Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Kane County, Part 156

Author:
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 950

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

Rebellion, he was commissioned as surgeon serving throughout the war and being mustered out in the spring of 1865. His paternal grand- father was a soldier of the Revolution, and both his father and maternal grandfather were soldiers in the War of 1812. Dr. Harris resumed his practice after the war at Yorkville, remain- ing there until in 1866, when he removed to Big Rock and continued practice there until 1891, since that time being engaged in practice in Aurora. In the early days Dr. Harris' prac- tice extended over the greater part of Kane and Kendall Counties, and he numbers his friends by the thousands. Dr. Harris belongs to the American, the State Medical and the Rock River Valley Medical Societies. For some years he was active in business, and owns some good farm lands; has been Justice of the Peace, Postmaster, and President of the Board of Edu- cation at Big Rock and Yorkville. In 1862 he married Miss Samantha McMullen, who was born in Pennsylvania and died in 1874; in 1878 he married Miss Caroline Rhodes, an early settler in Big Rock Township. Dr. Harris was the last Postmaster at Kaneville under Bu- chanan, and again at Big Rock under Cleve- land-the last two Democratic Presidents. He has taken an active part in every political cam- paign intervening.

EDWIN M. HARRIS, educator, Sugar Grove. Ill., born at Yorkville, Ill., Oct. 3, 1863; received his educational training at the Sugar Grove Normal and Industrial Institute and the North- western University. Evanston, Ill., was superin- tendent of the Batavia schools during 1895-6, and later taught mathematics and sciences in Jennings Seminary, Aurora; became principal of the Sugar Grove Normal and Industrial In- stitute in 1899, and has since been at the head of this well-known institution. He was married in 1888 to Miss Mary E. Davis, of Big Rock, Ill.

JAMES M. HARRIS, Elburn, Ill., born at Maltaville, Saratoga County, N. Y., June 10, 1832; came to Chicago in 1858, but removed to Janesville, Wis., one year later, where he was in the employ of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company; removed to Elburn, Ill., in 1864, still retaining his position with the railroad company, and served in that capacity until 1900, but since the latter date has lived retired. On Nov. 23, 1859, he was married to Sarah L. Robinson.

GEORGE J. HARRIS, General Agent Canada- Atlantic Railway, Geneva, Ill., born in Con- neautville, Pa .; was educated in the public schools of his native State and Michigan. His business career began with his connection with the Great Western Railway of Canada, when he was only seventeen years of age, In 1879 he entered the employ of the Detroit & Cleveland

GEORGE J. HARRIS.

Steam Navigation Company, with which he continued until 1884, when he removed to Chi- cago to take a place with the Chicago, Burling- ton & Quincy Railway. The following year he became connected with the Western Freight Association, and in 1887 accepted a position with the Central Vermont Railway & Steamboat Line, afterward reorganized as the Ogdensburg Transit Company, which he held until Feb. 1, 1899, when he became General Agent of the Canada-Atlantic Line at Chicago. Mr. Harris has resided at Geneva since 1899. He is a Thirty-second Degree Mason, and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. In 1899 Miss Orilla, daugh- ter of H. B. Fargo, of Geneva, became his wife.

SAMUEL HARTER, retired farmer, Kane- ville, Kane County, was born in Center County, Penn., Jan. 6, 1828, and secured his education in the home schools. In 1854 he came to Kane County, and soon after bought a farm, on which

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

he has carried on farming to the present time, and has attained a position of more than usual prominence in the community. He has been School Director, Road Commissioner and School Trustee a number of years. In religion he is a member of the Evangelical Church of Pierce- ville. He married Mary Dauberman in 1852, who died in 1857, leaving two children. In 1858 he was married to Elizabeth Gusler, by whom he has had one boy.

WILLIAM A. HARTSBURG, manufacturer, North Aurora, Ill., was born in Roxbury, Mass., Aug. 23, 1848, in 1856 came west with his parents, who settled in Aurora, Ill., where he attended the city schools, and while quite young worked for A. R. Palmer, then a merchant in Montgomery, Kane County, but later head of the noted manufacturing firm of Palmer, Fuller & Co., Chicago, with whom he learned the door, sash and window blind manufacture. For some ten years he was connected with this firm, and

WILLIAM A. HARTSBURG.

then entered the employ of the North Aurora Manufacturing Company. Ten years later, in company with William Hawksley, he became owner of the plant, which they have since oper- ated with large success. In 1894, in company with other partners, he organized the North Aurora Creamery Company, which has had a

most prosperous career, Mr. Hartsburg being its President for two years, and since a Di- rector. For some years he was connected with the Fox River Valley Building and Loan Asso- ciation-the affairs of which he is now liquidat- ing-and also with the Aurora Pure Ice Com- pany. For several years he has been a member of the Aurora Township School Board. He is a Knight Templar Mason, and belongs to the order of Elks. In 1870 he married Miss Helena, daughter of Charles Simons, of Aurora.

PETER G. HARTZ, merchant, Aurora, Ill., born in the city where he now resides, Oct. 31, 1861; educated in the public schools and trained to the drug trade; graduated from the Chicago School of Pharmacy in the class of 1888, and since 1892 has managed the drug store with which he is connected.

DAVID HARVEY (deceased), Methodist cler- gyman and farmer, La Fox, Ill .; born in Mas- sachusetts, March 26, 1828; educated in the public schools of New York State; came to Illinois in 1845, locating on 160 acres of land in Chicken Grove, where he was engaged in farming for twenty years; later became a minister in the Methodist Conference, and fol- lowed that vocation until his death, which occurred Dec. 10, 1867; married Nabbie K. Ainsworth.

JOEL D. HARVEY, lawyer, Geneva, Ill., was born in Kane County in 1836, son of Joel Harvey, who was born near Saratoga, N. Y., and served as the first Treasurer of the county, having come to Illinois the year before his appointment, making the journey overland through Canada, and settling in what is now Kane County. Joel D. Harvey was reared in Elgin, and received his education in the locai schools; read law in Racine, Wis., and was admitted to the Bar in Kane County in 1857. Mr. Harvey began his practice in Geneva in 1858, and later practiced in Aurora four years. In the spring of 1864 he located in Chicago, in which city he is still engaged in business, though maintaining his residence in Geneva. In 1876 he was appointed by President Grant Collector of Internal Revenue for the First District of Illinois, holding that position through the administrations of Presidents Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, and, for a short time, under President Cleveland. In 1858 he was

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

married to Julia Plato, a daughter of the Hon. W. B. Plato, one of the most distinguished lawyers and pioneers of Kane County.

JOHN F. HARVEY, farmer, La Fox, III .; born in Herkimer County, N. Y., March 18, 1829; educated in the schools of his native State and Elgin, Ill .; began his business career as a farmer, and in 1864 purchased his present farm near La Fox; married, on Oct. 28, 1862, Angeline Garfield.

AUSTIN P. HATCH (deceased), son of Jethro and Minerva ( Peirce) Hatch, was born in Port Leyden, N. Y., June 24, 1843, and was five years old when brought west by his par- ents. He grew to manhood on the Sugar Grove homestead, and was educated in the home schools, Wheaton College and at Bryant & Stratton's Business College, Chicago. Be- coming a pharmacist, he was in the drug store of Dr. Winslow & Dr. Gillett at the outbreak of the Civil War. He enlisted in July, 1862, and July 18, 1863, was mustered out on account of ill health. He followed farming until 1869, when he became proprietor of the same drug business with which he was before associated. From 1880 to 1883 he lived in Minneapolis, Minn., on account of his health, with this ex- ception being a resident of Aurora from 1869 to 1901, his death occurring May 6 of the latter year. He was a member of the G. A. R. and the K. G. In 1886 he was married to Miss Melissa J., daughter of Perley B. and Lois ( Gurler ) Snow, who settled in Sugar Grove Township in 1839. Of this marriage were born Mrs. Elsie Case, of Mt. Vernon, N. Y .; Mrs. Celia Pope, of Denver, Colo .; and Louise M .. Teresa Fay, Bertha M. and Lois G., of Aurora. One who knew Mr. Hatch intimately, in de- scribing his personal characteristics, said of him, that "the unselfish and kindly life of Aus- tin P. Hatch was, at all times, the revelation of a true gentleman."

ELAM HATCH (deceased), pioneer, was born in Sherburne, New York, in 1787, and grew up in his native State, where he was farmer until 1850. In the latter year he came west and settled in Sugar Grove Township, Kane County, where he reared his family. He died in 1876. His wife, who was Margaret Farrell before her marriage, died in 1875. Their family consisted of four sons, of whom three were living in 1903.

The oldest son, Israel B., died in 1888; T. Yale Hatch, resides in South Dakota; Frank D., is a resident of Kankakee, IlI .; Elam F. Hatch, the only son now residing in Sugar Grove Town- ship, was born in Sherburne County, N. Y., Feb. 10, 1839, and received his educational training in the public schools and at Aurora Seminary. He joined his father in farming while a young man, and still lives on the old farm. He married Augusta M. Collson, who was born in New York State, and they reared a family of six children.

JETHRO HATCH (deceased), pioneer set- tler of Sugar Grove Township, Kane County, born in the year 1791, at Sherburne, Chenan- go County, New York State, was a descendant of Thomas Hatch, who was born in Kent, Eng- land, and came to America in 1620, in the com- pany of Governor Winthrop. His father, Tim- othy, and his grandfather, Major Jethro Hatch, were both soldiers of the Revolution. Jethro Hatch was reared in New England, and in 1848 came west. He became wealthy and influ- ential, was deeply interested in all public ques- tions, and was an earnest opponent of human slavery. He was Chairman of the first Repub- lican convention of Kane County, said to have been the first in the State. In 1869 he moved to Aurora, and here he died in 1875, Minerva Peirce, a native of New York, became his wife, and their living children are: Fayette S., of Kankakee, III .; Dr. Jethro A., of Kentland, Ind .; Mrs. Martha Winslow, of Gilroy, Cal .; Mrs. Marcelia Winslow, and Austin P. (de- ceased ).

MOSES W. HAWES (deceased), financier, merchant, and contractor, Elgin, Ill., was born in Watertown, N. Y., Sept. 2, 1814, and when a young man studied civil engineering in Balti- more. In 1837 he was chosen out of a hundred applicants to go to Conception, Chile, to estab- Iish a flouring mill, the second in that country. For a number of years he was superintendent of the mill, and then became a government con- tractor, having under his charge some of the largest bridges and docks of the day. After remaining in Chile more than twenty years, he went to China in 1859 but soon returned to the United States. While in Chile he married a Spanish lady, who died before he left that country. His second marriage was contracted Feb. 12, 1860, with Miss Jennie Rosenkrans,

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

who was born in Steuben County, N. Y., Oct. 4, 1833, the daughter of Asa and Jane (Cole) Rosenkrans, her father being a first cousin of the noted Union General of that name. Follow- ing his second marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hawes spent six years in Chile, returning in 1866 to Elgin, where Mr. Hawes remained until 1870, when he engaged in the lumber business in Mendota, Ill. After the Chicago fire, Mr. Hawes sold out at Mendota, and resumed his residence in Elgin. Having suffered a severe illness in 1873, accompanied by his wife he made the tour of Europe, repeating the journey on two subsequent occasions. While in Europe the third time, he was elected President of the Home National Bank in 1877, a position he filled two years. In 1880 the family removed to Mendota a second time, for Mr. Hawes to take an interest in a linseed oil mill in that city in company with H. S. Clark. Two years

MOSES W. HAWES.

later he sold to Mr. Clark, and again engaged in the lumber business. In 1892 he once more resumed his residence in Elgin, where he re- mained until his death, Nov. 22, 1894. Mr. Hawes was a Mason and a Republican. He is survived by his widow, and a daughter by his first marriage, Mrs. Bernardo Bambach, who lives in Chile.

ANDREW C. HAWKINS, Assistant Cashier First National Bank of Elgin and Cashier of the Elgin City Banking Company, Elgin, Ill., born in Toronto, Canada, July 3, 1848, son of Henry and Emma Holt (Bryant) Hawkins, na- tives of England, came to Elgin when a young man and secured employment as a clerk with

ANDREW C. HAWKINS.

the First National Bank of that city, and has since been connected with that institution, a period of almost forty years. He is the oldest living banker in Elgin. In political sentiment Mr. Hawkins is a Republican, has always taken an active interest in public affairs, and has held the office of City Treasurer eight years and Alderman two terms. Mr. Hawkins was married Aug. 25, 1869, to Miss Alice French, born April 15, 1851, daughter of Horace and Eliza J. (Cox) French, of Painesville, O. Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins have five sons: Horace Walter. Henry French, Leonard, Mortimer and Willard B.

WILLIAM HAWKSLEY, manager Sash Fac- tory, North Aurora, Kane County, Ill., was born in Northampton, England, emigrated to the United States in 1873, locating at North Aurora the same year. In 1879 he entered into business with W. A. Harding.

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

EDGAR C. HAWLEY, Dundee, legislator, born at Barrington, Cook County, Ill., Feb. 20, 1850, son of George C. and Anna (Nute) Haw- ley, was reared on the farm and educated in the public schools. In 1873 he established him- self as a merchant in Dundee, and was later there engaged in banking. He was a member of the Kane County Board of Supervisors two terms, and in 1888 was elected a Representa- tive in the General Assembly from Kane Coun- ty, by re-elections serving four consecutive terms in that body. He has since been con- nected with State Board of Grain and Ware- house Commissioners in Chicago. He is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has taken all the degrees except the Scottish Rite. In 1871 he married Miss Esther E., daughter of Henry E. Hunt, of Dundee, and their living children are: William A., a civil engineer, now connected with the Pennsylvania Rail- road; and Esther A., now a student at the Uni- versity of Illinois; Henry E., the first born, died in 1881.

JOHN S. HAWLEY.

JOHN S. HAWLEY (deceased ), was born in Ridgefield, Conn., Oct. 22, 1820. his ancestors being among the number who came to America in the "Mayflower." Mr. Hawley came to Chi- cago in the spring of 1836, when that city con- tained about 4,000 inhabitants, and here ob-

tained his first employment in the mercantile business with Magie & Pitkin. He removed to Aurora in 1851 and started in business at the corner of Main street and Broadway-known as the McLellen property-and early in the fall of the same year built a store on Main Street, where he was actively engaged in business for forty-four years, or until stricken with paral- ysis on Feb. 22, 1895, which resulted in his death March 12, of the same year. The hand- some brick residence at 171 LaSalle Street was built by Mr. Hawley, and here he resided until his death. He was a member of the order of Odd-Fellows, but withdrew a few years before his death; was also a member of the Calumet Club of Chicago, and of the first fire company ("American") in Aurora from 1857 to 1864; was one of the originators of the Aurora Na- tional Bank, in which he was a stockholder and Director. On May 8, 1850, Mr. Hawley was married in Detroit, Mich., to Mary Malcolm, who died Dec. 8, 1894. Not having any chil- dren of his own, he adopted a little girl in 1858, who survives and lives in Southbridge, Mass. Mr. Hawley was a man of sterling dis- position, straight-forward in business and ex- emplary in all his habits; his every-day life was his religion.

FRANK O. HAWLEY, farmer and real-estate dealer, Aurora, was born in Oswego, Kendall County, Ill., Nov. 20, 1850, son of Frank G. Hawley. a settler in Kendall County in 1837, and long a member of the Bar of that county, as well as a large land owner, was educated in the local schools, Knox College and Northwest- ern University, and for a time read law, but turning his attention to a business career. en- gaged in the handling of real estate in Kendall County. From 1878 until 1884 he was in the storage and loan business in Chicago, when he returned to Kendall County to take care of his real estate interests. From 1890 to the present time his home has been in Aurora, where his real estate transactions have been both exten- sive and profitable, including several additions to the city, as well as a number of large deals in farming lands in the West and elsewhere. In Kendall County he is an extensive land- owner, and is now (1903) engaged in building up Oswego, to which he has made an impor- ant addition. A prominent Democrat, he has refused official position. Was one of the found- ers of the "Aurora Daily Democrat," and in

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1892 became sole owner of its successor, the "Aurora Daily Times," which he conducted for a year and a half. In 1885 he married Miss Letitia Gillespie, of Oswego, Ill., and their chil- dren are: Emily, Bessie May, Paul G., and Lysander F.

SIDNEY B. HAWLEY ( deceased), physician and surgeon, Aurora, Ill., was born in Franklin County, Vt., March 9, 1830, the son of Lyman Hawley, a farmer of note in that distant day. Dr. Hawley grew to manhood under the parental roof, and received his academic edu- cation from the local schools. In 1852 he grad- uated from the Brattleboro (Vt.) Medical Col- lege, and locating at Jefferson, O., engaged in the practice of his profession with much suc- cess In that community were the homes of Benjamin F. Wade, Joshua R. Giddings, W. D. Howells, and other celebrities. The Wade and Howells families were numbered among his earliest patrons and warmly commended his professional and personal characteristics. After a residence of five years in Jefferson, Dr. Haw- ley removed to Chicago, where he practiced three years, and in 1860 settled in Aurora. In the summer of 1861 he entered the Union Army as Assistant Surgeon of the Thirty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, but was soon trans- ferred to the Thirty-fifth as Surgeon, where he served until the close of the war. His regi- ment was a part of the Army of the West, and participated in its campaigns. As a conse- quence Dr. Hawley was always at the front and saw much of the hospital service of the war. Captured by the rebels at Chickamauga. he was held six weeks a prisoner of war in Libby Prison, Richmond. After the war he had a large practice at Aurora until his death, which occurred in 1877. In 1855 he was mar- ried to Miss Mary A. Webster, of Fairfax, Vt.

LABAN HAYWARD, merchant, Aurora, Ill., was born in Shrewsbury, Rutland County, Vt., Aug. 21, 1836, and came of an old Vermont family. His father, Willard Hayward, came with his family to Illinois in 1849, and some years later removed to Aurora, where he died in 1880. Laban Hayward received a good edu- cation, and taught school for some years in his early manhood. However, as he had been trained to farming life he devoted his earlier years mainly to that occupation in Will County. In 1865 he removed to Aurora,

where he at first was engaged in the meat trade and packing business, to which he later added a grocery store. Here he built up a business which he carried on very successfully until 1898, when he disposed of it after more than a third of a century of active work, his sons suc- ceeding him. This business was carried on in a block on Broadway which he had built for himself. Mr. Hayward has been connected with various other interests in Aurora, and for some years was a Director of the First National Bank, and is stockholder in the Home Build- ing and Loan Association. His first vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln, and he has been an active and earnest Republican to the present time. He has served one term as a member of the Aurora Board of Aldermen. Fraternally he is a Mason and at different times has repre- sented his local lodge as a member of the Grand Lodge of Illinois. In later years his attention has been largely given to estates en- trusted to his care. His wife, born Elizabeth Barclay, is a native of Glasgow. Scotland, but was living in Will County at the time of their marriage.

JOHN L. HEALY, the son of Bernard and Catherine (Laughlin) Healy, the subject of this sketch, was born in the city of Elgin, 111., where he now resides, on Aug. 3, 1861. His father, Bernard Healy, was born in Dublin, Ire- land, and, as a young man, in the year 1842, emigrated from his native country, and after arriving in the United States at once proceeded to Elgin, Ill., where he settled and immediately established a saddlery and harness business, thereby becoming one of its pioneer merchants and business men. The business thus estab- lished he continued and successfully main- tained for a period of more than fifty years. He was always prominently identified with public affairs and leading enterprises, and at an early day assisted James T. Gifford in lay- ing out the original plat of the city of Elgin. The subject of this sketch obtained his early education in the public schools of Elgin and later attended St. Joseph's College at Bards- town, Ky., and the University of Notre Dame, at Notre Dame, Ind., from which he graduated in the year 1879. Later on he engaged in the study of the law and was admitted to the bar in 1884, and in the year following pursued a course of post-graduate studies in Heidelberg, Germany, and in connection therewith acquired

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proficiency in the use of the German language, as well as a general insight into European laws and customs. In 1885, after returning from Europe, he at once engaged in the active prac- tice of his profession, entering into partnership with Henry B. Willis as the junior member of the law firm of Willis & Healy, his partner subsequently becoming one of the present Judges of the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit of the State of Illinois. After the dissolution of the firm, Mr. Healy continued in the active prac- tice of his profession until the month of Febru- ary, 1903, when he was elected Judge of the City Courts of Elgin and Aurora, thereby achieving a signal victory as the result of a very spirited and exciting contest for this office. In addition to the discharge of his judicial duties in the two cities comprising his district, he has also been frequently called to the City of Chicago to assist in disposing of the causes on the dockets of the courts of Cook County, where his ability as a jurist has received the fullest recognition and the highest commenda- tion, both by the judiciary and the members of the bar of that city. As a business man he has been both prosperous and progressive, having in conjunction with the practice of the law also devoted considerable attention to various commercial enterprises in which he has been exceptionally successful, as his many and ex- tensive property investments in the City of Elgin and elsewhere fully attest. Conspicuous among these investments, as one of the in- stances of his building enterprises, is the Healy-Egan Block in the City of Elgin, modeled and equipped under his direction, in which are located his commodious and neatly appointed law offices, which in design and finish are the finest in the county, and which are also fur- nished with a carefully selected and valuable library; and in these pleasant quarters, when not engaged in the more arduous duties of his position, Judge Healy may be found at home, always ready to extend a cordial welcome to his friends.

HARRY DWIGHT HEMMENS, manufacturer and newspaper publisher, Elgin, Ill., was born in the city where he now resides in 1858. and received his educational training in the city schools. He began reportorial work on the "Bluff City," the first daily paper published in Elgin, in 1878, and was later connected with Chicago and New York newspapers until 1882,

for a time being financial editor of the New York "Journal," when he returned to Elgin, and in company with William F. Doherty, founded the "Daily and Weekly Courier." For several years prior to 1903, he was editor and sole proprietor of this publication; but at the beginning of the latter year the "Courier Pub- lishing Company" was organized, and to it Mr. Hemmens turned over his newspaper property, and retired from its editorship, but has re- tained an interest in the establishment and is acting as President of the corporation. He was appointed postmaster of Elgin by President McKinley in 1898, and reappointed by Presi- dent Roosevelt in 1902. In politics he is a Republican.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Kane County, Part 156

Author: Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 950

Author:
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 950