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 18
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Mr. Speaker: When I think of the many things that could be said in favor of the city that I have the honor, in part, to represent, and of the few moments in which I have to say them, I feel much like the boy who sat down on the inside of a sugar barrel and said, "Oh, for time and a thou- sand tongues to do this thing justice." [ Laughter.]
Five minutes in which to speak of the greatest city in the world ! I wish I had time to call your attention to the constitution of the State of New York; most of you have read that. I wish I had time to refer to the eloquent speech of the gentleman from New York (Mr. Flower) who yesterday told us about the display that was to be made in the New York harbor, and the Italian and Spanish ships of war. I would like to invite him and colleagues here to that great inland sea on which rides a larger fleet-for there are more arrivals and clearances in the port of Chicago than in any other port in the United States of America, not excluding New York, more tonnage and more arrivals and departures- not a fleet of war, but a fleet of peace, of peaceful commerce -commerce between American citizens, the profits thereof remaining at home.
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It is one of the grandest things to contemplate that the discovery of Christopher Columbus has led to the develop- ment on this soil of a nation resting on the principles of self- government-a nation that needs no army and navy, for if every gun we have were spiked, and every ship were sunk, no nation on the face of God's earth would dare to strike a blow at our colors or invade our soil [applause]. We cannot invite you to see a fleet of war ships, but we invite you to witness the victories of peace, greater than those of war. You invite us to see the Spanish and Italian ships of war, not a color of which, from any mast, stands for human liberty; we invite you to see the commercial fleet of peace, larger by far than 1
that, manned by American citizens, and from every mast fly- ing the colors that we love [applause]. I would like to say one thing further during my five minutes, and that is all I have to say. My brethren on the other side, you have charged the Republicans on this side of the house with most unfair and ungenerous criticism in matters of politics. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Mills) discussed at great length this morning the fact that the negro has the right to vote in the South, and has no right to vote in the District of Colum- bia. It is true that in the heat of politics we indulge in things of that kind. But is it not also true that you have criticised us and have given us back, with interest, what we gave you ?
But what is the best way to avoid such things? How can we do better in the future for the people we represent and whose prosperity we should consider from a united stand- point ? How can we do better than meet upon common ground, at that great central city of Chicago, for a common purpose ? Come to Chicago in 1892, my friends, and see whether our hospitality differs from the hospitality for which you are so justly noted in Georgia, Kentucky and Mississippi. Come, I say, and with the shoulder-touch let us march, in 1892, to a better understanding. Come, and warm your hearts at the forges of the North as we melt the ores of the South, and, with the anvil and hammer of personal contact, let us beat out a better friendship for the North and the South [ap- plause]. Bring your looms from New England; bring your cotton from the South, weave it into cloth in the presence of the great Northwest, and into the web and woof of that cloth we will weave a new song for a better and more permanent union of the States.
Eighteen hundred and ninety-two will be a famous year, my friends-famous for the advancement of the arts and sciences, famous for the advancement of agriculture, famous for the advancement of everything that makes us great and glorious, but, better still, famous because we will begin to tear down the walls that have kept us apart ; famous because we will draw the North and the South and the East closer and nearer and more truly together. Drinking from the same fountain, drawing our inspiration of patriotism from a com- mon source, we will not be confined to the old couplet :
" In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus crossed the ocean blue,"
but with less poetry and more sentiment, we will say : In eighteen hundred and ninety-two We will unite the gray and blue.
[Loud applause.]
Mr. Mason is a man of the people, and from experience knows their needs, their hopes and their ambitions, and enters heartily into any movement calculated to better their condition. Personally, Mr. Mason was one of the most popular men in Congress, being under all circumstances a most genial and affable gentleman. The courtesy which has characterized him in his political and social life has won for him, in addition to the respect and admiration which men of genuine ability always command, the kindly regard of his associates.
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In the presidential campaign of 1888, he became widely known as an effective political speaker, and during the hotly-contested campaign of 1890, in Ohio, in which he participated, he won renown as a campaign orator, who seldom failed to carry conviction to the minds of his auditors.
In 1873, about the time he completed his law studies, Mr. Mason was married to Miss Edith Julia White, the accomplished daughter of Mr.
Geo. White, a prominent citizen of Des Moines, Iowa.
Mr. Mason is a man of domestic tastes, never happier than when by his fireside with his inter- esting family of children and charming and esti- mable wife. Mrs. Mason, though much sought after in society, and though a cultured hostess, prefers to devote her time to household duties rather than to social pleasures.
SAMUEL J. JONES, M.D., LL.D.
CHICAGO, ILL.
AMUEL J. JONES, a native of Bainbridge, S Pa., was born on March 22, 1836, the son of Dr. Robert H. and Sarah M. (Ekel) Jones. The father, who died in 1863, had been a practicing physician in Pennsylvania for thirty-three years. The mother belonged to one of the oldest families of the old town of Lebanon in that State. In early life, Samuel enjoyed a good educational advantage, and having finished his preparatory studies, at the age of seventeen entered Dickin- son College, at Carlisle, Pa., graduating with the degree of A. B. in 1857, being then twenty-one years of age.
Three years later he received from his alma mater the degree of A. M., and in 1884 the same institution conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. He early decided to fit himself for the medical profession, and upon leaving college, with that purpose in view, spent three years in study under the preceptorship of his father, and in 1858 attended his first course of lectures in the medical department of the University of Pennsyl- vania, graduating in 1860, just thirty years after the graduation of his father from the same insti- tution. Being attracted to the United States naval service, by reason of its many advantages for the young practitioner, both professionally and otherwise, he submitted to a competitive ex- amination for the position of assistant surgeon, and being successful, received his appoint- ment just before the beginning of the War of the Rebellion. In April, 1861, he was ordered to the U. S. steam frigate " Minnesota," which sailed, under sealed orders, from Boston on May 8, 1861, as the flagship of the Atlantic blockading
squadron. Dr. Jones participated in the naval battle at Hatteras Inlet in August, 1861, which resulted in the capture of the Confederate forts, and ended the troublesome blockade-running at that point, and in which fifteen hundred prisoners were taken. It was the first naval battle in his- tory in which steamships were used and kept in motion while in action. $
In January, 1862, he was temporarily detached from the " Minnesota " and detailed as surgeon of Flag Officer Goldsborough's staff on the Burnside and Goldsborough expedition against Roanoke Island. After its capture he was assigned to duty as the staff surgeon of Commander Rowan in the expedition which resulted in the capture of New- bern, Washington, and other important points on the inner waters of North Carolina. Later he accompanied Lieut. Cushing, of " Albermarle " fame, and Lieut. Lamson in their operations on the Nansemond River for the relief of the Union forces then shut in by General Longstreet at Suffolk, Va. In the spring of 1863 Dr. Jones was assigned to duty at Philadelphia, and there passed a second examination and was promoted to the grade of surgeon. He was next assigned to duty at Chicago, and there, in addition to his other duties, acted as examining surgeon of those desiring to enter the medical corps for the naval service on the Mississippi River. While here he visited the various military prisons, and examined and passed over three thousand Confederate prisoners who had asked to be shipped into the Government naval service.
In 1864 he was ordered to the sloop-of-war " Portsmouth," of Admiral Farragut's West Gulf
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blockading squadron, but soon thereafter was assigned to duty as surgeon of the New Orleans Naval Hospital. In the fall of 1865, the war having closed, Surgeon Jones was sent to Pensa- cola, Florida, as surgeon of the navy yard and naval hospital, and remained until again assigned to duty at Chicago, in 1866. When the marine rendezvous there was closed, in 1867, he was ordered to the frigate " Sabine," a practice ship for naval apprentices cruising along the Atlantic coast.
In 1868, desiring to engage in private practice, he tendered his resignation, which was accepted on the first of March of that year, and his con- nection with the navy closed, after eight years of active, and during much of the time hazardous, service.
Upon leaving the Government service, Dr. Jones returned to Philadelphia, and was sent as a dele- gate from the American Medical Association to the meetings of the medical societies of Europe, being at the same time commissioned by Gov. Geary, of Pennsylvania, to report upon hospital and sanitary matters of England and the Conti- nent. He attended the meetings of the noted European medical societies at Oxford, Heidel- berg and Dresden, and at the last named place par- ticipated in organizing the first otological congress ever held. This was in September, 1868. He spent the remainder of that year visiting various parts of Europe, extending his investigation in medical and sanitary affairs, and giving especial attention to diseases of the eye and of the ear. He returned to the United States and established himself at the beginning of 1869 in private prac- tice at Chicago. During the same year he was elected president of the Board of Examining Sur- geons for United States pensions at Chicago, and was also made a member of the medical staff of St. Luke's Hospital, and there established a de- partment for treatment of diseases of the eye and of the ear, with which he has been connected since its establishment. In 1870 he was again accredited a delegate from the American Medical Association, to meetings of European associa- tions, and while abroad spent several months in research and investigation. During the same . year he was appointed to the chair of ophthal- mology and otology just established in North- western University [Chicago Medical College],
a professorship which he has continued to hold ever since. He also established an eye and ear department at Mercy Hospital and another at the South Side Dispensary, and had charge of them for some ten years, and for a number of years was one of the attending staff of the Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, located in Chicago. Dr. Jones has applied himself to the acquirement of knowledge pertaining to the special department to which he has devoted him- self for the past twenty years, and is recognized both by the medical profession and the public as authority on all matters pertaining to ophthalmol- ogy and otology. He has always stood high in the esteem of his professional brethren, and has been active and influential in their councils and deliberations. In 1876 he was a delegate from the Illinois State Medical Society to the Centennial International Medical Congress at Philadelphia. In 1881 he represented the Ameri- can Medical Association and the American Acade- my of Medicine at the Seventh International Medical Congress, at London, England. Again, in 1887, at the Ninth International Medical Con- gress, held in Washington, D. C., as president of the section of otology, he was ex-officio a member of the executive committee, whose duty it was to arrange for the preliminary organization of the congress. In 1889, at its thirteenth annual meeting, held in Chicago, Dr. Jones was elected president of the American Academy of Medicine, whose objects as stated in its constitution are : " First, to bring those who are alumni of col- legiate, scientific and medical schools into closer relations with each other. Second, to encourage young men to pursue regular courses of study in classical and scientific institutions, before entering upon the study of medicine. Third, to extend the bounds of medical science, to elevate the pro- fession, to relieve human suffering, and to prevent disease."
Being himself a man of broad culture and extensive knowledge of the principles and prac- tice of medicine, Dr. Jones has labored untiringly to raise the standard of medical education to the highest plane, both by his work in the various societies and associations with which he is con- nected, and by his writings, which have frequently appeared in the medical journals. He was for several years editor of the Chicago Medical Jour-
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nal and Examiner, one of the leading medical periodicals of this country.
Dr. Jones is a man 'of fine physical proportion, with a rugged constitution. He is a man of fixed opinions, with a decided will power and strong determination, and by nature a leader.
Courteous in manner, genial and generous, yet dignified in bearing, he has attracted to himself a wide and influential clientéle in the special de- partment to which he has devoted himself, and enjoys the reward of his painstaking and con- scientious work.
HENRY BEIDLER,
CHICAGO, ILL.
A MONG the great commercial interests of Chicago, none has developed more rapidly or brought to its promoters more substantial re- turns than the lumber trade. Being the center of a vast railroad system spreading out through the West and Northwest, Chicago has come to be the distributing point for the lumber products of the great pineries of Michigan and Wisconsin, whence it is brought via the great lakes and thence carried over this net-work of railroads. Of the men who have devoted themselves to this line of trade, few, it may truthfully be asserted, have at- tained to a higher place or reaped more substan- tial rewards than Henry Beidler, the subject of this biography. He is a native of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and was born in the town of Bed- minster, on November 27, 1812, the son of Jacob and Susanna (Krout) Beidler. Both his father and grandfather (who, also, was named Jacob Beidler) were natives of Bucks county, Pennsyl- vania, and farmers by occupation. His father was also a carpenter by trade, and lived to the advanced age of eighty-nine years. The grand- father died in the year 1781, and was interred in Perkasie burying-ground in Hilltown township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where our subject, on a recent visit to his native place, erected to his memory a beautiful granite monument. The mother of our subject, also, was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and died at the age of eighty years. Henry passed his boyhood and early manhood on the farm, receiving a good common-school education and laying the founda- tion of his financial success. It was here that he earned his first thousand dollars, a fact to which he points with pardonable pride.
In the spring of 1843, attracted by the superior inducements offered in the West to young men of
enterprise and thrift, he removed to the then sparsely settled State of Illinois, and located at Springfield in the grocery trade. After five years of success in this business, he, in 1848, re- moved to Chicago, and engaged in the lumber business in partnership with his brother, Jacob Beidler, who was then in business there. In 1855 Mr. Beidler went to Muskegon, Michigan, and took charge of the manufacturing branch of the firm's business there, his brother continuing in charge of the Chicago branch. The business rap- idly increased, and, under his careful management, brought to its promoters large returns, so that in 1876, our subject was enabled to retire from active participation in the business with an ample com- petence. At that time he returned to Chicago, where he has since made his home, and retained an interest in the business for several years, when the firm was dissolved by mutual consent. Since his retirement from active business, Mr. Beidler has spent much of his time in travel throughout all parts of his native land, and has also visited some foreign lands. During these travels he has collected a great variety of curiosities, consisting of rare shells, precious stones, etc., which he has preserved in a handsome cabinet at his home at No. 49 South Sangamon street. Throughout his life Mr. Beidler has been known for his business integrity and firm adherence to the strict princi- .ples of justice and equity, so that wherever known, his word was regarded as good as his bond. He is a man of generous impulses, cheerful, genial, benevolent and charitable. Coming as he does of a long-lived ancestry, and having had regard to the laws of health throughout his life, he is now. at the age of eighty years, well preserved and hale and hearty, and able to enjoy the fruits of his labors. His political sentiments are Republi-
Henry Beidler Age 80 years
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can, though he has never taken any part in politi- cal matters more than to perform his duties as a citizen. Mr. Beidler holds broad and liberal views on religious questions, and, with his family, is identified with the " People's Church " under the pastoral care of H. W. Thomas, D.D.
Mr. Beidler was married on April 23, 1860, to Miss Sarah Sammons, a daughter of Thomas
Sammons, Esq., of Syracuse, N. Y. Mrs. Beidler died on October 2, 1886. She was a woman of many noble qualities, a fond and devoted wife and mother, and by her kindness and goodness of heart, her charities, and purity of life, endeared herself to a large circle of friends. Of this union was born one son, Herbert A. Beidler, president of the Standard Elevator Company, of Chicago.
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CAPT. BENJAMIN M. MUNN,
CHICAGO, ILL.
MONG the residents of Chicago who claim
A . the Green Mountain State as the place of their nativity, many have become truly represen- tative citizens, and among these is the subject of this biography.
He was born in West Fairlee, Orange county, Vermont, on February II, 1826, and passed his youth and early manhood on his father's farm. After leaving the district schools, he attended Williams College, and after finishing his studies there he went to Boston, to study law with Col. Stickney, afterwards completing his law course with the Hon. William S. Holman, the well- known Indiana congressman. He was admitted to the bar in 1852, and then spent two years in teaching. During that time, he was principal of the Rising Sun, Indiana, Female Seminary, and of the Charleston, Illinois, Academy, and also had charge of one of the public schools in Galena, Illinois, where he became acquainted with Cap- tain U. S. Grant.
In 1854, he began an active practice of law at Charleston, Illinois, and continued the same in that place and Litchfield, Illinois, until 1861.
During his residence in central Illinois, he had as co-workers in the circuit such men as Abraham Lincoln, Governor Palmer, Leonard Sweet, S. T. Logan, and Benjamin Edwards, and he argued many important cases in the Federal Court, before Judge David Davis.
At the opening of the war of the rebellion in 1861, in response to the call of President Lincoln for men, Benjamin M. Munn, like a true son of the patriotic Green Mountain State and a worthy citizen of Illinois, left his business and volun- teered his services to his country.
He enlisted as a private soldier, but was im- mediately elected Captain of Company D, 7th Regiment Illinois Infantry, and he holds the oldest captain's commission in the volunteer service.
While in Springfield assisting in organizing the 7th Regiment, he suggested to Governor Yates that the man most needed in the organization of State Troops was Captain U. S. Grant, of Ga- lena, whom he had met while teaching in that place.
The Governor immediately acted upon Captain Munn's suggestion, and called Captain Grant to Springfield, where he arrived a few days later, and since then the name and fame of Ulysses S. Grant have been sounded around the world. It is often true that the slightest and most trivial causes lead to great results. History records where the destiny of a nation has been changed by the effect of a single sentence, uttered thought- lessly, and it may be true that the suggestion offered to Governor Yates by Captain Munn, not only brought Grant into a position where he was able to utilize his remarkable ability and genius, but also gave to the country a leader who was enabled to unite a disrupted people, and bring peace and prosperity to us once more.
During the first year of the war, Captain Munn was in General Grant's command, and it may be stated here that Grant had no more faithful soldier under him than was he. In 1869, Captain Munn became a resident of Chicago, and during 1872-'73, was deputy collector of internal revenue, and afterwards was assistant corpora- tion counsel of Chicago, under the late Hon. Jesse O. Norton, and was acting counsel for
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several months. In all these different capacities, whether acting for the public or for individual clients, he has devoted himself to the conscientious discharge of his duty, and has always been faith- ful and honorable. He has the respect of all members of his profession, and is esteemed by his extensive and ever-increasing clientage.
For many years, Mr. Munn, in connection with Mr. Thomas E. Davis, of Washington, D. C., made a specialty of internal revenue practice, and collected from the United States Government large sums of money which had been collected from brewers and distillers upon erroneous assess- ments under the internal revenue laws.
Captain Munn, true to the principles that were
ingrafted into his heart in boyhood days, princi- ples that he always believed were founded in justice and truth, has always been an uncompro- mising Republican, and a believer in and an advocate of Republican doctrines ; and, although he has always taken an active part in political campaigns, he has never sought any office or position.
Such is the biography of a man who started in life with a capital consisting only of health, ambition and determination, and, who, using these qualities to good advantage, has not only reached a high place in his profession, but has also won the confidence and respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens.
JAMES C. ANDERSON,
CHICAGO, ILL.
I T would be impossible within the scope of a
biographical sketch of this character, to more than outline the life-work of the prolific inventor and manufacturer, James Caldwell Anderson.
The public records of the Patent Office of the United States give abundant evidence of his genius, and a full description of his inventions alone would take volumes if recorded separately. As a manufacturer, he stands, to-day, pre-emi- nently the leader in his chosen field of industry.
Born in the Monongahela Valley, Pennsyl- vania, August 13, 1838, of American parentage, although of Scotch-Irish descent, he developed from early childhood a passionate love of me- chanics, and the playhouse of the child was a miniature workshop which was never abandoned, but grew in novel mechanical appliances with the man. So the playwheels set in motion by the boy. developed into the most intricate and pow- erful machinery of the present time.
Owing to the protracted illness and death of his father, he was, at the early age of sixteen, compelled to take a man's place and begin the struggle of life in earnest, which led up a few years later to large manufacturing enterprises re- quiring much of construction and invention of versatile scope, among which was the metallurgy of steel and other metals.
Added to this experience was an ardent love
for his native Pennsylvania hills, with their up- turned and tilted strata exposed to view with the other ores of the metals, abundant clay and clay shale deposits, rich in aluminum metal, appeal- ing to the inventor to solve the problem of its extraction, giving it such an irresistible charm that he pursued this line of investigation until it led to another invention of what is known as the dry clay process, by which brick and other like clay articles are manufactured with a beauty of finish and solidity of texture never before at- tained. The invention involved numerous other inventions of powerful machinery, apparatus, and processes, for which he has been granted more than one hundred patents, and which has practi- cally revolutionized the art of brick making in this country.
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