HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
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York State to Hannah G. Roth, and came with his family to Illinois in 1856, locating on a farm in Plato Township, Kane County, where he passed the remainder of his life, dying there in 1882; his wife dying in 1881. Mr. and Mrs. Rue reared a family of eight sons and three daughters, seven of whom are living in 1903.
THOMAS J. RUSHTON, attorney-at-law, Elgin, Ill., was born April 2, 1854, in Walworth County, Wis., educated in the Sharon and Walworth Academies and in the law department of the University of Iowa, from which he graduated in 1880. Prior to his University course he was engaged in farming and in teaching, devoting his leisure hours to the study of law, in which he ranked high, and was admitted to the bar the year of his graduation at the University. His active practice, however, did not begin until 1882, when he opened an office in Elgin and became a partner of John H. Williams. For five years the two continued together, since which time Mr. Rushton has been by himself. From 1890 to 1898 he served as Police Magistrate at Elgin, and for one term was Assistant Supervisor. Fraternally he is an Odd Fellow. Mr. Rushton is an attorney of general practice and does business in all State and National Courts. He was married in 1884 to Miss Clara Croker, of Chicago, and is the father of four interesting children. Grace, Frances Emily and John C. are students in the Elgin High School. George C., the youngest, is seven years old.
JOHN A. RUSSELL, lawyer, Elgin, Ill., was born in St. Charles, Ill., Oct. 4, 1854, of Scotch parentage. Being left an orphan in early childhood, he was brought up by relatives in Kane County and received his educational training in the public schools and Elgin Academy. He read law in the office of Botsford & Barry, Elgin, and was admitted to the bar in the Supreme Court of Illinois in 1879. He began practicing his profession in Elgin, and except a brief interval, when he was in the service of the United States Government in Porto Rico, he has been continuously engaged in practice in that city, where he has taken rank among the leading attorneys of Northern Illinois and has been identified with much of the most important litigation which has occupied the attention of the courts of Kane County in later years. For three years he was City Attorney of Elgin, and for four years State's Attorney of Kane County. After the Spanish-American War he was appointed Attorney General of Porto Rico and filled that position with credit to himself and the Insular Government until climatic conditions became injurious to his health and private business interests at home caused him to tender his resignation. Prominent in the councils of the Republican party, he has been officially identified with the conduct of many campaigns and has gained much more than local distinction as an eloquent and effective public speaker. He is a Scottish Rite Mason and affiliates with the subordinate Masonic orders. He is identified with the manufacturing interests of Kane County as President of the W. H. Howell Company, an important industry at Geneva, Ill. In 1888 he was married to Clara Mair, daughter of James Mair, one of the pioneer merchants of Batavia, Ill.
HENRY RYAN, merchant and manufacturer, Aurora, Ill., born at Dorset, Vt, Jan. 25, 1843, was reared in his native town, educated in its schools, and trained to the hardware business and the tinner's trade while still a boy. In 1867 he came west to Aurora, and entered the hardware store of R. T. Hurd & Company, with which he was connected until 1870, when he established himself in the hardware trade as the junior member of the firm of Stoddard & Ryan. Some years later Mr. Ryan purchased his partner's interest and the business is still continued on River Street, where it has been carried on for a third of a century. Mr. Ryan was the original maker of the "Aurora dinner pail," which is used all over the country. He is still the largest manufacturer and wholesale dealer in this specialty. In 1873 he married Miss Susan Sheffler, of Plainfield, Ill.
GEORGE E. SAWYER (deceased), pioneer farmer, Dundee Township, Kane County, Ill., was born in Orford, N. H., Oct. 16, 1815, and reared at Bradford, Vt., coming from there to Kane County, Ill., in 1837. He began the journey in April by wagon, and reached the present site of Elgin the following October. Shortly after he bought a farm near the present location of Dundee, being numbered among the very first settlers of Dundee Township. He followed agricultural pursuits until he retired from active business life, and was one of the most prosperous of the pioneer dairy farmers. He spent
