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 76
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 76
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Mr. Stanner was born in Chicago November II, 1837. His father, Martin, was a native of England, and engaged in farming in Ireland, where he was also a collector of rents and taxes. About 1835 he came to America, accompanied by his wife. He settled in Chicago and secured work in a brewery. He was offered the lots where the McCormick factory now stands in payment for one week's work, but refused to take them. From Chicago he came to Dupage Township, working for a farmer at Barber's Corner. Later he bought a claim of fifty acres, which he brought under cultivation. He then bought a tract just east of the Indiana boundary. His next purchase was one hundred and two acres, which he improved, and on which he made his home until the outbreak of the Civil war. After a short visit to Ireland he enlisted in Wash- ington, D. C., and was a member of the guard at Booth's grave. While with General Rosecrans in Texas he was three times taken a prisoner, but each time was exchanged. His service was prin- cipally in the west and southwest. At the close of the war he enlisted in the regular army, and was assigned to.Columbus, Ohio, where he had charge of the engines, etc., at the barracks. He stood high among the other officers, and was given many privileges not usually accorded soldiers. While on duty at Columbus he died suddenly of heart-disease, when sixty-three years of age.
The mother of our subject was Mary Cain, a native of Ireland. Like her husband, she was a faithful adherent of the Catholic Church. Her death occurred on the home farm in this county when she was sixty-seven years of age. Of her six children, four attained mature years. The eldest of these was Thomas B., of this sketch. He took charge of the home farm when his father enlisted in the army, and subsequently maintained its supervision, having resided here ever since with the exception of two years in Chicago. During that time he was proprietor of the Hatch house, but not finding the occupation congenial he sold the place and returned to his farm. Both he and his wife are Roman Catholics. For sev- eral years he held the office of chief ranger in the
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Catholic Order of Foresters. In politics he is a Democrat in national affairs, but liberal in local matters. For seventeen years he held office as justice of the peace, a position that he filled with excellent judgment, tact and impartiality.
By the marriage of Mr. Stanner to Annie E., daughter of Martin Dixon, six children were born, namely: Fannie and Nellie, both of whom are married; Martin C., who died at twenty-one years of age; Kittie, who was four years old at the time of her death; Thomas, who operates a farm belonging to his father in this township; John B., now of Chicago, who enlisted in the Seventh Cavalry during the Spanish-American war and served until he was honorably discharged in Cuba, April 3, 1899; James E. and Louella, both at home.
ON. URI OSGOOD came to Joliet in June, 1836, when this now large and flourishing city was an insignificant hamlet. As the town increased in size his influence as a citizen grew. He was elected to various offices, and from 1854 to 1860 served as a member of the state senate. In 1860 he was the Democratic candi- date for congress from this district, but was de- feated by Owen Lovejoy. Afterward he engaged in the general practice of law until his death, February 8, 1871. During the entire period of his residence in Joliet he resided at the corner of Jefferson street and Eastern avenue. January I, 1839, he married Miss Caroline V. Aldrich. They liad a family of eight children, five of whom were living at the time of Mr. Osgood's death, namely: Augustus A., Algernon S., and Henry R., of Chicago; Virginia A., wife of George S. House, of Joliet; and Emma A., who married Charles Seymour, of Batavia, N. Y., later of Oakland, Cal.
ENNER ALDRICH was born in Massachu- setts in 1803 and was a member of a pioneer family of New England. His parents, David and Mary (Capron) Aldrich, removed to Penn- sylvania and settled on a large tract of land near
Harper, Susquehanna County, where they spent their remaining years. Their children afterward removed to northern Illinois, and one son, Levi, went to California in 1852.
In October, 1834, Fenner Aldrich came to Illi- nois and settled in Will (then a part of Cook) County. Before the separation of the territory into two counties he served as deputy sheriff. He was proprietor of two hotels, the Juliet house and the Exchange house. In 1836 he was elected sheriff of Will County. Three years later he was re-elected. As a county officer and as a hotel proprietor he became widely acquainted throughout northern Illinois, and his friends were as numerous as his acquaintances. For a time he conducted the St. Nicholas house in Springfield, but, preferring Joliet as a place of residence, he returned and conducted the Ex- change house during the remainder of his active life. In politics he was a Democrat, in religion a Universalist. He died August 5, 1884. His wife, who was a daughter of Sylvanus Wade, a Revolutionary soldier, passed away February 16, 1872.
2. STANLEY BROWN, for seven years past the principal of the Joliet high school, was
. born near Cumberland, Ohio, September 13, 1863, a son of George W. and Lorinda A. (Robinson) Brown. He was one of a family of four sons and two daughters, four of whom are living, namely: Alma, wife of James Paisley, a business man of High Hill, Ohio; J. Stanley; Floyd, who lives in Peru, Ind., and is engaged in railroading; and Alice, the widow of Frederick Simms, and a resident of Cumberland, Ohio. In tracing the history of the Brown family back to its early settlement in America we find that this branch of the family was represented in Vir- ginia in colonial days. William Brown, who was the son of a Revolutionary soldier (a mem- ber of a gallant Virginia brigade) was born in Loudoun County, Va., in 1798, and grew to man- hood on a plantation. While he was still a boy the war of 1812 occurred and he went to the front as a soldier in the American cause. It will thus
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be seen that patriotism and personal courage are family characteristics. On his return home he took up the ordinary routine of plantation life, the even tenor of which was later interrupted by his marriage to Miss Maria Graham. Shortly afterward he and his wife migrated to Ohio and settled near Cumberland, Muskingum County, in a region remote from civilization and bearing little trace of its subsequent development. En- tering a section of land he began the pioneer task of grubbing, clearing and cultivating his prop- erty. With the subsequent increase of the value of the land his own fortunes were enhanced, and at the time of his death he was well-to-do. A man of influence he held many local offices and took an active part in the Republican party and its work in his county. After a busy and useful existence, the latter part of which was spent in the enjoyment of every comfort, he died in 1869.
After the family had settled in Muskingum County, George W. Brown was born in 1830. There he grew up, studying in neighboring schools, where the course of study was limited to drills in the "three R's." Subsequently, however, by self-culture and the development of his vigorous mind, he acquired a knowledge that was profound and varied. No startling events have marked his career. He still lives on the spot where his childhood days were passed and where his father settled on moving from Vir- ginia. Like all the members of the family con- cerning whom anything is known, he is a pro- nounced Republican and has never swerved from that faith. For many years he has been a member of the Republican central committee of his county. Among the offices he has held are those of school commissioner and overseer of the poor, both of which he filled efficiently and for some years. In his daily life he has exemplified the sincerity of his religious belief. He is a member of the Baptist Church and a contributor to its works. During the many years of his life as an agriculturist he has been prospered finan- cially, and has also gained that which is more to be desired than riches-the respect of his asso- ciates and the warm esteem of his friends.
The first marriage of George W. Brown,
occurring in 1857, united him with Lorinda A. Robinson, who was born near High Hill, Ohio, in 1841 and died near Cumberland in 1869. Her father, Samuel Robinson, who was of Pennsyl- vania-Dutch ancestry, removed to Ohio with his parents about 1845, and in later years became a prominent stock dealer of his locality, buying stock and driving them to Pittsburg for sale. He died in 1897, when in his seventy-seventh year. After the death of our subject's mother his father married a second time, chosing as his wife Martha Alexander. Three children were born of their marriage, two of whom survive, viz .: Dwight, at home; and Jennie, wife of John Hall, a mer- chant at Renrock, Ohio.
Since he was seventeen years of age J. Stanley Brown has been a teacher, and it was through his early efforts as an instructor in country and village schools that he earned the means neces- sary for the completion of his education. It was his determination to acquire a thorough educa- tion. Therefore he read only the best books and studied only the standard authors. For six years he was a student in Dennison University at Granville, Ohio, from which he graduated in 1889 with the degree of A. B. During his course he gained every honor that was offered and stood at the head of his class. Prior to his graduation he was elected to the chair of Latin and Greek in Blandville (Ky. ) College, which he accepted, remaining for one year, and then re- signing in order to accept the management of a similar college at Arlington, Ky. The latter position he filled for three years. From it he went to Oregon as president of the State Normal School in The Dalles, Oregon, and from there came to Joliet in 1893. Wherever he has been located there has been a noticeable increase in the enrollment of students. He started at Arlington with seventy-five, and when he left there, three years later, the enrollment was three hundred, this remarkable increase being almost wholly due to his skill as a teacher. When he came to Joliet there were less than two hundred in the high school and six teachers were employed. Since then the school has grown wonderfully in reputation and importance, while its enrollment
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for 1899-1900 was five hundred and fifty pupils, with fourteen teachers. A tribute to the ability of the principal is the success of the work. In- cidentally it may be mentioned that every year but two since he came to Joliet he has received an increase of salary. The high school is the largest township high school in the United States and one of the most prosperous as well. Recently a contract has been let for the erection of a new building to cost $140,000 and accommodate twelve hundred students. Since 1893 the gradu- ating classes have more than doubled in size. Graduates are admitted without examination to any college that will admit students on cer- tificates, and graduates are accepted into Yale after successful examination. The majority of recent graduates are now in attendance upon some higher institution of learning.
In Indianapolis, Ind., December 26, 1891, Mr. Brown married Miss Lettie May Seitz, daughter of Henry and Mary (Shear) Seitz, of Chicago. She was for two years a student in DePauw University and later taught in Arlington College. Her maternal ancestors came from Holland and settled at Coryman's Hollow, N. Y., later gen- erations taking a prominent part in public affairs in that locality. Her grandfather, Israel Shear, was known as Colonel Shear, and it is thought that he was an officer in the Revolution. One of his sons, John Blodgett Shear, was chief of scouts connected with the regular army, located in Col- orado for a number of years. After his retire- ment from the army he became interested in mining and owned a number of valuable silver mines.
Three children were born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Castle, Virgil and Jean (de- ceased. )
3 F. WILSON. The subject of this sketch was born in Candia, N. H., and at the age of . four years came with his father's family to Illinois and settled in the eastern part of Will County. Subsequently the family removed to Joliet Township and in 1862 he came to Joliet.
His first start in business life was in the organ- ization of the firm of G. Munroe & Son, general merchants, with whom he remained for four years. Subsequently was engaged for three years in the manufacture and sale of agricultural im- plements.
Entering the office of the Joliet Iron & Steel Company, he was made acting secretary of the company in 1877, and upon its reorganization as the Joliet Steel Company in 1879 became office manager and assistant to the general superintend- ent. He continued in this capacity until ap- pointed auditor of the Illinois Steel Company in 1891, which position is held by him at the pres- ent time.
Mr. Wilson is an active, progressive business man, and has added many important improve- ments in the business methods of his company.
ILLIAM W. GREENWOOD, who has devoted his entire active life to farm pur- suits in New Lenox Township, was born in 1846 near the place where he now resides. He is a son of John and Mary Ann (Brown) Greenwood, and a grandson of John Greenwood, Sr., whose last days were spent in America in the home of his son. His father, a native of Herefordshire, England, came to the United States at the age of seventeen, and for a short time was employed in the salt works in New York. About 1846 he settled in what is now Will County, Ill., where at first he worked for Judge Davidson, and afterward purchased eiglity acres in Joliet Township. The last few years of his life were spent in the city of Joliet, where he died in 1885, at the age of sixty-eight. Throughout all of his active life he followed agricultural pursuits and was an industrious, persevering man. His wife died in 1874, when fifty five years of age. They were the parents of thirteen children, but only two are living, William W. and George, both of New Lenox Township.
Alternating attendance at the common schools with work on the home farm our subject passed
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the years of youth. As there was an immense amount of work connected with the clearing and improving of the home farm he had little oppor- tunity to engage in the usual sports of boy hood, and his attendance at school was limited to the three winter months. When he was twenty-one years of age he began in the world for himself and has since conducted farm pursuits, in which he lias met with fair success. He is one of the oldest native-born citizens of his township, and is among the most industrious as well. He has served as a member of the school board and for three years was highway commissioner on New Lenox Township. The various movements for the benefit of the community find him to be a loyal friend and helper, and his influence may always be relied upon to advance worthy enter- prises. In February, 1869, he was united in marriage with Mary, daughter of Cyrus A. Lewis. They are the parents of three children, Archie W., Lewis Leroy (better known as Roy), and Grace E.
UGUSTUS B. COTTON, supervisor of Wheatland Township and a resident here since 1841, was born on the Isle of Wight, England, September 14, 1828. His father, Will- iamı, brought the family to America in 1841 and settled in Will County, where the next year he bought forty acres. This he at once began to improve. Later he added to the estate. In 1861 he returned to England, where he continued to reside until his death in 1870. In religion he was a Baptist. By his marriage to Jane Britt he had eight children, of whom our subject was the fourth. When he came to this locality all the surroundings were those of the frontier. On this side of the river there was but one house between the Cotton homestead and Plainfield. All was new. After his father returned to England he succeeded to the management of the farm, which he operated until about 1890, and then rented the land, since which time he has been retired from active cares. He is the owner of two hundred and forty acres of tillable land. Politically a Re- publican, he has served his party as delegate to
county conventions. For thirty-four years he held office as justice of the peace, for ten years has been township supervisor, long served as school trustee and has also been town clerk. In December, 1860, he married Georgiana Robbins, whose father came from England in 1843; she was born in England and died in this county in April, 1897.
OHN M. JONES, general manager of the Great Western works of the American Tin Plate Company, was born in Averavon, South Wales, December 4, 1868. His father, David Jones, a native of St. Clairs, Wales, was taken in infancy to Cwm Avon, where he was reared and educated. He was only nine years of age when he started to work at the tin plate business. At the same time he continued his studies unassisted, acquiring through his own efforts a broad general knowledge. Taking up the tin plate business as a boy, he learned it thoroughly in all its details. He steadily worked his way up until he was man- ager of more than forty-five hundred men, having the supervision of two of the largest mills there. He did much for the support and benefit of the Episcopal Church in his town and served it as a warden. While often urged to accept offices, his work demanded his entire attention, and he stead- ily refused all offers of political preferment. In Cwm Avon he married Sarah Davis, who was then only sixteen years of age. Nine children were born to their union. The eldest, his father's namesake, was manager of a tin plate mill in Wales, but is now in America. The oldest daugh- ter, Maggie Jones-Morewood, deceased, was one of the most noted soprano soloists in the United Kingdom and often sang with such prima donnas as Patti; she was given three medals (of bronze, silver and gold respectively ) by the Royal Acad- emy of London. The second daughter, Sarah, who is the wife of I. L. Jones, manager of Welden & Co., Pittsburg, Pa., also possesses a beautiful voice, but sings only for charity; she has a medal presented to her by the Musical College of Lon- don. The other members of the family are John
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M .; Thomas, who is engaged in the tin plate business in Pittsburg; Gwennie Violet; and Eben, also a tin plate manufacturer.
At twelve years of age the subject of this sketch went to Swansea and attended Arnold College, from which he graduated before he was fourteen. Entering the mills, he learned the business in all its details, starting in the humblest position and following all departments of the work until he had gained a comprehensive knowledge of the same. He had the benefit of the expe- rience and knowledge of his elder brother and his father, and he became a practical and skilled workman. After the death of liis father in 1891, he went to Penclawdd. Just prior to the twenty- third anniversary of his birth he was appointed superintendent of the Grower Iron and Tin Plate Company, in which capacity he remained nine- teen months. He was then promoted and sent by the company to their Manon Tin and Sheet works at Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, Eng- land, as a manager of the same. He continued the position until he came to the United States in 1895. He went to Pittsburg expecting to take a position as manager of a large plant, but the position had been filled. He then went to Mid- dletown, Ind., to take charge of the cold roll department of the Irondale Steel and Iron Com- pany. Four months later he was made night superintendent and after another four months was tendered the position of manager. His pro- motion was due solely to his knowledge of the business and his faithfulness to the trust reposed in him, for he was a stranger and had no friends to assist him in getting a start.
In July, 1897, Mr. Jones came to Joliet as superintendent of the Great Western Tin Plate Company, having practically all the responsibili- ties of manager. Upon the consolidation of the company with the American Tin Plate Company, he was made general manager in name, as he had previously been in fact. He is also the district manager, subject only to the general officers in Pittsburg. The mill in Joliet employs three hun- dred hands and its output is large. That his management is entirely satisfactory is evidenced by the fact that the owners of the plant never
come to Joliet, but rely entirely upon him for every detail and the entire management. He is a stockholder in the mill, as well as its manager.
Fraternally Mr. Jones is connected with Mid- dletown Lodge No. 271, A. F. & A. M. Though not active in politics, he is a stanch Republican. In religion he is of the Episcopal faith. He mar- ried in Swansea, South Wales, in August, 1894, to Decima Margaretta Griffith, daughter of a physician of that place. He is very fond of ath- letics and sports. At one time he was an enthu- siastic bicyclist, with a fine record for speed, having won thirty- eight medals in England, Ire- land, Scotland and France. In 1887 he won a record for the fastest time that had up to that year been made in a twenty-five mile race. He also won twenty first prizes in swimming contests and several prizes in tennis. He was a member of the Swansea Athletic Club and the Swansea Amateur Cyclists' Club, in which he served both as captain and secretary. Many of his leisure hours were passed in yachting or bicycling, while he also was fond of playing tennis and cricket, but since coming to this country he has been less active in sports, though his fondness for them has not been diminished in the least.
OHN BEDFORD, an early settler of Plain- field Township, was born in Lincolnshire, England, September 28, 1828. In March, 1852, he set sail from Liverpool for New York on the sailing vessel, "Lady Ashburton," and after landing in this country proceeded to Illinois, finding work on a farm in Will County. In 1855 he returned to England and married Miss Ann Foulston, a native of Lincolnshire. With his wife he crossed the ocean in March, 1856, on the "Neptune," and settled in Lockport, Ill., where he was employed as a stationary engineer for a few years. Later he resumed farming. In 1876 he bought a farm of ninety-two acres four miles from Plainfield and eight miles from Joliet. There he remained until his death, which oc- curred March 28, 1880. He left, besides his wife, a family of four children: Albert F., Wal-
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ter S., Lizzie J. and Sarah J. He was a man of irreproachable character and upright life, and was highly esteemed by the people of his town- ship.
IRAM TWINING, a pioneer of Greengar- den Township, was born in Essex County, Mass., in 1819, and was reared in New Hampshire and Vermont. He married a daugh- ter of Isaac Needham, and in 1851, with his wife and two children came west, settling on one bun- dred and sixty acres of government land in Green- garden Township. At once he began to break ground, using for the purpose an ox-team and a Lockport steel plow made by "Jim" Lane. Later he added one hundred and sixty acres of land to his original possessions, and built a set of farm buildings. He engaged in raising cattle and had a number of high grade and full-blood animals on his place. He was a man who stood high in his community. For one term he served as justice of the peace. A man of earnest Christian char- acter, he endeavored in his life to exemplify the teachings of the Scriptures. The sincere and earnest Christian spirit he showed throughout all the vicissitudes of life was his by inheritance, for his father, Rev. Jonathan Twining, was a faithful preacher and self-sacrificing Christian.
The death of Mr. Twining took place Deceni- ber 14, 1889. He was survived by his widow and five children: Watson F., Dana E., Leonora L., Irene E. and Jasper E.
RANK STATES, one of the enterprising and prosperous German-American farmers of Channahon Township, was born in Baden, Germany, March 13, 1835, the only child of George and Josephine (Wachter) States, also natives of Baden. His mother died in 1847. and the following year his father was called out to take part in the revolution of 1848, where he served until he was severely wounded and forced to resign. In the fall of the same year he came to America and settled near Flushing, L. I.,
where he died from the effects of his army wounds some six months afterward. By trade he was a miller. His death left his son an orphan, alone in a strange country, and but thirteen years of age. The boy started up the Hudson River and went as far as Peekskill, near which place he secured work with John Croker, a brother of Richard Croker, of Tammany Hall fame After remaining there for some five years, in 1853 he came west and settled in Aurora, Ill., where he was employed in burning lime and as a stone and brick mason.
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