The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 87

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

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BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

adapted for securing efficiency and discipline in the army, a legal connection with Mr. Sedgwick, entering subsequently and through it he became very popular with the rank and into partnership with Wirt Dexter. Hc soon after took the position of Attorney for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway, an important position, which he still fills with notable ability. He is a skilful and leading practitioner, and, devoted to his profession, sparcs neither time nor labor when conducting a case whosc importance calls for a lavish expenditure of both or either. He is also a man of exten- sive reading, endowed with an unerring judgment in the fine arts, and possesses a varied fund of scholarly attain- ments. file. He served in all the actions and campaigns of this army, including the battles of Tullahoma and Chickamauga, until Rosecrans was relieved by Major-General Thomas, upon whose staff he became Inspector-General, and acted in that capacity until 1864. While under this assignment he made a daring and brilliant reconnoissance of Tullahoma with two companies of cavalry, while his gallantry at Chickamauga was the subject of special mention in general orders. In February, 1864, he was compelled reluctantly to leave the field, his health having been broken down by camp dysentery which he contracted at Cairo in IS61. He left the service with the respect and the regrets of the army, and General Grant, in a letter dated February 19th, 1864, said : " Lieutenant-Colonel Ducat leaves the service in con- sequence of ill-health alone. His services have been valu- able and fully appreciated by all those under whom he has served, as is shown by the fact that he rose from the posi- tion of Lieutenant and Adjutant of his regiment to Lieuten- ant-Colonel of it, and finally Inspector-General of the Army of the Cumberland." His perseverance and powers of endurance were wonderful. At Corinth he was in the sad- dle for sixty consecutive hours. He was a gallant leader of the staff, and no project was too difficult or hazardous to restrain his daring. Upon returning to civil life, and after his health had been restored, he was appointed by the Home Insurance Company, of New York, to supervise its business in Ohio and Indiana, and subsequently became its Agent in Chicago. He was afterwards appointed Agent of the Manhattan, Howard, and Citizens' Insurance Com- panies, in New York, in addition to his dutics in the same capacity for the Home Insurance Company. He is also Supervising Agent of the latter for the States of Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and brings to the discharge of his duties a rare degree of business ability. Though fre- quently solicited to run for public office he has uniformly declined. He is the author of " Ducat's Practice of Fire Underwriting," which is regarded as the best standard work on that subject, and which is adopted as the instruction book for agents by a majority of the leading companies of the country.

ALKER, JAMES M., Lawyer, was born in Clare- mont, New Hampshire, and is now about fifty- five years of age. He studied law at Ann Harbor, in Michigan, and at this point entered upon the practice of his profession. He removed subse- quently to another portion of Washtenaw county, in the same State, where he speedily secured a very exten- sive practice, and filled the office of Prosecuting Attorney. He established his office in Chicago in 1854, at which time he was the Attorney of the Michigan Central Railway. He first occupied an office with James M. Joy, and later formed

HEATON, WARREN LYON, was born in Pom- fret, Windham county, Connecticut, March 6th, ISI2. Hc is the son of James Wheaton, who died in that town January 2d, 1834, at the age of eighty-six years. Hc was educated at the schools of Pomfret and at the Woodstock Academy. While in his nineteenth year he engaged in school teaching during the winter, and in the summer months worked on a farm. IIc arrived in Du Page county, Illinois, June Ist, 1837, and spent several months in viewing the North and Southwest, visiting at that time Chicago, Galena, St. Louis, Milwaukee, and other points of interest. The distance then between the houses, on the road between Galena and Wheaton, was about thirty miles. Having canvassed the country, he returned to his present location, and in June, 1838, took up a claim of six hundred and forty acres. Being convinced that Chicago would ultimately be the great entrepôt for Western produce, he wrote to his brother Jesse, who was then working at his trade in Worcester, to come to the West. The latter complied with his instruc- tions, accordingly, and in 1838 secured a claim of three hundred and twenty acres which Erastus Gary had held in reserve. During the fall of the same year it was discovered that a man named Knickerbocker laid claim to and had broken twenty acres on the tract claimed by the Gary brothers, subsequently pre-empted and now owned by Jesse C. Wheaton. They succeeded, however, in inducing Knickerbocker to relinquish his claim by paying him for the land which he had broken. During the summer of 1 848 he received the nomination of the Democratic party for the Legislature, was elected, and took an active part in the attendant session, and also in an extra session called by the proclamation of the Governor. He served on the Com- mittee of Township Organization, the first of the kind, and under that organization, in 1850, was elected Supervisor. The Wheaton brothers adopted a wise plan in building up Wheaton, by giving a lot promiscuously to any one who would build and improve the ground. When the Chicago & Galena Railroad was securing the right of way, they gave gratis the right of way through their lands for a distance of about two miles, in consequence of which the station was named after them. In 1852, when Professor Lumrcy's

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father and Rev. John Cross, Methodists, came to Wheaton to secure the necessary funds with which to construct a col- lege, to be founded at Wheaton and called the Illinois Institute, provided $3000 could be raised in the town, the Wheaton brothers and Erastus Gary guarantecd the finding of this sum, thereby securing to Wheaton the projected temple of learning. Jesse C. Wheaton, Rev. John Cross, and A. Chadwick were elected the members of the Building Committee, and after selecting the present site of the college grounds the title was sccured. The land belonged to W. M. Dodge, but was encumbered by a trust deed and was soon to be sold. The Wheaton brothers proposed to G. Howard to attend the sale, bid off the land, and let the institute have forty acres at the price per acre that it might sell for at the salc, they agreeing to furnish the money to secure the farm. This measure accordingly was taken, and the title properly secured. Jesse C. Wheaton and J. Cross then purchased at Batavia the stone for the main portion of the structure as it now stands. When ready for occupa- tion its cost amounted to $10,000, while the subscriptions amounted only to $5000. The debt, however, was finally liquidated, owing mainly to the liberality of the brothers. Subsequently W. L. Wheaton and Jesse Wheaton gave re- spectively a divided half of sixty acres and a piece of ground twenty acres in extent to the Du Page County Agricultural and Mechanical Association. They have also contributed liberally to various other enterprises calculated to improve the society and business of Wheaton, and are invariably prime movers and generous allies in all measures designed to facilitate the development of the State and increase the well-being of their fellow-citizens. He was married on June 25th, 1848, to Laura Rickard, and by her has had the following children : Warren L., Jr., born June 11th, 1850, now engaged in farming with his father; Stella C., born February 13th, 1853, died June 9th, 1863; Charles Henry, born July 20th, 1855, died September 8th, 1856; Lucy E., born February 22d, 1858; Wilbur F., born May 12th, 1860; IIarry, born May 25th, 1863. The mother of the above large family was born June 10th, 1826, in Pomfret, Wind- ham county, Connecticut, and died May 29th, 1863.

NYDER, WILLIAM H., Lawyer, Judge of the Circuit Court, was born in St. Clair county, Illi- nois, July 12th, 1825. On the paternal side he is of German extraction, and on his mother's side of French descent. ITis mother's connections were among the early French settlers, and the first white people who settled permanently in the State. His parents' names were Adam W. Snyder and Adelaide Sny- der. IIc was educated at the McKendree College, Leb- anon, Illinois. On leaving school he began the study of law under the direction of Governor Koerner, and was admitted to the bar in 1845. At the outbreak of the Mexi- been engaged may be mentioned the trial of the murderers

can war he entered the service of the United States as First Licutenant of the 5th Illinois Regiment, serving as Adjutant of that body. He acted in this capacity for a period of eighteen months, at the expiration of which time he was mustered out of the service. Returning home he began the practice of his profession in Belleville, in which, when not occupied by official duties, he has since been successfully engaged. He has always been attached to the Democratic party, and in 1845 was appointed by President Polk Post- master of Belleville. He served also for some time as Justice of the Peace. He was a member of the Legislature for two terms, having been elected in 1850, and again in 1852. For two years he served as State's Attorney of the Second Judicial Circuit, to which position he had been ap- pointed by Governor Matteson, in the year 1855. In 1857 he was elected Judge of the Twenty-fourth Circuit, serving until June, 1861, when he was elected to the Constitutional Convention which convened in 1869. While in the Legis- lature he was a member of the Committees on Revenue and on the Bill of Rights. He was also Chairman of the Com- mittce on Mines and Mining, and various others of consid- erable importance. In 1873 he was elected Judge of the Twenty-second Judicial Circuit for a term of six years, and still holds that position. He was married in June, 1859, to Jane E. Champion, of Belleville.

, NOX, JOSEPH, Lawyer, was born in Blanford, Massachusetts, in 1805. He studied law with his brother, General Alanson Knox, in his native town, and in 1828 was admitted to the bar. He removed subsequently to Worcester county, in the same State, and began there the practice of his profession. In 1837 he removed West with his family to Stephenson, now Rock Island county, Illinois, where he continued in the practice of the law for twenty-three years. During the greater portion of that period lie was associated with Hon. John W. Drury, under the name of Knox & Drury, a firm whose reputation is widespread throughout the entire West. During most of the time the Rock Island Circuit embraced about ten adjacent counties, in addition to practising in all of which, he has practised also in Peoria and Knox counties, where he met such men as Judges Purple and Peters, L. B. Knowlton, and Julius Manning, who were his associates or competitors in all those districts. In 1860 he removed to Chicago, and soon after was made State's Attorney, an office which he held for four years, when it passed by clection to his then partner, the present incumbent, Charles II. Reed. Since that period he has been in general practice, and attended constantly by pros- perity and success. It was said of him by Judge Eleock : " He is the most powerful jury advocate I ever had before me." Among the various important cases in which he has

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of Colonel Davenport, at Rock Island, in 1846; the suc- cessful defence, at Iowa City, in 1857, of the nine men charged with the murder of Boyd Wilkinson, and which trial lasted an entire month; the successful defence, in the United States Court held in Chicago by Justice McLean, about fifteen years ago, in the case of the owners of the steamer " Effie Afton " against the Rock Island Bridge Company; the Frink and Walker case; the Hopps murder trial ; the case against Judge Scates, and many others of equal importance.

ARKER, G. G., M. D., was born in Rutland, Meigs county, Ohio, February Ist, 1849. His parents also-Daniel Parker and Kate Parker- were natives of Ohio. He was educated at the Ohio University, and at the completion of his allotted course of studies moved to Indianapolis, beginning there the study of medicine under the instructions of Drs. H. R. Allen and W. J. Johnson, with whom he studied for a period of two years. He then entered the Medical College of Ohio, and graduated from this institu- tion in 1872. Subsequently he made Cairo his home, prac- tising there for some time in partnership with his brother, and afterward alone. Since he fixed upon Cairo as his per- manent place of residence he has succeeded in establishing a remunerative practice and a good reputation as a skilful and trustworthy physician. In addition to his large general practice he has bestowed especial attention on the treatment of cases necessitating surgical operations, and in this depart- ment has met with marked success. Apart from his pro- fessional attainments, he is also the possessor of a large fund of varied and scholarly knowledge, derived from study, observation, and research.

SELLEY, DANIEL, Dealer in Spanish Merino Sheep, etc., was born in Danby, Rutland county, Vermont, May 3d, 1818. He is the son of Daniel Kelley and Mary (Ballard) Kelley. His father, who died in 1859, was one of the earlier pioneers and settlers of Vermont, and devoted himself to the raising of sheep, purchasing in 1826, for $800, forty ewes that had been imported by Crowning Shield. For many years, while quite young, Daniel, Jr., was intrusted with the care of his father's large flocks. In 1844 he left his home and settled in Du Page county, Illi- nois, but the wild condition of the country at this period prevented him from attempting sheep raising until 1851. During that year he experimented with a few coarse-wooled sheep, and in 1852 procured from his father ten ewes and one buck. Later he procured from the same source one hundred and nineteen ewes and a second buck, and in 1857 secured one hundred and sixty-three additional ewes. After the death of his father, in 1859, he returned to Ver-

inont, bought the entire stock remaining there, and has since continued to increase his herds on every favorable occasion. His sales in one year have amounted to $12,000, exclusive of the value of the wool. He has taken first premiums at every State and county fair at which he has exhibited, while no one has done more than he toward in- creasing the importation and breeding of fine wooled Span- ish merino sheep. Since 1860 he has kept from one thousand to two thousand two hundred such sheep on his farm, which consists of about thirteen hundred acres, lying north of Wheaton. He has been President and Vice- President of the Illinois State Wool Growers' Association since its organization, and was one of the organizers and the first President of the Northwestern Wool Growers' Association, and is now an officer of the same association. He was also the first man to establish the fact that the insect known as the " grubbing-head " was deposited alive in the sheep's nose by the gad-fly, and worked its way to the brain of the sheep, causing great mortality among them. The theory advanced and maintained by many was that the fly deposited the egg, the heat of the body hatching it into life. It was asserted again that it was impossible for the insect to reach the brain of the sheep. He has by dissection of the sheep's head shown the presence of these " grubbing- heads" in the brain, and in the same manner proved the existence of the insect itself in the gad-fly, showing thereby that it was deposited on the sheep as a living thing, and not as an egg. IIe is the largest grower of fine-wooled shcep in the State of Illinois, and probably the largest operator in the country also. He was married March 3d, 1846, to Mary Huls, from Yates county, New York.

EED, CHARLES H., Lawyer, was born in Stry- kersville, Wyoming county, New York, in 1834. He attended school and worked on a farm during his younger days, and later taught school and attended an academy until he entered Yale Col- lege. He subsequently began the study of the law, and in 1858 was admitted to the bar in Henry county, Illinois. From that place he removed to Rock Island, and in 1860, in company with Hon. Joseph Knox, removed to Chicago. He then practised his profession until 1864, when he was elected District Attorney, an office which he still holds. He is a well-read lawyer, remarkably ener- getic, and as a public prosecutor has evinced the possession of every necded quality. In addition to his professional attainments, he is one of the finest classical scholars in the Northwest. His translations from the Greek have won him an enviable reputation as a close and careful student, while his contributions to general literature stamp him as a writer of considerable merit. He is universally acknowledged to be a thorough, efficient, and economical official, while as a practising lawyer his private business is of large proportions.

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USH, JOSEPH MERRICK, Lawyer and Jour- nalist, was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Jan- uary 16th, 1822. He is the son of Daniel B. Bush, an attorney-at-law; his mother, Maria (Merrick) Bush, was the daughter of Deacon Joseph Merrick, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He graduated in 1838 at the Williams College, in his native State. He moved subsequently to Pittsfield, Illinois, and there commenced the study of law. In IS43 he was ad- mitted to the bar, and afterward practised his profession for a period of two years. He then engaged in farming and agricultural pursuits, at which he continued for fifteen years. Later, he purchased the Pike County Democrat, at that time in a condition far from prosperous, and since his entry into possession of this journal has remained its editor and pro- prietor. The paper is the official organ of the county. In IS7I he was elected to the State Senate, taking his seat in the Twenty-seventh Assembly. He was, about fifteen years ago, appointed by Judge Treat United States Commissioner for the southern district of Illinois; and has since continu- ously held that office. About fourteen years ago he was ap- pointed by Judge Higher Master in Chancery, has been re- appointed at every term, the term being two years, and still officiates in this position. Hc was married in March, 1848, to Mary A. Grimshaw, from Belfast, Ireland.

ATTISON, JEREMIAH, Merchant and Manu- facturer, was born in Dorchester county, Eastern Shore of Maryland, July 2Ist, IS21. His parents were William Pattison and Mary E. (Linthicom) Pattison. Hc was the recipient of a common school education, and at the completion of his allotted course of studies learned the trade of a printer, at which he served an apprenticeship of five years. In IS40 he removed to Illinois, and settled in Galena, where he commenced mining. Relinquishing this occupation shortly afterward he secured temporary employment in a store as clerk. In 1846 he started from Galena on a peddling expe- dition, and later in the same year settled at Waddam's Grove, where he opencd a general store, which he con- ducted, while also merchandising and farming, until IS52. In this year he began the manufacture of reapers and other agricultural machines, in partnership with John H. Manny and P. Manny, his father-in-law and brother-in-law. It was in the carly days of reapers and agricultural implements and their manufacture was then scarcely more than an experi- ment. In 1852 he returned to his store, and was occupied in conducting its affairs during 1853-54. In the spring of IS55 he disposed of his interest in that enterprise, and created a new partnership with Pells Manny as manufac- turers of reapers, etc. In the fall of 1856 he removed to Lena, and in 1857, under a reconstructed agreement with P. Manny, removed the business to Freeport, which, speedily

assuming large and profitable proportions, gave assurance of great ultimate success. They then continued it until 1863, in which year the partnership was dissolved. In 1864 he removed to Pithole, Pennsylvania, where he speculated in petroleum, etc., and eventually met with severe losses. In the fall of the same year he returned to Freeport, and engaged in various railroad speculations. In 1866 he be- came the owner, by purchase, of Manny's interest in the reaper business, and has since continued to own and control its extensive relations and affairs. His annual sales amount to about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth of reapers, mowers, etc. His principal articles of trade and implements are the Self-raking and Hand-raking Reaper and Mower combined, the Hand-raking Reaper and Mower combined, the Victory Walking-whcel Cultivator, the Ad- vance Walking-wheel Cultivator, the Stover Champion Riding Cultivator, the Western Riding Cultivator, the Freeport Fanning-mill, or Grain-separator, the Patent Lever Hand Corn-sheller, and the Two-horse Farm Wagon. IIe was married in 1849 to Eliza Manny, daughter of Pells Manny, then of Waddam's Grove, now of Freeport, Illinois.

OOT, JAMES P., Lawyer, was born in Madison county, New York, July 22d, 1830. From 1837 to 1840 he lived in Lockport, Illinois, and then removed to Oneida, New York, where he studied at an academy, and subsequently at Seneca Falls, in the same State. His youth was more or less spent in work upon a farm, but his studies werc maintained with so much assiduity and success that he soon qualified himself to teach school. This he did during three winters and one summer, being engaged during the latter period as a teacher in a select school at Seneca Falls, and at Cayuga. In the spring of 1851 he commenced the study of law with E. W. Dodge, at Oneida Castle. His preceptor, Mr. Dodge, subsequently became a prominent lawyer in New York city. His studies were continued with Hon. James R. Lawrence, United States Attorney, at Syracuse, and upon the removal of this gentleman from office by President Pierce Mr. Root entered the office of Hon. Henry A. Foster, who was ap- pointed his successor, at Rome, New York. Mr. Foster became the successor of Silas Wright in the United States Senate, and upon resigning his office as United States Attorney, IIon. S. B. Garvin, of Utica, was appointed in his place, and Mr. Root became his Chief Clerk. He assisted Mr. Garvin in many important actions, among which was the famous " Jerry Rescue case." Mr. Garvin was an intimate friend of Governor Seymour, and subse- quently removed to New York city, where he was soon chosen as District Attorney. On October 2d, 1853, Mr. Root was admitted to the bar at Syracuse, passing success- fully a rigid examination by the full bench, consisting of Judge Gridley, the " steamboat judge," Judge Allen, now

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a prominent lawyer of New York, Judge Pratt, now of their cases with the utmost care, anticipates all surprises, and Syracuse, and Judge Hubbard. In the spring of 1854 he argues them with a perspicuity and power which few men can surpass. He is a lover of literary pursuits, is a close student of history, and has secured a fine collection of valu- able miscellaneous works. During the winter of 1875-76 he delivered a series of lectures before the Union College of Law, among which are the four respectively entitled " Parliamentary Law," " The Power of the State over the Property of the Citizen," "An Abstract of Title," and " Corporations." came to Chicago, and entered the law office of Judd & Frink, then a leading law firm. Afterwards he became chief clerk in the office of Blackwell & Beckwith, which became subsequently the firm of Higgins, Beckwith & Strother. In the fall of 1855 he opened a law office him- self, and practised alone with encouraging success. On October 2d, 1856, he married, in New York, the daughter of Rev. Charles Machin, a Presbyterian clergyman at Verona, New York. In 1868-69 he was a partner with Gilbert C. Walker, late Governor, and now member of Con- gress from Virginia, the firm-name being Root & Walker. NYDER, WILLIAM H., Cashier of the Mer- chants' National Bank at Galena, Illinois, was born in New York city, January Ist, 1814. His parents were Jacob Snyder and Fanny (Dodge) Snyder. In 1835 he removed to Galena, Illinois, and secured employment there as clerk in a iner- cantile house. In 1844 he became Cashier in the private banking house of James Carter & Co., in the same place. In 1865 the Merchants' National Bank was established, he being intimately and importantly connected with its promo- tion, and he was made the Cashier of this institution, a position he still retains. For a period extending over thirty years he has officiated as Cashier in Galena, and in this time has deservedly acquired an enviable reputation as an authority in banking affairs and financial matters. In 1863 he was chosen President of the Chicago Law Insti- tute, in the prosperity of which he had always manifested great interest. He was reared as a Whig Abolitionist, and became a member of the Republican party after the dissolu- tion of the old Whig organization. He was a delegate in the first Republican convention ever held in Chicago, and ever since his connection with that party has been one of its most active and influential adherents. In its interest he has contributed many articles to the press on political questions, which he discussed in a clear and argumentative manner. These contributions bear testimony to his fine literary culture, and to his capacity as a clear thinker and logical reasoner. In 1864 he was Secretary of the Republican State Central Committee, succeeding Horace White, and had the princi - pal charge of managing the exciting campaign of that year. In 1869 he was chosen Clerk of the House of Representa- tives at Springfield, and in the following year was a candi- date for the nomination for Secretary of State, but withdrew, ¿RIGGS, SAMUEL C., Publisher and Bookseller, was born in Tolland county, Connecticut, being the son of a prominent farmer. Until the age of fourteen his instruction, beyond that received from his parents, was conducted in the district school, but from this period until his nineteenth year he had the advantage of a scholastic education in various academies and seminaries, and at the time of abandoning his arduous studics, by reason of failing health, had pre- pared for his third year in college. During his collegiate training he was a competitor for all the prizes offered to his class, and was uniformly successful, whether the test was of classical erudition, logic, or of the exact sciences. Upon ceasing his academic studies he established himself, when twenty years old, in the book trade in Hamilton, New York, the present seat of Madison University, and remained here successful in business for six years, when he went to Chicago and entered into partnership with Mark H. New- man, a New York publisher, superintending the business of a branch of the New York house. His first year's sales amounted to $23,000, but he conducted the business with so much skill and enterprise that its transactions gained rapidly in number and value, and within a decade aggregated nearly a million of dollars. Hc first started in 1848 at No. it being apparent that a German should be selected for that position. He was elected in the following year a member of the Twenty-seventh General Assembly, from the city of Chicago. This was the first session under the new Consti- tution of the State Legislature, and he took a prominent part in its deliberations. He was a candidate for the Speakership, but failed to secure the election. He was, however, selected as Temporary Speaker, and occupied the chair whenever the permanent presiding officer was absent or otherwise engaged. In this position he proved himself thoroughly familiar with parliamentary law. He introduced at this session the present general incorporation law, other than for municipal purposes, and was prominent in debate. In 1872 he was appointed County Attorney of Cook county, and held that office for two years. In the same year he was President of the State Republican Convention. He has of late eschewed politics, confining his attention to his practice, which demands all his time, and observes only a general interest in the progress of civil affairs. He is a gentleman of unusual force of character, and of positive opinions, which gain him far more friends than enemies. HIe is a thoroughly read lawyer, acquainted with all branches of the science of law, and enjoying naturally a large general practice. Faithful to the interests of his clients he prepares ! III Lake street, but the increasing demands of his business

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The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 87

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