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 6
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Mr. Vocke came to this country from his native city, the historic Minden, in Westphalia, at the age of seventeen years. This was in 1856. His father was a government secretary in the Prussian service, and after his death the son believing that the United States offered him a future not to be found in his own country, emigrated hither. He landed in New York, and for a short time devoted his efforts to various bread-winning occupations, but the western fever seized him, and he followed the star of empire to Chicago. He was for a time a carrier in the employ of the Staats-Zeitung, and his district was the western half of the North Side. He toiled hard and was in every way a faithful imployé, working from two o'clock in the morning until eight at the distribution of his newspapers. His days were given to the study of the law. He had not the money to use for his tuition, and Professor Henry Booth offered him the instruction and time in which to pay for it. The earnest
young man in due time saved enough money to settle the claim, and it brought him as much pleasure as he ever felt before or since to square his account with his benefactor.
After leaving the Staats-Zeitung in 1860, he entered the employ of Ogden, Fleetwood & Co., then the leading real-estate firm of Chicago, as a collector. On the day that the war broke out, he enlisted and his employers held him in such esteem that, when he resigned, they presented him with a handsome sum of money in gold.
Captain Vocke enlisted first in the three months service as a private. His company was soon merged into the Twenty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and he was in all the engagements in which the .Army of the Cumberland took part until the muster-out of his regiment. After the .expiration of his term of service he was mustered out as captain of Company D, of the Twenty- fourth Illinois.
When he returned to Chicago, he again entered the service of the Staats-Zeitung; this time as its city editor. For nearly a year he held this responsible chair, discharging his duties with signal ability. From April, 1865, to November, 1869, he was the clerk of the police court of this city. He resumed the study of the law in the meantime, and was admitted to the bar in 1867. While in the army Captain Vocke gave as
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much time as he could spare to literary studies, and this branch of mental effort he continued after he had beaten his sword into a ploughshare. He won for himself a high reputation as a dis- criminating student and a polished writer. He contributed various articles to the German and the English press, and in 1869 he published a volume of poems, excellent translations of the lyrics of Julius Rodenberg. The newspapers of Germany, as well as of this country joined in praising his work in enthusiastic terms. Soon after the publication of this book, he determined to give all of his time to the study and practice of the law. He was held in such great favor by his countrymen and the Chicago public that he quickly secured a lucrative practice, and it has been increasing with the years ever since.
He was elected a member of the Illinois legis- lature in 1870, and among other noteworthy achievements drafted and introduced a life insurance bill which at the time was indorsed by the editor of the Chicago Tribune as "the soundest and most judicious measure ever proposed to a legislative body on that subject." Captain Vocke while a member of the legislature was instrumental in framing, at the extra session shortly after the great fire of 1871, what is known as the " burnt record act."
In 1873, he formed a copartnership with General Joseph B. Leake which continued until General Leake was appointed United States District attorney in 1880. Captain Vocke was also a member of the Chicago Board of Education
from 1877 to 1880. For a number of years past he has been the attorney for the Imperial German Consulate at this point, and among other offices of honor he has held the presidency of the German Society of Chicago for the aid of emigrants.
Captain Vocke, although deeply engrossed in the law, finds time now and then to do more or less literary work. His latest effort takes the form of a well written book on the legal systems of this country. Its title is "The administration of justice in the United States : and a synopsis of the mode of procedure in our federal and state courts, and all federal and state laws relating to subjects of interest to aliens." This work was published not long ago in Cologne in the German language, and has not only received the highest encomiums of German jurists, but has proved of great benefit to German lawyers and German business men.
In 1867, he was joined in matrimony to Elise Wahl, a charming woman, and they have a family of six children-four daughters and two sons.
No man is held in higher esteem by the Germans of Chicago than William Vocke. He has an exceedingly amiable and upright character, and a mind stored with all the riches of wide reading and deep research. History and the science of government are his specialties, and there is no better authority on these topics in this city than he. He is a delightful entertainer and a genial companion, and these traits, coupled with his mental gifts, make him a shining center in a wide circle of friends.
ALBERT EMMETT HUTCHINS,
CHICAGO, ILL.
T HE subject of this biography was born at Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, October 7, 1845, to John and Rhoda Hutchins, and was the youngest son of a family of five children. His pa- ternal grandfather, Samuel Hutchins, was a native of Connecticut, and was a pioneer in that historical section known as the Western Reserve of Ohio, so closely associated with the names of some of the foremost men in the affairs of the nation. Hon. John Hutchins, our subject's father, was for many years a representative in Congress from the nine-
teenth district of Ohio, succeeding Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, and being succeeded by Hon. James A. Garfield. He retired from active business a few years ago, and is still (1892) living at the ripe age of seventy-six.
Albert received a public school education in his native town, entering into all his studies earnestly and acquitting himself with great credit. He early evinced a desire and aptitude for a mercantile pursuit, and at the age of twenty years entered the service of Messrs. Westlake, Hutchins & Co.,
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oil merchants at Oil City, Pennsylvania. With commendable zeal he went energetically about learning the details of the business, which he soon mastered. He continued in the employ of that firm about six years, when he accepted a position with the Standard Oil Company, traveling for it and establishing branch offices in various large cities throughout the country. In 1874 Mr.
Hutchins was entrusted with the important mis sion of opening up the business of this large and growing corporation in Chicago, since which time he has been closely identified with its interests there. He now occupies a responsible position in the Standard Oil Company, of Indiana.
Mr. Hutchins was united in marriage to Ada Moxon, of Washington, D. C., October 21, 1886.
FRANK S. WEIGLEY,
CHICAGO, ILL.
F RANK S. WEIGLEY is the senior member of the well-known law firm of Weigley, Bulkley and Gray. He was born in Galena, Illi- nois, April 4, 1854. His father, Wellington Weig- ley, was for many years a prominent member of the Illinois bar. Frank S. acquired his education at Hamilton College and was admitted to the bar of this State in 1875. For some years thereafter he was engaged as a stenographer in the Courts of Cook county, where he acquired a thorough knowledge of the rules of practice as well as the methods of the best lawyers at the Chicago bar. In 1882 he abandoned short-hand reporting and devoted himself exclusively to the practice of law. His success was marked from that time. During
the past few years he has been engaged in many of the leading cases of this county. He has be- come thoroughly known and enjoys the distinc- tion of being recognized as a leading lawyer, both in the office and court room. The firm of Weigley, Blukley and Gray number amongst their clients many of the wealthiest firms and cor- porations of Chicago, as well as a valuable for- eign clientage.
In 1870 Mr. Weigley married Emily L., a daughter of the late Dennison Card, of Roches- ter, New York, who for several years, during President Lincoln's administration, represented the government as diplomatic agent in South America.
ALVIN HULBERT,
CHICAGO, ILL.
T HE life of one who has achieved success in any honorable undertaking is an interesting and useful study. The nature of inan is so com- plex, his individuality so pronounced, his process of reasoning so varied and peculiar, that no two human beings are ever found to be nearly alike. Some men snatch success from the very jaws of failure, some are alternately prosperous and un- fortunate, while a few are so evenly balanced that their lives appear to be utterly free from friction. Their course is steadily onward, and from youth to maturity there is no indication of a single back- ward step. Their progress is as steady and unswerv- ing as the progress of the sun in its course to the zenith, and their way adown the slope of life as
peaceful and serene. Whatever they undertake develops regularly to its fitting consummation. Such men are richly endowed by nature. They are ever reliable when society demands their ser- vices, and are weak in no particular and under no circumstances. They are never unduly elated by success, because they have anticipated it, and a reverse never finds them unprepared.
Alvin Hulbert, the subject of this sketch, is a man of this type. He has come to occupy an enviable position in the social and business world through no wild speculation, hazardous enterprise or sudden blaze of genius. There has been little friction in the movements of this quiet, calm, un- pretentious man, who, from an humble beginning,
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has won his way to the front rank of Chicago's prominent citizens. His hopeful face has been ever turned to the morning and his feet firmly set on solid ground, while his homely, old-fash- ioned adherence to honesty and truth has brought him the respect and confidence of all who know him. Unostentatious, unassuming, he is yet firm in his convictions and courageous in the dischage of duty. Through an extended career of public life in almost every branch of the hotel business, he has made a host of friends and scarcely an enemy, and is to-day a splendid representative of the successfal business man of the nineteenth century.
Mr. Hulbert was born in Rochester, New York, in January, 1829, and is the son of Alvin and Margaret Hulbert. His father was a hotel man, keeping "taverns " in Rochester and vicinity, and thus Mr. Hulbert was literally born into the busi- ness in which he has been so successful and made himself such an enviable name.
His first practical identification with the hotel business was in 1850, when he entered a hotel at Avon Springs, New York, in the capacity of clerk, and served therein for three consecutive seasons. He next became the first agent of the railroad which was constructed through Le Roy, New York, at which place his father was at the time proprietor of a hotel, but not liking the business, we next find him in a clerkship in the Eagle Hotel, Rochester, then kept by Alderman Dewey Walbridge. He remained in this position until 1857, when he severed his connection with the Eagle, and going to Lafayette, Indiana, became the proprietor of a hotel in that city. Selling out his business in Lafayette, he removed to Chicago in 1859, and accepted the position as cashier of the old Sherman House, where he remained until the demolition of that house, preparatory to re- building, was commenced, when he became cash- ier of the old Mattison House, kept by Mr. C. H. Bissell, afterward his partner in the Sherman. Upon the completion of the Sherman he resumed his position as cashier of the house under Messrs. Gage and Waite, filling that position until April, 1865, when he became cashier of the Tremont House, where he remained until the great fire of 1871. Upon the rebuilding of the Tremont, after this calamity, he returned to it as manager. In 1875 Mr. Hulbert entered into a copartnership
with Mr. C. H. Bissell under the name of Bissell and Hulbert, and the firm became the proprietors of the Sherman House. A few months later Mr. Bissell died, when Mr. Hulbert purchased his in- terest in the house and became sole proprietor.
In 1882 Mr. Hulbert retired from the Sherman House, and, as he then thought, from hotel man- agement ; but the attractions of a calling of which he had made a life-long study were stronger than the love of ease, and in the fall of 1886, in com- pany with Mr. Willis Howe, he bought the Lin- del Hotel, of St. Louis, and entered once more into active business. A year later they took Ma- jor J. H. Chassaing into the partnership, and the present universal popularity of the Lindel is proof enough of the business worth and eminent qualifications of these gentlemen.
On July 1, 1890, Mr. Hulbert and Mr. Wm. S. Eden, a gentleman well known in the business and social circles of Chicago, took possession of the well-known Tremont House under a long lease, and entirely remodeled that famous host- elry, so that when completed it was second to none in Chicago. The office is lighted by three large domes of the latest architectural designs ; new modern plumbing was introduced through- out the entire building, with porcelain baths, etc., etc. The Tremont has long been a favorite with the better class of commercial travelers, and the present proprietors have added largely to its popularity.
Mr. Hulbert was married in Rochester, New York, in 1868, to Emma T. Drake, daughter of Mr. Alden Drake, of that city, a man prominent in railroad circles, and five children have blessed the union, viz .: Leila M., Jessie D., Julia T., Emma C. and Alvin, Jr. In 1880 he was elected to the City Council from the Twelfth Ward on the Republican ticket, but his taste for private business exceeded his liking for public office, and at the end of his term he steadily declined fur- ther political honors.
Personally Mr. Hulbert is a man of command- ing physique, with clear-cut features and a benev- olent countenance. Time has touched him with a gentle hand, and in appearance he is a much younger man than the calendar makes him. He has a charitable spirit and a warm, kindly heart. Years of successful endeavor have not chilled the warm current in his blood or deadened his finer
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sensibilities. Like sound fruit that comes to a full ripening on the parent stem, he embellishes The Great Northern has the largest rotunda in the West, and that without a single column. the office of host and is such a landlord as an . This is finished from floor to ceiling in marble, artist loves to paint, the playwright to sketch and the novelist to dwell upon. lighted by massive domes and surrounded by a marble promenade for ladies. The building throughout has marble wainscotting, with mar- ble borders, and all the stairways are of the same beautiful material. There are four passenger ele- vators; the whole house is lighted by modern incandescent lights, and every other appliance which serve to make it a perfect hotel.
The Great Northern fire-proof hotel, construct- ed for Messrs. Hulbert and Eden, is one of the most imposing structures in America. It is fif- teen stories high, built of steel with terra cotta brick exterior. Situated on Dearborn street, with three frontages, viz., on Dearborn, Quincy and Jackson streets, and directly opposite the custom- house, it is the most convenient and central loca- tion of any hotel in Chicago. The hotel has four hundred and fifty rooms; two hundred of them with baths. These rooms are wainscotted with marble and furnished with every modern con- venience.
The Great Northern is run on strictly Euro- pean plan. There are seven dining-rooms, all furnished in a style to match their magnificent surroundings. In fact, nothing that money can buy is wanting, for the proprietors intend to make this hotel, as its name implies, the hotel of Chicago.
THOMAS WILCE,
CHICAGO, ILL
T HE subject of this sketch finds an appropri- ate place in the history of those men, whose sterling integrity, force of character, whose forti- tude amid discouragements, and whose ability and good sense in the management of compli- cated affairs, have contributed so much to the development of Chicago and the West. Mr. Wilce's business life has been marked by tireless industry, prudence and economy, and he has ac- quired his large fortune clear of any taint or sus- picion of any trickery, dishonesty or meanness.
As long ago as 1855, Professor O. S. Fowler, of New York city, in an analysis of Mr. Wilce's char- acter, said : " He is as conscientious as a man can be, and will pay to the last farthing, and do his duty to the very utmost. He is a passionate lover of liberty, and will never be restrained or driven. He will do his own thinking, and will think more of his character and his honor than all the world be- sides." Seven years later he wrote of Mr. Wilce : "He is a man, every inch of him. Full and run- ning over with life, able to work like a trooper in. order to consume life-energy as fast as he manu- factures it."
Mr. Wilce is to-day, at the age of seventy-three years, a strong man, physically and mentally; of
great business capacity and a thorough organizer ; he is strong in his friendships, never willingly giving up one in whom he has trusted ; always willing to help the worthy needy ; strong in his dislikes of men whom he does not believe to be truthful, worthy and honest, and strong in his hatred of all the tricks in business.
He is always busy, except when he is asleep. There is none of the affected formalities of An- glo-mania in or around his home or offices, every- thing is thoroughly and happily American, and the visitor finds a courteous, kindly welcome in his presence.
Thomas Wilce was born at Boscastle, Cornwall, England, July 28, 1819. His father, Thomas Wilce, who was born at St. Kew, England, Sep- tember 6, 1790, during his early years was a farmer, but afterward was appointed an exciseman. He died at the age of seventy-five.
The mother of our subject was Mary, née Ven- ning, who was born at St. Clether, England. She died in 1823. Thomas had but limited school privileges. He improved every hour, in which it was possible for him to study, until he was ten years of age, when he went to work on the farm ; this continued until his twentieth year, when he
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abandoned farming and for two and a half years applied himself diligently as a carpenter's appren- tice. On the 10th of April, 1842, he sailed from his native shores and landed at Quebec, Canada, on the 21st of May. Three days later he began work at his trade in Montreal. He followed the life of a journeyman for about a year, and then formed a partnership with a Mr. Walker and en- gaged in building. In this they were successful for a time, but the business not continuing to grow after eighteen months of joint labor, the partner- ship was dissolved. Mr. Wilce then formed a part- nership with a Mr. Johnson, a Scotchman, and after one year this partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Wilce then went into business alone and prosecuted it vigorously until August, 1848, when he closed out and removed to Chicago. In 1846, two years after he started in business by himself, he married Jane Carlisle (daughter of William and Jane Carlisle, of Nottingham, England), the noble woman who, for nearly half a century, has stood faithfully by his side, sharing his joys and sor- rows, and through all, by her patience, her love and confidence, her strength of character, has made brighter and lighter the care and toil of his life. There were no indications in the Chicago of 1848 of a great city, and the business of a builder in those days was characterized by much simplicity. But of the business done, Mr. Wilce had his fair share, and continued to do so until 1853, when he sold out and returned to Montreal, and spent the winter. Returning to Chicago in March, 1854, he resumed the building business, and continued it with marked success until 1867. In 1873 he engaged in the planing-mill business with his eldest son, adding thereto, in 1877, the business of wholesaling lumber.
This son retired in 1879, and Mr. Wilce contin- ued the business with his four younger sons, add- ing to his plant two large saw-mills in Michigan, and thus quadrupling his lumber business in Chi- cago. His trade originally was in pine lumber, but was gradually changed into the hardwood lum- ber trade, until now (1892) the firm of Thomas Wilce & Sons are the largest dealers in hardwood and maple flooring in the world, and have made this a specialty, inventing, in 1885, an automatic boring machine with other improvements, which has made them the leading manufacturers of hardwood flooring in the world, carrying at the
present time a stock of thirty-five million feet of this valuable material. Of eleven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Wilce, three sons and two daugh- ters survive, the sons Edmund Harvey, George, Carlisle and Thomas Edgar being associated with their father in his business; the daughters are, Mrs. Mary J. V. Chandler and Mrs. Jennie L. Spry.
Mr. Wilce is a director of the Washingtonian Home, and was treasurer of that institution for six years.
In politics he is a staunch Republican, and was elected in 1869 on that ticket to the city council of Chicago, and served the first year as second on the finance committee and the last year as its chairman. He was four years on the Chicago Board of Education. In his political career, as in his business and private life, he discharged his duties faithfully and to the full satisfaction of the people. In person Mr. Wilce is a tall, well-built man, commanding in figure, with an open, kindly face, that inspires confidence and respect. His great sympathy with the unfortunate is one of his marked characteristics. He believes in humanity to men rather than prison walls, as a reformatory measure, claiming with other advanced humani- tarians and philanthropists that " if a man has com- mitted a fault it does not make him a better man to throw him into prison and thereby everlastingly brand him as a bad man." While this is true, he also believes and knows that to be well descended is desirable, but that it proves the virtue and merit of our ancestors, not our own, that riches are valuable, but at the disposal of fortune, and therefore uncertain; that they render the possessor the prey of sycophants and tricksters, and may be possessed by the worst, as well as the best of men; that glory is entitled to regard, but that it is unstable ; that health is a pre- cious boon, but that is easily impaired ; that knowl- edge, founded upon truth, dispensed in truth and charity, inspires belief and gratitude, and consti- tutes the prime factor in virtuous character ; that it is character alone, of all things, in man's pos- session, that is immortal, everlasting, that is im- pregnable to all assaults of vice and defies false accusation, nor is it taken away by sickness or en- feebled by time or the loss of wealth ; that a good name is more precious than gold ; that the under- standing may grow youthful by age; and that
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time, which decays all material things, improves and enriches a good name.
There has been nothing phenomenal in Mr. Wilce's success ; it has been the result of constant application and indefatigable energy. There has been no lucky stroke of fortune in his life. He
was given an opportunity to work, to be frugal, to be honest, to be truthful, and had enough man- liness of character to accept, with a high and lofty purpose, the responsibilities of life ; and it has been his high and sacred purpose to leave, as a rich inheritance to his children, a good name.
CHARLES KERN,
CHICAGO, ILL.
A CONSIDERABLE part of the various ele- ments who have contributed to the great- ness of Chicago by their energy and enterprise is of German nationality-its strength being esti- mated at fully thirty per cent. of the total popula- tion-and the list of business and public men of Chicago who rank foremost in the estimation of their fellow-citizens shows a flattering proportion of men whose cradles stood in the " Fatherland."
The German-Americans are, as a rule, prosper- ous, educated, progressive in their ideas, and as law-abiding citizens stand second to none.
One of their foremost, and certainly one of the most prominent and highly respected representa- tives, is presented in this sketch.
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