USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Historical review of Chicago and Cook county and selected biography, Volume III > Part 22
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Colonel Block has a distinguished ancestry, including some men whose inventive genius and constructive achievements entitle them to high rank among the Americans who have accomplished works of enduring importance and originality. His parents were A. B. and Barbara A. (Brobst) Block. His great-grandfather on his mother's side, Christian Brobst, surveyed the route and was a member of the company which constructed the Little Schuylkill & Susquehanna Railroad, one of the first railroad lines in the country and now a part of the Reading system. Living at Catawissa on the Susquehanna river he recognized, as did few men of that time, the tremendous influence of transportation over population and industry. As the navigation of the river at that point was almost impossible on account of the strong and treacherous current, he was one of the promoters in the building of a steamboat to run up and down the stream. On the trial trip of the second of the boats constructed for this purpose its boiler exploded, resulting in the death of many of the passengers and crew, and in such severe injuries to Mr. Brobst that he was obliged to retire from active life. Several years before this, Mr. Brobst had demonstrated the practicability of a railroad through this section of Pennsylvania. With only the crudest knowledge of surveying and equipped with home-made instruments, he located and leveled a line which was considered by engineers a marvel of accu- racy. He succeeded in interesting such capitalists as Stephen Girard in this route, and finally in 1831 a company was organized which constructed the line above named. Christian Brobst and his brother, Valentine, were, at the time of their death, the owners of over one hundred and twenty thousand acres of anthracite coal lands in nine counties of Pennsylvania. This land is now owned by the Reading & Lehigh Valley railroads and has been in litigation for the past fifty years, the property having never legally passed out of the hands
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of the family. Another ancestor on the maternal side was Peter Mellick, a Revolutionary soldier and a man of influence and wealth in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, whose descendants number many eminent men.
In 1880 Colonel Block married Miss Anna E. Scott, daughter of William P. Scott and a niece of Colonel Thomas A. Scott, who was one of the greatest railroad men of the last century, and at one time president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Union Pacific, the Kan- sas Pacific and the Texas & Pacific roads. Mrs. Block is also a great-granddaughter of Archibald Douglass, a grandson of Lord Douglass, whose son, Thomas Douglass, settled with three brothers in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1725. Further, she was the great-great-granddaughter of James Agnew, who settled in that county in 1729, and whose grandson, D. Hayes Agnew, was a cele- brated physician of Philadelphia and married Rebecca Scott. The latter was born in 1706 and died in 1789 at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on a farm which became a part of the great national battlefield dur- ing the Civil war. Mrs. Block is a charter member of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, her great- grandfather, Colonel John Piper, having taken part in the stirring scenes of that conflict.
Colonel Block himself was one of the organizers of the Society of Sons of the American Revolution, being a member of the Illinois Chapter. He acquired his title by service on the staff of Governor Larrabee of Iowa from 1885 to 1889. He is a member of the American Historical Society and the National Biographical Society. Locally, he belongs to the Chicago Real Estate Board and the Union League Club, having been identified with the latter since 1887. Both he and his wife are influential members of the Episcopal church.
C. E. Tibbles, considered in this sketch, is a veteran plains- man and a soldier of the Civil war; but, notwithstanding the blood stirring experiences of his life, has for years been
C. E. TIBBLES. industriously engaged in the selling of patents, and is now the active and successful manager of the Hawk-Eye Boiler Compound Company. He is a native son of Illinois, born at Mendon, near Quincy, July 19, 1843, and is the son of William and Martha (Cooley) Tibbles. Both of his parents were natives of
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Ohio, their homes being near Zanesville. The father was a farmer and a millwright, and died when C. E. was eight years of age. The mother was highly educated, before her marriage having been a teacher in an Ohio seminary, and she therefore educated her children thorough- ly after they had passed beyond the curriculum of the district school. This talented, brave and self-sacrificing mother lived to be eighty-four years old, and died only a few years ago.
When the man of whom this narrative chiefly deals was thirteen years of age, his mother brought the family (with the assistance of two yoke of oxen) from Mendon to Putnam county, Missouri. Ac- companying them were four cows and six sheep. The two weeks' journey from Illinois was by way of Keokuk to Memphis, Missouri. and thence to Hartford, Putnam county. The first winter was passed in an abandoned log school house, after which the family moved into the house which had been erected, and the mother and older boy com- menced to "improve" their forty acres of swamp land, which had been purchased from the state of Missouri at twelve cents per acre. A year's experience in this locality induced a removal to Winterset. Iowa, where they remained for the succeeding winter.
In the spring of 1859, before he was sixteen years of age, the youth made an overland trip alone, going from Omaha to Pike's Peak and delivering a load of provisions to that point. He was thirty days on the way, and the dangers of the journey from Indians and "bad men" cannot be overstated. Arriving at his destination, he sold his flour at $20 for a 100-pound sack, and eggs at ȘI a dozen. In 1860 he made a similar trip, and returned to Winterset the following two winters.
In the spring of 1861, with his brother (Mr. George N. Tibbles), Mr. Tibbles enlisted in the Fourth Iowa Infantry, which was com- manded by Colonel G. M. Dodge, afterward promoted to be major gen- eral. They fought together at Pea Ridge under General Curtis, who was a cousin of their mother; thence marched to Helena, Arkansas. where they took boat for Vicksburg, and participated in the historic siege of that place, as well as the great engagements at Lookout Moun- tain and Missionary Ridge. The troops went into winter quarters at Woodville, Alabama, and while out on scout duty Mr. Tibbles was captured by the Confederates, stripped of his clothing and footwear,
-
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and started toward Atlanta, thence being shipped by rail to Anderson- ville prison. After being confined six months he attempted to escape west to Chattanooga and rejoin Sherman's army, but was recaptured by a squad of thirty-two bloodhounds and Confederates and brought back to Andersonville. When Sherman captured Atlanta the Union prisoners were sent to Florence, South Carolina, the Tibbles brothers breaking through the guard line en route, and again making their es- cape, although many were shot in making a similar attempt. Through woods and swamps and across rivers, the bedraggled men finally made their way to Newbern, North Carolina, and, as they were not able to rejoin their regiment at Atlanta, accepted a furlough, and in Decem- ber, 1864, received their honorable discharge at Davenport, Iowa.
For several months thereafter Mr. Tibbles was unable to work. but finally engaged in the sewing machine business, continuing with one company for seventeen years. Later he invented a machine him- self, and sold various patents for a number of years, his aggregate sales amounting to some $150,000. After selling his interest in this company he engaged in the boiler compound business, his present occu- pation. The company sells direct to customers, manufacturing boilers to meet the requirements of special plants.
John Secord Belden, who was senior member of Belden & Bush. general insurance agents and managers of the western department of
JOHN S. the Fire Association of Philadelphia, is a native of
BELDEN. Warsaw, New York, born September 8, 1839, the son of Dr. Charles W. and Frances (Cummings) Belden. The schools of Alexander and Warsaw, in his native state, furnished him with his education.
Mr. Belden was actively identified with the fire insurance business of Chicago since March 1, 1865, and acted as representative, during these forty-two years, of several of the leading companies of the Unit- ed States and England. His connection with Henry W. Bush, under the name of Belden & Bush, was formed January 1, 1902. Mr. Belden was also a director and treasurer of the Rialto Company, and was on the directorate of the Belden Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of insulated wire.
On the 17th of December, 1868, Mr. Belden married Miss Amanda W. Pool, and they became the parents of four children-Charles P.,
.
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John S., Jr., Joseph C. and Elizabeth. Joseph C. Belden married Miss Mary C. Rew of Chicago, whose father, a well known manufacturer, is now deceased. The daughter Elizabeth is the wife of Roy McWil- liams, a Chicago lawyer. Mrs. John S. Belden died May 26, 1907, Mr. Belden surviving her till July 18, 1908. She was widely known in social and charitable circles, having for many years been a member of the Woman's Club. In politics Mr. Belden was a Republican, and his club membership was with the Union League.
Joseph C. Belden, president of the Belden Manufacturing Com- pany, manufacturers of insulated wire for telephone and electrical ap- paratus. was born in Chicago, on the 11th of June,
JOSEPH C. BELDEN. 1876, son of Jolin S. and Amanda W. (Pool) Bel- den. He is descended from an old and substantial family of the Empire state, and his father was one of the oldest and most prominent insurance men in this city, having represented leading American and British companies in Chicago since 1865. Joseph C. received a thorough preliminary education in the schools of this city. going to Yale University for his collegiate courses and graduating therefrom in 1897, with the degree of Ph. B.
After leaving college Mr. Belden entered the employ of the Kellogg Switchboard and Manufacturing Company. with which he remained until 1902, when he organized the company of which he has since been president. Originally founded with a capital of $50,000, this amount has since been increased to $200.000, and the plant at No. 194 Michi- gan street is rapidly acquiring importance among the industries of the city.
On June 7, 1902, Mr. Belden was united in marriage with Miss Mary Campbell Rew. daughter of Francis Rew, a well known manu- facturer. One child has been born to their union, Joseph C. Belden, Jr. As to his social connections, Mr. Belden is identified with the Univer- * sity and Saddle and Cycle clubs, and the Chicago Athletic Association, as well as with the Yale Club of New York.
There are more victims to the virtue of faithfulness than the world knows of. Despite the physical dangers in continuous work, there are
FLOYD T. not a few rare characters whose conscience is so LOGAN. keen and whose natures are so self-sacrificing. that they first bring to a conclusion every task before they turn aside to pleasure, and even take upon themselves burdens
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for others beyond their strength to carry. Faithfulness and considera- tion for others were the key-notes of the life which passed away in the death of Floyd Tighman Logan, on July 26, 1906. So assiduously did he devote himself to business that he seldom had little time for recreation, although his honesty and strong character made him one of the most popular of those connected with the sash and door industry of Chicago.
Thy withopen
Floyd T. Logan, the son of Captain Floyd Logan and Augusta (Hayman) Logan, was born at Newport, Kentucky, February 20, 1860, and was therefore in the very prime of life when death claimed him. His father was a well known steamboat captain along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and in 1865 the family settled in St. Louis. Missouri, where Floyd obtained a public school education and then commenced to strike toward independent manhood. At the age of
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eighteen he became connected with the N. O. Nelson Manufacturing Company, plumbers' supplies, in the capacity of traveling representa- tive. In 1884 he removed to Kansas City, in the same line, making his home with the head of the firm and traveling throughout the South- west.
Mr. Logan's first identification with the sash and door business was as commercial traveler for the Western Sash and Door Company, of Kansas City, and his previous experience upon the road was the means of rapidly advancing his prospects in the new line. William Huttig, the president of the company, soon gauged his value, and in 1889 pro- moted him to the management of the Wichita (Kan.) Sash and Door Company, the manufacturing branch of the parent concern. There he remained until July 1, 1892, when he came to Chicago and was placed in charge of a department with the firm of John A. Gauger & Com- pany, in the following January being given an interest in the business and assuming the management of the sales department. On January I, 1906, the firm was incorporated as John A. Gauger & Company, and Mr. Logan was elected to the position of secretary, treasurer and general manager. His advancement was fully merited, since for sev- eral years he had borne the greater burden of the active management of the extensive business. During that period he came into only lim- ited contact with the business world, but those with whom he was inti- mately associated-his partner, his office employes and the factory force-gave him their hearty co-operation and admiration, and at his death had only affectionate remembrance for his faithful personal la- bors and invariable consideration for those over whom he wielded such firm but kind authority.
In 1886, the deceased was married to Miss Laura Hackett, daugh- ter of Thomas Hackett, of Kansas City, Missouri, and the widow with their only child, Floyd, survives him. . The latter, who was born Sep- tember 11, 1890, is now being educated at Racine College, Wisconsin, and is a most promising young man who bids fair to perpetuate the family name. The other members of the family who survive are an aged mother, who resides at Denver, Colorado, and two sisters, Mrs. L. G. McCormick, of that city, and Mrs. Samuel Leathe, of St. Louis, Missouri. Although a member of the A. F. & A. M. (Normal Park Lodge No. 797, of Englewood), the Royal Arcanum, and the new South Shore Country, the Athletic, the Calumet and the Hamilton
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clubs, although formally connected with these fraternal and social or- ganizations, and always welcome at their sessions and gatherings, Mr. Logan was so strongly bound by domestic ties that he seldom spent an evening from home. It is therefore to his household, to the home cir- cle, to the wife for whom he so fondly and faithfully cared, that his loss reverts the keenest and heaviest.
James Mackay, secretary of the Kellogg-Mackay-Cameron Com- pany, manufacturers of boilers and radiators for heating and power
JAMES purposes, is a native of Montreal, Canada, born on
MACKAY. the 24th of November, 1856, being a son of
Andrew and Jannette ( Manson) Mackay. He was educated in common and high schools of his native city and, instead + of going at once into business, followed the common-sense course of entering an apprenticeship in plumbing and the manipulation of heat- ing apparatus.
From 1870 to 1878 Mr. Mackay resided in Boston, there follow- ing his trade, gaining both money and experience, and becoming well grounded in every detail of the business. He then removed to Balti- more, where he remained for four years, and whence he was called to assume the superintendency of the Steam Evaporator Company of Charlotte, Michigan. The seven years-from 1882-89-which cov- ered his service in this capacity gave him a broader outlook in busi- ness management and admirably fitted him to occupy a larger field in Chicago.
In 1889 Mr. Mackay located in Chicago as salesman for the Richardson & Boynton Company, whose principal business was the manufacture and installation of furnaces and heating plants, and, after a successful four years with that concern, in 1893 he identified himself with the American Boiler Company, with which he remained until 1898. In the latter year he became a member of the firm known as the Kellogg-Mackay-Cameron Company, whose business is exten- sive in bulk and broad in scope, for it not only embraces the manu- facture of boilers and radiators, but the jobbing of heating and steam- fitters' supplies. The branches of the company are in New York, Minneapolis, Kansas City and Seattle, and the officers as follows : Clarence V. Kellogg, president ; James Mackay, secretary, and W. A. Cameron, treasurer. Mr. Mackay is also director of the Kewanee
Vol. III-15.
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Boiler Company and of the Federal Boiler & Supply Company, being prominent in the field which he has so long occupied.
In 1876 Mr. Mackay married Miss Christina E. Imrie, at Mon- treal, Canada, and one child, Elizabeth Scott Mackay, has been born to them. Mr. Mackay is a Shriner in Masonry, a member of St. Bernard Commandery and Medinah Temple. In religion, he is a Presbyterian.
As a manufacturer of packing boxes and a dealer in all kinds of lumber, Charles William Tegtmeyer is a large figure in the Chicago
CHARLES W. field, being in the active management and develop-
TEGTMEYER. ment of a business which was established by his father more than thirty-five years ago. He is a native Chicagoan, born on the 15th of December, 1866, being a son of Christopher and Christina (Meyerding) Tegtmeyer. After re- ceiving a public school education and a training in Bryant & Strat- ton's Business College, at the age of fifteen he entered his father's factory, and in succeeding years learned all the details both of the manufacture of boxes and the office management of the business.
The business was continued by Christopher Tegtmeyer and his three sons until the death of his father in 1886. At that time it was incorporated as the Tegtmeyer Lumber & Box Company, with Charles W. as secretary, and thus continued until 1893, when, on account of the ill health of one brother and the death of another, the former became sole proprietor of the business, as at present. He is not only a large manufacturer of packing boxes, but a dealer in all kinds of lumber, lath and shingles, and no member of the trade is more popular or has a more substantial standing. He is also a lead- ing member of the Builders' & Traders' Exchange and other business associations. He belongs to the Order of the Hoo Hoo and the Royal Arcanum (Garden City Council), and is a member of the Illinois Athletic Association. In his religious faith, he is an earnest Lutheran, having long been a trustee of the Zion German Lutheran church.
Mr. Tegtmeyer's wife was known before marriage as Miss Hen- rietta Nachtway, and by their union, which occurred in Chicago, April 21, 1897, three children have been born to them: Mildred, Henrietta and Charlotte. The family reside at No. 1151 Douglas boulevard, on the west side.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
SEBliss
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Samuel Eugene Bliss, senior partner of Bliss & Laughlin, manu- facturers of shafting, is a native of Jericho, Vermont, born on the
SAMUEL E. 3Ist of January, 1846, son of Samuel Butler and
BLISS.
Sally Clarissa (Cadwell) Bliss. After graduating
from the academy at Underhill, that state, in 1862, he commenced his life of industry by entering his father's shop and engaging as a blacksmith and carriage builder until 1864. During the succeeding four years he was employed as a clerk in a hardware store at Burlington, Vermont, and on the 23rd of March, 1868, arrived in Chicago.
Mr. Bliss has therefore been a resident of this city for forty years, and is classed as one of its pioneer business men and industrial promoters. For a period of seventeen years he was trained in all the details of office work and the mysteries of salesmanship, both over the counter and on the road. The result was that in 1885, when he commenced business for himself as a dealer in machinery, he was thoroughly prepared both to found and develop his enterprise in all its departments. His success was quickly realized and continuously augmented, and in February, 1891, he disposed of his lucrative busi- ness to engage in the manufacture of shafting. In 1891 he associ- ated himself with John L. Laughlin in that line of industry, and in- corporated the concern in January, 1897. The manufacturing plant is located at Harvey, Illinois, and the business office at No. 10 South Canal street. Chicago, about one hundred men being employed alto- gether. Mr. Bliss has been president and treasurer of the establish- ment from the first. He is also vice-president and member of the finance committee of the Metropolitan Trust & Savings Bank, and is president of a mining corporation in Alaska. He has been a director in the Illinois Manufacturers' Association for the past five years.
- At Saginaw, Michigan, on the 29th of September, 1869, Mr. Bliss was united in marriage with Miss Mary Frances Hickok, and they now reside at No. 3636 Lake avenue. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and by virtue of his patriotic ancestry is identified with the Sons of the American Revolution. He is viceroy of the Grand Imperial Council of the Red Cross of Constantine, and in 1908 will be in order of succession to the. office of grand sovereign of that order. He is also president of the Illinois State Rifle Asso-
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ciation, and is identified with both the Hamilton Club and the Chicago Athletic Association, having a life membership in the latter organiza- tion.
Fred M. Gale, president of the Bristol & Gale Company, has been a dealer in agricultural implements in Chicago for a period of nearly
FRED M. thirty-eight years, and during most of that time has
GALE. been connected with a large and growing business.
He is a native of Barre, Vermont, born December 29, 1839, being a son of Julius C. and Almira (Drury) Gale. His father was a farmer, and after the son had obtained an education in the public schools of his native village he became an active agricultur- ist himself. This training and experience eventually led him into his present field of business and ensured his success in it. In 1862, at the age of twenty-three, Mr. Gale enlisted in the Thirteenth Vermont In- fantry for the nine months service, at the conclusion of which (in De- cember, 1863) he re-enlisted in the Eighth Vermont Infantry, continu- ing therein until the close of the war.
At the conclusion of the Rebellion Mr. Gale returned to his home in Barre, Vermont, first engaging in farming and later in mercantile pursuits. In 1870 he located in Chicago, as the center of the great agricultural west, and securing a position with Emerson, Stafford & Company at once entered a field of salesmanship with which he was familiar. With this house, as with W. H. Banks & Company, he made a fine record in the sale of agricultural implements, and in 1877 joined E. S. Bristol in the establishment of an independent house, under the firm style of E. S. Bristol & Company. In 1887 the business, which had been developed to large proportions, was incorporated as the Bris- tol & Gale Company, of which Mr. Gale is now president ; W. J. Bris- tol, son of the orginal senior partner, vice president; and Fred Gale, son of Fred M., secretary and treasurer.
In February, 1867, Fred M. Gale was married to Miss Helen A. Putnamı, daughter of Abel Putnam, of Johnson, Vermont, and they have become the parents of three children: Fred, George B. and Helen M. Fred, the eldest, married Miss Ellis Brown, of Chicago: George B. married Miss Florence Robertson, also of this city; and Helen M. became the wife of John C. Leonard, treasurer of the Leon- ard Seed Company. Mr. and Mrs. Gale also adopted a daughter, Belle
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G. Scribner, whom they reared and educated from the age of eleven · years, and who is now the wife of Herbert E. Skinner, of this city. Mr. Gale is quiet and domestic, but social, and his religious faith has long been that of Unitarianism, and for many years he has been a member of the Third Unitarian church of the west side, of which he is still a trustee. He is a member of the George H. Thomas Post No. 5, Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Menoken Club, a west side organization. In politics he has never deviated from general Repub- lican policies since he cast his first vote in the first year of the Civil war; but in the administration of local matters his support is given on the basis of personal fitness and sectional benefit.
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