USA > Illinois > DeKalb County > Past and present of DeKalb County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 11
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He was. during his active business life, a farmer in Pomfret. Windsor county. Vermont, there ac- quiring a comfortable competence. In 1875 he retired from active business and came to Sycamore, Illinois. His wife was born in Pomfret, Ver- mont, July 4. 1824, and was a daughter of Moses Paine, who was born in Pomfret, Connecticut, in 1:80, a son of Asa Paine and Keziah Childs Paine. natives of Pomfret and Woodstock, Con- neetient, and a niece of Hooper Warren, a noted anti-salvery editor in this state in early days. Unto Mr. and Mrs. John Carnes were born two sons, the younger being George D. Carnes, now a prac- tieing physician of South Haven, Michigan.
Duane J. Carnes was educated in the district schools of Vermont and in the Orange county grammar school of Randolph, Vermont, and the State Normal School of that place, to which the grammar school changed during his attendance. He graduated from both courses in the Normal School, from the latter course in the spring of 1813. having spent considerable time teaching in the public schools in Vermont and Illinois prior to his graduation.
During his teaching he devoted his leisure to reading law and spent a few months in the office of William Jones at Lincoln, Illinois. In Novem- ber, 1873. he came to Sycamore, shortly thereafter entered the law office of Charles Kellum and since that time has devoted his attention entirely to law. He was admitted to the bar in September, 1875; praetieed in partnership with his preceptor, Judge Kellum. for two years; afterwards with Judge Lowell until the spring of 1883 when, on the elec- tion of Judge Lowell to the bench, he entered into partnership with Gilbert H. Denton; and, on the dissolution of that firm and the removal of Mr. Denton to Denver, Colorado, in the fall of 1889, he formed a partnership with George W. Dunton. John Faissler entered the office as a student in 1895. afterward becoming a member of the firm. Mr. Dunton retired January 1. 1902, and John R. Cochran. who had entered the office as a elerk in 1904. was admitted as a partner, and they are now practicing under the firm name of Carnes, Faissler & Cochran. They occupy a fine suite of rooms in the Daniel Pieree building and have a large practice. being regularly retained by several of the banks and large manufacturing concerns of the county and by the Chieago & Northwestern ;
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Illinois Central ; Illinois, Iowa & Minnesota, and De Kalb-Sycamore Railroads. Mr. Carnes has been successful as a jury advocate and has done the larger part of that work in which his firms have been engaged, since retiring from partner- ship with Judge Kellum.
On the 1st of June, 1880, Mr. Carnes was mar- ried to Miss Helen A. McMollan, a daughter of Archibald and Helen (Blacke) MeMollan, of Oregon, Illinois. They have one daughter, Hope Carnes, born October 15, 1882.
Mr. Carnes is a republican but has never been active in political life. His time and energy have been devoted to his profession. He has taken an interest in public affairs and been liberal in sup- port of measures calculated to advance the inter- ests of his town, contributing thereto both time and money, but he has always believed that the profession of law affords an ample field for energy and endeavor and has governed his life accordingly, permitting no side issue of politics, business or social life to much divert his attention from his chosen work. He has much faith in the future of Sycamore and De Kalb county, regards himself fortunate in his choice of location and predicts that the remarkable development of this county, which he has witnessed in the last thirty-three vears, will be equaled and surpassed in the next third of a century.
SAMUEL ROTE.
Samuel Rote has found in the rich agricultural resources of De Kalb county the means not only for a livelihood but for the acquirement of a com- fortable competence, for here he has spent his entire life, having been born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, August 14, 1844, while today he owns a well improved farm of eighty aeres on see- tion 26, Mayfield township. His parents, Henry and Esther (Carpenter) Rote, were born in Penn- sylvania. The father, hearing favorable reports concening the new and rapidly developing west, made his way to this state in 1856, and followed farming in Mayfield township.
Samuel Rote acquired his education in the com- mon schools of Mayfield township while spending the days of his boyhood and youth under the
parental roof. He was early trained by his father to the duties of the home farm, assisting in the work of the homestead property until starting out upon an independent business career, at which time he chose the ocenpation to which he had been reared and this has continued to be his source of revenue to the present time. He is now the owner of a well improved farm of eighty acres, situated on section 26, Mayfield township, and here he is engaged in raising the cereals best adapted to soil and climate and through the careful eulti- vation of his land he is rewarded each year with rich harvests, his produets finding a ready sale on the market, where they command the highest prices.
Mr. Rote was married February 18, 1868, to Miss Christina Yonkin, and their union has been blessed with a son and daughter: George C., who follows farming in Mayfield township; and Alice, now the wife of Robert R. Renwick, a resident farmer of this township, and whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work.
While believing firmly in the principles and policy of the republican party, Mr. Rote has never been active in political ranks, and aside from serving as pathmaster for one term, has never filled public office, preferring to give his time and at- tention to his private business affairs. Mrs. Rote is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Sycamore, and Mr. Rote attends its services. He is well known in De Kalb county, where his en- tire life has been passed, and is recognized as a most honorable and trustworthy citizen, well de- serving of mention among the highly esteemed residents in a work of this character.
HENRY H. SLADE.
The farming interests of De Kalb township find a worthy representative in Henry H. Slade, who operates ninety-one acres of land belonging to his father, Joseph Slade, in De Kalb township. The old family homestead was the place of his birth and his natal day December 15, 1878. Ifis parents were Joseph and Jane ( Sarney) Slade, both natives of England. The father was born February 4, 1829, and, crossing the Atlantic to America, set- tled in the Empire state, where he began work as
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a farm hand near Albany. Thinking that he would have better business opportunities in the middle west, he came, after a short time, to De Kalb county, where he was employed at various kinds of labor for twelve years. He then pur- chased the farm upon which his son, Henry H., is now located, making it his home until 1905, when he returned to the city of De Kalb, where he is now living retired. He was for a long period an active and energetic agrienlturist, bringing his fields under a high state of cultivation and greatly enhancing the productiveness of the land. It was on the 5th of February, 1878, that Joseph Slade was united in marriage to Miss Jane Sarney. They traveled life's journey happily together for about nine years and were then separated by the death of the wife on the 12th of March, 1887.
Reared under the parental roof, Henry H. Slade acquired a common school education and was early trained to the work of the farm. As soon as old enough he took up the task of plowing, planting and harvesting and he has always been identified with agricultural pursuits in De Kalb township. His work has been of a practical nature that has produced good results, and he is operating an excellent farm of ninety-one aeres which is well improved in many respects.
On the 1st of August, 1904, Mr. Slade was mar- ried to Miss Jennie Swanson, who was of Swed- ish parentage. She came alone from Sweden to De Kalb county in 1902 and two years later gave her hand in marriage to Mr. Slade. They now have an interesting little son, Herbert Joseph. The parents attend and support the Congrega- tional church of De Kalb and are much esteemed in the community where they reside. Mr. Slade votes with the republican party but does not seek or desire office. preferring to give undivided at- tention to his business affairs.
JOHN G. DAVY.
John G. Davy, for fifteen years superintendent of the Bradt & Shipman Glove Factory, at De Kalb, and one of the most prominent and re- spected business men of the city, was born here on the 7th of March, 1859. His parents, Charles
and Mary Ann ( Whittler) Davy, were natives of England and emigrated to this country in 1855, settling in De Kalb, Illinois, where the father engaged in the butchering business. Ile was a striet business man, true to those principles which guide and govern successful men. He died on the 29th of June. 1862, at the comparatively early age of thirty-two years, survived by his wife and two sons. Mrs. Davy remained a resident of this county until she, too, was called to her tinal rest on the 12th of December, 1904, at the age of seventy-two years. The sons are still living, the older being Robert C. Davy.
In taking up the personal history of John G. Davy we present to our readers the life record of one who is very widely and favorably known by reason of his enterprise and business integrity. He was educated in the schools of De Kalb and entered business life as an employe in the grocery house of George H. Gurler, with whom he re- mained for three and a half years. He also worked at different times in the Haish and Ellwood wire factories, and in 1880 he entered the employ of F A. Robinson, proprietor of a glove factory. located in the basement of the Glidden House. Ile remained there for two years and on the ex- piration of his first year Mr. Robinson made him foreman of the shop. In 1883 he bought out the De Kalb Glove & Mitten Company, which he suc- cessfully condneted on his own account, increas- ing the business to such an extent that the firmi of Mott & Wolcott were induced to buy him out in 1891. In the following year that firm sold out to Bradt & Shipman, who placed Mr. Davy in charge of the entire plant and he has since acted as superintendent. covering a period of fifteen years. He is thoroughly acquainted with the busi- ness in principle and detail as a practical workman and equally as an executive of affairs, and his ability is constantly being manifest in one phase or another in the control of an extensive plant. which, under his direction, has yielded an excel- lent profit to the firm. In working out new im- provements he has invented and received several United States patents. His most sneeessful patent -the Davy tip for out seam gloves and mittens- - is now in the third year of its manufacture. He also has a Canadian patent for this invention and its manufacture is being pushed in both countries by prominent firms under royalty.
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On the 29th of March, 1882, Mr. Davy was united in marriage to Miss Laura B. Stevens, who was born at Sterling, New York, on the 5th of August, 1865, and is a daughter of Phillip and Caroline M. Stevens. Her father died March 25, 1880, and her mother, removing to Illinois, im- mediately afterward arrived here on the 18th of May. Mr. and Mrs. Davy have become the parents of six children, as follows: Althea Ruth, who was born October 11, 1883; Percival E., February 10, 1886; Benjamin L., December 1, 1888; Reu- ben R., June 1, 1891; Oakley B., October 12, 1893; and Jeane Vera, July 8, 1904.
Mr. Davy is one of De Kalb's prominent men of good business tact and enterprise and has been interested in several business concerns but is now giving his attention exclusively to the glove busi- hess and his real-estate investments. He has served for two terms in the city council from the second ward and is interested in all that pertains to gen- cral progress and improvement. He is a charter miember of the Modern Woodmen of America. which was organized in 1884 and also a charter member of the Knights of the Maccabees, the Royal Neighbors, the Yeomen and the Archaean Union, in all of which he is a leading spirit and active, earnest worker. He is also a member of De Kalb Commercial Club and a firm believer in the future of his home city. His entire life has been passed here. and without special family or pecuniary advantages at the outset of his career he has worked his way upward until he has long been recognized as a force not only in business life but also in fraternal circles, while the nuni- ber of his friends here is almost co-extensive with the circle of his acquaintances.
B. W. LYONS.
Among the native sons of De Kalb county who have retained their residence within its borders enjoying the privileges and opportunities here of- fered, is numbered B. W. Lyons. His natal date was March 28, 1869, and the place of his birth is the old family homestead in Afton township. His parents, Martin and Mary Lyons, were natives of Ireland, the latter born in County Mayo in 1839, while the father was born in the year 1835. They
became the parents of nine children, three sons and six daughters, of whom five are living. It was in the year 1856 that the parents became residents of De Kalb county, and upon the home farm in Afton township, B. W. Lyons was born and reared. After attending the public schools, he con- tinued his education at Dixon, Illinois, and later graduated from the Northern Indiana Business and Normal College at Valparaiso, Indiana, sub- sequent to which time he taught school for five years. He was an able educator, imparting readily and successfully to others the knowledge he had acquired. Since that time his energies have been concentrated upon his farming pursuits and he is classed with the foremost representatives of agri- cultural interests in Afton township. He owns and operates a farm of two hundred acres on sec- tions 22 and 27, and the property is one of the attractive features of the landscape because of the well tilled fields and good improvements upon the place.
On the 16th of February, 1904, Mr. Lyons was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Roche, who was born in Rutland township, Kane county, Illi- nois, September 27, 1871. Her father, William Roche, was a native of Ireland and was born March 17, 1834, while her mother's birth occurred in Hampshire township, Kane county, Illinois, March 17, 1847. They were married in Elgin, Illinois. July 10, 1865, and were well known farm- ing people who occupied the old homestead place upon which Mrs. Roche was born. They became the parents of a large family of fourteen children, six sons and eight daughters, and it is a remark- able fact that thirteen of the number are still living.
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Lyons has been blessed with two sons: Raymond F., who was born November 23, 1904; and Bernard R., who was born May 8, 1906. Mrs. Lyons is a well edu- cated lady and was graduated from the high school of Hampshire, Illinois, and engaged in teaching for four years. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lyons are well informed people, keeping in touch with the trend of modern thought through reading and observation, and they occupy an enviable posi- tion in social circles. They are communicants of the St. Mary's Catholic church, and Mr. Lyons belongs to the Elma camp, No. 2744, M. W. A .; to the Royal Neighbors lodge, No. 2212. and to
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the Knights of Columbus at De Kalb. Politically he is a democrat, recognized as one of the local leaders of the party, and is now holding the office of assessor, in which position he has served eight years. He has likewise been town clerk for two years and has been most loyal to the trust reposed in him. He has many friends in the county where his entire life has been passed and those who know him best entertain for him the warmest regard.
C. A. DOTY.
C. A. Doty is proprietor of the Home Dairy. the leading business of this character in Sycamore for the sale of milk to the retail trade. He is a young man of energy, developing his business interests along modern lines and his alert and enterprising spirit constitutes a safe basis upon which to build success. Ilis birth occurred in Oxford, Ohio. Angust 13, 1826. His father, F. B. Doty, who now resides in Kane county. Illinois, is a farmer by occupation, and in 1886 located in Kane county. where he now owns and cultivates one hundred and twenty acres of land.
C. A. Doty was a lad of ten years when he ac- companied his parents to illinois. He was reared upon the home farm and completed his education in the public schools of Kane county. also becom- ing familiar with all of the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist, while assisting his father in the work of the home place. He started out in life on his own account at the age of twenty-three years, and for three years followed farming in Kane county. In March, 1904, he re- moved to Sycamore and established the llome Dairy, beginning business in a modest way. He had a limited number of patrons and kept but two cows. Gradually his business grew and developed under his capable management and he now handles the product from seven of the largest dairy farms in the county, where are kept altogether about one hundred and fifty cows. His average daily sales amount to from one hundred and sixty to two hundred gallons. The Home Dairy has seven hun- dred customers and the plant is being improved and enlarged from time to time. New machinery is being installed as the increase of the business warrants and two milk wagons are utilized through-
out the year in delivering milk. The rapid growth and development of this enterprise indicates some- thing of the business ability. strong purpose and commendable ambition of Mr. Doty, who is in- deed one of the wide-awake young men of Syca- more. He makes it his purpose to give satisfac- tion to his patrons and thus insure a continuance of a liberal public support.
Mr. Doty was married to Miss Ethel Perry, of Kane county. Illinois, a daughter of Myron C. Perry, now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Doty have three children, Tressa. Myrl and Laverne. Polit- ically Mr. Doty is a republican and in religious faith his wife is connected with the United Brethren church. Sycamore has seen a valuable addition to its business circles since he removed to this city and he is now controlling an enterprise of importance, belonging to that class of men whose business energy and activity contribute so much to the public stability and the interests of the community. -
EDWIN TUDOR.
Edwin Tudor, living on a farm of eighty acres. from which he derives a good income in the shape of golden harvests. was born in the city of Lon- don, England, March 8, 1849. His father, John Tudor, was also a native of London, and with his family came to the United States in 1856. fle had nine children, five sons and four daughters.
The subject of this review was only seven years of age at the time of the emigration to the new world and under the parental roof he spent the days of his boyhood and youth, early becoming familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturists. He acquired a common- school education and the occupation to which he was reared has been his life work. He now owns and controls eighty acres of land in DeKalb town- ship, and works untiringly and persistently in keeping his fields under a high state of cultivation and thus enhancing their productiveness.
Having arrived at years of maturity Mr. Tudor sought a companion and helpmate for life's journey and was married to Miss Elma Hubbet, who was born in this county in 1852. Her father was born in Elmira, New York, and came west to Illinois in
C. A. DOTY.
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1839, casting in his lot with the pioneer settlers of this part of the state and aiding in reclaiming the wild prairies for the purposes of cultivation. For many years he was closely associated with farming interests, but is now living retired in De Kalb, well meriting the rest which he is now enjoying. In his family were two sons and a daughter. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Tudor have been born two children : Willie, born December 8, 1874 ; and Minnie P., born February 14, 1881. The son is married and is farming in De Kalb township and the daughter is the wife of Floyd Listy, who operates her father's farm. She has one child, Elva May, born July 18, 1903.
Mr. and Mrs. Tudor support the Methodist Episcopal church and he is interested in all that tends to promote the material, intellectual and moral growth of the community. For six years he has served as school director and he believes in the maintenance of good schools and the employ- ment of competent teachers. For a half century he has lived in this part of the state. The traveler of today, looking upon the fine farms and thriving towns, can scarcely imagine the condition which the Tudor family found on their arrival. Large tracts of land were still in their primitive con- dition and many evidences of frontier life were still to be seen. Throughout the intervening years Mr. Tudor has watched the development as log cabins have been replaced with substantial frame residences and as crude farm machinery has given way before the reaper, the binder and the mower. He has from the beginning of his resi- dence in Illinois been connected with agricultural pursuits and is now living an active and useful life of that character.
C. A. SWANBERG.
C. A. Swanberg is a self-made man, for all that he today enjoys has been acquired through his own well directed labors. Starting ont in life without capital, he has worked diligently and energetically through the passing years and that his efforts have been crowned with a goodly measure of pros- perity is indicated by the fine farm of one hun- dred and nine acres, situated on sections 26 and 28, Mayfield township, which he today owns.
Mr. Swanberg is a native of Sweden, born April 21, 1854, and was a youth of fourteen years, when, in 1868, he accompanied his parents, Peter and Ingra (Nelson) Swanberg, on their emigration to the United States. Upon his arrival on the shores of the new world, the father at once made his way to Chicago, where he spent four years, working as a carpenter in the shops of the North- western Railroad Company.
In 1870 C. A. Swanberg started out to make his own way in the world and continued to make his home in Chicago until 1875, when he came to De Kalb county and engaged in farm work by the month for four years. He then operated his father's farm in Cortland township for two years, after which he went to Hampshire, Kane county, and there followed farming for two years. He next removed to the David Syme farm in Mayfield township, De Kalb county, which he operated for eleven years. During all these years he worked diligently and persistently in the hope that he might some day own a farm of his own. He lived frugally and economically, carefully hus- banding his resources, so that at length he was en- abled to purchase land, and in 1896 he became the owner of his present farm of one hundred and nine acres, situated on sections 26 and 28, Mayfield township. He has improved his place with good buildings, including a nice home and outbuildings necessary for the shelter of grain and stock, while his land has been placed under a high state of cul- tivation, and he annually harvests good crops as a result of the care and labor he bestows upon his fields. He is progressive in his methods of farm work, using the latest improved machinery to faci- litate his labors, and his business dealings, too, are ever reliable, so that he is well deserving of the high degree of success to which he has attained.
On the 6th of December, 1882, Mr. Swanberg was united in marriage to Miss Emma Naker, who has proved to him a worthy helpmate on life's journey. Their marriage has been blessed with a daughter and son: Grace, who was born December 12, 1883 ; and George M., who was born December 18, 1886. Both are still under the parental roof, the latter giving to his father substantial aid in carrying on the work of the homestead farm.
Mr. Swanberg believes firmly in the principles of the republican party, voting for its men and measures, yet he is not an aspirant for public office,
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preferring to concentrate his time upon his private business affairs. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, belonging to the camp at Sycamore, while both he and his wife are devoted members of the Lutheran church of that city. Mr. Swanberg has proved a most loyal citizen of his adopted country, and here he has found the opportunities which are ever songht by ambitious young men, and today finds a place among the worthy citizens of De Kalb county.
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