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HISTORY OF KANE COUXTY.
of Silas W. and Emma (Morgan) Curtis. Both his parents were reared in old Stockbridge, Berkshire County, Mass., the father being of English and the mother of Welch extraction. When Elisha E. was five years of age, his father's family, having been temporarily located in Georgia, returned to Massachusetts for a brief stay, and in the spring of 1850 came from the latter State to Kane County, Ill. His father had previously visited Illinois in the '40s, and in 1849 purchased a farm between Geneva and Batavia on what is now known as Batavia Avenue. The family established their home on this farm in the pioneer days, and here the elder Mr. Curtis died in 1892, his wife surviving until 1897. Before his death Mr. Curtis had subdivided his farm, and some of the most attractive country homes of Kane County have been built on this land. Elisha E. Curtis grew to manhood in Geneva, where he obtained his education. In 1861 he enlisted in the Fifty-second Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry for service in the War of the Rebellion, and was mustered out with his regiment at Louisville, Ky., in July, 1865, after serving his country valiantly for nearly four years. Returning to Illinois after the close of the war, he was employed by his father in the coal and lumber trade and conduct of the farm until 1879, when he entered 1he employ of the Chicago & North-Western Railroad, with which he remained until 1895. During most of the time he was employed by the railroad company he lived in Chicago, but since the death of his father, he has occupied the old homestead in Geneva. He is a member of the order of Railway Conductors. Mr. Curtis was married in 1888 to Miss Elizabeth Carey, daughter of Edward Carey of West Chicago.
RICHARD DALE, farmer. Big Rock, Ill., born in County Durham, England, July 28, 1824; came with his parents to America in 1852, and came to Kane County, Ill., in the same year, where he lived with his parents on a farm in Big Rock Township; married Miss Ann Summers, who died in 1891.
EBEN DANPORD (deceased), manufacturer, Geneva. Ill., was born near Concord, N. H., March 23, 1814, and served an apprenticeship to the machinist trade at Lowell, Mass. Later he was employed by the Adams Printing Press Manufacturing Company, at Boston, and the Hudson River Locomotive Company, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., until 1839. That year he came to Geneva, Ill., where he erected a machine shop. He invented a mowing machine and the Dan-ford super-heated steam-generator. He married Parmelia A. Howard, daughter of David and Ella (Irwin) Howard, pioneer settlers of Aurora, where he died in 1894.
RALPH DANFORD (deceased), manufacturer, Geneva, Ill., was born in Geneva, Ill., March 6, 1854, and died in Lockport, Ill., Sept. 19, 1896. He was a son of Eben and Parmelia (Harvard) Danford, his father in his lifetime being one of the noted inventors of Illinois. Ralph Danford secured his education in the Geneva schools, and began working with his father when only sixteen years of age. Later he became a druggist in Geneva, and continued in that business until 1895. During that year he sold out and removed to Lockport, where he spent his last year. In 1886 he married Miss Sarah Denney, of Aurora.
BENJAMIN DANFORTH, retired manufacturer, Batavia, Ill., born in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, Aug. 1, 1825; grew to manhood and received his educational training in his native country, and in 1847 was married to Miss Sarah Hardcastle; came to the United States in 1850 and first established his home in Chicago; removed to Batavia the following year, where he engaged in the manufacture of horse-shoe nails, a trade he had learned in England; later engaged in the manufacture of nails by machinery and operated a machine shop until he retired from business in 1901. Mr. Danforth always possessed a fondness for music and is noted locally as an accomplished vocalist. Mrs. Danforth died in Batavia in 1894. They reared a large family of children, four of whom were living in 1903.
FREDERIC H. DANIELS, physician, Batavia, Ill., was born Aug. 22, 1855, at Union, Me., graduated at Bowdoin College in his native State, after which he served ten years on the medical staff of the Worcester Lunatic Hospital, Worcester, Mass., occupying the position of Assistant Superintendent, and for ten years later serving as Superintendent of the Bellevue Place Sanitarium at Batavia, Ill. Dr. Daniels was married Nov. 6, 1896, to Addie Stimpson, of Maine.
