Portrait and bigraphical album of Livingston County, Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies , Part 132

Author: Chapman Brothers (Chicago) publisher
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman brothers
Number of Pages: 1208

USA > Illinois > Livingston County > Portrait and bigraphical album of Livingston County, Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies > Part 132

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Mr. Mulligan, while a resident of LaSalle County, was married, Oct. 3, 1860, to Miss Juha Corrigan. Of this union there were born cleven children, namely : Catherine, the wife of James O'Neil, Julia A., the wife of Thomas Johnson, both of Broughton Township; and John, Margaret, Mary, Mathew, Elizabeth, James, Thomas, Jane and Mon-

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ica, all at home with their parents. Mr. Mulligan was reared in the faith of the Roman Catholic Church, to which he still adheres, and since becom- ing a naturalized citizen has given his support to the Democratic party. He is School Director. and is one of those men to whom their neighbors apply when they need assistance in the enterprises which are calculated for the general welfare of the com- munity.

The wife of our subject was born in LaSalle County, this State, Dec. 13, 1844, and is the daugh- ter of Mathew and Bridget (Conley) Corrigan, natives of Ireland. They emigrated to the United States early in life and cast their lot with the pio- neers of LaSalle County, Ill. The father died at the homestead Nov. 15, 1875, while the mother is living and a resident of Chicago. The parental household included twelve children, those living being: Michael, of Kansas; Mary A., the wife of Alexander Wallace, of Missouri; Margaret and James, residents of Chicago, and Julia, Mrs. Mulli- gan.

S TEPHEN POTTER has been a resident of Round Grove Township, and located on section 15, for thirty-three years, during which time he has been a witness of the rise and progress of one of the best counties within the borders of Illinois. He has been an active par- ticipant, so far as his field of operations is con- cerned, in this work of development and improve- ment, and at this day can look upon what he has accomplished with considerable satisfaction. Mr. Potter was born on the 1st of April, 1806, and is the son of Theodore and Wealthy ( Weller) Potter, both natives of the State of New York, of English- German extraction. They afterward removed to Ohio, when that country was very new, and the mother died in Cuyahoga County. Some years after her death the father removed to Michigan, and was overtaken by a snowstorm, and frozen to death somewhere in the vicinity of Ilastings, Mich. They were the parents of ten children, of whom our subject was the fourth child. He was reared on the farm, and remained at home until he was of age, although previous to that time he had worked

away from home for short seasons, but retained his place in the household. After he had reached his majority he worked by the month continuously, for one man, on a farm and in the lumber woods for over seven years, and then went to Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

August 25, 1834, in Essex County, N. Y., Mr. Potter was married to Mary Ann Killmer, daughter of George and Elizabeth (Dickson) Killmer, who were natives of New York State and of German and Irish ancestry. Mrs. Potter was born in Wash- ington County, N. Y., on the 23d of February, 1814. About one week after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Potter migrated to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and settled on wild timber land, consisting of ninety-one acres, which they at once set them- selves about clearing and improving. They re- mained there for ten years, engaged in improving and general farming on this land, and then sold it and removed to Will County, Ill., settling in Joliet. They remained here for ten years, five years of which time he was engaged in teaming. In 1849 Mr. Potter left his family in Joliet, and went to California, going by the overland route, where he remained for five years and engaged in the mines most of that time. He returned to Joliet in Feb- ruary, 1854, and in the following April moved to Livingston County, and settled in Round Grove Township, on lands which Mrs. Potter had pur- chased during his absence, which consisted of 160 acres, located on section 15. They have since been residents of Round Grove Township, and have been successful in their undertakings. Mr. Potter began adding to his estate, and continued until at one time he owned 400 acres, but has disposed of all of this, with the exception of a quarter section. Ile has erected excellent buildings on his farm and made good improvements in the way of ditches, fences, orchards, etc., as may be seen by an exam- ination of the view which is given on another page of this ALBUM.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter have had eight children, whose names are as follows: Charlotte B., Mary A., George W., Margaret S., Reuben K., Albert, Alan- son and Elvie T. Charlotte was the wife of Jesse Eldred, and died in Round Grove Township, Nov. 18, 1881 : Mary died in Joliet, Ill., April 8, 1848,

LIVINGSTON COUNTY.

when about nine years of age; George married Miss Emma Godfrey, and resides in Will County, 111 .; Margaret re-ides at home; Reuben died in Round Grove Township, July 7, 1885, when forty- one years of age; he was a telegraph operator on the Chicago & Alton Railroad for several years. Albert married Louisa Hubbard, and resides in Peru. Ind. : he is engaged as a detective, and is in the employ of the Gould Railroad Syndicate. Alanson died in Round Grove Township, Jan. 28, 1868, at the age of two years; Elvie, the youngest of the family. resides at home (see sketch of Elvie Potter.)

In his political affiliations Mr. Potter acts with the Democratic party. Ile has held most of the offices of the township in which he resides, and was for a considerable time 'Highway Commissioner. Ilis excellent wife is an earnest and active member of the Presbyterian Church. They both participate actively in all the affairs inaugurated for the wel- fare of the community in which they live.

LEXANDER M. BREWSTER came to Central Illinois in the spring of 1869, when twenty-eight years of age, and has since been a resident of Livingston County. He owns a good farm on section 6, in Broughton Town-hip, where he is carrying on agriculture with fair success, and performing his obligations as a useful member of the community.

Our subject is the scion of an excellent Pennsyl- vania family, which inchidled intelligent and sue- cessful men. llis father, Henry Brewster, was a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature and served for many years as Justice of the Peace in Hunting- don County. In that county Alexander M. was born. March 18. 1811. His mother was in her girl- hood Mi -- Nancy Campbell. who was of Irish an- cestry. while the father of our subject traced his descent to one of the old Scottish Highlanders of the seventeenth century. The first representative of the family in this country was William Brew- -ter, who crossed the Atlantic in the Mayflower, and joined with the Puritan- in their song of free- dom. a- they landed upon Plymouth Rock. He settled in one of the New England States, married,

and reared a family of sons and daughters, whose descendants beeame scattered throughout New England and the South, and finally drifted west- ward. Wherever known the name is honored, and with few exceptions has been the representative of more than ordinary intellect and business capacity.

Onr subject was the youngest son of his father's family, and was reared to manhood in his native State, where he received a good education in the common school -. When sixteen years of age he repaired to the town of Huntingdon to learn the printer's trade, of which he gained a good knowl- edge, and which he followed until the outbreak of the late Rebellion. lle was one of the first to respond to the call for volunteers, enlisting in July, 1861, in Company D, 41st Pennsylvania Infantry, and which afterward became the 12th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, and was assigned to the Army of the Potomac. Young Brewster, with his comrades, took part in many of the important battles of the war, being in the seven days' siege of Richmond, in the second battle of Bull Run, and was present at South Mountain, Antietam, Gettys- burg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and other minor engagements and skirmishes. At the expir- ation of his term of enlistment, he received his honorable discharge in June, 1864. He had borne with true, soldierly courage the hardships and privations of army life, and is willing that its sufferings and trials should be remanded to the pages of the past, with the unwritten history of thousands of others, who shared in the perils of those memorable years.

Mr. Brewster now returned to his home in Penn- sylvania for a short time, hoping that the conflict would soon be over and that the dawn of peace was at hand. In this, however, both the Government and the soldiers were disappointed, and our subject, after watching the progress of the war for a time, determined that he would return to the army and assist in fighting it out, on Gen. Grant's "line." Circumstances led him to Rochester, N. Y., and in September, 1861, he enlisted in Company 1, 188th New York Infantry, of which he was First Sergeant, and which was assigned to the 5th Corps, Army of the Potomac. They marched southeast and met the enemy at different places. In the battle at

RESIDENCE OF G.W. BOYER , SEC. 20 , DWIGHT TP.

FARM-RESIDENCE OF FREDERICK CARLTON, SEC. 10, LONG POINT TP.

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RESIDENCE OF JOHN CHRISTMAN, SEC. 14, DWIGHT TP.

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Ilatcher's Run, Mr. Brewster was wounded in both feet, and confined in the hospital, although but a short time. When he was able to rejoin his regi- ment, Lee had surrendered and the "boys" were or- dered to Washington. There our hero participated in the grand review, and in due time returned with his regiment to Rochester, N. Y., where he was finally discharged in July, 1865.

Mr. Brewster, after a brief visit to his old home in Pennsylvania, engaged in printing in his native coanty until the spring of 1869, when he set ont for the Prairie State. Upon reaching Livingston County he was engaged for a time at farming on land belonging to his father, and which he now oc- eupies. He was married, Sept. 4, 1870, by the Rev. Father Hanley, at Pontiac, to Miss Ellen Sulli- van, who was born in Ireland, Feb. 4, 1849, and crossed the Atlantic with her parents when a child three years of age. They settled first in Wis- consin, and thence came to LaSalle County, this State, where the father died shortly after their arrival. Mrs. Brewster continued with her mother until her marriage. After this event our subjec t and his wife located on the present homestead

which includes 109 acres under a fair state of enlti_ vation, with a comfortable residence, a good barn and other necessary out-buildings. In politics Mr. Brewster is a stanch Republican. Mrs. B. is a member of the Catholic Church.

llenry Brewster, the father of our subject, was engaged as a merchant in Huntingdon County, Pa., for a period of forty years. The male members of the family for several generations have been prom- inent in mercantile pursuits in that section of country. The eller Brewster died in Shirleysburg, Huntingdon County, Oct. 31, 1880, and his wife, Nancy, in 1851, at the family residence there. Mrs. Brewster's father died at LaSalle, of cholera, in 1849; the mother still lives.

C HARLES FAUST, one of the enterprising German farmers of Sullivan Township, occu- pies a valuable homestead on section 33, where he makes a specialty of stock-raising and has

signalized himself as one of the most thorough and skillful agriculturists of Central Illinois.

Mr. Fanst was born in the Kingdom of Prussia, May 27, 1827, and was the third child of Daniel and Rosa (Hlerpst) Faust, also of German birth and parentage: The family were among the most prominent and reliable in their native Province, where they have been represented for many genera- tions. Daniel Faust was reared to farming pursuits which he carried on upon his native soit his entire life, and rested from his earthly labors in the spring of 1837, when fifty-four years of age. The de- voted wife and mother survived her husband several years, and died in 1851, when sixty-six years of age. Charles, in common with the youth of his native country, was placed in school at an early age, and continued his studies with little in- terruption until fourteen years oldl. He then served an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade, which he followed near his childhood's home until about twenty-five years old, when, not being satis- tied with the results of his labors, in March, 1852, he boarded the sailing-vessel "Louisa" at the port of Bremen, and after a pleasant voyage of six weeks, set foot first upon American soit in the city of New York.

From the metropolis our subject soon afterward found his way to Waukesha, Wis., where he secured employment at his trade, and thence came to LaSalle County, this State, following carpentering and farming alternately near Troy Grove, for a number of years. Ile lived frugally, saving what he eould of his earnings, and in the spring of 1855 invested his capital in eighty acres of raw prairie in Troy Grove Township. His next important move was to secure a helpmeet and companion to share his fortunes, and he was married at Troy Grove in September. 1855, to a lady whom he had long known and respected, namely, Miss Louisa Koehler. She was born in Germany, Dec. 6, 1820, and is the second child of John Gottlieb and HIannah (Bibbel) Koehler, whose family included ten children. ller father emigrated to the United States with his family in ISI, locating for a time in the city of New Orleans, whence he subsequently came to Illinois, and settled on a tract of land in LaSalle County, Mrs. Faust, however, did not.

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accompany her parents to the United States at that time. but came some years later, in 1853, and joined them in LaSalle County.

Our subject and his wife soon after their marriage located on the land which then could hardly be dignified by the name of a farm as it had been little cultivated and had no buildings. They were young in years and strong in hope and quite willing to make sacrifices in order to secure some- thing better for the future. Erecting a temporary hut composed of clay and prairie grass they labored industriously with excellent results, and Mr. Faust, in due time, added forty acres to his first purchase. In 1869 he sold the entire farm, and with the pro- creds came to Livingston County and purchased the land which constitutes his present homestead. Here he repeated the experience through which he had just passed in subduing the soil and slowly but surely bringing about the improvement which were necessary to the comfort of the family and the success of his farming operations. One of his first duties was to put up a shelter for the family, and he erected a small frame structure which served them a few years and until something more sub- stantial could take its place.

The beautiful homestead which is now presented to the gaze of the admiring traveler, and of which a view appears elsewhere in this volume, bears little comparison with the tract of land upon which Mr. Faust settled eighteen years ago. He now has a fine set of frame buildings, and has added to his landed interest, until the estate comprises 320 acres, all of which has been brought to a high state of cultivation. The handsome and commodious resi- dence. which forms one of the attractive features of the premises, was put up in 1872. In the rear are the fine barn and all the other necessary out-build- ing-, together with a valuable orchard and various fruit and shade trees which are proving useful as well as ornamental. The farm stock includes high grade Norman horses. Durham and Holstein cattle and Poland-China swine. The whole forms the picture of a complete home with peace and plenty throughout it- border -.

Mr. and Mrs. Fanst became the parents of the children who were named as follows: William, Louisa, Albert, Daniel, Emile, Gustave, Adolph,

Hannah and Charlie. Of these, four were taken from the home circle by death-Charlie, Albert, Hannah and William, Gustave and Adolph are married and carrying on farming in Germanville Township. Mr. Faust, having lived in a country where, among its excellent institutions the system of compulsory education is one of its most ad- mirable features, took special pains to have his children receive the advantages which "book learn- ing" undeniably bestows, and they are consequently well fitted, both by nature and education, to assume their rightful places as members of a highly intelli- gent community. Mr. and Mrs. Fanst are leading members of the Evangelical Church at Chatsworth, and in politics Mr. Fanst is an ardent Republican.

R N. SMITII, who is one of the live and go- ahead business men of Pontiac, is a dealer in all kinds of lumber and building material, a line of goods which enters so largely into the growth of any city. He is a native of the town of Pme Bush, Orange Co., N. Y., where he was born on the 13th of January, 1863, and is the son of Ezra and Dorothea (Corwin) Smith. The father was an ex- tensive farmer, and he and his wife were both na- tives of Orange County. They were married in the year 1856, and had a family of five children- Francis, Annie, Maggie, William I. and Carrie M. Ezra's father was Matthew, a native of New York State, who engaged extensively in farming. Ezra and his wife were both members of the Presbyterian Church, and he is a Democrat.

Francis N. Smith attended the public schools dur- ing his boyhood days, during the school terms, and devoted the balance of his time to work upon the farm until he was sixteen years of age. He then engaged as a clerk in a grocery house, which occu- pation he followed for two years. In 1881 he came to the city of Pontiac, where he worked for two months on the Chicago & Alton Railroad. He then began work in the lumber-yard of HI. Wilbeck, where he continued, and of which he is now the gen- eral manager,

On the 7th of May, 1884, Mr. Smith was married to Mrs. Clara A. (Moreland ) Lambert, a daughter

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of lIngh Moreland, who was a native of Scotland, and came to America when a young man ; he is now a resident of LaSalle County, and is a retired farmer. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Smith have been born two children-Ida and Gladys. Mrs. Smith is the mother of one child by her former marriage, who is named Edith. In 1887 Mr. Smith built a fine house near the lumber-yard, which cost him $1,000. In politics he votes and acts with the Democratic party. Ile is a member of the I. O. O. F. For one of his years Mr. Smith has succeeded in business affairs remarkably well. and he possesses the energy and shrewdness requisite to success in a long race of life. Pontiae is a place of great possibilities for men of his character, and there is no doubt he will be closely identified with the material improvement of that city in future.

It is with pleasure we show on another page a view of Mr. Smith's residence, and also his lum- ber-yard.

LEXANDER MCKENZIE took up his resi- dence in Broughton Township in the spring of 1865, locating upon his present farm on seetion 16, and since that time has been closely identified with the agricultural interests of Livingston County. He possesses all the substan- tial elements of a first-class citizen, and is held in warm regard by the people of the community of which he has been a member for so many years. Ilis farm comprises eighty acres of land, which he has brought to a good state of cultivation, and embel- lished with suitable buildings and all the other ap- pliances of modern agriculture. For a man who first set foot upon American soil with a cash capital of three cents in his pocket, it will be acknowledged that he has done exceedingly well.

Our subject was born and reared amid the High- lands of Scotland, not far from the city of Aber- deen. Hle first opened his eyes to the light on the Ist of March, 1828, and is the son of Philip and G EORGE W. BLACKWELL is one of Liv- ingston County's citizens who has succeeded in life admirably, and ha-, through good management and the judicious use of his resources, grown from poverty, if not to affluence, at least to Isabella (McLean) Mckenzie, who were also of Scotch birth and parentage. They were people of modest means, and could only give their children the advantages of a limited education. Alexander continued a resident of his native country until , an independence. He is extensively engaged in

twenty-four years of age, and then resolving to emi- grate to America, took passage on a sailing-vessel from the city of Glasgow, in May, 1852. After a stormy passage of nine weeks and three days, he landed in New York City, and thence he migrated to Connecticut, where he was employed as a farm laborer six years at $18 per month and board, ex- cept in the summer season, when he received more. While a resident of that State, he was married, Nov. 17, 1855, to Miss Sarah Peirie, a lady of French descent on the mother's side, who was born in Aber- deen, Scotland, March 17, 1828. The parents of Mrs. McKenzie were James and Susan Peirie, who spent their last years in Scotland.

Our subject and his wife continued in New Eu- gland until the spring of 1858, when they came to Illinois and resided for a time in Grundy County. They came to this county in 1862, and located first in Round Grove Township, remaining there. how- ever, but a short time. They returned to Grundy County. where they remained until the spring of 1865, and Mr. Mckenzie, still entertaining an affec- tion for this county, came back in the spring of that year, and secured the land included in his present homestead, of which he soon took possession, and has since retained. It was then a tract of raw prai- rie, upon which no improvements whatever had been made. He and his estimable lady endured all the hardships and privations of pioneer life, but met with the usual reward of industry and perse- verance. Now, sitting under their own vine and fig-tree, they are surrounded by all the comfort> of life, and feel that the okl days afforded them an experience with which they would not willingly part.

Our subject after becoming a naturalized citizen, identified himself with the Republican party, of whose principles he has since been a stanch sup- porter.

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farming and stock-raising on section 35. Charlotte Township. He was born at West Waterville, Me .. Jan. 2. 1533, and was the fifth in a family of six children born to Col. Dennis and Adalissa (Stanley) Blackwell. both native- of Maine. The paternal grandparents. Thomas and Sarah ( Burgess) Black- well. were natives of Maine, and the maternal grandparents, Thomas and Mary (Stone) Stanley. were natives of Massachusetts and Maine respect- ively. The father of our subject was both a miller and farmer. in both of which occupations he en- gaged at Fairfield. Me. He moved to that place in 1 >36, when our subject was about three years of age.

Mr. Blackwell remained at Fairfield until he was nearly nineteen years old, and received a good edu- cation which was completed at the academy at the town of An-on. Me. His father was called to Au- gusta during the War of 1812. to act as drillmaster, and rose from the rank of Lieutenant to that of Colonel, filling all the intervening positions. Ile remained in Maine. where he died in 1857. The mother of our subject, who was Col. Blackwell's first wife. died in Maine in 1847. Col. Blackwell married again in 1850, his wife being Susan Clark, a native of Maine. and the daughter of James T. ( lark. She survived her husband, and died at the advanced age of ninety-five, at Hollowell, Me.

At the age of nineteen the subject of our sketch resolved to try his fortune in the West, and went to the city of Peoria in 1852, where he remained for three years engaged at work as a carpenter. In 1-55 he went to Washington, Tazewell County, where he remained for ten years employed at his trade. In 1865 he went back to Peoria, and after remaining there one year, went to Chatsworth in the spring of 1866. Ilis first purchase of land was made in Stark County, Il., in 1857, near Toulon, where he purchased 160 acres of wild land, which he hopt for three or four years, and then disposed of it. In the winter of 1865-66, he bought eighty acres of will prairie on what is now section 35. Charlotte Township, and cultivated it one year, this being his first prop as a farmer, and consisted almost wholly of broom corn.

In December. 1866, Mr. Blackwell went to New York. and on the 3d of January, 1867, was married

to Snsan J. Van Patten, a native of New York, who was born April 15, 1839. She is the daugh- ter of Christian and Mary ( Relyea) Van Patten, also natives of New York. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Blackwell came to Chatsworth, but in the spring of 1867 built the house where he now resides, and moved on his farm. Since then he has added to the farm until it consists of 160 acres, every foot of which is good land and under a fine state of cultivation. This farm is drained by 1.000 rods of tile ditches, and is equipped with good buildings and excellent fences. Mr. Blackwell also owns land in Kansas. The home farm is stocked with high-grade Durham cattle, Norman horses and Poland-China hogs.

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Portrait and bigraphical album of Livingston County, Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies , Part 132

Author: Chapman Brothers (Chicago) publisher Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Chicago : Chapman brothers Number of Pages: 1208

Author: Chapman Brothers (Chicago) publisher
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman brothers
Number of Pages: 1208