James E. Homans, editor

“ Alike by ancestry, by taste, by study and conviction, she is a true American patriot. She combines the characteristics of the refined woman, the cultured scholar, and the devoted friend. She possesses great benevolence of heart and believes in practical charity. Since the death of her husband, she has been actively engaged in the management of his vast business interests. She is a woman of wide business capacity, and many of the most discouraging difficulties have been surmounted by her determination, self-reliance, and unusual energy. ”

“ When submitting a proposition, large or small, he would base his ideas on the very best knowledge of the existing conditions and prospects for the future, using as a basis the natural rules for the self-preservation and success of his company ”

“ Although tools manufactured at the Simonds works have always enjoyed a well-merited reputation for excellence of material and workmanship, it is true, nevertheless, that the greater part of the phenomenal growth of the company is to be credited directly to the energy and enterprise of its able and indefatigable president. ”

“ Brooks was made executor of his estate and one of the bequests of his will was $40,000 to provide a monument of Abraham Lincoln for Lincoln Park, Chicago, Ill. The result of this bequest is the well-known Saint Gaudens statue of Lincoln which stands at the entrance to the park. Mr. Brooks took great pride in the way in which this bequest was carried out. Beginning like so many of our foremost American citizens, in a minor position, Mr. Brooks has made his way with rapid strides to places of recognized importance in the business world. ”

“ For this purpose, of course, the highest grade of steel is a necessity, since flaws developed in rolling, as the result of “pipes” or “air-holes” in the original ingot, are liable to be both destructive to the efficiency of the tool and dangerous to human life. For several years, therefore, steel of the highest grade was imported from England, where it was produced under the greatest precautions known to science, at the direct order of the Simonds manufactory. ”

“ Springer lived to see his idea adopted by building experts in all large cities of the country, and many capitalists in Chicago today are erecting similar buildings. His foresight and acumen is largely responsible for many of the desirable conditions existing in Chicago at this time. ”

“ Springer is a member of the Chicago Press League, and an active organizer of the “Fields and Workshops Society,” which is international in its scope, and has among its members many prominent men and women of the country. She is a womanly woman of exquisite taste and refinement, and is interested in the beautiful and rare and unique. Mrs. Springer is the owner of many valuable pieces of ancestral pewter, priceless China, matchless homespun linen and antique copper and silver vessels, the accumulation of centuries. There are few women so well versed in all things antique as Mrs. ”

“ Springer manifested a comprehensive grasp of the various enterprises located there with a view toward centralization, and consequently increased the general efficiency, furnishing light, heat, steam, and power, night and day, summer and winter In the early seventies and eighties power was furnished by means of rope transmission, which method was followed in the nineties by an electric plant, generating electricity for motor power and lighting purposes. ”

“ That he did more than any other man to develop the West Side, in Chicago, where his manufacturing property was located, no one denies. He was an efficient force impelled by a progressive spirit and guided by conservative ideas. He never mingled in politics ”

“ Encouraged by this success they then secured a franchise for an elevated railroad, and the road erected by Billings and Garrison was the first to be operated in New York City. They subsequently built the St. Louis, Kansas City and Colorado Railroad, which afterward was merged in the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe System. Always alert for business opportunities, Mr. Billings came to the rescue of the Home National Bank of Chicago, in 1873, when it was badly embarrassed and succeeded in putting it, and the Home Savings Bank, in a solid commercial condition. ”

“ Brooks; their son, Timothy and Ruth (Wyman) Brooks, and their son, Leuke V. and Mary (Hawthorne) Brooks, who were the grandparents of James G. C. Brooks. The boy James was full of vigor and ambition, ready to work and eager in the enjoyment of all boys' sports. His education was limited to that afforded by the public and private schools of Cambridge and Boston, Mass., and was concluded when he was nineteen years old. He began his active business life in Chicago, Ill., in the employ of his uncle, Artemus Carter, at that time one of the leading lumbermen of the city. ”

“ He was organizer and first president of the Manufacturers' Club of Fitchburg, a member of the Fay Club of Fitchburg, the Union League Club of Chicago, and the Larchmont Yacht Club of New York. He was also a Master Mason, and a Knight Templar. ”

“ He met with success from the start, and in a comparatively brief period had attained a high position in the legal profession through his ability and intellectual attainments. In 1884 he accepted an invitation to become city attorney for Blair, Neb., and discontinued his general legal practice. During his term as city attorney, he successfully prosecuted the Fairbanks Scale Company, and represented the city in the federal courts in Omaha. In 1890 he was chosen assistant county attorney for Washington County, Neb. Throughout his long career, Mr. Farnsworth has specialized in corporation law. ”

“ His great business acumen and high character secured for him the respect and appreciation of his fellow townsmen, and in 1835 he was elected sheriff; being annually re-elected for eleven successive years. ”