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 47
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of his eminent grandfather, between whom and the boy there existed the most intimate and con- fidential relations and a strong attachment that was mutually shared. This, however, was not to be. The bent of the boy's mind was in another direction, and, true to his native instincts, he de- cided to fit himself for the practice of medicine. From such ancestors, and under the influence of such mental and spiritual training, the boy inher- ited a rugged physique that has carried him through the arduous duties of his professional life, and a strength of character that has brought him into positions of influence and trust. Prior to his thirteenth year Lemuel attended Williston Seminary, at East Hampton, Massachusetts, but upon the removal of his family to Worcester, in
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1846, he entered the High School and remained a student there for four years. The good influence of these four years, during that formative period of his life, left upon the youth lasting impressions. He was especially active in the literary society, and there developed that taste and talent for public speaking and literary pursuits that have so sig- nally marked his subsequent career. He also, during this period, found time to cultivate his musical talents, and thus ,acquired what has been to him of greatest benefit, as a source of recrea tion and rest during his professional life. At sev_ enteen, his family removed to Sauk county, Wiscon- sin, an event which had much to do with shaping his life. The rugged pioneer life tended to further develop the strong side of his character. Here he had time to think, and the desire to be somebody and live to some noble purpose became in him an incentive to renewed energy-a very motive power prompting him to his noblest and best endeavor. The first winter after settling in Wisconsin he was called to teach the first winter school ever held at West Point, in Columbia county. He was in every way adapted to the work, and attained a great success as a teacher, following the pioneer custom of "boarding around" among his pupils. He received for his winter's work sixty dollars in gold, an amount which seemed to him a small fortune. His desire for knowledge prompting, he easily obtained his father's consent, being yet in his minority, and started with his pack on his back and walked a distance of one hundred miles to Milwaukee. Going thence to Worcester, his old home, he re- entered the High School and pursued a course in higher mathematics and surveying, support- ing himself by manual labor, for a time, and after- ward by teaching evening classes. In this way his time was fully occupied until the following winter, 1849. He now entered in earnest upon a teacher's life, and continued for ten years with great success. He taught the district school of Scituate, a select school at Rutland, the Union High School at Scituate Harbor, whence he was called to the principalship of the South Hingham Grammar School. After two successful years there he received the appointment as head master of the old Mather School, in Dorchester (now the 16th Ward of Boston), established in 1639, and the oldest free school in America. He held this po-
sition seven years, and during that time, spent in and around Boston, was afforded many rare oppor- tunities for culture and improvement, such as he had long wished for, not the least of which was the privilege of often listening to the stirring elo- quence and sound logic of such men as Everett, Sumner, Phillips and others of that day. He here formed the fixed purpose of devoting his life to the study and practice of medicine, it hav- ing for him a peculiar fascination ; and this, too, although his popularity and success as a teacher were decidedly marked, and even exceptional.
He was a member of the American Institute of Instruction, and for three years secretary of the Massachusetts State Teachers' Association. In order to more fully prepare himself for his chosen profession, he declined an invitation to a chair in the Brooklyn Polytechnic School, and returning to the West pursued his medical studies and gradu- ated at the Cleveland Medical College with the degree of M.D. in the spring of 1864. He was now thirty-one years of age. He opened his first office for practice at Peoria, Illinois, and remained there three years.
When fairly established he returned to the East and married Miss Ellen M. Prouty, of Dorchester, a daughter of Lorenzo Prouty, and grand-daughter of David A. Prouty, the inventor of the first iron plow ever made. Her maternal grandfather was John Mears, Sr., the inventor of the center-draft plow, which was awarded the first premium at the World's Fair, in London, England. All her im- mediate ancestors were noted agriculturists and members of the old Boston firm of Prouty & Mears. Mrs. Grosvenor, a decided brunette, was not only a woman of great personal beauty, but had, coupled with this, those womanly graces and virtues that go to make up the model wife and mother. She died in 1874, leaving two sons, Lorenzo N. and Wallace F., and one daughter, Ellen Elfledd. From Peoria, Dr. Grosvenor went to Galesburg, Illinois, and built up an extensive practice among the leading families of that pros- perous city. In 1870, desiring a broader field of action, he took up his abode in Chicago, where he has found ample opportunity to exercise and develop his talents and skill. At the time of the burning of Chicago, October 9, 1871, he was the only physician in his neighborhood, on the North side, whose house was not burned, it
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being left at the very edge of the fire line, and at that perilous time rendered to the destitute and suffering services deserving of lasting gratitude. Day and night, without thought of remuneration, he ministered to those whose homes had been swept away and who were suffering from expos- ure and the nervous strain incident to that terri- ble ordeal, finding his patients in improvised shelters, in tents, in school-houses, meeting-houses, police-stations, or wherever cover from the ele. ments could be found, and visiting them on foot, owing to the impossibility of getting about through the streets filled with the debris, with any kind of vehicle. The task was Herculean and continued for weeks, and must. have over- powered him had it not been for his splendid physical organization and determined will-power. The experiences of this winter of '71-'72 would, of themselves, fill a volume of most interesting reading.
Dr. Grosvenor's superior abilities were readily recognized by his professional colleagues, and upon the new building for the Chicago Homeo- pathic Medical College being completed, a special chair of sanitary science was created for him, it being the first full professorship in that depart- ment created by any college. The following from the college announcements of the current year aptly expresses the esteem in which he is held :
Professor Grosvenor, by his rare handling of eminently practical subjects, has made the department of Hygiene and Sanitation an attractive feature of the college. His lectures on the sanitary condition of the home, the sick-room, the lying-in room-especially those on infant hygiene and the hygiene and sanitary conditions of maternity-have greatly interested students and practitioners in these heretofore much-neglected subjects.
Dr. Grosvenor enjoys a remunerative general practice, and as an obstetrician has no superior, and had he accomplished nothing more, his ser- vices in alleviating the discomforts of infant life and reducing the drudgery of motherhood would entitle him to lasting renown. Out of patience with the old method of swaddling babes, he, with the aid of his good wife, who takes the deepest interest in his work, devised the beautiful, and in every detail, hygienic dress, known as "The Ger- trude Baby Suit," named after their little daughter, for whom it was first designed. This emancipation dress has not only become popular at home, but has also found a warm welcome even in England,
Australia, India and South Africa, and is highly commended in the medical journals of the conti- nent. Besides his position as professor he has, for several years, been on the executive board of the college. For eighteen years he has been a member of the Chicago Academy of Physicians and Surgeons, and is now ( 1890) serving for the third time as its president. He was two years president of the American Padological Society, and for many years has been connected with the American Institute of Homeopathy.
Dr. Grosvenor excels as a speaker, and his pub- lic lectures and parlor conversations are most highly prized. His diction is simple, sure and concise ; his style fluent, his manner graceful and his thought and argument convincing. He has always taken the deepest interest in young peo- ple, and has several lectures especially for their benefit, such as "Our Boys," " Value of a Pur- pose," "Stimulants and Narcotics," " Brains," "Our Girls," "How to be Beautiful," " Roses Without Cosmetics," etc., and enjoys nothing more than his class lectures, because of their helpfulness to young men. Dr. Grosvenor is a man of sanguine temperament, exalted hope and never recognizes the possibility of failure. He lives with the purpose of making the world bet- ter and brighter constantly in view, and wherever known is recognized as a Christian gentleman, with fixed opinions and high aims. He holds membership in the Lincoln Park Congregational Church, and was for several years president of its board of trustees; he is also a charter member of the Chicago Congregational Club. In political sentiment he is a Republican.
Dr. Grosvenor has been peculiarly fortunate and happy in his home-life, and to this owes not a little of his remarkable success. Three years after the death of his first wife he was united in marriage with Miss Naomi Josephine Bassett, of Taunton, Massachusetts, a highly educated young lady, with unusual literary tastes and talents and charming accomplishments, and withal, rare good sense and Christian virtue. Her natural fondness for children, enhanced by several years of teach- ing, added to her other womanly graces, fitted her for the responsible place she was to fill-that of taking charge of a home with two motherless boys. But so faithfully has the task been per- formed, that it is not surprising that there should
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exist for her the most loyal love on the part of her two stepsons. There have been born to Dr. Grosvenor and his present wife, four children, of whom two-Inez and Gertrude-died when two and three years of age, respectively; the two surviving-David Bassett, now in his tenth year, and one daughter, Lucy Ella, now in her eighth year-are beautiful and interesting children. Their home is a center of refinement and generous hos- pitality, and no one can come within the range of its genial, Christian influence without being made nobler and better.
The eldest son, Dr. Lorenzo N. Grosvenor, born at Galesburg, in 1868, received his preliminary ed- ucation in the public schools and Chicago High School, and afterwards attended Oberlin College.
He then pursued a course of study in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College, and graduated in 1889, taking a post-graduate course in 1892, and is now in practice at Edgewater, a beautiful sub- urb of Chicago. He is a young man of high character, energetic, cheery and hopeful, and at once scholarly and refined, in every sense a worthy son of a worthy father. The second son, Wal- lace F. Grosvenor, born at Galesburg, January 4, 1870, is a member of the class of '92 in Oberlin College, and also a matriculate of the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College. He is a young man of much promise, and in scholarship ranks among the first in his class, whose honors he car- ried off in his sophomore year. He will enter the medical profession upon completion of his studies.
M. H. DE YOUNG,
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.
M. H. DE YOUNG, proprietor of the San Francisco Chronicle, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1848. When he was a youth of five years he was taken across the plains to California by his parents, who became residents of the bustling young city of San Francisco. For a time during his boyhood days Mr. De Young sold papers on the streets of the Pacific coast metropolis. In 1865, when seventeen years of age, he, with his brother Charles, began the pub- lication of a small advertising sheet, known as the Dramatic Chronicle. The paper was carried on with a very small capital, and being distributed gratuitously, it depended entirely upon its adver- tising patronage for support. It grew very rap- idly, and just as the first year of its existence closed it secured telegraphic dispatches and began to have the character of a newspaper. It had a large subscription list at that time-large for a local paper in those days of Pacific Coast journal- ism, and it was looked upon as a power in the land. Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Prentice Mulford and other rising stars in the literary firmament contributed to the paper, and it became very popular. Mr. De Young assumed the control of the business department of the paper, while his brother had charge of the editorial department.
Mr. De Young watched the growth of the
Chronicle with all the interest and enthusiasm of a young journalist whose heart is wrapped up in his enterprise. He devoted all his time and atten- tion to the development of the Chronicle, and its wonderful success more than compensated for his years of toil. When, in 1880, Charles De Young was killed by the son of Mayor Kalloch, M. H. De Young became sole proprietor of the paper. He at once exhibited remarkable talent for edito- rial management, and as a result of his efforts the Chronicle has steadily improved and attained its now well-known high standing among the news- papers of the nation.
As a business man Mr. De Young has been phenomenally successful, and his fortune has been estimated to be nearly five million dollars. He owns the fine new ten-story Chronicle building on Kearny, Market and Geary streets, in San Fran- cisco, a magnificent residence on California street, and the beautiful Alcazar Theatre building on O'Farrell street, besides a great deal of other valuable property.
In public life Mr. De Young has been quite prominent of late, having been a commissioner to the Paris Exposition, as well as a member of the Republican National Committee, and he is now second vice-president of the World's Columbian Exposition.
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Mr. De Young is one of the representative men of the Pacific coast, and is certainly one of the busiest and most prosperous men in San Francisco.
He was married, in 1881, to Miss Kate Deane, of San Francisco, and has a charming family of four children.
GEORGE W. CASS,
CHICAGO, ILL.
G EORGE W. CASS is well known at the I Chicago bar as an able lawyer of large and varied experience. Hle has an extensive knowledge of adjudicated cases and statutory enactments, and he looks well to the history and philosophy of the law. Ilis mind is broad and comprehensive, and he never gets confused among the multitude of cases that are contained in the reports, but he possesses that legal acumen and nice perception that enable him to distinguish with accuracy cases directly in point, and he is so well acquainted with the history of jurisprudence in this and foreign countries that he never cites an authority unless it comes from a court entitled to great credit. Hle possesses that equipoise of mind and character that peculiarly fits him for a counselor. He is an easy, graceful speaker, lucid, logical and convincing, while as a citizen no man stands higher than he. He is the son of Abner L. Cass, a prominent physician of Coshocton, Ohio, where he was born February 11, 1851. His father was at one time a State Senator in Ohio, and is a brother of Gen. George W. Cass, formerly presi- dent of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, and a nephew of Gen. Lewis Cass, of Michigan, a statesman of national reputation, once Democratic candidate for the presidency, and a grandson of Jonathan Cass of Revolutionary fame.
The maternal ancestors of our subject were of an old Scottish family, among which were several clergymen eminent for their great learning and
eloquence. Our subject pursued a four-years' course of study at Kenyon College, and was grad- uated therefrom in 1870 as valedictorian of his class. He then entered Ann Arbor Law School, where he remained until 1873. After spending a few months in Ohio, he commenced the practice of the law in Chicago, in the fall of that year. He formed a partnership with Mr. William P'. Elliott, under the firm name of Elliott & Cass, which was continued until 1877, since which time he has been in practice by himself. He has a fine class of clients, among them several large corporations of Chicago, and is doing an extensive business.
In politics Mr. Cass is a Democrat, but the duties of his profession fully engross his attention, so that he is not what is termed an active poli- tician, but his high standing as a lawyer, his practical sound judgment and even balance of mind have drawn the attention of his party to him as an available candidate for a judgeship. Since coming to Chicago, Mr. Cass has purchased a large amount of valuable real estate, and his atten- tion has been turned largely to real estate law, and he has become very learned in that branch of his profession ; so much so that he is considered high authority in all matters pertaining to realty. He has been secretary of the Chicago Bar Association eight years, and is a member of the Calumet, Iroquois and University clubs.
He was married, in 1878, to Miss Rebecca Os- borne. They have two children.
COL. GEORGE R. CLARKE,
CHICAGO, ILL.
T HE subject of this sketch was born at Una- dilla Forks, New York, February 22, 1827, the son of Dr. Henry and Lucy Clarke. His father established himself in his profession at Chi-
cago in 1836, and removed his family thither in May, 1838. In September, 1840, he removed to Walworth, Wisconsin, and practiced his profes- sion there until his death, which occurred April
Low bass
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23, 1853. His widow, Mrs. Lorinda Clarke, is still living, and is seventy-seven years of age. Our subject's own mother, Lucy Clarke, died in 1829. There were, besides him, seven children in the family, viz .: Henry W., Hannah M., William M., Miles D., George R., Charles C., Benjamin F. and John M.
George removed to Chicago in 1839. In 1848 he entered Beloit College, and pursued his studies through the junior year, when he left college and accepted the principalship of Monroe Seminary, Wisconsin, and held it eighteen months. He afterwards taught at Milton Academy, and later was elected superintendent of the public schools of Baraboo, Sauk county, Wisconsin, and for eighteen months edited the Sauk County Standard, a "Free Soil" Democratic paper.
Having employed his spare time in the study of law, he returned to Chicago in 1853, and was admitted to the bar and began practice. In the following year he turned his attention to the real estate trade, and continued until 1860, when he went to Colorado and spent two years in mining. Returning to Chicago in 1862, he at once began recruiting men for service in the War of the Re- bellion, which was then in progress, and was made captain of Company A, One Hundred and Thir- teenth Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, infantry. He afterwards rose to the rank of major and lieutenant-colonel. He was post commander of Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, for eight months after the siege of Vicksburg, and was in not only that siege, but also many other im- portant battles with the Fifteenth Army Corps, under General Sherman. Returning to Chicago after the close of the war, he resumed the real estate business. In 1869 he laid out Morgan Park, one of Chicago's finest suburbs, and still has control of the Blue Island Land and Building Company's real estate matters.
Colonel Clarke was for many years identified with the Masonic Order, and rose to the thirty- second degree. He was a member of the Chicago Consistory. He was married in 1873 to Miss Sarah Dunn, a native of Cayuga county, New York, and daughter of James Dunn. Mrs. Clarke. is a highly educated woman, and is noted for her religious zeal and earnest Christian work. He has one daughter by a former marriage, Nellie A., the wife of Mr. John Black, of Chicago,
While Colonel Clarke's career has been one of unusual activity, and successful from a business standpoint, he has been brought into special prominence as a religious teacher and Christian worker. He was converted to Christianity in 1860, while in the mining-regions of Colorado, and ever since has devoted himself with untiring zeal to the work of winning others to that cause. Both he and his wife are connected with the Con- gregational Church, and for many years have been co-workers with Mr. Dwight L. Moody in evan- gelical work, and their influence has been felt, not only in Chicago, but throughout many parts of the United States. They founded and have long sustained the Pacific Garden Mission, which has proved one of the most useful reformatory in- stitutions of Chicago. It was started in 1877, in a store at No. 286 South Clark street, in one of the most depraved sections of the city, commonly known as the " Levee." Religious services have been kept up every night and on Sundays, and the work has grown until now there is maintained not only gospel services, but also a large Sunday- school, a free sewing-school, a free kindergarten, Bible-classes, organized prison-work and a regular system of house-to-house visitation among the poor and neglected classes. In order to accommodate the crowds who thronged the mission, commodious quarters at the corner of Clark and Van Buren streets were secured, where night after night as- sembled hundreds of all classes of neglected and degraded men and women, eagerly seeking the truth and a better life. These quarters in time became overcrowded and Colonel Clarke leased and fitted up the spacious rooms at the corner of Van Buren street and Fourth avenue, the present home of the mission. Besides the various depart- ments of work mentioned, there is also a lodging house, where the poor converts can secure lodg- ing for a small compensation, and are provided with tickets when they have no money to pay. For fifteen years Colonel and Mrs. Clarke have carried on this benevolent work, bringing the gospel in a most practical way to the thousands who else had never felt its beneficent influence. The most debased have been lifted up. Criminals have been reformed; drunkards have been re- claimed; hearts and homes from which light and hope had fled have been warmed into a new life and made happy and glad. Men and women
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who were so degraded by vicious indulgences that the attempt to reform them seemed almost a hopeless task, have become helpful members of so- ciety through the work here done, and are living useful lives, many of them preaching to others that gospel that saved them. For ten years Colonel Clarke bore the expenses of this extensive work, which averaged about six thousand dollars per year, almost alone. But for five years past, others connected with the mission have helped him in carrying the financial burden. In this vast enter- prise Colonel Clarke has had the constant and earnest co-operation of his estimable wife, who
devotes herself not only to the work in the mis- sion-rooms, but spends a large portion of cach week visiting among the poor, and especially the prisoners at the county jail. The results show that the cause is a most worthy one and too much praise cannot be given to those who have so cheerfully made the sacrifices necessary to se- cure them. But they do not seek or desire praise or renown, but feel that they are doing only what they ought in carrying out the scriptural injunc- tion, "Go ye out into the highways and compel the people to come in, that my house may be filled."
EDWARD P. GRISWOLD,
CHICAGO, ILL.
A MONG the names of the prominent business men of Chicago who have been closely identified with its interests, and have assisted in its marvelous growth, and who, while helping to build up a metropolis, have founded for them- selves reputations more enduring than iron or stone, stands that of Edward P'. Griswold, one who, by force of native ability and steady per- severance, has raised himself to a position of wealth and honor. His life-history illustrates in a marked degree what may be accomplished by well directed efforts and a strict adherence to correct business principles.
Mr. Griswold is a native of Connecticut. He was born near Hartford, August 6, 1838, the son of Thomas and Jerusha (Wells) Griswold. His father was the leading cloth manufacturer in that State. The boyhood of our subject was spent in the public schools of his native town, and he finished his education at East Hampton, Massa- chusetts. In 1854 he began as a clerk in the employ of Mr. S. W. Griswold, who was then in the same line of business in which Mr. Griswold is now engaged, at Hartford, Connecticut.
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