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. 2 > Part 18
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He was also a special partner in the grain and commission house of Avery, Hillabrant and Co., of Chicago. May 10, 1859, he became a member of the Chicago Board of Trade. He paid the sum of fifteen dollars for his membership, and he still holds the original ticket, which is signed by J. H. Rumsey, president, and Seth Catlin, secre- tary. There are few older members of the Board than Mr. Bemis, and very few who have had
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larger legitimate dealings on the Board of Trade. He was at one time a prominent turfman and has owned numerous valuable horses. His interest in turf matters caused him to loan money largely to the old Chicago Jockey and Trotting Club, and when it became involved he bought out all other interests and in 1873 the Chicago Driving Park Association was organized. In 1884 he purchased the newspaper called the Chicago Horseman. This company has a paid up capital of $50,000. Mr. Bemis was editor of this paper until 1887 ; he then sold a controlling interest to D. J. Campau, of Detroit, Michigan.
Mr. Bemis was married October 27, 1869, to Miss R. A. Armstrong, of Lynchburg, Virginia. She is a social, agreeable lady, intelligent and re- fined, and has a host of warm and admiring friends.
Mr. Bemis is a member of the Iroquois Club, Press Club, and the Artists' Club of Chicago ; in politics he is a Democrat, and while taking a laud- able interest in both local and national politics, he is not a politician, and will accept no office.
In religion he is liberal, a Protestant, but not identified with any denomination.
In connection with this sketch it may not be out of place to briefly describe the famous Hotel Richelieu, now owned and managed by Mr. Bemis, and magnificent in all its proportions. It is located on Michigan boulevard and the Lake Front and was opened in 1885. The front is of
handsome pressed brick. Over the front entrance is a statue of the famous Armand Jean Du Plessis Cardinal De Richelieu. The statue is of white marble, six feet and six inches high, from the chisel of Le Jeune, the French sculptor, and is an exceedingly fine piece of work. The interior of the hotel is magnificent in all its appointments.
The Richelieu is celebrated all over this coun- try and Europe for its fine paintings and its china and glass ware, in the collection of which Mr. and Mrs. Bemis spent years of travel.
The wine cellar of Hotel Richelieu is the most noted in this country or Europe. It contains finer wines and a larger assortment than any other establishment.
Mr. Bemis has been conspicuous in a number of enterprises of great magnitude; but no enter- prise he has undertaken has shown his great energy and ability so much as the construction and operation of this palace hotel. Over six hundred thousand dollars has been expended in this magnificent hotel. As an European hotel it surpasses any other in this country, and is known · as the Delmonico of Chicago.
Mr. Bemis is a polite and suave gentleman, ever industrious in making his house a comfort- able home for his guests, and that they receive proper care and attention is his utmost aim. He is very popular with the traveling public : and is a large-hearted, whole-souled gentlemen, always to be appreciated.
JOHN W. STREETER, M.D.
CHICAGO, ILL.
JOHN W. STREETER was born at Austin- burg, Ashtabula county, Ohio, September 17. 1841. His father was the Rev. Sereno W. Streeter, a clergyman of the Congregational Church, de- scended from an old Massachusetts family, and well known in his day as a powerful advocate of the cause of freedom, and prominently connected with all anti-slavery movements. His mother's maiden name was Mary Williams. She was a descendant of the renowned Roger Williams, the founder of the colony of Rhode Island, himself a descendant of one of the oldest families of Wales, a man of broad and enlightened views.
Both father and mother were graduates of Oberlin College, Ohio. The father was also a student at Lane Theological Seminary at Cincin- nati, Ohio, and about 1847 removed from Ohio to the western part of New York State, and became the pastor of a church at Henrietta, five miles from Rochester, where our subject commenced his education, in the neigboring academies. Some ten years later his father removed to Westerville, Ohio, having been offered a professor's chair in Otterbien University. He was actuated in this more particularly by his desire to give his sons better educational advantages, his desire being
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John 2. Strater MIN.
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that our subject should follow the practice of medicine.
From 1858 to 1862, John taught school during the winter months and worked on a farm in Northern Indiana in summer, thereby acquiring a robust and healthier constitution and gaining a practical knowledge of agriculture.
In 1862 he visited his father, who was then in charge of a large and thriving church at Union City, Michigan, and in July of that year, he en- listed in the First Regiment of Michigan, Light Artillery, and afterwards known as the " Loomis" Battery, the first . battery organized in the State of Michigan for services in the War of the Re- bellion. This battery took an active part in the various campaigns throughout Kentucky, Tennes- see, Alabama, Georgia, etc., and was prominent in the engagements at Nashville and Franklin, Ten- nessee. Enlisting as he did as a private, he early re- ceived promotion. After the battle of Chicka- mauga, in which he was conspicuous for his fear- lessness and bravery, he was offered an appoint- ment on the staff of Gen. Corlin, but declined. He was mustered out of service with his company in August, 1865, having been promoted to the hon- orable position of first lieutenant for gallant and meritorious services, having passed through all the numerous perils of the war, without an ac- cident or injury of any note.
At the conclusion of the war he commenced the serious study of his intended profession under Dr. Morse, of Union City, Michigan, attending the first course of lectures at Ann Arbor Univer- sity, where he had previously matriculated. He afterwards studied under Dr. D. C. Powers, of Coldwater, Michigan, an old and valued friend, who had been the surgeon of his battery during the war, and still later pursued a course of reading under Dr. Goodwin, an eminent ex-naval surgeon of Toledo, Ohio.
Dr. Streeter was graduated in 1868 from Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago, and for some time he was in charge of its dispensary and devoted almost two years to charity practice. One of ¿the founders of the Chicago Homœo- pathic Medical College (in 1877), Dr. Streeter was at one time Professor of the Diseases of Women and Children, two years later he was elected Pro- fessor of Medical and Surgical Discases of Wo- men, while at present, 1892, heoccupies the Chair
of Gynecology in the same institution, and, as such, he is recognized as one of the most able and prominent gynecologists in the United States.
For a long time he has been connected with Cook County Hospital, as attending gynecologist. He is also gynecologist to the Chicago Homœo- pathic Hospital and Central Homoeopathic Free Dispensary. Dr. Streeter was surgeon of the First Brigade for more than nine years. He was at one time surgeon of the First Regiment also. A member of the American Institute of Home- opathy and of the Illinois State Homoeopathic Medical Society, Dr. Streeter has many engage- ments to fulfill. He has a large and lucrative practice amongst Chicago's best and most wealthy citizens. He has one of the largest private hos- pitals in the Western States, his specialty being abdominal and pelvic surgery.
Taking a great interest in the building up and sustaining of the National Guard, he is also very prominently identified with the Veteran Order of the Royal Legion of Illinois, which is one of the oldest commanderies. He is a member of the Calumet, Washington Park and the Kennel clubs and the new Athletic Association. Dr. Streeter is fond of athletic sports of all kinds and nothing delights him more than to take part in an excit- ing hunt.
In politics he is a Republican ; his opinions have seldom changed, for he was a Republican in sym- pathy long before the war, but politics do not give him much concern, and he seldom takes any active part in party affairs, his time being fully occupied with his professional duties.
In religious belief he is a Presbyterian.
He was married September 3, 1869, to Miss Mary Clarke, of Union City, Michigan, a daugh- ter of Israel W. Clarke, who was the first to oper- ate a jobbing trade in dry goods in New York. Mr. Clarke is now close upon ninety years of age, and has long since retired from business, being very wealthy and noted for his philanthropy and deep piety. His daughter (Mrs. Streeter) is a lady of considerable literary taste, of more than the average ability as an artist, and of many social attainments. She is well known in society circles. The issue of this marriage is one son and two daughters.
Dr. Streeter has three brothers and three sisters. The eldest brother, Mr. S. M. Streeter resides at
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South Chicago, William H. is a real estate dealer in New York, Albert T. is a prominent lawyer in Lake Superior region. One of his sisters is a resident of Maine, another of California and an- other of Michigan.
Dr. Streeter is a gentleman of finished educa- tion, polished and suave in manner and emi- nent in his profession. He has an indomitable will and rarely fails in carrying out whatever he attempts.
POTTER PALMER,
CHICAGO, ILL.
T HE life history of him whose name heads this sketch is closely identified with the history of Chicago, which has been his home nearly forty years. He began his remarkable career there, when what is now the second city in the United States was but a village, and has grown with its growth until his name and reputa- tion are as far reaching as are those of his city. His life has been one of untiring, activity and has been crowned with a degree of success attained by the comparatively few. He is of the highest type of a business man, and none more than he deserves a fitting recognition among the men whose hardy genius and splendid abilities have achieved results that are the wonder and admira- tion of the world.
His ancestry is of English origin, and his family was first represented in this country in early colonial times. His grand-parents, who, in early life, were residents of New Bedford, Vermont, re- moved to New York State about the beginning of the present century, and settled on a farm in Albany county, on the western bank of the Hud- son. They were members of the Society of Friends, as was also our subject's father, who was a farmer by occupation and a man of influence in his community; he was the father of seven chil- dren, of whom our subject was the fourth. Potter passed his boyhood on his father's farm, and re- ceived a good English education. But his native instinct and abilities led him to seek a business life, and to gratify this desire he, at the age of eighteen, accepted a minor position in a country store and bank at Durham, in Greene county, New York. He showed great aptitude for the busi- ness and rapidly familiarized himself with and mastered all its details, and at the end of three years was placed in charge of the establishment. Soon after attaining his majority he started in
business on his own account in Oneida county, and met with gratifying success. He removed thence to Lockport in Niagara county, and there repeated the experiences of his former business ventures. His desire was for a wider field of action ; and with that foresight that has been a marked characteristic of his life, he selected Chi- cago as the place destined to become the metrop- olis of the then undeveloped West. How fully have subsequent events justified the wisdom of his choice! His enterprise and thrift had been rewarded with gratifying returns; and being in the full vigor of young manhood, ambitious to develop his latent powers and make for himself a name, he hailed with delight the day that brought him to the place that was to be the scene of his splendid achievements.
At that time Lake street was Chicago's prin- cipal business thoroughfare. And there, upon his arrival, Mr. Palmer opened a large retail dry- goods store, investing his entire capital. Follow- ing the policy that has marked all his transactions, of making the most and best of his means and opportunities, he worked with a will, and it was not long before his store was a center of attrac- tion, and the leading retail establishment in Chi- cago. Enlarging his facilities to meet the de- mands of his increasing trade, he finally added to his business a wholesale department, which rapidly grew to great magnitude under his skillful manage- ment. The last years of his mercantile career were during the civil war, when public confidence wavered, and when strong men were losing heart and predicting ill. Not so with Potter Palmer! With a firm faith in the ultimate triumph of the Union cause, he came to its aid with devoted loyalty. While others hesitated he was active ; when men less loyal withdrew or withheld their capital from trade, he showed the courage of his
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convictions by investing in immense stocks of goods. While his course thus pursued stimulated trade and inspired commercial confidence, it, at the same time, increased his pecuniary profits.
During the thirteen years of his active partici- pation in his business, before resigning it to his partners and successors, the volume of its trade increased from seventy thousand to seven million dollars per annum ; and it had no rival in the United States outside of New York city. Mr. Palmer retired from mercantile life in 1865, being then forty years of age, with a large fortune, the result of his foresight, ability, and business tact and skill.
A new field was now open to him. Chicago, although justly noted for her commercial activity and standing, had given little attention to exter- nal appearances ; the principal streets were narrow and lined with structures built without regard to architectual effects. People had been too much occupied to give attention to anything more than the wants of trade, and Chicago was in appear- ance but an overgrown country town. Quick to see this lack, and in it an opportunity to benefit the city and at the same time make a profitable investment of his capital, he moved with bold- ness and yet cautiously, carefully selecting his properties, and in a period of six months pur- chased about three-quarters of a mile of frontage on State street, at that time the principal retail thoroughfare in the city. With the exception of two blocks it was narrow and unadorned with any other than the commonest buildings. Mr. Palmer, to carry out his plan of widening and improving the street, bought and moved back from the street line old buildings to a new line whose establishment he secured, and on vacant lots erected new buildings on the new line. The task was a difficult one, for many persons were obsti- nate and submitted to the new order of things only when compelled to by legal measures. But in four years his purpose was accomplished, and those who beheld the transformation that had been wrought between Madison street and Twelfth street on the south, a distance of a mile, changed from a narrow, irregular, dirty street to a spacious avenue, have only words of praise for the man through whose efforts it had been accomplished. Among the dozen or more buildings which Mr. Palmer erected here were the first "Palmer
House," and a marble front building for mercan- tile purposes built at a cost of one hundred thou- sand dollars. At the time of the great fire of October 8 and 9, 1871, Mr. Palmer was one of the largest property owners in Chicago, and suffered greater loss than any other single person. No less than thirty-five buildings, which yielded him an annual rental of two hundred thousand dollars were swept away. This calamity, which had wiped out in a single night the accumulations of his years of toil, and left him with an income from his vast property interests too small by many thousand dollars to pay his annual taxes, would have cast down and utterly disheartened a man of less heroic courage ; as it was, only his iron will, and his faith in the possibilities of the city where he had accumulated his fortune, and his consciousness of his own powers, coupled with the buoyant hope and cheering words of his young and devoted wife, nerved him to manfully meet this ordeal. Recovering from the shock caused by the realization of his misfortune, re- assured by the heroic cheerfulness and encourage- ment of his wife, he resolved that he would re- trieve his losses. For him to think was to act ; and no sooner had he made this resolve than he sought to inspire others with the same purpose- of turning this seeming calamity into (what subse- quent events proved it to have been) a blessing in disguise.
An army of men were put to work to clear away the smouldering debris of his ruined build- ings. Years of honorable dealing had given him unlimited credit, which now came to his rescue, enabling him to procure, on his own terms, ample building material ; and as by magic, upon the sites of the old, new structures arose, surpass- ing in grandeur and beauty and utility anything that Chicago had ever before witnessed. The spirit shown by Mr. Palmer was emulated by others ; new capital sought investment ; new in- dustries were started ; fresh enterprises sprung up, and before many months had passed a new city arose from the ashes of the old, inspired with life and bustling with activity before un- known. It is but a deserved tribute, to say that in the rebuilding of Chicago, no man did more than Potter Palmer. Viewed in the light of sub- sequent events, and from this time more has been accomplished in the twenty-one years that
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have elapsed since that fateful 9th of October, 1871, to make Chicago the pride of this land-the wonder of the world-than a century of uncon- certed effort could have done.
To recount all of Mr. Palmer's achievements were impossible in a sketch of this character. The palatial hotel that bears his name has always been to him an object of special pride, and noth- ing has been spared to make it worthy of the world-wide reputation which it has. When the "Lake Shore Drive" was laid out in 1873, he quickly divined its future, as the leading fashion- able avenue of the city, and true to his instincts invested largely in property bordering upon it, and erected thereon costly residences in varied styles of architecture. Here, too, at the southern extremity of Lincoln Park, and overlooking Lake Michigan, he built his own home, wherein is em- bodied the splendid triumphs of modern architec- tural skill; and with its broad lawns and well-kept gardens, and luxurious furnishings, it presents a model of completeness.
Colossal fortunes impose vast obligations, and no man is more heartily alive to this than Mr. Palmer. His means have been used not alone in public enterprises, which, while benefitting his city, would, at the same time increase his mil- lions, but also have been given with a generous hand to charitable and benevolent objects of every name. And in matters of public concern calling for help he is one of the foremost and
most liberal givers. He was active in securing the location of the World's Columbian Exposi- tion at Chicago, and since its inception has been untiring in his zeal, and unsparing of his money and time in furthering its interests and enabling it to be in fact what it is in name. In all its plans and deliberations he . has been an earnest adviser and coadjutor, and fills an important place in its local directorate.
In July, 1870, Mr. Palmer married Miss Bertha Honoré, daughter of Mr. Henry H. Honoré, of Chicago. Mrs. Palmer is a woman of superior intelligence, and with her versatile talents and generous culture, and true womanly virtues, grace- fully adorns the high station in life she has been called to fill. Not only does she enter heartily into the most ambitious projects of her husband, aiding with her counsels, but she also has her own field of action. She takes an active part in charitable enterprises, and with her ample means makes ample use of her opportunities for doing good. Her labors in behalf of the World's Columbian Exposition have been great, and no one has done as much as she to interest in its behalf the women of our own and of foreign lands. Her selection as president of its Board of Lady Managers in 1890 was a fitting recog- nition of her unselfish devotion to what is to her a purely patriotic service.
Mr. and Mrs. Palmer have two sons, Honoré and Potter.
FRANK B. TOBEY,
CHICAGO, ILL.
F RANK BASSETT TOBEY, president of the Tobey Furniture Company, was born at Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, September 15, 1833. It is remarkable how many of Chicago's prominent business men came from Cape Cod. Besides the Tobey Brothers, Charles and Frank, who built up the immense business of the Tobey Furniture Company, the Nickersons, the Swifts, the Underwoods, the Ryders, the Lombards, the Crosbys, the Matthews, and a host of others, claim this sandy peninsula as their birth- place. The father of Frank Tobey owned and occupied the farm that had been in the pos-
session of the Tobey family for more than two hundred years. Tradition says that this land was deeded to Captain Thomas Tobey, about the year 1675, for services rendered in organizing a com- pany and assisting Plymouth Colony in King Phillip's war.
Frank's mother was Rachel Bassett, whose ances- tors came to America in the next ship following the Mayflower.
Frank worked on the farm summers and at- tended school winters until he was eighteen. For the next five years he held a position as clerk of the village store and post-office. The proprietor,
Frank B. Jobey
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Howes Chapman, was a man of superior intelli- gence, and was singularly upright in character and motives. He had great influence in molding the character of his young assistant, to whom he gave up largely the management of the business.
At an early age Frank took great interest in philosophical and political subjects, always reason- ing from the humanitarian stand-point. When only twelve years old, he took issue with his father on the question of the Mexican war, claim- ing that its object was the extension of slave ter- ritory and therefore unjust. He- soon became identified with the anti-slavery movement. He wrote the call and served as secretary for the first Republican convention ever held in his native town. At that time the Republicans were repre- sented by a small minority, but nine years later every vote in the town was cast for Abraham Lincoln. When barely twenty-one he was nomi- nated as delegate to the first Republican State convention, but declined the honor because he could not afford the expense.
In 1857 he came to Chicago, where a year before his brother Charles had started the furniture business on State street, south of Van Buren, in a small store, twenty by sixty feet. The first year Frank worked on a salary. The next year the copartnership of Chas. Tobey and Brother was formed and their room doubled by the addi- tion of the adjoining store. At this time the young men did all their own work, and by close attention made the business prosperous. Their conservative methods enabled them to weather the panic of '57 to '60, when so many older concerns went down.
The large increase of business in 1859 required larger accommodations, which they found at 72 State street. They afterward removed to Lake street, and in 1866 to a new building erected specially for them at 77-79 State street, being business pioneers on that thoroughfare. In 1870 tlie Tobey Brothers, in connection with F. Porter Thayer, organized the Thayer and Tobey Furni- ture Company. The great fire of 1871 destroyed their building and stock, and in common with most Chicago firms, they suffered severe loss. With characteristic energy, they improvised a salesroom at their west side factory, which had escaped, and before the fire had ceased its ravages, they had taken an order to furnish the Sherman House,
now the Gault, which order was completed in seven days. In 1873 they occupied the Clark Building, corner State and Adams streets. In 1875 the Tobey Brothers bought out Mr. Thayer's in- terest, and the name of the company was changed to the Tobey Furniture Company, Charles be- ing president, and Frank vice-president and mana- ger. In March, 1888, the company occupied the Drake Building, corner Wabash avenue and Washington street. The same year they started a factory for the manufacture of high-class furni- ture for their own trade. This feature of the business has grown beyond anticipation, the qual- ity of the goods produced being equal to any- thing in the world.
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