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 39
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 39
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Those who are acquainted with Mr. Peart thoroughly understand his political views. He is known to be a decided Republican, stanch in his allegiance to party. For four years he was an alderman, and for three terins, of two years each, held office as mayor of Braidwood. Dur- ing his service as mayor many improvements were introduced, and he was one of the first to champion the cinder sidewalks. For six years he served as a school director. Fraternally he is connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen; Braidwood Lodge No. 704, A. F. & A. M .; Wilmington Chapter, R. A. M., and Joliet Commandery, K. T.
In 1859 Mr. Peart married Ellen Baxter, who was born in this county. They have one daugh- ter, Mary Ada, now the wife of Henry A. Fos- ter, of Pontiac, Ill. Mrs. Peart is a member of the Eastern Star, and takes an active part in its work. Her father, William Baxter, a native of
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Scotland, immigrated to America about 1830 and settled at Mount Savage, Allegany County, Md. He was a practical miner and civil engineer, and surveyed many an acre of coal land in Allegany County. In 1848 he came west, settling in Will County, and afterward engaging in surveying on the Illinois and Michigan canal. He made an estimate of the cost of building the entire canal, and it later developed that his estimate was very close to the actual cost. On completing his sur- veying he settled on a farm in Florence Township, and in 1852 he died on that place. His wife, like himself, a native of Scotland, bore the maiden name of Ellen Somerville. She died in Florence Township in 1866, at sixty-three years of age. They were the parents of six children, five of whom are living, namely: William, Mrs. Peart, Andrew, John C., and Mary, wife of Dr. Cook, of Hastings, Neb.
AMES DUCKER. For many years one of the county's most influential citizens, Mr. Ducker was a pioneer dry-goods merchant and long held a prominent place among the busi- ness men of northeastern Illinois. When he started in business on the corner of Clinton and Chicago streets, in 1874, his was the first dry- goods house on Chicago street; he continued to occupy Ducker's block, erected by himself, until his death, and meantime built up a very large trade in dry-goods, clothing and carpets. While he was in some respects conservative, yetin busi- ness matters he was progressive, and he al- ways led in matters bearing favorably upon the welfare of the people or the development of local interests. With Hon. George H. Munroe he took an active part in the building of the Joliet theatre, and for a time was president of the com- pany that erected the building. He also bought the old Exchange hotel site, adjoining Barrett's hardware store, on Chicago street, where he had a frontage of sixty-six feet. So high was the opinion in which others held him as a merchant
that after the Chicago fire he was offered a part- nership in the firm of Marshall Field & Co., with the position of foreign buyer, but he had left England on account of its unhealthful climate and felt it inadvisable to return to that country, so declined the tempting offer. During early days his opinion in regard to goods and purchases was often sought by western merchants, notably Marshall Field & Co.
The life which this narrative sketches began in Epworth, England, October 27, 1823, and closed in Joliet December 16, 1885. The Ducker family in a remote period migrated from Holland to England, where subsequent generations became prominent. James and Maria Ducker lived upon a farm at Epworth and were members of the So- ciety of Friends. Their son, James, Jr., who forms the subject of this article, was apprenticed to the dry-goods business in Hull at fifteen years of age and served for five years, after which he worked for wages. In 1852 he came to America, hoping that the change would benefit his health. After a short time in Chicago he settled upon a
farm in Frankfort Township, this county. One year on a farm convinced him that agriculture was not his forte in life. His crops were de- stroyed by hail and he gained nothing except ex- perience. In 1853 he started one of the first stores in Mokena and during the twenty-one years of his residence there he became a prosper- ous merchant and large grain dealer. After he had been in America for a time two of his brothers crossed the ocean to seek homes here. One of them, George, is now engaged in ranching near Red Cloud, Neb., and the other, William B., died in Nebraska. In 1874 Mr. Ducker removed from Mokena to Joliet and began business in the block he had erected the preceding year. It had been his intentien to rent the building and settle in Chicago, but, owing to the block being remote . from the business center, it was impossible to se- cure a tenant, and he therefore decided to engage in business himself. His success was steady and encouraging, and continued without a break until his death. He was never active in politics, al- though he kept posted concerning national issues and voted with the Republicans. In religious
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belief he was a member of the Episcopal Church. His wife is a member of the Universalist Church.
In Chicago, in 1854, Mr. Ducker married Jen- nette Allison, who was born in Glasgow, Scot- land, a daughter of John and Jane (Mason) Alli- son, natives of Paisley, Scotland. She was third among six children, five of whom are living, all but herself living in Sterling, Whiteside County, Ill. She was reared in Scotland and was twenty years of age when, in 1853, she came to Illinois. Her father, and grandfathers, James Allison and George Mason, were all manufacturers of shawls in Paisley, and the last-named was a prominent Presbyterian elder. She built the residence which she occupies, at No. 507 Union street. In her family there are five children living: James W., a merchant in Mokena; Maria J., wife of Dr. Lewis Beck, a physician in Red Cloud, Neb .; George A., who is represented on another page; John J., a merchant of Joliet; and Jessie M., wife of John S. Luthy, of Chicago, a trusted man in Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co.'s wholesale house.
APT. GEORGE O. CLINTON. The life which this narrative sketches began in Wau- kesha, Wis., August 21, 1839, in the home of Edmund and Amanda (Conkey) Clinton. There were seven sons in this family, namely: Albert T., who is agent for the United States Ex- press Company in LaCrosse, Wis .; Henry P., who served as quartermaster in the "Iron " Brigade, the Seventh Wisconsin Infantry, dur- ing the Civil war, and died while in the service; Edson C., deceased, who was a well-known lum- berman at Brodhead, Wis .; Charles W., who was lieutenant of the First Wisconsin Cavalry in the Civil war, and died in a hospital at Nashville; George O .; Edmund D., Jr., deceased; and De- Witt C., a commercial salesman, representing the Ryan Mercantile Company of St. Paul.
Edmund D. Clinton, Sr., a native of Vermont, accompanied his parents to St. Lawrence County, N. Y., in childhood, and there learned the black-
smith's trade. In 1831 he removed to Ohio and in 1836 to Milwaukee, Wis., thence to Wauke- sha a year later. In 1856 hie located the town site of Brodhead, where he afterward made his home. During his residence in Waukesha he was one of the contractors who built the Mil- waukee & Mississippi Railroad, the first railroad built in Wisconsin. After its construction he was made a director of the company, and continued to be closely associated with the construction of the entire system up to the time of the absorption of the road by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul corporation, when he retired from the directorate. His last years were spent in retirement from busi- 11ess, although he had a number of important in- terests and continued to be a busy man to the last. He and his wife were earnest Christians. They founded the first Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee, subsequently organized the first Con- gregational Church in Waukesha, and, on removing to Brodhead, they were two of the twenty-nine charter members of the First Con- gregational Church of that place. For years he officiated as a deacon in the church. His father, Henry, a native of Connecticut, was a descendant of Puritan stock, as was also his mother, who was a Miss Darrow; the latter lived to be ninety-seven years of age.
Prior to eighteen years of age our subject at- tended the academy and Carroll College in Wau- kesha. He then became brakeman with the Milwaukee & Prairie du Chien Railroad, and a year later was made conductor. At the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted as a private in Com- pany E, Thirteenth Wisconsin Infantry, his name being enrolled in the ranks August 15, 1861, and he was inustered in September 14. He remained on duty at Janesville, Wis., until December, where he was commissioned first lieutenant and adjutant of the Third Battalion, First Wisconsin Cavalry; lie was made regimental adjutant March 24, 1862, and captain of Company B September 26, 1862. The regiment was organized at Ripon and Kenosha, Wis., and mustered into service March 10, 1862, reporting at Benton Barracks, Mo., March 17, and remaining there until April 28, when they were attached to Vandervere's
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corps, department of Missouri, and operated in southeastern Missouri from April to October of that year. From May, 1863, to October, 1864, they were in the army of the Cumberland. Or- dered to Cape Girardeau, Mo., April 28, 1862, they assisted in scout and patrol duty in that dis- trict until the expedition to Bloomfield in Octo- ber. May 14-15 they took part in the action at Chalk's Bluff, then accompanied an expedition to Madison, Ark .; July 9-22 were in action at Scat- terville, Ark .; July 10, at Arkansas Bluff; July II, at Madison; July 22, at West Prairie, Mo .; July 23, with the compaign against Porter's and Pointdexter's guerillas; July 25, September 10, at Bloomfield as headquarters; July 29, at Jones- boro, Ark .; August 2-3, Jackson and Scatterville; August 3, in camp at Cape Girardeau, Mo .; Oc- tober 4, Bloomfield; thence to Greenville and Patterson, Mo .; on duty at West Plains, Pilot Knob and Ste. Genevieve, Mo .; in April, 1863, at White Water River; April 24, Cape Girardeau; April 5-27, Castor River; April 29, Bloomfield; April 30, ordered to join army of the Cumberland at Nashville, Tenn .; May I, in action at Triune; June 19, in the Tullahoma campaign; at Rover June 23; Middletown, June 24; Guy's Gap, June 27; occupation of Tullahoma, July 1; at Huntsville and Fayetteville until August 15; and at Larkinsville, Ala., until August 31; in the Chattanooga campaign from September to November; at Graysville, September 10; Craw- fish, September 18; took part in the following en-
gagements: Chickamauga, September 19-20; Rossville Gap, September 21; pursuit of Wheeler, October 10; Anderson's Cross Roads, October 2; Maysville, Ala., October 13; after which he was at camp in Winchester until November 20, and then was detached on recruiting service at Madi- son, Wis., from December, 1863, to February, 1864. Returning south, he was at Cleveland, Tenn., April 2-13; took part in the Atlanta cam- paign; was at Red Clay, Ga., May 3; Tunnel Hill, May 7; Buzzard's Roost Gap, May 8; Var- nell's Station, May 9; and was captured near Dalton, Ga., May 9, and made a prisoner of war, being confined at Atlanta and Macon, Ga., and Charleston, S. C. He was one of three hun-
dred officers, the first Union men to be placed under fire of their own guns. He was exchanged at Rough and Ready, Ga., September 26, 1864, and was mustered out October 28 of the same year, and honorably discharged from the service.
Although the highest title our subject won in war was that of captain, he is always addressed as "colonel," although, disliking to " sail under false colors," he has disclaimed all right to that title; but, one day shortly after his return from the front, he was met by a newspaper man, who addressed him as " colonel," and on being told he was not entitled to that rank, the man replied that he would at once commission him colonel. From that day to this he has been known by his hon- orary title.
On his return home he was for two years en- gaged in buying stock and grain. In 1866 he built a portion of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul road in Iowa. In 1867 he went to Kansas and contracted to build fourteen miles of the Union Pacific Railroad near Fort Hays. While there eight of his men were killed and fourteen head of stock were captured by the Indians. His next work was lumbering in Wisconsin, after which, with his father-in-law and others, lie built the Madison & Portage Railroad, now a part of the St. Paul system. On the completion of the road he took a position in the operating depart- ment of the same, and for three years made his headquarters in Milwaukee. He then went to Chicago and had charge of the terminal of the Wabash system, also was local freight agent for the road for one year. Later, for ten months, he was superintendent of the St. Louis bridge and union depot. For fifteen months he was super- intendent of the Rio Grande division of the Texas Pacific Railroad. During this time he had charge of building the roundhouse and eighteen sub- stantial buildings (eating houses and stations). In 1884 he returned to Chicago as superintend- ent of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail- road. He was in charge of the Chicago & Mil- waukee division, the Chicago & Council Bluffs division and the Chicago & Evanston division. After five years he resigned to accept the general superintendency of the construction of the Elgin,
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Joliet & Eastern Railroad, with which he re- mained for five years. Since then he has been interested in a railroad contract in the Indian Territory, and the Mineral Point & Northern Railroad in southwest Wisconsin. By other rail- road officials he is quoted as one of the most efficient transportation men in the United States. There is not a detail of the business with which he is unfamiliar. The many important positions he has held have been filled with a sagacity, en- ergy and intelligence that gave him a high place with company officials.
November 6, 1860, Captain Clinton married Miss Charlotte Campbell, who was born in Albany, N. Y., a daughter of James and Lorinda (Hill) Campbell. Her father was for some years a farmer, but later engaged in railroad building with his son-in-law. A native of Pennsylvania, born February 19, 1814, he moved to Albany in 1837, and in later years came west to Wisconsin. He died in Madison, that state, in 1883. His wife was born February 2, 1818, and died February 4, 1900. He was a descendant of Robert Camp- bell, who came to the United States in 1719 and died in Connecticut six years later. Captain and Mrs. Clinton are the parents of three children: Charles Arba, who is the Chicago representative of the Blanke Coffee Company of St. Louis; Edith L., wife of John Tuttle, a jeweler in Chicago; and James Campbell, who is cashier in the Morgan & Wright Tire Company, of Chicago. Captain Clinton is a member of Bicknell Lodge No. 94, A. F. & A. M., at Brodhead; Wisconsin Com- mandery No. I, at Milwaukee; and is also con- nected with the Loyal Legion of Milwaukee, and George H. Thomas Post, G. A. R.
EORGE W. FLAGG, a well-known farmer and stockman residing in Plainfield, is a member of one of the earliest pioneer fami- lies in this village and was himself born here July 25, 1837. His father, Reuben, a native of Ver- mont, grew to manhood on a farm and learned
the stone mason's trade in his youth. In that state he married Betsey Kendall, a woman of un- usual business capacity and one well fitted to cope with the hardships of pioneer existence. After the birth of two children they sought a home in the then far west. When they arrived in Plain- field, in 1830, they found three white families here. The surroundings were those of primeval nature. Little effort had been made to reclaim the land from its original wildness. Mr. Flagg took up a claim one mile south of Plainfield and settled on that place. At the land sale in 1836 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres one mile east of Plainfield; this property he improved and placed under cultivation, making of it a valuable farm. During the winter of 1831 he hauled the first hog ever taken to Chicago; it was during the progress of the first Methodist convention held in that city and the pork was presented to an old preacher, Mr. Biggs, who lived there at the time. In 1833 he hauled from Plainfield to Chicago the lumber that was used in the construction of the first frame house in the latter city. During the Black Hawk war he en- listed under General Scott and served until the Indians were conquered. During the progress of the war his family remained for a time in the log fort at Plainfield, but subsequently went to Fort Dearborn, which afforded greater protection to the whites. When the war ended they returned to their cabin home. They were gratified to find, on their return, that, although there was an In- dian village near by, the red men liad shown a friendly spirit and had not stolen anything from them. During the existence of the Whig party Mr. Flagg upheld its principles. Upon its disin- tegration he identified himself with the Repub- lican party. He held various local offices, and the county records show that he was the first jus- tice of the peace in Plainfield, holding the office several years. He was fairly successful in life, and at his death, in 1871, left a good farm of one hundred and sixty acres. More than half of his life of sixty-nine years was spent in this county, and it was his privilege to witness the remarkable growth of the county and the development of its 'resources. His wife, who, like himself, was a
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Universalist in religious belief, died in Plainfield in 1876. Of their children the two born in Ver- mont, Kendall and Sarah, died in this county. Samantha, who was born in September, 1830, was the first white child born in what was then Cook County, including all the land between Lake Michigan and Ottawa; she died when forty years of age. Prudence married David Holden and both are now deceased. Benjamin Franklin and Henry C. are deceased. William H. resides in Plainfield, N. Y .; Loraine, Mrs. James Radney, died in Iowa. Mary is deceased, and Lucy is the wife of Henry Howe, of Portland, Ore.
The sixth member of the family was George W., the subject of this sketch. He was reared amid the pioneer influences of this locality. At the breaking out of the Civil war he was deter- mined to enlist in the Union army, and Septem- ber, 1861, found his name enrolled as first lieu- tenant of Company K, Eighth Illinois Cavalry, in which he served until the spring of 1862. The hardships of army life and its attending exposures brought on hemorrhage of the lungs and he was obliged to resign his commission, after having done some good service as guard in the vicinity of Alexandria. Realizing that the state of his health necessitated a change of climate, he went
to Greeley, Colo., where he secured employment with Governor Eaton in herding cattle on the range between Denver and Cheyenne. For more than four years he remained in the west. The outdoor exercise in the pure, invigorating air of Colorado restored him to health. On his return home he engaged in farming on a place he had purchased near Plainfield. From time to time he added to his place until he is now the owner of six hundred acres, comprising one of the finest farms in the county. Since 1872 he has made his home in the village, carrying on the farm with the aid of his son. Much of his attention is given to the buying and feeding of cattle, in which work he has been quite successful.
November 17, 1861, Mr. Flagg married Miss M. A. Colgrove, daughter of Lester Colgrove, a farmer of this township. They have two sons, the older, George K., being a farmer, and the younger, Jerome F., a grocer in Plainfield. Both in principle and in politics Mr. Flagg is a stanch Prohibitionist and gives his influence toward the progress of that party. He is connected with the Grand Army Post in his home town. Mr. Flagg owes his prosperity to industry and frugality, and the lessons of his life are worth emulating by the younger generation.
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h. M. "Han E mon
GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
349
WALTER WALL VAN EMON.
ALTER WALL VAN EMON was one of the representative pioneers and highly esteemed citizens of Kendall County, and from his youth until his death, a period of about fifty-five years, he was intimately connected with the advancement of this section of the state. He bore an enviable reputation for integrity and high principles, and the business success which he won was the direct reward of steady, determined effort. A man of most temperate life, he never used tobacco or spirits in any form.
When our subject's father, George Van Emon, bought the pre-emption claim to the homestead which has since been in the possession of the fam- ily, the deed for the same from the government was issued to Van Neman, the original spelling of the patronymic, which is of German origin. The maternal ancestors of George Van Emnon resided in Massachusetts in very early colonial days; and on account of the rigorous persecutions instituted by some of the Puritan authorities the family sought peace and freedom in Pennsylva- nia, whence members bearing the name finally went westward.
George Van Emon was born in Brown County, Ohio, and when he was approaching manhood he decided to try liis fortunes in the west. His brother, James Van Emnon, also concluded to leave the more beaten paths of civilization, and unfortunately went to a wild region of Kentucky, where he was killed by Indians.
For a wife George Van Emon chose Hester Wall, a second cousin, and three children were born to them. In 1834 the couple started in a wagon for the prairies of Illinois, and brought with them cows and shecp, and sprouts of apple trees, currants and grapes. Arriving in what is
now Kendall County, the father bought a tract of one hundred and sixty-three acres, situated in the township of the same name. Sixteen acres had previously been broken, and a two-story log- cabin stood in this elearing. In that season the new owner managed to raise sufficient corn on the eleared tract to provide his family and stoek with necessary food during the ensuing winter, and his future success was assured. The little cabin, which was quite pretentious for that day and locality, is still in a good state of preserva- tion.
Walter Wall Van Emon, born January 22, 1819, in Ohio, was fifteen years of age when the family made the memorable journey to this eounty. He was a slender youth, and, indeed, did not reach the hundred-weight mark until after he arrived at his majority. He walked much of the way from Ohio, driving the live-stoek, and when he came to the marshy places or rivulcts he often rode across them on the back of his great, strong mastiff. After he located on this farm he bravely undertook tasks which really were beyond his strength, such as breaking the prairie with oxen, cutting timber and hauling lumber for buildings. The material used in the construction of the farm- house, which is the home of his widow, was brought from Lockport in 1850, and the house was built in that year. He was a systematic, successful farmer and business man, and within a few years began to reap plentiful harvests in return for his labor. For a number of years he made a specialty of raising horses of fine grade; and at a day when 2:26 was considered a remark- able record, liis brown Dick made that record 011 the racc-traek. He invested a sung little fortune in more farm lands and tracts of timber in this lo-
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
cality, and realized good profits from these ven- tures. At the time of his death, January 29, 1889, he left an estate of about three hundred acres.
On the 15th of July, 1856, Mr. Van Emon married Elizabeth Hay, daughter of George P. Hay, an honored early settler of Yorkville, Il1. Her mother, Mrs. Harriet (Morris) Hay, a native of New Jersey, was of English and Dutch de- scent. Mr. Hay, who was of Scotch descent, was born in the city of New York, and his ances- tors owned a farm on which the present Bowery of that city is situated. As they were tories at the time of the Revolution their property was confiscated by the infant government. Mr. Hay came from the Empire state to the west by way of the canal to Buffalo, the lakes to Chicago, and by team to this county. He carried on a mer- cantile business in Yorkville, and, though hon- ored by election to several offices there, sturdily declined them.
Of the five children born to Mr. Van Emon and wife, two died in infancy. Of the survivors, the daughter, Alida V., is the wife of Frank W. Lord, of Plano; and George H., the elder son, resides in Washington, D. C .; Allen H., who is an enterprising business man, is engaged in the management of the home farm, in association with his mother. He deals extensively in high- grade stock, keeping excellent cattle and horses, Shropshire sheep and Poland-China hogs.
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