constituents. Contrary to his wishes, and much against his will, he received the democratic
nomination in 1882 for the office of county treasurer, and after a very exciting and severely
fought contest was elected over his competitor by about 3,000 majority. Mr. Louis Hutt, his
republican antagonist, was a very popular man, and the election of Mr. Seipp may be regarded
as a second indorsement by his fellow-citizens more flattering than the first.
October 28, 1874, Mr. Seipp was united in marriage to Miss Emma A. Huck, the daughter of
the late John A. Huck, one of the early settlers of Chicago. The union was a very happy one,
and has been fruitful in two children. The summer of 1881 he spent about five months with his
family in Europe, visiting the principal places of interest, returning home in the month of October.
In personal appearance Mr. Seipp is the embodiment of a solid business man rather under
the medium height, but heavy set and well formed, with a pleasant countenance and a frank and
43
430 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
friendly eye. He makes friends readily, and is very warm and lasting in his attachments. He is
a prominent member of numerous German and American societies, whose purposes are mainly
social, musical and benevolent. He also is a member of the Masonic fraternity; belongs to Home
Lodge, No. 508, Chicago Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and is also a Knight Templar, Apollo Com-
mandery, No. i, Illinois.
DORRIS NEWELL, M.D.
PEC A TONICA.
FEW men in any community are deserving of more respect than the self-sacrificing country
doctor, who, regardless of the weather or the distance of the ride, rises at any hour in the
night, and hastens away to minister to the comforts of the sick, or set, perhaps, a broken limb.
The hardships of this class of professional men are very great, and they are fortunate if their own
constitution is not broken down, and they are laid aside from work before they have numbered
their three-score years. The subject of this sketch has just rounded up his fifty years, being born
in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, October 28, 1832; and although he has been in active prac-
tice since 1856, or a little more than a quarter of a century, he has taken the best of care of him-
self, arid notwithstanding he has endured great hardships, and been subject to severe exposure,
he is in prime health, and for aught we know, is good for another twenty-five years' practice.
His father, Alexander Newell, was a farmer, who gave Dorris an opportunity in early youth to
develop and strengthen his muscle by tilling the soil in his native country. His mother, Marga-
ret Dorris, was a cousin of Hon. John Scott, the Pennsylvania senator, and an aunt of W. P.
Dorris, a lawyer and prominent coal dealer at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
When about fourteen our subject left the farm and a country school, and finished his educa-
tion at the Shade Gap Academy. He studied his profession at Armagh, Huntingdon county, with
Doctors Stewart and Barr; attended lectures at Jefferson College, Philadelphia: received the
degree of doctor of medicine in 1856; came to Stephenson county, in this state; settled at Ridott,
and practiced there until 1861, when he went to Dixon, Lee county, and for two or three years
was assistant surgeon in the marshal's office.
In 1865 Doctor Newell left Dixon for Pecatonica, Winnebago county, near the eastern line of
Stephenson, where he was well known. Here he stepped into a good business almost immediately,
his reputation for skill in this vicinity having already been well established. He still has frequent
occasions to test his physical endurance, by long rides, extending ten or fifteen miles from home,
and in cases of consultation he is often called still farther. He is one of the best known men of
any class in western Winnebago and eastern Stephenson, and is highly respected, because, in
addition to proficiency in medical science, under a plain exterior, he wears a kindly and obliging
heart.
The doctor has a second wife. His first was Marinda Hawkins, of Ridott, married in 1859,
and dying in 1867, leaving one son; and his present wife was Jennie Thompson, of Pecatonica,
married in 1869. By her he has no issue.
REV. WILLIAM D. CLARK.
CARROLLTON.
WILLIAM DANIELS CLARK, pastor of the Carrollton Baptist Church, and a successful
minister for more than thirty years, dates his birth at Scipio, Cayuga county, New York,
March 30, 1826. His parents were Ichabod Clark, D.D., and Esther (Daniels) Clark. His father
was a self-educated Baptist minister, a fine classical scholar, and a preacher of great power, com-
mencing his pastoral work at nineteen years of age, and continuing to preach for forty-eight years.
His pastorates were in western New York (where the writer of this sketch first made his acquain-
UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
43'
tance) and in Illinois. His pulpit efforts and pastoral work were attended with wonderful success,
and it is believed by people best acquainted with him that he was the means of the conversion of
three thousand souls.
His wife was a daughter of William Daniels, who was deacon of the Baptist Church of Scipio
simultaneously with his own brother, John, for more than fifty years. She died at Rockford, Illi-
nois, in 1854, and her husband at Lockport, Illinois, while acting as pastor of the Baptist Church
of that place, in 1869.
The subject of this sketch was educated mainly at the Nunda Literary Institute, where he
prepared to enter the third year in college. He now commenced business pursuits, but after a
short time, feeling that he was called to the work of the ministry, entered upon a preparation -for
that work, studying theology with his father.
He was ordained at Lamoille, Illinois, in June, 1850, and there held his first pastorate of
between three and four years. At first the church was small and weak, not numbering more than
sixty members, and worshiping in a school house; but at the close of his pastorate it had a good
brick church and about two hundred members, about one hundred and fifty of whom he had bap-
tized. It was for many years the largest and strongest church in the Ottawa Association. He
next went to Ottawa, and afterward to Morris, county seat of Grundy county. In both places
powerful revivals attended his labors, and the churches were greatly strengthened.
In 1859 his health and that of his family being greatly impaired, he found a pleasant home
and enjoyed a successful pastorate with the church in Waukesha, Winconsin. Here old and seri-
ous difficulties were healed, and during the nearly four years that he labored among them about
one hundred were converted and baptized into the fellowship of the church. He went thence to
the Sycamore Street (now Grand Avenue) Church of Milwaukee. There also his labors were
blessed to the conversion of a goodly number of souls, who were added to the church. From
Wisconsin Mr. Clark returned to this state, accepting a call to the Baptist Church in Galesburgh,
which he found distracted by internal dissensions, but in less than a year the difficulties had dis-
appeared, about one hundred had been baptized, their house of worship had become too strait
for their congregations, and they hired a hall, with a seating capacity of twelve hundred, where
they held their services for one year while they built their present elegant house of worship at a
cost of $35,000.
From Galesburgh Mr. L lark came to Carrollton, where he spent two of the most prosperous
and successful years of his life. On one Sabbath he welcomed to the fellowship of the church
over seventy new members, and baptized in all nearly one hundred. He then went to Aurora,
and two years later to Quincy. At the latter place he was pastor of the First Baptist Church,
which he found heavily in debt and greatly discouraged. The church was not financially strong,
and yet a debt of $12,000 must be raised in a few months or their house of worship sacrificed.
During the first six months $10,000 was raised, and $2,000 borrowed on extended time at a low
rate of interest. This was soon followed by a powerful revival, which added not only to the
numbers and spiritual power of the church, but to its pecuniary strength.
In May, 1873, our subject accepted the pastorate of the Columbia Square Church of San Fran-
cisco, California, and at the same time the editorial chair of "The Evangel," the organ of the
Baptist denomination on the Pacific coast. After a residence of a little less than two years cir-
cumstances growing out of the financial condition of the country necessitated his return to the
East. His church offered to continue him as their pastor and give him a vacation of six months,
but he felt that it was best to return permanently. Among other expressions of esteem the fol-
lowing resolutions passed by the church will go far to show his standing in California:
Resolved, That while he edited and controlled " The Evangel " it was a faithful exponent of Gospel truth, a pro-
moter of peace and harmony in our churches, and a credit to our denomination on the Pacific coast.
Resolved, That in severing the relation of pastor we desire to expfess our high appreciation of Brother Clark as a
man of rare pulpit talent, an earnest, faithful ambassador of Christ, a kind and genial Christian gentleman whom all
can love and respect, and as such we commend him to any and all with whom his lot may be cast.
432 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Since returning to Illinois Mr. Clark has held pastorates in Macomb and a second pastorate in
Ouincy, in both of which places his labors were blessed to the ingathering of a goodly number
of souls, and he is now for a second time pastor in Carrollton, where, as in every place in which
he has ever been pastor, he is held in warm esteem by citizens in general, as well as by his own con-
gregation. He is a discreet and judicious pastor, as well as a pointed and pungent preacher, and
has received in the aggregate more than one thousand persons into the churches with which he
has labored. Indeed he has never been pastor of but one church where his labors have not been
crowned with numerous conversions, while most of the churches have received large accessions,
as the above sketch shows.
'Mr. Clark was married May n, 1848, to Miss Mary S. Wright, who had a few months pre-
viously removed from Geneseo, New York, with her parents, Doctor Ebenezer Wright and wife,
.to Schoolcraft, Michigan. To this most estimable woman, attractive in person, cultured in mind
and manners, Mr. Clark is largely indebted for any usefulness with which his labors have been
attended. She is possessed of the rare faculty of commanding the respect and securing the
warmest affections of all with whom she becomes familiar. The duties and criticisms of a min-
ister's wife are often very painful, but she has known little of these. Universally beloved and
conscientiously devoted to her work, she has scarcely had an enemy. "She looketh well to the
ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her
blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her." They have five children: Harriet Esther, wife
of J. F. Fisdale, of Milwaukee; Delia M., wife of Frank N. Gay, of Galesburgh, and Lillie
Estelle, William E. and George W., who reside in Quincy.
c
HON. CALVIN H. FREW.
PAXTON.
ALVIN H. FREW is the son of Robert and Anna S. Frew, and a native of Cleveland, Ohio.
His life has been characterized by simplicity, sincerity, earnestness and integrity, and fairly
illustrates what may be attained by patiently and persistently pursuing a determined and manly
purpose. As a boy, he was fond of study and reading. He was raised on a farm, where he
developed an independent, self-reliant and sturdy character, devoting to his books his time not
employed in farm or other work. When seventeen years old he began teaching, giving his earn-
ings to his father, and also in this way accumulated money to defray his expenses at the high
school, and at Beaver Academy, in Pennsylvania, and later, at the Vermilion Institute, in Ohio.
He was a diligent student, and from over-exertion in this direction, somewhat impaired his
health.
In 1862 he became principal of the high school at Kalida, Ohio, and in 1863 and 1864 occupied
a similar position in the high school of Young America, Illinois. In this way he paid the indebt-
edness incurred in getting his education, and was also able to gratify a desire to study law, which
he continued in connection with his teaching. In the spring of 1865 he settled in Paxton, his
present home, and there pursued his legal studies until December following, when he was, by the
supreme court of Illinois, admitted to the bar. The payment of his license fee left him penniless,
but he yet possessed a determined purpose, and by earnest application to his profession, soon
built up a paying practice.
His legal attainments and forensic powers gained for him a more than local reputation, and
naturally suggested him as a fit person to represent his district in the state legislature. He was
elected to the general assembly in 1868 from Ford and Iroquois counties, and as a member of
that body distinguished himself by effective work in introducing and securing the passage of
many important measures, and won high encomiums from the press throughout the state. As a
man is judged by his acts, some of Mr. Frew's important ones will be referred to. The following
resolution, introduced by him January 19, 1869, expresses his views respecting an important ques-
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UNIVERSITV of ILLINOIS
UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
435
tion touching the right of the state to regulate railroad companies in their charges. The prevail-
ing opinion was, that any limitation of the powers conferred by a company's charter to fix its
rates would conflict with the provision in the constitution of the United States prohibiting a state
legislature from passing any act impairing the obligations of contracts. One of the resolutions
reads:
Resolved, That all privileges, powers or prerogatives acquired by railroad companies of the state government are
subordinate to the general welfare of the people or community where constructed, and that the right of the state to
exercise a reasonable control over such companies is one of which no power can divest the people.
The same doctrine was several years later supported by the supreme court of Illinois, and in
the year 1883 was confirmed by the supreme court of the United States. Mr. Frew also intro-
duced and secured the passage of the measure prohibiting a husband from collecting or control-
ing the earnings of his wife; an act changing and greatly simplifying the practice relating to
ejectment; the section of the act regulating exemptions, which provides that "no personal prop-
erty shall be exempt from levy of attachment or execution when the debt or judgment is for the
wages of any laborer or servant, etc."
Prior to i869^the state had been overrun with what were termed wild-cat insurance companies,
for the most part irresponsible organizations, that had come to be a crying evil. Toward this
Mr. Frew turned his attention, and introduced a bill providing that all insurance companies
should be placed on a firm and sure foundation. The bill met with the most furious opposition
on the part of lobbyists in behalf of the bogus companies, but despite everything they could do,
the measure triumphed and became a law. Within one year the horde of wild-cat insurance com-
panies throughout the state closed their business, and their place was supplied by responsible
companies. To Mr. Frew was largely due the success of the bill, and by the New York papers he
was given the sole credit of .the victory.
In 1870 he was reflected by a very large majority from the counties of Ford and Kankakee.
He was active in securing the passage of the county court act; also that providing for a short
form of deed and mortgage, and that pertaining to eminent domain, and also secured an amend-
ment to the practice act, whereby, when mistakes occurred in the names of defendants to actions,
the same could be amended, and the names of other defendants added, and judgment rendered
against such as might be liable, without suffering a non-suit. He also procured amendments to
the act relating to attachments, and was the author of an important change in the chancery prac-
tice act, providing that where any defendant is a non-resident, the circuit clerk shall send a copy
of the notice of the proceedings to the defendant's address, unless it is shown by affidavit that
such address, after diligent inquiry, cannot be ascertained, the object of which was to prevent
parties from obtaining decrees and judgments against defendants without their knowledge.
In 1878 Mr. Frew was elected to the legislature for the third time, from the counties of Ford
and Livingston, by the largest majority of any member. A very important measure, the passage
of which he secured during this session, was that requiring all trust-deeds to be foreclosed in the
courts instead of by advertisement. As a legislator, his only aim was to serve the state, and in
all his active career in that capacity he was never known to advocate any measure actuated by
mere personal motives or the desire to promote the interests of a friend. As a speaker he pos-
sessed rare qualities; was clear, concise, forcible and effective, and in addressing the assembly
never failed to .gain an interested and respectful audience. Many complimentary notices of his
course appeared in the press, of which we select a few:
August 6, 1869, the Chicago "Tribune" said: -'Frew is urged by his friends to become a can-
didate for the constitutional convention. * * * During the long and trying session of last winter
he discharged the duties of his position with marked fidelity and intelligence." The Oilman
"Star" said: "We often regret having opposed Mr. Frew, because after he got to Springfield he
was determined that his constituents should know what was going on." The Saint Louis "Globe-
Democrat," April 23, 1879, said: "The able and comprehensive speech of Mr. Frew in support of
his (life insurance) bill was the feature of the session, * * * and rising to a grand flight of elo-
436 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
quence, he pleaded that his bill might pass." Also the " Republican Register," Galesburgh, about
the same date, said: "He (Frew) has presented two bills during the present session possessing
great merit." "His life-insurance bill should be on our statute-book." "His cockle-bur bill is
worthy the attention of our law-makers." "Pass them into laws." The Peoria "Democrat,"
speaking of the cockle-bur bill, said: " It would be a blessing to farmers if some stringent law
was passed in regard to this weed." . While the Chicago "Times" thus indorsed it: " Frew's bill
to destroy cockle-burs and velvet-weeds was also lost. This was undoubtedly one of the best
measures of its kind, and was greatly desired by the farming community throughout the state.
* * * Another reason for killing the bill was, Frew had refused to trade his vote in favor of the
Joliet appropriation steal."
As a lawyer, Mr. Frew is an ornament to his profession, bringing to it a mind cultured by
long experience, and stored with a varied fund of literary and legal lore. He is a counselor whose
opinions are based upon authorities, and whose counsels are reliable and safe; while as an advo-
cate before court or jury, he presents his arguments with gracefulness and ease, and at the same
time with a clear and earnest force that is at once entertaining and convincing.
A self-made man, he has attracted to himself many true friends, who esteem him for his manly
virtues and genuine worth.
He is a republican, of broad and liberal views, though in 1878 he was elected as a reformer;
but not because he did not indorse the only true republican principles. He always claimed he
was a true republican, and now holds there is no longer any necessity for republicans being
divided.
JAMES R. DOOL1TTLE, JR.
CHICAGO.
TAMES REUBEN DOOLITTLE, JR., son of Hon. James R Doolittle, United States senator
J from Wisconsin, from 1857 to 1869 ; was born at Warsaw, Wyoming county, New York, April
2, 1845. His grandfather was Reuben Doolittle, who, with his brother Ormus, was a merchant for
many years, at Wethersfield Springs, New York. The Doolittle family in this country settled
originally in Connecticut, and its representatives are now found in many states of the Union.
The mother of our subject, before her marriage, was Mary L. Cutting, whose ancestors were also
early settlers in Connecticut.
Mr. Doolittle received his early education at Racine College, Wisconsin, to which city the
family had moved when he was six years of age, and in 1863 he entered the junior class of the
University of Rochester, and was graduated at twenty years of age (1865) as senior prize essayist.
He commenced reading law in the city of Washington ; continued his legal studies at the Har-
vard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was admitted to the bar in December, 1866, in
the city of New York, where he practiced his profession for four years. In 1870, when his father
had left the senate, returned to Wisconsin, and opened a law office in Chicago, his son joined him
in the business, and they are still in partnership. Their practice is almost entirely civil, and quite
extensive.
A gentleman who .knows the Doolittles intimately, and has practiced at the bar with both of
them, thus writes to the editor of this work in regard to the son :
" Although comparatively a young man, I regard J. R. Doolittle, Jr. as a lawyer of extensive
learning in his profession, and remarkable ability. With a mind richly adorned by nature, he is,
at the same time, a man of good culture and great self-command. He brings to the examination
of legal questions, a cool, patient, and nice practical discrimination, of the utmost value, in with-
holding his ultimate conclusion until his case or problem has been studied in all its different
bearings, and he comes to action. His style of address and argument is most convincing before
a court, or jury, it being close, logical and free from rant, yet warm in feeling, because his empha-
sis proceeds from a conviction that the argument he uses is of unanswerable weight. His bear-
UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
437
ing is candid, and his integrity beyond reproach. The best evidence of his ability in a law argu-
ment with the court was lately furnished in this city by one of the ablest judges of the United
States court, who had but little intimacy with Mr. Doolittle's practice, and no knowledge person-
ally of his reputation, except as a politician, and who said : 'Young Doolittle surprised me. He
has just made an argument before me which would do credit to any lawyer I have ever heard.'
Mr. Doolittle is about thirty-seven years of age, and has left politics to take care of law, for which
the judge referred to thinks him most eminently fitted."
Mr. Doolittle, like his father, is a strong politician, of the democratic school, and in 1878 was
the candidate of his party for congress, in the first Illinois district, and ran several hundred ahead
of his ticket, but was beaten by Hon. William Aldrich, the present incumbent of that office.
Mr. Doolittle married in November, 1869, Clara S., the third daughter of J. A. Matteson, of
Springfield, Illinois, and they have three children, one son and two daughters.
E. H. THURSTON, M.D.
CHICAGO.
T7BENEZER H. THURSTON, a man of self-culture and high attainments, was born in Wol-
JL/ verhampton, England, December 22, 1838, and was the seventh of a family of twelve
children. His parents, Thomas and Elizabeth Thurston, with their families, immigrated to America
about the year 1845, and settled at Hubbardsville, Madison county, New York. It was in the
district school of this small hamlet that Ebenezer received the rudiments of his education. He
subsequently attended the Hubbardsville Academy, under the tuition of Professor James Bush,
remaining here until his parents removed to Utica, New York, where he continued his studies at
the Utica Acade<ny until 1859, when he began his professional studies with Doctor M. M. Bagg,
of Utica, New York, a man of great experience and high social standing.
Before his studies were completed the war of the rebellion broke out, and he enlisted in the
service of his country. Here his native abilities and professional knowledge were soon called
into requisition by his being appointed steward in the regular army, where he displayed great