History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 124

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286

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JAMES J. O'DONNELL.

The farming interests of Wallace township ' find a worthy representative in James J. O'Don- nell, who is living on section 20, where he has a farm of eighty acres richly cultivated and well improved. He is one of the native sons of this township, having been born here on the 9th of July, 1858. His parents were Andrew and Mar- garet (O'Donnell) O'Donnell, both of whom were natives of County Tipperary, Ireland, in which country they were reared and married. Coming to the United States they took up their abode in La Salle county in 1851, and the father, who was in limited financial circumstances, worked by the day in Ottawa for a few years in order to get

ready money and supply the needs of his family. As soon as his financial resources permitted he made purchase of eighty acres of land on sec- tion 17, Wallace township. It was all wild and uncultivated, not a furrow having been turned nor an improvement made. No road led to his farm and in fact there were few houses in the township. He built the first house upon his property and continued to reside there until his death. As the years passed he worked on per- sistently in his efforts to bring his land under a high state of cultivation and made it a productive farm and as the direct result of his labors his fields yielded good crops that found a ready sale on the market. In 1890 he suffered from a stroke of paralysis and died about a year later, passing away May 14, 1881, at the age of eighty- three years. His wife had departed this life Oc- tober 17, 1889.

James J. O'Donnell, the sixth in order of birth in their family of seven children, was educated in the district schools. As his age and strength permitted he assisted more and more largely in the work of the home farm and continued under the parental roof until twenty-eight years of age, when he was married to Miss Emma Quilter, who was born in Ottawa in June, 1858, and is the daughter of Frank Quilter, now deceased. Mr. O'Donnell rented land for two years, the place being the eighty-acre tract on section 20 which he purchased at the end of that time. It had been improved to some extent but much of the land was swamp and he has tiled it and in this way has made it very productive. He has also remodeled the buildings and carried on the work of improvement until the land for which he paid fifty-four dollars per acre is now worth one hundred and fifty dol- lars per acre. In 1898 his barn was struck by lightning and destroyed by fire but he has built a new one and he has now a well developed prop- erty, on which are found all modern equipments and accessories.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. O'Donnell have been born three children: Redmond, who died at the age of thirteen months; Mary, who died at the age of thirteen years ; and Ella, who was born May 7, 1897, and is with her parents. During the past thirteen years Mr. O'Donnell has given his political support to the republican party and for nine years he served as school director, the cause of education finding in him a warm and stalwart friend. He has been drainage commissioner for nine years and was re-elected in the spring of 1906. He was also drainage treasurer for two years and the various official duties devolving upon him have been capably and promptly per- formed. A zealous member of the Roman Cath-

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olic church, he is interested in all that pertains to the material, intellectual, and moral progress of his community. He has always been a great reader, keeping well informed on the ques- tions and issues of the day, and has comprehen- sive knowledge of current events. In the com- munity where he resides he is spoken of as a good neighbor and one worthy of high regard. He possesses much natural mechanical ingenuity and works at the blacksmithing trade for him- self. although his attention is principally given to his farming pursuits and as the years have gone by he has developed a valuable property.

CHARLES W. ALBERT.

Charles W. Albert, whose success as a farmer, stock-raiser and breeder is the direct outcome of his indefatigable energy and sound business judg- ment, resides in Eagle township, where he owns and operates two hundred and eighty acres of land, of which two hundred and forty acres is situated in the home place, while forty acres is adjacent in Vermillion township. Mr. Albert has been a resident of La Salle county since 1868, when he located in Farm Ridge township. He was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, in 1848, but was reared in Preble county, that state. His father, Charles Albert, was a native of Germany and when a young man came to America, settling in Ohio where he successfully followed farming until his death, which occurred in the early 'gos, when he was seventy-two years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth King, was born in Ohio and died during the early infancy of her son Charles. The other son, W. H. Albert, is engaged in the res- taurant business in Indiana. For his second wife the father married Miss Martha Holman, who died in 1873, leaving four sons and four daugh- ters, two of whom reside in La Salle county ; John and Mrs. Annie Carter, the widow of Charles Carter, her home being at Grand Ridge.

Charles Albert, of this review, was reared and educated in Ohio, where he resided until twenty years of age, when in 1868 he started out in life on his own account. He came to La Salle county, living first in Farm Ridge township. He had practically nothing to start with and for three years worked for David Beck. Saving something each year from his earning, he pur- chased land and began farming on his own ac- count and as the years have gone by he has added to his possessions until they now aggregate two hundred acres of very productive and valuable land. He has placed his fields under a high state

of cultivation and harvests large crops. In addi- tion to the tilling of the soil he follows stock- raising and is extensively engaged in the breed- ing of horses and cattle, favoring Norman and Shire horses. He has also been a large buyer feeder and shipper of cattle and both branches of his business are proving profitable.

Mr. Albert was married in this county to Miss Nancy J. Lock, a daughter of Peter Lock, who came to this county about 1856 or 1857. She was born in Preble county, Ohio, and was only four years old when brought to Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Albert are now the parents of two chil- dren, both born in Eagle township: Noah and Ella Romona, aged respectively thirty-two and nineteen years. The son married Miss Lydia Huss, resides in Vermillion township and has five children.

The family home is a finely improved farm, equipped with all modern conveniences and ac- cessories and the owner is a self-made man, de- serving all the praise which that term employs. The secret of his success lies in close application and determination, prompted by laudable ambi- tion. In his political views he has always been a stalwart republican and has served as path- master and in other offices ivhile in the spring of 1905 he was elected commissioner of Eagle township and is now capably filling that posi- tion. He has been for years a faithful member of the Lutheran church.

HOLLINGSWORTH BROTHERS.

Drs. Charles E. and Joseph S. Hollingsworth, engaged in the practice of veterinary surgery in La Salle, are sons of Abram and Celeste S. (Mote) Hollingsworth, the foriner now deceased which the latter is still living. In the family were six children, of whom five are living: Albert R., who married Martha Atkinson and resides in Ohio ; Charles E .; Morris A., a graduate of the Ontario Veterinary College at Toronto, Canada, of the class of 1895 and a practitioner of Rock Island, Illinois, who married Belle McConochie ; Joseph S .; and Mary C., the wife of Frank Dedrick, of Ohio.

Charles E. Hollingsworth was born in War- ren county, Ohio, in 1865, and spent his early life upon a farm in that state. He took up the study of veterinary surgery at an early age and matriculated in the Ontario Veterinary College at Toronto, Canada, from which he was gradu- ated in the class of 1887, taking a practical course of one year before graduation with W. R. Howe, V. S., at Dayton, Ohio. In 1887 he located for

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practice in La Salle, where he has since met with excellent success. Joseph S. Hollingsworth is also a graduate of the Ontario Veterinary Col- lege, being a member of the class of 1902, but before his graduation he practiced with his brother, as the by-laws of the college require one year's practice during the term of study before the completion of the course. Forming a partnership under the firm name of Hol- lingsworth Brothers, they have become recog- nized as leaders in their profession and in 1905 they built their present hospital, which is one of the best private veterinary hos- pitals in the state. The building is one hundred and fifteen feet long and thirty-six feet in width. It is furnace heated, lighted by electricity and equipped with all modern appliances and im- provements for the successful conduct of veter- inary practice. There is an operating table and a veterinary ambulance of the best make and other equipments that will facilitate the work. The building is of concrete and is two stories in height. The brothers have made a success in their practice and are accorded a foremost posi- tion in the ranks of the profession in this part of the state.

Charles E. Hollingsworth was married to Miss Elva Townsend, and they have four children : Irvin (). and Elmer J., both born in Ohio; and Rendal J. and Melvin F., born in La Salle. Jo- seph S. Hollingsworth married Miss Cora Foley. In their political views the brothers are stalwart republicans but without aspirations for office. Charles E. belongs to the Knights of Pythias fraternity and Modern Woodmen of America, while his brother is a member of the Masonic order. They have made continuous progress in their profession since choosing it as a life work at an early age and added to their laudable de- sire for success is a deep interest in their work, without which the best results can never be attained.

W. W. TAYLOR.

W. W. Taylor, general superintendent of mines for the St. Paul Railroad Company, with offices at No. 350 Railroad Exchange Building, in Chicago, has figured prominently in public life and interests of Ottawa and La Salle county, and while making his home in Chicago, where his business connection is one of large responsibility and importance, he yet maintains a deep interest in La Salle county and is connected with its development and progress. He was born in Chicago but accompanied the family on their re- moval to La Salle in 1869. His father, Ed-

mund Dick Taylor, who was a pioneer in the coal industry of Illinois, was born in Fairfax Court- house, Virginia, March 21, 1800, and was nearly ninety years of age, when, on the 17th of Decem- ber, 1890, he passed away in Chicago. When eleven years of age be accompanied his father on the removal from Virginia to Illinois, the family home being established at Shawneetown, on the Ohio river. The grandfather was opposed to slavery and freed all of his own slaves, after which inability to have his land cultivated re- duced him to poverty. Both he and his wife died within two years after reaching Illinois, leaving their son Edmund to make his own way in the world. This he did, not only gaining a compe- tence but also winning a most creditable name for himself. He started out by driving a horse at a salt well, when he was so small that he had to climb on the manger to put on the horse's collar. He was seventeen years of age when the man for whom he was working equipped a flat- boat and sent him into the Indian country to trade, giving him a half interest in all that he could make. Within two years he found him- self in possession of five thousand dollars and this was the foundation of his fortune. With his brother-in-law he opened a general store in Springfield, Illinois, and became interested in coal, opening the West End shaft, which is still in operation. It was in 1856 that he came to La Salle county and sank a coal shaft. connecting with mines still in operation. It was one of the main shafts of the La Salle County Carbon Coal Company and is the largest in the country. Mr. Taylor was closely connected with the coal inter- ests of this county for a long period and his labors were of direct and permanent good in the development of the natural resources of the state.

In the meantime Edmund D. Taylor had mar- ried Margaret. daughter of John Taylor, the first sheriff of Sangamon county. Not long afterward Edmund D. Taylor was elected state senator, defeating the famous Peter Cartwright. and while a member of the assembly he aided in changing the state capital from Vandalia to Springfield. He had served as receiver of public moneys at Chicago, then Fort Dearborn, in the 30s, engaged in business as a member of the firm of Taylor, Breese & Company. In the early '5os he went to Galena and engaged in lead mining in partnership with Governor Dodge, of Iowa, and George S. Jones, afterward United States sena- tor. About 1855 he learned that outcroppings of coal had been found on the Little Vermillion river, at La Salle. He sank a shaft under the name of the Northern Illinois Coal & Iron Com- pany, which is now known as the La Salle shaft

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and is still in operation. Other shafts were later opened and all operated under the first name until 1872. He lived in the city of La Salle from 1860 until 1864 and then removed to Chi- cago, but in 1870 again took up his abode in La Salle, where he remained until 1876, when he once more settled in Chicago. At the time of the Chicago fire Mr. Taylor owned sixteen buildings on Lake and South Water streets. The destruc- tion of these accompanied by the failure of the Chicago and Illinois companies, in which he carried all his insurance, and the panic of 1873 ruined him financially and he retired from active business. He knew everybody of prominence in the middle of the nineteenth century and was especially close to Lincoln and Douglas, favoring the latter because he was a life-long democrat. In the days when he engaged in farming in Illi- nois, in 1862, he was the man who first suggested to Lincoln the paper money, afterward known as greenback. His life was full of action and full of usefulness to his section of the country.

W. W. Taylor pursued his early education in Chicago, was for a time a student in the Chicago University, and also attended Notre Dame Uni- versity at Notre Dame, Indiana. When he had put aside his text-books he again became a resident of La Salle county. He has spent most of his life in the coal trade and has practical and intimate knowledge of the business in all its de- partments. He was, however, prominent in pub- lic life in La Salle county, acting as clerk of the city of La Salle during 1877 and 1878, while for two years he was alderman from the fifth ward. He was also elected circuit clerk in 1880 and was re-elected in 1884. In 1888 he was chosen supervisor of Ottawa and also served as alderman from the second ward of that city. In 1890 he was elected sheriff of La Salle county and filled the position until 1894. In that year when the riot occurred at the coal mines at La Salle Mr. Taylor went down there to settle the trouble and because of his fearless defense of law and order and his interference with the strikers and lawbreakers he was shot four times and was pounded and beaten until he was nearly dead but the militia was called out and when they started from Ottawa Mr. Taylor went back to the scene of trouble wrapped in blankets to help settle the difficulties and disturbances at the mines.

In the meantime Mr. Taylor had been closely and prominently associated with hotel interests in Ottawa, purchasing the Clifton Hotel in 1883 and retaining the ownership thereof until 1905. Personally he conducted the hotel until 1901. In 1903 he became connected with the Spring Val- ley Coal Company as general superintendent of

mines, filling the position for a year, after which he was made general manager and superintendent of mines, with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company. He now has complete charge of the mines and coal properties of this company. From his youth he has had a more or less intimate knowledge of the coal trade in its various departments and is well qualified for the important position which he is now filling.

In 1875 Mr. Taylor was married to Miss Jen- nie E. Mills, of La Salle, Illinois, who was born in that city and was a daughter of James M. Mills, who owned a line of canal boats and was in the commission business. He figured promi- nently in public life and was mayor of his city for several terms. He was also an old settler there and was very prominent and influential. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have been born three daughters: Mrs. A. C. Godfrey, who is living in Ottawa ; Mrs. Louise M. Rickley, also of Otta- wa ; and Nan M., at home. All were born in La Salle county.

In politics Mr. Taylor is a stalwart demo- crat, and, without aspiration for office, he has continued one of the stalwart advocates of the party and its principles. He belongs to the Elks lodge at Ottawa and the Ottawa Boat Club, being a charter member of both. He also belongs to the Chicago Athletic Club and the La Salle County Association in Chicago. Mr. Taylor has risen to prominence in business circles through a thorough understanding and mastery of whatever he has undertaken and he may well be classed with the representative men that La Salle county has furnished to Chicago, where the exercise of his native talents and business capacity has gained him an enviable position.

Mr. Taylor has in his possession a letter writ- ten by President Lincoln to his father which reads as follows :

My Dear Col. Dick :-

I have long intended to write the origin of the greenback, and tell the world that it is one of Dick Taylor's creations. You had always been friendly to me, and when troublesome times fell upon us, although my shoulders were broad and willing, yet they were weak, surrounded by such circumstances and such people that I did not know whom to trust; and, in my extremity, I said, "I will send for Col. Taylor; he will know what to do." I sent for you and you came on or about the 16th of January, 1862. I asked "what can we do?" You said, "Issue treasury notes bearing no interest, printed on the best banking paper, and declare them a legal tender, and issue enough to pay off the army expenses." Chase thought it a hazardous thing, but we finally accomplished it and gave to the people of

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this republic the greatest blessing they ever had, -their own paper to pay their own debts. It is due to you, the father of the present greenback. that the people should know it, and it gives me great pleasure to make it known. How often I have laughed when you used to tell me so plainly that I was too lazy to be anything but a lawyer.

Yours truly, A. LINCOLN, President.

EDWIN L. MILLER.

Edwin L. Miller, living on section 3, Ophir township, was born near Waterloo, in Seneca county, New York, February 6, 1846. (His pater- nal grandfather was Ludwick Miller,"a native of Pennsylvania. The father, Abram Miller, was/ born in Seneca county, New York, April 5, 1817. made farming his life work and owned and operated land in New York. In 1857 he came with his family to La Salle county, where he pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 3. There was a small house and barn upon the place, the latter being covered with thatch and these buildings with a rail corn trib constituted the only improvements. Abram Mil- ler made his home upon that farm until 1872, when he removed to a farin near Ottawa. A few years latter, however, he returned to the old homestead and when four. years had passed he bought a farm adjoining on the south, where he built a residence and made his home until his death, which occurred June 8, 1898. He was in fair circumstances when he came to Illinois and he paid thirty dollars per acre for his farm. He was a successful man and at the time of his death owned two hundred acres. His reli- gious faith was that of the Presbyterian church, and in his political views he was a republican but aspired to no office, though on one occasion he served as township collector. He was a strong man physically and a hard worker. He lived economically and knew the value of money. He was of German descent and in his life exemplified many of the sterling traits of his Teutonic an- cestry. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary J. Wagner, was born in Waterloo, New York, August 15, 1825, and died August 5, 1893. In their family were five children: Adelia, the wife of George Ingram, of Mendota ; Edwin L., the second in order of birth; Augustus, living on a farm in Ophir township; Frederick, who owns a fine fruit farm at North Yakima, Washington ; and H. J., who is living on the old homestead in Ophir township.

Edwin L. Miller remained at home in his youth and attended the district schools until eighteen years of age, when he enlisted for service as a member of Company I, Fourth Illinois Cavalry, on the 4th of January, 1864. The regiment was organized in 1861 and served for the regular term and Mr. Miller joined as a recruit in 1864. The command went south and operated around Mem- phis, Natchez and Vicksburg, and he participated in three raids, the first one being from Vicksburg, where they went to destroy a railroad bridge. The second was under Grierson from Memphis to Vicksburg, in which thirty-five hundred men participated, being out sixteen days. They took six hundred prisoners into Vicksburg, storming a stockade and capturing five hundred confeder- ates at one time. There were twenty-five men killed and fifty wounded. Company I, had one man killed and another wounded at Franklin church, Mississippi. The third raid was made at Memphis down the Mississippi river into Louisiana and covered seventeen days. Later Mr. Miller went up the Red river into Texas with Custer and was mustered out at Houston, Texas, receiving an honorable discharge at Springfield, Illinois. He was a good soldier, being never excused nor absent from duty and was never wounded nor taken prisoner. He was ill with measles, however, after going south. He now receives a pension of six dollars per month.

When the war was over Mr. Miller returned to his father's farm and was there employed at the time of his marriage in 1871 to Miss Idilla M. Austin, a daughter of Alexander and Sally Jane (Cristler) Austin, one of the early families of Ophir township. Mrs. Miller was born in Ophir township, February 19, 1854, and died April 22, 1906. In the family were six children, of whom five are living: Cora E., the wife of Fred Foster, living on her father's farm ; Merton, at home ; Maud, the wife of J. Lockwood Bailey, living at Rochelle, Illinois ; Frank, at home; May who died at the age of fourteen months ; and Minnie, also with her parents.

In 1876 Mr. Miller purchased eighty acres of land adjoining his father's place. There was not a stick nor a tree upon the place. His father gave him two thousand dollars to put into this farm and aside from that he has made all that he possesses through his energy and unfaltering labor. He built a frame house and substantial barn, planted an orchard and set out shade trees, has built fences and tiled the land, and now has a well developed and improved farm prop- erty. His residence is a large house containing nine rooms and the barns and outbuildings are all substantial and nicely painted, while every-

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thing about the place indicates care and supervi- sion. Mr. Miller has two hundred and thirteen acres in this farm and a mile west has one hun- dred and twenty acres, on which his son-in-law now resides. When he came to this county at the age of eleven years the country was all wild prairie, there being only two trees between his home and Troy Grove and from his father's place they could look into Earlville and see the porches on the buildings. All work was done by hand, money was scarce and there were many hard- ships and privations to be borne incident to set- tling upon a frontier. All this has changed and La Salle county is now the center of a populous district, its inhabitants being a contented and prosperous people. In politics he is a republican, casting his first presidential ballot for Gen- eral Grant. He has served as road commissioner for three years, as collector for one year and school director for twelve years and his official service has always been characterized by unfal- tering fidelity and promptness in the discharge of his duties. He is now a member of McCul- lough post. No. 475. G. A. R., at Earlville, and in days of peace manifests the same fidelity that he displayed when on southern battle-fields he followed the the old flag.

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History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 124

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855 Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1286

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286