History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 91

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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R. A. SCHMIDT.

R. A. Schmidt, residing on section 19, Dayton township, where he owns four hundred and twenty acres of valuable land constituting a part of his father's old homestead, was born in Otta- wa, July 10, 1861, and is a son of R. A. Schmidt, whose birth occurred in Germany. Coming to America alone in 1847, he was afterward married in Detroit, Michigan, to Miss Catherine Grom- mes, who was also born in Germany, and came to America with her father. R. A. Schmidt, Sr., worked at the tinner's trade in Detroit until 1870, when he came to La Salle county and established his home on a farm in Fall River township, where he lived for five years. He afterward removed to Dayton township and purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land, to which he added from time to time until at his death he was the owner of a very valuable property, comprising six hundred and forty acres. He was extremely successful in his farming operations, carefully managing his business affairs until they resulted in a most gratifying prosperity. His political allegiance was given to the democracy and he was a communicant of the Catholic church. He died upon the home farm December 4, 1899, at the age of sixty-four years, while his wife died in Chicago while undergoing an operation Jan- uary 31, 1902. Their son, R. A. Schmidt, was the third in order of birth in a family of six children, of whom one died in infancy. The others are : Henry A., who is living on a farm in Dayton township; Emma, the wife of Judson H. Olmstead, residing in Kinsley, Kansas; Otto B., who married Bessie Bragg and lives in Chicago; and Clara, the deceased wife of a Mr. Shrader.

R. A. Schmidt, whose name introduces this record, was educated in the public schools and in a business college in Chicago. He has always made his home on the farm since his father

purchased the property, giving his life to general agricultural pursuits. In addition to tilling the soil he also feeds cattle quite extensively, feeding as high as two hundred head in a year, while at the present writing he has fifty head in his barnyard. His farm is one of the best in the county, he having been offered one hundred and seventy-five dollars per acre for two hundred acres of land. The house is a very commodius and attractive residence and there are also large barns and other buildings for the shelter of grain and. stock. The entire place is under a high state of cultivation and presents every evidence of thrift and enterprise. In addition to the manage- ment of his property Mr. Schmidt is now engaged in loaning money.

On the 3d of January, 1899, R. A. Schmidt was married to Miss Rosa Bacher, who was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, November 24, 1869. They have two children, Paul and Walter, aged respectively six and three years.

In his political views Mr. Schmidt is an earnest republican and is serving for the second term as township assessor. He belongs to the Catho- lic church and is interested in everything that pertains to the welfare of the community along material, political, intellectual and moral lines. He is an intelligent, enterprising man, who reads broadly and thinks deeply, keeping well informed on the questions of the day. In his business affairs he displays keen discrimination, has made judicious investments and carefully managed his interests so as to increase his holdings.

LUMAN A. WILLIAMS.

Luman A. Williams, practicing at the Ottawa bar, was born in Southfield, Oakland county, Michigan, December 28, 1847. He came to Mc- Henry county, Illinois, in the fall of 1865, when a young man of eighteen years and in the spring of 1866 became an apprentice in the Woodstock Sentinel office, of which paper F. M. Sapp and G. B. Richardson were the publishers. He was thus identified with the newspaper interests of the county until the fall of 1870, when he removed to La Salle county, where in connection with H. M. Gallagher he engaged in the publication of the Peru Herald in January, 1871. In 1874 he came to Ottawa, where he has since resided and during much of the time has been a newspaper writer, discussing in this manner many important questions of the day and preparing many able articles which have had an influential effect upon public thought and action.

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Mr. Williams' preparation for the bar was made in the office of McDougall & Chapman, where he entered in 1889 and after thorough preliminary reading he was admitted in January, 1892, and has since been a practitioner at the Ottawa bar. He has held nor sought few public positions, having served for two years as alder- man, while at other times he has been justice of the peace and police magistrate. He has re- garded the pursuits of private life as abundantly worthy of his best efforts and has given close attention to his law practice, which has grown in importance and volume. He invariably seeks to present his argument in the strong, clear light of common reason and sound logical principle.

Mr. Williams was married on the 14th of Jan- uary, 1875, in Peru, Illinois, to Miss Lizzie Brown, and they have now a son and daughter : Charles A. Williams, a practicing lawyer at Chicago; and Lorena W., the wife of Norman I. Jordan, of Ottawa. For more than twenty-five years Mr. Williams has been a member of Otta- wa lodge, No. 41, I. O. O. F., representing that organization in the grand lodge of Illinois. He is also a past officer of the encampment and Patriarch Militant branch of the order. He is likewise a member and past master of Occidental lodge, No. 40, A. F. & A. M. His devotion to his business interests, his loyalty to the duties which devolve upon him and his strong personal traits of character have made him well known and well liked in Ottawa.

ROBERT CHALFANT STRAWN.

Robert Chalfant Strawn, who for a number of years was a prominent and prosperous repre- sentative of agricultural interests but spent his last days at Ottawa, where he died February 17, 1889, was born at or near Sandusky, Ohio, Sep- tember II, 1825, his parents residing on a farm there. He was a son of Joel and Lydia (Mor- gan) Strawn, and therefore connected with the same family to which General Morgan belonged. The parents came to La Salle in the spring of 1834, being among the earliest residents of this part of the state, and with the pioneer develop- ment and improvement there were associated, taking an active part in the work of general progress. Their home was five miles west of Ottawa. The father was a man of superior in- tellectual endowments and literary attainments. He was a most earnest church worker, was highly respected for his upright life and fidelity to principle and during his long and active ca- reer kept up his reading and was well informed

on all questions of general and current interest. He held various offices, the duties of which he discharged in prompt and able manner, and he owned and conducted an extensive farm. He passed away in 1861, while his wife survived him until 1872. In their family were six chil- dren, Abner, James, Isaiah, Mrs. Jemima Emer- son, Mrs. Sarah Armstrong and Robert Chal- fant. The only one now living is Abner, of 4400 Ellis avenue, Chicago.

Robert C. Strawn was a youth of nine years when, in 1834, he was brought by his parents to La Salle county. . He was reared and edu- cated in Illinois and was naturally gifted, par- ticularly as a reader. He inherited his father's literary tastes and was likewise a well informed man, keeping in touch with the world of thought. He followed agricultural pursuits and resided at home up to the time of his marriage, which important event in his life was celebrated on the 4th of February, 1847, Miss Elizabeth A. Rhoades becoming his wife. She was born in Pennsylvania, and came to La Salle county with her mother, her parents being Thomas and Sa- rah (Collins) Rhoades. Her father died in Pennsylvania, and Mrs. Rhoades afterward brought the family to La Salle county, securing a farm near Dayton. The daughter, Elizabeth A. Rhoades, afterward engaged in the milli- nery business in Ottawa prior to her marriage. Following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Strawn spent some years on a farm near Lacon, Illinois, and afterward located upon a large farm which they purchased and improved and which was situated about six miles west of Ottawa in Utica township. It is still in possession of the family. For a long period Mr. Strawn gave his time and energies to tilling the soil or supervising the farm work, but eventually he removed to Ottawa and soon afterward he purchased a farm, then known as the Henneberry property, near the city. He also bought his residence at No. III2 West Madison street, which has since been much improved and is now owned by Miss Lydia Strawn. Mr. Strawn sank an artesian well on the place, it being among the first in Ottawa. About 1882, or 1883, Mrs. Strawn went to Florida, where she purchased a tract of land near Glenwood in Volusia county, and there she and her husband set out an orange grove. For years they spent their summers in Ottawa and their winters in Florida. This property is also still in possession of the family. Mr. and Mrs. Strawn were very fond of travel and visited many parts of the country, gaining an intimate knowledge of this land and its possibilities.

As stated, Mr. Strawn passed away in Otta- wa, February 17, 1889, and Mrs. Strawn sur-

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vived him until August 14, 1905, departing this life when more than eighty years of age. She was very active up to her seventy-second year, managing her business affairs, in which she dis- played great capability. She was also a sincere Christian worker and a lady of marked benevo- lent and charitable characteristics. During the war she was an active member of the different aid societies and sent many boxes of goods to the soldiers in the south. Both Mr. and Mrs. Strawn were active and devoted members of the Methodist church, taking a helpful part in its work while residing in Utica township, and after removing to Ottawa Mrs. Strawn con- tinued her Sunday-school work in the city. She was also president of the Woman's Foreign Mis- sionary Society and her influence was a potent element for good. Mr. Strawn gave his political allegiance to the republican party, being one of its stanch advocates after the war. He was classed with the progressive farmers and took advantage of every opportunity for improvement. He raised fine cattle and horses and was an ex- cellent judge of stock, particularly of horses. He adopted the best farm methods and utilized the most improved machinery and in his business affairs and in citizenship was a progressive and enterprising man. Both were held in highest esteem by all who knew them and they gained not only the respect but also the warm friend- ship and often the deep love from those with whom they were associated.

Mr. and Mrs. Strawn were the parents of four children: Theodore, who is married and has four children; Zetta, who is managing a farm near Clarion, Iowa, belonging to herself and sister Nellie; and Lydia and Nellie, who are occupying the old home in Ottawa. All of the children, with the exception of the oldest daughter Lydia, were born in this county. She now owns the home at No. 1112 Madison street beside her interest in the large farm in La Salle county which is still a part of the Strawn estate.

FRANK E. STATES.

An active and honorable business career has won for Frank E. States the unqualified regard of his fellowmen and he is justly accounted one of the representatives and respected agriculturists of La Salle county, his home being on section 33, Miller township, where he owns one hundred and sixty acres of arable 'land that has been brought under a high state of cultivation. This is known as the old States homestead, for it be- came the place of residence of his parents about

1865. The ancestral history shows that the fam- ily was established in Pennsylvania in colonial days and Emanuel States, father of Frank E. States, was born in Bedford county, Pennsyl- vania, on the 6th of May, 1823, by the marriage of Abraham and Rebecca States. When a lad of twelve years he accompanied his parents on their removal to Marion county, Ohio, where he was reared to manhood and was there married to Miss Elenora Lysinger, whose birth occurred in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, September 9, 1828. In 1861 they removed westward to Illi- nois, settling in Grundy county, where Emanuel States rented land for a brief period, after which he came to La Salle county, locating in Miller township. He then purchased the farm upon which his son Frank now resides and continued the work of further cultivation and improvement. He built to and remodeled the house, erected a large barn, dug a deep well and placed there a wind pump. He also built cribs and a granary and fenced and tiled the place. He likewise bought more land from time to time and became the owner of two valuable farms in Illinois, to- gether with some land in Iowa. He was widely recognized as one of the prominent farmers of La Salle county and in connection with the de- velopment of his place he raised and fed stock. His fellow townsmen, recognizing his worth and ability, called him to various official positions of honor and trust. He was a stanch advocate of good schools and competent teachers and he stood for progress and improvement along material, intellectual, political and moral lines. He reared his family and spent his last years upon the old homestead and was accounted one of the respected and valued farmers of this part of the state. Unto him and his first wife were born twelve children. The mother died April 9, 1876, and the father afterward married Mrs. Elza Coats, of Lewis county New York, who died September, 8, 1897. He survived until the 9th of March, 1899, passing away in the seventy- sixth year of his age. Of the children of his first marriage, six sons and three daughters are yet living.

F. E. States, born in Grundy county, Illinois, December 31, 1863, was reared upon the old homestead farm and pursued his education in the public schools. Through the period of his boyhood and youth he spent his vacations in work in the fields. He was only two years old when the family removed from Grundy county to La Salle county and he continued to work with his father and eventually took charge of the place, succeeding to the old home at the time of his father's death. He has further improved and cultivated the land, has tiled it, has set out a

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young orchard, has surrounded the place with well kept fences and has made many permanent and substantial improvements. He also raises pure blooded and high grade stock, including shorthorn cattle, Poland China hogs and good horses and his success as a stock-raiser is one of the important sources of his income.

On the 24th of December, 1889, Mr. States was united in marriage to Miss Rhoda M. Drackley, who was born in this county, August 28, 1867, and is a daughter of William and Cornelia H. (Gaige) Drackley. The father was born in England, May 22, 1835, and his wife in Schenec- tady county, New York, January 17, 1837. He was one of the early settlers of La Salle county and after many years of active and prosperous connection with agricultural pursuits is now liv- ing retired, making his home in Seneca township. Unto him and his wife were born three sons and a daughter and all are yet living. Mrs. States spent her girlhood days in Manlius town- ship, where she was born and by her marriage has become the mother of one daughter, Doris Eleanore States, who was born August 30, 1904.

Politically Mr. States is a republican, never faltering in his allegiance to the party and his in- terest in good schools has been manifest by his service as a member of and president of the school board for a number of years. He is in- terested in all that pertains to general progress and his efforts have been a co-operant factor in many movements for the general good. Almost his entire life has been passed in this county and the fact that those who have known him longest are his stanchest friends is an indication of a life of honor, making him worthy the warm regard which is uniformly accorded him.

ALBERT C. BRADISH.

The prosperity of any community, city or town, depends upon its commercial activity, its indus- trial interests and its trade relations, and there- fore the real upbuilders of a town are those who stand at the head of its leading enterprises. In this connection Mr. Bradish is well known as a member of the firm of the Albert B. Bradish, lumber dealers, with offices at the corner of Madison and Fulton streets. He is a son of A. B. Bradish, a native `of Vermont, who on re- moving to the west first settled in Wisconsin. There he enlisted for service in the Civil war and was commissioned captain of a company in the Twenty-first Wisconsin Regiment, with which he served throughout the Civil war. He after- ward removed to the west and became connected

with the lumber trade in Atchison, Kansas. Later he returned eastward to Ottawa and is still at the head of the lumber business in this city, although he has now retired from active man- agement. In his political views he has been a life-long republican, unfaltering in his advocacy of the party and its principles, and while living in Kansas he served twice as a member of the state legislature. He was for years very active in political circles, not only in Kansas but also in Ottawa, and he continued an enterprising factor in business life in this city until seventy years of age, when he turned over the manage- ment of the lumber trade to his son, Albert C. Bradish, and is now living retired in the enjoy- ment of a well earned rest. He is a member of the Loyal Legion and of the Grand Army post in Ottawa and has filled various offices in these organizations. He married Miss Katie Clinton, a native of Wisconsin and a daughter of a pio- neer minister, Rev. Clinton, who went to Wiscon- sin before the territory was organized. There he spent his entire life, doing missionary work among the Indians. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Bra- dish were born two sons, Albert C. and Cyrus P., but the latter died in 1898, leaving a widow and one son, who still reside in Ottawa. He had also been interested in the lumber business with his father and brother.

The youth of Albert C. Bradish was passed in Atchison, Kansas, where his father was for years engaged in the lumber business and thus from his boyhood days he has had more or less inti- mate knowledge with the trade which now claims his time and energies. Twenty years ago he be- came a factor in the business in Ottawa, which was established in 1886 by A. B. Bradish and has been connected therewith continuously since. The enterprise was established on a small scale, but has grown in substantial and rapid man- ner, the firm dealing in all kinds of lumber, in- cluding sash, doors and building materials. The founder of the business. A. B. Bradish, is now retired, while Albert C. Bradish is in charge of the trade. Few men are better informed con- cerning lumber and its values and for twenty years he has represented the house in Ottawa, his enterprise, keen business discrimination and unflagging diligence being strong and salient fea- tures in his success.

Albert C. Bradish was married to Miss Kittie Shaver, of Ottawa, a daughter of George D. Shaver, a native of La Salle county, and they have two daughters, Rachel and Harriett, both at home. The family residence is at No. 631 East Pearl street and the family are members of the Congregational church. Politically Mr. Bradish is a'n earnest republican but without aspiration

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for office. He is quite prominent in Masonic circles, having attained to the degree of Knight Templar in Ottawa commandery. The name of Bradish has long figured prominently in com- mercial circles in this city and has ever stood as a synonym for progress and prosperity, re- sulting from close application, keen discrimina- tion and energy. Both father and son have left and are leaving their impress upon the industrial world. They have been connected with the up- building and promotion of the enterprises which add not alone to their individual prosperity but also advance the general welfare of the city in which they make their home.

WILLIAM OREN ENSIGN, M. D.

Dr. William Oren Ensign, a prominent and successful physician, scientist and author of med- ical papers, is now practicing in Rutland. He was born in Madison, Ohio, June 26, 1841. His paternal great-grandfather, Jacob Ensign, was one of the pioneer residents of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and one of the founders of Pitts- field, that state. The grandfather, William En- sign, was a resident of Dalton, Massachusetts, and became the father of Dr. Caleb W. Ensign, who practiced his profession for many years in Berkshire county, Masachusetts, and was also distinguished in political circles there, represent- ing his county in the state legislature. Follow- ing his removal to Ohio he was likewise a member of the legislature of that state, where he took up his abode in 1840. He married Miss Orpah Deming, a daughter of Gideon Deming, a merchant of Washington, Massachusetts.

William Oren Ensign acquired his early edu- cation in the public schools of his native place and was afterward a student in Grand River Institute at Austinburg, Ohio, and in the pre- paratory department of Oberlin College. He afterward attended the Madison (Ohio) Sem- inary, spending considerable time in that institu- tion of learning, which for a period was under the principalship of Julius C. Burrows, now United States Senator from Michigan. Dr. Ensign engaged in teaching for a year, begin- ning in 1860, when, following the outbreak of the Civil war, he entered the artillery service of the Union army at Cleveland, enlisting for three years in the Fourteenth Ohio Independent Bat- tery. The enrollment bears date August 20, 1861, and he continued with his command until the 19th of August, 1864.

In 1865 Dr. Ensign removed to Illinois, where he engaged in teaching in Livingston county,

and in June, 1866, he entered the office of Dr. Henry A. Almy, of Rutland, Illinois, under whose direction he began preparation for the practice of medicine. Dr. Almy was a graduate of the Albany Medical College and formerly a resident of Hartwick, New York. Dr. Ensign pursued a regular course of lectures in 1867-8, having matriculated in the Charity Hospital Medical College, now the College of Physicians and Sur- geons, and the medical department of Delaware, (Ohio) University, in which he continued his studies until graduation under the direction of Drs. and Professors Collin S. Mackenzie, Gus- tave C. E. Weber and D. B. Smith. In the spring of 1869 he returned to Rutland where he has since engaged in the active practice of medicine. He was for several years likewise engaged in the drug trade at Rutland, first in the firm of Damon & Ensign, and later of Ensign & Brother. He holds honor- ary adeundum degrees from the medical depart- ments of the University of Worcester (1873) and the Western Reserve University (1882). He is a member of Woodford County Medical Society, of which he served as president in 1880, and of the La Salle County Medical Society, of which he was instrumental in its reorganization and was president in 1886. He is a member and was one of the founders of the North Central Illinois Medical Association, acting as its presi- dent in 1880 and again in 1905, and as its secre- tary for fourteen years from 1886 until 1899. He is now one of its life members. He received further honors at the hands of his fellow mem- bers of the medical profession when in 1882 he was chosen chairman of the committee on prac- tical medicine, and later made a life member in 1887 and president of the Illinois State Medical Society for 1888. In 1891 he was chairman of the section on practical medicine of that organi - zation and in 1892 to 1895 he was chairman of the committee on local medical societies. From 1893 until 1895 he served as chairman of a special committee to prepare a history of the state medical society, such history being pub- lished in the transactions of 1895. He was for six years a member of the council of the Illinois State Medical Society, and councilor to the sec- ond district, and was chairman of the council from 1902 until 1906. He is a member of the Association of Railway Surgeons, of the Amer- ican Medical Association and of the International Association of Army and Navy Surgeons, and thus is identified with. some of the most im- portant medical organizations of the country, whereby knowledge is promoted and thruthi disseminated with direct bearing upon the prac- tical work of the profession. He has written for

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several standard medical journals and has been a contributor to the Illinois State Medical Society transactions. He prepared a paper on the early organization of the Illinois State Medical Society, which was published in the Medical Standard in June, 1900, and he made reports for the council of that society in 1904, 1905 and 1906. He is a man of broad scientific attainments in the line of his profession, his knowledge placing him with the foremost representatives of the medical fraternity.

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History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 91

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