HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
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of America, and in politics is a Democrat. For sixteen years he has been an Alderman of St. Charles, twelve of which were consecutive terms. He was married Feb. 25, 1865, to Miss Julia, daughter of Martin Lawler, of Burlington. Iowa.
RODNEY WELCH (deceased), educator and journalist, Chicago, was born in Monmouth, Me. Nov. 19, 1828, and died in Chicago, May 29, 1897. The farm on which he was born wag granted to the family by Lady Temple, sister of the founder of Bowdoin College, and is still in possession of the Welch family. Rodney Welch graduated from Bowdoin College and became a school teacher. Coming to Illinois in 1855, he became the first principal of the Geneva High School; later he was Professor of Chemistry in the old Chicago University, and still later occupied the same chair in Hahne-mann Medical College. He became associated with the Chicago press as one of the editors of the "Prairie Farmer," and subsequently was an editorial associate with Wilbur F. Story on the Chicago "Times," a connection that existed many years after the death of Mr. Story. Mr. Welch was one of the founders of the Chicago Press Club, and acted as its President for many years. He was also one of the founders of the Chicago Philosophical Society and the Saracen Club, the latter at one time the leading literary club of Chicago. In 1853 he married Miss Abbie Frances Stevens, of New Portland, Me.
OWEN B. WELD (deceased), Elgin, was born in Orford, N. H., Oct. 24, 1831, son of Francis and Harriet (Mann) Weld, and was brought by his parents into Kane County, Ill., in 1837. His early experiences were those of a boy on an Indian-ridden frontier, and in a country so sparsely settled that, when the settlers held their first Fourth of July picnic, but thirteen adult persons were present. Mr. Weld was educated in the schools of the district, and his natural studiousness and wide reading made him a man of broad intelligence in later years. Reared to farming, he purchased the old homestead which his father had secured from the Government, and as opportunity offered added to his real estate holdings until he became a very extensive land owner. Until 1884 he continued to live on the old place which is still in the possession of the family, and Mount Weld, as it is called, is one of the land-marks of the country adjacent to Elgin. In 1884 Mr. Weld removed to Elgin, where he purchased the finest home in the city, and there he lived until his death, Dec. 1, 1899. Mr. Weld was married Jan. 11, 1853, to Miss Elizabeth Kelley, daughter of John H. and Eliza (Mansfield) Kelley, born in Schenectady, N. Y., of which city her father was at one time Mayor. Her mother came of a noted English family. Mr. and Mrs. Kelley came to Illinois in 1844, and settled in Rutland Township, Kane County, where they were among the most noted of the early pioneers. They had a family of four sons and two daughters, all of whom have been prominent and prosperous. Mrs. Weld, who is the younger daughter, is a lady of literary attainments and marked business ability. The surviving members of Mr. Weld's family, other than his widow, are Mrs. Hattie (Weld) Wing, of Elgin, and Mrs. Mary (Weld) Page, of Chicago.
SALEM E. WELD, merchant and operator in real estate, Elgin, Ill., was born in Elgin, Aug. 3. 1842. son of Francis and Harriet (Mann) Weld. Francis Weld was born in Charlton, Mass., Dec. 31, 1797, and in 1825 was married to Harriet Mann, at, Orfordville, N. H. They came to Illinois in 1837, where she died in 1865,
