HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
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Joseph Reising in the same line, and this firm became one of the leading mercantile houses of the city. In February, 1890, he bought the interest of Mr. Reising, and for two years carried on the business alone, but in 1892 admitted Joseph Reising, Jr., and George W. Swanson to the firm, and put the burden of management on younger shoulders. In 1900 he sold out his mercantile interests to his partners. In the Aurora Cotton Mills Company he holds the office of director and Vice-President and is Secretary of Aurora Bleaching and Dye-works Company, and is a director in the Aurora Automatic Machinery Company. For eighteen years he has been a member of the Aurora West Side School Board, and for fifteen years President of the Board. Mr. Simmons was married in 1874 to Miss Hortense Mix, daughter of Russell C. Mix, for many years one of the leading citizens of Aurora.
DEWITT SIMPSON, manufacturer, was born Jan. 8, 1845, in Jackson County, N. Y., and grew up and received his education in the schools of that State. He came to Illinois in 1869 and established his home in Aurora, where he was employed for a few years as a salesman by the pioneer merchant, Daniel Volentine. Later he was for a time junior member of the boot and shoe firm of Brown & Simpson in Aurora, and still later traveled for ten years as the Western representative of Eastern boot and shoe manufacturers. About, 1882 he became interested in manufacturing in Aurora in connection with the Wilcox Manufacturing Company, in which he has held successively the positions of salesman, Vice-President, Manager, and President. When he first became interested in this institution, which is one of the pioneer manufactories of Aurora, it employed five men. Its growth and the business capacity of its management is evidenced by the fact that it now employs two hundred men. Mr. Simpson has also been interested in other enterprises, and is now (1903) one of the Directors of the Old Second National Bank. During a residence of a third of a century in Aurora he has been brought into intimate relations with many of the men who have been most prominent in building up the city, and he himself has taken a deep interest in promoting its welfare. He has also taken a prominent part in church work as a member of the Baptist denomination, and has been generous in his aid of charitable and benevolent enterprises.
BAXTER O. SKINNER, farmer, Plato Township, Kane County, born in Westport, Essex County, N. Y., Nov. 15, 1834, son of Oren and Charlotte (Cady) Skinner; grew up and was educated in his native community; in 1853 came to Illinois with his father's family, who settled near Plato Center, Plato Township, Kane County, where the elder Skinner lived until his death in 1861. His widow, who survived until 1881, also died on the old Skinner homestead. Baxter 0. Skinner took his father's place as manager of the family interests, and, until his recent retirement from active business, has been engaged in farming and stock-raising. He still owns the old homestead, which has been in family possession for more that a half a century. For sixteen years he served as Deputy Sheriff of Kane County, and has held various town offices. Besides Mr. Skinner, the only member of this family surviving in 1903 was Mrs. A. W. Hall, whose farm adjoins that of her brother.
PROF. GEORGE N. SLEIGHT, educator, Elgin, Ill., born in Newark, N. Y., Oct. 17, 1869; educated in the Newark Union High School, Williams College (Williamstown, Mass.), the Albany State Normal School (Albany, N. Y.) and the University of Chicago. Mr. Sleight came to Elgin in 1898, where he has since filled the position of principal of the Elgin Academy. He was married in 1894 to Miss Ada M. Collins, of Chicago.
BENJAMIN SMITH (deceased), inventor and manufacturer, was born in Ridgefield, Fair-field County, Conn., Jan. 12, 1815, and in October, 1837, removed to Chicago, where for a time he was engaged in the grocery and provision business. In 1838 he was married to Miss Rachel Van Nortwick, of Batavia, Ill. In 1846 he purchased a patent for a reaper and built his first machines in Chicago, but soon removed to Batavia, where he manufactured machines for several years, in the meanwhile making some valuable improvements. In 1857 he suffered financial loss, and in 1865 he returned to Chicago and there resided until his death in 1891, at the age of seventy-six years.
B. F. SMITH, banker, Aurora, was born in Reading, Penn., Feb. 16, 1850, and when four years old was brought to Freeport, Ill., where he grew to manhood and received his education
