The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1895-03-21
OLD KENOSHA CHICKS
NOW A PART OF THE GREAT
WINDY CITY.
THEY ARE HoNoRING us STILL

Nests Taking Prominent Part in
Life-Theyre Among
Chicagos Best
| Especial correspondence
CHICAGO, March 15.-The indiyid-
ual history of the pioneer families of
Kenosha county is of forceful interest
today. They located there as early as
1885, in considerable numbers, and
subsequently builded better than they
knew" They located there as trad
ers and for gain, with some idea of &C
comprising something, incidentally, in
missionary work; mainly the former.
1t has always been SO in opening new
country-mammon precedes and makes
way for the cross. But those all endur-
| ing men, born amidst the luxuries of
civilized life, left all behind them when
| they embarked to the west shore of
Lake Michigan-all in the way Of COM
| forts and luxuries of civilized life. The
spirit of avarice and love of adventure
led the way and churches and schools
followed. But these pioneers are en-
titled to great credit because of their
bravery in facing danger and even
death, to extend civilization into the
great west, where the waters had never
been disturbed, so far as known, except
by the sea- birds wings, the fish that
reveled in them, or by the smoothly
gliding and picturesque canoe. In
every direction 1t was a wilderness, but
civilization soon made it to flourish and
prosper and put forth blossoms
Haunting in the eye of day. and it be-
came a veritable garden spot in Wis
consin. Those pioneers
Crossed the prairies as of old
The pilgrims crossed the sea.
To make the west as they east,
The homestead of the fl ee''
Their hardships, ventures and Specu-
lations are well known history to the
student of today. But | must be more
specific and direct. Among the first of
those early settlers was
James M. stryker.
who was, in commercial and personal
capacity, closely identified with the
foundation, moral and material up
growth of Kenosha county for many
years, dating back to more than half a
century ago. 1t was to the possession
of many admirable and high qualities
of manhood, coupled with the enter
prise and character to which they gave
birth, that induced him to leave his
pleasant associations in his eastern
home and come to the then wilderness.
He was born in Cayuga county, n. Y,
in 1919 and was descended from the
famous Knickerbocker stock, who came
from Holland and settled New Am
sterdam-New York city, the Hudson
river country and the valley of the Mo-
hawk. He possessed the sterling quail
tiles which have characterized that
nosha and subsequently, during a pc
Rod calculated to call out the best in a
man, he bore his part with a courage,
fidelity, wisdom and patience that gave
him a sure and lasting place among his
compeers; he kept the moral correct
ness, the persistence, the ringing pa
triotism and the tender sympathy with
humanity which the times in which he
lived tended to develop and intensity.
His ancestral name was Van Strycker,
he being a descendant of Jan Van
Strycker, born in Holland in 1915, ar
irving in this country in 1862, having
with his brother Jacobus, received a
grant of land from the States General
of the Netherlands, in the colony of
New Amsterdam, now New York city,
and the country contiguous. In the
whirlpool of changes in old country
names when brought into this country,
the Van, !" the diaeres is over the ~"
and the &c" have been dropped, but no
one nor any custom can ever drop from
the character of those pioneers their
sturdy and substantial qualities, which
constitute a guarantee of moral virtue,
essentials in character and capabilities
in all the relations Of life.
There was manliness about those
old settlers in the west; an iron nerve,
an unbending front, such as is not as
common now as then. Their de-
scendants possess, presumably, like
qualities, and so far as knew them in
Chicago do. Mr.. Stryker went to Ke-
nosha in 1887 and was conspicuous
man in that place thereafter. He went
there with George Bennett and was in
the employ of Hale Il Bullen for few
years and was later associated in bust
ness with Samuel Hale, William Bullen
and N. r. Allen, and in the lumber
business with John A. Brooks and A
B. Watson in Michigan, and in the late
fifties in the mercantile business with
Thomas E. Baker and E. G.. Durant in
Chicago with branch at St. Louis
until about 1865 when he sold his inter
ests IN Chicago He, asa yonng man,
and In after life. evidenced an eYtraor-