USA > Illinois > Will County > Portrait and biographical album of Will County, Illinois : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county > Part 40
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Judge Willard is descended in the seventh gen- eration from Maj. Simon Willard, who emigrated from Kent County, England, to Massachusetts, in 1634. The father of Maj. Willard was Richard Willard, who held a large landed estate in the mother country. The Major was a member of the General Court in the Massachusetts Colony, and a participant in King Phillip's war. He had nine sons. from the youngest of whom Judge Willard is descended.
The estimable woman who for many years has been the cherished companion of Judge Willard, bore the maiden name of Hodah Axtell. She is a native of the Empire State, born October 27, 1822, and is the oldest of three surviving children in a family of twelve. She attended the common schools in her native State, acquiring all the knowl- edge which an apt pupil could, and at her home was instructed in housewifely arts and the princi- ples of right living, which have made her honored and useful in her home and among her neighbors. ller union with Judge Willard was celebrated May 9, 1811. and has been blessed by the birth of six children. The fond parents have been called upon to part with four of their loved ones, The sur- vivers are: Lois, wife of Albert II. Mapps, of Joliet. and the mother of one child; Reuel, who also lives in Joliet, is now filling the office of County Surveyor, and who took for his wife Miss Cora Sibert; Alice died at the age of three years, from typhoid fever, which was a sad affliction to the bereaved parents. Three children died in in- fancy unnamed.
It will not be amiss to devote a few lines to the
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ancestry of Mrs. Willard. Her father, Chauncey Axtell, was born at Cronman's Patent, N. Y., in 1786, and her mother, Betsey ( Morse) Axtell, in Otsego County, in 1796. They resided in the Em- pire State during the life of Mrs. Axtell, who passed away in January, 1852. The same year the bereaved widower removed to Illinois, locating one mile west of the present home of Judge Wil- lard. There he remained until death, the date of his decease being August, 1864. Ile was a farmer and lumberman, and respected by all who knew him. Besides Mrs. Willard the surviving members of his family are Axie E. and Betsey M.
ANE CHADWICK has displayed a degree of administrative ability and comprehension of business affairs which would be highly creditable to one of the sterner sex. She is administratrix of the estate of the late John Jones, of Manhattan Township, having full power to manage the five hundred and sixty acres as she sees fit, and is kept busy in attending to the labors which it entails upon her. The farm is rented and Miss Chadwick occupies a pleasant residence in the village, which for comfort and ease is not excelled therein. She is looked up to by everyone and no person in this vicinity has more friends than she.
The father of our subject was John Chadwiek, a native of Lancashire, England, who died when his daughter, Jane, was about eight years old. The mother was Jane ( Murray ) Chadwick, a native of Scotland, who upon being left a widow with nine children, labored so wisely and well that she was able to rear them with fair educations and prepar- ation for future usefulness. She died in Man- chester, England, in 1852. She was a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church and endeav- . ored to instill the principles of right living into the hearts of her offspring.
The members of the parental family were Mary, Alice, James. Jane. Joseph, Elizabeth, Henry, John and Ellen. Mary and Alice moved to Australia some years after our subject came to America and -have since been lost track of. James was in the
Twenty-third Royal Welsh Fusileers and served through the Crimean War, becoming a Corporal. At the close of the struggle he returned to Eng- land, but a few weeks later accompanied the army to China and his sister has never heard from him since that day. She has lost traee of the entire family and is not aware that she has a single rela- tive living.
Miss Jane Chadwick was born in Manchester, England, and reared there with somewhat limited school advantages. It being necessary that she should early in life have an occupation by which she could secure a livelihood, she learned dress- making and millinery, serving a regular appren- ticeship from sixteen until twenty.one years of age. From early years she had made her home with an aunt and about the time that she became of age the health of her relative failed and the doctors recommended travel as a means of restor- ing it.
Miss Chadwick was requested to accompany her aunt and unele, and having consented, embarked at Glasgow, Scotland. on the steamer " City of Glas- gow," which sailed April 1, 1850. This vessel was one of the first ocean steamers and this was her first trip. After a stormy voyage of fourteen days and eight hours, during which Miss Chadwick had been ill continually, landing was made at New York. For three years the party traveled in and through many of the States of the Union, their journeyings ceasing only with the death of the aunt, which took place at Louisville, Ky., in 1853. The bereaved unele was obliged to return to Eng- land and was most anxious to have our subject go with him, but she so dreaded the voyage that she declined.
For some time Miss Chadwick followed dress- making in Louisville and then, having friends in Atchison, Kan., who had come from her old Eng- lish home, she determined to locate there. She traveled to Atchison by boat and there engaged in dressmaking, making her home with her friends. During those exeiting times of border ruftianism which preceded the late Civil War, she saw and heard much of the events which have become his- torical. The head of the household in which she had found her home, went South and was killed on
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board a boat at New Orleans, his murder proving such a shock to his wife that she too died and our subject was again left alone.
In 1858, having been recommended by Atchison friends to come to Joliet, Ill., which was then just starting. Miss Chadwick turned her face eastward. Close confinement to sewing had affected her health and her physician advised her to do house- work for a change. Although she knew nothing about housekeeping, she determined to follow the doctor's advice and when she reached Joliet did not even stop to eat her dinner for fear that her courage would fait her, but started out in search of a place. Walking up on the bluff, where she had several amusing experiences, she finally secured a situation at Mr. Furman Macks. There she remained until she became housekeeper for the late James Jones in Manhattan Township. This gentleman was not the best of managers, although an excel- lent man, and Miss Chadwick manifested so much ability and good sense that he ere long admitted that she was a better farmer than he. and followed her advice in his business.
Seeing that Mr. Jones was not successful as : farmer. Miss Chadwick advised him to build tenant houses on each quarter section and rent the estate. This he did, the plan working so admirably that he became one of the most substantial men of the township. Miss Chadwick remained with him un- til his death, when she lost a good friend. Realiz- ing that to her advice he owed his success. Mr. Jones, wished to give Miss Chadwick a deed to the farm, but she would not allow this, having no desire to become defendant in a suit which woukt swallow up the place and cause much hard feeling in the minds of his relatives. She accepted a life annuity, $300 per annum, which, with the adminis- trator's fees. affords her a comfortable support. Congressman Ilill, of Joliet, was appointed by Mr. .Jones to assist Miss Chadwick, but she has the su- preme power. She remained on the farm a year after the death of the owner, straightening up affairs and selling off eighty acres. leaving five hundred and sixty in the farm.
In 1883 Miss Chadwick bought a half acre in Man- hattan upon which she erected three houses. later building her own residence. She is an active and
liberal member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, in Manhattan Township, and a member of the Ladies' Guild. for which she has acted as delegate and otherwise labored. She is a firm believer in the principles of Republicanism and exerts all the influence which a woman of her standing can, in favor of that party.
OUN MeDONALD. No resident of Frank- fort Station is better known than this gen- tleman, who deals in grain, lumber, coal, hay and tile, and who has had an extended experience as a grain merchant. No better judge of grain can be found in the county than John Me- Donakl, and he was probably the largest buyer within it in the early days of Frankfort Station. JIe still handles large quantities, and is recognized as the old and reliable grain merchant.
The grandfather of our subject was John Mc- Donald, a native of the Highlands, in Scotland, who ran away from his country during a revolu. tion and became a farmer in Ireland. He had pre- viously been an officer in the Scotch Rebellion. In County Tipperary, Ireland, his son John was born, and he also became a farmer, continuing his agricultural occupation until his death. Ile was also a road contractor. Ile married Ellen Gleason, a native of the same county, who hore him five children, namely: James, Patrick, Mary, Eliza- beth and John. The latter is the only one now surviving, and he alone eame to America.
The natal day of our subject was December 11, 1823, and his birthplace in County Tipperary some six miles from Nanah. There he attended school three years, going back and forth every day, and securing excellent advantages by paying seven shillings per quarter. He read Latin and Greek and became well versed in the ordinary branches. Ile was assisted greatly in his aspira- tions and labors by the fact the teacher boarded with his parents. The master was very strict, compelling his pupils to polish their shoes. brush their clothes and in other ways make themselves presentable every morning. Mathematics was the
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hobby of young John. who, while he was helping on the farm and keeping his father's books, was able to figure anything.
After keeping books for his father two years, the young man, at the age of eighteen years. came to America to see the country. Leaving Dublin for Liverpool in the summer of 1811, he seenred pass- age on an American sailing-vessel and five weeks later was landed in New York among strangers. lle had $2,000. every cent of which he spent in traveling through New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan. He did not engage in any occupation until 1850, when he began work for the Michigan ('entral Railroad at New Buffalo, Mich, which was at that time the terminus of the road. Subsequently he removed to Chicago, where the road termin- ated, in 1852, and there be checked freight two years.
In 1854 Mr. MeDonald eame to doliet, continu- ing his employment as a checkman until 1857, when he received the appointment of agent at Frankfort, which was just starting into life. He Leld the position of agent until 1875, when he resigned. In 1859 he began buying grain for -J. L. lleard & Co., of Michigan, and he continued to transact this commission business until 1876. Ile then em- barked in the grain business for himself, but al- though he desired to build an elevator, he could not do so on account of the lease of the railroad. Ile was compelled to put his grain through their honses until he canght them using his grain and was able to break their lease. Ile then built the second elevator in Frankfort, which was 35x50 feet on the ground and had a capacity of twenty- five thousand bushels.
In 1885 Mr. Mebonakt bought out the other elevator which had been erected in Frankfort. and from that time operated both. On May 21. 1889, the first was burned to the ground, but he did not allow this catastrophe to interrupt his business. That summer be built an elevator on the Elgin, oliet & Eastern Railroad. at Frankfort, which has a capacity of forty thousand bushels. is run by steam power and supplied with the Clipper and Cy- clone Dust Consumer. He sends grain to New York and other large commercial centers and does an extensive business, mostly in corn and oats, al-
though when he began buying. wheat and oats were his staples. It has been no unusual sight to see teams standing all around town waiting for the use of the scales, the contents of the wagons pass- ing through the hands of Mr. McDonald.
In the earlier days of his career as a grain dealer, Mr. MeDonald ran a corn-sheller day and night. In 1881 he began dealing in lumber, and it was not long until he added coal to his stock-in-trade. He has a hay barn and bales that article for ship- ping, and he likewise does quite an extensive busi- ness in selling tile. He is one of those busy men who are always full of affairs and find time for the successful prosecution of various lines of work. lle is now the only grain dealer in Frankfort. and in this flourishing agricultural country a large amount of trade passes through his hands. lle owns a valuable improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Green Garden Township. In addition to the business which we have noted, he was agent for the American Express Company eighteen years. The success, which first began to crown his efforts while working as a commission agent. has but inereased in later years, and he has secured ample means.
The marriage of Mr. McDonald and Miss Eliza- beth Doty, a native of Will County, took place in Frankfort in 1859. The union resulted in the birth of four children, of whom the youngest, Elizabeth Doty, died at the age of eight months; ller- bert lohn is a salesman for S. E. Gross, a Chicago real-estate dealer; Edward Everett spent two years in attendance at the University at Evanston, and one year in Souder's Business College, at Chicago; Charles Howard also attended the Northwestern I'niversity, at Evanston, and is now engaged in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in Ohio.
Mr. MeDonald was Supervisor of Frankfort Township eight years, and hell the offices of School Director and Trustee for years. He helped to incorporate the village and was its first Presi- dent. resigning the office at the expiration of two years. He is identified with the Masonic frater- nity, being enrolled in the Chapter and Command- ery at Joliet and having a life membership in a Consistory in Chicago. In politics he is a straight
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B. A. FULLER.
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Republican, and has been from the time he cast his vote for Fremont in Joliet, in 1856. Ile has served at various times as a delegate to county and State conventions and was a member of the Central Committee eight years.
R OBERT W. CROSSEN, proprietor of the R. W. Crossen Carriage Manufactory, occu- pies a prominent position among the indus- trial interests of Joliet. This enterprise is located at Nos. 620 and 622, Van Buren Street, where it was established January 1, 1889, having removed from East Jefferson Street, and comprises, besides the main building, a repository 40x80 feet in dimensions, with two floors and an addition of one story. 20x48 feet. Mr. Crossen embarked in business for himself in April, 1883, on Van Buren Street, near Chieago Street,commencing in a modest way. but now gives employment to from ten to fifteen men. This is the largest manufactory of the kind in the place and receives orders from all parts of the country.
Mr. Crossen is a native of Coburg. Province of Ontario, Canada, and was born February 25, 1856. Ilis father. Jackson Crossen, was likewise a na- tive of the Dominion, where he lived until 1865. engaged as a contractor of stone work. During the year mentioned he came to Illinois and located near Joliet, where, with his estimable wife, form- erly Miss Van Norman, he still lives and is still engaged as before. Robert W. acquired his early education in the schools of Joliet and entered upon his business career as a carpenter and joiner. Sub- sequently he served an apprenticeship at carriage- making, which he finished when a youth of eighteen and continuously worked at this until establishing himself in his own business. He had but a small capital at the outset, but by good management and strict economy he soon found himself on the high- way to prosperity. The year 1889 witnessed the largest amount of business yet turned out of this manufactory. Twice has Mr. Crossen been obliged to enlarge his facilities, and the experiment will have to be repeated in the near future. Hle is a
man prompt to meet his obligations and his straightforward business methods command the re- spectful consideration of all with whom he deals. Ilis extensive business interests prevent him giv- ing much time to public affairs further than sup- porting by his vote the principles of the Republican party.
Mr. Crossen, on the 12th of May, 1881, took unto himself a wife and helpmate, Miss Mary E. Simpson. Mrs. Crossen was born in 1862, in the Province of Ottawa, Canada, and is the daughter of Benjamin and Sarah Simpson, who were na- tives of Canada .. Mr. Simpson came to this county some years ago and is now a resident of Chicago, otliciating in a printing office. To Mr. and Mrs. Crossen there have been born two children, dangh- ters-Nellie and Mabel. The little family occu pies a song home at. No. 908 Cass Street, and they have gathered about them many warm friends since their sojourn here.
B U'EL A. FULLER. The legal fraternity of Will County would be but poorly repre- sented in this volume were not mention made of the gentleman above named, who is one of the oldest lawyers living in Joliet, and whose portrait appears on the opposite page. Ile has retired from active life after many years of unremitting toil, by means of which he secured for himself a fine footing in the profession and a com- petence which enables bim to spend his winters in the South. and to enjoy all the comforts and even luxuries of life. His home, which is one of the finest residences in or about Joliet, is located just outside the city limits and surrounded by over two hundred acres of beautiful and well developed land. Not only is the dwelling itself an attractive one but in its furnishing it evinces the taste and culture of the occupants. Mr. Fuller is a self-made man. as his life history will show, and as such he deserves the greater credit for hus attainments and acquisitions. His nature is a genial one, his char- acter honorable and his mental abilities of a high order. In all his enterprises be is ably assisted by
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his wife, who presides over their elegant home with gracious hospitality. She bore the maiden name of Edith Carpenter, and was born in the Empire State to Alfred and Susan ( Fargo) Carpenter. She became the wife of Mr. Fuller January 28, 1885.
The natal day of Mr. Fuller was Angust 8, 1832, his birth having taken place in Edgar County, IN .. about six miles east of Paris. His parents, Hiram and Nancy ( Murphy ) Fuller, made their first set- tlement after marriage in the county where he was born, whence they removed to Coles County, and then to Danville. There the father died in 1841, the mother surviving until 1869. * They had a fam- ily of five children, of whom our subject was the second. The father was born amid the Green Mountains in Vermont and the mother in Miami County, Ohio.
The earliest recollections of our subject are of Danville, where his life was passed till the age of ten years, at which time he went to Perrysville, Ind .. and entered a printing office. There he was employed about two years and a half, when he re- turned to his former home, spending a short time in an office there and going thence to Covington, Ind. In that thriving town he spent some time, leaving it for a position in Peoria, IH., whence he was driven several months later by the breaking out of the cholera. Returning again to Danville, which was his home during all this time, he after a 1 short sojourn took his departure for LaFayette. Ind .. walking the entire distance, having but a small amount of money which he had borrowed to help him along. There he was employed on the LaFay- ette Courier for several months, and being a good type setter. although but a boy, he was able to do 1 a man's work and he received as much pay for his labor as any one in that branch of the business. In that city he was connected with others in publishing the Wabash Scratches, which was in great demand during the months of its publication.
We next find young Fuller in connection with Daniel Clapp. of Danville, Ill., publishing the Temperance Journal and Sons Companion, an en- terprise which was not carried on, however, for any great length of time. New Albany, Ind., was the next abiding place of the young man, who re- mamed in that city nearly a year. next going to |
Madison, where he became foreman on a paper, known as the Madison Banner, and published by Bright Bros. Several months later, on July 2, 1852, he came to Joliet and purchased a half inter- est in the True Democrat, his associate being Alex- ander Melntosh. The succeeding summer he sold his connection with the paper on account of sick- ness and for a time, while regaining his health, he was in a daguerreotype gallery learning the busi ness but not with a view to following it perma- nently.
Soon after this Mr. Fuller went to Chicago, find- ing employment in the job office of the Journal for a few months and then being transferred to the foremanship of the news department. There he remained but a short time ere entering the office of the Chicago Democrat, then edited by "Long lohn" Wentworth, from which he went to that of the Democratic Press. Some months later he pur- chased a half interest in a grocery store at the cor- ner of Randolph and Greene Streets and embarked in the career of a tradesman, buying out his asso- ciate after a year of partnership and removing the stock to Joliet. Here he carried on the business about a twelvemonth when he sold out the stock and fixtures and returned to his former line of labor.
The spring of 1856 found Mr. Fuller the purchaser of the Democrat office at Kankakee, and the editor and manager of that sheet for a year, during which period he began reading law. In 1858, he was ad- mitted to the bar and entered into partnership with Judge S. W. Randall and the Hon. Henry Snapp, the firm being known as Randall, Snapp & Fuller. The connection continued about a year when the second member withdrew, the firm thereafter being known as Randall & Fuller, until the admission into it of Royal E. Barber, a sketch of whom ap- pears elsewhere in this volume. The new firm of Barber, Randall & Fuller continued until the early part of the last decade, when Mr. Fuller withdrew and abandoned the practice of the law. The firm of Randall & Fuller was the oldest law partnership in Joliet, Mr. Barber's connection with them cov- ering a period of about three years.
Since his withdrawal from legal business in 1882, Mr. Fuller has passed his winters in the South and
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his summers in various seetions to which fancy has led him. On two different occasions he was elected City Attorney, but he has had no particular liking for politics and has not cared to fill publie oflices. lle is a member of the Masonic fraternity and has been an Odd Fellow since 1852.
R EV. JAMES LEWIS, Pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church at Joliet, was called to this charge in May, 1882, and has since been connected with it. He is a minister of talent. and greatly beloved both as pastor and preacher. Thoroughly educated and alive to the duties of his calling, his has been the rare privilege to pursue a career of more than ordinary useful- ness and sneeess. lle is a native of Hamden, Delaware County, N. Y .. and was born May 23. 1836.
Mr. Lewis comes of substantial ancestry, being the son of Alexander and Rebecca (Crawford) Lewis, who were natives respectively of Peebleshire and Argyleshire, Scotland, whence they came to Ameriea in 1834. The father was a weaver by trade, and a well-educated man, and after coming to this country occupied himself as a teacher, and also engaged in farming pursuits. The children of the parental household are recorded as follows: William C. occupies himself as a lumberman in Delaware County, N. Y .; James. our subject. was the second born; Alexander, Jr .. is assistant engi- neer of railway construction in that county ; Mathew C., who earned the title of Captain by defending the I'nion in the late war, is a contractor and builder, mostly in the railway service. making his headquarters in his native county ; Louis K. is a dyer of Delhi. N. Y .. and although nearly blind turns out some remarkably fine work; Celia, Mrs. Smith, died at Delbi, N. Y .. in the year 1868; Jen- nie C. also died at Delhi, in 1865, when an inter- esting maiden of eighteen years; Margaret, Mrs. Boyd, is a resident of llays City. Kan .. where her husband officiates as Superintendent of Public In- struction; Rebecca died in lays City. Kan., in 1884. Alexander Lewis departed this life at his home in Hamden. Delaware County, N. Y., in
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