Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Grant, Belville A 1844 - 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 10, 2007, 1:43 am

Author: Portrait & Bio Album, 1890

BELVILLE A. GRANT. Lockport is not without its share of able business men and 
influential citizens, and chief among them is the gentleman above named, whose 
career has been marked by a degree of tact, energy, and success rarely 
equaled. The business in which Mr. Grant is engaged, is that of manufacturing 
wire, and his goods find customers in all parts of the United States. He has 
patented an appliance by which fusel oil is used as a fuel, and this important 
piece of machinery is in successful operation. The natal day of Mr. Grant, was 
October 23, 1844, and his birthplace Fleming County, Ky., in which he lived 
until about four years old. His parents, William S. and Mary A. (Tolle) Grant, 
then removed to Henry County, Iowa, where the son passed his youth in 
acquiring an education and a knowledge of the pursuits of a farmer and miller. 
After completing the course of study in the common schools he attended the 
high school at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. In 1864, while he yet lacked some months of 
having reached his majority, he entered the Union army as a member of the 
Forty-fifth Iowa Infantry, and displayed his gallantry in Missouri, 
Mississippi, and the West. At the close of his honorable career as a soldier, 
young Grant returned to his former peaceful pursuits, ere long becoming a 
resident of the Prairie State, arriving in Lockport, June 4, 1867. Here he was 
engaged in various lines of business until 1878, when he entered the employ of 
H. B. Scutt & Co., wire manufacturers, as Superintendent. He remained with the 
company until 1881, when they sold out, and he, having thoroughly mastered the 
business, established a wire factory in Lockport, under the firm name of 
Grant, Harmon & Richards. Mr. Grant soon absorbed the whole business, and 
formed a stock company, by whom the business was continued for a year, after 
which it became the Baker Wire Mill. Mr. Grant drew the plans and 
superintended the erection of the buildings for the new organization, and his 
great executive ability in the management of the business is shown by the fact 
that the mills which started on a capacity of fifteen tons per week, now use 
four hundred tons weekly. From the original plant has grown an establishment 
which employs three hundred and fifty men, and disburses large sums of money 
each month by which various departments of industry in the town are benefited. 
The personal popularity of Mr. Grant is extreme, as was indicated by his 
election to the Mayoralty in opposition to two of the strongest men in the 
city, his candidacy being supported by the best element of society. He is a 
member of Gooding Post, G. A. R. The beautiful home of which he took 
possession in the year 1888, is presided over by a lady of refinement and 
culture, with whom he was united in marriage on the 1st of December, 1886. She 
is a native of Will County, and was known in her maidenhood as Miss Ella 
Cagwin. To her has been born one daughter, Bertha Eloise, whose natal day was 
November 30, 1887, and who is a child of striking beauty, giving promise of 
becoming a charming woman.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890 

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