USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Historical review of Chicago and Cook county and selected biography, Volume III > Part 33
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The distinguished citizen whose name and career have become permanently identified with the Chicago of the past half century is a native of the Pine Tree state, born in Sabattis, Maine, in January, 1830, son of Charles and Jemima (Prescott) Hobbs. Most of his education was obtained at Liberal Institute, in Litchfield Corners, Maine. His business career began with the purchase of a country store in Wales, Maine, and after conducting this fourteen months and a similar enterprise at East Livermore, Maine, for fifteen months, he sold out and came west to enter a newer and broader field, where
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a generous and well-merited success awaited him. In March, 1853, Mr. Hobbs married Miss Mary M., daughter of Rev. Constant Quinnam, and their four children are all deceased. His residence is at 343 La Salle avenue.
Charles Henry Mulliken, for more than thirty years a well- known figure in real estate circles, is a native of Hallowell. Maine.
CHARLES H. born March 18, 1831, and is the son of John and
MULLIKEN. Elizabeth Mulliken. His father was a well-known
merchant of Hallowell, and during the childhood of Charles H. removed with the family to Augusta, where he was established in business for many years and where he resided until his deathı.
The boyhood of Charles H. Mulliken was passed in Augusta, receiving there his education and obtaining his first business expe- rience in his father's office. In 1847 he went to Boston, and for the three succeeding years filled a clerkship in the office of a merchandise broker. In 1850 he returned to Augusta, where he married and es- tablished himself in business with Francis Davis, under the firm name of Davis & Mulliken. Dissolving this connection with Mr. Davis. he entered into partnership with William P. M. Means, of Augusta, under the firm name of Means & Mulliken, and founded a packet line between Boston and Indianola. Texas, opening a general store at San Antonio, with Judge George S. Mulliken, an older brother of Charles H., in charge. At the outbreak of the Civil war the Confederacy confiscated the property of the firm at San Antonio, and the fifty thousand dollars there invested was finally lost. Mr. Means went to Texas to save some of the property, but was impris- oned by the Confederate authorities, escaped to Mexico, and thence to New Orleans, where General Butler passed him through the Un- ion lines to the north. Although the Confederacy afterward prom- ised a settlement, it was never effected.
After the payment of his debts in full. Mr. Mulliken set out for Chicago, where he arrived in August. 1867. and readily found em- ployment as confidential man of Page & Sprague, dealers in glass. paint and oil, remaining with the firm until 1872. The fire of Octo- ber. 1871, swept away all of his Chicago savings, and in 1872-74 he filled the position of cashier of a savings bank.
Charles Haryelfuliker)
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
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Mr. Mulliken's record as a real estate dealer dates from 1874, and it has been continuous and creditable. He was one of the char- ter members of the Chicago Real Estate Board, which was organized in 1883, and has retained his connection with that representative body. He is also identified with the Chicago and Union clubs, as with the South Shore Country and Homewood Golf clubs.
Mr. Mulliken is well known as an influential and earnest sup- porter of charitable and religious movements. He was a director of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society for sixteen years and was presi- dent of the Chicago Bible Society for twelve years. For more than thirty years he has served as elder of the Fourth Presbyterian church, and for much of that period was treasurer and trustee of the society. He is a leading member of the Presbyterian League, as well as a director of the McCormick Theological Seminary and a member of its executive committee. Mr. Mulliken was a prime mover in the founding of Christ's Chapel, a Sunday school composed largely of Germans on the north side. Shortly after the great fire of 1871 an organization was effected with about sixty scholars, and after that historic event which, largely through his efforts, proved the starting point of so many enterprises, forty-five thousand dollars was raised to build a new school building. The edifice is on the corner of Center and Orchard streets and is very attractive, while the membership of the Sunday school has increased from the original sixty to twelve hundred.
Mr. Mulliken's wife was formerly Miss Sarah E. Hallett. daugh- ter of Watson F. Hallett, president of the Freeman's National Bank, of Augusta, Maine, and his marriage to her occurred December 3, 1850. Their son, Alfred Henry, is president of Pettibone, Mulliken & Co., manufacturers of railway supplies, and resides on the Lake Shore drive. Charles H. Mulliken lives at the Chicago Beach Hotel. Besides his prominence in his chosen business and in connection with the work of the Presbyterian church, the elder Mulliken is well known as a veteran Republican, as a member of the Citizens' commit- tee, and one who takes an intelligent and sustained interest in all movements vital to the welfare of the city.
Vol. III-22.
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Alfred Henry Mulliken, president of Pettibone, Mulliken & Co., manufacturers of railway track supplies, is a native of Maine, born
ALFRED H. in Augusta, the state capital, on the 11th of Decem-
MULLIKEN. ber, 1853, and is the son of Charles H. and Sarah (Hallett) Mulliken. He was educated in the pub- lic schools of Maine, and since coming to Chicago has virtually con- fined himself, in a business way, to the industry in which he is now engaged as a principal. For twelve years, from 1868 to 1880, he was in the employ of Crerar, Adams & Co., and during the succeeding five years was in business for himself. In 1885 he sold out to Crerar. Adamıs & Co., organizing and incorporating Pettibone, Mulliken & Co., of which he was secretary and treasurer from 1885 to 1899. Since the latter year he has served as president of the concern, which is largely engaged in the manufacture of frogs, crossings and switch material for steam railroads. The office of the company is in the Marquette building ; the manufacturing plant is the largest and most complete of the kind in the world, occupying thirty acres and is lo- cated on the Belt Railway of Chicago, at the corner of Forty-eighth avenue and West Division street.
. Besides having a controlling interest in this company and being an active business man, Mr. Mulliken is prominent in literary, art and social circles. He is a member of the Chicago Historical Society and a life member of the Chicago Art Institute, besides belonging to the following clubs: Chicago, Glen View. South Shore, Chicago Golf. Exmoor and Mid-Day, of Chicago, and the Metropolitan, Mid- Day and National Arts, of New York.
In 1893 Mr. Mulliken was married in Chicago to Miss Mabel Walmsley, and they have one child-John Hallett .- His family resi- dence is at No. 19 Lake Shore drive.
Michael Alexander La Buy, attorney and real estate dealer, is a native of Poland, having been born at Ludom, on the 28th of Sep- M. A. tember. 1846, son of Louis and Rozalia (Demo- LA BUY. . gawa) La Buy. He received his education at Mil-
waukee, Wisconsin, attending the Blufton high school, Bryant & Stratton Business College and the Spencerian Busi- ness College. In 1864, while a resident of the Cream City, he en- listed for service in the Civil war, joining Company G. First Wis-
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consin Artillery, and being stationed at several forts near the na- tional capital.
Mr. La Buy became a resident of Chicago in 1872, and early be- came identified with the Democracy. In 1879 he was appointed clerk of the west side police court, serving until 1887, when he was elected justice of the peace and held that office for four terms. During these many years his office was located at the corner of Madison and Hal- sted streets, where he became one of the best-known justices of the peace and police magistrates on the west side.
Since 1905 Mr. La Buy has been the senior member of the firm of La Buy & Co., dealers in real estate, loans and insurance, his as- sociate in the business being his nephew. Joseph S. La Buy, a lawyer. He was formerly president of the Kosciusko Monumental Associa- tion, and when the state legislature made an appropriation for the . erection of the memorial to the famous patriot, Mr. La Buy went be- fore that body and stated that the association could raise the neces- sary money. This it accomplished, largely through his efforts, some forty thousand dollars being finally expended on the beautiful monu- ment. Mr. La Buy also organized the Sixteenth Ward Building As- sociation, of which he is treasurer, and he is a director and treasurer of the Original Quartz Hill Gold Mining Company.
In religion, Mr. La Buy is a Roman Catholic, and belongs to the Holy Cross Association. In politics, he is affiliated with the Cook county Democracy, and has always been a leader in the life of the Grand Army of the Republic, being past commander of Post No. 306, and a member of the Department Commanders' Staff Association, with the rank of colonel. Mr. La Buy is an active member of the Iroquois Club, and is identified with a number of other societies. He resides at No. 581 Milwaukee avenue.
Joseph S. La Buy, member of the firm of La Buy & Co., real estate, loans and insurance, and a practicing lawyer of Chicago, is a Wisconsin man, born in Princeton. He obtained his education in the Badger state and in Chicago, graduating from the Kent College of Law, this city, and being admitted to the bar in 1905. His law office is No. 160 Washington street.
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Of the fifty-four years covering Charles Thomas Boal's residence in Chicago, four decades were passed in the wholesale hardware and
CHARLES T. stove business, and, notwithstanding his venerable
age, he has been engaged since 1896 in real estate BOAL. transactions. He is a typical Chicago business man, whom white hairs do not seem to incapacitate for the activities and frays of commerce and trade. Born at Reading, Pennsylvania, April 16. 1832, son of Dr. Robert and Christina Walker (Sinclair) Boal, he removed with his parents to Lacon, Illinois, where he was edu- cated in the public schools. When he came to Chicago in 1854 he ivas, therefore, twenty-one years of age.
Not long after becoming a resident of this city Mr. Boal secured employment with the wholesale iron firm of Hall, Kimbark & Co .. in which he afterward became a partner. The continuity of his busi- ness career was broken into by the Civil war, in which he served from 1862 and 1864. He first recruited a company serving with the Eigh- ty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry.
After the war Mr. Boal returned to Chicago and engaged in the hardware business, as a member of the firm of Austin & Boal, subse- quently buying his partner's interest and forming Charles T. Boal & Co. The establishment of this firm was burned in the fire of 1871, when Mr. Boal built the Chicago Stove Works, later disposing of this business and engaging in the manufacture and sale of stoves and hol- lowware. At his retirement from this line of business he entered into the real estate field. Mr. Boal is a member of the Chicago Real Es- tate Board, and conducts a conservative, growing business at No. 95 Clark street. He is also a member of the Chicago Club since its or- ganization in 1869; the Calumet, Onwentsia and South Shore Coun- try clubs, and the Loyal Legion and Geo. H. Thomas Post, G. A. R.
Mr. Boal's wife, whom he married in Chicago, was formerly Miss Henrietta Ayres, and the children of Mr. Boal are as follows : Horton S. (deceased), Edna M., now Mrs. S. D. Flood; Anna C., Mrs. P. L. Wickes, Jr., and Ayres Boal. Mr. Boal's first wife, for- merly Dora Horton, died in 1865.
Ayres Boal, the youngest child by the present marriage, was born in Chicago March 26, 1879, and received his preliminary education in the Harvard School of this city. After pursuing a course at Harvard University, from which he graduated in 1900, he returned in 1901.
Chal. J. Boal
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and took the law course at the Harvard Law School, and in 1902 entered the real estate business in connection with the firm of Ogden. Sheldon & Co. After being in their employ for a year he established an office of his own, under the firm name of Ayres Boal & Co., and has since continued to conduct a growing business in real estate and mortgages. His offices are located at No. 105 Washington street. Mr. Boal is connected with the Chicago Real Estate Board, and the University, Chicago and Chicago Yacht clubs. His wife was for- merly known as Lesley Stewart Johnson, daughter of Lorenzo M. Johnson, of Winnetka, Illinois, but for years identified with the rail- roads of Mexico. Her father died in 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Ayres Boal have become the parents of two children, Ayres Boal, Jr., and Stewart Boal. The family home is in Winnetka.
James A. McLane, a leading real estate dealer and a prominent member of the Chicago Real Estate Board, is a native of New Jer-
JAMES A. sey, born at Newark on the 22nd of March, 1857.
McLANE. He is a son of Henry H. and Ida E. (Scharff) Mc- Lane. After graduating from the high school at Waukegan, Illinois, he pursued the full course in science at the Uni- versity of Illinois, from which he was graduated in 1878 with the degree of B. S.
After completing his collegiate studies Mr. McLane removed to Chicago and entered the service of the Chicago & Northwestern Rail- way, continuing a member of the office force until January, 1881, and afterward filling a traveling position for about a year. He was then for a period of eight years associated with Mead & Coe, as head of their real estate business, and for the past decade has been the prin- cipal in an independent house conducted as James A. McLane & Co. His associate in the business is Henry H. McLane, and the trans- actions of the house cover real estate, loans and renting.
In 1903 Mr. McLane was honored with the secretaryship of the Chicago Real Estate Board, of which he had long been an active and respected member. In the same year he was also appointed jury commissioner of Cook county to fill a vacancy, was elected in that year for a two-years' term, was reappointed in 1905 and is now serv- ing as president of the commission. In politics, he is a Republican. is a life member of the Hamilton Club, and is also a member of the Midlothian and the University clubs, as well as of the Delta Tau
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Delta fraternity of the University of Illinois. His residence is at No. 408 Thirty-sixth place.
Well and prominently known as a banker and real estate dealer in Chicago, Henry Christian Hansen was born in the province of
HENRY C. HANSEN. Schleswig, Germany, October 8, 1840, a son of H. J. D. and Anna (Sonnichsen) Hansen. Mr. Hansen received his educational training in the public schools of Germany, and in the city of Deezbüll, that country, entered upon his mercantile career in connection with the dry goods business, on the Ist of May, 1856. At this place and in the city of Hamburg, he continued this vocation until coming to the United States, August 4, 1866.
Upon his arrival in this country, Mr. Hansen went to Wheeling, West Virginia, and thence to Chicago, where he located May 1, 1867, and during the following six years was employed as a clerk in a dry goods store. In May, 1873, he opened a merchandise establishment in Oak Park, but on the Ist of May, 1887, closed his affairs there and founded the real estate business which he has since so success- fully conducted. It will thus be seen that the month of May has marked very important epochs in Mr. Hansen's life. He has judi- ciously invested a large proportion of his profits in real estate, so that besides transacting an extensive general business in that line, he handles his own large properties in Oak Park and on the south side. He is an associate member of the Chicago Real Estate Board.
Mr. Hansen is also well known as a banker in the western sections of the city, and in 1892 became one of the founders of the Oak Park Trust and Savings Bank, which was first known as the Oak Park State Bank. Since the establishment of that institution he has been a director and served as its vice president, and in connection with his own prosperous real estate business has a large loan de- partment. Mr. Hansen's signal success in the conduct of his private affairs has marked him as a valuable factor in public affairs. In 1877 he served as collector of the town of Cicero, and in the following year commenced a creditable service of four years as a trustee.
In 1874 Mr. Hansen married Miss Catherine, a. daughter of Morris Gaugler, who came to this city in 1836. Four years later Mrs. Hansen was born in Chicago, her birth occurring in the family
THEN WEEK PUBLIC LIBRARY
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SCHPL
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homestead, which then stood near the site of the old water works. Her father was finally enabled to purchase a block in what became the business district of the city, the property eventually becoming very valuable and realizing a competency for the family.
Valentine Harrison Surghnor, a prominent real estate dealer and member of the Chicago Real Estate Board, is a native of Virginia,
born in Pruntytown, Taylor county, in whose dis-
VALENTINE H. SURGHNOR. trict schools he received his education. His an- cestors came to the United States in the early part of the seventeenth century and settled in the Old Dominion. His father, after whom he was named, was born in Loudon county, Virginia, and died at Hannibal, Missouri, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. His mother (nee Mary E. Brashear) was a native of Fauquier county. Virginia, and died in that city at the age of seventy.
Mr. Surghnor was educated in his native county of Virginia, and at the conclusion of his school days commenced his business career at Hannibal, Missouri, as a clerk in a dry goods store. At this time he was fifteen years of age. In 1866 he went to St. Louis, Missouri, and for three years was employed in a wholesale dry goods house, when he returned to Hannibal and entered the same line of business for himself. Thus he continued until 1875, when he sold out and engaged in the wholesale ice business. This latter prospered until 1881, when occurred the great flood of the Mississippi river, the most destructive ever known, which swept away his ice houses and so crippled him financially that he was forced to discontinue.
This temporary reverse induced Mr. Surghnor to come to Chi- cago, the time of his arrival being November, 1881. He at once established himself in the real estate business, and became an active and influential member of the board. In January, 1893, he was elected to the secretaryship, having during the year been quite prom- inent in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition. His enterprise and public spirit are well illustrated in the fact that he was the first subscriber of stock to that grand enterprise which ac- complished so much in spreading the name of Chicago over the world. He continued a strong factor in directing the affairs of the Chicago 'Real Estate Board, and in 1903 was elected to the vice
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presidency, his elevating influence upon its progress having endured until the present.
In politics, Mr. Surghnor is a Democrat. He is a member of the Calumet and Chicago Athletic clubs, and his fraternal affiliations are with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Masonry and the Knights of Pythias. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and his patriotic ancestry gives him membership in the Sons of the American Revolution. He resides at No. 83 East Twentieth street. Mr. Surghnor's wife was formerly Miss Lizzie Moffett, of Quincy, Illinois, and their marriage occurred in November, 1878. Mrs. Surghnor died August 20, 1890.
Calvin De Wolf, one of the earliest settlers of Chicago and among its beloved men of public affairs, was a native of Braintrim,
CALVIN Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, where he was born DE WOLF. on the 18th of February, 1815. His parents were Giles and Anna (Spaulding) De Wolf, the father having been born in Pomfret, Connecticut, and the mother in Caven- dish, Vermont. Under his father's faithful and able instruction he received the principal part of his educational training, and to this was added a short course in the Grand River Institute of Manual Labor, at Austinburg, Ohio. On the 31st of October, 1837, he ar- rived in Chicago, and from here made his way on foot to Hadley, Will county, Illinois, where he was placed in charge of a winter school. In the spring of 1838 he was employed as a teacher in the schools of Chicago, and was the first principal of the old Kinzie school, and devoted his leisure hours to the reading of law. Under the direction of Giles Spring and Grant Goodrich, he continued his studies, and was admitted to the bar in 1843.
In the meantime Mr. De Wolf was becoming known throughout this section of the state as the firm supporter and the earnest champion of liberty. In 1838 he participated in a historic meeting which was held at the corner of Clark and Lake streets in a saloon building, for the purpose of declaring against the mob and deploring the murder of Lovejoy at Alton. On the 16th of January, 1840, the Chicago Anti-Slavery Society was formed, and Mr. De Wolf was made its secretary. Subsequently he became one of the founders of the Western Citizen, and was treasurer of the committee that raised funds for its establishment.
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In 1854 Mr. De Wolf was elected a justice of the peace and served in that position for twenty-five consecutive years. He served as an alderman from 1856 to 1858, and was chairman of the com- mittee that revised the city ordinances and really devised the muni- cipal government now existing. He was again elected in 1868, and also served on the board of supervisors of Cook county for two terms. Before the breaking out of the Civil war Mr. De Wolf was indicted and arrested for assisting a runaway slave, described as "Eliza," and was out under bonds of $3,500, but after the success of the federal armies this indictment, with several others, was dis- missed by the United States district attorney.
In I841 Mr. De Wolf married Miss Frances Kimball, and they became the parents of five children, of whom three are living. Wal- lace Leroy De Wolf, the son, is a well known real estate dealer, con- trolling important business interests; Mary F. became the wife of Milo G. Kellogg, and Lucy Ellen is the widow of Robert T. Bell. All the children are residents of Chicago. The death of Calvin De Wolf occurred in the city of whose history he was such an insepara- ble part on the 30th of November, 1899.
Wallace Leroy De Wolf, chiefly engaged in the real estate and loan business, is a native of Chicago, son of Calvin and Frances
(Kimball) De Wolf, his father being a well known
WALLACE L. DE WOLF. pioneer and public man of the city. The younger De Wolf graduated from a Chicago high school and from the Union College of Law, receiving his degree of LL. B. from the latter institution. Soon after being admitted to practice by the supreme court of the state of Illinois, he turned his attention to the real estate business, with a specialty in manufacturing and ware- house property. He founded the firm of W. L. De Wolf & Co., his present associates in the business being Edgar A. White and John Gould. In 1897 Mr. De Wolf became identified with the Kellogg Switchboard and Supply Company as director and secretary of that company, and since 1901 has been its president.
Mr. De Wolf's wife, whom he married in Germany in 1890, was formerly Miss Mary Ridgely Rea, granddaughter of Nicholas H. Ridgely of Springfield, Illinois. In politics Mr. De Wolf has always affiliated with the Republican party, of which his honored father was one of the founders in this section of the state. He is a resident of
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Lake Forest, Illinois, and is identified with the Union League, Uni- versity, Kenwood, Midlothian, Onwentsia and Exmoor clubs.
Amos Percy Ballou, widely known for his successful mining operations in Mexico, with headquarters in the Merchants Loan and Trust building, Chicago, is a typical young busi-
AMOS P.
BALLOU. ness man of this city. He was born at Bradford, Miami county, Ohio, on the 26th of October, 1874. His father, Horace M. Ballou, was an editor for many years, and died when Amos P. was nine years of age, after which the family removed to Covington, Ohio, where the boy received his education (as to the common branches), afterward going to Chicago and pur- suing a course in the West Side Commercial College and the Soper School of Oratory and parliamentary law.
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