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 21
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 21
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The Swedish Republican Club and the Swedish Lutheran Church number Mr. Lindstrum among their members. He is loyal in his devotion to the government and true to his adopted country. One of his half-brothers, S. J. Lindstrum, now of Monmouth, Ill., came to the United States in 1861 and enlisted in an Illinois regiment, where he served until his term expired.
The first wife of Mr. Lindstrum was Mathilda Nelson, who was born in Sweden and died in Chicago. His second marriage took place in Chicago October 20, 1881, and united him with Miss Matilda Peterson, who was born at "Foug- huld," Jankopinglaen, Smaland, Sweden. Her father, Peter, who in youth served in the Swedish army, afterward cultivated the farm, "Foughuld," until he came to America. Her mother, Sarah, daughter of Andres Anderson, a farmer, came to the United States and died in Chicago. All of her eiglit children also came to this country, and all but
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one are still living, six of them being in Chicago. Mrs. Lindstrum was third in order of birth and was reared in her native land, whence she accom- panied the family to America in 1879, and two years later she was married in Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Lindstrum have many friends among the people of their nationality in Joliet, where they are known and honored for their integrity of character and kindness of heart. They are the parents of two daughters, Matilda C. and Anna W. Lindstrum.
F EORGE C. RAYNOR, M. D. With an ex- perience as a physician extending over the latter half of the nineteenth century, coupled with a broad study of the medical science and remedial agencies, Dr. Raynor readily occupies a position among the leading physicians of Joliet, where he has engaged in practice since March, 1870. It has been his privilege to live in the greatest age of improvement and progress in the world's history. He has seen and kept in touch with the developments in the various fields of science, and particularly those made in his own profession, which has emerged from the realm of charlatanism into its present standing as the most humanitarian of all occupations. Interested in every phase of the healing art, he has been a thoughtful reader of medical literature and a student of the profession through all these years. His standing among the members of the pro- fession here was shown by his repeated election as president of the Will County Medical Society, which organization has enjoyed the benefit of his co-operation. In addition to his private practice he was for twelve years surgeon to the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company in this city.
Dr. Raynor was born in Fairfield, Herkimer
County, N. Y., in 1826, a son of David and Melinda (Mather) Raynor. His grandfather, Stephen Raynor, a native of Long Island, settled upon a farm in Herkimer County, and upon that homestead David Raynor was born and reared. The latter, with the exception of the time spent in the war of 1812, devoted his entire active life to farm pursuits, remaining in his native county until he died at seventy-two years. A man of strict religious life, he was an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife was born near Utica, Oneida County, N. Y., a mem- ber of an old Connecticut family that claimed Puritan descent. Of their ten children all but one attained mature years and four are living. The doctor, who was fifth in order of birth, was reared on the homestead and attended district schools and the Fairfield Academy. In 1849 he entered the University of the City of New York, from which he graduated in 1852, with the degree of M. D. Opening an office in St. Johnsville, Montgomery County, N. Y., he built up a large practice and remained there until he removed to Illinois. For nine years he served as coroner of Montgomery County, N. Y.
For two years Dr. Raynor was master of Mat- teson Lodge A. F. & A. M., in Joliet. He is also connected with Joliet Commandery No. 4, K. T. For many years he has been a member of the vestry of Christ Episcopal Church, in which he has officiated as treasurer of the board. He is an Abraham Lincoln Republican, but, after hav- ing voted with the party for years, when in 1896 a gold plank was put in the platform, he felt he " could not longer remain with it, for his sym- pathies have been with the free silver movement, and hence he supports the men and measures pledged to promote the latter cause. In Mas- sachusetts he married Miss Helen Cole, who was born in Berkshire County, that state, and died in Joliet in 1889. The only child of their union is Lansing James Raynor, a business man of Joliet.
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Amos He Scofield
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
AMOS H. SCOFIELD.
A MOS H. SCOFIELD. Of the citizens whose presence in the county proved helpful to its interests none is more worthy of mention than the late Amos H. Scofield, of Plainfield. He was a man of excellent business capacity and one whose dealings were always marked by in- tegrity. During the more than thirty-seven ycars of his residence in Plainfield he witnessed the changes that transformed the barren prairies of Will County into rich, fertile farms, replaced the cabins by commodious residences, and brought into the county a stream of immigration that founded towns and villages and carried on the work of civilization until Will County has taken rank among the best counties of the state.
The first twenty-one years of Mr. Scofield's life werc spent in the state of New York (Genoa Township, Cayuga County), where he was born February 25, 1813. From there he came west and settled on a farm at North Branch, near Chi- cago, where he tilled the soil for a period of ten years. Next he followed farming in Newark, Ill. In September, 1855, he settled in Plainfield, where for one year he cugaged in merchandising. At an early day he purchased four and one-half acres in the best residence portion of Plainfield; of this two lots were sold for residences, and his widow still owns three acres, which forms a valu- able homestead.
When the slavery agitation filled the whole land Mr. Scofield was firm in his adherence to abolition principles. Late in life he became a prohibitionist in politics. He was a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, regular in his attendance at church services, Sun- day-school and prayer-meeting, and for years
served as a class Icader. Up to the last of his long life he retained his deep interest in church work and his declining days were cheered by the hope which religion gives. He died very sud- denly February 28, 1893, when eighty years of of age, leaving to his friends the memory of an honorable existence, filled with good decds and helpful acts.
September 18, 1855, Mr. Scofield married Miss Elizabeth Rhodes, who was born in Rensselacr County, N. Y., but in childhood accompanied her parents to Jefferson County, the same state, where she was reared and educated. In 1851 she came to Illinois with a brother and settled ncar Plainfield. She is a lady whose gentleness of dis- position has won for her many friends during the many years of her residence in this vicinity. For sixty-six years she has been a faithful mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Though she is now (1900) cighty-two years of age, she is still in the possession of her physical and men- tal faculties and retains her interest in the world of activity. The twilight of her life is bright- ened by the esteem of the neighbors and the re- gard of the people of the town where for so many years she has made her home. On the eighty- second anniversary of her birth, January 27, 1900, she celebrated the occasion by inviting to her home a number of friends, all members of . the Methodist Episcopal Church. Seven of those assembled werc over eighty years of age, and three of these were widows whose husbands had attained eighty years. At the close of the day it was the verdict of all present that the occasion had been one of the most enjoyable and memor- able in their lives.
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
ZRA R. LARNED, M. D. To be a descend- ant of men who aided the colonies in their struggle for liberty is to belong to the proudest nobility of which America can boast. Many of the best citizens of the present age are those who trace their lineage to Revolutionary forefathers. It is seldom, however, that we find a family with so many representatives in the early struggles as the one of which Dr. Larned, of Joliet, is a member, for he has twenty-three different claims to membership in the Society of Colonial wars, having had twenty-three ancestors in those wars. In addition to belonging to this organiza- tion, he is also identified with the Illinois Chap- ter, Sons of the Revolution.
About 1630 William Larned came to America from the parish of Bermondsey, County Surrey, England, settling in Woburn, Mass. In later years the family removed to Connecticut. His son, Isaac, who was born in Surrey February 25, 1623, took part in the Indian war in 1656; he married Mary, daughter of Isaac Sterns. Their son, Isaac, Jr., was a private in the Indian war in 1675 and was wounded in the fight with the Narragansetts during that year. By his inar- riage to Sarah Bigelow, he had a son William, who married Hannah Bryant, and made his home at Thompson, Conn. Next in line of descent was Simon, a farmer at Thompson. The latter's son, Thaddeus, was born and reared in that place, where for years he was a prominent agri- culturist and a justice of the peace. During the Revolutionary war he served in defense of col- onial interests and endured all the hardships in- cident to those days of struggle, exposure and conflict. One brother, Simon, was in the Revo- lution and was the founder of the Society of "Cincinnatus." Another brother, Jesse, died of wounds received in campaigns in New York state. George, son of Thaddeus, was for years the owner of Larned's mill at Thompson, where he engaged in the manufacture of cotton. On retiring from business he removed to Wickford, R. I., where he died. He married Maria C. Read, who was born in Thompson, and was a daughter of William Read, of that place.
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Albert, son of George and Maria C. (Read)
Larned, was born in Thompson, Conn., but came to Illinois in early life and engaged in the manu- facture of lumber in Chicago with W. E. Frost & Co. He still lives in that city, but is now retired from business. He married Elizabeth Wharton, who was born in Powhatan, Ohio. Her father, William Wharton, a native of Pow- hatan, Baltimore County, Md., removed to Ohio, where he platted and named the village of Powhatan, and for years he was the leading man of that town, being mayor, postmaster and justice of the peace, as well as the proprietor of a gen- eral store. His father, Thomas Wharton, was born in Derbyshire, England, and there engaged in the manufacture of cotton. Crossing the ocean to Maryland he engaged in the same business at Powhatan, and later settled in Powhatan, Ohio, where his declining years were spent.
Dr. Larned was one of three children, of whom one is deceased, and one, Mrs. Mary Malkoff, resides in Chicago. One of his lineal ancestors, Lieut .- Col. James Talcott, was commander-in- chief of the colonial forces during King Phillip's war. An uncle of the doctor, Col. Daniel Read Larned, served during the early part of Civil war as captain and assistant adjutant-general on the staff of Major-General Burnside. In 1864 he was breveted major, and the next year, in recog- nition of his gallantry, was made lieutenant-col- onel, being mustered out of the volunteer service with that rank. In 1879 he was made paymaster with the rank of major and later became chief paymaster of the department of California and Columbia. In 1890 he was promoted to be deputy paymaster-general at Washington, D. C., which responsible office he held until his retire- ment in 1892.
The boyhood years of Dr. Larned's life were passed in Chicago, Ill., where he was born Jan- uary 23, 1868. When twenty years of age he graduated from the Chicago high school. After- ward he traveled through the United States, and in Mexico and British Columbia. In 1892 he took up the study of medicine, which he carried on under the preceptorship of Dr. Milton Jay for one year. He then entered Rush Medical Col- lege, from which, after four years of study, he
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
graduated in 1897. He came at once to Joliet, where he located at No. 310 Eastern avenue and where he has since engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery. He is connected with the Alumni of Rush Medical College, is past officer in the Nu Signa Nu, an honorary member of the Chicago Academy of Science, and belongs to the Chicago, Will County and State Medical So- cieties and the American Medical Association. In politics he is a Republican and, in religious connection a member of the Central Presby- terian Church. In Rockford, Ill., he married Camilla, daughter of Henry Don Kersley, wlio came from Marquette, Mich., to Illinois and settled in Rockford, where his daughter was born. Dr. and Mrs. Larned have one son, Al- bert Dougall Larned.
C HARLES GRAY CHAMBERLIN, the lead- ing undertaker of Loekport, is a desend- ant of a colonial family of New England that originated in Great Britain. His paternal grandfather, Luthier C. Chamberlin, a native of Monroe , County, N. Y., born in 1789, held a captain's commission during the war of 1812 and at its close married Miss Thankful Talmadge, of Litchfield, Con. Some years he spent as a farmer in Monroe County, N. Y., after which for fifteen years he was proprietor of the Henrietta house and also for a long time served as post- master of Henrietta. In the fall of 1832 he came west to seek a suitable location and found a de- sirable site in what is now Will County. Re- turning home for his family, in January, 1833, he again traversed the long distance to the west. He settled one and a-half miles east of Lockport on a government claim. The land was a barren prairie. Pottawatomie Indians still roamed over the trackless plains, ummolested by white men. He spent four years in improving his claim, but in 1837 removed to Peoria, Ill., and seven years later went to Milton, Wayne County, Ind., where he engaged in the grain and warehouse business.
During the existence of the Whig party he ad- hered to its tenets, and after its disintegration became a Republican. He died in Milton in 1878, having survived his wife for twenty-six years. They had three children, Lewis L., Sempronius S., and Ellen M., Mrs. Norton Davis.
Sempronius Samuel Chamberlin was born in Henrietta, N. Y., August 19, 1817. He came with his parents to Illinois, riding an Indian pony the entire distance. He graduated from Jubilee College in Peoria. When his parents moved to Indiana in 1844 lie returned to Will County and began taking contraets for the build- ing of warehouses and other structures. One of his contracts was for the erection of the large warehouse of Norton & Co., of Lockport. In 1848 he built a store and opened an undertaking establishment. During the cholera epidemic of 1854 he and his workmen were kept busy every hour of the twenty-four, as the demands for their services were imperative and needed prompt at- tention. The coffins were made, by hand, of walnut or whitewood, with walnut tops, and trimmed inside with book-muslin headings. Mr. Chamberlin went personally to the homes of the dead to superintend the arrangements for the burial, and sometimes made as many as eight such calls in one day. In 1873 he opened an under- taking establishment in Joliet. He continued in business as a funeral director until his deathı, which occurred December 4, 1897. His success financially was due to strict attention to details and fidelity to his business. He was a man of good habits and exemplary life and, although not a church member, was in sympathy with and a contributor to religious work. He refused of- ficial positions many times and, aside from vot- ing the Republican ticket, took no part in local affairs.
January 19, 1842, Mr. Chamberlin married Miss Elizabeth S. Gray, who was born in New York and accompanied her parents to this county in girlhood. Her death occurred in Lockport April 9, 1889, when she was seventy-five years of age. In religion she was a member of the Congregational Church. She left two sons,
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George N. and Charles G., both of whom are engaged in the undertaking business, the former having succeeded his father in the Joliet business. The younger son, our subject, was born in Lock- port, January 30, 1859. When only a small boy he was able to help his father in many ways, and frequently held the light for him nights when he was working at the bench. From the age of eighteen he was in partnership with his father until the latter's death, when he bought the Lockport branch of the business.
The marriage of our subject united him with Miss Mary Emma Taylor, who was born at West Creek, Ind., and from eleven years of age made her home with her grandparents in Lockport. They have three daughters, Eva L., Mary Emma and Josephine E. The family are connected with the Congregational Church of Lockport and Mr. Chamberlin is a contributor to the same. He has been an active Republican and in 1899 was elected collector of the township. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica, the Order of Red Men, the United Order of Foresters, North American Union, Eastern Star Lodge and Lockport Lodge No. 538, A. F. & A. M., in which latter he has held various offices.
OHN RANFT. Through an honorable career as a business man, Mr. Ranft laid the foundation of the large trade that is to-day efficiently managed by his widow. He was born in Oberverein, Waldeck, Germany, January 16, 1843, a son of John and Elizabeth (Schneider) Ranft, who lived upon a farm in that country. At an early age he began to support himself, working at any occupation that offered an honest livelihood. In 1864 he crossed the ocean to the
United States, and for a time worked on a farm in New Jersey, receiving $15 a month. On com- ing west he spent a short time in Chicago and then settled in Joliet, near which city he worked on a farm for two years. Afterward, for five and one-half years, he worked for the Sehring Brew- ing Company. In 1884 he bought out Mr. Paige and remodeled the bottling works, after which he engaged in the manufacture of ginger ale, soda water and similar beverages. He was a member of the Joliet Sharpshooters, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Joliet Saenger- bund. In the latter society his fine baritone voice made him especially prominent and popu- lar. Politically he voted with the Republicans. He continued to carry on business in Joliet until his death, which occurred July 10, 1892.
The first wife of Mr. Ranft, who was Cather- ine Metzger, a native of Joliet, died in this city, leaving one child, Annie, who is now living. October 24, 1884, he was united in marriage with Auguste Ernestina, daughter of Henry and Annie (Eggers) Reimers, all natives of Lunden, Holstein, Germany. Her father, who was a car- penter and builder, died when she was twelve, and her mother had passed away two years be- fore. Of the family, three are living, her brother John being a farmer in Greengarden Township, this county, while Gustav lives in Joliet. She was reared in Lunden, and came to the United States in 1883, settling in Frankfort, this county, where she remained until her marriage. In re- ligion she was carefully reared in the Lutheran faith, and has always adhered to its teachings. She is the mother of five children, Bertha, Mamie, Linda, Otto and Flora. Since her husband's death she has continued the business so success- fully that she has built up a large trade, not only in the city, but throughout Will and Grundy Counties, and has gained a reputation as an effi- cient business woman.
IM Tobias
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
JOB MEADE TOBIAS.
OB MEADE TOBIAS, of Peotone, was born in Elmira, N. Y., October 17, 1841, a son of Lorenzo Dow and Lucy Bishop (Fletcher) Tobias. He was one of five children, and has a sister and brother now living, viz .: Susan Avilla, wife of Andrew Watson, of Elmira, N. Y., and Judd S., who is connected with an elec- tric light business in Omaha, Neb. His father was born about four miles north of Burdette, on the east side of Seneca Lake, in New York, about 1807. He grew to manhood ou a farm, and after his marriage settled on an unimproved tract of land near Southport. Later he turned his attention to lumbering. His business ability gained him wealth, but through an endorsement of notes, amounting to more than $100,000, which he was obliged to pay, he lost all his property. In 1857 he came west and settled four miles east of Peo- tone, in Will Township, where he paid $12.50 an acre for one-half section of land. After pay- ing for this property he had only $1,000 left of his once vast fortune. He turned his attention to the stock business, and the heavy advance in prices caused by the Civil war once more placed him in affluence. A year before his death he sold his farm and retired to a small place near town, where he died in 1868. For years he was an active worker in the Methodist Church and a member of its board of trustees. Though not an office-seeker, he held a number of local positions of trust. One of liis hobbies was his fondness for a good horse. He knew a fine animal when he saw it, and always liked to have several in his barn. His wife was born near Waverly, N. Y., in 1811, and died in this county in 1882.
The farun where Lorenzo Dow Tobias was born
was a part of a grant of twenty-three thousand and forty acres made by the colony (now the state). of New York to his grandfather, Henry Tobias, who came to America as a captain of a company of Hessians under the British flag during the Revolutionary war. Some time after reaching this country he decided he was fighting for an unjust cause, and so joined Washington's army and helped to free America. In recognition of his services the state of New York granted him a tract six miles square. There he settled and reared his family. His son, Heury, Jr., our sub- ject's grandfather, lived on the same place, but after his death his widow abandoned the property and allowed it to pass out of the family.
When a boy Mr. Tobias, of this sketch, was a pupil of H. M. Aller, afterward a president in the state university of Kansas; Allen C. Storey, in later years a prominent criminal lawyer in Chicago, and Judge Miller, afterward a justice of the United States Supreme Court. He also took a course in the academy at Elmira, N. Y., where he studied civil engineering under Prof. Gillett. When his father came west he was a youth of seventeen. The three following years he aided in the clearing of the new Illinois farm. At the outbreak of the Civil war lie enlisted in the navy and was assigned to the recruiting service, going to New York. After the crew were enlisted they spent some days on board the receiving-ship, and later were sent to duty on the gunboat "Ranger," (now in the Philippine service). Their first engagement was tlie capture of Roanoke Island. Later they took part in the capture of Newberne and Fort Beaufort. Following this they were on other vessels on short scouting expeditions. On
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
being mustered out of the navy, in 1862, Mr. Tobias joined the engineering corps of the United States army, and was engaged in the service in North Carolina. During the winter of 1863-64 he visited his parents, after which he enlisted in the Ninth Illinois Cavalry, and was sent to Ten- nessee to do duty. However, the battle of Nash- ville had been fought before he reached there, and after pursuing the enemy down into Ala- bama he and his regiment were mustered out of the service at Selma, Ala.
After his discharge from the army Mr. Tobias `went to the frontier of Minnesota, where lie worked on government land survey and for other engineering parties. Two years later the death of his father called him home. Here he remained for several years. February 17, 1872, he mar- ried Mrs. Sarah May, nee Davis, of Swansea, South Wales, but from girlhood a resident of Illi- nois. By her first husband, Benjamin G. H. May, she had two children, namely, Harriet, wife of W. C. McEwen, of Harvey, Ill., and Sarah Ellen, wife of James A. Cowing, of Home- wood, Ill.
To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Tobias four chil- dren were born, viz .: Joseph P .; Harry, who is engaged in the laundry business at Peotone; Frank, a telegraph operator at New Haven, Mo., and Lucy, wife of Warren B. Mather, of Joliet.
Shortly after his marriage Mr. Tobias was sent to Peru, South America, on a surveying expedi- tion for railroad surveying. He spent over three years in that country and crossed the Isthmus twice, meantime learning much concerning Span- ish rule and the antiquities of South America. On his return to Illinois he spent a year in Peo- tone and then went to Wilmington, where he carried on a coal business for two years. Later he became connected with the engineering de- partment of the Wabash Railroad, then building into Chicago, and had charge of the construction of a portion of the road. After the road was completed he was connected with the engineering department of the Tehauntepec & Inter-Ocean Railroad in Mexico, where he was employed for two and one-half years as assistant to the chief engineer, having charge of the construction and
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