The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 63

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

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ANKIN, HON. JAMES, Member of the Illinois Legislature, was born in Indiana county, Penn- sylvania, September 9th, 1817. His father was of Irish birth; his mother, a native of Pennsyl- vania, was of German extraction. Ilis educa- tion was acquired at Blairsville, Indiana county, Pennsylvania. Upon relinquishing school life he removed to Illinois, settling in Carlyle, Clinton county, where he became engaged in the tanner's and currier's tradc, at which he worked constantly during the ensuing fifteen years, primarily as a journeyman, ultimately as proprietor and conductor of a business established and operated on his own account. During the latter portion of his timc, he acted also, for a period of threc or four years, as constable of his section. He was subsequently elected a Justice of the Peace, and served ably in that capacity, and also as Police Magistrate for twenty-two years. At the expiration of the fifth year after his first removal to Carlyle, he fixed upon Lebanon as his permanent place of residence, and has since continued to make that place his home. Previous to the outbreak of the Rebellion, he was engaged in farm- ing and agricultural pursuits. In 1874 he received the Democratic nomination for the Legislature, and in the fall

John Deere

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of the same year was elected a member of that body. At | which scoured in the most satisfactory manner. This im- an early day his sentiments and principles inclined him to- ward the Democratic party, and he has brought to its sup- port during many years, some of prosperity, others of ill- fortune, abilities of no mean order. He has officiated as Town Trustee, and for thirteen years was ex-officio Presi- dent of the Board of Trustees. Also during several years he served with fidelity and zeal as a Director of the School Board of his town. Energetic and public-spirited, he has worked efficiently in the fostering of his fellow-townsmen's dearest interests, and throughout his whole carcer, both in public and in private life, has been noted for his many ad- mirable qualities both of mind and heart. He was married, January 9th, 1841, to Elizabeth J. Phelps, of Northville, Pennsylvania, who died December 16th, 1844. He was again married, May 6th, 1847, to Mrs. Elizabeth Hull, of Lebanon, Illinois.

EERE, JOHN, Plough Manufacturer, was born in Rutland, Vermont, February 7th, 1804. His parents were William Rynald Deere, an English- man, who emigrated from his native country to Canada, where he lived for several years in Mon- treal; and Sarah (Yates) Deere, also a native of England. He was the recipient of a common school edu- cation, acquired at Middlebury, Vermont. In 1820, when sixteen years of age, he hired himself to a blacksmith in the last named town, and in a short time made himself master of his trade. He worked in this shop continuously for five years, and at the expiration of that time, having at- tained his majority, decided to establish himself in business on his own account. In 1825, accordingly, he removed to Leicester, Vermont, and opened a smithy, whose business he carried on until 1830. He then removed to Royalton, in the same Statc, where he pursued his former calling, con- tinuing constantly occupied until 1837. In that year he went to Grand Detour, Illinois, where he again began business as a blacksmith. At first, in order to obviate the difficulty of procuring good stecl for the large ploughs or " breakers " used to break prairie sod, he bought saws from saw-mills and cut them up for ploughshares and mold boards, a mold board being the upper part of the sharc. The West was about this time assuming a more settled con- dition ; pioneers were daily arriving in large numbers, and a pressing demand arose for more ploughs, and ploughs of a better class. Those which they possessed were of an in- ferior kind, and clogged rapidly with dirt and earth, in this manner becoming almost useless. The great object was to secure a plough which would work without becom- ing clogged, or, as the farmers express it, which could scour properly. He became interested in this matter, of high im- portance in a country whose profitable development de- pended primarily on agricultural labor, and the immediate benefits to be derived from farming, and invented a plough

plement, answering to a great extent the needs of the com- munity, soon became an object of admiration, and he manu- factured and sold several of them to his neighbors. His attention was thus gradually concentrated on the manufac- ture of ploughs, and finding it a profitable business, he by degrees relinquished all other operations, and confined him- self exclusively to his new occupation. The first year thus employed produced three ploughs; in the following twelve months he manufactured seven, from this time forward rapidly increasing the annual production, and learning, by repeated experiments, how to abridge his labor and increase the value of his time and implements. In 1847, the year in which he left Grand Detour, he had fifty men constantly employed, and turned out 1400 finished ploughs. He be- stowed the most careful attention upon even the slightest and apparently most trivial details connected with his busi- ness, and would permit no plough to leave his establishment until thoroughly finished and perfected. He experienced constantly great difficulty in procuring desirable steel, and it being a prime and absolute necessity to obtain that, he was obliged originally to import it from England, while using also the steel saws before mentioned, which he could purchase from the various mills. The steel made in this country at that time was of a very poor quality, and unfit to be used for the purposes to which he might have applied it, but for its excessive poorness. At the present time he, as one of the firm of Deere & Co., procures the needed steel principally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which is pro- nounced to be equal to any produced in Great Britain or on the Continent. He was the founder and promoter of the establishment known as the Grand Detour Plough Works, and with his partner, Mr. Lemuel Andras, under the firm- name of Andras & Deere, imported from England the first cast-steel cut into mold boards. In 1847 he removed to Moline, on the Mississippi river, being attracted to this lo- cality by the convenient water-power easily available, the proximity to coal, and the valuable facilities for cheap river transportation. Here he established new works of a more extended and thorough character, and at once met with great and merited prosperity. During the first year in Moline he manufactured 1000 ploughs, while with each succceding year the annual product increased immensely. In 1868 his business was incorporated into a joint stock com- pany, with the following officers : President, John Deere ; Vice-President, Charles H. Deere ; Secretary and Treasurer, Stephen H. Velie. The Moline Plough Works of to-day employ 500 hands, and the annual production is from 60,000 to 65,000 ploughs and cultivators, all of steel, which, it is computed on reliable and accepted data, is equivalent to 150,000 cast-iron ploughs. Some of these are the Gang ploughs, a pattern which combines, in fact, two ploughs united, is drawn by four horses, and is used to break very heavy ground. The premises cover a section 400 by 300 feet, which is almost entirely covered with buildings three

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stories in height. The whole of the work is performed on the company's ground, from the seasoning of the timber to the final painting and adorning. The blacksmith shop con- tains thirty-six forges and twelve tilt-hammers, water power being used to operate the machinery. The consumption of steel is 700 tons per annum ; that of lumber-ash and oak -- 2,000,000 feet per annum; that of coal, 1200 tons per annum ; that of wrought-iron, 1600 tons per annum ; that of cast-iron, 250 tons per annum. Two hundred and fifty grind-stones, weighing one ton each, are in constant use ; and ten tons of cmery are consumed annually in polishing the surface of the shares, which, with the mold boards, must be hardened and polished to the last degree in order to prevent them from clogging. In this particular the greatest care is exercised, the ultimate polish being as fine as that bestowed upou good cutlery. In the competition for prizes at the Vienna Exposition of 1873 Deere & Co. secured the first premium, a bronze medal, and at other exhibitions also have won prizes of various kinds and values. In 1863-1864 John Deere officiated as Mayor of Moline, and also in 1873- IS75. He was married in IS27 to Demarius Lamb, a former resident of Granville, Vermont. His son, Charles Henry Deere, born March 18th, IS37, at Hancock, Vermont, was educated at the Iowa Academy, Davenport, Iowa, and sub- sequently in Chicago. Upon abandoning school life he be- came book-keeper in the office of his father's plough works at Moline. In 1859 he was admitted into the concern as a partner, the firm-style adopted being Deere & Co. In 1868, the date of the incorporation of the business into a joint stock company, he became its Vice-President and Treasurer. He is at the present time Vice-President also of the Moline Water Power Company, and Director of the First National Bank, and of Dimock, Gould & Co. He was married in IS62 to Mary Little Dickinson, of Chicago, Illinois.

YDER, REV. WILLIAM HENRY, D. D., Pastor of St. Paul's Universalist Church of Chicago, was born in Provincetown, Barnstable county, Massachusetts, July 13th, 1822. His father, Godfrey Ryder, still living, at the age of seventy- eight, was then a sea-faring man, and became afterward, as he is now, justice of the peace, recorder of deeds, and town magistrate. The mother is also still living. The son, the fifth generation of that name and family in Provincetown, began his education in the public schools; and at the age of fifteen, being of a very studious turn of mind, he entered upon a regular course of study with the intention of becoming a min's'er. He had made one or two trips on the ocean with his father upon whaling and fishing voyages, but not much to his liking. With this plan for life, he went to Pembroke, New Hampshire, and spent two years in study; after which he went to Clinton, New York, and studied Greek and Hebrew under Dr. Clowes. By these

efforts he fitted himself for college ; but, owing to the pref- erence of his parents that he should not enter, he re- frained from doing so. He had, even before this time, and when not more than eighteen years old, begun preaching as a student, and from the age of nineteen supported himself by this means. When twenty he was licensed by the Uni- versalists, and when but twenty-one years of age he took charge of the Universalist Society at Concord, New Ilamp- shire, to which parish he had preached when a student at Pembroke. He began his ministry here at a salary of four hundred and fifty dollars, and labored among them for two years and a half. He then went to the Universalist Church at Nashua, New Hampshire, where he also was pastor for a similar period. By this time he began to see that he needed change and some cessation of labor, as, if he con- tinued working as hard as he had hegun to do, he would soon lose his health; and, more than all, he saw that he had entered upon the work of the ministry without the thorough training and preparation that was necessary. IIe accordingly relinquished his pastorate and went abroad, at- tended the University of Berlin, became a special student un- der Neander, and afterward pursued his travels through into Egypt, Syria, Palestine and up the Black Sea; making in all a tour of study and observation of a year and a half. He then returned and became pastor of the First Universalist Church of Roxbury, Massachusetts, now called Boston Highlands. Here he remained for ten years, a very useful pastor, and much endeared to his people. While there he was interested in educational matters, and for some time chairman of the Board of Education. He also took strong ground against slavery and intemperance, and in a measure his life there foreshadowed his general and public useful- ness at the West. January Ist, 1860, he went to Chicago, at the call of the First Universalist Church of that city, usually called St. Paul's Church. Here he entered upon a career of activity, success and usefulness, not only with regard to the interests of his church and denomination, but those of the community at large, that has not been excelled perhaps by any clergyman of the city, and which is still in a full tide of power and influence. The church at that time was neither large nor strong, and embarrassed by dissen- sions ; he harmonized these elements, and under his minis- try it has grown steadily and evenly up, until now it is the largest and most powerful church of that denomination at the West. It has given liberally for charitable and religious purposes for many years, and when, in connection with others, he wished to raise $100,000 for the Northwestern (Universalist) Conference, in furtherance of missionary and educational purposes, and to endow Lombard University at Galesburg, Illinois, his church itself gave one-fourth of that sum. Ile was one of the founders of this conference, which has been in existence for ten years, and is now its President. He is also President of the Board of Trustees of Lombard University. Ile is frequently called to installations, ordina- tions, and other church assemblies, from St. Paul to Phila-

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delphia. Dr. Ryder-for he has received the degree of Master of Arts from Harvard in 1860, and of Doctor of Divinity from Lombard University in 1864-came to Chi- cago at an important era in its history, and in that of the country at large. The rebellion, and the times that tried men's patriotism and faithfulness, came soon after ; his voice from the first gave no uncertain sound on the question of the country's needs and peril. He ardently supported the government, and became an energetic and capable officer of the Sanitary Commission, and with his church labored abundantly and generously for the welfare of the army. Just before Sherman's march he visited the front at Chatta- nooga to meet his brother, a colonel of a Massachusetts regiment, and to render service for the Sanitary Commission. Ile was by them also sent to Richmond, immediately after the news of its evacuation, to gather trophies and matters of interest for the Sanitary Fair about to be held in Chicago, and to confer with President Lincoln and engage his pres- ence at the opening of the same. He made the arrange- ment with Mr. Lincoln, and went forward to Richmond, where he secured many objects of great interest and value, among which was the famous letter used by the government in the assassination trial. On his return to Washington a week later he found Mr. Lincoln dead, and made arrange- ment with General Sherman to be present at the opening of the fair. He was for four months Chaplain of the 69th Illinois Regiment, stationed on guard at Camp Douglas. In 1869 he became quite sick, and when sufficiently re- covered, at the advice of physicians, went abroad for his health, travelling with his family through Europe, and mak- ing a stay of a year ; during all which time his church con- tinued to pay his salary. At the great fire his church and residence were destroyed, and the congregation was seriously crippled by their losses. He then went East and solicited funds to help rebuild the church, for which purpose he gathered $40,000, a sum remarkable in amount, considering the smallness of the denomination to which he now espe- cially appealed. They built a far better church than the former one, which was not ready for use until 1874. The doctor has been identified with very many of the charitable and other public institutions of the city for years. He is the only clergyman who has ever been upon the Chicago Board of Education. They learned of his experience in this department at the East, and knowing of his thorough scholastic training abroad, sought his acceptance of this position, which he held for five years, until he declined further service. His associates during that period pro- nounce his course as remarkably wise, energetic, candid and impartial, and highly beneficial to the public interests. He was also, with a few other Universalist and Unitarian ministers, mainly instrumental in sccuring the organization of the Chicago Christian Union, whose object was to turn the distribution of public charities from the channels of a more sectarian association to those of one which should more fully and truly represent the whole public at large,

from whom the means came. This was the parent of the Chicago Relief Association, which had been in operation at the time of the fire just long enough to have the requisite experience, and the unlimited confidence of the community, and into whose management came the generous gifts of a world's sympathies. He was married, November 5th, 1843, to Caroline Frances Adams, of Provincetown. They have one child, a daughter grown. Dr. Ryder is also Vice-President of the Women's Hospital of Chicago, and connected in an official capacity with the Old People's Home of that city. His parish has always evinced great liberality and generos- ity toward him, and is deeply attached to its pastor. As a preacher he stands among the foremost of the day. His topics are those of the age and the hour, handled vig- orously and effectively. His delivery is steady, strong, forceful and impressive. And his sermons, most of which are extemporaneously delivered, are frequently selected for publication in the papers of the city. He has also at times been a contributor to the Universalist Quarterly, and other denominational publications ; but his life has been one more of practical activity than of literary effects.

OCKE, REV. JOHN WESLEY, President of the McKendree College, Lebanon, Illinois, was born in Paris, Kentucky, February 12th, 1822. His father, Rev. George Locke, a prominent minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, died in 1834. (For an extended sketch of this divine see Sprague's " Pulpit Annals.") His mother, Elizabeth B. McReynolds, was the originator of the first ladies' boarding school at Terre Haute, Indiana. He was educated at the Augusta College, Kentucky, and graduated from that insti- tution in 1843. Upon the completion of his collegiate course he became engaged in teaching school, an avocation at which he continued for one year. He then joined the Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and continued in the ministry of that State until 1850. While associated with this body he travelled successively the Bain- bridge, West Union, Jacksonville and Deer Creek Circuits, each for a period of twelve months. Returning subsequently to Bainbridge, he travelled that circuit for a further period of two years; removed thence to West Jefferson, where he remained for one year, and in 1850 was transferred to the Indiana Conference, being stationed for two years at Ve- vay, Switzerland county. Rising Sun was then the scene of his labors for one year, at the expiration of which time he was elected President of the Brookville College, and served in that capacity during the following four years. He was then appointed to the Connersville district, and trav- elled that section for a further period of four years, filling through the initiatory ycar of his labors in this district the presidential chair of the institution above mentioned. He was afterward elected to the chair of mathematics of As-

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bury University, at Greencastle, Indiana, serving with ad- | and other noted chief., accompanied by his wife, the first mirable efficiency in that capacity for a term of twelve years. At the termination of this period he resigned the chair, and was appointed to the Wall Street Church, Jeffersonville, In- · diana, officiating as pastor of that church until elected

President of the McKendree College in August, 1874. In 1860 he represented the Southeastern Indiana Conference in the General Conference at Buffalo, and again in 1868 filled the same responsible position at Chicago, in both in- stances conducting himself with fruitful zeal and earnestness. At the present time he is a delegate-elect of the Southern Illinois Conference to the General Conference to be held in May, 1876. IIe is widely recognized as one of the most gifted and forcible pulpit orators in the State, and also as a theologian endowed with remarkable powers of persuasion and reasoning. His sermons when delivered are generally printed for publication, and many of them may be cited as masterpicces of Christian exhortation. McKendree Col- lege, so favorably known to the supporters of the Methodist Church, has an attendance usually of about two hundred students, and is under the special patronage of the Confer- ences of Southern Illinois, St. Louis and Missouri. He was married in June, 1846, to Matilda Wood, daughter of Col- onel Samuel R. Wood, an active and noted participant in the war of ISI2.

GOODWIN, REV. EDWARD PAYSON, D. D., was born, July 31st, 1832, in Rome, Oneida county, New York. IIis father was Solomon Goodwin, a carpenter by trade. He attended the common schools and academies, then taught an academy at Rome, and then entered Amherst College in 1852, took a full course, and graduated in 1856. Ile then entered Union Theological Seminary of New York, where he pursued theological training for three years, was licensed to preach, and graduated therefrom in 1859. In the same year he was ordained as a minister of the gospel, and became a home missionary in Vermont for one year. He was married, September 27th, 1860, to Ellen M. Cham- berlain, of East Burke, Vermont. They have one child living, and have lost two. In 1860 he received a call to the First Congregational Church of Columbus, Ohio, over which he continued pastor until 1868. During the war he was an officer of both the Sanitary and Christian Commis- sions, and labored energetically to promote these great in- terests. Ile was appointed an army chaplain, but declined the position. Near the close of the war he spent nine weeks at the front in connection with the above work. He was also at one time appointed chairman of a committee selected by the United States government, and sent into Wyoming Territory to investigate into the murder of several savages, supposed to have been killed by white men, and at a time when government feared a general outbreak on the slightest pretext. He repaired to the scene, interviewed Red Cloud

white woman who had ever ventured so far into the haunts of these Indians, and investigated the affair, with the result of proving the falsity of the charge. In January, 1868, Dr. Goodwin received a call to the First Congregational Church of Chicago, as successor of Dr. Patton, who had become editor of The Advance. After a while their church became too small for them, and they built a finer and larger one ; one of the most completely fitted and furnished, with all modern conveniences, in the city. During this time he was advised by physicians to go abroad for his health, and he thus visited Italy, Egypt and Palestine, returning at the dedication of the church. When the great fire of 1871 swept away the business and much of the residence portion of the city, they and their church escaped, and here in the basement of this beautiful new sanctuary, the most extensive accommodations attainable, the Mayor and city officials mct to consider what could be done; here the very first of those grand telegrams, charged with the sympathy of a world, were received and read aloud to the few there gathered ; here the city departments of fire, police, justice, etc., were set up, and housed themselves for some time; and here the grand Relief Association met and carried on its work. It is needless to add that Dr. Goodwin was a leading man in these trying times, and an efficient worker upon the Relicf Association. But a little more than a year afterward their church was itself burnt, in January, 1873. It was imme- diately rebuilt, as finely as before. He is still pastor of this church, which has grown steadily under his ministrations, and is now the second or third largest Congregational Church in the United States, numbering 976 members. He is a man of sound views, of ability as a preacher, and highly endeared to his people. He received, almost at the same time, the title of Doctor in Divinity from two colleges, his Alma Mater and Western Reserve College, of Ohio. His sermons are frequently printed in the papers of the city, and he has at times been a contributor to the religious papers of the day.

ARSH, EBENEZER, President of the Alton, Illi- nois, National Bank, was born in Worcester county, Massachusetts, in 1805, his parents being Eliab and Fannie (Edmunds) Marsh. He was in- structed at an academy near his home, and in IS29 removed to Illinois, where he remained a short time. The two subsequent years he spent in Ohio and Kentucky, acting in Louisville as agent for the Hart- ford Insurance Company. In 1832 he located at Alton, Illinois, and there engaged in the drug business, which he successfully conducted for ten years. In 1845 he relinquished this pursuit, and determined to embark in the banking busi- ness, which up to that time had been exclusively carried on in Alton by a branch of the old State Bank at Springfield. He entered at once into this field of enterprise, which

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The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 63

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