USA > Illinois > Kane County > History of Kane County, Ill. Volume II > Part 2
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Pierce Burton was one of the prominent men of Alabama during the reconstruction period. Among other public positions he served with dis- tinction in the constitutional convention of 1867 and in the legislature of that state, and he was the choice of his party for the office of lieutenant governor in 1870. As chairman of the committee on ways and means he wrote the revenue laws, some of which are on the statutes today. He established and published The Southern Republican, a weekly paper, at Demopolis, Alabama, for nearly three years, but sold out in 1871 and moved to Aurora, where he bought the Aurora Herald, a weekly paper, and in 1882 established the Daily Express, which he conducted successfully until 1899, when he sold both papers to his son, Charles Pierce Burton, and has had no active business since.
CORNELL H. BROWN.
Cornell H. Brown is now filling the position of postmaster at Batavia and is giving a public-spirited and progressive administration in discharging the duties of the office. He was born May 24, 1853. in the city which is still his home. His father, Rufus J. Brown, who was born in New York in 1826, died in 1897. For twenty-five years prior to his death he engaged in farming in Nebraska, to which state he removed in 1875. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Aurelia McDaniel, was born in New York in 1835 and died in Nebraska in 1902. They were married in Batavia in 1852, and became the parents of four sons. The brothers of our subject are: William O., who is residing in Nebraska; Edward A., who also lives in that city; and Rufus J., a resident of Iowa. All were born in Batavia.
Cornell H. Brown is indebted to the public-school system of his native city for the educational privileges he enjoyed. At the age of fifteen years he put aside his text-books and in 1868 entered the postoffice as clerk under E. S. Smith. He there remained for ten years and much of that time served as assistant postmaster. In 1878 he accepted a position as bookkeeper with the firm of D. R. Sperry & Company. with whom he continued for a year, after which he returned to the postoffice as assistant postmaster for one year.
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KANE COUNTY HISTORY
He then entered the railway mail service, in which he continued until October, 1882, when he became bookkeeper for the Van Nortwick Paper Company of Batavia. continuing in that connection until 1900. when he was appointed postmaster by President MeKinley. Four years later he was reappointed by President Roosevelt and still continues in this position, his eight years' service being characteristic of the utmost fidelity to duty. In 1898. together with five others, he organized the Citizens Bank, which was a partnership con- cern. and in 1901 this institution was consolidated with the First National Bank of Batavia.
On the 12th of January, 1879. Mr. Brown was married to Miss Florence S. Starkey, a daughter of Warren and Mary ( Hunter ) Starkey. As has been indicated through his official appointments Mr. Brown is a stalwart republican and in the community has held various local offices, all of which have found in him a faithful and competent incumbent. He has been tax collector for Batavia, has been a member of the board of supervisors, was alderman, and was mayor of the city for two terms, being elected in 1897 and again in 1899. He was also a member of the West Side Board of Education for twelve years. In his fraternal relations he is an Odd Fellow and is also connected with the Knights of Pythias and the Elks, while of the Modern Woodmen camp he is a charter member. He enjoys the full confi- dence and respect of his fellow townsmen, else he would not have been so many times honored with public office. Abraham Lincoln said, "You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time. but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time." This is continually manifested in connection with public offices, where one is continuously sub- jected to the criticism of the public, and that Mr. Brown has been again and again called to office is indicative of the trust which is reposed in him. Over the record of his official career there falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil.
DAVID C. COOK.
There are many men in Elgin and northern Illinois-leaders in profes- sional and commercial circles-who have acquired wide reputation by their success in their chosen field of labor and are known to business men through- out the country. but in the homes of this land the name of David C. Cook is familiar. Amid life's busy cares he has recognized the brotherhood of man- kind and has labored for the advancement of the human race, especially devoting himself to the work of educating and preparing children for a higher moral life through the publication of an attractive and instructive Sunday- school literature, realizing the truth and wisdom which Solomon expressed in the well known words. "Train a child up in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." Mr. Cook has devoted the greater part of the years of his manhood to Sunday school and kindred work and to the publication of literature for use in the moral instruction of the young.
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KANE COUNTY HISTORY
Mr. Cook was born at East Worcester, New York, in 1850 and was reared amid the refining influences of a good Christian home, his father being a minister of the Methodist church. As a child he was greatly interested in Sunday school, attending not only that of his own church, but one, and part of the time two others, meeting at different hours. From his boyhood days he has been a most active and helpful worker in the church, the Sunday school and the temperance cause, becoming a church member at an early age. When a youth of seventeen he became a teacher in Ward's Rolling Mills Sunday school in Chicago, to which place he had removed with his parents, and soon afterward he offered his services as a teacher in the Milwaukee Avenue Mission and the Wicker Park Sunday schools. During the suc- ceeding four years he taught most of the time in two or three schools each Sunday, while his evenings were largely spent in visiting the members of his different classes. He devoted his Saturday afternoons to a search for jew scholars, going from house to house and inviting the children whom he saw on the streets, while on Sunday afternoons he would gather the boys and the girls from the streets in the neighborhood of his home in his father's front yard or the yard or some of his scholars, and sing with them the Sunday school songs. It presented the Sunday school in a new light to many children and awakened their first real interest in the work.
Immediately following the great fire of 1871, Mr. Cook took up the Sunday school work on the north side of the city. Seeing the distress and the pressing needs, he entered most heartily into relief and mission work in one of the poorest sections of the burned district and in the fall of that year, in order to better pursue the work, he left home and with three other young men, whom he had persuaded to cooperate with him, he rented rooms in this field and gave all his hours, such as are usually devoted to rest or recreation, to visitation, relief and mission work. Every Sunday was spent in this way and all possible time which was not occupied by the demands of his business position. He conducted neighborhood prayer meetings, provided for the sick and distressed, and wherever help was needed there he was found. Perhaps no better account of the great work that he has done can be given than in the words of the Rev. Charles A. Blanchard, president of Wheaton
College, who wrote of him: "In the winter of 1872 Mr. Cook organized and superintended his first Sunday school, 'Everybody's Mission.' This school was opened in a German theater and beer hall, on North avenue, in what was then one of the poorest and roughest neighborhoods of the burned district. Afterward a lot was leased and a building erected for the school on an adjacent street. With an attendance of three hundred and fifty to four hundred and fifty, and without aid from any church or society, he maintained this school for a period of five years and until the churches were able largely to occupy the field. The teachers whom he rallied came, for the most part, from long distances; some of them two or three miles away. Their faithfulness will be appreciated when it is understood that the school was held at nine o'clock in the morning, and that the scholars were of the poorest, roughest and least inviting class, the larger portion of them being of foreign parentage. Besides 'Everybody's Mission' he started and superintended the North Avenue Mis-
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KANE COUNTY HISTORY
sion, Lake View Mission and Lake View Union Sunday school in Chicago. and Grace Sunday school in Elgin, besides several small schools. Much of the time for ten years he superintended two schools, and some of the time three schools, each Sabbath.
"It is to the members of his schools that he is indebted for whatever he has done to improve Sunday-school literature. for his education in that line was gained there. His first paper. called 'Our Sunday-School Paper, was published for his own schools. His first lesson help, called 'Our Lesson Book,' was prepared for use alone in the two schools which he managed at that time. His first thought in offering his publications to other schools was to divide the expense of setting the type and making the plates. The rapidity with which his publications gained a market when once known, showed how carefully he had studied the needs of pupils and teachers in his own schools. Afterward everything new was first tried in one or more of his own schools before it was offered to schools in general. Many a new thing was tested which the public never saw. while others appeared in an improved form. . As a publisher he has relied entirely upon the merits of his publications to secure for them a market ; unlike most other publishers in this line, who work under the auspices of some church or society and depend on this constituency to secure patronage. When he commenced publishing, Sunday-school literature was very much higher than now, and perhaps the most startling thing he did was to put his prices much lower than others were then asking. As circulation warranted, he made it a rule to reduce prices still lower or to improve the publications, or both. While this pleased his patrons as well as others who felt that prices were exorbitant, it greatly annoyed other publishers, some of whom are said to have rensented this cutting in on their trade and cutting off of their profits in a manner hardly justifiable among religious business houses.
"It is thirty-three years since he issued his first publication for the Sunday school, and they are now the widest known. if not the most generally used, of any having a large circulation among schools of all evangelical denomina- tions. He employs regularly twelve associate editors, all of whom are able. earnest Christian men and women, and connected with various evangelical churches; besides several hundred writers, representing some of the best talent in the land. He does not claim that his are the only good Sunday-school helps, but he does claim that his helps are carefully prepared. are well adapted to their purpose and are sold at reasonable prices. The test of use for years in thousands of schools seems to make this claim good. As one interested in the great Sunday-school movement it is a pleasure to write these lines of introduction for one who has been a personal friend for many years, and who has, as I believe, accomplished a great and blessed work for the Sunday-school work."
It is certainly a matter of gratification to Mr. Cook to see the work to which he is devoting his life accepted by the public. He has received letters of endorsement from some of the most prominent ministers and Sunday- school workers of the country, who speak of his efforts in terms of high praise and commendation. There is in commercial, industrial or professional circles
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KANE COUNTY HISTORY
no busier man or one who is more carefully systematizing his work so as to produce the largest results in a given space of time, and furthermore, in all of his labors he is actuated by the spirit of Him who came not to be ministered unto but to minister.
While no adequate memorial of Mr. Cook can be written until many of the enterprises with which he has been connected have completed their full measure of good in the world and until his personal influence and example shall have ceased their fruitage in the lives of those with whom he has been brought in contact, yet there is much concerning him that can with profit be set down here as an illustration of what can be done if a man with a clear brain and willing hands but sets himself seriously to the real labors and responsibilities of life. His benevolence is unostentatious and genuine and there is nothing in the story of his life to show that he has ever for a moment sought to compass a given end for the purpose of exalting himself. He is a man of the broadest sympathy, who has always endeavored to follow closely in the steps of the lowly Teacher of Nazarene. Not by any standard of profit or loss can his work be judged, for there is no measure for the influence that he has exerted nor for the seeds of truth which he has sown.
A. H. LOWRIE.
While A. H. Lowrie has been a prominent factor in the public interests of Elgin and is also widely known because of his able service in many direc- tions, there has been nothing spectacular in his career. On the contrary, it is the history of a man who has used the innate talents which are his, while his position of leadership in various lines has come as the outcome of his resource- ful ability. He is now senior member of the firm of Lowrie & Black, owners of the Elgin Daily News, and his labors have been instrumental in making this one of the strongest representatives of journalism in northern Illinois.
Mr. Lowrie was born in Berwickshire, Scotland, October 29, 1836, and comes of a family noted for military prowess and skill. In early youth he was brought to the United States by his parents, who established their home in Cleveland, Ohio, where the son acquired his early education through the medium of the public schools, passing through consecutive grades to grad- uation from the high school. Later he matriculated in the University of Michigan but in his senior year left that institution and received his diploma from the Adrian (Mich.) College. Being offered a tutorship in that college, he remained as a member of its faculty for a short time and continued his work as an educator in the schools of Cleveland, Ohio. After two years thus spent, however, he resigned to become superintendent of the schools in Belle- fontaine, Ohio, where he continued for three years. He was then offered and accepted the superintendency of the schools of Marion, Ohio, and resigned that place to become professor of English literature and political economy in Adrian College, Michigan. For fifteen years he was a member of its faculty and for two years acting president. He was regarded as one of the distin-
KANE COUNTY HISTORY
guished educators of the state and under his instruction were many men who have attained to prominent positions in the business and political affairs of the country.
Entering the field of journalism, Mr. Lowrie became senior proprietor of the Adrian Times and Expositor, which under his capable direction entered upon a very successful era in its history. Before his removal to Elgin in 1882, he purchased the Daily and Weekly Advocate and a year later bought the Elgin News, consolidating the two papers. The firm of Lowrie & Black has had continuous existence since 1886 and their paper is recognized as one of the leading journals of northern Illinois. While they stand for progressive journalism. they have never utilized the methods which characterize the yellow sheet but have upheld the dignity of their profession, while at the same time they have given to the public the result of enterprising methods in a search for news of general interest. Their paper has also been the cham- pion of republican politics and the advocate of substantial development and improvement in municipal and community affairs.
On the IIth of September. 1859. Mr. Lowrie was married to Miss Mattie B. Pease, a daughter of Henry and Oraline ( Waldo) Pease. They have two sons. Will L. and Alfred R. Mr. Lowrie was appointed by Presi- dent Benjamin Harrison to the position of United States consul to Freiburg. Germany, where he ably represented the interests of the country, and while abroad, in company with his wife, he visited the many points of historic. modern and scenic interest on the European continent. He has long been recognized as a most stalwart champion of the republican party and has studied closely the questions which are to the statesman and the man of affairs of vital interest. With a national reputation as a speaker. he has done active work in every presidential campaign since the republican party came into existence and his opinions, clearly and forcefully enunciated from the lecture platform, have been of valuable assistance in turning the tide in many a doubtful state. He is, moreover, widely known as a teacher and editor and the result of his labors in these connections has been of no restricted order. while at all times he has kept abreast with the best thinking men of the age.
HON. JOHN STEWART.
The life records of few men indicate so clearly the possibilities for suc- cessful accomplishment as does the history of John Stewart. With few advantages in his youth he early came to a realization of the value of industry and perseverance as factors in the achievement of success, and it has been along these lines that he has gained a position of marked distinction in business circles and extensive interests that make him one of the most prominent residents of Kane county.
As the name indicates, the Stewart family is of Scotch lineage. The father. Thomas Stewart, was born December 22, 1797, near Ayre. Scotland. and followed the shoemaker's trade. Attracted by the opportunities of the
-
John Stewart
marthe le Stewart.
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KANE COUNTY HISTORY
new world he left home at the age of twenty-five years and, bidding adieu to friends and native land, sailed for America. He landed at New Brunswick, where for a time he followed the shoemaker's trade, while later he became a resident of Elburn, where he engaged in farming. His political allegiance was given to the republican party, which found in him a stalwart champion, and he was equally loyal in his adherence to the Presbyterian church, in which he held membership. He married Jane Moody, who was born in Larggs, Scotland, and was the daughter of a ship's captain. A history of the Moody family, tracing the ancestry back to 1620, is in possession of our subject. The death of Thomas Stewart occurred in Campton and his remains were interred in the cemetery of this place. His family numbered the following children : John, Jeannette, Alexander, Thomas, Samuel and Jane. All are now dead with the exception of John Stewart, of this review, and his brother Alexander, who resides in Washington, D. C., but maintains a summer home at Warsaw, Wisconsin. He was elected to congress from the Ninth Wisconsin district, which he represented in the national halls of legislation for eight years.
John Stewart belongs to a class of men who have found that the road to public usefulness and public honor is open to all, by reason of the fact that they have traveled its pathway. Without especial advantages at the outset of his career and, in fact, deprived of many of the opportunities which most boys enjoy, he has made gradual and steady advance until he is today classed with the most prosperous residents of northern Illinois. He attended school for only one year, that being when about twelve years of age, but he eagerly embraced his opportunities and pursued his studies each day in the entire year excepting Christmas and Sundays. Possessing an observant eye and a retentive memory, he gradually added to his knowledge, and in the school of experience has learned many valuable lessons, while through extensive travel he has gained that culture and information which can be acquired in no other way. He was but ten years of age when he was bound out to a millwright for a period of ten years. The papers had been properly signed but owing to the failure of the miller the contract was never executed. In 1848 Mr. Stewart arrived in Illinois and secured employment with a lawyer, S. S. Jones, at St. Charles, at a salary of ten dollars per month. He thus worked for two months and with his twenty dollars for capital he traveled a distance of three hundred miles into the lumber region of Wisconsin, where he made his initial step in connection with the lumber trade, engaging in the manufacture of lumber and by means of rafts floating it down the Mississippi river to St. Louis, where he found a market for his product. The year following his brother Alexander joined him and he thus continued to raft lumber down the river until 1874, when the railroad was built into the lumber region. Through- out the intervening years he had been connected with the lumber industry his business interests were constantly expanding until he is today one of the best known representatives of the trade in the middle west.
Mr. Stewart gained a companion and helpmate for life's journey by his marriage to Miss Martha Thomas, who was born in Cambridge, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, August 31, 1833. Her father was a tanner by trade.
KANE COUNTY HISTORY
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Stewart's marriage are as follows: Thomas D .. who was born September 28. 1858. resides in Aurora and is president of the First National Bank of that city, while of the Bank of St. Charles he is general manager; Eliza is the wife of Dr. Watson, of Aurora; Mary is deceased : Martha. born June 4. 1867, is the wife of Burton Nichols, who is engaged in the real-estate business in Chicago: Nellie, born May 22. 1873. is the wife of John Alexander, president of the Alexander Lumber Company. of Chicago, with extensive interests in the South.
While Mr. Stewart was continually developing his business interests until they reached mammoth proportions, bringing him most gratifying and well merited returns for his labors, he was also figuring as an influential factor in public life. He was elected and served for six years as supervisor in this county, and in 1884 was chosen to represent his district in the state legislature. where he served continuously until 1889. He was again elected in 1898 for another term of two years and in all his legislative services his course was characterized by a most faithful care over the interests of his constituents and unfailing efforts for the interests of the community at large. He cast his first presidential ballot for General Winfield Scott, but since the organization of the republican party has been one of its stanch supporters. He was a national delegate to the convention that nominated James A. Garfield, although on that occasion he supported the candidacy of James G. Blaine. He was again a delegate to the national convention which nominated William Mckinley for the second term. His allegiance to the party is unfaltering and his opinions carry weight in party ranks. His cooperation can always be counted upon to further progressive measures for the benefit of his home community. He constructed and gave to the county a model stone road which is two and a quarter miles long and was built at a cost of twelve thousand dollars. Fraternally he is a thirty-second degree Mason and has been active in Masonic circles for forty years.
In more recent years, since wealth has made it possible for him to relegate to others the business cares and duties which he formerly assumed, he has traveled extensively. having crossed the Atlantic nine times and the Pacific once. In company with his son-in-law. Dr. Watson, of Aurora, he left San Francisco in October, 1904, and after a brief visit at the Hawaiian Islands proceeded to Yokohama, Japan, where he spent two months seeing much of interest. A matter of great surprise to him was that there are no animals in Japan, especially horses, and he made his journey through the empire in jinrikshas, traveling at the rate of five miles an hour and securing Japanese coolies for fifteen cents per day to draw the same. He next visited Shanghai, Hong Kong, Canton and Macao, China, a port controlled by the Portuguese. He also went to Singapore, the largest and strongest British post in the east. and then to Pensay, where is found the greatest zinc mines in the world. Ile afterward proceeded to Colombo, on the island of Ceylon, thence to Calcutta and afterward to the Himalayan mountains. He visited Darjeling. the home of the British officers who control India, and thence proceeded up the Ganges by ship, stopping at Agra, celebrated for its fine carpet manufactories. Proceeding on to the celebrated city of Lucknow he was there guided over the
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