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 63
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 63
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Henry Sehring was born in Joliet in 1861 and received a public school education. When seven- teen years of age he entered the brewery witlı which he has since been connected. In 1883 he was elected vice-president, an office that he still fills. In 1889 he married Miss Katie Arnold, who was born in Matteson, Ill., and by whom he has a son, Arnold.
The brewery is situated at the corner of Bridge and Summit streets, where the company owns five acres. The water is secured from two springs and is, by chemical test, proved to be especially adapted to the brewing business. In 1894 a bottling establishment was started. Two kinds of beer are manufactured, the Standard- Pale and Muenchener, which are sold in Joliet and adjoining towns. With the building and machinery, which are of great value, there is a capacity of thirty thousand barrels annually. At present the sales amount to the full capacity of the plant, and plans are being drafted for large improvements to increase the capacity.
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The constant growth of the business is due to the wise judgment and enterprise of the officers of the company, who have devoted years of effort to the building up of the plant.
ILLIAM H. LANFEAR has a well-culti- vated farm on section 29, Homer Town- ship, where he is engaged in general farın pursuits and in raising Norman horses, cattle and hogs. He holds an honorable place among the men of character and principle, who have had the making of this county and who are active in sustaining its reputation as one of the rich agri- cultural regions of the state. Having lived in the same neighborhood since a child, he is well acquainted both with the people and the advan- tages of the township, and has gained a high po- sition among his fellow-citizens. After his mar- riage, in 1852, he settled on a portion of the homestead, and has since built a neat residence, substantial barns and good fences, has made other valuable improvements, including the plant- ing of trees, and has brought the two hundred and thirty-four acres comprising the farm under excellent cultivation. Few citizens of the town- ship have resided here longer than he. It has been his privilege to witness the wonderful trans- formation of the county during the past sixty- five years, and in the development of its re- sources he has been an active factor.
The Lanfear family was founded in America by Seth Lanfear, a native of Holland, who crossed the ocean in the "Mayflower," and settled in New England. From there his de- scendants moved to Montgomery County, N. Y. Joshua Lanfear, our subject's grandfather, was born in that county and died on a farm there when ninety-six years of age. His brothers served in the continental army during the Revo- lutionary war. His son, Asa, who was born in Montgomery County in 1793, became the owner of a large farm in his native county, but after a time decided to seek a home in the then sparsely
settled west. In 1834 he made a prospecting trip to what is now Will County, Ill. Being pleased with the location he bought a farm on section 29, Homer Township, and began to break ground and build fences. In the spring of 1835 he brought his family to the new home, where he built a log cabin and began life in the midst of pioneer surroundings. From the first he was prospered. He tilled the soil, reaping large har- vests of grain, and also engaged in raising stock. He was a Republican in politics and served his district as a school director. For years he was a deacon in the Baptist Church and Sunday-school superintendent. June 23, 1871, he passed from earth, being then almost seventy-eight years of age. His marriage united him with Olive Bur- gess, who was born in New York in 1797 and whose step-father was killed by Indians. She died in 1883 at the home of her son, William H., when eighty-five years of age. Of her ten chil- dren, the following survive: Ardelia, the widow of Joseph B. Rowley; Lydia H., the widow of Alfred G. Rowley; Enon, a resident of Texas; William H .; Mary J., the widow of William Morse; Joel S .; and Olive M., wife of Curtis Morse.
In 1832 Selalı, a brother of Asa Lanfear, came to Will County with his family and settled in Homer Township, where he died at the age of thirty-three years. His body was interred in the burial-ground on section 30, being the first to be buried there. His widow was eighty-four at the time of her death. During the Black Hawk war he was captain of a company and built a fort east of Lockport. Years after he had come to Illinois, his brother, Enon Lanfear, brought his family here and settled in Homer Township.
On Christmas day of 1830 our subject was born at Sempronius, Cayuga County, N. Y. When five years of age lie was brought to this county by his parents. His education was obtained in common schools, which he attended a few months each year. February 25, 1852, he married Miss Emily M. Savage, a sister of Hon. Amos Savage, in whose sketch the family history appears. She was born in Granville, N. Y., July 24, 1830, and
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was three years of age when her parents settled in this county. Since then she has resided in this locality, where her family have always stood high. She was educated in the pioneer schools of Illinois and exhibited ability for teaching. She taught four terms in Homer Township success- fully. For the first term her compensation was but $1.00 per week and "board around." Dur- ing the last year she received double this amount, much to the envy of some of her associates. Of the seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Lanfear three are living, namely: Mary A., who is the wife of Joseph Brown, of this county; Albert H., at home; and Nettie E., wife of Frank E. Hyatt, of Lockport. Four children are deceased: Asa W., born November 8, 1854, died March 22, 1871; Ida M., born August 2, 1856, died January 6, 1860; Charlie E., born November 3, 1872, died July 24, 1873; and Willie H., born November 3, 1872, died September 13, 1874. The family are identified with the Baptist Church at Lockport, of which Mr. Lanfear is a trustee.
ILLIAM F. McMASTERS, city clerk of Joliet, is a descendant of a Scotch family that was identified with the early history of North Carolina. His parents, William F. and Elizabeth (Allen) McMasters, were natives re- spectively of Pennsylvania and Ohio and died in the latter state, the father in 1864, the mother in 1872. The maternal grandfather, William Allen, was a farmer of Jefferson County, Ohio. The paternal grandfather, Rev. David McMasters, was a son of Rev. James Masters (as the name was then spelled), and a native of Chatham County, N. C., where his family had been slave- holders, but becoming convinced of the injustice of the institution they finally set their slaves free. David McMasters and two of his brothers became ministers in the Methodist Episcopal Church. While living in Pennsylvania he married Miss Anna Starr. Later they removed from that state to Mount Pleasant, Jefferson County, Ohio.
They were accompanied by a ten-year old girl, Lucy Norman, whom they reared and who was married by Rev. Mr. McMasters to Mr. Stanton; they became the parents of Edwin McMasters Stanton, the famous war secretary of the Rebel- lion.
At an early age William F. McMasters, Sr., our subject's father, accompanied his parents to Jefferson County, Ohio. There he carried on a furniture business and later was proprietor of a boot and shoe store, also of an insurance agency. For some years he served as county auditor.
A member of a family of two daughters and one son, our subject was born in Steubenville, Ohio, April 10, 1863. After his mother's death he came to Illinois and made his home with an aunt in Canton, where he attended the public schools. At the age of twelve years he secured work on a farm and from that time he earned his own livelihood. In 1876 he became an appren- tice to the cigar-maker's trade, which he followed in Canton until 1881, and afterward traveled through the east and in Canada. In 1886 he was married in Galesburg, Ill., to Mrs. Nettie (Bald- win) Krollman, who was born in Monmouth, this state, being a daughter of George Baldwin, an early settler of Monmouth and proprietor of the Baldwin house in that city.
April 10, 1890, Mr. McMasters arrived in Joliet, where he has since made his home. He was employed in a cigar factory until 1899, being foreman during four years of that time. In the spring of 1899 he was elected city clerk on the Democratic ticket, receiving a majority of two hundred and forty-five. On the Ist of May he took the oath of office, and has since, with the aid of two assistants, discharged the duties of the position to the satisfaction of all concerned. The Democratic party receives his steadfast support, and he is actively interested in political matters. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America. During his active con- nection with the Cigar Maker's Union he fre- quently was elected its president, and he was also for some years president and financial sec- retary of the Central Trades and Labor Council of Will County. He and his wife have two
.
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daughters, Estel and Georgia, and by her first marriage Mrs. McMasters also has a daughter, Maude Krollman, who is now a student in the high school of Monmouth, Ill.
ON. JOHN B. MOUNT, mayor of Joliet. The Mount family is of English and Ger-
- man descent and was early represented in New Jersey. Elias P. Mount, who was born near Morristown, N. J., the son of a brick man- ufacturer, learned the builder's trade in Newark, and about 1855 came to Illinois. Settling in Jacksonville, he engaged in business as a con- tractor and builder. An active Democrat, he however never held public office. In religion he was a Presbyterian, and fraternally a Master Mason. Among his contracts were those for the courthouse at Jacksonville, large portions of the insane asylum, deaf and dumb school and the institute for the blind; twice he built the Illinois Female College. He built many of the most substantial business houses and residences in that city, and was one of its first prominent contract- ors. He died there in October, 1892. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Johnson, was born near New London, Conn., the daughter of a farmer whose ancestors came from England and served in the colonial army during the Rev- olution; her mother was a member of an old Puritan and Revolutionary family to which be- longed ex-Governor Morgan, of New York. Mrs. Elizabeth Mount died in January, 1898, at the age of sixty-four years. Of her six children all but one are living.
The eldest of the family, John B., was born in Jacksonville, Ill., January 16, 1859. He was educated in public schools and Whipple Academy, where he took a college preparatory course. In 1876 he entered a drug store, wherc lie clerked, and at the same time studied pharmacy, remain- ing there until 1882. He then came to Joliet and opened a drug store on the corner of Chicago and Jefferson streets, where he remained for thirteen
years. He then bought the property at No. 702 Washington street, near Eastern avenue, where he has since carried on a large business as drug- gist. Since 1889 he has been a stockholder and director in the Mutual Building and Loan Asso- ciation. Fraternally he is identified with Matte- son Lodge No. 175, A. F. & A. M., in which he is treasurer. Reared in the Baptist faith by his mother, he has always been in sympathy with the doctrines of that church and has aided its work. He was a charter member of the Stone City Union Club of Joliet and is still actively connected with it.
In Marseilles, I11., Mr. Mount married Miss Annie L. Bruce, by whom he has a daughter, Margaret Bruce Mount, a member of the Joliet high school class of 1900. Mrs. Mount is a grad- uate of the Young Ladies' Atheneum at Jackson- ville and is a cultured, educated lady, possessing many attractive traits of character. She is of Scotch parentage, her father, Alexander Bruce, having been born in Scotland, whence he emi- grated to Illinois and engaged in banking in Marseilles until his deatlı. He was also a prom- inent railroad contractor, his specialty being stone masonry for railroad bridges, and he bridged the Illinois and Mississippi rivers more than twelve times.
For some years Mr. Mount has been one of the leading Democrats of his city and has also served as treasurer of the county central committee. In 1 893-94 he was city treasurer. With the excep- tion of those two years he has filled the office of assistant supervisor since 1889, and is at present a member of the judiciary committee appointed to settle with the circuit clerk. In the spring of 1897 he was the Democratic nominee for mayor, but was defeated by two hundred and four votes. Two years later he was again nominated, and this time defeated Colonel Bennitt by nine hun- dred and eighty votes, assuming the duties of the office on the Ist of May, 1899, for a term of two years. In the capacity of mayor he is ex-officio president of all the public departments.
Alike in business circles and in public affairs Mr. Mount is, by common consent, accorded a high place. Successful in a financial sense, ex-
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hibiting clearness of judgment and great energy in the conduct of his drug business, he has proved himself to be no less fitted for the functions of an office-holder, and has displayed a public spirit and force of character as the head of executive affairs in Joliet. The best interests of the city have been promoted by his influence. It is the testimony even of those opposed to him in pol- itics that, as mayor, he has always protected the city's interests and defended its rights; and that, in the performance of his duties as executive, he is quick to recognize an important situation and equally quick in devising means of meeting it- qualities that have enabled him to perform efficiently the exacting duties of his office.
DWARD R. MCCLELLAN, who is engaged in farming and cattle-raising on sections 22 and 23, Plainfield Township, was born in Will County, October 26, 1860, the only child of John and Arathusa (Brown) Mcclellan.
In 1745 three Mcclellan brothers came to America and settled, one in Connecticut, another in Pennsylvania and the third in western Massa- chusetts. From the Massachusetts settler de- scends the subject of this article. From the Pennsylvania descended Gen. George B. Mc- Clellan. Hugh Mcclellan, our subject's great- grandfather, was captain of a company of minute men from Shelburne and Colerain, Mass., who started from the front April 20, 1775, the day following the battle of Lexington. He served honorably throughout the Revolutionary war and participated in many hard-fought battles, among them the battle of Stillwater on the Hud- son, where General Burgoyne had thrown a rope bridge across the river to be used as a means of retreat. A few days before that engagement the colonists were roused east of the Hudson. All of the pewter plates in their houses were melted into bullets. Although a child of Colonel Mc- Clellan had just died, he stopped only long enough for the burial, and with a fleet horse
overtook his men before they reached Stillwater. There the bridge was guarded by a company of thirty. Hessians, all but one of whom were killed, this aiding materially in the defeat of Burgoyne and his bloodthirsty Indian allies. At the close of Shay's rebellion his home was made the repos- itory of the arms and ammunitions of war of the little belligerent army, and a large room in his colonial mansion, known as the north chamber, was filled with them. There he also administered the oath of allegiance to the people.
Hon. Michael McClellan, son of the Revolu- tionary colonel, was elected on the Whig ticket to the Massachusetts legislature, in which he served for several terms. By his marriage to Jane Patterson he had eight children, of whom John was the youngest and is now the sole sur- vivor. He received a public-school education and remained on the homestead until he at- tained liis majority. From Massachusetts he came direct of Illinois and settled in Will Coun- ty, buying one hundred and sixty acres of land in Plainfield Township. To this he added until he owned one hundred and eighty-five acres. There he remained, cultivating the soil and raising stock, until the fall of 1883, when he retired from farm cares. Since then he has made his home in Plainfield. During the existence of the Whig party he voted for its principles and afterward became a Republican. Since 1880 he has held the office of road commissioner, a position that he has filled with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the people.
The education of our subject was obtained in the schools of this county and the high school in Niles, Mich. Upon completing his course there he returned to the home place and began to assist in its management. He continued with his fa- ther until the latter's retirement to Plainfield, since which time he has been alone. He has made a specialty of the cattle business, making his farming secondary, and while he sells some oats, he is obliged to buy each year considerable corn for feeding. In buying cattle his preference is for the Durhams. He has added to his hold- ing until he now operates two hundred and sixty- five acres, every part of which is now accessible
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to running water. One hundred and thirty acres are under the plow, the remainder being used for the pasturage of stock. In addition to his cattle he keeps a few trotting horses on the placc.
In the delegation work of the Republican party in his township Mr. McClellan has taken an active part, wielding an influence for the candi- dates of the party, but secking no official honors for himself. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. November 27, 1883, hc married Miss Carrie I. McAllister, daughter of Capt. Edward McAllister, of this township. They have two daughters, Inez A. and Vera E.
ON. HUGH HENDERSON. O11 the 22d of October, 1854, there was genuine grief in the state of Illinois, but its intensity and depth werc most keenly felt in Joliet and Will County, where Judge Henderson's death, at that period, was in reality a public calamity. He was an ornament to the bar and the judiciary and elevated to a higher cminence every position he occupicd. His selection to revise the laws and statutes of the state, at Springfield, a duty to which he devoted three months of active energy and an intelligent mind, trained in the legal lorc of the past, and its application to the existing condition of the time, was an evidence of eminent qualifications to fill the highest office within the gift of the people. That they appreciated his merits and well-won honors was made evident by records that are now historical facts, that he was at that period the contemplated candidate for governor on the Democratic ticket, with a certainty of clection to the gubernatorial chair.
In those days Illinois was a magnet of attrac- tion for the youth, genius, intellect and manhood of other states, until it became the nursery of the builders of the nation, on the lines marked out by Washington, Jefferson and Jackson. If Ken- tucky furnished a Lincoln, New York contributed a Henderson, another of Nature's noblemen,
called away when his services to country and friends were most needed, and before his brilliant talents and faithful discharge of public duty had time to receive the recognition that was so cer- tain of fulfillment.
Hugh Henderson was born on a farm in Nor- way, Herkimer County, N. Y., Junc 9, 1809. At an early age lic aided his industrious parents, especially in spring and summer, when and wherever liis services were available. In winter he attended the country school and laid the basis of an education that was achieved by a determi- nation, characteristic of his spirit, to succeed in whatever duty he undertook. At the age of eighteen he taught school. This occupation he followed until he had saved sufficient to enter Fairfield College, New York. There, by close application, he forced his way to the foremost rank and graduated with high honors. Entering the law office of George Feeter, of Little Falls, N. Y., he never halted in his exertions to acquire a knowledge of all it was necessary he should know, in a profession he was destined to honor, and in which he was to become an authority on matters of jurisprudence.
In the spring of 1835 he anticipated Horacc Greeley's advice and came west, showing his good judgment by locating in Joliet, where he opened an office on the east side of Chicago street, north of Cass street. His letters to par- ents and friends at this period were prophetic, read in the light of to-day, and he contributed more than his share, with the progressive pio- ncers of that time, to prepare the way for the prosperous conditions of the present, which makes a great future inevitable.
December 23, 1837, he married Helen Myers, who was born in Herkimer, N. Y., Decentber 30, 1814, and who came to Joliet in 1835. Her fatlier, Michael Myers, was an officer during the war of 1812, and her grandfather was Gen. Michael Myers, of Revolutionary famc. Her maternal grandfather was Army Surgeon Gris- wold, who afterward was clected governor of Connecticut. That the judge was happily mar- ried and received co-operation in his lofty, pa- triotic and political aspirations, was well under-
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stood, but how could it be otherwise in the off- spring of such an ancestry. Mrs. Henderson is alive to-day, at the age of eighty-five, in her forty-fifth year of widowhood; loyal and faithful to her husband's memory, with a mind clear and intelligent, showing in affliction the courage of her race, and with that depth of love for home and kindred for which they were noted. The old homestead, built in 1838 under the judge's supervision, and her every wish consulted in its erection, bears its old-time appearance and serves as an historic landmark. Its appearance demon- strates the mother's desire to retain in its en- tirety the home to which her husband was so attached, commemorative of struggles and tri- umphs. Progressive as the family are in every- thing else, the mother's feelings are too well understood and felt to have any change sug- gested that would rob the home of any recollec- tion of its happiest hours.
The family consisted of four children. Mar- garet S., who resides at Lyons, Mich., is the widow of John A. Kelly, captain of Company K, One Hundreth Illinois Infantry, during the Civil war. Daniel C., who married Rose W. Wood- ruff, of New York, was for many years editor of the Joliet Daily and Weekly Record and died in 1898, highly esteemed by all who knew him. James E., publisher of the Joliet Signal, the old- est paper in the state, married Kate A. Alpine, who is at present public librarian. John D. is represented in the following sketch. Honest and upright in all their dealings, liberal and generous as the case demands, unassuming at all times, it need not be wondered at that the Henderson fam- ily are so highly esteemed in the community.
The old files of the Record and Signal, as well as the court records, bear ample testimony to Judge Henderson's success as a lawyer prior to his election as judge of the circuit court, to suc- ceed Hon. Theophilus W. Smith. The seventh judicial circuit in those days embraced the coun- ties of Will, Dupage and Iroquois. His ac- knowledged ability, illustrated in his able deci- sions, his impartiality in all cases and at all times, were 110 more conspicuous than his up- right character, which won for him the respect
of the bar and the confidence and esteem of the community. No wonder then that his name and fame should spread to other districts and that he should be selected as the banner bearer of the Democratic party which had determined that his name should head the state ticket for governor of Illinois. However, Fate willed it otherwise. That parental affection characteristic of the fam- ily prompted him to pay a visit to the scenes of his boyhood days and to the old folks at home who cherished his memory. He left his family and Joliet October 1, 1854; he was in good health and spirits, and little dreamed it was the last parting from his dear ones. On the journey he caught a severe cold which developed into pneu- monia, and he died on the 22d of the same month. No opposition was raised to the wishes of his relatives to have him laid to rest near his birth- place, and Norway cemetery contains all that is mortal of Judge Henderson, whose name will be perpetuated in the annals of his adopted city and state and whose memory is still green in the hearts of those who held him dear. At the De- cember term of court, Mr. Osgood, by request of the bar, presented resolutions of respect which were adopted and spread on the records.
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