Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Corbin, Alfred T ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 7, 2007, 9:36 pm Author: Genealogical & Biographical Record ALFRED T. CORBIN, a leading businessman of Plainfield, is the proprietor of an establishment in which he carries a complete assortment of dry-goods, groceries, hats and caps, etc. In addition to this business he has other interests of varying degrees of importance and value. He owns a half interest in a hardware store in Phoenix, Ariz., of which his son-in-law is the manager. He also has shares in the Bankers' Mining & Milling Company, which owns a mine on Bull Mountain, at Cripple Creek, Colo., and also has mining interests at Leadville, that state. The father of our subject, Elihu Corbin, was born in Rutland, Vt., and in boyhood accompanied his parents to Cleveland, Ohio, where he grew to manhood. For a time he carried on a boot and shoe business in Cleveland, after which, with a partner, he operated a tannery. The excitement caused by the discovery of gold in California reached him and he determined to seek in the far west a fortune. In 1850 he went to the Pacific coast overland and remained a year, when, his brother-in-law being taken sick, he started east with him via Panama, but the sick man died before home was reached. Resuming the shoe business, Mr. Corbin manufactured shoes of his own leather and built up a good trade in Cleveland. However, desiring to seek another location, he sold out in 1852 and came to Plainfield, Ill., November 5, where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres, a portion of which is now in the city limits. He platted the land in town lots and sold it as opportunity afforded. On the remainder he engaged in general farm pursuits, and added to it from time to time. Finally retiring, he established his home in the town. On the Republican ticket he was elected justice of the peace, which office he held for more than a quarter of a century. During the Civil war he held office as deputy United States marshal. In religion he was an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church. His life was devoted to various pursuits, and in each he seemed to meet with success. As a farmer he was thorough and painstaking, as a business man energetic and up-to-date. From 1860 to 1862 he carried on a mercantile business in Plainfield, but, preferring agricultural pursuits, he sold out. When he died in 1895 he was eighty-two years of age. The mother of our subject was Elisa A. Fish, a native of Groton, Conn., and now a resident of Plainfield, Ill. In spite of her eighty-three years she is quite active. Of her nine children four are deceased. Hannah is the widow of Capt. D. Sullivan, who was a captain in the Eighth Illinois Cavalry during the Civil war; Emma M. is the widow of E. Holbrook, of Batavia, Ill.; and Mary E. resides with her mother. The youngest of the family is Louis D., who clerks for his brother. Another son, Edward W., was a merchant in Colorado and died there, but is buried in Plainfield. Mrs. Eliza A. (Fish) Corbin is a granddaughter of Ebenezer Fish, a soldier in the Revolutionary war and for six months a prisoner-of-war. His son, Ebenezer, served during the second war with England. He walked the entire distance from Connecticut to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1811, and settled in that place, where he became a prominent citizen, and one of the founders of Methodism, giving the site for two churches. He died in 1880, aged ninety-three years. His wife was Johanna Stanton, of Stonington, Conn. In Cleveland, Ohio, our subject was born January 6, 1843. He was nine years of age when the family settled in this county. Two years later he secured work as a clerk in Plainfield. He continued steadily in business, with the exception of the time spent in a commercial college in Chicago. In 1870, with two partners, Mr. Corbin engaged in the mercantile business in Plainfield. His partners were G. N. and W. H. Chittenden; the former sold his interest to his partners in 1887. Three years later our subject bought his partner's interest and has since managed the store. During the mining excitement in Montana he spent three years in that territory (1864-67), and besides mining took up a ranch. Fraternally he is a member of Plainfield Lodge No. 536, A. F. & A. M. In politics he is stanchly, though not actively, a Republican, and has held various township and city offices, to which he was elected on the party ticket. His marriage united him with Miss Laura A. Pratt, daughter of the late S. S. Pratt, who was a merchant in Plainfield. They are the parents of one daughter, Grace, who married Charles H. Davidson, a hardware merchant in Phoenix, Ariz. They have one son, Harold Corbin Davidson. 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 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/corbin956gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/ File size: 5.4 Kb