Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917 edition. Excerpt: ...1855 Albert F. Dickinson shipped to the eastern market the first carload of wheat ever sent forth from Chicago, and also that he became one of the pioneer members of the Board of Trade, on which he purchased his seat for the sum of five dollars. He met with heavy losses at the time of the great Chicago fire of 1871 and retired from active business in the following year. He died May 7, 1889, at which time the Board of Trade passed appreciative resolutions of respect and admiration for him as a citizen and business man. He and his wife were birthright members of the Society of Friends and were charter members of its first organization in Chicago. Albert Dickinson acquired his rudimentary education in the schools of his native State and was a lad of about fourteen years at the time of the family removal to Chicago.. Here he continued his studies in the public schools until 1859, when he was graduated in the high school, as a member of the first class to be accorded this distinction in the; schools of Chicago. Thereafter he continued to be associated with his father's business operations until he responded to the call of higher duty and went forth as a soldier in the Civil War. Scarcely had died away the sound of the thundering of rebel guns against the ramparts of old Fort Sumter when, in April, 1861, Mr. Dickinson, then nineteen years of age, enlisted in Company B of Taylor's Battery of Chicago Light Artillery, which was soon afterward mustered in as the First Regiment of Illinois Light Artillery. It was given to Mr. Dickinson to live up to the full tension of the great conflict between the North and the South, to take part in many sanguinary engagements, and to make a record that shall ever reflect honor upon his name and memory. His...