Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Hewes, Daniel E 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 7, 2007, 11:30 pm

Author: Genealogical & Biographical Record

DANIEL E. HEWES, a pioneer of Crete, has long been one of its best-known men 
and now has varied interests, as commercial collector, notary public, 
counselor, conveyancer; also in the adjustment of unsettled claims and the 
drawing up of contracts, leases, wills and depositions. He is the originator 
and a prominent grower of the Acme seedling, the earliest potato in existence. 
In 1883 he planted the seed from a potato seed ball. From year to year he 
replanted, until a large early potato was developed. In 1887 he raised fifteen 
bushels, a part of which he sold and the others he planted. The following year 
he had seventy-five and one-half bushels, and in 1889 one hundred and twenty 
bushels. Some of these he sold to seed houses for $2 a bushel and he has 
received as much as $6 per bushel for some. They are commonly called Squire 
Dan's early potatoes throughout this locality, and are not only a fine potato, 
but much earlier than any other variety.

Squire Hewes was born at Milton, Chittenden County, Vt., March 22, 1830. His 
father, Luman Hewes, also a Vermonter by birth, left the southern part of the 
state in 1835 and journeyed via team to Troy, N. Y., thence on the New York 
and Erie canal to Buffalo, from there on the lakes to Michigan, and then 
across the country with teams to what is now known as Blue Island, Ill., where 
he arrived in November. The family spent the winter in an uncompleted log 
cabin they found on the land. In 1836 he took up a claim in the same locality, 
built a log cabin, and spent a short time there, but in the spring of 1837 
came to Will County and took up a claim two and one-half miles south of Crete. 
At that time there were only a few houses in the entire township of Crete. He 
put up a log house and improved his land, making of it a valuable farm. 
Politically he was a believer in Democratic principles. He was reared in the 
Baptist faith, but later became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
His death occurred on his homestead in the fall of 1862, when he was seventy-
two years of age.

The grandfather of our subject, William Hewes, was a native of Massachusetts 
and settled in Vermont when a young man. He was a teacher of vocal music, but 
earned his livelihood principally as a farmer. About 1847 he came west and 
afterward made his home with his son, Luman Hewes, until he died in 1855, when 
ninety-four years of age. He was tenderly cared for by his grandson, Daniel E. 
Hewes, who felt for him all the veneration due to the grandparent and the 
soldier hero of Revolutionary fame. When a mere boy he enlisted in the 
colonial army as a private and served at the front until the Revolutionary war 
ended. His father had a brother, Joseph Hewes, who was one of the signers of 
the declaration of independence.

The mother of our subject was Lucy (Elwell) Hewes, a native of New England. 
She survived her husband, dying when eighty-one years of age. Of her twelve 
children, Sallie, wife of John W. Cole, died when twenty-four years of age; 
Samuel is represented elsewhere in this work; John E. died in June, 1898; 
William died in 1865; Joseph is deceased, and Luman died in 1863; Austin E. 
died when young and Benjamin F. in 1891; Daniel E. was next in order of birth; 
Nelson W. died October 18, 1894; Celesta L. married George Dewey, a distant 
relative of Admiral Dewey, and she is now living at Grant Park, Ill.; Emily S. 
is the widow of J. F. Campbell, and lives in Grant Park.

From an early age our subject has lived in this county. He attended country 
schools and for two terms the Joliet schools, after which he taught a four-
months' term in Troy Township. He then came to Crete and worked on a farm near 
the village during the summer. His next employment was as clerk in a store. 
The following year he bought an ox-team and broke prairie land for one season, 
also operated a threshing machine for one season. In 1853, with his brother 
Benjamin F. as a partner, he bought a store. This they carried on until 1879, 
meantime buying stock and grain and also manufacturing brick. On account of 
the Chicago fire he had a heavy loss. In 1867 he was elected justice of the 
peace, which office he held until 1893, and afterward continued in the 
collecting business, the making of abstracts, etc. At one time he and his 
brother were among the leading business men of this part of the county, doing 
a business that amounted to between $50,000 and $100,000 per year; but 
reverses overtook them and they lost everything they had.

October 9, 1862, Squire Hewes married Fidelia L., daughter of Willard Wood, 
the founder of Crete village. She was born in a house occupying the present 
site of Wood's hotel, the date of her birth being January 11, 1838. Here she 
was reared and educated and has always made her home. Of her three daughters, 
the eldest, Minnie E., is the widow of George F. Baker, who was a graduate of 
Knox College and Lombard University, and a successful raiser of farm products 
and Hereford cattle. Mr. Baker died April 10, 1891, leaving two children, 
George Willard and Alice Jeanette. Since her husband's death Mrs. Baker has 
had entire charge of the farm he left her. The second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
Hewes is Alice D., wife of William C. Northrop, a farmer and stockman of 
Newtown, Conn. The youngest daughter, Eva L., is at home with her parents.

In politics Squire Hewes is a Democrat. When a young man he was chosen 
township clerk. In 1874 he was nominated for the legislature, but, on account 
of his temperance views, was defeated. Four years later he was nominated for 
the state senate and carried his township and the eastern part of the county 
by a large majority, which was remarkable, as this district was Republican. 
Doubless he would have been elected if he had consented to buy votes or 
associate with those who did, but he has always been strictly temperate as 
well as unwaveringly honest. In 1893 he was appointed postmaster of Crete, but 
a short time afterward, owing to illness, he was obliged to resign the office.


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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