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 53
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 53
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Having eome to this eounty in early childhood, our subjeet knows no other home but this. When his father retired from aetive eares he succeeded
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to his management of the estate. He has en- gaged in breeding Percheron horses, Shorthorn cattle (having from eighty to one hundred head of cows) and fine sheep, and owning a farm of more than one thousand acres. Associated with Jones Brothers in Manhattan, in 1893 he pur- chased the Thayer elevator and established the Manhattan bank, of which he was elected presi- dent. The company has built up a grain and coal trade and a general banking business. Mr. Baker is strong in his advocacy of good roads, and politically is a Democrat. He was the first master of the Manhattan Grange and is connected with the county Grange. His first wife, Eliza- beth Hoopson, whom he married in 1871 and who died in 1888, left three children; while by his present wife, who was Mary Jones, he has two sons, Robert and Clark.
DWARD H. VAN DUSER, who is en- gaged in farming and stock-raising in New Lenox Township, was born on the place where he now lives December 28, 1856. He is a member of a pioneer family of the county. His father, George Van Duser, a native of New York, grew to manhood in the east, but not being con- tent to adapt himself to the grooves of farm work there he decided to seek his fortune in the great west. Coming to Illinois he spent a year in Chi- cago. He then settled in Will County, where he secured employment in the old Red mill on the Higinbotham homestead. November 25, 1840, he married Elmina Mellen. The following spring he brought his wife to New Lenox Town- ship and settled upon the farm, where they spent the remainder of their lives. As he was pros- pered he added to his possessions, and at the same time acquired valuable stock. Through his combined efforts in farming and stock-raising he became well-to-do, and held a place among the prosperous men of the township. His interest in local affairs was noticeable throughout his life. As a Democrat he identified himself with town-
ship and county politics. He frequently was chosen to serve as a delegate to county conven- tions, and for a number of years he served as justice of the peace. He was an active member of the Grange. In religious views he was of the Universalist faith. He was permitted to enjoy eighty active and busy years; and then, in May, 1898, while still as strong and robust as many men twenty years his junior, he was killed by a runa- way team. His wife had died five years before his death. They were the parents of seven chil- dren, namely: Emily, who is the widow of John Widney, of Kendall County, Ill .; Adelaide, who married Joshua Barrett, of Iowa; Jerome, a farmer of Iowa; Ida, deceased; Gilbert, who is engaged in farming in Kansas; Edward H .; and Flora, who married Frank Gorham, of Iowa.
Upon completing a common-school education in country and city schools our subject took up farming in connection with his father, with whom he remained until the latter's accidental death in 1898. The following year he rented the land, though still maintaining a general supervision of the place, which comprises eighty acres of till- able land and a timbered tract. In educational affairs he takes an interest, and as school director has aided the schools of his own district. He is a member of the Grange. Politically he believes that the man should be supported whose char- acter and abitity are unexceptional and whose fitness for the office in question cannot be dis- puted. As a citizen he is public-spirited, favor- ing measures for the benefit of the people and the advancement of the community's welfare.
ILLIAM A. STRONG, who was long presi- dent of the Joliet Gas Company, was born in New York in 1828, and received a public-school education in his native town of Waterloo. There he engaged in the hardware business from 1845 until 1850. During the lat- ter year he came to Joliet and formed a partner- ship with his uncle, under the firm name of W. A.
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Strong & Co. In 1855 the title was changed to Strong & Co., Messrs. Brooks and Barrett being admitted into partnership. Under different firm names the business was sueeessfully eondueted until 1865. On retiring from the company, our subjeet aceepted the position of president of the Joliet Gas Company, and through his wise over- sight and sound judgment the corporation be- eame a very successful one. He also was con- nected with other interests of a private or public nature, and until his death was one of Joliet's most prominent men. The confidenee reposed in him was shown by his seleetion to take charge of the settlement of various large estates. As bank diree- tor and, for a few years, as an owner of stoek in a quarry business, he had diversified interests. His fellow-citizens, appreciating his business ability and high eharacter as a man, selected him to rep- resent them in the eity eouneil and as mayor of Joliet, where liis administrative and executive faeulties found a useful sphere of activity. Early in his residenee in Joliet he bought one hundred and twenty-five acres of land, which he platted in a subdivision known as Glenwood.
In 1855 Mr. Strong married Miss Charlotte A. Buell, who died at Thomasville, Ga., Mareh 20, 1889. Of their four children, two were daughters and two sons. One of the daughters, Mrs. Bud- long, died in January, 1885.
HARLES W. HOSTMER, superintendent of the ear department of the Michigan Cen- tral Railroad at Joliet, was born in Phila- delphia, Pa., June 22, 1839, a son of Gottlieb and Minnie (Myers) Hostmer. He was one of nine ehildren, of whom besides himself only two survive, Henry, a retired business man of Fort Wayne, Ind., and Louis, a eontraetor and builder in Fort Wayne. His father learned the milling business in youth, and, through good manage- ment and industrious efforts, in time beeame proprietor of a grist mill, but in later years turned his attention to farming. In 1836 he eame to
America, proceeding from Philadelphia, Pa., to Indiana and settling on a farm near Fort Wayne. There he spent his last years in retirement from business eares. He was a member of the Lutheran Church and in politics a Demoerat. His wife was born in Germany in 1803 and died in 1892.
When our subjeet was fifteen years of age he entered a dry-goods store at Fort Wayne, with the intention of adopting the mereantile business as his life work. However, his plans were sub- sequently changed. After three years he went to Chicago and apprentieed himself to the car- building trade in the Illinois Central shops. On the completion of his apprenticeship he remained in the same place as a salaried workman, and for twenty years he worked with them as a eoaeh builder. He was then promoted to the foreman- ship of the ear department of the passenger equipment, and remained in that important posi- tion until 1889, when he resigned to aeeept his present place with the Michigan Central Railroad, where he has charge of both the passenger and freight departments.
In 1876 Mr. Hostmer married Miss Betty Battershall, who was born near Albany, N. Y., a daughter of William and Emma (Wileox) Battershall, both natives of York state. Her father eame to Illinois in 1861 and bought a farm at Hinesville, where he remained for a short time. He then removed into Chieago and opened a boarding house on the south side, where he re- sided up to the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Hostmer had only one ehild, Charles, and he is now deeeased.
While not connected by membership with any ehureh, Mr. and Mrs. Hostmer attend the Methodist Church and subseribe liberally to its support, as well as to the support of other worthy movements and charitable enterprises. In poli- ties Mr. Hostmer is a stanch Republiean, and fraternally is eonneeted with Home Masonie Lodge No. 508, A. F. & A. M., of Chicago. The credit for his sueeess is due to himself wholly. Beginning life in humble eireumstances, but step by step, with commendable perseveranee, he ae- quired a thorough knowledge of the ear-building
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
business and thus fitted himself for a position of trust and responsibility. His success is a fitting example of what is in store as a reward for energy and directness of purpose. He is a good repre- sentative of the progressive and enterprising men of this county who are of German parentage and who retain the industrious, thrifty habits of that nationality.
IMEON S. TYLER, who is engaged in the insurance and real-estate business in Joliet, was born in this county May 1, 1849. He is a member of a family whose genealogy is traced back to 1317 in England and Holland and whose members have been prominent in Ameri- can history since early colonial days. To the same family belongs John Tyler, president of the United States, 1841-45. Simeon B. Tyler, fa- ther of our subject, was one of the earliest set- tlers of this county, whither he came from Bethel, Sullivan County, N. Y., at the same time with Squire Flagg. He built the sawmill on the Du- page River at Plainfield. In it he sawed the lumber that was hauled to Chicago by Squire Flagg and used in the building of the first frame house in the town. His own impressions of Chi- cago had not been favorable. He had landed from a boat in Chicago and found a town of tents. He was offered for ten shillings an acre, the land where the court house now stands, but it looked so uninviting that he had no desire to become its purchaser, even for that small sum. Coming to Plainfield he bought one hundred and sixty acres, to which he added later. He was a carpenter by trade and erected many of the first buildings in Plainfield. Some years afterward he took up farm work, in which he continued until his death. Active in religious work he was a leading Baptist of his locality and assisted in building two churches in Plainfield. He did not take any part in public affairs, preferring private business to office. After coming to this county he married Ruth, sister of Jason Flanders, a pioneer of Plainfield. Nine children were born
to their union, four of whom are living. A. H. Tyler, who died February 8, 1900, enlisted in the Union army in 1862, when only fifteen years of age, and served for three years as a member of the One Hundredth Illinois Infantry. Lansing H. is a large farmer of Remington, Ind .; Ralph W., for many years a traveling salesman, makes his home in Galesburg, Ill .; and Esther R. mar- ried Wesley Simmons, a farmer and stockman of Fairbury, Neb.
The first among the four now living is the sub- ject of this article. He was reared in Plainfield, where his father resided from 1832 until his death in February, 1889. When he was a boy his older brothers started to the front to aid in defending the Union. One of them, Hubbard A., who was then seventeen years old, died of ty- phoid fever at Nashville, Tenn., during his term of service. Unable on account of his youth to go with his brothers, our subject was forced to con- tent himself with the routine of study in the vil- lage school. Later he studied in the Northwest ern College of the Evangelical Church, which was then in Plainfield, but is now in Naperville. His first venture in business was as a merchant in Evansville, Ind. After some time he came to Joliet. Later he made a trip to Kansas and selected land near Dodge City, on the old Santa Fe trail. Locating there he was for three and one-half years engaged in the clearing and culti- vating of his land, after which he returned to Joliet. As an insurance agent he represents twelve of the old-line standard companies. Since he started in the insurance business nearly twen- ty-five years ago he has represented a number of these companies steadily, which speaks volumes for his ability and knowledge of the business. From early boyhood his sympathies have been with the Republican party, which he was reared to believe the party of advance and progress. His father had on his place a station of the underground railroad and was a stanch Aboli- tionist and Republican, and his brothers were no less strong in their political sympathies. How- ever, he has never cared for office and has never been active in politics. Fraternally he is con- nected with Mount Joliet Lodge No. 42, A. F. &
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
A M. In 1888 he erected on Eastern avenue the comfortable residence where he and his fam- ily have since made their home. He was mar- ried, November 18, 1874, to Miss Lovice B. Towne, a daughter of Caroline (Hammond) Towne, of Waupun, Wis. They have two chil- dren, Walter S. and Dorris, the former a student in the Illinois University. The family arc con- nected with Central Presbyterian Church.
RANK SPRAGUE, an enterprising farmer and dairyman of Lockport Township, was born July 22, 1858, in Dupage Township on the Plainfield road, where his father, Thomas J., located on settling in Will County. Through- out his entire life he has been identified with the farming interests of this county, and, in addition, has had other interests of an important character. His education was received in country schools and the Lockport high school. Growing to man- hood on a farm, familiar from his earliest recol- lections with agricultural pursuits, he was well fitted for the management of a farm of his own, and on arriving at man's estate chose for his life work the occupation with which he was most familiar. He was twenty-two years of age when he started out in life for himself. His first in- dependent venture was the renting of the home farm, which he carried on alone for two years.
In the fall of 1883, in connection with his brother, Charles N. (a sketch of whom appcars elsewhere in this work, as does also that of their father), Mr. Sprague purchased his present farm. In the spring of 1884 he settled on the placc. At once he began its improvement and cultivation. Besides the raising of general farm products he gave considerable attention to the dairy business. In 1894 he sold a part of the farmu south of the railroad to the Joliet Limestone Company; at the same time he bought his brother's interest in the remainder and has since operated it alone. Hc is a dealer in all kinds of farm and dairy feed, shipments to him being made in car load lots by
means of a side track on his place. He milks about twenty head of cows and sells the milk to dealers. He owns and operates one hundred and sixty acres of choice farm land. In the fall of 1890 he opened up a quarry on the farm, quarry- ing a fine grade of rock. In 1894 he sold the stone quarry, then opened, to the Joliet Lime Stone Company, after which he opened another quarry. In March, 1899, he rented it to the Keltie Stone Company. The presence of the rock in the strata of his land greatly enhances the value of the place.
Politically Mr. Sprague votes with the Demo- crats at national elections, but in local affairs gives his support to men whom he considers best qualified to represent the people. He has always refused official positions for himself. His mar- riage took place June 2, 1881, and united him with Florence E., daughter of Philip S. Tripp, of Hillsdale County, Mich. Ten children were born of their union, of whom seven are living, namely: Florence Olive, Vila May, Libbie Elsie, Charles Albert, Philip T., George C. and Alice C.
AMUEL HOOD, a retired physician, resides on section 16, Crete Township. Hc was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, June 25, 1815. His father, Samuel Hood, Sr., a native of Ireland, but of English ancestry, came to America in 1840 and settled on new land in Cook County, Ill., remaining there until his death at eighty-seven years. He married four times, the mother of our subject being Maria E. Vanhaften, who was born in Bombay, and was first married to a surgeon-general in an East Indian Company .. After his death she married Mr. Hood. Of her two children our subject alone survives. Hc began to study medicine when he was eightecu years of age, first serving three years in an apothecary shop and then entering a medical college in London, England. Three years later ltc graduated, after which he set sail for America. For a number of years he practiced in different
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places in Pennsylvania, then moved to Gentry County, Mo., and after four years came to Illinois, where he carried on practice for twenty years.
In Butler County, Pa., Dr. Hood married Ellen Stewart, who was born in County Donegal, Ire- land, and came to America with her parents in girlhood. Nine children were born to their union, but death has removed a number of these from the home they once brightened by their presence. Thomas died when twenty-one, Samuel when eighteen and David when seven. Two died in infancy. John J. became a farmer in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Mary married Nelson Seymour, a farmer at Homewood, Cook County. Maria married Henry Seymour, engi- neer of the Crete Manufacturing Company. Har- riet became the wife of Robert Hewes, a farmer of Crete Township.
ARVEY B. PORTER, who is one of the most successful farmers of Channahon Township, was born in Newburg, Cuya- hoga County, Ohio, June 1, 1860, a son of Leman and Arzelia (Benedict) Porter. He was second among five children, the eldest of whoni, Alice A., is principal of the musical department in " The Western," a university for women at Ox- ford, Ohio. The youngest, Alta S., is the wife of Sherman Lewis, a farmer of Will County. The others, Alma R. and Edgar S., reside with their mother of the old homestead. In the house where our subject was born the birth of his father occurred November 1, 1831, and there he made his home until 1866. He then came to Will County and bought two hundred and forty acres in Channahon Township. Here he settled down to farmi pursuits. The ensuing years were spent in the tilling of the soil, sowing of seed and harvesting of grain. Stock-raising, too, received some of his attention. Five years after he settled here he bought an adjoining eighty-acre tract, which made his farm one-half section in acreage.
He was an educated man, a broad reader, and was well informed on all public questions. Politically an ardent Republican he did much to advance the Republican cause in his township. He was not a seeker after office, and always re- fused to allow his nanie to be used as a candidate. However, he made an exception in cases of school offices, and for some years filled the office of school trustee. He died at his homestead August 28, 1895.
The grandfather of our subject, Harvey Porter, was a descendant of Puritan stock. His father served under General Washington during the Revolutionary war; in an early day he removed to New York and settled in Schoharie County, where the grandfather was born. The latter, ill 1818, when a young man, went to Ohio and established his home in Cuyahoga County, where he resided until his death in 1861. During three months in the war of 1812 he served in the army, and at the time of the British attack on Fort Erie he was doing detailed duty at the Batavia arsenal, from which point the noise of cannon and the firing of guns could be distinctly heard.
The mother of our subject was also of good old Revolutionary ancestry. She and her parents, Julius S. and Mary (Rogers) Benedict, were natives of Vermont, whence they removed to Ohio, settling near Bedford when she was three years of age. Her grandfather Rogers was a general in. the Revolutionary war and served on Washington's staff. Mrs. Porter was born in 1829, and, though now advanced in years, is still hearty and strong. Since her husband's death she has remained with her children on the old homestead, where her declining days are bright- ened by the affection of her children and the esteem of her friends.
After having studied for some time in the high school at Channahon our subject entered the Tri- State Normal at Angola, Ind., from which he graduated in 1888. For four months afterward he taught a district school, but pedagogy was not congenial and he sought a position more to his liking. Returning to Angola, for two years he was employed in a machine shop as a model maker. From there he went to Joliet, where he
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
carried on a model-making shop for two years. The failing health of his father rendered his presence at the old home advisable. He went back and assumed the management of the farm. Since then he has superintended the cultivation of the land and the selling of the farm products, in which work he shows decided ability and en- terprise. Politically he is a Republican and works in the interests of his party. In 1894 he was elected highway commissioner of Channa- hon Township, which office he filled for three years. He is a member of the Methodist Church and one of its trustees. Fraternally he is con- neeted with Chanahon Lodge No. 262, A. F. & A. M .; Kalon Camp No. 4282, M. W. A., and Channahon District Court of Honor.
HOMAS J. SPRAGUE. One of the men who by personal sacrifice and persevering industry wrested a home and fortune from the raw prairie land of Will County, and who will be long remembered by those among whom he made his home, was the well-known pioneer, Thomas J. Sprague. Coming here when the re- gion was wild and uncultivated, he bore his part in the development of the land and assisted in bringing Will County to its present high stand- ing among the counties of Illinois. He was born in Hamburg, Erie County, N. Y., November 23, 1810, and grew to manhood on a farm. After having for two years engaged in the mercantile business, in 1838 he came west to Illinois, set- tling in Dupage Township, Will County. Here lie bought one hundred and sixty acres of wild prairie land on which scarce a furrow had been turned nor an attempt at improvement made. The task of improving the place was no small one, but he succeeded in doing so and met with more than ordinary success as a pioneer farmer. By the purchase of canal and government land he finally became the owner of over five hundred aeres, whielt he held until his death. After years of arduous labor as a farmer he accumulated suf-
ficient to give him a nice ineome, and he then retired from active labors and came to Joliet, where he made his home from 1890 until he passed from earth, October 22, 1898, after an ill- ness of one week. Financially he was a success- ful man; nor was he less successful in winning the esteem of his associates and the warm regard of his friends. In polities he was always stanch in his adherence to the Democratic party. Fra- ternally he was connected with Lockport Lodge No. 538, A. F. & A. M. While he was not iden- tified with any denomination he was a believer in Christianity (his parents having been Quakers) and in his life endeavored to live up to the teach- ings of Christ. It was his pleasure in his last years to contrast the improvements of the present with the privations of the past, and to call the attention of others to the wonderful transforma- tion wronght in this county during his sixty years of residence here. No one rejoiced more than he in the county's upward growth and prog- ress.
January 9, 1845, Mr. Sprague married Mrs. Lydia (Swift) Godfrey, daughter of Shubael and Eunice (Olmstead) Swift. Her father was born and reared in Austerlitz, Columbia County, N. Y., and engaged in farming there until 1835, when he drove through to Illinois and settled in what is now Dupage Township, Will County. Pre- empting a tract of wild land he gave his attention to its improvement. Later he added to it by the purchase of canal land. A number of years later lie sold the farin and moved to Waukegan, where he died at ninety-four years of age. In polities he was a Democrat. His wife had died in New York when thirty-seven years of age, leaving three children. One of these, Lydia, was born December 28, 1818, on the homestead at Auster- litz, where her father's eyes liad first opened to the light. She accompanied her father to this county in 1835, and, having received an excel- lent education in the east, she secured a position as teacher in Dupage Township, continuing in that occupation until her marriage. In 1839 she became the wife of Charles Godfrey, who came to this county from the cast in 1833. Three chil- dren were born of their marriage, viz .: Eunice E.,
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
wife of Reuben W. Kilmer; Joseph, a resident of Joliet; and Mrs. Julia M. Lord, of Joliet. A few years after the death of Mr. Godfrey his widow became the wife of Mr. Sprague. Of the children born to this union three died when young and Thomas J. died in Joliet October 3, 1893, after having gained a good practice as a physician. Two other sons, Charles N. and Frank, are rep- resented on other pages of this volume. The daughters are: Elizabeth, wife of Jonathan Math- er; Harriet, widow of Albert Phelps, of Dupage Township; and Celia, widow of George E. Royce, of Naperville, Il1.
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