The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 18

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

USA > Illinois > The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century > Part 18

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

AWRENCE, SARDIS S., Lawyer, was born, June 16th, 1834, at Westerlo, Albany county, New York, and is descended from English an- cestry. His father was a farmer. He remained at home doing usual farm work until he arrived at the age of nineteen years, when he started in life upon his own account. He left home in the spring of 1853, and obtained employment upon a steamboat run- ning from Albany to New York, and continued there until the close of navigation that season. In the winter of 1853-54 he entered the Richmondville Seminary, Schoharic county, New York, and remained there until the same was

destroyed by fire, about July 4th, 1854; after which he went to Warnerville Seminary, in the same county, and remained there till the spring of 1855, when he went to New Jersey and taught school at Irvington until the spring of 1857, when he secured a position as teacher in the Eighth Ward public school of Newark, New Jersey, where he continued until October, 1863. While in Newark he graduated from the Newark City Normal School, and afterward commenced the study of law in the office of Joseph P. Bradley, then a distinguished lawyer of that city, and now one of the Associate Justiccs of the Supreme Court of the United States, and continued to teach and prosecute his law studies as best he could until the fall of 1863. In October, 1863, he moved to Pontiac, Illinois, and continued the study of law in the office of Samuel L. Fleming, and was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1864. After his admission he opened a law and real estate office in Pontiac, and succeeded in doing a lucrative business from the start. In the spring of 1869 he formed a partner- ship with Nathaniel J. Pillsbury, a prominent lawyer of Pontiac, and continued in partnership with him, by the firm- name of Pillsbury & Lawrence, until the summer of 1873, when the partnership was dissolved by the clection of Mr. Pillsbury as Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit of Illinois. In December, 1873, he formed a partnership with C. C. Strawn, of Pontiac, which partnership still con- tinues by the name of Lawrence & Strawn, and it is con- sidered one of the ablest law firms of Livingston county, Illinois. Mr. Lawrence was married, August Ist, 1860, to Adelaide Wilsey, of Westerlo, Albany county, New York. He has always been identified with the Republican party, but has taken no active part in politics-was Chairman of the Republican Central Committee of the county for two years during the war. In July, 1873, he was appointed Attorney for the county by the Board of Supervisors, which position he still holds. IIe is also Master in Chancery of Livingston county, and his time is now wholly absorbed in his large and increasing law practice.

AN EPPS, HON. WILLIAM HI., Merchant and Farmer, of Dixon, Illinois, was born in Schencc- tady, New York State, August 12th, IS12, being the eldest son of John A. Van Epps and Deborah (Housman) Van Epps. The family is of Dutch descent, his great-grandparents having emigrated to America from Amsterdam in Holland, and settled in New York city, early in the last century. In 1813 his parents removed to Genesee county, and he received his education partly at an academy in that county, and partly at Middleburg Academy in Wyoming county. His father (a soldier and captain during the war of 1812) died in 1816, and in 1829 his mother left Gencsee county, and located for a time in Brockport, Monroe county. Ilere

BIOGRAPIIICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

she subsequently marricd Daniel Collins, an extensive and well-known milling manufacturer and merchant of western New York. On leaving school the lad followed the com- mon custom and entered as clerk in a store, where hc remained some years. In 1837, becoming influenced by the prevailing rumors of the attractions of the western country, he bought a stock of goods and started on a prospecting tour to the West. Hc came to a rest in Fulton county, Illinois, and, as was then and still is very generally the case in that part of the country, soon became engaged in several distinct departments of business simultaneously. He established himself as a general merchant with the goods brought from New York, and also bought some land on which he opened up a farm. In addition to these he set up flour and saw-mills. He continued in this way until 1848; actively pursuing his various branches of trade, and interesting himself in any undertaking which promised well. The western country was then but very sparsely settled, and its richness and extent offered vast oppor- tunities to pushing and enterprising men. Of these oppor- tunities he availed himself whenever he could, and his steady industry made him largely successful. He had re- tained some connection with his home in Genesee county, and in 1848 returned thither, and remained there until 1854, though at the same time holding some property and con. tinuing business relations in Fulton county. He had also during this time purchased an interest in the large property known as the " Elston Mills," at Crawfordsville, Indiana, the business of which he, with others, successfully con- ducted for nearly three years. In 1854 he arranged his affairs in these places and finally settled in Dixon, Illinois. Here he opened a dry-goods and general store, which is at the present time (1875) being actively carried on by him. IIe also bought farming lands here somewhat ex- tensively, and devoted a great part of his attention to agricultural pursuits. In 1856 he became a member of the Illinois State Agricultural Board, and in 1860 was elected its President, and served in that office for the term of four years. The fertile State of Illinois is essentially a farming and grain-producing district, and its agricultural interests arc of the first importance. In the position of President of the Agricultural Board, and in other equally responsible positions connected with the agricultural in- terests of the State, his knowledge and experience in that department-with which he is so thoroughly identified- have been of great service. In politics he is attached to the Democratic party, and the esteem in which he is held, both by that party and by the whole community of his section, was evidenced by his unanimous nomination, in 1868, by the Springfield Democratic Convention for Lieu- tenant. Governor of the Statc. His acknowledged personal merit drew forth eulogistic notices of the nomination even from the press of the opposite party. He has been twice married ; in 1836 to Charlotte Rumsey Churchill, daughter of the Hon. Josiah Churchill, a member of the New York

Legislature and well-known merchant of Genesee county, and who was sometime one of the surveyors of the famous " Holland Land Company" of that State. His first wife died in 1848, and in 1850 he was united to Mary Anna Peck, also of Genesee county. He is a member of the Illinois Branch of the Centennial Board of Finance.

TEEL, WILLIAM A., Mayor of Joliet, Illinois, was born October 11th, 1836, in Blairsville, Pennsylvania ; his father, the Hon. Stewart Steel, being a lawyer of eminence, and during Presi- dent Polk's administration one of the American Consuls to Great Britain. He commenced his preparations for the legal profession by studies at Jefferson Academy, Pennsylvania, and in Cumberland, Maryland, but developed at the age of seventeen an inclination for commercial life into which he at once entered, and pursued for a short time in Cumberland, and then in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1855 he first visited Joliet, Illinois, but in a few days went on to Missouri, where he engaged in the construction of six miles of the North Missouri Railroad. In 1857 he returned to Joliet, and was appointed Cashier of the firm of Sanger & Casey, who had just taken the con- tract for the erection of the State Penitentiary in that city. In the following year the State Penitentiary, then located at Alton, was leased to this firm, and Mr. Steel, then twenty- two years of age, was selected as Deputy Warden, to take charge of both the commerce and discipline of the institu- tion-a rare if not the only instance where a man so young was chosen to fill so responsible, dangerous, and arduous a position. Prior to his incumbency there was an almost complete disregard of discipline in that institution. The escapes had averaged thirteen annually; many lives had been lost in the quarrels of convicts and by the punishment inflicted, and it required a person of great courage and self- possession to face the men incarcerated there. During his executorship a thorough discipline was established and maintained, no lives were lost, save through natural causes, and not one escape was effected in the whole term of his administration. When the new penitentiary at Joliet was completed the convicts of the old institution were trans- fcrred to it under his personal supervision, the final removals being effected about July 4th, 1860. During this period he continued his legal studies, and upon the closing of the Alton Penitentiary entered the office of Judge Newton D. Strong, of St. Louis, Missouri, where he finished his preparations for practice. Prior to his admission to the bar, which occurred in the Circuit Court of St. Louis, on April 4th, 1861, he reviewed all his studies with his father in Penn- sylvania. Upon the brcaking out of the Civil War, though a Democrat, he took an active interest in the Federal causc, and raiscd at once in Missouri an independent battalion of four hundred and fifty men, which, at his request, the Gov-

remonty there was an alle

ne in the matit. m. 1:

fines analy; nowy ives no

alle of courses and by the panichi,

: cipline was eaglesled

. steve through natura ci

f. elut in the wh. Termo

a the old institution were to

Dorin Cm. [ ..

the chương bi the

No. of ledre Newton D). Sin

have h ft hed his fr | 13.

os kr san tion to the ba: v 1

Court of St. Louis, on April

, which, 061 Neues, the

1 har wanted to May An Il i. a mthier of !

Collier, The From Serait Sa

gymfest portugies . Jeffer ., 1 1 € mo lid, Meryring

mich cat 20 queles, ani persuel

. N mine on The North Missouri Kailr. To His aresa apto ted Cashier 1

Mo the Sac chi nhry in the' div

" cap discipline of the i. -

1 º :

.....

Galaxy Pub. Co. Philadelphia

BIOGRAPHIICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.

ernor of .ne State cnrolled as a separate organization for | ernor's vcto, he procurcd from the State Legislature regimental duty. He was commissioned as commanding authority empowering the city of Joliet to afford this cor- poration-now, with two exceptions, the largest in this country-the means for erecting itself upon a firm basis. He has, through his various private enterprises, acquired a large fortune, and with his family lives not only to share the benefits which it confers, but to enjoy the high esteem of his fellow-citizens. officer, with the full rank of Major in the Union army. Prior to this he had been engaged in the construction of four monitors for the United States Navy, and of various other works connected with the army and navy. He en- joyed an intimate acquaintance with General Grant and the members of his staff, and his familiar knowledge through this connection of the situation of affairs assisted him ma- terially in forwarding the cause of the Union arms. The events of the war, occurring just as he had been admitted OYNE, PHILIP A., Lawyer, and United States Commissioner, was born in the city of New York, November 20th, 1824. Ilis parents were emi- grants from Ireland to that city in 1815, exiling themselves in consequence of trouble in which his father had become involved with the British government ; though never arraigned for trial, he was sus- pected of favoring the cause of Irish freedom; this, sub- jecting him to constant surveillance, caused him incessant annoyance, and, had an outbreak occurred, he would have been the victim of immediate and rigid prosecution. Prudence, therefore, dictated to him the propriety of seek- ing in the United States that field for freedom of thought and action denied him in the land of his birth. Philip attended the public schools of New York, and the gram- mar schools of the city of Newark, New Jersey. After acquiring a rudimentary education in those establishments, he entered, when in his fourteenth year, a book-binding shop on Nassau street, where he remained two years cn- gaged in mastering the details of the business. In the spring of 1841, believing that the West opened a wider field for the profitable exercise of skill and energy, he removed to Chicago, Illinois, and there commenced the study of law in the office of his brother, Hon. Thomas Hoyne, who had already been for four years a resident of that city. Here he pursucd a course of legal studies during the following two years, and under the able guidance of his instructor made rapid progress. At the expiration of that time, however, business becoming somewhat depressed in Chicago, he removed to Galena, Illinois, and secured em- ployment as book-keeper until 1844, when he returned to the former city as agent for a St. Louis Fur Company. In the spring of the following year he again removed to Galena and acted in the capacity of book-keeper in the auction commission house of Sleeper & Co., soon becom- ing a partner in the establishment. Thenceforward, with the exception of occasional visits to Chicago, which city he always looked upon as his home, he remained in Galena until 1852, when he decided to reside permanently in the first-named city. In the spring of 1853, on the establish- ment of the Recorder's Court, he was elected to the first clerkship, and held that position for a term of five years. Resuming and continuing his legal studies in the mean- while, he was, in 1855, admitted to the bar of the Supreme to the bar, interrupted his practice, which he partially re- sumed upon the declaration of pcace, winning a high reputa- tion for his ability as a jurist. In March, 1870, he was licensed to practice in the Supreme Court of Illinois; in the following April was enrolled as an attorney of the Supreme Court of the United States, and in January, 1871, was licensed to practice in the United States Court of Claims. On January 16th, 1862, he married Frances Louise Sanger, daughter of Colonel Lorenzo P. Sanger, of the Union army, and at the close of the war settled permanently at Joliet. ITis first enterprises here were the development, on a large scale, of the stone resources of that section of the State, and the coal deposits in the Wilmington coal districts, becom- ing remarkably successful in both. IIe sunk and worked the first shafts in that coal field, and in a short time raised Joliet to a position of prime importance as a shipping point for the finest building-stone west of the Alleghenies. Juliet now quarries and exports more stone than any other district in the country, and its superiority for the construc- tion of public edifices has for years been prominently recog- nized by the Federal and State governments. It is very extensively used in the erection of custom-houses, post- offices, arsenals, court-houses, and hospitals throughout the country. Mr. Steel is now the sole proprietor of the largest stone quarries in the country, employs a very large force of men, and by his constantly expanding enterprises has added not a little to the prosperity and reputation of the city of his adoption, and its surrounding districts. He has four times been called to the mayoralty of Joliet, and his public ser- vices as an executive have been no less satisfactory than his private enterprises as a citizen. His majority at the last election was greater than the aggregate of his majorities at the three previous elections, and this is a fair illustration of his growing popularity. During the winters he lives at Washington, practising in the United States Supreme Court, and taking an active interest in the transactions of the Government during the sessions of Congress. IIe is still a student, and has gathered in his home at Joliet one of the finest private libraries to be found in the West, em- bracing among its five thousand volumes a number of books of great antiquity. To his energy, when Mayor, is due the successful establishment of the Joliet Iron & Steel Works, which have made that city an important industrial centre. In the face of many obstacles, not the least being the Gov- I Court of Illinois. In the course of the same year, while

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

filling the office of Recorder's Clerk, he was appointed is editor and manager, devoted to the discussion of these United States Commissioner, which appointment he still special disorders, which is already in a flourishing condi- tion, and is ably supported by the profession at large. He is a member of the Philosophical Society of Chicago, as also of the Academy of Natural Sciences. He is also a member of many literary and scientific associations through- out the United States. He was married, in 1864, to May C. Kennedy, of Nashville, Illinois, and resides at Evanston, a beautiful suburban town a few miles distant from Chicago. holds, in connection also with that of Commissioner of Deeds for all the States and Territories. Down to the epoch of the outbreak of the Civil War he was an active and honored member of the Democratic organization, but since then has acted ably and consistently with the Repub- lican party, in which he holds a prominent and influential position. He is a leading stockholder of the West Division of the Hoosac Railway Company, and also of the National Bank of Illinois. He is the President of the Mechanics' & Traders' Savings, Loan, & Building Company of Chicago, and an energetic and valued member of the Chicago Board of Education. In all enterprises and movements calculated to promote the social and political welfare of his State and county he is a prime mover, and is noted for his vigor of action in all such cases. He was married, April 29th, 1849, to Teresa French, daughter of the well-known author of " French's Grammar; " he has two sons, one of whom is engaged with the house of Culver, Page, Hoyne & Co., stationers, the other with the extensive dry-goods establish- ment of J. V. Farwell & Co.

EWELL, JAMES STEWART, A. M., M. D., Physician, was born September Sth, IS37, in the city of Galena, Illinois, and is a son of John M. and Margaret M. (Stewart) Jewell, both of whom were natives of Tennessee. His father was a mechanic and builder by occupation. He ob- tained his early education in the schools of Galena, and in IS55 entered the office of Dr. S. M. Mitchell, of William- son county, Illinois, for the purpose of studying medicine. During the winter of 1858-59 he attended a course of lec- tures in the Rush Medical College of Chicago, and finished his studies the following season at the Chicago Medical College, taking his degree from that institution in 1860. IIe commenced the practice of his profession in William- son county, where he continued for about two and a half years, and thence removed to Chicago in 1863, where he has since remained. In 1864 he was elected Professor of Anatomy in the Chicago Medical College, and this chair he filled until 1869, when he went abroad. In the latter year he was honored by the Northwestern University with the degree of A. M. On his return to the United States, in 1870, he resumed his practice in Chicago; and subse- quently, in 1871, delivered a course of lectures in the Chicago Medical College on general pathology. In 1872 the Chair of Nervous and Mental Diseases was created for him, and he was chosen as Professor and continues to hold that position. He is regarded by the profession of the Northwest as an acknowledged authority on these particu- lar diseases, and he confines his practice exclusively to them. In 1874 he started a quarterly journal, of which he

ORSE, CHARLES M., Railroad Superintendent, was born July 21st, 1820, in Wilton, Maine, and is a son of Colonel Charles Morse. Ilis educa- tion was obtained chiefly at the village school, supplemented by an attendance, during four terms, at a higher academy, and frequently interrupted by ill-health. His father was a farmer and miller; but as the son was physically unable to perform much labor, very little was required of him. A remark made by the father to a friend, and accidentally overheard by the son, created a great impression on his mind, insomuch that it very mate- rially determined his future course of action. " Charles," he said, " cannot work with his brothers, but we can always depend upon him for closing the gates -- he don't leave things half done." When seventeen years old, he entered the post-office at Augusta, the capital city of the State, where heserved for four years, and where, for weeks toge- ther, he had sole charge of the office. Although he dif- fered politically with the postmaster, he never lost the latter's confidence and esteem, who refused to displace him at the behest of party managers, to make way for a party favorite. Shortly after arriving at manhood, he married and returned to his native town, where he assisted his father in the management of his business, and ultimately succeeded to it, on the death of his parent in 1845. Immediately upon his return to Wilton, he was elected Town Clerk, which, with other town offices, he held for seven years, when he was chosen a representative in the State Legisla- ture. In 1850, he entered the office of the treasurer of the Maine Central (then the A & K) Railroad Company, and, excepting four months, was connected with that corporation for over fifteen years, serving in various capacities, from Fireman to Superintendent, the longest period being as General Ticket Agent and Cashier, nearly the entire earn- ings of the company passing through his hands. His ser- vices as Superintendent covered three years at two different times. In 1866, he became Superintendent of the St. Louis, Jacksonville & Chicago Railroad; and in 1868, when that line was leased to the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company, he was appointed to and now holds the position of Superintendent of a Division, now embracing 190 miles of railroad. As a railway manager, he is one of the most successful and popular in the country. He is a man of fine

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

literary attainments, although he makes no claim to scholar- [ and in order to save his life, he concluded to remove farther ship. He is interested in inaugurating and sustaining all literary and art enterprises in his city. He is fond of books, possessing a library of choice works, numbering nearly one thousand volumes, and is a lover of antiquarian research. Ile takes great interest in all matters pertaining to the wel- fare of the community among whom he resides; and is, in. short, a useful, worthy and honorable citizen.

ILLIAMS, ROBERT EBENEZER, Lawyer, was born December 3d, 1825, in Clarksville, Greene county, Pennsylvania. His father was a Vir- ginian by birth, and his mother of Scotch-Irish and Welsh descent. Both his grandfathers were soldiers of the war of 1776, and both drew pen- sions on account of wounds received and services rendered in the conflict with the mother country. Ilis parents re- moved about 1830 to Washington, Pennsylvania. His father was a mechanic, and his son worked in his shop until he was seventeen years old, attending the common school during the winter months. He then entered Washington College, at Washington, Pennsylvania, where he remained over a year, and subsequently he became a teacher in the district school. In the spring of 1845 he removed to Ken- tucky, where he taught in Madison county for four years ; meanwhile he studied law privately. In 1849 he went to Bethany College, West Virginia, where he pursued a college course, meanwhile continuing his legal studies, and completed the greater portion of the curriculum, especially in the scientific portion, but left college at the expiration of the third or junior year. He thereupon returned to Ken- tucky, where he read law under the preceptorship of Colonel W. II. Caperton, of Richmond, teaching school at the same time. Ile received his license as a legal practitioner in December, 1850, and then proceeded to Texas to seek his fortune. At the time he started, he was possessed of $300 in gold; and after travelling over a large portion of terri- tory, his finances were reduced to the amount of one Eng- lish sovereign ($4.85), he then being in the town of Clinton, De Witt county, Texas, and provided only with a moderate supply of clothes and a few books. In this town he found a gentleman who had retired from the practice of the law, and who was the owner of a law library consisting of be- tween forty and fifty volumes, which he very kindly offered to loan. This favor was accepted, and he was subsequently enabled to purchase them. Ile at once commenced the practice of his profession, and succeeded beyond his most sanguine expectations. At the expiration of about two years, he was elected State Attorney for the judicial dis- trict in which he resided. Ile served in this position for two years, and it was the only office which he ever held, having declined a re-election. Ilis health at that time failed, as the climate did not agree with his temperament,

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 18

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