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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
Among these early, hardy settlers, and those who followed them, may be found the names of many who imparted the first impulse to the county's growth and home-likeness; the many who, through their identification with general agricultural pursuits, dairying and stock-raising, aided in her material progress; of skilled mechanics, who first laid the foundations of beautiful homes and productive industries; and of the members of the learned professions-clergymen, physicians, educators and lawyers-whose influence upon the intellectual life and development of a community it is impossible to over-estimate.
Municipal institutions arise; Commerce spreads her sails and prepares the way for the magic of Science that drives the locomotive engine over iron rails. Trade is organized, stretching its arms across the prairie to gather in and distribute the products of the soil. Church spires rise to express, in architectural form, the faith and aspirations of the people, while schools, public and private, elevate the standards of education and of artistic taste.
Here are many of the men through whose labors, faith and thought, these magnificent results have been achieved. To them, and to their co-laborers, the Kane County of. today stands an enduring monument, attesting their faith, their energy, their courage, and their self-sacrifice.
[The following items of personal and family history, having been arranged in encyclopedic: (or alphabetical) order as to names of the individual subjects, no special index to this part of the work will be found necessary-1
CHARLES L. ABBOTT, attorney, Elgin, Ill.; born in the city where he now resides, April 7, 1865; educated in the public schools of Elgin and read law in the office of Frank W. Joslyn; admitted to the bar in 1896 and immediately entered into practice; served as City Attorney two years, and was City Alderman from 1901 to 1903; appointed Assistant State's Attorney in December, 1900, and is still serving in that capacity. Mr. Abbott married. May 1, 1890, Mary Schmidt of Elgin.
EDWARD H. ABBOTT, M. D., physician and surgeon, Elgin, Ill., born Nov. 6, 1866, in Elgin, Ill., son of Frank U. Abbott; received his literary education in the Elgin city schools, and his professional training in Rush Medical College, from which he graduated in 1895. At fourteen years of age he began life for himself as a worker in the Elgin Watch Factory, remaining there for the ensuing twelve years. While in the employ of the Watch Company he completed a high school course with additional branches. He then entered the Medical College in March, 1892, and, having already studied with Dr. Tefft, he was able to shorten the course by a year, completing the full course in three years, and immediately after graduating began practice in Elgin. Dr. Abbott is a member of the American Medical and the Illinois State Medical Associations and of Fox River Valley Society. At the time of the Spanish-American War he was active in the organization and became Surgeon, with the rank of Major, of the John B. Hamilton (or Sons of Veterans) Regiment, an organization which, though pro-. visional, had the reputation of being the best organized of the provisional regiments of Illinois. He now holds a commission as Surgeon and Major (unassigned) in the Illinois National Guard, and a complimentary commission from the State Legislature of Illinois. He is a Royal Arch Mason, an Odd-Fellow, and Medical Director of the Archfean Union, a fraternal insurance order. Dr. Abbott was married in 1901 to Miss Ethelyn M. Wells, of Elgin, and they have one son.
WILLIAM H. ABEL, retired farmer and merchant, Batavia, Ill., was born in Dutchess County, near Poughkeepsie, N. Y., Sept. 3, 1827, son of John and Miranda Abel. He was brought up on a farm and educated in the public schools. In New York State he followed agricultural pursuits until 1858, when he left there to come to Illinois. For fifteen years thereafter he was engaged in the lumber, live-stock and wool trade in Sandwich, Ill. Afterward he was in the lumber trade in Chicago for a time. In 1878 he came to Kane County and was engaged in farming near Batavia until 1892 when he retired from active business and established his home in the city of Batavia. Besides his farming and other interests already mentioned, he has been a stock-holder in the Metropolitan and First National Banks, of Chicago, for many years, and in the first quarter of the year 1903 received his eighty-third dividend on this stock. He married, in 1852, Miss Elizabeth Vail, daughter of Joseph Vail, of Dutchess County, N. Y.
