pointed special agent for Wisconsin of the Metropolitan Fire Insur-
ance Company. In January, 1865, he became general agent for
the Northwestern States, and, in the succeeding April, general
manager of the Western and Southwestern States. His law connec-
tion with Mr. Ellis continued until July, when he removed to Chi-
cago, determining that this city was the proper locality in which to
make his headquarters. In October, Mr. F"urber was chosen vice-
president of the Universal Life Insurance Company of New York,
and went to that city to reside, where he remained until the spring
of 1S79, having entire charge of the great business interests of that
corporation. Returning to Chicago, in May of that year, he asso-
ciated himself with Judge Yan H. Higgins and Judge Cothran in
the practice of law. Judge Cothran retired in April, 1SS2, and
since that time the firm have given their entire attention to the care
of their extensive business interests. Messrs. Higgins. Laflin and
Furber are virtual proprietors of the National Life Insurance Com-
pany, and they are largely interested in other corporations of a like
character. Mr. Furber is a Mason in high standing, being past
master of Astor Lodge, New York, and a member of Republic
Chapter, Palestine Commandery and New York Consistory. He
was married at Green Bay, Wis., on January 7, 1862, to Miss Elvira
Irwin. They have three sons.

John H. Muhlkf. (deceased) was born in Germany, Novem-
ber 23, 1826. His parents emigrated to America in 1S42, and,
after a short stay in Buffalo, located in Chicago. John then worked
for Grant Goodrich, about his house, and remained with the fam-
ily two or three years. He then obtained a situation in the store
of Isaac Strahl, a merchant on Clark Street, and also worked a
long time for Hamlin, Day & Co. Upon the failure of Mr. Bige-
low, a dry goods merchant, by whom he was employed, he was ap-
pointed assignee, and afterward formed a co-partnership with his
brother and son. This was about the year 1855. A few years
thereafter, he took charge of the property of Carl G. Uhlich, who
had become involved financially. After the death of Mr. and Mrs.
Uhlich, in 1S67, Mr. Muhlke did not return to active business, but
spent his time in managing his valuable estate. Aside from his
business interests, his energies were devoted to his Church, of



jU^i -<,£



which he was secretary for over a quarter of a century, and to the
Uhlich Orphan Asylum, connected with it. Of the latter noble
charity he was president from the time of its organization up to
the time of his death, August 26, 1879. Mr. Muhlke left a widow,
formerly Catharine C. Kunst, and eight children. Louisa, the
eldest child, is the wife of Jacob H. Tiedemann; Anna, now Mrs.
Phillip Ilenrici; Henrv C. Muhlke, George F. Muhlke, Joseph H.
Muhlke, Katie C, the wife of Charles J. Harpel; Wallie G. and
Adelaide A.

Calvin DeWolf, probably the oldest lawyer of continuous
practice in Chicago, is one of its strong local characters — a bond
between the early and the present city. He was a pioneer abo-
litionist, one of the fathers of the municipal laws, and a popular and
respected justice of the peace for over a quarter of a century. Mr.
DeWolf was born February 18, 1815, at Braintrim, Luzerne Co.,
Penn., being the oldest son of a family of thirteen children. Soon
after his birth, his parents removed to Cavendish, Vt., but when he
was five years old, returned to Braintrim, and, in 1S24, settled in
Bradford County, Penn. Up to his majority, Calvin passed his
time working upon his father's farm and in obtaining an education.
With the assistance of a private tutor and his father, he gained a



fair knowledge of Latin, higher mathematics and surveying. He
also taught school for a time previous to 1836, when he left home
to pursue a course at the Grand River Institute, a manual labor
school in Ashtabula County, Ohio. On October 31, 1S37, he arrived
in Chicago, poor, friendless and courageous ; was unable to obtain



THE LITERATURE OF CHICAGO.



483



employment as a teacher, and after making application, on foot,
at different settlements along Fox River, finally located as a teacher,
in Hadley, Will Co.. 111. He returned to Chicago in the spring
of 1S3S, and engaged in various occupations, before he was able to
obtain a chance to study law in the office of Spring & Goodrich.
After teaching two years longer, he was admitted to the Bar in May.
1843, and commenced practice. For eleven years he held closely to
the duties of his profession, obtaining a large business and hosts of
friends. In 1S54, Mr. DeWolf was elected justice of the peace and
continued to strengthen himself in the public regard by the manner
in which, for a quarter of a century, he performed the duties at-
taching to that position. He was elected alderman in 1S56, and, as
chairman of the committee which revised the city ordinances during
his term, he accomplished very much toward framing the municipal
government as it now exists. He also was alderman from 1866 to
1868, and has been twice a member of the board of supervisors of
Cook County. From early manhood he was an earnest and honest
abolitionist, secretary of the first society ever formed in Chicago to
spread anti-slavery views, and one of the founders of the Western



Citizen, established by the State society as an anti-slavery organ.
At the October term of the United States Court for the northern
district of Illinois, in 1S60, an indictment was found against Mr.
DeWolf for the alleged crime of " aiding a negro slave, called Eliza,
to escape from her master," one Stephen F. Nuckolls, of Nebraska.
He gave bail in the sum of $2, 500; but in December, 1S01, upon
the motion of the United States District attorney, the case was dis-
missed. After the expiration of his office as justice of the peace,
in 1S79, Mr. DeWolf resumed the practice of his profession, in
which he is still actively engaged. In June, 1841, he was married
to Frances Kimball. They have had five children — Ellen L., wife
of Robert B. Hell, of Normalville, Cook County; Anna Spaulding,
who in 1877 went to New Orleans a teacher of colored children, and
died at Bay St. Louis, Miss., in September, 1878 ; Mary Frances,
wife of Milo G. Kellogg, of Chicago; Wallace L.; and Alice, wife
of L. D. Kneeland. who died at Kokomo, Col., in March, 1882.
Mr. DeWolf and his wife are members of the Sixth Presbyterian
Church.



THE LITERATURE OF CHICAGO.



The great fire may have been to Chicago a blessing
in disguise, so far as her material prosperity is con-
cerned, yet the calamity entailed losses for which there
can be no compensation, among them being that of her
archives. The records of the early settlers and the evi-
dences of the growth of literature that accompany the
increase of individual fortunes were swept away so
completely that no trace of them remains, except such
as may be found in some chance allusion in books,
stray newspapers, public documents that escaped the
flames, or in the memory of our oldest citizens. Such a
loss is a disaster, not only to Chicago but to the country
generally. When future historians of the marvelous
progress of the United States come to seek for the rec-
ords and explanations of the unparalleled development
of the West, they will lack the materials which the burned
archives of this city, civic as well as private, might have
furnished. True, many citizens who were active partici-
pators in the social and intellectual progress of Chicago
long before the fire, survive; but time casts a mist over
memory, and, even for the period between 1857 and
187 1, few can recall, with exactitude, the literary condi-
tion of the metropolis of the West. A full list of pub-
lications during that period cannot be obtained, and the
records and proceedings of the most important literary
and scientific societies were either badly mutilated or en-
tirely destroyed. The Historical Society of Chicago is
still seeking to complete its records up to the fall of
187 1. By carefully examining old newspapers, stray
legal and other documents, and by searching for chance
references to the proceedings of the Society in contem-
porary literature and the records of contemporary
associations, much has been accomplished.

In this period, the greatest literary activity was
developed during the War of the Rebellion. From the
time the first shot was fired at Fort Sumter until the
fall of Richmond, Chicago had her share of pamphlet-
eers and bookmakers upon all the important topics
of the day. The bulk of that literature was naturally
partisan and ephemeral. Fergus Brothers, the old
Chicago publishers, on Illinois Street, have rendered
valuable services to the future historian, by re-publish-
ing an important series of tractates and lectures that
were given to the public in the years before the fire.
But these are necessarily incomplete, and furnish imper-
fect pictures of the progress of thought or science in
this city between 1857 and 1871. They suggest how



great a loss to the annals of Chicago was caused by the
fire, and serve to show the vast interest then taken in
historical researches, more particularly concerning the
State of Illinois and the City of Chicago; also, the grad-
ual formation of public sentiment on the grave political
issues pending between the North and South, ultimately
settled by the arbitration of arms.

The population of this city between 1857 and 1871
increased from ninety-three thousand to about three
hundred and fifty thousand, and literary and scien-
tific societies increased in proportion. Many of them,
however, were of a dilettante character, having social
aims, and cultivated a taste for literature by much
dancing and feasting, perhaps remembering Sidney
Smith's suggestion that the motto of the Edinburgh
Review should be " the cultivation of literature on a
little oatmeal." The principal literary and historical
societies of this city have been the old Chicago Ly-
ceum and the Historical Society. Both of these ex-
isted with a serious purpose; and to them we owe much
of our information as to Chicago's early literary pro-
gress. The former society expanded gradually into the
Young Men's Association, and then into the Chicago
Library Association, which may be regarded as the /o /is
et origo of our present Public Library. The Lyceum
promoted lectures on such useful subjects as Joseph N.
Balestier's "Annals of Chicago"; while the kind of work
done by the Historical Society is indicated by the lec-
ture by Mr. Brown on the early pro-slavery sentiment
in Illinois. As with the valuable records of the Histor-
ical Society, so with those of the Young Men's Asso-
ciation — the fire left them sadly incomplete, yet such
as remain are invaluable aids to the historian.

Before 1857, Chicago's publishing firms were few,
and without facilities for extensive publication. Their
principal operations consisted of the sale of books and
stationery. Subsequently, S. C. Griggs & Co. and
Fergus Brothers did the greater part of the purely local
publishing, Keen, Cooke & Co. did a portion, and
George Sherwood & Co. published a series of school-
books, although it maybe remarked that Griggs & Bross
was the first firm in the State of Illinois that brought
out an elementary educational work.

S. C. Griggs was a member of a New York firm
from 1848 to 1864, and, after buying out the interest of
his partners, he conducted the publishing business alone.
It was not until after the year 1871, that Mr. Griggs



4*4



HISTORY OF CHICAGO.



established a strictly publishing business on his own ac-
count, and the firm of Jansen, McClurg & Co. was
placed upon its present basis. General McClurg is of
the opinion that there was very little publishing done in
Chicago before 187 1, and that the stimulus which the
business has since received had its origin in the intense
vitality which that disaster developed. It was to the




BOOKSELLERS ROW.

East that the reading public looked for their chief sources
of intellectual enjoyment.

Perhaps the most ambitious scientific work published
in this city was Foster's " Mississippi Valley ; its Phys-
ical Geography, including Sketches of the Topography,
Botany, Climate, Geology, and Mineral Resources ; and
the Progress of Development in the Population and
Material Wealth," from the press of Church, Goodman
& Donnelley. Almost simultaneously with its publica-
tion by S. C. Griggs & Co., in 1869, it was produced
by Messrs. Triibner, of London. Dr. Foster was presi-
dent of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science, and lecturer on Physical Geography and
Cognate Sciences in the University of Chicago, and his
work was highly commended in scientific circles for its
theories concerning the formation of the mountains and
plains of the Mississippi valley, as well as for its account
of the prairies of the West and the llanos and pampas
of South America.

The book, par excellence, that Chicago has pro-
duced, in the estimation of Dr. William Frederick
Poole, librarian of the Chicago Public Library, is Mrs.
J. H. Kinzie's " Waubun." This volume was originally
published before 1857, and has been republished in
several cities of the United States — a New York edition
appearing during 1856, and two editions a little later in
Philadelphia. As a picture of early settler's life among
the aborigines of the West, Mrs. Kinzie's book is as
much appreciated in the Eastern States as it has been
in the West.

Shortly before 187 1, G. P. Upton, the musical critic
of the Chicago Tribune, published a series of letters in
book form, which were written over the nom de plume
of " 1'eregrine Pickle." These letters treated social
subjects in a light and pleasant fashion. The Western
News Company were the publishers, and when they
were burned out, tin- plates of Mr. Upton's book were



lost. Mr. Upton was also author of the " Gunnybags
Letters," and attained reputation as a translator. About
this time Franc K. Wilkie, of the Chicago Times,
printed a very popular volume, written under the pseu-
donym of " Poliuto."

Chicago was too deeply immersed in business dur-
ing those early days to be a congenial atmosphere for
poetry, although in the newspapers and magazines of
the day were many effusions. The Chicago war-songs,
for sudden popular effect, were equal to those produced
in any other part of the country, and those published
by Messrs. .Root & Cady did much toward keeping
alive the enthusiasm which ultimately crushed the Re-
bellion. Many a soldier has been nerved to duty by
the chorus of " Marching through Georgia " ; many a
man has gone into battle, whose soul had just been
cheered for the fray by the strains of the " Battle Cry
of Freedom" ; and when not shouting "Tramp, Tramp,
Tramp, the Boys are Marching," many a soldier, think-
ing of home, has found the asperities of camp-life soft-
ened by George F. Root's song of the "Vacant Chair."
The songs of a nation are sometimes more potent than
battalions, and Chicago, by her martial songs, must have
been worth to the Union casse many a veteran brigade.
Henry Clay Work, the author of " Grandfather's Clock,"
was associated with Messrs. Root & Cady in their
labors. Mr. Lewis, of the Chicago Music Company
(Lewis, Newell & Gibbs), was with Root & Cady when
" The Battle Cry of Freedom " was written by Mr.
Work, and he can scarcely tell the tale yet of its first
public reception, without betraying, in voice and eye,
the unextinguished fire of the old enthusiasm. Another
famous song of those days was Root's " Lay me down
and save the Flag," the well-known last words of Colonel
Mulligan.

S. C. Griggs bears testimony to the cordial recep-
tion extended by scholars to the works of Professor J.
R. Boise, of the Chicago University. His edition of
Homer's Iliad is now a recognized text-book, and his




RUIN'S, BOOKSELLERS ROW

" Greek Lessons " is considered by teachers scarcely
less valuable.

The plates of Arnold's "Lincoln and Slavery" were
destroyed, but the author had, fortunately, preserved



THE LITERATURE OF CHICAGO.



4«5



material which enabled him to produce his very com-
plete "Life of Abraham Lincoln," which was of such
excellence that it secured a ready welcome from the
public for other historical works by the same author.
Following in the same field, though not covering so
wide a range, came Edward G. Mason, who occupied a
prominent position in local literary circles. Of the
"History of the Army of the Cumberland" there are
probably now extant very few copies, although the
edition was three thousand.

J. W. Sheahan, author of the " Life of Stephen A.
Douglas," for twenty-nine years identified with journal-
ism, was also well known as a pamphlet writer. While
furnishing valuable matter for the Times, the Morning
Post, the Republican and the Tribune, he still found
time and energy, to produce his "Atlas of General
History," which, for carefully prepared comparative
chronological tables and general scope, received uni-
versal praise.

Elias Colbert, commercial editor of the Tribune,
compiled a careful history of Chicago up to 1868,
which has been a vade mccum for students in local
history. In addition to his reputation as a local histor-
ian, Mr. Colbert attained an enviable prominence as a
scientist, based upon his " Astronomy with the Tele-
scope," " Star Studies," and other works. He is a man
of versatile acquirements. To an acquaintance with the
classics, he adds a fair knowledge of Hebrew, a little of
Sanscrit, a great familiarity with the modern languages,
and a scholarly acquaintance with mathematics, politi-
cal econoni)', general literature, and the natural sciences.
The publisher of his " History of Chicago " was Patrick
T. Sherlock, deceased, who was a well-known Irish
patriot, and a member of the famous Irish Directory in
the Rebellion of 1848.

Benjamin F. Taylor contributed to the Chicago
Journal, and also wrote many charming poems and
stories before he retired to Michigan, where he now
resides, full of years and honors. Rev. Robert Collyer
wrote ably upon religious matters, and distinguished
himself by his liberal views. William H. Bushnell,
now in the Government Printing Office at Washing-
ton, entertained Chicago readers by his stories and
poems before he went East. T. R. Dawley wrote and
published many of his own works, and is remembered
as having been always willing to lend a helping hand to
younger aspirants for literary honors. John Went-
worth, and a score of others, might be mentioned, who
have published writings, fugitive and otherwise, on the
topics of the hour.

In the list of the publishing houses from 1857 to 187 1
appear the names of Culver, Page & Hoyne, the
American Tract Society, S. C. Griggs & Co., Robert
Fergus, D. B. Cooke, Rand, McNally & Co., Sherwood &
Co., E. B. Myers, Callaghan & Co., C. S. Halsey,
Clarke & Co., and Church, Goodman & Donnelley. All
these were doing business in a comparatively small way,
and, as a rule, combining the publication business with
the sale of books and stationery.

The " art preservative " is as essential to the perpe-
tuation of the author's genius as is the marble to the
sculptor, or the builder to the architect. No history of
literature can offer any claim to completeness which
fails to mention the vast army of publishers, booksellers,
printers and lithographers, whose artistic skill and
patient effort have done so much to supply the reading
public with sources of intellectual culture. Many of
Chicago's old publishers and "book-men" have passed
away, but it is a pleasant task to recall and perpetuate



their memories, as well as to chronicle the results
attained by those who have followed in their footsteps.

Robert Fergus, the historic printer of Chicago, and prac-
tically the pioneer of publishing, arrived in this city on Monday,
July 1, 1839, by the old-time side-wheel steamer "Anthony Wayne,"
of the Buffalo and Chicago line, commanded by Captain Amos
Pratt. He was born on August 14, 1S15, in the Gallowgate of
Glasgow, Scotland, and was the fifth and youngest son of John and




THE HISTORIC PRINTER OF CHICAGO.



Margaret Patterson (Aitken) Fergus. Four miles northwest of
Glasgow Cross, at the village of Maryhill, William Leckie presided
over a small school, and to his charge Robert was committed.
After being grounded in the rudiments, Robert was sent, at the age
of fourteen, to William Lindsay's Commercial School, Brunswick
Street, Glasgow', and a year later found him apprenticed to Robert
Hutchinson and George Bookman, proprietors of the University
Printing Office, Villafield. The firm also contained Alexander
Fullerton, John Blackie and William Lang, the former two of
whom were well-known Scotch publishers, while Mr. Lang earned
a very excellent reputation as a printer. The firm was dissolved
three years after Robert commenced his apprenticeship, and he
then was transferred to George Bookman, with whose son he
worked at the case and finished his apprenticeship. It is with no
little pride, in recalling those early days, that Mr. Fergus remem-
bers how he worked on Sir Walter Scott's " Marmion," " Lady of
the Lake," and "Lay of the Last .Minstrel," about the time when
the Wizard of the North was beginning to excite the wonder of
the world. He also helped to set up Sturm's " Reflections" and
Professor F. Meadow's French, Italian, and Spanish dictionaries.
A regular apprenticeship to the printing business means, in Scot-
land, a thorough grounding in the craft of Caxton; and when Mr.
Fergus set forth as a journeyman, he possessed a knowledge of his
business such as qualified him to earn a good livelihood in any part
of the civilized world. In 1839, Mr. Fergus's career in this country
was decided by his accidental meeting with a young Englishman
named Francis Metcalf, for whom he had formerly done certain



486



HISTORY OF CHICAGO.



favors. Metcalf had just returned from Milwaukee, and he gave
the young journeyman such a glowing account of the capabilities
of the West that, on the 4th of May, 1S39, Robert set sail from
Glasgow on the paddle-wheel steamer "Commodore," and passed
the first iron steamer ever built on the Clyde, the " Royal Sover-
eign." which was then on the stocks. Four days later he set out
across the Atlantic from Liverpool, in the packet-ship " Orpheus,"
of the old Black Ball line, and arrived in New York on the 1st of
June. After calling on the Rev. Orville Dewey, of the Unitarian
Church of the Messiah, and, presenting a letter of introduction,
he started for the West. Taking the steamer " New London" to
Albany, he transferred himself to the Erie Canal packet " William
Hildreth." which landed him in Buffalo seven days later. In due
course he arrived in Milwaukee on the side-wheel steamer " Illi-
nois." He vividly remembers how, at that time, a scow came out
of the river, and took off both freight and passengers. The busi-
ness arrangements proposed by his friend Metcalf did not suit him,
and so he concluded to try something for himself. He met Harri-
son Reed, the editor and proprietor of the Milwaukee Sentinel,
who offered to let him have a half-interest in the paper for $800.
Mr. Fergus did not buy, as his friends advised him that "the
amount asked was more than the office was worth"; and then Mr.
Reed offered him the charge of the establishment at an annual
salary of $520. Mr. Fergus thought he could do stili better in
Chicago, and, in spite of the warnings he received, of what
he quaintly called "sure death-diseases," he proceeded to this
city, with which his name has ever since been associated. In
February, 1S36, he was married to Margaret Whitehead Scott,
in the Independent Relief Chapel (southeast corner of John
and Cochrane streets), of which Rev. William Anderson was
then chaplain. Margaret was the eldest daughter of James
Scott, a merchant weaver, and a burgess and freeman of the
city of Glasgow, a position held in very great esteem by the
" Glasgow bodies." Mr. Fergus's children are — George Harris,
John Bowman, Walter Scott, Benjamin Franklin and Jessie
Margaret ; and it is worth observing how both his nationality
and his love of his craft appear in the names of his boys.
It is difficult to say whether Mr. Fergus is a printer first and a
Scotchman last, or a Scotchman first and a printer last; for he
appears to he just as devoted to his profession as he is to the liter-
ature and recollections of his native country. Nothing delights him
more than to meet a congenial friend who can talk to him about