Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Kane County, Part 157

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

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HARRY G. HEMPSTEAD, attorney, St. Charles, 111 .; born in Chicago, Feb. 22, 1871; obtained his preliminary education in the pub- lic schools of Chicago and St. Charles, and later took a course in law at Ann Arbor and the Northwestern University; admitted to the bar in 1893: was city attorney for St. Charles one term; married in 1897 to Georgia E. Osgood.

PROSPER HEMPSTEAD, manager telephone lines, St. Charles. Kane County, Ill .; born in Williamstown, Oswego County, N. Y., July 7, 1838, son of William C. and Jennette (Putnam ) Hempstead; obtained his education in an academy at Pulaski, N. Y., and was trained to merchandising in his native State, and has been more or less identified with mercantile pursuits during his business career. In 1855 he went to Minnesota, where he remained until 1861, when he came to Chicago and be- came connected with the famous Western Dry- Goods House, then conducted by the late Potter Palmer, remaining with this firm and its suc- cessors for many years, but was later associated with Mr. Palmer in the management of the Palmer House in Chicago. In 1886 he estab- lished his home at St. Charles, where he has since resided. He became manager of the Chi- cago Telephone Company's lines in the Fox River Valley in 1899. In political views Mr. Hempstead is a Democrat; has served as City Clerk and Justice of the Peace, and has taken an active part in the conduct of municipal affairs. In 1867 he was married to Miss Helen H. Garner, daughter of Mrs. Sarah Garner.

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

AUGUSTUS M. HERRINGTON (deceased), lawyer, Geneva, Ill., was born at Meadville, Penn., July 27, 1820, and died at Geneva, Ill., Aug. 13, 1883. His education was secured in the schools of Geneva, where his family settled in 1834. He was admitted to the Bar in 1844, and was appointed United States District Attor- ney for the Northern District of Illinois. In 1873 he became solicitor for the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, with offices in Chicago, and sustained this relation to the company until his death. A strong Democrat, he was Presidential Elector in 1856, and was a dele- gate to the National Conventions at Baltimore in 1860, and Chicago in 1864. In 1849 he mar- ried Miss Emily A. Cook, of St. Charles, a native of New York.

JAMES HERRINGTON, Sr. (deceased ), Geneva, one of the earlier pioneer settlers of Kane County, was born in Mercer County, Penn., and located in Chicago in 1833. In 1834 he purchased the land on which the county-seat of Kane County was located in 1837, the same year in which he laid out the town of Geneva. He was chiefly instrumental in bringing about the organization of the county, and suggested the name which was given it in honor of Elias K. Kane, one of the first United States Senators from Illinois. He died at Geneva in 1839.

JAMES HERRINGTON, Jr. (deceased ), leg- islator, Geneva, Ill., was born in Mercer County, Penn., June 6, 1824, and came with his parents to Kane County, Ill., in 1833. There he grew to manhood and largely received his edu- cation. He learned the printing trade in Chi- cago as an employe of Hon. John Wentworth, proprietor of the "Chicago Democrat." He was elected County Clerk of Kane County in 1849, and filled that position eight years. For seven terms he represented Kane County in the State Legislature, and also served as Mayor of Geneva. He married Mary A. Blodgett, a native of New York. He died in Geneva in 1890:

MASON A. HIGGINS (deceased), merchant, Aurora, Ill., was born in Windham County, Vt., where he received a practical education, and was trained to merchandising. He engaged in business for himself in Washington County, N. Y., where he was a merchant and manufac- turer for many years. In 1872 Mr. Higgins came to Aurora and established himself in busi-

ness as a member of the mercantile firm of Lawrence & Company, Mr. Lawrence having previously been a partner of Mr. Higgins in New York. Mr. Higgins was identified with this firm until 1879, when he retired from active business. His death occurred in Aurora in February, 1893. The surviving members of his family in 1904 are Mrs. Higgins, who still lives in Aurora, and a son and a daughter. An older son died in July, 1903. Mrs. Higgins, nee Nellie E. Campbell, is a native of New York, and was a resident of Vermont before her marriage. She has been associated with many charitable and philanthropic enterprises in Aurora, chief among them, perhaps, being the Aurora Hospital, of which she was one of the founders.

GEORGE HIGGINS (deceased), pioneer physician and surgeon, born at Barton. Orange County, Vt., Dec. 27, 1826; came to Aurora with his parents in 1835; graduated from Rush Med- ical College (Chicago) in 1850, and passed his entire professional career in Aurora, where he died Sept. 24, 1890. He was married in 1875 to Miss Mary M. Baker, who still survives and lives in Aurora.

FRANK R. HILL, farmer, Batavia Township, Kane County, Ill .; born in Wyoming County, N. Y., June 1, 1849; educated in the common schools of Kane County, Ill., and was trained to farming in boyhood, having followed that occu- pation to the present time; has been engaged principally in dairy farming and grain rais- ing; married Miss Emma J. Pope, of Aurora.

CHARLES C. HINCKLEY, electrician and inventor, Aurora, Ill., was born in Winsted, Conn., Jan. 1, 1854, and educated in the public schools of Hartford in that State, where he was trained to the watch manufacturing business. After working several years in eastern watch factories, mainly as foreman, he came west, and was one of the organizers of the Rockford Watch Company in 1873. Ten years later he helped organize the Aurora Watch Factory, and thus became associated with the city. Later he organized the Hinckley Manufacturing Com- pany, which secured a very extensive patron- age in the making of electrical goods, and watchmakers' tools and machinery. In the financial panic of 1893 Mr. Hinckley was hard hit, and the enterprise met with disaster.

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Since then he has devoted his attention to the manufacture of electrical goods. From 1896 he has been City Electrician of Aurora, and prior to that time had served as a member of the Board of Public Works. Many electrical and mechanical devices have been invented by him, and he has taken out numerous patents.

ALBERT WALKER HINMAN, physician. Dundee, Ill .; born at Stillville, Oneida County, N. Y., Oct. 10, 1845; came west in 1876, locat- ing first in De Kalb County, Ill .; during the winters of 1876, '77, '78 and '79 he took a course of training in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College, and afterward began the prac- tice of medicine at St. Charles; located at Dundee in the spring of 1882, and has since practiced his profession in that city except a short time spent in Chicago (1893-97). The Doctor was married Nov. 29, 1880, to Miss Elizabeth Gliddin, of De Kalb, Ill.

OLIVER ASAHEL HINSDELL, retired mer- chant, Elgin, Ill., was born in Hanover, Cook County, Ill., Oct. 11, 1846, the son of Asahel Bemis and Eliza (Hanks) Hinsdell, and when about one year old was brought by his parents to Elgin, which, except a few years residence in Chicago, has been his home up to the pres- ent time. Mr. Hinsdell received his education in the public schools, in Elgin Academy and Michigan University. He made his first busi- ness venture with Thomas Thompson in the furniture trade. After the great fire in Chicago in 1871, the firm removed to that city, locat- ing their store on Wells Street ( North Side), where they continued in business for the next three years. Having sold out his interest in Chicago in 1874, Mr. Hinsdell returned to Elgin, where he engaged in the furniture busi- ness as a member of the firm of Palmer & Hinsdell. This partnership was continued until 1882, when Mr. Hinsdell sold out his inter- est to his partner and retiring from mercantile business, has since given his attention chiefly to his real-estate interests. He still lives upon land upon which his father settled when he first came to Elgin, now located in the heart of the city. During the last year of the Civil War, Mr. Hinsdell enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-first Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, a 100-days' regiment, which was mus- tered into the service at Elgin, June 16, 1864. departed for the field eleven days later. and

having rendered valuable service to the Union cause during its term of enlistment, was.mus- tered out October 10 following. On Feb. 19, 1873, Mr. HinsdelI was united in marriage with Miss Harriet A. Starr, daughter of Humphrey G. and Harriet (Wicker) Starr, born at White- hall, N. Y., Aug. 21, 1849, but at the time of her marriage a resident with her parents at Belvi- dere, Ill. Mr. and Mrs. Hinsdell have had four children born to them: one daughter, now Mrs. Ellen Louchelle Carlsen, and three sons-Roy Starr, of River Forest, Ill .; Arthur B. and Oliver Edwin, of Elgin. An uncle of Mr. Hins- dell (James Hanks) is believed to have been one of the first white men to visit the region in which Kane County is situated, coming with a cousin from Steuben County, N. Y., three years previous to the arrival of the first per- manent settlers, and later preempting the land on which Oliver A. Hinsdell was born.

WILLIAM H. HINTZE.

WILLIAM H. HINTZE ( deceased ), born April 27, 1845, at Labes, near Stettin, Pomerania, Germany, son of Gottfried William and Char- lotte Friederika Qualke Hintze. His father came to America and located in Chicago in September, 1852, and was followed the next year by his family, consisting of his wife and two sons-William H. and Robert. The sub-

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

ject of this sketch was educated in the public schools of Chicago, being the first German boy to graduate from the Chicago High School, where he took the Foster medal for scholarship; a few weeks later removed to Elgin, and there entered into the employment of Orlando David- son as errand-boy and general assistant in the Home Bank, being advanced to various posi- tions until he became cashier. This position he occupied until 1877, when he resigned. He then became associated with Mr. Davidson and E. D. Waldron in the butter factory on the west side of Elgin, one of the largest establishments of its kind in the country, and of which he be- came President and Treasurer, and was princi- pal owner. Mr. Hintze was long a member and Treasurer of the Elgin Board of Trade, and to his efforts more than those of any other man belongs the reputation which Elgin but- ter has acquired in the markets of the world. In June, 1864, he enlisted at Elgin in Com- pany A, One Hundred and Forty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry (100-day regiment), serv- ing during part of his term of enlistment in Kentucky. For three years he was a member of the Elgin Board of Education and, for a long time, one of the Directors of the Elgin Public Library, which he assisted in erecting; was also one of the promoters of the city water- works, serving as a member of the first Board of Water Commissioners. Socially he was a member of the Elgin Century Club, of which he was President for a number of years; was affiliated with various Masonic fraternities, in- cluding Monitor Lodge A. F. & A. M., Munn Chapter and Bethel Commandery K. T .; was also a member of the Loyal Legion and one of the organizers of the Walhalla, the leading one of four German fraternities, and also a member of the Iroquois Club of Chicago. Mr. Hintze was a man of exceptional ability in financial affairs, and was prominently identified with many enterprises of public benefit. He was first united in marriage with Miss Mary A. Daggett, who bore him four children, of whom three are now living: Mrs. May Lane, now of Elgin; William D., and Fred G. Hintze. Mrs. Hintze died in 1887, and in 1889 Mr. Hintze was married to Miss Florence Geddes, of Ma- rengo, Ill., and they had one daughter, Caro- line. Mr. Hintze's death, which occurred March 12, 1900, deprived Elgin of one of its most capable and successful business men.

JAMES W. HIPPLE, retired farmer, Elgin, Ill., born in Perry County, Penn., Sept. 11, 1835, was educated in the public schools, had one term of instruction in an academy, and then learned the tailor's trade, at which he worked in his native county until he reached the age of eighteen years. After this he went to Geneva, N. Y., where he engaged in the mer- chant tailoring and ready-made clothing busi- ness in company with a brother. After eleven years spent in Geneva, he removed to Chicago, and in company with a brother-in-law engaged in the lumber business under the firm name of Becker & Hipple. This plant was entirely wiped out by the Chicago fire of 1871, after which Mr. Hipple was engaged in the same business as head of the firm of Hipple & Oestman. In 1875 Mr. Hipple sold out, and moved to a farm he had purchased near Elgin, on which he made his home until September, 1901, when he re- tired, settling in Elgin. Mr. Hipple was mar- ried Feb. 15, 1859, to Arrietta T. Becker, born in New York City May 8, 1836, and to them have come five children: Jesse V., born Jan. 30, 1862, in Geneva, N. Y .; Gideon B., born May 28, 1871, in Chicago; Marietta, born Oct. 25, 1875, in Elgin Township, and Anna Louisa, also born in Elgin Township, July 26, 1877.

CHARLES H. HITCHCOCK, Aurora, phy- sician and surgeon, was born in the town of Strong, Franklin County, Me., Oct. 16, 1831 where he attended school and remained until he was seventeen years of age. From 1848 to 1851 he lived in Massachusetts, where he at- tended school a part of the time. Beginning the study of medicine in Philadelphia under the preceptorship of Dr. D. Hayes Agnew, he fin- ished in Cincinnati, where he graduated from the American Medical College in 1857. Lo- cating at Earlville, Ill., he opened an office for the practice of his profession, but three years later removed to McLean County, where he lived at the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1862 he was appointed Assistant Surgeon in the Union army, and assigned to Fort Pickering, at Memphis, Tenn., having full charge of the post hospital at that point. After about a year of hard service he resigned, and returning to McLean County, there resumed his professional career, but soon removed to DeKalb County, where he practiced for twenty-four years. In 1892 he came to Aurora, and soon became a prominent

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practitioner, winning and holding a wide pat- ronage. Dr. Hitchcock is a member of the State Medical Society and the Fox River Val- ley Medical Association, and has been a Mason since 1858, also belongs to the Knights of the Globe and is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. In 1859 he married Miss Eliza- beth M. Galloway, at that time of Earlville, but a native of New Jersey. Their children are Mrs. Hattie (Hitchcock) Montgomery, of De- catur, and Miss Mollie Hitchcock, of Aurora.

EDWARD G. HOBLER, manufacturer, Ba- tavia, Ill .; born near Batavia, Ill., Sept. 8, 1860; entered the employ of the Chicago & North- Western Railroad Company in 1879, and was connected with the supply store of the com- pany tor seven years; then became connected with the general office of the Appleton Manu- facturing Company of Chicago. The manufac- turing plant of this corporation was removed to Geneva, Ill., in 1894, and in 1900, the plant and general offices were removed to Batavia. After various promotions Mr. Hobler was made general manager of the company in 1895, and has since filled that position. He was married in 1886 to Miss Harriet Wells, of Geneva.

JOHN H. HODDER (deceased ), Aurora, jour- nalist and inventor, was born in Bridport, Eng., Dec., 1834, and educated in the schools of his native town. Coming to America in 1853, after spending about nine months in New York, he journeyed westward to Chicago, and from there to Aurora, where he entered the employ of D. & J. W. Randall, about the time they purchased the "Beacon" from Hall Brothers. In 1856 he began business for himself, starting the first book-bindery establishment in the county. In 1858 Mr. Hodder became a partner with O. B. Knickerbocker & Co., in the ownership and publication of the "Beacon." That year the "Beacon" and the "Republican" were consoli- dated under the management of Bangs & Knickerbocker, and Mr. Hodder engaged in job printing. In 1861 he established the "McHenry County Union," at Woodstock, where he re- mained until 1863. During the latter year he resumed the foremanship of the "Beacon" office, and in 1866 purchased Mr. Bangs' interest, the publishing firm thereafter being Knickerbocker & Hodder. Mr. Hodder died in Aurora Dec. 5, 1902. He is survived by his wife and two chil- dren: Frank H., Professor of International Law

and History in Lawrence (Kans.) University, and Mrs. Kittie B., wife of Harry R. Freeman, of Salt Lake City.

FREDERICK HODGES (deceased), pioneer settler; born in Castlewellen, County Down, Ire- land, in 1799; grew to manhood in his native country, where he was educated under the guid- ance of his mother and in the parish schools; married Margaret Hutchinson and came to the United States in early manhood, locating in Chicago, Ill., in 1838, but shortly afterwards came to Dundee, Kane County, where he passed the remainder of his lite, dying there in 1872; his wife dying in 1871. The surviving members of his family now residing in Dundee are: Mrs. Sheldon Dickinson, and the Misses Susanna and Charlotte Hodges.

DENNIS J. HOGAN, Geneva, Ill., Mayor, was born in Chicago, Dec. 7, 1856, and educated at Notre Dame University, South Bend, Ind., where he graduated in 1873. He studied law and graduated from the Union College of Law, Chi- cago, in 1875. For some years he practiced law in Chicago, but was not entirely engaged in professional labors until he opened his office in Geneva in 1888. Here he has been successful in a marked degree, and has been four times elected Mayor of the city, besides acting in that capacity for part of a term. He was Presi- dent of the Board of Trustees of the Hospital for the Insane four years, and is now (1903) a member of the State Board of Arbitration. Mr. Hogan has long been one of the recognized lead- ers of the Democratic party in Illinois, being at the present time the senior member of the Democratic State Central Committee, on which he is serving his ninth term, and as Chairman of the Committee on Organization, completing his sixteenth year. In 1879 he was married to Miss Mary A. Deekig, of Adare, Ireland, at which place the marriage ceremony was sol- emnized. Mr. Hogan has traveled much abroad and spent much of his life in Europe.

EMANUEL HOLBROOK (deceased), mer- chant, Batavia, Kane County, Ill .: born in Man- chester, England, July 3, 1840; grew to years of maturity and obtained his educational train- ing in his native country; came to the United States in 1869, locating immediately after his arrival at Batavia, where he already had friends residing. Having been trained to a

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mercantile lite in his native country, he was employed for a time as a clerk in the store of his uncle, Joseph Burton, at Batavia, after- wards became connected with the hardware es- tablishment of Meredith Brothers, of which he finally became a proprietor, and which he con- ducted until his death, June 14, 1895. In po- litical affiliations Mr. Holbrook was a Repub- lican and served several years as a member of the Kane County Board of Supervisors, besides holding other local offices. Fraternally he was a member of the order of Odd Fellows, and did much to advance the interests of that order in Batavia. In 1877 he was married to Miss Emma Corbin, daughter of Elihu and Eliza (Fish) Corbin, of Plainfield, Ill. Three sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Holbrook, all living, viz .: Tracy C. (who is a well-known and ac- compiished violinist ), Leslie J. and E. Mere- dith.

OSBORN HOLCOMB (deceased), clergyman, Aurora, Ill., born in West Granby, Conn., July 1, 1828, was educated at Springfield, Conn., and Danville, N. Y., and came to Illinois in 184S, making his home at Geneseo, where he engaged in teaching school for a year at Cambridge, and then entered the Rock River Conference Meth- odist Episcopal Church, having been licensed to preach by "Father" Sinclair. Mr. Holcomb was in the conference four years, serving charges at different points under the itinerary system. About 1854 his voice failed, when he retired from the regular ministry, but was closely identified with church work whenever occasion required as long as he lived. In 1854 he married Mary A. Higby, of Naperville, and two years later they removed to Aurora. Here he improved and sold city property, building in all some forty dwelling houses. For eleven years he spent considerable time in buying, im- proving and selling property in Nebraska. His last years were passed in Aurora, where he died Dec. 23, 1902. He was a trustee of the East Side Methodist Episcopal Church from its building until his death. While in Nebraska he also taught school. In connection with the church just noted he was especially active, was its class leader at different times, and did much to help it. Throughout this section, where Methodism is loved, his name is remembered. The surviving members of this family are Mrs. Holcomb, Robert H., Osborn A. and Elizabeth, of Aurora; Mary ( Mrs. Plater), of Eau Claire,

Wis .; Asa S. and Newton R., of Dawson, Yukon Territory, Canada.

TIMOTHY N. HOLDEN, ex-Mayor Aurora, was born in North Charlestown, N. H., March 21, 1839, son of Richard and Sophia (Allen) Hol- den, and grandson of Timothy Holden, a veteran of the Revolution. Richard Holden, a native of New Hampshire, removed to Rockton, Ill., where he lived until 1858, when he came to Aurora, where he died in 1893. Timothy N. Hol- den was educated in Charlestown, N. H., and Rockton, Ill., entered into the employment of Fuller & Fuller, druggists in Chicago, with whom he remained eleven years, when he en- gaged in business as a wholesale dealer in glass- ware. The great fire of 1871 swept away every- thing he had, and for seven years he was in the employ of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, with his home in Aurora, where he joined the firm of Kendall & Holden, and for fifteen years the two were engaged in the hard- ware business. Since 1895 he has been engaged in real-estate and loans. Much of his time for years has been given to public interests. For eighteen years he was a member of the Board of Education, and for fifteen years of the Ken. dall County Board of Supervisors, being Presi- dent of the Board eight consecutive years. For three years (1897-99) he was Mayor of Aurora. In 1868 he married Marian Howell, a daughter of Dr. A. D. Howell, an old-time physician and banker of Aurora, of whom a sketch appears elsewhere in this work.

GEORGE M. HOLLENBACK, lawyer and legislator, Aurora, Ill., was born Dec. 1, 1831. in Fox Township, Kendall County, Ill., son of George and Sophia (Sidle) Hollenback, and was the first white child born in the county. His father, a noted pioneer of Kendall County, was a native of West Virginia, and a descend- ant of George Hollenback, who came from Wur- temburg, Germany, and settled in Pennsylvania some time before 1720. George Hollenback, the Illinois pioneer, was a soldier in the War of 1812, and in later life received a generous grant of land for his services. He came west by wagon with his family in 1829. For a few months he lived near Danville, Ill., later near Peru, and in 1831 settled in Fox Township, Ken- dall County. During the Blackhawk War he sought refuge with his family at Fort Beggs, now Plainfield, and then at Fort Dearborn, Chi-

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cago, and did not return to their home for a year. After this his residence was continuously in Kendall County until his death in 1864. His wife passed away two years earlier. The son, George M., grew up on the family estate, and, associated with his earlier memories, are many of the more noted pioneers of the region. His education was secured in the public schools and at a private school in Oswego. In his early manhood he took an active part in public affairs, In 1856 was elected Clerk of the Circuit Court of Kendall County, and being re-elected in 1860, filled that office consecutively eight years. From that period until 1888 he was entirely engaged in farming operations, living in an ideal country home near Millbrook, Ill. He was admitted to the bar in 1868, but never en. tered actively into general practice, though he was appointed Master in Chancery for the Cir- cuit Court of Kendall County, and for more than twenty years exercised judicial functions in that connection. He has been an earnest Re- publican and prominent in the councils of the party. In 1872 he was elected Representative in the General Assembly, and has held numer- ous less important offices. Since the fall of 1892 he has lived in Aurora, occupied with the care of his estate. He was first married in 1859 to Miss Julia A. Woodworth, daughter of Daniel and Roxanna ( Heath) Woodworth, who was born in Ashtabula County, Ohio. She died in Kendall County in 1886, leaving one daugh- ter, now Mrs. Edward Welles, of Wilkesbarre, Penn. In 1888 Mr. Hollenback married Mrs. Frances F. Houghman, widow of Dr. Charles E. Houghman, of Milwaukee, Wis.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Kane County, Part 157

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