782
HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
THOMAS B. EVANS, farmer and stock-raiser, Geneva Township, Kane County, born in Chester County, Penn., Oct. 30, 1839; reared and educated in his native State; trained to farming, and followed that occupation in Pennsylvania until 1870, when he came to Illinois; purchased a farm near Geneva in 1878, where he has since resided, giving special attention to breeding Chester White hogs and Oxford Down sheep. He was married in 1865 to Miss Mary Ann Todd, daughter of John Todd, of Mochlan, Chester County, Penn., one of the founders of the stock-yards at Philadelphia.
JACOB EYE, merchant, Aurora, Ill., was born in the city where he now resides, Feb. 21, 1857, son of Joseph Eye, who came to Aurora in 1852 from Jackson, Mich., but was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany. The elder Eye was one of the early German residents of Aurora, anil was still living in 1903 at the age of eighty-three years. The subject of this sketch grew to manhood in Aurora, was educated in the public schools and learned the tinner's trade. His first business venture was in the tinware trade; in 1883 he added to this a stock of hardware, and has since been engaged in this line of business, the present commercial house of which he is the proprietor being the successor of the little tin-shop which he started in his early manhood. While devoting the larger portion of his time to merchandising, Mr. Eye has also been identified with other enterprises in Aurora and elsewhere. He was married in 1884 to Miss Mary Reising, daughter of Joseph Reising, who died in 1902.
JOHN PARRELL (deceased), pioneer farmer of Dundee Township, Kane County, Ill., born in Ireland in 1803; came to the United States in boyhood, locating with the first settlers in Dundee Township in 1837, and became one of the largest land owners in the township, his estate, at the time of his death in 1879, embracing about 900 acres. He was an excellent type of the hardy, courageous pioneer, as well as an enterprising and sagacious business man. He married Catherine Donovan, who died in 1865, and their children were: Jeremiah (deceased), John (deceased), Timothy, Dennis and William.
WILLIAM FARRELL, farmer and stock-raiser, Dundee Township, Kane County, Ill., born in the township where he now resides, April 12, J840, son of John and Catherine (Donovan) Farrell; educated in the pioneer schools and located in 1868 on the farm which he now owns, and where he resides; has been Road Commissioner for twenty years, besides holding other township offices; married, in 1868, Catherine McCartney, who died in 1880, leaving four living children, viz.: Catherine, J. W., W. A. and E. C.
CHARLES F. FIELD, banker, Geneva, Ill., born at Ellisburg, Jefferson County, N. Y., June 20, 1853; received his early education in the schools of his native town, which he left in 1867, when he accompanied his parents to Batavia, Ill., where he attended school two years and then spent six months on a farm. He was engaged in the express business for one year, and when he was nineteen years of age established himself in dairy farming, an occupation he followed for nineteen years. In the fall of 1889, in company with W. H. Gaunt, he established the Bank of Geneva, of which he took the entire management. In 1901 he purchased his partner's interest in the bank, and is still engaged in its management. He is also interested in fire insurance. Mr. Field has served several terms as City Treasurer of Geneva, and