Google Books original 1893 edition
JAMES McGREW. The history of Kankakee County would be incomplete without the life record of our subject, who has been for nearly forty years a resident of this county and has been very instrumental in its growth and progress. The city' of Kankakee par-
ticularly owes to him a debt of gratitude, for he has been prominently connected with its achievements for many years and is justly- entitled to a
large share of praise for its present thriving condition.
Mr. McGrew is a native of the Buckeye State, his birth having occurred near Dayton on the 5th
of May, 1820. He is a son of John and Elizabeth (Blackford) McGrew. The father was a native of
York County, Pa., and was born in 1766. He was of Scotch-Irish origin, some of his ancestors having resided in County Tyrone, Ireland. They emigrated to Adams County, Pa., in 1726. John
McGrew was married in Westmoreland County, that State, in 1788, but the same year removed to
Kentucky. Two years later he enlisted in Harmer's campaign against the Indians of the Maumee and was with the army at Harmer's defeat at Ft. Wayne. He then went to Cincinnati, in the fall of 1790, and was discharged from the service.
His father was a great horse-dealer of that day and was engaged in the breeding of fine stock.
The mother of our subject was of Welsh descent, with perhaps a mixture of Scotch. Her ancestors
emigrated in 1717 to America and settled in New Jersey. Her father and the father of Chief Justice John McLean were first cousins and the two families emigrated from New Jersey to Kentucky in 1790. Later both families removed to Warren County, Ohio, and settled upon farms near Ridgeville, four or five miles to the north of Lebanon.
John McGrew was twice married, his first wife being Miss Mary Thompson, by whom he had
seven sons and three daughters: William, Samuel T., Archibald, Milton, John, James, Bracken,
Mary, Margaret and Rebecca. His second wife, who was the mother of our subject, was the widow
of Elijah Stebbins, by whom she had five children: Mary, Phoebe, Jeremiah, Levi and Elijah. Three children were born of the second union: Elizabeth, James and Esther. Two sons of Mr. McGrew by his first wife married two daughters of his second wife by her former marriage. Of Mr. McGrew's children only two are now living, James and Esther. The father lived for many years in Montgomery County, Ohio, five miles south of Dayton, and there his death occurred in 1848.
The mother of our subject survived her husband for several years and departed this life in Kankakee, III., in 1859.
The boyhood days of James McGrew were passed in the county of his birth upon his father's
farm. He received a district-school education and upon arriving at his majority was united in marriage with Mary A. Bickley, the ceremony being performed on the 31st of August, 1841. Her pa-
rents, Samuel and Catherine (Boehm) Binkley, were natives of Lancaster County, Pa. Ten
children blessed the union of our subject and his estimable wife, seven of whom are still living, the others having died in infancy. Harriet M. became the wife of Samuel C. Kenaga and they now make their home in Chicago, where Mr. Kenaga is engaged .as foreman in one of the J McCormick reaper shops. They have had eight children, five of whom are living: George, Herman, Benjamin, Samuel and Harriet. Catherine E. married Mr. S. Hathaway, a commercial traveler. They
have one child, William, and they also make their home in Chicago. "William H., a draftsman and
architect, makes his home in Missouri. James B. married Miss Ada Stewart, and to them have been
born two children, Ethel and William. They reside in Kankakee. Charles E. is married and lives
at Farmer City, 111. He has two children, Arthur and Pearl. .John F. married Miss Emma Eislerand
is a flour, feed and coal merchant of Kankakee.
Samuel H. resides in Kankakee, is married and has a daughter, Lois. James and Samuel are in
the flouring-mill business. From the time of his marriage until 1856, Mr.
McGrew lived upon a farm near Dayton, Ohio, and followed agricultural pursuits exclusively. While thus employed he received a medal from the State of Ohio for having grown the best osage orange hedge. The spring of 1856 witnessed his arrival in Kankakee, which has since been his home continuously. He first engaged in growing, selling and planting osage orange trees for hedge purposes after his arrival, but followed that occupation for only a short time. He then turned his attention to the raising of broom-corn, which vocation he followed for about twelve years, some seasons having as high as three hundred acres planted with that crop. In 1865, he purchased a half-interest in the water power of the mill property in Kankakee and subsequently became the sole proprietor. This right he still owns but has rented his mill to his sons, James and Samuel,who do business under the firm name of McGrew Bros.
The mill has a capacity of one hundred barrels of flour per day, Our subject also owns the milldam and furnishes both power and ground for the paper mill, two foundries, a machine shop, blacksmith shop and wire works, as well as power for the oil mill. In 1808 lie was elected President of the Kankakee and Illinois River Railroad Company, afterward named the Plymouth, Kankakee & Pacific. For this railroad, which is now called the Indiana, Illinois & Iowa, Mr. McGrew raised between $700,000 and $800,000 of local voted aid, with which he had surveys made, right of way obtained, and much of the grading done. When the panic of 1873 came on the work was abandoned, but about ten or fifteen years later the work of continuing the line w.as resumed and
since that time the railroad has become an important and well-paying one.
Since coming to this county Mr. McGrew has been actively engaged in the advancement of its
interests, and that his fellow-citizens have recognized the fact has been shown many times by the part they have taken in electing him to office.
About the year 1870 he was Mayor of Kankakee, and w.as Chairman of the building committee
which carried forward the work of erecting the Central Public School building. He was also
elected County Treasurer and served for four years during the war, when it was a difficult mat-
ter to keep posted as to the value of wildcat money. For a number of years he was active in
the promotion of the Kankakee County Agricultural Society.
For over fifty years Mr. and Mrs. McGrew have held membership with the Methodist Episcopal
Church, of which our subject for years was a Steward, and in which he is at present serving as
a Trustee. He was on the building committee which had in charge the erection of a large stone
building known as the Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, and his family have always been active
workers in church- circles. Mr. McGrew is a Mason in good standing, being a charter member of
Kankakee Chapter No. 78, R. A. M. He has voted the Prohibition ticket since 1882, but for twenty- six years was affiliated with the Republican party.
Previous to its organization he was a Whig, like his father before him, who voted for James (i.
Birney and was greatly opposed to slavery. Mr. McGrew owns a beautiful home on the corner of
Couil Street :in(l Chicago Avenue, lie is also the owner of a few residence lots in the city. Although seventy-two years of age lie is well preserved and bids fair to live for many years. His height is six feet, his step is elastic for one of his years, and Ins mind is clear and active. We feel assured that his many friends in this locality will read with much interest this tribute to one who has borne so important a part in the history of the county.
