Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Tobias, Job Meade 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 7, 2007, 8:34 pm

Author: Genealogical & Biographical Record

JOB MEADE TOBIAS, of Peotone, was born in Elmira, N. Y., October 17, 1841, a 
son of Lorenzo Dow and Lucy Bishop (Fletcher) Tobias.  He was one of five 
children, and has a sister and brother now living, viz.: Susan Avilla, wife of 
Andrew Watson, of Elmira, N. Y., and Judd S., who is connected with an 
electric light business in Omaha, Neb.  His father was born about four miles 
north of Burdette,on the east side of Seneca Lake, in New York, about 1807.  
He grew to manhood on a farm, and after his marriage settled on an unimproved 
tract of land near Southport.  Later he turned his attention to lumbering.  
His business ability gained him wealth, but through an endorsement of notes, 
amounting to more than $100,000, which he was obliged to pay, he lost all his 
property.  In 1857 he came west and settled four miles east of Peotone, in 
Will Township, where he paid $12.50 an acre for one-half section of land.  
After paying for this property he had only $1,000 left of his once vast 
fortune.  He turned his attention to the stock business, and the heavy advance 
in prices caused by the Civil war once more placed him in affluence.  A year 
before his death he sold his farm and retired to a small place near town, 
where he died in 1868.  For years he was an active worker in the Methodist 
Church and a member of its board of trustees. Though not an office-seeker, he 
held a number of local positions of trust.  One of his hobbies was his 
fondness for a good horse. He knew a fine animal when he saw it, and always 
liked to have several in his barn.  His wife was born near Waverly, N. Y., in 
1811, and died in this county in 1882.

The farm where Lorenzo Dow Tobias was born was a part of a grant of twenty-
three thousand and forty acres made by the colony (now the state) of New York 
to his grandfather, Henry Tobias, who came to America as a captain of a 
company of Hessians under the British flag during the Revolutionary war.  Some 
time after reaching this country he decided he was fighting for an unjust 
cause, and so joined Washington's army and helped to free America.  In 
recognition of his services the state of New York granted him a tract six 
miles square.  There he settled and reared his family.  His son, Henry, Jr., 
our subject's grandfather, lived on the same place, but after his death his 
widow abandoned the property and allowed it to pass out of the family.

When a boy Mr. Tobias, of this sketch, was a pupil of H. M. Aller, afterward a 
president in the state university of Kansas; Allen C. Storey, in later years a 
prominent criminal lawyer in Chicago, and Judge Miller, afterward a justice of 
the United States Supreme Court.  He also took a course in the academy at 
Elmira, N. Y., where he studied civil engineering under Prof. Gillett. When 
his father came west he was a youth of seventeen.  The three following years 
he aided in the clearing of the new Illinois farm.  At the outbreak of the 
Civil war he enlisted in the navy and was assigned to the recruiting service, 
going to New York.  After the crew were enlisted they spent some days on board 
the receiving-ship, and later were sent to duty on the gunboat "Ranger," (now 
in the Philippine service). Their first engagement was the capture of Roanoke 
Island. Later they took part in the capture of Newberne and Fort Beaufort.  
Following this they were on other vessels on short scouting expeditions.  On 
being mustered out of the navy, in 1862, Mr. Tobias joined the engineering 
corps of the United States army, and was engaged in the service in North 
Carolina.  During the winter of 1863-64 he visited his parents, after which he 
enlisted in the Ninth Illinois Cavalry, and was sent to Tennessee to do duty.  
However, the battle of Nashville had been fought before he reached there, and 
after pursuing the enemy down into Alabama he and his regiment were mustered 
out of the service at Selma, Ala.

After his discharge from the army Mr. Tobias went to the frontier of 
Minnesota, where he worked on government land survey and for other engineering 
parties.  Two years later the death of his father called him home.  Here he 
remained for several years.  February 17, 1872, he married Mrs. Sarah May, nee 
Davis, of Swansea, South Wales, but from girlhood a resident of Illinois. By 
her first husband, Benjamin G. H. May, she had two children, namely, Harriet, 
wife of W. C. McEwen, of Harvey, Ill., and Sarah Ellen, wife of James A. 
Cowing, of Homewood, Ill.

To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Tobias four children were born, viz.: Joseph P.; 
Harry, who is engaged in the laundry business at Peotone; Frank, a telegraph 
operator at New Haven, Mo., and Lucy, wife of Warren B. Mather, of Joliet.

Shortly after his marriage Mr. Tobias was sent to Peru, South America, on a 
surveying expedition for railroad surveying.  He spent over three years in 
that country and crossed the Isthmus twice, meantime learning much concerning 
Spanish rule and the antiquities of South America. On his return to Illinois 
he spent a year in Peotone and then went to Wilmington, where he carried on a 
coal business for two years. Later he became connected with the engineering 
department of the Wabash Railroad, then building into Chicago, and had charge 
of the construction of a portion of the road.  After the road was completed he 
was connected with the engineering department of the Tehauntepec & Inter-Ocean 
Railroad in Mexico, where he was employed for two and one-half years as 
assistant to the chief engineer, having charge of the construction and 
location of the route.  His position was one of great responsibility, and 
including the paying of all the workmen.  On his return to the States in 1883 
he was employed by the Illinois Central Railroad in the construction of some 
of its branches in Mississippi, which work consumed four years, with the 
exception of a few months spent at home.  On the completion of the work he was 
for one year proprietor of a meat market, which he had taken on a mortgage.  
In 1887 he went to New Orleans and engaged in bridge contracting.  During his 
two years in that city he was sent to Central America by a syndicate of 
contractors to look over the Nicaragua canal.  While stationed at New Orleans 
he received a commission from the Sanitary Commission, backed by the merchants 
of New Orleans, to look into the sanitary condition of those seaports having 
direct trade with New Orleans, in order, if possible, to have their vessels 
avoid the long quarantine.  In 1872, while on his way to South America, he met 
an old friend and acquaintance, the historic Captain Fry, who was then on his 
way to take command of the "Virginius," and who was later executed at Santiago 
de Cuba.

In 1889 Mr. Tobias was sent to Cartagena, Columbia, as chief engineer of the 
Cartagena & Magdalena Railroad, and laid out the route, started the work of 
construction and continued with the enterprise until 1893, returning to the 
States in time to visit the Columbian Exposition. His next enterprise was a 
coal and lumber business at Peotone, and this he conducted until the spring of 
1899, when he retired from business.

Fraternally Mr. Tobias is a charter member of Peotone Lodge No. 6^6, A. F. & 
A. M., is a Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Eastern Star Lodge No. 
65.  William A. Webb Post No. 657, G. A. R., numbers him among its members, as 
does also the John A. Smith Garrison, Knights of the Globe.  For many years he 
was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, but resigned after 
retiring from the business.  In politics he is a Republican.  He is connected 
with the Methodist Church, and has served his congregation as a trustee.  His 
life has been an exceedingly active and busy one, replete with incident and 
adventure.  His business has taken him into many countries, and perhaps no 
citizen of Peotone has a more thorough and cosmopolitan knowledge than he.  
After years of successful effort, it is fitting that he should spend the 
afternoon of his life in a pleasant and comfortable home, surrounded by family 
and friends, and held in the highest esteem by his acquaintances throughout 
the country.

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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