The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 80

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

USA > Illinois > The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century > Part 80

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

removed subsequently to Elmwood, and in IS63 settled in Canton in the same State, where he has since permanently resided, absorbed in the care of the numerous responsibilities resting on him as a successful physician. He is a member of the Canton City Medical Society. IIe was married in 1853 to Susan Campbell. His son, E. L. Swisher, is now attending a course at the New York University, where he will probably graduate this coming winter.

AY, FRANKLIN EWING, Banker and Member of the Legislature of 1871, was born in White county, Illinois, on January 26th, IS31. IIis father, Daniel Hay, a native of Virginia, cmi- grated to the State of Illinois in 1816, and was prominent in local affairs in White county. Franklin was educated in Franklin College, Tennessec. On completing his scholastic course he was engaged in mercantile business about eight years; as clerk for two years, when he became interested in the establishment. In 1859 he formed a partnership with J. R. Webb, and con- ducted the same business until the fall of 1872, when they sold the concern and engaged under the same firm-name of Hay & Webb, in banking, which is still being conducted by them. While carrying on mercantile operations they were very successful, and this same success attends them in their present enterprise. Mr. Hay has always been identi- fied with the Democratic party, and his influence has been turned to good account for the promotion of its interests. In 1870 he was elected to the Legislature from White county, and served until the expiration of his term. He was President of the Wabash Slack Water Navigation Company, and has always manifested a deep interest in the improve- ment of that river, regarding the work as a public necessity. He was married in June, 1854, to Martha L. Webb, of Carmi.

ESING, ANTHONY C., Editor of the Illinois Staats Zeitung, was born in Vechta, a small vil- lage in the grand duchy of Oldenburg, Germany, on January 6th, 1823. His father, a brewer and distiller, gave him the advantages of education common to the youth of that section. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to a baker and brewer, but found his master arrogant and unjust. This conduct on the part of his employer made him long for a home in this country, of which he had heard so much. After two years of servitude, for his apprenticeship merited no other name, he emigrated to Ameriea, and directed his steps towards Cincinnati, and in IS39 he reached that metropolis. He commenced as a clerk in a grocery store, and he was found so apt and so faithful that ere long the entire business

WISHER, WILLIAM M., M. D., was born in Staunton, Virginia, in 1827. He is the son of Jacob Swisher and Catharine (Palm) Swisher. Ile was educated in Ohio, and at the Allegheny College, in Meadville, Pennsylvania. In 1849 he commenced the study of medicine under the in- struction of Dr. D. B. Packard, at Greenville, Pennsylvania, and matriculated at the Western Reserve College, in Cleve- land, graduating in the spring of 1852. He then entered upon the practice of his profession in Knox county, Illinois, where, however, he remained but for a brief period. He almost wholly devolved upon him. He became a merchant,

358

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

and was soon recognized as an able and enterprising one.| His acquaintance became extensive, and though not yet a citizen, he took an active interest in civil affairs, and in a short time was thoroughly versed in the political movements of the day. In the Harrison campaign he joined the Whig party, and rendered it valuable service in his enthusiastic and eloquent advocacy of its principles. In 1842, in recog- nition of his important services, he was chosen a member of the Whig committee of Hamilton county, Ohio, though still unfranchised. In the Scott campaign of 1852 he was a member of the State Executive Committee. In 1847 he made a visit to his birthplace and there made the acquaint- ance of Louisa Lamping, who became his wife and accom- panied him on his return to the United States. He stopped with his bride at Baltimore for some months, and then went to Cincinnati, where soon after his arrival he sold his grocery store and erected with the proceeds a hotel at the corner of Race and Court streets, of which he became the landlord in company with Edward Pretorious. This business he carried on until 1854, when his partner committed suicide ; he then disposed of his interest in the hotel and removed to Chicago, where he permanently settled. Ilere he purchased a patent brick dry clay machine, and opened a brickyard at Jeffer- son, only a few miles from the centre of the city. This enterprise proving unprofitable here, not because Chicago was not a good market for brick, for it was an excellent one, but because the clay in the vicinity was unfit for the kiln, he determined to seek a new location, and in partnership with Charles S. Dole started a new yard in Highland Park, now familiarly known as Clinton Park, near the lake shore. The quality of the clay found here was good, and the manufacture of brick was commenced vigorously and con- ducted with encouraging success until the panic of 1857, when the prostration of building enterprise compelled the firm to discontinue its operations. By this financial disaster Mr. Hesing was rendered penniless, and though but a short distance from Chicago, had no money to pay his fare to that city. With this panic closed his career in this line of industry, the evidences of which are to be seen at all points in Chicago. The Adams House, the Milwaukee Railroad round-house, and many handsome stores and private resi- dences were constructed of the Hesing-Dole brick, which was also largely used in the building of sewers. His first step after the crisis was in the line of a commission mer- ehant, starting in a small store on Kinzie street, north side, which he leased, having the assistance of Charles S. Dole & Co. In the following spring he gave uo this enterprise and accepted the office of Collector of water-toll on the north side, which was tendered him through the friendly efforts of the firm just mentioned. Ilis pay was forty-five dollars per month. When in the succeeding spring John Gray was elected Sheriff of Cook county, Mr. Hesing was installed as Deputy, and acted in this capacity until 1860, when his services were recognized by the Republican party, and he was nominated and elected to the office of Sheriff.

He filled this responsible station two years with general acceptance on the part of the community, and then took a partnership interest in the Illinois Staats Zeitung, to which he has since devoted his close attention and energy. He is now the sole proprietor and editor of that journal, and has succeeded in making it the representative German daily in the Northwest, and has gained for himself an influence in political affairs second to that of no other member of the Republican party in Illinois. During the war he ably sup- ported President Lincoln's administration, and was a firm advocate of the reconstruction policy devised after the war, and culminating in the great Congressional campaign of 1866, in which the Republican party won a decisive victory on that question, which was largely due, so far as the Northwest itself was concerned, to the influence which the Zeitung, under Mr. Hesing's management, exerted. He has held no political office since his connection with jour- nalism, believing with the elder Bennett, Greeley, Weed, and others whose editorial labors have won for them lasting esteem, that there can be no higher aim than that of mould- ing public sentiment upon principles that are sound in theory and honorable in practice.

RESTON, FINNEY D., State's Attorney of Rich- land county, was born in Wabash county on August 12th, 1820. His father, Joseph Preston, a native of Pennsylvania, settled in Ohio near Cincinnati, in ISII. He removed to Illinois with his family as early as the fall of 1815, taking up his residence where the subject of this sketch was born. The place was then known as Fort Barney, but now as Friendsville. His mother was Abigail Finney, daughter of E. W. Finney, who was from a few miles north of New York, and who settled in what is now Finneytown, Hamil- ton county, Ohio. The former died in 1830; the latter in 1847. Finney D. worked on a farm until 1839, and there- after served a time at the trade of blacksmithing at Mt. Carmel, Illinois. Subsequently he taught school, was elected Clerk of the House of Representatives of Illinois in 1844, and in 1846 was chosen Clerk of the Senate. The votes of his fellow-citizens placed him in the responsible position of Clerk of the Supreme Court of the southern division in IS48, with its seat of justice at Mount Vernon, Illinois. There he read law and was admitted to practice in the spring of 1853. During the same year he resigned the office of Clerk of the Supreme Court and went to live at Olney, where he now resides. From this county (Richland) he has been twice elected to the lower branch of the Illinois Legislature. He served later as Secretary of the Senate, and was appointed by President Buchanan in 1856 United States Mail Agent for the Northwestern States. Adhering to Stephen A. Douglas in his Kansas-Nebraska policy, he was removed by President Buchanan, having discharged

359

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

the duties for two years. He was then elected Secretary of the State Senate, since which time he has continuously held the office of State's Attorney, except during the three years commencing with September, 1862, and ending with July, 1865, when he was in the Federal army, on the staff of General Wilder, where he served until the conclusion of the war. He is now practising law on the corner of Walnut and Market streets, in the city of Olney, as a member of the firm of Preston & Sands, which enjoys a lucrative practice. He was married in 1846 to Phebe Munday, daughter of Samuel Munday, a well-known citizen and early resident of Wabash county, Illinois.

ONES, JOSEPH RUSSELL, Railway President, was born on February 17th, 1823, in Conneaut, Ashtabula county, Ohio. When he was a year old his father died, and twelve years later his mother, with part of her family, removed to Rockton, Winnehago county, Illinois, leaving him in a store in Conneaut, where he remained two years, paying his own way in the world. On August 19th, 1838, he landed in Chicago, on his way to join his mother. The weekly stage had left for Rockton, and he found such means of transit as he could. For the next two years he remained with his mother, and then he went to Galena, with exactly one dollar in his pocket, and there found em- ployment in a retail store, where he remained for a few months, barely earning his support. In the autumn he en- tered the store of Benjamin H. Campbell, one of the leading merchants of Galena, at a salary of $300 per year. Very soon thereafter he became a partner in his employer's business, and continued this business relation until 1856, when the partnership was dissolved and he retired. He had been appointed, in 1846, Secretary and Treasurer of the Galena & Minnesota Packet Company, which position he held for a term of fifteen years. In 1860 he was nomi- nated by the Republican party and elected a member of the Twenty-second General Assembly from the Galena Dis- trict. In 1861 he was appointed by President Lincoln to the position of United States Marshal of the Northern District of Illinois, and entered upon his duties in March, 1861, and in the following autumn removed, with his family, to Chicago. He was reappointed to the position of Marshal upon the commencement of President Lincoln's second term. In Chicago he speedily identified himself with the leading interests of the city. In 1863, in com- pany with a number of other gentlemen, he purchased from the Chicago City Railway Company, the city railway lines of the West Division, and was made President of the new company. He is also President of the Northwestern Horse Nail Company, a company that does an immense business. In September, 1875, he was appointed Collector of Customs at Chicago. He was the intimate and trusted

personal friend of President Lincoln, and more than once during the war was summoned to Washington for consulta- tion on matters of national importance. His long resi- dence in Galena also led to an intimate acquaintance with General Grant, which acquaintance became a close and warm friendship. He married, in 1848, Elizabeth Ann, daughter of the late Judge Andrew Scott, of Arkansas, and is the father of three sons and three daughters.

LAIR, WILLIAM, Merchant, was horn in Homer, Cortland county, New York, May 20th, ISIS. He attended school until he was fourteen years old, and then entered the stove and hardware establishment of Orin North. He remained with Mr. North for four years, learning the busi- ness, and then, at the age of eighteen, went to Joliet, Illi- nois, to open a branch store for his employer. He made many friends there, and was soon doing a thriving business. The next year was a disastrous one, and Mr. North decided to relinquish his Joliet business. His young agent was not discouraged, however, and with the aid of his two brothers purchased the small stock in the branch store, and con- tinued the business on his own account until 1842, when he removed to Chicago. IIe opened a store there at the corner of Dearborn and South Water streets, confining himself, at first, to the retail business, but gradually be- came a wholesale dealer. In the spring of 1844 his brother, Chauncey B. Blair, became interested with him, and the business was greatly extended, iron being also added to their stock. In 1846 he bought his brother's interest, and his business continued to increase so that he was repeatedly obliged to remove to more commodions quarters. In 1853 he took in as a partner Claudius B. Nelson, and the firm was known as William Blair & Co. The business of the house continued to increase until it ramified the whole West, and included every description of hardware, the business done amounting to at least $500,000 per year. William Blair married in June, 1854, Miss Seymour, of Lyme, Ohio, and two sons were the fruit of their union.

OUSE, RUDOLPH, M. D., was born in Rensse- laer county, New York, July 20th, 1793. His parents were John Rouse, Jr., and Lydia (McConnell) Rouse, the former having been a resident of New York. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania. While pursuing his studies in this institution the war of 1812 broke out, and he immediately entered the service of the United States as an Assistant Surgeon, ranking as Captain, and served in that capacity until the close of the contest. IIe then, for a number of years, followed his profession in

360

BIOGRAPHICAL, ENCYCLOPEDIA.

New York, and also in parts of New Jersey. In 1833 he | winter following his eighteenth year. In 1843, having emigrated to Illinois, settling in Peoria, then a mere Indian then attained his majority, he set about acquiring a com- village. He soon took rank there as an able physician, plete collegiate education, and supported himself while a and maintained an honored position in the growing town up to the day of his decease. He was actively engaged in many pursuits that tended to further the development of the town, and officiated as President of the First Town Board. He was also President of the Peoria & Oquaka Railroad, at a time when much harassing labor was re- quired, and but meagre returns expected. The spirit of public improvement was always active in him, while at the same time he was greatly devoted to his profession, and acquired considerable means from its practice. For many years he was President of the State Medical Society. Ile died of general debility, April 30th, 1873, leaving a large family to mourn his loss, while the regrets of an entire community followed his body to its last resting-place. He was married October 6th, 1825, to Margaret Banta, a step-daughter of Michael Fisher, of English Neighborhood, New Jersey.

ETERS, ONSLOW, Judge, Lawyer, was born in Massachusetts. His earlier education was obtained at Brown's University, in Providence, Rhode Island. He was fitted for the bar in Massachusetts, and practised there until, emi- grating to Illinois, he settled in Peoria in 1837. In June, 1855, he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court, then the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit, now known as the Ninth Circuit, comprising the counties of Stark and Peoria. He was a lawyer of profound acquirements and consummate ability, and as such was recognized throughout this section of Illinois. He died February 28th, 1856.

OHNSON, HOSMER ALLEN, Physician and Medical Lecturer, was born in the town of Wales, near Buffalo, New York, October 6th, 1822, being the son of Samuel Johnson, a prominent farmer. At Boston, in the same county, whither his parents had removed shortly after his birth, his education was commenced in a district school. When twelve years old he accompanied the family to Almont, Lapeer county, Michigan, which was then an almost un- broken wilderness. The succeeding nine years were em- ployed by him in assisting in the clearing a new farm, and during this period he had no opportunities for school study. He found partial compensation for this loss, how- ever, in closely applying himself to text books in hours not devoted to manual labor. When sixteen he received an injury which was followed by symptoms of pulmonary disease, resulting in an impairment of his health, which may possibly prove permanent. ' IIe taught school in the

collegian by laboring a portion of each year. He pursued academical studies in Romeo, Michigan, from 1844 to 1846, and in the fall of the latter year entered the sopho- more class of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. In 1848 he was compelled to suspend study by failing health, and visited, with his sister, Chicago, St. Louis, and Vandalia, the original capital of Illinois. In the latter city he recommenced teaching, and in the succeeding winter delivered a course of lectures before a literary society, on geology and kindred topics. Under the pre- ceptorship of the late Dr. J. B. IIerrick, he regularly com- menced here the study of medicine. In the spring of 1849, with recuperated health, he returned to Ann Arbor, passed the university, examinations with great credit, and at the succeeding commencement received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Ile spent 1850 in teaching school at Flint, Michigan, and in studying medicine, and towards its close went to Chicago for the purpose of matriculating in Rush Medical College. IIere he formed the acquaint- ance of Professor William B. IIerrick, then occupying the chair of anatomy in the institution, who was a brother of his former preceptor, Dr. J. B. Herrick, of Vandalia. A strong friendship sprang up between them, and Mr. Johnson became soon an active and efficient assistant to the professor, especially in that part of his course relating to histology and microscopic anatomy. In the spring of 1851 he became the first Interne or Resident Physician in the Mercy Hospital, opened during the preceding autumn for clinical instruction, under the title of Illinois Gencral Hospital of the Lakes. On the completion of his second course of instruction in Rush Medical College, in February, 1852, he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine, ranking first in his class. During the same year he was honored by receiving the degree of Master of Arts from the University of Michigan. Soon after his graduation from Rush Medical College he became associated with Professor Herrick in practice, and in the editorial manage- ment of the Northwestern Medical and Surgical Journal, and rose rapidly in the confidence and esteem of the pro- fession and of the community. During the latter part of the year he visited Louisiana and Mississippi, and while in the latter State was tendered a professorship in Jefferson College, but declined it. Returning to Chicago in the spring of 1853 with renewed health, he resumed his prac- tice and editorial labors, and was soon appointed Lecturer on Physiology in the Rush Medical College. In 1855 he was appointed Professor of Materia Medica, Therapeutics, and Medical Jurisprudence, and in 1857 was transferred to the chair of Physiology and General Pathology. He closed his connection with this institution at the ending of the session of 1858-59; and soon after united with Drs. E. Andrews, R. N. Isham, and the late David Rutter, in

361

BIOGRAPIIICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

organizing the medical department of Lind University, now known as the Chicago Medical College. Upon its completion he was elected President of the Faculty, and appointed Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, being transferred in 1860 to the chair of Histology and Physiology, and in 1864 to that of General Pathology and Public IIygicne. In the spring of 1865 he sailed for Europe, and returned, much benefited by his travels, in time for the opening of the college term in the succeeding October. In 1866 failing health compelled him to resign the Presidency of the Faculty and the Professorship of General Pathology and Public Hygiene, and he was there- upon elected President of the Board of Trustees, which conferred on him the honorary title of Emeritus Professor of General Pathology and Public Hygiene. During the summer of 1867 he renewed his active relations with the faculty, by accepting the Professorship of Diseases of the Chest. In 1852 he became an active member of the Chicago Medical Society, and was elected one of the Secretaries of the State Medical Society, holding that office for six years. In 1858 he was chosen President of the State Society. In 1855 he was its Chairman of the Committee on Drugs and Medicines. In 1854 he became a member of the American Medical Association, and in 1860 was elected one of its Secretaries. From 1852 to 1859 he was a member of the Board of Attending Phy- sicians and Surgeons at Mercy Hospital, Chicago; and on his departure for Europe, in 1865, was appointed one of the delegates of the American Medical Association to the Medical and Scientific Associations of Great Britain and the Continental countries. For many years he has been a member of the Chicago Historical Society, and was one of the founders of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. In 1853 he connected himself with the American Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science, and became, subsc- quently, corresponding member of the New Orleans Acad- emy of Sciences. He was initiated into the Masonic order in 1853, and rapidly rose to the grade of Master Mason. In 1855 he was appointed Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge of Illinois. In 1856 he organized the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar, of Illinois, and for two successive terms was its first officer. In IS61 he enrolled as an active member of the Supreme Council, at Boston, and is now one of its officers. In June, 1861, Governor Yates appointed him on the Board of Medical Examiners for the State of Illinois, and at its first meeting he was elected its President, filling that office until the close of the war. During this period he examined about one thousand physicians, relative to their qualifications for appointment in the medical corps of the army; repeatedly visited the troops in the field, and while there acted as Military Surgeon. During this period, also, he was Chief Medical Adviser of the Governor and Adjutant-General of the State. At the request of the United States Sanitary Commission he visited the Department of the South in

1863, and by invitation of General Hunter was present at Commodore Dupont's attack on Fort Sumter. On the opening of Cook County Hospital, in 1865, he was ap- pointed one of the Consulting Physicians, and has since held the position of Consulting Surgeon to the Chicago Eye and Ear Infirmary, and of member of the Chicago Board of Health. As may be justly inferred from this record, the career of Dr. Johnson has been one of great activity and of great distinction. He is a man of rare intellectual endowments, and of scholarly culture, both in science and literature. He has acquired a high reputation as a practitioner, and as a medical lecturer and author. The productions of his mind have been widely dispersed, and his opinions are accepted as authority. He is fluent and forcible as an orator, and when speaking, holds his audience under a magnetic spell. There are few public men who have more thoroughly deserved and more securely won the confidence and respect of the community than he. In May, 1855, he was married to Margaret Ann Seward.

YER, CHIARLES VOLNEY, Physician, was born on June 12th, 1808, in Clarendon, Vermont ; and was the youngest but one of the ten children of Daniel and Susan Olin Dyer. He worked on his father's farm until he was fifteen years old, when he was sent to Castleton Academy to be fitted for college. At last, when prepared for his collegiate course, he decided to forego the classical portion of it, and entered at once the medical department of Middlebury College, at Castleton. He graduated with distinguished honors in December, 1830; and in the February following commenced the practice of his profession in Newark, New Jersey. IIe was very successful here, but determined on going West, and in August, 1835, he went to Chicago. There he soon attained professional eminence, acquired a large practice, and became Surgeon of the garrison. Ile almost immediately began to invest in real estate. Among his other purchases was a lot for which he paid $450, and a few years later he sold it to the government for $46,000, as a site for the Chicago Post-Office. By IS54 he had acquired a handsome competence, and, re- tiring from his practice, he devoted himself to the care of his estates. He was an intimate personal friend of Presi- dent Lincoln, and by him was made, in 1863, Judge of the Mixed Court for the Suppression of the African Slave Trade, an international tribunal, holding its sessions at Sierra Leone. The two years following, when not on duty, he travelled, with his family, through Europe. He was one of the early abolitionists, voted for James G. Birney in 1840, and was one of the officers of the " Under- ground Railroad Company," in Chicago. In the matter of religion he early became a Swedenborgian, and was one of the founders of the New Jerusalem Society in

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

The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 80

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