USA > Illinois > LaSalle County > History of La Salle County, Illinois > Part 78
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Feeling the need of something more than an elementary education, he attended the Rock River Seminary at Mount Morris, Ogle county, Illinois, and while so engaged, in order to obtain the means to pursue his studies, taught school at Evanston, Illinois, which was the first school in the village after its incorporation. He had gone to Evanston with Elder Judson, then in charge of the work of raising funds to build the Biblical Institute, which was the first public educational institution before the university.
After leaving Mount Morris Seminary Mr. Stiles removed to De Kalb county, where his parents resided. He was elected county clerk in 1858, which office he filled for eight years and during that time he was also engaged in the land and immigration business and owned the abstract office and books commenced by General C. J. Stolbrand, who served in the army and was at the head of Logan's Artillery Brigade.
Mr. Stiles was active in politics at this time and was the principal founder of the True Re- publican, a newspaper at Sycamore, Illinois. He founded and owned the De Kalb County News, at De Kalb, Illinois. He cast his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont for president and has voted for every republican candidate for president since.
He moved to Gardner, on the Chicago & Alton road, and owned the Gardner Coal Company, and while there published the Gardner Journal. From 1868 to 1873, besides mining coal, the com- pany also manufactured brick from the shale taken from its mine, which proved to be good, cheap and durable, but freights were too heavy for shipment from that point so he built the Commercial Hotel and other brick buildings which are standing today. While there he owned and conducted a printing office, a large store and the hotel which he had built.
On account of a strike among the miners, Mr. Stiles abandoned the mine and moved to Chicago, where shortly afterward he organized and was one-half owner of the Thorn Wire Hedge Com- pany, which owned the first two patents on barbed wire and received over one million, five hundred thousand dollars in royalties therefrom. He also organized and owned one-half of the Western Fence Company, which owned five working
trains and built over three thousand miles of fence. During this time he was for several years president of the Manufacturers' Equitable Asso . ciation, composed of all the wire and barbed wire manufacturers in the United States.
About this time he became interested in elec- tricity and in the experiments of Charles J. Van Depole, a native of Holland and a sculptor and artist, who was experimenting at Detroit, Michigan. A company, the Van Depole Elec- tric Manufacturing Company, was formed and Mr. Van Depole moved to Chicago. Nearly all the stockholders became discouraged by the cost of the experiments in the transmission of power and left the company, Mr. Stiles having to bear the financial burden. He immediately took hold of the work as president and manager and from 1881 to 1886, besides freely giving his money, he devoted his whole time and energy to the work. During this time the first transmission of power by motors was accomplished and the first four- teen electric railroads in the world were equipped and operated by the company. Mr. Stiles never doubted its success and, besides the exhibition plants at the Chicago and New Orleans Exhibi- tions, roads were equipped at Toronto, Canada, in 1884; Montgomery, Alabama ; Windsor, On- tario; Appleton, Wisconsin; Scranton, Pennsyl- vania; Lima, Ohio; Binghampton, New York; Dayton, Ohio, and other places. The company took out over sixty patents on electrical trans- mission of power, electrical railways, etc., and had over sixty more applications in the patent office at the time the company sold out. The opposi- tion encountered seems now ridiculous. The greatest arose from the newspaper articles which talked continually of the liability to accidents from electricity, claiming that everyone would be killed who rode upon the cars. All of which had to be shown to be untrue by continual demon- stration on the roads. No city would allow poles to be erected for the distribution of electric cur- rent above ground. No company would build cars without payment in advance.
By constant work and application to business Mr. Stiles became broken down in health and sold out to the Thompson Heuston Company, of Lynn, Massachusetts, who formed the General Electric Company, which has since made so great a success, for a small sum. Mr. Van Depole, who went with that company, died shortly after- ward. Mr. Stiles paid the debts of the Van Depæle Company, which amounted to nearly three hundred thousand dollars from his own resources.
He moved to Streator in 1894 where he owned the People's Electric Light Company, doing business lighting the city. He purchased the
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gas company, which was then about used up, and consolidated under the name of the Streator Gas and Light Company. He has also since residing here sold the Bessemer Electric Company of Bessemer, Alabama, to the Birmingham Electric Railway Company, and has now sold the Streator Gas & Light Company to the Illinois Light & Traction Company.
Mr. Stiles was married in Sycamore, De Kalb county, to Miss Emily Dutton and has two sons and one daughter now living, who are William A. Stiles, of Chicago; Everell D. Stiles, of Streator, and Mrs. John E. Brower, of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
FAWCETT PLUMB.
Fawcett Plumb is a representative of various corporate interests in Streator and his name has figured conspicuously in political circles, so that his activity in various lines has contributed to public progress and improvement, promoting the commercial development and upholding the legal and political status of the community. He was born in Andover, Ashtabula county, Ohio, De- cember 10. 1834, a son of Francis M. and Laura M. (Hyde) Plumb, the former a native of New York and the latter of Connecticut. The mother died when but forty-five years of age and the father, who for many years followed farming in Ohio, departed this life at the venerable age of ninety-two years.
Reared under the parental roof, Fawcett Plumb early became familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. His father was poor with a large family, so that Fawcett Plumb had to begin work early and as a barefooted boy he labored in the fields and on the farm. He thus worked from the time of early spring planting until crops were harvested in the autumn. He attended school for a brief period in the winter seasons and manifested much aptitude at his studies. Studious by nature and taking great interest in the work of the school- room, he did not consider it a hardship to walk four or five miles to a spelling school when a boy. He was a good speller, often making the best record in a large class. He taught school when quite young and he worked his way through col- lege, supplementing his early educational privi- leges by study in Oberlin College at Oberlin, Ohio. He possessed determination and energy, which brought out every spark of latent talent and his ambition prompted him to seek fields of labor wherein intellectual prowess and progress were necessary.
Following his return from college he lived with and was associated in business with his uncle, Colonel Ralph Plumb, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work and in whose history is given the genealogical record of the family. He served as private secretary to his uncle during the war and afterward was associated with him in about the same capacity until his death. De- siring to enter professional fields, he took up the study of law in Albany, New York, and was admitted to the bar there in 1867. In that year he came to Illinois, settling in Pontiac, where he formed a partnership, becoming a member of the firm of Fleming, Pilsbury & Plumb, attorneys at law. He was thus associated until 1868, when he removed to Streator, where he embarked in the real-estate business and has since handled prop- erty, negotiating many important realty trans- fers. His executive force, keen discrimination and business ability awakened public attention and led him to be sought as a co-operant factor in the furtherance of many business projects which have felt the stimulus of his exertions and wise counsel. He was one of the organizers of the Streator National Bank in 1881, became one of its first directors and has since acted in that capacity. In 1891 he was chosen to the presi- dency and has since been at the head of the bank, which is one of the safe and reliable moneyed institutions of the county, being conducted upon a conservative yet progressive plan that has awakened public confidence and therefore gained public support. Mr. Plumb is also president of the Streator Paving Brick Company and thus associated with one of the leading industrial en- terprises of the city. He is likewise the owner of the Plumb Opera House, which was built in 1883. His name is thus inseparably interwoven with the business development and commercial prosperity of the city. During his residence in Streator Mr. Plumb continued through the life of his uncle to stand to him largely in the rela- tion of a private secretary, assisting him in his operations as a railroad builder and in other ways. His knowledge of law made his opin- ions very valuable to his uncle in the control of extensive and important business interests. A man of great natural ability, his success in busi- ness from the beginning of his residence in Streator has been uniform and rapid. As has been truly remarked, after all that may be done for a man in the way of giving him early oppor- tunities, he must essentially formulate, determine and give shape to his own character and this is what Mr. Plumb has done. Watchful of oppor- tunities, readily utilizing the advantages which have come to him, his has been an exemplary as well as successful business career and he has
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contributed in large measure to the general com- mercial prosperity.
Mr. Plumb was married to Miss Geraldine Plumb, a daughter of Colonel Ralph Plumb and a cousin and a schoolmate of his boyhood days. Following her death Mr. Plumb wedded Miss Ermina Ballard, of Peoria, Illinois, who died at the age of thirty-two years, leaving one son, Ermin F., now seventeen years of age. For his third wife Mr. Plumb chose Miss Carrie Merry, of Ilion, New York, and a daughter of Lawrence L. Merry.
Mr. and Mrs. Plumb are supporters of the Goodwill church of Streator and in politics Mr. Plumb is an independent republican, who does not hesitate to transfer his allegiance from one party to another when he deems that the princi- ples involved demand such a course of action. He was elected upon an independent ticket to rep- resent La Salle county in the state senate from 1872 until 1876. In 1896 he supported Bryan for the presidency but voted for Roosevelt in 1904. He stands as a man firm in support of his hon- est convictions and is public spirited, being thor- oughly interested in whatever tends to promote the moral, intellectual and material welfare of his city, county, state or nation. He is now sev- enty-two years of age, but is still a hale and hearty man, being as active as most men of fifty years. He is a man of exemplary habits, who has always exemplified in his life honorable and straightforward principles and he is widely rec- ognized as a modest; whole-souled man.
DANIEL HART.
Daniel Hart is a farmer and stockman of Eagle township, living on section 13. His farm em- braces two hundred acres of land, which is ara- ble and productive and has been well improved through the efforts as well as the result of the ambition of Mr. Hart. A native of New York city, he was born on Willett street, August 7, 1836, his parents being John and Elizabeth (Ma- lone) Hart, both of whom were natives of coun- ty Roscommon, Ireland. They came to Amer- ica in 1835, and after a brief residence in New York made their way westward to Chicago, John Hart worked on the canal and was drowned in the Illinois river in 1842. His widow with her children afterward removed to Galena, Illi- nois, where they remained for a year and then returned to Peru, but when another year had passed settled in Eagle township a half mile west of the present home of Daniel Hart. There the mother continued to reside for a long period.
passing away here upon the home farm in 1888, at the advanced age of seventy-five years. Her children were four in number. Mary, born in Ireland, in 1831, became the wife of Charles Clif- ford, and both died in Chicago about 1890. They owned and for long years resided upon a farm in Eagle township and were well known in their part of La Salle county. They left nine chil- dren, James, John, Daniel, Joseph, William, Pierce, Frank, Ellen and Mary. Bryan Hart, born in 1833, in Ireland, died upon the home farm on section 13, Eagle township, at which time he was serving as constable. He had previously filled that position and been tax collector for twenty-five years or more. He married Sarah Kain, who passed away prior to his death and their surviving children are Isabella, Ann, Ellen, Mary and John Hart. Daniel Hart of this re- view is the third of the family. Lavina, born in Peru, Illinois, in 1840, is the wife of John Ham- ilton and they reside in Streator. They have five children, John, Anias, Loretta, Mary and Anna.
Daniel Hart has resided practically all his life in La Salle county. He worked forty-seven vears at blacksmithing, conducting a shop on the farm and employing one or two men all the time. He learned the trade with John McDermott, and afterward worked as a journeyman in various places before starting a shop of his own, when twenty-two years of age. He had a liberal pat- ronage because of his good workmanship and his straightforward business methods. As the years went by he also gave considerable atten- tion to the cultivation of his farm and to the raising of stock and this dual pursuit still claims his attention. He is today the owner of two hundred acres of rich and productive land on section 13, Eagle township, and the place is lack- ing in none of the modern equipments of a model farm. He has well tilled fields and good grades of cattle, horses and hogs and both branches of his business are proving profitable.
In 1859 Mr. Hart was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Casey, a daughter of Nicholas Casey. She was born in Ottawa and died March 7, 1905, at the age of sixty-five years. There had been thirteen children of that marriage, of whom seven are yet living: William, residing near the old home farm, married Miss Elizabeth Whalen. Isabell became the wife of James Ryan, and died in 1890. Mary Jane married Andrew Byrnes and lives at Joliet, Illinois. Mar- garet is at home. Loretta E. became the wife of James Whalen, a resident farmer of Eagle town- ship, and died in 1900. Sarah B. is the wife of James Mullen, living near Farmer City, Illinois. John is at home. Frank is married and lived in
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Oglesby, this county. Mary is yet with her father. Julia, Lavina, Katie and Stella are all deceased.
Mr. Hart is a democrat with firm faith in the principles of his party but without aspiration for office. He has served as school director for twenty-five or thirty years and was pathmaster for six years and at all times he is interested in those things which tend to advance the coun- ty's interests along lines of material, intellectual, political or moral progress. He is a Catholic in religious faith identified with Father Egan's parish.
FREDERICK BENCKENDORF.
Frederick Benckendorf was born in Peine, in the province of Hanover, Germany, April 26, 1826, and for many years has been identified with farming interests in La Salle county, his home being on section 18, Otter Creek township. His parents were Frederick and Fredericka (Leder) Benckendorf, both of whom were natives of Germany, in which country they were reared and married. The mother died there, and the father afterward came to the new world. In their family were five children, two sons and three daughters, but the subject of this review is the only one now living.
Mr. Benckendorf pursued his education in the schools of his native country and in the year 1852, when about twenty-six years of age, he came to La Salle county, Illinois, locating in Bruce township, or in that section which is to- day Otter Creek township. He first rented six - ty-five acres of land, on which he raised nineteen crops. In 1860 he bought three eighty-acre tracts of land at twelve dollars per acre, and as the years have gone by he has added largely to his landed possessions until he has become one of the extensive landowners of the county. He has given each of his seven children eighty acres of land and still owns three sections, or nineteen hundred and sixty acres of very valua- ble land. He certainly deserves much credit for what he has accomplished, as he was in lim- ited financial circumstances when he came to the new world. He has been watchful of business opportunities, has made the most of the advan- tages that have come to him and through his keen business discernment and safe investment he is the owner of much valuable property.
Mr. Benckendorf was married in Germany to Miss Fredericka Missel, who was born in that country and died in the year 1897. There were seven children of this marriage, of whom the first three were born in Germany, namely : Liz-
zie, who was born in 1848; Charles, who is now living in Bruce township; and Louis. Those born in America are: £ Augustus; Henry, who is living in Otter Creek township; Amelia, who is also making her home in Otter Creek town- ship; and Lena, the wife of Fred Gleim. For his second wife Mr. Benckendorf chose Miss Carrie Papenburg, whom he wedded on the 29th of June, 1898. She was born in Livingston county, Illinois, June 14, 1873, and is a daugh- ter of Ernest and Sophia (Riss) Papenburg. Both were natives of the fatherland and came to this country at an early day. The father died at the age of forty-five years, and the mother is still living in Livingston county, where they set- tled in pioneer times. They had a family of four children, three daughters and a son : Wil liam, who makes his home in Livingston county ; Mary ; Mrs. Benckendorf; and Minnie.
Mr. Benckendorf belongs to the St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran church, and gives his po- litical allegiance to the republican party. He was a young man of tweny-six years when he bade adieu to friends and native country and sailed for the new world. He had little to as- sist him as he started out in life here but he pos- sessed a resolute spirit and strong determination and he soon came to know that labor is not ham- pered by caste or class and that indefatigable energy will win prosperity. For a long period he was connected with farming interests in this county and has improved his property and made further investment until he is now one of the wealthy landowners of this part of the state. In all of his business dealings he has been straight- forward and honorable, never taking advantage of the necessities of his fellowmen in any trade transaction. He has now passed the eightieth milestone on life's journey but possesses the vigor of many a man of much younger years and still has a spirit of energy and determination.
C. W. FREDENBURG.
C. W. Fredenburg, residing at Ottawa, is a traveling salesman, representing the wholesale grocery house of Franklin MacVeagh & Com- pany. of Chicago. He was born in East Ottawa in 1854. His father, Isaac H. Fredenburg, be- came a resident of La Salle county in 1834, at which time he took up his abode in Ottawa, then a small and inconsequential town, giving little promise of rapid growth and development in the future. He resided at the point which is now the junction of the Illinois and Fox rivers and he owned and operated the first ferry conducted
FREDERICK BENCKENDORF.
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there. He also owned other property in Ottawa and later engaged in merchandising, also con- ducting a merchant tailoring business. He was a very active factor in business circles in the city for many years and his enterprise and labor proved essential elements in the early develop- ment and commercial progress of the city. He also made two trips overland to California dur- ing the period of the early gold excitement there. For many years he continued actively in business in Ottawa, but at length retired from trade in- terests and afterward served as deputy sheriff under Sheriff Blake. His death occurred at the old homestead in East Ottawa which he built more than a half century ago. He passed away July II, 1884, being at that time seventy years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Priscilla Platt, lived to the extreme old age of more than ninety years and died on the 18th of August, 1905. She came to this county in the fall of 1833 and was married in the following year to Mr. I. H. Fredenburg. She was of English descent, while her husband was of Hol- land lineage and she resided in La Salle county for more than seventy-one years. At her death the community mourned the loss of one of its most esteemed pioneer women, her many excellent traits of character having endeared her to all with whom she came in contact. In the family were eight children, of whom C. W. Fredenburg is next to the youngest. He has three living sis- ters : Mrs. William Warrick, living in Whiting, Indiana : Mrs. C. H. Moss, of Poplar Bluff, Mis- souri ; and Mrs. Henry Fisher, of Lacon, Illi- nois. His brothers, Justice, Henry and I. H. Fredenburg, served as soldiers of the Civil war with good records.
C. W. Fredenburg has resided all his life in Ottawa and has made his own way in the world since the age of thirteen years, in consequence of which he well deserves the somewhat hack- neyed but altogether expressive title of a self- made man. Enterprise, close application and un- tiring labor have formed the strong elements in his success. For the past thirty years he has been upon the road as a traveling salesman and for eighteen years has represented the wholesale house of Franklin MacVeagh & Company, of Chicago, his territory extending from Morris to Rock Island and Peoria. He has many regular patrons and is constantly gaining new ones and is popular with those with whom he has had business relations, being at all times honorable and straightforward, while he is also ever cour- teous and does all in his power to give to the trade exactly what is wanted.
In 1889 Mr. Fredenburg was united in mar- riage to Miss Magdalene Shuler, a daughter of
John N. Shuler, a retired grain and lumber dealer residing at Ottawa. He was born in Har- risburg, Pennsylvania, September 18, 1831, his parents being John A. and Eliza A. (Sides) Shuler, natives of Middletown, Pennsylvania, and of German descent. The ancestry had resided in this country through several generations. On the Ioth of October, 1836, John A. Shuler and his wife arrived in La Salle county, locating in Otta- wa, which was then a mere hamlet, containing only about twelve or fifteen houses. He was a tailor by trade and later engaged in the con- duct of a merchant tailoring business, in which he continued throughout his active life. He was an old-line whig and after the dissolution of that party became a republican, but never sought of- fice. He died in this county in 1891, when more than eighty-six years of age and his wife passed away about 1881, at the age of seventy-six years. In their family were ten children, John N. Shuler, of Ottawa, and two sisters, of Nebraska, being the only ones now living.
John N. Shuler was reared in La Salle county and is now the oldest citizen of Ottawa in years of continuous connection with the city, the pe- riod of his residence here covering seventy years. In early manhood he was engaged for ten years with his father in the tailoring business, after which he turned his attention to the dry-goods trade, in which he also continued for ten years with his brother and father. He then closed out the store and about 1870 became a grain mer- chant, buying and shipping grain. Later he ex- tended the scope of his activities by establishing a lumber yard about 1880 and he continued in the grain and lumber trade until 1897, when he disposed of his lumber interests, but remained a grain merchant of the county until 1904, when he retired from active business and has since lived in the enjoyment of a well earned rest. He has always been a republican from the inception of the party, voting for John C. Fremont in 1856. His first presidential ballot was cast in 1852. He is a man whose upright life, business activity and genuine personal worth have made him one of the esteemed and honored residents of La Salle county. The long period of his connection with the city also entitles him to representation in this volume, for he has been an eye witness of the growth and development of Ottawa for a longer period than any other of its citizens.
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