The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 22

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

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BIOGRAPIIICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

children, eight of whom were living at the time of his | Galena, and commeneed the practice of the medical pro- decease-three sons and five daughters. Equally as a lawyer, soldier, and citizen, he has a record free from stain or blemish.

HEAT, ALEXANDER E., Lawyer, was born in Cayuga county, New York, April 19th, 1833. His parents are Luther Wheat and Elmira (Marvin) Wheat. His earlier and preliminary education was acquired in the neighboring acad- emy of his native place. Upon attaining his eighteenth year, he decided to embrace the legal profession, and commenced the study of law in the office of David Wright, at Auburn, New York, making rapid progress in his studies under the careful supervision and able guidance of that practitioner. In 1852, believing that in the West was to be found a wider field for the profitable exercise of skill and industry, he removed to Illinois, located himself in Quincy, and there, in 1853, was admitted to the bar. Ile then entered immediately upon the active practice of his profession, and rapidly secured an extensive and re- munerative clientage. During seventeen years of the time which he has passed in Quincy, he was associated in part- nership with Calvin A. Warren, in the practice of law. In 1863 he was elected to the Legislature from his adopted town, on the Democratie ticket, and served one term, evincing, while acting in that capacity, the possession of sterling abilities. In January, 1873, the law partnership of Ewing & Hamilton was formed, he being the senior partner. He is a skilful and talented practitioner, and excellently well versed both in the theory and practice of his profession. He was married, August Ist, IS59, to Josephine W. Woodruff, a resident of Quincy, Illinois.

fession in that town. Here he continued for about three years, and regained his usual health, when he was prevailed upon to re-enter again the field in which he had so suc- cessfully labored, and accordingly took charge of a large German Methodist Church, in St. Paul, Minnesota. After laboring here for one year, the Illinois Conference, to which he belonged, called him to assume charge of a large congregation in Quincy (First German Methodist). In the course of two years, Mr. Schmidt's old affection (a bronchial one) returned, and he was obliged to again and finally retire from the ministry, which he reluctantly did, and at the regret of a large congregation. He then resumed the practice of medicine in the Homoeopathic School, at Quincy; and, in order to further perfect him- self in the science of his profession, he attended a course at the Missouri Homeopathic College, at St. Louis, in 186S. Since his final retirement from the ministry he has been constantly and actively engaged in the practice of his profession, and has acquired reputation as a skilful practitioner, and is in the enjoyment of a large and lucra- tive practice. He was married at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1845, to Wilhelmina Lait, who died in 1855, at Belle- ville, Illinois. He was again married, in 1856, to Paulina J. Meise, from Quincy, who is still living. The doctor has a family of five sons and one daughter. One of the sons has selected the medical profession, and is now pur- suing his studies.

UNN, DANIEL W., Lawyer, Journalist, and Politician, was born in Orange county, Vermont, September 12th, 1834. His parents still reside in the above county, where his father was formerly engaged in agricultural pursuits. His prelimi- nary education was acquired in the public schools of his native town, whence he entered the Thetford Acad- emy, situated at Thetford, Vermont, where he completed a course of study in the higher branches. In IS52 he moved westward, stopping temporarily at Aurora and Rising Sun, Indiana, teaching school at each of these points, and in the meanwhile initiating himself into the theory of law practice. In 1855 he moved to Coles county, Illinois, where he completed his legal studies under the able supervision of Judge Starkweather, was admitted to the bar in June, 1859, and at once began the practice of his profession in Coles county. In 1862 he entered the army as Adjutant of the 126th Regiment of Illinois In- fantry, and in the following year was appointed Colonel of the First Alabama Cavalry; the latter position, however, he was compelled to decline, a step rendered imperatively necessary on account of his enfeebled health. On his return to Cairo, Illinois, he resumed the practice of law, and, for a time, edited the Cairo Daily News. In 1866

CHMIDT, JOHN, M. D., of Quincy, Illinois, was born in Germany, November 22d, IS22. Ile is the son of N. and Margaret (IIansman) Schmidt. In 1839 he came with his parents to the United States, settling near Gettysburg, Penn- sylvania. After living there about one year his father died and John left home for the West, where, after passing through Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc., he permanently located himself in Louisville, Kentucky, in IS42, and be- came engaged in mercantile pursuits. Leaving his mer- cantile business he entered the ministry and for ten years or more travelled for the Methodist Conference. Ilis health failing he was obliged to relinquish his arduous labors in the ministry; and he resolved to resume his medical education, commenced in Germany under his father, who was a veterinary surgcon. In 1852 he at- tended a course of lectures at Rush Medical College, in Chicago, and after necessary preparation removed to i he-yas elected to the State Senate from Southern Illinois,

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

being the only Republican ever elected from that district. At the time of the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, he was a prominent member of the Illinois Senate, and the speech delivered by him on that occasion was universally conceded to be one of the ablest ever made before that body. His many other political speeches, delivered during the various campaigns of the last decade, exhibit him in the light of a powerful orator and a scholar of versatile accomplishments. In 1871, on the expiration of his term in the Senate, he was unani- mously nominated by the Republicans as their candidate for Congress in the Thirteenth Illinois District; that section of Illinois, however, being swayed entirely by Democratic views, he was defeated, but by a comparatively small majority. During the same year he was appointed by President Grant Supervisor of Internal Revenue, his jurisdiction extending over Illinois, Michigan and Wis- consin, with head-quarters at Chicago, Illinois. Since January Ist, 1875, he has resided in the latter city and taken an active interest in all that concerns its local affairs, social and political, ever evincing a readiness to assist in any enterprise or movement that may have for its end the furtherance of the public welfare.

and during the siege of that stronghold had charge of the 17th Army Corps Hospital. After the surrender of Vicksburg, the 3d Corps Hospital was consolidated with the 17th, and thenceforth was designated as the McPher- son General Hospital. Of this latter Dr. Powell was placed in charge; it was a very large establishment, con- taining some 2200 beds, and here he rendered most valuable service, receiving at a subsequent period a gold medal from the corps as an evidence of their appreciation for the performance of his manifold duties therein. During the siege of Vicksburg he was made Brevet Lieutenant- Colonel, and afterwards Colonel, by the President of the United States, for superior service rendered, and also received a medal from that department. He was present during the siege of Mobile, acting as Surgeon-in Chief of General Carr's division, and then followed the army through Alabana and other States. He retired from the service in 1865. On his return to Chicago he was made, during the year last mentioned, Adjunct Professor of Sur- gery in Rush Medical College. At a later date the chair of Military Surgery and Surgical Anatomy was created, to which he was appointed, and has since continued to hold the position. He is one of the surgeons of the Cook County Hospital, the largest hospital in the State. He is considered a most able surgeon, and is particularly efficient in clinical practice. He has successfully performed opera- tions for lithotomy and also ovariotomy; and has con- tributed more or less to the literaturc of the profession, mostly on surgical questions. He is of a retiring dis- position, and in manners quite unassuming.

OWELL, EDWIN, M. D., Physician and Surgeon, was born, October 12th, 1837, in Jefferson county, New York, and is a son of John and Evelyn (Brainard) Powell. His father followed the oc- cupation of a farmer, and the son labored on the farm until he was about thirteen years old. He then went to Theresa, New York, to attend the High School, and made his home in the family of Dr. Brewster. COULLER, JOHN DEANS, M. D., Superin- tendent of the Illinois State Reform School, was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, January 15th, 1836, and is of Scotch extraction. His education was acquired primarily in the common schools of his native place; subsequently in the Medical De- partment of Buffalo University, New York. Abandoning school life when in his tenth year, he entered the woollen bonnet factories of the west of Scotland, where he was employed for a short time, working in the day-time and attending school at night. He was afterward apprenticed to serve for a term of four years at the trade of shoe- making; and it was while thus employcd that he learned to look with aversion on the system of trades-unionism and its accompanying trammeling and vitiating effects. For several years he took an active and fearless part in oppo- sition to trades unions and their restrictions, believing the workman a free agent to sell his labor in the highest market, and his master as free to buy in the lowest; but finally, discouraged by the persistent enmity of his co- workers and the ceaseless repetition of rattening outrages, After passing some time in that city, he went West to visit his maternal uncle, Dr. Daniel Brainard, and while there decided to embrace the medical profession. In the autumn of 1851 he entered Knox College, one of the largest edu- cational institutions in the West, where he passed through its preparatory department. In the following year he matriculated at Williams College, and graduated therefrom in the class of 1856, ranking the third in a membership of seventy-six and gaining the mathematical honors. Imme- diately after leaving college he repaired to Chicago, where he entered the office of his uncle, Dr. Brainard, where he pursued his medical studies and also became the Interné Physician at the United States Marine Hospital, where he continued in all about seven years. In addition to this pos tion, and before he attained his majority, he was ap- pointed Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Rush Medical College (1856), and occupied that station until the summer of 1861. In July of that year he entered the United States service as Surgeon, and in the following year was assigned to the 72d Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. He partici- pated in all the engagements in and around Vicksburg, the assaults of ignorant members of the St. Crispin clubs

BIOGRAPIIICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.

and the dangers constantly menacing him, he came to this | land, Ohio, and graduated from that institution in I859. IIe country, yet finding here that same essence of intolerance, then resumed his practice in Urbana, Illinois, and has since been actively and constantly engaged there in attending to the many duties connected with a large and ever-increasing clientage. Throughout Urbana, which is the county-seat of Champaign county, his reputation for skilfulness and learn- ing is unexcelled, while in the surrounding country also it is widely recognized. In 1861 he was elected County Judge, an office which he filled for a term of four years. From 1867 to 1873 he was a valued and efficient member of the Board of Trustees of the Illinois State Industrial University. In all those questions and movements relating to the welfare and advancement, social, political and finan- cial, of his State and county, he is an unostentatious but energetic laborcr, and takes rank with those who, caring warmly for the public good, secure it in a quiet but effec- tive manner. He was married in 1853 to Mary McCon- oughy, then a resident of Granger county, Ohio. only modified in degree. Subsequently, he resolved to embrace the medical profession, and, with that end in vicw, obtained employment as overseer of the shoe shop in the House of Refuge at St. Louis, where later he was ap- pointed Assistant Superintendent. Pursuing his studies during the leisure days and hours of the years thus passed, he prepared himself thoroughly to pass the examination, and ultimately graduated from the Buffalo Medical College. Ile then practised medicine for a time in Illinois, meeting with merited success; but later was prevailed upon to return to the work of trying to alleviate the condition of the vagrant class, and, as far as possible, reform the criminals among the juvenile classes of the community. The greater portion of his later years has been devoted to philanthropic labors, and he has been singularly successful in reclaiming from vicious courses large numbers of juvenile offenders who were far advanced in the path which leads to the prison-cell and the gallows. May 15th, 1872, he was appointed Superintendent of the Illinois State Reform School, located at Pontiac, Illinois, and since that date has retained the position, performing its arduous and important duties with tact, firmness and charitable ability. In all matters, social, political and benevolent, which affect his State and county, he has ever cvinced a warm and generous interest, and in his sphere is widely recognized as an effective administrator and a gentle but consistent disciplinarian.

UNNINGIIAM, JOSEPH OSCAR, Lawyer and ex-Judge, was born in Lancaster, Erie county, New York, December 12th, 1830. His father, Iliram W. Cunningham, was engaged in agricul- tural pursuits ; his mother, originally Eunice Brown, was, at the date of her marriage with the above, the widow of Corydon Sheldon. While still in his boyhood, his parents removed to Clarksfield, Huron county, Ohio; in this town he received his elementary education, subsequently prosecuting the study of the higher branches at Oberlin College, Ohio, of which institution he became an inmate in 1850. At the expiration of his allotted term lie resolved to embrace the legal profession, and in 1853, under trustworthy supervision and guidance, commenced the study of law. During the latter year also, while resid- ing at Urbana, Illinois, he published and controlled the Urbana Union, conducting the management of that journal until 1858. While thus occupied, he evinced the posses- sion of admirable discriminative powers, and in all matters deported himself with marked ability. In 1856 he was admitted to the bar at Urbana, Illinois; but subsequently, desiring to acquire a still more perfect knowledge of his profession, he entered the Union Law College, in Cleve- !

EES, JAMES H., Dealer in Real Estate, was born in Stroudsburg, Northampton county, Pennsylva- nia (now Monroe county), April 24th, 1813. IIis father being a surveyor, the son, who received his education in the schools and academy of Strouds- burg, early began to learn and to practise survey- ing, and before he was eightcen years old found himself camping out in the woods in charge of a surveying party. Having adopted this business hc engaged in it in his own State until August, 1834, when he arrived in Chicago, where he continued in the same line. In 1837, the town having just been incorporated as a city, with William B. Ogden as mayor, Isaac N. Arnold as city clerk, and John D. Caton as one of the aldermen-names now famous in the annals of the State-Mr. Rees was appointed City Surveyor, the first one that Chicago ever had. About this time the great panie occurred, and for a few years but little business was transacted in the new city. In 1839 he found his calling, and took his initiation in the real estate business as a clerk in the office of W. B. Ogden, now the oldest house of the kind in Chicago, where he remained for eight years, travel- ling much through the State in connection with the duties of his position. IIe then opened a real estate business for himself in company with Edward A. Rucker, and began getting up abstracts of titles. They were, so far as he knows, the originators of this plan, which proved so invalu- able to the public and profitable to the owners of the same, after the great fire of 1871. A few years later he bought out his partner's interest in the business and took into partnership in the abstract business S. B. Chasc, selling out this branch of his business entirely in 1862 to Chase Brothers. From 1852 to 1856 he had in partnership with him in real estate business S. II. Kerfoot, then D. P. Slocum, and, at the death of that gentleman, his heirs, until

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1867, when he took as partner I .. HI. Pierce, the firm still | fine social qualities, and is highly esteemed for his private worth. In 1838 he was married to Adelia A. Rhodes, of Richmond, Vermont, who still lives.

continuing in the business as Rees, Pierce & Co. Mr. Rees has handled an immense amount of property during this long period, has acquired a large fortune, and stands very high in the estimation of his fellow-citizens, among whom he has thus continuously resided for a period of forty- one years. He is the oldest real estate dealer in Chicago, and one of its oldest settlers. Ile has been connected somewhat with municipal affairs as Alderman, Assessor, etc., but has devoted his attention almost exclusively to his business. He was married, June 4th, 1844, to Harriet Frances, daughter of Zalmon Hanford, Esq., of Chicago. In the year 1854, in company with a Mr. Huntley, he built the Lake View House, a few miles north from the city, which was for years quite a noted and popular place of resort.

LARKE, HASWELL C., Cashier First National Bank, Kankakee, was born in Boston, Massachu- setts, September 28th, 1842. His father, John J. Clarke, was a well-known attorney-at-law of Boston ; his mother was Rebecca C. (Haswell) Clarke. His preliminary education was acquired in the public schools of his native place, and, upon the completion of the required course of preparatory studies, he became, in 1859, a student in Ilarvard College, belong- ing to the class of 1863. In February, 1862, at the out- break of the civil conflict, he entered the United States service on the staff of Benjamin F. Butler, General in command, taking rank as Second Lieutenant; and when mustered out of service in November, 1865, he held the position of Lieutenant-Colonel and Aide-de-Camp. Ilis

'ULLER, FRANCIS, President of First National Bank of Galesburg, was born in Rutland, Ver- mont, in 1815, his parents being Frederick and rapid promotion is fairly attributable to his many gallant and effective services, which won for him the esteem and affection of both officers and subordinates. After leaving the battle-field he took up his residence in Kankakee, in 1865, and for a period of three or four years occupied him- self in superintending the flax-mill at that place, and, subse- quently, became financially interested in a stone-quarrying enterprise. At the time of the establishment and organiza- tion, in 1871, of the First National Bank of Kankakee, he became a stockholder and Director in that institution, and was appointed to fill the Cashiership, a position which he has since occupied, and whose manifold and responsible func- tions he performs with marked energy and ability. He is an active and valued member of the Masonic organization ; is, at the present time, Deputy Grand Master of the Six- teenth District of the State of Illinois, and also Deputy Grand High-Priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the same State. He was married, May 5th, 1869, to Harriet A. Cobb, sister of Emory Cobb. Rachel (Gordon) Fuller, both of whom were na- tives of the same State. He enjoyed an academi- cal course, which was pursued with great industry and thoroughness, and in 1836 he embarked in a general mercantile business in Vermont, which he followed for two years. In 1839 he travelled West, and located in Grayville, White county, Illinois, where he resumed his mercantile business and pursued it successfully for three years. At the expiration of this time he removed to Mount Carmel, and commenced the publication of the Mount Carmel Register, which he edited and managed for five years, establishing in that period a reputation as a journalist fully alive to the peculiar requirements of an enterprising newspaper. Ile again moved, settling in Newton, Jasper county, where he re-entered commercial life, remaining in it until the break- ing out of the civil war, when, following a general im- pulse, he took up the profession of arms. He first entered the United States service as Quartermaster of the 38th Regiment Illinois Volunteers, retaining that position until the spring of 1862, when he was transferred to the staff of Frederick Steele, with whom he served until the fall of 1863. He was then appointed Disbursing Quartermaster ADDOCK, DANIEL H., Lawyer, was born at Lockport, Illinois, and is the son of Lieutenant- Colonel Paddock, whose biographical sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. In the fall of 1853 he came with his parents to Kankakee, where he passed his earlier years. He had scarcely attained his twelfth year when, owing to the death of his father, he was thrown entirely upon his own resources- left unaided to carve out his future. In April, 1864, he entered the printing-office of the Kankakee Gasette, where his salary was one dollar per week for the first four months, for the 5th Army Corps, and fulfilled all the important and responsible duties assigned to this station to the fullest ac- ceptance of his superiors. He remained in this military office until the close of the war, when he returned to Illi- nois and located in Galesburg, where he now resides. In 1865 he was appointed President of the First National Bank of that city, and continues to fulfil its duties. Ile is a gentleman of unquestionable integrity, and has brought to the performance of his official labors as a Bank President the sound judgment, precision, and financial ability which his active career in business pursuits developed. Ile has land two dollars per week for the ensuing four. At the

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expiration of that time he left the printing-office, and ob- tained employment on the farm of an uncle, returning home to attend school during the winter months. Afterwards he, with his elder brother, became the stay and support of their mother and the other members of the family. At the age of seventeen he atten led the Illinois Soldiers' College, situated at Fulton, Illinois, but, on account of pecuniary embarrassments, was compelled to relinquish his course of studies. Returning to Kankakee, he was appointed Deputy in the Post-Office Department, and from there he entered the office of the County Clerk, where he prosecuted, under the supervision and able guidance of Thomas P. Bonfield, the course of law studies to which he had previously de- voted his attention for more than a year while occupied in the post-office. In the latter position he remained for nearly two years, employing his leisure time and the evening hours in acquiring an insight into judicial forms and intricacies, either through observation or by means of the usual text- books. In September, 1873, he attended the law depart- ment of the Union University, at Albany, New York, from which institution he was graduated in 1873; was admitted to the New York Supreme Court ; also, subsequently, to the Illinois bar ; and in June, 1874, formed a partnership con- nection with his former legal tutor, Thomas P. Bonfield ; is now the junior member of the firm of Bonfield & Paddock, attorneys-at-law, in Kankakee, Ilinois. Iu politics he is warmly Republican; in religion, a Congregationalist and church member.

organization-the Republican party-and its trenchant pen editorial did yeoman service in the memorable Fremont campaign. This change from timid neutrality to outspoken partisanship seems to have proved advantageous to the pub- lisher of the Reporter, in a different form from that of merely increasing his subscription list, for in 1860 his Republican friends, then in power, nominated and elected him Clerk of the Circuit Court and Recorder. During the four years he held this office he compiled, with much labor and ex- pense, an elaborate set of abstract records of the public archives of Ogle county, which are still regarded as reliable authority in the settlement of all questions of title to real estate within the county, and are almost universally resorted to for that purpose. He is still their proprietor. In 1862, his younger brother having resigned the office of County Treasurer of Ogle county to join the Union army, he was appointed by the County Board to fill the vacancy thus oc- casioned, and for two years discharged that responsible trust with fidelity and satisfaction to the public. Five years after, following the bent of his inclination, he re-entered the editorial fraternity, having repurchased the Reporter (which in 1859 he had sold), and conducted it during the three fol- lowing years. In 1869 he was elected to the General As- sembly, serving for two years, and taking a lively and active interest in all the reformatory legislation of the State. In addition to these public and private interests, he was most of the time, subsequent to 1861, engaged in a remunerative real estate business, and in the constant additions to his ab- stract records, which each passing day and week required. Amid these multifarious engagements he still found time at different periods to serve as Justice of the Peace, Township Treasurer, and to represent his town as Supervisor in the County Board. Upon the close of his term of service in the General Assembly, he found himself to be in failing health and retired to private life; and though he is still obliged to refrain from active business, yet his permanent recovery is anticipated, and that this will bring him years of useful labor. During his varied public life he gained the warm friendship of the leading members of both parties, and time has only served to cement this fraternal feeling. He

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The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 22

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