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 79
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hospitality is dispensed under its roof: The family of Mr. and Mrs. Ireland comprises five living chil- dren, named respectively, Edna, Emily, John, Mar- garet and James.
In the Peoples' Loan & Homestead Association, of which he has been a member since he came to Joliet, Mr. Ireland holds the office of Director. He belongs to the social orders of Masonry, the Knights of Pythias, the Royal Arcanum and the St. An- drew's Society, and has held nearly all the chairs in the different orders. He also belongs to the Athe- naeum and is a singing teacher there. lle votes with the Republican party and during the last Presidential election belonged to the Protective Tariff Glee Club. Ilis religious belief coincides with that expressed by the creed of the Presbyter- ian Church with which he is identified. He is thor- oughly respected by his fellow-men as an unpre- tending and useful member of society, a reliable workman and a Christian gentleman.
2 HOMAS BENNETT is engaged in the livery business in Joliet, having an establishment well furnished with good steeds and equi- pages of various descriptions, and so conducted as to deserve and receive a fair share of public patron- age. lle has quite an extended experience in this occupation in which he embarked in 1872. h earlier years he spent much time on the Pacific coast, having at the early age of nineteen years taken his place in the great army of gold seekers who, upon the discovery of the precious metal in California, rushed thither. As a forty-niner he saw many phases of life which he would not have wit- nessed had he remained in the East, and passed through many scenes the relation of which would afford abundant food for thought.
The parents of our subject were Henry B. and Sarah (Frank) Bennett, of the Empire State, who came to Illinois in 1845. Their first home was in the vicinity of Aurora, but in 1881. they took up their abode in Joliet. The occupation of the fa- ther was that of a tiller of the soil. He passed away in 1886. ripe in years; his wife bad preceded
him to the silent land, breathing her last in 1884. They were the parents of two children, he of whom we write and Sarah, now Mrs. Morse, of California.
Thomas Bennett was born June 26, 1830, in Montgomery County, N. Y., and his early years being passed upon the farm, he received such train- ing as was customary to farmer's sons and the edu- cation for which the common schools afforded facilities. He was in his teens when he first became acquainted with the Prairie State to which he ac- companied his parents, but which he left in a few years to seek the Eklorado to which the thoughts of so many were turning. He spent fourteen years on the Pacific coast. engaged in mining and the stock business, after which he returned to this State and became a farmer. Not many years had elapsed, however, before he abandoned agricultural life to embark in the business which he is still successfully carrying on.
An important event in the life of Mr. Bennett transpired in December, 1868, it being no less than his marriage to Miss Carrie P., daughter of Laban Clark. One son has come to bless the union. Hle received the name of Allen and upon him have been bestowed all the advantages which parental love and the means possessed by the father could compass. He is still living under the parental roof. Mr. Bennett is a believer in and a supporter of the principles of the Republican party. He stands well among his fellow-men and his estimable wife is also highly regarded throughout the community.
HARLES LAARAWAY. The parents of the above-named gentleman were James and Elizabeth ( Pocock) Laraway. The former was born in Albany County, N. Y., and the latter in London, England. Their first home after mar- riage was in Oneida County, N. Y., whence, in 1852. the mother came to Illinois, the father following in 1853, and their home from that time being with their son, our subject. The father died JJanuary 22, 1856, and the mother in March, 1859. They had ten children. of whom Charles was the fifth. He was born Inne 29, 1825. in Oneida County, N. Y.,
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remaining there until 1852, when he came to Will County. Ilere he bought eighty acres on section 35. Joliet Township, where he has since made his home. Ile has erected excellent buiklings and added to his original estate until it comprises two hundred and nine acres. Ile has always followed farming, and is successful in its pursuit.
In Ilerkimer County, N. Y., Mr. Laraway was united in marriage with Miss Nancy E. Cheetles. She was born in the county in which she was mar- ried, and died at her home in this State, October 8. 1874. She belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church. To herself and husband nine children were born, seven of whom are yet living: Albert is a farmer in lowa ; Charles is in business in Joliet ; George W. lives at home; Russell is a clerk in Joliet; Marion. John and Arthur W. are still with their father. In Monroe County. N. Y .. June 17, 1875, Mr. Laraway was again married. his bride being Miss Julia A. Sweetman, who was born in Deerfield. Oneida County, November 17, 1830. Both are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Laraway has been School Director and is a member of the Democratic party.
G EORGE Y. SMITHI has pursued the occupa tion of farmer and stock-raiser very success- fully, and is now living in retirement in his pleasant home on section 1. Plainfield Township. lle was born in Miles. Centre County. Pa., August 8, 1813. His father, John Smith, was a native of the same State. born in Berks County. a son of Peter Smith, who was a native of Germany. From the best of information at hand it is gathered that the latter came to America with his parents in Colonial times. lle married in Pennsylvania, tak- ing as his wife Anna Mary Harter. a native of that State. Ile was a mechanic, and followed the trade of a shoemaker and cooper, and spent the remain ing years of his life after coming to this country in Centre County.
The father of our subject was reared and married in his native State. Ile was bred to the life of a farmer, and carried on that occupation in Centre
County until 1824, when he removed to that part of Stark County now included in Summit County, Ohio, his wife and four children accompanying him, the removal being made with a team, and taking their household goods along with them. Mr. Smith located on a tract of timber land belonging to his father-in-law, and became identified with the pioneers of the State. The log house into which he and his family moved had but one door and one window. and there was no chimney. At that time deer and bears were plenty and were occasionally seen quite near the settlements. There were no railroads for years, and the nearest market was at a lake port. Mr. Smith cleared quite a tract of land and resided there until 1848. and then removed to Greensburg, where his death occurred the following year. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Yerrick, and she is supposed to have been born in Pennsylvania. Her father, Anton Yerrick, is thought to have been born in that State, and was of German antecedents. He was a farmer in Cen- tre County and there died at a ripe old age. The mother of our subject died in 1850. She had nine other children besides himself, namely : Peter, Polly, Susan, Elizabeth, Sallie, John, William, Si- mon and Lydia.
The son of whom we write was in his eleventh year when his parents removed to Ohio, and he remembers well the incidents of pioneer life there. Ile received his education in the pioneer school taught in a log cabin on the subscription plan. He lived with his parents until his twentieth year, and then commenced to learn the trade of a wagon- maker at Uniontown, serving nearly two years. and then went to Greensburg and established him- self in the business, continuing there until 1851. In that year he came to Will County accompanied by his wife and six children, making the entire journey with a team. They settled on land on sec- tion 1, Plainfiekl Township, which he had pur- chased here in the spring of that year. There was a house on the place at that time, and he lived in that two years and then removed to his present commodious residence.
Mr. Smith was married, in October, 1836. to Magdalina Ream. a native of Summit County, Ohio, and a daughter of George and Catherine Ream.
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They have had eight children: Sarah, wife of Isaac Henry ; John, William, Conrad, George, Adam and Amos. Mary married George Ferner and is now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Smith joined the Evangelical Association many years ago, being among its most active members and are classed among our most desirable citizens.
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M ALCOLM N. M. STEWART was born July 24, 1834, in Amsterdam, Montgomery County. N. Y., to Peter and Elizabeth ( Buckmaster ) Stewart, natives of Scotland and New York respectively. He emigrated to America when young, and was married in the county in which his son was born. Peter Stewart followed the trade of a stonemason, and built. the first locks on the Erie Canal and several of the first buildings of the Brooklyn Navy Yards. He came to Wilmington in 1835, and in the fall of that year returned to New York to bring his family here. They went by lake to Detroit. Mich .. and by team to Chicago, this State, and landed in Wil- mington about September 1. 1836. llere he bought land, paying $2,000 for one hundred and sixty acres, which is still owned by the subject of this sketch and two brothers. Here he also lived until his death, in 18Gs. having passed his four- score years, the mother dying some years previously. While working at his trade he superintended all the stone work in the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and was a man of prominence and good circum- stances. Politically, he was first a Whig and later an Abolitionist, and was President of the Under- ground Railroad. and quite an influential and ac- tive politician, afterward becoming a Republican. lle was quite instrumental in getting the right of way for the Chicago & Alton Railroad. and jour- neyed to Washington on its account. Religiously. the father of our subject was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and built the church at Wil- mingten of his own means. principally. Before his death he had taken all the degrees of Masonry.
George T., Malcolm N. M., Catherine, James N., Mmerva, and a pair of twins who died in infancy. Our subject was reared in Wilmington, and re- ceived his education in the public schools. In 1861 he joined the army as a private with the Chi- cago Dragoons, but in September, 1861, owing to the fact that this company neither belonged to the State of Illinois nor the United States, they were ordered back to Chicago, where Mr. Stewart then joined the One Hundredth Illinois Infantry, Com- pany A. Soon afterward he was promoted to First Lieutenant of his company, and, while in the Atlanta campaign, was commissioned Captain of the company and served in that capacity for some time. He was then promoted to be Major of the United States Volunteers, in which he served until the close of the war, first in the Twenty-first and last in the Fourth Army Corps.
The subject of this notice participated in the following hard-fought battles of the Civil War: Perryville ( Ky.), Stone River, Tullahoma, Chicka- manga. siege of Chattanooga, Mission Ridge, siege of Knoxville, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Calhoun, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Franklin and Nashville. At the close of the war he was honorably dis- charged and returned home, where he has remained ever since, commencing the occupation of farming. He has been connected with the First National Bank of Wilmington. having been a stockholder since its organization, and now holds the position of Teller of the Bank. He still has considerable farming interests in Will County, and gives much attention to the breeding of blooded horses. He started in life with a small capital, and has made all he has by his own efforts.
An interesting event took place in the life of our subject May 30, 1871. when he became the husband of Miss Anna Melntyre, of Wilmington, a daughter of the Hon. Archibald J. and Jane ( Whitten) Melntyre. natives of New York and Canada, and of Scotch extraction. They became the parents of two children-JJean and Margaret, both living, their ages being sixteen and twelve years respectively.
Malcolm Stewart has always taken an active inter- est in political affairs, but is not an aspirant for office.
The parents of our subjeet had ten children born to them, namely: John W., Edward W., Mary, | His views coincide with those of the Republican
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platform. He is not a member of any religious denomination, but supports the Presbyterian Church. Socially, he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, being enrolled in Bowen Post, No. 17, at Wilmington, which is one of the oldest posts in the State. Ile has served as Com- mander of the same, and has filled all the chairs.
AMES G. ELWOOD. This gentleman has been prominently identified with buikling. real estate, and many other public enter- prises of Joliet. Hle is an able financier, has a meritorions record as a soldier, and has served with honor in public capacities. He is the cidlest son and only surviving child of the late Nelson D. Elwood. and was born in Lockport, May 6, 1839. Joliet became his home in 1843, and here he ob- tained his fundamental education. He spent three years at the military school in New Haven, Conn., and the years 1857-58-59 in Geneva. Switzerland. and Berlin, Prussia, closing his schooling at the Frederick William University, in the last named city.
In July, 1862. Mr. Elwood formed a company and entered the Union service as Captain of Com- pany B, One Hundredth Illinois Infantry. During the battle of Stone River, January 2, 1863, he was appointed Assistant Adjutant-General of the brig- ade, and in that capacity he continued to serve until the close of army life. His gallantry was un- mistakable and the zeal with which he opposed the efforts of treacherous hands to tear some of the stars from our nation's banner was such as to add to the enthusiasm of his comrades and those whom Le led to battle.
as Grand Commander of Knights Templar of Illi- nois, having filled various positions from Junior Warden of Joliet Commandery. No. 4. to that of Grand Commander. Ile is now President of the Johet Masonic Association. which is erecting a $60,- 000 edifice for the use of the order.
Mr. Elwood has been connected with the Joliet Gas Company since 1861, was Secretary for twenty years and is at present Managing Director. In con- nection with ex-Mayor Paige he built the Telephone Exchange here, and for four years he managed the water works now owned by the city. He is Seere- tary_and_Superintendent of Oakwood Cemetery. He and his family move in the first circles of Joliet. their intelligence and culture being duly appreci- ated by their acquaintances.
MOS HARRISON. Amid all the fine es- tates of Green Garden Township, that which comprises one hundred and eighty acres on sections 29, 30 and 31, is notice- able for its careful cultivation, orderly appearance and excellent improvements. The land is watered by Forked Creek and is all tillable, well adapted for the raising of grain and also as a grazing ground for stock. It is seven miles from Manhat- tan, and its inmates ean therefore enjoy much of what is most attractive in town life. The dwelling is an attractive and comfortable structure, and all the outbuildings are in keeping with the appearance of the residence. Pleasure and profit are found in the care of a fine orchard, and it and one and a half miles of well-kept hedge add to the beauty of the estate.
The gentleman of whom we write is a son of John Harrison, a Lincolnshire farmer, and Eliza. beth (Smith) Harrison, who was born in the same shire. The former lived to the extreme age of ninety-two years, but the mother died when fifty years old. They were members of the Episcopal Church, upright in character and industrions in habits. Of the ten children who were born to them but two are now living. Henry, the elder of these,
At the conclusion of the war Mr. Elwood spent two years in Cincinnati, Ohio.and three in Chicago. and in 1870 returned to Joliet with his family. He served two years as a member of the City Council, his term beginning in 1872, and in 1877, he was elected Mayor, holding the chief place in the mu- 1 nicipal government two years. Ile was the first Mayor under the present city charter. He has been active in Masonie affairs, and in 1881 served , is in the wood business in England. The maternal
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grandfather of our subject was John Smith, a shepherd who, while tending his sheep one morn- ing dropped dead.
Amos Harrison was born in Appleby. Lincoln- shire, England. April 25, 1833. and was reared in the village, enjoying the advantages of good com- mon schools during his early years. When but ten years old he began to earn his own living by hoc- ing and other employments suited to his boyish skill, drifting into heavier labors and finally hiring out upon a farm. He intended to learn the mason's trade, but upon going to the place where he os- peeted to begin his work, he found the building already quite high and determined not to try his hand there. Among other work which he did was that of cutting timber in the woods.
Having concluded that the U'nited States afforded a broader field for his energies and that here the prospect of advancing his material prosperity would be much better than in his native land. George Harrison turned his face westward in 1858. On the 28th of May he left Liverpool on the sailer "Empire State," which encountered severe storms in her passage. For six days and nights the bil- lows heaved wildly and the ship seemed doomed to destruction, but it finally outrode the waves and anchored in New York Harbor eight weeks after leaving the English port. This was at the time of the first attempt to lay the Atlantic cable, and the same gale which threatened the "Empire State" was disastrous to the "Merrimae."
Making his way up the Hudson River, and by rail to Buffalo. he crossed to Chatham. Canada, where he worked on a farm for some of his friends from July until fall, without wages. Crops were very poor and prospects somewhat discouraging. In the fall, however, he began working for wages. remaining in the Dominion until November, 1860. when he took up his abode in Will County. IH. He spent the winter in Lockport. and in the spring. in partnership with George Andrews. bought forty acres of railroad land in Green Garden Township. Mr. Andrews operated the farm and our subject be- gan working out for others, boarding with his partner seven years. The two bought an additional forty acres three years after, and another eighty in t866. After their second purchase Mr. Harrison worked
a part of the land and in 1868 he built a substan- tial dwelling upon it.
The winter after Mr. Harrison came into the township he and Mr. Murdie bought a corn-sheller, which they run for four years. During 1869 the partnership between Messrs. Harrison & Andrews was dissolved and the one hundred and sixty acres of land which they owned were divided between them. The same year our subject sold forty acres of his share for $10 per acre and purchased one hundred acres of his present estate. Upon it there were no improvements, and all that it now bears are the result of his industry and earnest efforts. Ile moved his residence onto his original purchase here, which he has since made his home. Ile has been very successful in the cultivation of grain, to which he devotes one hundred acres of his land, and from which he reaped a large erop last season. Eighty acres are used as pasture and haying ground, whereon Holstein cattle, Poland-China swine, and a good grade of draft horses find food and intelli- gent care.
Mr. Harrison is now serving his second term as Justice of the Peace, having been elected to the office in 1885. and re-elected in 1889. For four- teen years he has been School Director and he is still serving acceptably in that position. lle is a stanch Republican and has advanced the interest of his party as a delegate to county conventions. lle possesses more than ordinary intelligence and displays as deep an interest in the welfare of those about him and the further development of the country as he does in his personal affairs. Since 1868 he has been identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and no more active member of the congregation can be found than he. He is Class-Leader and Steward of the church and Su- perintendent of the Sunday-school, as he has been for years.
The wife of Mr. Harrison was a lady of intelli- gence, and the nature which made her sympathize in all his aspirations and assist in her own sphere in all his labors. She was known in her maiden- hood as Miss Catherine Marshall. and was born in Lincolnshire, England. in 1832. She came to America in 1868, and in Green Garden Township was united in marriage with our subject, June 30.
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She was torn from her happy home by an untimely death, January 14, 1886, leaving two children- Henry M. and Annie Lina, both of whom are still with their father on the home farm. Mrs. Harri- son was a daughter of Thomas Marshall, a gardener in the mother country.
D AVID RYBURN, though not among thie earliest settlers of Will County, occupies an honorable position among its pioneers, and as an active, intelligent, thrifty, practi- val farmer has promoted its agricultural interests, and is classed with its most successful and well-to do farmers and stock-raisers. He is the proprietor of a valuable farm of two hundred and forty acres (finely located in Plainfield Township) whose rich harvests have bronght him wealth so that he is en- abled to spend the declining years of a busy, use- ful life at his ease in a home that is replete with comfort.
Our subject is a Scotchman by birth, born in Stewarton, Ayreshire, September 26, 1821. ITis father, John Ryburn, was born in the same shire, and spent his entire life in his native land. His father of the same name as himself, was a life-long resident of Ayreshire, and for many years engaged in business as a manufacturer of Scotch eaps. The father of our subjeet was reared in his native Scot- land, and for some years was successfully engaged as a carrier, having several teams and doing ex- pressage between Stewarton and Glasgow and Kil- marnoek. Ile was still engaged in the business when his active life was suddenly closed by death in 1827. ITe died on the road under circumstances that led to the belief that he had been robbed and murdered. The maiden name of his wife was Agnes Stewart, and she was a native of Stewarton. Iler father, John Stewart, was a farmer, and spent his entire life in Scotland. She came to America and passed her last years with her children, dying at the home of our subject in 1887, at the advanced age of ninety.one years. The following is recorded of the four children born to her: Thomas came to Illinois in 1841, and passed the remainder of his life
in La Salle County ; our subject was the next in or- der of birth; Elizabeth married James Collins, and resides in Joliet; Charles went to California, and from there to Australia, where he was when last heard from.
David Ryburn of this brief biography passed his boyhood and the opening years of his manhood among his native hills, and as soon as large enough commenced work on a farm. Ile was ambitious, however, to do more for himself than he could in the place of his birth, and lured by the bright prospects held forth in this country for an active, enterprising, capable young man to make his way to a competence at least, he determined to see what life had for him in America, and in 1846 he set sail from Glasgow on the ship Agnes, and landed at New York forty-two days later. Ile then pro- ceeded up the Hudson River to Albany, from there by rail to Buffalo, thence by steamer to Chicago, where he hired a team to take him to Aurora, then a small village. After a few weeks sojourn there he came to Will County and bought a tract of wild prairie land in Plainfield Township, on section 6. paying $5 an aere for it. After completing the purchase he went to Lisbon, in Grundy County, and while there assisted in the harvest. At that time the most of the grain was gathered with a cradle, a eradler getting four dollars a day. The following year Mr. Ryburn entered actively upon the improvement of his land. Then farming was carried on under difficulties, as fine farming ma- chinery was not in general nse, and there being no railways it was difficult to get the produce marketed, as Chicago was the nearest market till the canal was constructed. Our subject resided on that place until 1856, and then sold it at a good advance, and bought his present farm. This he has under ad- mirable tillage, has it amply supplied with the best modern machinery, and has a substantial set of buildings, everything about the place indicating superior management on the part of the owner, and showing that he has met with more than ordinary success in his attempts to found a home on a foreign soil.
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