USA > Illinois > DeKalb County > Past and present of DeKalb County, Illinois, Volume II > Part 6
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CLARK CARTEF
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MILK
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energetie, prompt and reliable and has made steady progress on the high road to prosperity.
Mr. Carter was married in 1893 to Miss Julia E. Mearns, of De Kalb, a daughter of Thomas Mearns, a retired farmer now deceased. His social relations are with De Kalb lodge, No. 144, A. F. & A. M .; De Kalb lodge, No. 215, K. P .; and the Knights of the Globe He exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the republican party, but is liberal in his views and at local elections votes for the candidate whom he regards as best qualified for office. He is now serving as a member of the board of aldermen of De Kalb and exercises his official prerogatives in support of all those plans which have for their object the substantial development and improve- ment of the city.
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DANIEL B. ARBUCKLE.
With the farming interests of this county Daniel B. Arbuckle has been identified since reaching manhood and is today the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and eighty acres on section 10, Kings- ton township. He was born in that township on the 17th of February, 1845, and has spent his en- tire life at his birthplace. His father, Joseph Arbuckle, was a native of Erie county, Pennsyl- vania, born in 1805, and was reared there, learn- ing the harness-maker's trade during his youth. When yet a young man he went to Summit county, Ohio, where he remained for several years, and while there he was married to Miss Amanda Smith, a native of that county, which was also the birth- place of two of their children. Three other chil- dren were added to the family after their removal to Illinois. It was in 1839 that they came west, the journey being made with an ox team, and on landing in De Kalb county Mr. Arbuckle found that he had only two dollars and a half in money and a few household effects, but he immediately went to work to provide for his family and build up his fortune in this new and undeveloped coun- try. He purchased a government claim of eighty acres and after erecting a house thereon he at once turned his attention to the raising of crops. For sixty years he made this place his home and meet- ing with good success in his farming operations
he accumulated a vast estate, adding to his prop- erty a little at a time until he owned one hundred and fifty acres. He continued to reside upon his farm until called from this life in 1897, at the ad- vanced age of ninety-two years. Ilis wife had died in 1893, at the age of eighty.
Daniel B. Arbuckle is the third in order of birth in their family of five children and the first of the number born in Illinois. His early life was passed amid agricultural scenes and when not in school, which he attended only through the winter months, he aided in the work of the farm as his age and strength permitted. He remained with his father until he attained his majority and then rented a farm which he operated for five years prior to his marriage and for the same length of time after that event took place. He then bought the farm. consisting of one hundred and twenty aeres and to its further improvement and cultiva- tion he devoied his energies until 1887. Selling that place he purchased his present farm of one hundred and eighty acres on section 10, Kingston township, and has since added to and remodeled the house, has built a good barn, granaries and substantial outbuildings, has tilled and fenced the land and now has a well improved farm under a high state of cultivation. He raises good graded stock, making a specialty of Poland China hogs and Durham cattle, usually keeping from twenty-five to thirty-five milch cows for dairy purposes.
On the 23d of March, 1871, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Arbuckle and Miss Catherine E. Heckman, a native of Morgan county, Ohio, and a daughter of Philip Heckman, who came from that state to Illinois in 1854. Five children blessed this union, but Fred, the first born, died at the age of five years. Jennie is the wife of O. D. Shierk, of Knoxville, Illinois, and they have three children, Earl, Marguerite and Dorothy. Sadie E. is the wife of Guy Harrington, a farmer of Malta township, and they have three children, Carroll, Evelyn and Helen. Philip has for the past three years been a teacher in the military academy at Upper Alton. Ile is a graduate of the Belvidere high school and spent three years at the De Kalb Normal and the same length of time at the State University. Frank D., the youngest of the family, is now at home. He recently resigned from the United States navy, where he spent four years and
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a half and he holds the six-inch gunshot champion- ship of the world, an honor lately conferred upon him.
Mr. and Mrs. Arbuckle attend the Baptist church. of Kingston, of which she is a member, while he is now serving as trustee of the church. Fraternally he belongs to Kishwaukee lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Kingston, in which he has held the office of treasurer, and is also connected with Kingston camp. M. W. A .. of which he was vener- able consul for one year. His political support is given the republican party and he has been called upon to fill several township offices, being the pres- ent supervisor, which position he has held for seven years. He takes a deep interest in educa- tional affairs and for fifteen years has held the offices of school director and trustee. The com- munity recognize in him a valued and useful citizen, one devoted to the publie welfare and no trust reposed in him has ever been betrayed.
HON. HARVEY A. JONES.
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No history of De Kalb county would be com- plete without mention of Hon. Harvey 1. Jones, the senior member of the bar. His citizenship, too, has been of that high character which works for general improvement and progress and the bent of his active mind has made him take a lively pleasure in the study of the sciences of govern- ment. Although he has held but few political of- fices, he has been a more active and efficient poli- tician than many who have devoted their undivided time to public affairs and who have been of far greater official distinction than has ever fallen to him. He has been a vigilant and attentive ob- server of men and measures and his close study of the conditions of life in all its phases has been one of the strong elements in his success at the bar.
Mr. Jones was born near Lafayette. Indiana. October 17, 1837, and is descended from Welsh an- cestry, the first representative of the family in America having come from Cardiganshire, South Wales. and settled on the Delaware Wel'sh traet in 1:10, where yet stands the old Baptist church, in which five of his ancestors preached the gospel prior to the Revolution and which bears the marks of many British bullets that were imbedded in its
walls during the struggle for independence. Rev. David Jones, the great-great-great-grandfather, was born in Forest ap Llanwenog, Cardiganshire, Wales, in 1668, and braved the dangers ineident to a voyage at that time, settling in 1710 in New- castle county, Delaware, where his death occurred August 20. 1148. He was a Calvinist Methodist elergyman and married Esther Morgan, a daughter of Morgan ap Rhydrith, chieftain in Cardigan- shire under Cromwell. Their son, James Jones the great-great-grandfather of our subjeet, was born in Wales, in 170:, and was brought by his parents to America in 1:10, spending his remain- ing days in Newcastle county. Delaware, where he departed this life, May 26, 1786. He was a Bap- tist clergyman and served in the American army under General Gates at the time of the Revolu- tionary war as chaplain and surgeon. He mar- ried Susanna Williams, of the Welsh tract of New- castle county. Delaware.
Daniel Jones, the grandfather, was born near Wilmington, Delaware, April 10, 1754, and died in Clark county, Ohio, May 12. 1832. His wife was Mary Alston. He became a pioneer in West Virginia and for three years resided in Greene county, Pennsylvania, subsequent to which time he settled in Clark county, Ohio. Rev. David Jones was chaplain of the regiments commanded by Mad Anthony Wayne and by General Gates in the war for independence. He was a consin of Daniel Jones and the grandfather of Horatio Gates Jones, historian of Philadelphia.
David Jones, father of our subject, was born near Richmond, Virginia, February 18, 1798, and went with his parents to Monongalia county, Vir- ginia. now West Virginia. when but three years of age. He became a pioneer resident of Clark county. Ohio, when a youth of sixteen years and in early manhood removed to Indiana, where he died November 11, 1849, after assisting in the recla- mation of that district for the purpose of civiliza- tion. He wedded Mary Owens, a daughter of Asa and Deborah ( MeMunn) Owens, who were south- ern Quakers, and whose ancestors were of the Ogle- thorpe settlement at Savannah, Georgia, where the paternal ancestors of Jefferson Davis also located. Jonathan Owens, the father of Asa, had his right hand cut off by the British during the Revolution because he would not fight. warfare being contrary to the teachings of his religion. Asa Owens' peo-
I. A. JONES.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
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ple were also from Wales, and, as stated, were con- nected with the Society of Friends or Quakers. The ancestors of Deborah MeMunn were also Quakers and came from the north of Ireland, lo- eating in Georgia with the Oglethorpe settlers. The Owens family was also established in Clark county. Ohio, at a very early day, settling near Dayton, in 1812, and it was in that state that the parents of our subject were married. During their early mar- ried life they removed to Tippecanoe county, In- diana. Their family numbered ten children : Amanda, who married Benjamin Morehouse, is now deceased. John M. C., who was among the carly seekers for gold in California, where he es- tablished his home, later became sheriff of Siski- you county and died in 1882. Abel went to Ore- gon. James O. was graduated from the law de- partment of the University of Michigan, but later became a farmer of Indiana. Deborah married Owen Hill and is now deceased. Lewis was a resi- dent farmer of Missouri. Levi M., who was a real-estate agent at Fort Wayne, Indiana, has also passed away. Harvey A. is the next of the family. David C. was a graduate of the law department of the University of Michigan and figured prominent- ly in political circles in Tippecanoe county, Indi- ana, but is now deceased.' Asa F. was a physician and resided on the old homestead at Grand Prairie. Indiana, until his death.
No event of special importance occurred to vary the routine of farm life for Ilarvey A. Jones in his boyhood days. He worked in the fields through the summer months and in the winter seasons at- tended the public schools of the neighborhood until seventeen years of age, when he matriculated in Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, Indiana, com- pleting his literary course, however, in Lombard University, at Galesburg, Illinois. After leaving college, in 1861, he went to Missouri, where he en- gaged in teaching, but after a few months. owing to the outbreak of the Civil war, he was compelled to change his plans. Returning to Illinois he en- tered the law office of Hon. A. M. Harrington, of Geneva, Kane county, under whose direction he pursued his preliminary reading until 1863, when he entered the University of Michigan, being grad- uated from the law department there in 1865. He located for practice in Sycamore, Illinois, and is today the oldest member of the De Kalb county bar, having for about forty-two years been con-
nected with the profession at this place. He first formed a partnership with Daniel B. James, later county judge, with whom he was associated until 1869. Ile afterward practiced as a partner of Charles A. Bishop, now judge of the sixteenth judicial circuit, who became associated with him in 1880, after having been a student in his office. This relation was maintained until the elevation of Judge Bishop to the bench in 1887. The law firm was recognized as a most strong and able one and there were few cases of importance tried in De Kalb county in which they were not retained for the defense or the prosecution. In October, 1891. Mr. Jones formed a partnership with C. D. Rogers, which still continues, and they have a pleasant suite of rooms above the Sycamore National Bank. Mr. Jones has practiced in both the state and fed- eral courts and has been retained on many impor- tant cases. He recognizes the fact that the trial of a case depends upon the careful preparation done in the office and when he enters the court roon he is well qualified for the attack as well as for the defense, as the case may be. He studies his case from every standpoint, martials his evi- dence with the precision of a military commander and is logical in his deductions. He presents his plea with force and earnestness. His mind is nat- urally analytical and inductive. He never seeks to cloud his case in any sentimental garb or elus- ion, but makes it his practice to put into force tho theory that it is the aim and purpose of the lawyer to aid the court in arriving at decisions.
Mr. Jones is a valued member of various fra- ternal organizations. He is well known as a Knight Templar Mason, affiliates with the Odd Fellows and the Knights of the Globe. Stanch in his republicanism, he was presidential elector for the fifth Illinois district in 1888 and has stanchly upheld the principle and policy of the party. He has always been an ardent temperance man and with voice and pen has labored for the cause, plead- ing, however, that its interests are best secured through the republican party than through an in- dependent temperance organization. Over his pub- lic and private life there falls no shadow of wrong nor suspicion of evil, for at all times he has ad- hered to a high standard of conduct, has been actu- ated by honorable purposes and in his relations with his fellowmen has manifested a realization of individual obligation.
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Mr. Jones has been particularly happy in his home surroundings, as an ideal companionship has existed between himself and his wife, who is a lady of literary culture and natural refinement. On the 22d of February, 1861, at the home of Rev. J. P. Fuller, in Galesburg, was consummated his marriage to Miss Sarah Dudley Perkins. She was born October 14, 1838, at St. Charles, then Charles- ton, Kane county, Illinois, a daughter of Otho Williams Perkins, who came from Boston, Massa- chusetts, to Illinois, in June, 1834, settling in Kane county where his only brother, Ephraim, was living. Otho W. Perkins was born in Hebron, Grafton county, New Hampshire, June 16, 1806, and was two years the senior of his brother Eph- raim. He married Nancy Kelley at St. Charles, Illinois, January 6. 1838. She was born in New- hampton, Belknap county, New Hampshire, July 13, 180;, and was a daughter of Dudley and Ruth (Dow) Kelley. Her education was obtained in Newhampton Female Seminary, once the leading preparatory school of New England. Her father. who was one of the trustees of the school for many years was a man of scholarly attainments and de- voted much of his life to teaching. He was born in Exeter, a suburb of Brentwood, New Hamp- shire, in 1761, and was a student of Philips Exeter Academy. At the age of sixteen years he enlisted for service in the Revolutionary war. His father was Darby Kelley, a son of Daniel Kelley, who was born in Waterford, Ireland, in 1000, and who at the age of ten years ran away to sea becoming cabin boy on a ship of which his cousin was cap- tain. Ife thus made his way to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He then refused to re-cross the ocean and was left by his kinsman in the new world, after which he never saw or heard from any of his people again. He was adopted by the family of Phillip Iluntoon, whose daughter Sarah he mar- ried when twenty-eight years of age. His second wife was Sarah Dudley. a granddaughter of the Rev. Samuel Dudley, of the first Exeler settle- ment. Rev. Dudley was the eldest son of Governor Thomas Dudley, second colonial governor of the Massachusetts colony, and the first wife of Rev. Dudley was the daughter of Governor Winthrop. The mother, Nancy (Kelley) Perkins, was Ruth Dow. who was born in Old Hampton. New Hamp- shire, and her father. Jonathan Dow. was an own cousin of Lorenzo Dow the eccentric preacher who
visited at the home of Dudley Kelley in 1810, when Nancy Kelley was three years of age. This was during Lorenzo Dow's last tour through the New England states. The American ancestry of the Dow family was also the ancestry of Neal Dow, the famous Maine law champion.
The father of Otho Williams Perkins was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts. and was descended from "Quartermaster" John Perkins, who came from Gloucestershire England to Salem in the ship Lyon in 1628 with Roger Williams and an ancestor of Ralph Waldo Emerson as fellow passengers. From Salem he went to Ipswich. The wife of Jacob Perkins was the maternal grandmother of O. W Perkins. She bore the maiden name of Hannah Andrews and was a descendant of Captain Joh Andrews, who located at Ipswich in 1630. Cap- tain John Andrews was also the ancestor of John A. Andrews, the war governor of Massachusetts at the time of hostilities between the north and the south. The mother of Otho Williams Perkins was Thirza Dearborn. who died when her son was but five years of age. She was a descendant of God- frey Dearborn of the first settlement of Exeter, New Hampshire, then part of the Massachusetts colony, who came from Devonshire, England, in 1628. He was also the American ancestor of Major General Henry Dearborn. the commander-in-chief of the war of 1812, and the one for whom Fort Dearborn, now Chicago, was named. The mother, Thirza Dearborn, the maternal grandmother of Otho W. Perkins, was Abigail Ward a daughter of the Rev. Nathan Ward, who was the first Congre- gational clergyman of Plymouth, New Hampshire. Abigail Ward was a descendant of William Ward, of Sudbury, who was also the ancestor of Artemus Ward, who was the first provincial major general in the Revolution before the selection of Washing- ton as commander-in-chief.
Mrs. Jones was the eldest of the three children of Otho W. Perkins, her two brothers dying before she was eighteen years of age. The youngest, Otho W. Perkins. Jr .. died April 15, 1855. at the age of fourteen years, and Jonathan Dudley died July 8, 1856. at the age of sixteen years. Mrs. Jones attended a select school at St. Charles and spent one year as a student in St. Agatha's Acad- emy. Sisters of Mercy. of Chicago, where she was awarded the gold medal for composition in 1855. The old academy building before the Chicago fire
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stood upon the present site of Mercy hospital. In August, 1857, she entered Lombard University, at Galesburg, for the four years' classical course. At the same time Mr. Jones was a student there and they were married while in Galesburg. They be- came the parents of seven children. Dudley Kel- ley, the eldest, was born and died at St. Charles, Illinois, May 5, 1862. Mary Fuller, born at St. Charles, May 10, 1863, was married in Sycamore, November 27, 1884, to Elmer Jerome Baker, pub- lisher and one of the proprietors of the Chicago Farm Implement News. They have two children : Ruth Mary, born September 29, 1885 ; and Elmer Jerome, born January 13, 1889. Owen Dudley, born at Sycamore, November 21, 1865, died Janu- ary 21, 1867. Anna Kelley, born in Syeamore, February 10, 1869, was married July 10, 1889, to George Manford Clayberg, of Oak Park, who is principal of the Mckinley high school, Chicago. and they had four children : Ilarold Dudley and Harvey Alston, twins, who were born January 24, 1892, but the latter died on the 3d of July of the same year ; Dorothea Marian, born July 27, 1893 ; and Georgine M. Clayberg, born in July, 1901. Ilarvey Alston, Jr., was born at Sycamore, October 28, 1871, and died April 12, 1880. Sarah Dudley, born at Sycamore, June 24, 1873, died on the 15th of July following. David Dudley, born at Syca- more, July 21, 1874, died April 5, 1880.
Mr. and Mrs. Jones occupy a beautiful home in Sycamore and are among the most prominent residents of the city. They have been resi- dents of the city since 1865 and have been closely associated with all those movements and in- terests which have had direct bearing upon the material, intellectual, moral and social progress. Mr. Jones has long been recognized as a man of strong force of character, native intelligence and marked individuality, and in the practice of law has been recognized as an ideal follower of his calling, for, while his devotion to his clients' in- terests is proverbial, he never forgets that he owes a higher allegiance to the majesty of the law. He is today the oldest member of the De Kalb county bar and is president of the De Kalb County Bar Association. He is a man of individual native force and scholarly attainments, owing to his broad and comprehensive reading. Throughout his life he has been a student not only of his profes- sion, but of general literature as well and his life
has been enriched by the thoughts of the master minds of the ages.
The summer of 1900 Governor Tanner appointed Mr. Jones a commissioner from Illinois to the Paris Exposition and Mrs. Jones accompanied him abroad. They sailed in June with their daughter, Mrs. Clayberg, from Oak Park, and were joined abroad by their daughter, Mrs. Baker, and grand- daughter, Miss Ruth M. Baker, who was at school in France. Together they made a tour of the principal countries in Europe, Mrs. Jones remain- ing abroad, most of the time in France and Eng- land, until October, 1902.
JAMES D. GORMLEY.
James D. Gormley, who makes his home in Pierce township where he carries on general farm- ing, was born June 1, 18-t0, in Boston, Massa- chusetts. He came to Illinois in May, 1852, when a lad of twelve years in company with his parents. James and Mary (Dornley) Gormley. The father was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1997, and died in the year 1885. The mother, whose birth also occurred in County Tyrone in 1801, has like- wise passed away. The parents came to the new world in the '30s, settling first in Boston, Massa- chusetts, and later Mr. Gormley established the first iron works at Antietam, Georgia. He came to Illinois in 1851 taking up his abode on the farm where his son James now resides. The old home in which he first lived, is still standing, it being one of the old landmarks of the county, a mute reminder of the changes which time and man have wrought.
James D. Gormley, coming to De Kalb county in early boyhood days, was largely reared upon the home farm and early became familiar with all the duties and labors that fall to the lot of an agri- culturist. He attended the district schools of Pierce township and after he arrived at years of maturity made preparations for having a home of his own by his marriage on the 14th of June, 1876, to Miss Mary Finley, who was born April 11, 1854, and who was also reared and educated in Pierce township. They have become the parents of three children : Thomas, who was born April 8, 1822: Mrs. Catherine Coffey, born April 21, 1879;
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and James D., Jr., born July 1, 1883. Mr. Gorm- ley and his family are members of the Roman Catholic church and he gives his political support to the democracy.
The family home is a valuable farm of two hun- dred and forty acres of choice land worth between one hundred and one hundred and twenty-five dol- lars per acre. Mr. Gormley has achieved success by hard work and good management. He started out in life on his own account, empty-handed. and today is owner of an excellent property. In the midst of the farm stands a beautiful residence which is one of the finest homes in Pierce town- ship, and in addition are good barns and out- buildings which furnish ample shelter for grain and stock. All this has been won through the un- tiring efforts of Mr. Gormley and he has indeed led a busy and useful life. He is, moreover, one of the prominent and influential men of the com- munity, respected and esteemed by all who know him, and that he has the confidence and trust of his fellow townsmen, is indicated by the fact that. for twenty years consecutively he has been town- ship supervisor.
MICHAEL MOREHEART SHELLABERGER.
Michael Moreheart Shellaberger is one of the most notable characters in the history of De Kalb. Ife has attained that venerable age of eighty-nine years but in spirit and interest seems a much younger man, retaining unimpaired his mental faculties and inventive genius. He is yet an active worker at the bench where his experiments are carried on and since attaining the age where many would put aside the active cares of life he has brought forth a number of valuable inventions.
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