USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Historical review of Chicago and Cook county and selected biography, Volume III > Part 34
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Mr. Ballou commenced his business career with the Henry Sears Cutlery Company, but desiring to engage in a field where greater personal advancement was promised, went into the Chicago real estate business. Personally he assisted in developing several suburban sub- divisions, established and edited a paper in Evergreen Park and took an active interest in Republican politics, and held the office of treas- urer of Evergreen Park. These operations covered two years, from 1894 to 1896. His successful real estate operations brought him into close relationship with insurance men, and in 1899 he entered that field, securing the general agency of the Royal Union Mutual Life Insurance Company of Des Moines, Iowa. For two years he handled the business of this company to such mutual advantage that he was enabled to invest in substantial mining properties near Butte, Mon- tana. With a man of his shrewd and practical turn of mind, in- vestment meant close study and personal investigation, and, with the extension of his interests the study of mines and mining became more intimate and deep. Finding that the field was both fascinating and profitable, in 1902 he decided to devote himself exclusively to the development of his properties and the promotion of the interests of other owners. He has been especially impressed with the vast mineral wealth of Mexico, into which republic he has traveled extensively during the past five years, pronouncing it the "greatest field of min- eral wealth known to man." Realizing that the greatest drawback to the development of Mexico was its lack of transportation, he was largely instrumental in securing the first concession granted by
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the Mexican government to build a new railroad into the Alamos district of the Sonora interior.
Mr. Ballou is at the present time an officer and director of the Sonora Central Mines Company, a corporation capitalized at ten million dollars, into which all his large Mexican holdings have been consolidated. This company controls twenty mines of gold, silver and copper, and is an example of what brains and money can do in the mining world. In politics, he is an active Republican, and he proved his ability both as a speaker and a manager in the Mckinley campaign of 1896, and in local city politics. He is an active member of the Forty-first Street Presbyterian church, and, as a Mason, is identified with the Medinah Temple and Shrine, the Apollo Com- mandery, Delta Chapter and Mystic Star Blue Lodge. He is also a member of several literary organizations and Chicago clubs.
On June 10, 1896, Mr. Ballou was united in marriage with Miss Clara May Ruhl, of Covington, Ohio, and their child, Thelma May, is now ten years of age. The courtship which terminated in this happy marriage lasted ten years, having its beginning when they were school children together. Mrs. Ballou is a gifted musician, and actively interested in church work.
John Victor Fox, real estate renting and loans, was born in Beloit, Wisconsin, January 16, 1863, and is a son of James B. and Catherine
JOHN V. (Carroll) Fox. Mr. Fox was educated in the
Fox. . public schools of Lena, Freeport and Chicago. Illinois, and in 1882 entered the Chicago postoffice as chief clerk of the city delivery division and continued in that employment until 1889, when he resigned to enter in the real estate and loan business, in which he has been since that time actively en- gaged.
On June 4, 1902, he was married to Mary Louise Conway of Sioux City, Iowa. They have one son, John Victor, Jr. Mr. Fox is a Democrat, and a member of the Roman Catholic church. For five years ( 1883-7) he was a member of the First Regiment of the Illinois National Guard. He belongs to the Chicago Athletic, Chi- cago Yacht, Illinois Athletic, Jefferson, and Post Lake clubs, and resides at 279 Lake View avenue.
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William Frederick Grower, who has attained substantial stand - ing as a Chicago real estate dealer within comparatively recent years,
WILLIAM F. is a native of New York City, born July 23, 1860,
GROWER. being a son of Col. William Thomas Campbell Grower and Sarah E. (Jones) Grower. He re- ceived his primary education in a Brooklyn preparatory school, and subsequently pursued a special course at Columbia University, New York City.
Mr. Grower removed to Chicago in 1882 and for some years was engaged in the manufacture of machinery. He finally disposed of his interests in this business and in 1892 engaged in real estate, a field in which he has been active and progressive. Among his other large interests are those in connection with the receivership of the Unity building, to which he was appointed in 1899.
On April 18, 1888, Mr. Grower was united in marriage with Miss Emily Stell Rooks, of Chicago, their residence being at 964 Jackson boulevard. Mr. Grower is a member of the Loyal Legion and the following clubs: Chicago Athletic, Chicago Yacht, Illinois, Glen View and South Shore Country.
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The Insurance Business of Chicago
The local history of insurance, until the appalling ravages of the fire of 1871 caused such an upheaval in the field, is somewhat lifeless and monotonous. In the late forties there were only about half a dozen insurance agents in the city, who were taking risks on the wooden rookeries which then lined most of the main streets, and on the lives of the city's hardy pioneers. With the growth of the ship- ping interests centered here, marine insurance also obtained a foot- hold at an early day, but for many years fire, life and marine were virtually all the recognized divisions in the field. Within the past thirty years the field of insurance has been divided and sub-divided, classified, organized and developed, until the business is now so sys- tematized that the average citizen need take no great risks of financial losses, whatever happens to his property or himself. His property is insured against loss by fire, storms and accidents, as well as against burglars and thieves, and his business against the dishonesty of em- ployes. Whether employer or employe, life and health may be in- sured in numerous companies, and almost as many issue accident policies. Aside from the sick benefits which may be obtained through membership in the secret and benevolent orders, not a few com- panies now make this the main feature of their business. Because of this intricate classification and division of the business, it has been impossible to obtain a definite idea of the grand total of insurance placed in Chicago for any given year. A fair picture of the progress and present status of fire insurance may be drawn, however, and as this class of business comprises the great bulk of the total, the figures are forcibly suggestive of the magnitude of the transactions in all lines.
In 1856, when the Chicago Board of Underwriters was formed, there were some ten fire insurance agents in Chicago, representing forty companies. Ten years afterward the number of agents was about the same, but their business had greatly increased, and there were twice as many companies. At the time of the Chicago fire of 1871, 201 companies were represented in the burnt district, and of the total estimated loss ($185.000,000), these companies were car- rying $100,225,000. They paid to property owners over $50,000,000,
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and sixty-eight of the 201 insurance companies went into liquidation. Of this number twenty-six companies were New York concerns and seventeen were Chicago organizations. Outside of the orient, at the time of the fire there was no city of the size of Chicago in the world which had so large a proportion of wooden buildings, but from their ruins, as well as from the havoc of the local fire insurance business, came something great and enduring. The fire of 1874, which swept fifteen blocks below Van Buren street, on the south side, virtually completed the razing of wooden Chicago. But the Chicago Fire Patrol had been organized for nearly three years, other agencies had been put in motion by the Board of Underwriters, and thereafter the entire business progressed along modern lines. A second fire insur- ance patrol was organized in 1875 for special service on the west side, and in 1881, with the co-operation of the great packing interests, a third patrol was equipped and housed in the stock yards district. There are now eight of these patrols, of which number seven are supported entirely by the Chicago Board of Underwriters. The stock yards patrol is maintained jointly by the board and the Union Stock Yards and Transit Company. The patrols have been of incalculable benefit to property owners and to the insurance companies, and are the mediums by which the Board of Underwriters collect the sta- tistics of fire losses throughout the city. The union of the two systems is intimate, and the combination is one of the triumphs of the insurance business.
Within the past twenty years the fire insurance business in Chi- cago has increased nearly three-fold. In 1889 the premiums paid the 200 or more companies in Chicago amounted to $3,826,000, and in 1908 (at the average maintained for the first ten months of the year) they will total about $11,000,000. As the premium averages one per cent of the value of the insured property, it requires but an operation in common arithmetic to get at the total amount of insur- ance placed by the fire companies from year to year. Of the 600 agents, representing some 300 companies, now doing business in Chi- cago, less than one-fifth are classed as life insurance.
The following table covering nineteen years, to which the above is introductory, was furnished by the Chicago Board of Under- writers, through the courtesy of R. N. Trimingham, who has served
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as its secretary since 1885, when the old board and one formed in 1880 united to form the present organization :
Year. Premiums.
Losses. Year. Premiums.
Losses.
1889 .. $3,826,747
$2,250,47I
1899
. 6,533,029
5,740,058
1890 . . 4,036,02.5
2,074,856 1900 . . 6,977,095 3,080,054 1891 . . 4,251,192
3,292,045
190I . . 7,359,110 4,614,869 1892 . 4,578,897 3,640,257
1902 8,229,083
4,729,072
1893 . 4,530,252
3,679,697
1 903 . 8,432,382 4.768,685
I894 . . 5.358,452
4,717,948
1904 . . 9,004,296
4.514,423
1895 . . 5,657,782
3,877,296
1905 . . 9,470,867 4,578.710
1896 .. 5,669,935
2,813,634
1906 . . 10, 139,263 4,730,846
1897 . . 6,321,405
3,708,076
1907 . . 10,276,332
5,246,384
1898 .. 5,936,578 4,071,710
As the year 1908 will show an increase in both premiums and losses over that of 1907, the total figures for the twenty years will indicate that the premiums paid the insurance companies of Chicago amounted to about $140,000,000 and the losses sustained by them to about $80,000,000, or substantially 55 per cent. It is likewise evi- dent that for several years past the fire insurance business of Chicago has reached a figure considerably over $1,000,000,000, and that for the two decades something like $14,000,000,000 has passed through the coffers of the insurance companies doing business in this city.
If any one man can justly be considered the father of fire insur- ance in the west that noteworthy individual is certainly the late Wil- liam E. Rollo, founder of the business now con-
WILLIAM E. ROLLO. ducted by his son, William F. Rollo, and W. Dix Webster under the firm name of Rollo, Webster & Co. The movement to the west spread through the elder Rollo by means of his leading connection with the old and substantial Girard Fire & Marine Insurance Company of Philadelphia. William E. Rollo was not only a great insurance man, but he proved himself a Chicago citizen of the broadest and most useful activities in the fur- therance of artistic, scientific and charitable movements. He was in- tensely practical, of boundless energy, possessed of a mind and a soui which made him a leader among men of affairs.
The Rollo family is of ancient Scotch descent, the first to come to America being Alexander Rollo, who located in East Haddam, Connecticut, in 1685. William E. Rollo was a native of Connecti-
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cut, born in the year 1821, and when he was about five years of age his parents removed to South Windsor in that state. He was edu- cated at the public schools and academy of East Hartford, graduat- ing from the latter when seventeen years old. It was shortly after this period of his life that Mr. Rollo left home. going first to Elling- ton, Connecticut, where he became a clerk in the general store of A. S. & J. A. Gillett. Here, as in every community of which he became a member, he showed a rare concentration of mind upon the business in hand, without allowing himself to be blinded to the desirability, if not necessity, of culture in the higher things in life. For instance, he took a deep interest in music and became the leader of a church choir of sixty-five persons at Ellington. In 1844 was solemnized his marriage with Miss Jane T. Fuller, a lady of fine family and char- acter. Her people were direct descendants of Edward Fuller, who was one of the Mayflower heroes, while her grandfather was a min- ute-man at Bunker Hill. and her father, Asa Fuller, was brigadier general of the Connecticut state militia. After his marriage, Mr. Rollo removed to Chicopee. Massachusetts, and shortly after to Co- lumbus, Ohio, where he engaged in the fire insurance business. While living in Columbus he represented the Springfield Fire Insurance of Springfield, Massachusetts, as its first agent in what was then the west. Later he located at Covington, Kentucky, and opened a fire insurance agency at Cincinnati, Ohio. From Covington, Mr. Rollo went to New York to continue his insurance work, but his first real prominence in his chosen field dates from his later connection with the Girard Fire & Marine Insurance Company, of Philadelphia, of which he was made general agent, with headquarters in that city. While handling the business of that company he became familiar with Chicago and the west, and with his usual foresight, perceiving the great future of that city and adjacent territory, he decided to locate there and became a resident of Chicago in 1859, continuing in the insurance business as general western agent of the Girard Company.
In 1864. at the request of prominent merchants and business men of the city, he assisted in the organization of the Merchants' Insur- ance Company. This institution proved to be the most successful western insurance company up to the time of the great fire of 1871, and its unusual growth was mainly due to the energy, ability and es-
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tablished reputation of the virtual founder. In common with many other concerns of like character, however, its business was wiped out by the great fire, and Mr. Rollo resumed the western general agency of the Girard Company, continuing to perform the duties of that po- sition until his death, May 13, 1901, at the age of eighty years. For nearly twenty-five years his son, William F. Rollo, had been asso- ciated in the business with him, and the latter continues the general agency established by his father under the name of Wm. E. Rollo & Son. After the fire Mr. Rollo organized and was secretary of the Traders' Fire Insurance Company of Chicago, but after being identi- fied with it for two and one-half years resigned. As an inducement to retain him the directors offered him the presidency, which, for per- sonal reasons, he thought best to decline.
The deceased was one of the governing members of the Chicago Art Institute and a charter member of the Academy of Sciences and was altogether a very liberal supporter of all practical movements for the public good. His individual charities were also numerous, al- though modestly bestowed, and his personal character was of the strongest fibre and highest quality. He was a fine citizen as well as a great insurance man.
William Fuller Rollo, senior member of the firms of William E. Rollo & Son and of Rollo, Webster & Co., is a native of Philadelphia,
WILLIAM F. born on the 15th of February, 1860, son of Wil-
ROLLO. liam E. and Jane (Fuller) Rollo. He received an academic education, and since boyhood has been en- gaged in the fire and marine insurance business. When he was seven- teen years of age (in 1877) he entered the general office of his father, William E. Rollo, who had established an agency in 1859, the year prior to the birth of William F.
Mr. Rollo's present business is a continuation of that founded by his father nearly fifty years ago, the firm of Rollo, Webster & Co. being successors to William E. Rollo & Co. Mr. Rollo is also west- ern representative of the Girard Fire & Marine Insurance Company, of Philadelphia, and a director of that corporation.
Married at Chicago, January 31, 1882, to Miss Mary Rice Smith, Mr. Rollo has become the father of five children, as follows: Cath- erine S., William E., Thomas R., Jane F. and John N. The family residence is at No. 2003 Sheridan road. Mr. Rollo is well known
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in club life, being a member of the Hamilton, Chicago Athletic, Illi- nois and Evanston clubs. In politics he is a Republican, but is best known as one of the most reliable representatives of the insurance fraternity in Chicago.
James Hills Moore, one of the most prominent fire insurance men in the country, has the unique distinction of having personally rep-
JAMES H. resented the Hartford Insurance Company in Chi-
MOORE. cago for forty-four years, a longer period than any other man has represented any insurance company in the city. Mr. Moore is a native of Windham, New Hampshire, and was born on the 4th of July, 1840, the son of Silas and Hannah Moore. Until 1856 he was acquiring an education in the public schools of his native town and at Chester Academy; after he came west he continued his studies at Mendota, (Ill.) College until 1859. He then located in Elgin, Illinois, where he was employed in the El- gin Bank from 1859 to July. 1861. At that time he enlisted in the Thirty-sixth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for a three-years' term of service in the Civil war, being promoted to quartermaster of the Seventy-first Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with the rank of first lieutenant. At the expiration of the regimental term of service Mr. Moore was employed in the commissary department of the Army of the Potomac, and participated in the battles of Freder- icksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.
At the conclusion of his military service in 1863 Mr. Moore came to Chicago and found employment with the insurance firm of L. D. Olmsted & Co., of which his brother. S. M. Moore, was the insurance managing partner, and later became a member of S. M. Moore & Co .; Moore & Janes ; Moore, Janes, Lyman & Herrick, and Moore, Case, Lyman & Herrick. Of the last named he is now the senior partner, his firm representing not only the Hartford Insurance Com- pany, but other leading companies both in the United States and Eu- rope. Altogether the agency is one of the most prosperous and pro- gressive in the country. Personally, Mr. Moore has been a member of nearly every underwriting organization ever founded in Chicago. and for two years served as president of the Chicago Fire Underwrit- ers' Association. The offices of the firm are at No. 159 LaSalle street.
Mr. Moore has been twice married-first at Chicago on the 10th
James Amore
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of October, 1865, to Miss Nannie D. Warner, and, secondly, in the same city, April 15, 1889, to Miss Julia St. C. Tuthill. The children are as follows: F. W. Moore, married, residing at 4509 Greenwood avenue, and an active partner in the insurance firm of Moore, Case, Lyman & Herrick; Mrs. Ida E. Clark, living at 4430 Sidney avenue ; John J. Moore, married, residing at 4435 Sidney avenue, and man- ager of the liability department of the firm above mentioned; Mar- garet and Harold T. Moore, who live at home. The family residence is at 4433 Greenwood avenue. Aside from the professional organiza- tion with which Mr. Moore has been so long a strong factor, lie is widely known for his connection with organizations of a social and political character. He was one of the founders of the Union League Club, which has accomplished so much for the commercial and civic progress of Chicago; has been a constant and active member of it, and served for one term as its vice president. He has also long been identified with the Saddle and Sirloin Club, of the Stock Yards. He has been a lifelong and earnest member of the Congregational church, having been connected with the First and South Congrega- tional organizations of Chicago for more than forty years, during a great portion of that period as an officer.
Although comparatively young in years as an insurance man, Frederick Warner Moore has been a progressive figure in the fire FREDERICK W. MOORE. insurance field for more than two decades, and is now a member of the strong firm of Moore. Case. Lyman & Herrick. He is a native of Chicago, born November, 27, 1867, and the son of James H. and Nancy A. (War- ner) Moore. His education was obtained in the schools of Chicago, both public and high, as well as in the Hinsdale (Ill.) high school.
In 1886 Mr. Moore commenced his insurance career with Moore & Janes, of which firm his father was the senior partner. He con- tinued with this firm until 1895, when he was received as a member. and remained associated with the business after its consolidation with the agency of Lyman & Herrick in 1901.
In 1897 Mr. Moore married Miss Minnie B. Googins, and the home residence is at 4509 Greenwood avenue. He is a Republican and identified with the Congregational church; is also a member of the Union League and Chicago Congregational clubs.
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Charles Hosmer Case, now in the seventy-ninth year of his age. is one of the pioneer underwriters of the west and prominent in sev-
eral fields of work outside the business of insur-
CHARLES H. CASE. ance, in which he also has acquired eminence. He was active in the field of his profession for more than forty years, retiring from it in 1897. For many years he was manager for the northwestern states of the Royal Insurance Com- pany of England, and in the early 'Sos superintended the erection of the magnificent building constructed by that company in Chicago. Besides being a master of the intricacies of insurance, Mr. Case has delved deep into such studies as electricity, bacteriology, psychology and archæology, and is, further, one of the leading figures in Con- gregationalism in the west. He has also been prominent in tem- perance and charitable work in the city, and has proved his true worth, as well as his broad ability, in many fields of activity.
Mr. Case is a son of Vermont, born at Coventry, September 8. 1829, the son of Rev. Lyman and Phoebe ( Hollister) Case. He ob- tained his education in the public schools of Vermont and at Bakers- field Academy, graduating from the latter in 1851. Fifty years afterward Wheaton College, of which he had been a trustee since 1890, conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. Mr. Case came west in 1852, and for several years taught a private academy at War- saw, Illinois, and proved so efficient in his educational work that he was advanced to the position of superintendent of schools at that place. In 1862, after spending five years in this position, he en- tered the insurance phase of his career to the exclusion of all other business.
The Home Insurance Company of New York first claimed Mr. Case's services as an adjuster and special agent, and he served in the same capacity for the Insurance Company of North America, of Philadelphia. In 1867 he removed to Chicago and added to his other responsibilities the management of a local fire insurance agency, and in 1871 he accepted the appointment of manager for the northwest of the Royal Insurance Company of England. Mr. Case continued to discharge the duties of the latter important office until his retire- ment from the insurance field altogether, in 1897. While thus en- gaged the responsible work devolved upon him of superintending the
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erection of the company's great building opposite the Chicago Board of Trade, its construction being commenced in 1883 and completed in 1885, at a cost of more than a million dollars.
At the time of the Chicago fire of 1871 Mr. Case had the agency for five large companies, and was also assistant general agent and ad- juster of the Insurance Company of North America. From the con- flagration he saved his maps and papers, but lost the cash then in the office tills. He had $40,000 on deposit in the First National Bank, and his was the first check to go through the Chicago Clearing House, its payment going toward the meeting of losses. Mr. Case advertised that he would pay all losses for which his companies were responsible and he had the satisfaction of living strictly up to the letter of his promise. During this time of unparalleled trial for the insurance men of the country, and especially Chicago, he acted as chairman of the committee which comprised fifty adjusters.
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