- CHARLES HENRY VAIL (deceased) was known in Beloit, Rock county,
as early as 1856, and
- though he shortly left the city he retained such pleasant
memories of it that it became his home in after years, and here
a considerable portion of his business career was spent. He was
a man of lofty character and strong moral convictions. He led
his life sincerely, and lived from the purest motives, and his
career fittingly forms a part of a work like this, intended to
tell of the men whose worth and courage have made southwestern
Wisconsin.
- Mr. VAIL was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., July 15, 1837, and was
the son of Benjamin Albert and
- Martha (CONKLIN) VAIL, natives of Long Island. They had eight
children, and were people of more than usual character and standing.
Benjamin Albert VAIL was a carpenter and contractor. He lived
after his marriage for a time in Brooklyn, and then at Farmersville,
in western New York, for several years. About 1856 he brought
his family to Beloit, and lived there several years. Chicago
became his final home, and there he lived for a number of years,
dying in 1882, when sixty-eight years old. His wife died prior
to that time, when sixty-one years old. Both were Methodists,
and he was a steward and class-leader in the church. He was a
fine singer, and while in the East often led the church choir.
He was a prominent man in Beloit, and served as alderman. In
Masonry he was deeply versed, having risen to the thirty-second
degree. He is remembered as a genial and cordial gentleman, with
a host of friends. His father, Charles G. VAIL, was born on Long
Island Dec. 25, 1786, and died Oct. 8, 1864. He was of English
stock and served in the war of 1812. He married Miss Polly RICHMOND
Sept. 4, 1811, and his eldest son was Benjamin A. VAIL. The VAIL
family came to America early in the eighteenth century. The maternal
grandfather of Mr. VAIL was a Mr. CONKLIN, a native of Long Island,
of English stock. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary army,
and died when past middle life, the father of three sons and
three daughters.
- Charles Henry VAIL was six weeks old when his parents moved
from Brooklyn to Greenport,
- L.I., and twelve years old when they located in Farmersville,
where he grew to manhood. He attended the public schools, but,
having remarkable ability as a mechanic, he gave up schooling
while quite a boy, and took up the carpenter's trade. This was
his life work. He was an architect, and became an extensive builder
and contractor. He came to Beloit in 1856, but went South before
the war, and spent seven years in that section of the country,
engaged in business as a general merchant. At the expiration
of that time he came back to Beloit, where he was married. He
and his wife spent three months in Chicago, and some years in
Beloit. They lived six months at Lawrence, Kans., and a year
and a half at Leavenworth, and then again returned to Beloit.
By this time the construction business of Mr. VAIL had increased
to large proportions, and in 1885 he went to Kansas City, Mo.,
where he put up a number of large buildings, for which he drew
the plans and did all the architectural work. While there he
employed as many as one hundred men at one time. He returned
to Chicago in 1891, upon the death of his daughter, Mattie May.
He did business in Chicago, but Beloit was his home. He died
Dec. 28, 1895.
- Mr. VAIL and Miss Celia Y. LARAMY were married Feb. 20, 1866.
She is a daughter of Philip
- and Lydia (YANDELL) LARAMY, and is the mother of two children,
Celia Evalena and Mattie May. Celia Evalena married Edward Stanley
WATSON Nov. 19, 1888. He is a hardware and cold storage merchant
of Beloit. They have one child, Charles Munger, born Nov. 10,
1890. Mattie May died June 3, 1891, at the age of eighteen; she
was a bright and beautiful girl, of a sweet and sunny disposition,
and gave every promise of a noble womanhood.
- Mr. VAIL was not identified with any church, but believed
profoundly in the Christian religion, and
- tried to put its best ideals into his daily life. He was
a Democrat, but never would consent to hold public office. He
was a man with a host of friends, and everywhere showed himself
a social, generous and kindhearted gentleman. He was kind and
liberal with the poor and suffering, and those who were privileged
to know him in his home and family pronounced him a model man
in every respect. Among the great number of buildings Mr. VAIL
put up in Beloit may be mentioned the Carpenter block, the Second
National Bank, the Strong public school, the First Baptists Church,
the Opera House, and many others, among thirty stores.
- Mrs. VAIL, who survives her husband, is a member of the Episcopal
Church. She comes of a
- wealthy and cultured family. Her parents were natives of
England, and lived at North and South Molton. They had two sons
and seven daughters: Sarah, who married Richard REESE, is now
deceased; Esther Lydia, the second wife of Mr. REESE, is also
deceased; Thomas William is a resident of Beloit; Harriet Rebecca
married Edward A. LOOMIS, and is deceased; Maria Ann is the wife
of Horace A. BROWN, of Beloit; Celia Y. is the widow of our subject;
three died in infancy. Mrs. VAIL's father was a very devout member
of the Methodist Church, and her mother as strongly attached
too the Episcopal Church. Mr. LARAMY was first married to Miss
Ann WARREN, and three children were the issue of that union:
Ann, deceased wife of William WARREN, of Chicago; Mary, the wife
of S. J. ADMIRE, of Salt Lake City, Utah; and Betsy, the widow
of William LARAMY, a lawyer in Batavia, N.Y. Philip LARAMY had
a planing-mill and tannery in Leroy, N.Y., at one time and was
very highly regarded, both for his personal integrity and his
business ability. He was a steward and class-leader in the church.
His wife was a worthy companion, a sincere Christian and a noble
woman. His father died in England at an advanced age, and was
very wealthy. He owned 3,000 acres of land, and kept large herds
of blooded cattle and sheep. He reared a numerous family. The
father of Mrs. Philip LARAMY, Joseph YANDELL, was also an extensive
farmer and land owner. He had 250 men in his service. He died
in Nadrid, near Molton, Devonshire, England, when quite old.
He had a large family, and his immediate descendants are still
living on the Devonshire estates.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c)1901, pp. 800-802.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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