The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 108

Author: Robson, Charles, ed
Publication date: 1875
Publisher: Philadelphia, Galaxy
Number of Pages: 770

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candidate for the State Senate, although his district usually gave a large Whig majority, he was elected. He soon became a leading member of this public body, and acted as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. In 1867 he was invited by Mr. Scammon to come to Chicago and take charge of the law business of Scammon & McCagg, who were about to absent themselves for a time from the conduct of their affairs. After establishing himself in Chicago, he devoted his time and attention entirely to his profession, ignoring politics except when the more important questions were agitated. As a lawyer he was noted particularly for his power in bringing to bear on all cases intrusted to his care a remarkable clearness of thought which enabled him to grasp at once the leading features, and present them, divested of all extraneous matter, with an admirable force and directness. In addition to his varied store of legal knowledge, he possessed a wide acquaintance with general literature, the drama, poetry, and belles lettres. He died in 1873, in the prime of life, keenly regretted by all that knew him; his last argument having been delivered while sitting in a chair; and although too weak to stand erect on that occasion, his language and logic alike were clear, con- cise, and forcible to an eminent degree.

OLTON, CHAUNCEY S., Merchant and Capital- ist, was born in Springfield, Luzerne county, Penn- sylvania, September 21st, ISoo, being the son of Justin and Abigail (Sill) Colton, who were both natives of New England. They returned to

Massachusetts from Pennsylvania shortly after the birth of Chauncey S. Ile was educated in the common schools of that State, and in IS20 moved to Maine, where five years later he was married to Emily HI. McLanathan, a native of Massachusetts. In 1833 he moved to Galesburg, Illinois, which at that time was a wilderness. Here he built a store and filled it with the first stock of goods brought to that section of Illinois. He continued in this mercantile business for thirty years, during which time a town grew up about him, and what was once a wilderness had been turned by energy and enterprise into a rich farming section. As his two sons became of age they were associated with him, and one of them now carries it on. Mr. Colton has been active at all times in developing the resources of the county in which he resides, and has taken a deep interest in the progress of popular education. IIe is one of the Trustees of Knox College, and has given a great deal of his time and energy to promoting the prosperity of that fine collegiate institution. He was one of the originators of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and since its organization he has been one of its Directors. Its present charter was obtained by him, and to his energy, enterprise, and excellent judgment the road is indebted for its carcer of substantial prosperity. Though seventy-five years of age

he is still hale and hearty, and actively supervises the many business interests in which he has invested and which have become the source of an ample fortunc. He enjoys the estecm of the entire community for his integrity and public spirit, and for social qualities which render his companion- ship most agreeable.

CHOLFIELD, HON. JOHN, Judge of the Su- preme Court of Illinois, son of Thomas and Ruth (Beauchamp) Scholfield, was born August Ist, IS34, in Clark county, Illinois, where he rc- ceived, his education, and also in 1853 com- menced reading law. Subsequently he entered the law department of the Louisville University, from which he graduated in the spring of 1856. IIe commenced the practice of his profession at Marshall, Clark county, his present place of residence, and the same year, at the fall elcetion, he was chosen State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit, an office he filled with great acceptability for four years. In 1860 he was elected as a Douglas Dem- ocrat to represent Clark county in the lower House of the Legislature, where he served one term. In 1869 he was chosen as delegate from Clark and Cumberland counties to the Constitutional Convention, and in June, 1873, was elected for the unexpired term of six years of Judge Thorn- ton, of the Second Judicial District, who had resigned. This district comprises the counties of Clark, Crawford, Lawrence, Richland, Clay, Jasper, Cumberland, Effingham, Marion, Shelby, Christian, Fayette, Bond, Madison, Jersey, Calhoun, Green, Montgomery, and Macoupin. Judge Scholfield is the youngest man on the Supreme Bench, and is considered by all who know him to be a very able and well-read member of the profession. In 1859 he was mar- ried to Emily J. Bartlett, of Clark county, Illinois.

YMAN, HENRY M., M. D., of Chicago, was born at Ililo, Hawaii, Sandwich Islands, Novem- ber 26th, 1835. IIis father, David Belden Lyman, is at present Principal of the Native Mis- sionary High School, having gone there in the year IS31; making forty-four years that he has occupied this position. ITis mother, Sarah Joyner, was of Royalton, Vermont. Henry M. Lyman came to the United States in 1854, and entercd Williams College, Massachu- setts, graduating from there in the year IS58. He acquired his medical education at the Physicians' and Surgeons' College of New York, where he graduated in 1861, after which he occupied the position of House Surgeon at Belle- vue Hospital for one ycar. In April, 1862, he entered the United States army in the capacity of Assistant Surgeon, serving as such until February, 1863, when, retiring from the army, he located in Chicago, his present home. In

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1869 he was chosen Professor of Chemistry for Rush Medi- cal College, a position he still occupies. He is a member of both the Chicago and State Medical Societies. For two years he has edited the Chicago Medical Journal, and also contributes regularly to the medical press. He was married May 27th, 1863, to Sarah K., daughter of Rev. E. W. Clark, who was one of the earliest missionaries to the Sand- wich Islands.

OUGLAS, ROBERT, Nurseryman, was born in Gateshead, county of Durham, England, on April 20th, 1813. His parents were Robert Douglas and Alice (Hall) Douglas. In 1836 he emigrated to Canada, where he remained some two years, visiting Quebec, Toronto, and Montreal. Two years later he removed to the United States and located at first in New York State and subsequently in Vermont. In the spring of 1844, having determined to settle permanently in the West, in which ample opportunity existed for the successful carrying on of his vocation of a nurseryman and grower of fruit and ornamental trees, he located at Wauke- gan, Illinois, and after engaging for a time in general busi- ness, he at length, in 1847, successfully established himself as a grower of and dealer in trees. At first he engaged in a general nursery business, including every kind of both fruit and ornamental trees; but after a time he decided to confine his attention entirely to the growing of evergreens or coniferous trees, to which department his business has now (1875) been exclusively confined for more than twenty years. His two sons have been admitted into partnership, and the firm of Robert Douglas & Sons is now known throughout the country as the largest establishment of the kind in the Union. They own several hundreds of acres in the neighborhood of Waukegan, which are mostly devoted to the growing of evergreens, and their regular customers are found in every State from Maine to California. Mr. Douglas is one of the earliest settlers in Lake county, and has contributed greatly to the prosperity and progress of that beautiful section of the West, in which he is very justly highly regarded. In June, 1874, he was elected President of the Illinois State Horticultural Society. Ile was married in 1845 to Sylvia Wheeler, daughter of John Wheeler, farmer, of Whitingham, Vermont.

cDOWELL, JOHN R., M. D., son of Reuben R. and Ruth M. (Reynolds) McDowell, was born in Lewistown, Illinois, in 1842. His father is an old medical practitioner still actively engaged in his profession and enjoying an excellent reputa- tion. He educated his son in the select schools and seminaries near home. In 1861 John entered the army As private in the 17th Illinois Volunteers, and was soon

after engaged as Hospital Druggist, it becoming known that previous to entering the army he had been reading medicine with his father. In August, 1862, he was ap- pointed Hospital Steward; in this capacity he served until 1864, after which he acted as Assistant Surgeon until the close of the war. Returning home he resumed the study of medicine with his father, then entered Rush Medical College of Chicago, graduating from that institution in the spring of 1866, and lias since been an active worker, being professionally associated with his father. He is a member of the Fulton County Medical Society, an excellent surgcon, and pays particular attention to diseases of women.

ROWER, THOMAS B., M. D., President of the Moultrie County Bank, Vice-President of the First National Bank of Charleston, was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, November 15th, 1806. His parents, who were natives of Vir- ginia, moved to Kentucky at an early day. His father died in 1816, leaving a wife and nine children in straitened circumstances. Thomas's earlier years were passed in working on a farm and in attending school. At the age of nineteen he commenced the study of medicine under Drs. Beamiss and Merryfield, of Bloomfield, Ken- tucky, with whom he remained as a medical student for about three years. During a portion of this time he was engaged in teaching school. In 1830 he removed to Illi- nois, locating himself at Shelbyville, where he began the practice of his profession, in which he continued during the following six years. Ilis business in course of time grew inconveniently large, and in order to free himself from its many cares and responsibilities he removed to Charleston and there engaged in merchandising, a business for which he had always entertained a strong liking. At the expira- tion of three years, not having met with the desired success, he resumed the practice of medicine at Charleston, and since then has devoted to it almost his entire attention. For the past fifteen years he has been assisted by his son in- law, Dr. Silverthorn, who now bears the chief burden of an extensive business. His circuit extended, in earlier days, thirty miles in every direction, and was visited by him in the saddle, his routes lying often throughi wild and desolate tracts beset with perils of various kinds. His acquaintance with the pioneers and settlers of this section of Illinois embraced all the more prominent inhabitants, and for the majority of them he was family physician. He was a mem- ber of the Eberlean Medical Society, and is a member of the Wabash Æsculapian Society, and a member also of the State Medical Society. In 1834-35-36 he represented Shelby county in the State Legislature, and in 1847 was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Also, at the present time, he is the President of the Moultrie County Bank, and the Vice-President of the First National Bank

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of Charleston. He was married December 22d, 1831, to | ployed in agricultural pursuits was twice elected to the Polly Ann Cutler, of Shelbyville, daughter of Judge Jacob Cutler, and has two boys and three girls. He has been the preceptor of six young physicians, all of whom have suc- ceedcd notably in their profession : Dr. G. S. Bayley, of Iowa; Dr. George W. Cutler, of Burlington, Iowa; Dr. McLean, of Grafton, since deceased ; Dr. J. M. Walker, of Charleston ; Dr. S. Van Meter, and Dr. Silverthorn, also of Charleston.

ATTERSON, THEODORE II., M. D., Pharma- cist, was born in Eaton, Loraine county, Ohio, November 24th, 1840, and was accordingly brought up on the Western Reserve during the exciting days of the Fugitive Slave Law, and in the line of a prosperous division of the great Underground Railroad. His father was Hiram Patterson, direct descendant of the original member of the family, who emigrated to this country from Scotland in 1685, as is shown by the records of a genealogy in process of compila- tion by Mr. Patterson. He attended the common schools and worked upon the farm ; then graduated from the High School at Elyria, Ohio, after which he taught school for four winters. Ilis attention having been turned to medi- cine, he began its study under his uncle, Dr. R. J. Patter- son, now of Batavia, Illinois, pursuing the same under Dr. Brooke, his mother's brother. He attended three courses of lectures in Cleveland and one in Rush Medical College of Chicago, and graduated in 1863 at the Charity Hospital of the Medical College of Cleveland. He then immedi- ately entered the army as Assistant Surgeon of the 187th Ohio Regiment, and in the course of three months was pro- moted to the rank of Surgeon ; officiating in this capacity, mainly in hospital work, until the close of the war. A few months later he returned to Chicago, abandoned the prac- tice of medicine, and entered the retail drug business, estab- lishing a new stand, in which he is still engaged and has been decidedly successful. He was married February 24th, 1870, to Laura Waggener, of Bloomington, Illinois, by whom he has two sons. Though one of its youngest mem- bers he stands high in the pharmaceutical profession, being member of the Chicago College of Pharmacy, also of its Board of Trustees and of its Publishing Committee. At one time he occupied the position of President of the college.

INGLETON, HON. J. W., was born in Virginia, where he also acquired his earlier education. At the age of seventeen years he removed to Indiana, where he remained for one year. He then settled in Schuyler county, Illinois, where he was temporarily occupied in the practice of medicine, and also applied himself to the study of law. Afterward he became a successful farmer, and while em-

Legislature. He acted also as a member of the Constitu- tional Convention of 1849, from Brown county. During the Mormon troubles at Nauvoo City, Hancock county, he was placed in charge of a military force by the Governor, and remained at the seat of disorder until all difficulties were satisfactorily settled. Owing to his labors on that occasion he received the title of General, a cognomen by which he is widely and familiarly known. In 1852 he set- tled in Quincy, where he has since permanently resided. lIe was one of the early advocates of railroads, was ex- tremely active in securing for Quincy the many advantages resulting from systematized rail facilities, and singly and alone constructed the road from Camp Point to the Illinois river, at Meredosia, Morgan county, an enterprise so thickly beset with difficulties that none but one possessing his in- domitable energy and perseverance could have brought it to a successful conclusion. There are also several other im: portant lines which have been constructed and organized under his supervision, and Quincy is to-day largely indebted to him for her railroad facilities. Honestly and conscien- tiously opposed to the late war, and denying its rightful- ness, he declined many enviable positions in the army, and having been a warm and intimate friend of Abraham Lin- coln, was at his request induced to visit Richmond, where he sought ardently and persistently to effect a reconciliation of jarring interests and conflicting principles. His missions to the Confederacy for the purpose of averting the impend- ing conflict are now matters forming part of our national history. Four times he repaired to the Southern capital, and four times, baffled by inappeasable sectional animosity, returned with a useless olive branch. He served three terms in the Legislature, representing Adams county, and while acting with that body accomplished much for his con- stituency, and efficiently furthered the interests confided to his care. In the fall of 1868 he was unanimously ncmi- nated as the Democratic candidate of the Fourth Congres- sional District of Illinois. On this occasion, notwithstanding his exceeding personal popularity, and although he led his ticket in nearly every township, he failed to secure an elec- tion, the district being influenced almost entirely by Repub- lican sentiments. Since that period he has devoted himself to his extensive farming interests, while aiding also any and all improvements promising to advance the welfare of the community amid which he is an honored member. Prior to his nomination he constructed, in 1867, the Quincy Fair Grounds, and recently has become the sole proprietor of this valuable property, which he intends to improve and decorate in order to make it an ornamental as well as useful adjunct to the town. He is a man of versatile powers, enterprising and public-spirited, ever anxious to assist in any laudable movement, and a liberal helper wherever and whenever his means and energies can be fruitfully employed. He was married in 1844 to Parthenia McDonald, of Ken- tucky.

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OFFMAN, FRANCIS A., Fire Insurance and | Presidential contest of 1848 he was an active and earnest Foreign Exchange Operator, and ex-Lieutenant- member of the Free-Soil party, and supported Martin Van Buren for the Presidency, and .during the Nebraska-Kansas movement took a vigorous part in opposition to the attempt to fasten slavery upon thosc Territories. In 1856 the Anti- slavery Convention of Cook county unanimously recom- mended him to the consideration of the State as the can- didate for Lieutenant-Governor; and the State Convention, meeting at Bloomington, nominated Bissell for Governor and him for Lieutenant-Governor, a step taken notwith- standing his expressed request to the contrary. It was subsequently ascertained, however, that he was disqualified, not having been fourteen ycars a citizen, as required by the Constitution, and he therefore insisted upon the withdrawal of his name from the ticket. During that Presidential and gubernatorial campaign, Fremont being then the candidate for President, he canvassed all parts of the State, address- ing meetings in the German and English languages almost every day. Four years afterward the Republican State Convention, at Decatur, again nominated him for Lieuten- ant-Governor, by acclamation, on the ticket with Hon. Richard Yates for Governor. Owing to his disinclination for the office and his ill health he at first refused to accept the nomination, but finally, at the urgent request of his friends in all parts of the State, concluded to accept the candidacy, and together with the entire Presidential ticket, headed by Abraham Lincoln, and the State ticket, was tri- umphantly elected. He filled the office of Lieutenant- Governor from 1861 to 1865, and as President of the Senate performed his important duties with unquestioned ability. On the closing day of the session of 1865 the fol- lowing resolution, offered by Senator Greene, of Alexander county, a political opponent, was passed unanimously : " Resolved, that the unanimous thanks of the Senate are justly due, and are hereby tendered to Lieutenant-Gover- nor Hoffman, for the dignified, able and impartial manner in which he has uniformly presided over the deliberations of this assembly during his term of office." When Lincoln was nominated for re-election to the Presidency, in 1865, he was unanimously nominated by the Republican Con- vention as candidate for Presidential Elector of the State at Large, and was intrusted by the Republicen State Central Committee with the chief management of the campaign. In 1866 his Republican friends in the Senatorial district comprising the countics of Du Page, Kane and De Kalb desired to nominate him for Senator, but he withdrew his name while the balloting was in progress in the convention. While engaged in the banking business he annually pub- lished at his own expense a review of the trade, commerce and finances of Chicago, and scattered over five thousand copies of each issue throughout different parts of Europe. Large sums of money were invested by him for foreign account, to assist property-holders here in the erection of buildings. During that period he was appointed Consul for the United States, in Chicago, for several German Governor of Illinois, was born at Herford, in Prussia, in 1822. His father was a bookseller. He was educated at the Frederick William Gym- nasium, in his native town. Ife left Prussia for America in 1839, being then but seventeen years of age. He reached New York penniless, but, having borrowed eight dollars from a friend in that city, started for Chicago, which was then beginning to be a thriving village. At the termination of a long and tedious journey in freight boats on the Hudson river and Erie canal, and in a small schooner on the lakes, he arrived at the desired point. After seeking vainly better employment, he was constrained to accept the position of bootblack at the Lake House, then the leading hotel of the place. A month later he accepted an offer to teach a small German school at what was then called Dunkley's Grove, now the town of Addi- son, Du Page county, at a salary of forty dollars per year, with the privilege of " boarding round " among the parents of his pupils. He was afterward ordained as a minister by the Lutheran Synod of Michigan, and in this capacity labored faithfully and efficiently for a period of ten years, the district of his services embracing Chicago and other parts of Cook county, also the counties of Du Page and Will, and Lake county, in Indiana. While engaged in his work as minister he took quite an active interest in all public affairs, and was elected to represent Du Page county in the famous River and Harbor Convention, which was held in Chicago in 1847. On account of failing health he resigned his ministerial charge, and in 1852 removed to Chicago, entering the law office of Calvin De Wolf as a legal student. In 1853 he was elected Alderman for what was then the Eighth Ward. After having become suffi- ciently versed in the law to answer a purpose he had in view, he established himself in the real estate business, in which he was very successful. This he continued until 1854, when he opened a banking house, an enterprise which was conducted prosperously until 1861, when his firm, Hoffman & Gelpcke, in company with many other banking institutions of Chicago, was forced to make an assignment in consequence of the financial panic which re- sulted from the outbreak of the rebellion, and the downfall of what was known as the " Stump-tail " State currency. Devoting his time and attention then to public affairs and in endeavoring to redeem his financial losses, the ensuing few years were times of great activity and tireless cffort ; finally he engaged in the business of fire insurance and foreign exchange, in which he met with success. He was among the first of the leading Germans of the Northwest to espouse and advocate the Anti-slavery cause, and while en- gaged in preaching wrote editorials for the first German paper, a weekly, published in Chicago. He frequently wrote also for the Chicago Democrat, chiefly, however, translations from the German. During the triangular

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States ; and several years ago acted as Commissioner of the Foreign Land Department of the Illinois Central Railroad Company. He was married in 1844 to Cynthia Gilbert, and by her had seven children, four of whom are living.

HIPMAN, GEORGE E., M. D., was born in the city of New York, March 4th, 1820. His father, George P. Shipman, was a Wall street banker, esteemed for ability and probity ; descended from Connecticut Puritans, he inherited the prudence, enterprise and rectitude which characterized the Pilgrim fathers of New England. IIis mother, Eliza (Payson) Shipman, was a sister of Rev. Dr. Edward Payson, the distinguished divine, whose eloquence and piety shed such lustre on the New England pulpit in the early part of the present century. At the early age of thirteen George was prepared for college, having made himself familiar with the various branches of a good English education and with the rudiments of Latin, Greek and mathematics. In his fifteenth year he entered Middle- bury College, Vermont, where he remained for a year and a half, returning subsequently to his native city to complete his studies. IIe afterward entered the University of the city of New York, as a sophomore, and in 1839 graduated with high honors. Deciding to embrace the medical prc- fession, he became a student in the office of Dr. A. C. Post, a leading surgeon of New York, where he remained during the ensuing four years, graduating at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1843. He then removed to Peoria, Illinois. During his student days he had given to the various medical schools, especially the allopathic and homœopathic, a careful examination; and after learning their peculiarities, thcorctic and practical, heartily indorsed the system of medical practice taught by Hahnemann. There were at this time but few families in Peoria who pre- ferred homeopathy, and even those looked with distrust upon him, deeming him too young and inexperienced. But, rapidly overcoming all prejudices, he was building up an extensive practice, when his health failed and he was compelled to abandon temporarily his professional labors. He then removed to Andover, IIcnry county, Illinois, where he purchased a farm and engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1846, having regained his health and become more robust than ever, he prepared to resume the practice of medicine. Removing to Chicago, he rapidly acquired an extensive and lucrative business. At this time there was a pressing demand for a medical journal which should be devoted to the defence and promulgation of the prin- ciples of Hahnemann, and his ripe scholarship and noted ability pointed him out as one pre-eminently fitted to assume its editorial charge. In 1848, accordingly, he took upon himself the duties connected with the direction of the

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The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 108

Author: Robson, Charles, ed Publication date: 1875 Publisher: Philadelphia, Galaxy Number of Pages: 770

Author: Robson, Charles, ed
Publication date: 1875
Publisher: Philadelphia, Galaxy
Number of Pages: 770