USA > Illinois > The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century > Part 62
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nois "-a work very highly valued by the legal profession. The brief intervals when he has not been fulfilling official duties in one capacity or another have been devoted to the practice of his profession-a practice which he has made largely successful. He was married on the 21st of Decem- ber, 1841, and his wife still lives to share her husband's honors and labors. Eleven children have blessed the union, but of these five only are now living.
ENDERSON THOMAS J., Lawyer, was born in Brownsville, Tennessee, November 29th, 1824, being the son of William H. Henderson, a promi- nent citizen. His early years were spent in the common schools and academy of his native town, and by diligence, aiding a naturally bright talent, he soon acquired a substantial education. When twelve years of age he removed with his father's family to Putnam, subsequently Stark county, Illinois, and worked at home, on their farm, until he attained his majority, with the excep- tion of about one year at different times, during which he taught school. His father became a prominent citizen of that section, and took a leading position, not only in politics, but in movements for the advantage of the general public. He served two terms in the State Legislature, and at one time was the Whig candidate for Lieutenant Governor. When twenty-one years of age Thomas J. went with his father's family to Iowa, and entered the Iowa University, at Iowa City, where he studied for six months, and then returned to his old home in Illinois, where he assumed a clerkship in a store, and taught school for a year and a half. In 1847 he was elected Clerk of the County Commissioner's Court, and in 1849 was re elected, but then as Clerk of the County Court of Stark county, the office having been changed, and served in the capacity of Clerk of these courts for six years, fulfilling his duties with satisfaction to the public. Ile had commenced the study of law during this incumbency, and in 1852 was admitted to practice. In the following year he opened an office in Toulon, Stark county, and entered upon the duties of his profession. He was married in 1349 to Miss Henrietta Butler, of Wyoming, Stark county. Ile became a representative man in his section, and in 1854 was elected to the lower House of the State Legislature; and in 1856 to the State Senate. Hc served with such men as N. B. Judd, B. C. Cook, W. C. Goudy, and other distinguished men, being himself at that time the junior member of the Senate. In 1862 he tempor- arily abandoned his practice to enter the Union army, and on the 22d day of September of that year was mustered into service as Colonel of the 112th Illinois Infantry Volun- teers, with which he remained until the close of the war. Ile served conspicuously in the campaigns of Georgia and Tennessee in 1864, and for gallant and meritorious services in those campaigns, and especially at the battle of Franklin,
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Tennessee, was in February, 1865, promoted, by brevet, to | mand of Major-General A. J. Smith. Ile took part in all the rank of Brigadier-General. lIe was severely wounded the battles and skirmishes of the Meridian Expedition, under General Sherman; was at the storming and capture of Fort De Russcy, and at Pleasant Hill, on the 9th of April, 1864, and all the subsequent skirmishes and battles of the expedition ; as well as at the battle of Lake Chicote, Arkansas, and Tupelo, Mississippi. In November, 1864, he was mustered out of the military service, receiving an honorable discharge, on account of sickness. He returned home, and in 1865 he was again appointed Professor of Latin and History in McKendree College, which position he continues to hold. In addition to his duties in this capacity he discharges those of Fiscal Agent of the college, and Historian of the Alumni Association. He was married in January, 1859, to Mary Ashley, of Lebanon. at the battle of Resaca, Georgia, May 14th, 1864, but returned to the field as soon as he was able to do so. Upon his return to the field, in the July following, the 3d Brigade, 3d Division, 23d Army Corps, was organized and placed under his command, and so continued until the end of the war. Upon his return home at the close of the war he resumed the practice of his profession at Toulon, where he continued it until March, 1867, when he removed to Prince- ton, Illinois (Bureau county), where he formed a law part- nership with Joseph I. Taylor, which continued until 1871, when he was appointed by President Grant United States Collector of Internal Revenue for the Fifth Collection District of Illinois. He held that office for two years, and during that time collected nearly nine millions of dollars for the government. In 1873 he entered into partnership with Harvey M. Trimble, and now practises his profession at Princeton, Illinois. He has won a leading position in the profession as a learned and brilliant advocate and able counsellor. In 1868 he was elected one of the Presidential electors for the State of Illinois at large; and in Novem- ber, 1874, he was elected as member of the Forty-fourth Congress for the Sixth District of Illinois for a term of two years. He is a gentleman of fine culture and elevated tastes, forcible in argument and winning as a rhetorician. He is very popular in his section, not alone for his public spirit and rank as a barrister, but for his many high social qualities as well. His personal acquaintance is very extensive, and the number of his warm personal friends very great.
ENSER, SAMUEL H., Professor of Latin and History in McKendree College, was born on the 20th of December, 1835, in St. Clair county, Illinois. His father was the Rev. William L. Denser, of the Southern Illinois Conference. After receiving a good home and common school education he entered McKendree College, at Lebanon, Illinois, where he went through the collegiate course with honor, and graduated in 1854. During the fall and winter of the year in which he left college he taught school, and the next year, 1855, he returned to McKendree College as Classical Tutor. IIe held this position until 1858. In that year he was made Adjunct Professor of Languages, and worked in the college in that capacity until 1862. In that year he was elected Professor of Latin in the institution. In August, 1862, he forsook the peaceful paths of collegiate instruction and went where so many thousands of his coun- trymen went about that time-into the army. He enlisted in the 117th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was soon made Adjutant of the regiment. In the year 1864 he was appointed Acting Assistant Adjutant-General of the 3d Brigade, 3d Division, 16th Army Corps, under the com-
ARWELL, WILLIAM W., Judge of Cook County Circuit Court, and son of John Farwell, an old time innkeeper and farmer, was born in Morrisville, Madison county, New York, January 5th, 1817. Ile passed through the usual preliminary educa- tion in common school, private school, and academy, and entered Hamilton College, at Clinton, New York, where he graduated, after a full course, in 1837. HIe next taught various academics for a year and a half. For a short period, in 1839, he was engaged in the engineering department of the Black River Canal. He then returned to Morrisville and studied law with O. B. Granger, the County Surrogate Judge, then with J. R. Lawrence, of Syracuse, and afterwards with Potter & Spaulding, of Buffalo, where he remained until 1841. He was then ad- mitted to the bar of New York, and opened practice in Morrisville, which he continued until 1848. He then went to Chicago and began practice with Calvin De Wolf. In the spring of the next year, at the time of the gold excite- ment, Mr. Farwell went overland to California, for his health; the journey occupying five months. The next summer he returned by the Isthmus to his old home; and here, at Morrisville, he specdily regained the health he has sought in vain by travel. IIe therefore concluded to remain there and resume the practice of his profession. February 12th, 1851, he was married to Mary E. Granger, daughter of the judge with whom he at first studied. He remained there until December, 1854, when he returned to Chicago, and practised law with Grant Goodrich and George Scoville. In 1856 Mr. Scoville withdrew, and Sidney Smith replaced him as a member of the firm, which copartnership con- tinued until 1870. He was then elected Judge of Cook County Circuit Court, and after two years service was re- elected for a term of six years. As a lawyer he stood well before the bar, his attention being more particularly directed to chancery cases. In the discharge of his present judicial functions he has the general respect and esteem of the
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community, as one who means to do what is right, and of the latter, and Mr. Baldwin was compelled to sustain tries to do well whatever he has to do. IIe has long been connected with the First Congregational Church of the city, and is a man of high integrity. He was among the first to advocate Abolitionism in his native section, and has been a steady friend of that cause. His family con- sists of himself, wife, and two sons, one just entering Yale College.
ALDWIN, WILLIAM A., Merchant and Real Estate Operator, was born, January 20th, 1808, in Columbia county, New York, being the fourth of a family of eleven children. His father was a farmer; and during his early years he assisted him in the labor incident to carrying cn quite a limited estate, attending the district schools in the winter seasons and at other intervals during the year. When fifteen he engaged with Harry Backus, of the same county, to learn the wool-carding, fulling, and cloth dressing busi- ness, and remained with this gentleman three years; and subsequently worked for a time as a journeyman at this business, during those periods when carding and fulling was done. On attaining his majority he rented a mill and carried on the same business on his sole account for two years. At this time the manufacture of cotton and woollen goods experienced a revolution in its processes, by the introduction of modern appliances and improvements, which lessened manual labor while it improved the quality of the products. Large establishments, fully equipped by all these inventions, were erected ; and farmers, instead of having their own raw material worked up for their own use, sold it to thesc manufactories and purchased from them what they required. Mr. Baldwin anticipated these changes, and with excellent foresight sold out his cstab- lishment, after he had profitably run it for two years, and embarked in a mercantile career. He set out in the general country store trade in Columbia county, and in a short time formed a copartnership, but at the expiration of three years he was forced to the conclusion that his choice of a business associate had been unfortunate, and sold out his interest. He then removed to Oxford, Chenango county, New York, where he opened a store in the same line of business. IFere, in October, 1835, he was married to Lucy G. Williams, of Oxford. In
his heavy loss without redress of any kind. To recuperate, he changed his purpose of doing business in Chicago, which was then but a mere village, and shipped his goods to La Salle, Illinois, where he opened a store, becoming at the same time interested in a contract on the Illinois & Michigan Canal, then in the course of construction by the State of Illinois. He remained at La Salle three years, losing during this period his wife and child. After fulfil- ling his contract, he disposed of his stock of goods and re- moved to Ottawa, Illinois, where he also completed a short contract on the same canal. In the fall of 1839 he re- moved to Lockport, Illinois, and purchased a half interest in the contract for building the basin and half a, mile of the Illinois & Michigan Canal at that point. Here lie worked for nearly four months, when the depression which existed in all branches of trade and commerce began to seriously affect the financial resources of the State, and the monthly estimates due the contractors on the public works could no longer be met. Mr. Baldwin and his partner, instead of yielding to the pressure as others in like circum- stances had done, bravely kept on with their work, paying their employés and their current expenses from their own private means, relying upon an early resumption of pay- ments by the State. But they were disappointed. They struggled on for one year, anxious that this grand public . improvement should be rendered practical by completion, but were compelled then to cease, having exhausted their funds, and having failed to secure any money from the State government, which was indebted to them nearly $50,000. Of this amount they received only $3000, which was paid to them in 1860. Mr. Baldwin remained some time at Lockport after this financial disaster, endeavoring to close up the business in the most satisfactory manner. In 1844 he returned to Chicago, which had, during his absence, grown into the proportions of a flourishing city of 10,000 inhabitants, and entered the general store business with John B. Parsons as his partner. Comparatively large as Chicago was then, she had not outgrown the old country store system in which onc establishment sold, not simply groceries, but a general assortment of dry goods, hardware, etc. In 1847 he withdrew from this enterprise, which did not fully meet his expectations, and turned his attention to operations in real estate. In 1852 he entered into partner- ship with E. R. Bay, in the wholesale drug trade, at No. 139 Lake street, the firm-name being Bay & Baldwin, the latter contributing to the capital $7000 in money and $10,000 in real estate. For seven years this business was continued, Mr. Baldwin meanwhile purchasing and selling real estate. In 1860 Mr. Bay's health failed, and they sold a half interest in the establishment to Thomas Lord, who became the general manager of the firm, Messrs. Bay and Baldwin being "special partners." Before the expiration of the limited partnership, they sold their united interests
consequence of a close competition in this trade in that village, he determined to seek a wider sphere, and in the spring of 1836 he shipped his stock of goods, together with additional purchases, in New York city, to Chicago. In this enterprise he encountered a misfortune which would have discouraged men of less energy and persever- ance. Ilis goods, while en route, were rendered nearly valueless from contact with water while in the hands of different transportation companies. What was equally unfortunate the responsibility could not be fixed upon any to Mr. Smith. Since this time Mr. Baldwin has retired,
2. Vanweten M. D
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so far as it is possible for a man of his wealth to retire, from the active cares of business. Since his first residence in Chicago, that place has grown from a mere village by the side of the lake, to be one of the most important of our inter-continental cities. He has shared in its varying fortunes, and lias participated in its great afflictions ; but lives to see it, after its terrible purification by the fire of 1871, grow up daily in more stately grandeur than ever it did before. He is a man of cultivated tastes, and passes no inconsiderable part of his time in a large and choicely filled library. His original collection, embracing very many rare and invaluable works, was destroyed by the great fire. Ile has always taken a deep interest in the intellectual development of the community in which he resides, and has given his time, attention and means to the conservation of the best popular systems of education. He is warm in his friendships, genial in all his relations, whether business or social, and is liberal from impulse, giving generously to whatever appeals to his sympathy. Politically, he was originally a Henry Clay Whig, but became a member of the Republican party upon its forma- tion in Illinois. He has taken little interest in politics since the successful anti-slavery campaigns, and is with- out party affiliations or prejudices. He does not belong to any religious sect, though a strong believer and great contributor to building and supporting all evangelical churches. Ile passes his days in the enjoyment of the ample fortune which is the reward of his many years of arduous labor, and shares its benefits with his friends. He stands irreproachable in public estimation, and is an honored citizen of Chicago.
SUVER, SAMUEL S., Lawyer and Judge, was born in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, December 26th, 1814. Ilis parents were Samuel Guyer and Elizabeth (Levy) Guyer. His early years were passcd dur- ing the summer scason in laboring on a farm, and during the winter months in attending the daily sessions of a neighboring school. In 1834, being then but twenty years of age, he was successful in his efforts to obtain a contract for constructing the northern branch of the Sus- quehanna canal. In June, 1839, he removed to Peoria, Illi- nois, and there associated himself in partnership with his brother, the proprietor of a general store in Brimfield. He engaged also in the produce business, loading boats with produce and taking them annually to Natchez, where he dis- posed of his cargocs. In December, 1841, deciding to em- brace the legal profession, he entered upon the study of law at Pcoria, and at the termination of his course of studies was admitted to the bar, in 1843. In 1844 he removed to Rock Island, and was there professionally and successfully occu- picd during the ensuing two and a half years. He was then elected Sheriff, and served one term of four years with noted On the completion of his course of probationary research.
energy and efficiency. Hc subsequently interested himself in land speculations, and in buying and selling real estate, continuing thus employed for a period of six or seven years. In 1856, in conjunction with other capitalists, he securcd a charter for the building of the Rock Island and Peoria Rail- road, now known as the Peoria and Rock Island Railroad. Of that road he was a prominent and valued Director for six years. He then, again in co-operation with others, pur- chased the coal lands known as Coal Valley, and constructed the Coal Valley Railroad, designed as a means of transpor- tation for the coal from this place to Rock Island, and thence to other allotted points. In 1862 the property of that road, built almost entirely for the furtherance and more profitable development of the coal traffic, was sold to P. L. Cable, who has since been its owner and controller. In 1870, after dis- solving his connections with railroad enterprises, he was elected County Judge, a position which he still retains, per- forming its attendant functions with zeal and efficiency. Enterprise and entire capability to bring to successful end- ings all affairs undertaken have characterized his career, and while widely respected for his business tact, he is es- teemed also for his unswerving rectitude and many admir- able acquirements as a lawyer. Ile was married in 1847 to Annetta Holmes, daughter of Hon. George Holmes, State Senator and Judge of Vermont, favorably known as a skil- ful practitioner and expounder of the law, and also as a useful citizen and statesman.
AN METER, SAMUEL, M. D., was born in Greyson county, Kentucky, in 1824. His parents were John Van Meter and Catherine (Keller) Van Meter, both Kentuckians. Left fatherless when but three years of age, he moved, with his mother, from the old homestead to Illi- nois, settling eventually in Kickapoo, Peoria county, situated at a distance of about eight miles from Charleston. His preliminary education was such as was obtainable in the primitive log school houses of the time and place. While in his seventeenth year he became a pupil of Dr. T. B. Trower, of Charleston, Coles county, Illinois. Previous to his connection with this practitioner, however, he had been apprenticed to learn the trade of tanner. Ile remained under the guidance and instructions of his medical preceptor for a period of eight years, pursuing his studies with diligence and profit, and fitting himself thoroughly for the practice of that profession in which he has since attained such enviable celebrity. Owing to a lack of time, he was unable to attend any course or courses at a medical college, but, ultimately, more than indemni- fied himself for this by close and continuous application to his studies, and the constant and fruitful exercise of an unusually acute power of mental conception and digestion.
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he entered upon the active practice of his profession on his | He remained there, however, for but a limited space of own account, and rapidly became possessed of an exten- time, afterward moving to a French settlement situated along the banks of the Kankakee river, about two miles below the town of Kankakee, and known as Bourbonais Grove. Here he resided about eight years, possessing an extensive and remunerative practice, and winning the esteem and affection of the surrounding country. Upon leaving Bourbonais Grove, he established himself in Kan- kakee, where he has since permanently resided. For the past three or four years, owing to his prominent and active identification with the railroad interests of the vicinity, he has been unable to devote much time to the practice of his profession. In 1872 he superintended and ordered the construction of the Kankakee & Indiana Railroad, eleven miles in length, running from Kankakee to St. Ann's, and at that point, connecting with the road to Lafayette, Indiana; of this road he was appointed President, and while acting in that capacity evinced the possession of un- erring discriminative powers and praiseworthy administra- tive abilities. He now fills the office of President of the Illinois West Extension Railroad, of which he is at present patent medicinal application, but simply and purely to the prosecuting the construction. This needcd road is to ex- tend from Kankakce to Mendota, in La Salle county, Illinois, and will have a total length of about eighty-five miles. To the vigorous enterprise of Dr. Knott this road owes its existence; twenty-five miles of it are already completed, and the completion of the remaining sixty miles is but a question of time. He was married, March 22d, 1847, to Altay Scott, from New York, whose demise occurred in I854. sive round of business. Making a special study of diseases of the throat and lungs in connection with the affections and diseases of women, he has acquired, in this department of medical treatment, a reputation second to none in the State. Within a circuit of fifteen hundred miles he has a large and important practice, his patients coming to him from all parts of the West, from North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and various other sections in the South and Southeast. In 1857 he established the Charleston In- firmary, an institution of great and recognized value and usefulness, of which he is still the conductor. In this infirmary he treats, annually, thousands of patients from all parts of the environing country, thus performing a work whose results, direct and indirect, entitle him to the highest praise as a benefactor of his land and species. Ile proposes to establish branches of a similar kind in North Carolina or Tennessee, and also, probably, in New York. He attributes his notable success in the treatment of the many cases, aggravated or peculiar, not to any well-considered use of the accepted scientific remedies as promulgated in the materia medica. A close and perse- vering student from boyhood to the present time, he has, through an experience of the most varied description, and a wise selection of appropriate studies, been enabled to assume a leading position among the more prominent members of the medical fraternity. He was married, in 1843, to Fannie Hutchinson, formerly a resident of Greens- burg, Greene county, Kentucky, and the issue of that union has been three children.
NOTT, CHRISTOPHER W., M. D., was born in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, July 18th, 1821. His parents were Sylvanus Knott and Martha (Kelly) Knott, both of Massachusetts. Ilis father's demise occurring when Christopher was in his fifth year, he was sent to Ohio to live with his relatives. While residing there he acquired the rudiments of an elementary education, and availed himself, to the greatest extent possible, of the limited advantages offered by the country schools of that day. Subsequently he moved to Illinois, resolved to depend upon his own unaided exertions for a livelihood, and, locating himself in Joliet, now a thriving and prosperous town, secured em- ployment as a school teacher. In the meantime, deciding to embrace the medical profession, he zealously pursued the requisite studies, and devoted cvery available moment to reading medicine. In 1849 he matriculated at the Rush Medical College, of Chicago, and, graduating in the spring of 1852, at once commenced the active practice of his profession in the neighborhood of Joliet and Ottawa.
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