Portrait and biographical album of DeKalb County, Illinois : containing full-page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, Part 75

Author:
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Bros.
Number of Pages: 888

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 75

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Mr. Butterfield moved to Michigan in 1830 and settled on what was known as Sturgis Prairie. He en- listed in the Black Hawk War, and was commissioned

First Lieutenant in Capt. Hunter's company, Co. I, and served till the close of the war. He spent one winter in Michigan after his return from the war, and then moved to Ottawa, Ill. The following summer (July, 1835) he came with his family to Paw Paw Township, De Kalb Co., Ill. He was accompanied by his father-in-law, Rev. Benoni Harris, and his family, and several young single men. He made a claim on section 19, of this town, where he lived till 1852, when he removed to Iowa. He returned to Paw Paw in 1864, and died May 28, 1867.

Mr. Butterfield was a Democrat in politics. He served as Deputy Sheriff four years, was Collector 14 years and Constable many years. In early days the struggle for claims and the natural turbulence of society on the frontier, furnished a plenty of busi- ness for justices and officers, and Mr. Butterfield was actively employed in the discharge of his duties over a wide range of territory.

illiam Loomis, senior member of the busi- ness firm of Loomis & Luther, at Sycamore, was born Sept. 3, 1813, in Georgia, Frank- lin Co., Vt., and is the son of Jonah and Ora (Barnard) Loomis. His parents were both natives of the Green Mountain State. Mr. Loomis was reared and educated in the town where he was born, and was there married June 23, 1836, to Eliza D., daughter of Zina D. and Betsey (Bowen) Stannard. She was born in Georgia, Vt., Sept. 30, 1816. Her father was born in Connecticut, her mother in Vermont.

After his marriage, Mr. Loomis bought a farm, in company with his brother in Georgia, and they man- aged it jointly four years, when he sold his interest. In 1851 he bought a farm in the town of St. Albans, in the same county, where he lived with his family until 1857. In that year he again sold out and went to Grand Rapids, Mich., where he engaged in banking. He was burned out, and he finally dis- posed of his business relations and went to Newaygo Co., Mich., where, in company with his brother, Henry Loomis, he engaged in the lumber business. Their land lay remote from the Muskegon River, and in order to transport their logs to the stream they built a railroad, two and one-fourth miles long, on

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which the motive power was furnished by horses. This was the first railroad built for the purpose and operated by horses in Michigan.

In 1864 he sold his interest there and came to Sycamore, where he bought city property and built his present residence. He bought the lumber yard of H. James, and was engaged 14 years in the lum- ber trade, being associated a part of the time with his brother, Samuel Loomis. Afterward he bought an interest in the flax-mill, which he still retains. This establishment is one of the earliest business ventures at Sycamore, having been put in operation about 1838, and has been run since with little inter- ruption.

Mr. Loomis has been prominently identified with the manufacturing interests at Sycamore, owning :1. 1845, serving in the same office until 1848. He was stock in the Marsh Harvester Company and in the Ellwood Manufacturing Company, and being a director in each. He is at present the Vice-Presi- dent of the latter. He is popular in public esteem from meritorious character, having been a decided and consistent advocate and supporter of the prin- ciples of morality and religion. He has been a Trustee in the Methodist Episcopal Church about seven years, of which denomination his wife is also a member. He was a Whig originally, but on the organization of the Republican party became its adherent. Five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Loomis are living.

esse C. Kellogg, deceased, was a pioneer citizen of De Kalb County, and came to Illinois in its earliest days, setting out from Vermont with his bride of a few weeks to find a home in the Prairie State. They started from Stowe, Lamoille County, and went by pri- vate conveyance to Vergennes, then the only city in the Green Mountain State and only a few hundred rods square. The absurd little metropolis is a lake port, and Mr. and Mrs. Kellogg embarked on Lake Champlain and went thence via Champlain Canal to Albany, whence they traveled by the Erie Canal to Buffalo and thence by the lakes to Chicago. They passed 17 days between the two ports. After a few days spent in the Garden City, then showing scarcely a shadow of its present splendid prominence, they

went to Plainfield, Will County, where Mr. Kellogg rented a farm.

In the spring of 1836 he visited the part of Kane County, now converted by separation and independ- ent municipal regulations into De Kalb County, and made a claim of sections 8 and 9, in what is now Sycamore Township. This was seven years previ- vious to the survey, and when the land was placed on the market he entered a claim of 160 acres. In the summer succeeding his locating here he broke a few acres of land and built a log cabin 14 feet square, floored with "puncheons " and roofed with "shakes." He soon became prominent in local af- fairs, and in 1837 was elected County Recorder. He was re-elected in 1841 and in 1842, and also in one of the first Postmasters at Sycamore, and was one of the founders of the Congregational Church at that place, of which he was the first Deacon and held the position as long as he lived. He was for a long period of years President of the De Kalb County Bible Society, and was held in the highest esteem for his character of uniform Christian consist- ency. He was elected Trustee of the city on the temperance issue, as he was a strong advocate of the principles of the temperance reform. He was an active Abolitionist and was a powerful adjunct of the " Underground Railroad," one of whose prominent stations was at Sycamore. He was for many years Deputy Clerk, and in all passed 35 official years in the Court-House at Sycamore. In 1841 he took up his residence at Sycamore. A part of the land he entered was included within the corporation, but he never engaged to any great extent in personal effort on the place, operating in the way of renting until his sons were sufficiently grown to work it.

Mr. Kellogg was a man of superior mental and executive abilities. He had a good education, which was found especially valuable in the formative period in which he came to De Kalb County, and he was an interesting contributor to the local press of his native State during those early days. He also wrote much on occasions for the Sycamore papers, by which valuable reminiscences were preserved.

He was born April 10, 1806, in Stowe, Vt. His father, Aaron Kellogg, was a native of Connecticut and was a pioneer of Lamoille Co., Vt. He was edu- cated at the district schools and at Randolph Acad- emy, one of the most thorough educational institu-

THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

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tions of the State. His father died when he was five years of age, and he lived with an older brother, who assisted him in obtaining an education. He began his struggle with the world by teaching in the public school at $8 a month, one-half to be paid in cash and one-half in grain ; and he boarded among the patrons of the school. He worked at farming summers and taught winters, and paid his way at the academy with his earnings. While studying at Randolph he became acquainted with Phebe, daugh- ter of Zachariah Wood, of Tunbridge, herself a student and teacher. They were married Feb. 5, 1834, and their subsequent history has already been told. The wife died in February, 1873, and the husband in March, 1874. Following is the record of their five children: Emily J. was born Jan. 18, 1837, and married C. T. Pierce. She lived many years in De Kalb County, and died in March, 1877, in Erie, Whiteside Co., Ill .; Hiram J., Henry W., Heman A. and Homer W. were born in the order named. Henry W. is Auditor of Greene Co., Iowa. Heman A. is a resident of Anderson Co., Kan. The youngest son died at Jefferson, Greene Co., Iowa, July 5, 1883.

ra Vail Randall, attorney at De Kalb, and whose portrait is on the opposite page, was born in Mount Holly, Vt., March 2, 1820. His father, Isaac Randall, a farmer, was a native, of the same county, and died when the subject of this sketch was in his 16th year, leaving him without home or means, and only a moderate common-school education. The grand- father of Ira was Snow Randall, who came from En- gland after the Colonies. had gained their indepen- dence. Snow Randall was a Quaker of the Hicksite faith. Isaac Randall married Gallana Chandler, a Methodist lady, and Isaac was thereupon expelled from the Quakers for marrying one not a member of their sect, willfully and against the rules of their society. Gallana's grandfather was a millionaire and settled in Chester, Vt., and owned at an early day the township. He held inany positions of public use- fulness, and kept a public house, or, more properly

speaking, a house for the public, in which his hos- pitalities were dispensed with an entirely gratuitous as well as a liberal hand.

He married a sea captain's daughter, and tradition states that at the wedding he (the sea captain) measured out half a bushel of gold coin, uncounted, as a present to his wife.

Our subject, with $3 in silver money in his pocket, and his clothing tied up in a cotton frock, on his back, started out on foot, the spring after his father's death, for West Poultney, Vt., to attend the academy there, where he could work by the hour at 121/2 cents to pay for books, tuition and board. At the end of the first quarter he found himself in debt for board $131/2. He hired out to a tanner in the village for one month at $13, to drive horse in grinding bark and hauling hides from lime vats, and scraping off the hair, etc. After graduating at the tannery at the end of the month he took possession of his $13 and paid his debts. Working on a farm for a short time, he attended the fall term of the Poultney School. He then taught school during the winter, attended the academy in spring and next fall, teaching again in the winter, and continued to teach, work on farm in summer, and attend school spring and fall. He taught 13 terms, attending the academy alternately until fitted for college, and intending to take a full course; but the state of his health deterred him from matriculating. At the latter part of his career as teacher, which commenced in his 17th year, he com- menced the study of the law. He read with the Hon. Sewell Fullam, State's Attorney at Ludlow, Vt., and finished his reading with the Hon. Solomon Foot, of Rutland, and was admitted to the Bar at Rutland, in 1847.

In April of the year before, he married Miss Susan L. Earle, of Mount Holly, daughter of Lawson Earle, an extensive farmer and dairyman. Mr. Randall practiced his profession for three years at Barnard, Windsor Co., Vt. During that period he visited the ' West, and on the solicitation of the " Maine Law Alliance," lectured in Illinois for three months in ad- vocacy of the Maine law,-an episode in his life which no doubt he still calls to remembrance with great pleasure.

Dec. 27, 1856, he landed in the embryo village of De Kalb, with his family, consisting of his wife and one daughter, Emma A., his only child.

For more than a quarter of a century, Mr. Ran-

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dall has been in the practice of the Law, doing bus- iness in all the State and Federal Courts, and making a success of his profession. He has the reputation of being a well-read lawyer, faithful to his clients, clinging to his client's interests with bull-dog ten- acity, thus attaining a success in his profession per- haps greater than most practitioners.' Mr. Randall was Postmaster at Mount Holly, his native town, and held the same office at an early day at De Kalb ; but resigned his office on entering the State Legisla- ture in 1865-6, to which he was, against his own wishes, elected, and has held several municipal offices in this city, and was also a member of the School Board. He has always taken a lively interest in the cause of education, and no doubt still regrets that ill health prevented him from going through college.

He was originally a Whig, an unterrified Vermont Whig, and left that State two years after "John Brown's soul " commenced "marching on." Since 1855 he has been an enthusiastic Republican, and an earnest worker in his party, attending Judicial, Con- gressional and State Conventions as a Delegate from his county, and at times doing manly and effective work on the stump. Also, he was an efficient worker in securing recruits for the war, making war speeches, but poor health prevented him from taking the field. He is still a zealous advocate of temperance, in be- half of which cause he has pleaded in a half dozen States besides Illinois, including New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York and Michigan. Mr. Randall has also lectured on various other sub- jects, such as the enfranchisement of women, pre- Adamite man, etc. Being well posted in the Scrip- tures, he has given an able lecture on " What is Re- ligion ?" and is familiar with the various questions and themes agitating the public mind. He is a fas- cinating talker, a keen logician and a splendid de- bater.

His first wife died in 1861, and in 1868 he married Mrs. Mardula D. (Bent) Boynton. They have no children. Mr. Randall has a compact build, is five feet two inches tall, and weighs 185 pounds. His eyes are blue, but his disposition is not! He is rather jovial, laughs easily and heartily, and is a good factor of a social circle. He was educated a Methodist and is a member of the Methodist Epis - copal Church.

ohn P. Van Voorhis, physician an sur- geon, resident at Fielding, was born Oct. 16, 1833, in Ulster Co., N. Y. Daniel Van Voorhis, his father, was a native of Ulster County and married Cornelia Nagle. Both parents were of Dutch descent. After their marriage they remained in Ulster Co., N. Y., until the subject of this sketch was about a year old, when they moved to Booneville, Oneida Co., N. Y., where the father died, Aug. 8, 1,842, aged 43 years. The mother died there, Aug. 31, 1884, being 86 years of age.

The subject of this sketch is the sixth in order of birth of a family of nine children. He was eight years old when his father died. He remained a pupil of the district school until he was 15 years of age, when he entered Whitestown Seminary, which school he attended for the next five years, teaching win- ters to pay his way. At this time he commenced reading medicine with Dr. Gardner, of Whitesboro, ¿ and graduated three years later in the Eclectic Medi- cal Institute, May 17, 1856, at Cincinnati, Ohio.

Soon after obtaining his credentials he took the practice of Dr. Thomas at Harrison, Ohio, while that doctor took a vacation, coming thence in the spring of 1857 to Rockford, Ill., where he remained only a few months. In the fall of 1857 he located in the Penn- sylvania Settlement in the township of Monroe, in Ogle County, where he prosecuted the labors of his chosen profession until 1877, when he moved toy Fielding, DeKalb Co., Ill.

At the time of his settlement in Ogle County he was considerably in debt for his last year's schooling, but when he left there he paid off his indebtedness and was the owner of 320 acres of land in that county and of 800 acres in Wright and Delaware Counties in Iowa. He became a stock-holder in the Sycamore National Bank at its organization in 1876, and is now a Director of the Bank, having had a considerable experience in money-lending, on his own account, for the last 20 years. Since his re- moval to Fielding he has added 150 acres to his pos- sessions in Illinois, and has purchased 320 acres in the southern part of Dakota. He is also the owner of a fine and valuable location at Fielding.

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The Doctor's skill as a medical practitioner has met with constant and ready recognition, and he con- trols a large practice. He is a temperance advocate of an inflexible type. While politically a Republican, he is always ready to support prohibition principles.

He married Miss J .. Ann Miller, Oct. 3, 1860. Her father, John Miller, was born at Canajoharie, N. Y. Her mother, Mary Crill, was born at Starks, N. Y. Both parents were of German descent. After their marriage they moved to Steuben, Oneida . Co., N. Y., where Mrs. Van Voorhis was born, Dec. 31, 1833. When she was 12 years of age, she came West with her parents, who settled in Ogle Co., Ill. Five children have been born of her marriage to the Doctor, as follows: Miss Viola V., their eldest, is a music teacher and has an enviable reputation in her profession. Miss Carrie C., their second daughter, is a successful school-teacher; J. Frank, their oldest son, is a graduate of the business college at Dixon, Ill .; D. De Witt, their second son, is an active, ener- getic lad of 14 summers, full of business and energy ; Mittie M., their youngest, is a bright, active little girl nine years of age; is very fond of her books and a great reader.

Thus we see the Doctor has a good home, a pleas- Cant family, a competence of this world's goods, and something to help his children, of whom he is very fond. /

artin Pabst, formerly of Sycamore, was born in Unterlauderbach, Bavaria, in October, 1824. He attended school until he was 14 years of age, as required by the laws of his native country, after which he was engaged in farming. He came to the United States in 1848 and located at first in Chicago, where he learned the cooper's trade. He removed from there to Elgin and was there married to Margaretta Wetzel. He remained in Elgin working at his trade until 1854, when he went to Dundee, and there opened a cooper's shop. He soon after bought a hotel and continued to operate in both capacities until 1863, in which year he transferred his residence to Chicago. His wife died July 30, 1864. He was again married Dec. 25, 1864, to Mary Bar, a native of Baden, Ger- many.

Mr. Pabst continued to operate as cooper until his

removal to Sycamore in 1866. He bought a frame house, and its location on the corner of State and Maple streets, and opened a boarding-house and restaurant and continued the management of these branches of business until he built the Pabst House in 1873. He died Jan. 13, 1875, at Sycamore. In 1883 his wife sold his hotel property and bought a site for a dwelling where she erected a fine residence. Mr. Pabst was one of the solid men of Sycamore and has done a prosperous business throughout his life of ac- tivity.

By his first marriage he had two children-Frank and Anna. The present Mrs. Pabst is a lady of in- telligence and ability.

eorge I. Talbot, County Superintendent of Schools, residing at De Kalb, was born in Wyoming Co., N. Y., April 19, 1854. He is a son of Alfred and Celia (nee Hunt) Tal- bot, the former a native of England and the latter of New York. His parents moved to Barry Co., Mich., when the subject of this notice was but four years of age, where they remained two years and then came to this State, locating in Leland, La Salle County.

Mr. Talbot received his early education in the graded schools at Leland, and previous to his 18th year taught a term of winter school in Northville, La Salle County. After teaching several terms he con- cluded to prepare himself more thoroughly for pro- fessional work ; and, possessing a strong desire for a higher education, he matriculated at the State Nor- mal University at Normal, Ill., and followed the cur- riculum of that institution two years.

After leaving the latter place, Mr. Talbot sojourned for one summer in Kentucky, when he returned to this State and engaged in teaching. In the fall of 1877 he returned to the State Normal University and completed the entire curriculum of that institution, including three terms, teaching in the preparatory department, graduating in the spring of 1878.

After graduating he taught one year in Victor Township, and was then invited to take charge of the graded schools of Shabbona, which invitation he accepted. In 1881 he was appointed, and in 1882 elected, County Superintendent of Schools, which position he now holds. When he first accepted the

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appointment of County Superintendent, the time al- lotted to that officer în which to perform his duties was so short (65 days in each year) and the salary so small, he was compelled to teach also. But the increasing duties of the office obliged him to resign his position as teacher at the close of the year 1882. At this time the Board of Supervisors increased the number of days allowed for official duties. Since that time he has devoted his entire time to the inter- ests of the schools of this county.

Previous to Mr. Talbot's appointment, for several years, the district schools had been entirely without supervision, without any definite plan of work and with but few trained teachers. Under his judicious management, a course of study and system of exam- ination for district schools has been prepared and introduced ; a series of institutes and teachers' meet- ings held; the grade of scholarship of the teachers raised at least 40 per cent. A lively interest is awakened and De Kalb County is rapidly taking a a prominent place among the counties of the State in educational matters. At the institute 'held in 1884, the teachers of this county testified their ap- preciation of the ability of Mr. Talbot as a school manager, as well as of his genial and gentlemanly social qualities, by presenting him a fine gold watch.

Mr. Talbot was united in marriage to Miss Lucy E. Maxwell, Oct. 4, 1879. She was born in John- sonburg, N. J., June 16, 1856. They are the parents of two children, namely : Ray Maxwell, born Dec. 4, 1880, and Edna J., born Dec. 4, 1882.

illiam H. Wise, deceased, a former resi- dent of section 9, Sycamore Township, was born in Minden, West Prussia, Feb. 2, 1827. He obtained a good education in his native country, and in 1847 sailed for the United States. When he landed at Boston, he Was the possessor of five dollars in cash. His first employment was with a hotel-keeper, where he was engaged until winter, when he attended school. In the ensuing spring he went to Wisconsin. He engaged in farming, and saved his earnings to pay his educational expenses at a seminary. He became competent to teach, and passed four years in that vocation. He went next to Massachusetts, where

he passed four years, after which he resumed the labors of his former vocation in Wisconsin, coming subsequently to Illinois, where he was similarly em- ployed until 1859. In that year he made an over- land journey to California, walking most of the way, and spending four months on the journey. He bought 300 acres of land in Yuba County, four miles from Marysville. He sold his California property in 1863 and came to Sycamore, where he arrived in December.

He was married March 12, 1865, to Caroline M. Calkins, daughter of Asa M. Calkins, one of the early settlers of Sycamore. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Wise settled on a farm on section 9 of Sycamore Township, where his death occurred Jan. ·15, 1884. The farm contains 467 acres, all under improvement, well stocked and having commodious buildings. Two sons survive the father-William C., a student at Evanston, and Charles H.

Mr. Wise was a Republican in political sentiment, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which Mrs. Wise also belongs.

ames A. McDole, foreman in the shops of the Superior Barbed-Wire Works, located at De Kalb, is a native of New York State. He was born in Deering, Chemung County, that State, Oct. 18, 1848, and is a son of John and Catherine (Swasey) McDole. When five years of age his parents moved to this State and located in Kane County. They resided in the latter county for about three years, and then moved to this county, settling in Pierce Township. Remaining in that township two or three years, they then removed to Afton Township, where his father purchased a farm and devoted his time and energies to its improvement and cultivation.

Mr. McDole remained on his father's farm, in Afton Township, assisting in its cultivation and at- tending the common schools, until he attained his majority. In 1872 he started on life's journey single- handed and alone. For two years he cultivated a farm which he rented, and then purchased one of his own, which he conducted until 1875. During that year he sold his farm and moved to the village of De Kalb, and for a year worked in a grocery and

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restaurant. He then engaged in the wire works and followed that vocation for three years, after which he returned to Afton Township and resumed farming. He continued in the latter vocation until 1882, when he again returned to De Kalb, and on the 5th of April of that year accepted the position as foreman in the shops of the Superior Barbed-Wire-Fence Fac- tory, and has continuously filled the position ,until the present time.

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Portrait and biographical album of DeKalb County, Illinois : containing full-page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, Part 75

Author: Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Bros. Number of Pages: 888

Author:
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Bros.
Number of Pages: 888