History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 50

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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V. 13. Waitr

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ods of the time and erecting upon his property good buildings. He helped to do the carpenter work on all the buildings and erected a large residence, substantial barns and sheds, thus pro- viding ample shelter for grain and stock. He also built an elevator on his place and raised and fed cattle, hogs and other stock for the markets. In early days he hauled grain to Seneca, making two trips a day and he would reach the town with his first load by sunrise. This was prior to the Civil war and grain sold at eighteen cents per bushel but prices rapidly rose during the period of hostilities between the north and the south, and grain then brought one dollar per bushel. Mr. Waite also raised as high as fifty acres of wheat some years, his crops being sold mostly for seed wheat at home and bringing on one occasion as high as two dollars and a quarter per bushel. He lived the life of an active, enterprising farmer and carried on active agricultural pursuits until 1873, when he rented his land. He has since sold a tract of one hun- dred and sixty acres at forty-five dollars per acre and he invested in Iowa property near Web ster City, Hamilton county, where he has three hundred and fifty-six acres, constituting a well improved farm. Retiring from his farm he pur- chased a building site on the bluff at Marseilles and erected thereon a large, neat, two-story, brick residence. It is one of the beautiful and attractive homes of the city, splendidly located and commanding a fine view of the river and surrounding district.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Waite have been born four children, who are yet living, and they have lost two. Florence L., the eldest, born in Corfu, New York, January 13, 1854, is the widow of George W. Moore, a son of John B. and Re- becca (Green) Moore, the former born in Tren- ton, New Jersey, and the latter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. George W. Moore was born in Vienna township, Grundy county, Illinois, and on the 26th of December, 1872, he wedded Florence L. Waite. They became the parents of five children. Roy W., born May 12, 1874, was married July 16, 1894, to Nancy Johnston, a daughter of Joseph Franklin and Sarah Ma- tilda (Hamilton) Johnston, and they have three children : Wendell, born September 16, 1895; Clare, born September 4, 1896; and Harold, who was born September 14, 1897, and died on the 21st of November, of the same year. Bertha, the eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Moore was born July 26, 1876, and died December 2, 1892, at the age of sixteen years. Clare S., born January 17, 1881, is a traveling salesman for a Chicago house. Sara K., born August 21, 1886, and Roy U., born August 8, 1888, are both at home with

their mother. Mr. Moore, who was born May 17, 1844, died April 28, 1893. Mrs. Moore, now living in Omaha, Nebraska, has engaged in teaching school for nearly twenty-five years and is at present a teacher in the schools of South Omaha. Bertha E. Waite, the second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Waite, was born in Ba- tavia, New York, January 17, 1856, and was for several years a successful teacher prior to her marriage to Frank Mason, on the 22d of May, 1888. Mr. Mason, a business man of Marseilles, was born at Mazon, Illinois, and a son of Welling- ton and Sarah B. (Neff) Mason. Wendell D. Waite, born in Brookfield, Illinois, June 1, 1860, is now a business man of Chicago. He was mar- ried March 18, 1901, to Rosa Cleveland, who was born June 10, 1874, a daughter of John and Susanna ( Brekel) Cleveland. Louise H., born in Brookfield, Illinois, November 3, 1861, was mar- ried to Clark S. Tryon, who was born April 24, 1856, a son of Frederick and Mary (Comstock) Tryon, and a farmer of Brookfield township, La Salle county, living upon her father's land. Two children have graced this marriage: John B., born August 31, 1886; and Carl F., born July 20, 1890. Randall S. Waite, born January 4. 1867, died on the 18th of the same month. John B. Waite, born June 19, 1868, died Decem- ber 1, 1871. Mr. and Mrs. Waite and their daugh- ter are members of the Congregational church, at Marseilles.

Mr. Waite is a Mason, belonging to the lodge at Marseilles, in which he has been honored with various official positions, serving as steward for six or seven years. In politics he has always been an earnest and unfaltering republican since the organization of the party. He cast his first presi- dential ballot for Zachary Taylor in 1848, the election occurring on the anniversary of his birth-November 5. He has supported each presidential nominee for the republican party since its organization in 1856, save at one elec- tion when he was absent from the county. He was elected and served for one year as assessor, has also been commissioner of highways in Brookfield township and was commissioner of highways and treasurer of Rutland township for more than fifteen years, and in the discharge of his duties has ever been found prompt and faithful, yet has never sought or desired public office. He has frequently been a delegate to the county conventions and has always kept well informed on the questions and issues of the day, believing it the duty as well as the privilege of every American citizen to exercise his right of franchise and support movements which he be- lieves will promote local progress and the nation- al welfare. In fact, he has been an active, useful and trusted citizen, whose life has been well

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spent and whose prosperity is well merited. He has a wide influence throughout the county and is esteemed for his many excellent traits of character.

JOHN WYLIE.

John Wylie, a prominent farmer living in a fine home on section 21, Waltham township, owns three hundred and twenty acres of valuable land all under cultivation. This place is devoted to general farming and stock raising, and in both connections the owner is well known. He has spent his entire life in La Salle county, his birth having occurred on the 6th of December, 1855, at the old farm home on section 8, Waltham town- ship, where his mother still resides. He is a son of William F. and Margaret (Currie) Wylie. His parents were wealthy and owned large tracts of land in Dakota and Nebraska. The father died on the old homestead in La Salle county, August 22, 1901. This is a highly respected family, having a large circle of warm friends.

Reared under the parental roof, John Wylie acquired his education in the public schools and Knox College at Galesburg, Illinois, which he attended for five terms but did not graduate therefrom. He early became familiar with all the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist who conducts his business along modern and progressive lines. He has always carried on farming and his property is now very valuable, the entire tract of three hundred and twenty acres being under a high state of cultiva- tion, so that rich crops are annually gathered in return for the care and labor he bestows upon the fields. He is also well known as a breeder of pure blooded shorthorn cattle and Clydesdale horses.

In 1887, Mr. Wylie was united in marriage to Miss Lena Mitchell, a daughter of William and Mary (Wennes) Mitchell, representatives of an early family of La Salle county. Five children have been born unto Mr. and Mrs. Wylie: Mar- garet, Mary, Clara, Edna and Anna. The fam - ily are all members of the Presbyterian church, in the work of which they take an active interest, contributing generously to its support.

Mr. Wylie is also prominent in Masonry. He belongs to Ottawa lodge, No. 10, A. F. & A. M., and has also attained the Knight Templar degree in the commandery. He is in hearty sympathy with the teachings and tenets of the craft and has labored to promulgate its principles and se- cure their adoption. He has also figured prom- inently in political circles, holding a number of

local offices. He has been tax collector and for twenty-three years was school director in the home district much of the time serv- ing as clerk of the board and putting forth effective and earnest effort in behalf of the cause of public education. For thirteen years he has been supervisor of Waltham township and he served in the Illinois legislature in the forty-ninth and fiftieth sessions, during which time he voted against the famous Allen bill. He is a man fearless in defense of his of his honest convictions and nothing can swerve him from a course which he believes to be right. His public record has been characterized by fair dealing and clean politics and he had the support of both parties in his own county. He stands in opposition to misrule in both local and state politics and belongs to that class of citizens who establish one's faith in the ultimate triumph of good government and the rule in office of those men who are devoted to the general welfare and place the public good before personal aggrandizement.

JUDGE A. T. LARDIN.

Judge A. T. Lardin, probate judge of La Salle county, is one of her native sons, and his life record is in contradistinction to the old adage that "a prophet is never without honor save in his own country," for in the years of his connection with the' bar here, Judge Lardin has so directed his labors as to win more than local distinction, gaining a success which is grat- ifying and encouraging. His birth occurred in Ophir township, La Salle county, about 1865, and his education was begun in the district schools and continued in the Northern Indiana Normal School, at Valparaiso. Completing his preliminary course in that institution, he con- tinued his studies in the literary department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. Thus well equipped with broad, general knowledge for any life work which he might undertake, he en- tered upon the task of specifically preparing him- self for a chosen profession and became a law student in the office of Mayo & Widmer. He was admitted to the bar in May, 1888, passing with a grade of one hundred in a large class, showing how thorough was his preliminary preparation. He located for practice in Ottawa and continued an active and successful member of the bar until elected to his present office in 1894 by a plu- rality of two thousand and ninety-seven votes. That he was a conscientious and able judge and

JOHN WYLIE.

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served his fellow townsmen with ability and fidelity is shown by the fact that in 1898 he was re-elected by a large majority and still continues in office. He is well versed in law in all its departments and especially concerning those principles which bear upon probate work. In control of his causes before taking his place on the bench he displayed a most keen and analyt- ical reasoning, logical deductions and sound ar- gument. He is one of the youngest judges ever called to the bench in La Salle county and his administration of the affairs of the office has been characterized by all that is commendable in a public official who regards a public office as a public trust.

JOHN J. MARSH.

John J. Marsh, residing in Marseilles, was for many years identified with agricultural interests in La Salle county, but since 1900 has made his home in town, enjoying a well earned rest sur- rounded by the comforts and many of the lux- uries of life. He is one of the oldest native sons of the county, his birth having occurred in Brookfield township, September 7, 1839. His father, the Rev. George Marsh, was a pioneer preacher of the Presbyterian church. His birth occurred in Walpole, Massachusetts, in 1796. He was a man of good education, studying va- rious questions and was ordained a minister of the First Congregational church but later be- came identified with the Presbyterian ministry in Illinois. His superior intellectual attainments and broad humanitarian principles were strongly manifest throughout his career. He gave some time to the profession of teaching, which he fol- lowed in an academy in New York city, and he had charge for a few years of an orphan asy- lum there. He married Miss Jane Amelia Requa, of a French Huguenot family and a native of Westchester county, New York. She had also enjoyed liberal educational advantages and was a successful teacher of New York city. Recognizing that there was a broader field for educational labor both in the line of intellectual and moral development in the new but rapidly growing middle west, Rev. Marsh came to Illi- nois in 1835 and located in Brookfield township, La Salle county. He was a pioneer preacher of this section of the state, did considerable mis- sionary work and engaged in proclaiming the gospel in various churches. He was also a teacher for a few years. He opened up a farm here in the midst of the forest, driving the wolves out of a piece of prairie land on section 16, and

transforming the tract into a good farm prop- erty. He broke the land, turning the first fur- rows and planting the first crops, and although he commenced with eighty acres of land he after- ward added to the property until he owned three hundred and twenty acres, which included the eighty-acre prairie tract on the old homestead and two hundred and forty acres in the edge of the timber .. Upon this place he reared his family and spent his remaining days and was one of the prominent, influential and well known citizens of this part of the state, leaving the impress of his individuality for good upon pub- lic thought and action and upon the intellectual and moral progress of his community. He died in the year 1877 and was survived by his wife until 1885, her death occurring when she had reached the advanced age of eighty-six years. In the family were two sons and a daughter. The elder son, George, who married in this county, enlisted for service in the Civil war in 1862, and remained with the army until after the close of hostilities. On one occasion he was wounded, being shot through the elbow of the right arm and permanently disabled, after which he was discharged and returned home. Later he received appointment to a government posi- tion in Washington, where he remained for more than forty years. At length he resigned but continued to reside in the capital city. His sis- ter, Mary E. A. Marsh, is now residing with her brother John.

John J. Marsh was reared upon the old family homestead in La Salle county, remaining upon the farm with his father through the period of his boyhood and youth. He was fortunate in his home influences, which were those of refine- ment, culture and intelligence, and after attain- ing his majority he engaged in teaching through four winter seasons. He afterward gave his at- tention to the farm and to the supervision of the home property. As the years went by and he prospered in his undertakings he bought other land adjoining and took charge of the entire place for himself and sister. As he has made investment in other property he and his sister now own six hundred acres of valuable land. He placed thereon good buildings and trans- formed the wild land into very productive fields, so that his property became one of the valuable farms of the county. This place is seven miles from Marseilles and six miles from Seneca. It is tiled and fenced and altogether is one of the valuable farms of the county. Mr. Marsh built a neat residence in Marseilles and removed to the city in 1900.

On the 5th of April, 1876, was celebrated the marriage of John J. Marsh and Miss Mary Hick-

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ling, a native of England, who came to the United States with her parents in her childhood days and was here reared. She is a daughter of Thomas Hickling, and a niece of William Hickling, a pioneer merchant of Ottawa. Prior to her marriage she engaged in teaching for a number of years. Mr. and Mrs. Marsh went to Colorado in 1891 for the benefit of his wife's health, but this proved unavailing and she died there in 1891 and was buried in Ottawa. Four children were born unto Mr. and Mrs. Marsh: Addie, who is acting as housekeeper for her father; George R., who carries on the home farm; Wallace H., a civil engineer on the Frisco Railroad, now at Joplin, Missouri; and Flor- ence, a student in the home school. They also raised one child, Willard, who died at the age of ten years. The older daughter has taught school for four terms and a remarkable thing about this family is that most of its members have engaged in teaching from Rev. George Marsh and wife down to the present, including the wife of our subject and their son George R. and his wife.

Politically Mr. Marsh is a life-long republican, having cast his first presidential ballot for Abra- ham Lincoln in 1860, and for every presidential nominee of the party since that time. While on the farm he served for one term as supervi- sor and for a number of years as township clerk. He has also been school trustee and director and has been a delegate to numerous county and dis- trict conventions. Mr. Marsh and his family are members of the Presbyterian church, in which he has served as elder for a number of years. His entire life has been passed in the county, so that he is one of its oldest residents, having been a witness of its growth and development for more than two-thirds of a century. He has never engaged in speculation but has placed his dependence upon the safe and reliable qualities of unremitting diligence and energy and judicious investments for the acquirement of success, and is now one of the prosperous citizens of the county, occupying an enviable position in the regard of his fellowmen.

GEORGE H. HAIGHT.

Among the citizens who have come from other parts of the county to enter into the broader life and activity of the county seat is numbered George H. Haight, whose public spirit, ability as a legal practitioner, devotion to the general good and strong personal traits of character have gained for him the uniform regard, confidence and good will of his fellowmen. He was born

in Earlville, Illinois, April 17, 1855, a son of Wil- liam R. and Ruth (Norton) Haight. For many years his father was a president of the First Na- tional Bank of Earlville, but the infirmities of age at length compelled him to retire from that posi- tion and he passed away April 22, 1906. The Haight family as far back as the ancestry can be traced, had its orgin in Scotland, where oc- curred the birth of the great-grandfather of Wil- liam R. Haight, who in his early childhood was brought by his parents to America, the family home being established in Vermont. His son, Benjamin Haight, born in the Green Mountain state, spent his entire life in New England and reached the age of three score years. His wife survived him, living to be almost one hundred years of age. Benjamin Haight, son of Ben- jamin Haight, Sr., and the father of William R. Haight, was born in Addison county, Vermont, and was there married to Susan Rutherford, also a native of that county. They removed to St. Lawrence county, New York, and while residing upon a farm there reared their family of three sons and three daughters. Benjamin Haight, Jr., was associated with the Society of Friends and died in New York when he was in his seventy-eighth year. His wife was a mem- ber of the Methodist church and attained her ninetieth year. She was a daughter of Daniel Rutherford, of Vermont, who was a farmer of English descent and served in the Revolutionary war.

William R. Haight, father of George H. Haight, was born in Monkton, Addison county, Vermont, September 12, 1822. He began his education in the district schools, later attended St. Lawrence Academy and then engaged in teaching for ten terms in St. Lawrence county, New York. He afterward engaged in clerking in a store in Parishville, New York, for four years and upon his removal to Illinois in 1850 settled in Elgin, where he soon afterward ob- tained employment in the engineers corps of what was then known as the Chicago & Galena Union Railroad Company, its line extending to Freeport, where it connected with the Illinois Central Railroad, then in course of construction. For two years Mr. Haight continued with that corporation, after which he removed to Aurora, where he took charge of the building of a section of road on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Line between Mendota and Leland. He was afterward civil engineer for the Bureau Valley Railroad for a period and on his removal to Earlville in the spring of 1855 formed a partner- ship with Samuel T. Stilson to engage in the the grain trade. In 1857 they erected the first grain elevator of Earlville and also conducted

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a general merchandise store. Mr. Haight pur- chased Mr. Stilson's interest in the store and, after managing it alone for a year, sold out in 1857, but retained his interest in the grain busi- ness until 1861. The succeeding two years were devoted to merchandising and from 1863 until 1866 his attention was given to farming interests, although he still made his home in Earlville. In 1866 be became one of the organizers of the Exchange Bank of Earlville, of which he had charge for five years, when he sold out. After spending the year 1874 in Chicago he followed agricultural pursuits in Monroe county, Missouri, and also dealt in cattle there until 1879, when he returned to Earlville. His attention for sev- eral years thereafter was given to the supervi- sion of his invested interests and upon the or- ganization of the First National Bank of Earl- ville in March, 1885, he became its president and so continued until the infirmities of age compelled him to retire.

William R. Haight was married July 7, 1853, to Ruth P. Norton, a daughter of William G. and Elmira ( Parker) Norton. She died Decem- ber 1, 1870, aged thirty-six years. Of their four children Sybil died at the age of ten months. William D., a physician at Johnstown, Penn- sylvania, married Ida Lacey. Etta C. Haight became the wife of Dr. John C. Sheridan, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. On the 27th of August, 1876, William Haight wedded Mrs. Ruth P. Whaley. In early manhood he became a member of the Odd Fellows lodge and the Blue lodge and chapter degrees in Masonry. He was formerly a stanch democrat until the attitude of the party on the money question led him to give his allegiance to the republican party in 1896. He served as township supervisor and justice of the peace, but never had political aspirations, pre- fering to give his time and energies to his busi- ness affairs, in which he met with creditable, hon- orable and gratifying success.

It will also be interesting in this connection to note something of the maternal ancestry of George H. Haight. His grandparents in that line were William G. and Elmira (Parker) Nor- ton, both natives of Maine. The Norton family is of English origin, but was established in America at an early period in the colonization of the new world. The Parkers are of Scotch- Irish extraction and both families were repre- sented in the early wars of the country, Wil- liam G. Norton serving in the war of 1812, while the grandfather Parker was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. William G. Norton and his wife had a large family: William H., who was superintendent and engineer of the

Earlville Water Works; John P., deceased ; Ruth P., the deceased wife of W. R. Haight, of Earlville; Octava E., a widow, now deceased ; and Sybil N., the wife of F. H. Hall, formerly superintendent of the blind asylum at Jackson- ville, Illinois, now residing at Aurora, Illinois. The father of this family left Maine in the fall of 1849 and brought his family to Illinois, lo- cating in Boone county, where they resided until the spring of 1851, when they removed to Free- dom, La Salle county. In 1852 they went to Earlville, where the parents spent their remain- ing days.

George H. Haight, whose name introduces this record, acquired his early education in the public schools and afterward attended the Smithson College and the Illinois State Normal Univer- sity, being graduated from the last named in June, 1874. For seven years he engaged in teaching school and during that time was prin- cipal of the schools of Somonauk, Illinois. Hav- ing prepared for the bar he moved to Ottawa and entered upon the active practice of law on the Ist of June, 1881. Here he has since re- mained and is recognized by his brethren of the La Salle county bar as a good lawyer, a safe counsellor and one of the leaders in the pro- fession here. He came to the bar well equipped for practice and his devotion to his clients' inter- ests is proverbial. He has been accorded a liberal patronage and in the trial of a cause shows thorough preparation, a comprehensive understanding of legal principles and a keen insight into the relations of the points at issue and precedent as well as judicial principles.

Mr. Haight is a man of strong convictions and frank in giving them expression. He is, however, never bitterly aggressive but is cour- teous and considerate, according to others the right which he reserves for himself of forming an unbiased judgment. He has always remained a democrat although outspoken in his dislike for and in his condemnation of some of his party's candidates and measures. He has never been an aspirant for office although elected by his ward to what was known as the improvement council, in the work of which he took a most active and helpful part. He was nominated for mayor over his vigorous protest. As a political speaker he is eloquent, logical and entertaining and his services are always in great demand. Probably no man in the county was more active in discussing the tariff questions when they con- stituted the main party issue nor contributed more to the party success.

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History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 50

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