Dundee Pioneer Family
Sarah Emeline (Hunt) Bosworth 1832-1908
Sarah Emeline (Hunt) Bosworth
On October 17th, 1832 Sarah Emeline Hunt was born to Ward Ensign and Mary (Bascom) Hunt in Perrysburg, Cattaraugus, New York, USA. Ward Ensign Hunt was from Vermont and Mary Bascom from Massachusetts. Ward and Mary (Bascom) Hunt were very early pioneers of western New York.
Sarah’s parents had 12 children: Hiram Bascom Hunt (1818-1852), Henry Ensign Hunt (1819-1893), Rev. Ward Isaac Hunt(1820-1904), William Edwin Hunt (1822-1889), an infant-unknown name (1824-1824), Reuben Gay Hunt (1826-1861), Mary Elizabeth Hunt (1827-____), Joshua Bascom Hunt (1830-1835), George Hunt (1832-____), Sarah Emeline Hunt (1832-1908), Ellen Hunt (1834-1854) and Aaron Bascom Hunt (1837-1900).
Sarah Emeline Hunt was a teacher by training and experience. In the book “Biography of a Mind: Bosworth of Oberlin,” Sarah wrote an account of her life and in it she spoke of her mother “keeping abreast of current events. I remember her telling us that the Civil War was inevitable.” Widowed early in life, the mother was deeply religious and practically poised. “She would take me on horseback, in front or behind her,” to attend the Presbyterian church some four miles from the family farm in northwestern New York state. Sarah writes of her mother, Mary Bascom’s, influence upon her own life: “Parents should remember that in training children they are also training grandchildren indirectly.”
In Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio, Miss Hunt was a public school teacher and teacher at Collamer Academy. Later, Sarah Emeline Hunt taught at Notre Dame located in St. Joseph County, Indiana. It was there Sarah met her future husband, Franklin Smith Bosworth who was actually a student of hers. Both were of the same age at the time.
Sarah Emeline Hunt and Franklin Smith Bosworth (1832-1919) were joined in marriage Jan. 4, 1859 in Dundee, Kane County, Illinois. At that point it appears Sarah’s career in teaching ended.
In 1852, Franklin S. Bosworth was engaged in business with his uncle, Increase C. Bosworth, in Dundee. A home tour in 1975 featured the Franklin Bosworth home at West Main and Fourth Streets in Dundee, Illinois as one of their homes of interest.
After about 20 years, Franklin and Sarah established their home in Elgin. An 1880 U. S. Census shows the couple and their daughter, Mary Abbie, along with a servant, Mary Moran, living at 37 Fulton Street. Franklin is listed on that census as a hardware merchant. Another census shows them at that home with their son, Frank Hunt Bosworth.
The Bosworths had four children: Reuben Hunt Bosworth (1859-1860), Dr. Edward Increase Bosworth (1861-1927) of Oberlin College, Mary Abbie Bosworth (1867-1942) and Frank Hunt Bosworth (1870-1919) a mayor of Elgin, Kane County, Illinois.
Sarah’s husband, Franklin S. Bosworth, held several terms as mayor of Elgin, Kane County, Illinois and her son Frank Hunt Bosworth was mayor of Elgin for one term.
In an 1877 newspaper article in the “Inter Ocean” mentioned Sarah’s membership in the Women’s Temperance Union in Kane County, Illinois.
The family attended the Congregational Church in Elgin, in which Franklin S. Bosworth held several official positions. We learn from another newspaper clipping that Sarah E. (Hunt) Bosworth, at the age of 57 years old, gave the welcoming speech at the local Baptist Church for the fifth annual meeting of The Ladies Home Missionary of the Congregational Church on May 21, 1890.
Sarah Emeline (Hunt) Bosworth passed away June 25, 1908 in Elgin, Kane County, Illinois. She is buried with her husband in Dundee Township Cemetery West in Kane County, the place they began their life together and raised their family.
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Respectfully submitted by Tenderly Rose Robin Melissa Bosworth, great great granddaughter of Franklin Smith and Sarah Emeline (Hunt) Bosworth – September 26, 2018
Sarah Emeline HUNT (1832 – 1908)
2nd great-grandmother
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Frank Hunt BOSWORTH I (1870 – 1919)
Son of Sarah Emeline HUNT
Wilder Morris BOSWORTH Sr. (1905 – 1990)
Son of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH
Frank Hunt BOSWORTH (1933 – )
Son of Wilder Morris BOSWORTH Sr.
Tenderly Rose Robin Melissa BOSWORTH
Tthe daughter of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH II
Illustrious Journalist, Author, Historian, Reporter and Editor, Irma Frances Dupre of Dundee, Illinois Passes Away
“Local historian dies”
Irma F. Dupre, author, historian, reporter and editor, passed away Saturday, April 5, 1980, in the Elgin Mental Health Center.
Miss Dupre, 89, formerly of 129 S. Second St., West Dundee, spent much of her illustrious life with the written word. She wrote the book, “The Romance of Dundee Township.” For the township’s centennial celebration. For many years, until the close of her writing career, she wrote the column, “Suburbiana” for the Cardunal Free Press. She had also worked for The Evanston newspaper, and the defunct Dundee Review. At one time she reported the news over the radio.
Miss Dupre contributed to the written history of St. James Episcopal Church of Dundee in the 1964 Parish Centennial Booklet. She wrote many press releases for various organizations, and at one time for the Dundee Township Public Library and the Dundee Township Historical Society.
She was born Oct. 10, 1890, in Dundee, the daughter of Peter F. and Lucy Blow Dupre and had lived in the Dundee area most of her life.
She was a member of the St. James Episcopal Church of Dundee and a former member of the Zonta Club and the Dundee Historical Society.
There are no immediate survivors.
She was preceded in death by her parents and a brother Rae.
Memorial services will be hel today, Wednesday, at 2 p.m. in St. James Episcopal church of Dundee, the Rev. Chester Boynton officiating.
There will be no visitation.
Cremation was in Elmlawn Crematory, Elmhurst.
Scharp-Schmidt Funeral Home, West Dundee was in charge of arrangements.
Memorials may be made in her memory to the Dundee Township Historical Society.
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Cardunal Free Press, 16 Apr 1980, Wed., Page 46.
Irma Frances Dupre (1890 – 1980)
My 1st cousin 3x removed
Lucy Flude Blow (1857 – 1950)
Mother of Irma Frances Dupre
Charles BLOW (1820 – 1919)
Father of Lucy Flude Blow
Maria Elizabeth BLOW (1854 – 1953)
Daughter of Charles BLOW
Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND (1880 – 1961)
Son of Maria Elizabeth BLOW
Helen Marie HOAGLAND (1907 – 1965)
Daughter of Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND
Frank Hunt BOSWORTH (1933 – )
Son of Helen Marie HOAGLAND
Tenderly Rose Robin Melissa BOSWORTH
You are the daughter of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH
Jane May (Hoagland) Bailey (1881 – 1986): Possunt quia posse videntur
The Press Democrat
Santa Rosa, California
December 20, 1981
Page 21
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20th Century woman still one who can
By Celia Ersland
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Jane Bailey’s motto in high school was “Possunt quia posse videntur.” Loosely translated, it means, “He who thinks he can.”
Recently, Mrs. Bailey, a resident of Martin’s Retirement Home, 3357 Hoen Ave., rounded out a century of her life. Two parties were given for the centenarian – one for her friends of the retirement home and another at the home of her daughter, Betty Schreiber of Oakmont.
The party at her daughter’s home was attended by Mrs. Bailey’s grandchildren and great grandchildren, and for this occasion, she wrote a history of her life and of her family. She was assisted by Mrs. Schreiber.
“My high school motto has proven true many times in my life for when you live in a mining camp there are many challenges. I once remember sewing up a deep gash in a miner’s hand with an ordinary needle and thread to stop the bleeding. The hard rock miner who was holding the victim’s hand for me fainted!”
Mrs. Bailey who is alert and uses only her walker when she moves about, adds, “Our graduating class was called ‘The Twentieth Century Class’ as we were the first class to graduate in Elgin (Illinois) in this century. One of the highlights of my life was playing Hermes, the lead in our class play, ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream.’” It played two nights at the Elgin Opera House and we were directed by an actor from Chicago.”
“I must not have been as great as I thought I was, for I tried out for an elocution scholarship to the University of Chicago and lost. I did win a scholarship to the University of Illinois in home economics. My father didn’t believe that girls needed a college education, but he finally let me go. So in the fall of 1902, he took me by train to Urbana, Ill. I joined Chi Omega Sorority and had a wonderful time.”
Mrs. Bailey, who has four grandchildren and eight great grandchildren, was born in Elgin on Nov. 14, 1881. Her father Samuel Hoagland had a livery stable with “matched teams and equipment for all occasions – wedding, funeral, holidays … he finally owned the Yellow Cab Taxi Co. there.”
Her mother, Maria Blow Hoagland was “only five feet tall and always full of fun.” Her grandmother, Lucy Flude Knott, came from Leicester, England at the age of 20. She and her husband, Mrs. Bailey’s grandfather, who sailed aboard a sailing vessel to America in 1848, had 10 children and lived in Dundee, Ill. Grandmother Blow advised Mrs. Bailey when she was married “not to have such a large family as she always had one baby on her lap and one under her apron.”
Grandmother Hoagland was born Celia Sears and was related to the Sear, Roebuck & Founders. Grandmother Blow had Roebuck relatives.
One of Mrs. Bailey’s “happiest childhood memories is of riding over the snow to Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations in Dundee with the sleigh bells ringing.”
Another recollection involved her freshman year at the University of Illinois in 1902. “At my first dance I met a tall handsome Sig Alph who asked me for a dance and put his name on my dance card – and then stood me up.”
“He must have had a good alibi, as we later became engaged and were married June 5, 1906, just before Tom Bailey graduated with a bachelor of science degree in chemistry. I didn’t graduate as after two years in school we had become engaged and my father didn’t see any reason for me to continue my education.
The Bailey’s had been bitten by the mining bug and we took a job as assayer with a mining company in Silverton, Colo.
Mrs. Bailey remembers the trip to the west in 9105. Indians stood around “wrapped in blankets at the train station and she was frightened a bit by the narrow gauge railroad they rode in the Colorado mountains.
“Silverton was a rough mining town in 1905…We took up residence in a rooming house.” Later they found a furnished home and eventually had their first daughter, Mary Elizabeth. But she lived only a few days. Two years later the couple moved to Wallstreet, another Colorado mining town.
Their children, Thomas, Dorothy and Betty, were born there.
“Wallstreet was about nine miles from Boulder,” Mrs. Bailey recalls, “but it took about a half a day to make the trip by horse and buggy – lots of resting the horse, as it was a steep road. Then we moved to Boulder where Tom opened a custom assay office and Bob was born.”
During World War I and II, the Baileys were involved in volunteer work. After World War I, he sold the assay office and took up metallurgy full time. During World War II, Tom Bailey went to work for the Bureau of Mines in Washington, D. C.
Later they moved to Oxford, N. C., for a few years and eventually back to Colorado. Tom Bailey died in 1965, after almost 60 years of marriage. Mrs. Bailey lived in Colorado until three years ago, when she came to Santa Rosa to be near her one remaining child, Betty Schreiber, and Mrs. Schreiber’s husband and children.
She attributes her century of life to her forebearers.
“They say if you want to live to a ripe old age, you should choose your ancestors for longevity. My grandfather Blow lived within 10 days of his 99th birthday, and four of his children lived into their late 90s – my mother lived the longest: 99 and four months.”
She adds, “Grandfather Blow smoked a pipe most of his life – a fact which some would say should have shortened his life. When he was 95, Prince Albert Smoking Tobacco used his picture in their ad.”
Mrs. Bailey, however, has never smoked and has never fancied alcoholic beverages.
If you ask her what vices she does have, she laughs and says with a twinkle in her eye. “Oh. I’ve had many!”
Relationship between Jennie “Jane” May Hoagland & Robin Melissa BOSWORTH:
Jennie “Jane” May Hoagland (1881 – 1986)
2nd great-aunt
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Maria Elizabeth BLOW (1854 – 1953)
Mother of Jennie “Jane” May Hoagland
Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND (1880 – 1961)
Son of Maria Elizabeth BLOW
Helen Marie HOAGLAND (1907 – 1965)
Daughter of Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND
Frank Hunt BOSWORTH (1933 – )
Son of Helen Marie HOAGLAND
Tenderly Rose-Robin Melissa BOSWORTH
The daughter of Capt. Frank Hunt BOSWORTH
Irma Francis Dupre – Author and Historian – Passes Away in 1980
Cardunal Free Press
Wednesday, April 16, 1980
***
Local historian dies
Irma F. Dupre, author, historian, reporter and editor, passed away Saturday, April 5, 1980, in the Elgin Mental Health Center.
Miss Dupre, 89, formerly of 129 S. Second St., West Dundee, spent much of her illustrious life with the written word. She wrote the book, “The Romance of Dundee Township,” for the township’s centennial celebration. For many years, until the close of her writing career, she wrote the column, “Suburbiana” for the Cardunal Free Press. She had also worked for the Evanston newspaper, and the defunct Dundee Review. At one time she reported the news over the radio.
Miss Dupre contributed to the written history of St. James Episcopal Church of Dundee in the 1964 Parish Centennial Booklet. She wrote many press releases for various organizations, and at one time for the Dundee Township Public Library and the Dundee Township Historical Society.
She was born Oct. 10, 1890, in Dundee, the daughter of Peter F. and Lucy Blow Dupre and had lived in the Dundee area most of her life.
She was a member of the St. James Episcopal Church of Dundee and a former member of the Zonta Club and the Dundee Historical Society.
There are no immediate survivors.
She was preceded in death by her parents and a brother Rae.
Memorial services will be held today, Wednesday, at 2 p.m. in St. James Episcopal Church of Dundee, the Rev. Chester Boynton officiating.
There will be no visitation.
Cremation was in Elmlawn Crematory, Elmhurst.
Sharp-Schmidt Funeral Home, West Dundee was in charge of arrangements.
Memorials may be made in her memory to the Dundee Township Historical Society.
Irma Frances Dupre (1890 – 1980), My 1st cousin 3x removed
Mother of Irma Frances Dupre
Father of Lucy Flude Blow
Daughter of Charles BLOW
Son of Maria Elizabeth BLOW
Daughter of Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND
Son of Helen Marie HOAGLAND
the daughter of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH
Dundee Pioneer Charles Blow A Hero at 94 Years Old
The Rock Island Argus
July 18, 1913
Page 9
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HUSBAND, 94, SAVES WIFE FROM FLAMES
Stairway Crashes as Aged Man Bears Helpmate Away from Burning House.
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Muscatine, Iowa, July 18
Heroism which parallels that of genuine fiction was exhibited by Charles Blow, 94 years old, from possible death in a fire which totally destroyed the residence of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Contriman at Fruitland yesterday.
The aged people were in the home alone at the time of the fire. They have been guests at the Contriman home for the past several weeks, coming here from their home at Elgin, Ill. Their daughter, Mrs. Contriman was out in the pasture while Mr. Contriman was in the field.
The fire was discovered by Mr. Blow just as he had descended to the kitchen preparatory toward securing his breakfast. Considerable headway has already been made by the fire, a gust of flame enveloping him as he opened the kitchen door. Staggering from the noxious fumes he pluckily made his way upstairs where his wife was dressing. The aged woman was almost prostrated by the smoke which filled the upstairs portion of the dwelling and her husband practically carried her down the flight of the stairs. The passageway was dense with smoke and the two old people were compelled to fight their way to safety blindly. Flames singed the hair of both although neither was otherwise injured.
Barely a minute after they reached fresh air, the stairway crashed in.
The home was burned to the ground in its entirety. Nothing was saved. The loss to the furniture is estimated at about $1,500, while to the dwelling about $1,2000. The house was owned by Theodore Drake, a well known Muscatine Island resident. But a small amount of insurance was carried. The dwelling had recently been remodeled but since the improvements the insurance had not been increased.
Mr. and Mrs. Contriman had made their home in Fruitland since last February coming here from Chicago.
daughter of Charles BLOW
son of Maria Elizabeth BLOW
daughter of Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND
son of Helen Marie HOAGLAND
Me, the daughter of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH
Mr. Charles Blow and his wife, Lucy Flude Knott, are my 3x great grandparents.
Submitted by Tenderly Rose-Robin Melissa Bosworth Reininger
Dundee Pioneer Charles Blow Member of the Old-Time Jimmy-Pipers Club at age of 94
4 May 1915, Decatur, Illinois
The text insert located on the lower left-hand corner of this advertisement, just under the drawing illustrating Charles Blow, states:
“This is Charles Blow of Dundee, Ill., who tips the scales at 94 years. Mr. Blow is today, and always has been, a man who smoked his pipe liberally–and enjoyed it mightily. Mr. Blow qualifies for the Prince Albert “old-time jimmy-pipers club” and has been elected to full-fledged membership. We would like to hear from other old-time smokers.”
Charles Blow was married to Lucy Flude Knott
“Wings of Angels”
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/5680810/person/-1416081224/facts
Charles BLOW (1820 – 1919)
My 3rd great-grandfather
Maria Elizabeth BLOW (1854 – 1953)
daughter of Charles BLOW
Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND (1880 – 1961)
son of Maria Elizabeth BLOW
Helen Marie HOAGLAND (1907 – 1965)
daughter of Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND
Frank Hunt BOSWORTH (1933 – )
son of Helen Marie HOAGLAND
Tenderly Rose-Robin Melissa Bosworth
the daughter of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH
Alfred Bosworth of Milton, Saratoga, New York – Hat Business Advertisement from 1794
Dundee Pioneers to Celebrate Their 63rd Wedding Anniversary – Charles and Lucy Flude (Knott) Blow
Charles and Lucy Flude (Knott) BLOW, my great great great grandparents…
Maria Elizabeth BLOW (1854 – 1953), daughter of Charles and Lucy Flude (Knott) BLOW
Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND (1880 – 1961), son of Maria Elizabeth BLOW
Helen Marie HOAGLAND (1907 – 1965), daughter of Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND
Capt. Frank Hunt BOSWORTH II (1933 – ), son of Helen Marie HOAGLAND
Me, the daughter of Capt. Frank Hunt BOSWORTH II
Maria Elizabeth (Blow) Hoagland of Dundee, Illinois, Pioneer Family
Franklin Smith Bosworth (1832-1919)
Franklin Smith Bosworth (1832-1919)
Franklin S. BOSWORTH – a native of Boston, Erie Co., New York, and son of Benjamin F. and Almira SMITH BOSWORTH. The father was born in Greenfield, New York, and was the son of Alfred BOSWORTH, born in Bristol, Rhode Island, of English parentage. Alfred came west in the fall of 1839, to Dundee, Ill. where he died in June 1861. He followed the hatter’s trade, and later farming. He married Olive CHILD of New York, and they had 6 children: Benjamin F., Oliver C., Increase C., Lucinda C., Mary C. wife of Harry WEED, Lucinda wife of Alfred EDWARDS and Abbie M, wife of Benj. SIMONDS; all are now deceased.
Dr. Benjamine F. BOSWORTH the father practiced medicine til his removal to Illinois; locating in Chicago in 1856, he engaged in merchandising in that place until his removal to McHenry, Ill where he conducted a mercatile establishment until his death in Sept. 1843. (transcribers note: these dates are as given. Perhaps reversed?)His wife was the daughter of Amos SMITH, of NY.
Franklin S. BOSWORTH, their only child, was born Dec. 17, 1832. He began merchandising in 1852, in connection with I.C. BOSWORTH, at Dundee, Ill. until June 1871, when he removed to Elgin. There he pruchased [sic] interest in an east side hardware store, until Sept. 1883 when he sold to Metcalf and Reed. 1888 he purchased part of a coal and lumber yard – 1896 he became partners with his son Frank H. BOSWORTH.
Jan 1859 he married Miss Sarah E. HUNT of Dundee, daughter of Ward E. and Mary HUNT, her father a native of Vermont. 4 BOSWORTH children: Reuben H., Edward, married to Bertha McCLURE of Elgin; Mary, wife of Walter SKEELE; and Frank H.
Mr. BOSWORTH was elected mayor of Elgin in 1880, for 2 terms.
Biographical Record of Kane Co., Ill.S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.Chicago, Ill 1898 page 42
Republican Liberal, Mayor of Elgin, Illinois. He was elected a member of the city council in 1879, and in 1880 was elected mayor of Elgin, filling that office for two consecutive terms. Progressive administration.
The good, the bad and the ugly truth…
Relationship between Franklin Smith BOSWORTH & Me
Franklin Smith BOSWORTH (1832 – 1919)
2nd great-grandfather
Frank Hunt BOSWORTH (1870 – 1919)
son of Franklin Smith BOSWORTH
Dr. Wilder Morris BOSWORTH Sr., D.D.S. (1905 – 1990)
son of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH
son of Dr. Wilder Morris BOSWORTH Sr., D.D.S.
A Letter from Alfred Bosworth (1773-1861) – to His Brother Hezekiah
Alfred Bosworth’s Letter to His Brother Hezekiah
Dundee Kane Co. Ill. Jan. 7 AD 1846
Dear Brother,
I must say I have for a long time neglected to wright to you. When I left you I was soon unwell and not willing for my son to leave me. After leaving Warren I was soon in Pittstown. I was in Pittstown 7 or 8 days. My hoarseness and cold wore off.
Brother Nathaniel took me to Adams and about to see his children.
I left Pittstown and went to Gorham, Ontario where Judge Child lives and his children. I was in Ontario County 6 days. They took me about the county to see some relatives and old acquaintances. I was on the Fourth of July in Canandaigue Village. The people was celebrating the Fourth of July.
I left Ontario ounty for Hanover in Chautauqua county where my daughter in law and three little children lives. I was with them 6 days. She has a good house and lot and some money at interest. I went from Chautauqua to Michigan State. There I stopt to see Mrs. Bosworth’s relatives.
From Michigan I went to Chicago and I arrived home in Dundee the 22 of July. In looking over my journey in 2 months and 2 days I traveled near four thousand miles in the time, visited a number of relatives and friends. It was a consolation to find my relatives enjoying good health. Mrs. Bosworth and my children enjoyed good health the past year. My health in September and October was poor but through Divine Goodness my health is now good. I see it stated in some of the western papers that the health of the people was for 2 or 3 months the last year poor in the great Valley of the Mississippi but now good.
The farmers in this country have been blest with good crops the past year and the short crops in Europe helped them to an advanced price for their produce. This country is increasing fast in population and wealth. The people are enterprising and of industrious habits and respect the Sabbath. There is in Dundee Baptists Methodists and Presbyterians preaching. There will soon be a railroad from Chiago through Dundee to Galena.
I have just received a newspaper from Leonard Waldron. I received it as a favor. I must come to a close I never was a ready wrighter. If I had a been I would have wrighten to you all, and much oftener than I have done. It is seldom that I take a pen in my hand. I will be 73 years of age….months and I do feel a degree of thankfulness for the health and blessings that I have enjoyed. I have had some unpleasant feeling about Sister Usher’s living alone in her advanced age.
I do wish that my near relatives might see this letter for I cannot wright to them all–and I do hope that some one of the number will soon let me hear from you all. I have just received a newspaper from Leonard Waldron. I received it as a favor and I have sent in this letter a five dollar bill No. 141 the Ontario bank, Canandaigue. Brother I wish you would take this money and pay the Bristol printer for a newspaper one year directed to A. Bosworth, Dundee, Kane co., Ill. Give the balance of it to our Sister Waldron. In so doing you will oblige a brother.
I must close and leave room for Mrs. Bosworth to wright a few lines. Now we want four or five or six of you to come out and see us and see where we live. Such a visit would be gratifying to all.
4th great-grandfather
son of Alfred BOSWORTH
son of Benjamin Franklin BOSWORTH M.D.
son of Franklin Smith BOSWORTH
son of Frank Hunt BOSWORTH
son of Dr. Wilder Morris BOSWORTH Sr., D.D.S.
Samuel Campbell Hoagland 1855–1940, Early Elgin, Illinois, Livery and Transportation
“Sam was a prudent businessman who maintained a card index of every animal and piece of equipment. He retired in 1913. He owned 26 horses, 11 full-sized closed carriages, 3 hearses, 3 fancy conveyances, opera hacks, pallbearer wagons, two seat carriages and one-seat light driving rig.”
Wagons to taxicabs: 4 generations of Hoaglands haul Elginites by E. C. Mike Alft
Samuel Campbell Hoagland was my great great grandfather.
son of Samuel Campbell HOAGLAND
daughter of Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND
son of Helen Marie HOAGLAND
the daughter of Capt. Frank Hunt BOSWORTH II
Samuel Campbell Hoagland was born on December 22, 1855, in Elgin, Illinois. His parents were Zephaniah and Celia (Sears) Hoagland.
Sam married Maria Elizabeth Blow on June 25, 1879 in his hometown. According to family history notes by my grandmother, the couple was married at the residence of D.R. Jencks, Rev. D.B. Cheney officiating. However, Robert B. Mogler, another Sam Hoagland descendant, has stated their marriage certificate shows they were married a the First Baptist Church in Elgin. They had two children during their marriage, a son Frederick Judson “Fred,” was born on June 12, 1880, and a daughter, Jennie May “Jane,”born on November 14, 1881. Both children were born in Elgin.
Hoaglands
For more than a century, through four generations and changing modes of transportation, the Hoaglands hauled freight and people around Elgin.
Zephania Hoagland’s aunt and uncle pioneered east of town in Hanover Township in 1837. Born in Steuben County, New York, Zeph also was an early arrival here, but didn’t settle down in Elgin until he had tried his luck as a’49er seeking gold in California. Zepbania became a teamster whose horse-drawn wagon carried goods around the little mill town that grew into an industrial city during his lifetime.
Zeph’s son, Sam C. Hoagland, was born in Elgin in 1855. He worked for his father and then purchased his own one-horse express wagon in 1876. The livery (a stable keeping horses and vehicles for hire) he bought four years later became one of Elgin=s largest. He also ran buses to and from the factories and supplied a big Tally-Ho wagon for picnics.
Sam Hoagland was a prudent businessman who maintained a card index on the cost of every animal and piece of equipment in his stable. His records indicated what each horse had eaten and earned. He also knew each one’s habits. When a drummer had rented a rig to go to Dundee, be complained on returning that the horse had balked. Sam charged him more than originally agreed because the rig had gone all the way to Algonquin. How did Sam know? Old Betsy never stalled except on the Algonquin bill.
Some customers desired well-dressed drivers as well as a carnage. In the Hoagland wardrooms were 15 outfits of fur coats, gloves, and caps. There were enough neatly brushed silk hats to costume a half-dozen minstrel shows.
By the time be retired in 1913, Sam Hoagland owned 26 horses, 11 full-sized closed carriages, three hearses, three fancy conveyances, opera hacks, pallbearer wagons, two-seat carriages, picnic wagons, and one-seat light driving rigs of all descriptions.
Sam’s son, Fred J. Hoagland, was born in Elgin in 1880 and joined the business after leaving high school. When the livery closed, he adapted to the motor age and started the Hoagland Taxicab Company with three Model-T Fords and two Reos, all black. Meters were introduced in 1919, and the original fare they tallied was 25 cents for the first mile and 10 cents for each succeeding two-fifths mile. After World War I, Fred began buying Yellow cabs manufactured in Chicago by John Hertz, and the firm’s name was changed to the Elgin Yellow Cab Company.
The early Yellows had tonneaus in which only the passenger compartment was enclosed. The driver was in the open air, exposed to rain and snow. After Hertz sold out to General Motors, Hoagland switched to Chevrolets.
Two-way radios, which reduced cost and response time, were introduced in 1946. At its operating peak in the 1950s, Elgin Yellow had about 60 full and part-time employees, including three full time dispatchers, two telephone operators, maintenance shop repairmen, and drivers. The firm had 18 cars on the streets in the summer and 25 in the winter. The cars averaged about 7,000 mile per month. Eight new cars were purchased each year. By the end of the decade, Elgin Yellow had switched from Chevrolets to Checkers made in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Fred’s son, Charles Hoagland, was born in Elgin in 1913. While still a boy, he learned the ropes by guiding new drivers around the city. He eventually became a partner in the business, withdrawing in 1964, but was driving his private livery until he reached the age of 70.
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ElginHistory.com – Elgin: Days Gone By – E. C. Alft
At the age of 84 years old, Sam died and was buried, alongide his wife, Maria, in Elgin’s Bluffside Cemetery. The following was transcribed by my grandmother, Helen Marie Hoagland who was his granddaughter, from a newspaper article at the time of his death. She did not state the source of the death notice:
