Frank Dale, deceased, was born in Yorkshire, England. January 23, 1812,
and was struck and killed by a train in Leland, Illinois, September 4, 1890.
When a small child, in 1819, Mr. Dale came with his father, David
Dale, and family, to this country, their settlement being in Luzerne county,
Pennsylvania, where he was reared. In 1834 he went to Port Huron, Michigan,
where he remained two years, thence coming to Illinois and first locating in
DeKalb county, near Freeland, where he farmed and acquired considerable
land. Disposing of his interests there, he removed to Somonauk, Illinois, in
1853, and established the first store in the town. In 1859 he came to Leland
and engaged in the grain business, which he conducted for a period of ten
years. He then moved to a farm in DeKalb county, five miles north of Leland,
and for seven years carried on farming, after which he returned to Leland
and lived retired up to the time of his death.
Mr. Dale was a man of
local prominence. For several years he was the president of the DeKalb
County Old Settlers' Association. Politically he was a Republican, and for a
time served as the president of the board of village trustees. For many
years he was actively identified with the Methodist Episcopal church, in
which he was an ordained minister, and while he never had a regular charge
he frequently preached, substituting his services for that of absent
ministers. He was the youngest of a family of eight children and was the
last to leave the scenes of this life.
Of Mr. Dale's family, we
record that he was twice married, and by his first wife had a large number
of children. August 17, 1833, he wedded Maria Webster, a daughter of John
Webster, and for nearly forty years their lives were happily blended
together, her death terminating the union August 21, 1872. They were the
parents of eleven children. The first two died in infancy, one died at the
age of eight years, and eight are still living, namely: Clara, the wife of
George Metcalf, of Oklahoma; Caroline, the wife of H. L. Bacon, of Chicago,
Illinois; Mary E., the wife of M. L. Watson, of Andale, Kansas; Susan E.,
the wife of John Beckwith, of Wichita, Kansas; Arthur H., of whom mention is
made further on in this sketch; John W., of Wichita, Kansas; J. Frank,
ex-chief justice of Oklahoma; and David M., a district judge residing in
Sedgwick county, Kansas. December 7, 1873, Mr. Dale married Sarah E., the
widow of Ira Kipp, who is now living with a daughter in Dawson, Minnesota.
Arthur H. Dale, referred to above, was born in Luzerne county,
Pennsylvania, February 2, 1846, while his parents were making a brief
sojourn there, that being his father's boyhood home; and in his infancy
Arthur H. was brought to Illinois. At Somonauk he was reared and received a
common-school education, and later he took a six-months commercial course in
a Chicago business college. In 1861 he engaged in the grain business at
Leland, with his father, their association continuing until the summer of
1864, when young Dale enlisted in Company E, Eighty-ninth Illinois Volunteer
Infantry, as a recruit, and was in the Fourth Army Corps, under General
Thomas, remaining in the service until the close of the war, when he was
honorably discharged. He was a participant in the battles of Franklin and
Nashville, Tennessee.
Returning to Leland, Illinois, after the war,
Mr. Dale again engaged in business with his father; was with him until 1870,
and afterward was for a time alone in business there. Then he went to
Plattsburg, Missouri, where he spent two years and a half, engaged in the
hardware business. From Missouri he went to California, and after spending a
year in the Golden state, near Sacramento, he returned to Leland and engaged
in the live-stock business, which he has since successfully conducted,
owning a fine tract of land here. He was in the hardware trade for eight
years in Leland, just after his return from Missouri.
Mr. Dale is a
Republican, and has always shown a commendable interest in public affairs.
He has served as road commissioner, having filled that office for some ten
years; from 1893 to 1895 inclusive he was the assessor of Adams township,
LaSalle county, and for the past twenty years has been a school director.
Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order, the Eastern Star, and
the Knights of the Globe.
He was married in December, 1874, to Louie
H. Gedney, a daughter of Henry E. Gedney, of Ottawa, Illinois. Mr. Gedney
was the founder of the Ottawa Constitution, now the Republican-Times.
Extracted 19 Dec 2018 by Norma Hass from Biographical and Genealogical Record of LaSalle County, Illinois, published in 1900, volume 2, pages 591-593.
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