Chicago Illinois

Biography of Hon. Robert W. Hall

Hon. Robert W. Hall, judge of the circuit court of St. Louis, Missouri, was born in Ontario, Canada, September 27, 1873, and is a son of James Hall, also of Canadian birth and of Scotch and English descent. The founder of the family in the new world first settled in the state of New York but later representatives of the name went to Canada. James Hall was for many years a successful agriculturist and stock raiser but is now living retired. He has been very active in connection with political and civic interests in Ontario, being affiliated with the conservative … Read more

Biography of John P. Thomy

John P. Thomy, president of the National Pigment & Chemical Company and prominently known in the musical as well as the business circles of St. Louis, was born in Riga, Livonia, June 10, 1880. His father, Bernard Thorny, was also a native of Livonia and became a prominent and wealthy grain dealer of Riga, which then belonged to Russia. He had large contracts for the export of grain, and when the government prohibited the exportation of grain during the year 1894, he came to the United States in order to make new contracts on this side of the Atlantic. Not … Read more

Biography of Daniel Kane

Chief of police, Daniel Kane, of Geneva, is not only one of the oldest guardians of the peace in the State, in point of service, having held that office for more than twenty consecutive years, but also enjoys the distinction of being one of the most efficient detectives between New York city and Chicago. His rapid advancement in the police department was the result of his close attention to duty, and his long continued retention in his present office is a fitting recognition of his earnest endeavors to protect the community from the aggressions of law-breakers. Daniel Kane was born … Read more

Biography of A. D. S. Alkire

A. D. S. Alkire is the well-known and popular City Clerk and Assessor of Riverside, a position he ably fills with credit to himself and honor to that enterprising city. Mr. Alkire is a native of Pickaway County, Ohio, born at Mount Sterling in 1837. His father, William A. Alkire, was a native of Kentucky and a descendant of an old colonial family of Virginia. He was a carpenter by trade, but was engaged also in farming. Mr. Alkire’s mother, Hannah (Osborne) Alkire, was a native of Ohio, and died when the subject of this sketch was but four years … Read more

Slave Narrative of Mary Wright

Interviewer: Mamie Hanberry Person Interviewed: Mary Wright Location: Kentucky Place of Birth: Gracey, Kentucky Date of Birth: August 1, 1865 Place of Residence: 204 W. Fourth St. “I was born at Gracey, Kentucky on Mr. James Colemans far, in a log cabin wid a dirt floor en a stick chimney. “Folks uster weat wat dey calls a “Polanaise”. Hid wat kinder like a wrapper made of calico made wid tight in de waist en wide in de bottom. Den I’ve remembers de basque waist on de over skirts dese war made real tight waists wid a point in de back … Read more

Biography of Oliver O. Hockett

Oliver O. Hockett, one of the younger members of the medical fraternity of Douglas County, and one of the leading men in the social, professional and educational life of Newman, was born in Paris, Edgar County, Illinois, March 2, 1866. He was graduated from the high school of Paris in 1882 and subsequently entered the state university at Champaign, where he remained for three years. He then took up the study of medicine with Dr. M. P. Smith, with whom he remained until he entered Chicago Hahnemann College, from which well known institution he was graduated in the class of … Read more

Coughlan, Lois M. Keller – Obituary

Lois M. Coughlan, 72, of Arlington Heights was a clinical nutritionist for the past 50 years, most recently working a as a renal dietitian at Total Renal Care Inc., Chicago, since 1995.  Mrs. Coughlan was previously a nutritionist at Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, since the 1970s and at Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago from the early 1960s to the 1970s. Mrs. Coughlan, a Chicago native, died Monday, April 10, in her home.  In 1949 Mrs. Coughlan received a bachelor’s degree in dietetics at College of St. Teresa, Winona, Minn.  She completed an internship in dietetics at Henry Ford Hospital … Read more

The Potawatomi of Illinois

The tribe that held the Chicago region from about the close of the seventeenth century until 1833 were the Potawatomi. They axe discussed here at some length, as they played an important role throughout the early American period, and we are fortunate in possessing quite detailed accounts of their mode of life. According to a tradition possessed by all three tribes, the Potawatomi, Chippewa, and Ottawa were once one people, and appear in history more or less simultaneously in the territory about the upper end of Lake Huron. The name Potawatomi means “People of the Place of Fire,” as did the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Henry C. Hieber

Hieber, Henry C.; funeral director; born, Oct. 9, 1879; son of Carl Christian and Maria Christine Hieber; educated in public schools, Stuttgart, Germany, and Chicago; came to Cleveland in 1893; started to work at the Dental tool business until 1903; studied undertaking during that time; started in business, July, 1903; member Concordia Lodge, No. 345. F. & A. M.. Hillman Chapter, No. 166, R. A. M., Pearl Lodge, Knights of Pythias, Cleveland Chamber of Industry, Funeral Directors’ Ass’n of Ohio; Jennings Square Business Men’s Ass’n; Zion Evangelical, and Pilgrim Congregational Churches; Freiheit Unterstuezungs Verin; United German Union; Humboldt Lodge, V. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Henry A. Becker

Becker, Henry A.; surgeon; born, Chicago, Ill., March 3, 1870; son of August Becker; educated, West High School; Adelbert, 1891; W. R. U., medicine, 1894; University of Vienna and Berlin, 1896-97; same universities 6 months, 1912; married, Detroit, Mich., Sept. 18, 1901, Miss Laura E. Ferguson; one son, William Nevison Becker, age 9; visiting surgeon in chief to German Hospital; associate in surgery at Lakeside Hospital; assistant professor of surgery in medical dept. of Western Reserve University; fellow of American College of Surgery, State and American Medical Ass’n; member Sigma Nu Sigma Medical Fraternity; member University, Clifton, Keswick Golf and … Read more

Biography of William Christopher, Hanson D.D.

William Christopher Hanson, D. D. For a quarter of a century steadily engaged in the work of the ministry in Kansas, Doctor Hanson had filled many important posts of responsibility with the Methodist Episcopal Church and is now superintendent of the Kansas City District of the Kansas Conference. He is a native of Chicago, where he was born October 18, 1866, a son of Louis Christopher and Carolina Christiana (Johnson) Hanson. His father was a Norwegian and his mother a native of Sweden. Both are now deceased and for many years they conducted a successful hotel business at Scandia, Kansas. … Read more

Biography of Fred Leslie Ervay

Fred Leslie Ervay, M. D. The medical fraternity of Wilson County had as one of its highly skilled and thoroughly trained members Dr. Fred Leslie Ervay, who had been engaged in a general practice at Fredonia since 1908. While Doctor Ervay had not carried on his profession as long as some of his fellow practitioners, he had risen to a prominent place in his calling, and the confidence in which he is held is evidenced by the size and importance of his clientele. He was born at Elk Point, South Dakota, June 14, 1880, and is a son of H. … Read more

Biography of Isaac Burrows Snow

ISAAC BURROWS SNOW – Forty years of experience in the insurance business, preceded by several years of pioneer railroading in the West, represents the experience of Isaac Burrows Snow, who is now living retired in Bernardston. Mr. Snow is a member of the Mayflower Society, being a direct descendant of Elder William Brewster, and of Stephen Hopkins, of the “Mayflower.” Nicholas Snow, the immigrant ancestor of Mr. Snow’s line, came to Plymouth in the ship “Ann” in 1623, and had a share in the division of land in Plymouth in 1624. In 1634 he settled in Eastham, Massachusetts, where he … Read more

Biography of Bert Edward Nussbaum

Muskogee has every reason to be proud of her bench and bar. The representatives thereof have, on the whole, been men of high character and of marked capability in the field of their chosen profession. In a calling where advancement depends entirely upon individual merit and ability Bert Edward Nussbaum has made for himself a creditable position and by reason of this his life’s story is an interesting one. He was born in La Porte, Indiana, February 16, 1875, and is a son of L. and Bettie (Fleishel) Nussbaum. The father was a merchant who long conducted a saddlery hardware … Read more

Biography of Robert Drakely Rood, M. D., D. S.

Dr. Robert Drakeley Rood enjoys the distinction of bringing in the first large oil well in what was then Indian Territory and since the fall of 1903 has made his home in Bartlesville, while through the intervening period he has operated extensively in connection with the development of the oil industry in the south-west. His labors have constituted a most effective and important factor in the up-building and progress of this section of the country, nor has he ever been remiss in duties of citizenship or in recognition and utilization of the chances for contributing to the development and welfare … Read more

Biography of W. E. Taylor, M. D.

Placed at the head of a great state charitable institution, carrying the responsibility for the welfare of hundreds of unfortunates whose reason has been shattered and imbued with an earnest desire to restore his unfortunate charges to health and friends, stands Doctor W. E. Taylor, superintendent of the Illinois Western Hospital for the Insane at Watertown. He was born at Waukesha, Wisconsin, May 24, 1854, where his parents, E. T. and Esibell (Irving) Taylor resided. Here his boyhood was spent, and after thoroughly fitting him-self in preparatory schools, he entered the University of Wisconsin, and upon completing a course in … Read more

Biography of Gen. John E. Ross

GEN. JOHN E. ROSS. – No view of our state would be complete without the figure of General Ross, who was so prominent as Indian fighter and legislator in the early days. he was born in Ohio in 1818, and after a residence in Indiana and Illinois, being married at Chicago to the daughter of Alexander Robinson of that city, whose loss by death he suffered eight years later, he came to the Pacific coast, arriving in Oregon in 1847. He was captain of a company that crossed the plains, and soon after reaching the Grande Ronde came upon some … Read more

Biography of Charles E. Schaff

Charles E. Schaff, receiver for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad Company, was born on a farm in Licking county, Ohio. February 4, 1856. He is a son of the late Isaac M. Schaff, who was also born in the Buckeye state and represented one of the old families there of Dutch descent. In early life the father engaged in agricultural pursuits and later turned his attention to railroading, becoming connected with the train service of various roads. He passed away in Carroll county, Missouri, in 1888, aged fifty-seven years, having become a resident of Missouri four years before. He … Read more

Biography of Harry C. Bohrer, M. D.

Dr. Harry C. Bohrer, a St. Louis surgeon, who though among the younger representatives of the profession, has attained a prominence that many an older physician might well envy, was born in Macon, Missouri, October 8, 1890. His father, the late George W. Bohrer, was also a native of this state and a representative of an old Pennsylvania family that was established in Missouri in pioneer times. The grandfather was David Bohrer, who came to Missouri long prior to the Civil war and devoted his life to agricultural pursuits here. George W. Bohrer was reared and educated in Kansas and … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Harley Stephen Cook

Cook, Harley Stephen; claim agent New York Central Lines; born, Columbus Grove, O., Dec. 4, 1882; son of William Mitchell and Mary Trumbo Cook; education, high school, Wooster University, Ohio State University class of ’05; did not finish; married, Chicago, Ill., March 9, 1912, Blanche Irene Brady; served two years in Ohio National Guard, at Ottawa, O.; Co. M, 2nd Infantry; held rank of corporal; offered 2nd lieutenancy, but declined for business reasons; 1905-1906, in store dept. of Lake Erie & Western R. R., at Lima, O.; two and one-half years in testing dept. L. S. & M. S. R. … Read more