844
HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
Company to thoroughly learn its business, remaining with that concern until 1869, when he went to Brooklyn, N. Y., to take charge of the Adams & Hallock Factory, where he remained until 1875. The latter year he was engaged by I. J. Steane & Co., successors to the Taunton Silver Plate Company, to open up the business in that city. After a successful year the plant was removed from Taunton to New York, where his employers kept him in charge until 1886, in the meantime buying the Albany Silver Plate Factory, which they removed to New York to take the place of their first plant destroyed by fire. In September, 1886, Mr. Lincoln came west and took charge of the Silver Plate Company at Aurora, acting as its Superintendent, a position which he has held to the present time. Mr. Lincoln is a member of the G. A. R., and is Past Commander of Post No. 20, Aurora. He is now serving his third term as Chancellor of the local lodge, K. P., and is Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifth Illinois Regiment of the order. He served as Alderman from the First Ward from 1892 to 1896, and was President of the Board of Public Works under Mayor Howard. Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln have three children: Percy G., born in Taunton, now in business in Aurora; Carrie, the wife of Dr. A. H. McLaughlin, of Aurora; and Emma V., the wife of Dr. M. D. Jones, of Chicago.
JOHN LINDEN, manufacturer, Aurora, Ill., born in Luxemburg, Germany, June 12, 1848, came with his parents to the United States in 1862, arriving in Aurora, Ill., on April 12 of the same year, and four days later began work in the J. G. Stolp Woolen Mill of that city. Mr. Linden was connected with this enterprise in various capacities until 1884, being promoted to boss carder in 1867, assistant superintendent in 1870 and superintendent in 1879, filling the latter position for five years, when he resigned and engaged in the plumbing and gas-fitting business at 36 Fox Street, Aurora. He was the first plumber on the Island, and on May 12, 1886, made the first tap to the city water-mains, the city water-works having been installed in 1884-5. Continuing in the plumbing and gas-fitting business until 1892, he then sold his establishment to Lake, Judd & Gillette, and on June 22, 1894, was appointed by Mayor J. C. Murphy first Superintendent of Sewers, Plumbing and Buildings of Aurora, a position he is holding at the present time (1904). Mr. Linden is also interested in the Aurora Iron Works and the Linden Manufacturing Company, and was the organizer of the last named corporation. As a stock-holder he is identified with three Aurora banks, and was one of the organizers of and a stock-holder in the first street-railway company of that city. Mr. Linden has been a leading spirit in promoting many manufacturing and business enterprises which have contributed largely to the building up of Aurora. He has taken an active part in politics as a member of the Republican party. On June 22, 1870, he was married to Miss Lena Reckinger, and they live in a modern home at 102 Downer Place, one of the handsomest streets of the city.
JOHN W. LINDEN, merchant and member of the General Assembly, Aurora, Ill., was born in Luxemburg, Germany, Jan. 26, 1859, and was brought to this country by his parents in 1862. The family settled in Aurora, and there Mr. Linden was reared to manhood and educated in the local schools. Becoming connected as an apprentice with Stolp's Woolen Mills in Aurora when only eleven years of age, during the earlier years of his business career he had charge of the carding and spinning department of the mill. Since 1885 he has been engaged in the wholesale and retail liquor trade, and for a number of years has been one of the leaders of the Democratic party in Kane County. In 1891 he was elected a member of the Aurora Board of Aldermen, and has served continuously in that body up to the present time (1904). In 1902 he was elected a member of the Forty-third General Assembly, and is still a member of that body. As Chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Committee his services to the party have been highly appreciated. In 1885 he married Miss Katherine Winkle, of Aurora.
ALEXANDER C. LITTLE, lawyer, Aurora, Ill., born in Rome, N. Y., Jan. 18, 1838, son of John and Nancy (Ray) Little, was educated in the home schools and at Antioch College, and came with his parents to Illinois in 1851, the family locating at Big Rock, Kane County. He studied medicine in Joliet and Aurora, graduating from the medical department of the University of Iowa in 1858, then engaged in medical practice until 1862, when he enlisted as a private in Company K, One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and
