Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Backstrom, John E 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 7, 2007, 10:19 pm

Author: Genealogical & Biographical Record

JOHN E. BACKSTROM, superintendent of the quarries of E. Porter & Son's Stone
Company, and a resident of Joliet since 1881, was born in Dalarne, Kopparberg, 
Sweden, November 22, 1848, a son of E. and Christina C. (Nelson) Backstrom,  
natives respectively of Bysoken and Husby. His father, who was the son of a 
blacksmith, learned that trade in his youth and for some time was employed 
with a large company engaged in the manufacture of iron, holding a position of 
responsibility as foreman of a department. Both he and his wife passed away  
in their native land. Their four daughters and one son are still living, John 
E. being the youngest and the only one in America. He resided in Dalarne until 
he was fourteen, and afterward clerked in a store at Helsingland, remaining 
there for nine years.

Taking passage at Gothenburg in 1871 Mr. Backstrom journeyed via Hull and 
Liverpool to New York City, thence proceeded to Chicago, and from there went 
to Bishop Hill, in Henry County, Ill. For a short time he clerked in a
dry-goods store in Galva, after which he was employed on a farm during one 
season. Next he became bookkeeper and clerk in a store at Kewanee, Henry 
County, where he remained for nine years. In 1881 he came to Joliet, where he
was clerk in the grocery of George Munroe & Son, and later was with Riley 
Brothers, returning finally to the Munroe store, where he was given charge of 
the shipping department in the wholesale house. When the business was sold he 
accepted a position as bill clerk with the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company,  
remaining in the position for two and one-half years. Later he was with the  
Joliet & Chicago Stone Company for five and one-half years, resigning to  
accept the position of bookkeeper in the brewery owned by E. Porter, by whom,  
in 1899, he was transferred to the position of superintendent of the
quarries.

In religion Mr. Backstrom adheres to the religious belief of Luther, in which  
he was reared. Politically he is a Republican. While in Kewanee, Ill., he 
married Christine Larson, who was born in Norway and came to America in 1872. 
They are the parents of seven children, now living: Walter, Gertrude, Norman, 
Carl, Ernest, Roy and Ina.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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