USA > Illinois > DeKalb County > Past and present of DeKalb County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 44
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PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.
Eventually he assumed the management of the dron. With his family he removed to Pennsyl- old home place, which he is now carrying on. Here ke owns one Indred and sixty acres of land on section 22. Pierce township. The farm is well improved with modern equipments and indicates in its neat appearance. his careful and practical supervision.
On the 12th of November. 1886. Mr. Hubbard was married to Miss Leah M. Posson, who was born November 12, 1865, her parents being Martin Luther and Sophie E. ( West ) Posson. The father was born July 8, 1831. in New York, and died May 6, 1891, in this county. while the mother. whose birth occurred in 1836, passed away in 1820. I'mto Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard have been born three children of whom two are yet living : Ruth E., born JJune 10, 1889; and Clara B., born August 20, 1892.
Mr. Hubbard exercises his right of franchise in support of the republican party and its principles. HIe has held the other of town clerk and assessor and his official duties have always been promptly and capably discharged. He has, moreover. made a good record in business life as an enterprising agriculturist and has acquired a goodly measure of success through his own labors. Early trained to habits of industry and economy, these qualities have borne rich fruit as the years have gone by and his name is now on the roll of the representa- tive farming people of Pierce township.
ISAIAH VANDEBURG.
Isaiah Vandeburg, living on section 32. Kingston township. is a breeder of and dealer in registered shorthorns, Norman Percheron horses and Chester White hogs. He is accounted one of the leading representatives of stock-raising interests in the county, conducting an extensive and successful business. Ile was born on the farm where he now resides. August 28. 1855. His father. Hiram Griffin Vandeburg, is a native of Kayuta, Che- mung county, New York, born August 4, 1823. and is a son of Cornelius Vandeburg, a native of New Jersey. The latter was a son of John Vande- burg. a native of Holland. Cornelius Vandeburg was married in New York to Miss Nancy Swart- wood and they became the parents of twelve chil-
vania and afterward to Ohio, whence he came to De Kalb county, Illinois. in 1845. This was still a frontier region, in which the work of improve- ment and progress had scarcely begun, and from the government he entered two hundred and forty acres of raw land, which has since been in posses- sion of the family under the original patent. Cor- nelius Vandeburg was thenceforward connected with agricultural interests of the county and re- mained upon the old homestead until shortly ho- fore his death, which occurred in 1821, when he was eighty-two years of age. His wife Nancy died in 1833 when forty-two years of age, her death being occasioned by a rattlesnake bite.
Iliram Griffin Vandeburg was reared amid pioneer scenes and environments upon the old family homestead which his father had secured from the government. He was married in this county to Caroline Faircloe, a native of Indiana and a daughter of Isaiah Faireloe, a native of Now Jersey, who on coming to Illinois settled on a farm in the eastern part of Kingston township. De Kalb county. Two children were born unto Mr. and Mis. Hiram Vandeburg: Isaiah. whose name in- troduces this record: and Orilla, the wife of Charles W. Parker, a native of Kingston township, this county, and a son of Parley and Eliza J. ( Rust) Parker, the former a native of Connecti- cut and the latter of Indiana. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Charles Parker has been born a daughter. Jessie. Mrs. Iliram Vandeburg died in 1861, at the age of thirty-one years, and on the 1th of March. 1865, Mr. Vandeburg was married to Miss Mary E. Knight, a native of Columbus, Adams county, Illi- nois, and a daughter of Samuel Knight. a native of Maryland. By this marriage they have one child, Lydia, the wife of Frank Stafford. of Syca- more, Illinois. The father is now in his eightieth year and has spent sixty-two years of his life upon the farm where he vet resides. He has ever been an honorable, upright man, respected by those who know him because of his fidelity to duty in every relation. Ilis political allegiance is given to the republican party and for years he served on the county and township central committees. while his opinions carried weight in local councils and his labors did much to shape the policy of the party in his district. He became a charter member of Kishwaukee lodge, No. 402. A. F. & A. M .. of
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PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.
Kingston, and was the first member raised to the degree of a Master Mason. He is now the only living charter member who attends the lodge. As one of the representative pioneer settlers of the county he certainly deserves mention in this vol- ume, for few residents of this part of the state have longer lived here or have more intimate knowledge of the history of its development and upbuilding.
Isaiah Vandeburg was reared on the old home- stead farm and after attending the district schools spent one term in the Sycamore high school. When twenty-one years of age he rented land from his father, which he still operates. In 1887 he purchased eighty acres and in 1901 he purchased an additional eighty acre tract and he is now operating a half section of land. ITis farm is valuable, the land being rich and productive, while the modern farming methods which he fol- lows have enabled him to bring forth abundant harvests. After his marriage he built a good house and barn and other outbuildings upon his land and now has an excellent property, on which none of the equipments or accessories of a model farm are lacking. In connection with his own land he also operates a quarter section belonging to his father. All is well drained, having five hundred rods of tiling upon it, and the farm presents an excellent appearance because of the neatness which characterizes it in every department. Mr. Vande- burg has brod and dealt in registered shorthorn cattle since 1899, having considerable registered stock. He also raises Chester White hogs and Norman Percheron horses, and his stock-raising interests are an important and profitable branch of his business.
On the 7th of December. 1881, was celebrated the marriage of Isaiah Vandeburg and Miss Mar- garet Upplinger, a native of Luzerne county. Pennsylvania, and a daughter of John Upplinger, who was also a native of the Keystone stato and came to De Kalb county in 1820. Mr. and Mrs. Vandeburg are now the parents of three sons and two daughters: Harry G., who assists in carrying on the home farm, and is also a member of Kish- waukee lodge, No. 402, A. F. & A. M .; Lizzie, the wife of George Astling, a farmer of Sycamore township, by whom she has one child, Kenneth ; Florence, a graduate of the Kingston high school and now a teacher in Kingston township; and Chellis and Glen, who are attending school.
In politics Mr. Vandeburg is a republican, hav- ing supported the party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He has never sought or cared for public office, but for twenty-five years has served as school director and the cause of edu- cation has found in him a stalwart champion. Ile belongs to Kishwaukee lodge, No. 402. A. F. & A. M .. in which he has filled most of the offices, serving for one year as master. Since 1888 he has been a member of the Modern Woodmen camp and was venerable consul for several terms. Both he and his wife and their daughter Lizzie are members of the Order of the Eastern Star. in which Mrs. Vandeburg has held office. while his sister, Mrs. Parker. is a past worthy matron of the organiza- tion. The Vandeburg family has long been promi- nently and honorably known in the county and in fact no history of Kingston township would be complete without mention of the representatives of the name, for from an early period the grand- father, father and son and now the great-grandson of Cornelius Vandeburg have been actively and honorably connected with agricultural interests and have ever stood for progress along agricul- tural interests and have ever stood for progress along agricultural lines and for advancement in business circles.
JAMES IT. LATIMER, JR.
The name of Latimer has figured in connection with agricultural interests in De Kalb county for more than four decades and the subject of this re- view has throughout his entire life been connected with farming interests here. Ile was born in Franklin township on the 12th of April. 1868, and is now living in De Kalb township, where he has a good property, comprising one hundred and seventy-four acres of land. His parents are James H. and Matilda Latimer, who are represented on another page of this work. In his boyhood days the subject of this review divided his time between the duties of the schoolroom, the pleasures of the playground and the work of the home farm. He assisted his father in cultivating the fields to the time of his marriage, which was celebrated on the 19th of April. 1893. the lady of his choice being Miss Caroline Rich, who was born in Somerset,
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PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.
England, May 1, 1821. Her parents were natives of that country and came to the United States in 1819, settling upon a farm in De Kalb county, comprising ninety-nine acres. The father pur- chased the property and continued to devote his time and energies to its further development and improvement until his life's labors were ended in death on the 8th of July. 1903. His widow still survives and is yet living upon the farm. In their family were eleven children and all still survive.
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Latimer has been blessed with four interesting sons: Ray J., born November 1, 1894: Boss R .. January 28, 1897; George Chester, February 11, 1899: and Edward A., on the 18th of December, 1900. The family home is a comfortable residence which stands in the midst of a good farm of one hundred and sev- enty-four acres. De Kalb county is famous for its fine farming property, for the rich prairie land of Illinois is exceedingly productive and re- sponds readily to the care and labor bestowed upon it, bringing forth large and abundant harvests. Mr. Latimer works diligently in the cultivation and improvement of his place and as a result has met with gratifying success. He and his wife attend the Methodist Episcopal church and he gives his political allegiance to the republican par- ty, with which he has voted since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. Mr. Latimer has held the office of school director for three years. He has many good friends in the county, inelud- ing a large number of those who have known him from his boyhood days to the present time, and this is indicative of the fact that many of his strongest characteristics are those which win re- spect and admiration.
AARON S. JACKSON.
Aaron S. Jackson, deceased, was for many years a leading and prominent citizen of De Kalb. He was a native of New York, born July 26. 1830. and was of English descent. His father, William Jack- son, was born in England, September 4, 1804, and in early life came to this country, here marrying Eliza M. Stevens, whose birth occurred in Sche- nectady. New York. March 10, 1801.
Aaron S. Jackson spent the days of his boyhood and youth in the Empire state. He had two broth- ers. David and Robert Jackson, who were soldiers of the Union army in the Civil war and one died in the service, while the other passed away two years after the close of the war as the result of the hardships and rigors of military life.
In early manhood Aaron S. Jackson was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Margaret Van Vlack, who was born in Albany county, New York, August 14, 1834, and was a daughter of John W. and Anna Maria ( Oliver) Van Vlaek, also natives of that county. Her father was born May 11. 1811, and died March 9, 1851, while her mother was born May 21. 1812, and died on the 2th of February, 1863. Mrs. Jackson was the oldest in their family of three children, and by her marriage became the mother of three children, of whom two are now deceased. the only one now living being Mrs. Carter, who is mentioned below.
In the spring of 1855 Mr. Jackson brought his family to Illinois and settled in De Kalb county, purchasing a farm of two hundred and fifteen aeres at Shabbona Grove. A few years later he established a store in the village of Shabbona and condneted it in connection with his farming operations, continuing to actively engage in agri- cultural pursuits until his removal to De Kalb in 1815. Here he embarked in the hardware business in partnership with Colonel I. L. Ellwood, and four years later purchased his partner's interest, carrying on the business alone until 1883, when he was appointed postmaster of De Kalb and filled that office during President Arthur's administra- tion. An ardent supporter of the republican party and its principles, he took an influential part in political affairs and served as mayor of the city for two terms. He was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, and at his death, which occurred on the 10th of December, 1897, he was laid to rest by that order. He was a man honored and respected wherever known.
Lila Jackson. a daughter of our subject, was born in Schenectady. New York. November 2, 1854, and was only an infant when brought by her parents to this county. her early life being passed on the farm at Shabbona Grove. She attended the public schools and completed her education in the schools of Shabbona. On the 15th of Decem- ber, 1879, in the city of De Kalb, she became the
yours truly Aaron & Jackson
TORK BRARY
STUR, LENOX BUEN FOUNDATIONS.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.
wife of William Carter, who was born in this county. October 14, 1856, and died December 10, 1900. They began their married life upon a rented farm, but Mr. Carter subsequently turned his at- tention to mercantile pursuits, from which he at length was obliged to retire on account of ill health. Success was assured from the start, because indus- try and economy were the watchwords of this worthy couple. Their business enterprise and careful management bore them a goodly measure of success and, as the years passed, brought them prosperity.
Mr. and Mrs. Carter became the parents of two children : Allan C., born March 24, 1884; and Jessie, born February 23, 1886. Both are gradu- ates of the De Kalb high school and the former is now a student in the University of Chicago, while the latter is a graduate of the Metropolitan Busi- ness College of Chicago and is now a stenographer in a Chicago business house. Mrs. Carter is now living with her mother at No. 328 North Third street, where they own a beautiful home and are enjoying life to a large extent. Books and music add to their pleasures and Mrs. Carter, being a firm believer in education. is giving her sonrex- cellent opportunities in that direction. In social eircles she occupies an enviable position and has many warm friends who esteem her highly.
THE MELVILLE CLARK PIANO FACTORY.
The principal industry in the county of De Kalb is the Melville Clark piano factory. It is not only the principal industry in De Kalb county, employ- ing fully three hundred men and paying out in wages. during the year 1906, fourteen thousand dollars a month or more, but it is one of the lead- ing piano establishments in the state of Illinois and also one of the foremost in the west.
The company was organized in 1900 by Mr. Melville Clark. with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars. Its business increased so rapidly that it soon outgrew its original capitalization, which in the summer of 1906 was increased to five hundred thousand dollars, a sum sufficient to give the company, for the present, the resources neces- :sary to cultivate its trade in a virile manner. Its
business ramifications are extensive and reach many foreign countries, among them Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy. China, Japan, Australia, the Philippine Islands, the Hawaiian Islands, South Africa, Brazil, India. New Zealand. Cuba, the Argentine Republic, Norway, Sweden, Samoa and Mexico. Few people in or out of the piano trade, realize the extent of the Melville Clark Piano Company's foreign demand, nor do they know the vigor with which it is being pushed for- ward in all directions.
The major part of this export business is in the Apollo player pianos and piano players. Besides the pianos, player pianos and cabinet players, the company makes many hundred player actions every year, which are used by other manufacturers of player pianos. The total value of goods sold by the company in 1906 was six hundred thousand dollars.
The Melville Clark factory is exceptionally com- modions and convenient. In fact, there are few factories in the United States that can equal it for cleanliness, orderliness and the arrangements that ensure the conservation of energy on the part of the workmen, and the saving of friction in the building of its product. The factory floor is kept serupulously clean, thus minimizing the dangers from fire. It is finely lighted and ventilated so that the men engaged in the various tasks find it a pleasure to work. The appliances ensuring pro- teetion against fire are among the best that money can buy. Nothing has been left undone to make it a model factory building in every detail.
The first work on the foundations was begun on September 1, 1904. The structure was completed in April, 1905. It is a solid, substantial edifice, built on honor. With its equipment of machinery. it represents an investment of one hundred thou- sand dollars. The main building is three hundred by five hundred feet, and three stories high: the wing is one hundred and seventy-five by fifty feet and three stories high. The power plant, contain- ing a two hundred horse power engine, is fifty by seventy feet and the dry kiln affords accommoda- tion for the drying of one hundred and fifty thou- sand feet of lumber a month. The factory site embraces ten acres and not its least important feature is an artesian well, two hundred and twenty-five feet deep, that furnishes water as elear and as cold as if it flowed from a hillside spring.
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The factory is furnished with one pressure tank containing six thousand gallons of water and a gravity tank containing twenty thousand gallons of water, so that, with the complete sprinkler sys- tem that runs through the entire factory and its series of automatic electric alarms, there is little peril to be apprehended from fire.
Mr. Clark. the founder and head of the corpora- tion that is of such material benefit to De Kalb county, in his life time has established a number of factories. Ilis skill as a builder-up of indus- tries is shown in some of the institutions that he founded and that still continue to prosper, al- though the master hand that reared them is flour- ishing elsewhere.
Melville Clark is a native of Oneida county in New York state. At an early age he showed a marked musical instinct and a love for music. Happily for him, he managed to find the oppor- tunities to gratify his tastes. After taking a course at a commercial college and securing his diploma, the alternative was offered him to be- come a clerk at a lace counter in a dry-goods store in Syracuse. New York, or to learn the art of tuning reed organs, under the guidance of a brother who was at that time the leading organ tuner in that city. Mr. Clark facetiously remarks, with a merry twinkle in his eye, that as between a lace counter clerk and an organ tuner he did not hesitate a moment. So he at once began to learn the tuner's trade. He smiles as he refers to his potentialities as a lace counter clerk.
In 1876, the western fever took a strong hold upon the young artisan and he determined to seek his fortunes in the far west, so in that year he journeyed to Oakland. California, where he entered into partnership with W. E. J. Baughman, as manufacturers of reed organs under the firm name of Clark & Company. There was ambition as well as ability back of the new firm and it prospered apace. Young Clark had thoroughly mastered his trade and knew exactly what a good organ ought to be and knew also how to build one. It was not long before the Clark & Company goods were ex- hibited at a California agricultural fair, where they were awarded a silver medal and a diploma.
But the field was not inviting enough to hold Mr. Clark, and. moreover, business conditions were not to the liking of himself and his partner. In 1877. the two left California and settled in Quincy,
Illinois, where as Clark & Baughman, they made a reed organ bearing that name. Their California experience had been of large practical value and the organ built in the Quincy factory quickly won trade and awards at various fairs. Yet the ambi- tion of Mr. Clark was not satisfied. The Quincy field was profitable but not big enough. In 1880 he bought out the firm of J. D. Davis & Company, of Chicago, and with a Mr. Rich formed the firm of Clark & Rich. He at once made a contract with Story & Camp to build all their reed organs. This contract was continued until 1884 and was a source of much profit to the organ makers. At the beginning of 1882. Mr. Rich retired and the firm was transformed into the Melville Clark Organ Company. Hampton L. and Edward H. Story, father and son, bought into the firm in February, 1884, and the Story & Clark Organ Company then formed, continued until 1887, when the business was incorporated.
When the Apollo piano player was invented by Mr. Clark. he at once appreciated the possibilities of the mechanism and its future influence upon the musical life of the nation. Desiring to make this new discovery in the field of pneumatics the pivotal point of his business career, and standing excep- tionally high in the financial and business life of Chicago, he determined to take advantage of the conditions and start anew for himself. He sold out his interest in the Story & Clark corporation in 1899 and in February. 1900, organized the Mel- ville Clark Piano Company.
Mr. Clark enjoys the highest prestige in the piano industry of the nation and is one of its most brilliant and original explorers in the field of pneumaties. Ilis brain is singularly active and fertile in inventing devices that add greatly to the intrinsic musical worth of the Apollo instruments. They contain improvements that no other players can boast. The Apollo is the only player in the world that has a range of eighty-eight notes, or the entire piano keyboard. It is the only player in the world with the effective transposing mouth- piece, which represents ninety-five per cent of player valuc. Naturally, this gives the Melville Clark Piano Company and its players a powerful leverage upon publie admiration and patronage. Mr. Clark holds one hundred and twenty-five pat- ents covering Apollo devices, besides has a number of applications for patents pending.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF DE KALB COUNTY.
The Melville Clark piano is an instrument of high artistic quality, widely recognized as one of the best pianos in the country, and embodies the best phases of twentieth century piano construc- tion. In the Melville Clark corporation the people of De Kalb county have an industry in which they may take a deep pride. Its prosperous condition today is merely an indication of its larger dimen- sions in the years to come.
C. E. HURD.
C. E. Hurd, engaged in the jewelry business in Sycamore, was born in Winnebago county, Illi- nois, in 1860, and is a son of Chester A. Hnrd, who came from Connecticut to Winnebago county, Illinois, in 1840, and is still living at the age of eighty-seven years, a hale and hearty old man. Onr subject was educated in the public schools of Durand and after leaving school was in the em- ploy of the Chicago & Great Western Railroad as station agent at Maywood, Byron, Sycamore, De Kalb and other points. He continued in that service for seventeen years and was one of the oldest agents in their employ in years of continu- ous connection therewith. In October, 1905, he removed from De Kalb to Sycamore and estab- lished his present business at No. 321 State street.
In 1891 Mr. Hurd was married to Miss Lou A. Foster, of Crown Point, Indiana, a daughter of Captain J. M. Foster, and they have one daughter, Helen Mildred. In his political adherence Mr. Hurd is a republican and fraternally is a member of the Masonic order and the Modern Woodmen of America. Both he and his wife belong to the Congregational church.
NEAL M. FIRKINS.
Neal M. Firkins, one of the prominent farmers and stock-raisers of Shabbona township, is oper- ating extensively along both lines and in the con- trol of his business interests displays marked energy, keen foresight and unfaltering diligence. He was born in Paw Paw township, De Kalb county, on the 13th of January, 1859. His father,
Leonard Firkins, was a native of the state of New York and a successful business man, who in early manhood came to Illinois and took up his abode in Paw Paw township, In the Empire state he had learned and followed the tailor's trade but in Illi- mois he devoted his time and energies to farming and met with a goodly measure of prosperity in that work. He wedded Mary Abbott, a native of Vermont. who died on a farm in Paw Paw town- ship. She was a widow with four children when she became the wife of Leonard Firkins. By her first marriage she had several children but only one is now living-Mrs. Goss of Texas. Both Mr. and Mrs. Firkins are now deceased, having passed away in Paw Paw township. the father of our sub- ject being eighty-five years of age at the time of his demise. In their family were six children: Leon- ard, who is living in lowa : Edward L., a resident of Nebraska ; Neal M., of this review : Reuben, who is living on the old homestead ; Alonzo J .. who makes his home in Nebraska; and Mary, the de- ceased wife of Fred Olmstead of Shabbona Grove.
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