USA > Illinois > DeKalb County > Portrait and biographical album of DeKalb County, Illinois : containing full-page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county > Part 59
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There is weeping on earth for the lost, There is bowing in grief to the ground, But rejoicing and praise 'mid the sanctified host, For a spirit in Paradise found!
Though brightness has passed from the earth, Yet a star is new born in the sky,
And a soul hath gone home to the land of its birth, Where are pleasures and fullness of joy.
And a new harp is strung, and a new song is given, To the breezes that float o'er the gardens of Heaven.
Mr. Wager was married in 1846 to Miss Mehita-
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bel Brown, of Sycamore. She died in 1852, and in 1856 he married Miss Debora Brown, of Sycamore, sister of his first wife. He left a farm of 860 acres, nicely improved, and a large amount of personal property. His wife and ten children are living at this date (1885).
The portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Kellogg appear in connection with this sketch.
lonzo M. Laport, farmer, residing on sec. II, Paw Paw Township, and owner of 780 1000 acres of land, was born at Sackett's Harbor, Jefferson Co., N. Y., April 27, 1827. He is a son of Narcis and Minerva (Gardner) Laport, . of French descent on the father's side. His mother traces her descent from the English pilgrims who crossed the ocean in the Mayflower.
A Mr. Laport emigrated to this State with his par- ents in 1838. They came by way of the lakes, ar- riving in Chicago in June of that year. From the latter place they moved to Sugar Grove, Kane County, where they remained until 1845, and in March of that year came to this county and located in Paw Paw Township, on the same section on which Mr. Laport at present resides. The country at that time was so sparsely settled and markets so remote that money was scarce and hard to procure. Split- ting rails at 50 cents a hundred, or cutting cord-wood at 25 cents a cord, was accepted as a generous re- muneration by many hungry applicants.
Young Laport, in hopes of finding a better remune- ration for his labors, went to Racine, Wis., but found work scarce in that neighborhood; and, to satisfy a hungry appetite, was compelled to go to work chop- ping wood at thirty-seven and a half cents a cord, and board himself. Not being able to more than make his board at those figures, he moved on to Milwaukee. He soon after returned to Paw Paw, better contented with a prairie country for a home.
Mr. Láport enlisted in Co. I, First Regt. Ill. Vol. Inf., in 1848, to serve in the Mexican War. He served in Mexico under Gen. Price, and was honorably discharged in October of the same year. He then returned to Paw Paw, and in April, 1850, he started overland for California. Arriving in that State, he spent three years in mining and returned
to Paw Paw in 1853, and again engaged in farming, and has continuously followed that vocation until the present time.
The marriage of Mr. Laport to Miss Thirsa A. Hyde occurred Nov. 22, 1855. She is a daughter of James and Ruth (Corbin) Hyde, and was born in Brazier Township, Franklin Co., N. Y., Nov. 2, 1838. They have six children, four girls and two boys, whose record is as follows : Eva H. was born Nov. 4, 1856, and is the wife of Wm. Edwards, resident of West Paw Paw, Lee County. Thirsa L., born Sept. 28, 1858, is the wife of Wm. Nesbitt, a resident of Paw Paw Township. Frank A. L. was born Nov. 5, 1860; Maggie E., Oct. 12, 1862 ; Lucia M., March 3, 1866; James H., July 11, 1873.
Mr. Laport, by industry and good management, has accumulated a competency. His push and pluck, together with his good judgment, has accom- plished a determination formed in early years ; and, looking back over the trials of the past and compar- ing them with the present, he has the satisfaction of knowing that he and his good help-meet overcame adversity, and to-day enjoy the fruits of honest, energetic endeavor. He and his wife (for Mr. Laport is one who believes in attributing to the good wife her share in the honors won) have accu- mulated a large property. He has one of the largest and best stocked farms in De Kalb County, with good residence and outbuildings, and to-day they sit by the fireside of content surrounded with plenty.
Mr. L., politically, has voted with the Republican party. ever since its organization in 1856. He has never sought an office, but accepted the office of Road Commissioner and held the same four terms.
john A. McCormick, proprietor of the Shab- bona House and dealer in live stock, is a native of Ireland. He was born in the county of Tipperary, May 7, 1842. His par- ents, Daniel and Mary (Farrell) McCormick, emigrated with their family to Upper Canada in 1853; in 1855 they removed to Chicago; in the spring of 1859 to Paw Paw Township, this county ; and the following year John A. went to Texas, where he was employed at railroading, at Galveston and near Houston.
In the spring of 1861, after the breaking out of
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the late war, he made his escape to the North, re- turning to his home. In August, 1862, at Shabbona, he enlisted as a private in Co. E, 105th Ill. Vol. Inf., which was attached to the Army of the Cumberland under Gen. Thomas, and was in all the engagements participated in by his company till he was dis- charged, at the expiration of his term of enlistment, in June, 1865.
He then engaged in farming, in Clinton Township, this county, until December, 1872, when he came to Shabbona and erected the' " Shabbona House," which he has conducted as a hotel to this date. Although it is the only hotel in the place, it is well kept, and the proprietor succeeds well in his business as land- lord.
Mr. McCormick was married at Aurora, Ill., April 24, 1870, to Miss Julia Cargan, daughter of James and Bridget (Lalway) Cargan. She was born in the county of Meath, Ireland, Aug. 23, 1845, and emi- grated to America with her uncle, Peter Lalway, in 1858. They have a family of six children living, all girls, viz. : Mary Elizabeth, born in Clinton, Ill., Feb. 16, 1871; Nellie, same place, Sept. 12, 1872 ; Treasa, born May 13, 1874, died five days afterward ; Eva, born Feb. 9, 1876, at Shabbona ; Lucy, born March 10, 1879, died Aug. 31, following ; Kate, born May 10, 1880 ; Martha, Dec. 23, 1882, at Shabbona ; and Julia, same place, Feb. 3, 1884.
Mr. McCormick is a member of the Village Board of Trustees, and an officer of T. S. Terry Post, No. 463, G. A. R. In politics he is a Democrat, and in religion both himself and wife are members of the Catholic Church.
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illiam Colton, farmer, section 17, Clinton, Township, is a son of Reuben and Rhoda (Law) Colton, who were natives of Massa- chusetts and Connecticut respectively, and settled in New York State, where they reared a family of 1 1 children,-Eunice, Flavia, Timo- thy, Orrel, Clinton, Oramel, Betsey, Martin, Laura, William and Daniel.
The tenth in the above family, the subject of this sketch, was born in Tompkins Co., N. Y., Oct. 4, 1811. He was educated at the common school, and he continued to live in his hative county till 1846, when
he came to Kane Co., Ill., and resided in Sugar Grove Township three years. In 1849 he came to this county and purchased 50 acres of land in Clin- ton and Shabbona Townships, settling where he still makes his residence. At present he is the owner of 88 acres in this county, eight of which is in timber.
In regard to political issues Mr. Colton acts with the Republican party. He has been Overseer of Highways and School Director. Both himself and wife are members of the Second-Advent Church.
He was married in Dryden, Tompkins Co., N. Y., Aug. 3, 1837, to Lucinda, daughter of Abner and Mary (Todd) Emery, natives of New England. She was born in Tompkins Co., N. Y., Aug 16, 1818. Mr. and Mrs. C. have had nine children, namely : Lovina, Lucretia (deceased), Sarah A., Maria, Franklin, W. Luther, Samuel C. (deceased), Carrie L. and Charles Wesley. Mr. and Mrs. Emery have also had nine children,-Stephen, Lucinda, Lucretia, Mary A., Franklin, Frederick, Hiram, Sarah and Eleazer.
ames L. Adams, farmer, section 7, Paw Paw Township, (P. O., East Paw Paw) has 60 acres of land. He was born in Boston, Mass., in April, 1814, and is the son of Albe- MIGNONZ gence and Catharine Adams. He lost his parents in early youth; left Boston in 1824 and removed to Otsego Co., N. Y. From the latter place he removed to Allegany County, and from there' to Chicago, Ill., in 1836. He spent a few months as clerk in a drug-store in that city, and in the fall of that year removed to Aurora. He opened the first general store on the east side of that town, and con- tinued in business there two years, and then he went to Sugar Grove, Kane County, where he was engaged in farming.
He was married in Sugar Grove, in March, 1839, to Martha J. Barnes, daughter of Jabez and Mary Barnes. Nine children were born to them,-five sons and four daughters : Alfred, born June 16, 1840, married and is living in Oregon; Lucina, born Aug. 5, 1842, died aged two years; Martha J., born April 20, 1844, is the wife of Henry S. Griffeth, of Webster, Iowa; Jabez A., born Oct. 24, 1846, married Ellen Persons and resides in Iowa; John Q., born April 3, 1848, lives in Lehigh, Iowa; Kate, born Aug. 3, 1849,
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lives with her brother in Dakota ; Robert A., born Dec. 10, 1852, married. Lizzie Edwards and lives in Dakota; Mary A., born Feb. 10, 1854, wife of Spencer Griffeth, of Paw Paw Township; Douglass A., born Oct. 23, 1856, married Miss Lake and lives in Dako- ta; Sarah F., born Aug. 9, 1858, resides in Milling- ton, Ill. ; Mrs. Adams died April 29, 1862.
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Mr. Adams moved to Shabbona Grove in 1849, where he was engaged in merchandising about four years. He then removed to East Paw Paw and con- tinued in the same business till 1859, when he went to California. He spent three years in that State, during which time he was engaged in mining and in dispensing justice as a frontier 'Squire. He returned to De Kalb County in 1862.
He was married again March 3, 1864, in Greens- town, Ill., to Mrs. Harriet Firkins, widow of Asahel Firkins, and daughter of James H. and Hannah (Preston) Miller. Mrs. Adams was born in Monroe, Co., Mich., Jan. 25, 1823. One child was born of their union, March 26, 1865, a daughter named Nellie A. Soon after his last marriage Mr. Adams engaged in farming on his present farm. In his religious views he favors the Universalists. In politics he is a Democrat.
eorge Jackson, dealer in general hard- ware, stoves, tinware, farm machinery and barbed wire at Shabbona, was the first man to open a tin shop in the village named. He opened his shop in March, 1874, and contin- ued the same for about a year, when he " closed out." In October, 1876, he resumed his business at that point, putting in a stock of general hardware, stoves and tinware, and has carried on the business continually ever since, covering a period of about nine years.
In 1881, Mr. Jackson began dealing in farm machinery, making a speciality of McCormick's ma- chines and the Bassett and Ottawa wagons. He has continued in the latter line until the present time. His stock on hand averages $4,000, and his business is a steadily increasing and prosperous one.
Mr. Jackson is a son of Jonathan and Mary (Wilds) Jackson, and was born in Schenectady, N. Y., Sept. 22, 1850. He received a common-school education
in his native city and early in life learned the tinner's trade. In 1870 he came to this county and located at Shabbona Grove. He opened the pioneer tin shop of that place and continued the same until 1872, at the time the village of Shabbona was started. For two years from that time he was engaged in farming, and then located in Shabbona and opened a shop, as before stated.
Mr. Jackson was married at Shabbona, Oct. 16, 1872, to Miss Camelia E., daughter of Nicholas and Maria (Quilhot) Kittle. She was born at Shabbona Grove, Dec. 5, 1850. Three children constitute the issue of their union,-one son and two daughters. Their record is as follows : Bertie was born Jan. 24, 1874; Ethel, Oct. 14, 1883; and Lizzie, July 22, 188 r.
Politically, Mr. Jackson is a believer in and sup- porter of the principles of the Republican party.
enry W. Leifheit, " mine host " of the Clin- ' ton House at Waterman, is the son of Henry and Frederica (Hartman) Leifheit. They were natives of Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1852, settling in York- ville, Kendall County, this State. The follow- ing spring, 1853, they came to this county and located in Somonauk Township, where they resided for two years, and then returned to Kendall County. Four years later they returned to Somonauk, resided there two years and then moved into Clinton Township, where they are at present residing. They were the parents of nine children : Henry W., August, William, Fred, Herman, Caroline, Alvina, Anna and Minnie.
Henry W. Leifheit was born in Germany Dec. 4, 1840, and was 12 years of age when he crossed the ocean with his parents. He remained with them on the farm, assisting his father in its cultivation and taking advantage of the opportunities afforded by the common schools, until he attained the age of maturity. On reaching that age, he rented a farm in this county, on his own responsibility, and successfully cultivated the same for four years. His next move was to Iro- quois County, this State, where he bought a farm, on which he resided for seven years. Selling his farm, he purchased a hotel in the village of Ashkum, that county, and for one and a half years was engaged as landlord of the same. He then sold his hotel and
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came to Clinton Township and engaged in the saloon business. He continued in the latter busi- ness for three years, until 1877, then sold and purchased the hotel at Waterman, of which he is at present proprietor. His hotel is known as the " Clin- ton House," and is conducted in a manner entirely satisfactory to his guests. He is as genial and gen- tlemanly as one could wish to meet, and the pains ' he takes to attend to the wants of his guests and make their stay at his liotel pleasant is appreciated, as instanced by his constantly increasing business.
Mr. Leifheit was united in marriage in Oswego, Kendall Co., this State, Nov. 25, 1860, to Miss Jo- anna Wollenweber, daughter of Earnest and Hattie Wollenweber, natives of Germany, in which country her father died. Her mother came to this country with her children, in 1857. They had nine children; namely: Earnest, Augusta, Henry, William, Joanna, Charles, Minnie, Carrie and Eureka.
Mrs. Leifheit was born in Germany Dec, 30, 1840, and came to the United States with her mother in 1857, as stated. She is the mother of 10 children by Mr. L., namely: Willie, born July 16, 1862 ; Emma, Dec. 11, 1863; George W., April 10, 1865 ; Albert, Aug. 26, 1867 ; Ida, Jan. 16, 1870; Millie, March 21, 1872; Emmett, Feb. 4, 1874; Della, March 3, 1877; Carrie, Aug. 4, 1879; and Jessie M., Dec. 22, 1881. William, Emma and Ida are deceased.
Mr. Leifheit is a member of Lodge No. 580, I. O. O. F., and politically is identified with the Dem- ocratic party.
harles H. Low, deceased, oldest son and second child of William R. and Lydia (Christy) Low, was born in Mariposa, Vic- toria Co., Ont., Oct. 4, 1855. He died at Sandwich, Jan. 10, 1884. Although the rec- ord of his brief career must be wholly memo- rial, it must also be typical, and pre-eminently valu- able from the traits which characterized him and from what he achieved. From the beginning of his conscious existence he was an extraordinary child. His love for learning commenced with his under- standing of the existence of knowledge, and even in his earliest school days his intellect flashed like a
gem in a less brilliant setting. All branches of study delighted him, and while he attained wonderful prog- ress in science and Latin, he reveled in the field of mathematics, which was the element of his nature, in the curriculum of instruction. His mind was in- herently systematic, and its development was self- constructed step by step, advancing like a mathe- matical series. He was the possessor of uncommon powers of demonstration, and the rapidity with which he reached his conclusions proved alike the clearness of his perceptions and the accurate methods of his mental operations. The testimonials of his teachers express a uniform estimate of the quality of his in- tellect and his remarkable precocity. Without excep- tion he impressed his instructors, not only with his superior abilities but also with the sterling worth of his character, even in his earliest boyhood. His parents, brothers, sisters and other family relatives were regarded by him with the tenderest considera- tion, and no instance is remembered by them in which he wavered or was recreant to the deep and abiding home love which was the predominating excellence of his character.
He came to Illinois with his parents in 1856, and was then less than a year old. He lived with them at Shabbona Grove until the age of 11 years, and from 1866 until 1869 lived at Plano. Previous to the date when his father became a resident of Sandwich, he had only the advantages of the public schools ; but he waited not on opportunity. He utilized every privilege that presented itself, and while his waking hours were crowded with effort he paid grateful homage to all to whom he believed himself indebted for assistance in his march of progress. There was, in his composition, no room for the exercise of evil proclivities toward any one. He loved, trusted and believed in all with whom he was brought in contact, and he received from others measure running over of that which he gave. He was the object of un- qualified affection and unrestricted confidence, and was believed in implicitly by all who came to know him intimately.
When he entered the school taught at Sandwich by A. J. Sawyer, now an attorney at Lincoln, Neb., he was less than 12 years of age, a frail lad with locks yet in their boyish fairness; he was found to possess a comprehensive understanding of Robin- son's Higher Arithmetic and Algebra, Greene's Eng- lish Grammar, of Philosophy and History and the
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commoner English branches, in which he passed a satisfactory examination and was placed in the High School department. Mr. Sawyer says of him : "For four years he was rarely, if ever, absent from his seat. He was not only brilliant in scholarship, mastering the most difficult studies with the greatest ease; but he was exemplary in deportment, manly in conduct, generous in impulse and kind and accommodating to · all his classmates." These were the traits that char- acterize his whole life.
Mentally, he was equipped for a business life at 16, and in 1872 he became an office boy in the em- ployment of the Sandwich Manufacturing Company and rose by virtue of merit in six years to the posi- tion of confidential clerk. The route by which he attained his preferment need not be outlined The fact of the achievement' is its own explanation. Through one year he was the assistant of J. Phelps Adams, Secretary of the Company ; and let it be re- marked in passing, that while the natural traits of " Charlie " were so unusual, it must still be remem- bered that the associations and influences in which his business qualities developed were of rare type and contributed largely to his advancement. The oppor- tunities he enjoyed through the years of his personal relations with the gentleman named were of incalcu- lable advantage in shaping his career. He went early in 1883 to Kansas City as manager of the southwestern department of the company's interests. In August, 1883, having been offered a responsible position by William Deering, of Chicago, which he thought would eventually afford him greater scope for work and achievement, with reluctance and re- gret on the part of the company-his employer from childhood -- and himself, he resigned his position at Kansas City and entered the services of Mr. Deering in a responsible place in his great agricultural works at Chicago. Mr. Deering had the highest appreciation of his character and abilities. Some weeks later, he started for Oregon, California and the far West in be- half of his employer. He took leave of his home and friends with reluctance. The way seemed long and the burdens onerous. It was afterward remembered that the face, always worn with intense mental strain, was unusually sharpened, and that the hitherto tire- less, indomitable spirit faltered in view of its impend- ing labors and fatigues. But no one guessed that he stood, even then, within the mystic shadow of the unseen world. He was seized with malarial illness
at Salt Lake City, and though he received every care and attention from friends to whom he was as dear as their own, his instincts drew him resistlessly back to the home at Sandwich. Following are the last words he traced with the hand that had inscribed countless loving messages to the loved ones under the home roof-tree :
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, Dec. 28, 1883.
Dear Folks:
I am getting better, but do not get an appetite as I should, and I am going to wait here for it. The doctor says I can go home easy enough now, but I think it is too long a ride to take on an empty stomach, and so shall wait until I eat better. Will then go to Sandwich and try your cooking. Am better this A. M. than any time yet, and it will only be a few days before I start.
Yours, etc., C. H. Low.
And he came, even though he knew that to come would in all likelihood be at the risk of his sole chance for recovery. But he took it, and he kept the holiday of the opening year in the home he had craved to see once more with an irresistible longing. Hope never faltered or grew dim while consciousness lasted; but the remorseless fever sap- ped his life forces, and though the encroachments of the grim guest were contested inch by inch with every device of science and love, the splendid intellect fell at last in ruin, and the brave heart became still. He was borne away to that house " whose curtain never outward swings" with decorous ceremonial; but neither the fragrance nor the beauty of the wealth of flowers, nor the sympathy of the friendly throng, could soften the pang of irreparable loss.
The manhood of Charles H. Low began where his 8 boyhood ended. After that he was no more a child. He answered to the claims of society, morality and the customs which govern the business world with an alacrity that finds few parallels in a generation. He was a member of Meteor Lodge, No. 283, at Sand- wich, of Sandwich Chapter, No. 107, R. A. M., and of Aurora Commandery, No. 22, Knights Templars. Each of the Masonic organizations to which he be- longed passed the usual resolutions when he died, and the funeral exercises were conducted by the Knights of Aurora Commandery and the Masonic societies of which he was a member. They were held in the Congregational church, where he had rent- ed a pew from 1877, about the time he became of age.
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He died when a little more than 28 years old, as we note the succession of years, but
If lives be long which answer life's great ends, Where shall we fix the sum that numbered thine ?
The portrait of the subject of this sketch, which appears on another page, is inserted in this volume by his parents as a perpetual monument to the memory of their beloved son.
kon. Robert Hampton, farmer, residing on section 7, Paw Paw Township, and owner of 369 acres of land (postoffice, East Paw Paw), was born in Ontario, Can., March 27, 1821, and is a son of James and Clarissa (Mc-
- Carty) Hampton. He emigrated from Canada and settled in Adams County, this State, in 1838, where he resided until 1846, and then came to this county, locating in Paw Paw Township.
Mr. Hampton was married in Hancock County, this State, Jan. 1, 1843, to Miss Lydia, daughter of Frederick and Catharine (Walters) Zemmer. She was born in Fairfield Co., Ohio, July 16, 1818. Eight children constitute the issue of their union, and their record is as follows: Hiram D., born March 7, 1844, died Aug. 13, 1858; William S., born Oct. 12, 1846, was educated for the ministry and ordained by the Congregational Church : he married Celestia A. Wood, and is the Principal of the Congregational Academy at Franklin, Neb .; Joseph P., born Feb. 28, 1848, married Catharine J. Nicholson, and resides in Green Co., Iowa; Marietta, born Feb. 23, 1850, is residing with her parents; Robert F., born Feb. 3, 1852, married Elizabeth C. Dienest, and resides in Paw Paw Township; Riley J., born Sept. 29, 1854, married Sarah A. Henderson, and resides in Lee, Lee County; Lydia A., born Sept. 7, 1857, married Thomas P. Dalton, of Lee; Harriet D., born May 21, 1860, married Samuel M. Henderson, a resident of Clinton Township, this county. As an item of family history, we mention the fact that all the children ex- cept two were teachers. They all have a good edu- cation, procured at the common schools and under parental instruction, and are well-to-do in life.
· Mr. Hampton is a gentleman possessing fine ex- ecutive ability, which fact the citizens of his township and of the county were not slow to discover and ap-
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