Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Hallock, Hon A B ************************************************ 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 November 10, 2007, 9:39 am Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County HON. A. B. HALLOCK, postmaster of Peotone, and a former member of the Illinois legislature, was born at Lake Zurich, Lake County, Ill., May 20, 1854, a son of Rev. Joseph Addison and Maria (Brockway) Hallock. Of the original family of six, all but one are still living. Minerva is the widow of John W. Kreamer, who was a member of the noted law firm of Hurd, Booth & Kreamer, of Chicago; Roby is the wife of H. H. Kleinman, of South Chicago; Isadore married L. H. Fountain, an expert bookkeeper and accountant, of Brooklyn, N. Y.; and Eleanor is the wife of F. H. Hague, one of the proprietors of the Chicago Knife works. Rev. Joseph Addison Hallock was a first cousin of Fitzgreen Hallock, the famous poet. He was born at Peru, Clinton County, N. Y., in 1811 and acquired his education in Burlington (Vt.) College. At twenty-one years of age he entered the Methodist ministry as a circuit rider in western Pennsylvania. He was of Quaker parentage and was the first of the family to leave the faith. He was among the first agitators of anti-slavery and had on his place a station of the underground railroad, by which means many black men and women were assisted across the border. That early anti-slavery agitator and martyr, Lovejoy, of Alton, Ill., frequently visited him, and Allen Pinkerton was also a familiar figure at his fireside. As early as 1842 he was one of three men in Elk County, Pa., to cast a vote for an anti-slavery candidate for president. Because of the attitude of the Methodist Church toward slavey, he severed his connection with that denomination early in the beginning of the anti-slavery crusade, and united with the Congregational Church, filling various of its important pulpits. In 1883, when he went to Florida as a missionary among the freedmen, he connected himself with the Presbyterians. Returning north in 1890, he settled at Peotone, Ill., where during the next five years he preached occasionally, but accepted no regular charge. In 1895 he went to Chicago and there the last years of his life were spent with his daughter, Mrs. Hague. His entire mature life was devoted to the cause of Christ, and during his more than sixty years of labor in the ministry he was instrumental in accomplishing much for the spiritual uplifting of his fellowmen. He had come west in 1842, settling in Lake County, Ill., where he homesteaded a tract of land, the deed to which was signed by James K. Polk. He was familiar with Chicago when the now magnificent city was a straggling village. One of his brothers, Hon. Isaac Hallock, had settled in Chicago in 1831, when the town had but fifty-two inhabitants outside the fort, and when it was a common sight to see wolves crossing the river at Randolph street. The Hallocks are descended from Peter Hallock, one of the thirteen Pilgrim Fathers (including Rev. John Youngs), who came from England in 1640 and landed in New Haven. There, on the 21st of October, of the same year, Mr. Youngs gathered his congregation together under the auspices of Rev. John Davenport and Hon. Theophilus Eaton, governor of the New Haven colony, which had been planted two years before, April 18, 1638, under a spreading oak tree; a virtual theocracy, taking the Bible as its code of laws, ecclesiastical and civil. With his congregation, Mr. Youngs crossed the sound to Long Island in the latter part of 1640, and took up his abode in Southold, landing at the harbor of what is now Southold village. These thirteen men and their families were the first white settlers in the northeastern part of Long Island. Peter Hallock was the first of the thirteen to step on the shore. Fearlessly he left the boat and stepped out among the Indians who gazed wonderingly upon their strange visitors. That part of Southold is to this day known as Hallock's Neck. From the Indians he purchased the tract since called Oyster Ponds. Returning to England, he brought back his family, but found the Indians had resold his tract, and he then purchased ten miles west of Southold a farm extending from Long Island Sound to Peconic bay, a distance of three miles. He settled in Aquebogue, two miles west of Mattituck village and creek, all of these places being then in Southold Township. William, the only son of Peter Hallock, had four sons, of whom John, our subject's ancestor, was the only one to leave the church of his forefathers and unite with the Society of Friends. For this act he was disinherited. His son, Peter, was the father of Peter and the grandfather of Rev. Joseph Addison Hallock. Our subject's maternal grandfather was John Smith, but when a child of six weeks he was adopted into the Brockway family and was always known as John Brockway. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and his father and father-in-law were Revolutionary soldiers. When only four years of age our subject was given his first glimpse into text-book wisdom, his teacher being his father, who at that time taught at Lake Zurich, Lake County, Ill. Three years later his parents removed to Palatine, Ill., where he studied in the common schools. After six years there the family removed to Salem, Iowa, where his father preached for a year. Later, while his mother was visiting at Lake Zurich, she was taken ill and died. The father then took the family to Chicago and established what is now known as the Leavitt Street Congregational Church, on Leavitt and Adams streets. Later our subject spent two years with relatives on a farm in Kankakee and Will Counties. At twenty years of age he returned to Chicago and began his business career. September 10, 1874, he was sworn into the clerical service of the Chicago postoffice, where he remained until April 14, 1875. He was then appointed letter carrier, and for eight years was employed in that capacity, resigning March 1, 1883, in order to accept an appointment as deputy sheriff under Seth Hanchett. After fourteen months of service he was relieved by the sheriff because he refused to betray General Logan when the latter was a candidate for president in 1884, Mr. Hallock having been appointed through the personal request of General Logan and his friends. Later the sheriff sent for him and wished to reinstate him, but Mr. Hallock refused to accept. He then left Chicago and came to Peotone, where he was engaged at various occupations. In 1889 Mr. Hallock was appointed postmaster at Peotone under President Harrison. On Cleveland's second election, Mr. Hallock, on account of his activity as a Republican, was removed from the position. He then purchased a photographic business, which he continued up to 1897. He was elected in November, 1894, on the Republican ticket, to the state legislature by the largest majority ever recorded in the district up to that time. He served in the thirty-ninth general assembly with credit to himself and honor to his constituents. During his service he was chairman of the committee on fish and game laws and was active in Will County's interests on the drainage canal legislation, also worked for the school text book bill. In 1897 he was elected first assistant doorkeeper of the fortieth general assembly, receiving sixty- five out of eighty-three votes. In May, 1897, he was again appointed postmaster at Peotone. Largely through his efforts the office has since been made one of the third class. The marriage of Mr. Hallock, July 3, 1877, united him with Miss Margaret Bruce, who was born in Lockport, this county, a daughter of Hugh and Ann (Arthur) Bruce, natives of Scotland. Her parents immigrated to America after the birth of several children and settled in Canada about 1842. A few years were spent there, and they then came to Illinois, settling first in Lockport and later in Peotone, where they were pioneers. During the Civil war the family gave three sons to the Union service. One of these, William Bruce, gave his life for his country and is now in a soldier's grave at Mission Ridge. Another, Hugh, Jr., returned home from the front, but soon died of wounds received in the service. The third, James Bruce, resides at Lake City, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Hallock have two daughters, Laura M. and Belle M. The former is a graduate of the Peotone schools and now holds the position of assistant postmaster. The latter is now attending a normal school and has a teacher's certificate. Fraternally Mr. Hallock is connected with Peotone Lodge No. 636, A. F. & A. M.; and Green Tree Camp No. 1405, Modern Woodmen of America, in which he is Venerable Counsel and which he has represented in the head camp at all conventions held since the organization of the camp at Peotone. In the First Presbyterian Church of Peotone he is a trustee and a Sunday-school worker. He is a member of the Woodman quartet, well-known campaign singers of this section, whose voices have been heard and encored at some of the largest political gatherings in this part of the state, and whose four members are also connected with the Presbyterian choir. 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/hallock1090gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/ File size: 9.8 Kb