Elgin Illinois Pioneer
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
***
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
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
Celia M. Sears Hoagland, Death Notice- Nov. 9, 1889
Elgin Every Saturday
Elgin, Kane, Illinois, USA
Celia M. Sears Hoagland, Death Notice
9 Nov 1889
Celia M., wife of Zephaniah C. Hoagland, died very suddenly at her home 186 Kimball Street, Nov. 4th, aged 64 years. Two weeks ago she had a paralytic stroke, though up to that time in good health. She was apparently recovering, when a second stroke carried her off. She came to Elgin in 1849 and has always been much respected and beloved. She leaves five children to mourn for her.
Celia Mary SEARS (1825 – 1889)
My 3rd great-grandmother
Samuel Campbell HOAGLAND (1855 – 1940)
son of Celia Mary SEARS
Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND (1880 – 1961)
son of Samuel Campbell HOAGLAND
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.
James Knott 1804–1874, Elgin’s Grocer
When James Knott was born about 1804, in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, his father, Thomas, was 13 and his mother, Anna, was 17. He was married three times and had three sons and two daughters. He died on March 5, 1874, in Elgin, Illinois, at the age of 70, and was buried there.
James KNOTT (1804 – 1874)
My 4th great-grandfather
daughter of James KNOTT & Deborah FLUDE
daughter of Lucy Flude KNOTT
son of Maria Elizabeth BLOW
daughter of Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND
son of Helen Marie HOAGLAND
The daughter of Capt. Frank Hunt BOSWORTH II
James Knott married Deborah Flude in 1822 in Leicester, Leicestershire, when he was 18 years old.
St. Nicholas Church – “England Marriages, 1538–1973 ,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NJ8W-TQK : accessed 24 February 2016), James Knott and Debora Flude, 25 Aug 1822; citing St. Nicholas, Leicester, Leicester, England, ref
Read about Deborah Flude by clicking on this link:
https://thetenderlyrosecollection.wordpress.com/2016/08/30/deborah-flude-1800-1847/
Excerpt from British History Online:
“Of the other early shoemakers, James Knott advertised himself in 1842 as a ‘Fashionable Boot and Shoe Manufacturer’, who supplied the trade as well as private customers and executed shipping orders. He continued to appear with his son, Thomas, in the lists of boot and shoe manufacturers until 1850.”
‘The City of Leicester: Footwear manufacture’, A History of the County of Leicester: volume 4: The City of Leicester (1958), pp. 314-326. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.
My note: Is it possible that the author of this history may have listed James as the father of Thomas in error. In my research, Thomas Knott was the father of James Knott. But, I am just beginning to gather information on this family, so I may be incorrect in my information. Would love to hear from anyone familiar with this family.
After Deborah’s death in 1847, James Knott arrived in America on June 28, 1849 in New York, New York after a 38 day voyage on the ship named Guy Mannering. The ship’s manifest lists James Knott 45, William Knott 18, Anne Knott 20, Eliz. Knott 16 and Fred Knott 12. His oldest child, Lucy, my GGG Grandmother, was not listed on the manifest with her family. I found she had traveled ahead of the family to America and was living with her Uncle John Knott in Chicago at the time of her family’s arrival.
Around 1849-1851, James Knott married Elizabeth Anne Hawly (1800-1852) in Illinois.
On the 1850 U.S. Federal Census the family is living in the Town of Elgin, Kane County, Illinois. The census lists James Knott 46, Elisabeth Knott 26, Elisabeth Knott 18, Frederick J. Knott 13. Only James is listed as having been born in Illinois. On the ship’s manifest for James Knott upon arrival to the U.S., an Elizabeth is listed, so at least that would indicated she was born in England, not Illinois. The same page of the census also shows his father, Thomas Knott 61 with Ann Knott 63-both born in England-his occupation is “Tanner or Tuner”.
After the death of James’ second wife, Elizabeth Hawly, he then married Charlotte Bunce on November 18, 1852.
James Knott is listed on the Illinois State Census for 1855 as residing in Elgin, Kane, Illinois.
A U.S. IRS Tax Assessment List for Illinois, District 2, for 1862-1864 lists James Knott as “Retail Dealer”, but then that was crossed out and it looks like “Butcher” was written beside it. Another U.S. IRS Tax Assessment List for the same district lists James Knott as “Retail Dealer”.
On the 1870 U.S. Census for Elgin, Kane, Illinois, James Knott is listed as “Retired Merchant” with possible wife (3 years younger), Charlotte Knott & Margaret Bunce (whom I found on a census in PA with George F. Knott on same page – Marg. was listed as domestic) at same address.
James Knott is listed as buried in the Channing Street Cemetery (Channing Street Cemetary Sexton’s Certificates) on March 5, 1874, however, the Channing Street Cemetery was “repurposed” for the building of a school. The story is here:
http://www.elginroots.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18&Itemid=146
Deborah FLUDE (1800 – 1847)
Deborah FLUDE Knott (1800 – 1847)
My 4th great-grandmother
daughter of Deborah FLUDE
daughter of Lucy Flude KNOTT
son of Maria Elizabeth BLOW
daughter of Frederick Judson “Fred” HOAGLAND
son of Helen Marie HOAGLAND
The daughter of Capt. Frank Hunt BOSWORTH II
Forget Me Knott
BBC Leicester’s Tony Wadsworth goes in search of a Leicester woman who was born, married and buried in the same street.
How often do you pass familiar buildings, statues and objects in the street without giving them a second thought?
One sunny day BBC Leicester’s Tony Wadsworth stopped to take a look round the churchyard he walks past everyday, and found one woman’s remarkable story amongst the gravestones.
It got him thinking about the area around St. Nicholas Church and how it had changed since her days in the 1800s, and even in the last 50 years.
Deborah’s Death
Deborah’s death certificate states that she died of “enlargement of the liver” and “heart disease”.
BBC Leicester’s Julie Mayer spoke to Dr Clive Harrison to find out what could have caused Deborah’s poor health…
Leicester in the mid 1800s was a very different place from the city we know today and the environment would have affected everyone’s health.
In 1813 the Inspector of Nuisances, George Brown painted the city conditions as a radical risk to the health of its residents.
He said the River Soar was “torpid and turbid”, describing parts of it as an “open cesspool” emitting “pestiferous gasses which cause disease of the most malignant and mortal character”.
Doctors of the time often didn’t understand much more about disease than their patients; miasma, the belief that illness came from bad smells, was a popular concept.
Infant mortality was particularly high with a fifth of children dying before they reached the age of one.
In the 19th Century diarrhoea, consumption, scarlet fever and lung infections were all common causes of deaths.
With people living in cramped conditions, next to cesspits, abattoirs and stables, Clive believes it’s no wonder disease was rife.
Before the time of the NHS and antibiotics, city residents would normally be treated by local doctors who used reference books to give prescriptions from their own pharmacies.
There was just one hospital in the area during the 1800’s. Leicester Infirmary was founded in 1771 but was only open to a small section of society.
Overall Dr Clive said it was unsurprisingly Deborah had died of disease and all things considered she didn’t do too badly to last until 47 years-old: “I’d have said she was almost elderly.”
Life after Deborah
Although Deborah’s grave clearly marks her marriage to James Knott, her husband and children do not rest in the same churchyard.
Peter Cousins searched the 1851 census but was unable to find their names, “Husband, children – just disappeared off the face of Leicester.”
After quite a bit of thinking and investigating Peter traced down the family’s movements after the death of Deborah.
An 1849 shipping list reveals that James Knott, his sons William and Fredrick, and daughter Elizabeth, emigrated to America.
The travelled on the Guy Mannering ship on her first East-West voyage from Liverpool to New York on 22 May 1849.
The journey to the new world and their new home took 38 days.
After digging a bit deeper Peter found the Knott’s settled in Illinois the next year, with what appears to be a young wife for James:
“So he’s not only gone to start a new life, it looks like he’s started a new family.”
St. Nicholas Church, Leicester
In Search of Deborah
BBC Leicester’s Tony Wadsworth and Julie Mayer went in search of the woman who was born and buried on the same street in Leicester…
Deborah was born in 1800 on St. Nicholas Street, which is now a continuation of the High Street – just round the corner from the BBC Leicester studios.
At that time Leicester’s population would have rested at around 17,000 people. Her particular neighbourhood was small but densely inhabited.
Her unusually modern name, which first drew Tony to her story, was passed on from her older sister who died in infancy just a year before her arrival in the world.
She married James Knott in 1822 at St. Nicholas Church, at the age of 22. Find out more about marriage in the 1800s…
Weddings at this time would have been simple and quiet affairs, with just a few close family members witnessing their solemnisation of matrimony.
Local Historian Richard Gill commented, “this notion that we have to have 150 guests at your wedding and you have a huge slap up meal afterwards, that is actually middle to late 20th Century.
“It didn’t happen for my parents in the 1920s.”
A Different Life
Deborah continued to live with her husband on the same road she grew up on, raising six children in the process.
Local genealogist Peter Cousins discovered that at the time of the 1841 Census the children ranged from between three and 16 years-old:
“They were quite regular in their habits, you might say!”
James worked as a shoemaker, which was a common profession in an area home to many shoe factories, however Mrs Knott is likely to have been a housewife.
It is difficult to know how comfortably the Knotts lived as James’ specific position is unknown and could range from business owner to manual worker.
However Richard believes there may be some clues to the family’s wealth in Deborah’s gravestone – a smart but not overly elaborate piece made from local Swithland slate:
“This would rather suggest that there was at least sufficient money to memorialise her when she died.”
Deborah’s life in the 1800s would have been a very different experience to the Leicester women of today.
There were no aeroplanes, no electric light bulbs, no phones, no water pipes delivering fresh water, no flushing toilets, no NHS, and definitely no television or radio!
Leicester: 1800s
With the St. Nicholas area now home to several car parks and a developing park and ride scheme it is particularly interesting to consider that Deborah would have never seen a motor vehicle.
Very few areas of Leicester would still be recognisable to Deborah now, including the Guildhall, five medieval churches, a few chapels, the City Rooms, and a small network of streets south of St. Martins.
Richard said, “In the period in which she lived, that first half of the 19th Century, Leicester was very different and the sort of Leicester we think of as Victorian Leicester came more or less as was dying. So very little survives.”
Deborah died on 15 May 1847 at the age of 47 and was buried in the grounds of St. Nicholas Church in Leicester, where she remains to this day.
It may seem young to us now, but Richard believes it wouldn’t have been at all shocking in the 1840s:
“No drains, no deposal sewage, clean water uncertain – so one was pray to all kinds of things.
“And medicine was really just a case of nursing people, no antibiotics or anything like that, and often the flus in the winter and summer diarrhoea carried people off.
“So it may well be some people thought, ‘well she might have lived longer’, but 47 wasn’t bad.”
last updated: 04/09/2009 at 09:34
created: 07/07/2009
BBC
The story about Deborah as documented by Tony Wadsworth can be heard by clicking on this link and following the links within the story:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/content/articles/2009/07/07/deborah_knott_feature.shtml
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:
The Tenderly Rose Collection 