Chicago City (part 41 of 57)

He soon settled in life by founding a home. In 1832 he married Miss Julia L. Wheat of Glastenbury, Conn., and for the next eight years led a quiet and industrious life, perfecting himself in the technicalities of his art, and alert to test every new suggestion or discovery that might add to the perfection of its results. The period was without special incident. Meanwhile his eye had beem open to the vision of the growing West. A period of unprecedented development in that section had been succeeded by a terrific financial disaster, and again the wheels of commerce began to revolve, and in some places, such as Chicago, a marvelous growth had set in. It seemed to be an opportune time for a young professional man to begin business in a new country. Dentistry had not yet fallen into the hands of specialists. The village doctor, with his turn-key, was the only recourse for those suffering the torture of toothache, while the nicer operations for preserving the teeth and replacing those lost or decayed, by ingenious artificial substitutes, were quite unknown in the region. Dr. Judson brought his little family, consisting of wife and daughter, now Mrs. Julia Isabella Tourtelotte, and, ds had been said, in November, 1840, began operations in the parlor of the Tremont House. Soon his patronage was sufficient to justify opening a permanent office at No. 94 Lake street. He acquired a home in a little cottage at No. Ill State street, now in the heart of the retail district of the city. The lot still remains in the possession of the family. During the nineteen following years, Dr. Judson pursued his practice in Chicago with occasional excursions to the growing villages of the surrounding country, stopping a few weeks to attend to the business which awaited his treatment. His clientage in Chicago was not merely local, for the reputation that he had acquired for skill and dexterity brought patients from all the surrounding country to obtain the treatment that was not yet accessible near their country homes.

Dr. Judson was industrious and prudent, and, with a sagacity born of native shrewdness and wide observation, invested his earnings in property that, with modest improvements, brought an income, and shared in the wonderful enhancement of values that the marvelous growth of the city imparted to it. He was regarded as a master in his profession, and not content with the knowledge which his early study had given, he kept his eyes open to the progress of the art and adopted every improvement that the rapid progress of dentistry introduced. In the meantime, Mrs. Judson had died, and in 1848 he married Miss Mary M. Shattuck, of New York, who survives him.

In 1857, on account of health impaired by nearly twenty years of close application to a sedentary employment, and perhaps because of the longing for country life that his early farm life had inspired, he removed to the beautiful village of Geneva, where he purchased a country residence with ample grounds, and spent ten years in retirement and rural occupation. He then returned to Chicago, but not to resume the practice of dentistry. The improvement of his city property and the care of his private estate, which had grown to satisfactory proportions, engrossed his attention and allowed him to indulge a life of comparative leisure and dignity.

Dr. Judson connected himself with the Second Presbyterian church in 1843, and took an interest, born of pious nurture and a sympathetic nature, in all the religious and charitable work of the church. Thus the years flowed by, full of stirring incident and pleasant experiences, until at the ripe age of eighty years, on the 3rd of March, 1889, the end came.

Dr. Judson had been, during half a century lacking one year, a resident of Chicago or of the immediate vicinity, and witnessed in his day a civic development that it is given to few men to share.

Henry Wischemeyer

There are some whose lives are shaped by circumstances and others who overcome circumstances and shape their own lives. To this latter class it may be safely said that Henry Wischemeyer belongs. Tens of thousands born, as he was, in obscure poverty, never emerged from it. From his parents, however, he inherited the best of legacies, health, industry and integrity. These, united to thrift, temperance and shrewd intelligence, were the equipment with which he won his way in life to his present success.

Heury Wischemeyer was born on November 15, 1823, in Furstenow, Hanover, Germany. His parents were so poor, at the time of their marriage,that his father had to borrow money with which to buy a cow, but the tact that he could borrow this money showed that he was trusted and respected. With this wonderful, boundless generosity of the poor toward the poor, this father had given his earnings to his own parents.

Henry was the eldest of four children. In the summer his father would leave the* little family and go to Holland, where he could earn more than at home. During the absence of the head of the household the wife and mother cultivated the rented land, taking the baby in a wheel-barrow when she went out into the fields to work, while the other children followed as best they could.

Very early in life Henry learned to share with his parents the family cares, for he was a most dutiful and devoted son, as his father had been before him.

His education was very limited as he could only spare time from his work in the winter months to attend school. Frugal industry had its reward. The lessons of devotion to work and family silently taught at home bore fruit. As the children grew up, each took his share in the tasks to be done. The father was thus enabled to buy one small piece of land, and then another and another. If he needed ready money he had a friend always willing to lend him what he wanted, a friend who trusted him so that he would not take his note, but said, " I will let you have what you need, at four per cent interest, and you may pay me when you can,"

In 1840 the family began to agitate the question of emigrating to this country, a land then almost unknown in their part of the world. But Henry wisely pointed out to them the risk of such an undertaking.

They were doing very well where they were, they were better off than many of their neighbors, and, yet, prosperous as they were, they could take little ready money with them to go among a strange people, having strange ways and talking a strange tongue. After much discussion he persuaded his parents to let him come alone to this country to see what the prospects were. With aching heart they saw their eldest, not quite seventeen years old, set forth on his journey. He left home on the morning of October 9th, 1840, and his journey to the far, unknown country reads like a tale of adventure. After his departure, he walked in three days to Bremen. From there he went to Bremerhaven, where he embarked, October 27th, on the sailingship "Alexander" with Captain Warnecker, bound for New Orleans. Three days out they met a fierce storm, that tossed them about for eighteen days and left the ship in a rather dilapidated condition. The sailors and ship-carpenters, however, patched her up and, aided by favoring trade-winds, they were soon sailing briskly toward the new country through sunny days and clear nights. On the 18th of December they had come within sight of the island of San Domingo, or Hayti, as we usually call it. That night was dark and squally. Early in the morning of the 19th the passengers heard a running about on the deck and then felt an unmistakable shock. The ship had run at full sail on a rock five feet below the surface of the water and about three hundred yards from the shore. The rigging was cut away, so that the masts broke of their own weight and relieved the vessel; and a rope was passed from the deck to the land. By this means the ship's human freight, to the number of two hundred souls, was safely conveyed to the shore - a not easy task, by any means, as the coast was rugged and the waves clamorous. Some huts and tents were built, and all that the castaways had to eat was the ship's victuals washed up on the shore as she went to pieces. By December 24, the captain had procured a small schooner to take them away. On Christmas day the little band trudged through forests and shallow streams, over hills and along sandy beaches, until they reached the small boat which took them outside the bay, where the schooner lay. In three days they reached the city of Cape Haitien, subsisting during the voyage on half a biscuit and a cup of water each day. Here Henry began his first independent effort at gaining his livelihood by working for a colored man at two dollars a month with board. Of the board he says he could have eaten his week's rations in three days.

A striking commentary on racial inferiority is the fact, that although this colored man owned a tract of land six miles square, only about one hundred acres of it were under cultivation. It is related that sixty years before this the colored people had risen and driven out or exterminated the European owners of the soil; since which time the land, once highly cultivated, had been allowed to run to waste through the indolence of the colored race, who were contented to leave the little necessary work to the women and to live idle in rude huts with no floors, windows or furniture.

On the 25th of May, 1841, Henry set sail, together with about thirty of his shipmates, for New York, where, after sixteen days sail, he arrived with $13.50 in his pocket. After paying half a dollar for a night's lodging he spent the rest for a ticket, for Chicago. Some kind people lent him $1.75 to get something to eat on his journey. Two weeks later, on June 25th, he arrived in Chicago, penniless.

These details are interesting in the light of subsequent success and prosperity. Mr. J. B. Bush, a very charitable man, took Henry in for the first night he spent in Chicago. The next morning he went into the country, where he worked for a farmer for one month and four days, receiving nine dollars, four of which he expended in the purchase of a pair of boots and the balance for other necessities. From August to February he was a laborer on the Illinois and Michigan canal, for which he was paid sixty dollars in "canal scrip," which scrip he sold a year later for eight dollars.

After working for a while on a farm for his board, he returned to Chicago in March, 1842, when his first friend Mr. Bush helped him to find employment in a lumber-yard at 'nine dollars a mouth, living included. At first Mr. Underwood, manager of the yards, objected to employing him, saying, "I don't want a boy, I want a man;" but he proved himself so valuable that the former never regretted the experiment. From the close of navigation until the following spring, he worked in the tannery of Knox & Beecher, at the " south branch " on Taylor street, which was at that time well out in the country. While thus employed he received six dollars a mouth and board, often working from five in the morning until ten in the evening.

wood, who desired to hire him for the year, said he would pay him whatever his services were worth, and Henry went to work not knowing what his wages were to be. A few weeks later his parents, by his advice, came over from Germany, and at once needed his help. He was anxious to aid them, but had not the money; but on applying to Mr. Underwood, he advanced him $125, which Henry understood was to be the amount of his wages for a whole year. This kind act brought tears to the young fellow's eyes, and was never forgotten. The following year, 1844, his wages were raised four dollars a month so that at the time he severed his connection with the lumber company he was receiving twenty-two dollars a month, which was nearly double the amount paid ordinary labor at that time. He next set himself to learn the cooperage trade, but when he wanted to open a shop, as he had given all his money to his parents, he had nothing with which to start in business, and was obliged to give up the plan. He then entered the employ of William B. Ogden, in his lumber yard, a small place on North Water street between Clark acd La Salle, and from that time forward for thirty-two years he remained attached to the service of that great and enterprising man. At first Mr. Ogden gave him the care of his private grounds and the buying of supplies for his large and hospitable house, occupying the block bounded by Erie, Ontario, Rush and Cass streets; and later for twenty-two years, Henry served him as foreman in the Peshtigo lumber yards, doing good work for good wages, and laying up his savings year by year. Daring this time he bought and sold considerable property.

In 1880 he visited his old home in Germany, not as he had left it, a penniless boy, but as a capitalist, rich and prosperous, and yet of as unpretending manners as if he had not a stiver more than of old. While there he made a great gift to his native town, Fnrstenow, as we shall see later on.

a day after he started in life by leaving home for America, the great fire came, and, as it seemed, swept all his hard earnings off the face of the earth. His loss was $50,000. His wife shed a few natural tears at the sight, but he told her he would give her a new home within eight or ten days, and in fact within that time he had kept his promise, for they simply roofed over the old brick basement walls of their two lost wooden houses, fitted up the humble tenement as a boarding house for laborers, and began again to lay up money. In the spring of 1873 he built a nice home at No. 132 Pine street, and soon was keeping a different class of boarders, among them E. I. Tinkham, David Swing and other " burnt-outers " of that high class.

In 1890 he retired from business to enjoy the fruits of his labors, the rest that comes at the end of a day of toil, which had begun early in the dawn <& his life.

On January 5, 1847, he married Maria Frink, an orphan, who had had to look out for herself from childhood. The wedding took place in St. Mary's church, corner of Madison street and Wabash avenue, Bishop Quarter, the first bishop of Chicago, officiating. She has always been a devoted wife, and it is one of his causes for thankfulness that she is now able to enjoy rest and ease with him.

In 1850 his mother died of the cholera, and six years later his father followed her, dying of consumption. They rest side by side in St. Boniface cemetery. From his mother, Mr. Wischmeyer inherited the thoughtful charity that will keep his name long alive. She always taught her children that " the angels in heaven rejoice when you give to the poor." From his father he inherited his sturdy devotion to work, his temperance, and his frugality. Henry always says that there were only three places where he was thoroughly happy : at his home, his church and his work.

he gave sixty acres of land for which he had paid $16,000. The asylum turned his land into a cemetery and now derives from $6,000 to $8,000 a year income from it. He gave $7,000 outright to the Old People's Home ; $10,000 to St. Elizabeth's Hospital to endow two free beds; 25,000 marks to endow four beds in a hospital in Furstenow, his birthplace. These large benefactions are only a part of his charities, for he has always taken delight in helping the worthy poor to make a start in the world . He is not one of those who cling to their possessions as long as they live ; and so wait until they can no longer keep their money before letting it begin to help the world. He has given away between $50,000 and $60,000. But better than any giving is the example of such a life. Its grand, well-earned success, its unobtrusive generosity teach lessons more far-reaching than those that are delivered from the platform or the pulpit.

Dr. William B. Herrick was born at Durham, Maine, on the 20th of September, 1813. He became a resident of Chicago in 1844> and for thirteen years was engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery, and in the more important work of medical education, although his life was no* cut off until eight years later. These years, though few, were long enough to place him in the lead among his professional brethren, and to manifest the beneficent influence which knowledge, guided by high motives, exerts upon the welfare of the community.

The early years of his life were hampered by the pressure of indigence, and hindered by the necessity of gaining, by his own labor, the means of acquiring a higher education than is the lot of the rural boy. Like many another aspiring youth, he resorted to teaching in the country schools, beginning at the age of sixteen. With intervals of attendance at the Durham academy while earning his expenses in the school-room, and by diligently applying himself to reading and study, he attained sufficient proficiency in letters to gain admittance to the medical lectures of Bowdoin and Dartmouth colleges, at the latter of which institutions he took the degree of Doctor of Medicine on the 16th of November, 1836. To be able to launch on the sea of professional life at the age of twenty-three, despite the disadvantage of self-support, shows remarkable diligence and proficiency.

Early the next year he settled at Louisville, Kentucky, where his knowledge soon attracted the attention of the authorities of the medical college, who employed him as demonstrator of anatomy in the institution. After two years residence in Louisville, he removed to Hillsborough, Illinois, where he remained for five years. While residing there, in 1840, he contracted marriage with Miss Martha J. Seward, daughter of John B. Seward, one of the pioneers of Illinois.

The skill of Dr. Herrick had attracted the attention of medical men outside of the limited field of his practice, and he was offered the chair of anatomy in Rush Medical college, which had only recently been organized. Accepting the flattering invitation, he took up his residence in Chicago in 1844, and began a connection with the young institution which continued in various capacities for ten years.

It was, however, interrupted by the war with Mexico. Dr. Herrick was selected and commissioned as surgeon of the First regiment of Illinois volunteers and departed with the command, to the then little known "land of Montezuma." He was present at the battle of Buena Vista, plying in the field hospital the arts of surgery to mitigate the savagery of war in that sanguinary contest. He was afterwards employed in the army hospital at Saltillo. The exposures of the moving camps from malarial coast to high upland plains, together with unwearied care of the sick and wounded, so affected his own health that he was obliged to resign. Though his life was prolonged for yet many years, the seeds of disease were so firmly implanted that his life finally became a sacrifice to his unflinching devotion to duty. Eeturaing to Chicago, Dr. Herrick entered upon a private practice of medicine and surgery, while still filling his chair in Rush Medical College. His active mind led him to connect himself with the medical press. He was on the editorial staff of the Illinois and Indiana Medical and Surgical Journal, which was published at Chicago and Indianapolis for several years. He held successively the professorships of anatomy, of general and descriptive anatomy, and of anatomy and physicolgy in Rush college. In 1850 he was appointed physician and surgeon of the splendidly equipped United States Marine Hospital at Lake View. He was one of the orginators of the Chicago Medical Society as well as of the Illinois State Medical Society. In short, he was identified with every important movement which interested the medical faculty or concerned the public health.

The brief, but active and useful, professional career of Dr. Herrick in Chicago was cut short in 1857 by the development of the seeds of disease which his Mexican campaign had sown. He was forced to retire from practice and seek recovery in change of life and scene. He returned to his native State, and among the scenes and fresh air of its mountains found refreshment and relief, but no radical cure.

Dr. Herrick was too busy during the years of his professional practice to enter into politics; nevertheless, he was made, in 1848, no doubt against his will, an independent candidate for alderman of the eighth ward of Chicago, and, in spite of the strength of political organization, was triumphantly elected.

He was not unmindlful of social relations, having been an honored member of the Masonic bodies. He was at one time Master of Oriental Lodge, a member of Apollo Commandery and Post Master of the Grand Lodge of the State of Illinois.

Henry Hobart Taylor

In the veins of the late Henry Hobart Taylor mingled the blood of several ancient New England progenitors. One, Asa Taylor, was a reputable citizen of Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1790; another, John Otis, was an emigrant from Burnstable, England, and took the freeman's oath in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1635-6. His paternal grandmother was Amy Otis, diinghter of John Otis, whose lineal descent from the ancestor of 1635 is vouched for by an authentic genealogical record; while the descent of the other brandies, with the carelessness so common with Americans, who rely so much more upon personal worth than family pedigree, rests only upon tradition. His father was John

Otis Taylor, in early life a farmer in central New York, and who removed to Chicago with his family in 1845, and engaged in merchandising. His mother was Harriet Eames. Henry Hobart Taylor was born at Oneida Creek, Oneida county, New York, in 1835, becoming a resident of Chicago at eleven years of age. Here he was a scholar in the common schools, and at an early age entered his father's store as a clerk, where he received a business education, while he was initiated into the mercantile life of this busy city. In 1854 the family removed to Freeport, Illinois, but the young man, then aged nineteen,struck out for himself, and began self-support, though at tlie start he had but a single dol- lar in his pocket. Going to Cincinnati, Ohio, he engaged with a druggist to learn pharmacy, spending two years in the effort, though when the art was mastered he made no further use of it. Returning toFreeport, he took an agency for C. Aultman, a manufacturer of threshing machines. Thus commenced a business which rapidly increased with the cultivation of the western prairies, and which led the agent into the establishment of the same kind of manufacturing, which has become one of the largest industries in the country. About 1864 Mr. Taylor became associated in the establishment of the business of Nicholas Shepherd & Company at Battle Creek, Michigan, and of the Aultrnan & Taylor Manufacturing company at Mansfield, Ohio. Both were stock companies, engaged in manufacturing threshing machines, and Mr. Taylor was a stockholder and director in both. He established an agency in Chicago for the distribution of the machines, of which he took personal charge. The business was extended throughout all the northwestern States, and even to the Pacific coast, and rapidly grew to large proportions, exacting tjie highest business qualities in its management and control. He was one of the original founders of the Elgin Watch company, which has become one of the leading industries of the West. As his means increased he joined in the establishment of the Commercial National Bank, of which he was for many years a director. Like all the enterprising citizens of Chicago, at an early period he invested in real estate. which, with the large financial results of the manufacturing business, ultimately brought him a great fortune.

by whom he had one son, Mr. H. C. Chatfield-Taylor, a well-known literateur of Chicago. While Mr. Taylor had enjoyed no great scholastic advantages in early life, he had made very considerable -acquisitions in literature and general knowledge by application in later life. He was a great reader of books, and readily assimilated their contents, so that he had acquired great precision in language, and was unusually fastidious in his choice of words. He was punctilious in his demeanor, reserved in habit, and dignified in his bearing. In contrast with the carelessness, not to say uncouthness, of much of the intercourse " on 'change," he reminded one, by the propriety of his speech and the courtliness of his manner, of the "gentleman of the old school."

Mr. Taylor was a pronounced Eepublican in politics, though taking little part in the partisan contests of the day. His social relations were confined to the Masonic fraternity, in which he had the rank of a Knight Templar. During the later years of his life he made several trips to Europe, where he mingled in and enjoyed good society.

The family residence was at No. 266 West Washington street. Mr. Taylor's death occurred in Chicago in 1875. He had only reached the age of forty years, when men are usually at the meridian of their powers. Why men gifted with such natural endowments, and possessing so many accomplishments fitting them for years of usefulness and honor, should be cut off in their early prime, is one of the inscrutable mysteries of life ! It is certain that in the early death of Mr. Taylor Chicago lost a most worthy and estimable citizen, and one who had contributed not a little to her growth and commercial supremacy.

Henry J. Willing

conspicuous before the world than that of a member of a learned profession, or of one who mingles in public affairs, but is none the less one of arduous labor, thorough engrossment; and requiring a high order of organizing talent, watchfulness of the trend of affairs, and financial skill. The wrecks of trading barks which started on their voyage with favoring winds and brilliant prospects, scattered all along the reefs which border business waters, prove how uncertain and capricious is success in mercantile life. The failures far outnumber the successes. Sooner or later, to the great majority of men in trade come disaster and bankruptcy. The strictest fidelity, the utmost watchfulness, good judgment and experience are often unavailing to counteract the effects of contraction in monetary credits, the casualities of poor crops and unprofitable business, as well as a multitude of other influences which render trade unprofitable and goods unsalable. In no other calling in life is success so sure a gauge of uncommon power.

Mr. Willing is a merchant bred behind the counter, devoting the active years of his early life in all the routine of the store, and engaging in mature life as a partner in the conduct of the great business of the firms that have been already named.

He was born in the town of Westfield, Chautauqua county,New York, July 10, 1836. His father, Samuel Willing, died when the lad was seven years old, leaving him to rest alone on the protection and sympathy of his mother, who was a lady fitted by lineage and training and personal character for such a responsibility. Her maiden name was Mary Jaae Mayborne, and she came of a family that traced its ancestry to the self-denying and heroic Huguenots. Those who believe in the persistence of mental and moral qualities and in their transmission in the blood will note with interest the re-appearance of the sturdy faith and tenacity of purpose which characterized the victims of intolerance and persecution in France in the seventeenth century in this descendant in the nineteenth.

The family removed to Chicago in 1846, when Henry was ten years old. He soon found a humble place in a store conducted by Mr. U. P. Harris, where he made his advent into business life at the foot of the ladder, willing to work to learn the business thoroughly, and to await such promotion as his assiduity, intelligence and industry might earn for him. It required patience and firmness, for it was not far from seventeen years before he had passed the several subordinate grades of mercantile employment, and found himself in a responsible position in the house of Field, Leiter & Co. Meanwhile he had passed from the little store where his clerkship began to the dry goods house of Thomas B. Carter & Co., where he was employed eight years, and then to the establishment of Cooley, Farwell & Co , where he remained six years longer.

Soon after entering the store of Field, Leiter & Co., he was admitted as a junior partner, for which his experience, tact and skill proved of more value than any contribution he was able to make to the capital of the concern, though the savings of the years of clerkship, with a life of economy and prudent investment, were not inconsiderable. Thenceforward his business history is intimately blended with that of the great mercantile house - probably the largest on the continent, as it has certainly been one of the best conducted and most prosperous. When Mr. Leiter retired from the firm, Messrs. Field & Willing were the strong columns that supported the house, and while all the world recognizes the wonderful genius of Mr. Field in his line, it is no disparagement to him to say that to the sagacity, prudence and good judgment of Mr. Willing is due in no small degree the phenomenal success which the house attained.

Having become settled in business, Mr. Willing entered into another not less important alliance in contracting marriage and founding a home. The lady who engaged his affections was Frances, second daughter of the late Judge Mark Skinner. The mar- riage was solemnized in 1870. Thirteen years passed by, during which Mr. Willing devoted such unremitting attention to his business, and the weight of its responsibilities bore so heavily upon him, that his health became impaired. Satisfied with the accumulation of years of industry ,he sold his interest in the business in 1883 and retired. But he did not retire from the responsibilities of life. Often when a man comes to take thought for the things of his spiritual life his real life begins. Mr. Willing had imbibed the strong evangelical faith of his mother, and connected himself with the Second Presbyterian church, afterwards transferring his relation to the Fourth church, in the one or the other of which he has served as an elder for twenty-five years. He has been actively connected with the charities as well as with the educational work of that branch of the church, having been a director of the Presbyterian Hospital and a trustee of the Northwestern Theological Seminary, now known as theMcCormick Seminary. In non-sectarian charities he has been vice-president of theYoung Men's Christian Association and a member of the board of directors of the Chicago Home for Incurables. A man whose sympathies and religious faith incline him to participate in all movements which have for their purpose the binding together of mankind in true fraternity is naturally drawn into such as strike at abuses in public administration and seek to promote order and tranquility in civil relations. Impelled by such impulses, Mr. Willing identified himself with the work of the Citizens' League, which he has aided with both moral and financial support. Like all gentlemen of liberal views and broad sympathies, he has a membership in the principal social clubs of the city. Years of devotion to the details of trade have had no dwarfing influence upon his spiritual nature, for besides his identification with religious and charitable interests he is a lover, if not a devotee of art, having served as a director of the Art Institute. In the years of retirement from business Mr. Willing has collected and developed the historic faculty. He is conversant with current historic studies, especially such as relate to the United States and Chicago. He is a member of the Chicago Historical Society, of the American Historical Association and of the Chicago branch of the American Archeological Society of America.

Mr. Willing is politically a Republican, but it was from no partisan consideration that he was chosen a member of the drainage board. The magnitude of the plan which the formation of the sanitary drainage district of Chicago contemplated, and the stupendous interests involved, both of cost and purpose, raised the selection of the nine trustees who are charged with the work, for the time at least, above the plane of ordinary politics.

The best men were desired, and although Mr. Willing was unwilling to undertake the responsibility, he yielded to the importunities of his friends and undertook the duty. As he grew familiar with the scope and plan of the stupendous enterprise he became much devoted to it. Indeed so great were his labors, and so exhausting their effectupon his already enfeebled system that, after two years, he was compelled to retire from the work.

The family of Mr. and Mrs. Willing consists of two children, Evelyn Pierrepont and Mark Skinner Willing. The health of both parents has been so delicate for some years that they have been much of the time absent from their home and from the city, and have traveled extensively in Europe.

Jared Bassett

This venerable man, now in the eightieth year of his age, who with firm step and unclouded mind still walks the streets and attends to his daily routine of affairs, has, during the forty-seven years of his residence in Chicago, witnessed almost its entire devel-

He is a native of East Montpelier, Vt., born January 26, 1814. His parents were Joel and Kuby-Metcalf-Bassett, and his grandfather, Jared Bassett, who emigrated from Connecticut and was one of the early settlers in Vermont. The American ancestor of the name settled as early as 1621. While the chain of connection has not been preserved, it is probable that the family is of French Huguenot origin. His mother was a devout member of the Society of Friends, wearing the garb and using the speech of the simple, devout sect, while the father, a farmer by occupation but a man of affairs, who held many offices of honor and trust in his community, shared in the faith and practice of his wife.

While the son did not adhere to the Quaker form of religious practice, he inherited the simplicity of manner, the strength of principle, and the quiet self-possession which characterize the disciples of George Fox. He passed the years of his minority at home, mingling labor upon the farm with attendance at the district school, and nurtured into a strong and self-controlled manhood amid the rural surroundings of his mountain-girded home. At the age of twenty-two years he decided to adopt the medical profession, and entered the office of Dr. James Spaulding, at Montpelier,to obtain the rudiments of the healing art. He attended medical lectures at Woodstock, Vermont in 1836. Again in the medical department of Dartmouth College, at Hanover, New Hampshire, and completed his course and took the degree of Doctor of Medicine at the Albany Medical College in the spring of 1839. Thus equipped, he settled at Plainfield, Washington county, Vermont, and afterwards removed to Northfield, and spent at these places seven years in the practice of his profession. He belonged to the regular school of medicine, and had the experience of most practitioners of his time in riding over the hills and ministering to the ills of a population widely scattered.

During the latter part of this period, on the 29th of May, 1844. he married Miss Harriet Sherman, daughter of Col. Nathaniel Sherman, of Barre, Vermont, who still survives, after having for nearly fifty years shared his joys and soothed his sorrows.

Eumors of the attractions of the newly settled West reached Dr. Bassett, and, allured by their attractions, he decided to leave his rural practice and seek a new home in the opening land of promise. Gathering his effects and leaving his little bills to be collected, accompanied by his wife, he undertook the formidable journey to the West. It was before the days of flying trains and Pullman coaches. A stage carried them to Lake Champlain, a steamboat brought them to Whitehall; thence to Rochester the journey was made in a canal boat, where a section of newly built railroad formed the route to Buffalo; and there embarking on Lake Erie, they arrived at Chicago on the 10th of September, 1846, after a toilsome journey of ten days.

The town which opened upon his view was a straggling settlement of a few thousand souls, centered upon the river, and scarcely emerging from the bogs and morasses which bordered the shore. Dr. Bassett found a temporary boarding place on West Washington street, and opened an office in the second story of a frame store on Lake street, near Fifth avenue, over a grocery store, where he displayed a modest sign indicating his profession. One year later, he bought a small house and lot on Clark street, near Monroe, then a pleasant neighborhood of frame cottages in the outskirts of the town, paying for the land about fifteen dollars a front foot. Here he resided a few years, till the town grew out around and beyond him, making the locality unpleasant for residence. He yielded to the inevitable, converted his home into business property, and moved to the west side, taking up his residence at the corner of West Adams and Morgan streets, where he purchased a small brick cottage - the first brick building erected west of the river - with about an acre of ground. This lot he has occupied for a home for over forty years,the old cottage giving way, in time, to a more commodious dwelling, erected on its site in 1867, and in which he still resides.

Dr. Bassett practiced his profession in Chicago for about twelve years, when, through distaste from the contact with suffering, which is the inseparable lot of the physician, and content with the moderate accumulation which years of industry had brought him, he laid it aside, and thenceforth devoted himself to the care of his property, the improvement of his lands, and the quiet enjoyment of the life which the enterprise of a growing city has made to surge in restless waves about him.

Like most of the citizens of Chicago, Dr. Bassett suffered the destruction of all his buildings, except his home, in the great fire of 1871. Like them he set about their restoration with indomitable energy and with unfaltering confidence in the future of the city, but the enterprise cost him years of anxiety before the losses were retrieved.

expenditure, simple in habit, and yet not indifferent to the interests of the community, nor unconcerned in the welfare of its people. He is well informed on the current events of the day, and has opinions as firm and immovable as the rocks of his native mountains. Like all early settlers he delights in the reminiscences of the early days and in contemplating the wonderful growth of the city since his settlement.

In politics he has been a Republican, a?id in the days of agitation before the war held the firm anti-slavery opinions of his ancestors. He was one of the founders of the People's church, which, after the rejection of Dr. Thomas by his eccesiastical associates for his liberal theological opinions, opened the doors of a new sanctuary for a broader and more liberal theology.

The passing years have dealt kindly with him; though he wears the silvery crown of age, his " eye is not yet dimmed, nor his natural force abated." A life of temperance and equanimity has left him vigorous in body and alert in mind. An only son, R, J. Bassett, Esq., a lawyer by profession, shares in the daily hfe and enjoys the companionship of the parents.

Voluntine C. Turner

Mr. Turner is one of the fortunate men of Chicago. He was fortunate in having a good parentage, a fair endowment of intellect and feeling, a liberal education, in attaching himself to one of the learned professions, and, above all, fortunate in casting in his lot with the people of Chicago at a time when her enterprises were at the fullest tide of development, and under circumstances which enabled him to co-operate in her material growth, without that engrossment of time and faculty which hinders the fullest indulgence of the intellectual faculty, the refining and elevating influences of the aesthetic nature, and the kindly cultivation of the graces of social and private life. While he has borne a fair share of the labors of professional and public life, accomplishing not less for the public welfare than for his own advantage, he has at the same time preserved his love of letters, his pursuit of manly and invigorating pastimes, and his indulgence in the amenities of a refined and gentle life.

Mr. Turner is a native of the town of Malta, Saratoga county, New York, where he was born February 25, 1823. His father was the late John B. Turner, so prominently identified with one of the great railroad systems of Illinois. While he was yet a lad his father was engaged in building the Delaware division of the New York and Erie railroad and the Genessee Valley canal, and from 1835 to

1840, that is from his twelfth to his seventeenth year, the young man spent much time in his father's office and became familiar with the details of public work, as well as with general business. He, however, had scholarly tastes and aspired to obtain a liberal education. To this end he was sent for preparation to Troy, New York, and afterwards to the then celebrated academy at Oxford, in the same State. He entered Williams college, Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1846. Before this time his father had taken. up his residence in Chicago, where the young graduate soon joined the family. Choosing the law for a profession he mastered its mysteries in about two years, and was admitted to the bar. He applied himself to the practice in Chicago for about twelve years; ten years of this time he was associated with Mr. H. A. Clarke, and for a short time with Mr. B. P. Ayer, while during the last two years he had no partner.

A few years after settling in Chicago Mr. Turner married, on the 20th of May, 1851, Miss Eliza Smith, daughter of Col. Henry Smith, a former partner of William B. Ogden .

While Mr. Turner was a fairly successful lawyer, the profession had no fascination for him. His father was engaged in gigantic railroad operations, and his trained eye saw the need of additional facilities for accommodating the rapidly multiplying population on the north side of the city of Chicago, where he had his residence.

In February, 1859, he joined his father, John B. Turner, and Messrs. William B. Ogden, Charles V. Dyer and James H. Reed in procuring a charter for the North Chicago City Eailway company. The construction and operation of the line fell largely into his hands. He was appointed secretary and treasurer of the company at the time of its organization, and continued to fill those offices until July, 1865, when he was elected vice-president, and two years later was promoted to the office of president of the corporation. He continued to manage the company's affairs, gradually extending its lines and keeping pace with the extension of the city towards the north, and giving to the people a satisfactory service. The rapid growth of population, however, convinced Mr. Turner that the public convenience required more rapid transit than horse power could furnish, and from an investigation he concluded that the cable system would best furnish a solution of the rapid transit problem, and a few years later turned over the whole property to an eastern syndicate, of which Mr. Chas. T. Yerkes is president and manager, which has rapidly transformed the system into a cable road.

Mr. Turner retired from the management of the road when the property passed from the old stockholders and has not since been engaged in business. He turned over a well equipped system of street railway, which had become a valuable property, and with his share of the proceeds sought relaxation and entertainment in literary pursuits, in domestic and social enjoyments, and in occasional travel. He has realized the advantage which Lamartine so tersely expresses in the sentiment - " to study the centuries in history, mankind in travel, and God in nature is the great school."

Mrs. Turner died about seven years ago, and Mr. Turner was married a second time to Mrs. M. Evelina Green, widow of the late Moses C. Green, of Troy, New York.

His residence is on the Lake Shore Drive, and is a model of good taste and elegance, where he delights to receive his friends and dispense an elegant hospitality. He is a member of the Union club and is a respected and honored visitor there. From his early residence in Chicago both Mr. Turner and his first wife were regular attendants on St. James' Episcopal church. After the formation of the Central church he was an attendant upon the ministrations of Dr. Swing.

Mr. Turner has always been affiliated with the Democratic party, though he is in no sense a party politician. He was an ardent admirer of the late Gov. Tilden, of New York, and in the presidential canvas of 1876 was actively interested in promoting his interests and largely instrumental in bringing out the large vote which the Democrats of Chicago cast that year, and was greatly chagrined at the decision of the electoral commission which deprived the Democracy of the presidency.

The amusements which a man engages in are a gauge of his temper and character. Some tread the weary round of business with ceaseless devotion, never realizing that there lies about them in field and forest, in woodland stream, in shimmering lake, a store of wholesome and refreshing recreation, which would take from the round of care many of its burdens, and, while invigorating the physical powers, infuse into the spirit the sweet and elevating influences which come from contact with nature in her wild and rustic beauty.

Mr. Turner has never been insensible to these rural pleasures; he always loved to get away from the city's noise and competition, and with dog and gun run over the prairie stubbles, or watch for water fowl beside sedgy lakes. Sometimes, with rod and line he delights to tempt the denizens of the stream from their hiding places or gently lift them from the shining waters of the lake. So pronounced has been his predilection for rural life and sport that many years ago he joined, with other prominent amateur sportsmen, in establishing a club, with ample grounds and elegant quarters on an island in Lake Erie, opposite Sandusky, where the associates are wont to spend some weeks in the spring and autumn of each year in sport, relaxation, and congenial intercourse and pursuits. Of this organization, which is called the " Pelee Club," Mr. Turner is president.

At the age of seventy, when most men, " with shrunken calf and slippered pantaloon" withdraw themselves from society, and nurse the infirmities which age usually brings, Mr. Turner, so equable has been his life, so free from carking care and consuming ambition, so infused with the sweet influence of a calm temper and the elevating power of a cultivated mind, enjoys the ease and dignity of life with the bounding pulse of midage.

Charles H. Quinlan

Charles Harvey Quinlan was born at Albany, New York, February 19, 1821. His father was John D. Quinlan, and his mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Harvey. His education began in the schools in his native city, and was afterwards prosecuted at the Albany academy. About the year 1842 he received a proposal from his uncle, Dr. Charles W. Harvey, to pursue a course of medical study with him at Buffalo, New York. Dr. Harvey had practiced medicine in Albany for a short time, but was then enjoying a successful practice in dental surgery at Buffalo. Young Quinlan's predilections from boyhood had been toward the study of medicine. He accepted his uncle's invitation, and his subsequent career has shown that he was correct in the choice of a vocation. He proceeded at once to Buffalo. After some three years of study and practical work, following the advice of Dr. Harvey, the nephew selected as the place for his future residence and field of labor and enterprise the then youthful city of Chicago, where he removed after his marriage to Miss Ruth Efner, of Buffalo, in September, 1846.

Dr. Quinlan's capital on reaching Chicago consisted chiefly of native mental power, a thorough training, unflinching energy and scrupulous integrity. He opened an office at 142 Lake street, and soon secured a patronage large for that period and rapidly increasing both in its extent and remunerative character.

inence, not only among the ranks of his profession but also with the general public, was his connection with the introduction into the West of sulphuric ether as an anaesthetic. This happened shortly after his arrival in Chicago. The formula and the method of its application was discovered in Bostoii in the fall of 1846, and full instructions for its manufacture and use were sent to Dr. Quinlan by his uncle and former preceptor, Dr. Harvey of Buffalo. It was then known as letheon, and this was the first city west of the Alleghanies where it was given a practical test. This test was given at a clinic at Eush Medical College. An amputation was to be performed by Dr. Brainerd, and Dr. Quinlan was requested by the faculty to administer the anaesthetic, which he did with most satisfactory results. The public was admitted, and the clinic was crowded. The astonishment of the onlookers was equaled only by their delight, the experiment, proving pre-eminently successful. The city press fairly teemed with laudatory notices, Dr. Quinlan receiving no stinted measure of praise. Shortly thereafter chloroform was discovered, and the formula for its distillation was immediately procured by Dr. Quinlan, and he and Professor J. V. Z. Blaney, M. D. (almost at the same time yet independently of each other) were the first to distill this anaesthetic in Chicago.

In 1848 Dr. John D. Quinlan joined his brother, Charles II., in Chicago, and the association then formed under the name of C. H. and J. D. Quinlan continued until 1859, when the former withdrew, for reasons which a.-e explained below.

Dr. Quinlan invested very considerably in real estate and has at times held the title to what are now some of the most valuable properties in Chicago. In 1852 he erected a residence at the corner of Michigan avenue and Van Buren street, the site of the present Victoria Hotel. The building at numbers 81 and 83 Clark street was owned by the Quinlan brothers, who had their office there for many years. This building on Clark

In the fall of 1846 Dr. Quinlan and wife united with the Second Presbyterian church, a society then recently formed with Rev. E. W. Patterson as pastor, and worshipping in a frame building on Randolph street. In this connection he remained for thirteen years, the iast four of which he was an acting trustee and treasurer of the society. The society built what was known as the "spotted" stone church on the northeast corner of Wabash avenue and Washington street. The Presbyterian clergy of Chicago felt a strong desire to found a university where poor young men could be assisted in their education and whose control should be in thorough sympathy with the denomination. Dr. Quinlau's interest in the project was speedily secured, and he became one of its earnest, active promoters. It was about 1854 that Eev. J. J. Slocum, a Presbyterian minister, came to Chicago and said that he represented a friend of large wealth who was anxious to contribute a considerable sum toward the establishment of a university at or near Chicago. Other ministers,among them Drs. Patterson, Curtiss and Swazey, after careful investigation approved the present site of the institution. Then presented itself the problem of how to raise the funds needed, the gentleman who had appeared in the character of promoter declaring that the land must be bought before his friend would advance the money necessary to erect the buildings. Several capitalists became interested. Dr. Quinlan and three of his friends were the first to make a tentative subscription of $1,000 each for stock in the putative company. Mr. Slocum was employed to raise the amount necessary to make the purchase. In less than a month the reverend gentleman had secured subscriptions aggregating $40,000. This constituted the starting point (and in a sense the foundation) of the Lake Forest University.

iV,ake "Crust Association was organized, a ctSrntution and by-laws adopted, a board of trustees elected, and twenty-one hundred acres of land bought and platted . A magnificent frontage along the lake was thus obtained. At this critical juncture the capitalist from the Ohio metropolis failed to come forward, and the stockholders, disappointed in not receiving promised aid, fell back upon their own resources, yet proved fully equal to the emergency. Mr. Slocum was paid and withdrew,and new measures were adopted. A hotel was built. About June 1, 1857, an auction sale was had; and within a comparatively short time the corporation found itself out of debt and carrying a surplus of nearly $50,000 in its treasury. In this year, as will be remembered, occurred a financial crisis. The parties identified with the Lake Forest enterprise became despondent. But Dr. Quinlan, who had at that time just returned from an extended tour of Europe, realized at once the possibilities and the responsibilities of the projectors. He built a handsome home at Lake Forest, and with his family took up his residence there, this being the first dwelling house erected and occupied in that place. By taking this step, involving, as it did, a keen personal sacrifice, he attested his deep interest in laying the foundations of the university, and was largely instrumental in insuring the institution's success through his wide influence, unflagging energy and tireless effort. He had not long been a resident of the new village before men were employed in grading streets and making other needed improvements.

From this small beginning has developed one of Chicago's most attractive suburbs, and to Dr. Quinlan's efforts the city is, in no small degree, indebted for the founding at its gates of an institution of higher learning and the establishment and growth of a town where positive culture and possible ease render residence attractive. In 1865 Dr. Quinlan took the degree of M. D. from the Eush Medical College and practiced medicine for sixteen years at Lake Forest . He proved fully adequate to the many calls upon him, his fellow townsmen recognizing his professional skill and appreciating his aptitude under emergencies.

It is remembered among the many friends of Dr. Quinlan, who became such during the period of his stay in Lake Forest, that his gentleness and kindness of manner and intelligent appreciation of the wants of those to whom he was called as a physician secured for him friendships, the closest and most enduring of all those which he has formed during his long and interesting career. . The attachments arising from the relations thus formed are likely to last as long as the lives and memories of many of the early residents of that beautiful suburb.

His sound business judgment enabled him to invest his accumulations to advantage. He lost heavily in the fire of 1871, in common with other real estate owners, but, with that unflinching courage which has always been one of his leading characteristics, he at once set about retrieving his losses, in which he proved to be eminently successful.

In 1875 he took up his residence in Evanston. In that suburb of refinement and education he has elected to end a long life, characterized by reverence, success and honor, the latter having been accorded him in a higher degree than has fallen to the majority of Chicago's early citizens. He built the Avenue House and still owns it. He placed the management of the enterprise in the hands of his sons, Edward and George, the "Quinlan Brothers." Dr. Quinlan occupies a charming residence in Evanston, surrounded by his family of four sons and three daughters, where he finds that life's shadows have long since passed the meridian marked by the sun-dial. With undiminished mental faculties he enjoys a serene old age, interested in his library and the current events of the day. Of unaffected manner, his temperament is quickly sympathetic, and,

C. H. McCormick was born February 15, 1809, and died May 13, 1884. His residence in Chicago dated from 1847. Of the seventy-five years of his life, one-half was passed among the shifting and rapidly developing scenes of the metropolis of the West, in whose enterprises and life he formed a most conspicuous figure.

As a business man, in scope of comprehension, in breadth of action and energy of administration, he ranks with the foremost of his time; in fertility and usefulness of invention, he is classed with Arkwright, Fulton, Morse and Whitney, while in the philanthropic use of the means which his genius and enterprise gained, he stands with Hammond, Newberry, Crerar, Armour and Rockefeller, whose monuments stand in Chicago as living fountains of religion, of knowledge and of art.

The McCormick works in Chicago, covering twenty-four acres of ground, employing' two thousand men, and sending out annually more than one hundred thousand machines, constitute a tangible evidence of his business enterprise and ability.

The mowing and reaping machines which bear his name attest the originality and practical utility of his inventive genius; while the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, whose professorships were endowed by him, express the scope and direction of his philanthropy.

Mr. McCormick was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His father, Robert McC'ormick, was a native of Rockbridge county, Virginia, and his mother, Mary Ann Hall, of the adjoining county of Augusta. The father was a well-to-do man, of considerable intelligence and enterprise, owning farms, mills and shops, in which a variety of repairing and manfacturing of tools and implements for the surrounding agricultural country was carried on. He was possessed of considerable ingenuity, and made some crude attempt at contriving a machine for cutting grain.

Cyrus was the oldest of eight children. The home of his infancy and childhood was Rockbridge county. He was limited to the rudiments of a common school education, supplemented by much reading and private study. His best school was that of practical experience in which the rich agricultural region of the valley of Virginia, with the broad lands of his father, and the work-shops, furnished abundant stimulus to his eager mind. Its most valuable lessons were those of self-reliance, industry, and mechanical ingenuity. While confined at home by a fever in his boyhood, he learned the principles of land surveying, and showed much aptitude for mathematics.

From his fifteenth to his twenty-first year, Cyrus had produced some implements and even made inventions which showed rtie bent of his mind, if they did not add much of permanent value to the implements of the farm. His first production was a grain-cradle for his own use, put together by himself in the work-shop, with which he followed the reapers in the field. A little later he invented a hill-side plough, which he patented, and followed it with a self-sharpening plough, both of which came into general use and were types of implements even now staple in agriculture.

Mr. McCormick was twenty-two years old when he produced the first successful reaping machine and put it to a practical test in a field of oats not far from his father's homestead, in the harvest of 1831. It was a rude machine, constructed by his own hands, with imperfect tools, in a country smith's shop, but it was a success. The trial was witnessed by the neighboring farmers, who had heard of and who ridiculed the idea, by his own father who had discouraged his efforts as a waste of time, and by his mother, whose loving and sympathetic interest had induced her to mount her favorite saddlehorse and ride to the field. The inventor was sufficiently confident of success, for he had carefully weighed and solved every problem of the task which he had set out to perform, and had anticipated and surmounted every practical obstacle ; nevertheless, it was a moment of anxiety and keen solicitude. The problem of cutting grain by machinery was solved, and the young inventor heard the plaudits of the spectators, and felt the thrill which success brings to a mind long brooding over a difficult and uncertain problem.

This first reaper contained the essential features of the modern machine. They consisted of the revolving reel, the platform and the sickle bar, all arranged on a side cut machine. By a slight reciprocating motion, imparted by a crank at the extremity of the bar, cutting edges were brought into angular contact with projecting fingers and cut a swathe as wide as the bar and as unerringly and neatly as a tailor's shears slash a roll of clorti. The detail of the original machine was modified and improved from' time to time by the inventor.

The substitution of machinery in the most toilsome and fatiguing work of the harvest was a boon to the hard- worked farmer, but that was the least of its advantages. It made the cultivation of the vast prairies on a gigantic scale possible. It opened for the growth of the cereals a vast region extending from the Ohio to the Athabasca, and stretching across the continent. In 1859, the commissioner of patents, Hon. Reverdy Johnson, said : " The McOormick Reaper has already contributed an annual income to the whole country of over $55,000,000, which must increase through all time." The Hon. William H. Seward said : "Owing to Mr. McCormick's invention, the line of civilization moves westward thirty miles each year." About the time the invention was made, a committee of English agriculturists visited America, charged with inquiring into the future competition which they might expect. After visiting the eastern farms and following the course of the great lakes to Chicago, they formally reported to their constituency that the limit of American competition had been reached; that lands suitable for wheat, lying within hauling distance of navigation, had already been appropriated and brought under cultivation. They failed to estimate two unknown factors - the railroad and the reaper.

It is probable that Mr. McCormick did not himself appreciate the importance of his invention in the beginning, for instead of devoting his energies to the manufacture of machines, he engaged in an iron smelting operation with other partners, which, overtaken by the panic of 1837, came to grief and left a load of indebtedness to meet, which cost the sacrifice of a farm which his father had given him, with much other property, and what was worse, wasted the precious " years which might have been devoted to the introduction of the reaper. He met the emergency in a characteristic spirit of determination to discharge all his pecuniary obligations, and did not turn to other pursuits until the last debt had been paid.

The name first given to the machine was the "Virginia Reaper." The work was done at the homestead, at Walnut Grove, by hand. The sickles, manufactured forty miles away, were brought on horse-back. Yet they were able to put out several machines each year*. In 1844, thirteen years after the first reaper was made, the first consignment for the western prairies was sent away. It was taken to Richmond, one hundred and twenty miles, by

Two years later Mr. McCormick made arrangements with the owner of a machine shop in Cincinnati to manufacture his reapers, while he traveled the western country on horseback, taking orders from farmers. In the meantime his mind was busy in devising improvements, which as they were perfected were patented. Such a demand sprang up in western New York that arrangements were made with a firm in Brockport, New York, to manufacture reapers on a royalty.

With characteristic sagacity, Mr. Mc- Cormick foresaw that Chicago was destined to become the principal distributing point for the wheat growing section of the West, and acting upon his conviction, he located here in the year 1847, and in partnership with Chas. M. Gray, as McCormick & Gray, established his first works, which have grown, with the increasing demand for the reapers, into a gigantic establishment. The year following, seven hundred reapers were made; the next year, fifteen hundred. At the present time, the output exceeds one hundred thousand machines per year.

Soon after the establishment of the works in Chicago, Mr. W. B. Ogden, and afterwards Mr. 0. M. Dorman, became partners in the business. In 1860, William S. and Leander J. joined their brother, Cyrus H. McCormick, and became associated with him in his rapidly increasing business. The utility of the reaper having been fully established, Mr. McCormick took it to England and exhibited it at the World's Failheld in London in 1851. Though at first sneered at as a "Yankee invention/' its demonstration in the field before a jury of award compelled the reluctant approval of Great Britain, and the "Times/' treating it at first in an unfriendly spirit, at last candidly acknowledged that "the McCormick reaper was worth the entire cost of the exhibition."

Prize of the Universal Exposition at Paris. At the great World's Fair of 1862 in London, it received the highest award. Twelve years later it was again awarded the "grand prize" of the Paris Exposition, and its inventor was decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honor. The improved reaper, with a self-binding attachment, was exhibited at the Paris Exposition of 1878, receiving again a "grand prize," and its inventor being made an officer of the Legion of Honor, in recognition "of his having done more for the cause of agriculture than any other living man."

The fire of 1871 swept away the entire reaper plant and inflicted heavy pecuniary loss upon the firm, but the business had become too important, and its owners too energetic, to allow it to lie long dormant. Hardly had the flames subsided when preparations for rebuilding were made. The works as they now stand, have the largest output of harvesting machines in the world. In 1860, he bought of James W. Sheehan the " Chicago Times," and uniting it with the " Herald," which he already owned, published the " Times and Herald," with increasing popularity and influence, until it was sold to Wilbur P. Storey.

Although intensely practical, overwhelmed with the innumerable details of a vast business, Mr. McCormick was a religious man. He was connected with the Presbyterian church, having been an original member of the North Presbyterian church (old school), organized in 1848, and transferring his relation to the South Presbyterian church (old school) upon its organization in 1859. Discussions arising among the membership, growing out of antagonisms on the slavery question, caused him to reunite with the North church. However great the pressure of material interests, he was ever mindful of the higher obligations. He was liberal with his means and his time in the promotion of the interests of the church and of religious education. It was at his instigation that the general assembly located the Presby- terian Theological Seminary of the Northwest iu Chicago, in 1859, and it was to him that its chief endowment was due. Throughout its entire career he lent it a helping hand, and more than once rescued it from financial embarrassments.

Mr. McCormick purchased the "Interior" in 1872, and under his direction, and sustained by him financially, it became a strong, able and influential religious newspaper of the Presbyterian church.

Two of the colleges of his native State, for which he ever retained a loyal and reverent regard, received liberal contributions from him. Mr. McCormick was, in political sympathy, attached to the Democratic party. He served in 1872-1874 as chairman of its State central committee, though too busy to accept any ofBcial position. He, however, was a candidate for Congress, in 1864, and was only defeated through the great popularity of John Went worth.

He was married, in 1858, to Miss Nettie Fowler, daughter of Melzer Fowler, Esq., of Jefferson county, New York. Four sons and three daughters were born, of whom a son and daughter died in infancy. The survivors are Cyrus H. McCormick, Jr., Mary V. McCormick, Mrs. Emmons Elaine, Harold and Stanley.

The family long resided on Bush street, where the simple duties of a Christian household were discharged, and a quiet hospitality extended to all who had just claims upon it. They also had a pleasant summer home, "Clayton Lodge," at Richfield Springs, New York.

Toward the close of his three score and ten years, he was a sufferer from rheumatism, though preserving the clearness and vigor of his mind.

Rev. Luther Stone

The unreflecting attribute to Chicago an intense materialism - a high development of that phase of life which the cultured English mind superciliously terms "Philistinism" There is much in the outer life of the city that favors such an estimate. Her unexampled growth, her accumulated wealth, her immense warehouses and sky-piercing edifices, the rush and bustle of her streets, her crowded wharves and congested depots, her packing houses and manufactories, all present to the eye the results of an eager and absorbing devotion to business. Nevertheless it is the testimony of one of her native born sons, a poet of no ordinary gifts and a professor of belles lettres in one of the great Eastern colleges, and a close observer of her inner life, that her people surpass in aesthetic taste and spiritual development those of many older and more pretentious cities, as far as they lead them in material possessions. When one looks at her magnificent libraries, the abundance and perfection of her public and private schools, her seminaries of theology, law and medicine, her art institutions, her numerous churches with their gifted clergy, and above all, when he considers the provision which she made in the Columbian Exposition for the display of the art and industry of the world, in the "white city" whose architectural piles and artistic landscape were unrivaled in the history of the world, he is forced to concede that the spiritual has received no less careful thought than the material in the development of her wonderful life.

Such thoughts come to the mind when one sets himself to review the life of one who has been foremost in laying the foundation of spiritual life in institutions of education, religion and literature, which have grown to a fruitful maturity.

1847, and ending in 1890, extended over fortythree years of the formative period of her history, during which he stamped the impress of his Christian zeal and lofty character on her institutions and life.

Mr. Stone was born in the town of Oxford, Worcester county, Massachusetts, September 26, 1815. He was a lineal descendant, in the sixth generation, of Gregory Stone, a pilgrim emigrant from Somersetshire, England, to Boston, in 1634. His parents were Luther and Abigal (Bemis) Stone, who were pious people leading a humble agricultural life among the hills of Massachusetts. His mother died while he was an infant, leaving him with his twin brother, the youngest of six children, to the care of his grandmother, to whom they were devotedly attached. In his boyhood he had access to the neighborhood common school, and assisted his father in the work of the farm. He aspired to a higher calling than that of a mere agriculturist, and at eighteen years of age entered Leicester Academy to prepare himself for college, and in 1835 he matriculated at Brown University, where he passed through the full collegiate course of four years. During his senior year his previous thoughtful and exemplary life began to be actuated by yet more decided convictions of religious duty, and he was baptized and entered into covenant with the Baptist church. From this time his plan of life became settled in a determination to enter the ministry. Entering the Theological Institute at Newton, Massachusetts, he devoted three years to studies in divinity, and in 1842 he was graduated from the institution. The following year he was ordained at Oxford to the Gospel ministry.

His views of personal duty were unambitious. He did not contemplate becoming a settled pastor, but rather the devotion of his life to mission work, in the line of planting the institutions of the Gospel in new and destitute regions. He had an apostolic zeal to spread Christian agencies throughout the land.

With this aim he declined an offer to engage in educational work in the South, and in 1844, leaving Boston, he proceeded to St. Louis, from whence he went up the Mississippi river, visiting Rock Island and Davenport, in both of which towns he held evangelistic services. Eefusing a call to become pastor of the First Baptist church of Davenport, he returned to Rock Island, which he made his headquarters until the next year. He preached in numerous towns in the vicinity, and aided in the organization of the Rock Island Baptist Association, of which he became a member. He also preached at Burlington, building up one of the largest congregations that had, up to that time, been gathered in the town- Thinking it desirable to organize an institution in the interest of Christian education, he went to Sharon, Henry county, Illinois, and purchasing a considerable tract of land, put up a building to be used as an academy. The enterprise seeming to be premature, he accepted a call to the pastorate of the First Baptist church of Rockford, Illinois.

In 1847, Mr. Stone came to Chicago with a view to the establishment of a publication which should represent the Baptist church, and aid in establishing its faith and polity throughout the West. Previous attempts of the kind had been failures. Without experience as editor or publisher, he boldly entered the field, and on the 10th of August, 1847, issued the first number of the "Watchman of the Prairies." The paper found its way to most families of the denomination in the West, and was favorably received. It was edited with such ability, and its business management was so prudent, that its success was soon assured. Mr. Stone continued the publication for about six years, when feeling that the paper was permanently established, he sold the property and retired.

The paper thus founded, after having assumed the title of Christian Times, survives to-day as the Standard, and has become the leading organ of the Baptist denomination in the West.

gather up the fruits of this wellspring of life, which has sent its streams of pure literature and Christian doctrine into the remotest hamlets and isolated homes of the prairies for forty-six years, purifying their tastes, and invigorating their languishing spiritual life. While editing the paper Mr.Stone, in the absence of a regular pastor, filled the pulpit of the First Baptist church of Chicago for more than a year.

With all his spiritual gifts, Mr. Stone was a sagacious business man. He carefully observed the trend of events, and early discerned that a wonderful development awaited the city of his home and the entire western country. From time to time he made such investments of the means which came to his hands, that they, under the stimulus of the magic growth of city and country, brought him the means to assist liberally in the promotion of the benevolent enterprises in which he was interested, to enlarge the scope of his usefulness by foreign travel, and to provide for those dependent upon him a generous patrimony.

After gaining release from editorial labor, he devoted himself to evangelistic work in Chicago. Not alone in the ordinary work of the church did he engage, but also in ministering to the spiritual needs of the poor, and in the reformation of the criminal classes. He visited the jails and alms-houses, and sought to fulfil the apostolical office of preaching the gospel to the poor. He had always been an earnest opponent of slavery, and took a deep interest in the welfare of the oppressed race. During the war he devoted himself to the spiritual welfare of the soldiers at Camp Douglas, and of the Confederate prisoners detailed there. He conducted religious services at that post, the Soldiers' Rest, and at the Marine Hospital, as often as opportunity offered.

Chicago in 1 863 and the Theological Seminary was founded under its auspices, he was chosen a member of its board of trustees, and filled the office of secretary, contributing in this important position largely to its establishment and prosperity. He became interested in the university at Des Moines, Iowa, and at a critical period contributed, at a considerable sacrifice of his property in Chicago, a large sum to rescue it from financial embarrassment. He became well known throughout the West as a man of broad culture and remarkable executive ability, so that his counsel was widely sought in the establishment and conduct of institutions of learning, and charity. The presidency of one of these, the Central University at Pella, Iowa, was tendered to him, but was declined.

After twenty years spent in the arduous work of the church and of humanity, Mr. Stone took a long vacation with his wife and adopted daughter. He embarked for a European tour, and spent two years in travel throughout the British Islands, the Continent and the Orient. He returned to Chicago in 1868. His private interests had grown to such magnitude as to require much of his time, so that he never again engaged in regular ministerial work, but he lost no opportunity to enlarge the sphere and promote the interests of the branch of the Christian church to which he had devoted the energies of his life. He had been greatly instrumental in promoting the prosperity of the First Baptist church of Chicago, and with equal devotion he labored for the establishment and usefulness of the Immanuel Baptist church, to which he was attached during the later years of his life.

His labors closed in July, 1890, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. During the later years of his life he was unvexed by cai-e, and spent much time in intellectual pursuits, maturing in spiritual experience as he approached the end. His kindly nature and cordial manners made him greatly loved in the home circle ; and his sympathy with others, manifesting itself in unobtrusive

In his public capacity he was alike distinguished as a preacher, a writer, and a practical man of affairs, however rare the combination in actual life. He was orthodox in his theological views, and in his capacity as a minister of the Gospel he was logical in his presentation of the truth, impressive in his manner, and endowed with no little power of pulpit eloquence.

As a writer he was clear, concise and forcible. He had positive convictions of truth and duty, and while charitable and tolerant - he never hesitated to denounce what he regarded as erroneous in doctrine or degrading in life, however it might be entrenched in popular favor or protected by powerful influence. He was responsive to all the movements for reform, in which his age has been prolific, and engaged with the zeal of an ancient crusader in the battle for purity of life, and uprightness of conduct. He had a vigorous intellectual power, fervent piety, and uncommon tact and sagacity in affairs.

In reviewing the life of this earnest and consecrated man, and weighing the influence which he has exerted on the moral and religous life of the city, the reader will perceive howinfluential it has been in developing the spiritual forces of the community to the degree that the surging tide of worldliness has neither extinguished nor smothered them in its onward rush and sweep. To him and such as he, consecrating lives to the spiritual and moral needs of the community, is it due that morality is yet dominant in the city so strongly influenced by the devotees of Mammon.

Albro E. Bishop

Albro E. Bishop was born June 15, 1814, in a small village near Burlington, Vermont, and died in Chicago, November 15, 1880. He was one of a family of eight children, five brothers and three sisters, who came from good New England stock.

Their limited means placed them in a position in which the children were obliged to contribute to the support of the family as soon as they were able. The mother's death, when the children were still quite young, made them very closely dependent upon each other; but, in course of time, the father married a most excellent woman, to whose wise counsel and careful training Mr. Bishop ascribed his correct habits and his desire to make the best possible use of his chance in life.

With only a limited education, obtained in the common district school, he commenced, when quite young, to learn the trade of wagon making; which in the old time required about four years. By the time this was accomplished, his health was in such a condition that he could not endure hard work, and he was obliged to find lighter employment. He consequently took a place in a store as clerk. This occupation was varied for a short time with that of teaching; but, his health continuing to fail, he was induced to try a new climate and removed to Crete, Illinois, about the year 1844, where he spent two or three years on a farm. His health having improved, he came to Chicago in 1847 and became bookkeeper for Asahel Pierce, one of Chicago's first wagon manufacturers. Later he entered the employ of Henry Witbeck in the same business.

The ability and efficiency of Mr. Bishop led to a partnership with Mr. Witbeck, which proved very successful. In 1862 this partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Bishop carried on the business on the same premises, No. 16 South Jefferson street, until his death.

Throughout all his life he was devoted to books and supplemented his meagre early education with a wealth of facts stored up from wide and varied reading. History, biography, general science and literature, all received his careful study; and though he made no pretense to scholarship, he was most thoroughly appreciated by scholars.

For a number of years he was a member of the board of education and always took a deep and helpful interest in the schools and other public institutions of the city. He was, perhaps, as widely known and respected in religious and benevolent circles, especially of the Methodist church, as any Chicago layman.

He hecame identified with the Clark Street M. E. church soon after his arrival here, leaving it to become a member of the Jefferson Street church in 1853. He was one of the principal organizers of the Centenary M. E. church in 1866, and, as chairman of the building committee, gave his careful attention to the perfecting of the plans of the building and to every detail in its erection. When this beautiful and commodious structure was completed it was considered the most perfect in all respects of any church in the connection, and the success of the enterprise

His recognized ability caused his services to be often sought in directing the business pertaining to ecclesiastical and benevolent affairs. He was one of the organizers of " the Old Ladies' Home," afterward " the Old People's Home." He was at one time its president, and, with Mrs. Bishop, always took great interest in its affairs.

He was also one of the organizers of the Central Free Dispensary, and as treasurer of the Methodist relief fund after the great fire of 1871, was intrusted with a large amount of money, which he distributed with a wise and impartial hand.

For many years he was a member of the board of trustees of the First M. E. church; and was president of the Centenary M. E. church from its organization till his death. He was also at that time one of the trustees of the Garrett Biblical Institute, of the Northwestern University, and of the Hush Medical College.

Mr. Bishop was widely known throughout the city, especially on the west side, where his hospitable house was always open to any gathering held in the interests of benevolence or philanthropy. His heart ever beat warm and true toward his fellow man. Genial, kind, even-tempered, he was a friend highly prized by all who knew him, and his life was one of beneficence to the church, of inspiration and help to the community, and of consideration and charity for the poor.

William Bross

The life of this distinguished editor and eminent publicist began in Sussex county, New Jersey, November 4th, 1813. He was the oldest son of Deacon Moses Bross, who resided a few miles from the village of Port Jervis, where he occupied a primitive log house. The family removed to Pennsylvania when the son was nine years old. During the years of his minority he was much of the time in the Delaware woods, assisting his father in his occupation of lumbering. He passed through the studies required by one seeking a liberal education, and entering Williams College, Massachusetts, he went through the prescribed course of studies, and graduated with the honors of the institution in 1838.

ing his education, he sought employment as a teacher, and became principal of the Ridgeway Academy for five years, and taught at Chester, Orange county, New York, for another five years. He had the reputation of an able instructor, a thorough classical scholar and an earnest student of natural history. Having visited several western cities in 1846, his attention was arrested by the position and advantages possessed by Chicago, and he determined to make it his future home. This determination was carried out in the spring of 1848, and he soon entered upon a career which, for more than forty years, in connection with the newspaper press and politics, made him one of the best known and most influential men of the period in the West. His first business connection was as a member of the book-selling firm of Griggs, Bross & Co., which continued for only a little more than a year, as the demand for books in that new town was not sufficient to make the business remunerative.

In 1849, in connection with Rev. J. A. Wight, he purchased an interest and became joint proprietor in the Prairie Herald, a religious weekly which became a representative of the Presbyterian church and was remarkable for the boldness of its advocacy of anti-slavery views. After his retirement the paper passed into the control of the Congregationalists, and survives to-day in a 1 tneal descendant, the Advance.

In association with John L. Scripps, now one of the veterans of the press, he purchased, in 1852, the Democratic Argus, which was re-named the Democratic Press. The paper was radical in political views. It was especially distinguished for its thorough statistical and financial articles, but aggressiveand forceful. About 1858 it was consolidated with the Tribune and issued fora time as the Press and Tribune, but soon the first part of the name was dropped and it became simply the Tribune. For the remaining thirty-two years of Mr. Bross' life, during which he had a large share in the management and was one of the editors, the Tribune was the leading organ of the Republican party in the west, and its views of public policy became those which were adopted by the American people and were reflected in the administration of public affairs, national and State. It was a sturdy supporter of Lincoln and Grant, and of the war and reconstruction policies of the Republican party, and a no less positive opponent of that other distinguished citizen of Illinois, Stephen A. Douglas, whose public policies it cordially detested. Mr. Bross was no less aggressive and influential as a public speaker than as an editor. He stumped the State of Illinois in the Freemont campaign of 1856, and made the only speech that was delivered at Cairo in behalf of the new party. He took a prominent part in the campaigns of 1860 and 1864, speaking from the same platforms with Lincoln, Lovejoy, Trumbull, Logan, Oglesby, Yates, Colfax, Washburne and all the great Republican leaders. It was he who, through the columns of the Tribune, brought Abraham Lincoln to the notice of the country as a Republican candidate for the presidency and secured his nomination. His political services were recognized by the Republican party in his nomination and election as lieutenant-governor in 1864. It was the second term of the distinguished war governor, Oglesby. It is a remarkable proof of the fairness and impartiality of his rulings as president of the senate, during a period of heated political animosity, that no appeal was ever taken from his decisions.

After his retirement from official life he devoted himself largely to literary work, and prepared many valuable papers upon a great variety of subjects, some of which were read before the Historical society. He published a very full history of Chicago, a history of Camp Douglas, and a volume under the quaint title of "Tom Quick." One of his early literary efforts in Chicago was the delivery in 1850 of a course of lectures on geology before the Mechanics' Institute, in which institution he always took a deep interest.

More than once he was called on to address the Board of Trade on important statistical and economic subjects. One of his published essays had for its subject Conditional Immortality. He was a deep thinker, bold in expression, powerful in argument and persuasive in appeal. He was of medium height, had a sturdy frame, square features, a ruddy complexion, a high forehead, luxuriant hair and whiskers and an eye that flashed the impression of keenness and penetration, with an easy, graceful carriage. Up to the last years of his protracted life his appearance betokened a Teteran of the busy past.

His intellectual qualities were of the highest order. They embraced a wide range, but were essentially practical and genuinely philanthropic. He was actively interested in the interests of religion, being a devout Christian and a consistent member of the Second Presbyterian church. His theological views were broad and tolerant, his belief being that the essence of religion is in doing good. In 1868 he was president of the International Union of Illinois, the purpose of which was to erect in London, England, a church, which should be open to the preaching of ministers of the American churches. He sympathized with and aided Professor Swing in the establishment of the Central church, being one of those who signed a guarantee to pay the eminent preacher a liberal salary. In memory of his early Christian life he presented a bell and clock to the church at Milford, Pennsylvania, which he joined when a boy.

He took a deep interest in education. One of his first public acts in Illinois was to attend a State educational convention at Springfield, at which he officiated as secretary. He was interested in the establishment of the university at Lake Forest, having endowed one of its professorships and erected for the incumbent a residence. He was an enthusiastic supporter ofthe Academy of Sciences, having been its vice-president from 18T6 to 1881 and its president in 1882.

As regards other civil and business relations, he was a member of the Chicago city council in 1855; a director in the Manufacturer's National bank, organized in 1864, until its destruction by the great fire; and one of the first directors in the State Insurance company, organized in 1863.

His active identification with patriotic measures in the war time was but a natural outgrowth of his advocacy of the political revolution which brought on the civil war, and of his philanthropic feelings. He assisted in raising the twenty-ninth regiment of colored volunteers, which was commanded by his brother, John A. Bross, who subsequently lost his life at the battle of Petersburg, Virginia.

Mr. Bross relieved the strain of his editorial and political labors by frequent and extensive travel. Visiting England after the war, he informed Mr. Gladstone that America would require a settlement for the Alabama's depredations or would have war, a declaration which the Premier at first derided but afterwards remembered and heeded. In 1868 he visited the Eocky Mountain region in company with vice-president Colfax, explored its then unknown recesses, and described to a listening country its majestic scenery. Two of its towering mountain?, standing side by side and separated only by a deep wild gorge, were named respectively, Mount Lincoln and Mount Bross.

Probably the most prominent characteristic of his life was a deep, abiding enthusiasm for Chicago. Her interests, hopes and destiny were a never failing subject of his thoughts and expression. His early prophecies were derided, but in the light of events seemed only the vision of a seer. He advocated all measures which were calculated to promote her growth and glory.

Leander J. McCormick was born at Walnut Grove, Kockbridge county, Virginia, on February 8, 1819. He was the sixth child in a family of eight - five sons and three daughters. He comes of sturdy, patriotic stock. His great-grandparents - Thomas and Elizabeth (Carruth) McCormick - came to this country from the North of Ireland in 1735. His grandparents - Kobert and Martha (Sanderson) McCormick - were born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Leander's father (also named Robert) was born in the Virginia homestead.

Leander's grandfather (McCormick) was a volunteer in the army of the revolution. An interesting episode in the life of the elder Robert was his escape from capture at the battle of Guilford Court House by leaping a high fence, under fire of the British regulars. Patrick Hall was a quartermaster during the war of 1812, and his son William (Leander's uncle) died from yellow fever, contracted while in the service at Norfolk, Virginia. Unfortunately he was removed to his home, where he imparted the contagion to his parents, both of whom died.