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 25
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For eight years the firm did a prosperous busi- ness; at the end of that time (in 1880) Mr. Fisch- er, with Messrs Abram Kuh and Adolph Nathan, organized the wholesale clothing establishment of Kuh, Nathan and Fischer.
During the past decade there has been an in- vention put into practical use that has virtually re_
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Fischer
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volutionized the manner of transporting live-stock. It has also tended to purify our food products by preserving the health of the stock while in transit, 'and has also resulted in largely eliminating the brutality that has always attended the trans- portation of live-stock in the ordinary cattle cars.
Every invention, no matter how meritorious, is beset with difficulties, and the utmost skill is often required to utilize it and make it a public benefit, and at the same time remunerative to those financially interested in it. In placing Street's Stable cars before the public, one of the greatest obstacles to overcome was the indisposition of the railroad corporations of the west to permit the cars to be operated on their lines. The credit of bringing this invention to practical use is largely due to Siegfried M. Fischer.
The history of the manner in which Mr. Fischer become interested in Street's Stable cars is deeply interesting. The story is as follows :
During his first year's (1868) residence in Mar- shalltown, Iowa, Mr. Fischer became casually ac- quainted with Mr. John W. Street, who had con- ceived the idea of improving the cars used for shipping cattle, so as to make their transportation less barbarous.
The existence of Mr. Street had almost passed from Mr. Fischer's mind, but he has the faculty of remembering faces, and while walking on Madison street, Chicago, he met Mr. Street, accosted him in a friendly way, and invited him to call at his place of business; he had no specific object in view, but merely invited him in a friendly spirit; within an hour Mr. Street called on Mr. Fischer, and after obtaining an interview, he requested a personal loan of fifty dollars, stating at the time, that his family was suffering for necessaries. Mr. Fischer gladly accommodated him, and he in- sisted on giving a due bill for the amount. This due bill is still in the possession of Mr. Fischer, and he treasures it as a memento. He then re- quested Mr. Fischer to favor him by examining his Stable car, and note what he had accomplished. Mr. Fischer replied that he understood the cloth- ing business, but he did not know the first thing about cars. Finally, after urgent solicitation, very much against his desire, he and his son, Leon, then a mere boy, accompanied Mr. Street to the Union Stock Yards, and examined Mr. Street's models. Very indifferently Mr. Fischer viewed
the plans, and reiterated his former statement that while his ideas seemed very feasible, and were probably very good, he knew absolutely nothing about cars. At this stage his son called Mr. Fischer's attention to some of the advantages to be derived from the use of the cars, and through his and Mr. Street's arguments, Mr. Fischer was induced to advance two hundred or three hundred dollars, to enable Mr. Street to have a car con- structed, and his patent completed. Before the car was completed he had sixteen hundred dollars invested.
After several trials that proved the efficiency of the system, the first regular shipment was made. Orrin Haley, a cattle raiser of Laramie, Wyoming Territory, being the first regular shipper to use the cars. Subsequently two more cars were con- structed, and later on, ten more were added-Mr. Fischer's desire being that the revenue of these thirteen cars should support Mr. Street and family, who were dependent upon him for their subsis- tence. These thirteen cars were finally employed by a Mr. Hathaway, a cattle dealer of Boston, for regular shipment, with the most satisfactory re- sults, and afforded a living for Mr. Street. Mr. Fischer had much to contend with, and besides being unable to interest the railroad companies in the invention, was ridiculed by some of his friends, most of whom believed that he had sunk the twenty thousand dollars which he had invested in the enterprise.
In 1886 Mr. Adolph Nathan and some of his friends invested some capital in the enterprise, and thus formed the nucleus of the present company. Upon its organization Mr. Nathan was elected president and Mr. Fischer, treasurer. In 1887 Mr. Fischer was elected vice-president and gen- eral manager, and after Mr. Nathan, owing to ill health, resigned in 1889, he was elected president and treasurer, which offices he has since filled to the satisfaction of the stockholders and directors.
The company at the outset had great difficulties to overcome. The opposition of the western railroads was especially strong. The charges placed on the cars were almost prohibitive ; but the difficulties were finally overcome, and the com- pany now (1892) has contracts with fifteen different railroads, which, instead of charging, pay the com- pany for the use of its cars. The number of cars now operated is over four thousand.
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The company is chartered for five million 0 dollars-four million of common stock and one million preferred. It has always been conducted profitably, and since its organization it has paid a regular dividend of seven per cent. on the pre- ferred stock. The cars as they are now constructed add to the comfort and health of the live-stock shipped. The animals are fed and watered, and obtain rest in the cars without unloading. Street's Stable cars have improved the manner of shipping dumb animals as much as the Pullman Sleeping, Parlor and Buffet cars have improved the mode of travel for man. It is the parlor and dining car for cattle combined. The result is of such benefit that the Secretary of Agriculture has recom- mended these cars to be used for shipping live- stock.
On January 13, 1874, Mr. Fischer married Miss Sarah Louis, daughter of Mr. A. Louis, his early business partner, now a retired capitalist. Five children have blessed this union, the names in order of birth are-Leon J., aged seventeen ; Florence, fourteen ; Harry twelve; Tessie, eight ; and Lucile, an infant of two years. Around his hearth-circle, made cheerful by the merry voices of his happy children, he finds that true happi- ness, that a loving parent alone can feel. He is
now building a palatial residence on Drexel boule- vard, near Fiftieth street. He is a prominent Mason. He was exalted to the degree of Master Mason in Marshall Lodge, No. 108, A. F. and A. M., in 1868. He afterwards demitted and became a member of the Chicago Lodge, No. 437. He has passed through various degrees of Masonry, and is now a life member of the Oriental Consistory, thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite.
The Standard and Lakeside clubs count him among their most prominent members. He is also a member of the Chicago Athletic Club.
He is a director of the Bank of Commerce, and possesses large tracts of real estate, both in Chicago- and other western cities, which he purchased as a safe and remunerative investment, and not for speculative purposes.
He has traveled extensively, both in this country and in Europe, and finds both rest and recreation in his frequent trips across the Atlantic.
Such is his biography. In it there is much to emulate. What he has accomplished has been by steady application in the line of a well-defined and persistent purpose.
He has surmounted many obstacles, and to-day, while still in the prime of vigorous manhood, holds a place among the representative men of Chicago.
EDWY JOSEPH OGDEN, M.D.
CHICAGO, ILL.
E DWY J. OGDEN was born at Cooksville, near Toronto, county of Peel, Canada, Octo- ber 13, 1831. His father, Samuel Ogden, was a gentleman farmer and a magistrate ; his grand- father, Joseph Ogden, was a Pennsylvania loyal- ist, who, because he would not take up arms against the king of England, suffered many perse- cutions, and after the revolutionary war went to Canada and settled near Toronto.
The Ogden family are of English origin, some of them claiming to be of Saxon descent, the name being first Oakden, then Okden, and finally Ogden. Others assert that they were Norman Danes and knights of St. Marlow. The coat of arms belonging to the family, as the records in the Herald's office, London, England, show, were granted by King Charles II. for services ren-
dered his illustrious father, King Charles I. The family legends say (although certain generally accepted historical accounts make a different claim to the historic oak) that after a battle, where Charles I. was defeated, he made his escape with Lord Wilmot, but was pursued by some horse- men from Cromwell's army; being hard pressed he took refuge at the residence of Mr. Ogden (to whom the coat of arms was subsequently granted) and by him secreted in a huge oak tree upon his lawn. Their pursuers having searched in vain, rode away in the direction the refugees were sup- posed to have taken, and not returning, the king and Lord Wilmot were kindly entertained by the family until able to communicate with their fol- lowers. At the time of this visit Mrs. Ogden was daily in expectation of an addition to her family.
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The king requested her to call the child, if a boy, Wilmot, if a girl, Wilmoth, in honor of his faith- ful companion-names which have been in the family ever since. The circumstances connected with, and the character of, the grant and the pe- culiarity of the coat of arms strongly support the family claim. The coat of arms consist of quarterings of oak, an oak tree with acorns, a lion rampant ; the crest has the motto, Etsi osten- do non jacto.
The American branch began with the immi- gration of three or four brothers, previous to, or early in the seventeenth century, Joseph, Uzziel, John, and one, perhaps, David, whose history this branch of the family seems to have confused or lost. Joseph died in the Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania, and his son Joseph was the Can- adian emigrant before referred to. Uzziel and John attached themselves to the cause of the colonists: the former became the Episcopal bishop of New Jersey, and the latter, whose his- tory is well known, removed to Connecticut. The Ogden family are a numerous one in the United States, and are chiefly descended from Uzziel and John Ogden.
The subject of this sketch was educated in and near Toronto, Canada, his professional education was acquired in the University of Toronto, the Toronto School of Medicine, now the medical de- partment of that university, and the University of the City of New York. He also spent some time in the medical schools and hospitals of Philadelphia. He became a licentiate of Upper Canada in 1854, an M.D. of the University of the City of New York in 1855. After attending lectures upon ophthalmic surgery and a private course on surgery by Valentine Mott, he returned to Toronto and took the degree of M.D. in the University of Victoria College, and subsequently accepted a chair on surgery in its medical depart- ment, which he retained until the demand of a large private practice required all his time. In 1861 he was gazetted a military surgeon, having been previously appointed by the crown a coroner for the county of Halton; the former he resigned soon after his removal to Chicago in 1876.
Since residing in Chicago he has achieved dis- tinction as a general practitioner, but by reason of his cool, calm, deliberate demeanor he is peculiarly adapted for surgical work. His emi-
nent ability as a surgeon has been recognized by the railway corporations by his having been ap- pointed chief surgeon to the Chicago and Atlan- tic Railway Company and local surgeon for the Wabash Railroad Company.
From early youth he has had a decided fond- ness for out-of-door sports, cricket being his favor- ite game. The Ogden name is familiar to cricket players in both England and America. When he settled in Chicago in 1876, there being no cricket club in or near the city, he set to work and founded the Chicago Cricket Club. At the first meeting there were but five persons pres- ent, the membership the first year was fifteen, the second year the number reached thirty. The club has had a constant healthy growth ever since, until at the present time (1892) they have three hundred members in good stand ing, and own a beautiful park of seven acres at Parkside, with a handsome club-house on the grounds; the total cost of the grounds and club-house has been upwards of fifty thou- sand dollars. Many interesting contests have been held at this home of cricket in Chicago, in foot-ball, Lacrosse and lawn tennis. At present there are ten cricket clubs in the vicinity of the city, and to Dr. Ogden, more than any other man, is due the credit for their successful organization. Our subject has been president of the Chicago Cricket Club sixteen years, and his second son, Dr. E. Russell Ogden, familiarly known as Doctor "Teddy," a noted Canadian cricketer, now resid- ing and practicing in Chicago, captained the Gentlemen of Canada on their cricketing tour to England in 1887. He is the acknowledged best all-round cricket player on this continent.
Our subject had three brothers and four sisters ; two brothers and three sisters survive. One brother, Doctor M. B. Ogden, an old-time, promi- nent physician of Joliet, Illinois; died in 1885. Dr. M. D. Ogden is an old resident and one of the leading physicians of Chicago; the other sur- viving brother, W. C. Ogden, is a successful manufacturer of Chicago. The three eldest sur- viving sisters, Agnes, Eliza and Georgiana, are all married and reside at Rockford, Illinois.
Like many of the old Pennsylvania loyalists and their descendants, the doctor is a firm ad- herent and communicant of the Protestant Epis- copal Church. He was formerly a lay member of
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the Toronto Synod, Canada. In politics his sympathies are with the low-tariff party.
Dr. Ogden was married first in 1855 to Miss Mary M. Switzer, by whom he had two sons-the eldest, Charles Palmer, who is a successful broker and real estate agent in Chicago, and a noted cricketer, was born in 1858, and Doctor " Ted- dy," a promising and rising young physician and surgeon, first saw the light of day in 1861. Mrs. Ogden died early in 1874. Dr. Ogden married his present wife, formerly Miss Sarah Shaw Wood, late in 1875. She is a daughter of
Richard Shaw Wood, Esq., a wealthy citizen of London, Ontario, and formerly of Bermuda. Miss Belle Ogden is the fruit of the second mar- riage, a bright, handsome girl, of beautiful charac- ter, who is acquiring a most thorough education. Mrs. Ogden is a talented musician, literary in her tastes, of retiring disposition, and devoted to her home life. Dr. Ogden is a man of high standing, unquestionable integrity, and strongly attached to his family, and frequently enjoys ›by his cozy fireside on Michigan avenue a “ rub- ber" at whist with his family and friends.
ADOLPH NATHAN,
CHICAGO, ILL.
T HIS work contains many tales of success, and this biography of Adolph Nathan is but another illustration of what determination, natural ability and foresight have accomplished.
He was born on May 8, 1844, at St. Goar, a Rhenish city in Southern Germany. His father, Jacob Nathan, was connected with the revolu- tion of 1848, and was therefore compelled to leave his native land. He chose the United States as the country for the future residence of himself and family, and in the following year (1849) he was joined by his wife and children. They em- barked at Rotterdam and sailed for New Orleans, occupying seventy-two days in making the voy- age. After a short stop in New Orleans the fam- ily journeyed northward up the Mississippi river, and stopped in St. Louis two months, during which time young Nathan suffered an attack of Asiatic cholera, which was epidemic during that year. Continuing their journey they arrived at Galena, Ilinois, finally locating in Lancaster, Wisconsin, where Jacob Nathan engaged in farming and mining. Our subject remained on the farm until he reached his fifteenth year, and during his thir- teenth and fourteenth years he drove five yoke of oxen attached to an immense " breaking plow."
In 1859 his father engaged in the grocery and general provision business in Lancaster, and it was there that Nathan was initiated into business. He also was enabled to improve his education, as he attended the High School in Lancaster from his fifteenth to his eighteenth year. In 1861 he
became a student in Bryant & Stratton's Business College in Chicago, and mastered the rudiments of a general business education. When twenty years of age he enlisted in the army, becoming a member of the Forty-first Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers, infantry, and was in General Wash- burne's command from the time of his enlistment in 1864 until the regiment was mustered out. After returning home, he entered into partner- ship with his father, the firm being J. Nathan & Son. The business gradually increased, and was later enlarged by the admittance into the firm of Joseph Nathan, an elder brother, and John Schreiner, a brother-in-law of Adolph Nathan. The business continued prosperous under the style of Nathan, Schreiner & Company until 1880, when our subject sold his interest and re- moved to Chicago, where he became associated in the present firm of Kuh, Nathan & Fischer. He is the financier of the business, and it is un- doubtedly true that the wonderful success of the house is largely due to the conservative yet lib- eral policy of its financier and credit manager.
To show how successful this house has been, it need merely be stated that upon its organization in 1880, it controlled not one dollar's worth of trade, and it entered a field where many large houses in its line virtually controlled the business tributary to Chicago, and that after the first ten years of its existence it is doing a business equal to, if not larger, than that of any other house in its line in Chicago.
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In 1877, before severing his connection with the business in Lancaster, Mr. Nathan assisted in the organization of the Chicago and Tomah Rail- road Company, of which he became treasurer and general financial agent. After completing fifty miles of narrow gauge railroad connecting the Wisconsin river with Chicago, the company be- came heavily involved, and availing itself of its only recourse, sold out the property, right of way, good will and all assets; and, thanks to the good management of Mr. Nathan, who was the financier of the corporation, all creditors were paid in full.
In 1885 he was the prime mover in the organi- zation of Street's Stable Car Line, which has since become widely known as a very successful live- stock transportation company. He became presi- dent of the company upon its organization, and remained its presiding officer and controlling spirit until 1888, when failing health, caused by overwork, compelled him to relinquish some of of his work and seek recreation and rest, conse- quently he resigned the office of president and made a trip abroad. However, he is still largely interested in this company, and has been its vice- president for the past three years. He is also connected as special partner with the " Great Eastern," a large outfitting establishment in Du- luth, Minnesota, and one of the largest in the Northwest.
In 1865 he married Miss Rosa Schreiber, by
whom he has two children : Louis A., the elder, a young man of twenty-two, is at present employed in his father's business, and shows promise of worthily succeeding his father. The other child is a daughter named Jeanette P., aged eleven.
Socially, Mr. Nathan is favorably known. He is a member of the Standard Club. He is an ad- mirer of the beautiful in art and literature. He is a great reader, and he has instilled an amount of knowledge into his brain by persuing works of acknowledged merit that has made him an edu- cated gentleman, although having acquired but a limited amount of knowledge at school.
In conclusion, it must be stated in justice to Mr. Nathan, not only that he has achieved suc- cess in life, but also that his success is deserved. He began with no financial means at his com- mand; he has risen from comparative obscurity to affluence step by step, and now, at the age of forty-seven years, has reached a high position in life, and is universally esteemed and honored.
In April, 1890, Mr. Nathan was among the forty-five gentlemen who, owing to their high po- sition in the community, and their natural ability, were chosen to compose the directorate of the World's Columbian Exposition to be held at Chicago in 1893, and it can be truly stated that not one of these gentlemen is more desirous of seeing this grand affair a wonderful success than is Adolph Nathan.
FRANCIS P. OWINGS,
CHICAGO, ILL.
T HE subject of this biography, though still a young man, has attained a prominence that men ordinarily reach only after years of patient toil, and achieved a degree of success of which any man might justly be proud. The story of his life, were it written in full, would read like a ro- mance, but the limits of our sketch forbid that we give more than an outline of his remarkable ca- reer.
A native of Alton, Illinois, he was born on September 27, 1857, the son of David F. and Mary B. (Blandina) Owings, and is one of a family of seven children. His father was educated at Mt. St. Mary's College in Maryland, was a man of
sterling business qualities and during our subject's boyhood was engaged in the banking business. His mother was a woman of estimable qualities, and to her influence and example he attributes in great measure whatever of success he has achieved. His devotion to her knew no bounds, and in her old age he was her solace and support. She died in October, 1889, at St. Louis, Missouri.
Francis attended the public schools, and later attended the High School of St. Louis, gradu- ating at the age of eighteen years. He thereupon secured a clerkship with the agency of Wood Reaper Company, at Alton, Illinois, at a salary of twenty dollars per month. His aptitude for busi-
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ness and faithfulness to his duties won the estcem and confidence of his employers from the first ; at the end of six months his salary was doubled, and a few years later he had an interest in the busi- ness. His next venture was in the seed trade at Alton, which he conducted successfully till the fall of 1879. It was while in this business that he was called to Chicago to purchase a car load of goods. It was his first visit to the metropolis of the west, and sol charmed was he with the business activity and evidences of prosperity that greeted him on every hand, that he then and there resolved to make it his home, and returning to Alton, closed out his business, and with sixteen thousand dol- lars, the result of his enterprise and saving, took up his abode in the busy city that has since been his home, resolved to make for himself a name and place among those, whose enterprise and ability should develop her resources and add to her at- tractiveness. For the purpose of getting a start he invested one thousand dollars in the agricultural machinery business, and lost it. This was his first Chicago venture. He next formed a company for refining sugar by a new process, with a capital stock of one million dollars. The enterprise proved a complete failure, and all the money in- vested was lost. After some months of enforced idleness, he associated himself with a pretended refiner of syrups in the refining business. Es- stablishing himself on Desplaines street, he de- voted himself closely to the business ; sales in- creased, exceeding their ability to supply the demand, and he was congratulating himself that he would soon make good the losses of his former ventures, when, alas, complaints from customers began to pour in-the syrups wouldn't keep; they were compelled to take back their goods, and the venture, like the former ones, proved a failure. After several more similar investments, all of which resulted disastrously, Mr. Owings found his capital of $16,000, with which he commenced, reduced to $1,800, and that tied up in a mortgage. He accepted the situation gracefully, firmly be- lieving that fortune would yet smile on him, and temporarily took a position as accountant in a type-foundry. Two months later, his $1,800 loan being paid him, he purchased a lot on Oakley avenue for $300, and built a cottage on it for $800 intending it for a home. Not suited, however, with the location, he sold the place, realizing a
profit of $600. This was the beginning of his real-estate transactions, and of that turn in his affairs which has led to his remarkable success, this $600 being the only money he had made in Chicago, after four years of hard work. This beginning, modest though it was, gave him a new hope ; purchasing the two adjoining lots he built cottages on them, and before they were completed sold them, making a profit of $700 on each. During the next year he built eight two-story houses which he sold, realizing a profit of about $6,000. About this time the roller-skating fever was sweeping over the west. Yielding to the per- suasions of a friend, Mr. Owings decided to open a rink, but soon discovered that his friend was without means, and that he was about to embark in an enterprise of which he knew absolutely nothing, and with a very small capital. Nothing daunted, however, he pushed ahead with charac- teristic energy, and did a paying business. He built the Princess Rink on West Madison street, taking the precaution to construct it in such a manner that it could be converted into an opera house when the "skating craze " should die out ; which was afterwards done, and it is now known as the Princess Opera House. He next turned his real-estate transactions to building on lease- holds in the business portions of the city, and has erected in all twenty-seven buildings-among which are the six-story building, Nos. 254 and 256 Franklin street ; the Windsor Theatre Building, 468-478 North Clark street ; the Owings Building at 226 and 228 Jackson street ; the eight-story mar- ble front building at 232 to 236 Fifth avenue ; Em- pire Block at 73 and 75 Third avenue; the seven- story building at the S. E. corner of Fifth avenue and Monroe street ; the six-story building, near the corner of Jackson street and Third avenue ; also 61 and 63 Third avenue and 65 and 71 Third avenue, six-story printers' warehouse, and the mag- nificent architectural beauty at the S. E. corner of Dearborn and Adams streets, known as the Owings Block. It is 145 feet in height to the top of the main walls, with a high-pitched gable roof rising thirty feet higher, which in turn is over- shadowed by a tall cone-shaped tower, whose apex is 228 feet above the foundations. The building is fourteen stories in height and was the first of that height erected in Chicago. It was built at a cost of $300,000, and yields an
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