USA > Illinois > Kane County > History of Kane County, Ill. Volume II > Part 4
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Professor Hall and his wife are members of the People's church and he is serving as president of its board of managers. He also owns a beautiful home at 487 North Lake street and is also a stockholder in the old Second National Bank and one of its directors. Politically he is a republican with warm admiration for Theodore Roosevelt. He cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864 and has since continued to uphold republican principles. He is a man of clear insight. ever loyal to his convictions and actnated in all of his life by high and honorable motives. If physiognomy counts for anything as indicative of character, balance, harmony and sound
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judgment are his native traits. Any one meeting Professor Hall would regard him as a dependable man in any relation and any emergency. His quietude of deportment, his easy dignity, his frankness and cordiality of address, with the total absence of anything sinister or anything to conceal, foretoken a man who is ready to meet any obligation of life with the con- fidence and courage that come of conscious personal ability, right conception of things and an habitual regard for what is best in the exercise of human activities.
JUDGE ROSWELL WILDER GATES.
Judge Roswell Wilder Gates, who presiding over the justice court, has "won golden opinions from all sorts of people" by his integrity in office and the impartiality of his decisions, is well known as a representative of legal circles in Aurora. He was born in Antwerp, Jefferson county, New York, August 29. 1834. His parents were America and Caroline (Wilder) Gates, the latter a native of Brockville, Canada. The father was one of six sons and four of them were named for the four continents, Europe, Asia, Africa and America, while the other two were called Jonathan and Bonaparte. Their father was a soldier of the Revolutionary war and lived to be well advanced in years.
America Gates was a blacksmith in Antwerp, New York, and made drills and tempered tools for the workmen while they were building the Erie canal. He arrived in Aurora in 1838-the days of its villagehood-and followed farming near the city at a period before the land came into market He was thus early associated with the development and progress of this part of the state and he continued a resident of Aurora until his death, which occurred about 1852. His wife survived him for several years. She was a daughter of Roswell Wilder, a native of one of the New England states, was a farmer by occupation and in 1837 came to Illinois. Deciding to locate in Aurora he returned to the east and then brought his family here in 1838. He preempted a claim near the city and lived in Kane county until his life's labors were ended in death. In his later years he conducted a hotel and entertained "Long" John Wentworth and other notable men of that day. He was about seventy-six years of age at the time of his demise. His wife bore the maiden name of Sallie Belknapp and lived to be quite old. They had four daughters, all now deceased, namely : Caroline, who became the wife of America Gates: Angeline, the wife of William T. Barnes: Emeline, the wife of Decolia Towle, and after his death Ronald McLeod ; and Bethiah, who married Charles T. P. Buck. Mrs. Gates survived her husband for several years. By her marriage she had three sons: Judge Gates of this review; Oscar B .; and Robert Bruce, but the last named is now deceased.
Judge Gates was reared in Aurora and acquired his education in the public schools here. He lived at home until he had attained adult age and
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then engaged in clerking for several years. He afterward filled the position of city clerk for a number of years and for a long period has been justice of the peace. It woukl not seem the proper thing to have any other one in the office in Aurora then Judge Gates, whose long and valued service seems to have made the right to the office preeminently his. His decisions are strictly fair and impartial and nothing can swerve him from a course which he believes to be the right one.
In 1872 Judge Gates was married to Miss Hermione Hill, and they reside at No. 187 Downer place, where he owns a good home. He also has several vacant lots in various parts of the city. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity and has attained the Knights Templar degree in Aurora Com- mandery. No. 22. In politics he has always been a republican, but not a poli- tician. He has lived in Aurora from the days of its villagehood, and has witnessed its development as it has taken on commercial and industrial growth, becoming one of the leading trade centers of this part of the state. He is well informed on the early history of Kane county and his word is largely received as authority upon any matter relating to the early days. He is much esteemed for his honesty and integrity of character and is one of Aurora's most respected and worthy citizens.
GEORGE E. ALLEN.
George E. Allen, who is now filling the position of health officer in Elgin, having served continuously since 1901 with the exception of a period of two years, was born in Hampshire, Illinois, February 3. 1863. When five years of age he was brought to this city by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edson K. Allen, who are mentioned elsewhere in this work. While spending his boyhood days under the parental roof he pursued a public-school course. passing through successive grades and attending the high school to within a month of his graduation, when he was taken ill with rheumatism and could not complete the course. He afterward became a student in the Elgin AAcad- emy and after leaving that institution he entered the employ of T. W. Plant, a grocer, with whom he was connected for five years, being a most trusted. faithful and competent employe. On the expiration of that period he went to Chicago, and with his father was engaged in building and contract work. but in 1889 he returned to Elgin, because of his father's ill health. He has since lived in this city and for three years was bookkeeper in the employ of Alexander Robertson. Suffering again from rheumatism, he was then unable to do any work for a time, but in 1901 he was appointed health officer of the city of Elgin and has since continned in the position save for the period of two years, being the present incumbent. He is also chairman of the board of examiners for plumbers in Elgin.
On the 18th of December, 1884, Mr. Allen was married to Miss Kate Westveer. a daughter of John and Hattie ( Walters) Westveer. They have one child, Hattie M., now the wife of Ralph H. Judkins, of Elgin. Mr. Allen
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votes with the republican party. The only office he has ever held is the one which he is now filling. In mercantile and other business connections he has proved reliable and the same spirit of fidelity and progressiveness char- acterizes him in his present office. He is well known here and unfeigned cordiality makes him popular with many friends.
HAMILTON BROWNE.
Hamilton Browne is well known in the middle west as a railroad organ- izer and builder, and as an extensive operator in Iowa coal mines. His name is best known in Iowa, where he has been conspicuous for many years in developing the natural resources of that state. In more recent years he has extended his operations to Illinois and districts east of the Mississippi. He was born in New York Mills, New York, August 14, 1844. He is the son of John Browne, of Des Moines, Iowa, who for many years prior to his death, in 1882, was one of the most respected and widely known citizens of Iowa. John Browne was born in Wrexham, Wales, and his wife, whose maiden name was Jane B. Swale, was born in Yorkshire, England. She died at Ottumwa, Iowa, in 1855. Both parents are buried at Des Moines.
Hamilton Browne received his education at Algier Institute, Cornwall, Connecticut, where he was a student from his eighth to his fifteenth year, when he left school and entered upon his business life in Iowa, beginning as a store clerk and later employed in a Des Moines bank up to 1862, when he went south and was employed in the quartermaster's department of the Union army until July 1863. At this time he became a clerk on steamboats running between St. Louis and New Orleans. He followed this employment until 1867, when he was appointed local agent at New Orleans for the Atlantic & Mississippi Steamship Company, and acted in that capacity until 1872 when he returned to Iowa and began his career in railroad and coal mining in that state. "He developed mines at Eldon, Van Meter, Angus, Lehigh, Milford and Fraser, and remained active in their operation from 1872 until 1904. In 1886 he built, in association with Mr. James J. Hill, of St. Paul, Minnesota, the Fort Dodge & Mason City Railroad, now a part of the Chicago Great Western Railroad system. In 1888 he organized a company and built the line from Laurel, Montana, across the Crow Indian Reservation to the Rocky Ford coal fields. In 1893 he began the development of the Fraser (Iowa) coal fields and operated the mines until 1904, in the meantime building the Newton & Northwestern Railroad from Newton to Rockwell City, Iowa- 102 miles of road. In connection with his railroad construction in Iowa he laid out some twenty-five new towns, of which several are now prosperous communities.
Since 1904 he has been engaged in railroad building in Illinois. He organized the Elgin & Belvidere Electric Company. now operating a line between Elgin and Belvidere. He is president of the company and at the present writing is engaged in constructing another line from Marengo by way -
4
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of Lake Geneva and Delavan Lake to Elkhorn, Wisconsin, to be known as the Marengo, Lake Geneva & Northern Railway Company. In 1900 Mr. Browne purchased the Calumet Stock Farm between Batavia and Geneva, which is . one of the finest properties in Kane county, and here he has since made his home, although he has his business headquarters in Chicago.
In December, 1866, Mr. Browne was married to Miss Mary Louise Napier, a daughter of Judge Thomas Hughes and Amy ( Martin) Napier, of Des Moines, Iowa. They became the parents of five children, one of whom died in infancy. The others are: Arthur T., born October 7. 1867, who mar- ried Clara Louise Holmdale, by whom he has one child-Hamilton, Jr .; Helen Swale; Louise N., the wife of Edwin DeHaven Caldwell, by whom he has one child, John Bigelow ; and Laurence, who was born September 6. 1877. and who died July 10. 1907, leaving a wife, Florence ( Hargraves ) Browne.
ELWOOD E. KENYON.
Elwood E. Kenyon, attorney at law, was born in Coldwater. Michigan. January 2. 1862. a son of Elias S. and Prudence R. (Kenyon) Kenyon. both of whom were natives of the Empire state. The father, a farmer by occupation, put aside business interests and personal considerations at the time of the Civil war and enlisted for service in the navy, but was never called out. as the number of enlistments exceeded the number needed for active duty. In 1864 he removed to Kane county, settling in Elgin, where he resided for many years. Both he and his wife, however, are now deceased. the death of Mr. Kenyon occurring in February. 1873, while Mrs. Kenyon passed away in May, 1904.
Elwood E. Kenyon acquired his education in the public schools of Elgin, and like many of the youths of this country, entered upon his business career as an employe in the watch factory, where he remained for several years. His interests, however, extended to a wider horizon than was offered in that field of labor, and when about thirty-one years of age he took up the study of law, and in 1895 was admitted to the bar. He has since been engaged in general practice in the state courts and the United States courts in Chicago. He has won for himself very favorable criticism for the careful and syste- matic methods which he has followed. He has remarkable powers of con- centration and application and his retentive mind has often excited the sur- prise of his professional colleagues. His preparation of cases is thorough and exhaustive. No detail seems to escape him, and every point is given its due relative prominence. He is now serving as attorney for several corpora- tions and his clientage is large and of a distinctively representative character.
Mr. Kenyon was married in Elgin April 30, 1891. to Miss Lillie P. Sher- Wood, of this city. but his wife died October 15. 1903. He is connected in social relations with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being one of the prominent members of the latter organization. For six consecutive terms he has represented Kane Lodge, No. 47. in the
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Grand Lodge and at the same time has been a delegate from the encampment to the Grand Encampment held at Springfield. In politics a stalwart republican, he has been a member of the Elgin city council for six years, or three con- secutive terms. He took a bold stand in opposing the transfer of the electric light plant to the traction company, was instrumental in having the city ordi- nances revised, and in many ways displayed a deep and public-spirited interest in the welfare of the city.
HENRY I. BOSWORTH.
Henry I. Bosworth is well known in business and financial circles in Elgin, and is a representative of a prominent old family of the county. He was for many years vice president of the First National Bank and is fully sustaining the honored reputation which has ever been connected with the name of Bosworth in this part of the state. He was born at Dundee, Illinois, September 10, 1854, and is the youngest son of the late Increase C. Bosworth.
His father was a merchant and banker of Elgin, who was born in Sara- toga county, New York, on the 2d of April. 1812. He became one of the pioneer residents of northern Illinois, establishing his home in Chicago, the year following the incorporation of the city-1838. There he remained for only a brief period, however, for the city gave little promise of the rapid growth and development which was soon to transform it into one of the metropolitan centers of the world. After a brief period there passed Increase Bosworth removed to Dundee, where he established and conducted a general store, carrying on the business at that point until 1867, when he removed to Elgin. Here he owned a store and prospered in its conduct until 1875, when he withdrew from commercial pursuits and turned his attention to the bank- ing business. The following year he purchased an interest in the First National Bank of Elgin and became its president, remaining at the head of the institu- tion in the executive capacity throughout the remainder of his life. His investments were extensive in and around Elgin and he was largely interested in a number of important business concerns. In all this he displayed keen discernment and an aptitude for successful management, carrying forward to successful completion whatever he undertook. Prior to 1875 he was vice president of the Home National Bank. Many public measures received his endorsement and support and profited by his labors. For years he was a member of the board of trustees of the Northern Hospital for the Insane and was on the board of trustees of the University of Chicago. He was also alderman and supervisor in Elgin and his activity in public affairs proved helpful in many lines.
In 1844 Increase Bosworth was married to Miss Mary Ann Root, of Elgin. He continued for many years a most valuable and respected citizen here, and passed away January 12, 1888.
His son, Henry I. Bosworth, was a pupil in the public schools of this city, where he has resided since 1867. He also attended the Elgin Academy
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and later matriculated in the University of Chicago, from which in due course of time he was graduated. Throughout his business career he has been connected with the First National Bank of Elgin, of which he was until lately vice president. He became thoroughly familiar with the banking busi- ness in every department and in this and in other connections is making for himself a creditable reputation as a trustworthy and progressive man of business. He has extensive interests in other lines, and is also the owner of much valuable farm property.
Like his father he is interested in community affairs, and his fellow townsmen, recognizing his worth and ability, have called him to a number of offices. He was the city treasurer of Elgin for several terms, and has been a member of the board of supervisors and is also a member of the library board. He has proved himself in all the relations of life an earnest, upright man. alert and energetic in business and a citizen of whom any community might justly be proud.
WILLIAM C. LANGHORST, M.D.
Dr. William C. Langhorst, a member of the medical profession of Aurora, who is specializing in the treatment of the diseases of the eve, ear, nose and throat, was born in Palatine. Illinois, May 22. 1869. His grandfather was Henry Langhorst, who died in Germany at an advanced age. His entire life was devoted to general agricultural pursuits.
Frederick Langhorst, the doctor's father, was a native of Germany, spending his youth in the little hamlet of Lindthorst, not far from Hanover. He came to America when about eighteen years of age and was employed at farm labor in DuPage county, Illinois. Subsequently he bought a farm in Palatine township. Cook county, which he improved. Later he removed to Chicago, where he engaged in the flour and feed business, but is now living retired in Aurora, his activity in former years resulting in the success that now enables him to enjoy life's comforts without further recourse to labor. At one time he owned and conducted a lumber and coal yard and a grain elevator at Roselle, and was also proprietor of a grain elevator at Harper. Jowa. He was also a veterinary surgeon and had an extensive practice in that direction. He is considered one of the strongest men physically in the United States and his mental powers are also splendidly developed. He is noted for his good judgment, his mind being naturally of a legal trend, and while not a lawyer he has keen powers of analysis combined with ready dis- crimination. In early manhood he wedded Hannah Meyer, who was born in the same locality where he first opened his eyes to the light of day. Her father. Carl Meyer, came to America and took up his abode in Palatine. Illinois, where he engaged in farming. After a number of years he removed to the West but a few years prior to his death he returned to Illinois and died at Roselle, this state, at the age of seventy-six years, while his wife passed away in middle life. Their daughter Hannah became the wife of Frederick
W. C Langhoras NA
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Langhorst and unto them were born eight children, five sons and three daughters : Mary, the wife of John C. Bagge, of Aurora; William C., whose name introduces this record; Fred, of El Paso, Illinois, where he is engaged in the practice of medicine; Sophie, the wife of Al Biever, of Aurora; Henry, who makes his home in Elmhurst, Illinois, where he is a practicing physician ; Clara ; Edward; and Arthur.
Dr. Langhorst was reared in DuPage county, Illinois, and attended the public schools of Roselle and Chicago. Subsequently he entered the Jennings Seminary at Aurora and later was graduated from the medical department of the Northwestern University at Chicago, with the class of 1897. He then located for practice in this city but after a brief period went to Steele, North Dakota, where he engaged in the general practice of medicine for four years. On the expiration of that period he pursued a special course of study in Chicago for a year and spent the succeeding year in Europe, where his studies brought him nearer that perfection toward which he is always striving. Since his return to his native country he has practiced in Aurora, giving his attention to the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. He has a liberal and growing practice and his ability is widely acknowledged, for he has done excellent work in the treatment of patients suffering from diseases which are his specialty.
On the 18th of June, 1896, Dr. Langhorst was married to Miss Waleska Hoffman, a daughter of Fred Hoffman, and they now have one child, Jean- nette. The parents are members of the St. John's Evangelical Lutheran church. Politically Dr. Langhorst is independent, preferring to devote his time and attention to his professional duties. He belongs to the Fox River Valley Medical Association. He holds to high ideals in his profession, has constantly promoted his efficiency by investigation and research, and that he enjoys the full confidence of the public is indicated by the liberal patronage accorded him.
JOHN MICHOLSON.
Kane county is to be congratulated upon securing the services of John Micholson, who is now filling the position of superintendent of the county almshouse. He is a man of good business ability, so that he capably con- trols the business affairs in connection therewith, but moreover, he possesses that broad humanitarianism which prompts him to put forth the most earnest effort in behalf of the unfortunate ones who came under his care. He was born in Halland, Sweden, November 27, 1860. His father, also a native of that locality, was born December 19, 1828, and died January 13, 1905. He was a laborer and came direct to Batavia in 1868, when he crossed the Atlantic to America. His wife and family joined him a year later and the father remained a resident of Batavia until his death. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Anna Christianson, was born December 25, 1826, and passed away October 19, 1901. They were the parents of four children :
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John, of this review; Charles, who was born in 1863; Martin, born in 1865; and Karl, whose birth occurred in 1868, but who died in infancy.
In the public schools John Micholson acquired his education and com- menced work at the age of eleven years. He is therefore largely a self- echucated as well as self-made man, and that he has gradually worked his way upward is attributable to his own ability and close application. In early life he worked for five years as a molder, and in 1877 he learned the meat business, working for others until his close economy and unwearied industry had brought him sufficient capital to engage in business on his own account when he was twenty years of age. He became proprietor of a meat market and also began dealing in ice, both retail and wholesale. He continued in that line of business for fourteen years, and built up an extensive trade, deal- mg in ice at Geneva and St. Charles as well as Batavia, although he con- fined his meat business to the last named city.
On the Ist of January, 1884, Mr. Micholson was married to Miss Emma Lindholm, a daughter of John and Annastina (Johanson) Lindholm, of Geneva, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Micholson have one living child, Ethel, who is now a student in the high school at Wheaton.
In the spring of 1905 Mr. Micholson was appointed superintendent of the Kane county almshouse and has efficiently served in that capacity to the present time. This institution is conducted in an ideal manner. Not only is everything scrupulously neat and clean, but every possible comfort is afforded the inmates. Mr. Micholson is ably assisted by his estimable wife, who makes the women of the institution her special care, treating them with every consideration and kindness. Both Mr. and Mrs. Micholson have the love and respect of every person in the institution and well do they deserve this, for they leave undone nothing that can be done to make those under their care comfortable, contented and happy. On the 6th of November. 1907. at five o'clock in the afternoon, a fire was discovered in the attic of the alms- house, caused by the crossing of electric wires. Through the efficient work and cool-headed judgment of Mrs. Micholsen, all of the inmates were removed while Mr. Micholson fought the fire. Each did remarkable work in this con- nection. In the main building the attic and second and third floors were gutted before the fire could be extinguished, but everything was done in the best possible way, not only during the fire, but after the flames were in check, in the care which was given to the inmates. AAll were kept comfortable and beds were arranged in other buildings on the premises, so that all were able to retire as usual by nine o'clock that night. Mr. Micholson displays excellent business ability in the management of the farm and the financial interests of the institution.
In his political views Mr. Micholson is a republican, recognized as one of the active workers of the party in this locality. For thirteen years he has been the chairman of the Kane County Swedish-American Republican Club, and has been honored with a number of local offices, the duties of which he has discharged with promptness and fidelity. He was alderman of Batavia for four terms, or eight years, and while serving as a member of the city council did effective work on many important committees. He was also the
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