The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 81

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

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Chicago. He is much devoted to art and literature, and |Cairo & Vincennes Railroad Company, under which or- has not been without journalistic experience, as he was one of the men who founded the National Era, the famous anti-Slavery paper, in Washington. He married, in 1837, Louisa M. Gifford. Six children were born to them, three of whom still survive.

ARROTHERS, GEORGE W., M. D., was born in Harrison county, Ohio, on January 3d, IS15. His father, Samuel Carrothers, was a native of Pennsylvania, and moved to Ohio in IS15, locating at Mansfield, where he was occupied in the pursuit of his trade-that of carpenter. George received his education at the common schools in Mansfield, Ohio. On entering active life he was first employed in a mercantile establishment, and afterwards worked at blacksmithing until 1843, when he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. A. Blymier, and finished with Dr. Mitchell. He began practice at Lexington, Ohio, where he was located until 1848, when he moved to Illi- nois, settling in Olney. In this place he continued to follow his profession, which he has since pursued. Dr. Carrothers is among the oldest as well as ablest practitioners in Richland county, and since this has been his home he has enjoyed a large and lucrative practice. Originally a Whig, he is now identificd with the Republican party, to which he has belonged since its formation. IIe was mar- ried December, 1836, to Catharine Hales, of Richland county, Ohio.

ELL, ROBERT, Lawyer and ex- Judge, was born in Lawrence county, Illinois, 1828. His father, General Hiram Bell, emigrated from Rockbridge county, Virginia, and his mother from Gallatin county, Kentucky. His father was Clerk of the Circuit and County Courts, of Wabash county, for more than thirty successive years. Robert was edu- cated at the Mount Carmel Select Schools and at the Indiana State University. While in his teens, Judge Bell edited a newspaper, and was a poetical contributor to the Louisville Journal, writing several short poems that were copied into some of the leading newspapers of the country. He studied law with his brother, Hon. Victor B. Bell, who died at New Orleans during the yellow fever epidemic in 1867, and commenced the practice of his profession at Fairfield, Illinois, in 1855, but returned to Mount Carmel in 1857, where he has since resided, enjoying, with his partner, Judge Green, a very large and lucrative practice. An active interest has always been manifested by him in movements calculated to advance the interests of his section. He was President of the Illinois Southern Rail- road Company, which was afterwards merged into the

ganization the road was built. He was also President of the St. Louis, Mount Carmel & New Albany Railroad Company, from its organization until it was consolidated with the Louisville, New Albany & St. Louis Air Line Railway Company; and while President of the former company, he succeeded in having built and equipped that portion of the road which is now open from Princeton, Indiana, to Albion, Illinois. On November 17th, IS58, he was married at Madison, Connecticut, to Sara E. Shepard, a highly accomplished young lady, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Shepard, of the Congregational Church of that place, and niece of the late Dr. John Todd, of Pittsfield, Massa- chusetts, the celebrated author. In 1869 he became County Judge of Wabash county, by appointment of Governor Palmer; and is now Chairman of the Repub- lican Central Committee of the Nineteenth Congressional District of Illinois. He is a fluent and forcible speaker, and has done good service to his party and to the cause of good government by his stirring addresses. Extracts from some of his speeches have been widely published.

ADSWORTH, ELISHA S., Merchant and Stock Raiser, was born in New Hartford, Connecticut, May 10th, 1813. Until he had reached early manhood he remained with his father, a mer- chant and capitalist, and assisted him in his business. In 1836 he and his brother Julius decided to go into mercantile business in Charleston, South Carolina; and he proceeded to New York to pur- chase goods, while Julius journeyed to Charleston and made arrangements there. While in New York he heard of the great chances offered to investors in Chicago real estate. Ile immediately determined to go to the Garden City ; he sold his goods, wrote to his brother of his new purpose, and started at once for Chicago. Julius followed him immediately, and together they invested largely, and so laid the foundations of their fortunes. They at once entered into business, forming a copartnership with IIon. Thomas Dyer, and built a store on Lake street. When built this store was the finest in Chicago. Subsequently they erected numerous other buildings, all of a superior class. The partnership continued for several years, until the health of Julius failed. He was obliged to retire from business and go to Europe, and his place in the firm was filled by John P. Chapin, under the name of Wadsworth, Dyer & Chapin. The new firm did the leading business of Chicago. They were among the first to undertake the wholesale dry-goods business, took the lead in grain, be- came extensive beef and pork packers, were pioneers in sending provisions from Chicago to the English market ; and, moreover, started out several young men who subse- quently proved leaders in the business world of Chicago.

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Elisha never became prominent in politics, but in all matters |father apprenticed him to a harness-maker at the age of of public improvement he always took a leading and active part. He was among the first in the promotion of Western railroad enterprise; assisted in starting and was officially connected with two or three of the Chicago railroads ; and took an active part in founding and promoting several of the public institutions of the city. He was one of the founders of the Chicago Reform School; was one of its Directors from the first, and for ycars was President of the institution. In 1863 he nominally retired from business, and occupied himself with attending to his real estate in- terests, spending much of his time upon his large farm near Waukegan, noted for stock-raising on an extensive scale, and specially for its fine horses. Ile married, in August, 1842, Charlotte S. Woodbridge, of IIadley, Massachusetts, four sons and one daughter resulting from the union.

GLENN, JOIIN J., Lawyer, was born in Ashland county, Ohio, March 2d, 1831. He is the son of John Glenn and Anna (Johnson) Glenn of Mary- land, who settled in Ohio in 18IS. His education was acquired in this State. In 1856 he graduated from the Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio. Sub- sequently, while engaged in teaching school in Indiana, he commenced the study of law, and in 1858 was admitted to the bar at Fort Wayne. He afterward practised his pro- fession in that town until 1865, when he removed to Mercer county, Illinois, where he resided during the ensuing year. Ile then settled at Monmouth, the county-seat of Warren county, in May, 1861. Here he has since permanently rc- sided, following his profession assiduously, and winning an enviable position among the leading practitioners of the county. His practice in the Circuit Court and Supreme Court is extensive and lucrative. He was married in 1856 to Mary J. Magaw, of Preble county, Ohio.

OBB, SILAS B., Merchant and Capitalist, was born in Montpelier, Vermont, January 23d, 1812, being the son of a well-known man, who was at different times a tanner, farmer and inn-keeper in that sec- tion. Ilis education was not very thorough from the want of opportunities, but his application to study in the very few leisure hours he enjoyed secured for him a fund of knowledge which placed him above many of his companions who had far greater advantages. Contrary to his wishes, his father apprenticed him to a shoemaker, but he left his employer and returned home. His father then insisted on his becoming a mason, but this trade proved distasteful to him, and he was permitted to make his own selection of a vocation for life. Acting on his choice, his i now the possessor.

seventcen. Upon the close of his apprenticeship he worked at Montpelier, South Hardwick and other Vermont towns, as a journeyman, and succeeded in saving sixty dollars in nine months of hard labor. Having attained his majority, he joined a party of emigrants under the leadership of Oliver Goss, who had located lands near Chicago, and determined to accompany them as far as his limited stock of money would take him. They took passage on a linc boat on the Erie Canal and reached Buffalo, where he entered as a deck passenger on the schooner Atlanta, and after many vicissi- tudes reached Chicago on May 29th, 1833, the voyage hav- ing occupied five weeks. Young Cobb was detained on the vessel for three days by the captain, who claimed three dol- lars as additional passage money, which was a violation of his agreement. In all probability Cobb would have been carried back to Buffalo by the captain had not a fellow- passenger loaned him the amount unjustly claimed by the avaricious master of the vessel. Chicago was a place of little promise at this time, being an aggregation of rude log- huts occupied by soldiers, half-breeds and Indians. James Kinzic, the leading man of the place, in want of a carpenter to " boss " the construction of a hotel, engaged Cobb, and the latter, though ignorant of the carpenter's trade, under- took the task, receiving $2.75 per day, and rendering satis- faction by getting good work out of his men, who understood their business but were predisposed to take things easy. He was thus employed for three weeks, and then found himself without employment. With the forty dollars capital he had saved in this time he bought up the trinkets which arriving cmigrants brought with them and parted with cheerfully at a low price, and with this stock of a little of everything set up in trade as an auctioneer, dealing principally with half- breeds and Indians, and doing quite a profitable business. In this way he managed to lay by enough to erect a frame building, the upper part of which he leased to a family, using the lower portion as a harness shop in connection with Mr. Goss. This was the beginning of his career as a man of wealth and distinction. In one year from this time he removed to a larger establishment, having dissolved partnership with Mr. Goss, paying him his original capital, $250, and $200 besides. His business rapidly increased, and was very profitably conducted. In 1848 he sold out and formed a partnership with William Osborne in the boot, shoe, leather and hide trade, and after three years of great prosperity he disposed of his interest and retired from business, so far as giving his attention to any trade was concerned. With the means he had accumulated he made careful in- vestments, and constantly added in this way to the gross amount of his capital. He purchased lands lying in the most eligible sections, which he was confident must largely increase in value within a time. This forecast of the situa- tion was more than realized, and from these investments and sales of real estate resulted the great fortune of which he is He has accepted and successfully man-

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aged various private, personal and business trusts. In 1852 he was appointed executor of the large estate of the late Joseph Matteson, original proprietor of the Matteson House, and the sole guardian of his five children, holding this trust and discharging it with the highest. fidelity until 1866. In 1855 he was elected a Director of the Chicago Gaslight & Coke Company, and a few years after Managing Director of that institution. IIc has also been a Director of the Chicago & Galena, the Beloit & Madison Railroad Com- panies, and of one of the principal insurance companies in Chicago. Ile is a public-spirited man, and has taken great interest in all municipal improvements. In 1840 he mar- ried Maria Warren, daughter of the late Daniel Warren, of Warrenville, Du Page county, Illinois. He has little taste for politics, and though often solicited to stand as candidatc for office has uniformly declined. There are many business blocks in Chicago, especially on Lake and Dearborn streets, which are monuments to his enterprise and liberality.

CARTHUR, JOHN, Brevet Major-General United States Army, was born in the parish of Erskine, county of Renfrew, in the southwestern part of Scotland, November 17th, 1826. Ilis ancestors were Highlanders, his father having been a native of Islay, whence he moved at an early age to Erskine parish. IIe was a blacksmith and plied his trade as a tenant of Lord Blantyre. John was early placed in the parish school, and remained a student in it for fourteen years. He was offered, upon the conclusion of this term of pupilage, a scholarship in the University of Edinburgh on condition that he would prepare himself for the ministry. To the disappointment of his parents he refused the offer, and became an apprentice to the blacksmithing trade in his father's shop. Soon after attaining his majority he married, and in July, 1849, sailed with his bride for New York, hav- ing been attracted to this country by reading the accounts of the Mexican war, which filled him with admiration of the prowess of the American people. Upon his arrival he went to Chicago, and permanently settled there, and was soon engaged in the boiler manufacturing business .. He early connected himself with the United Presbyterian Church, and became one of its trustees. In 1857 he organized a military company known as the Highland Guards, and received his commission as Captain from the Governor of the State. He was at the head of this company when the war broke out, and upon President Lincoln's first call for troops he tendered the services of himself and company. These were gladly accepted, and he was in a short time elected Lieutenant-Colonel of the Washington Independent Regiment, to which his company was attached, and before entering the field was made Colonel of the 12th Illinois Infantry. Ile was first under fire at the battle of Fort Donelson, in which he commanded a brigade, and displaycd

such signal gallantry as to secure his promotion to a Briga- dier-Generalship. At Pittsburgh Landing he was severely wounded, and upon his recovery from these injuries he was assigned command of a division of the Army of the Ten- nessee, and held it until the close of the war. He was con- spicuous in all the campaigns in which that portion of the Union army was engaged. His bravery and skill as a strategist at Vicksburg secured his recommendation for pro- motion, and General Grant indorsed this recommendation briefly, thus : " Headquarters Department of the Tennessee. Before Vicksburg, February 24th, 1863. General McArthur has proved himself a zealous and efficient officer from the beginning of this rebellion, and has won promotion on the field of battle. I heartily indorse him for promotion. U. S. Grant, Major-General." After the battle of Nashville, in which General McArthur rendered splendid services, he was, on the recommendation of General Thomas, brevetted Major-General. He has lived quietly in Chicago since the war, and is admired for his public acts and social qualities.

ARSHALL, NATHAN, M. D., was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, March 11th, 1832. His parents, natives of Pennsylvania, were of Welsh- English extraction. His father, Abraham Mar- shall, was a well-known lawyer, who lived in West Chester until 1832, at which date he moved to Illinois, and there raised a company of soldiers for the Texan army, then fighting for freedom. He died in Texas during the progress of the war. Nathan attended the pub- lic schools in his native place until he had attained his fourteenth year, when he entered a drug store in Baltimore with a view to learn its business. After remaining there for three years he returned to his home and attended school, his health not permitting him to follow the drug business. He subsequently spent one year in a printing office, and then returned to his original occupation, finishing his studies during the ensuing year. Ile was afterward appointed Ilospital Steward on board the Vandalia, which vessel ac- companied Commodore Perry on his Japan expedition. At the completion of Perry's treaty he was, in company with others, transferred to the East India and China station, where he remained for a period of four years. On his re- turn home he entered the Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1856, and in 1858 graduated from that institution. After remaining in the college another year he commenced the practice of his profession in Phila- delphia, sustaining it in this locality with success for many years .. In 1873 his brother, the cashier of the First National Bank of Olney, prevailed upon him to come to Illinois and make Olney his home. Since then he has resided perma- nently in the city, and at the present time possesses a large and lucrative practice. He was married in 1850 to Anna M. Price, of Baltimore, Maryland.

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HURCH, THOMAS, Merchant, was born in Onon- daga, Onondaga county, New York, on November Sth, ISO1. He was early brought under the rule of a stepfather, and after several removes the family settled in Holland Purchase, Genesee county, New York. Here the lad worked on his stepfather's farm until he was nearly nincteen years old, when he one day had a slight difficulty with a younger brother about a jack-knife ; his stepfather decided the affair against him, and suggested that he had better leave. Thomas took him at his word, threw down his axe, jumped the fence, and was an independent man from that time for- ward. Ile went to work for a miller a few miles away, and at the end of a year owned a small farm. At the end of another year he sold his farm for cash, and six months later he had $227 in money, a good suit of clothes, and a good wife, having marricd Rachel Warriner. Then, in the autumn of 1823, he went to Chautauqua county, New York, bargained for a small farm, built a log house, and walked to Buffalo to purchase housekeeping articles. While there he thought he would prefer a business career to a career in the backwoods. He consulted with his wife, she consented to the change, and in February the young couple removed to Buffalo, where he erected a small house and went into mercantile business on a small scale, his first stock of goods costing fourteen dollars. He cleared $200 the first year, and continued in the business ten years. At the end of that time he was worth $2500, and removed to Chicago, a place then of four hundred inhabitants. IIe bought a stock of groceries in Buffalo, after he had built a store, and in a short time was doing so large a business that his store (on Lake street) had to be enlarged. He had large credit in New York, was able to keep a large and well-assorted stock, and to sell as nonc of his competitors could sell. He prospered greatly and continuously until 1843, when he re- tired from the mercantile business with property worth $37,000. He then went into the real estate business and was very successful. His first wife died in April, 1839. In November, 1839, he married Rebecca Pruyne, widow of Senator Pruyne, of Illinois.

ENNARD, AMOS L., M. D., was born in Hamil- ton county, Ohio, in 1836. He is the son of Phillip Lennard and Mary (Dagen) . Lennard. He was educated at the Greencastle Academy, in Indiana. When quite young he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Allen, an eclectic physician residing at Amelia, Claremont county, Ohio, and remaincd with him for a period of three years. In 1859 he entcred upon the practice of his profession in Louisiana. He remained thus occupied until the outbreak of the rebel- lion, when he became associated with Dr. S. C. Whiting, a very prominent homeopathic physician of Vincennes, In-

diana. His connection with that practitioner being dis- solved at the expiration of three years, he removed to Illinois, where he established himself in Champaign, being the introducer of the homœopathic system of treatment into this town. He attended a regular course, and in 1862 graduated from the Eclectic Medical College of Cincinnati. While possessing an extensive general practice, he applies himself with especial success to the treatment of affections of the eye and ear, throat and lungs. He was married in 1858 to Lottie A. Pendry, of Glendale, Ohio.

HESBROUGH, ELLIS SYLVESTER, Surveyor and Civil Engineer, was born July 6th, 1813, in Baltimore county, Maryland. His paternal an- cestors landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1630, his father, Isaac M. Chesbrough, being a native of North Adams, in the same State. IIis mother, whose maiden name was Phrania Jones, was born in Baltimore county, Maryland. Shortly after the birth of Ellis, his father, who had been a farmer, turned his atten- tion to other branches of business, meeting at first with in- different success. When nine years of age Ellis' education was arrested by his father's failure, which thwarted the intention of his parents to give him a liberal culture in the sciences and classics. His subsequent progress, which was rapid, was without the aid of a regular teacher, and was alone due to his penetration and energy as a student. From his ninth to his fifteenth year his duties were arduous, and he had the benefit of but one year's schooling. A por- tion of this time was spent in two mercantile houses in Baltimore, and the earnings of this service were devoted to the comfort of his parents. When fifteen he was employed by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company in a company of engineers, and through his influence Ellis was admitted to a similar company then engaged in making surveys in and about the city of Baltimore, under the supervision and command of Lieutenant Joshua Barney. These engineers were mainly officers of the United States army and gradu- ates of West Point, and discovering in their youthful com- panion an ardent desire to master the details of the science of civil engineering, they generously afforded him every facility and all necded instruction. With this opportunity opened to him, such was his application to the theory and practice of his new vocation that his rapid progress was the subject of commendatory remark. In 1830 he left the ser- vice of this road and entered that of the State of Pennsyl- vania to aid in the survey of the newly projected Allegheny Portage Railroad, under his former chief, Colonel S. H. Long. In the following year he joined the engineer corps of Captain, subsequently General William Gibbs McNeil, at Paterson, New Jersey, and for eleven years was promi- nently identified with it, being in this time on the surveys of the Paterson & Hudson River, Boston & Providence, the

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Taunton Branch, and of the Louisville, Charleston & Cin- cinnati Railroads. During the earlier portion of this period he was immediately under the direction of Lieutenant George W. Whistler, an accomplished United States engi- neer, who, while subsequently acting in the service of the Emperor of Russia as consulting engineer, died at St. Petersburg. In 1837 Mr. Chesbrough was married to Elizabeth A. Freyer, of Baltimore, Maryland. For a period of two years, ending in 1842, he superintended the construc- tion of the Louisville, Cincinnati & Charleston Railroad, until its completion to Columbia, South Carolina, and then went to Providence, Rhode Island, where his father re- sided. The ensuing autumn and winter he spent in the workshops of the Stonington Railroad Company, where he familiarized himself in the use of tools. The depression in mercantile and industrial pursuits, caused by the great financial crash of 1837, was still severely felt, and thousands were compelled to turn away from their favorite pursuits in order to find employment. Mr. Chesbrough purchased a farm adjoining that of his father, and cultivated it; but in 1844 he cheerfully lail aside his agricultural implements to resume the level and the transit. This was at a time when confidence having been somewhat restored, there was a revival of enterprises, and for two years he found remuner- ative service in Massachusetts. Upon the solicitation of the Water Commissioners of Boston he became their Engineer, and superintended the location, design, and construction of the buildings along the line of the Cochituate Aqueduct. When this great public improvement was completed he was elected Water Commissioner, and subsequently City En- gineer, by the City Council of Boston, being the first occu- pant of the latter office. In August, 1855, he was appointed Chief-Engineer of the Board of Sewerage Commissioners of Chicago, the appointment being approved by the Common Council during the administration of IIon. L. D. Boone. Upon the conclusion of his duties in Boston he came, in October, 1855, to Chicago, and at once set about devising a system of sewerage for that city, and in the following De- cember presented a plan which was adopted by the Com- missioners and finally approved by the City Councils. Upon Mr. Chesbrough's plan this great public improvement was commenced in 1856. In December of this year he was sent by the Board to Europe, with a special view of obtain- ing full information relative to the drainage of large cities, and upon his return he presented a report which is regarded in this country as an authentic compilation of all the in- formation needed in discussing the frequently recurring problems of city sewerage. In 1861 he was chosen Chief- Engineer of the Board of Public Works, and after two years of service his title was changed to City Engineer. It was while acting in this capacity, and while the problem of an adequate supply was under discussion, that he devised and eventually carried out the system which is now one of the marvels of municipal enterprise. When the project of a tunnel into the lake was first broached by him its feasibility

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The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 81

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