USA > Illinois > Kane County > History of Kane County, Ill. Volume II > Part 52
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Frank R. Braun was fourteen years of age when he came with his parents to the United States. He acquired a common-school education in Germany and worked in the furniture store of Bevier & Eggermann, with whom he learned the cabinet-maker's trade, which he followed until they sold out. He then went to house building for a time and afterwards worked in the coach and building department of the Chicago. Burlington & Quincy Railroad shops for twelve years, but ambitious to engage in business on his own account, he eagerly availed himself of the opportunity that offered for advancement in the business world and each successive forward step brought him a broader outlook and wider opportunity. In 1893 he formed a partner- ship with Philip Johns, W. N. Schuler and others, under the name of the Johns & Braun Company, for the manufacture of sash, doors and blinds, store and bank fixtures and interior finishings of all kinds. The enterprise proved profitable from the beginning, and they now employ from twenty-five to thirty men in the conduct of the business, which is bringing to them a good return.
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FRANK R. BRAUN
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Mr. Braun was married in 1880 to Miss Susan Dillenburg, a daughter of Frank and Margaret ( Knivler ) Dillenburg. Mr. and Mrs. Braun became the parents of three children, who are yet living: Frank M., John N. and William F. The parents are members of St. Nicholas Catholic church and Mr. Braun belongs to the Catholic Order of Foresters, to the Knights and Ladies of Honor and to the Luxemburg Club. Politically he is independent. voting for men and measures rather than for party. For several years he has served as judge of elections. He lives at No. 275 Jefferson avenue, where he has erected a substantial home. As the architect of his own fortunes he has also built up a substantial structure and is now numbered among the rep- resentative residents of Aurora, controlling a business that is constantly growing in volume, and importance.
MR. AND MRS. J. D. DUNNING.
Josiah D. Dunning, who died March 1, 1889, was of old New England stock. On the ancient records of what is now the First Church of Bridge- port, Connecticut, may still be read the entry of the baptism, in 1703. of Benjamin and John Dunning, who were themselves probably grandsons of a Jonathan Dunning who was living in Killingworth, Connecticut, as early as 1664. The subject of this sketch was descended from the above Benjamin Dunning, who was one of the first settlers of Newton, Fairfield county, Con- necticut, about 1710. His sixth son, Michael, born in 1730, moved with his family in 1762 to Pownal, the southwest corner town of Vermont, and during the Revolution was an active patriot and one of the organizers of the force of militia with which Ethan Allen took Ticonderoga. His second son, Josiah, born in 1755, was a member of that command and was in the service after this force was disbanded, at Bennington and Saratoga, and later re- ceived a pension for his services, an interesting record of which is now on file in Washington.
The first son of the above Josiah, was Allen, born in 1778, who married at the age of nineteen and a little later settled in what was then a wilderness, near Ticonderoga, New York, where he raised fifteen sons and daughters, the eldest son being Josiah D. Dunning, late of this place, who was born in Ticonderoga, February 25, 1803. The great family growing up about him made the lot of the eldest brother a hard one, and if necessity had not pre- vented, there were in the vicinity only the rudest facilities for education. When nearly arrived at manhood, however, Josiah D. Dunning, by his own exertion, succeeded in getting a few months' schooling at Castleton Acad- emy. Vermont, a school then of some reputation, where, besides the ele- mentary branches, he seems to have received little instruction except in the elements of surveying. He had an acute mind, however, and his knowledge of what he had studied was more thorough than most men of his opportunities ever attain, and for some time he was a teacher of schools, chiefly in western
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New York, and a successful one. He also became much interested in the work of education and impressed with its value.
In 1832 he married Eudoxea Smith. of Orwell, Vermont, and about that time engaged in business in Sodus, Wayne county, New York, thirty miles east of Rochester, where he soon became a prominent man in the community, serving as postmaster under Jackson's or Van Buren's adminis- tration, and as lieutenant and captain in the New York state militia. In the early days of the Washingtonian temperance movement he was one of its active followers. He was prosperous in business until some time after the panic of 1837, but was finally brought down with the rest, and in 1843 began life anew with his wife and four little children on a prairie farm in Big Rock, thirteen miles west of Aurora, where, for years, the struggle for existence was most severe. The labors of a pioneer, however, did not absorb all his energies. He was always interested in public affairs. The public school in his district being miles away from his house, he instituted a regular system of home instruction for his children, who recited regular lessons to him throughout the winter for many years. To help in giving instruction in geography he drew on the kitchen wall of the house (now occupied by Mr. William Hodgman) a large outline map of the United States, with the states colored. The house was on a great thoroughfare, over which, for one hundred and fifty miles, farmers hauled their wheat to Chicago and hundreds of them stopped there for water, etc., and among them the house became known as "the house with the map on the wall." There probably still sur- vives here and there an old pioneer between Princeton or Dixon, and Chi- cago, who will remember this map. This is mentioned to show the great interest which he took in the education of his children who, until they were grown, was truly his first care. It must be nearly forty years ago, as he was pitching hay in the field that he said to a neighbor: "I would rather leave my children an education than money. They might lose the money: the edu- cation can't be taken from them." During one winter, when nearly fifty, he served as teacher of the schools in this district and had among his pupils John J. Davis, now of Aurora: Zachariah Squires, Jr., and Charles Squires, of Chicago, and D. M. Shonts, of Plano, besides his own children.
Having some knowledge of legal methods, and there being no lawyer near by, while living at Big Rock he was often called in by his neighbors to act as counsel for them in justice courts and to draw up legal papers and had very considerable success even when opposed to regular members of the bar. The acuteness of his intellect would doubtless have made him a great lawyer if he had had the requisite training, but under the circumstances it is probable that this practice and his success in it were really a misfortune for him.
When township organization was first adopted in Kane county, Mr. Dunning took very great interest in town affairs. He was the first super- visor of Big Rock, and though a democrat in a whig town, was reelected year after year nearly until his removal to Aurora in 1856, and he was one of the most active and useful members of the board. At that time, though only fifty-three, the severe labors in his first years of farming had worn away
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his strength and vigor. The only considerable occupation he had after this time was the building of the block of stores at the foot of Galena street and the unsuccessful struggles to free himself from the debts incurred in this enterprise, which swallowed up the little capital he had brought from his farm. He indeed lived to a good old age, but for many years he had been very feeble. He came of a long-lived race. His father was eighty-three when he died, his grandfather eighty-seven and his great-grandfather eighty-one.
Eudoxea Smith, for fifty-five years the wife of the above J. D. Dunning, and who survived him only three hours, was the daughter of a well-to-do farmer of Orwell, Vermont. She had been the mother of ten children, only four of whom survived infancy. Before marriage she was a teacher and from about 1838 to 1853 she was an invalid, often dangerously ill, and no one supposed that she would live long enough to be called old, notwith- standing which she lacked less than two months of the age of eighty-four when she died, and for thirty years, though always feeble, she enjoyed as good health as most people of her age and preserved her mental faculties unimpaired to the end. Her ill health in middle life made her life more quiet even than that of most domestic women. She rarely left her home and consequently her circle of acquaintances was small. This was a mis- fortune for the community in which she lived, for hers was a nature gentle and refined, whose simple presence checked coarseness and made the rough tender and courteous. She was a most faithful wife, a devoted mother and an earnest Christian of deeply religious nature, and she has gone to her reward.
WALLACE E. MUNDY.
Among the prosperous farmers of Kaneville township who owe their success in life entirely to their own unaided efforts is numbered Wallace E. Mundy, who has been dependent upon his own resources for a livelihood since the age of eleven years. He is a native of Illinois, born in Champaign county, September 15, 1862, and is a son of Stephen Mundy, whose birth occurred in Ontario county, New York. He was attacked with the gold fever which broke out on the discovery of the precious metal in California in 1848, and going to the Pacific slope he spent nine years in mining. On his return to New York he married Miss Jane Burrell, who was born near Dansville, that state, and later they removed to Illinois, locating near Cham- paign. He was an ardent republican in politics and was a prominent Mason, having taken the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite. In his family were six children, namely: Frank M., a farmer of South Dakota; Thomas M., who was killed in a railroad accident while serving as conductor on a passenger train ; Samuel B., who was also killed in a railroad wreck; Stephen E., now a farmer of Oklahoma : William P., a cigarmaker of St. Louis ; and Wallace E., whose name heads this sketch.
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Wallace E. Mundy was only eleven years of age when his father died and he was forced to begin the battle of life for himself. He attended the district schools a part of the time until fifteen and since then has devoted his entire time and attention to the acquirement of a home and competence. He first secured employment as a farm hand, working by the month until twenty years of age, and the following year worked with his brother.
Mr. Mundy was then married to Miss Stella Young, who was born in Bristol, Illinois, and they became the parents of five children, namely : Lot- tie A., now the wife of Rolland Bateman; Thomas B., who is employed in a cement factory in Kaneville ; and Napoleon B., Eva M. and Ivan, all three at home.
After his marriage Mr. Mundy rented a farm, being able to engage in agricultural pursuits on his own account. He had received only $125 from his father's estate, but managed to save some money from his wages while working as a farm hand. He continued to operate rented land until thirty-two years of age and by untiring industry and careful management he was then able to purchase eighty-acres of land near Little Rock, on which he lived for five years. In the meantime he prospered as the time went by and then bought the farm in Kaneville township, where he now resides. Here he owns two hundred and seven acres of rich and arable land, which he has placed under a high state of cultivation and improved with good and sub- stantial buildings. The place is well watered and supplied with a fine variety of fruit. It is conveniently situated two miles west of Kaneville on the Kaneville and Hinckley road and the air of thrift which pervades the place indicates the owner to be one of the most progressive and enterprising farm- ers of this county. He is quite a chicken fancier, preferring the Rhode Island Reds, and he also gives considerable attention to the raising of stock, shipping about three carloads of cattle and hogs yearly to Chicago. Politi- cally he proudly follows the footsteps of his father, unswerving in his support of the republican party. He attends the Methodist Episcopal church and socially is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America. He stands foremost in his community as one of its leading and influential citizens and is a man honored and esteemed wherever known.
C. EUGENE MORRILL.
C. Eugene Morrill, the efficient city clerk of Elburn, was born in Kane- ville township, Kane county, Illinois, on the 18th of May, 1850. his parents being Samuel M. and Emily ( Stearns) Morrill. The father made his way to Illinois in 1845, taking up his abode near Elburn. The record of his children is as follows: George S., who is employed as an engineer in Chi- cago; J. S., an employe of the Bowman Dairy Company, in Elburn; Mabel M., who is the wife of Andrew Peterson and resides in Elburn ; and Emma D., who has passed away.
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C. Eugene Morrill, the other member of the family, attended school until eighteen years of age and subsequently followed the profession of teaching for a period of eight years. In 1879 he was elected cashier of the Bank of Elburn, continuously remaining in that position until the institution sold out in 1898. He was then elected city clerk of Elburn and has capably filled the office to the present time. In addition to his official duties he has been employed as bookkeeper by the Crown Electric Company, of St. Charles, since 1903, and is widely recognized as a most public-spirited and enterprising citizen.
On the 7th of April, 1883, Mr. Morrill was united in marriage to Miss Anna S. Hughes, whose birth occurred in Lemon, Pennsylvania, September 5, 1861. Their children are: Miranda M., the wife of Robert L. Perry, an electrician of Chicago; William S., at home; and Bernice C., who is en- gaged in teaching in Kaneville township, having graduated from the Elburn high school in 1906.
Politically Mr. Morrill is a stanch republican and takes an active and helpful interest in the local work of the organization, having served as clerk of Blackberry township for twenty-five years and as justice of the peace for two terms. Fraternally he is a Knight Templar Mason and is likewise connected with the Modern Woodmen of America, of which he is acting clerk. Having lived in Kane county throughout his entire life, he has wit- nessed much of its growth and development and has become widely known as one of its most progressive and esteemed residents.
KARL DANNER.
Landing in Elgin, Illinois, sixteen years ago with but fifty cents as the sum of his worldly wealth, and now one of the substantial and successful farmers of Kane county, Karl Danner is a striking type of the resourceful and self-reliant man of thrifty habits, who only needs the opportunities this country affords to forge ahead in the race of life and win his way over all obstacles.
Mr. Danner was born in Germany, July 20, 1866, and is a son of L. and Barbara (Deitz) Danner, also natives of that great country. The father was a soldier in the German army four years, and afterward a farmer, and also connected with the wine industry. Three children were born to him and his wife: Jacob, who is a wine merchant in Germany; Caroline, who is the wife of Mr. Fischer and lives in Germany, where her husband is engaged in farming ; and Karl.
Karl Danner went to school in his native land until he reached the age of fifteen, then, after working some years in the wine trade, turned his at- tention to farming. He came to the United States in 1892 and located in El- gin, Illinois. For a time after his arrival in this county he farmed for others on shares, then began the same occupation on his own account. He has prospered in all his undertakings, and it is due to himself that he has. For
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he has been industrious, knowing and economical, making every day of his time and every dollar of capital, as he acquired it, tell to his advantage.
His first marriage was with Miss Carrie Wiess, who was born in Ger- many and is now dead. Her remains were buried in Elgin. They had five children : Richard, who is working by month away from home: Charles, who is farming in Kane county; Lena, who is also at home; Hazel, who is a resident of South Dakota: and Fanny, who is a resident of Elgin. Mr. Danner's second marriage was with Miss Lena Baulinger, also a native of Germany, who came to this country when she was a small girl, and settled with her parents in Elgin. By the second marriage Mr. Danner has four children: Emma, Carrie. Frankie and Mary, all of whom are at home.
In addition to his general farming operations, which are extensive and carried on with vigor and good judgment, Mr. Danner has a flourishing dairy business with twenty to thirty cows as its basis of supplies. While pushing his own interests with unfaltering diligence and energy. he has not been unmindful of those of the community around him, but has given his aid willingly and readily to every worthy cause for the promotion of the welfare of his township and its people. He is devoted to the institutions of his adopted country and cheerfully bears his portion of the burden of supporting them and augmenting their usefulness.
HERMAN J. WIESE.
Herman J. Wiese, a successful farmer and dairyman of Plato township, where he operates a farm of one hundred and ten acres and conducts a dairy, was born in Kentucky, November 24, 1882, the son of Fred J. and Dora (Frebbeine) Wiese. His father is a native of Germany, where he was educated in the common schools. He came to America in 1882, accompanied by his wife and located in Kentucky, where, however, he only remained for a short time, going from there to Chicago and later removed to Hampshire, where he engaged in farming operations, an occupation in which he has con- tinucd to the present time. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Wiese have been born nine children, six sons and three daughters, namely: Anna, the wife of August Rabe : Henry, a motorman of Elgin. Illinois: Minnie, the wife of Herman Rabe: William, deceased: Alvina, the wife of George Lasemann; Fred, at home; August, who resides in Hampshire township: johnnie, residing with his parents ; and Herman J., of this review.
Herman J. Wiese received his education in the district school of Plato township, which he attended regularly throughout the school year while in the primary grades, but when he reached an age to be of assistance to his father on the farm his attendance was necessarily somewhat irregular, being confined to those months of the year when farming operations were sus- pended. He received, however, a good practical education. He learned to be a butter-maker, and followed this occupation for three years. His ambi- tion, however, was to conduct a farm of his own, and he did not cease in
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his efforts in this direction until his aim was accomplished. He is now well established with all the necessary farm animals and implements for the con- duct of his business and feels that the road to success and prosperity stretches straight before him, and that in the future he has only to continue on the same lines that he has followed in the past in order to attain a competency.
On April 6, 1904, in Elgin, occurred the marriage of Mr. Wiese and Miss Emma Werrbach, whose parents, Andrew and Catherine Werrbach, are living in Plato Center. They were born in Germany and were brought to America when three and four years of age, respectively. The brothers and sisters of Mrs. Wiese are: John and Frank, both of whom are car- penters, the former residing in Elgin, and the latter in Plato; Samuel and Edward, both of whom are farmers of this township; Annie, who resides at Plato Center; Minnie, the wife of Bert Rash; Lydia, who is a clerk in Elgin, and George, who resides at home with his parents; two died in childhood.
Politically Mr. Wiese is identified with the republican party, in whose interests he is an active worker. Religiously he is a faithful and consistent member of the Lutheran church.
COLONEL EDWARD S. JOSLYN.
Colonel Edward S. Joslyn was born in New York state in 1827, and came to Illinois with his father about 1837. In the '50s he came to Elgin and by 1860 was well established as a rising lawyer and public speaker. When the war of the Rebellion arose he was captain of a militia company known as the Washington Continentals because of the Revolutionary uni- forms they had adopted. Northern Illinois possessed no other company as well equipped and drilled at that time. Colonel Ellsworth, then of Chicago, frequently visited the Continentals and drilled them. When hostilities began in 1861 this company was the first to enlist on the call for troops and was enrolled as Company A of the Seventh Regiment. It was enlisted for three months and did valiant service. At the end of that period most of the com- pany reenlisted in the Thirty-sixth Illinois Volunteers, of which Colonel Joslyn was made lieutenant colonel, in which position he continued until his retirement on account of sickness induced by the southern climate.
During his large experience at the Kane county bar, no man was held in higher esteem for eloquence, legal ability and integrity. His word once given was inviolate. He was elected states attorney in the early '70s, and few deserving punishment escaped. As a criminal lawyer he was widely known and was employed to prosecute or defend nearly every important case during his activity. The celebrated Bailey case tried at Wheaton is still recalled, and the speech made by Colonel Joslyn in defense of the man who shot the invader of his home is mentioned as as an eloquent and powerful an appeal as its auditors ever listened to. It acquitted the prisoner.
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In 1871-73 Colonel Joslyn was employed by the Chisholm family to try the celebrated Emma mine case. This mine was located in Utah and Colonel Joslyn went to that state and lived there nearly three years preparing for the case, which involved property worth several million dollars. He iived the life of a miner in order to gather evidence and made speeches to the Mormons on the Fourth of July and other occasions to become acquainted with the people. The case came to trial, and after a speech occupying four days, during which the sympathizers on both sides sat in the courtroom with pistols at hand, he won the verdict.
As an orator Colonel Joslyn was known throughout Illinois, which he "stumped" during every campaign until the 'Sos. He was twice mayor of Elgin, and from 1855 to 1878 was continuously a member of the common council and as much as any citizen then active. aided in giving direction to the development of the then new city. It is said of him that frequently while seeking office, when the papers were opposed to him, he would get on a dry-goods box on Fountain Square and proclaim to the people his policy and the fallibility of all newspapers.
He was a man of great intelligence and independence of character. He died October 5, 1885, at the age of fifty-nine years. A monument was placed at his grave in the cemetery in Elgin by the Kane County Bar Association as a token of the esteem in which he was held by his associates.
His widow, Jane (Padelford) Joslyn, is still living and .resides with her daughter, Mrs. H. L. Goodrow, at Oak Park, Illinois. Their children were: Edward F., Fred M., Frank Wilber, Mary G., now Mrs. H. L. Goodrow, of Oak Park, Illinois: George, who died in childhood ; Rodolphus Waite; Lorenzo D., now of Oklahoma; Florence and Isadore, who died in youth ; and Harriet L., now Mrs. M. D. Hendrickson, of Elgin. Illinois.
REV. FATHER JOHN F. SCHMITT.
Rev. Father John F. Schmitt, pastor of St. Joseph's parish in Aurora, was born in McHenry county, Illinois, July 18. 1865. He was one of the eleven children of John F. and Maria (Schmitt) Schmitt and worked on the farm until nineteen years of age, when he went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He spent nine years in St. Francis Seminary of that place, pursuing classical and special courses, and in 1894 was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Katzer of Milwaukee.
He was then assistant at Rochelle, Illinois, for three years and subse- quently was assistant in St. Nicholas church of Aurora for a similar period. On the 17th of July. 1898. the first meeting for the purpose of founding St. Joseph's parish was held in a schoolhouse, and St. Joseph's church was tempo- rarily placed under Father Schmitt's charge. They purchased ten lots, fifty by one hundred and fifty feet, and funds were collected with which to commence building in the fall of 1898. Negotiations were also begun for the opening up of High and Root streets to the city limits. On the Ist of February, 1899,
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