USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Historical review of Chicago and Cook county and selected biography, Volume III > Part 21
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The Crighton family has long enjoyed a close and leading connec- tion with the grain trade of Chicago, the development of which is so
vital to the substantial prosperity of the city and its
JAMES CRIGHTON. tributary territory. James Crighton is a native of Longforgan. Perthshire, Scotland, born in March, 1851. and is a son of William and Elizabeth ( Duncan) Crighton. He obtained his education in the public schools of his native place previous to coming to Chicago in 1867. and in 1877 he became an employe in the grain commission house of Low Brothers & Co.
The house mentioned, with which Mr. Crighton thus commenced his career in the grain business. had been established since 1856. In
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1848 John Crighton, the uncle of James, had become a resident of Chicago and entered the employ of Rumsey and Dole, as a clerk in their grain and forwarding business. Later, for many years he served as flour inspector of the board of trade. In March, 1881, he became senior partner in the firm of John Crighton & Co., which assumed the interests of the old house of Low Brothers & Co. His partner in the business was Sanford A. Scribner, a member of Low Brothers & Co., the style of the firm afterward becoming Crighton and Scribner.
James Crighton remained with Crighton and Scribner until the death of his uncle in 1887, when he was received by Mr. Scribner into partnership, the style becoming Scribner, Crighton & Co. Mr. Scrib- ner died in 1901, but the business was conducted under the old name until December, 1903, when the firm of Crighton & Co. was organized, with Fred D. Austin, who had been with the house for many years, as junior partner. The business includes dealings in grain, seeds and provisions. For many years Mr. Crighton has been a member of the Chicago Board of Trade and the Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce, having been a director of the local body and served on some of its important committees. In Masonic circles he is a member of Blair Lodge, No. 393, A. F. & A. M .; a life member of York Chapter, and identified with Columbia Commandery and Medinah Temple.
In August, 1882, Mr. Crighton married Miss Mary Wade Hanna, and the children born to them are Charles Hanna and James Millar Crighton. His wife is a daughter of William J. and Jane (Wilson) Hanna, of Chicago, her father being an influential citizen of its early period. Both Mr. and Mrs. Crighton have long taken a deep interest in the church work of the Presbyterian denomination. The former has been especially prominent in Sunday school work, Erie chapel of the Third Presbyterian church receiving his liberal support.
Smith Herbert Bracey, actively engaged in the promotion of vari- ous railroad enterprises throughout the country and in the adminis- tration of several valuable properties in the Ohio
SMITH H.
BRACEY. valley and the state of Missouri, for the past three decades has also been one of the largest railroad contractors in the United States. In his early life he laid the founda- tion of his success as a workman and a manager in the field. Mr. Bracey is a native of Clinton county, New York, born on the 4th of August, 1859, son of A. S. and Ann (Roberts) Bracey. When he
Smith At. Bracey
-
PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND METEN. FOUNDATIONS
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was six years of age he was brought west by his parents. the family locating at Galesburg, Illinois, in 1865, and there the boy received a common school education. At Galesburg he also began railroad work as a water boy among the laborers, advancing successively to be sec- tion hand, road master and general manager. His services were with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. and the St. Louis & Grand Tower railroads, and in 1879 he graduated from the position of an employe to that of a railroad contractor.
Mr. Bracey has conducted a business alone during nearly all the in- tervening period, having constructed more than three thousand miles of railroad (both steam and electric) in the United States and about five hundred miles in Canada. As a builder of prominence and enterprise he was associated with the late Jay Gould, the eminent promoter and financier, constructing for him the important section of the Missouri Pacific system from Kansas City to Pueblo, a distance of 700 miles. He also built the Cheyenne & Northern road, 180 miles, and the Chi- cago & Atlantic (now the Erie), from Hammond to Marion, Ohio; the Aurora, Elgin & Chicago third rail system; the Lake street elevat- ed road, of Chicago, and many other lines, especially in the middle west. He is president of the Cincinnati, Bluffton & Chicago railroad. extending from Huntington to Union City. Indiana, seventy-five miles ; holds the presidency of the Portland, Columbus & Eastern railroad, an extension of the Cincinnati, Bluffton & Chicago road, 125 miles in length and in course of construction; and is the head of the Interstate Railway Company, operating a double track line (electricity and steam) fifty miles in length, extending from Kansas City to St. Joseph, Missouri. For five years past Mr. Bracey has been chiefly devoted to the organization of railroads-bonding them, raising the necessary funds for their construction, and, in every way, founding them on a substantial and permanent basis.
On the 30th of November, 1879, Mr. Bracey wedded Miss Nellie A. Speyer. of Bridgeport, Vermont, and their daughter, Gertrude S., born to them April 17, 1881, is now Mrs. Charles Blackburn, of Long- wood, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Blackburn have three children-Ethel Maude, Charles Bracey and Marjorie Adele Blackburn. The only son, Smith H. Bracey, Jr., was born August 8, 1885, and died in the bright- ness of his youth, December 12, 1901. Mr. Bracey is a Republican in politics ; is identified with the Masonic fraternity and the Indepen-
Vol. III-14.
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dent Order of Odd Fellows, and also belongs to the Kenwood Club and the new Illinois Athletic Club.
John Fitch Lincoln Curtis, a stock and grain broker of high repu- tation, member of the firm of Clement. Curtis & Company, with head- quarters at No. 219 LaSalle street ( Rookery build-
JOHN F. L. CURTIS. ing). was born in Chicago on the 20th of December,
1865, being a sonof John F. and Harriet S. ( Wilson ) Curtis. After obtaining a public school education, he began his busi- ness career as an office boy for Franklin MacVeagh & Co., and while in the employ of that house was advanced to the position of cashier. Resigning the latter position, he became a salesman with the firm of W. S. Knight & Co., wholesale grocers, and later was placed in charge of the dried fruit department of the house.
In 1900 Mr. Curtis entered a new field by becoming identified with Raymond, Pynchon & Co., stock brokers, as manager of a branch office on Wabash avenue. In 1901 the firm mentioned disposed of its business to Lester, Kneeland & Co., and transferred its house to New York. Upon the death of the senior partner the firm became Kneeland, Clement & Curtis, and upon the retirement of L. D. Kneeland in 1906, Clement, Curtis & Company. As a strong and conservative member of this firm, Mr. Curtis holds memberships in the New York and Chicago Stock exchanges, New York Coffee Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade.
In June, 1897, Mr. Curtis was united in marriage with Miss Fran- ces E. Witbeck, and they have become the parents of two children- John Guernsey and Dorothy Frances Curtis. The family resides at Highland Park. In his capacity as a voter Mr. Curtis has always been a Republican, while as a social factor of the community he is identified with the Union League, Chicago Athletic, Exmoor and South Shore Country clubs.
Allan Montgomery Clement, senior member of the firm of Clement, Curtis & Company, with offices in the Rookery, No. 219 LaSalle street,
ALLAN M. is a typical representative of the modern school of
CLEMENT. brokerage, basing the progress and enterprise of his house upon a thorough knowledge of the business ; so that, while conservative, he has never hesitated over a legitimate expansion of his house. Mr. Clement is a native of Chicago, born on the 31st of October, 1869, son of Austin and Sarah ( Montgomery )
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Clement. He received an education which fitted him for the practical side of life by pursuing courses in the city schools and at the Chicago Manual Training School, graduating from the latter in 1886.
Mr. Clement passed almost directly from school into the clothing house of Clement, Bane & Company, continuing to be identified with that firm for a period of fifteen years. In 1900 he became a partner in the firm of Raymond, Pynchon & Company, and, after being thus iden- tified for three years, was associated with Lester. Kneeland & Com- pany for a year. Upon the death of the senior partner the style changed to Kneeland, Clement & Curtis, and upon the retirement of L. D. Kneeland in 1906 it became Clement, Curtis & Company. The partners in the firm are members of the New York and Chicago Stock exchanges, Chicago Board of Trade, and the New York Cotton and New York Coffee exchanges. Outside of his leading identification with these financial and commercial organizations, Mr. Clement is well known for the deep interest which he has long taken in the Illinois Western Hospital for the Insane, of which he is a trustee. In politics he is a Republican, and belongs to the Union League, Glen View, Exmoor, Chicago Athletic and South Shore Country clubs, being a director in the last two organizations.
Mr. Clement's wife was formerly known as Miss Grace Groves, and the children born to them are as follows: Austin Arthur and Franklin Groves Clement. The family resides at No. 3967 Lake avenue.
William Alden Fuller, for forty-five years a leading manufacturer of this city and now retired from active business, was born in Lancas-
WILLIAM A. ter, Massachusetts, on the 3Ist of August, 1836,
FULLER. being a son of Ephraim and Judith (Goss) Fuller. The common schools of his native place afforded him his mental training, while his physical condition was maintained by the work of the home farm. The combination made a sturdy man of him, with eyes open to the opportunities which lie at hand, and mind divorced from romance. When sixteen years of age he began business life as station agent for the Worcester & Nashua Railroad, being lo- cated at South Lancaster. The road which thus gave him his first experience in the real work of the outside world is now a section of the well known Boston & Maine Railroad Company.
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In 1854, after two years of railroad work in the above mentioned connection, Mr. Fuller came to Chicago and secured a position as bookkeeper with the firm of Goss & Phillips, sash and door manufac- turers, at the corner of Clark and Twelfth streets. At the time of his identification with the industry of manufacturing lumber and build- ing material, in this specialty Chicago was the first in the United States. At this early period, also, the term "bookkeeper" covered a multitude of duties, including not only the care of the books and ac- counts, but the general office work, as well (even to the sweeping), and assisting in the tallying and handling of the raw material and the finished product. But this was the kind of training that gave a broad, as well as a detailed knowledge of the business, and the twelve years thus spent by Mr. Fuller placed him in line for the assumption of any responsibilities in the field which might come to him. In 1866, with Azariah R. Palmer, he was admitted to a partnership in the firm, which now became Goss, Phillips & Company. This continued but a little more than a year, when Messrs. Goss and Phillips sold the business to the junior partners, and the house of Palmer, Fuller & Company was established. Of this flourishing co-partnership Mr. Fuller re- mained president until his retirement from business in 1899. Up to that time the changes in the firm had included the reception of George B. Marsh as a new member in 1869, the retirement of Mr. Palmer in 1872 and the withdrawal of Mr. Marsh in 1885. At the time of Mr. Fuller's retirement the business had developed not only into one of the most extensive manufactories of building material in the city, but into a large trade in lumber and shingles. He had been prominent in the Sash, Door and Blind Association of the Northwest, serving as its treasurer for several years, and had repeatedly been elected a director in the Lumberman's Exchange, so that for more than thirty years he had been one of the strongest factors in the northwestern field.
Although retired from the lumber field, both as a dealer and a manufacturer, Mr. Fuller retains his directorship in the Northern Trust Company, with whose management he has been identified for many years. His membership in the clubs is confined to the Chicago, Commercial, Union League and Onwentsia. Mr. Fuller is a widower and has two children-Leroy W. and Ginevra (now Mrs. Charles Gar- field King, of Chicago).
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For a quarter of a century Edward Payson Bailey has been a large factor in the upbuilding of the business and substantial repu-
EDWARD P. tation of the National Malleable Castings Company
in the west, since 1882 having successively been
BAILEY. treasurer and president of the Chicago Malleable Iron Company, and since 1901 manager of the Chicago works of the corporation named. He is a native of Almont, Lapeer county, Michigan, born on the 28th of December, 1841, and is a son of Frederick Kinsman and Sarah (Shaw) Bailey. Educated in the public schools of his birthplace and of Joliet, Illinois, he came to Chicago as a youth of eighteen, but before entering business wisely pursued a thorough commercial course at Bryant & Stratton's Busi- ness College, thus placing himself in a position to develop his abilities on a broad foundation.
In 1860 Mr. Bailey first became known to the business circles of the city as a clerk for Densmore & Rice, and after serving in a similar capacity for Cooley, Farwell & Company became a bookkeeper for a leading firm at Odell, Illinois. In 1863-4 he served as a clerk in the United States quartermaster's department, and spent the decade from 1865 to 1875 as cashier of a bank at Knoxville, Tennessee. In 1875-82 he was identified with A. T. Stewart & Company, of New York, and since 1882 has resided in Chicago, associated with the busi- ness of the Chicago Malleable Iron Company and the National Mal- leable Castings Company. He is also a director of the C. B. Cattle Company and the Coonley Manufacturing Company, and vice-presi- dent and director of the Chicago Savings Bank and Trust Company.
Mr. Bailey has been twice married-first, at Knoxville, Tennessee, on the 26th of December, 1866, to Miss Katharine Baxter, and the following children have been born to them: Delia Augusta, now Mrs. Arthur H. Day, of New Haven, Connecticut, and Annie Baxter Bailey, who died in infancy. His first wife was the daughter of John Baxter, an eminent lawyer of Knoxville, Tennessee, and at the time of his death in 1886 was a judge of the Sixth Circuit court of the United States.
Mr. Bailey's second marriage was celebrated in Chicago, on the 9th of May, 1889, with Miss Minerva Spruance, daughter of Harmon Spruance, for many years a prominent operator of the Chicago Board
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of Trade. Mr. Spruance died in 1905. He was a native of Penn- sylvania, but came to Illinois in his infancy, was reared in the state and was a thorough westerner and Chicagoan in character and ac- complishments. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bailey, as follows: Edward Payson, Harmon (a daughter), Fred- erick Spruance and Vaughn Bailey.
As Mr. Bailey is a representative of an old historic family, he enjoys membership in both the Society of Colonial Wars and the Sons of the Revolution. He is a member of the Union League, Twentieth Century, Chicago Literary, Midlothian, South Shore Coun- try and Church clubs. In churchmanship he is an Episcopalian of long and prominent standing, having been a vestryman of Grace church for more than twenty years; a warden for about seven years; for a long time a deputy to the diocesan convention and a deputy to the general convention in 1901, 1904 and 1907. He has also been a leader in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association, during the past four years having served as president of the Chicago associ- ation and being honored with a re-election in January, 1908.
John Child Barber, president of the Standard Car Truck Com- pany, was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, on the 12th of JOHN C. BARBER. December, 1844, son of Alonson and Emeline (Child) Barber. From 1852 to 1860 he was pass- ing through the public schools of his native county, with those of Rock, Wisconsin, and in September, 1861, commenced his service as a Union soldier in a regiment of the Badger state. He received his honorable discharge in August, 1865, and in the follow- ing month secured employment with the Chicago & North-Western Railway Company, in its car building department at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, filling various positions therein for six years.
In April, 1871, Mr. Barber assumed an important position in the mechanical department of the Northern Pacific Railway shops at St. Paul, Minnesota, and thus served for two years. In 1873 he became superintendent of the car department of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, and the decade during which he was an incumbent of that position was spent at Sedalia, Missouri. In 1883-5 he was superintendent of the Rio Grande division of the Texas Pacific Rail- way, with headquarters at Fort Worth, Texas, and returned to the
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service of the Northern Pacific Railway at St. Paul in charge of the car department, continuing thus for twelve years, or until 1897.
Since the year named above Mr. Barber has given his entire time to his various inventions of railway appliances, fifty-four of which he has patented and successfully placed upon the market. The most important of the list has proved to be the well known all-steel Barber truck for locomotive, passenger and freight equipment. In 1898 Mr. Barber organized the Standard Car Truck Company for the manu- facture and sale of his various patented trucks, and of this organiza- tion he remains president. Within the past five years he has equipped over 200,000 cars in the United States and Canada, on the leading railroads of both countries.
Mr. Barber's career is almost unique in the history of industrial development, for he has been both a successful inventor and a manu- facturer of his own patents. It is seldom that the inventor is the one who gathers the rich fruits of his ingenuity, since the studious and thoughtful mind which originates new mechanisms is apt to tire at their slow and practical application to the uses of trade and com- merce. But from boyhood Mr. Barber possessed the fortunate com- bination of ingenuity, industry, and a persistency which never flagged under the stress of adverse conditions. In the field of which he be- came a practical master he not only saw the possibilities of improve- ment, but after working out the problems mentally was able to put his solutions into such shapes that there would be a large and profit- able demand for his inventions. In a most eminent degree he pos- sesses both practical ingenuity and business ability. His executive talents are shown also in that he manages, with success, large inter- ests outside those of the Standard Truck Company. One of the enter- prises in which he takes unusual pride is an extensive stock farm and game and fish preserve in Crow Wing County, Minnesota.
On March 3, 1869, Mr. Barber was united in marriage with Miss Fannie M. Craig, and the children of their union are Annie C., Franklin I .. and Lee W. The last named is prominently identified with the company in an official capacity. John C. Barber is a thirty- second degree Mason, his membership being still with the St. Paul bodies. He also belongs to the South Shore Country Club, of Chicago.
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Lee. W. Barber, secretary of the Standard Car Truck Company, is a native of Pettis county, Missouri, where he was born on the 12th
LEE W. of June, 1874. He is the youngest son of John
BARBER. Child and Mary Frances (Craig) Barber, his father
being an inventor of railroad appliances with a national reputation, and a detailed biography of whom will be found preceding this. The son was nine years of age when the elder Barber removed to Fort Worth, Texas, as superintendent of the Rio Grande division of the Texas Pacific Railroad Company, but as his father remained there only about a year and subsequently passed twelve years at St. Paul, Minnesota, as master car builder of the Northern Pacific, it was in the latter city that Lee W. obtained his education and practical knowledge of car construction. He passed through the public schools and afterward enjoyed three years of study in the Minnesota State University. For two years after leaving school he was employed in the car inspecting department of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company.
In 1900 Lee W. Barber became assistant to the president of the Standard Truck Company, which had been organized in Chicago; was promoted to the vice-presidency in 1904, and upon the death of Lyman W. Barber, his uncle, in 1908, succeeded him as secretary of the company.
On the 25th of November, 1903, Mr. Barber was united in mar- riage with Miss Marion Bell Barber, his cousin, daughter of the late Lyman W. Barber, and they reside at No. 5628 Washington avenue. Mr. Barber is not only a widely known business man of the younger and decidedly progressive generation, but is an active figure in the historic fraternity of Masonry, with which he has been identified for some ten years.
Williard T. Block, a capitalist of the constructive type, who was born at Columbia, Pennsylvania, January 6, 1853, and educated in
WILLIARD T. the grammar and high schools of that place, began BLOCK. his career at the age of fourteen when he became an employe of the Philadelphia & Reading Rail- road. With a varied and detailed experience in railroading gained during the next ten years, his first position of large responsibility was with the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad in 1878-82, when he accom-
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plished the task of successfully reorganizing the accounts of that road. He was an employe of R. T. Wilson & Company of New York, in charge of the construction of the Wisconsin, Iowa & Ne- braska Railroad, serving successively as auditor, treasurer, traffic manager and superintendent, from 1882 to 1887.
When in charge of the above named railroad in Iowa, Colonel Block located and started several prosperous towns in the central part of the state, between Waterloo and its southern limits, one of which is known as Blockton, Taylor county. It is a most promising place, being in the center of a rich farming section, and is peopled by an industrious and energetic class of citizens. While connected with the traffic department of the railroad, he was quite prominent in all questions and adjustments which came before the classification committees. For several years he was a member of the executive committee of the General Passenger Agents Association.
Soon after his connection with the Wisconsin, Iowa & Nebraska Railroad, Colonel Block bought under foreclosure the Fort Madison & Northwestern Railroad, and reorganized, rebuilt and extended it. He promoted the Grant Locomotive Works, of which he was secre- tary and treasurer; also the Siemens & Halske Electric Company, in which he held similar positions until 1902. In 1890 he organized the Grant Land Association, of which he has since been secretary and treasurer, and has otherwise negotiated the purchase of many valuable land tracts, among them the Sturges farm of 380 acres for $570,000, and the Hetty Green tract of 651 acres for $1,500,000. At one time Colonel Block was president of the Chicago & Southwestern Rail- road, a part of the Chicago Terminal system. In 1904 he took up the affairs of the Caswell Car Company, then bankrupt, and, as president, brought the business to a point where it paid good divi- dends and so attracted the attention of the car trust as to become finally absorbed by the latter. In fact, his ability and energy have never failed to achieve success, even in enterprises which previous to his connection with them seemed destined to fail. As another illustra- tion along this line of thought: In 1899 he bought some mining property in Keweenaw county, upper Michigan. For the preceding twenty years the extraction of ores from that county had been almost abandoned, but the development of the industry during the last few
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years, largely under the stimulus of Colonel Block's personality, has made that the most famous copper-mining section in the country. Nearly the entire mineral district of Keweenaw county is now con- trolled by the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company and other associates of the "trust," and the only large tract not thus controlled is an area of seven square miles owned by Colonel Block. His property is now surrounded by the mining plants of his mighty rivals.
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