History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 130

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

USA > Illinois > LaSalle County > History of La Salle County, Illinois > Part 130

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John K. Lang was reared in his native coun- try and served for six years in the German army, from 1860 to 1866 inclusive. Soon afterward he decided to come to America, locating first in Chicago, where he engaged in the lumber busi- ness. He came to La Salle county in 1876 and for two years conducted a lumberyard at Earl- ville. He was afterward owner of a lumber- yard in. Mendota for two years and from 1880 until 1882 was engaged in the lumber business in Aurora, Illinois. In the latter year he re- moved to.Paw Paw, where he established a lum- beryard, which he conducted for thirteen years, when in 1895 he sold out and returned to Earl- ville. where he has a fine home. Here he is living a retired life. Throughout his business career he was connected with the lumber trade and was very successful, always enjoying a lib- eral patronage as well as the confidence and trust of his fellowmen, which were given him by rea- son of his straightforward business dealings.

Mr. Lang was married in this county to Mrs. H. W. Sanders, nee Dorothy Schrader, who was

born in Hanover, Germany, and came to the United States a year or two prior to the arrival of Mr. Lang. By this marriage there is one daughter, Arbelia, now fifteen years of age. In his political views Mr. Lang is a republican, who keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day but has never sought or de- sired office. In his religious views he is liberal. His life is actuated, however, by manly princi- ples and his rules of conduct have been such as to gain for him the respect and esteem of his fellowmen. He is a man of strong purpose, firm in support of his honest convictions and in his business career he has manifested inde- fatigable energy, laudable ambition and unfal- tering perseverance, qualities which have gained for him the respect and good-will of his fellow- men and made him one of the substantial resi- dents of the county, so that he is enabled to enjoy in quiet retirement the fruits of his for- mer toil.

ALEXANDER KELSO.

Alexander Kelso, who arrived in La Salle county in 1859 and began life here as a farm hand, is today one of the wealthiest residents of the county, owning six hundred and forty acres of very valuable land. There is in the anxious and laborious struggle for an honorable com- petence and a solid career of the business or pro- fessional man, fighting the every-day battle of life, but little to attract the idle reader in search of the sensational chapter, but for a mind thor- oughly awake to the reality and meaning of hu- man existence there are noble and immortal les- sons in the life of the man who, without other means than a clear head, a strong arm and a true heart, conquers adversity and, toiling on through the work-a-day years of a long career, finds that he has won not only wealth but also something far greater and higher,-the deserved respect and esteem of those with whom his years of active life placed him in contact.

Such a man and one of the leading citizens of La Salle county is Alexander Kelso, of Lostant. He was born in Londonderry county, Ireland, in 1838, his parents being Alexander and Margaret Kelso. The father was a farmer by occupation and both he and his wife died in Ireland.

Alexander Kelso spent the first sixteen years of his life in his native country and in 1854 came to the United States, locating first near Albany, New York, where he worked by the day in a brickyard and also engaged in farm labor for four . years. In the spring of 1859 he came to Illinois, settling in Eden township, La Salle county, where

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JOHN K. LANG.

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he was employed on a farm for six months. He Swift Packing Company and then entered into then came to Hope township and worked on a partnership with his father in the establishment and conduct of the Exchange Bank. He is a

farm west of Lostant for a year, after which he engaged in operating a farm on the shares for , practical business man and has control of the two years. Ambitious, however, to own prop- affairs of the institution. Socially he is con- nected with various organizations, belonging to the Knights of Columbus, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Mystic Workers and the Royal Neighbors. erty, he had saved his earnings and by his econ- omy, frugality and careful management he was enabled to purchase a tract of land of seventy acres on section 12, Hope township. He worked hard and his industry proved the father of pros- The parents are members of the Catholic church and MIr. Kelso votes with the democracy and has held some minor offices, but his ambi- tion has not been in the line of office holding. He owns considerable real estate in Lostant, includ- ing good business blocks and residence property. When he came to La Salle county all that he pos- sessed was twenty dollars in gold and with that as a nucleus he has accumulated a fortune and at the same time retains the esteem and confidence of his neighbors and those with whom he has been associated. He is a man of strong indi- viduality and indubitable probity and has at- tained to a due measure of success in the affairs of life, while at the same time his influence has been exerted in the direction of the good, the true and the beautiful. He is a man of genial and social nature and many friends speak of him in terms entirely favorable. perity. In addition to tilling the soil he raised considerable cattle and as his financial resources increased he bought a tract of eighty acres, then an additional eighty, afterward ninety acres and subsequently seventy-eight acres, and today he is the owner of valuable and richly productive tracts of land, comprising six hundred and forty acres worth two hundred dollars per acre. This makes him one of the wealthiest men of La Salle county and he also ranks high in the esteem and con- fidence of his neighbors because of his honesty, his sobriety and his charity. In the fall of 1904 he retired from the farm to Lostant and on the 3d of April, 1906, in connection with his son, Samuel L., he established the Lostant Exchange Bank, which from the beginning has had a suc- cessful career, the volume of business increasing from day to day. The bank is supplied with all modern equipments in the way of furnishings, has a Mosler time-lock safe and good vaults and is regarded as one of the reliable financial insti- tutions of the county. Mr. Kelso is a member JAMES WALTER DUNCAN. of the American Bankers Association.

In the year 1858 was celebrated the marriage of Alexander Kelso and Miss Ann Murphy, at Albany, New York. The lady was born in County Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1840 and is still living. Twelve children have graced this mar- riage: Joseph, who resides in Hope township; James, who is connected with the Chicago stock- yards ; Margaret, deceased ; Robert, a farmer liv- ing in Corning, Iowa; Mary, the wife of Frank Fairclough, who is a telegraph operator in To- peka, Kansas; Daniel, deceased; Alexander C., who is a horse-buyer of Hope township; Bridget, deceased; Matilda, the wife of David Ryan, a resident farmer of Hope township; Samuel L., who is in the bank with his father; and Isabelle and Maria, twins. Isabelle is the wife of Robert Reeves, of Indianapolis, Indiana, while Maria is at home. The son, Samuel L., who is associated with his father in the banking business, attended the district schools, was for one year a student in St. Bede's College and also attended the Dixon Business College. Subsequently he engaged in farming for a time and for five years conducted a meat market at Lostant. On disposing of that business he spent five months in traveling for the

James W. Duncan, whose intense and well di- rected energy was manifest in his practice as a member of the Illinois bar, and who had to the time of his death a distinctively representative clientage in Chicago, where he made his home, was a native son of La Salle county, his birth having occurred in the city of La Salle on the 18th of January, 1849. His parents were Nicholas and Isabella (McBoyle) Duncan, the former a native of County Mayo, Ireland, and the latter of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The father was a contractor and thus became closely identified with industrial interests in La Salle. He also served as mayor of that city for years and his civic virtue and his intelligent and hon- est administration made him a valued official.

In his boyhood days James W. Duncan at- tended the public schools of La Salle through the winter seasons and largely devoted the sum- mer months to farming his father's lands. He also attended the Christian Brothers College and in 1867 entered Niagara University, where he pursued a general collegiate course to the time of his graduation in June, 1870. The same year he entered upon the study of law in the office of

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E. Follett Bull, at La Salle, and the follow- ing year was admitted to the bar. He then formed a partnership with Harman D. Follett, under the firm name of Follett & Duncan, which firm continued at La Salle as successors of Mr. Bull, who had removed to Ottawa. After about a year, however, Mr. Follett was compelled by failing health to seek another climate and Mr. Duncan practiced alone until 1876, when An- drew J. O'Conor, who had studied law in the office of Mr. Duncan, became a partner under the firm style of Duncan & O'Conor. The re- lation was maintained until 1888, although in 1882 Mr. Duncan removed to Ottawa, while Mr. O'Conor remained as the resident partner in La Salle. Offices were maintained in both cities by the firm until 1888-the year of Mr. Duncan's removal to Chicago. In 1887 Judge Hiram T. Gilbert had been admitted to the firm under the firm name of Duncan, O'Conor & Gil- bert and the following year Mr. Duncan with Mr. Gilbert removed from Ottawa to Chicago, the firm of Duncan & Gilbert continuing in active practice until 1897. The partnership being dis- solved Mr. Duncan continued alone to the time of his death. His practice was varied, calling for the exercise of his legal ability in many de- partments of the field of jurisprudence and con- sisted largely in the actual trial of cases in court. While criminal cases were included with his earlier work in Chicago his later efforts have been confined almost entirely to civil cases. Mr. Duncan prepared a case with great thorough- ness, care and precision, studying the question from every possible standpoint and reaching con- clusions which were at once logical and con- vincing. His large clientage was at once evi- dence of his standing at the bar and the success which attended his efforts in the courtroom. He never feared that wearisome devotion to detail which is as necessary to the lawyer as to a repre- sentative of commercial or industrial business, and his clearness and precision of statement showed a mind trained in the severest school of investigation to which close reasoning had be- come habitual.

Mr. Duncan, after attaining his majority, figured more or less prominently in political cir- cles and was a recognized leader in the ranks of democracy in La Salle county. In the first years after his return from college he was called to positions of political preferment, serving as city clerk and city attorney of La Salle. In 1873 he was elected mayor of that city and was twice re-elected, altogether filling the office of chief ex- ecutive for three terms, during which time he gave a public-spirited, business-like administra- tion characterized by practical reform and im-

provement. In 1872 he was chosen treasurer of the school funds of the townships of Peru and La Salle, filling the office until 1882, when he re- moved to Ottawa. The same year he was elected to the state senate from La Salle county, which then, as now, constituted a senatorial district.

Mr. Duncan was married in La Salle, Novem- ber 25, 1872, to Miss B. M. Cody, a daughter of John and Margaret Cody. Two chidren were born of this marriage: Edgar V. Duncan, whose birth occurred September 14, 1873; and Isabelle M., born December 22, 1874. Mrs. James W. Duncan departed this life October II, 1898, in Chicago, and on the 16th of July, 1901, Mr. Duncan married Mrs. M. E. Barnet. Mr. Dun- can departed this life at his home in Chicago, on July 21, 1906, leaving his widow and children surviving. In his religious views Mr. Duncan was a Catholic. Of pleasant, genial disposi- tion and cordial manner which won him many friends in both professional and social circles, he was on all occasions a gentleman of dignified demeanor and in the courtroom fully sustained the dignity of the law. Endowed by nature with keen, intellectual force he developed his latent talents and powers with the passing years and gained success in the arduous and difficult pro- fession of the law, where advancement depends entirely upon individual merit.

WILLIAM TURNER BEDFORD.

William Turner Bedford, editor and publisher of the La Salle Daily and Weekly Tribune, was born in London, England, September 18, 1863. His grandfather, Joshua Thomas Bedford, was for many years a member of the London com- mon council and for some years deputy of the ward of Farringdon Without. William Henry Bedford, father of William T. Bedford, was a real-estate dealer and died at the comparatively early age of thirty-six years. His wife was El- len Thornton, a daughter of the late General Thornton

William T. Bedford acquired his preliminary education in private seminaries and afterward at- tended Christ's College in London, from which he was graduated with honors in 1879. He pur- sued a classical course, including French, Ger- man, Latin, Greek and higher mathematics. He entered upon his business career as an office boy in a wholesale dry goods house but seemed to possesses a natural predilection for journalism and for two years was connected with English weekly publications. His love of adventure led

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him to America in 1884 and furthermore he real- ized that there was little chance for progress in the old country. On the 26th of February of that year he arrived in La Salle and for'a short time was in an insurance office. In the fall of 1885 he became La Salle editor of the Peru Daily News Herald, remaining in that position until June 13, 1891, when he succeeded A. L. Hennessy as editor and publisher of the La Salle Repub- lican. He changed the name of the paper to the La Salle Weekly Tribune and on the Ist of July, 1891, issued the first number of the La Salle Daily Tribune. Both papers have proved profit- able investments and circulate in neighboring towns as well as in La Salle and Peru. They are republican in politics and influential factors in the political and public life of the community.

Mr. Bedford is a member of the Illinois Press Association, of which he was treasurer from 1902 until 1904. He belongs to the La Salle County Editorial Association and has been continuously re-elected its secretary since 1899. He is also a member of the Illinois Republican Editorial As- sociation, the Inland Daily Press Association and a member of its executive committee in 1903-4, and a member of the Press Club of Chicago. Fraternally he is identified with La Salle lodge, No. 584, B. P. O. E., of which he was exalted ruler in 1905 and 1906, and he is also connected with several other secret and fraternal organiza- tions. He is vice president of the Deer Park Country Club and a member of the Episcopal church. In politics he has long been recognized as a stalwart and able champion of the republican party, whose influence in political circles has been widely felt, his opinions often proving a de- cisive factor in the settlement of political ques- tions. He was appointed by President McKin- ley in 1900 supervisor of the census for the elev- enth congressional district, and in 1902 was ap- pointed by President Roosevelt postmaster of La Salle, while on the 28th of June, 1906, he was reappointed to that office, being therefore the present incumbent. He was a member of the republican county central committee from 1896 until 1904 and succeeded F. W. Matthiessen as a member of the township board of education in 1903, serving out the unexpired term of two years.

Mr. Bedford was married in La Salle, October 20, 1892, to Miss Anna Elizabeth Treat, a na- tive of New Haven, Connecticut, and a daugh- ter of George B. and Harriet (Bry) Treat. The ancestry of the family can be traced back to Rob- ert Treat, the first governor of Connecticut-1683 to 1708-when that "state" was a crown colony. Mr. Bedford in all of his social, business and po- litical relations, has commanded the respect of

his fellowmen by reason of his fidelity to his honest convictions and his fearless championship of whatever he believes to be right. He has made steady and consecutive progress in his business career since coming to the United States and his patriotism toward his adopted land is that of practice rather than theory.

OTTO F. W. KIESELBACH.

Otto F. W. Kieselbach, editor and proprietor of the Post, a German paper of Mendota and also of the Mendota Reporter, was born June 19, 1854, at Treptow on Rega, Prussia. His parents were Carl and Caroline Kieselbach, the former a contractor and builder. Otto Kieselbach ac- quired his education at Treptow College. He early manifested special aptitude in his school work, with a taste for study and reading being especially interested in comparative philology. It was through his readng that the became in- terested in the United States in following the events of the Civil war. Considering this the best country on earth for a young man of rather in- dependent mind, opposed to the monarchial rule of the old world, he crossed the Atlantic to the United States in June, 1871, and made his way di- rect to Winona, Minnesota, where he had friends living. He found that without sufficient knowl- edge of the English language his collegiate learn- ing could not be utilized as a source of revenue and he engaged in hard manual labor on the farm and in town in order to provide for his support. At the same time he as rapidly as possible mastered the English tongue. In the spring of 1872 he went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and later secured a position in a wholesale house, where he remained until 1874. He then took a clerical position in Freeport, Illinois, and, be- coming interested in theatricals, in 1876 he se- cured an engagement in DeBar's opera house at St. Louis, Missouri, with Schreiber's German Company. However, he found that he did not like the boards as they actually are and in the spring of 1877 removed to Mendota, which has since been his permanent abode. Here he ac- cepted a position as teacher of German in the city schools and in the meantime took up the study of law. To further perfect himself in the profession he attended the Union College of Law at Chicago a part of the time and was admitted to the bar in 1883. His indentification with journalistic interests dates from the 15th of August, 1879, when he established the Post, a German paper, which he is still editing and con- ducting. In January, 1883, he purchased the

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Mendota Reporter in partnership with L. S. Seaman, who was also his law partner, but since November, 1887, has conducted business alone. Mr. Kieselbach is a man of scholarly attainments, and the great sociological, economic and polit- ical questions are of deep interest to him. While firm in support of his convictions he is at the same time liberal in his views, disinclined to partisan measures and averse to narrow, con- tracted ideas of life in any of its phases.

Mr. Kieselbach has held no public office save that of school director, in which capacity he has served for sixteen years and library trustee for about twenty years. Politically, he is a democrat of Jeffersonian tendencies and in 1896 was a gold democrat. He has been a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows since 1885, in which he has served as past grand. In his reli- gious views he is liberal.

On the 8th of June. 1885, Mr. Kieselbach was married to Miss Ottilie Volk, of Mendota, a daughter of D. Volk, who establishel the Men- dota. brewery. Mrs. Kieselbach died in 1891, leaving two children, Oswald and Clara, and on the 4th of July, 1895, Mr. Kieselbach wedded Elise Henschel at Koenigsberg, Prussia. With a logical mind and studious nature, his reading has covered a wide range and embraced the various themes and problems which have direct bearing upon the race and its development in relation to the individual and to history. He has made it his purpose to follow the golden rule and in his relations with his fellowmen has commanded uniform confidence and respect.

D. L. BARNARD.

D. L. Barnard, whose identification with busi- ness interests in Earlville exceeds that of any other merchant of the town, is now conducting a furniture and undertaking establishment. He opened his store in 1870 and has since been con- tinuously connected with the commercial interests of the village. His success has been such as to class him with the prosperous residents of the town and the business methods he has followed rate him with those worthy of the respect of their fellowmen. He was born in Juniata county, Pennsylvania, May 31, 1841. his parents being Joseph and Elizabeth (Hoke) Barnard, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. The father was a carpenter by trade and owned a small farm, but always continued to work at the builder's art and made his home in Pennsylvania until called to his final rest. His wife is also now deceased. In their family were seven children: Thomas,

a resident of Juniata county, Pennsylvania ; John, who is living in Bellevue, Ohio; Joseph, a Pres- byterian minister residing in Madison county, Indiana, whose son, George Gray Barnard, is a noted sculptor; D. L., of this review ; Nancy Jane, who is a twin sister of our subject and the wife of John Giuves, living in Lewiston, Penn- sylvania ; Anna, the wife of Stewart Hench, liv- ing in Juniata county, Pennsylvania ; and Tyrus. who is foreman of a manufacturing company at Sandwich, Illinois.

D. L. Barnard spent his years upon the farm to the age of sixteen, when he began learning the carpenter's trade, which he followed until he en- listed for service in the Union army at the age of twenty-one. He became a member of Com- pany I. One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Penn- sylvania Volunteer Infantry, and served for nine months, taking part in the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and others of lesser importance. He was honorably discharged at the expiration of his term of enlistment and re- turned home.

In 1864 Mr. Barnard came to Earlville and was identified with building operations here for a brief period, working at the carpenter's trade until 1867, when he secured employment in a furniture store and shop. He thus acquainted himself with the business and in 1870 opened a store of his own, since which time he has contin- nously been a factor in commercial circles in Earlville. In 1874, in connection with a partner, he built the business block in which he is still located on Ottawa street. Here he carries a large and well selected line of furniture and undertak- ing supplies and has a good patronage. He has made a study of the wants of the public in re- gard to furniture, and his earnest efforts to please his patrons, combined with fair and honorable dealing, have secured to him a liberal patronage and render him a popular merchant of the town.

On the 31st of May, 1866. Mr. Barnard was united in marriage to Miss Ellen A. Smart, who was born in Adams county, Illinois, and died in Earlville in 1872. They had two children : May, now the wife of Talbert Beal, a resident of Paw Paw, Illinois ; and William A., who died at the age of sixteen months. Mr. Barnard was again married, his second union being with Sarah B. MIcLachlan, who was born in Juniata county, Pennsylvania, and is still living. Unto them have been born five children: D. Luther, who is a student in the Northwestern Medical College at Chicago and is a graduate of the Madison (Wisconsin) University, where he taught for one year : Elizabeth, a teacher in the Ottawa high school: Jay U., who is in business with his fa- ther; Hope, a teacher in the public schools of

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Troy Grove; and Bessie, who died at the age of four years.

Mr. Barnard is a democrat in his political views and has held several minor offices, acting on the school board and as trustee of schools. As a private citizen he has done efficient public serv- ice, standing for progress, reform and improve- ment along all lines having direct bearing upon the welfare and progress of this city. He be- longs to the Presbyterian church and for twenty- five years has been an Odd Fellow, while for ten years he has held membership in the blue lodge of Masons and is now secretary of the local or- ganization. He is a man of many excellent traits of character, straightforward in his business dealings, cordial in his social relations, while al- together his life challenges the admiration of his fellowmen and bids them emulate this worthy career.

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History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 130

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