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 45
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 45
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possessions until he had large landed tracts, but, having lost both of his children, and his wife dy- ing in 1890, he had no longer the same reason as before for desiring large possessions, and he after- ward sold all but his original one hundred and sixteen acres. In1 1895, after the erection of the creamery at Channahon, he was made its mana- ger, and during the three years that he held the position, the business netted about twenty-seven per cent dividends, a proud record which has never been equaled in the history of the Chan- nahon Creamery.
In Orleans County, N. Y., Mr. Carpenter was born January 27, 1834, a son of Daniel and Paulina (Smith) Carpenter. He and his sister, Lucinda, the widow of Dr. Gersham Randall, of Linn, Kans., are the only survivors of the fan- ily, which originally comprised six children. His father, who was born at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., in 1796, grew to manhood there, and received a common-school education. February 25, 1819, he married Miss Smith. About 1824 he removed to the western part of the state, settling in Orleans County, where he engaged in farming. His wife died in 1837. Later he married Miss Fannie Styles, by whom he had five children, two now living: Wilber H., of Joliet, and Fran- ces, wife of William Harmon. The father was a progressive farmer and acquired a competency through his tireless efforts. In early life he was a Whig. On the organization of the Republican party he affiliated himself with it. He did not care for office, and refused all but minor posi- tions. In the Methodist Church he served as a trustee. His death occurred August 2, 1870.
When nineteen years of age our subject left
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home and came to Joliet, arriving here, as before stated, in October, 1853. The now prosperous city was then an insignificant village, but he dis- cerned its possibilities and also saw the opportunity of making a good investment by the purchase of farm land in the county. Subsequent events justified the wisdom of his course. January 10, 1855, he married Miss Ellen Spencer, who was born in Chicago December 21, 1834. They be- came the parents of two children: Alice Evelyn, who was born on Christmas day of 1865 and died August 1, 1866; and Allen Elmer, who was born April 28, 1869, and died July 24, 1870. Mrs. Carpenter passed away October 20, 1890. She was an active worker in the Methodist Church and a woman beloved by all for her gentle, amiable character and kind heart. Mr. Carpenter has been a trustee of the Methodist Church for the past twenty-five years and for some time has been a steward. Politically he is a firm Republi- can. From 1893 to 1897 he served as supervisor of Channahon Township. For twelve years he held the office of town treasurer and for nine years was highway commissioner. For a quarter of a century he was a member of the Republican central committee. He has also frequently been a delegate to county and state conventions.
ENRY S. CARPENTER, who was long a business man of Joliet, was born November 23, 1825, and died March 5, 1892. He re- ceived his education in Albion Academy. In 1848 he came to Joliet, with the subsequent his- tory of which he was identified. For a number of years he taught in the city schools, but by de- grees he drifted into the real-estate business, buy- ing and selling town lots and also dealing in farm property. In addition he had large grain interests, in connection with his brother, Allen P., the two being among the most extensive grain merchants of this section of the country. He bought in carload lots and exported to all parts of the world.
In 1851 Mr. Carpenter married Miss Henrietta Spencer, a sister of Mrs. Allen P. Carpenter. They became the parents of three children. The only living son, Charles C., who was connected with his father in the grain business, is now business manager of a piano factory at Ottawa, Ill., and a bicycle factory at Joliet. The second son, George H., is deceased. The only daugh- ter, Sarah F., is the wife of William Grinton, a merchant in Joliet, and with her Mrs. Carpenter makes her home.
TEPHEN J. WILLIAMS. In the manage- ment of his dairy and farm interests Mr. Williams has displayed energy and wise judgment. From early manhood he has been one of the important factors in the promotion of local enterprises and agricultural improvements in Dupage Township, and as a progressive farmer of high integrity, has won the confidence and re- gard of his large circle of acquaintances. The land which he owns lies on sections 33 and 34. Here he was born September 22, 1846, and here much of his life has been passed. In the stock business his specialty is the raising of cattle and Norman horses. He buys heavily in the Chicago markets and often sells again without taking the stock out of the yards. He has a large number of milch cows and ships from seventy to eighty gallons of milk to Chicago daily, finding in the dairy business a profitable source of revenue.
Thomas Williams, our subject's father, was born and educated in Cornwall, England, where he learned the contract business with his father, an able and well-known contractor in Cornwall. In early manhood he engaged in the flax-seed business, shipping from England to America. In 1852 he came to this country and carried on a coal business in Pittsburg, Pa. Upon the start- ing of the canal in Illinois he sold his coal busi- ness and took a contract to build a part of the ca- nal in Will County, a part of sections 23 and 24, extending through Romeo. In 1850 he went to California and built a levee in San Francisco,
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which work consumed almost three years. His next contract was for building fifteen miles of the Great Western Railroad in Illinois. Upon the completion of his canal contract he had purchased forty acres where our subject now lives, and his family resided here while he was in different parts of the country filling contracts, adding to the home farm from time to time. On finishing his railroad work he returned to this place and gave his attention to its improvement. He was nominated in 1880 for the legislature by the Dem- ocratic party, but before the election was stricken with paralysis and died, August 25, the same year. He was then seventy-two years of age. In religion lie was identified with the Church of England. Fraternally he was connected with the Masons. By his marriage to Susan Homer, who died November 23, 1898, he had nine children, of whom all are deceased but Mrs. Susan G. Haney, of Chicago, and Stephen J., of this sketch.
In the academy at Naperville and the college at Wheaton our subject received excellent edu- cational advantages. His first work was the management of a coal mine owned by his father at Gardner, where he remained for three years. He then went to Lockport Township and took charge of a farm on sections 31 and 32, which he conducted for sixteen years. He still owns the farm, comprising three hundred and twenty acres. He returned to the old homestead at the death of his father. On this place lie has since made his home. Mr. Williams has been one of the most successful farmers and stockmen during the last decade in Will County. His methods of farming are the most advanced and his judgment in regard to buying and selling stock has made him well known in the Chicago market. His home farin now comprises over one thousand acres of choice land, the equal of which it would be hard to find in northern Illinois. A Democrat in national af- fairs, he is independent in local matters, voting for the men he considers best qualified to repre- sent the people. He has been a delegate to town- ship and county conventions and to many of the state and national gatherings of the Democratic party. Upon the death of his father he succeeded
him in the office of supervisor, which he held for thirteen years. At one time he was nominated for the legislature, but the district being strong- ly Republican he was defeated. He is warmly interested in all that concerns his immediate lo- cality, especially in educational matters, and his influence for years in the office of school direc- tor has been exerted in behalf of the schools.
While in Gardner Mr. Williams married Mary E. Burns, who died January 2, 1876, at the age of twenty-seven and one-half years. This union was blessed by three children: Thomas, who is in Albuquerque, N. M .; James, who culti- vates the home farm for his father; and Maude, who married Isaac Sims, a merchant in Lockport. Two years after the death of his first wife Mr. Williams married her sister, Katie Burns, by whom he has three children, Mary E., Jennette B. and Stephen J. Jr.
EVI WHIPPLE, member of the firm of Whipple & Barr, grain merchants of Plain- field, was born near Morris, Grundy County, Ill., March 7, 1846. His father, William Whip- ple, a native of Watertown, Jefferson County, N. Y., born in November, 1808, spent the first fourteen years of his life there and then went to Detroit, Mich. For six years he worked as a clerk in that city. Coming from there to Illinois he engaged in the grocery business in Marseilles, also sold groceries through the surrounding country with team and wagon. He then settled in Grundy County, renting a farm near Morris, but after two years bought another farm near by, and on the latter place he made his home for thirty years. From there he moved to Buffalo, Ind. His last days were spent in Ford County, Ill., where he died at eighty-seven years. In politics he was first a Whig and later a Repub- lican. While he never had any educational ad- vantages he became a well-informed man and kept posted concerning current events of im- portance. He was a member of a pioneer family
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of New England that traced its ancestry to Ger- many. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Basheba Gibson, was born in Vermont and died in Illinois in 1862, when forty-five years of age. She was a woman of exemplary character and sincere Christian faith. She left four children, of whom Levi was second in order of birth.
Until twenty-five years of age our subject re- mained at home assisting his father in the culti- vation of the farm. At the time of his marriage he settled on one of his father's farms, which he later purchased, making it his home until 1882. He then rented the property. and moved to Morris, Ill., where he carried on a livery busi- ness for two years. Afterward he became inter- ested in the lumber business. In 1890 he came to Plainfield and formed a partnership with C. V. Barr, renting an elevator at Plainfield and one at Caton Farm. The latter burned down in 1892, but was immediately rebuilt by the proprietors. Later they bought the elevator at Plainfield and have since operated both, Mr. Whipple managing that at Caton Farm, while Mr. Barr has charge of the one at Plainfield. The Caton Farm elevator has a capacity of between seventy-five and eighty thousand bushels, it being one of the largest elevators in the county.
By the marriage of Mr. Whipple to Miss Harriet A. Stone three children were born, Win- nifred, Lester H. and Chester L. In his political views M. Whipple is a Republican and takes an active part in assisting those of his friends who are candidates for office, but has never sought political positions for himself. He was a charter member of the Knights of Pythias lodge at Plainfield and is still connected with it. He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. In the forwarding of worthy enter- prises he has taken an interest, contributing to the same as able, and he has for years assisted in the maintenance of the Congregational Church with which his wife is identified.
As a substantial business man no one stands higher in his community than Mr. Whipple. He has great capacity for business, and the success of his enterprises comes from his energetic man- agement of the same. Having given much time
and thought to the grain business he is familiar with all its details, and manages his elevator in such a way as to reap the greatest possible results therefrom. He is very progressive and public- spirited, and is always in favor of movements that are likely to benefit his locality, though the demands upon his time made by his business in- terests prevent him from actively identifying him- self with public affairs.
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AWRENCE DITTRICH, who for years be- fore his death was one of the enterprising farmers and business men of this county, was born in Buckenhofen, Bavaria, Germany, January 20, 1844. He received his education in schools in his native country, and from an early age was familiar with agricultural pursuits. At the age of twenty-six years he came to the United States, landing in Baltimore, and proceeding from there to Chicago. After a short stay in the latter city he came to the vicinity of Mokena, where he se- cured work on a farm. In 1873 he married and moved to Joliet, where he obtained work in the rolling. mill. During the ten years he was em- ployed in the mill he proved himself to be a very competent and efficient workman, and from small wages was advanced until he made as much as $160 per month.
During 1883 Mr. Dittrich bought an unim- proved tract of eighty acres of land at what was then called Grinton. Settling upon the place, he at once began its development. He cleared the land of stumps and placed it in condition for cultivation. At a later date he bought fifty-two acres to the south, which he also brought under cultivation, and devoted to general farm products. In the raising of horses and cattle he also took con- siderable interest. While he gave his attention closely to his farm work he did not neglect his duties as a citizen, but kept in touch with local matters. For a number of years he served as road overseer and later was elected highway commis- sioner. His political belief was in accord with
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Democratic principles. In religion he was con- nected with St. John's Roman Catholic Church.
The marriage of Mr. Dittrich, October 22, 1873, united him with Mrs. Susanna Brown, who was born in Westbach, Rheinpfalz, Bavaria, Germany, a daughter of Henry Schneider. She was reared in her native land, and after her mar- riage to Mr. Brown came to the United States. By her first marriage she had two children, but both are now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Dittrich were born eight children, five of whom are living, namely: Helena, wife of Henry Christman, of Joliet; Henry, who has charge of the home farm 011 section 10, Troy Township; Lawrence, Su- sanna and Annie. Mrs. Dittrich was reared in the Lutheran faith, and is connected with that denomination in Joliet. Since the death of her husband, August 7, 1892, she has had the over- sight of the homestead and the general manage- ment of the estate, and has proved herself to be a woman possessing decided business ability.
OAH WHITLEY, county surveyor, was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, August 10, 1852, a son of Robert and Sarah (Lorryman) Whitley, natives of the same town. His grandfather, John Whitley, descended from a family who, as far back as the sixteenth century, resided near Whitley bridge, in Yorkshire, and by whom the family name was variously spelled Whitily, Whytely, Whitley, etc. Whitley Castle, in Northumberlandshire, was probably owned by a branch of the family, and is quoted by histo- rians of the Roman period. Robert, who was a miller by trade, came to America in 1853 and set- tled at Plainfield, Will County, Ill., where the famn- ily joined him two years later. For a time he was employed in a mill at Oswego, Kendall County, but in 1864 returned to Plainfield, where he re- sumed milling. In 1866 he embarked in the milling business at Lockport, Ill., where he has since been foreman for a company. By his mar- riage to a daugliter of Nathan Lorryman, of an
old Yorkshire family, he had seven children, of whom Noah and Robert, Jr., of Lockport, and two daughters survive, our subject being the eld- est of the family. He was three years of age at the time his mother brought him to the United States, joining his father in Will County. Sub- sequently the family went to Kendall County, but returned to Plainfield in 1864, and in 1866 settled in Lockport, where he completed the high school course. He then took up civil engineer- ing and surveying and attended a private school in Chicago.
The first engineering done by Mr. Whitley was in 1872, when he was employed on the Pittsburg & Fort Wayne Railroad in Ohio. Two years later he came to Joliet, where he assisted the county surveyor, A. J. Mathewson, in his surveys. In 1877 he went to California, where he engaged in surveying. He was also assist- ant superintendent of a large fishing com- pany, and, being in and about the water much of the time, hie contracted rheumatism in his arms. Hoping a change of climate might enable him to get rid of the disease, he went to the Society Islands, twenty-five hundred miles south of the Sandwich Islands, in the Pacific, and spent almost a ycar in that region of the world, being for a few months on the island of Tahiti, whose inhabitants were mostly natives, with a very few Americans, Germans and Scotchmen. The trip proved successful in permanently relieving him of the disease.
Returning to Joliet in 1883, Mr. Whitley has since engaged in work as a civil engineer. From 1885 to 1888 hc served as city engineer. To fill a vacancy the board of supervisors ap- pointed him county supervisor in 1895. The following year he was regularly elccted to thc office of county surveyor and civil engineer for a term of four years. He has had almost all the work connected with the laying out of additions and subdividing of property, and his work lias always proved reliable and trustworthy. In 1892, as a member of the sanitary survey, he located sec- tion and half-section corners in Will County for the sanitary district. In 1897 and 1898 he liad charge of the party locating land corners through
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the city of Joliet for the sanitary district, and was called upon to give testimony in the condemnation cases that came up for settlement. He is a mem- ber of the Western Society of Engineers. In national politics he is a Republican. During 1887, within six months, he made two trips to England and Scotland, where he visited relatives and acquaintances of the family. He was mar- ried in Joliet to Miss Jane E. Clark, who was born in Scotland, and died in that country, leav- ing a daughter, Sarah Barbara.
ANDREW J. HOWK. Although i was not until a comparatively recent period that - Mr. Howk settled permanently in Joliet, yet he has been familiar with the place from early manhood and no one has taken a greater inter- est in its progress than has he. The family of which he is a member has been represented in America for many generations. He was born in Watertown, N. Y., December 15, 1831, and was a son of Henderson Howk, a miller of Water- town. When the family came to Illinois in 1851 his father built the mills in Joliet that occupied the present site of the plant of the Economy Light and Power Company. One of his first contracts in the west was in connection with Governor Matteson for the building of the Rock Island Railroad from Joliet to Blue Island, after which he carried on the mills in partnership with George W. Hyde. His last years were spent in retirement from business and he died in this city in 1889. During his residence in New York he took an active interest in political mat- ters and served honorably as a member of the state legislature. Though not a member of any denomination he was liberal in his gifts to all, and more than one church has reason to be grate- ful to him for generous assistance at a time when it was sorely needed. By his marriage to Emily, daughter of L. Nathan Matteson and a sister of Hon. Joel A. Matteson, he had five children, of whom the oldest, Andrew J., and a younger
brother, F. M., a justice of the peace in Joliet, are the only survivors. John and Augustus were both in business in this city until their death.
When about twenty years of age our subject accompanied his parents to the west. He entered the store of his uncle, Governor Matteson, in Joliet, and remained with him until 1853, when he went to California and embarked in prospect- ing and mining. From that time to this he has had important mining interests. His success at the start was such as to induce him to devote his life to the occupation. When the placer mines became exhausted he turned his attention to quartz mining. He located a mine, "May Lundy," on the summit of the Sierra Nevada range, eleven thousand feet above sea level, it being one of the highest productive mines now in operation on the continent. It was opened in 1881 and he operated it personally for some years. He has also had valuable interests in Nevada. In 1863 he went to that territory, where he carried on silver mining profitably until 1876; but owing to the decline in silver he dis- continued the work in the latter year. Of recent years he has again turned his attention to mining in Nevada, but mines for gold and copper and not for silver. While he has not wholly given up his interests in California he has no active con- nection with mines there now, but works in Nevada instead. In 1885 he settled permanently in Joliet in order that his son might have the ad- vantage of study in the city schools. Usually he spends a portion of each summer in Nevada at- tending to his interests there. Politically he is an ardent supporter of the silver wing of the Re- publican party. In religion he is a member of the Presbyterian Church. While in California he married Miss Margie Kirkpatrick, by whom he has one son now living, Henderson J. Howk.
Often noting the prosperity of Joliet and the variety of its industries Mr. Howk recalls the days when he first came here and enjoys dwell- ing upon the contrasts between a half century ago and now. Shortly after he came here he built a part of the first brick building erected in the town, putting up a portion of the brick block just north of the National Hotel. It was his
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plan to start in business in that block, but his health was poor and his physician ordered him to leave. It was in this way that he decided to go to California. From 1889 to 1896 he was a member of the firm of Kirkpatrick, Howk & Massey, who engaged in quarrying just outside of the city limits on South Chicago street.
OHN AGNEW, deceased, was one of the finest machinists ever in Joliet. He was born in Wicktonshire, Scotland, March II, 1843, and in early manhood removed to Glasgow, where he worked as a machinist, meantime gain- ing a thorough knowledge of the trade. Believ- ing he would be better able to succeed in America he crossed the ocean in 1871 and settled in Cleve- land, Ohio, where he worked in the rolling mills. From there, in 1880, he removed to Chicago, and there was selected to be foreman of a large ma- chine shop, for which work his previous ex- perience as foreman in Cleveland admirably qualified him. He continued in Chicago until 1889, when he went to Anderson, Ind., and liad charge of the building of the rod mills in that place. The year 1890 found him in Joliet, where he erected the Enterprise mills for Fish Brothers. Later, as master mechanic, he had charge of the Illinois machine shops of the Illinois steel works. In every city where he resided he was recognized as an expert machinist. Hi's work was reliable and trustworthy, and no employer ever spoke of him except in terms of highest praise. He con- tinued to hold a very responsible position in the steel works until his death, which occurred in Joliet February 2, 1893. To his family he left a comfortable home and the memory of an upright Cliristian life.
After coming to the United States Mr. Agnew took a warm interest in public affairs in his adopted country. He affiliated with the Repub- lican party and upheld its principles. During his residence in Anderson, Ind., he was a member of the common council. The nature of his work,
however, was such as to prevent his acceptance of most local offices, for he had not sufficient time to give to them. In the Knights of Pythias he held office as grand chancellor and was connected with the Uniform Rank. He also served as high chief ranger in the local camp of Foresters. In both of these orders he stood high and took an active part.
Before leaving Scotland Mr. Agnew lost his first wife, who left a son, William, now connected with the postal department in Cleveland. After coming to America he was a second time married, choosing as his wife Miss Jane Dewar, whom he married in Cleveland February 22, 1872. Mrs. Agnew was born and reared in Scotland and in 1870 accompanied her uncle to the United States, settling in Cleveland She was reared in the Episcopalian faith and early identified herself with that church, which Mr. Agnew also attended, though not a member. They became the parents of seven children, one of whom died at four years of age, and six are now living, viz .: Jessie, wife of George Russell, of Anderson, Ind .; Samuel H., a machinist in Joliet; Anna F. and John, both of whom are employed as clerks in this city; James and Jean, who are still at home.
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