well read lawyer, ambitious enough to insure studiousness, and hence is a growing man, and
likely to make a still more brilliant record in the profession.

Mr. Browne is a member of the democratic central committee of La Salle county, and an active
and influential politician. In the spring of 1883 he was the democratic candidate for mayor, and
was defeated by advocating the old charter.

One of the most important cases recently tried by Mr. Browne is that of William Ettenger,
the boy forger, on the First National Bank of Mendota. The preliminary examination at Men-
dota lasted five days, and the trial at Ottawa four days, Mr. Browne being for the defense, and
securing the acquittal of the lad.

Our subject has dark hair, keen black eyes, and would be taken by a stranger for a shrewd
and smart lawyer. He is five feet and eleven inches tall, weighs 170 pounds, and has a gentle-
manly address.

FRANCIS M. CASAL, M.D.

PITTSFIELD.

FRANCIS MARION CASAL, one of the leading physicians and surgeons in Pike county, is a
son of John Francis Casal, D.D.S., who was born in Philadelphia in 1801, and Anna Mary (Toy)
Casal, a native of the same city. The grandfather of Francis, Juan Francisco Casal, was a Span-
iard, who came from Seville to this country, and died in Philadelphia in the early part of this
century. The subject of this sketch was born in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, September 20,
1842, and when he was six years of age (1848) the family immigrated to Marion county, Missouri.
The father died in 1870; the mother survives, being seventy-seven years of age.

Francis was educated in the Saint Louis high school, and was intending to matriculate in
Washington University, that city, being prepared to enter the sophomore year, but the breaking



446 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.

out of the civil war disturbed his arrangements. He commenced the study of his profession in
Saint Louis ; attended lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, and from that institution
received the degree of doctor of medicine, in February, 1864.

Having a brother in California, Doctor Casal went there in the spring of the same year, and
was in practice there between three and four years, most of the time at San Francisco. Return-
ing to the East early in the autumn'of 1867, Doctor Casal spent the following winter in Bellevue
Hospital College. In the spring of 1868 he settled in Pittsfield, and stepped almost immediately
into a large practice. He had taken great pains to fit himself for his profession, slighting no
branch of the healing art that would be likely to be of service to him in his practice, and confi-
dence in his skill seems to have been inspired at once. Probably no young physician ever came
into Pike county who had a better start, or has grown in popularity more rapidly. Doctor Casal
is in general practice, but has given some special attention to gynecology. He has his full share
of surgery ; is a studious and progressive man, and his practice is increasing from year to year.

Doctor Casal is a member of the Adams county and Illinois state medical societies, and of
the American Medical Association, and his acquaintance among the medical brotherhood is
somewhat extensive. He is a very courteous and genial man, and well calculated to make and
retain friends. He was president of the board of town trustees for three years, and a school
director one term, he being willing, evidently, to take his share of such burdens.

At the time of writing (close of 1882) he is eminent commander of Ascalon Commandery, No.
49, of the Knights Templar, which position he has occupied from the organization of that body,
in 1877. He is also past master and past high priest of Pittsfield Lodge, No. 56, F.A.M., and
Union Chapter, No. 10, R.A.M., of Pittsfield. He is junior warden of Saint Stephen's Episcopal
Church, lay reader in the same, and a kind-hearted, Christian gentleman.

The wife of Doctor Casal is Amelia L., daughter of B. H. Atkinson, vice-president of the bank
of Pike county. They were united in marriage August 9, 1870, and have three daughters, their
names being Mary A., Anne H., and F. Isabel.



COL. CHARLES F. MILLS.

SPRINGFIELD.

FRANCIS MILLS, assistant secretary and chief clerk of the state board of agri-
culture, is a son of Bartlett H. Mills, and Delia (Halsey) Mills, and was born at Montrose,
Pennsylvania, May 29, 1844. His father was a lawyer and journalist. When Charles was eleven
years old, the family came to Upper Alton, where he was educated in the Shurtleff College, enter-
ing the army at the close of his junior year. He enlisted as a private, in company C, i24th Illi-
nois infantry, and served as a soldier, and as hospital steward in the regular army for nearly five
years.

Since 1866 he has been engaged in farming and stock-breeding, near Springfield, he being the
proprietor of the well known Elmwood stock farm, which is familiar to all breeders of fine stock
in the West. His specialties are Clydesdale horses, Jersey cattle, Cotswold sheep and Berkshire
swine. There is scarcely a state or prominent live-stock section in the United States that has not
representations from the Elmwood stock farm of some of the several breeds named above. He
has been secretary of the Sangamon County Fair Association for several years ; is prominently
connected with most of the leading agricultural and stock-breeders' associations of the country,
and has held the presidency of some of them. He is now president of the American Berkshire
Association, secretary of the American Clydsdale Association, director of the American Cotswold
Association, president of the Illinois Swine Breeders' Association, and director of the American
Southdown Association.

For many years he has held his present position of assistant secretary and chief clerk of the
State Board of Agriculture, a position for which he is admirably qualified, and in discharging the
duties of which he is prompt and efficient.




EC Coopsr Jr




UNITE/) STATKS lilOGR.irii ICA I. DICTIONARY.

When our subject was about five years old, in 1837, his parents settled at Saint Charles, in Kan.-
county, Illinois, and soon after their death, which occurred within three years afterward, he was
thrown upon his own resources, rendering his early life a severe struggle. His educational advan-
tages were limited to the common school, but he possessed an exceeding fondness for mechanics,
and by earnest and persistent research in that direction early became well read and thoroughly
conversant in matters pertaining to that science. While still young he was devoted to original
inventions, and his experiences in that line rapidly developed that inventive skill which has dis-
tinguished him in later life.

Finding in the country little scope for the exercise of his genius, and having no machinery for
constructing his devices, he, in 1850, at the age of eighteen, removed to Chicago. This was the
turning point of his life. He first began as a manufacturer of shingles, at which he soon became
an expert, and at the fair of the Mechanics' Institute, in 1852, his shingles were awarded the first
premium.

Soon after this he became an employe in the American Car Works, where he acquired a more
extended knowledge of machinery, and a wider range of mechanical invention dawned upon his
young mind. His desire for a thorough business education, before making a permanent settlement,
led him to leave the car works and pursue a course of study in Bell's Commercial College, from
which he graduated with a good knowledge of business principles.

The fact that he has no regular trade or profession caused him to be unsuccessful in many of
his efforts about this period, but his native energy and persistence sustained him, and if one
scheme failed he at once tried another. After years of unremitting toil and hardships innumera-
ble, he, in 1865, invented his celebrated tuck marker, which soon gained a world-wide fame, its
success not only being wonderful, but unparalleled. The tuck marker and other sewing machine
attachments invented by him, and covered by some fifty patents, have been sold in every country
throughout the civilized world.

His progress from 1865, though rapid, was sought to be impeded by unscrupulous parties,
who threw many obstacles in his way, some of them of quite a formidable character, but he dis-
tanced all competition, and though his productions are sold at a lower price than formerly, they
are still growing in popularity. Mr. Goodrich began the manufacture of sewing machine attach-
ments in 1867 without any capital, and during that year his sales amounted to $3,000. The sec-
ond year they were $15,000; the third $30,000; the fourth $75,000, and the fifth $125,000, with a
corresponding increase since that time. At the present time (1881) he has a new factory, 70 X 104
feet, three stories high, thoroughly equipped, and located at Nos. 68, 70 and 72 Ogden Place,
Chicago.

By reason of the reduced prices of materials and manufactured goods, as well as by the com-
petition in all sewing machines and sewing machine supplies, the amount of annual sales has been
somewhat lessened, and now foots up about $85,000. The business now employs a capital of
$75,000, and a working force of fifty hands. Although Mr. Goodrich has numerous patents that
have been successful, his most notable invention, and that which has gained for him both fame
and fortune, is the tuck marker.

Though his chief attention has been devoted to his inventions, he has yet found time to devote
to other enterprises. He was one of the original projectors of the Chicago, Pekin and South-
western railway, and also one of the corporators of the Chicago Screw Company, and at one time
owned nearly 'all of its capital stock. It is now one of Chicago's most thriving industries. Other
manufacturing interests owe their prosperity to him, some of which are using his patents, while
others are the outgrowth of his inventive genius.

Mr. Goodrich is preeminently a self-made man, and truly the architect of his own fortune.
Beginning life with no resources other than his own native abilities, he, without the aid of edu-
cation or influence, rose slowly in early life, met defeat in his manhood, and struggled against
poverty that would have disheartened most men, and in the midnight of his misfortune suddenly
achieved a most brilliant success.
45



452 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.

While others doubted he persevered in the execution of his plans, and has lived to reap the
gratifying fruits of his labors and perseverance. He is still in the prime of his manhood, and
being surrounded by all the comforts of a happy home, he enjoys to the fullest degree the success
which he has so nobly achieved.

In religious views Mr. Goodrich was formerly a Baptist, but after some five years' connection
with that denomination became more independent and liberal in his views, and is now a Univer-
salist. In politics he is a stanch republican, and though in no sense a politician, he has ever been
a loyal and patriotic citizen. He has no military record and has never held a public office.

Mr. Goodrich was married March 22, 1854, to Mrs. Louisa M. (Miller) Fowler, a daughter of
Hiram Miller, of Verona, Oswego county, New York. Mrs. Fowler had one daughter six years of age
at that time. From this union have been born four sons and seven daughters. It is paying but a
merited tribute to Mrs. Goodrich to speak of her faithful adherence in her husband's earlier strug-
gles. All the noble incentives that a true wife can ever suggest are eminently due to her, who
now beholds with pride the achievements of her husband, and gladly refers to the critical period
when he needed only her sympathy and cooperation, and trust in his powers, to crown his efforts
with success.

Their eldest son, Frank L. Goodrich, is assistant manager of his father's extensive business.
At the age of twenty-one he was fully competent to manage the entire business, and being now
but twenty-three he gives every promise of winning an enviable reputation for business qualifica-
tions, such as one might expect from the valuable experience gained under his father's supervision.
The eldest daughter, Miss Eunice Goodrich, is already gaining celebrity as an actress, and is now
winning success in every engagement. Her high standard of talent in the profession chosen has
enabled her to retain the eminent popularity she had gained in social circles. A younger daugh-
ter, Miss Nellie J. Goodrich, has a natural gift for music, and is now under special training by the
best teachers for a public singer.

Viewed from a commercial standpoint, the life-history of Mr. H. C. Goodrich is replete with
interest, and to young men, especially those just entering upon life, his career furnishes an example
worthy of their highest emulation. To his perseverance and his scientific researches he owes his
fame and fortune, and having nobly and lavishly conferred their benefits upon those committed to
his care, he has thus gained a greater triumph in the distribution of his wealth than in obtaining it.



BENJAMIN FARWELL WALKER.

CHICAGO.

THE subject of this sketch comes of a very numerous people on both sides of the Atlantic.
They have never paid much attention to governmental questions, and the ambitions of
rulers and office-holders have little disturbed them; but they belong rather to the great agricul-
tural, manufacturing and mechanical multitude, which constitute the solid foundation upon which
states are built.

If, however, successful lives are to be measured by the possession of all the solid and enduring
virtues which render society possible and states perpetual; which secure for the individual the
respect of his fellows, the approval of his own conscience, and the approbation of God, with
enough filthy lucre to make life desirable and pleasurable, then Mr. Walker and a majority of his
family name may be reckoned among the successful men of America. The family are of English
descent, but are not able to trace the connection between the original stock and their American
descendants. The paternal grandfather of Mr. Walker came to Barre, Vermont, from Massachu-
setts in an early day. He was one of the original settlers of that town, and an influential man.
He was a captain under Washington during the war of the revolution, and subsequently a colonel
of the militia of Vermont. His son, Benjamin, was born in Mendon, Massachusetts, October 26,
1777. He married for his first wife Jemima Farwell, the daughter of Rev. William Farvvell. By



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.



453



her he had four children, two sons and two daughters, of whom the subject of this sketch was the
youngest. He came to Illinois about the year 1812, and died at Macomb, May 30, 1856. The
mother of Benjamin F. Walker died soon after his birth, which occurred in Irasburgh, Vermont,
December 25, 1809. His father gave the babe to a Mrs. Burgess, whose husband had been a
sailor in early life, and afterward became so dissipated that when the boy was eleven years old,
he found himself thrown upon his own resources. His taste for building very early developed
itself, and at fifteen he apprenticed himself to a builder by the name of Marston Watrous, at
Barre, for three years. He was to receive $5 per month and board for the first year, $7 for the
second, and $9 for the third. He was careful only to agree to work summers, and secured the
right to attend school winters. This he did, and acquired a good practical New England educa-
tion. At the close of his apprenticeship he worked for one year as a journeyman, and then
entered into business for himself. He was an enthusiast in his profession, and at the age of nine-
teen had a fair education, a good trade, and the confidence of the community where he lived. It
is no wonder, therefore, that business at once came to him, and he found all he could do. His
special line was church architecture, and he erected many very fine houses of worship in various
parts of the state.

When twenty -three years old he married Miss Diana Howard, the daughter of Abijah Howard,
residing at Montpelier, the capital of the state. She was born at Montpelier, February 18, 1810;
has borne him three children, and still lives to share his fortunes.

He first settled in Barre, where two of his children were born. In the year 1836 he was
engaged to build a church in Randolph, Vermont, and found it more convenient to remove his
family thither, and while living there he erected three more churches, and one in the adjoining
town of Barnard. While residing in Randolph he was persuaded to form a copartnership with
the son of the lieutenant-governor of the state, Lebbeus Edgerton, and entered into the mercan-
tile business. The venture was disastrous, and he lost all he invested in it. The former firm, of
which Edgerton was the remaining partner, were heavily in debt, and the business had to be
closed out.

In 1842, however, he threw up his temporary change of business, removed into Montpelier,
and returned again to his legitimate work. In that year he made his father a visit, at Alton, Illi-
nois. No railroads were built at that early day in the West, and lake, canal and stage furnished
the only means of transit. By way of the Erie canal to Buffalo, Lake Erie to Toledo, Wabash
canal and the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, he reached Saint Louis first, and afterward Alton
by boat. Concluding his visit, he took in Chicago on his way home, intending to sell his prop-
erty in Vermont at once, and move west. He saw the vast city and the empire around it by the
eye of faith, and longed to share its prosperity. His venerable god-mother, however, who, now
that her husband was dead, shared his home, had such an inveterate horror of moving west, that
he yielded to her entreaties, and gave up the project. For ten years more he followed his occu-
pation in Vermont with success. In 1851 he erected a church for the Congregationalists at
Williamstown, a Universalist church at Barre, and a Union church at Montpelier, besides a fine
passenger depot for the Vermont Central railway, at Montpelier.

In 1852, his god-mother having died, he removed to Chicago, where his heart had been for ten
years. Leaving Montpelier, April 6, the family reached Chicago in the following June. In May
of this year the Michigan Southern and Michigan Central railroads had both reached Chicago,
so that at Detroit they left the steamer, and came across Michigan by rail to Saint Joseph; thence
by boat to Chicago. Here Mr. Walker was soon employed by the city, superintending the con-
struction of the old Water Works, and after its completion he remained for nine years its super-
intendent, or until the breaking out of the war. During this period, also, he erected Saint Paul's
I'niversalist Church, corner of Van Buren street and Wabash avenue. During the war, and until
1871, he followed his occupation of builder, and erected many important buildings. Among them
were several of the first packing-houses, a large number of private dwellings, and business blocks.
In |une, 1882, he accidentally broke his leg, and after his recovery, found employment.



454 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.

In politics Mr. Walker, before the rebellion, was a conservative democrat, but the events of
the war made a republican of him, and he has never deserted the party. In religion he is a Uni-
versalist, and a member, with his wife, of the Church of the Redeemer since its foundation, and a
deacon.

.Personally, Mr. Walker is rather under the average size, but a solid-built Yankee, with sinews
of steel. He is affable in manners, and kind-hearted, sociable, and a warm friend. Though now
past seventy-three years old, he is still strong and active, and young in appearance and motion.
Christmas evening of 1882, he and his worthy wife, who is if anything his junior in appearance,
celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding. The reception occurred at the residence of
his son-in-law, Mr. L. B. Jameson, at 151 South Morgan street, and was a most enjoyable affair.
The daily papers of that date gave a very full account of the event. A large number of friends
were present, and the gifts were both numerous and elegant.

In his old age, Mr. Walker has the satisfaction of seeing his three daughters happily married
and settled near him. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married W. N. Hinchman, and has three
daughters and one son. His second daughter married L. B. Jameson, of the firm of Jameson and
Morse, printers and publishers. His third daughter, Maie, married A. H. Vanzwoll, now the
principal in the Dore public school, and has three children.



W



WILLIAM DRURY.

NEW BOSTON.

ILLIAM DRURY, one of the princely farmers of Mercer county, and president of the
Farmer's Bank, Keithsburg, dates his birth in Pickaway county, Ohio, September 17,
1809. Two years afterward his parents moved to Wayne county, Indiana, where the son spent his
youth. Seventy years ago that part of Indiana was only partially settled, and the Drury family had
its share of hardships and exposure to the dangers of frontier life, they being obliged sometimes
to seek protection in a block-house. After securing a fair English education, and teaching several
terms, in 1833 our subject came to Illinois on a prospecting tour, and had his first glimpse of
prairie land. He soon made up his mind that here was a good opening for a young man who
wished to make an honest living, and that on the eastern shore of the Mississippi he would pitch
his tent, and try his luck, at the same time making a selection of land. The next year he returned
to this state, made his claim, and settled at the foot of the bluffs, near where the village of New
Boston now stands.

When Mercer county was organized in 1835, Mr. Drury was selected for the first recorder, a
county office which he held for several years in succession. In 1836 he was elected county clerk,
and he held both offices simultaneously. The historian of the county states that while he held
those positions he furnished all the stationery, and defrayed his other office expenses out of his
own exchequer.

In 1836 Mr. Drury commenced mercantile life, in company with Levi Willits, under the firm
name of Drury and Willits, and they had a good trade. In the summer of 1840, our subject
returned to Indiana, and, July i, was married to Vashti, daughter of Caleb Lewis, who was a
prominent man, and served for several terms in the Indiana legislature.

In 1848 the partnership with Mr. Willits was dissolved ; Mr. Drury settled up his business, and
in 1849 started a cash store, which he managed with great success, until 1853, when failing health
compelled him to sell out and change his occupation. As a merchant he bought directly from the
manufacturer's hands, articles in that line, going himself to Boston, and other eastern cities ;
marking his goods at a fair profit, having one price for them, and serving all alike. At one period
he traded at Millersburgh, as well as New Boston, and held at different periods the office of post-
master at both places.

Through all the years that Mr. Drury was in the mercantile trade, he aimed to make i-urh



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.



457



year's income exceed his expenses, and we believe he has never failed in this respect. He
early established a high reputation for integrity, had the fullest confidence of his customers, and
was economical as well as prudent. Mr. Drury has a farm of 1,000 acres, one and one-half miles
from New Boston, and about the same amount of land nearly contiguous to the farm, and for the
last fifteen or sixteen years has given a great deal of attention to stock breeding. In 1869 he com-
menced importing Norman-Percheron horses, and has had some of the best stock of this kind
ever owned in this part of the state. He now has about a hundred horses and fifty cows, and is
doing all he can to improve the breed of stock.

Directly in front of his house is a park of thirteen acres, in which are (autumn, 1882) three
buffaloes, one of them a calf, six elk, eighteen deer, three of them California black-tail, twenty-five
cashmere goats, a spotted sheep, etc. In the copses are also wild gray and fox squirrels, and Mr.
Drury is soon to introduce swan. The park is well supplied with water, and every convenience
for sheltering the animals, both summer and winter. Antelope do not do well in this latitude.
They have died in this park. He has recently added to his collection a Sicilian monkey, two
southern red deer, a tiger cat, ant eater, gray foxes, coons, badgers, etc. " Verdurett" is visited