The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 99

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

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AXSON, ORRIN TRALL, M. D., was born in Centreville, Allegheny county, New York, March 29th, 1824. HIc is the son of Joseph Maxson and Amelia (Ward) Maxson. After receiving an academical cducation he completed his studies at the Rush Medical College of Chicago, graduating in 1849. In 1845 hc removed with his family to Janesville, Wisconsin. In 1849, after securing his degree, he com- menced the practice of his profession at Rock county, near Beloit, Wisconsin, where he was engaged during the ensuing year. He then removed to Nevada City, California, and, in company with Dexter J. Clarke, opened there a private hospital. In 1851 he moved to the mouth of the St. Croix, now Prescott, Wisconsin, and there resumed his professional labors; while practising medicine in this place he occupied

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himself also in building lumber mills, and purchased the ; ciples of this party in the sharp political contests which en- property of the Northwestern Fur Company. In IS52 he sued. Ile is still a valued and zealous supporter of Repub- lican principles and measures, but is neither an office-seeker nor, as the phrase is accepted generally, a politician. As a chancery lawyer he has few equals in the Northwest. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, and is from conviction a " high churchman," but not a ritualist. IIc was married in 1846 to Mary Townsend, daughter of Nathan Townsend, for r .. any years Iligh Sheriff of Gencsee county, New York. was elected to the Wisconsin Legislature, and re-elected in 1356. During 1353-54 he officiated as County Judge of Pearce county, and for six years, from 1855 to 1861, was a member of the " Normal Regents' School Board." For a period of seven years he was Postmaster at Prescott, and for many years a Director of the State Board of Agriculture. In 1361 he entered the army as Lieutenant, and in 1862 he was promoted to a Captaincy. In September, 1864, he left the army, having in the meantime acted also as Surgeon, not commissioned. In 1865 he removed to Chicago and engaged in private business. In 1868 he settled in Wau- kegan, where he has since resided, successfully engaged in the practice of medicine. He was married in 1845 to Eunice McCray, of Tolland, Connecticut.

LEEPER, JOSEPHI A., Lawyer, was born in Bethany, New York, October 18th, ISIS. His father, Thomas Cooper Sleeper, was a cousin of the famous novelist, James Fenimore Cooper. His mother was Sarah (Cook) Sleeper. His earlier education was acquired in the district schools located near his home. Until he had attained his twentieth year he was engaged in working on his father's farm, and subsequently attended the Alexandria Academy, in Genesee county, during three sessions, teaching school in the meantime through the winter months. In 1841 he commenced the study of law in the office of Richard S. Blennerhasset, passing afterward to that of Mr. Willson, of Middleport, Niagara county, and ultimately to that of Dibble & Martindale, where he remained until 1845, when he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of New York. In the following year he was admitted also to practise in the Court of Chancery. He began his professional career at Batavia, New York, as junior partner of the law firm of Wakeman & Sleeper. In July, 1848, he removed to Mil- waukee, and in the year following to Janesville, on Rock river. He settled in Wisconsin immediately after the adop- tion of the new Constitution of that State, and became en- gaged in many cases deciding various points of law under its provisions. In 1863 he removed to Chicago, and there continued the practice of his profession. In 1855 hc became the senior partner of the firm of Sleeper & Wheton, which is still in existence, and controls an extensive business in the courts of the State, in the United States Supreme Court, in the States of Wisconsin, Iowa and Kansas, and in nearly all of the States of the West and Northwest. He is regarded as a lawyer of great ability and unquestionable integrity. Ile was a member of the Whig party until that organization passed into the Republican party, and officiated as Chair- man of the Committee of Resolutions when the Republican party sprang into being in Wisconsin, and defended the prin-

OUTHWORTH, ELIZUR, Attorney-at-Law, was born in West Fairlee, Vermont, September 22d, 1826. His parents also were natives of this State. On his father's side the family is of English ex- traction, on his mother's of Irish origin. His education was acquired at the academy in Brad- ford, Vermont, in the High School at Post Mills, and in the Thetford Hill School, at one time a famous educational establishment. He was the youngest of a family of five, and at a very early age was compelled to rely upon his own exer- tions to secure a livelihood. At the age of eighteen he com- menced teaching school, a calling which he pursued in Vermont, Massachusetts, and in New Hampshire, thus se- curing, while instructing his pupils, a fair and varied edu- cation. In 1847 he removed to Illinois, where he continued to teach in several counties during the ensuing three years. In 1850 he went to California, crossing the plains on foot, and driving an ox-team from St. Joe to Sacramento. Upon arriving at his destination, having experienced many hard- ships on the road thither, lie engaged in mining, which oc- cupation he pursued for about fifteen months. Hle then re- turned to the East, to Bradford, Vermont, where he became the proprietor, by purchase, of a newspaper establishment, which he conducted for one year, until his business was destroyed by fire. In the spring of 1854 he again removed to Illinois, and settled in Montgomery county, where he en- gaged in farming and agricultural pursuits, continuing thus employed during the succeeding four years. Having ap- plied himself to the study of law while teaching school, he was admitted to the bar in 1859, and in January of that year entered on the practice of his profession in Litchfield, where he has since permanently resided, engrossed in professional labors, his practice being very extensive and lucrative. In politics he was originally a Democrat, but in 1859 he cast his vote for John C. Fremont, and was eventually one of the original Republicans in the State. Since this time he has been a consistent supporter of the Republican party, and is a valned advocate of its principles and measures, al- though in 1872 he cast his vote in favor of Horace Greeley. In 1869 he was nominated by his party for County Judge, but failed to seeure an election, the county having been al- ways governed by Democratic views, although on this occa- sion he reduced a six hundred majority to thirty-six. Start-

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ing out in life young, poor and friendless, he has been truly the architect of his own fortune, and has won his present enviable position as a legal practitioner and as an csteemed citizen solely through his own abilities and tireless energy.

MITH, PERRY H., Lawyer, Judge and Railroad Manager, was born, March 28th, 1828, at Augusta, Oneida county, New York, being the son of Timothy Smith, an influential business man of Watertown, New York. When thirteen years of age he entered Hamilton College, and withdrew for one year on account of his youth. This elapsing he commenced his studies in that institution, and when eighteen graduated as the second in his class. Ile commenced directly after leaving college the study of law in the office of N. S. Benton, at Little Falls, New York, with whom he continued until his admission to the bar in IS49-on the very day of attaining his majority. In October of the same year he removed to Kenosha, Wisconsin. The northern part of this State had just been opened to settlement by a treaty with the Indians, and the government had made a large appropriation of lands to render the Fox and Wiscon- sin rivers navigable from the lakes to the Mississippi. At one of the rapids on the former stream a town had been laid out, and Mr. Lawrence, of Boston, had donated a large sum of money for the establishment of a university at this place. The town was named Appleton, in honor of another donor to the university, which was named after Mr. Law- rence, and it then gave promise of a prosperous future. The institution was founded, but it needed an energetic, prudent and skilful manager. This necessity was found in Mr. Smith, and he travelled, mainly on foot, and through a forest broken only by a partially concealed Indian trail, to that place to enter upon his new career. Since then the town and the county has lost its former appearance. The one is large and thriving, the other transposed from wild lands and almost interminable forests to rich farming estates, and dotted here and there with pleasant villages. Under the careful management of Mr. Smith the university grew into prominence and prosperity, and is to-day crowded with students. A county was organized, and he was elected its first judge, gracing the bench when but twenty-three years of age, and presiding with unusual ability over the adminis- tration in a court of general law and equity jurisdiction. From this post he was sent by the people to the lower House of the State Legislature, and subsequently to the Senate, continuing for five years to represent his county in that body. He became, almost necessarily, a leading representative of his party, both in its local and State councils. In IS55 he was chairman of the Legislative Committee charged with the authority to investigate the many allegations of corrup- tion and fraud made against the chief executive of the State, who was his personal friend. He wrote and submitted its

report, which had been prepared with great care and ability, and few State papers have produced a greater effect on the public mind. It was absolutely decisive of the questions involved, and sealed the political fate of the persons chiefly implicated. The Legislature was convened in special session in 1856, to pass finally on the land grants made to the State by the National government to aid in the construction of railroads, and Mr. Smith was placed upon the special com- mittee to which that subject was submitted. In accordance with his wishes, the grant was given to a new company or- ganized by the Legislature, with authority to build a road from Fond du Lac to the Michigan State line. This com- pany soon became consolidated with the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Company, then struggling to build a road from Chicago to Fond du Lac, with the aim of bringing the Mississippi and Lake Superior into railway communication. In 1857, then but twenty-nine years of age, Mr. Smith be- came Vice-President of the company, and when it was sub- sequently reorganized with the Chicago & Northwestern Railway he took the same position again. In 1860 he moved to Chicago, having amassed an ample fortune l:y profitable enterprises in western Wisconsin, and has since resided in that city. His career has been closely identified with the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railroad, and his growth has been coexistent with the remarkable progress of that line, which has been largely brought about by his ability and forethought as a manager. His investments are not limited, however, to railway enterprises. He has been extensively engaged in the development of the lead and iron interests of the West, and his ventures have been uniformly successful. He is a man of comprehensive learning, of broad and liberal ideas, and of fine culture. He is a lover of literature, and has one of the finest libraries in the city. He remembered the Alma Mater of his youth, and gener- ously gave a large sum to erect a hall for the library of Ilamilton College. He is a patron of the fine arts, and a liberal supporter of charitable institutions. In all his various capacities, as a lawyer, judge, legislator and railway man- ager, he has won the respect and confidence of the com- munity by his unflinching integrity, by his generosity and fine ability.

VERY, DANIEL J., Lawyer, was born in Bran- don, Vermont, December Ist, 1836. His father removed to Illinois in 1843, and settled in Lake county, where he still resides. Daniel attended the public schools in this county, and subsequently took an academical course at Waukegan. At twenty years of age he entered the law office of Judge Brad- well, whence, at the expiration of one year, he passed to that of Brown & Runyan, where he pursued his legal studies until admitted to the bar in June, 1859. His examiners were Judges Beckwith, Judd and Peck. He was then em- ployed by his preceptor, Mr. Runyan, until July, 1862, when

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he entered the service of the United States, enlisting as a private in Company G, 113th Regiment of Illinois Infantry. Ile remained in the army until 1863, when he returned to the office of Mr. Runyan, and in 1864 became a member of the firm of Runyan, Avery & Comstock, which is still in existence. He prepares for court the extensive chancery business of the firm, and in such labor has acquired an en- viable reputation for ability and acumen. He is a prom- inent Mason, and is the present District Grand Deputy. Hc was an active member of the Masonic Board of Relief, con- sisting of thirteen members, organized after the great fire of 1371, and while acting in that capacity rendered efficient service. IIc is also Secretary of the Northwestern Masonic Ail Association, an admirable and praiseworthy organiza- tion, and one of the most practical co-operative life insur- ance companies in the country.

to accept the Colonelcy of the Ist New Hampshire Cavalry, and was attached to the army of General Sheridan, with whom he served during the ensuing hard-fought and bril- liant campaign. After the battle of Waynesboro' the duty of escorting a body of over four thousand rebel prisoners to Winchester was assigned him. A force sufficiently strong to make the transit reasonably safc could not be spared from the main army, and with an inadequate guard he was com- pelled to fight his way to the point of destination, harassed on all sides by rebel cavalry, and while repulsing the enemy forded numcrous streams, and eventually succeeded in reach- ing Winchester with the entire body of prisoners. For his discretion and bravery under these peculiarly trying circum- stances he was warmly complimented by General Sheridan. Ile served until the close of the war, and in 1865 was mus- tered out a Brigadier General, having passed successively through the grades of private, Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant-Colonel, Colonel and Brigadier-General. Hc was, at the recommendation of General Sheridan, offered a commision as field-officer in the regular army, which, however, he declined. After leaving the army he returned to Chicago, and again entered the law office of Scammon, McCagg & Fuller, where he remained until 1866. In October of the same year he associated him- self in partnership with Norman Williams, and has since been practising his profession with noted success. He was married, in September, 1866, to Louise Chandler, of Con- cord, New Hampshire.

HOMPSON, GENERAL JOIIN LEVERETT, Lawyer, was born in Plymouth, New Hampshire, February 2d, 1835. IIis father, Hon. William C. Thompson, was a practising attorney of that State. John was fitted for college at Meriden, New Hamp- shire, and graduated at Dartmouth College with the class of 1856. After graduating he took the law course of Harvard College, and in 1858 was admitted to the bar at Worcester, Massachusetts. He subsequently visited Europe, and continued his studies at the Universities of Berlin, Mu- nich and Paris, In 1860 he returned to this country, and entered the law office of Scammon, McCagg & Fuller, in ADSWORTH, PHILIP, Lawyer, was born in New Hartford, Connecticut, March 7th, 1832. He comes of stern old Puritan stock. One of his ancestors sat in the colonial Legislature, and it was this Captain Wadsworth who obtained possession of the colonial_Charter and hid it in the hollow of the old tree which has since become famous in history as the " Charter Oak." Another member of the family was conspicuous as a leader in the Indian wars through which a foothold was secured for the scttlement of the New England colonies. The Wadsworths were among the first settlers of Hartford, and ranked with the best families of Connecticut and New England. The father of Philip Wadsworth, the late Tortious Wadsworth, was a worthy representative of a justly distinguished family. A man of great industry, keen forcsight, and remarkable busi- ness tact, he amassed a large fortune, and lived to an ad- vanted age to enjoy the fruits of his well-directed labors. He died in March, 1872, aged eighty-three years. It was designed by his family that Philip should enter one of the professions, and a course of study was marked out for him with a view to this cnd. After the regular preliminary common school course he entered the Williston Seminary, at East Hampton, Massachusetts, where he spent two years, Chicago, in order to further fit himself for the proper per- formance of the duties of his profession. He remained with this distinguished law-firm until April, 1861, when, at the first call for volunteers to suppress the rebellion, he enlisted as a private in Captain Smith's Battery of Artillery, with which he remained at Cairo until the expiration of his term of service in July, 1861. He was then commissioned a Lieu- tenant of a company of cavalry from his native State, which was attached to the Ist Regiment of Illinois Cavalry, and im- mediately sent forward to the seat of war. He participated in the cavalry fight at Front Royal, and in the ensuing fall was promoted to a First Lieutenancy. IIe was afterward with General Shields, and served through the first eam- paign of the Shenandoah valley. He then participated in the Pope campaign, and was engaged in all the attendant actions from the battle of Cedar Mountain until its termina- tion with the disaster of the second battle of Bull Run. Un- like his superiors, his course as an officer seems to have met with approval, since his promotions came to him un- sought and with unbroken regularity. He was engaged with his regiment at the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and followed the retreating army of General Lee to Culpepper. In the spring of 1864 he resigned his commission as Colonel of the Ist Illinois Regiment, in order [ and passed from there to the Connecticut Baptist Literary

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Institution at Sufficld. At the end of two years he gradu- Notwithstanding the company was reduced to a skeleton, ated with honors, fully prepared for admission to any one of the best colleges of New England, which were then more conspicuously, if possible, than now the first institu- tions of learning in the country. But he belonged to a family of merchants, and even at that early age his judgment taught him that he was better fitted for active than sedentary pursuits. He accordingly relinquished flattering prospects of professional distinction and resolved to enter mercantile life. At the age of sixteen, in ISAS, he commenced his career as a clerk in the extensive wholesale and jobbing dry-goods house of Hopkins, Allen & Co., in New York city. Lucius Hopkins, the senior member of the firm, was already a distinguished merchant in the city of great mer- cantile ventures. Mr. Allen was then a young man, and the firm accordingly combined in its membership the advan-

tages of age and experience with youth and vigor. Mr.

Hopkins subsequently became President of the Importers' & Traders' Bank of that city, and Mr. Allen retired to Con- necticut with an ample fortune. Under this admirable tutelage young Wadsworth became an accomplished mer- chant, so that when in 1853, then scarcely arrived at his majority, he removed to Chicago, to enter the dry-goods jobbing house of Coolly, Wadsworth & Co., of which his elder brother, Elisha S. Wadsworth, was a leading member, he was the peer of any young merchant of that city. From this house sprang the present great dry-goods house of John V. Farwell & Co., the clothing house of IHuntington, * Wadsworth & Parks, of which Philip became a member, and the present boot and shoe house of Charles M. Henderson & Co., one of the largest jobbing and manufacturing houses in that branch of trade in the West. Upon the death of Mr. Huntington, some years later, and the retirement of Mr. Parks, Philip Wadsworth became the head of the house, and the entire conduct of its extensive business was devolved almost solely upon him. The transactions of the house were very large, reaching above a million dollars per annum; and with a branch house in Boston, where most of the goods handled were manufactured, there would seem to have been no time left to the head of the house to mingle in public affairs. Bat Mr. Wadsworth found opportunity, during the war of the rebellion, to take part in cvery local

movement for the advancement of the Union cause. He

always took a deep interest in military affairs, and was, at the time of the breaking out of the rebellion, thoroughly read in military tactics. IIe assisted in the organization of the " Chicago Light Guard," in 1854. The company was composed of the flower of the young men of Chicago, and it soon obtained recognition as one of the best drilled, equipped, and uniformed military companies in the United States. In IS61 Mr. Wadsworth was Captain of this com- pany, every member of which was fitted to command a regiment. Most of them quickly found their way to the front as officers, where they earned fame for themselves and conferred honor upon the old " Light Guard " of Chicago.

through the energy of its Captain the organization was kept up nearly two years as a school for soldiers. Governor Yates repeatedly tendered a Colonel's commission to him, but he was compelled to decline the honor on account of the pressing demands of his then vast business, which de- pended almost solely upon his personal supervision. But his services to cvery movement for the sending forward of troops, in time and money, can scarcely be ovcrestimated. It is safe to say that no regiment went out of Chicago that did not benefit largely by both thesc aids to formation and equipment. In 1862, entirely without solicitation on his part, he was appointed Assessor for the First Internal Reve- nue Collection District of Illinois, comprising the city of Chicago. IIe accepted the office and held it one year, but was then compelled to resign, owing to the pressure of his private business. His office was the first in the United States to make returns, and upon his retirement he was complimented for his efficiency. Ile declined to benefit by the emoluments of the office, devoting its entire salary, and much more from his private means, to the enlistment, equipment, and aid of soldiers in the field. During the next year, 1863-64, his contributions to the same objects rcached many thousands of dollars. It may be justly said that during the entire period of the war, among all the citi- zens of Chicago, whose united efforts were scarcely paral- leled in any city of the United States, there was not one more patriotic or liberal than Philip Wadsworth. He con- tinued his commercial business with various fortune down to 1870, when, having suffered heavy losses, he retired. But in I873, finding it impossible to endure a life of inactivity, he built, in association with his brother, E. S. Wadsworth, a large warehouse, and resumed business as a warehouse- man, and forwarding and commission merchant. The new venture, which was at first small, rapidly expanded, until at the present time it has reached large proportions, promising great prosperity. In 1867 the construction of a State capital edifice was authorized by the Illinois Legislature to be crected under the charge of a Board of Commissioners. Mr. Wadsworth was deemed the fittest man to represent Chicago on the Board, and he was accordingly nominated to the position by Governor Oglesby, and confirmed by the Senatc. IIe served two years in that capacity, with credit to himself, and to the satisfaction of the State authorities. On December 4th, IS74, he was again called to official position by appointment as Collector of Internal Revenue for the First District of Illincis. He accepted, and imme- diately entered upon the discharge of its dutics, for which lis experience peculiarly fit him. One of the pioneers of Chicago's commercial greatness, he is a prominent figure in the history of its progress. A man of genial, open nature, he was in the early day known to cvery other promi- nent citizen, and formed one of the single circle which comprised the best society in Chicago. A man of a degree ! of liberality only equalled by his energy he became a helper

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of every enterprise inaugurated with a view to extend the | of his profession. At the end of the two years he removed influence and consequence of his adopted city. Of strong to Pana, Illinois, and that place has ever since been his home. ITis practice rapidly grew to large proportions, and for many years it has been extended and lucrative, while the professional reputation he has secured is second to none in the vicinity. IIe has devoted his time and energies dili- gently to his profession, and as the result he has been enabled to accumulate a good deal of property. In the year 1853 he was married to Cordelia McDaniel, of Brown county, Ohio. political convictions, he became a leader in the Republican ranks, freely devoting his time and lavishly donating his money for the advancement of the interests of the party whose principles he deemed synonymous with the highest good of the country. Of generous instincts and catholic sympathies, he aided others to rise as he rose himself. Of open heart, he never failed to open his hand liberally to the appeals of deserving charity. It naturally follows that he enjoys great personal popularity in the community in which he lives.

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The biographical encyclopedia of Illinois of the nineteenth century, Part 99

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