USA > Illinois > Will County > Past and present of Will County, Illinois, V. 2 > Part 41
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Mr. Collins was married, Angust 1, 1881, to Miss Sarah Hayes, who was born in Wilmington in May, 1861. Her parents were James and Mar- garet (Feeney) Hayes, the former born in Illi- nois, and the latter in Canada. They were among the early pioneer settlers of Will county, the father having here developed and improved a farnı of
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one hundred and eighty acres and for many years was identified with agricultural interests. He died in Will county, but his wife is still living in Channahon township. The father was a Jack- sonian democrat but never cared for public office. He was a communicant of the Catholic church. His family numbered three children, of whom Mrs. Collins is the eldest, the others being Rob- ert, and Mary, the widow of Benjamin Tierney, mention of whom is made on another page of this work.
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Collins has been blessed with five sons, Peler, James, Edward, Robert and Daniel, all of whom are still with their parents and are assisting their father in the op- eration of the home farm. Mr. Collins' study of the political questions and issues of the day has led him to give active and stalwart support to the democratic party. He is a communicant of the St. Rosa Catholic church at Wilmington. Mr. Collins is reliable in his business dealings with his fellowmen, so that he has won the confidence and good will of all with whom he has come in con- tact. He came to this country a poor man but has through his diligence, energy and perseverance gradually worked his way upward to prosperity, and he is rearing his sons to habits of thrift and economy, so that they are now proving to him able assistants in the management of his business affairs.
WERDEN BUCK.
Werden Buck is today one of the extensive deal- ers in coal in Joliet, having a business which is at once indicative of his superior qualifications, his straightforward methods, his laudable ambition and his indefatigable energy. A native son of Will county, he was born in Manhattan, February 9, 1869. and is a son of George A. Buck, a pio- ner resident of Joliet. His early youth was spent in the place of his nativity but in 1880 the family removed to Joliet and he enjoyed the advantages of a high-school education to the close of the junior year.
He then entered business life, working as col- lector and night operator for the Chicago Tele- phone Company at. a salary of five dollars per
week, a position that commanded his services for twenty hours out of the twenty-four. Six months later he became an employe of the firm of Paige & Benson, dealers in groceries, coal and ice. He was at first connected with the ice department, and after a brief period Chester Paige and A. W. Hays succeeded J. D. Paige in the grocery busi- ness, while the firm of Paige & Benson continued in control of the ice and fuel trade. In 1888 Mr. Buck purchased the interest of Chester Paige, and business was then conducted under the firm style of A. W. Hays & Company, their location being in the old Opera House block on the corner of Chicago and Clinton streets. When that build- ing was destroyed by fire in 1892 the business was removed across the street to the Auditorium block. and since that time Mr. Buck has carried on a large and profitable trade. In 1892 the firm ex- tended the field of its operations by becoming deal- ers in coal and building materials on Cass street, also handling sewer pipe, drain tile and fuel. On the 9th of March, 1888, Mr. Buck purchased his partner's interest and has since been sole pro- prietor of the coalyards at Nos 511-513 Cass street. He has a building forty by one hundred and thirty- two feet with yards in the rear, and carries in stock all kinds of pressed brick manufactured in the United States, together with sewer pipe and drain tile, and in these lines conducts an extensive business. His methods are such as will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny and because of his success, are of interest to the commercial world. Ile has based his business principles and actions upon the rules which govern unswerving integrity and unfaltering effort and in this lies the secret of his rise to prosperity and prominence in com- mercial circles.
In 1892 Mr. Buck was united in marriage in Joliet to Miss Inez Paige, a daughter of J. D. Paige, at one time mayor of the city and superin- tendent of the Joliet fire department. They have one son. George Paige. Mrs. Buck holds mem- bership in the Universalist church and Mr. Buck is in hearty sympathy with many movements for the uplifting of humanity and the amelioration of the hard conditions of life for the unfortunate ones of the carth. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen camp at Joliet and gives his political allegiance to the democracy. For one term he served as township clerk but has never had aspira-
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tion for public office. He is a man who carries for- ward to successful completion whatever he under- takes, forming a definite plan of action and ac- complishing results while many others would stop to theorize.
EDWARD DALLINGER.
Edward Dallinger, engaged in general farming and stock-raising in Channahon township, where he owns and operates one hundred and forty-two and a half acres of land, was born in Troy town- ship. this county, on the 25th of May, 1862, and comes of German ancestry. His father, Mathew Dallinger, was a native of Alsace-Lorraine. Ger- many, born in 1822, and in 1848, when about twenty-six years of age, he came to the new world, stopping for a time at New Orleans. He then re- turned home but at the end of six months again came to the United States and this time located in Rome, New York, where he remained until 1854, when he arrived in Troy township, Will county. Here he began farming on one hundred and fifty acres of land and has since made the farm his home, bringing his fields under a high state of cultivation, so that he has annually gathered large crops. In early manhood he married Miss Teresia Schall, who was born in Alsace-Lorraine in 1832.
They became the parents of nine children, of whom five are yet living, namely: Mrs. Peter Limacher, of Channahon; Joseph, who is living in Kendall county; Rose, a resident of Troy Grove; John who is living in Troy; and Edward, of this review.
Edward Dallinger, the third in order of birth, was born and reared on the old family homestead, early becoming familiar with the duties and labors of the fields. He assisted in the tasks of plowing. planting and harvesting, and in the winter months attended the public schools, acquiring a fair, prac- tical English education. The occupation to which he was reared he has made his life work. He re- mained at home until eleven years ago, when he purchased his present farm, comprising one hun- dred and forty-two and a half acres in Channahon township, where he has since lived, continuing the work of development and improvement until the fields now yield golden harvests and the property
has become a paying one. In addition to tilling the fields he raises considerable stock and his busi- ness interests are carefully managed. He has a well equipped place, and neatness and thrift char- acterize all departments of the farm work.
Mr. Dallinger was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Blackburn, of Joliet, who was born May 8, 1870. She was one of the thirteen chil- dren of John and Alice (Turner) Blackburn, of whom five are living: William, a resident of Joliet ; Mrs. Nellie Hauser, whose home is in Troy, Illinois ; Mrs. Jennie Stahl, of Joliet; and Mrs. Thomas Gudgeon, who is living in South Shields, England. Mrs. Dallinger's father was born in Preston, England, April ?. 1836, and died April 13, 1900, while his wife, also a native of Preston, born February 14, 1827, died while visiting in England, September 5, 1872. They came to Joliet in 1854 and Mr. Blackburn followed the carpenter's trade until his death.
Mr. and Mrs. Dallinger have three children, Mathew, John and Alice, all yet under the parental roof. Mr. Dallinger is an independent voter, regarding measures rather than party and desiring always the best interests of the commu- nity. He has served as collector of Troy township and gives his support to all plans for the public good, while in agricultural circles he is known as a reliable business man.
HARRY HUME PORTER, D. D. S.
Dr. Harry Hume Porter is one of the younger representatives of the dental fraternity in Will county but his years seem no bar to his ability nor his success, for he is enjoying a liberal patronage in Monee. He was born in Danville, Illinois, in 1875. His father, Ozro Porter, was born in north- eastern Pennsylvania and is now living at Marengo, Illinois, being a retired passenger conductor. He was with the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad and in former years he was with the Grand Trunk, the Wabash and the Northern Pacific Railroad Companies, and he is a member of the Order of Railroad Conductors. He owns a cattle ranch of one thousand acres in North Dakota, which is a good property and returns to him a gratifying in- come. His political views are in harmony with
PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY.
republican principles. He married Sophia Hnme, who was born in Wesleyville, Pennsylvania. and they have two sons, the younger, Jay F., being assistant yard foreman of the Illinois Steel works at South Chicago.
Harry H. Porter attended the Marengo high school and, making choice of the dental profes- sion as a life work, he was for three years a stu- dent in a dental office at Marengo prior to enter- ing the Chicago College of Dental Surgery in 1893. He was graduated from that institution with the class of 1897 and began the practice of his profession in Hampshire, where he remained for seven years. On account of illness he then retired from the profession for two years, but in June, 1905, resumed active connection therewith and has since been located in Monee, where he has already secured a very liberal patronage. Hle is skilled in mechanical work. thoroughly con- versant with the profession in its scientific connec- tion and, moreover, has the business ability which is so necessary to a successful professional career.
Dr. Porter was married on the 16th of Decem- ber, 1899, to Miss Beulah Rowell, who was born in Hampshire, Illinois, in 1880, a daughter of Fremont Rowell, a merchant. They now have two children, Merriam and Ralph, aged respectively four and two years.
Dr. Porter was director of the choir of the Methodist Episcopal church at Hampshire for five years and possesses considerable ability in both vocal and instrumental music. He is fraternally a Woodman and an Odd Fellow and is independent in polities. In manner he is courteous and genial, affable and kindly, and these qualities, together with his deference for the opinions of others, ren- der him a favorite in social circles.
CAPTAIN CHARLES ROST.
Captain Charles Rost, whose effective public service entitles him to more than passing notice in this volume, is now superintendent of the county poor farm in Troy township. In this connection he has labored most diligently for the interests of the farm, which he has placed upon a profitable basis and at the same time has
given every possible attention to the comfort and care of the inmates, never practicing economy in administration to the point of sacrifice of the welfare of the unfortunates who are under his care.
Captain Rost is a native of Kagenow, Pomera- nia, Prussia, born December 11, 1841. His father, Carl Rost, was a forester of Germany and came to the United States in 1862. settling upon a farm near Macomb, MeDonough county, Illinois. There he carried on general agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in 1881. In early manhood he wedded Mary Rosz, who survived him for seventeen years, passing away in 1898. In religions faith they were Lutherans. Their fan- ily numbered seven sons, six of whom are yet liv- ing, three being residents of Macomb, Illinois, one of Denver. Colorado. another of Kokomo, In- diana, while the subject of this review maintains his residence in Will county.
Captain Rost is the eldest and when the fam- ily decided to emigrate to America he came alone ahead of the others in order to acquire a knowl- edge of the language and enstoms of the people and thus assist his family when they should es- tablish their home in the new world amid sur- roundings and conditions with which they were utterly unfamiliar. It was in 1860 that Mr. Rost took passage on the old sailing vessel Columbia, being sixty-two days in making the voyage from Hamburg to New York. Ile first worked in a wire factory at Worcester, Massachusetts, but at the time of the Civil war he put aside business vares and all personal considerations that he might aid his adopted country in the efforts to preserve the Union. When the first call for three years' troops was made he offered his services and at Boston joined the boys in blue of Company B. Twentieth Massachusetts Infantry. While at the front he took part in thirty-one engagements. en- bracing all of the principal battles which led up to the final triumph of the Union arms. He was twice wounded at Gettysburg, after which he spent some time in the hospital at Portsmouth Grove, Rhode Island. He was taken prisoner at Antietam and was also captured in front of Pe- tersburg in 1864, being incarcerated in Libby and at Belle Isle and Salisbury, North Carolina. He became sergeant, after the battle of the Wilder- ness was commissioned first lieutenant, and after
CHARLES ROST.
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the surrender of Lee was made regimental quar- termaster. He was honorably discharged in Bos- ton on the 14th of July, 1865, when the country no longer needed his aid. He was a brave and loyal soldier, never faltering in the performance of any duty and he returned home with a most creditable military record. There were nearly two thousand regiments in the Union army, and among the five that suffered the heaviest losses in battle during the Civil war is enrolled the name of Captain Rost's regiment, the Twentieth Massa- chusetts Volunteers. Its loss is given by the de- partments in Washington as eighteen officers killed, thirty-seven officers wounded, two hundred and eighty-nine enlisted men killed, six hundred and forty-one enlisted men wounded and lost as prisoners of war two hundred and forty-two. These losses date from the battle of Ball's Bluff, October 21, 1861, to the surrender of Lee's army. The regiment was recruited during this time, so that when the war ended three thousand, eight hun- dred and sixty-four men had served in the Twen- tieth Massachusetts Volunteers.
When hostilities had ceased Captain Rost made his way from New England to Leavenworth, Kan- sas, and was appointed to a position in the quar- termasters department to take twenty-four six- mule teams across the plains by way of the Ar- kansas river and the Smoky Hill route, conveying supplies to the forts. He continued in the gov- ernment employ until 1867, when he joined a battalion which was raised to suppress Indian raids. He raised a company in Leavenworth, of which he was made first lieutenant, with Okla- homa Payne as captain. This company partici- pated in a number of hard fights along the Ar- kansas and Smoky Hill rivers and in the fall of 1867 Captain Rost was mustered out at Fort Ellsworth. He then made his way southward and was engaged on the construction of bridges and trestles on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad for six years. When work was begun on the exten- sion from Cairo to Jackson, Tennessee, connect- ing with the Mississippi Central, he took a con- tract for constructing a portion of the line and while working in the swamps below Cairo he be- came ill with malaria fever. He then returned north to Macomb, Illinois, and when Major Mc- Claughrey was appointed warden of the state pen- itentiary Mr. Rost accompanied him to Joliet as
steward. He occupied that position for fifteen years, giving most capable and efficient service, and on his retirement from the office he was chosen superintendent to the county poor farm, which position he has ably filled to the present time, with Mrs. Rost serving as matron since 1896. No criticism has ever been passed upon Captain Rost by those familiar with his methods of conducting the farm. In fact, he has given a most able, public-spirited and businesslike ad- ministration and has won uniform commendation. The county buildings as they now stand were erected by him in 1892, the main building being a three-story stone structure with a capacity for two hundred inmates. The farm is situated four miles west of Joliet and comprises one hundred and sixty acres. It consisted of only eighty acres when Captain Rost took charge in 1892, but two years later he purchased eighty acres more, pay- ing for it out of the earnings. The fields are highly cultivated and the farm work is carried on along such progressive and practical lines that the fields not only provide products for the use of the inmates, but also yield a profit of between ten and fifteen hundred dollars annually. The captain is also credited as having been one of the first to advocate the state care of the incurable insane. He addressed on several occasions the state supervisors' meetings, declaring it a shame and a crime in this enlightened Christian age to compel the aged, the crippled and the various un- fortunate people to spend their remaining days in the poor houses, being forced to mingle night and day with the incurable insane. The results of his efforts are well known, for the state of Illi- nois has today a well regulated incurable insane asylum at Bartonville, Illinois, capable of caring for two thousand, five hundred inmates, and the inmates in the poor houses enjoy once more rest and peace, for the shrieks, songs and curses of the insane are heard no more.
On the 13th of November, 1871, in Clarksville, Tennessee, was celebrated the marriage of Captain Rost and Miss Margaret O'Connor. They have become the parents of four children, of whom three are living: Alpha, the wife of Carl E. Haffner, of New York city; Lulu, the wife of Dr. J. F. Frederick, a physician of Joliet ; and Carl, who was formerly with the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern railroad, but is now chief clerk in the
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store department of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad at Moline, Illinois.
Captain Rost is a stalwart republican in his political views and while his official duties leave hin little time for political work, he nevertheless stanchly supports the principles which constitute the platform of the organization. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Pres- byterian church and he is identified with several fraternal organizations, including the Knights of Pythias ; Matteson lodge, No. 145, A. F. & A. M .: Burlington post, No. 6, G. A. R .; and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. Captain Rost is highly esteemed in these different societies as one whose sterling qualities are in harmony with the principles of the fraternities. He is a man who in all life's relations, whether military, civic or social, has been found true to the best interests of the community at large and to every duty which devolves upon him.
FREDERICK KRAEFT.
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Frederick Kraeft is one of the self-made men of Will county. No fortunate family or pecuniary advantages aided him at the outset of his ca- reer. On the contrary he started out to earn his own living when but a young boy and has since been dependent entirely upon his own resources. Ob- stacles and difficulties have confronted him but these he has overcome by determined efforts and, as the years have advanced, he has worked his way steadily upward. A native of Schaumburg Lippe in Obernworden, Buckeburg, Germany, he was born in 1845. His father, Henry Kraeft, was a native of the same place. He pursued a com- mon-school education and was a soldier of the Ger- man army. As a business he followed the trade of a linen manufacturer. He belonged to the Lutheran church and died in his thirty-sixth year, in 1846. Ilis wife, who bore the maiden name of Sophie Eberding, was also a native of Germany and died in 1850, at the age of thirty-nine years. She, too, was a member of the Lutheran church. After the death of her first husband she married again, but her second husband survived her only a few weeks. Hler children were: Mary, who is the widow of Frederick Mensching and is now
living with her daughter in Germany; Henry, also living in Germany; and Sophie and Caroline, twins. The former is now deceased, but the latter is living. Sophie married and at the time of her death left two children, while Caroline has four children.
The other member of this family is Frederick Kraeft. He was only a year and a half old at the time of his father's death, was but four and a half years old when his mother passed away, and only a little lad of five summers when his step- father died. He then lived with an uncle for about eight years. He acquired his education in the common schools of his native town, and when fourteen years of age hired out to a farmer for five dollars a year and board. In 1866 he drove a wagon for the Prussian army, but the same year came to America, settling in Crete township, Will county, Illinois. Here he found greatly altered conditions and secured what seemed to him prince- ly wages. After working for one year at farm labor in Germany for five dollars a year, his wages were gradually increased until at the time he came to the United States he was getting thirty dollars per year. Coming to America, he worked on a farm for John Windheim for one hundred and fifty dollars and board. He was afterward employed in Crete township for two months and then came to the village of Crete. Later he was employed in grubbing stumps in a timber district about three miles from town and in the spring re- turned to the village, where he worked four months for Ernst Rinne in a brickyard which had just been established. On the expiration of that pe- riod, in connection with Mr. Rinne, he purchased a threshing machine and the fall was spent by them in threshing. The following summer Mr. Kraeft again worked in the brickyard and in 1869, with the money he had saved from his earn- ings, he purchased a half interest in the brick- vard. He also rented Mr. Rinne's farm, pur- chased the personal property upon the place and took up his abode thereon. For five years it re- mained his place of residence and all this time, in connection with general farming pursuits, he was interested in the brickyard and the threshing machine and also dug wells. In 1874 he bought the hotel property of Ernst Rinne at Crete and for six years was proprietor of the hotel. He then withdrew from that line of business and while
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still living in Crete operated another farm near the village. In 1876 Mr. Kraeft purchased a farm of two hundred and twenty acres on section 27, Crete township, and for two years made it his home after which he traded the place for property in Crete where he now resides, taking the balance in cash. He bought an interest in the Crete Man- ufacturing Company and worked in the factory until the plant was destroyed by fire in 1895. He still owns fifty-five acres of land on section 9. Crete township, to which he gives his personal su- pervision. At different times he has owned sev- eral farms and has been a very prosperous man, gaining a competence through his industry and frugality. Arriving in this country when twenty- one years of age without capital and without in- - fluential friends to aid him, he went manfully to work and earned every dollar he now possesses.
On the 17th of October, 1869, Mr. Kraeft was married to Miss Mary Claus, who was born in Waldringhausen Kreis Schaumburg, Germany, October 10, 1842, daughter of Conrad and Dorothea (Wehrhahn) Claus. They came to the United States in 1867 and settled on a farm in Crete township. Two of their sons, Henry and John Claus, had preceded them about a year and are still living in Crete township. Mrs. Kraeft's father died in 1876, at the age of sixty-six years, while the mother passed away in 1872. at the age of fifty-nine years. They had five children : Mrs. Kraeft; Sophie, who is the widow of George Huff- man and lives in Crete with her two children ; Dorothea, who became the wife of Conrad Rohe and died in 1888, leaving four children ; and John and Henry, who are residents of Crete.
Unto Mrs. and Mr. Kraeft have been born three daughters: Sophie, who is the wife of Henry Steiber and has six children: Maria, the wife of Herman Boecker, a farmer living in Crete: and Emma. who is at home. In 1900. accompanied by his wife and daughter Emma, Mr. Kraeft re- turned to the fatherland and spent some time also in Glasgow, Scotland, proceeding thence to Hull, England, by rail, and from that point across the North Sea to Bremen. They continued on their way to the home of his sister at Lindhorst, from which place they traveled on to different places of interest in Germany. Mr. Kraeft visited the old home place that his father had owned and ate cherries off a tree that was still standing and
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