Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume II, Part 72

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Rogers, Thomas H; Moffet, Hugh R; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : Muncell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 972

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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY

ent in politics he has accepted no office but that of school director. He is a Mason, and he and his wife belong to the order of the Eastern Star.

BROWN, Fred O, one of the extensive land- owners of Winnebago County, and a prosperous farmer of Rockford Township, is a native son of this county, born November 22, 1856, a son of Morey and Lucy (Pease) Brown. Morey Brown was born at Providence, Mass., in 1813, and died in June, 1879. His wife was born in Duchess County, N. Y., in 1814, and died in 1889, and is buried at Rockford. The father came to Winnebago County in 1838, from Alton, Ill., and bought government land to the extent of 200 acres, upon which he lived until his death. A man of considerable importance, he held a number of township offices. The mother was a Baptist in religious faith.

Fred O. Brown was educated in the public schools of his native place, and has been a farmer all his life. Some years ago, Mr. Brown went to Nebraska and spent nine years in that state, engaged in agricultural operations. Re- turning to Winnebago County, he has made it his home ever since. On December 31, 1878, Mr. Brown was married to Mary Halsted, a daugh- ter of Jonathan Hobby and Deborah (Kennard) Halsted, and they have five children, namely : Lester D., Clinton O., Edna May, born in 1883 and died June 13. 1889, Walter E., Beatrice Elizabeth, who is Mrs. Charles Mabe, and Win- field H.

Jonathan Hobby Halsted, father of Mrs. Brown, was born at Somers, N. Y., February 28, 1819, and was married on February 14, 1855, to Deborah Kennard, at Lewistown, N. Y. She was a daughter of Charles and Elizabeth (Field) Kennard, natives of Hastings, England, and was born August 23, 1826. Mrs. Halsted came to the United States in an old sailing vessel that took six weeks and two days to make the voyage. Her father located at Somers, N. Y. On

April 15, 1856, Mr. Halsted and his

wife

started

for

Winnebago

County, Ill.,

and upon his arrival he bought eighty acres land to which additions have been made until Mr. and Mrs. Brown now have 180 acres comprising one of the finest farm- ing properties in this section. Every improve- ment has been made upon it that is caluculated to add to its value or the comfort of the occu- pants. On this farm Mr. Halsted died June 9, 1904, aged eighty-five years, a consistent member of the Second Congregational Church of Rockford; Mrs. Halsted died February 4, 1915, aged eighty-eight years. They had the following children : Mary Elizabeth, who is Mrs. Brown; Lester Bedell, who is in an insurance business at Chicago; and De Forest, who is deceased. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Brown were Samuel and Rebecca (Marshall) Halsted. They own forty acres in Lake County, Michigan.

BROWN, George W., page 734.

BROWN, Mowry Charles. Business ability is not confined to any one line, nor does it neces- sitate the concentration of a man's energies upon a single avenue of endeavor. Rather does it tend towards an opening of new fields for his activities. An excellent instance of this is shown in the career of Mowry Charles Brown, of Rockford, who is not only interested in farm- ing operations, but also owns and conducts a flourishing plumbing establishment, and is his father's partner in a thresher outfit the older man has conducted many years.

Mowry Charles Brown was born in Owen Township, Winnebago County, September 14, 1878, a son of Charles E. Brown, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. He was educated in the district schools and the high school in his neighborhood, and after leaving school became a farmer and has been addition- ally interested as above stated, in plumbing and conducting a threshing outfit.

On September 2, 1899, Mr. Brown was mar- ried to Esther B. Williams, a daughter of Wil- liam W. and Rose (Edwards) Williams. Mr. and Mrs. Brown became the parents of the fol- lowing children : Leonard M., Mildred I., Mar- jorie B., Charles R., and Rosana and Frances, twins. Mr. Brown was a school director, serr- ing for two terms of three years each. He is a member of the Masonic lodge of Rockford, and at one time belonged to the Modern Wood- men of America and to the Maccabees. Ener- getic, always willing to work and be prudent, he has progressed and is justly numbered among the successful men of his county.

BROWN, Ralph Egbert, is not only a very desirable citizen of Winnebago County but also one of its most successful agriculturists, operat- ing a fine farm in Rockford Township. He was born in Owen Township, Winnebago County, Ill., November 13, 1880, a son of Charles E. and Frances (Burritt) Brown. He grew to man- hood in his native township, during which period he attended the graded and high schools of Rockford, and the Rockford Business College. At the age of twenty-two years, he entered the employ of Burr Bros., grocers. Following this he operated his father's farm for four years, then bought fifty acres in Rockford Township, one mile west of his father's property. Three years later he sold this farm and spent a year at Rockford, but in 1909 he returned to his father's farm of 110 acres, on which he carries on general farming and engages also in stock raising.

On January 25, 1900, Mr. Brown was married to Viola O. Phipps, born in Laona Township, September 14, 1879, a daughter of Homer A. and Effie E. (Sarver) Phipps, natives of Winnebago County. The grandparents, William and Emma (Webster) Phipps, natives of Michigan and New York, respectively, and Samuel and Lydia (Baldozer) Sarver, natives of Pennsylvania, were all people of excellent repute. Mrs. Brown

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was educated in the Rockford public schools and a business college. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have the following children : Cecil L., who was born October 4, 1900; Ona May, who was born May 22, 1902; Chrystal Isabell, who was born March 24, 1903; Wayne Leamon, who was born June 27, 1910; and Effie Lavina, who was born May 18, 1912.

Mr. Brown served for six years as a school director in his present district and held the same position for two years in his former district. He has been deputy sheriff, and is known as a very efficient and faithful official. He is inde- pendent in politics. Maple Grove Grange holds his membership and he is now steward of that organization.

BROWN, William, page 663.

BUCHANAN, T. W., is one of the prosperous farmers of Roscoe Township, and a man of sub- stance in his neighborhood. He was born at La Chute, near Montreal, Canada, April 10, 1854, a son of T. P. and Anne (Cole) Buchanan, both natives also of La Chute, where they were mar- ried. In 1857 they came to the United States, when their son, T. W., was but three years old. They located at Roscoe but a little later the father bouglit land in Roscoe Township and on it followed farming the remainder of his life, owning at the time of his death 420 acres. He passed away in 1897, aged sixty-five years. He was a Mason, a Republican, and a member of the Methodist Church. For twenty-five years he served as road commissioner of Roscoe Township. The mother died in 1887, aged fifty- five years. Her parents both died in Canada, never having left the Dominion.

T. W. Buchanan grew up in Roscoe Township, where he attended the public schools and then began farming. This continued to be his occu- pation, he at first operating his father's farm, but in 1887 he moved on the farm he inherited from his mother's estate, in Roscoe Township. He is now the owner of 280 acres of land in a fine condition and he conducts it according to the most modern methods.

In 1875 Mr. Buchanan was married to Lydia Love. Her parents were natives of London, England, and of Canada, respectively. In 1816 the father of Mrs. Buchanan came to New York City, where he worked as a carpenter, but. within a year went to Canada, where he married. He then returned to the United States, locating in Illinois, securing government land in Harlem Township, Winnebago County, on which he built a log house. Later he moved to the vicinity of Roscoe where he bought a small farm and lived in retirement, dying in 1876 at the age of sixty years. He had been idustrious and provident and at the time of his death owned business property at Roscoe, and 700 acres of land. He was a Mason and a Democrat. The mother sur- vived him, dying in 1887, aged seventy-one years.

Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan have had the follow- ing children born to them : Blanch L., who lives at Rockton; Thomas Paul, who lives at Har-

rison ; Willard Ross, who lives at Roscoe; Cole L., who lives at Roscoe; Mark L., who lives with his parents; James D., who is at home; Fred Arthur, who lives at Rockton; and Theo- dore Ward and Anna Joy, both of whom are at home. Mr. Buchanan belongs to Roscoe Lodge A. F. & A. M., and both he and wife belong to the Eastern Star. In politics he is a Republi- can. He is the only resident left between the creek at Roscoe and Beloit who grew up in the county. At one time he worked for a short period at the plow factory at Roscoe owned by William Richardson, but aside from that has devoted himself to agricultural pursuits.

BUCK, William Perry, a veteran of the Civil war, and an honored resident of Rockford, was born in Kane Township, Erie County, Pa., November 30, 1844, a son of Truman and Eliza (Brown) Buck who came to Illinois in 1851, locating first in Cherry Valley Township, Winne- bago County, but in 1853 going to Flora, Boone County, Ill. There William P. Buck was reared and educated, and from Flora he enlisted for service during the Civil war, on September 15, 1862, in Company F, Forty-fifth Illinois Volun- teer Infantry.

The movements of this regiment are well worth recalling. It was organized by John E. Smith, of Galena. Ill., and was known as the Washburn Lead Mine Regiment, and prior to Mr. Buck's enlistment had already participated in some very important engagements. On September 17, 1862, the regiment was returned to Camp Jackson, and on November 2 of that same year it moved from Jackson to La Grange, Tenn., where it did provost guard duty until November 28, wlien it forward with tlie army oll the Holly Springs campaign, and marched and counter- moved marched until December 22, when it was sta- tioned north of the Tallahatchie River and there remained until January 1, 1863. The regiment then resumed its northward march on Memphis. In February the regiment moved with Gen. Grant's army on transports down the river from Memphis to take part in the Vicksburg cam- paign. After several stops, at Milliken's Bend volunteers were called for to run the batteries with transports to Vicksburg. Officers and men of tlie regiment volunteered for this duty and the matter was decided by making a detail of the quota assigned to the Forty-fifth. This detail comprised the crew which took the steamer Anglo Saxon, safely through, loaded with a full cargo of commissary stores. May 1, 1863, found the Forty-fifth on the east bank of the Mississippi at Bruinsburg, below Vicks- burg, and the same day the regiment started with Grant's army on the famous campaign which ended in the capture of Vicksburg. The regiment participated in all the battles of the campaign, forming part of Logan's division.

The position of the Forty-fifth during the siege of Vicksburg was at the White House, on Jackson Road. in front of the enemy's Fort Hill, which was regarded as the key to the

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fortress. The regiment took part in three charges against the enemy's works. on the 19th and 22nd of May and the 25th of June. On the 22nd, Major Luther H. Cowan was instantly killed. About a month was occupied in running a sap, a narrow trench, and digging a mine under Fort Hill, and on June 25, the mine hav- ing been charged, the match was applied, and the Forty-fifth was selected as the storming party, when the breach should be made. Imme- diately after the explosion the regiment rushed into the crater, but was met with a murderous fire from the enemy still protected by an embankment of about three feet in width, which had been thrown up by them in an inner line to provide for the demolishment of the works. The loss to the Forty-fifth in this charge was

eighty-three officers and men, killed and wounded. Among those killed were Melancthon Smith, lieutenant-colonel. Leander B. Fisk, major, and a number of non-commissioned offi- cers and privates. Among the wounded was Jasper A. Maltby, colonel of the regiment. When the city surrendered, by order of General Grant, on account of its conspicuous service during the siege, the Forty-fifth was given the advance of the Union army when it entered the stronghold. and its flag was raised upon the courthouse by Col. William E. Strong, of General McPherson's staff.

The regiment was detailed on provost guard duty at Vicksburg on July 4, and continued on such until October 14, when it was relieved to take part in the Canton raid. during which a skirmish occurred. From November 7, 1863, until February 3, 1864. the regiment was in camp at Black River, in January of that year the regiment having reenlisted as veterans nearly to a man. From February 3 to Marchi 4 the regiment took part in the Meridian raid, and was engaged in the skirmish at Chunky Sta- tion. where three men were wounded. On' March 17 flie regiment again rendezvoused at Cairo, Ill., and rejoined the army then on the Atlanta cam- paign. and took its part in the engagements in this section until the beginning of the march to the sea. It was then detached to the Seven- teenth Army Corps as it had been during the Vicksburg campaign. Atlanta was left on No- vemher 15. and Savannah was reached Decem- ber 21, 1864. On January 4, 1865, the regiment left Savannah, and after participating in the engagements of the corps to which it was at- tached. reached camp February 28, having marched 300 miles in less than a month. On March 3 it moved to Goldsboro, N. C., and at Fayetteville. March 11, the regiment was dis- tinguished by having a private. William C. Tay- lor receive the surrender of the city from the hands of the mayor. On April 10, 1865. the line of march from Goldsboro was continued, and the Forty-fifth moved on to Raleigh and Greensboro, then back again to Raleigh where it received news of the surrender of Lee's and Johnston's armies, and knew that the war was over. With the rest of the Seventeenth Army Corps it par- ticipated in the Grand Review at Washington,

having a record of marching from May 14, 1864, to May 19, 1865, 1,750 miles. On June 6 the regiment left camp at Washington, D. C., for Louisville, Ky., arriving there June 8, and from there the regiment was discharged July 12, ar- riving at Chicago for final pay July 15. 1865.

Upon his return from his military duties, Mr. Buck engaged in farming in Boone County until 1890, when he came to Cherry Valley Township, this county, and continued farming until 1907, in that year moving to Rockford which still continues his home.

On March 12, 1868, Mr. Buck was married to Ellen Henebry, a native of Vermont. Mr. and Mrs. Buck became the parents of three children : Harry R., who resides on a fruit farm in the state of Washington; Ada Eliza- beth, who is Mrs. Robert Hill, who lives in the city of North Yakima, Washington, and Mary Eva, who lives with her father at their residence. 828 N. Winnebago street, Rockford. Mrs. Buck died June 24, 1906. Mr. Buck belongs to the Masons and to the Eastern Star, also to the Odd Fellows, and not only is a valued mem- ber of Nevius Post. G. A. R., but is serving it officially. In 1911 he was elected an officer of the guard of this organization; in 1912 was elected an officer of the day ; in 1913 was elected junior vice commander ; in 1914 was made senior vice commander of Nevius Post, No. 1. In 1915, Mr. Buck attended the Fiftieth Encampment, at Washington, D. C., and the Grand Review on September 28, 1915.

During his residence in Cherry Valley, Mr. Buck was very prominent politically. He was road commissioner for nine years, was trustee of the village board for two years, and was on the committee of Cherry Valley designated to look after the dependent soldiers' families. A Republican, he was a member of the Cherry Val- ley Township Central committee of his party for a number of years. During his whole life Mr. Buck has always acted up to what he has believed to be his full duty, and the esteem in which he is held by all is deserved.

BUDLONG, John. For many years one of the potent factors in the commercial and industrial life of Rockford was the late John Budlong, to whose energy and aggressive foresight the city owes much of its present importance. Mr. Bud- long was president of the Royal Sewing Machine Company and a stockholder in several otlier companies. His birth occurred at Rodman, Jef- ferson County. N. Y., February 18, 1833, his parents being Clark and Mary (Lucas) Budlong.

The Budlong family is of English extraction. Francis Budlong, who was an early settler in the American colonies, married in 1669, Rebecca Howard, at Warwick. R. I. He was one of the townsmen who pledged to stand together against the encroachments of Connecticut and send agents to England for redress. He and his family, with the exception of one son, was killed by the Indians in 1675. This son, John Budlong. born in 1672, was taken captive at the time, but was afterwards released by his captors and

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placed in the care of his uncle, Moses Lippit. He married Isabel Potter. The line of descent follows: Moses Budlong, born in 170S, at War- wick, R. I .; Samuel, born in 1736, at Warwick, R. I .; Aaron, born in 1776; Green, born in Rhode Island ; Clark, born in Herkimer County, N. Y .; John, born in 1833, at Rodman, Jefferson County, N. Y. Green Budlong, the grandfather of John Budlong, moved from Rhode Island to Herki- mer County, N. Y., and in 1800 purchased land near Litchfield, where he resided until 1805, when he went to Jefferson County, the same state, and died in the town of Rodman, where he had lived for some years. There his son, Clark Budlong, who had been born in Herkimer County in 1804, was reared, and he spent his life in Jefferson County, becoming a farmer and sawmill owner. He died in his own hotel, at Rodman, in 1844. His wife was born at Middletown, Conn., in 1806, she being a daughter of John W. and Esther (Stowe) Lucas, natives of Connecticut.

John Budlong was reared in his native place, and secured his education in the Rodman Semi- nary, the Jefferson County Institute at Water- town, the Adams Institute of the same place, and the Falley Seminary at Fulton, N. Y. When he was eighteen years old he commenced teaching school, and in 1853 went to North Carolina, where for twelve months he taught a school at Edenton. From there he went to Gaytown, the same state, and taught for another year, when he was called to Texas to take charge of a school in Washington County, and taught it for a year. Until the fall of 1860 he was engaged in teach- ing in Missouri, but at that time located in Adams, Jefferson County, N. Y., where he con- tinued teaching, and at the same time began the study of law. In the year of his return he was elected a justice of the peace. His civic and educational duties were broken in upon by the declaration of war, and in April, 1861. he enlisted for service during the Civil war in Company G, Thirty-fifth New York Volunteer Infantry, being commissioned a second lieutenant, and one year later he was promoted to a first lieutenancy, and as the captain of the company was on detached service. Lieutenant Budlong was in charge until the expiration of his period of enlistment. After receiving his honorable discharge, Mr. Budlong returned home and soon thereafter purchased the plant of the Northern New York Journal, at Watertown, editing it until 1867, when he sold it and moved to Winnebago County and bought 180 acres of land adjoining Rockford. This was a fortunate investment, for the city grew so rapidly that in 1889 Mr. Budlong platted a portion of his property and laid it out in city lots and for sites for manufacturing plants. From time to time Mr. Budlong invested in various concerns, and became a man of quite large means. His public spirit led him to take an intelligent part in civic affairs, he always act- ing with the Republican party, and he repre- sented his township on the county board of super- visors, and his district in the legislature. His religious connections were with the Centennial Methodist Church. Nevius Post, No. 1, G. A. R.,

held his membership and benefited through his interest in its affairs.

On June 14, 1865, Mr. Budlong was married to Miss Minnie G. Smith, born in Lorraine, Jeffer- son County, N. Y., a daughter of Philander and Adeline (Meacham) Smith, and granddaughter of Henry and Fannie ( Wilson) Smith, the former born at Nelson, N. II., who moved to New York state in 1808, becoming one of the early settlers of Worth. Philander Smith was born at Worth, N. Y., while his wife was born at Pulaski, Oswego County, N. Y., April 20, 1812, and was a lineal descendant of Miles Standish. Four of Mrs. Budlong's ancestors served in the Revolu- tionary war. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Budlong, Simon Meacham, was born at Paulet, Vt .. but moved to Pulaski, N. Y. Philander Smith was a potential philanthropist, but left his large fortune to be used as his wife desig- nated, and she established schools and hospitals. These include the Philander Smith College for colored people at Little Rock, Ark. ; the Philan- der Smith Hospital, now the Nanking Hospital, at Nanking, China, where there is also a school and home for girls ; the Fowler University, much enlarged, is (1916) the Union Nanking Univer- sity. The school for boys at Mussonrie, India, which she established. has been merged into a larger one at Naini Tal, India. The Tokio Bibli- cal Institute of Japan is for the training of native ministers. The Gracie and Flora Halls, at Mutra, India, are chapel and school for girls. She was also largely interested in religious work in the United States.

Mr. and Mrs. Budlong became the parents of five children, as follows : Standish S., Winthrope M., Mary A., John W., and one who is deecased. The death of Mr. Budlong occurred in 1907, and in his passing Rockford lost one of its most worthy and representative citizens.

BUKER, John T. Undoubtedly to John T. Buker belongs the credit of having been connected with the business life of Rockford longer than any other man now living. When only twelve years old he began, in odd times, to study the watchmaking trade in his father's store, and with the exception of a period when as a member of Company A, One Hundred Forty Seventh Illi- mois Volunteers he participated in the regiment's campaign, ending at Dalton, Ga., he adhered closely to this line until 1902. Since then he has been engaged in conducting the steamer Illinois.

John T. Buker is of the oldest colonial stock on both sides, being a descendant of Edouard Buker, who came from England to Boston in 1634, and also from Captain Myles Standish, John Alden and Henry Sampson of the May- flower, among many others of the pioneer settlers, all of English nativity.

Mr. Buker was born in Pekin, Ill., July 25, 1848, a son of Horace and Helen Mary (Crosby) Buker, natives of Maine and New York, respec- tively. Horace Buker taught in Athens College, Ohio, until 1845 when he established himself in the watchmaking and jewelry business at Pekin. In 1855 he moved to Rockford where a similar

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business was founded and conducted for nearly fifty years. He died April 12, 1900, at the age of eighty-three years, leaving an enviable reputation for integrity and ability. He married Helen M. Crosby, who was a daughter of the Rev. Timothy Crosby, an early day Methodist divine in Taze- well County, and Mary Kinney, both of New England ancestry. She died in 1864 and was laid at rest in the family mansolenm in the West Side cemetery, bnilt at her wish, and the first of the kind in Rockford. Aside from the son John T., two other children were born to this couple, Mary J., who married Alex McCoy, and died over forty years ago, and Ines S. Manson, who resides in Chicago.

John T. Bnker was educated in the public schools of Rockford and early entered npon a business career. In 1876 he became his father's partner in business and in 1887 he purchased his father's interest, conducting the business alone until 1902 when he sold to A. H. Bolender and retired from the retail field. In 1900 he asso- ciated himself with Amasa Hutchins, a former mayor of Rockford, and built the steamer Illi- nois. Upon the death of Mr. Hutchins in 1907 Mr. Buker purchased his interest and has had full control of the steamer ever since, devoting his entire attention to its management.

On February 28, 1877, Mr. Bnker was married to Edna E. Skinner, daughter of Edward Hayes and Penelope Janette (Leddick) Skinner, also early residents of Rockford. Edward Hayes Skinner was a great-grandson of Major John Skiuner of the Continental Army, and a descend- ant of Thomas Skinner who came to Malden, Mass., from England in 1653; also of Samnel Chapin, founder of Springfield, Mass. ; Edmund Halley, the eminent astronomer ; George Hayes, ancestor of Rutherford B. Hayes, and many other early New England settlers.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume II, Part 72

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Rogers, Thomas H; Moffet, Hugh R; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Chicago : Muncell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 972

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Rogers, Thomas H; Moffet, Hugh R; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : Muncell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 972