USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > The biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of representative men of Chicago, Minnesota cities and the World's Columbian exposition : with illustrations on steel. V. 1 > Part 12
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Mr. Field is a man of prepossessing appearance. His hair and moustache are white, his counten- ance refined, thoughtful and intelligent, and his figure somewhat spare and slightly above the medium height. He was married in 1863 to Miss Nannie Scott, daughter of Mr. Robert Scott, a prominent iron-master of Ironton, Ohio. They have one son and one daughter, both of whom are married.
HENRY W. KING,
CHICAGO. ILL.
T THE subject of this sketch ranks among the foremost business men of Chicago. A na- tive of Martinsburg, Lewis county, New York, he was born December 18, 1828. He received his early education in the public schools, and, later, graduated from the State Academy at Lowville, New York, preparatory to entering Hamilton College. After leaving the Academy, however, he changed his purpose, and instead of entering college, accepted a position in his father's store at Martinsburg, where he remained until 1854. Dur- ing that year, being then twenty-six years of age, he removed to Chicago and began that business career in which he has achieved a most enviable success and made for himself a reputation of which any man might justly be proud. Mr. King was first associated with Mr. S. L. Barrett and P. V. Kellogg, under the firm name of Barrett, King & Co., and opened a wholesale clothing house at No. 189 South Water street, Chicago. In 1857 the business was removed to Nos. 205, 207 South Water street, and three years later to Nos. 25, 27 Lake street. In 1863 the firm name changed to King, Kellogg and Co., by the withdrawal of Mr. Barrett. This firm continued till in 1868, when it was dissolved by mutual consent, and Mr. King associated himself with Messrs. W. C. Browning and Edward W. Dewey, of New York, under the style of Henry W. King and Co., and opening a store at the corner of Lake street and Michigan avenue. From 1868 to the pres- ent time (1892), the name and personnel of the firm have remained unchanged. During the great fire of October 9, 1871, the house sustained a loss of $550,000; but, through the courtesy
of the late Mr. Wirt Dexter, then solicitor for the Michigan Central Railroad Company, who placed at their disposal a train of freight cars, they were enabled to save one hundred thou- sand dollars' worth of stock, which they shipped to Michigan City and stored. With characteristic enterprise, while the ruins of the burned city were still smoking, the firm secured temporary quarters at the corner of Canal and Washington streets, and, reshipping the goods from Michigan City and bringing others' from their large manufacturing establishment in New York City, they were enabled at the end of two weeks after the fire to reopen their business. The business was removed in the following year, 1872, to the Farwell block on Market street, and was continued there until 1875, when it was changed to the southeast corner of Madison and Franklin streets. They are now (1892) at the cor- ner of Adams and Market. From the beginning, the volume of the business has steadily grown, and during the ten years last past, the firm have established flourishing retail houses in New York City, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Minne- apolis, St. Paul, Omaha, Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago. These branch houses are conduct- ed under the firm name of Browning, King & Co., and their annual business, with that of the whole- sale house, aggregates about $5,000,000. Mr. King's original firm in 1854 did an annual busi- ness not to exceed $150,000. Mr. King has been called to many positions of trust. For twenty- five years he has been one of the directors of the Commercial National Bank, of Chicago, and has been called to act as executor in many large
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estates. Aside from his business, Mr. King has taken an active interest in all public matters re- lating to the welfare of his city, and been closely identified with many public enterprises. From 1871 to 1873 he was president of the Chicago Re- lief and Aid Society, which disbursed during that time the enormous sum of $5,000,000, mostly con- tributed for the relief of those who suffered in the great fire. The ability and fidelity displayed in the distribution of this magnificent and timely bounty attracted attention far and wide, and the . Chicago society became the model for societies of a similar character in many parts of the world. Since 1873, Mr. King has served as treasurer of this society. He is also vice-president of the Chicago Nursery and Half-Orphan Asylum, and one of the directors of the Old People's Home.
In his religious faith, Mr. King is a Presbyter- ian, and is a leading member of the Fourth Pres- byterian church, of Chicago, and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the McCormick Theological Seminary. He takes an active part in all the affairs of his church, and in charitable, benevo- lent and philanthropic enterprises generally, stands ever ready to contribute generously of his time, energy and money.
In political sentiment he is a Republican. Though in no sense a politician, and invariably declining the honors of official positions, he takes an earnest and active part in the proper conduct
of public affairs, and in casting his ballot often votes for a candidate who differs from himself in political faith, if he believes him better qualified for the office sought than the candidate of his own party, his belief being that men and principle are higher and should carry more weight in de- ciding one's course in such matters than loyalty to party.
Mr. King was married, in 1858, to Miss Aurelia Case, a daughter of Mr. John R. Case, one of Chicago's early citizens, now deceased. They have one son and two daughters, viz .: Francis, now associated with his father in business; Eliza- beth, the wife of Mr. Cyrus Bentley, an attorney- at-law, of Chicago, and Christine, the wife of Mr. S. H. Pomeroy, of Pittsfield, Mass.
In closing this sketch it is but just and fitting to say that Mr. King has achieved his remarkable success by patiently and persistently following a fixed purpose in the line of his business, never entering on the alluring field of speculation. Conservative in his ideas, he has yet kept pace with the progress of events, and, wherever known, has been recognized as a man of unusual energy, clear foresight and unwavering business fidelity. He is a man of fine personal qualities, kind- hearted, genial and companionable, and enjoys the high regard and esteem of many warm personal friends, and the confidence of all who know him.
WASHINGTON HESING,
CHICAGO, ILL.
W ASHINGTON HESING, managing edi- tor of the Illinois Staats Zeitung, may be ranked among the younger class of Chicago's successful business men. He is a son of Anthony C. and Louisa (Lamping) Hesing, and was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, on May 14, 1849. During his youth he was constantly at school until 1861, when he visited Europe. Upon his return in the following winter, he entered University St. Mary's of the Lake, where he continued until July, 1863. He then studied at the University of Chicago one year, after which he was prepared by Dr. Quackenboss for admission to Yale College, which institution he entered in 1866, and from which he
was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1870. Immediately upon leaving college he went to Europe and attended lectures in Berlin and Heidelberg universities, devoting him- self to the study of political economy, inter- national law, the science of government, history and German literature.
Summoned by the great fire of October 8 and 9, 1871, he returned home, and on November 21 following entered upon his active journalistic career in connection with the Illinois Staats Zeitung. In April, 1880, his father and himself securing a controlling interest in that journal, he at that time became managing editor. From
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his advent into journalism, Mr. Hesing has taken an active interest in political matters, and, when but twenty-three years old, distinguished himself by a series of eloquent speeches, in both the English and German languages, in which he strongly advocated the election of General Ulysses S. Grant to the presidency.
Mr. Hesing's unusual ability was early recog- nized, and at the age of twenty-two he was appointed a member of the Board of Education. At the expiration of his term of office, Mayor Joseph Medill tendered him a re-appointment, but he declined the honor.
While a member of the Board of Education, Mr. Hesing, as a member of the Committee on
German, made a report in which he advocated the system of grading the German studies as the English were graded. This report was adopted by the Board, and the proposed system has since that time been in practice.
In August, 1880, Mr. Hesing was elected a member of the County Board of Education. He is a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and in 1873 was elected president of the Union Catholic Library Association of Chicago, an organization whose membership comprises all the leading Catholics of the city.
Mr. Hesing is a married man, his wife being formerly Miss Henrietta C. Weir, of Boston, Massachusetts.
FERDINAND W. PECK,
CHICAGO, ILL.
T HE life and work of him whose name heads this biography is inseparably associated with many of the public enterprises that have made his native city a metropolis, known alike for her unparalleled business activity and as the home of higher education and art. He was born in Chicago in 1848, the son of Philip F. W. Peck and Mary Kent (Wythe) Peck, and is the youngest of a family of seven sons, three of whom are living and rank among Chicago's enterprising and public- spirited citizens. The father died in 1871. The mother is still living and resides in Chicago. At the time of our subject's birth, his father's resi- dence and garden covered the present site of the Grand Pacific Hotel. Growing up with the growth of the city, his life reaching back nearly to her beginning, he early imbibed her spirit, and, loyal to her welfare and interests, has devoted himself with commendable zeal to the development of her highest and best resources. He was educated in Chicago, graduating first from the High School. He afterwards graduated from the literary depart- ment of the Old University of Chicago, and later pursued a course of study in the Union College of Law, being then still in his minority, when he re- ceived his diploma and was admitted to the bar when just twenty-one years of age. Athough he has never entered actively into the practice of law as a profession, Mr. Peck has found in the con-
trol of vast business interests practical applica- tion for his legal learning that has been inval- uable to him.
Besides his private affairs, he with his brothers has managed the Peck estate, one of the largest and best controlled estates in Chicago. Mr. Peck has always been a man of intense activity, known for his unusual executive ability, and has taken a just pride in using his talents and influence to further public and private enterprises which would reflect honor upon his native city. At the present time (1891), he is president of the Chicago Athen- æum, president of the Chicago Auditorium Asso- ciation, president of the Chicago Opera Festival Association, president of the Chicago High School Alumni Association. He served four years as a member and was vice-president of the Board of Education, having been twice appointed by the mayor of Chicago. He is also chairman of the Finance Committee of the World's Columbian Exposition ; vice-president of the Union League Club ; first vice-president of the Illinois Humane Society, and one of the trustees of the new Chicago University.
While taking a just pride in all of these and other organizations, the Auditorium may rightly be called his crowning work. This vast enterprise had its inception at the time of the celebrated Opera Festival in April, 1885, in which Mr. Peck
The Century Prohshing & Engraving Co. Chicago
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was a prime mover, and the success of which not only strengthened public sentiment and developed public taste for popular entertainments of that character, but also revealed the necessity of a great music hall, where great musical productions could be properly presented. The idea originating in the fertile brain of Mr. Peck gave him no rest until the grandly magnificent structure known as the Auditorium was wrought to completion and dedicated to its noble purpose, the building alone costing $3,500,000. While it is true that in the carrying out of his purpose he had the financial and moral co-operation of many other of Chicago's public-spirited men, yet to him must be attributed the chief honor. The idea of the pro- moter of this great undertaking was to popularize music, of which he is an ardent lover, and give to the people the benefit of its elevating and refining influence. He thoroughly believes in music as a
refiner of the masses and an educator of public taste. He finds his highest enjoyment in devot- ing his abilities, money and influence to those objects and causes intended to better his fellows. His taste is simple and unpretentious, and he has done much to encourage a severe and stable type of architecture.
In personal appearance, Mr. Peck is tall, with clean, clear-cut features, a dark complexion, black hair and a black moustache, and ordinarily bears himself with an air of studious thoughtfulness. He is a man of pleasing address, courteous and kind, and withal has an abundance of genial good nature.
He was married in 1870 to Miss Tilla Spalding, a daughter of WV. A. Spalding, of Chicago, and a woman esteemed and loved for her many womanly virtues. They have an interesting family of four sons and two daughters.
FERNAND HENROTIN, M. D.
CHICAGO, ILL.
T HE subject of this biography, a native of Brussells, Belgium, was born in 1848, and is one of a family of nine children. He is the son of Joseph F. and Adele Henrotin, née Kinson, both of whom were Belgians. The father was a prominent and successful physician. He immi- grated to the United States with his family in 1848, and settled in Chicago, where he was known as a " French doctor." He was a familiar figure and rendered most valuable service during the cholera epidemic, and continued in practice until his death in 1875.
The paternal grandfather of our subject lived to the advanced age of ninety-six years, and for seventy-five years was a practicing physician. Henry Henrotin, the eldest brother of our sub- ject, belonged to Taylor's Battery, and was killed at the siege of Vicksburg during the War of the Rebellion. Charles Henrotin, another brother, is one of the leading and successful men of Chicago. He is Belgian consul, also Turkish consul, and is one of three men in Chicago who have been hon- ored with decorations from foreign sovereigns in recognition of valuable reports. He was the founder and first president of the Chicago Stock
Exchange, and is its president at the present time (1890). A third brother, Victor Henrotin, is a coffee merchant at Havre, France. Adolph Hen- rotin, the fourth brother, resides in Chicago, as do also the four sisters, three of whom are married.
His father having settled in Chicago the same year our subject was born, Fernand has grown up with the city and is, in every sense, a Chicago man. He was educated in the common and high schools of Chicago, and having decided to enter the medical profession, pursued a thorough course of study in Rush Medical College, graduating in February, 1869, being then twenty-one years of age. He at once established himself in his pro- fession, and for twenty-one years has been con- tinuously in practice, without a vacation. From the commencement of his practice, Dr. Henrotin has been known as a man of clear-cut ideas touch- ing all matters pertaining to his profession, skill- ful, energetic and conscientious. He soon came into prominence, and in 1872 and '73 held the office of County Physician, which was but the be- ginning of a series of public professional positions he has held and filled with eminent success in con- nection with his constantly growing practice. He
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was for some eight years on the staff of attending physicians at the Cook County Hospital, for five years surgeon of the Alexian Brothers' Hospital, surgeon of the Chicago Police Department for fourteen years, and at the present time is surgeon of the Chicago Fire Department. Dr. Henrotin is professor of diseases of women in the Chicago Polyclinic, and has been for three or four years, and is a member of the Chicago Medical Society. He is a member of the Union Club, but owing to the urgent demands of his extensive practice, which ranks among the largest as well as the most lucrative of any physician in Chicago, he finds little time for club life or social enjoyment outside of his own family.
In political sentiment, Dr. Henrotin, though Democratic, is non-partisan and, in casting his ballot, votes in favor of what he believes to be right principles, and the men whom he believes will support them, regardless of party affiliations.
Dr. Henrotin was married in the spring of 1873 to Miss Emily B. Prussing, a daughter of Mr. Charles G. Prussing, one of the early settlers of Chicago. Mrs. Henrotin is a woman of artistic tastes, and is known among her acquaintances as an amateur painter of extraordinary ability. She is a woman of many personal charms, hospi- table to her friends, and devoted to her hus- band and home, and in nothing takes greater delight than in making it beautiful and full of good cheer.
Personally, Dr. Henrotin is a man of most estimable qualities. Added to his fine physical proportions and rugged constitution, are quali- ties of heart and mind of a high order. Warm- hearted, generous to a fault, high-minded, con- scientious and genial, he is the center of a large circle of close friends and acquaintances who honor and esteem him for his many manly virtues and genuine worth.
JOHN B. SHERMAN,
CHICAGO, ILL.
OHN B. SHERMAN was born in January, J 1825, in the town of Beekman, Dutchess county, New York; was brought up on a farm, and received a common-school education. He left the farm and commenced clerking in a coun- try store at the age of nineteen, for fifty dollars per year, and continued clerking some two or three years. He was married at the age of twen- ty-three. In 1849, he started for California, pas- sing through Old Mexico, and at Vera Cruz boarded a sailing vessel and arrived at San Fran- cisco in May of that year. He engaged in min- ing near Georgetown, not far from what was called Sutter's Mills. He succeeded in saving a few thousand dollars from mining operations and returned to Dutchess county, New York, in 1850. In the fall of 1850, he removed to Illinois, locating on Fox river, Kendall county, where he purchased a farm. Later he removed to Chicago, and with a Mr. Black, under the firm name of Black & Sherman, engaged in the com- mission business and was located on Kinzie street. In December, of 1855, he succeeded in renting the old Bull's Head Stock Yards, then
located on West Madison street, where the Wash- ingtonian Home now stands. In the spring of 1856, in company with Mr. D. K. Belding, he leased the Myrick Yards, located at Thirty-ninth street on Cottage Grove avenue, and after his lease expired at the Bull's Head Yards he re- moved thither, and soon after bought the interest of his partner and admitted his brother, I. N. W. Sherman, to the business, and so continued until the expiration of the lease in the fall of 1865. At that time there were four different stock yard markets in Chicago: The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, located at Twenty-second street ; the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy yards, located on the west side of the city; the Loomis Yards at Thirty-first street and Cottage Grove avenue, and the Myric Yards at Thirty-ninth street and Cottage Grove avenue. In the early part of 1865, Mr. Sherman, with others, with a view of improving the stock market of Chicago, conceived the plan of concentrating all the live stock markets at one point, a movement which soon afterwards resulted in the organization of the great Union Stock Yard and Transit Company,
Johu Y Sherman
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of Chicago. Such was the origin of the great Chicago live stock market of to-day. Such men as J. F. Joy, T. B. Blackstone, John L. Hancock, R. M. Hough, Sidney A. Kent, C. M. Culbertson, Lyman Blair, D. Kreigh, M. L. Sykes, G. W. Cass, J. F. Tracy, H. E. Sargent, John B. Drake, etc., etc., were associated with Mr. Sherman in the enterprise, and took the stock of the new organi- zation. Before the completion of the yards, Mr. Sherman, intending to retire from business, had changed his place of residence, building a fine home at Poughkeepsie, New York. But one year later he changed his plans and returned to Chicago, and upon the death of Mr. F. E. Bry- ant, who was the first superintendent of the Union Stock Yards, Mr. Sherman was chosen general superintendent by the Stock Yards Company, and entered upon his duties June 1, 1867. For several years Mr. Sherman could be seen daily in the saddle, on his favorite black horse, riding through the different portions of the yards, in- specting the workings of the organization and giving particular attention to all such details as would insure the best accommodations to the pat- rons of the yards, and to the railroad companies, his aim being to make the Union Stock Yards the greatest live stock market in the world, an object and ambition which have been fully realized ; and it may, in truth, be said that no man could have been selected who could have better met the requirements of the responsible position. Mr. Sherman was afterwards elected vice-president and general manager and a director of the com- pany, offices which he still holds (1892). His management, from the first, has been character- ized by a liberal spirit toward all parties con-
cerned among the railroads and packers without any discrimination.
Mr. Sherman has always been a public-spirited man, so far as concerned the public improvements of Chicago, and has taken a great interest in the improvement of the suburbs of the city, and especially the public parks and boulevards; and as a member of the Board of South Park Com- missioners has rendered valuable service in bring- ing Chicago's park system to its present state of perfection where it is an honor to the city and State. And in the accomplishment of this, Mr. Sherman has supreme delight, and with his asso- ciates on the board deserves all the commenda- tion that has been bestowed.
Mr. Sherman's political views have, in the main, been with the Republican party, but he would never accept a political office. In local elections he always supports the man whom he considers best qualified for office, regardless of party. To the public charities of Chicago Mr. Sherman has been a liberal giver.
Financially, Mr. Sherman may be counted a millionaire. He has a beautiful and luxurious home in the South division of Chicago, and a val- uable farm and other property at Washington Heights, and is largely interested in banking and various other monied enterprises. His success is well deserved, and is the result of patient, per- sistent effort. His habits of life are simple and to them he owes his good health. He has always been an early riser and retires for the night early in the evening. Mr. Sherman's family consists of his wife, one son and one daughter, the wife of Mr. D. H. Burnham, chief architect of the World's Columbian Exposition.
JOHN V. FARWELL,
CHICAGO, ILL.
T HE name Farwell has been identified with the material advancement of Chicago for the past forty years, and during the last thirty years the influence of members of the family has been extended to more than local fame, and has become identified with affairs of the utmost im- portance toward the best interests of our coun- try and toward the advancement of christianity.
John Villars Farwell is a descendant, in the eighth generation, of Henry Farwell, one of the incorporators of the town of Concord, Massachu- setts. Henry Farwell traced his ancestry to the early English people ; old documents state that in the reign of Edward I (about 1280) Richard Far- well married the heiress of Elias de Rillestone and brought Rillestone and several other estates
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into the family. These continued in the male line until the reign of Henry VII (1500), when they passed through an heiress to the family of Radcliffe, although some portion remains to this day in a family who call themselves Farvell, and bear the same coat of arms and claim direct de- scent from Richard Farwell. The name is and has been spelt Fauvell, Favell, Varwell, Farwell and Farevell.
John V. Farwell was born in Campbelltown, Steuben county, New York, July 29, 1825. Until the age of sixteen he lived upon his father's farm, attending school during the winter months and assisting in farm duties during the summer. At this time, although he possessed but limited means, he determined to have a more complete education, and accordingly entered Mount Morris Seminary, devoting himself earnestly to those branches essential to success in business. He gave special attention to mathematics, book-keep- ing and composition, and, for the sake of econ- omy boarded himself, continuing his studies until he had acquired a good business education.
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