USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Historical review of Chicago and Cook county and selected biography, Volume III > Part 13
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J. Harley Bradley retained the secretaryship of the Furst & Brad- ley Manufacturing Company for ten years, and in 1882, when the David Bradley Manufacturing Company was organized was elected its vice president and treasurer. In 1899, upon the death of his father, he succeeded to the head of the business. The company has large works at Bradley, Kankakee county, Illinois, as well as the Chicago plant. Mr. Bradley is also president of Bradley, Clark & Co., Minneapolis: David Bradley & Co., Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Bradley. Alderson & Co., Kansas City, and a director of the North- ern Trust Company, of Chicago. He was one of the organizers of the Chicago Freight Bureau. founded in 1883, and has since been one of its most active and influential members. For twelve years he has been a member of the State Board of Agriculture, and in 1891 served as president of the Citizens' Association. In 1904 he was president of the Commercial Club.
Mr. Bradley was a leader in the organization of the Chicago Re- lief and Aid Society in 1871. has always been active in its work, and in 1883-84 was a member of its board of directors. He is also prom- inent in social life, being identified with the University. Chicago. Union League and Illinois clubs, being president of the last named in 1883-85.
In 1872 Mr. Bradley was married to Miss Margia Peugeet, of Brooklyn, New York, who died in 1896, leaving four daughters. Mr. Bradley resides at No. 85 Rush street.
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Hon. Charles M. Netterstrom, for many years prominently iden- tified with the business and public interests of Chicago, is a native
CHARLES M. of Stavanger, Norway-a city located midway on
NETTERSTROM. the western coast of that country-where he was born on September 24, 1848. His parents were John Jacob and Serena (Knutsen) Netterstrom, his father having been born in Malmo, Sweden, in 1816. The elder Netterstrom re- moved to Norway in his early years, where his life occupation was that of a fisherman. He attained prominence and prosperity in that field, owning three of four large fishing schooners and controlling an extensive trade. Desiring, however, to give his children the broader advantages found in the United States, the parents emigrated hither in 1864, arriving in Chicago on July 3rd of that year.
As Charles M. Netterstrom was only six years of age when the family located in Chicago he commenced his education soon afterward in its public schools. After being a pupil successively in the Sanga- mon, Franklin, Newberry and Ogden schools, still only ten years of age he commenced to work for the late S. T. Gunderson, who as a youth of eighteen had just established a carpenter shop of his own. The boy worked as a lather until he was seventeen years of age, when he also started a business of his own. As he had already learned the coopers' trade of his father, he was in his early youth master of two good occupations, and for three years alternated, being a lather in the building months and a cooper in winter. In 1873 he became a plasterer contractor, and continued in that line until 1880, doing his full share in forwarding the phenomenal building operations which continued for years after the great fire of 1871. Mr. Netterstrom then entered the fields of street paving, and for more than twenty years was most extensively engaged in that line. One of his most famous contracts consisted in the paving of North Clark street, from Diversey street to Lawrence avenue, a distance approximately of three miles, in a period of about three months and a half-from Au- gust 8th to November 27th. This is said to be the longest stretch of paving ever covered by one contract in the history of Chicago.
In 1902 Mr. Netterstrom retired from active business, tempor- arily, but his activity of mind and body urged him into a new field. and in 1906 he became president of the Newsted Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of detachable store fixtures. One of their
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chief specialties is shelving, built in sections and made to slide to- gether like a telescope. It is patented by the company, and is being rapidly placed upon the market.
For more than a quarter of a century Mr. Netterstrom has been one of the most prominent Republicans in the northern section of the city. From 1881 to 1887 he served as commissioner and trustee of the town of Lake View, holding the latter office when it became a corporate part of Chicago in the latter year. In 1893 he was elect- ed a commissioner of Cook county, being elected chairman of the board. In 1895 he was elected to represent the Twenty-first sena- torial district in the state legislature, his district embracing the Twen- ty-first. Twenty-second and Twenty-fifth wards, or the territory be- tween the river, the lake shore and Irving Park. It may be of in- terest to note that he immediately preceded Mayor Busse in that of- fice.
In all these official capacities. Mr. Netterstrom has shown his high appreciation of public responsibilities in that he has given his attention to matters of practical value. While commissioner of Lake View he was a tireless promoter of such public improvements as necessary water pipe and sewer extensions. the building of cement sidewalks and street pavements. While chairman of the county board of commissioners, among the other responsibilities which devolved upon him was the handling of $200.000 with which to complete im- provements upon the criminal court building. This was the amount estimated as necessary by the party in power when the appropriation was made. But by the exercise of careful business methods he fin- ished the work for some $119.000, and completed the immense pro- ject in four months, or from March Ist to July Ist.
On the 30th of October. 1869. Mr. Netterstrom was united in marriage with Miss. Anna M. Anderson, who died in March. 1907. Seven children were born to them, as follows: Walter, Reuben, Ar- thur and Emma, who are living, and Minnie. Charles and Adeline. deceased.
Evan Ewan Kimble, president of the Kimble Glass Company. manufacturers of scientific glass apparatus and homeopathic vials.
EVAN E. is at the head of the largest factory of the latter KIMBLE. specialty in the world. Creamery and graduated glassware is also turned out in large quantities.
Ean Ekinble
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Mr. Kimble is thoroughly qualified to conduct and develop such an extensive industry, as he has been engaged in some form of glass manufacture since early boyhood, and is generally recognized as one of the most thoroughly informed and practical glass men in the country.
Mr. Kimble is a native of Tuckahoe, New Jersey, being the fourth of five children, born on the 18th of October, 1868. He resided in his native place until he was six years of age, but. his father meeting with reverses in a lumber venture and the loss of vessel property, the family removed to Vineland, and, after six years, to Millville, New Jersey. The son attended the public schools until he was fourteen years of age, at which time he and his brothers entered the employ of Whitall. Tatum & Co., glass manufacturers, with whom he obtained his first insight into the business in which he is now engaged in Chicago. Having thus entered the industrial world at an " early age, he steadfastly continued in the field he had chosen.
In 1895, when twenty-seven years of age, Mr. Kimble left the employ of Whitall, Tatum & Co. and removed to Gas City, Indiana, as manager of the homeopathic vial department for the . Sheldon Foster Glass Company. This enterprise was a new venture on the part of the company named, and Mr. Kimble remained its superin- tendent until November 2, 1901. Coming to Chicago at the date men- tioned, he established his presenit business at 152 Michigan street with a force of only four men, but the rapid expansion of his enter- prise forced him to remove to more commodious quarters in some six months. His next location was at No. 149 Fulton street, and here he occupied a floor space of 9,000 square feet, remaining at this number until November, 1906, by which time the unusual expansion of the business necessitated a removal to the large building he now occupies at 142-156 East Huron street. These accommodations cover a floor space of 25,000 square feet and 150 men are employed in the industry, constituting, as stated, the largest homeopathic vial manu- factory in the world. It may also be added that the Kimble Glass Company use the only machine ever invented for the automatic manu- facture of vials.
In 1892 Mr. Kimble married Miss Carrie W. Dougherty, of Mill- ville, New Jersey, and they have one child, Herman Klineberg, born December 16, 1897. The family residence is at 1728 Sheridan place.
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Mr. Kimble is a member of the Illinois Athletic Club, but is too essentially domestic to be prominent. in general social circles. Hav- ing also risen to business and industrial prominence through inde- pendent and self-depending exertions, most of his time is absorbed in the task of keeping in close touch with a business which is already extensive, and is, through his tireless promotion and able manage- ment. rapidly and substantially expanding. Besides being president of the Kimble Glass Company, he is chairman of the board of di- rectors of the Chicago Vial Manufacturing Company and a director of the Vineland (N. J.) Glass Tube Company.
During the past thirty years Arthur Jerome Atwater has been engaged in the coal busines in Chicago, almost continuously as sales agent, and at the present time is one of the best
A. J. known men of the trade. His father, John Bow- ATWATER. man Atwater, was a direct descendant of Thomas Atwater, who died at Reyton, county of Kent, England, on the 5th of October. 1484. His mother, Lauretta Allen Atwater, was the daughter of Bela Allen and Susan (Fenton) Allen, of Bradford, Vermont, her father being a nephew of Ethan Allen, the idol of the "Green Mountain Boys."
Arthur J. Atwater was born at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, May 8, 1858. and was educated in the public schools of Geneva, Illinois, graduating from the high school in 1876. His father was a promi- nent business man in the pioneer days, and among his associates of the early sixties may be mentioned such men as John V. Farwell, Senaca D. Kimbark and John A. Logan. After leaving school, Arthur J. became a clerk for Coxe Brothers & Co., coal merchants, at No. 84 La Salle street, Chicago, and continued with that firm for a period of seventeen years. For four years he was northwestern agent for the Consolidated Coal Company, and then returned to the firm men- tioned as manager of the bituminous department. He resigned to accept the position of western sales agent for the New Pittsburg Coal Company, and continued with them until they went out of business at Chicago, in June, 1898. Since that date he has been western sales agent for the Sunday Creek Company, his offices being in the Old Colony building.
Mr. Atwater has been a resident of Morgan Park for eighteen years, and for eight years was a member of the board of trustees of
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LUBRAKT
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that village. He was also a member of the board of local improve- ments. He is treasurer and vestryman of the Church of the Mediator (Episcopal), and is a member and director of the Ridge Country Club, as well as president of the St. Andrews Men's Club, of Morgan Park. Active and prominent in Masonry. he is identified with Tracy Blue Lodge, Oriental Consistory, and Medinah Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the Royal League, Modern Wood- men of America, Illinois Commercial Men's Association, and Order of Kokoals.
On the 9th of October, 1889, Mr. Atwater was united in marriage with Miss Helen May Purdy, daughter of H. G. Purdy, an extensive land owner of Nevada. Their children are: Harry Arthur (a student at the Lewis Institute), Elaine Lauretta, George Wilson, Cordelia Althea and Maxine Helen.
John Umbricht, president of the Chicago Bank and Office Fixture Company, is a native of Springfield, Illinois, born on the IIth of
JOHN April, 1866. His father, John Baptist Umbricht,
was born in Switzerland, in the year 1827, and died UMBRICHT. in Chicago in 1903. His mother (nee Catherine Deschler), was also a native of the Swiss republic, and died when John, the youngest of seven children, was only six months old. The elder Umbricht was a first class mechanical engineer, skilled in all kinds of high-class technical work in iron, glass and wood. In Switz- erland he had been an inspector of machinery in one of the largest woolen factories in his home town.
In 1868 John B. Umbricht came to Chicago, and about a year after his arrival he started a wood-working shop on Larrabee street, between Clybourn avenue and Blackhawk street. At this location he commenced the manufacture of fine regulator clock cases and store and office fixtures. Mr. Umbricht turned out the finest work in his line of anybody in the city. In 1870 his factory was destroyed by fire, was rebuilt at No. 143 Clybourn avenue, and again burned in the great configration of 1871. The business was subsequently re- established, and Mr. Umbricht continued in the wood-working line until his death in 1903.
John Umbricht was only five years of age at the time of the great fire of 1871, and well remembers the unpleasant experience of the family at that time, when for nearly three months, with other
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refugees, they occupied the Newberry school building on the north side. No lights were allowed in the rooms, for fear of a fire in the school building, and sweet potatoes shipped from the south formed the chief diet of the homeless people. It was here that the boy afterward attended school, at the same time learning the trade of a cabinet maker under his father's tuition. He also worked with the Pullman Company, Bush and Gerts Piano Company and Healy & Millet. He also attended a night school at Pullman, and by the time he had attained his majority was thoroughly prepared to be a valuable member of any community.
In 1889 Mr. Umbricht commenced business in his present line, locating at Canal and Polk streets, and later incorporating it under the name of the Chicago Store and Office Fixture Company. In July, 1905, he sold his interest in the former firm and in the follow- ing month started another factory at Nos. 677-79 West Van Buren street, under the name of the Chicago Bank and Office Fixture Com- pany. Of this Mr. Umbricht is president and Alfred C. Crawford secretary and treasurer. The manufactory, 125 by 50 feet in dimen- sions, is two stories and basement in height, while the warehouse is a three-story structure, 75 feet by 40 feet on the ground. The out- put includes fixtures of the finest and most substantial make for banks, offices, restaurants, cigar stores, shoe stores, jewelry and mil- linery establishments, and for all metropolitan institutions of a busi- ness, financial or commercial nature.
Julius Bender, an extensive manufacturer and dealer in the line of general store fixtures, has demonstrated his business persistency and worth by a residence of nearly twenty years
JULIUS
BENDER. in Chicago, during which period he has developed a very modest establishment into one of goodly proportions. He is a native of Hatzenport-on-the-Mosel, Germany, a town not far from Coblenz, and his parents were Benjamin and Sarah (Adler) Bender. His father was a prosperous wine grower and merchant, who gave his son a substantial public school education.
In 1883 Mr. Bender emigrated to the United States, reaching New York in August of that year, where he remained until the following December, when he went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There, for several years, he was engaged in buying and selling horses. In 1889 Mr. Bender came to Chicago, and started a small business in the
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fixture line at 903-9 North Halsted street, having had a short experi- ence therein at New York and Milwaukee. His store was at that loca- tion for eight years, when he moved his growing business to Des Plaines near Randolph street. After remaining there some four years in 1901 he opened his present large store at Nos. 230-38 West Madi- son street, corner of Peoria.
In 1890 Mr. Bender married Miss Sophia Gutman, and two daughters have been born of their union-Sylvia and Rose. Mr. Bender is a member of the A. F. and A. M., and is also identified with the Hampden Club.
Daniel W. Ryan, founder of the D. W. Ryan Cooperage Com- pany, was born in Tipperary, Ireland, in 1843, and died in Chicago
DANIEL W. on the 27th of December, 1899. When he was a
RYAN. boy of twelve years he came to Chicago, and when a young man started a cooper shop at what was then Nickersonville, a suburb of Chicago, now included in the north- western section of the city. Later he removed to Ross and McHenry streets, where he continued the business about five years. He com- menced business with one or two helpers, and was first engaged in repairing second-hand barrels. After the Civil war he started quite a large shop at the site of the present large plant, Nos. 17-29 Besley court. Before his death in 1899 he had developed the business into fine proportions, his plant being one of the largest and most complete in the west.
On the 6th of August, 1862, Daniel W. Ryan enlisted in Battery M, First Illinois Artillery, and served until his honorable discharge at the close of the war, July 24, 1865. Concerning the valiant service of Battery M, Eddy's "Patriotism of Illinois in the Civil war" says : "Battery M was organized at Chicago and mustered into service on the 12th of August, 1862, with the following roster: Captain, John B. Miller; senior first lieutenant, George W. Spencer; junior first lieutenant, George H. Colvin; senior second lieutenant, Thomas Bur- ton; second lieutenant, B. H. Fluskey. The battery left Chicago on the 27thi of September, 1862, with 185 men. It went through all the Atlanta campaign under Sherman, and through the entire Knoxville and east Tennessee campaigns with remarkably little loss, when its gallantry and exposure are taken into account. It arrived in Chicago on the 19th of July, 1865, for final muster and discharge, with only
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ninety-six men." Although popular and able, Mr. Ryan was not an active politician during his long and honorable residence in Chi- cago, his only public service being as alderman of the Fourteenth ward, in 1886-8, and during the administrations of Carter H. Harri- son and John A. Roche.
The business of the D. W. Ryan Cooperage Company is now con- ducted by the children of the deceased founder, as follows: D. W. Ryan, president; C. M. Ryan, secretary and treasurer; Mary C. Ryan, Agnes E. Ryan and Eliza M. Ryan, office assistants. The output of the plant is now only new barrels, for pickles, kraut, cider, vinegar and oil. The establishment manufactures 450,000 barrels yearly, which are shipped throughout the United States. The grounds cover 150 by 175 feet (the buildings alone, 175 feet by 50 feet ), and the shipping of goods is greatly facilitated by direct connection with the tracks of the Northwestern Railway Company.
Henry M. Wilmarth was a man of pronounced force of character, sound and honorable in his busines life. For many years he was one of the most valued directors of the First National
HENRY M.
WILMARTH. Bank. In the midst of his family and intimate friends, he was cordial and genial, in contrast with a certain attitude of reserve toward others.
Mr. Wilmarth was a native of Newport, New Hampshire, born Wilmarth. His father was a farmer and manufacturer. Henry M. on the 25th of January, 1836, son of Jonathan and Lucy (Cheney ) Wilmarth came of an ancestry which was thoroughly Puritanic, his moral training was both high and rigorous, and when ready to go forth into the world of business, the simple, foundation principles of right and wrong were firmly fixed in his character. In 1856 Mr. Wilmarth came to Chicago. His first employment in Chicago was with the gasfitting establishment of Gerould Brothers, then a prom- inent firm in that line of business. Two years later both proprietors died, and Mr. Wilmarth, despite his comparative youth, was selected to administer their affairs, later becoming sole proprietor of the house. Soon afterward he formed a partnership with his brother, and, under the firm name of H. M. Wilmarth & Co., a large and lucrative business was developed, both in gas fitting and the sale of gas fixtures. The deceased remained actively identified with it until his death.
H. M. wi
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In 1874 Mr. Wilmarth was elected a director of the First National Bank of Chicago, and until the day of his death, February 27, 1886, devoted much of his time and thought to the upbuilding of this institution. His only political service was as alderman of the old Fourth ward in 1865-6. With others, he united in the establish- ment of the Central church, under the ministry of David Swing.
The death of Mr. Wilmarth was consequent upon an exposure incidental to a railway accident, and his useful and honorable life was brought to a close in the unimpaired vigor of middle age. He was long a member of the Chicago Club, and of a hunting association which had its headquarters in Marquette, Wisconsin.
On May 21, 1861, Henry M. Wilmarth was united in marriage with Miss Mary J. Hawes, of New Belford, Massachusetts, and three daughters were born to their union: Fanny, who died in infancy; Stella, who died in September, 1885, and Anna H., now the wife of James Westfall Thompson, a member of the faculty of the University of Chicago. Their child, Wilmarth Westfall Thompson, was born June 24, 1899.
Harold Ulmer Wallace, for eleven years a prominent figure in the engineering and executive departments of the Illinois Central Rail-
HAROLD U. way and now president of the Wallace-Coates En- WALLACE. gineering Company, supervising and consulting en- gineers, is a native of Rock Island, Illinois, where he was born November 15, 1872. He is a son of John Findley and Sarah Elmira (Ulmer) Wallace, his father having been for years one of the most noted bridge and railroad engineers in the country, and in 1904-05 chief engineer of the Panama canal. The elder Wal- lace is a Massachusetts man and a C. E. graduate of the University of Wooster. He entered railway service as a rodman for the Car- thage & Quincy Railroad, and through the seventies served as as- sistant engineer of the Rockford, Rock Island & Peoria Railroad, with the United States engineering corps, as county surveyor and city engineer and as chief engineer and superintendent of the Peoria & Farmington Railroad. Afterward he was chief engineer of the Central Iowa Railroad in Illinois, had charge of the construction of the Missouri river bridge for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe road, and from 1891 to 1904 was identified with the Illinois Central Rail- road as engineer of construction, chief engineer, and general manager.
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The paternal grandfather of Harold U. Wallace, David A. Wal- lace, was a prominent Illinois educator, and at one time president of Monmouth College.
Harold U. Wallace's early education was obtained in the public schools of Chicago, and he also pursued a course in the Chicago Manual Training School. from which he graduated in the class of 1892. Prior to actual practice, his civil engineering training was secured at Purdue University, from which he secured his degree in 1894. For the succeeding two years he acted as assistant engineer on the Illinois Central Railway. from 1896 to 1899 as roadmaster, and in 1900 was advanced to the superintendency. This latter posi- tion he retained for two years, and in 1902-05 acted as chief engi- neer. From June 1, 1905, until June 1. 1906, he was third vice president of J. G. White & Co., engineers and contractors of New York City. and from the latter date to the present time has served as president of the Wallace-Coates Company. with headquarters in Chicago.
On the 12th of September. 1894. Mr. Wallace married Miss Lura Dean Wycoff, and the four children born to them have been as follows : John Earl. Arthur Wycoff, Clarence Jay and Frances Fern Wallace. The city home of the family is at No. 237 East Forty-seventh street, and the country home at Flossmoor. Illinois.
Mr. Wallace is widely connected with various clubs of a profes- sional, social and recreational nature, having membership in the En- gineers' clubs of both Chicago and New York, and the American Society of Civil Engineers, as well as of the Union League Club and the Homewood Country Club of Chicago, the Menesha Outing Club of Memphis, Tennessee, and the New York Railroad Club. He is also a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.
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