USA > Illinois > Kane County > History of Kane County, Ill. Volume II > Part 18
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On the 23d of December, 1880, Mr. Soper was married to Miss Althea J. McDowell, who died January 19, 1900. Unto them were born five sons : Charles A., who is proprietor of the Elgin Marble and Granite Works; Leon E .: Harold 1., who died October 3, 1892: Arwin C .; and Donald, who died in infancy. Having lost his first wife, Mr. Soper was again married on the 28th of March, 1906, his second union being with Linnie May Martin, of Elgin. She is a member of Grace Methodist church and both Mr. and Mrs. Soper are highly esteemed socially. His membership relations are with the
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Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen. By perse- verance, determination and honorable effort he has overthrown the obstacles which barred his path to success, becoming recognized in business circles as a man of enterprise and commendable determination. In everything he has been eminently practical and this has been evidenced not only in his business undertakings but also in his social and private life.
ALLEN M. RETAN.
Strongly attached through the associations of boyhood, youth and man- hood to his native city of Elgin, Mr. Retan is now numbered among its capi- talists, with large investments here and elsewhere. He was born October 25, 1859, and was the only child of Ebenezer and Phoebe ( Miller) Retan.
His father's birth occurred in Essex county, New Jersey, January 29, 1825, and as a public-school student of Steuben county, New York, he ac- quired his education. Later he found employment in the east and was meeting with fair success there, but when twenty-two years of age he determined to seek his fortune in the west with its limitless opportunities and excellent busi- ness advantages. He did not hesitate in carrying out his determination to come to this section of the country and arrived in Elgin in April, 1857. For forty-seven years thereafter he was closely associated with the city and here passed away November 5, 1904. At South Pulteney, New York, on the 28th of December, 1848, he wedded Miss Phoebe Miller, a daughter of the late Wesley Miller. She was born in Westchester county, New York, November 23, 1827, and died in Elgin, May 2, 1905. The years proved the wisdom of Mr. Retan's choice of a location, for in his business affairs here he year after year added to his possessions until he became one of the best known capitalists of Elgin and owned a beautiful home at No. 420 Douglas avenue. There he resided during the summer months, while the winter seasons were passed at Ozona, Florida, where he also owned a home.
Allen M. Retan was reared in his native city and was provided with good educational advantages, pursuing a course in the Elgin Academy and in the Chicago Metropolitan Business College. Although his father was prosper- ous, he believed that the best way to train a son for the responsibilities of life and to teach him the value of money was to insist upon him earning it and providing for his own support. He therefore had no better advantages in financial ways than other boys and secured a position in the office of the ma- chine shop of the watch factory, where he remained for seven years. During that time he showed a strength of character most commendable. He not only provided for his own support but married and from his wages managed to save a sum sufficient to purchase a small home. When his father died he inherited a valuable property and now his time and energies are principally occupied with his real-estate business, mostly lying in Elgin. He is more- over a stockholder in the First National Bank and also in the Savings Bank. In the meantime he learned to correctly value life's contacts and experiences
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and while he is now a wealthy man he is yet a busy man, keeping in close touch with his investments and business affairs.
On the 16th of February, 1882. Mr. Retan was married to Miss Amanda M. Seapy, a native of Plato Center. Kane county, and a daughter of John Kirk Seapy, who was born July 18. 1815. at Ringstead, Norfolk county, England. He came to America at the age of fifteen years and in 1845 settled in Kane county. In the east. on the 9th of December, 1842, he had married Miss Dorcas Sherwood and with his wife came to the middle west. Here he turned his attention to farming and was one of the intelligent and progressive agri- culturists of the county. In his later years he erected a pleasant home in Elgin, where in well earned ease he enjoyed the fruits of his former toil. He passed away December 6, 1885, leaving five daughters and two sons, all of whom until recently were residents of Kane county.
Mr. Retan is a member of the Century Club and the Elks lodge and was one of the original members of the Elgin lodge of the Royal Arcanum. Like his father. he spends the winter months in Florida, while he still passes the summer months at the old home on Douglas avenue. The lessons of life which he early learned have proven of immense value to him in the control of his affairs in later years, showing that the course which was followed in his bringing up was a most wise one. He now ranks high as a financier, is unaffected and approachable and every comer has a claim upon his courteous attention. He is surrounded in his home city by those who are his warm personal friends and is favorably known by all with whom he has had business or social relations.
GEORGE J. RANG.
George J. Rang, now occupying the position of chief of the fire depart- ment of Aurora, has been connected with the service since 1879, at which time it was a volunteer service. He was born in this city July 20, 1858, and is well known to his fellow townsmen as one who in all of his public service has been most faithful and loyal to the general good and well deserved his promotion to the position which he now occupies. His father, J. F. Rang, was a native of Bavaria, and when eighteen years of age. crossed the Atlantic to the United States. attracted by the more liberal business opportunities afforded in the new world. He had an uncle. George Brunnenmeyer, who was a pioneer of Aurora, and on leaving the fatherland Mr. Rang intended coming to this city to join his uncle here. When he arrived in New York, however, he found that his supply of money was exhausted and he remained there, working in a brickyard until he had earned enough to enable him to complete his journey to Illinois. In his native land he had learned the trade of shoe- making, and he followed the same line of business in Aurora, eventually becoming a prosperous man and one who enjoyed the unqualified respect of all with whom he came in contact. His unfaltering industry at length made him proprietor of one of the largest shoe shops of the city, and at an early day
GEORGE J. RANG
4
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the extent of his business justified the employment of sixteen shoemakers. He was also elected collector of the city at an early day and in community affairs was active and helpful, doing all in his power to promote public progress. He died January 14, 1889, while his wife, Mrs. Margaret ( Schoeamsgruber) Rang, a native of Bavaria, is still living in Aurora.
George J. Rang was educated in the public schools of this city and after- ward worked in his father's shoe store for a time. Later he learned and followed the carpenter's trade, but in 1879, at the age of twenty-one years, he joined the volunteer fire department. When the paid department was organized he became a member and in 1881 was made a driver, acting in that capacity until 1905, when he took the civil service examination and was promoted to chief of the department, in which capacity he has since remained. He is capable and efficient in the office and has raised the department to a high standard. In 1881 it numbered but three paid men; today there are twenty-six paid men and four call men. There are headquarters and five engine houses equipped with all the most improved appliances for fighting fire, and they also own their own horses. Chief Rang is constantly striving to improve the service of the department and by his own bravery he has inspired his men to deeds of valor, never uselessly incurring a risk yet never faltering in the performance of duty even in the face of danger.
In 1884 occurred the marriage of Mr. Rang and Miss Tillie Clair. For his second wife he chose Theodate L. Verina, whom he wedded in 1901, and they have one son, Nowell.
Mr. Rang is fraternally connected with the Modern Woodmen and the Knights and Ladies of Honor, of which he is the treasurer. He is also treas- urer of the Aurora City Firemen's Association, and is a man in whom his fellow-townsmen place implicit trust, knowing that he is faithful to every duty and to the high standards which he sets up.
HENRY KYRKENDALL WHITFORD, M. D.
Man's worth in the world is determined by his usefulness-by what he has accomplished for his fellowmen-and he is certainly deserving of the greatest honor and regard whose efforts have been of the greatest benefit to his fellow travelers on life's journey. Judged by this standard, Dr. Henry K. Whitford may well be accounted one of the most distinguished citizens of Elgin, for throughout his professional career, covering more than a half cen- tury, his labors have ever been of a most helpful nature. Not only as a prac- titioner of medicine and surgery has he become widely known but also as a teacher, disseminating knowledge concerning his profession that has had an immeasurable effect in the world. His deep research and investigation have rendered more effective the labors of the profession and his efforts have resulted in promoting the progress which has revolutionized the work of the medical and surgical practitioner until his accomplishments partake of the nature of the marvelous. Certainly the life work of Dr. Whitford has been
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of the greatest practical benefit and the world is better for his having lived. He has been a representative of the profession at Elgin since the 14th of April, 1857, and for forty years has occupied the professor's chair of principles and practice of medicine, pathology and clinic medicine in the Bennett Medical College of Chicago.
Dr. Whitford emered upon the journey of life February 9. 1829. at Medina, Ohio, his parents being David M. and Elizabeth ( Lease ) Whitford. His father was a prominent member of the bar in that state and widely known for literary as well as legal ability. During the pioneer epoch in the history of Michigan he removed to that state and was residing there at the time of the memorable money panic. which began about 1838. Michigan "rag money" and "store tickets" were the common currency and, constantly depreciating in value because there was nothing substantial back of them. the country be- came involved in great financial distress. Like hundreds of others, Mr. Whitford suffered losses by reason of the conditions then existing and his health was so greatly impaired thereby that his children when young were largely thrown upon their own resources.
Henry K. Whitford was but nine years of age when he entered the employ of a neighboring farmer named Roode. He there not only found the means of obtaining a livelihood but was received as one of the family and throughout his entire life has cherished the fondest affection for Mr. Roode and his wife. During the busy season on the farm he worked for the sum of four dollars a month for the first year, five dollars the second year and six dollars for the third year. In the winter months he did the chores upon the place and thus earned his board and the privilege of attending school. From early childhood he cherished the desire of some day becoming a physician and though at that time there seemed no likelihood that he could ever carry out his determination, he never for a moment lost sight of his object and used every possible means toward its accomplishment. His ambition in this direc- tion made him diligent at school and at home in his boyhood days and when not busy with the farm work he would devote every moment to reading and study, pursuing with the greatest eagerness everything that bore upon the subject of medicine. He constantly broadened his general knowledge so that he was yet but a boy when his intellectual acquirements enabled him to secure a teacher's certificate. For some time he engaged in teaching and the hours which are usually devoted by others to rest and recreation were given by him to the study of medicine, while the vacation periods were spent in the offices of various physicians.
He was soon prepared to practice but his youth and his slight stature worked against him and in the community he was called "the boy doctor." It would be impossible to enumerate the obstacles that he met in his early career, yet he made the most of his opportunities, teaching and lecturing, practicing and studying as best he could. He had not yet pursued a college course when he married. He found this step a help rather than a hindrance in his professional career, for his wife encouraged him in his ambition to become a regular member of the medical fraternity and it was largely through her courage, desire and assistance that he was at length enabled to pursue a
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course of study in the Eclectic Medical College of Cincinnati. They had two children at that time and the entire family went to Cincinnati, living in one room during his collegiate days. It was a time of strenuous effort, of close economy and severe privation, but with a courage that is seldom equaled they faced the situation and fought the fight to victory.
It was on a day in 1861 that Dr. Whitford was graduated and both he and his wife have always regarded it as one of the happiest days in their life because it was the consummation of what they had long hoped to accomplish and also marked their starting point into other fields.
As stated, Dr. Whitford has practiced continuously in Elgin since the 14th of April, 1857, or for a period of fifty-one years. From the beginning his patronage has steadily grown and since 1866 he has also maintained an office in Chicago, enjoying a good business in both cities. Unlike many physicians of his years, he has never allowed his activity in the pursuit of professional knowledge to lapse. On the contrary, he has kept abreast with the best thinking men of the age in the profession, reading, research and investigation constantly broadening his knowledge and promoting his effi- ciency. He was surgeon in chief of the old Chicago & Pacific Railroad and has been local surgeon for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad since it purchased the former system. For forty years he has been connected with the Bennett Medical College of Chicago, occupying the professor's chair of principles and practice of medicine, pathology and clinic medicine, and while proving himself an able educator, his labors constituting an element in the success of the college, he has never neglected his large and lucrative practice in Elgin and vicinity.
On the 26th of June, 1855, Dr. Whitford was united in marriage to Miss Susan K. Daggett and while for more than a half century she has traveled life's journey by his side as his faithful companion and helpmate, she has been even more than the ordinary wife and mother in that she has been his professional associate as well, being a graduate physician of marked ability. Further mention of Dr. Susan Whitford is given in the following sketch.
Dr. H. K. Whitford has never been a politician, although keeping well informed on the questions and issues of the day. His greatest activity in this line has been in behalf of the temperance cause, in which he is a firm believer, advocating temperance principles both by precept and example. As the years have passed he has invested largely in Elgin city property and has erected some handsome buildings, which stand as monuments to his enter- prise and well directed labor. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons, having attained the Knight Templar degree in Bethel Commandery. He is also a charter member of the National and the Illinois Eclectic Medical Societies and is an honorary member of the State Eclectic Medical Societies of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.
While Dr. Whitford's professional career has long been crowned with financial success, this has not satisfied his higher ambition and since the 28th of November, 1866, when he became the occupant of the professor's chair in Bennett College, he has been making notes, formulating chapters and building toward completion his treatise, now nearly ready for publication,
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entitled "Principles and Practice of Medicine." The work will be a volume of about six hundred pages and will be issued in 1908. It will be a fitting crown to a life of labor in the medical profession and will be gladly received by many followers of the calling. In 1907 the faculty and trustees of the Bennett Medical College of Chicago tendered a banquet to Dr. Whitford and Dr. A. L. Clark, of Elgin, and presented each of them with a handsome silver loving cup. These gentlemen are the only two original members of the faculty who are still living. It was a fitting recognition of forty years of faithful service in connection with that school.
Dr. Whitford has now passed the seventy-ninth milestone on life's jour- ney. He is a remarkably well preserved man, his life proving that nature is kind to those who abuse not her laws. His record is an indication of the fact that it is only under the stimulus of adversity and the pressure of neces- sity that the best and strongest in men have been brought out and developed. His years have been fraught with good deeds and splendid results. His strong mentality and scholarly attainments have made his work of great benefit to the world; his interest and devotion to Elgin have accrued to the improvement of the city, and his kindly disposition has spread around him much of the sunshine of life. As he nears the end of his journey-but may he be spared for many years to come-he is surrounded by the veneration, respect and reverence of those among whom he has lived and labored to goodly ends through more than five decades.
SUSAN K. WHITFORD, M. D.
Dr. Susan K. Whitford stands among those who have been the pioneers in inaugurating a movement that has brought to womankind a recognition never before accorded her. It has been but a comparatively short time since woman had no place in the world save in the home and the schoolroom, but today she is found in every walk of life demanding intellectual strength and acquirement. Mrs. Whitford was among the first to demonstrate the ability of woman in the medical profession and she found that she could only gain recognition after a long period and in a contest where she displayed that her professional powers and capacities were equal to those of the members of the sterner sex. She has, however, long been honored as a successful prac- titioner and an able associate of her husband. Dr. Henry K. Whitford, who for more than a half century has been a representative of the medical fraternity of Elgin and a prominent representative of medical education in Chicago.
Dr. Susan K. Whitford was born in Colchester, Vermont, July 3, 1836. and was four years of age when brought to Kane county by her parents. Nathan and Eliza ( Chamberlain) Daggett, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of New Hampshire. Her paternal grandparents were John and Mary (Dean) Daggett, while her maternal grandparents were William and Rosalinda (McIntyre) Chamberlain, natives of Connecticut and Ver- mont respectively. Nathan Daggett, whose birth occurred in New England
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January 3, 1808, was attracted to Illinois by the opportunity of securing land at rates much lower than could be done in the older east. On coming to Kane county he bought from the government a tract of land in Elgin town- ship and there while meeting the hardships and privations of pioneer life he at the same time carried forward his farming interests with the result that the years witnessed his advancement in financial lines. The value of prop- erty increased as the country became settled and he brought his fields under a high state of cultivation. He was long numbered among the respected and worthy pioneer farmers of the county, and was known as an upright man, his influence always being on the side of justice, truth and progress. At length putting aside the active duties of the fields he removed to Elgin, where he spent his remaining days in honorable retirement from labor, passing away in 1871. Mrs. Daggett, who was born October 24, 1810, long survived her husband and became the wife of Alvah Hall, of Udina, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Daggett were married in Burlington, Vermont, in 1831, and their family numbered a son and four daughters, but the eldest, Edgar, born January 27, 1833, was accidentally killed by lightning in Plato, Kane county, August 20, 1850. Mrs. Whitford was the second of the family. Emily, born in 1839, died at the age of three years. Angelina E., born May 24, 1842, became the wife of Daniel W. Coan of Elgin, now deceased. Emily, the second of the name, born May 27, 1845, died December 28, 1872.
Brought to Illinois during the pioneer epoch in its history, Susan K. Daggett was reared amid the wild scenes and environments of frontier life. When she began her education she walked two and a half miles to the primi- tive log schoolhouse, in which instruction was given in preliminary learning. Nearly all of the buildings of the farm through the county were made of logs, the fireplace was still a feature in many a home and candles were used in lighting. On one occasion in her early girlhood days she attended a Fourth of July celebration. Her family were above the average well-to-do farming people, yet they went to the meeting on this occasion in a sled drawn by a yoke of oxen. There were many such conveyances hitched about the place. As they reached their destination they noticed a rather well dressed lady coming from the direction of the woods near at hand. She approached and spoke to Mrs. Daggett and confidentially told her that she too had come to the celebration in her sled but had stopped and hid it in the brush, not being aware that every one traveled in the same style. Next time she said she would drive up to the front door and show her neighbors that she was as well off as anybody. It was amid such conditions that Dr. Whitford of this review spent her girlhood days, but she perhaps had opportunity to attend school more than most girls of the farmers. On one occasion when about fourteen years of age she met some older girl friends who were on their way to take an examination which would test their ability to teach school. and in playful mood she accompanied them, took her seat with the others and would answer questions, merely trying the experiment of how much she knew and not dreaming of obtaining a certificate. She was greatly surprised there- fore when the superintendent presented her with a teacher's certificate. Having this in her possession she resolved to utilize it and obtain a school.
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Thereafter for some years she continued to teach and to attend school. pur- suing her studies for a time in Lockport and later in Elgin, following the removal of the family to the city.
It was in this city on the 26th of June. 1855, that she gave her hand in marriage to Dr. Henry K. Whitford, whose sketch is given above. Her husband at that time was not a graduate physician, although he had studied medicine as opportunity had offered and from early boyhood had cherished the ambition of one day becoming an active member of the medical fraternity. Depending upon his own resources for a living from an early age. he had not yet found it possible to pursue a college course but his private study had given him skill sufficient to enable him to practice to a limited extent. His young wife shared his ambition with him and it was through her influence that he at last decided to fit up a wagon, carrying in it a few household effects and start on a journey to Cincinnati for the purpose of entering the Eclectic Medical College there. They at that time had two children, whom they took with them to that city. For six months they traveled in this manner, all the time living in the wagon, and when they would stop so that Mrs. Whit- ford might do washing, ironing and baking. Dr. Whitford would utilize the time in adding to their limited financial capital by lecturing in the country schoolhouses and small hamlets on the way.
On reaching their destination they sold their team, riding the last few miles on the railroad. The first night in Cincinnati they rented the room which they then occupied until his graduation. There with their two chil- dren they lived until he had completed his course. Dr. Whitford attended college during the day and as his eyes were not strong, his wife would assist him by reading the text-books and lessons for the succeeding day aloud. She did this with no thought that in later years it would prove of benefit to her, but in this way she gained many valuable points concerning the science and practice of medicine which she has utilized in later years. She has often said that in all her life she felt no equal thrill of joy like that which came to her when she knew that the long imprisonment in a student room was over, that her husband was graduated and was now thoroughly equipped for the practice of medicine. When he had paid his bills in Cincinnati there was just seventy-five cents in money remaining, but they soon earned a sum suf- ficient to enable them to return to their Elgin home and Dr. H. K. Whitford in 1857 opened his office and has since remained one of the most successful and most valued practitioners of the city. In the meantime his wife's aid as a nurse was often called into requisition and in the absence of her husband she frequently administered remedies and carried on the work of the sickroom. giving her time freely to all sufferers. Such was the demand made upon her that she realized that of necessity she must prepare herself for her duties and eventually she entered Bennett Eclectic Medical College of Chicago, where she won her diploma as a physician and surgeon just ten years after her husband's graduation.
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