Magill enlisted in Co. "D," 134th Illinois Yolunteer Infantry for
a short term of service, and, after seeing some pretty active times
in Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri — chasing Price in the latter
State, or being chased by him — this regiment was mustered out
and honorably discharged, in November, 1S64. On April 29, 1873,
soon after starting in the real-estate business, he was united in
marriage to Miss Helen S. Stearns, a Chicago lady, but a native of
Albanv, N. Y., by whom he has had three children — George G.,
born February 18, 1874 ; Charles S., born April 10, 1S75 : and
Helen S., born August 10, 1S76.

Joseph Smith Reynolds son of Isaac N. and Rue Ann
(Holderman) Reynolds, was born in New Lenox, Will Co.. 111.,
December 3, 1839. Both his parents were natives of Ohio. Until
he was seventeen years of age he attended the district school, com-
ing to Chicago in September, 1S56. Here he was educated at the
public schools, graduating from the High School in July, 1861.
In August of that year, in company with Fred W. Matteson and
Oliver II. Payne, he recruited for the Yates' Sharp-shooters, known
in war annals as the 64th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry.
For three years and six months he served with the Army of the



5§6



HISTORY OF CHICAGO.



Tennessee receiving, during that period, five promotions from the
governor of his State and two from the War Department. He
was with Sherman from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and to the sea;
thence through the Carolinas to Washington, where he was present
at the grand review. He was in command of the 64th Regiment
from Atlanta through Georgia, having been promoted to a cap-
taincy for gallantry at Corinth, Miss., where he was severely
wounded. He was mustered out of the service in July, 1865, his
rank of brigadier-general having been granted him for services in
the field at the battle of Bentonville. After leaving the service, he
commenced the study of law in the office of Scates. Bates & Tows-
lee, graduating from the law department of the Chicago University
in July, 1S66. He at once formed a partnership with S. D.
Phelps, and the new firm commenced practice as Reynolds &
Phelps. John C. Richberg became associated with him in 1S69,
but since 1S74, he has been alone. Of late he has become inter-
ested in real-estate matters, being associated in a legal and business
capacity with S. E. Gross. General Reynolds was elected a mem-
ber of the Illinois Legislature in 1S67, and re elected in the fall of
1S69. He was appointed a member of the Board of Education in
May, 1870, and was sent to the Legislature again in the fall of
1872, as a Senator from the First Senatorial District. As the com-
missioner to the Vienna Exposition for the State of Illinois, he
sailed for Europe in May, 1S73, returning to this country in
December. In July, 1S75, ne was appointed by the governor one
of the board of commissioners to locate the State Institute for the
Education of Feeble-Minded Children. General Reynolds became a
member of the G. A..R. in 1S67, and, at its grand encampment,
held in Chicago, in May, 1S75, was elected senior vice commander-
in-chief of that order for the United States. In 1S76, he was re-
elected, and is at present, by virtue of his former positions, a life
member of the National and Department Encampments, besides
being connected with the Thomas Post, No. 7, of Chicago. Since
1S72, he has been a member of the Knights of Pythias, being
elected grand chancellor in 1S76. General Reynolds was married
January 31, 1877, to Mattie A. Carey, daughter of George W.
Carey, of Chicago. They have one son, Joseph Sheridan, born Jan-
uary 23, 1S7S.

Benjamin Lovering Pease, eldest son of Noah and Betsey
M. Pease, was born at Meredith, N. II., on November 4, 1834.
After receiving such education as the common schools afforded, he
completed his preparation for college at the New Hampton Institu-
tion, and then attended Dartmouth College, from which institution
he graduated in the class of 1859. Immediately after his gradua-
tion, he was chosen principal of the Gilford Academy, N. H., and
subsequently occupied the same position in the Academy of Wolf-
borough, N. H. During this period he commenced the study of
the law, which he continued in the office of Daniel M. Christie, of
Dover, N. II., and afterward with Eastman & Cross, at Manches-
ter, N. II., being admitted to the Bar at the latter city, in Febru-
ary, 1S64, directly after which he came to Chicago, and was admit-
ted to the Illinois Bar in November, 1S64, since which time he has
resided in this city. In 1S66, he commenced, as a specialty, the
examination and the perfecting of titles to real estate, also of mak-
ing loans on realty. His proficiency as a conveyancer, and his thor-
ough knowledge of real estate law, gave him superior advantages
for the safe and profitable investment of capital in Chicago, which
were speedily recognized by the public. In this business, involv-
ing, as it does, shrewdness, legal acumen and integrity, he has been
successful in an eminent degree. After a trial of eighteen years,
through all the mutations of fire, panic and financial disaster and
depression, his record stands unblemished, and his character as a
fiduciary agent irreproachable, thus maintaining the high commer-
cial and persona! standard Mr. Pease has occupied since his advent
into business circles. Amidst his numerous clients for whom he
loans money are several savings institutions, and among those for
whom he acts as financial agent, in the making of loans and in
the purchase and sale of real estate, are numerous Eastern and
Western capitalists who have thus sought, and found, a reliable
and trustworthy means of profitably investing their surplus capital.

JOSEPH DONNERSBERGER was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in
1843, was educated and first went into business there. From 1S64
, be was clerk in the office of Samuel A. Sargent & Co., real-
estate dealers. In the latter year the firm went out of business,
and Mr. Sargent went West. Mr. Donnersberger then conducted
the business two years on his own account, becoming interested in
lands on the Illinois Central Railroad. In the meantime he had
formed the acquaintance of Adam Smith, and was by him persuaded
to come to Chicago. Accordingly he moved to this city in 1870,
and immediately established himself in the real-estate business in
connection with Mr. Smith, who soon afterward began to build up
Brighton Park, forming the Brighton Cotton Mill Compay in 1871.
The investor > in this enterprise were Adam Smith, who contributed
originally sixty acres of land valued at one thousand dollars an
acre, and paid in $25,000 toward the building; Ray & 1 oates,



$10,000 ; John McCaffery, $10,000 ; and Joseph Donnersberger,
$5,000. A portion of the land was divided into lots, and sold by
Mr. Donnersberger to those desiring to establish homes. In this
way Mr. Smith was reimbursed for his investment of the land, and
the residue of the land then became the property of the company.
During the years 1S74-75, Mr. Donnersberger and John McCaffery
were partners in the real-estate business under the firm name of
Donnersberger & Co. Since that time Mr. Donnersberger has
been alone, and has sold land for the largest owners thereof in
Brighton Park, — Nathan Corwith, Byron L. Smith, Charles Fargo
and Thomas Rutter, — besides dealing extensively in lots lying gen-
erally in the South and West divisions of the city. Previous to the
great fire Mr. Donnersberger's office was at No. 85 Dearborn
Street. Immediately afterward it was at No. 55 South Jefferson
Street, and as soon as the re-building of the city was sufficiently far
advanced, it was removed to the First National Bank Building,
then at the corner of State and Washington streets. In 1875 it was
removed to its present location. Since 1873, Mr Donnersberger
has been honored by his fellow-citizens with political preferment.
In that year he was elected collector for the town of Cicero, and in
1S74 he was chosen assessor of the town. ' In 1S76, he was elected
a member of the Board of Trustees of Cicero for four years, and
re-elected in 1S80. During both his terms of membership he served
as president of the board. In the fall of 1SS1, he was elected com-
missioner of Cook Countv from the Fourth Commissioner's District,
and on December 3, 1883, was elected president of the Board of
County Commissioners, which office he still holds.

THE ABSTRACT BUSINESS.

In intimate relation with the real-estate transactions
of Chicago stands the abstract business, which has
grown from an institution that was occasionally patron-
ized, into an adjunct of the Recorder's office, and is a
business whose existence is acknowledged to be indis-
pensable. The existence of the firms of Chase Broth-
ers, Shortall & Hoard and Jones & Sellers, and the
preservation to each firm of some of their records, en-
abled them, by consolidating their interests and putting
their books together, to form a complete chain of title
to the lands of Chicago and Cook County, which were
recognized as authority on titles by Eastern capitalists,
and on which they relied for loaning the millions of
money needed to re-build Chicago.

The business was inaugurated about the year 1849,
by Edward A. Rucker, of Chicago, who conceived the
idea of keeping the land records of Chicago and Cook
County by a method of single-entry bookkeeping, ren-
dered easy and practicable under the Government sys-
tem of division of land, then comparatively recently
adopted. By the new system, land was surveyed and
mapped into sections, towns and ranges in the States
and Territories west of the Ohio, thus avoiding the
metes and bounds of the old method of describing
land, a description by a single set of figures being sub-
stituted.

This first attempt of Mr. Rucker was made in com-
pany with James H. Rees, of Chicago, and the firm of
Rees & Rucker was established. In the course of time
a single set of indexes, less elaborate than those of a
subsequent period, was completed, and the profession
of making examinations of titles by their aid was fairly
inaugurated in Chicago, for the first time in the coun-
try — indeed, in the world.

The office of this firm was in the basement of the
old Court House, and one of their employes was Henry
W. Zimmerman, who had charge of the abstract busi-
ness. He was elected city clerk in the spring of 185 1,
and S. 1!. Chase took his position in the employ of Mr.
Rees, taking entire management of the abstract depart-
ment, and also making some important improvements
in the industries and in the general manner of keeping
the books.

Shortall & Hoard. — In the year 1852, J.Mason



REAL ESTATE INTERESTS.



587



Parker, formerly of Boston, commenced the preparation
of a new set of indexes to Chicago and Cook County
real estate, upon the basis of the Rucker principle. Mr.
Parker gathered about him gentlemen of skill in the
work, and with a large force continued the same, first
at his office, then at No. 86 Lake Street; afterward in
the Metropolitan Block, until the completion of the
books in the year 1856. Mr. Shortall, later of the firm
of Shortall & Hoard, joined Mr. Parker in 1854.

Soon after the completion of the indexes, Mr. Parker
sold the same to Thomas B. Bryan, of Chicago, who
disposed of a half interest therein to John Borden, and
subsequently re-purchased the same. During Mr.
Bryan's ownership, the indexes were leased to William
Wilmer Page, John G. Shortall and Henry H. Handy.
This was in 1856, and these gentlemen, under the firm
name of Page, Shortall & Co., began the business of
making abstracts of title under these indexes. The in-
terest of Mr. Page and Mr. Handy was subsequently
assigned to Mr. Shortall, who, thereafter, until 1858,
conducted the business under his own name. In the
year 1858, Mr. Bryan sold the indexes to Henry
Greenebaum, who associated with him Mr. Raphael
Guthmann, and continued the business under the firm
name of Greenebaum & Guthmann, Mr. Shortall con-
tinuing in charge of the office.

In March, i86r, at the breaking out of the War,
Mr. Shortall purchased the indexes from Mr. Greene-
haum, and the firm of Greenebaum & Guthmann ceased.
The business was then conducted by Mr. Shortall, under
the firm name of John G. Shortall & Co., comprised,
first, of Mr. Shortall and John N. Staples, and afterward,
on the ceasing of Mr. Staples's interest, of Mr. Shortall
and Henry Fuller.

In 1S64, a half interest in the indexes and property
was purchased by Louis D. Hoard, formerly clerk of
the circuit court and recorder of Cook County, and the
firm name was changed to that of Shortall & Hoard,
Mr. Fuller's remaining interest being purchased by Mr.
Shortall.

Henry Fuller, above mentioned, was a most accomplished
gentleman, and admirably adapted to the management of the busi-
ness office of the concern, having taken charge of it for many years,
both under the firm of Shortall & Hoard and of Handy, Simmons
& Co., of which latter he was a member. He was a fine musician,
and a supporter of all musical efforts in those days. He was for
many years organist of Trinity Church in this city. He died in
Chicago, in the year 1873.

The firm of Shortall & Hoard continued the busi-
ness up to the 1st of September, 1871, about a month
before the great fire, at which time they selected from
their force Mr. Handy, above mentioned, Francis Pasde-
loup, Mr. Fuller and Frederic H. Wait, four thoroughly
competent gentlemen, educated in the profession under




their own instruction, and committed the business and
care of the indexes and property to their charge, under
a lease, and commended them to the confidence of the
public.

The new firm (Handy, Pasdeloup & Co.) had a brief
existence, for the fire of 1871 terminated its career. It
was then deemed expedient that the control of the



abstract books should, at such a critical period, be
resumed by Shortall & Hoard, with whom the public
were familiar, and that they should continue the busi-
ness, at least until it should be proven, as it soon was,
that the private records, saved by the different firms
and afterward joined under one common ownership,
were a sufficient basis to establish and protect the titles
of the county.

John G. Shortall, eldest son of John Shortall, of Thurles,
and Charlotte Towson, of Kilmore, County of Dublin, was born in
the City of Dublin, September 20, 1838. When about six years of
age, his family removed to America, to join an elder branch of the
family, long before settled in New York. After the death of his
parents, the young lad was employed by the late Horace Greeley;
and about three of the most impressionable years of his lile were
passed in the editorial rooms of the New York Tribune, in daily
contact with men who moulded public opinion in those days —
Horace Greeley, Dana, Bayard Taylor, Ripley, Snow, Cleveland and
others. In 1S54, by the advice of Mr. Greeley (between whom and
his young employe the most cordial and friendly relations existed,
and continued to the end of his great, useful life), young Shortall,
like thousands of ambitious, energetic lads, followed the star that
guided so many westward, and, after a brief residence in Galena,
during which he, was engaged upon the survey, construction and
completion of that section of the Illinois Central Railroad between
Scales's Mound and Galena, returned to, and settled in Chicago.
After a few months of employment upon the Chicago Tribune, the
late J. Mason Parker, then engaged in the preparation of his real-
estate abstracts, offered Mr. Shortall a very favorable position upon
that work, which he accepted, and immediately entered upon the
study of his profession with Mr. Parker. Upon the completion of
these records, in 1856, Mr. Shortall, under a lease of the books,
commenced the business of making abstracts, or examinations of
title to real estate, which was then beginning to assume great import-
ance, and was among the first of our conveyancers to reduce the
details of that business to the perfect system it now is, whereby
security in the transferring of real estate could be guaranteed. In
1S71, the great fire swept over Chicago, and the almost invaluable
work of twenty years, the real estate records alluded to (then of
Shortall & Hoard), upon which their examinations of title were
based — the abstract books — were imperiled with the property they
had so long protected from other assaults. Mr. Shortall was alert
to the danger from the beginning, and, with the assistance of
gentlemen connected with his office, and other friends, succeeded
in rescuing these records, and removing them to a place of safety.
(The story of that rescue is graphically told in a volume, entitled
History of the Great Fire, published in 1S72.) In August, 1S72,
Mr. Shortall retired from the abstract business, and has since
devoted his time and energies chiefly to matters affecting the best
interests of the city, believing that a man's duty to his fellow-
citizens does not end with his retirement from active mercantile
pursuits. His public gratuitous services have been numerous and
continuous for twenty-five years. The Philharmonic Society of
Chicago called him to its directory in the old days of trial and
struggle of musical effort; he served many years as president of the
Beethoven Society; and he has been a constant and interested
patron of the fine arts. He is a writer of intelligence and force, and
his taste and ability have found frequent expression in the literary
columns of our newspapers and periodicals. In politics, conscien-
tious and thoroughly independent, the Municipal Reform Club,
that did such valuable service in its day, and the Citizens' Associa-
tion, attest in their records the value of his services, his judgment
and his energy. Free from all political aspirations, his acts are
not the cause of suspicion, and his bold denunciation of
public wrong and wrong-doers, his fearless championing
of right and justice and of what he believes to be for the
public good, would dispel from the mind of the most skep-
tical anv doubt as to his meaning. And in this readiness
to defend a principle, this purer patriotism, one recognizes
the hereditary traits that developed the soldier in his
only brother, Pierce, who, in the beginning of our Civil
War, shouldered his musket and marched to the front,
lay in the Chickahominy swamp and in the trenches,
with McClellan, before Richmond, was among the first
over the breastworks at Atlanta under Davis, marched
with Sherman to the sea, and finally, in the retreat before
Hood's advance in North Carolina, in the last fight of the
War, after nearly four years of active service, laid down his
life in the performance of what he believed to be his duty. Mr.
Shortall is entitled to the distinction of being a man of the
world, in the best sense. Broad anil liberal naturally, those traits
have been developed and emphasized by much travel and ob erva-
tion, in this and oilier countries, lie has made tours of Europe
three times, and has "many friends in mauy lands." In his posi-



5 8S



HISTORY OF CHICAGO.



tion as president of the Illinois Humane Society, which he has
held for ten years, and still holds, Mr. Shortall has earned the
recognition and gratitude of the benevolent of our City and State.
Fifteen years ago, when the Society was organized, it was a small
and feeble, but earnest, group of enthusiasts, among which he stood
and served; now it is probably one of the strongest and most virile
forces of our social system, everywhere feared by the brutal and
blessed by the suffering. Some four years ago, Mr. Shortall urged
strongly the addition of the protection of children to that of
animals, which was adopted, after a spirited debate, and now the
stands in the foremost rank of the benevolent and un-
selfish organizations of the country. Mr. Shortall was last year
u>S4i elected president of the American Humane Association,
organized, in 1S77, at Cleveland, Ohio, upon a call made by him, as
president of the Illinois Society, for a union of the humane forces
of the country. He is also an honorary member of the Pennsyl-
vania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Mr. Short-
all was married, on September 5, 1S61, to Mary Dunham, eldest
daughter of John N. Staples, of Chicago, who died in August,
1SS0, after nineteen years of unselfish devotion to her husband, her
home, her child and her neighbors, beloved by all who knew her.
She left one surviving son, John Louis, born in 1865, now finish-
ing his education in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at
Boston. Mr. Shortall was called upon by the Board of Education, in
1SS0, to act as one of the board of appraisers of the real property
belonging to the school fund of Chicago, and was afterward
selected by Mayor Harrison to represent the city in the adjustment
of the leases of that estate. He was also selected, in 1S85, by the
Board of Education, to perform the same duty, a high compliment
to his knowledge, his impartiality and his integrity. In religion,
Mr. Shortall is an Episcopalian, and much attached to his
sectarian inheritance. He has been a member of Trinity and
Grace churches, in which latter, he is a pew-owner. Admiring
Professor Swing, the advanced liberal and eloquent pulpit orator,
he was one of the original guarantors and supporters of the move-
ment that resulted in the establishment of the Central Church, and
upon the services of which he is a constant attendant. In conclu-
sion, it may be justly said that in religion, in politics, in civil and
social life, Mr. Shortall is one of the best representative men in
the city he has made his home; and in comprehensive intellect,
business ability, keen judgment, and in the best social qualities,
he is the peer of any citizen of the great City of Chicago.

Louis de Villers Hoard was born in Antwerp, Jefferson
Co., N, Y., on April 10, 1824, the son of Silvius and Nancy Mary
(de Villers) Hoarc . He received his early education at Ogdens-
burg, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., and at Brandon, Vt., and in the
spring of 1S36, came to Chicago with the family of the late Hon-
orable Samuel Hoard, arriving here on May 20. He then went to
the farm of Samuel Hoard at Wheeling, on the Desplaines River,
and lived there for some years. In October, 1843, M r - Hoard was
appointed deputy clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County; and,
in 1S45, was appointed deputy clerk of the Cook County Court of
Common Pleas, when that court was created. Upon the adoption
of the amended Constitution, in 1S48, he was elected, in August of
that year, by the voters of Cook County, clerk of the Circuit Court
of Cook County for four years, from the first Monday in Decem-
ber following; and was re-elected in November, 1S52, and served
until the first Monday in December, 1856, having declined the
nomination for a third term, on account of the ill-health of his
family. To obviate the deleterious effects of this climate, Mr.
Hoard then removed east with his family, and resided in the city
of Ogdensburg, N. Y., until October, 1S64, when he returned to
Chicago, and purchased a one-half interest in the abstract books
then belonging to John G. Shortall and Henry Fuller. Mr. Hoard
entered this business as a member of the firm of Shortall & Hoard
(see History of the Abstract Business), and continued therein until
after the great fire of 1871. In September, 1875, he again left Chi-
cago, and resided in New Haven, Conn., where he remained until
the graduation of his youngest son from the Sheffield Scientific De-
partment of Yale College in June, 1879, when Mr. Hoard again
removed to Ogdensburg, N. Y., where he has since remained. He
was married on March 4, 1849, to Miss Margarette Annette Clark-
son, of Chicago. They have two children — Francis de Villers
Hoard, M.D., who is a practicing physician in Ogdensburg, and
Charles de Villers Hoard, who is now with the abstract firm of
Handy & Co., of this city.

Jones >N: Sellers. — In 1854, Fernando Jones re-
turned to Chicago from Rock Island, 111., and in com-
pany with John D. Brown, of the latter city, opened a
real-estate office. In that year, Mr. Jones began and
completed a set of abstract books. Mr. Brown with-
drew a short time thereafter, and Robert W. Smith be-
came a partne;, the name and style of the firm being



Fernando Jones & Co. In 1862, Alfred H. Sellers was
a clerk for the firm, and in the same year Mr. Smith