USA > Illinois > DeKalb County > Past and present of DeKalb County, Illinois, Volume I > Part 48
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Dr. Leslie M. Hoyt was born November 29, 1858, at the old Hoyt homestead six miles west of Sycamore. He is the son of Lewis Hoyt and grandson of Lewis S. Hoyt, who seitled in DeKalb county in 1850. Dr. Hoyt's early life was spent on the farm ; he was educated at the public school and the Sycamore High school, and in 1880 he ertered Rush Medical College, Chicago, from
which institution he graduated in 1883. Dr. Hoyt first located at Muskegon, Mich., where he was actively engaged in the practice of his profes- sion, giving more especial attention to the branch of surgery. On November 25, 1885, he married Inez P'. Colton at De Kalb, Ill., and in the same year removed with his wife to Smith county, Kan- sas, where he remained until 1893, engaged in the general practice of medicine, when he returned to Illinois, where he again entered Rush Medical Col- lege, devoting an entire year to the advanced study of his profession, locating in the city of Sycamore in 1894, where he had a well established and profitable clientage. He died in 1901.
The earliest settlers in Sycamore found Dr. Norbo, a Norwegian, living in a hut on the north side of Norwegian Grove, hence the name of the grove. We know nothing of his connection with the medical profession, except that he was spoken of as Dr. Norbo. He passed on to the farther west as settlers came. The romance of his life- if there was a romance to it- and why he chose a hermit life may never be known.
Dr. William Wallace Bryant, one of the pioneer physicians of Sycamore, located there in October, 1856. He was born October 31. 1832, at Ches- torfield, Mass., and was married in September, 1856, to Cordelia Sheldon. Four children have been given them. the oldest of whom, Charles II .. is now a doctor. Dr. Bryant was thirty years a resident of Sycamore. ITe was a believer in the Universalist Church and a staunch Democrat.
The Rev. J. M. Woodman, M. D., came as pas- tor of the Ohio Grove Baptist Church about 1849. and united with his preaching services the prac- tice of the medical profession. He took up his residence on the south line of the city of Sycamore carried on a farm and built a church on Main Street, in which he held part of the services of the Ohio Grove church. He was in Sycamore some five years and his push and enterprise gave him a prominent place as a citizen during his stay. About 1880 his address was Chico. Cali- fornia, and he was of some note as an author and lecturer.
Dr. Nahum E. Ballon was born in New York of New England parentage, received a good educa- tion and finally studied medicine and practiced in New York until he came to Sandwich in 1856. He took a post-graduate course at the Buffalo
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Medical College, and became eminently prepared for his profession. He was a student of natural history. a man of literary acquirements, was a member of the American and British Societies for the Advancement of Science, and in 1884 he was given a Fellowship in the Royal Meteorolog- ical Society of Great Britain. He was appointed custom house officer in the Niagara district by President Fillmore, and United States Pension Surgeon by President Lincoln. Ilis interest in local affairs, however, never waned, and he was active in every good work. His library was per- haps the best owned by a private individual in this county. Men of his ability, training and stud- ious habits find no avenue of learning closed to them. Dr. Ballou died about fifteen years ago.
Dr. Chas. Winnie is a Pennsylvanian by birth. and received his education in that state. He then took a course in medicine and surgery and came to DeKalb county where he practiced his profes- sion in Sandwich. He enlisted at the outbreak of the Rebellion and became a surgeon with the rank of colonel. At the close of the war he again practiced medicine and later retired to enter the drug business. Ile is now retired from active business. Dr. Winnie has served many years as supervisor of his town. is a forceful speaker. a man clear brained, honorable and upright.
Dr. E. L. Mayo was born in Sycamore. III .. June 16. 1843, and lived with his parents until he reached his majority. Ho received a common school education at Sycamore, and road medicine under the guidance of Dr. Bryant. and later Dr. Garvin. In 1861 he entered Rush Medieal Col- lege and received his diploma from that institu- tion four years later. In 1825 he moved to De- Kalb, where he has since resided and has the large practice of an experienced and successful physi- cian. He was married January 4. 1822. to Alice 1 .. Ballou, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. P. Bal- lou. Sr .. and to them two children. Ross E. and Alice L .. were born. The doctor and his wife lived most happily together until her death. in 1880. Four years afterward he was married to Irene Robinson, who was born in Malta. In April of 1893 he was married to Miss ITarriet M. Ellwood. and she now lives in her handsome stone house in DeKalb. He died in 1905.
Dr. J. N. Norse was one of the early physicians of Shabbona and practiced his profession. learned
at a homeopathy school. for a number of years. Previous to his location at Shabbona he was a doc- tor in DeKalb. His wife dying at Shabbona he went to Colorado, where he practiced medicine and was remarried. He suffered from a cancer of the optic nerve, and it was removed. but he failed to recover. He died at Rockyford. Colorado. June 4. 1899, leaving three grown children, Mrs. W. J. Norton of Shabbona. Mrs. Emma Morse of Waterman and Willis Norse of Colorado.
Dr. John A. Badgley, who since 1880 has been one of the prominent residents of Malta, was born at Newark, Ill., in 1855. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Badgley, were natives of Ohio, who -. ttled in Kendall county in 1850. The subject of this sketch received a common school educa- tion at Tampico and Sterling. Ill .. and graduated in medicine at Rush Medical College, Chicago. He was married at Tampico. April 24, 1880. to Miss Birdie Bastian, who is still living. She is a daughter of V. S. and Ann E. Bastian and a sister of A. W. and Fred K. Bastian of Fulton, Ill. She traces relation on her mother's side to James K. Polk. Dr. and Mrs. Badgley have two children. Birdie J. and lla G. Dr. Badgley lo- rated in Malta in 1880. where he practiced medi- cine for ten years. Poor health compelled him to abandon his profession for four years. during which time he was in the drug business with B. B. Smiley and in the furniture and drug business with A. E. Jacobs of Malta. In 1894 he resumed his medical practice and now enjoys an extensive patronage. Ile is now practicing in DeKalb.
Dr. C. E. Husk, the first child born in the present village of Shabbona. Ill .. came into this world December 19. 1822. He is the eldest son of William and Celia Norton Husk, pioneers of Shabbona township. He was educated at the Shabbona and Aurora. Ill., schools and received his degree in medicine at the Chicago College of Thysicians and Surgeons in 1898. Ho imme- diately commenced the practice of medicine as physician and surgeon for a mining company in Tepezala. Mexico, where he is now located. He was married in Clinton township to Corena B. Kirkpatrick in December of 1898.
Dr. Charles B. Brown of Sycamore. one of the members of the pension examining board, was born December 25. 1847. at Niagara Falls. Can- ada. His father and mother were born in Eng-
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land, and came to this country in 1861, locating at Brooklyn, N. Y. He received a common school education in Canada, and after finishing school located in Buffalo, N. Y., in 1864. He went into a dental office in Buffalo, where he worked for ten years, then graduated from the University of Buffalo in 1876. The following year he was married to Miss Annette A. Bacon, at Rochester, the place where she was born and always lived. In 1818 they came to Sycamore, which place has since been their home. They have two children. Marguerite B. and Gertrude II., both born in Sycamore. Dr. Brown is one of the prominent physicians of his town and has performed many grave surgical operations with success. lle is a member of the American Medical Association and holds the office of local surgeon of the Chicago Great Western road.
Dr. O. F. Wilson of Shabbona is a native of Canada. He was born in the Province of Ontario, March 25, 1861, and lived with his parents who were natives of Ontario, until they came to this country in 1869. They located in Benton county, Towa, moving to Scranton, lowa, in 1874. Later the doctor came to this county. Dr. Wilson re- ceived a high school education and graduated from the medieal department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
The promoter of the Sycamore Emergency Hos- pital, Dr. Letitia A. Westgage, was born October 29. 1866, at Triumph. La Salle county, Illinois. Her parents, David W. Westgage, born in La Salle county, Illinois, and Martha A. Gibbs West- gage, born in Adams county, Illinois, came to this county from a farm near Mendota in 1891, and located at Sycamore, bringing their family with them. Dr. Westgage received her education at the Mendota East Side High School, where she graduated June 5. 1885. as the valedictorian of her class. From there she went to Knox College, Galesburg, and entered the Northwestern University Woman's Medical School. Chicago, in 1889, graduating with high honors March 28. 1892. She won the first prize in a competitve examination in microscopy and chest and throat diseases. Since graduating she has practiced medicine in Sycamore, where she established the first hospital in DeKalb county, in the spring of 1897. calling it the Sycamore Surgical Hospital. She was the promoter of the
Sycamore Hospital Association, which was incor- porated June 9, 1899, with a capital stock of $5,000. Dr. Westgage is a member of the Fox River Valley Medical Society, the Illinois State Medical and the American Medical Societies.
Dr. George N. Lucas of Malta, was born in Quakerville, Ind., March 25, 1860, a son of George Lucas of Pennsylvania, and Emily Henderson Lucas of Vermillion, Ind. He lived with his par- ents until thirteen years of age, since which time he has taken care of himself, worked his way through college, and won an enviable reputation as a physician and surgeon. On coming to Illinois he located in Elgin, where he worked in the hospital for about five years, and then entered the watch factory, being employed there for four years. He gave up this work to enter the College of Physi- vians and Surgeons in Chicago, from which insti- tution he received his degree in medicine. His common school education was obtained at the Leb- anon. Ind., High school. March 25, 1888, he was married at Elgin to Lucy E. Blackburn, who was born at Manchester, Ill. They are the parents of two boys. Frank B. and Edwin A., who live with their parents at Malta. He settled in DeKalb county in 1895, locating at Malta, where he has since resided. He is of the Republican persua- sion in politics. He and his wife are members of the Baptist church, but since coming to Malta have atliliated themselves with the Congregational church. HIe is now employed at the Elgin Asylum.
Dr. Chauncey H. Wilder. a DeKalb boy who has grown to be one of the snecessful physicians of the place, was born in Lexington, Mo., Oeto- her 21, 1865. ITis parents, Chauncey H. and Elizabeth IInrlbert Wilder, were natives of Ver- mont. and both died when their little son was but two years of age. He was taken into the home of his uncle, Martin Van B. Wilder, at DeKalb, and grew to manhood under this careful family training. He is justly proud of the record of his ancestors, which he traces to the year 1497, when one of the family obtained a land grant from King Henry VII. His grandfather was in the war of 1812 and his great grandfather was a revolutionary soldier. The doctor has never served in a war. but he has a fine collection of old guns. historie swords. flags, etc. ITis early life was spent in securing a fundamental education at
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the DeKalb public school and afterward at the normal school in Valpariso. Ind. In 1886 he went to California, where he followed the mercan- tile business in grocery and meat stores. He was married in 1890 at Nevada City, Cal., to Adella Aplin. Her father was a doctor, a graduate of the Royal College of England at Manchester, and was loyal to the British government until he came to this country in 1850. Ile was a chemist and assayist. Shortly after Dr. Wilder's marriage they removed to Illinois and the doctor took a course in medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Chicago, receiving his degree April 2, 1895, and coming directly to DeKalb, where he has since successfully practiced medicine. In politics he is a Republican and one of the pro- gressive men of the community. One son, Chaun- cey S .. brightens his home. He at present resides in California.
Dr. James Cation Duncan, DeKalb's homeo- path physician. was born in Ottawa, Waukesha county. Wisconsin, March 3, 1831. His parents Thomas and Eliza Calion Duncan, were born in Fife and Konross Shire, Scotland, and came to this country in 1843. locating in Waukesha county, Wisconsin, and then removing to Iowa. They after- ward came to Illinois and lived with their son. Dr. Duncan, at Mendota, where their deaths oc- curred. Dr Duncan received his education at the Milton, Wis., and Osage. Iowa, schools. and graduated in medicine in Chicago. He was mar- ried April 8, 1880, to Nettie M. Patchen, at Osage, Iowa. Her father is numbered among the un- known dead who gave their lives for their country in the Civil war, and her mother was afterward remarried twice, dying and leaving a three-year old daughter, Lillian Walthy Abbott, who has since made her home with Dr. Duncan's family. After receiving his medical degree the doctor commenced practicing. He was located for some time at La Moille, Ill .. and moved from that place to DeKalb October 15, 1896, and has built up a good practice. Hle is a member of the Congrega- tional church and believes in the principles of the Republican party. He is the father of four sons, Clifford James, who graduated from the National Medical College, Chicago, in the spring of 1899, and is associated with his father in business. How-
ard William, who is studying pharmacy, David Edgar and Thomas Roy. All of the boys live at home.
Dr. James S. Rankin, a rising physician of DeKalb, was born in Plainwell, Mich., April 15, 1871, and received a public school education at Richland, Mich., attended the normal school at Clarion, Pa., graduated from the Chicago College of Pharmacy, and received his medical degree from the Northwestern University Medical School. His parents, J. M. Rankin, M. D., and Harriet Sharp Rankin, were natives of Clarion, Pa. His mother died shortly after her son was born, and his father is living in Richland, Mich. Dr. Rankin, after graduation from the school of phar- macy. was a pharmacist at Kalamazoo, Mich .. Trom 1890 to 1892, and after graduating in medi- cine served as house physician at Mercy Hospital, Chicago, from 1895 to 1896, and located in De- Kalb, April, 1897. March 30. 1898, he was mar- ried to Clara Louise Tyler, daughter of Sanford A. and Sarah Louisa Taylor Tyler, pioneers of the county. Previous to her marriage she sue- cessfully held for many years the position of stenographer for the Superior Wire Company, De Kalb. The doctor is a Republican and publie spirited young man.
Dr. J. E. Palmquist, the Swedish doctor of DeKalb, is the son of Frank and Matilda Palm- quist of Bureau county. Illinois, natives of Sweden, who came to this country thirty-five years ago.
Dr. Merrit F. Potter, for many years a prac- ticing physician in Hinckley, was conspicuous for his ability and striking personality. He was a man of massive proportions, physically and ment- ally. and while thoroughly versed in the science of his profession was a master of much besides. His investigations covered a large field, but he was especially fond of literature and was an en- thusiastio student of Shakespeare. His delinea- tions of Shakespearian characters and rendition of favorite passages will long be remembered by those fortunate enough to have heard him. He was an ardent supporter of all that tended to ele- vate the community where he lived, and was withal a noble specimen of broad-minded, sympathetic. stalwart manhood.
TO THE READER
In making due acknowledgement for assistance rendered in the preparation of this work, I must first state that Bois's History of De Kalb county, 1868, The De Kalb Chronicle Souvenir Edition, 1899, and the files of The True Republican, 1854 to 1902. have been drawn upon extensively. Reminiscences, published at different times, are given here in full. The almost unlimited number of interviews with pioneers and their descendants have furnished much interesting material. Professor Hatch, H. W. Fay, J. B. Castle. E. A. Hix, A. W. Dibble, Henry N. Perkins and Hosea Willard have given me special sid. Scores of pioneers who settled here from 1834 to 1845 gave me many things of interest during the closing years of their lives, but I took no notes of those incidents then, and have relied upon my memory in giving them here. Born and reared in De Kalb county : indebted as I am to her generosity for so much ; I could dedicate this work, which has been a labor of love, to no other than those of her pioneers who made our county one of which we may well be proud.
THE NEW W PUBLIC LIBR/ -
ASI TILD:
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TIONS.
BIOGRAPHICAL
ISAAC LEONARD ELLWOOD.
Great leaders are few. The mass of men seem content to remain in the positions in which they are placed by birth, circumstance or environment. Laudable ambition, ready adaptability and capacity for hard work are essential elements of success and in none of these requirements has Isaac L. Ell- wood ever been found lacking. It is not a matter of marvel, therefore, that he occupies a pre-emi- nent position among the builders of De Kalb county. for the real promoters of a county's growth and greatness are they who found and conduct its prosperous business enterprises. In this con- nection the name of Mr. Ellwood is inseparably interwoven with the annals of De Kalb. As a manufacturer of barbed wire, as a capitalist and as a political leader, he has won not only state but national reputation : but, moreover, he is en- titled to distinction as one whose success has not been allowed to warp his finer sensibilities or crush out the kindly impulses of nature. On the contrary his prosperity has been to him the means of enlarged opportunity and endeavor in behalf of his fellowmen and his worth in these particulars is proven by the consensus of public opinion.
A native of New York, Mr. Ellwood claims Salt Springville, Montgomery county, as the place of his nativity, while the date is August 3, 1833. Tradition has it that the ancestry is traced back to Thomas Ellwood, the noted Quaker, who was born near London in 1639 and who was disin- herited by his father because of his religious be- lief. Ile received his education principally from
the poet Milton, and it is to Thomas Ellwood that we are indebted for the poem. Paradise Re- gained. After having written Paradise Lost, Milton submitted it to Ellwood for criticism. After commending it the latter said, "Thou hast said much here of Paradise Lost, but what hast thou to say of Paradise Found?" Milton said it was this question that first suggested the writing of the latter poem. The name of Thomas Ellwood is an honored one among Quakers. His autobi- ography has been reproduced in this country, and the Quaker poet, John G. Whittier, honored his memory with a memoir. He was incorruptibly pure and unimpeachably brave and for his faith he suffered outrage and injustice with saintly patience and manly strength. The Ellwood coat of arms, found upon the panels of an old castle in Eng- land and described in several published works on heraldry, has the motto, Fide et Sedulitate.
There is some doubt as to the authenticity of this tradition concerning the ancestry of the fam- ily, for Thomas Ellwood in his autobiography does not speak of having any children and his only brother died young, so that it is probable that if the Ellwoods in this country descended from that family their ancestors must have been an uncle of Thomas Ellwood.
There is, however, authentic record concerning the establishment of the family in America by Richard Ellwood, who with his wife and two chil- dren came to this country in 1:48 and settled in the Mohawk valley, near St. Johnsville. Two years later he built a stone residence on what was then known as the King's Road. It is still
PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.
standing in a good state of preservation near the line of the New York Central Railroad. The lower story was built for defense and the only openings in the walls beside the strong door were portholes which are still to be seen, as well as bullet marks in the woodwork. Richard Ellwood died a few years later, leaving four sons, Richard, Isaac, Benjamin and Peter. There were also two daughters, one of whom married a man by the name of Scruten, and the other a Van Allen. Various members of the family have figured prom- inently in the history of the country in connec- tion with business interests, military circles and public life.
Isaac Ellwood, the grandfather of Colonel Ellwood, died about six miles from Fort Plane on a farm which he settled, being then between sixty and seventy years of age. He had three sons, one of whom, John Ellwood, died in Oneida, New York. Another of the sons was Abram Ellwood. father of our subject. He married Sarah Delong, a daughter of James Delong, a native of France, and they became the parents of seven suns, namely: Chauncey, deceased, who at one time was mayor of Sycamore: Reuben, formerly of Sycamore and a member of congress, also de- ceased; Alonzo, who was state grand master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and a merchant of Sycamore but has passed away: Liv- iugston, who engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery at Schenectady. New York, until his death : Hiram. at one time mayor of De Kalb, now deceased; James E .. ex-postmaster of Syca- more : and Isaac L., of this review. There were also three daughters: Mrs. Livingston Walrod came with her sister Mrs. Joseph Sixbury to De Kalb county, Illinois, in 1835 and they resided here until their deaths. Mrs. Alida Young also died at De Kalb.
The parents were people of moderate means who gave to their children only such educational advantages as the public schools of the period and place afforded. Ambitious to earn his living at an early age, Mr. Ellwood was employed to drive a team on the Erie canal at a salary of ten dollars per month. Subsequently he secured a clerkship and was employed as a salesman uniil his eighteenth year. but the discovery of gold in California materially affected his plans and he made his way to the "golden west." hoping that
some of the prizes of wealth might be won by him that he might thereby avoid the long and arduous struggle that is usually required to achieve finan- cial success. It was in the year 1851 that he journeyed to California, spending four years in that state. His experiences on the coast were varied. Sometimes successful, sometimes other- wise, he continued there, clerking for a time in Sacramento. and by careful and frugal living acquiring the capital that enabled him to start in business for himself. The far west, however. was not the field in which he wished to enter upon his mercantile career and it was in 1855 that he became proprietor of a little hardware store in De Kalb. The most promising feature in the business life of the young merchant was that he had come to a full realization of the fact that there is no royal road to wealth. Ages ago, the Greek sage. Epicharmus, said: "Earn thy reward : the gods give naught to sloth," and this saying has found verification in all the years which have since intervened. It has been again proven au- thentically by Mr. Ellwood, who put forth unfal- tering and determined effort, making the little mercantile venture a successful one and branch- ing out into other fields of industry as opportu- nity offered. He established a hardware store and his fair dealing. reasonable prices and earnest desire to please his patrons gained him a con- stantly growing trade which enabled him to carry on a prosperous business through the succeeding twenty years. He also began auctioncering in the locality and his keen thought, ready com- prehension and the quickness with which ne grasped a situation won him success in this under- . taking and gained him a reputation that caused his services to be in demand in distant parts of the state as well as in his home locality.
Upon the broad prairies of the west, where the land was so rich and arable, the agriculturist met with one seemingly insurmountable difficulty. Land was comparatively cheap and productive and they secured large farms, and in order not to overstep the bounds of another's property and to keep their stock from the crops they must have fences. The broad prairie offered little lumber for this purpose and it was found, too, that board and rail fences were being continually broken down. The old saying that necessity is the mother of invention again found exemplification, for
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