History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 144

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 875

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JACON WAKERI.I was born in Switzerland May 29, 1830, and after leaving school was employed in a rug factory. le came 10 Chicago in August, 1863, and early in 186g enlisted in the gth Illinois Vahinteer C'avalry, and served one year, after which he went to St. Joseph, Mo., where he was employed in a butchering establishment, Returning to Chicago in 1867, he subsequently opened a meat market, and in April, 19;2, moved to Hlyde l'ark. lle is the whilest in the business In this lowality, and has a large trule, Mr. Wakerli is a charter member of the 1, 1). O. F., Hyde Park Lodge, No. 722.

GEORGE WILLARD was born April 15, 1839, in the village of Natural Bridge, Jefferson Co., N. V., of Johnson and Margaret (Becker) Willard; the father, a native of Worcester, Mass .. having removed to Jefferson County in 1805. lle was descended in the fifth generation from Simon Willard, who emigrated from Iluts- monden, Kent Co., England, in Boston. Mass,, in 1034, aged twenty-nine years. Benjamin, n son of Simon, was for many years a resident of Worcester, Mass,, and died there in 1732, Joseph, a son of Benjamin, was for fifty years a resident of Grafton, Mass .. and died shere in $774. Isaac, a son of Joseph, was for many years a resilent of Worcester, Mass,, and died there in 18oh; hs was the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch. George came West in 1858, and settled permanently in Chicago in tout. In 1803 he began the study of law under Sanford H. Perry, and in 1864 became a law clerk with Blodgett & Winston. In that year he served three months in the 132d Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Ile graduated from what is now known as the Union College of Law in 1965, and was admitted to the Bar the sune year. Ile re- mained with the firm until 1870, when he was appointed local at- torney of the Chicago & North-Western Railway Company, and assistant solicitor of the l'ennsylvania company in 1873: he hekl both positions until 1875, and the latter, with slight interruptions. until 1881. Since 1899 he has been of the firm of Willard & Driggs, solicitars at Chicago for the Pennsylvania company and several other railway corporations. Mr. Willard was secretary and Treasurer of the Western Railway Association from 1820 to 1575. aud Master In Chancery of the Circuit Court from 1572 to 18;s. lle was married November 6. 1865, 10 Fannie 1., a daughter of William and Margaret (Wiggins) Rodden, of Burlington, Vt .. by whom he has had four children-George Ritorn. William Bod. gelt, Bessie and Grace. He has made his resideme in 1lvde Park

555

HISTORY OF HYDE PARK.

since 1868, and was twice elected Treasurer of the village. Ile is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and a Republican in politics,

HENRY WILLIAM WOLSELEY was born November 3. 1849, in Liverpool, England, son of Rev. Robert W. Wolseley, a clergyman of the Church of England, and cousin of the now cele- brated General Lord Wolseley, of Egyptian fame. The maiden name of his mother was Georgina Nixon, of County Carlow, Ireland. In 1863 young Wolseley left St. Peter's College, York, where he was prosecuting his studies, and went to sea; prompted by a cherished inclination for a sea-faring life and for his health. He entered the merchant marine, in that branch known as tea-ships of that day, where he rose to the position of mate, and served seven years. In 1571 he came to America, selling in Chicago, where he began the study of law in 1872 in the office of Norman C. Per- kins, He was admitted in the Bar of Illinois in June, 18;4: and went Immediately into the practice of his profession. January 15, 1880, Mr. Wolseley was married 10 Ella C. Williams, of Lincoln, Neb., by whom he has one daughter-Alice. Mr. and Mrs. Wolse- ley are members of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, of Ilyde l'ark, where they have resided since 1880; and Mr. Wolseley is a vestry. man of that Church. He has been a Mason since 1874: being l'asl Master of Covenant Lodge, No. 526; and a Knight 'T'emplar since 1876.

SOUTH PARK.

South Park is hardly a separate village or hamlet ; its individuality is completely absorbed by that of Hyde Park-the station alone perpetuating the cogno- men. This, however, is but a recent name for the station. On December 12, 1863, Charles Augustus Norton came to the vicinage of South Park. There then was a stopping. place for trains, and such stopping- place was dignified by the name of Woodpile; there the locomotive gathered ligneous food. The name was changed shortly afterward to Woodville, and then, by consent of Mr. Norton, to South Park. The first depot there was an old log building, and the ultima thule in those days was deemed to be the vicinity of South Park. It was one vast swamp. Closely contig- uous to the quasi depot was an old tree that was used by the soldiers camped near there in war times as a post-office. Mr. Norton was born in Charlestown, Ohio-the town being named after his grandfather- in 1826, and was a graduate of the law school of Cambridge, Mass., also from the school of the Western Reserve, Ohio. He came to Chicago in 1854, and went into the real estate business; resuming the prac- tice of law in 1858 with James M. Hill, of Oakland, and subsequently with Paul Cornell. He married, on September 30, 1858, Miss Lucy Bond, a grand-niece of Judge Reeves, of Litchfield, Conn., the gentleman who first kept law school in America. Mrs. Norton states that the earliest residents of the vicinity of South Park were the Fassetts, Roots, Downs and Wrights. The only distinctive feature of South Park is its name, associating it with the vast system of parks described elsewhere, and the magnificent depot, costing $30,000, erected by the Illinois Central Rail- road. Mr. Norton died on February 12, 1872.

THE SOUTH PARK HOTEL. was built about 1874 by a Mr. Hoyt, and after a varied course of existence as a hotel, was destroyed by fire October 25, 1883. A description of the destruction is thus given in the Chicago Times of the 26th of October :

At an early honr yesterday morning the South Park Hotel, situated at the northwest corner of Fifty-first Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, in the town of Hyde Park, was burned to the ground. At 4:15 o'clock a colored cook named Williams, employed in the hotel, was aroused from his sleep by the strong smell of smoke, and on arising discovered fire in the rear part of the building in a room usually occupied by Mrs.

Chandler, the wife of the proprietor, Tom Chandler, of pugilistic notoriety. He at once aroused Chandler and then the other inmates, seven or eight in number. The building being built of wood, and well seasoned, was in a few minutes a mass of flames, the inmates having time only to gather up a few articles and escape with their lives. A strong southeast wind, accom- panied by blinding rain, was blowing at the time. Two streams, with a water pressure of over one hun- dred pounds, were at once directed toward the burn- ing building, one from the east and the other from the opposite direction. It was soon seen, however, that the attempt to save the building was useless, and an effort was then made to save some of the contents. Two pianos and a small amount of furniture were taken out and placed in an adjoining lot. In the meantime a large crowd, principally composed of stock-yards toughs, had gathered. Fire Marshal Crapo, of Hyde Park, seeing that his force of two men was unable to handle the stream, so great was the pressure, called for assistance from the crowd, but no response followed. A large number of hangers-on had gained admittance to the house and to the store-room and proceeded to make free use of the cigars and liquors therein. The scene was one of intense confusion on all sides, and can better be imagined than described. The building was in an hour a mass of ruins. Tom Chandler, the proprietor, stated that his loss was in the neighborhood of $18,000. The building was a two-story and attic fratne structure, about one hundred and twenty-five by fifty feet, and was built in 1873. It was owned by Charles F. Miller, of Milwaukee. One of the Hyde Park firemen, named Adams, had his hands badly scorched by the flames, and Crapo himself had his neck blistered. The firemen remained at their posts, playing on the smouldering ruins, until ten o'clock.

A project is in agitation whereby a large plat of residence property near the station will be subdivided, a large number of first-class houses, with all modern improvements, erected thereupon, and this residence property thrown upon the market for sale and lease. Judicious speculation will find ample opportunity for its exhibit in this enterprise, as the locality is a favortie one for residences.

SOUTH PARK BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JAMES FRANKLIN ALDRI'HE was born in 1853 in Two Rivers, Wis., of William and Anna Mary ( Howard) Aldrich. The father is the well-known ex-member of Congress from the First Illi- nois district, who served from 1876 10 1882, and is of early New England ancestry. The mother is descended from John Howard, the English philanthropist (1726-90). They removed to Chicago in 1961, where young Aldrich received an academic education. Ile afterwards entered the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, of Troy. N. Y., where he graduated in 1577 as a civil engineer. Returning hume, he went into oil manufacturing at Grand Crossing, in the Chicago Linseed Oil Company, of which he was the secretary and general manager for nver four years. Since then he has been in the commission grain business, on the Board nf Trade, being now the senior member of the firm of Aldrich, Norton & Co. He is a member of the Western Society of Engineers and of the Union League Club, and is a Republican in politics. November 13. 1875, Mr. Allrich was married to Lulu M., a daughter of General T. T. Sherman, and grand-daughter nf Francis C. Sherman, three times Mayor of Chicago, and builder of the Sherman House. They are The parents of Three children; are members of the Episcopal Church, and have resided in Hyde Park since the fall of 1881.

JOHN IRA BENNETT was born November 27, 1831 .in Otsego County, N. Y., of Joseph and I.ydia (Birdsall) Bennell, who were members of the Society of Friends, In 1843 the family settled in Knox County, Ill., but in 1846 returned and look up Their residence in Delaware County. In 1849 J. 1. Bennett became a pupil of Charlotte Academy where, in 1850, he became a Jeacher as well as student. In 1851 he entered Union College, and grad- uated in 1854. From August, 1854, lo June, 1857, he was principal

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556

HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY.

of liberty Academy at Springfieldl, Teun. Meanwhile he had studied law and was admitted to the Bar of Tennessee in June, 1857. A month later he was admitted in Illinois, and began the practice of his profession at Calva, Mellenry County. During the Rebellion, being disabled by sickness for service in the field, he rendered all the aid in his power to the Union cause-as a member of the fiorerx's staff, by promoting enlistments, aud otherwise. He was presidential elector im the Republican ticket in 156g. In 1565 he was admitted in practice in United States courts, For two years he owned the fialva Union, and was a member of the Board of Education. He was interested in coal mines besides at- tending to his profession, and was the unsuccessful competitor of Judge Pleasants for the Bench of that elrenit. In June, 1872, he Temoved to t'hieago, taking up his residence in Hyde Park, where Is was elected a Village Trustee, and chosen I'resident in 1578 and 1529. In the latter year he was appointed a master in chamvery of the United States rourt- in northern Illinois, which office he still Iwolds. In t555. at Henderson, Ky .. Mr. Bennett was married to Miss Maria 1 .. Reynolds, a native of Delaware County, N. V. : they are the parents of seven children-Fannie, Turn in 1550. now Mrs. W. 1'. Nelson, of Ilyde l'ark; Frank Ira, born in isss and admit- ted to the Bar in istu; Freil Fulter, in 1500, Allen Lewis, in 1965: fieorge, in 186;, John in t870, and Will in 1973.

JAMES CLINTON CALHOUN was born in May, 1824. in West Charlton, Saratoga Cu., N. V., son of James and Marion 1 Boyd) Calhoun, The father was a manufacturer of woolen goods for many years-alsu a fariner, and died in llelvoir. Kan., after three years' residence, in 1879, aged ninety-two, Both Hoyds and Calhouns are of Scotch origin. Voung Calhoun received must of his early education near Utica, N. Y., and in Kaudulph, N. Y .. whither his parents hail removed while he was yel a child. A check and accountant in several stores from 1939) to tico, he formed in the latter year a connection with the Atlantic & Great Western Railway, which lasted seventeen years, in almost every capacity except that of president. From 1868 to t$70 he was in the employ of the Erie Radway Company as auditor; from 1870 10 1974 secre- tary and treasurer of the Glenwom Coal Company-a Jay Gontil corporation; from 1874 to 1876 secretary and treasurer of the Knickerbocker C'oal Company, and since 1577 treasurer of the {'hi- cagn & Eastern Illinois Railway Company. In tio he married Mary 1. Hulstander, of New York City, who died in tr64. In 1868 he marriedl Martha 1 .. Baker, of V'inriunati, Dhio. Ile joined the Masonic Dorder in 1565, becoming a Royal Arch Masun in 1866; and in politics, is a Republican.

JOHN WILLIAM DRANT was born in 1$53, In Hull, En- gland, being the fourth son of fieurge and Margaret (Hodgson) Drant. The family came to the I'nited Mates, and settled in Chicago in vifs. In 1868 young Drant began to learn the busi- ness of an engraver with Harly, the well-known New York artist in that line. In 1873 he returned to Chicago, going into business on his own account, and in 1877 formed a partnership with Walter F. Hawtin, under the style of Drant & Hawtin, which still con- tinue -. The finu has had a steady growth in the volume of busi- ness done from year to year, in keeping with the unprecedented development of the city. In 1879 Mr. Prant married K. 1 ... a dlanghter of Colonel 11. Pease, of Chicago. They have one chill, Chester, born in 1881. In tes3 Mr. Itrant bought some griend In Hyde Park, near South l'ark Station, as the site of a permanent home.

HENRY VARNI'M FREEMAN. lawyer, was born in Bridgeton, N. J., December 20, 1842, of Massachusetts parentage. The family moved to Ilinos in t456, and the father, Henry, was superintendent of schools af Rockford from sabo to 1881. The mwither's maiden name was Mary B. Bangs, of Brewster, Mass. Through both parents Me. Freeman is ilesemkal from the early settlers of Massachusetts; his grandfather, Solumon, was a member of the Massachusetts Senate from Barnstable t'ounty for twenty years, succeeding his father, Solomon who had served twenty-two years, and had previously been a Judge for many years. The urig- inal immigrant was Edmund Freeman, who settleil in the I'lymouth I'nlony in 1635. Ileury V. was prepared for college at lieloil. W'is , tant went into the army in Angust. 1862, and serred to the emil of the war, arriving home July 3, 1865, Ile enlisted as a pri- vate, but was soon made Orderly Sergeant, and on August 24. 1863. was promoted in a captaincy, serving in the Army of the Cumber. Lind. At the opening of the fall term in 1565, he entered Vale College, where he graduated] in 1369. He spent some time in the law offices of Rich & Noble, and of King. Futt & Payson, of Chi- cago, where he was admitted to the Bar in 1570 aml entered on the practice of his profession. Innneiliately after the fire he was one year principal of the high school of Charleston, Coles Co., II !. On his return in t872, he went to reside in Hyde Park, and re- sumed the practice of law in the courts of Chicago. He was mat. ried October 16, 1873, to Miss Mary 1 ... a daughter of Kev. William 'S, Curtis, a Presbyterian clergy man, formerly a professor al Ann

Arbor, and at Hamilton College, and president of Knox College, at fialesburg. III. From 1876 to 1879 Mr. Freeman was associatel with Mr. Hanney in the practice of law, but since then has been atime. In 1877 he was chosen attorney of the village of Hade J'ark. Like their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Freeman are members of the Presbyterian Church: they have three children -- Mabel 11, luon November 21, 1874; Mary Ethel, November 11, 15;6. Eleleg. October 8, 1882.

NICHOLAS HIU'NT was born in 1548, in Ireland. and imme- grated to the United States in 186t, settling in Fast Troy. N. Y .. with his brother John, who is now Supervisor of the Tenth Ward. lit t 969 yonng Ilunt cante to Chicago, and obtained employment from the South Park Commissioners. September 15. t87t. he was enrolled as a patrolman of the town of Ilyde Park. In nést de was promuted tu the position of captain of police for the whole vil lage. which he still holds- in 1874 Mir, Hunt was married to Miss Johanna C'ruminins, a native of Dunkirk, N. V., but a resadent of Chicago since 1870; they are the parents of three children-Mich- ael, in 1574: Annie, in 1876, and Nellie, in 1878.

WILLIAM ALLEN DIMSTED was born May 20, 1813. io Leyden. Lewis Co .. N. Y., son of Dr. William J. and Nosan Sophia (Colburn) Dimsted. Having received an academic educa- lum at the Oneida Conference Seminary in Cazenovia, Mr. Olmsted came West in 1864, settling first at Cedar Rapids, lowa, where he laught school for four years. He then came to Chicago to fill the position of corresponsling clerk for .1. 11. Andrews, with whom he Tetnained one year, when he again took the superintendency of the high school of C'edar Kapils for two years, "In 1572 he returned to Chicago as superintendent of the National School Furniture Company, with whom he remained until the close of 15 ;; , With the opening uf 1875 he went into Imsiness on his own account. as manufacturer and importer of schwal supplies; handling amorz other giunls the superior maps of W. & .A. K. Johnston, of Edin- burgh, In 1576 Mr. Olmsted married Miss Ilelen Maria, a daughter of E. B. Hohlen, of Turin. N. V., by whom he has one chili-Mia Helen, born September 13, 1850. He has resided in Ilyile Park since 1874, is a member of the Prediterian Church, a Republican in politics, and a strenuous advocate of high license.

FREDERICK K ROOT was born in \'hicago in 1959, oldest living child of Hun. James P. and Anna 1Machin! Root. Alter graduating from the high school at llyde l'ark he took a partial course at the Chicago University. In toys he was appointed Deputy Clerk of the I'nok L'ounty Court, and held the position five years. In January, t$$3, he was elected assistant secretary of the State Senate, serring une session. On his return from springfield he was appointed in May, 1883, superintenilens of the special- assessment department uf Hyde Park, created that spring by the Board of Trustees, which position he still holds, In 18st Mr. Root marriedl Maggie E., a daughter of Henry MeCrackea, for. merly a latel-keeper in Hamilton, Canada, but then residing is Chicago, where he died in 1883. Mr. and 3]rs. Root are members of the First I'resbyterian Church of lyde l'ark, where they reside. and where their first child, Frederick James, was born in 1852 In pulities, Mr. Ruot follows in the footsteps of his father, and is a strenuous Republican.

JAMES P. ROOT was born July 22, 1830, In Madison Commy. N. Y., whenve his parents removed to Lockport, Ill., in 1937, and returned to New York in 1840. Haring received an academic ed- ucation at Oneisla and Seneca Falls, N. Y , he became a tracker before he was nineteen. October 3. 1853. he was adminet to the Bar at Syracuse, after having studicd law under some of the mete prominent lawyers of central New York. In 1854 he came tu Chicago and entered the law office of Judd & Frink, 10 olitain the necessary familiarity with the statutes and methods nf procedure in Illinois. In ts55 he opened an office on his own account: and in 1838 formed the firm of Runt & Walker-the latter afterward wJe Cinernor of Virginia. In 1963 he was chosen president of thr lar Institute. Itriginally a Free-Soil Whig. he early gave his adhesi'u to the Republican party, and was a delegate to its tint Republican contention in Chicago, tn 1864 he was secretary of the State t'entral Committee. In 1869 he was clerk of the Lower House, in the State Legislature, and in 1870 was elected a member of that Ixaly, to represent Cook County ; he was chosen speaker pro tem .. and during the session introduced the existing general law of im- corporation for other than municipal purposes, In 1872 he was appointed attorney uf Cook County. He was president of the Re- publican Mate L'onvention for three years. In 1875 he was sostei. ate city counsel before the Circuit anil Supreine courts in the C'ofrin cases; anıl in 1875-76 he gave a course of lectures before the 1 pre College of Law. In 1876 he was a member of the Republican National Convention, and chairman of the western branch there l and it was largely owing to his efforts that the convention of 199 1 was held in Chicago, In the great contest about seating l'res Hayes, he was one of the counsel for his party before the FI Contusion but since then has taken mi actnepri np

557

HISTORY OF HYDE PARK.

From 1877 10 1981 he was a member of the State Board of Equal- ization by appointment, and since 188t by election, October 2. 1856, he was married 10 Anna, a daughter of Rev. C'harles Machin. of Verona, Oneida Co., N. Y. They are the parents of five children and have one grand-child. They removed 10 Hyde Park in 1861, where Mr. Root filled the position of school director in 1862, 1863 and 1864, and achieved some reputation among his lownsmen as a prudent officer.

EDWARD RVAN WOODLE was born March 8, 1853, in Janesville, Wis., son of Isaac and Cornelia (Sheldon) Woodle; the father was a lawyer, and was interested in securing the charter of the Chicago & Rock River Valley Railroad; now a part of the Chi- cago & North-Western. Ile died in Janesville April 3. 1861. The mother was the second daughter of General William B. Sheldon, originally of Delhi, Crawford Co., N. V., and later of Milwaukee and Janesville: she died In May, 1867. Young Woodle studied al Racine College, graduating In the class of 1873, and has since re- ecived the degree of A. M. from his alma mater; he then studied law under Samuel Randles, of Waukesha, and afterward entered the Law School of Madison University; whence he graduated in 1875 with the degree of LL. H., and was admitted to the Har of Wisconsin. In 1876 he came to Chicago, entering the law office of Isham & Lincoln, and in 1377 was admitted to the Bar of Illinois, In April, 1878, he entered the service of the law department of the Illinois Central Rallroad Company: a position he still holds. Mr. Woodle is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Hyde l'ark, where he has resided since 1977.

SOUTH PARK SYSTEM.

Everything that has made a permanent and exten- sive mark in the histories of nations will be found capable of being traced to a germinative idea in the brain of one individual. Confraternities may carry on and amplify the work succeeding to the thongin ; the thought was in the brain of one man. Galvani and the frog-legs ; Watt and the tea-kettle ; Frank- lin and the kite : Daguerre and the nitrate of silver, all were embryonic gems of thought, whose expan- sion, by the brains and actions of others, has been illimitable. And the atom, around which other atomic ideas segregated, until the vast park system of Chi- cago became a belt of verdure, whose every lenf voiced the thanks of the half a million of Chicago's workers? the little park upon the lake shore created by Paul Cornell, in 1857, near the foot of what is now Fifty-third street. The idea engendered thereby simply was to enhance the value of the real estate in Hyde Park by attractive environment ; and what was feasible and successful in a restricted locality, would probably be advantageous if applied to much larger sections ; if. in its application, the design was commensurate with the area to which it was to be an ornament. In 1866, the idea of such adaptation to the region where the South Parks now are began to be discussed ; and the following gentlemen hecame subjects of the attractive cohesion of similarity of thought, and commenced making definite efforts to locate the South Parks. These gentlemen were Paul, Cornell, George M. Kimhark, Chauncey T. Bowen, George R. Clarke, Obadiah Jack- son, Jonathan Young Scammon and J. Irving Pearce. These gentlemen sent letters of inquiry to various places where public parks are maintained, asking for descriptions of the systems whereby they are originated, supported, etc., and from such descriptions they elimi- nated such features as seemed undesirable, and incor- porated the remainder, with such amendments as were necessary, in a bill for the action of the Legislature, with which Paul Cornell went to Springfield, and there remained during the winter of 1867, advocating the measure. This bill provided for the appointment of five commissioners, whom the Governor should appoint; the amount of honds to be issued were not to exceed $1,000,000, and the amount of tax to be levied in any

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History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 144

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas Number of Pages: 875

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 875