The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 25

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

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and again in a similar convention in 1862. IIe was the pioneer merchant in the region now so prosperous-1834 to 1837-and, by his shrewdness and vigor, assisted materially in impelling the county toward the state of thriving develop- ment it occupies at present. His first wife, Martha Thomp- son, of Kentucky, died in that State in 1837; his second wife was Anna B. Carson, to whom he was married in 1838, and who is still living.

OMERS, WINSTON, M. D., was born in 1800, in Surrey county, North Carolina, being the son of Waitman T. Somers and Nancy Smallwood. Ile was educated in the common schools of his. section, and made the utmost of the advantages afforded him for acquiring a substantial knowl- edge of the more important sciences. Having early evinced a strong inclination for a professional career he commenced in 1833 the study of medicine with Dr. Martin, at Rock- ford, Surrey county, North Carolina, and remained with this preceptor until 1835, when, having thoroughly qualified himself for it, he entered upon the practice of medicine at that place, and continued it with great success until 1842. In this year he resolved upon locating in the West, and soon after settled at Urbana, Illinois, where he resumed his professional duties, acquiring not only a fine reputation for his efficiency as a physician, but a very large and influential patronage, which realized for him a handsome competence. In 1860 he entered upon a final course of study at Rush Medical College, of Chicago, from which institution he graduated with distinction, and received his degree. A natural talent for this profession, aided by industry, and governed by deliberation, together with a rare capacity for correctly diagnosing the various diseases he was summoned to eradicate, soon brought him to a lending position as a medical practitioner. During the war he acted as Surgeon to the Board of Enrolment of the Seventh Illinois Con- gressional District, and his report on the result of his labors as an examining physician received a high compliment from the Surgeon-General of the United States Army, at whose request it had been prepared. In 1828 he was married to Mary G. Haines, of North Carolina. He died in August, 1872.

cal College, then the scene of labor also of the well-known Professor Gross. In 1848 he was licensed to practice by the aforesaid college, and removed to Illinois, locating him- self in Adams county, where he was professionally occupied during the two ensuing years. Ile then returned to the East, and took up his residence temporarily in New York city, where, in 1850, he graduated from the New York University. Returning subsequently to Illinois he estab- lished himself in Quincy, where he has since permanently resided, possessing an extensive and remunerative practice, and also the esteem and confidence of the general com- munity. At the outbreak of the Southern rebellion, in 1861, he was appointed by the Surgeon-General of the United States to the position of Camp Surgeon for the Camp of Instruction, which was located at Quincy. He was thus employed throughout the war, a period of five years, and fulfilled ably and efficiently the numerous and onerous duties dependent on his office. At the present time he is a valued and an energetic member of the Quincy Board of Health, and of the Board of Pension Surgeons ; he is a member also of the Adams County Medical Society, and has many times been appointed to an official position in that body. He is an active coadjutor of the State Medi- cal Society, and upon one occasion was appointed a dele- gate from this organization to the American Medical Association. Possessed of a high order of innate talent, his natural abilities have been thoroughly developed by an efficient course of training in early life, and subsequent assiduous study and research ; and, owing to his extended reputation as a careful and trustworthy practitioner, he has often been called beyond the usual rounds of his practice to attend to various cases of a peculiar or an aggravated nature. IIe was married, in 1865, to Laura Vanhorn, a former resident of Missouri.

ERVEY, ROBERT, Lawyer, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, August 10th, 1820, his father, Alexan- der, being a West India merchant and the owner of a plantation in Trinidad. In his youth he at- tended the preparatory grammar schools, and subsequently entered the Glasgow University, from which he graduated in 1837. Within a short period after this event he removed to Canada, and began the study of law with Hon. Henry Sherwood, Attorney-General of Canada. He was admitted to the bar in 1842, and at once commenced practice in Bytown, which now, under the title of Ottawa, is the seat of Canadian government. His tho- rough familiarity with the science of law, obtained by ear- nest and well-conducted stud; not only prior to but after his admission, and his conscientious devotion to the interests of his clients, soon won for him a very extensive and remu- nerative practice in the city and its vicinity. In 1852, at the urgent solicitation of an uncle who had long been a resi-

ILSON, ISAAC T., M. D., was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, March 24th, 1827. His par- ents were Thornton I. Wilson and Maria (Ken- drick ) Wilson. His earliereducation was acquired in the neighboring schools of his native place, whence he removed to Boone county, in the same State, and there pursued a course of academical studies. In 1845, under the able instruction of Dr. Thomas J. Trundle, he commenced the study of medicine. In 1847 he became the recipient of a course at the Louisville Medi- dent of Illinois, he removed to Chicago. Here he became

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a member of the law firm of Morris, Hervey & Clarkson, the copartnership existing until the elevation of the senior member, Buckner S. Morris, to the bench. He then con- tinued with Mr. Clarkson until 1857, and very shortly after became a member of the firm of Hervey & Anthony. In 1860 Mr. Galt was admitted, and the copartnership of these three gentlemen continues to this day. It is the oldest un- changed firm in Chicago, enjoying a very large and profit- able practice in all the courts, State and national, and giving attention to all branches of the profession, whether relating to admiralty, chancery, common law, criminal law, bank- ruptcy, or the rights and liabilities of railroads, insurance companies, and kindred corporations. Mr. Hervey has bcen retained in many of the most important civil and criminal cases which have for some years claimed the at- tention of the Chicago courts. He assisted in the defence of the nineteen aldermen who were prosecuted for bribery, all of whom were acquitted except one; and though fre- quently retained for the defence in a number of capital cases, in no instance has one of his clients suffered the ex- treme penalty of the law. His firm were attorneys for the complaining stockholders of the Galena Railroad Company, and succeeded in preventing its consolidation with the Northwestern Railroad Company until their clients, who demurred to the project, were paid the face value of their shares. He was retained by the State in the celebrated Hoops murder case. He is a prominent member and one of the originators of the Chicago Law Association, is Presi- dent of the St. Andrews Society, to which office he has been six times elected, and is Chief of the Caledonian Club. He stands high in the profession, and is without reproach as a citizen. He is a gentleman of classical taste, and finds time, despite the press of legal business, to pursue his liter- ary studies, frequently giving the public the benefits of his researches in the shape of lectures. Two of these, on the lives and works of Burns and Scott, he has been often called to repeat. He was married in 1843, while a resident of Canada, to Maria Jones, daughter of Dunham Jones, Col- lcctor of the Port of Maitland. She died in Chicago, leaving three children, a daughter and two sons, who reside in Canada, where the latter are engaged in business. In 1861 he was married to Frances W. Smith, who is still living.

YAS, WILLIAM GODFREY, F. R. G. S., was born in Dublin, November 4th, 1807. His father was William Dyas, of Castle St. Dublin. The Dyas family is purely of Spanish origin, and one which took high rank among the noblesse of Spain, having held ducal rank in the north of that country, in Burgos, Castile, its former residence. In early times, owing to their adherence to the Albigensian faith, the members of this family became subjects of persecution by the Romish Church, and were ultimately compelled to flee

their country. Landing in England, they received the pro- tection of Elizabeth, then the reigning sovereign. Edward Dyas, the head of the family, subsequently entered the army of the Commonwealth under Cromwell, then fighting in Ireland. For his valiant services performed there, hc be- came the recipient of various grants in Ireland, and also in 1690, for their efficient services at the battle of the Boyne, further grants were conferred upon the Dyas family. By these means the exiles became possessed of valuable prop- erties and estates located in the counties of Meath and Cavan. William Godfrey is the fifth remove from Edward Dyas, and when in his sixteenth ycar entered Trinity College, Dublin. From thence he was transferred to the Royal College of Surgeons, where he graduated in 1830. In 1832 he received an appointment to the Cholera Hospital, County Kildare, which was under the supervision of the govern- ment. This position he retained during the epidemic of that year and until the closing of the hospital, when he was placed in charge of a fever hospital, and also three dispen- saries, all of which were similarly under government con- trol. In this varied and extensive field of practice he labored assiduously for a period of twenty-five years, when, on the approach of the memorable potato famine and its final consequence, the entire prostration of all activity, he returned to Dublin, and was appointed Assistant Demon- strator of Anatomy at Trinity, his Alma Mater, acting under the celebrated Professor Harrison of the University. His extended practice in Ireland and his position in the Dublin University brought him into contact with many of the lead- ing scientists, surgeons, and physicians of the old country, and through this association he reaped immeasurable bene- fit and the valuable fruits of experience. At the expiration of a year passed in the University, he came to America in 1856, and immediately on his arrival in this country became connected with the medical journals, to which he afterward contributed many articles of acknowledged merit. In July, 1859, he came to Chicago and for a few months acted as Editor of the Chicago Medical Journal, under the late Dr. Brainerd ; ultimately, however, hc was drawn into active practice, and since has been continuously occupied in at- tending to the manifold duties attached to a large and ever- increasing circle of patients. He was one of the prime movers in the cstablishment and organization of the Women's Medical College of Chicago, and is to-day Presi- dent of that admirable institution, a position to which he was elected in 1873. In the Women's College he occupies the Chair of Theory and Practice of Medicine. He is also Consulting Physician of the Women's and Children's Hos- pital and Consulting Surgeon to the Cook County Hospital, both of which positions were tendered him by his apprecia- tive brethren in the profession. As yet he has published no volume of medical works, although, in addition to less im- portant essays, he had been during several ycars carefully preparing a collection of valuable facts and appropriate matter, which unfortunately was destroyed by fire, together

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with a choice library of medical and other works. IIe was | providing that Congress shall have power " to regulate com- married in October, 1830, to Georgiana Keating, daughter of Rev. George Keating, vicar of Mostrim county, Long- ford, Ireland, and again in October, 1861, to Miranda Sher- wood, daughter of the late David Sherwood, of Bridgeport, Connecticut. His eldest son, George Keating Dyas, is a favorably known physician, practising at present in Chicago. He has two sons also who are members of the bar, one of whom is a resident practitioner of Chicago, the other of Paris, Illinois.

merce with foreign nations and among the several States." Hle claimed that such power was not limited to any special branch or instrument of commerce, and that it had power to deepen rivers as well as to build railroads. From the Com- mittee on Elections he prepared and made several valuable reports on various contested cases. ITis report as to Beck, member elect from Kentucky, and others, was important, as laying down general principles to govern the action of the House, where disloyalty disqualifies from membership. He also reported a bill establishing a basis on which Southern members were admitted. In 1871 he resigned his seat in Congress and moved to Chicago, whither he was called to ac- cept the office of General Solicitor of the Northwestern Rail- road, one of the greatest roads of the West, which position he still holds. He was married in 1848 to Elizabeth Hart, daughter of Judge Hart, of Oswego, New York. Possessed of the highest order of legal talent, he has become an espe- cial authority in all matters of railroad law. .

OOK, HON. BURTON C., General Solicitor of the Northwestern Railroad, was born in Monroe county, New York, May 11th, 1819. He re- ceived his principal education at the Collegiate Institute of Rochester, New York. In 1835 he removed to Illinois and entered the practice of law. In 1840 he settled in Ottawa, Illinois, where during his long residence he won a high reputation in his profes- sion and the general esteem of the citizens. From 1846 to 1852 he was State's Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Dis- trict. In the latter year he was elected to the Senate of Il- GDEN, WILLIAM B., Capitalist, was born in Delaware county, New York, June 15th, 1805. He is descended from the eastern New Jersey branch of the Ogden family. ITis grandfather on his father's side was a Revolutionary soldier. His father, Abraham Ogden, left New Jersey in early life and settled in what was then known as the Upper Delaware Country, and opened a new home in the wilder- ness. His mother was the daughter of James Weed of Fairfield county, Connecticut, who was also a soldier of the Revolution. In the home thus formed and under such in- fluences this son was born and the earlier years of his life werc passed. He was both as a boy and a man hardy, tough and strong. He chose the profession of law, and while pursuing an academic course with that end in view, he was called home on account of the death of his father, to assume the management of the family interests. His father having left considerable property, its management developed in this son those remarkable powers of executive and finan- cial ability by which he was ever after distinguished. In 1834 Mr. Ogden took a warm interest in the project of con- structing the Erie Railroad by State aid, and was chosen a member of the New York Legislature chiefly to advocate that measure. It failed that year, but was accomplished at the next session. In 1835, when thirty years old, he rc- solved to turn his attention to the West. Ile already, the year previous, had made investments in Chicago, and in June of that year he arrived in that city, and immediately entered upon the management of the real estate purchased by himself and his friends, and opened what is now the oldest real estate house in Chicago, and is still conducted by his brother and successor, Mahlon D. Ogden. In 1835 linois, was a member of that body for eight successive years, and took a very active part in its doings. He early became identified with the anti-slavery movement, and dealt heavy blows against the institution. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise drove him, in common with Norman B. Judd and many others, out of the ranks of the Democratic party. He was at that time in the State Senate, and with others he united with the Whigs under Lincoln, and succeeded in sending Lyman Trumbull to the United States Senate. He represented Illinois in the Peace Conference held in Wash- ington in February, 1861. In this convention he strenu- ously opposed the recognition of slavery or protection of it by the nation il government in the Territories; and in con- nection with ex-Governor Wood of Illinois, caused his pro- test to be entered on the journal against the vote of the majority of the delegates from his State, favoring the resolu- tions adopted by the convention. In 1864 lie was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress from the Sixth Congressional District of Illinois. During this term he was a member of the Judiciary Committee of the House, and was the origin- ator of the statute passed protecting the officers and soldiers of the army from suits for damages done while in military duty during the war. He was returned to the Fortieth Congress, in which he was a member of the Committee on Elections and Chairman of the Committee on Roads and Canals. IIc reported from the latter committee a bill au- thorizing the building of a postal and military railroad from Washington to New York, which measure he supported by an able speech, delivered February 3d and 4th, 1869, in which he maintained that the power to charter the proposed line of road was derived from the Constitution, Article I, section 8, clause 3, of the Constitution of the United States, and 1836 his operations in real estate were very extensive,

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as he early foresaw that Chicago was destined to become a [ built a beautiful residence in the north division of Chicago, great city. He wcathered the financial crash of IS37 in a where he for many years resided and dispensed a liberal hospitality. But in later years his vast business concerns centered more and more in New York city, and accord- ingly in 1866 he purchased a villa in Westchester county, adjoining High Bridge, where he now resides. When the terrible calamity laid Chicago in ashes, he promptly re- turned to the city, and encouraged the citizens to rebuild and take a new start. In all his long life he has never been married until within the past few months. He has always maintained a high character for integrity, and he stands among the foremost of western men. most creditable manner. He was at this time Mayor of Chicago, and its first mayor, and did much by his influence, example, and by a personal appeal before a public meeting, to stay the general disposition on the part of the people to suspend the courts in order to prevent the compulsory col- lection of debts. And soon after, when Mississippi repu- diated her State debt, and the poverty of Illinois was used by demagogues as an argument in favor of her repudiation of indebtedness, Mr. Ogden was prominent in the ranks of those who fought to preserve public credit. From that time onward for many years he devoted his immense energy and private fortune to the development of great lines of railway east and west from Chicago, which should build up that city and open the vast resources of the Northwest. In IS47 OSSACK, JOHN, Early Pioneer of Illinois, was born in Scotland, December 6th, 1806. When twelve years of age he was sent to Canada, and therc apprenticed to serve in a store until he had attained his majority. At the expiration of his term of apprenticeship, he purchased goods on credit, and established himself as a retail trader. In IS33 hc moved to Upper Canada and was employed on the St. Lawrence Canal; subsequently, during the Canadian re- bellion, he was pressed into the British service, where he was retained until the termination of the outbreak. In 1838 he moved to Illinois, and there secured employment on the Illinois & Michigan Canal, then in course of construction. Later, when exportations of wheat from Chicago were be- coming numerous and frequent, he was temporarily engaged in hauling that product. Then, interesting himself in the lumber business, he established a yard in the city of Ottawa, and was soon the possessor of a thriving and lucrative tradc. In connection with this business he afterward built a ware- house furnished with elevators, and began to deal exten- sively in grain. He was thus occupied until 1873, when, his sight failing him in a considerable degree, he was com- pclled to withdraw entirely from active business. Upon the organization of the Anti-Slavery Party, he became onc of its most energetic and devoted adherents, and aided effi- ciently in establishing what was known as the " Underground Railroad," was widely known as one of its ablest " conduc- tors," and was indefatigable in helping runaway slaves to sccure a safc asylum. On one occasion he, in company with Doctor and I. Stout, and C. King, was tried before Judge Drummond in the United States Court, for violation of the Fugitive Slave Law, and the result of that trial was the finding of a verdict against him and Dr. Stout, and their subsequent imprisonment in the Chicago jail. On many other occasions he has battled manfully for that political and social principle which has ever been his guide while a citi- zen of the United States ; and, long before the Civil Rights Bill was passed, he was a practical expounder of its articles. He was married in 1833, and has had eleven children, nine of whom are now married, and who, in all, have twenty he resuscitated the Galena and Chicago Union Railway and became its first President. This road soon proved to be very profitable and successful. In 1853 he rested from his labors, and spent a year and a half in Europe, devoting his chief attention to its great public works. He was one of the first to advocate making the Illinois & Michigan Canal a ship canal. Soon after his return from Europe he organ- ized a lumber company, to own 200,000 acres on the Pesh- tigo river, in Wisconsin. A large village has grown up about this business, and its annual product is now 50,000,- 000 feet of lumber. In 1857 he became President of the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railway Company, and clevoted his energies to building up that road. Just then the great panic settled upon the country, involving ncarly everything in ruin. Mr. Ogden staked his private means on the road, and carried it successfully through the crisis, and it afterward took the name of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. At the time of the organization of the Chicago & Fort Wayne Railroad Company, in 1853, he was chosen one of its directors, and when afterward, in 1859, the road was found to be in a condition of general collapse from the great panic, he was chosen a general receiver for the whole line of the road. IIe labored faithfully for its reorganiza- tion, and its prosperity to-day is an indication of the success of his efforts. He has also been first President of the Rush Medical College ; President of the National Pacific Railway Convention of 1850; President of the Illinois & Wisconsin Railway Company ; of the Buffalo & Mississippi Railway Company ; of the Wisconsin & Superior Land Grant Railway Company ; and first President of the Union Pacific Railway Company; of the Chicago Branch of the State Bank of Illinois; and of the Board of Sewerage Commissioners for the city of Chicago. In 1860 he purchased 5000 acres of land on the Allegheny river at Brady's Bend, Pennsylvania, and subsequently organized the Brady's Bond Iron Com- pany, with a capital of $2,000,000. He was, in 1852, nominated by the Democratic party for Congress, but de- clined to serve as a candidate. In 1860 he was elected by the Republican party to the Illinois Senate. In 1837 he

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children. A firm upholder of religious principles, he | has grown very large and remunerative. He is now serv- is libcral in his views, and is noted for his mildness and charity.

GDEN, MAHLON D., Daler in Real Estate, was born in Delaware county, New York, July 16th, ISII. He received a common school education, and afterward graduated at Hobart College, Geneva, New York. He next studied law in Columbus, Ohio, under Judge Swain. In June, 1836, he went to Chicago and opened a law practice, in which he continued until 1848. In that year he entered upon real estate business, as a member of the Northwestern Land Agency, an office opened by his brother, William B. Ogden, in 1835, in Chicago. He has been engaged in this office, and maintained the business started by his brother, from that day to this. The present firm-name is Ogden, Sheldon & Co. It is the oldest real estate house in Chicago, and its operations have reached very extensive proportions and bear a high reputation for integrity. Mr. Ogden was married, January 9th, 1837, to Miss Kasson, of Columbus, Ohio. He has a family of five children, three sons and two daughters. He has twice been chosen Alderman of Chicago; ouce acting in that capacity after the great fire of 1871, when the position in- volved an immense amount of hard work. He was also Judge of Probate in Cook county, Illinois, for eight years, from 1837 to 1845.

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The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 25

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