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 25
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$6,000,000. Returning from Europe in 1881, he located in Chicago, and established the banking house of N. W. Harris & Co., which has branch houses at 15 Wall street, New York, and 70 State street, Boston. This house and its branches do a business covering transactions of over $20,000,000 per annum, and make a specialty of dealing in state, county and city bonds, their business ex- tending throughout the United States.
Mr. Harris is a member of the Union League Club. Ile is one of the trustees of the North- western University, and is a prominent member of the Methodist Church, while he is also connected with many societies of a charitable and benevolent nature.
Extremely fond of traveling, he has been through Europe twice, and has also traveled ex- tensively in this country. He was married Janu- ary 1, 1867, to Miss Vallandingham, of Cincin- nati, Ohio, who died in 1874. In 1879 he was married to Miss Emma S. Gale, daughter of Dr. J. G. Gale, of Newton, New Hampshire. She is a great-granddaughter of Dr. Josiah Bartlett, at one time Governor of that state, and one of the sign- ers of the Declaration of Independence. They have four sons and one daughter. Mr. Harris has contributed to the architecture of Chicago by building a brown-stone house on Drexel boule- vard, where the family now reside.
Mr. Harris is a man of robust health, strong constitution, and fine physique, being tall and well proportioned. Though his early education was somewhat limited, he possesses a good mind and is unusually well informed upon the current literature of the day, and with matters of public interest generally. Of a quiet disposition, he possesses exceedingly strong domestic tastes, and
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is much attached to his home, which he heartily enjoys. He is a shrewd, active and energetic business man, well informed on all matters of finance, and has a spotless reputation. Affable
and genial in manner, he has a large circle of friends and acquaintances, and may justly be called one of Chicago's representative business men.
HON. E. A. OTIS,
CHICAGO, ILL.
T HE circumstances attendant upon the birth of an individual, and the manner in which he is reared, do not always shape that individual's future, or do they emphasise it to the extent that natural ability, education and experience invari- ably do. To form an estimate of his success it is necessary to know what he has accomplished. The subject of this biography, the Hon. E. A. Otis, was born at Marengo, Calhoun county, Michigan, August 2, 1835, the son of Hon. Isaac and Caroline (Curtis) Otis. His parents were of English descent, and though natives of New York, and members of the Society of Friends, early emigrated to Michigan, and were among the pioneers of that western country. Reared on the family homestead, he received his earlier education at Albion, Michigan, and subsequently entered Michigan University. On leaving there he determined upon the law as a profession, and entered the office of Hon. Joseph Miller, of Kalamazoo. Upon the completion of his studies, and after passing a very satisfactory examination, he was admitted to the bar in 1858, and almost immediately afterward joined his brother, Hon. George L. Otis, one of the leading lawyers of the State of Minnesota, in St. Paul, remaining there until the outbreak of the war. Commissioned lieutenant in the Second Minnesota Infantry Volunteers, a regiment which he assisted in organizing, he joined the army of the Cumber- land in October, 1861. Detailed on the staff of General R. W. Johnson, he served under that general's immediate command until after the battle of Shiloh, in which engagement he took an active part. Subsequently, Brigadier General VanCleve, the old colonel of the Second Minne- sota Regiment, desired that Captain Otis be assigned to duty on his own staff, and procured his appointment as assistant adjutant general. Occupying this position until the close of the
war, he was actively engaged in all the campaigns of the Army of the Cumberland, participating in the battles of Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Perryville and Chickamauga. Satisfied that the war was over, in December, 1864, he retired from the army, and, believing the Southern country would be open to Northern emigration, in 1865 he com- menced the practice of law in Nashville, Tennes- see, and subsequently took an active part in the reconstruction of that state. Commissioned chancellor in the Nashville chancery district of Tennessee, in 1868, he occupied this position for some twelve months, being the youngest man, up to that time, appointed to that office in Tennes- see. So great was the appreciation of his ability and thoroughness in the occupancy of the office, that, upon his deciding to remove to Chicago, and his consequent resignation of the position, his old associates of the Nashville bar met and passed resolutions eulogizing his industry and ability, copies of which were inserted in the public press of Nashville. They concluded with the request "that the Chancellor be moved to enter them on the records of the Chancery Court." During his residence in this state, he became acquainted with General George H. Thomas, sustaining warm personal relations with that distinguished soldier until the latter's death, and being employed by him in several suits in which the General's officers had been sued in connection with the reconstruction policy. He was also employed by Governor Brownlow to defend the constitutionality of Tennessee Fran- chise law, whereby confederate soldiers were excluded from voting. A Republican in politics, then as now, he was actively identified with the organization of the Republican party in Tennes- see, being one of the few Northern men who were prominent Republicans in the South, and who left there retaining the friendship of ex-rebels.
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Locating in Chicago, June 10th, 1869, the Judge has been very successful. Along with an extensive chancery practice, he transacts a large amount of business for the national banks of this city. A thorough lawyer, his knowledge of the law is not confined to one particular branch. Fertile and original in ideas, and possessing a copious flow of language, his eminence as an advocate is admitted, while his methods of pre- senting his case, his general management of same, and the skillful manner in which he argues the various points of law before a court, are such as have won for him much admiration.
In personal appearance, Judge Otis is of medium height and fair complexion. Much esteemed for his general urbanity, he is one who is accessible to all alike, while his reputation for
those virtues possessed only by the true gentle- man-honor, integrity and truthfulness-is well known and incontrovertible.
A prominent member of the Chicago Historical Society and the Chicago Literary Club, he is one of the founders of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland. and a member of the Loyal Legion and of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Belonging to a family of lawyers, he is one of five brothers all prominent and successful in the legal profession. An esteemed citizen and a prominent lawyer, Judge Otis has aided in shed- ding a luster upon the bar of this city. It is by the emulation of the principles and methods of such men as he that the younger members of the profession shall not only seek success, but shall find it.
WILLIAM HOUSER GRAY,
CHICAGO, ILL.
TN studying the lives and characters of promi- nent men, we are naturally led to inquire into the secret of their success, and the motives that prompted their action. Success is more often a matter of experience and sound judgment, than it is of genius, however bright. For when we trace the career of those whom the world acknowledges as being successful, and of those who stand highest in public esteem, we find almost in every case that they are those who have risen gradually, who have overcome seemingly insur- mountable difficulties, and who have by energy, honesty and self-reliance, attained the goal to which they aspired, and won for themselves that success which the possession of these character- istics almost invariably insures.
The subject of this sketch-William Houser Gray-is a native of the Buckeye State, having been born at Piqua, Ohio, September 23, 1847. The son of Jacob C. and Catherine (Houser) Gray. His father was a contractor and builder, a native of Ohio, and a resident of the same neighborhood for over sixty years (Piqua, Ohio). He was a man who stood exceedingly high in his locality, and was a deacon of the Baptist Church for over fifty- five years, being familiarly known as "Deacon Gray," not only in the immediate neighborhood,
but throughout the State. A great believer in, and a practical supporter of, every object tending to the advancement of education generally- though the advantages he himself had received were few-he gave all his children an excellent education. He died about ten years ago, aged 79, beloved and respected by all who knew him.
Our subject's mother is the daughter of the late Jacob Houser, of Dayton, Ohio. She is still living, though at an advanced age, being in her 70th year, and is happy in the possession of all her faculties. Always identified with the work of the Baptist Church, she is a much esteemed member thereof, and a frequent attendant of the various meetings held in connection with same. She has reared a family of six children-two boys and four girls-Mr. J. H. Gray, of Cincinnati, Ohio, being one of the sons, and it is perhaps somewhat interesting to know that no member of this family has ever used tobacco in any shape or form.
Receiving his early education in, and graduating from, the Piqua High School, Mr. Gray subse- quently entered Denison University, where he remained three years.
His education being at length completed, he assisted his father in his building operations for a time, and afterwards entered the employ of the
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Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company as civil engineer. Upon the failure of this company, he entered into the lumber business at Piqua, Ohio, and continued thus engaged until after the great Chicago fire. Disposing of this concern in 1871, he then became connected with a life insurance company. His headquarters were at Indianapolis. Subsequently Mr. Gray was transferred to Ohio, and in 1877 he organized the Knight Templars and Masonic Mutual Aid Association, of Cincin- nati, Ohio, which, under his management, became the leading company (of this class), at that time, in the United States. In 1883 he severed his connection with this company, leaving it in a highly flourishing condition, the result of his splendid organization. During the twelve months following he engaged in private business, at the end of which period he came to this city. May 4th, 1884, he organized the "Knight Templars & Masons Life Indemnity Company, of Chicago, Illinois," and with this corporation-as its general manager-he has been identified ever since. The success with which this company has met, from the time of its organization up to the present date, has been truly phenomenal, and to-day it is the guarantee for upwards of twenty-six million dollars of insurance !- a result which is mainly attributable to the efficient management and great administrative abilities of William Houser Gray.
One of those who have aided in the develop- ment of the natural gas fields of Indiana, Mr. Gray owns the principal interest in that at Nobles- ville, Ind. He is an extensive owner of real estate; he possesses 12,800 acres of land in Texas, 700 acres in Indiana, near Indianapolis, and 1,000 acres in this State (Ill.).
The originator of the company which removed the old Libby Prison to this city, he was at one period its treasurer, and, in fact, was the original and sole purchaser of the same. Upon its being disposed of to the syndicate who now own it, he resigned the position of treasurer after its removal to Chicago and completion.
A member of the Union League and Marquette Clubs, he is also a member of St. Bernard Com- mandery (K. T.) and other Masonic bodies.
One who has traveled extensively, his summer vacations are always spent on the coast of Maine, and here, together with his family, he enjoys at least once during the twelve months of the year, a thorough change and a much needed rest.
In matters of religion Mr. Gray is a Baptist, though not an active member of the church.
In politics a republican, though in no sense of the word a politician.
Married February 17, 1881, to Miss Orpha Ella Buckingham, a graduate of the Mt. Carroll (Ill.) Seminary, the union was blessed by three children, viz .: Ina B., aged eight years ; Willie B., aged six years, and Ralph B., aged two and one-half years.
Was chairman of the "Ticket committee" of the 6th Knight Templars Charity Ball. He is a practical sympathiser with all objects of a ben- evolent nature, and is generous to a fault.
In personal appearance, of medium height, dark hair and complexion. In manner he is courteous and refined.
An ardent believer in the value of insurance to all, he himself carries upwards of one hundred thousand dollars. Personally and socially he possesses rare qualities, and as a public-spirited citizen, enjoys the esteem of all who know him.
PERCIVAL B. PALMER,
CHICAGO, ILL.
T 'HE gentleman whose name heads this sketch is one of the most efficient and enterpris- ing manufacturing merchants in Chicago. He is a native of Boston, Mass., and was born August 2, 1851, the son of Dudley R. Palmer, a native of New Hampshire, who removed to Boston at an early day, and was a prominent business man in that city fifty years. His mother's maiden name
was Anna Gibbs. His paternal grandfather, John Palmer, was a soldier in the war of the Revolu- tion.
Percival attended the public schools of Boston in his youth and graduated from the English High School in 1868. He started in life in the employ of Messrs. E. Allen & Co., prominent jobbers in woolen goods in that city, and re-
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mained with them two years. He was then con- nected with Messrs. Springer Bros., wholesale cloak manufacturers of Boston, five years. In 1879 he removed to Chicago, and there repre- sented Messrs. C. N. Carter & Co., of New York, in the same line of business, continuing until July, 1877, when he entered the employ of Messrs. J. W. Griswold & Co. Upon the retirement of Mr. J. W. Griswold from the firm, in 1887, he formed a partnership with Mr. E. P. Griswold, under the firm name of Griswold, Palmer & Co., where he has continued ever since.
Mr. Palmer is now in the prime of life, and he possesses untiring energy, is quick of perception,
forms his plans readily, and is bold in their exe- cution. He is pre-eminently a self-made man, and in connection with his partner, by their own exertions, have placed their house at the head of the business of manufacturing ladies' and chil- dren's cloaks in Chicago.
Mr. Palmer belongs to the Union League and Hamilton clubs, of Chicago. He was married, in 1877, to Miss Nellie F. Chapin, of Boston, Mass., the daughter of Nahum Chapin, a prominent man in political and business circles in that city. They have four sons and one daughter-Dudley Chapin, Percival B., Jr., David H., Nahum Chapin and Lucy F.
JOHN B. KIRK,
CHICAGO, ILL.
T HERE is no business man of Chicago that stands higher amongst the mercantile community than John B. Kirk. He was born on November 8, 1842, in Utica, New York, and is the second son of James S. Kirk and Nancy Ann (Dunning) Kirk. His father was of Scottish ori- gin, a son of a celebrated civil engineer of Glas- gow, Scotland, who came to the United States whilst very young. He was educated in Mon- treal (Canada) Academy, and married in Ottawa in 1839. In the year of his marriage he located in Utica, New York, and entered into business there.
Our subject obtained his education in the city of his birth, and upon commencing his mercantile life, entered into the business his father had founded in 1839, and his career has since been identified with the firm of James S. Kirk & Co.
The success of the house of James S. Kirk & Co., which was founded in Utica in 1839, and has grown from a toddling infant at the time of its foundation until it is now a manufacturing giant, with an output larger than any plant of its kind, not only in this country, but in the entire world (its product amounting to 70,000,000 of pounds of soap annually, beside various other articles manu- factured), is unquestionably due to the firm busi- ness policy exercised by James S. Kirk during his life, and the valuable and practical assistance rendered to him by his elder sons, in whom he
early in life engrafted the qualities necessary for a worthy business career.
In 1859 the firm removed to Chicago, and with the exception of the disastrous effects of the fire of 1871, which entailed a loss to them of a quarter of a million dollars, their career has been one of continued success.
The firm reorganized immediately after the fire, and through the hearty co-operation of all the members of the Kirk family, the business was soon on a substantial footing, and it has con- tinued on the road of prosperity ever since.
Through the ingenuity of John B. Kirk and his brothers, the process of manufacturing soap has been revolutionized, and many labor-saving meth- ods have been devised.
John B. Kirk's acknowledged ability as a financier induced the directors of the American Exchange National Bank to choose him for the position of vice-president, and afterward president, which positions he has creditably filled since 1889.
On October 4, 1866, our subject was married to Miss Mac Vean of this city. The couple are blessed with four children. Their names in order of birth are: James M., Frederick I., Josephine, and the baby Susie, a child of eighteen months.
The Northwestern University, located at Evanston, is widely known as one of the leading educational institutions of the West, and its reputation is constantly increasing. This worthy
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enterprise has always found a warm sympathizer and friend in Mr. Kirk. He is a member of the executive committee, and a trustee of that insti- tution, and has always been ready to assist both financially and personally any movement that had the good of the university for its object.
Oratory and elocution are two of the grandest of man's accomplishments, and to stimulate these grand arts, Mr. Kirk has donated an annual prize of $100, to be awarded to the successful competi- tor in the annual oratorical contest held by the senior students of the university. One of the most interesting and longed-for events is this annual contest; and it may be true that some modern Demosthenes will owe his success as an orator to the fact that his natural powers were stimulated by a strong desire to be victorious in the annual oratorical contest for the "Kirk Prize."
Our subject's good deeds in the assistance of. efforts to advance the cause of education have not been confined to helping the Northwestern University ; but all worthy objects that have the improvement of facilities for advancing the citi- zens of this country in education find in him a ready and willing sympathizer and friend.
Mr. Kirk has a particular fondness for medical investigation and study, and it is probable that had he not been influenced by his father, who de- sired him to enter the business that was his pride, he would have chosen the medical profession rather than the life of a business man; and it being true that ability will show itself and make itself known no matter in what field it is placed,
this worthy profession would have had a worthy member of its body in John B. Kirk.
Amongst the residents of Evanston, Mr. Kirk has made, through his upright and honorable rec- ord, many sincere friends, and there is no man at present residing in that suburban city that holds a higher position amongst its residents, nor is more highly esteemed than he is. He is not only admired for his honorable conduct to his fellow men, and for his generous hospitality, but he is also esteemed for his many acts of true charity. One of his neighbors remarks, " that no deserving object is ever refused charity by John B. Kirk."
In recapitulating the events of his life, we must not overlook Mrs. Kirk, who, by her high appre- ciation of what is right, and by her assistance and sympathy for all that is good, and her kindly di- rection, has vastly assisted Mr. Kirk to reach the high position he now holds. She is esteemed fully as much as Mr. Kirk, and no lady in Evans- ton is more truly honored and admired.
In summing up the events of the life of John B. Kirk, it can be stated that his career has been such as to warrant the trust and confidence of the business world; that he has always tried to transact his business matters in the same honor- able manner that placed his father before him in such a high and esteemed position in the business community. With a record unsullied and a high degree of ability, no business man of Chicago is better spoken of by his associates, than the presi- dent of the American Exchange National Bank, the worthy subject of this sketch, John B. Kirk.
COL. JAMES A. SEXTON,
CHICAGO, ILL.
T' HE subject of this sketch is essentially a self-made man. Thrown upon his own resources at the early age of nine years, he com- menced the battle of life, and at seventeen, upon the breaking out of the late civil war, he enlisted as a three months' volunteer, and afterward was a volunteer " for three years or the war." He was born in Chicago, January 5th, 1844, his parents re- moving here in 1834 from Rochester, New York.
After the expiration of his three months' ser- vice he re-enlisted in Company I, Fifty-first Reg-
iment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was made sergeant. In June, 1862, he was transferred to Company E, Sixty-seventh Regiment Illinois In- fantry, and promoted to a lieutenancy, and in August following, a company was recruited under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation of Chicago, and he was elected its captain. This was known as Company D, Seventy-second Regiment Illinois Infantry. He commanded the regiment at the battles of Columbia, Duck River, Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville, Tenn., and
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through the Nashville campaign. In 1865 he was assigned to duty on the staff of General A. J. Smith, Sixteenth Army Corps, Acting Provost Marshal, and served till the close of the war, making for himself a brilliant record. After the close of the war he was commissioned first- lieutenant in the regular army, but resigned, and next engaged in cotton raising in Alabama. Two years later, in 1867, he returned to Chicago, leav- ing his plantation in charge of an overseer, and there associated himself with Mr. John Jackson, under the firm name of Jackson & Sexton, in a stove foundry. This firm was succeeded by that of Messrs. J. A. & T. S. Sexton, and was con- ducting business at No. 176 Lake street at the time of the great fire of October 8-9, 1871. In 1872 the firm was changed to Cribben, Sex- ton & Co., and the increase of business justi- fied the erection of spacious warerooms at Nos. 75 and 77 Lake street, and then followed the purchase of the McArthur Iron Works, at Nos. 52 to 58 Erie street, where they began the man-
ufacture of stoves and grey enamel hollowwarc. The firm is at present (1892) composed of Henry Cribben, James A. Sexton and Will H. Cribben.
Colonel Sexton takes an active interest in Grand Army affairs, and is the Past Department Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic in Illinois. He is a member of the Loyal Legion, the Chicago Union Veteran Club and the Veteran Union League, and is a Mason of high degree.
There is no better attest of Colonel Sexton's popularity and worth, and the universal satisfac- tion with which his candidacy for the postmaster- ship was received, than in the fact that in the great city of Chicago, where presidents may be said to be made, and the party of which he is a member has so many calls upon the administra- tion for political favors, he found no one willing to be his carnest competitor. "That the man deserved the office and that the office deserves the man," has been demonstrated by the reforms that have been inaugurated in all departments of the office and the perfect discipline that prevails.
ALEXANDER L. DEWAR,
CHICAGO, ILL.
A LEXANDER L. DEWAR, a prominent banker of Chicago, and cashier of the American Exchange National Bank, was born at Glasgow, Scotland, on August 6, 1852.
His father, Plummer Dewar, was a native of the West India Islands but was of Scottish parentage, being able to trace his ancestry back for several centuries. His mother was Eliza Pew Dewar, a lady of English extraction but a resident of Jamaica, where his parents were married. Shortly after this marriage our subject's parents removed to Scotland, locating at Edinburgh, but later remov- ing to Glasgow where Alexander was born. In 1855, when our subject had reached the inter- esting age of three, the Dewar family moved to Canada, where he passed his boyhood and ob- tained his school education. His first business experience was in the same business as he is now in, and in 1868 he became a clerk in the British Bank at Hamilton, Ont. Even at that time Mr. Dewar manifested great ability and fulfilled his duties so faithfully that his promotions were
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