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 136
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Politically Dr. Barnes is a Republican, and takes an active interest in politics. Besides his natural adaptability to his chosen calling, he is an inventor of no mean talents, and is the patentee of several device -. Socially he is a member of the Masonic fraternity and has passed to the Council Degrees, has been High Priest of the chapter, Master of the lodge, and has creditably filled the various offices of the bodies. Ile is also a member of the Knights of Pythias.
Dr. Barnes was first married in September, 1870. to Mis. Augusta S. Erwin. of Wenona. Ill. This lady became the mother of three children : Edna M., who was born in August. 1871 ; Clara B .. in October, 1873, and Erwin M .. who was born in July, 1877, ahad died March 26. 1885. Mrs. Augusta Barnes departed this life at Hutchinson, Kan., Feb. 28, 1,79. and is buried by the side of her father, at Wenona. Ill. The Doctor was subsequently married, July 28. Faso, to Miss Ella B. Irwin. a sister of his first wife. She was born Dee. 15. 1856. in Marshall County. Il. They were the daughters of William and Susan A. (Pain) Erwin. native- of Ohio. Mr. Erwin died at Wegona some years ago, and the mother still lives there. They were the parent- of
Austin M. Erwin, of Saunemin ; Mrs. Dr. H. E. W. Barnes, of Macksburg, Iowa; Mrs. Charles Horn, of Wenona; Mrs. Franklin, of Streator; Mrs. Foster, of LaRose; Mr. C. E. Erwin, of Wenona. and Mrs. Preston Gants, of Omaha, Neb. Of the last mar- riage of Dr. Barnes there was born one child. Edith Mautie, a bright little girl now (1887) four years old, who enjoys the honor of having named herself.
C APT. EUGENE ROLAZ STEVENS, one of the best known citizens of Livingston Coun- ty, is now a retired business man of Dwight. It is seldom that a biographer has occasion to deal with a subject whose family lineage contains the names of so many eminent men as that of the Ste- vens family, names famous alike as soldiers, >tates- men, scholars, bankers and merchants; a name which has become distinguished in nearly all the higher grades of life. They were pioneers in the New World, and patriots in the struggle for liberty.
The Stevens family is of English origin, and Gen. Ebenezer Stevens, the grandfather of our subject, was born in Boston, Mass., on the 25th of August, 1751. Ile was engaged in the destruction of the tea in Boston Ilarbor. in December, 1773, and an- ticipating disastrous consequences to himself, he went to Rhode Island to reside. llere he raised two companies of artillery and one of artificers for the expedition against Quebec, in which he served a> Lieutenant, and was in command. The expedi- tion marched with cannon and mortars through snow and over rough hills of New Hampshire and Vermont to the mouth of Otter Creek on Lake Champlain, and enduring great privation and in- tense sufferings. At Three Rivers they heard of the fall of Montgomery, and the defeat of the Ameri cans of Quebec. When they returned to St. John's, Maj. Stevens and his corps rendered efficient serv- ice in the Northern Department during 1776. In the spring of 1777 he went to Ticonderoga, and commanded the artillery there. He joined Gen. Schuyler at, Ft. Edwards, and commanded the artil- lery at the battle of Stillwater. In consideration of his services he received from Congress the brevet rank of Lieutenant Colonel of Infantry, and soon
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after was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of Artil- lery. lle was afterward entrusted with special duties of great moment, and was selected to ac- company LaFayette in the contemplated expedition into Canada. Early in 1781 he proceeded with Gen. LaFayette into Virginia to oppose Arnold. After the surrender of Cornwallis. Lieut. Col. Ste- vens returned North, and from that time until the close of the war he remained in command with Col. Lamh at West Point.
When peace was restored, Col. Stevens began the business of a merchant in New York. Here he was commissioned Major General, commanding the di- vision of artillery of the State of New York. HIe was holding the latter office when the War of 1812 broke out, and was called into active service of the United States in the defense of that city. He was a senior Major General of Artillery until 1815: in 1800 he superintended the construction of the forti- fications on Governor's Island. For many years he was one of the leading merchants of New York, and amassed a considerable fortune. His death oc- curred Sept. 2, 1823. Col. Trumbull introduced Lieut. Col. Stevens in his picture of the surrender of Cornwallis, mounted at the head of the regiment, and also prominently in his picture of the surrender of Burgoyne.
Alexander H. Stevens, M. D., LL. D., son of the above, was born in New York City, in 1789, grad- uated at Yale in 1807 ; studied medicine in London and Paris; was professionally engaged in Queen's (now Rutger's) College from 1814 to 1816; in the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons from 1826 to 1837, and again in 1840 to 1844, and filled several other important positions in the medical profession. lle was also author and editor of many valuable medical works, and died in New York City. March 30, 1859. John Austin Stevens was the son of Gen. Ebenezer Stevens by his second wife, Mrs. Sands, and was born in New York City, Jan. 22, 1795. His mother was a sister of Col. Ledyard, of Revolutionary fame. Mr. Stevens graduated at Yale College in 1813. and became a partner in his father's mercantile house. In 1818 he was a dele- gate to the Philadelphia Free Trade Convention, and in 1820 became a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce. of which he was for several
years the Secretary; was one of the founders and first President of the Merchants' Exchange, Presi- dent of the well-known Bank of Commerce, and President of the Associated Banks of New York, Philadelphia and Boston, which, during the late Civil War, saved the credit of the Goverment by repeated loans amounting in the aggregate to $150,- 000,000, and was Chairman of the committee which managed the details of these transactions. He took an active interest in benevolent institutions. and was for a long time Governor of the New York hospital- combined. He was a Whig with Free Trade principles, and was noted among his intimate friends for literary and scientific attainments. He died in New York City on the 19th of October, 1874.
Jobn Austin Stevens, son of the one just above named, was born in New York City, Jan. 21, 1827; graduated from Harvard in 1846, became a mer- chant in New York, was Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, and was prominent in loyal and pat- riotic organizations during the Civil War. Ile is the author of several valuable historical and bio- graphical books. He is an accomplished investiga- tor and author, and has contributed to the literature of the country several valuable papers on American history.
Samuel Stevens, son of Gen. Ebenezer Stevens. born in New York City in 1784. graduated from Yale in 1805, studied law and became a distin- guished member of the New York bar, and was prominent in politics. Frances Gallatin, the mother of Capt. Eugene R. Stevens, was born in Baltimore in 1803. She was the daughter of Albert Gallatin. the eminent statesman, patriot and financier of the Revolutionary period, and the carly half of this century. Abraham Albert Alphone de Gallatin was born in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1761, was the son of Jean de Gallatin by Sophia Albertina Rolaz du Rosey. He was of an ancient patrician family. His maternal grandfather was Albert Rolaz, Seigneur dlu Rosey, of Pays. now Canton of Vond, Switzer- land. His ancestor, JJean de Gallatin, Secretary to the Duke of Savoy, removed from Brene, now De- partment of Air in France, to Geneva, of which he became a citizen in 1510, and, although he was vested a viscount palatine by Pope Leo X (1522),
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he embraced the Reformation, and was one of the magistrates of the city in 1535, when Geneva be- came an independent Republic. His wife was Per- -onnetta D'Entremont, nearly related to Josephine D'Entremont. wife of the illustrious Admiral Co- ligny.
Albert Gallatin was left an orphan in his infancy, and was educated under the eare of a distinguished lady. a friend and relative of his mother. He graduated in 1779 at the University of Geneva, and being deeply inbued with the bold and liberal spirit of the times. he declined offers of honorable em- ployment under one of the sovereigns of Germany, and in opposition to the wishes of his family emi- grated to the United States. Hle landed at Bos- ton July 14. 1780. Ile met some Swiss lately from Geneva. and with them enlisted in a company of volunteers about to march to the defense of a threatened point, and he was soon appointed to command a post of some importance, menaced by a body of militia and Indians. The war soon ended, and he found employment at Harvard College, where he taught French during the year 1783. On coming of age he received his share of his father's estate. with which he purchased land in Virginia, but went to reside on a farm in Pennsylvania, not far from Pittsburgh. On these lands he founded the glas- manufactory which has grown to such great proportions that at the present time about one-half of the glass used in the United States is made withiu a few miles of the spot where Albert Gallatin began it in -och a humble way in 1790. He was soon drawn into public life, and upon the division of par- tie- during Washington's first term as President, Gallatin sided with Jefferson and the Democracy, and made himself conspicuous by the boldness and decision with which he advocated the Democratic principles. The whole country rang with his name in 1793. when. after having been elected I'nited States Senator by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, hi- right to a seat in the Senate was denied by the Federal Senators. At the time of the whisky in- surrection he was instrumental in bringing the affair lo a peaceful conclusion. The great period of his life began in 1795. when the people of Western Pennsylvania elected him to the House of Repre- tentatives, where he distinguished himself by the
vigor of his opposition to Federal measures. Mr. Jefferson selected him in 1801 to fill the second place in his Cabinet, that of Secretary of the Treasury, a position he held for twelve years, when he was sent abroad by the President, and negotiated a peace with England. After the War of 1812 Mr. Galla- tin was appointed Minister to France, where he re- mained eight years, returning home in 1827, when he chose the city of New York as his place of resi- dence. He assisted to found the University of New York, and was the author of several works of great value. lle lived to the great age of eighty-eight years.
Byam Kerby Stevens, son of Gen. Ebenezer Ste- vens, and the father of the subject of our sketch, was born in 1792, and graduated from Yale in 1811. Hle was the friend and classmate of the eminent Dr. Worcester, the author of Worcester's Dictionary. Mr. Stevens and his brother, John A., succeeded their father, Gen. Stevens, in the shipping and com- mission business in New York. He married Miss Frances Gallatin, the only daughter of Albert Gal- latin. She was born in 1803, and died in 1877, at the age of seventy-four years. She was very highly educated, and was a woman of great force of char- arter, and took a lively interest in politics. as she had been a companion of her father, and a confi- dant in many of his plans. Her mother was a daughter of Commodore Nicholson, of the Ameri- can Navy. Mr. Stevens was one of the old New York merchants who did so much to lay the founda- tions wide and deep for the future greatness of the city. The firm of which he was the founder and head at one time owned as many as twelve vessels, and did a large business with the West Indies and foreign ports.
Mr. and Mrs. Stevens were the parents of seven children, whose names are as follows: Albert G., now a lawyer in New York : Frances M., who married Uriah Tracy : Alexander II., Vice President of the Gallatin National Bank in New York : Byam K., ex-President of the Gold Stock Exchange, of New York, now retired from business; Eugene R., our subject: Frederick W., a lawyer of great wealth, and Josephine, who remained ummarried and lived in New York. Mr. Stevens died in New York in 1870, at the age of seventy -eight years. Both he
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and his wife were Episcopalians, and the children were trained in that faith. In political opinions Mr. Stevens was a Whig, and afterward a Repub- lican.
C'apt. Eugene Rolaz was born in New York City Oet. 25, 1837, at No. 12 Leroy Place, Bleeker street, the residence of his father. His early life was spent in gaining an education, and he attended the school kept by Aaron N. Skinner, the Mayor of New Haven, Conn. Hle entered Yale in the class of 1858, and graduated with it. He then acted as secretary for his uncle, John Austin Stevens, who was President of the Bank of Commerce in New York. In 1860 he came to Livingston County and bought 680 acres of land and began farming. He assisted in raising the first company of soldiers organized in Dwight, and was chosen Captain, but his company was not accepted, as the quota had already been filled. Hle re-enlisted in August, 1862, in Com- pany B, 129th Illinois Infantry, as a private. lle was detailed for detached service at headquarters, acting as Assistant Adjutant General for Gen. E. A. Paine. After the war Capt. Stevens embarked in the grain business at Dwight. He was for seven years a member of the Board of Trustees of the village, was for five years Town Treasurer, and for the same length of time School Treasurer. In 1879 he went to Colorado and became deeply interested in mining, and made frequent visits to that State up to 1883. He is now retired from active busi- ness. In politics he is a Republican, and is a mem- ber of the G. A. R., which is the only fraternal so- ciety of which he is a member, as he is opposed to secret societies. He is a courteous gentleman of very agreeable manner, a man of education, well read, of high character and unsullied reputation.
OSEPH P. RICH, one of the solid and reliable men of Saunemin Township, has been en- gaged in agricultural pursuits on section 22 since the spring of 1876. Hle is mostly in- terested in stock-raising, and his life has been marked by that industry and perseverance which seldom fail to bring success. He is in comfortable circum-
stances, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him.
Mr. Rich was born on the other side of the Atlan- tic in Somersetshire, England. April 3, 1849, and is the son of James J. and Mary (Perrett) Rich, who were also of pure English descent. When their son Joseph was a child of five years of age, the parents set ont for the New World with their little family, hoping to improve their condition financially and give to their children better opportunities than then appeared possible upon their native soil. After a brief time spent in New York City, where they landed, they set out for the West, and coming into Lake County, this State, resided there a few years and thence came to this county abont 1864. Here the parents have since remained, and are comfortably located on a good farm on section 23, in Saunomin Township.
Our subject was reared to manhood in this county, and received rather a limited education, his services, as soon as he was old enough, having been utilized in assisting to build up the new home in the West. He was naturally industrious and frugally inclined, and under the training of his excellent parents, set out in life with a well-formed character, and the qualities which commended him to the people around him. He remained a member of his father's household until the latter part of 1872, and on Christmas Day of that year was united in marriage with Miss Sarah A. Spafford, one of the most es- timable young ladies of Saunemin Township, and the daughter of Robert S. Spafford, a well-to-do farmer, of whom a sketch appears in this ALBUM. Of this union there were six children, four of whom are living, namely : Mary I., Charles J., Harry R. and Elsie J., all at home with their parents. One daughter, Sylvia, died when nine months and four days old, and another, Edna. when six months and nine days.
The Rich homestead includes 200 acres of valuable land with a handsome and substantial set of frame buildings, suitable barns and outhouses, and every- thing pertaining to a first-class estate. The stock is of good grades and well cared for, and the farm machinery embraces implements of the most im- proved pattern. Besides this property Mr. Rich also owns 120 acres in Kankakee County. This
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property he has built up from a capital of forty acres. which was given him by his father upon reaching hi- majority. lle has been blessed with good judg- ment, has been wise in his investments, and never afraid to put his shoulder to the wheel whenever hi- labor was necessary. Mr. and Mrs. Rich are members in good standing of the Methodist Epis- copal Church at Saunemin, of which our subject is a Trustee, and to which he has always contributed liberally and cheerfully of his means. He is one of the most reliable members of the Republican party, although giving little attention to politics beyond casting his vote at the general elections. As repre- sentative of the buildings of this section of country we present on another page a view of Mr. Rich's residence.
0 RRIN GALLUP, who is a retired farmer of Dwight, was born in Sterling. Windham Co., Conn .. in 1824. The Gallup family in America are all descended from okl Puritan ances- try. Capt. John Gallup having come to this country in 1680. with the Puritans who fled from England for the purpose of enjoying greater religious free- dom. A -triet regard for the Sabbath was one of their particular characteristics, and is to-day a trait of the Gallup family which descended from their Puritan ancestors. Capt. John Gallup was a noted Indian fighter, and wa- in the Pequod War of 1635, in which he commanded a company. His son, John Gallup, was killed in King Philip's War, in the fight at Burning Swamp, and it is supposed his lunly was burned, as it never was found.
Isaac Gallup. the great-grandfather of the sub- jest of this sketch, was a settler in Connecticut and wir a land-holder, owning at one time a township of land in Windham County. He was a large owner of -laves in the day- when slavery was an u-titution in New England as well as in the South- ern states. He freed all his slaves before his death. enel - ttled them all upon his estate, directing that they should be cared for in their old age. One of hi- pweenlinritie- was that he would never own a female -lave. He was a Deacon in the Presbyterian ( hurch. and very -triet in all his religious observ- ances. Ben Adam Gallup. the son of Far, and
grandfather of our subject, was born on his father's estate, and by occupation was a farmer. Ile was married to Miss Margaret Dorrence, and they be- vame the parents of seven children. He was a sol- dier in the Revolutionary War, and was a man of strict integrity, a very industrious and careful far- mer, whose word was as good as his bond.
John Adam Gallup, the father of our subject, was born in Sterling, Conn., on the 6th of April, 1795. lle was reared as a farmer, and learned the trade of a carpenter. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and participated in the battle of Stony Point. The musket which he then carried is still preserved and in the possession of his son. Nov. 26, 1818, be married Miss Polly, daughter of Henry and Annie (Rathburn) Barber, and they became the parents of nine children-Ben Adam, Daniel, Orrin, Sabra, Leonard Il., Cynthia, Ralph W., Mir- anda and Diana, all of whom are living except Miranda, who died when a young lady, and Cyn- thia, who died in infancy. In 1850 Mr. Gallop moved to LaSalle County, III., where he followed the occupation of a farmer until the death of his wife Oct. 23, 1863. After spending a few years in retirement upon his farm he took up his residence with his children in Livingston County, and died at the house of his son Daniel on the 16th of June, 1875, at the age of eighty years. He was a member of the Congregational Church, a man of good prin- ciples and upright character, who brought up his family in the ways of industry, economy, truth and virtue.
Orrin Gallup was born on the old homestead which had descended from his great-grandfather. He received an education in the common schools of that day, to which he has since added by quite ex- tensive reading and careful observation. At the age of twenty-one years he learned the trade of a wool sorter, and he worked at that business which was very profitable until he was twenty-nine years of age, accumulating sufficient money to give him a fair start in life. In 1844 he was married to Miss llarriet .J., daughter of Charles and Parthena (Ford) Avery, and this union was blessed by the birth of three children-Abby .J., Sarah E. and John A. The two daughters died in infancy. In 1855 Mr. Gallup removed to LaSalle County, III., and
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purchased a farm, and in 1882 he came to Dwight, this county, near which he owns 320 acres of land, which he rents to other parties. John Adam, the son of the subject of this sketch, was carefully edu- cated at Olivet College, Mich. ; Columbia College Law School, N. Y., and at the Law Department of the University of Michigan. He is now a practicing lawyer at Pomona, Los Angeles Co., Cal., where he is doing a prosperous business.
The subject of this sketch is a self-made man, who started as a poor boy, and by patient industry and careful economy has accumulated a fortune which he is now enjoying in his retirement. His four brothers are all well-to-do, and during their lives have made it a point to assist one another whenever money was needed. The entire family is an example of what perseverance and industry can accomplish. Mr. Gallup is a member of the Masonie fraternity, and as he grows older in years his interest in the principles of that order in- creases. After a long and successful life he has now retired from business, and is prepared to en- joy the fruits of his labor, surrounded by people who bold him in high esteem as a citizen and have great respect for what he has accomplished during his residence among them.
B ERNARD O'NEILL. a gentleman of rare in- telligence and great force of character, has, for the last thirty years, been one of the most prominent members of the farming community of Broughton Township. Ile was born in the county of Dublin, Ireland, March 27, 1818, and is the son of Henry O'Neill, who was a farmer of modest means. Bernard received a common- school education and distinguished himself as a bright and apt scholar, keeping his eyes open to what was going on around him, and making the most of his opportunities.
When a youth of seventeen, becoming tired of the monotony of the fields, our subject went to Dublin and engaged as clerk for Peter Anngiar, who was proprietor of a large extent of land, and whose business required the employment of a book-keeper.
Young O'Neill continued with this gentleman for some months, and then, nothing better presenting itself, he returned to farm life and followed agri- culture until he had nearly reached his thirty-third year. In his youth he was ardent in his desires for liberty, and at an early age signed petitions for Catholic emancipation, and served as an O'Con- nellite for a number of years. Ile recolleets well l'eale, Wellington and other notable men. In 1838 he joined the United Irishmen, attending all their meetings, and in 1841 joined the National Repeal Association of Ireland. In 1843 he attended the monster repeal meeting held on the hill of Tara, also the last one, which was suppressed when O'Con- nell was arrested. His fealty to his chief was erowned by his attendance at the funeral of O'Con- nell, in Dublin, in 1847.
Our subject now decided that if he was to make any headway in the world he must change his lo- cation, and seeing nothing encouraging in the re- gion where he had been born and reared, he decided to seek his fortunes in the New World. lle sailed from Liverpool on the 27th of March, 1851, on his thirty-third birthday, and after an ocean voyage of twenty-seven days landed in New York City, whence he found his way to Long Island, and worked upon a farm about four and one-half years. The climate. however, being unfavorable to his health, he started for the West, and reaching Chicago he remained a few days, and then proceeded to Waukegan, Ill., whence he finally came to this county on the 3d of October, 1855.
During his wanderings, however, Mr. O'Neill had found a companion to share his labors and struggles, having been married on the I5th of Jan- ary, 1854, while in the State of New York, to Miss Johanna Maloney, a native of his own country, and the daughter of James and Mary Maloney, the father a resident of the old country ; the mother is now deceased. Mrs. O'Neill, however, did not ac- company her husband upon his first trip to the Prairie State, but joined him in the following spring. Mr. O'Neill continued as an employe two years after reaching this county, with excellent re- sults, and in 1857 purchased 160 aeres of the farm which he now occupies on seetion 1. In 1865 he settled on this land which was then in its primitive
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