USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Historical review of Chicago and Cook county and selected biography, Volume III > Part 23
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William Andrew Birk, president of the Birk Brothers' Brewing Company, well-known brewers and bottlers, was born in Chicago, No-
WILLIAM A. BIRK. vember II, 1861, being the son of Jacob and Mag- dalena Birk. He was educated in the public schools of his native city, his first business venture being with a board of trade firm, with whom he remained until 1882. In that year he became associated with the Wacker & Birk Brewing Company, which his father had just assisted to organize, and re- mained in this connection until August, 1891. At that time the busi- ness of the company was sold to the English corporation known as the Chicago Breweries, Limited, and the elder Birk, with his sons, William A. and Edward J., purchased the Corper & Nockin plant on Webster avenue, and incorporated the Birk Brothers' Brewing Com- pany. In 1895 Jacob Birk retired as a director of the company and from active business life altogether. His wife had passed away De- cember 17, 1900.
Since the incorporation and organization of the Birk Brothers' Brewing Company, in 1891, William A. Birk has been president and Edward J. its secretary and treasurer. In politics, William A. is a Democrat. He is a member of Lincoln Park Lodge No. 611, A. F. & A. M., the Germania Maennerchor, the Chicago Athletic Associa- tion, the South Shore Country and the Industrial clubs. In Septem- ber, 1903, he was married at Russells, Ohio, to Miss Rosalind Brit- ton, and the family residence is at No. 688 Fullerton avenue.
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Edward John Birk, secretary and treasurer of Birk Brothers Brewing Company, whose large brewing and bottling plant is on Web-
EDWARD J. ster avenue, is a native of Chicago, born April 2,
BIRK.
1867. He is a son of Jacob and Lena (Woelflin)
Birk, his father having been born in Germany and being in early manhood a harnessmaker. He came to Chicago in 1854. prospered in trade and business, and for many years conducted a hotel on West Lake street. In 1881 he became associated with Fred Wacker & Son, then engaged in the malting business, and in the following year became associated with the firm in brewing operations under the firm name of the Wacker & Birk Brewing Company. In 1891 the business was sold to the English corporation, the Chicago Breweries, Limited, and Jacob Birk and his two sons, William A. and Edward J., incor- porated the Birk Brothers' Brewing Company. Since the founding of the company, at that time, William A. has been president and Edward J. Birk, secretary and treasurer. The basis of the complete and ex- tensive plant was the Corper & Nockin brewery, purchased in 1891. and since remodeled and enlarged. The elder Birk retired from his connection with the business in 1895. The mother of Edward J. passed away December 17. 1900.
Edward J. Birk began business life in 1882 in connection with a board of trade commission firm. He was thus engaged until 1889 when he spent eight months on the Pacific coast, and, returning to Chicago, commenced to learn the brewer's trade with the Wacker & Birk Brewing Company. In 1891, as stateil, father and sons organ- ized the Birk Brothers' Brewing Company, with which he has since been identified in his present capacity.
On October 5. 1892, Mr. Birk married Miss Amanda Markus, and one child has been born to them, Amanda Markus. In politics he is a Democrat, and is a member of the Germania Maennerchor, of which he was a director, the Illinois Athletic Association, South Shore Coun- try, Chicago Athletic, Chicago Automobile and Steam Yacht clubs.
Charles Brockway Gibson is one of the most widely known assayers, mining experts, chemists and medico-legal witnesses in the CHARLES B. west. He is a native of Massena, St. Lawrence
GIBSON. county, New York, born on the 6th of August, 1854, being a son of Otis and Chloe (Brockway) Gibson. He spent the first eighteen years of his life on a Vermont
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farm, working and acquiring a common and a high school education. Coming west he became a student in the University of Illinois at Champaign, graduating from that institution in 1877 in both the chemical and military courses. Prior to his entrance to the state university he had traveled for several years in New England as a salesman and assistant manager of a lyceum course. After his grad- uation he spent a year with a gold, silver and lead refining company, when he entered the drug business, which, with the study of medi- cine, he continued for about two years. He next entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and after a full course therein gradu- ated in 1885 with the degree of M. D.
In the meantime Professor Gibson's reputation had been expand- ing. After three years of practical work with G. A. Mariner and C. G. Wheeler, in 1882 he had been elected to the chair of chemistry in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, which he held until 1890, or five years after his graduation in medicine. In 1888 he became professor of chemistry and metallurgy in the Chicago College of Dental Surgery, serving thus for eight years; also held the same chair for one year in the Hahnemann Medical College and the North- western Dental School. Since 1879, while carrying along these vari- ous professional courses and ably performing the functions of his professorships, he has also conducted a large private practice as an assayer, chemist, metallurgist and mining engineer. He has done much expert and legal work, notably in the Luetgert, Blydenberg and other cases, in which the verdicts depended so materially upon the results of chemical analyses. At the present time he confines himself almost entirely to general chemical work and the examination of mines.
Professor Gibson is a member of the American Chemical Society, Berlin Chemische Gesellschaft and Berlin Zuchverein. Well known in Chicago, he is also a familiar figure in the mining regions of the United States, Canada and Mexico, his services in the last named country being in frequent demand as an expert examiner of mining property. For years he was popular and prominent in military cir- cles. He served in the Vermont militia for three years, and in 1877 graduated from the University of Illinois (military course) with the rank of captain and adjutant, and for seven years was identified
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with the National Guard of the state, in which he still holds a cap- taincy, without command. Although he enlisted for the Spanish- American war, he was not called into the service. The Professor is also a Mason of high rank and long standing, being a member of Blaney Lodge No. 271, A. F. and A. M .; Lincoln Park Chapter No. 177, R. A. M .; Chicago Council No. 4, R. and S. M .; Lincoln Park Commandery No. 64. K. T., and Medinah Temple of the Mystic Shrine, all of Chicago. Socially he is identified with the Illinois Athletic Association and Hamilton Club. His wife was formerly Miss Eva Catherine Clapp, to whom he was married on June 29, 1891.
Charles Chauncey Curtiss, projector, and, at the present time. manager of the magnificent Fine Arts building on Michigan avenue,
CHARLES C. was long a prominent business man of Chicago,
CURTISS. for nearly thirty years being especially identified
with the music trade. He has always allied him- self with that steadily growing body of independent citizens, so fully alive to municipal evils and necessities that they have ever been willing to assist in every possible way to fairly investigate them and assist in providing measures of relief. As a native of Chicago and the son of an able and public spirited father, he has had strong exterior inspirations, aside from the inclinations of a nature naturally conscientious and refined.
Mr. Curtiss was born in Chicago on the 3Ist day of July, 1847, son of Hon. James and Mary (Kimball) Curtiss. His father was an able pioneer of Chicago, a trained lawyer and twice mayor of the city. The boy passed his earlier years in Champaign county, Illinois, where he was educated and began his business career. In 1862 he commenced work as a messenger in the telegraph office of Champaign, and after serving two years in that capacity and as a dry goods- clerk, commenced his service in the Union army. In 1864 he enlisted in company B, One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Illinois Volunteer In- fantry, serving as a private from May to October of that year. He then became a clerk in the ordnance department of the government, at Nashville, Tennessee, where he served during the great battles of that year, and continued thus until April, 1866.
At the time mentioned above, Mr. Curtiss came to Chicago and
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entered the employ of Field, Palmer & Leiter as salesman ; after about a year in this capacity he went to Pittsburg. Pennsylvania, where for a time he filled a clerical position, and in 1868 returned to Chi- cago to enter for a brief period the city recorder's office. In 1869 commenced his long career in the music business, as a bookkeeper for Lyon & Healy. Mr. Curtiss remained with that firm until 1872, when he became a partner in the house of F. S. Chandler & Co., and later of Chandler & Curtiss. In 1875 he was appointed manager, treasurer and director of Root & Sons Music Company, and held that position of great responsibility for six years, in 1881 associating himself with Ferdinand Mayer in the formation of Curtiss & Mayer, agents for the sale throughout the northwest of the Weber pianos. After eight years of successful business, in 1890 he organized and became president of the Manufacturers' Piano Company, which he held for five years, then resigned to devote his attention to the reali- zation of his project for the establishment of a grand house of music and art in the city which had even then acquired a cosmopolitan standing in this high domain of culture. In May, 1898, after many discouragements and after he had spent more than two years of persistent work and diplomacy, the Fine Arts building, at Nos. 203-7 Michigan avenue was completed, and thereby the cause which it rep- resents līas been immeasurably advanced both in Chicago and the entire west. It is, in truth, a home and a meeting place for the best talent of this section of the country. The Fine Arts building is a corporation, of which Mr. Curtiss is the vice president, treasurer and managing director.
As mentioned, Mr. Curtiss has always been independent in poli- tics. He is one of the organizers of the Illinois Civil Service-Reform League, and an earnest, working member of the Citizens' Association, Municipal Voters' League, Legislative Voters' League, Civic Fed- eration, Municipal Art League and of other public organizations of a reformatory nature. He is also identified with the Archaeological Institute of America, American Historical Association, Chicago His- torical Society and the Loyal Legion, as well as with the following local clubs: Chicago Literary, Caxton, University, Chicago, City, Cliff Dwellers and Glen View. He is also a member of The Players' Club, of New York City.
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On May 24, 1877, Mr. Curtiss married Miss Addie Louise Miller, daughter of the late Professor DeLaskie Miller, one of Chicago's most eminent physicians. Marjorie Kimball. James and Marion Cur- tiss are the names of the children born to them. The family reside at No. IIO Astor street.
Hans Peter Nelson, one of the most expert piano makers in the west. and at present secretary and general superintendent of the
HANS P. Cable & Nelson Piano Company, was born in Hel-
NELSON. senburg, Sweden, on the 30th of December, 1867.
His parents are Nels Hanson and Hannah Nelson, and came to Chicago when Hans was about sixteen years of age. The youth had already served a portion of his apprenticeship at the trade of piano making, and had made good progress toward the securing of a thorough education. When the family settled in Chi- cago he secured employment with the Smith & Barnes Piano Com- pany, and, while continuing to master the niceties of his trade, at- tended night school and became grounded in all the branches of a practical education.
Mr. Nelson remained with the Smith & Barnes Piano Company for a period of seventeen years, ten of which he spent as the super- intendent and director of their factory. He then became similarly connected with the Fayette S. Cable Piano Company, and on August I, 1904, became half owner of the Cable & Nelson Piano Company as a partner with the reorganized business. On March 1, 1906. he sold out his interest, and in June of that year organized the H. P. Nelson Company, of which he is now president and treasurer. The plant of the company is located at Marianna and Herndon streets, and aside from the storage warehouses, the manufactory consists of a brick structure, 120 by 60 feet in dimensions and four stories in height. The sales amount to about $40,000 monthly.
On March 7, 1891. Mr. Nelson married Miss Hannah Bestrom, and the children born to them have been A. Gerhard and Lillian Margaret. The family reside at No. 209 Janssen avenue, and attend the Swedish Lutheran church. Fraternally Mr. Nelson is a member of the A. F. and A. M., Knights of Pythias and Knights of Mac- cabees.
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Robert Faulds Maxwell, senior member of the firm of Maxwell & Rund, manufacturers of packing boxes, is a native of Chicago, born
ROBERT F. September 15, 1856, being a son of William and
MAXWELL. Jean (Kinlech) Maxwell. He comes of an old Scotch family, the two elder brothers, who have also been engaged in the same field for many years, being natives of the old country .- His father brought his wife and family to Chicago in 1854, and was so prominent as a pioncer that one of the city streets on the west side was named in his honor.
After obtaining a public school education, Robert F. Maxwell became identified with the box-manufacturing business as a member of the firm of Maxwell Brothers. He continued as a partner from 1885 to 1901, withdrawing from the firm in the latter year to join Harold Ruud and establish a similar manufactory, under the name of Maxwell & Ruud. Shortly after the firm was organized, Mr. Ruud died, and Mr. Maxwell has since continued the business without change of style.
On March 7, 1882, Mr. Maxwell married Miss Elizabeth B. Vanderblue, and a daughter, Adelaide B. Maxwell, has been born to them. Mr. Maxwell has been a Republican of much local activity and prominence, and in 1886-90 served as alderman from the Twenty- fifth ward. As to fraternities, he is a thirty-second degree Mason, and a member of the Royal Arcanum and National Union.
William Adelbert Converse, directing chemist for the Dearborn Drug and Chemical Works, began working in a retail drug store when twelve years old, and has worked his way
WILLIAM A.
CONVERSE. through every grade of experience from clerk to pharmacist and chemist. He now stands foremost among the men of his profession in Chicago, and maintains the best professional connections. He is secretary of the Chicago section of the American Chemical Society, having held that office since 1902, and is a member of the council of the society at large. He is a mem- ber of the committee on standard tests for lubricants in the Society for Inspection of Materials. Besides these two societies, he is a member of the Society of Chemical Industry, the Western Society of Engineers, the Chicago Drug Trade Club, the Chemists' Club of New York, the Society for the Advancement of Science, and the Chicago Athletic Association.
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Mr. Converse was born in Pioneer, Ohio, August 31, 1862, son of Ebenezer P. and Frances E. (Brower ) Converse. The paternal ancestors of Mr. Converse came originally from England and settled in the New England states. He attended public schools in boyhood, and in September, 1874, became the boy clerk in a retail pharmacy. He finally began his studies in the Chicago College of Pharmacy (now the Pharmacy department of the University of Illinois), grad-
WILLIAM A. CONVERSE.
uating in 1889 with the degree of Ph. G. He followed his profession as pharmacist until 1896, and on January 12th of that year entered upon the duties of his present position. He married, September 10. 1885, Emma E. Conklin. Mrs. Converse is a daughter of Nelson and Sophia V. (Hendricks) Conklin, and was born at Angola, Indi- ana. They have a daughter, Ethel Fern Converse. Their home is at 4320 Greenwood avenue.
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Clayton Mark, second vice president of the National Malleable
CLAYTON Castings Company, was born in Fredericksburg,
Pennsylvania, in June, 1858, son of Cyrus and Re-
MARK. becca (Strohm) Mark. He was married Septem- ber, 1880, to Miss Anna Griffith, and they have a family of nine children.
Oliver Oscar Agler, member of the firm of Upham & Agler, wholesale dealers in hardwood lumber, is a native of Plymouth, In-
OLIVER O. diana, born July 15, 1869, being a son of Morris
AGLER. and Mary (Snyder) Agler. His father, who was born in Ohio, was a farmer, and was one of the hardy sons of the field who served his country long and well in the crucial days of the Civil war. He enlisted in Company A, Forty- sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and his period of service covered four years and sixteen days. He was with the intrepid and masterly Sherman in his famous march to the sea, participating in all the battles of the campaign and being wounded at Kenesaw Moun- tain. Including the northward movements through the Carolinas, he fought in twenty-nine battles, and was finally mustered out at the grand review at Washington in 1865. During all this season of bloodshed and weary marches he remained with the Forty-sixth Ohio. the regiment in which he enlisted at the beginning of the war.
Mr. Agler obtained his education in the common schools of Mar- shall county, Indiana, and at the age of sixteen commenced teaching in the country institutions himself, being thus employed for about · three years. In 1887 he commenced his business career as a steno- grapher in the office of the Upham Manufacturing Company, at Marshfield, Wisconsin, and, after filling various positions with that concern, came to Chicago December 1, 1893, and in partnership with Fred W. Upham engaged in the hardwood lumber business under . the firm name of Upham & Agler. In 1896 Mr. Agler became one of the organizers of the Fred W. Upham Lumber Company, of which he was secretary and treasurer. In 1903 a copartnership was formed with Fred W. Upham under the style of Upham & Agler, exclu- sive dealers in hardwood lumber, with offices in the American Trust Company building.
For two years Mr. Agler was president of the Chicago Hardwood Lumber Association and has been first vice president of the National
.
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Hardwood Lumber Association for four years, and in June, 1908. was elected president.
Married at Plymouth, Indiana, March 17. 1892, to Miss Bessie E. Steele, Mr. Agler is the father of one child, Katherine. The fam- ily residence is at Geneva, Illinois, of whose country club Mr. Agler is an active member. He also belongs to the Minneapolis (Minn.) Club, and the Chicago Athletic, the Union League and the Mid-day clubs of Chicago. He is a K. T. Mason, and is popular with the fraternity.
John Martin Kranz, the widely-known Chicago confectioner, is a native of Germany, was born in Doerzbach in the year 1841. and is the
JOHN M. only son of Michael and Margaret (Nuegel) Kranz.
KRANZ. He attended the public schools near his home, and in 1860, having obtained a good education, left the Fatherland for the United States. Arriving in Philadelphia, he ap- prenticed himself to a confectioner, and after eight years of faithful work and intelligent observation had mastered every detail of his trade, besides having saved a small sum of money with which to ven- ture into business for himself.
For the purpose of following an independent career in his chosen occupation Mr. Kranz came to Chicago in 1867, and after being em- ployed by a confectionery house for a year commenced the manufac- ture of candies on a small scale on the west side. In this enterprise he showed that he had not only mastered the processes of the manu- facturer. but that he possessed the gifts of a business man ; for he so prospered in his undertaking that in 1873 he established a retail store in connection with his manufactory and wholesale house, open- ing it at 78-80 State street and, by degrees. occupying the entire build- ing. In common with other leading confectioners he also added beautiful ice cream parlors to his sales rooms, the entire establishment being furnished and embellished in the most artistic manner. The confections which he has been placing on the market these many years have a wide reputation for their purity and daintiness, and, besides appealing to a very select trade in Chicago, are shipped to nearly every state in the Union.
In 1869 Mr. Kranz married Miss Florentine Bunte, the ceremony occurring in Chicago, and their children are as follows: Laura, who is married to Frank Lehmann, a manufacturer of machinery residing
1
John Kranz
THE WYORK FUELIC LIBRARY
ASTAT LET TY AND DINE IN PTIONS
FUELIC MIGRARY
ASTOR, LENCYAND - -. 5
William f. Laffonty .
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in Dresden, Germany; Ida, now Mrs. Felix J. Notz, whose husband is general manager and treasurer of Joseph Baker & Sons (American Oven Company ), Chicago; Florence, Alma and Lili. The unmarried daughters reside at the pleasant family home, No. 627 Dearborn ave- nue, north side. Mr. Kranz is independent in politics, a Lutheran in religious belief and an old member of the Germania Club. Unassum- ing and courteous, but energetic, able and positive, he is both forceful and popular, representing a type of citizenship which is the basis of Chicago's fair standing as a business and civic community.
At his death in February, 1907, John Abraham Devore was presi- dent of one of the oldest and best-knowu men's tailoring houses in Chicago. A. A. Devore & Son, at their headquar-
JOHN A. DEVORE. ters in the Pullman building, have been patronized by men of taste and fashion ever since the business was established nearly thirty years ago. John A. Devore was the son of Abraham Allfree and Rachel (Long) Devore, the establishment taking its distinctive name from the father. The late Mr. Devore was born in California, Washington county, Pennsylvania, October 7, 1858, and after receiving a public school education, at the age of fourteen began learning the tailor's trade with his father, who had, in the meantime, established a business in Pittsburg. In 1878 father and son moved from the Smoky City to Chicago, and founded the firm which has prospered so many years as one of the best in the city. The elder Devore died in 1899, and from the incorporation of the company in 1902 until his death, John A. Devore was its president.
In Chicago, October 18, 1878, Mr. John A. Devore married Miss Anna Evans, and they had one child, Miriam. A Republican in politics and a firm believer in Christian Science, the late Mr. Devore was also devoted to good citizenship and social affairs, being a mem- ber of the Union League, the Kenwood and the Midlothian clubs, although his pleasant home in Kenwood was the chief center of his recreations and social enjoyments.
With the large merchant tailoring establishment of A. A. Devore & Son, above mentioned, William J. Lafferty has been identified since
WILLIAM J. 1879. Born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, on the
19th of January, 1852, he was a son of a well-
LAFFERTY. known physician. Dr. William L. Lafferty, who practiced medicine in that place and vicinity from 1829 to 1866, and
1
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then returned to his native state of Delaware to spend the remaining twenty years of his life. He was not only a skilled physician but a leading Mason, attaining to the office of district deputy grand mas- ter of Pennsylvania. His wife (formerly Rachel W. Marshall) was a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Lafferty was reared in Pennsylvania, and in 1879, after hav- ing spent several years in mercantile pursuits, came to Chicago and at once became connected with the house of which he has become so strong a factor. In 1874 he had married Miss Anna Belle, daughter of A. A. Devore, also a native of Brownsville, Pennsylvania. They have one child, Charles C.
Like his father, Mr. Lafferty has achieved prominence in Ma- sonry. In 1888 he joined the order as a member of South Park Lodge, No. 662, and in 1894 became one of the organizers of Wood- lawn Park Lodge No. 841, and for many years was worshipful mas- ter of the latter. He was elevated to Royal Arch Masonry in 1888 in Fairview Chapter No. 161, and the same year was knighted in Apollo Commandery No. I. In 1892 he attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite in Oriental Consistory. Mr. Lafferty takes a prominent part in south side social and religious affairs, be- ing a member of the Woodlawn Park Club and the South Shore Country Club. Of Christ Church Episcopal, in Woodlawn, he has been senior warden fifteen years, and was chairman of the building committee which erected the present church in 1894.
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