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 51
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 51
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The marriage of Mr. Cutler, May 5, 1852, united him with Ann, daughter of John Felton, of Michigan. Five children comprise their fam- ily: Ella E., wife of Charles H. Peck; Carrie L., who married George Gilman; Frank J. and Charles N., who are farmers in Homer Township; and John F., who was born in 1878, and is still with his parents. The oldest son, Frank J., was born August 12, 1861, and married Hattie, a sister of George Gilman. They have one son, Ralph. A young man of enterprise and ability, he has become one of the prominent agriculturists of the township. He deals in market cattle and hogs and also owns seventy milch cows, making large shipments of milk every day to Chicago. For several years he served as collector, and at this writing he holds the office of highway com- missioner. The second son, Charles N., born in 1872, married Lucy Young, and they have two children, Laura and an infant son.
EORGE GOSS, who has been a busines man of Joliet since 1864, was born at Würtzburg- on-the-Main, Bavaria, Germany, August 27, 1838, a son of George and Elizabeth Goss, natives of the same place. He was the youngest of five children, and the only one to come to the United States. His father, who was the son of a soldier in the Napoleonic wars in Germany and Russia, was captain of the first steamboat on the Main and also on the Rhinc, and continued at the head of the line until the company retired from busi- ness in 1870. His death occurred in 1880, when he was eighty years of age. His wife had died at the age of thirty-five years.
In 1854 our subject took passage at Bremen on the sailing vessel " North Wind," which arrived in New York after a voyage of twenty-nine days. Proceeding to Buffalo, he worked at the butcher's trade for a year there, and then spent a similar period in Milwaukee. In 1856 he went to Chi- cago, where he was employed as a butcher for two years. His next location was in Ottawa, where he carried on a business of his own. The year 1864 found him in Joliet, where he started a meat market on Joliet street, between Jefferson and Washington. However, he sold out in two months, and formed a partnership in the retail meat and produce business with Joseph Reich- mann, opening a market on Chicago street ncar Jefferson. Later the market was moved across the street, where lie continued business alone. He also built a double stone store building on Chicago street, across the alley from the Barber building. For two years or more he was a mem- ber of the firm of Goss & Adler, on Exchange, near Bluff street.
The present post-office building, at Nos. 113- 1 15 Jefferson street, was built by Mr. Goss in 1893. It is a two-story building, 44x80 feet, the first floor of which is occupied by the post-office. In 1896 he bought the store at No. 405 Washington street, where he has a three-story building, 22X 150. Of recent years he has carried on a whole- sale meat business. He has a packing house in Joliet Township, two miles northeast of the city, where he carries on a rendering factory. He also conducts a wholesale business in hides, etc. Be- sides this business, he owns a small farm in Joliet Township. While lie is now in prosperous cir- cumstances, and has made a success of his busi- ness, yet he has met with his share of reverses. During the time he spent in Ottawa he lost almost everything through the absconding of a government contractor, and in 1873, when the panic came on, he lost the first two buildings hc erected in Joliet. In politics he is a Republican, and in religion holds membership in St. John's Roman Catholic Church.
The marriage of Mr. Goss, in Ottawa, united him with Miss Anna Boersle, who was born in Dayton, Ill. They are the parents of six chil-
.
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
dren, the eldest of whom is his father's namesake and business partner. The others are Fred; Mrs. Minnie Mergel, of Chicago; Annie; Louisa, at home; and Mrs. Emma Kennedy, of Joliet.
ON. THOMAS J. KELLY. Through his long and intimate connection with the busi- ness interests and public affairs of Joliet, Mr. Kelly has become well known to the resi- dents of this city. In 1868 he established his present dry-goods business, having as a partner his brother Joseph A., under the firm name of Kelly Brothers. In 1875 the block he now occu- pies was built, and the following year he pur- chased his brother's interest, since which time he has conducted the business alone. While neces- sarily much of his time and thought are given to the management of his store, yet he has found leisure for other interests. He was trustee of the company that platted and laid out Boulevard Heights, and served as president of the South Joliet Land .Company, that laid out South Joliet addition. He is also treasurer of the Mutual Loan and Building Association.
Politically Mr. Kelly voted with the Democrats until the candidacy of Samuel J. Tilden in 1876, when he became a Greenbacker. The tariff question led him to ally himself with the Repub- licans. After the St. Louis convention of 1896, not being in sympathy with the gold platform of the Republican party, he returned to the Demo- cratic ranks, being a bimetallist in the broad sense of that word. He has been closely con- nected with politics in his city and county, and has frequently been chosen to occupy positions of trust. For two terms he was supervisor of Joliet Township, for two terms served as assistant su- pervisor, and for two terms held the chairmanship of the county board of supervisors, being chairman when the present court house was erected, and it was in no small measure due to his efforts that the substantial and commodious fireproof building was erected. In 1883 he was first elected mayor.
His service was so satisfactory that he was re- elected in 1885 and 1889, serving until 1891. During his administration the fire and police de- partments were organized, and street improve- ments of great value were made.
The Kellys are an old family of Trellick, County Tyrone, Ireland. Our subject's grand- father, Thomas Kelly, was a merchant of that town. One of his sons, Rev. John Kelly, became a Roman Catholic priest, and died in New Jersey. Two others, Eugene and Patrick, settled in Cali- fornia, where the latter died. Eugene, who crossed the ocean about 1834, spent some years in the mercantile business in St. Louis, and in 1849 went to California, where he became one of the largest merchants and bankers of his day. Later he was identified with the banking business in New York City, where he died in December, 1894. The oldest son, Edward, was for some years a merchant in Trellick. In December, 1847, he left Ireland on the sailer "Sea," which anchored in New York City in January, 1848. In the spring of the same year he came to Will County, Ill., and settled four miles south of Joliet, in Jackson Township, where he bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and adjoining lands from Robert Duncan, an old settler of Joliet. For sixteen years he engaged in the cultivation of that place. He then sold it and bought a farm in the southern part of Lockport Township, where he improved a valuable tract of one-half section. He died there November 5, 1871, at the age of seventy-one years. His wife, who died in 1894, at the age of eighty-seven, was Rose, a daughter of Owen Curren, a farmer of County Tyrone, but during his last years a resident of Will County, where he and his wife died in old age. Edward and Rose Kelly had two sons, Thomas J., and Joseph A., of Joliet, and two daughters, Catherine and Bridget, of Chicago.
Accompanying his parents to this country, our subject remained in New York City for a year after they came west, and in 1849 he joined them on a farm in Will County. In 1854 he entered Notre Dame University at South Bend, Ind., where he studied for eighteen months. Later he spent two years at St. Mary's College,
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Wilmington, Del. In 1860 he graduated from the Jesuit College in Montreal, after which lie returned to the farm and remained there for seven years. He began in business in Wilmington in 1867, the following year moved to Joliet, and has since carried on a store on Jefferson street.
At Lockport, Ill., in 1868, Mr. Kelly married Mary, daughter of Patriek Fitzpatrick, who in 1832 eame from Ontario to this eounty and set- tled on the west bluff. Mr. Kelly and his wife are faithful and prominent members of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, and he has contributed generously to its various charities. He is a mem- ber of the Knights of Columbus, and the Joliet Sharpshooters' Association. He is deeply inter- ested in the welfare and progress of Joliet, and has given liberally of his time and influence to promote enterprises of undoubted value to the eity.
LIVER S. CHAMBERLIN. Among those who, through unaided exertions and the ex- ereise of sound judgment, have risen from humble positions in youth to places of honor and influenee among their fellow-citizens, may be mentioned Mr. Chamberlin, who for years was an enterprising business man and farmer of this eounty, but is now living retired at No. 11 12 Cass street, Joliet. He was born in southeastern Canada, near Vermont, September 14, 1825, a son of Franklin and Rebecca (Leavitt) Chamber- lin, natives of Waterford, Me., and Stoke, Vt. His paternal ancestors were from England and settled on the coast of New England during colonial days. The grandfather, John Chamber- lin, a native of Waterford, engaged in business as proprietor of a paeking house. After the elose of the war of 1812 he moved his family into the dense woods of Canada East, one hundred miles from Montreal. Cutting down the timber, lie "grubbed," eleared and improved a farmi, and on it spent his remaining aetive years. Up to the time of his death he retained, in full, his physical and mental powers, and the death summons eame
suddenly to him while seated at the breakfast table one morning in the home of his son, John, near Montreal. He had only two children, Franklin and John. The latter, a lifelong resi- dent of Canada, was especially aetive in ehurel matters and served as a deaeon for a number of years.
Born January 22, 1797, Franklin Chamberlin was a boy when his parents settled in Canada, and there he grew to manhood. In 1837 he journeyed by wagon from Canada to Chicago, thenee came to what is now Will County and took up land at Twelve Mile Grove. After seven years he moved to Blue Island. In 1851 he moved to Blaek Oak Grove, now known as Oak Lawn, of which he was a pioneer. During his residence there he represented the town of Worth as a member of the Cook County board of super- visors for several years, and was a leader in local polities. On the farm which he improved there he died, when eighty-four years of age. His wife died at the home of their daughter, Mrs. Adams, in Utah, in 1889, aged ninety-two years. Of their seven ehildren, Sallie Ann died at Nachusa, Ill .; Oliver S. is the subject of this sketeh; Annie married Jediah Seott, now of Cali- fornia; Mary married John Adams and lives in Centerville, Utah; James lives in Pasadena; Henry went to Nevada and traveled by wagon from there to Oregon, settling seventy-five miles from Lagrande, where he died in 1896; and one ehild died in infaney.
When twelve years of age our subjeet aecom- panied his parents from Canada to Chicago, a trip that consumed four months. They reached Chieago in the summer and found it a small, in- signifieant town. Joliet, too, was a little hamlet of no importance. He assisted in building a cabin on the elaim at Twelve Mile Grove, using black walnut timber in the construction of the building. He accompanied his parents later to Blue Island, where he remained until twenty- seven years of age. In 1854 he began to buy eattle and afterward engaged in the stock busi- ness on a rather extensive seale. In 1857 he purehased a farm near Blue Island and there he made his home for seven years, meantime buying
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
and selling cattle. In 1862 he sold his farm and moved to Joliet, where he resided for thirteen years. On coming to this city he purchased the crockery business of Thomas Cagwin, and for some years sold crockery and glassware. His store and stock were destroyed by fire in 1866, after which he opened a store on Chicago street, continuing in the grocery business there for a few years. In 1875 he sold out and purchased a farm on Maple street, New Lenox Township, where he engaged in raising fine stock and made his home for seventeen years. When he rented his farm in 1892 he moved to the house formerly owned by his father-in-law, and here he has lived in retirement from business cares. Besides the property which he owns, his wife has four hun- dred and forty acres in New Lenox Township, which she rents. In politics he always votes the Republican ticket.
In 1853 Mr. Chamberlin married Eliza, daugh- ter of Henry K. Stevens, whose sketch appears on another page of this volume. They have one son now living, Frank E., and lost one son, Al- bert H., the elder of the two, who was killed at the age of twenty-two while on a hunting trip on the Kankakee River. Frank E. married Vir- ginia C., daughter of George House, and they and their son, Albert F., reside with his father- and mother on Cass street.
the business into a department store, with a com- plete general line of goods. In his store at Nos. 221-223 Chicago street he uses four floors, with a frontage of sixty-six feet and a depth of ninety feet. The basement and first and second floors are used for retail purposes, while the third is for storage. Since 1896 the business has been car- ried on under the firm name of George A. Ducker & Co., his partner being J. C. Hunt, who has charge of the second floor. In March, 1898, Mr. Ducker became interested in the establish- ment of the mercantile house of Fred Roblin & Co., in Waukegan, and he has since been a mem- ber of this firm.
His ability as a merchant and financier Mr. Ducker probably inherits from his father, James Ducker, who was for years one of the most suc- cessful business men in this county. In his sketch upon another page appears the family his- tory. Our subject was born in Mokena, this county, April 16, 1859. When only eleven years of age he began to assist in his father's store. After coming to Joliet in 1874 he was for two years cashier and bookkeeper with his father. At the same time he studied under a private tu- tor. In 1876 he became connected with the sales department and after a time was made buyer for the store. In the spring of 1885 he went to Red Cloud, Neb., and opened a dry-goods store, but when his father died, in December of that year, he sold the business and returned to act as exec- utor of the estate. Since the estate was settled he has been in business in Joliet.
Fraternally Mr. Ducker is a member of Mat- teson Lodge, A. F. & A. M., Joliet Chapter, and Joliet Commandery No. 4, K. T., also Medinah Temple, N. M. S. In the order of Elks he is a member of the local board of trustees, and he is also actively connected with the Modern Wood- men of America. Socially he is identified with the Union Club. A Democrat in politics, he was in the spring of 1898 elected assistant super- visor of Joliet Township, and since his election to the board has been chairman of the purchasing committee for the courthouse and jail, and a member of other committees. In religion he is
F EORGE A. DUCKER. In studying the lives of successful business men, we find that they invariably possess great energy of character. It is to the possession of this quality that Mr. Ducker owes not a little of his pros- perity, for through it, and the exercise of wise judgment in all transactions, he has been enabled to build up a business that stands among the foremost of Joliet enterprises. When he began, in 1886, the trade was small and the stock of goods far inferior to that of the present time. From time to time he increased his stock by ad- ding new departments, and in 1896 he merged - a Universalist. In this city he married Florence,
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
daughter of Valentine Rathburn, who was for years a farmer in Dupage County, Ill., but died in Joliet. Mr. and Mrs. Ducker have two chil- dren, Edna M. and George A., Jr.
OBERT ALEXANDER, who is engaged in the wholesale meat business in Joliet and is also a member of the firm of Fleischer & Co., representing the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company, was born in Stuttgart, the capital city of Wurtemberg, Germany, March 2, 1853, a son of Isaac and Theresa (Neuman) Alexander, also natives of Wurtemberg. His father, a man of superior intelligence and information, became interested at an early age in antiquities and in art, and gave his attention to the collec- tion of paintings, arms and armor, laces, porce- lain, etc. In this way'he became known through- out his entire country, and his collection was said to be one of the finest ever made. His life was wholly given up to his family and his business. His wife died in 1869-and he in 1893. Of their ten children, three daughters and two sons are still living, the two latter, Robert and Henry, being in Joliet.
After having completed the studies of the high school in Stuttgart, our subject came to America in 1870, joining two sisters in North Carolina, where he secured work as a clerk. Later he was employed in Atlanta, Ga., Memphis, Tenn., and St. Paul, Minn. The summer of 1876 lic spent in Bismarck, N. Dak., after which he clerked in Brownsville, Tex., for four years. In 1883 hc went to Chicago and was employed in the office of the commanding general, Philip Sheridan, in that city. When General Schofield succeeded to the command, he continued with him as confi- dential clerk, and also licld a similar position with the next commanding generals, Terry and Crook. On the death of General Crook, in 1890, he came to Joliet and cmbarked in the wholesale meat business with his father-in-law, Jonas Kahn, the firm title being Kalın & Alexander. At
first they acted as consignees for Armour & Co., but in 1894 they settled with that firm and en- gaged in business independently. Since the death of Mr. Kahn, March 24, 1897, Mr. Alexan- der has been alonc, although he still retains the old firm name .-
In Chicago, in 1886, Mr. Alexander married Millie, daughter of Jonas Kohn. Fraternally he is connected with Matteson Lodge of Masonry, is past high priest of the Royal Arch Chapter and a member of the council of Royal and Select Mas- ters in Joliet. He is also associated with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. In poli- tics he is a stanch Republican. . Besides his other interests he acts as executor of the Kahn estate. He is an energetic and capable business man and is justly meeting with success.
AMES WALSH, a retired farmer residing in Spencer, New Lenox Township, was born in County Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1838. At twenty-one years of age he came to the United States, landing in New York City, and for a short time working as a hired hand on farms, after- ward engaging in agricultural pursuits on his own account. In 1851 he came to Illinois and settled in Joliet, which at that time had only one
business strect. He was employed on the Rock Island Railroad during its construction, after which he rented a farm. In 1855 lic bought property on section 27, New Lenox Township, where he began independent farming. At dif- ferent times he bought other farm land, until he now owns five hundred acres of as finc land as may be found in the entire county, besides a farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Livingston County, Ill. Besides raising cereals, he gave considerable attention to the raising of stock, and in both departments of agriculture met with grati- fying success. He continued to make his home on thic farm until 1891, when he rented the place and purchased a home in Spencer. It is his in- tention to spend the remainder of his life in this
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
village, retired front active labors, and in the en- joyment of the comforts his industry has rendered possible. Having been a hard-working man, he well deserves the rest he now enjoys.
The platform of the Democratic party repre- sents the political views of Mr. Walsh, who has been a steadfast supporter of its men and meas- ures and has shown considerable interest in town affairs. For a number of years he served as school director. He and his family are members of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church. His life shows what it is possible for a man to ac- complish in this world, when he is industrious and has the aid of a good wife. In the early days of his residence here he was compelled to work almost ceaselessly, and often the hour of midnight found him still in the field. Equally hard-working was his wife, who frequently bound grain all night, working in the field by his side both night and day.
Prior to her marriage, in New York City, in 1851, Mrs. Walsh bore the maiden name of Mar- garet Delaney; she was a daughter of William Delaney, who came to this country from Ireland in 1849. The six children of Mr. and Mrs. Walsh are named as follows: Annie, wife of James Carroll; John and Martin, farmers of this county; Michael and James, of Campus, Living- ston County; and Patrick, a teacher in the schools of this county. Mr. Walsh and his wife also adopted a child of six years from the New York St. Joseph's orphan asylum. They gave her the name of Annie Walsh, and she still remains with them, finding a happy home with her adopted parents.
HOMAS J. NEESE, supervisor of Wesley Township, and a dealer in agricultural im- plements at Ritchey, has been connected with the farming interests of the township since 1876, when he settled on a farm here. Besides his general farming he has been engaged in raising and feeding cattle, and since 1890 has also acted as local representative of the Deering
Harvester Company. Although he was reared in the Democratic faith he is a stanch Republican and exercises his right of franchise in favor of the party to whose principles he adheres. He is very active in local politics. Frequently he has been chosen by his fellow-citizens to occupy some local office of trust and honor. For two years he was collector of the township, for three years served as assessor and for six years was township treasurer. In 1892 he was elected supervisor, and this office he has since filled to the satisfac- tion of the people, discharging its duties with promptness and fidelity. He has acted as a member of the county central committee and as delegate to county and state conventions. It was largely through his efforts that a school was secured and a fine building erected in the village of Ritchey. In his work as school director he has been instrumental in advancing the educa- tional interests of his district and in raising the . grade of scholarship.
Before the Revolutionary war Peter Neese came from Germany and settled in Center Coun- ty, Pa. That was then in the midst of a trackless wilderness. People were few and privations many. In order to get feed for his cattle he cut down forest trees for their leaves. He became a large farmer and was successful for those days. When a very old man he died in 1852. His son, William, was a native of Center County, where he spent his life on a farm. He held a number of minor offices and supported the Democratic party. For some time he was an elder in the Lutheran Church. He died in 1867, when sixty years of age. By his marriage to Margaret Hubler, a native of Center County, he had three children, namely: Thomas J .; Mary, wife of Silas Smith, of Manhattan, Ill .; and Alexander, who died in Kansas when thirty-three years of age.
On his father's farm in Center County, Pa., our subject was born September 6, 1847. He received a common-school education, after which he as- sisted in cultivating the home farm for two years. I11 1869 he came to Illinois with his brother and settled in Florence Township, where he began farming and stock-raising. In 1876 he moved to Wesley Township, and has since been one of its
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
best-known men. Heis a member of the Knights of Globe at Ritchey. Ever since the Methodist Episcopal Church was built he has been one of its trustees and has assisted liberally in all its enter- prises. In 1867 he married Miss Jane C. Groos- man, a native of Pennsylvania. They are the parents of four children, the eldest being Della, wife of Frederick Hiles, of this township. The others are George William, Sonata S. and Wal- ter B.
REDERICK FORKEL, foreman of Barrows' Lock Company, at Lockport, was born in Dresden, Germany, March 29, 1861, a son of Frederick and Christine Forkel, natives of the kingdom of Saxony. His father was a German soldier and served in the Schleswig- Holstein war of 1849; by trade he was a gar- dener and also a weaver. He died in 1877, and his wife in 1898. Of their three children, Adolph is foreman in a machine factory in Dres- den; Bertha is married and resides in Dresden. Our subject, who was the youngest of the family, is the only one in America. He was reared in his native city, and received his education in the excellent schools there. At the age of fourteen, following the usual custom in Germany, he was apprenticed to a trade. For about four years he worked as an apprentice in a machine shop, after which he followed his trade successively in Ba- varia, Bohemia, Vienna, Northern Italy, Swit- zerland, Wurtemberg, Baden, Alsace-Lorraine, Belgium and Holland. Afterward he spent a year at his old home, then went to Frankenstahl on the Rhine, and from there came to America in 1882.
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