-do farmer, came to America to join his children and died at Camp Grove, Peoria County, Ill., at seventy years of age; his wife, who was a daughter of Edward Collier, also died in Peoria County. They were the parents of ten children, all of whom came to America and six are living. Mrs. Burke was a small child when in 1852 she crossed the ocean in a sailing vessel that consumed forty-two days in the voyage to New York, from which city she went to Albany, and thence came west. In religious faith she is a Roman Catholic, belonging to St. Patrick's Church. Of her marriage eleven children were born, namely: Mrs. Agnes Jacobs, of Joliet, John, who is foreman for the Wylie Coal Com- pany; Mrs. Nellie Sullivan; Bernard E., whose sketch is presented in this work; Mrs. Katherine Wallace; Thomas; William, who is employed by A. Dinet; Annie, who is clerk in a dry-goods store in this city; Sadie, principal of the Pleasant street school; Hattie, at home; and Alice, who is with her brother, B. E., in the grocery.
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Jas N ferries
GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
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JAMES H. FERRISS.
AMES H. FERRISS, Joliet, president of the News Company, was born in Oswego Township, Kendall County, Ill., November 18, 1849, a son of William H. and Eliza (Brown) Ferriss, natives respectively of Clinton County, N. Y., and Erie County, Pa. His ancestors on the father's side were Welsh Quakers. Zebulon Ferriss, the head of the family, settled in Providence, R. I., in 1630. The boyhood of James H. Ferriss was passed in the village of Bristol Station, Kendall County, where he early became familiar with the business of a cattle drover. From 1869 to 1872 he lived upon a farm in Kansas. With one of his present partners, Frank H. Hall, he leased the Yorkville (Il1.) News during the campaign of 1876 and through the columns of the paper supported Peter Cooper for the presidency. Two years before this he had gained a knowledge of reportorial work through his connection with the Joliet Daily Sun, Hayward & Radcliff, proprietors.
In January, 1877, Mr. Ferriss, Mr. Hall and others established the Phoenix, an independent weekly paper, at Joliet and other business centers of Will County. In October of the same year, with R. W. Nelson, now of New York, and H. E. Baldwin, one of his present partners, Mr. Ferriss purchased the Morning New's, the name of which was afterward changed to the Joliet Daily News. From that time to the present he has continued with the paper, excepting two years (1881-82), when he edited the Morning News, in Portland, Me. He was married at Falls Village, Conn., June 30, 1880, to Miss Olive E. Hunt, a former resident of Bristol Station.
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