The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 9

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

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EFFT, JOSEPH, M. D., Physician, was born, August 29th, 1812, in Lebanon, Madison county, New York, and is a son of Jonathan and Eliza- beth (Collins) Tefft. His early education was obtained in the schools of his native town, and his medical education was prosecuted in the office of his uncle, Dr. Stephen P. Collins, and subsequently in the Medical Colleges of Castleton and Woodstock, Ver- mont, from which latter institution he graduated in 1833. He then commenced the practice of his profession with his uncle in Casenovia, New York, and was very successful. In 1835, in company with his entire family and other rela- tions, consisting of eighteen or twenty persons, he started for Illinois, travelling the entire distance in carriages, and arrived at Joliet in the autumn of that year. He estab- lished himself in the valley of Fox river, on the site of the present village of Clintonville, and commenced the practice of medicine, being the first regular physician in that seo-

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

tion. He shortly afterwards removed to Elgin, before that town had a name, and in 1838 built the first frame house there. Being possessed of an active disposition, and desir- ous of promoting the interests of the settlement, together with his natural ability and superior education and attain- ments, he was soon regarded as a leading man in the com- munity, and has retained that position to the present day. In I854, through his untiring labor, the charter for a city was obtained, and the framing of that charter was chiefly performed by him. He was chosen the first Mayor of the new city, and has been elected to that office several times since. He was also the first Police Magistrate of Elgin, and was Supervisor for the town during the years 1842, 1850, 1852, 1860, and 1861. He has been President of the Board of Trustees of Elgin Academy-a school well known throughout the State as one of the best institutions of the kind in the Northwest-and has continued as such since its incorporation in 1854. He was one of the originators and founders of the first library of Elgin, and contributed much to its support. He was also one of the first Directors of the Fox River Railroad, and labored earnestly in completing arrangements for the same. He was the prime mover in the establishment of the present Board of Trade for dairy products in Elgin, and is President of the organization. Its present prosperous condition is due, in no small amount, to his energy and perseverance. He was President of the Agricultural Society of Elgin, and was largely instrumental in its organization. In political affairs he has also taken an active part ; in his earlier life he had been a Democrat, but in later years he became a firm supporter of Republican doctrines. He is one of those men whose life offers most striking lessons of encouragement to young men who are seeking success in business life. Honorable in character and tireless in energy, he has attained the goal of his ambi- tion, leaving at every step, in both his actions and their results, faithful lights to direct others on their way. He retired from the active duties of his profession several years since, and resides with his family in a beautiful residence on the east side of the city, where he occupies a great por- tion of his time with his books and in making microscopic examinations of various specimens of anatom , botany, etc. Few men have passed through such a busy, bustling life as he has; and few have been so energetic and determined. He is truly the architect and builder of his own fortunes. He has been twice married ; his first wife was Emeline Gilbert, to whom he was united in 1834, previous to his removal West; she died in 1844, leaving one daughter; she was a most estimable woman and calmly endured the privations to which the early settlers were subjected, and was ever ready to lend a helping hand in time of need. In 1846 he married Mrs. Lavina Ormsby-a widow lady with one daughter. The result of this union has been one son, who is married and resides on and cultivates his father's farm of two hundred and fifty acres to the eastward of the city.

ATCHELDER, GEORGE W., Bookseller and Stationer, was born, February 26th, 1817, in Bennington, Vermont. He is of Puritan ances- try, and a descendant of a dissenting clergyman who was among the first settlers of New Eng- land. His paternal grandfather, Deacon Simon Batchelder, was a pioneer settler of Northwood, New Hampshire, and among the first to enlist in the war of the Revolution. He shouldered his gun and travelled through the wilderness to Boston, leaving his young wife to take care of the opening he had been making in the forest which he had selected for his home. His maternal grandfather was Colonel Isaac Waldron, of Barrington, New Hamp- shire, and a relative of the Waldron whom the Indians tor- tured and burned. While yet an infant, his father with his family went to the Western country, passing down the Ohio river to New Albany, Indiana; and thence proceeded to New Madrid, Missouri, where he resided two years, and during that period lost all his family except his step-son and his son George. Leaving this place with these two he went down the river to New Orleans, where he embarked on a sailing vessel bound to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and on his arrival there returned to the old homestead, where he reared his son, who, for the next fifteen years, labored on the farm, meanwhile attending the neighboring district schools until he was seventeen years old, and then himself in turn began to teach. He also attended the academy until he was twenty, alternating with teaching ; and as the state of his funds permitted acquired a thorough academical education, including the languages. As an evidence of his studious habits and thrift it may be stated that he was wont to gather and store the pitch pine- knots and shavings of wood, which, being ignited, afforded sufficient light from the fireplace to enable him to con his books and gather from them the learning sought. With the sum of twelve dollars in his pocket he left home and for seven years thereafter was either employed as a teacher or a clerk in a store, meanwhile pursuing his studies during leisure hours. In 1844 he went to Zanesville, Ohio, to superintend the public schools there, which then occupied a somewhat anomalous position, the most influential citizens of the town being opposed to the public school system en- tirely. In addition to this the founder of the town had bequeathed a sum of money for establishing a school for the benefit of the indigent of the place, which was deemed sufficient for all necessary purposes; and as the public schools, properly so called, were sustained partly by a property tax and partly by an odious rate list, it was not surprising that these latter were regarded as unnecessary. However, under the new superintendent, who now assumed the charge, they attained an ascendency which they have maintained ever since. He remained in this position for eleven years, and in 1856 was engaged by the house of G. & C. Merriam, of Springfield, Massachusetts, to canvass the West and visit the prominent educational institutions,

Galaxy Pub. Co Philadelphia.

Bref Bate Mulder

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

both Roman Catholic and Protestant, in behalf of their great edition of " Webster's Quarto Dictionary," and intro- duce it in the colleges and academies. The following year he became a general agent for the great publishing house of W. B. Smith & Co. of Cincinnati, in whose employ he remained until 1868, during which time their text-books were introduced very largely into the schools of the entire Northwest. In the last-named year he assumed an active position in the house of Maxwell, Batchelder & Co., of Bloomington, Illinois, in which he had purchased an interest three years previously, and which business has assumed larger proportions as time rolled on, until it has, at the present time, become the largest book and stationery house in Illinois outside of Chicago. During his career as agent for the Cincinnati publishing house, he was regarded by all as a fair, honorable, and trustworthy business man ; and in his present vocation this standing is enhanced by the community among whom he resides, by whom he is re- garded as a man of great moral worth and high intellectual status. He was married, in 1848, to Adaline Willard, of Oneida county, New York, herself also a descendant of the Puritans. His family consists of two sons and a daughter.

AM, CHARLES HENRY, Lawyer and Editor, was born January 22d, 1831, in Canterbury, New Hampshire, and is the son of Joseph Ham, a farmer of that section, who is yet living at the great age of eighty-seven years; his mother also survives at a very advanced age. He was edu- cated in the district school, which was unexceptionally good, and to it he was indebted for whatever instruction he received. He, however, devoted half of each year to labor on the farm; but his health was poor, and finally, when eighteen years old, he was forced to abandon his studies and accept the forlorn lot of an invalid. He hoped, how- ever, that a change of scene and occupation might prove advantageous, and he found a position in a country store at London, where he quickly regained his health and spirits. At the end of two years he resolved to go to Boston, but the attempt proved unsuccessful. However, an opening of a very promising character was found in Lowell, but this he was soon compelled to abandon in consequence of illness, and after some months he recovered sufficiently to | fluency as he progressed, and is now characterized by ease accept a position in the office of the Concord Railway Company, where he remained five years. During this time, however, he was repeatedly prostrated by severe attacks of illness, and finally he shipped on board of a cod fishing vessel for Labrador, and by this means hardened his constitution, and his health was improved. While pursu- ing his duties in Concord, he had studied law as a relief to the routine drudgery of office work, but with no definite idea of entering upon the practice of that profession. In IS56, having failed of promotion, finding small scope for

ambition, and chafing under the dullness of clerical occupa- tion, he resolved to visit the West. On his arrival at Chicago, in the spring of that year, he immediately secured a situation in the banking house of R. K. Swift & Co., at that period an exceedingly prosperous firm; but in the autumn of 1857 the house went down in the general finan- cial crash of that year, and after he had remained with them some months in a confidential capacity in the settle- ment of its business, he found himself not only unemployed, but without having made any substantial advance on the road to success. He now resumed the study of law with a view to a certain independence, and within a few months was admitted to practicc. Shortly after this event he was offered and accepted a very advantageous legal partner- ship with an old friend who had already achieved distinc- tion at the Chicago bar. Notwithstanding he had received merely a common school education, still this furnished a sufficiently well-grounded basis for the subsequent acquisi- tion of more extended knowledge, and his habits of close application as a student enabled him to obtain a mental growth which more liberal advantages could not have enabled him to exceed. As a lawyer he was distinguished for careful and methodical business habits, close scrutiny of the points arising in a given case, accurate and reliable conclusions, and particularly for skill in the preparation of instruments and examination of titles. Early in 1866 a flattering proposition growing out of a complicated business controversy, to the disentanglement of which he had given professional attention, was made to him to embark in mer- cantile life, and he yielded to its apparent promise and accepted it; but the enterprise after some years proved unsuccessful. About this period the Inter-Ocean was founded, and he became connected therewith, and has since remained as one of its leading editorial writers. Although up to this time he had no journalistic experience, yet he acquitted himself admirably from the first, and speedily became not only proficient, but superior in the performance of the duties to be discharged in his new field of labor. His legal education, and the experience derived from the pursuit of both the banking and mercantile busi- ness, enabled him to grasp in detail and comprehensively treat all the varied topics of popular and political interest, as well as to aim at and express deliberate and instructive conclusions upon passing events. His style acquired of expression as well as clearness and force. His articles on the subject of finance are noted for their unusual vigor and ability, and he has advocated the cause of expansion rather than contraction, as demanded by the exigencies of the times. In the conduct of a political journal his wide acquaintance with national and State politics fitted him to become at once a valuable auxiliary, to which his thorough- going belief in the principles of his party, coupled with years of experience in giving reasons for the faith that was in him, have largely contributed. In 1868 he was chosen

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

a member of the Board of Supervisors of Cook county, and ing officer at the front, but shortly after received news of served with credit. In the following year he was the nominee of the Republican party to the office of County Treasurer, but the entire ticket was defeated by a bolt headed by the Chicago Tribune. In 1871 he was appointed United States Appraiser of Merchandise for the Port of Chicago, which office he still holds. He is eminently social, and his fine conversational powers render him highly attractive in society. He is now in the prime of life, has a charming wife and one child; and from the fact that it is only within a few years that he has obtained the opportunity of giving free scope to his talents, it may be fairly presumed that he has but just entered upon the threshold of a brilliant career.

IERCE, COLONEL GILBERT ASIIVILLE, Lawyer, Soldier, and Editor, was born, January I Ith, 1838, at East Otto, Cattaraugus county, New York, his parents being of New England descent. He received a fair education, and in 1854 removed to the West and joined his father, who was engaged in mercantile pursuits in Porter county, Indiana. He subsequently attended the law department of the University of Chicago, where he made rapid progress in his legal studies, and was duly qualified as an attorney and counsellor at law. In 1859 he settled at Valparaiso, Indiana, and commenced the practice of his profession, and was meeting with much success when the rebellion broke out. He had taken an active part, during the presidential campaign of 1860, in favor of the clection of Abraham Lincoln, and at this juncture did not hesitate to defend the principles he had advocated. In company with about eighty others, he volunteered and joined the camp at Indianapolis. At that place he was elected Second Lieu- tenant of his company, which became a portion of the 9th Indiana Regiment, and served through the three months' campaign. At the termination thereof he was commis- sioned a Captain and Assistant Quartermaster, this being the third appointment in that corps by President Lincoln, and from that date until after the close of the war he was almost constantly in active service. For a time he was stationed at Paducah, Kentucky, and supplied the army under Grant with forage, wagon trains, clothing, and the numberless articles required by so vast a body of men, which necessitated also the employment of a large fleet of steamers and barges. He was at Forts Henry and Donel- son, Shiloh, and passed some days at the front during the siege of Corinth. In the spring of 1863 he joined the army under General Grant, then engaged in the siege of Vicksburg, and entered that city with the command on July 4th, after its surrender. When Generals Grant and Sherman proceeded to Nashville, he was ordered to join them, and did so. Ile entered upon his duties as disburs-

his promotion, some months previous, to the rank of Lieu- tenant-Colonel and Chief Quartermaster of the 13th Corps, then stationed in Texas. He at once proceeded to join that command, but after a few months of service there was compelled on account of illness to relinquish the position and return to the North. He passed three or four months in recruiting his health, at the expiration of which time he was appointed, under a special Act of Congress, Inspector of the Quartermaster's Department, with the rank of a Colonel of Cavalry. He was also constituted by Secretary Stanton a Special Commissioner of the War Department, and, as such, visited most of the military posts of the South. He participated, while on this duty, in the battle of Poca- taligo, South Carolina, and in the siege of Mobile, Ala- bama, entering the latter city with the United States fleet. He was afterwards on duty in New Orleans, and finally left the service in October, 1865. Beside the rank held under the appointments mentioned, he was thrice brevetted for faithful and meritorious conduct. He now returned home, where he resumed the practice of his profession, and in 1868 was elected to the Indiana Legislature, and served on several committees therein, and was appointed Chairman of that on Benevolent Institutions. He was subsequently named as Assistant Financial Secretary of the United States Senate, but resigned the latter place to accept an editorial position on the Chicago Inter-Ocean, entering upon these duties in July, 1872. During the Presidential cam- paign which shortly followed, he contributed a full share of the strong but courteous articles that gave to that journal a national reputation as the leading Republican newspaper of the Northwest. He is very much attached to his profes- sion, and takes a becoming pride in being a member of the editorial fraternity. IIe is the author of a number of sketches, some of which have received the indorsement of very high critical authorities. He is also the author of the " Dickens Dictionary," a work published by Osgood & Co., of Boston, which has become a necessity in the library of every literary man. He was married, in 1857, to Ann Maria, daughter of Joseph Bartholemew, of Tassinong, Indiana, and grand daughter of General Joseph Barthole- mew. Four children are the result of this union.

ACOBS, GEORGE P., Lawyer, was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, August 20th, 1835, being the only son of Pyam Jacobs and Clarissa Hath- away Jacobs. When five years of age he moved with his parents to Galena, Illinois, and remained there until his eighteenth year, when he entered Beloit College, taking his degrees from that institution in 1857. Upon his graduation he located in Oregon, Ogle county, Illinois, and commenced to study law with II. A. Mix. In 1860 he was admitted to the bar, and entered at

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

once into a partnership with his preceptor, an association | delivered his maiden effort in Poughkeepsie, on the English which was only dissolved a short time before the death of the latter in 1867. In 1863 he was commissioned Commis- sary of Subsistence by President Lincoln, and assumed his position among the active officers of the army. Being ranked as Captain, he served with distinction on the staffs of Brigadier-General William Vandever, Major- General Frank Heron, General M. M. Crocker, General Giles A. Smith, and others, remaining in the field until the close of the war in 1865, and then retiring from it with an honor- able record. Returning home, he reassumed the practice of his profession, and in a short time took a position as one of the leading lawyers of Ogle county. In 1872 he was elected to the State Senate from the Twelfth Senatorial District, composed of Ogle and Lee counties, In this public office he distinguished himself as a ready debater, and in the broad and comprehensive view which he took of the necessities of a great and growing commonwealth. During the sessions of the Twenty-eighth General Assembly of Illinois he was Chairman of the Committee on Corpora- tions, and in the Twenty-ninth he was on the Committees on Judiciary, Banks and Banking, Revenue, and others of lesser importance. His public-spirited labors have made for him a lasting reputation, confined not alone to the circle of his constituents. Ile manifests a deep interest in the prosperity of the city of his residence, aiding through his means and influence its development in all those depart- ments which make a municipality great-government, in- dustry, education. He is a gentleman of scholastic train- ing, of marked refinement and courtesy. He is now in the fullest vigor of life and unmarried.

ALCII, WILLIAM STEVENS, Clergyman, was born, April 13th, 1806, in Andover, Windsor county, Vermont, and is a son of Joel and Betsy Stevens. His parents were farmers in very moderate circumstances, and he, like others, labored hard during his boyhood days. Ilis education was principally obtained during the winter months in the district school, and he was wont during his Icisure hours to study at home, and review his studies ac- quired at school. He became a teacher during the winter of 1821-22, and the following summer his brother, who was a resident of New York city, sent for him to become an Assistant Preceptor in St. John's Academy. He

Language. Soon after this he resolved to devote himself to the ministry, and was fellowshipped with the Universalists at their general convention, held, 1827, at Saratoga, entcr- ing at once upon the duties of his vocation. His first salary was five dollars each Sunday, in Newfane, Vermont. He was soon after invited to settle in Albany, New York, but his failing health compelled him to remain in the country, and he passed two years in Watertown, Massachusetts. He thence removed to Claremont, New Hampshire, and preached there four years, and where, through his energy and perseverance, a fine church edifice was built. He next officiated in Providence, Rhode Island, where he passed six years ; and during this period was identified with " Suffrage Reform," having for its object the abrogation of the Royal Charter of Charles the Second, which had re- mained in force long after the American Revolution. He was urged to accept office, but declined the honor, as he ever despised those who sought official position for the sake of its emoluments. In 1842 he received an urgent call to settle in New York city, which, after mature deliber- ation, he accepted, and ministered to the congregation of the Bleecker Street Church for seventeen years with great acceptability. During this period he twice visited the Old World, and on his second trip extended his travels through Greece, Turkey, Palestine, and Egypt. On his return from his first tour he wrote and published a work entitled, Ire- land, as I saw it, which was most favorably received by the Irish people. During his residence in New York, he was for some time Editor-in-chief of the Christian Am- bassador, a weekly journal devoted to the interests of Uni- versalism, and under his management it was raised from apparent obscurity to rank as one of the popular papers of the city. Becoming, however, dissatisfied with the growth of vice, and the evil tendency of the morals in the great city, he returned to Vermont, and located at Ludlow, where he remained for seven years, during which time he was twice elected a Representative to the State Legislature, the first time without being conscious of his being a candi- date. In 1865 he removed to Illinois and settled at Gales- burg, where he passed five years, during which period he was urged to accept a Congressional nomination, but de- clined. In 1871 he removed to Elgin, which he has made his permanent residence. Though he suffered many years from dyspepsia, the result of too much mental and but little physical exercise, yet he is now, at the age of sixty-nine, a hale and vigorous man, officiating twice every Lord's day, beside lecturing four or five times during the week, and being fully occupied in pastoral duties. He has ever been active in the cause of Temperance, the Abolition of Slavery, and those other reforms which tend to improve mankind. His study and effort has been to make his fellow-men wiser and better, holier and happier, and to learn to obey the laws of God mentally and physically, so as to attain a

travelled a greater portion of the distance on foot, but on his arrival, being dissatisfied with city life, returned home to Vermont within four months. He resumed his studies there for eighteen months, during a portion of which time he taught school; but desiring a collegiate education, and in order to defray the expense attending the same, returned to New York and renewed his connection with the St. John's Academy. His next venture was as a lecturer, and he bright hereafter. He has been twice tendered the degree

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The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 9

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