USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > The biographical record of Whiteside County, Illinois.. > Part 28
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Reared under the parental roof, our sub- ject was educated in the schools of Milling- ton and worked with his father in the shop. He also found time, by private study, to procure a knowledge of civil engineering, which profession he took up at the age of twenty-four, and to which he devoted the following six years of his life, being in the employ of different railroad companies on
MR. AND MRS. A. L. VAN OSDEL.
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survey and construction work in various states and territories.
In May, 1894, Mr. Van Osdel came to Fulton to erect a building for the C. H. Rose Company of Chicago, and in March of the following year bought stock in the Miss- issippi Valley Stove Company and become its manager, which position he has capably filled ever since. He has also served as treasurer of the company since August, 1897. The Mississippi Valley Stove Company was founded in Fulton in 1893 by the Ohio Stove Company of Tiffin, Ohio, and in 1895 was formed into a stock company, being purchased by local stockholders, and be- came the Mississippi Valley Stove Company. It is now one of the most important indus- tries in this part of the state, and under its present management the business has in- creased to ten times its former capacity, now amounting to over one hundred thou- sand dollars per year. The officers are J. W. Broadhead, president; J. B. Kearns, vice- president; and A. L. Van Osdel, manager, secretary and treasurer; and the works are conveniently located in the southeast part of the city, just outside the corporate limits, on the Northwestern and the Chicago, Mil- waukee & St. Paul railroads. They manu- facture over four hundred different styles and sizes of heating and cooking stoves and ranges. Among the most popular of these are the Royal Solar, Regal Solar, Rival Solar, and Art Solar stoves and ranges, which have gained their place in the trade by their acknowledged superior merit. Add- ed to their other merits, one nice feature of these ranges and cooking stoves is an oven thermometer with an indicator on the outside of the oven door, showing at a glance the exact temperature. This enables the operator to regulate the heat to a nicety
and does away with the occasional " bad luck " incidental to guess work.
On the 25th of June, 1895, at Fulton, Mr. Van Osdel married Miss Grace E. Mercereau, a daughter of Charles B. and Julia (Keeler) Mercerean, of that place. Religiously, our subject is a member of the Baptist church, while his wife belongs to the Presbyterian church, and fraternally he is a Royal Arch Mason. In political senti- ment he is an ardent Republican. Although comparatively a recent arrival in Fulton. he has become thoroughly identified with its interests and has become an important factor in public affairs. Broad-minded, lib- eral and public-spirited, he is recognized as a valuable addition to the community, and he has been honored with the highest office within the gift of his fellow townsmen -that of mayor of the city-to which posi- tion he was elected in May, 1899. With- out the aid of influence or wealth, he has risen to a position of prominence in the business world and in public affairs, and his native genius and acquired ability are the stepping-stones on which he has mounted.
E DWARD S. GAGE, deceased. There are few men more worthy of repre- sentation in a work of this kind than the subject of this biography, who was for over sixty-three years identified with Whiteside county, and in his last years lived a retired life on his farm on section 35, Prophets- town township, three miles east of the vil- lage of that name. He had a long and busy career, rich with experience, and in which he established himself in the esteem and confidence of all who knew him.
Mr. Gage was born in Ferrysburg, Ad- dison county, Vermont, May 5, 1815, and
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on the paternal side was of Scotch-Irish extraction. His grandfather, George Gage, was one of the first settlers of Vermont, of of which state Captain Oakman Gage, our subject's father, was a native. On reach- ing manhood the latter married Miss Eliz- abeth Tupper, the first white child born in Ferrysburg, and a daughter of Alpha Tup- per, who moved there from Massachusetts. The father of our subject was a farmer by occupation and held a captain's commission in the war of 1812. He died in Vermont, in 1825, at about the age of forty years, but his wife long survived him and died at the age of eighty-two years. Of the fam- ily, one brother of our subject, Nathan W., married and died at about thirty years of age. John W. came to Illinois, in 1839, and settled in Prophetstown, Whiteside county, where he married and where both he and his wife died. Moses died at the age of twenty years.
In his native state Edward S. Gage was reared; but he received only limited educa- tional advantages as his father died when he was a lad of eleven years, and he was then thrown upon his own resources. He commenced learning the wheelwright's trade, at which he worked for eight months, and the knowledge then acquired has proved of great benefit to him all through life. In 1834 he went to Cleveland, Ohio, and stop- ped with an uncle at Newberg, that state, where he worked at farming for one year, later was employed in a sawmill, and the following year helped build a mill, which he afterward operated. In October, 1836, he came to Whiteside county, Illinois, where his old friend, Johnson Walker, was living. He first bought a claim of eighty acres near Morrison, and then entered one hundred and sixty acres where his last days were
spent. Before locating here, however, he run a ferry at Prophetstown for four years. At the end of that time he turned his atten- tion to the improvement and cultivation of his place, and erected thereon a good hewed- log house, sixteen by eighteen feet, with a floor and good flue.
At Jamison's place, in Prophetstown, Mr. Gage was married May 27, 1840, to Miss Orpha B. Reynolds, who was born in Black Rock, New York, in May, 1822, a daughter of Judge N. G. and Phæbe (Brace) Reynolds. Her father was born in Massa- chusetts, and was married in Buffalo, New York. In the latter state he resided until the fall of 1835, when he came to White- side county, Illinois, and was one of the first to settle in Prophetstown, which place he named in honor of the old Indian prophet who resided here. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and for his services was given a land warrant. For many years he served as county judge of this county, and held other positions of honor and trust. He died here in 1865, aged seventy-two years, and his wife departed this life in 1875, aged seventy-seven. Of the six children born to our subject and his wife, two sons died in infancy. The others were Sevilla, who married George P. Richmond and died in 1879; Sophia, wife of Gus Edburg, who has operated the Gage farm for a number of years; Frances, wife of Emmett Underhill, a farmer of Prophetstown township; and Phoebe C., who died at the age of sixteen years. Besides their own children they reared a number of others, and there are now living four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Mr. and Mrs. Gage began their married life in Prophetstown township, and in Octo- ber, 1844, removed to the farm on section
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35, which was ever afterwards their home. Here he owned three hundred and twenty acres of very valuable land, and at one time he had in his possession eight hun- dred acres. While actively engaged in agricultural pursuits, he devoted consider- able time to raising and feeding a good grade of cattle and hogs. He commenced life for himself without means, but being industrious, ambitious and energetic, he met with decided success in his undertakings, and was one of the most prosperous farmers of his community. His success enabled him to lay aside all business cares and responsi- bilities, and spend his declining years in ease and quiet. He and his wife made sev- eral trips east to New York and Vermont, and have spent the winter there, visiting old friends and scenes familiar to their childhood.
Originally Mr. Gage was a Jeffersonian Democrat in politics, voting for Buchanan in 1856; but in 1860 he cast his ballot for Abraham Lincoln, and from that time on was a stanch Republican. While not a member of any religious denomination, he attended the Methodist Episcopal church with his wife, who is a member of that church. On the 21st of October, 1899, Mr. Gage passed quietly away, and his re- mains were laid to rest. Ile was well known and universally esteemed. His wife . yet remains, and is also greatly esteemed.
H JON. GEORGE THADDEUS EL- LIOTT, ex-mayor of Sterling and a prominent grain dealer of that place, was born in Ames, Canajoharie township, Mont- gomery county, New York, October 18, 1827, and comes of distinguished ancestry. The name was originally spelled Eliot, and
it is believed that the family is of English Puritan stock. Elijah Elliot, father of our subject, was born in Connecticut, Novem- ber 10, 1796, and died July 9, 1873, When a young man he removed from his native state to Montgomery county, New York, where he engaged in milling, and later took up his residence in Otsego county, New York, where his death occurred. He was married, June 2, 1820, to Miss Ann Smith, who died February 12, 1828, during the in- fancy of our subject. Her father, Major James Smith, served with distinction as an officer in the Revolutionary war. He was born in Connecticut of English ancestry and died in 1848, at the age of ninety-four years. Our subject's paternal grandparents were Rev. George and Percy (Kimball) Eliot, the former of whom was born in 1756, and died March 22, 1817, and the latter was born in 1761, and died March 6, 1845. The grand- father was a Baptist minister who organized churches of that denomination at Burlington Flats, Ames, where he preached for twenty years, Exeter, Starkville and Danube, Herk- imer county, all in New York. He was from Pomfret, Connecticut. He left his church work to serve as a private in the Revolu- tionary war and took an active part in that struggle.
As his mother died during his infancy Mr. Elliott, of this review, was adopted into the family of Elisha Elliott, a cousin of his father, and with them removed to Rich- field Springs, Otsego county, New York, when eleven years of age. While his cdu- cation was completed he entered the mill of his father at Springfield and learned the trade, remaining there until 1851. In the meantime he was married, October 21, 1849, to Miss Sarah Jane Phelps, of Oneida, New York, a daughter of Heman H.
·
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Phelps, who built the Syracuse & Utica Railroad, now a part of the New York Cen- tral Railroad.
At the time of his marriage Mr. Elliott was living at Springfield, New York, at the head of Otsego Lake, where he was engaged in milling, until 1851, and during the follow- ing two years he was general superintendent of the flouring mill of Colonel H. P. Adams & Company, at Syracuse. In 1853 he went to Chicago with Colonel Adams, who had contracted to build the Chicago & North- western Railroad from Dixon to Fulton, Illinois, arriving in western metropolis in September of that year. He spent the winter in Muscatine, lowa, supervising and watching over the railroad interests of his employer. Colonel Adams having failed, Mr. Elliott returned to Chicago, and in 1854 opened the first wholesale flour house in that city, at No. 54 Randolph street. While there he made occasional visits to Belvidere, Illinois, where he controlled the products of a mill. He built up a large flour trade in Chicago and also conducted the old hydraulic mill at the foot of Lake street during the last year and a half of its existence. In 1856 he sold his interests in Chicago and removed to Davenport, lowa. where he engaged in the flour business until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he returned to Chicago. He was interested in the flour commission business there from May, 1861, to May, 1871, being a member of the board of trade, with which he had previously been connected from 1854 to 1856. There are few men now living who were with him on the board at that time. During the last ten years a building was erected on the corner of South Water and Wells streets for their use, and that was oc- cupied by them until their removal to the
Chamber of Commerce. In connection with the flour business, Mr. Elliott dealt in grain quite extensively. Coming to Sterling in 1871, he operated the old Commercial Mill, until the Wire Company bought the water power for twenty-five years. It was the first and largest mill built in Sterling, having a capacity of about one thousand barrels per week, and was operated exclu- sively in the manufacture of flour. On the sale of this mill, Mr. Elliott purchased his present elevator and moved it to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad tracks. It has a capacity of twenty-five thousand bushels, but is intended to pass the grain from the farmers' wagons to the cars. He has since devoted his attention to buying and shipping grain, selling several hundred car loads a year in Chicago. His record is that of a man who has worked his way up- ward to a position of prominence by his own unaided efforts. His life has been one of industry and perseverance, and the system- atic and honorable business methods which he has followed have won him the support and confidence of many.
Since the organization of the Republic- an party Mr. Elliott has been one of its stanch supporters, but never an aspirant for office, though he has served as mayor of the city-the only public position he has been prevailed upon to accept. During his ad- ministration the era of improvement was commenced, a good street system of sewers was almost completed, and city hall was nearly finished. He signed the first bonds for the city hall, amounting to fifteen thou- sand dollars. He was progressive and pre- eminently public-spirited and ever has the best interests of the place at heart.
Mr. Elliott's first wife died in 1873, leaving four children, three sons and one
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daughter, namely: Clifford, now a resi- dent of Kansas City, Kansas; Lillian, widow of J. C. Salmon; George W., a resident of Chicago, who is with the Chicago Housing Company, and Charles, a fruit broker of the same city. Our subject was again married, August 31, 1879, his second union being with Miss Ellen M. Mallett, of this county. by whom he has two daughters, Georgiana and Madeline E. The family have one of the loveliest homes of the city, it being the Farwell homestead. They attend the Episcopal church, of which Mrs. Elliott is a member, and occupy a prominent posi- tion in social circles.
Mrs. Elliott is descended from the old French aristocracy. The founder of the Mallett family in America was Peter Mal- lett, a native of Rochelle, France, who was born in 1712 and from his native land fled to England. Being a man of considerable wealth he purchased a vessel and brought the French refugees to America, founding the city of New Rochelle, New York. He took an active part in the Revolutionary war, holding a prominent position in the Con- tinental army. He married Mary Booth.
Their son Peter was born in 1744 and in 1765 married Sarah Mumford. He settled in Wilmington, North Carolina, and was one of the principal founders of Fayette- ville, that state. His son, Edward Jones Mallett, was born in 1797, and married Sarah Fenner. He was a member of a noted class which graduated from Chapel Hill University, one of his classmates being President Polk. He became quite wealthy, was at one time consul-general to Florence, Italy, and later made his home in New York. £ His son, Charles Pierre Mallett, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, De- cember 20, 1824, and was educated at
Jamaica Plains, Boston. In 1846 he came as a pioneer to Whiteside county, Illinois, and took up his residence in Como, becom- ing one of the extensive land owners and prominent builders of that place, where he made his home for many years. There he married Miss Georgiana Sampson, who was born in Duxbury, Massachusetts, February 1, 1829. Her father, Henry Briggs Samp- son, opened the first public house in Como in 1839. He was also a native of Duxbury, Massachusetts, and came of Mayflower stock. The progenitor of the family in America was Henry Sampson, who came to this country with the Filley family on the Mayflower in 1620, and settled in Duxbury, where he died December 20, 1684. His son Caleb married Mercy Standish, a grand- daughter of Miles Standish, and a daughter of Alexander and Sarah (Alden) Standish, the latter a daughter of John and Priscilla Alden. David Sampson, a son of Caleb, was born in Duxbury, in 1685, and was married June 5, 1712, to Mary Chapin, a native of Boston, who lived to the extreme old age of one hundred and three years. Their son Chapin married Bettie Clift, of Marshfield, Massachusetts, and among their children was Captain Job Sampson, who was born in Duxbury, September 19, 1766, and married Betsy Windsor, whose ances- tors were pioneers of Duxbury. Their son, Captain Henry Briggs Sampson, was born July 15, 1787, and died in 1865, at Como, Illinois, where he located in 1837. He married Nancy Turner, daughter of Colonel William Turner, who was one of General Washington's aids during the Revolutionary war. The Sampsons were principally ves- sel owners and sea captains. The Turner family is descended from Humphry Turner, of Essex, England, who on coming to this
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country located in the colony of New Ply- mouth.
Mrs. Elliott is a member of the Daugh- ters of the American Revolution, being en- titled to membership along several different lines, and she was appointed regent of the same, but has never organized a chapter at Sterling.
E MERY D. COVELL, a representative farmer and highly esteemed citizen of Tampico township, whose home is on sec- tion 6, was born in Wyoming county, New York, December 24, 1835, and is a son of George R. D. and Laura (Carpenter) Covell, also natives of the Empire state. During his childhood he removed with the family to Genesee county, New York, where the fa- ther bought a farm and spent his remaining days. There both parents died.
Our subject passed his boyhood and youth in much the usual manner of farmer boys of his day, aiding his father in improv- ing and carrying on home farm and attending school as the opportunity presented itself. In Genesee county, he was married, Novem- ber 15, 1859, the lady of his choice being Miss Julia E. Erwin, who was born in Monroe county, New York, but was reared in Genesee county. They have one son, Clarence, who married Stella Needham and has eight children. He helps his father carry on the home farm.
After his marriage, Mr. Covell rented land in Genesee county, New York, and en- gaged in farming there until the spring of 1862, when he came west to Whiteside county, Illinois, joining his brother-in-law, Burt Erwin. During the first year spent here, he worked by the month as a farm hand, and the following year operated rented
land. His first purchase consisted of eighty acres of raw prairie, which he fenced, broke, and converted into a highly productive farm. After farming upon that place for several years, he sold it at a good profit, and bought one hundred and twenty acres where he now resides. The same season he purchased another forty-acre tract adjoining the first, and has since devoted his time and attention to the improvement and cultivation of this farm, with the exception of three years spent in Kansas. Renting his land in 1895, he moved to Logan, Phillips county, Kan- sas, where he bought an elevator and en- gaged in the grain and stock business for three years, but in September, 1898, he sold his interests there and returned to his farm in Whiteside county, Illinois.
In politics Mr. Covell is an ardent Re- publican, and has never wavered in his allegiance to that party since casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. He has never cared for official honors, but at different times has served as school director in his district. He is largely interested in any movement that is for the improvement of his township and county, or that will elevate or benefit the people among whom he lives. He is honored and respected wherever known, and by his neighbors and friends is held in the highest regard.
I AUREN E. TUTTLE, the well known and popular circuit clerk and recorder of Whiteside county, was born in Sterling, February 22, 1849, a son of Henry and Lavinia (Penrose) Tuttle. The progenitor of the Tuttle family in America was William Tuttle, who came to this country on the Planter in 1635 and located in Boston. The
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father of our subject was born in Greene county, New York, January 29, 1818, a son of William and Lucalle (Steele) Tuttle, farming people of that state. The grand- father was born at Wallingford, Connecti- cut, August 29, 1779, and was a son of John and Lois (Austin) Tuttle. John Tuttle was also a native of the Nutineg state and was a son of Lieutenant Jehiel Tuttle, who was a soldier in the French war of 1754 and 1763. John recovered the horn and gun of his father and used them afterward in the Revolution. He joined the Colonial army at the age of thirteen years and was at Lake George a part of the time. For many years he served as commissioner of the poor in Greene county, New York, whither he removed in 1788, having previously erected a cabin there which was torn down by the Indians while he returned east for his family. He spent his last days in that county. He had nine children, one of whom was Will- iam Tuttle, grandfather of our subject, who was nine years of age when the family re- moved to Greene county, New York. He was a farmer and merchant by occupation and served with distinction in the general assembly of that state. In 1841 he came west, traveling one thousand miles overland in a buggy, but soon after his arrival in Whiteside county he was stricken with ty- phoid fever and died.
In his native state Henry Tuttle grew to manhood, and, after receiving a common- school education followed farming there un- til 1837, when he came by way of the lakes to Chicago and from there to Whiteside county. He made the journey in company with A. B. and John B. Steele and Timothy Butler, and he purchased two hundred acres of land in Sterling township, of the four hundred acres which David Steele had
previously taken up. At that time the
county was very sparsely settled. 1Ie built the first frame house within its borders, and his neighbors thought him insane, believing it would be blown down in the first storm, but it is still standing in a good state of preservation, and is still in use. He became the owner of considerable land in Sterling township, which he finally sold in 1867, and purchased three hundred acres in Hopkins township, upon which he made his home until his death, which occurred January 12, 1879. He was extremely charitable and generous, and it is safe to say that no man stood higher in the esteem of his fellow- citizens than Henry Tuttle. His widow is still living, and now makes her home in Sterling. She belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was also a member. Politically he was a stanch Re- publican, and was honored with a number of local offices. In their family were five children, of whom Lauren E., our subject, is the eldest; Charles E. died at the age of twenty-two years; Clarence H., who is con- nected with the Sterling National Bank, married Emma Bills, and had one child that died in infancy; Ida M. and Mary L. live with their mother in Sterling.
Our subject's maternal grandfather, Ed- win Penrose, a son of Robert and Rachel Penrose, was born in Canada June 13, 1 807, and was married in Belmont county, Ohio, March 5, 1828, to Miss Mary Spencer, who was born in that state February 18, 1805, a daughter of Nathan and Ann Spencer. Soon after their marriage they moved to Knox county, Ohio, and from there came to Whiteside county, Illinois, in 1845, locating on a farmi about two miles north of Sterling, where they resided until after the Civil war, when they moved to lowa. Both died in
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that state, Mr. Penrose October 29, 1879; his wife April 4, 1872. They were members of the Society of Friends, and humble fol- lowers of the Savior. Their lives were in perfect harmony with their professions, and they were always ready to render their neighbors any favor within their power. At times Mr. Penrose held offices of public trust in the community where he resided. In his family were seven children, namely: Mrs. Lavinia Tuttle, born December 5, 1828, is the mother of our subject; Mrs. Eliza Hulse, born April 25, 1831, is a resi- dent of Keota, Iowa; Mrs. Annie Hodge, born June 19, 1833, makes her home in Odebolt, Iowa; Mrs. Rachel Coe, born August 22, 1835, is living in Rock Falls, Illinois; Nathan L. Penrose, born January I, 1837, lives in Sterling; and Jesse A. Pen- rose, born September 24, 1844, makes his home in Sac City, Iowa.
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