Donald James Defrees

Other Events:

• Occupation: lawyer

Notes:

Died:
Name: Donald Defrees
State of Issue: Illinois
Date of Birth: Wednesday February 25, 1885
Date of Death: October 1968
Est. Age at Death: 83 years, 7 months
Last known residence:
City: Chicago; Fort Dearborn
County: Cook
State: Illinois

Donald married Florence Baker on 18 Dec 1915 in Goshen, Elkhart, Indiana, USA. Florence (daughter of Francis Elisha Baker and May Irwin) was born on 12 Apr 1890 in Goshen, Elkhart, Indiana, USA; died in Jan 1980 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
Groom's Name: Donald Defrees
Groom's Birth Date: 25 Feb 1885
Groom's Birthplace: Chicago, Ill.
Groom's Age:
Bride's Name: Florence Baker
Bride's Birth Date: 12 Apr 1890
Bride's Birthplace: Goshen, Ind.
Bride's Age:
Marriage Date: 18 Dec 1915
Marriage Place: Goshen, Elkhart, Indiana
Groom's Father's Name: Joseph H Defrees
Groom's Mother's Name: Harriet Mc Naughton
Bride's Father's Name: Francis C Baker
Bride's Mother's Name: May Irwins
Groom's Race: White
Groom's Marital Status: Single
Groom's Previous Wife's Name:
Bride's Race: White
Bride's Marital Status: Single

1920 census USA
Chicago City Ward 21, Cook, Illinois
SELF Donald De Frees M 34y Illinois
WIFE Florence De Frees F 28y Indiana
DAU Jean De Frees F 3y Illinois

1930 census USA
New Trier, Cook, Illinois
Head Donald Defrees M 45 Illinois
Wife Florence Defrees F 39 Indiana
Daughter Jean Defrees F 13 Illinois
Servant Fildor Peterson F 32 Illinois
Servant Leonard E Holliday M 28 Illinois
Servant Augusta Larson F 51 Sweden
Servant Emily Seaquist F 48 Sweden

1940 census USA
New Trier, Cook, Illinois
Thom Tree Land
Defrees Donald 55 Illinois
Defrees Florence B 50 Indiana
Larson Augusta 62 ervant
Johnson Ingeborn 49 servant
Nelson Anna 37 servant

1. Jean Mathieson Defrees was born on 28 Dec 1916 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA; was christened in Jan 1917 in Winnetka, Cook, Illinois, USA; died on 12 Mar 1978 in Palm Desert, Riverside, California, USA; was buried in Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA.

Notes:

A standard history of Elkhart County, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development (1916)

Joseph Holton Defrees. Among the native sons of Elkhart County whose careers have been largely identified with other communities, is Joseph Holton Defrees, who for more than a quarter of a century has been identified with the Chicago bar, and has long been recognized as one of the foremost lawyers and business men of that city. Mr. Defrees served twice as president of the Chicago Bar Association, was vice president of the Illinois State Bar Association, was the first lawyer to be elected president of the Chicago Association of Commerce, and is at this writing serving as chairman of the executive committee and vice president of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States.

Joseph Holton Defrees was born at Goshen April 10, 1858, and is a son of James McKinney and Victoria (Holton) Defrees. His father was born in South Bend, Indiana, in 1833 and died in 1859, at the age of twenty-six, while the mother was born in Kentucky in 1839 and died in 1865, also at the age of twenty-six. Joseph H. Defrees never knew his father and he was only seven years of age when he lost his mother. He was an only child. His father, James Defrees, graduated at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana, and was educated in the law in what is now the law department of Harvard University. He located for practice at Goshen and was serving as prosecuting attorney of Elkhart County at the time of his death. He was also one of the founders of the Goshen Times.
In politics he was first a whig and later a republican.

The grandparents of Mr. Defrees were Joseph Hutton and Mary (McKinney) Defrees, and his grandfather was identified very closely with the pioneer history of Northern Indiana.

The early members of this family were of French Huguenot origin, and the first ancestors emigrated from Holland to New York. From one of the brothers who came to this country the present family line is descended. The grandfather of Joseph Hutton Defrees, the great grandfather of the Chicago lawyer, was born and reared in New York. When about twelve years of age he went to Trenton, New Jersey, and later to Philadelphia, where he served an apprenticeship as a carpenter. During the Revolutionary war he took service as carpenter on board a ship sailing between Philadelphia and Cuba and remained in that service nearly the entire seven years of war. He was three times made a prisoner of war and suffered much during his confinement on the notorious prison ship Jersey. He had many adventures as a sailor during the war, and at one time had a considerable fortune in prize money, but the ship and cargo in which he invested it was lost and he retired from the sea to take up steady work at his trade. He remained in Philadelphia until the fall of 1786, and then moved to Virginia and bought a farm in Rockbridge County. After living there about twenty years he sold out and came to Ohio in October, 181 1. He settled near Piqua, and died there in August, 1826, when about seventy-three years of age. In his family were the following children : John, James, Anna, Joseph, Anthony, Rebecca, Archibald, Mary, Anna. Elizabeth, Rebecca and Thomas Jefferson, twelve in all.

James Defrees, a son of this Revolutionary character, served an apprenticeship in the business of hat maker, worked as a journeyman at the trade, and in Tennessee married Miss Margaret Dougherty. For several years they lived at Sparta, Tennessee. From there he moved to Piqua, Ohio, carried on business as a hatter, and at one time was postmaster of the town. By his first wife James Defrees had nine children : John D., Joseph Hutton, Harriet, James, Anthony, Mary, William, Margaret and Caroline. By a second marriage he had four other children.

Among the former children John and Joseph were especially conspicuous in Northern Indiana. Joseph was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Both John and Joseph served a time at the printing business in the Gazette office at Piqua and they then took by ox team and wagon the first printing press ever taken west of Detroit and, at South Bend, Indiana, began the publication of the New Pioneer, which was the first paper issued west of Detroit. It afterwards became the South Bend Register and was issued as such for a number of years. Schuyler Colfax learned the printer's trade on that paper, and subsequently bought the plant and was editor of the paper while he was in congress. John D. Defrees subsequently went to Indianapolis and edited the State Journal a number of years. While thus engaged and afterward he served as public printer several times during the administration of Presidents Lincoln, Johnson, Grant and Hayes.

After his experience in the pioneer newspaper at South Bend, Joseph Hutton Defrees went to Goshen and became a merchant and banker. During the reconstruction period after the Civil war he was a member of congress from Indiana.

It was in the home of his grandfather, Joseph Hutton Defrees, that the Chicago lawyer was reared after the death of his parents. He was educated in the public schools, attended Earlham College at Richmond. Indiana, and completed his education in Northwestern University. He was admitted to the bar at Goshen in 1879 and shortly afterward became a member of the firm of Baker, Defrees & Baker at Goshen. The senior member of this firm was the venerable John H. Baker, one of Elkhart County's most eminent men and for a number of years a federal judge. The junior member was his son, Francis E. Baker, who is now the presiding judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the seventh judicial In 1888 Mr. Defrees left Goshen and went to Chicago. He became a member of the firm of Shuman & Defrees, and in 1892 became a member of the firm of Aldrich, Payne & Defrees, which subsequently became Defrees, Brace & Ritter, and still later Defrees, Buckingham, Ritter & Campbell. He is now senior member of the firm of Defrees, Buckingham & Eaton, and most of his practice is in corporation law.

Mr. Defrees has well been characterized as "a business man by nature, a lawyer by profession, and by instinct a keen judge of men and affairs," and with these qualifications it is only natural he has won himself an unusual place in the world of business. Though he has gained almost equal distinction in both his profession and in business, it is significant that he has received some of the highest honors from organizations of lawyers and business men in Chicago. It is his distinction that he is the only man who has ever held the presidency of the Chicago Bar Association two terms in succession. Then in 1914 the Chicago Association of Commerce for the first time elected a lawyer as its president, and this choice was due to the fact that the members of the commerce association considered Mr. Defrees an unusually capable business man.

The career of Mr. Defrees is a competent illustration of a tendency which was observed by Hon. James Bryce, who in seeking to distinguish between the American bar and the English bar found that American lawyers were to an increasing extent becoming identified with business affairs. Thus it is that Mr. Defrees is a lawyer many of whose associations have been with business affairs and with business men, both as a director and adviser in many business organizations.

Mr. Defrees was the first president of the Indiana Society of Chicago and succeeded himself for a second term in that office. It was in 1909-11 that he served his two terms as president of the Chicago Bar Association, and in 1914 was elected president of the Chicago Association of Commerce. He is a member of the Chicago Club, the Union League Club, the Mid-Day Club, the South Shore Country Club, the City Club, the Chicago Literary Club, the Onwentsia Country Club and the Hamilton Club. He was one of the founders of the Hamilton Club. He also belongs to the Bankers Club of America in New York City, and to the Illinois, the Chicago and the American Bar Associations. He has also served as vice president of the Civic Federation of Chicago. In the Chicago Association of Commerce he was a member of a number of important committees in the years preceding his service as president of the association. On October 4, 1882. at Buffalo, New York, Mr. Defrees married Miss Harriet McNaughton, daughter of Daniel McNaughton. Mr. Defrees and wife have one son, Donald, who graduated from Yale University and the Harvard Law School and is now a member of the firm of Defrees, Buckingham & Eaton in Chicago.

Something of his personal characteristics is given in a magazine article which described Mr. Defrees' business record a year or so ago : "He is not an exceptionally large man, but with eyes like his a man does not need physical bulk to hold attention. Set under a good forehead, these eyes are liable to hold you so closely that you overlook the determined turn to the mouth and the foresight indicated by the drawn back ears. He receives you kindly, waits to get your side of the story and then if need be carries his point in a manner carefully planned to avoid hurting your feelings more than is absolutely necessary. He uses words as a surgeon does a scalpel. Friends he has by the host of course - he likes to help the young fellows, and the other night scores of them joined with men as old as their fathers to serenade him on the anniversary of his birth. Travel is his recreation."

Joseph married Harriet Ruth McNaughton on 4 Oct 1882 in Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA. Harriet (daughter of Daniel McNaughton and Pamela E. Barton) was born on 20 Feb 1862 in Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA; died on 22 Mar 1943 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died:
name: Harriet Mcnaughton Defrees
death date: 22 Mar 1943
death place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois
gender: Female
age: 82
estimated birth year: 1861
father: Daniel Mcnaughton
mother: Pamela Barton
spouse: Joseph H. Defrees

Notes:

Married:
1900 census USA
Illinois Cook ED 1041 Precinct 1-2 Hyde...ship Chicago city Ward 33
McNaughton Pamela E. boarder widow born March 1832 Pennsylvania 2 children of which 2 alive
Defrees Joseph H. boarder born April 1858 Indiana married 17 years 1 child of which 1 alive
Defrees Harriet M boarder born Feb 1861 New York married 17 years 1 child of which 1 alive
Defrees Donald boarder born Feb 1885 Illinois

1910 census USA
Chicago Ward 7, Cook, Illinois
Joseph H Defrees M 52y Indiana
Harriet M Defrees F 48y New York
Donald Defrees M 25y Illinois

James married Victoria Holton. Victoria was born in 1839 in Kentucky, USA; died in 1865 in Goshen, Elkhart, Indiana, USA; was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Goshen, Elkhart, Indiana, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Alias: Donald

Notes:

Died:
Info from artcile about brother John McNaughton

Daniel married Pamela E. Barton. Pamela (daughter of Pliny Flint Barton and Emma S.) was born on 25 Mar 1832 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, USA; died on 26 Dec 1902 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA; was buried on 28 Dec 1902 in Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

New York, State Census, 1892
ErieBuffalo, Ward 24, E.D. 05
Pamela E. McNaughton 60 USA
Pliney B. McNaughton 36 Shipsmith

1900 census USA
Illinois Cook ED 1041 Precinct 1-2 Hyde...ship Chicago city Ward 33
McNaughton Pamela E. boarder widow born March 1832 Pennsylvania 2 children of which 2 alive
Defrees Joseph H. boarder born April 1858 Indiana married 17 years 1 child of which 1 alive
Defrees Harriet M boarder born Feb 1861 New York married 17 years 1 child of which 1 alive
Defrees Donald boarder born Feb 1885 Illinois

Died:
widowed

Notes:

Married:
1860 census USA
residence: , Erie, New York
ward: 9th Ward City Of Buffalo
Daniel Mc Naughton 33 Scotland
Pamella E M Mc Naughton 28 Ohio
Pliny B Mc Naughton 5 New York

1870 census USA
New York
Danl Mcnaughton M 42y Scotland Shipsmith
Pemela Mcnaughton F 38y Pennsylvania
Pliny B Mcnaughton M 14y New York
Hattie Mcnaughton F 9y New York
Mary Schramme F 22y New York domestic servant

1875 census New York
E.D. 3, Ward 10, Buffalo, Erie, New York, United States
Daniel Mcnaughton M 47 shipsmith
Wife Prunella E Mcnaughton F 42
Son Pliny B Mcnaughton M 20 clerk shipsmith
Daughter Harriet E Mcnaughton F 14
Servant Alberta Smith F 27 domestic servant


1880 census USA
Buffalo, Erie, New York
SELF D. Mcnaughton M 50 Scotland ship smith
WIFE Pamella Mcnaughton F 45 New York, United States
SON Plyny B. Mcnaughton M 23 New York, United States Clerk In Shop
DAU Hattie Mcnaughton F 19 New York, United States
Geo. Baer M 35 Germany servant
Maggie Scherher F 19 New York, United States servant

Notes:

US Congressman. Elected to represent Indiana's 10th District in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1865 to 1867. Also served as a Member of the Indiana State House of Representatives from 1849 to 1850, 1871, and Member of the Indiana State Senate from 1850 to 1852.

DEFREES, Joseph Hutton, a Representative from Indiana; born in Sparta, White County, Tenn., May 13, 1812; moved to Ohio with his parents, who settled in Piqua in 1819; attended the common schools; apprenticed to the blacksmith trade 1826-1829; learned the art of printing; moved to Indiana and settled in South Bend in 1831, where he established the Northwestern Pioneer; moved to Goshen, Elkhart County, Ind., in 1833 and engaged in mercantile pursuits and later in banking; appointed county agent; sheriff of Elkhart County 1835-1840; member of the State house of representatives in 1849 and again in 1872; served in the State senate 1850-1854; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-ninth Congress (March 4, 1865-March 3, 1867); was not a candidate for renomination in 1866; resumed his former business pursuits; also interested in milling, the manufacture of linseed oil, and the construction of the Goshen Hydraulic Works; director of the Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan Railroad and served as its first president; died at Goshen, Ind., December 21, 1885; interment in Oak Ridge Cemetery.

Joseph Hutton DeFrees (May 13, 1812 - December 21, 1885) was a U.S. Representative from Indiana. Born in Sparta, Tennessee, DeFrees moved to Ohio with his parents, who settled in Piqua in 1819. He attended the common schools. Apprenticed to the blacksmith trade 1826-1829. Learned the art of printing. He moved to Indiana and settled in South Bend in 1831, where he established the Northwestern Pioneer. He moved to Goshen, Indiana, in 1833 and engaged in mercantile pursuits and later in banking. He was appointed county agent. Sheriff of Elkhart County 1835-1840. He served as member of the State house of representatives in 1849 and again in 1872. He served in the State senate 1850-1854. DeFrees was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-ninth Congress (March 4, 1865-March 3, 1867). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1866. He resumed his former business pursuits. He was also interested in milling, the manufacture of linseed oil, and the construction of the Goshen Hydraulic Works. He served as director of the Cincinnati, Wabash &. Michigan Railroad and served as its first president. He died at Goshen, Indiana, December 21, 1885. He was interred in Oak Ridge Cemetery. His brother, John D. Defrees, was a major figure in Indiana Republican party politics.

Died:
Hon. Joseph H. Defrees died at his residence in this city on Monday morning, December 21, at about 11 o'clock, after an illness of less than a week. No other death has occurred in Goshen for years which has struck so sorrowful a cord in the hearts of the community, for Mr. Defrees was known by all, esteemed by all, honored by all. His unsullied integrity, and his unswerving fidelity to principle, truth and justice, were such as commanded the respect of the whole surrounding country, and his death is not only a family bereavement but a public loss.
The deceased was born May 13, 1812, in Sparta, White county, Tennessee. He is of Huguenot descent, his ancestors, during one of the frequent religious troubles in France, fleeing from that country to Holland, and thence to America Sometime prior to the Revolutionary War. Of the three brothers who came over, one settled in Virginia, one in New York, and the third in North Carolina. Mr. Defrees was a descendent from the one who came to Virginia. Joseph, grandfather of Mr. Defrees, settled in Philadelphia after the Revolutionary war, while James, Mr. Defrees's father, made Nashville, Tenn., his home. At the age of six or seven years, the subject of our sketch accompanied his parents to Piqua, Ohio, where he learned the blacksmith trade, but subsequently entered a printing office. In 1831, he, with his brother, John D. Defrees, came to South Bend, Ind, where they established the North Western Pioneer, a Whig journal, and the first paper west of Detroit and north of Indianapolis. In 1833, Joseph H. Defrees came to Goshen and engaged in merchandising, and from that time his life was intimately interwoven with the business, the social life and the political history of Goshen and of Elkhart County
Soon after his arrival here he was appointed County Agent to sell lots and to settle with the contractors who had erected the first court house in Elkhart County. In 1835 the Governor appointed him Sheriff to fill a vacancy, and subsequently he was elected to the same office for two terms, in the face of a usual Democratic majority of about 400. In 1819, he was elected to the State House of Representatives, and the next year he was chosen a State Senator. The campaign of 1850 was an exciting one, Mr. Defrees being a candidate upon the "People's Ticket" as against the Democratic ticket. Railroad matters agitated and divided the people of the county. Through the labors of Mr. Defrees, Dr. Latta and James Barns, and others, a chapter had been obtained for a road through Indiana, from State line to State line, in the direction of Chicago, and to pass through Goshen. The Michigan Southern railroad had also obtained a charter from the cast to the west line of Michigan, aiming at Chicago, but the charter forbid the road from being built nearer than one mile to the Indiana line. The citizens of South Bend and of Elkhart feared, notwithstanding assurances to the contrary by Mr. Defrees and others, that the Goshen road was to be built directly west from this point, leaving those two towns to the north, and for that reason their efforts were directed toward a repel of the charter of this road. To facilitate this object, a citizen of South Bend purchased a mile of land from a point on the projected Michigan Southern road to the Indiana line, on which a private road was to be built to connect with a road in this State which was to strike Elkhart and South Bend. The election of Mr. Defrees defeated the scheme for repealing the charter of the Goshen road, and the final result was the construction of the Lake Shore road, in its present shape,
About this time an informal tender was made to Mr. Defrees of the Whig nomination for Governor of Indiana, but he declined the honor.
In 1864, Mr. Defrees received the Republican nomination for Congress, and was elected. He took his seat in December, 1865, serving during the reconstruction period of the States lately in rebellion. In 1970, he was again elected to the lower house of the State Legislature. For the few last years he has been president of the City National Bank, and a leading stockholder of the institution. In connection with his son, Frank B., he has also operated for some years a flouring mill and a linseed oil mill in this city.
In 1816, Elkhart County Lodge No. 31, I. O. O. F., was chartered, and Mr. Defrees was the first member initiated into the order here, the meeting being held in the jury room in the court house. Dr. Latta, and perhaps one or two others, were initiated the same evening. Mr. Defrees was also a member of the Masonic order.
In 1832, Mr. Defrees married Miss Mary A. McKinney, of Piqua, Ohio, daughter of John R. and sister of Frank B. McKinney, ex-member of Congress. Six children were born to them, namely, James M., who died in 1859, and whose son, Joe. H, is now practicing law in Chicago; Margaret J., who died in infancy; Hattie E., wife of Hon. John H. Baker; Frank B., who married Miss Beers; Mary E., wife of Judge J. A. S. Mitchell; Sarah C., wife of C. J. Thompson, an attorney of St. Paul, Minn.
Mrs. Defrees died in February, 1864, and in the latter part of 1865, Mr. Defrees married Mrs. Margaret Pierce, sister of Mr. John McNaughton, of Elkhart.
For more than forty years, Mr. Defrees was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He had never been wanting in the moralities of life, but upon connecting himself with the church he also became a Christian. He always followed where duty led him. He respected every one's religious opinions, but also faithfully lived according to his own convictions. Nowhere will he be missed more than in the church counsels.
Mr. Defrees was endowed by nature with a strong and well-balanced mind, and in every public position which he tilled he exhibited the traits of honesty, inflexible integrity, and a sacred regard for the inviolability of public trust. His honesty, purity of character, and integrity were unimpeachable and above suspicion. He never compromised his principles for the sake of expediency, but carried his convictions of justice, honor, and right into whatever he undertook. As a speaker he was not eloquent, but forcible, and what he said upon the stump, as any where else, was believed it only because Mr. Defrees said it. All who knew him placed implicit confidence in his every assertion, and his word was at all times as good as his written obligation.
In private life, Mr. Defrees was without a blemish. He was a pure-minded husband and a tender father, a kind neighbor and an accommodating friend. As a citizen, his life was most exemplary. He encouraged all public and private enterprises of which his judgment could approve, and he always expressed his convictions without reservation, but with a due regard for the opinions of others.
So ended the life of Joseph H. Defrees Peace be to his memory; and may those upon whom the loss falls so heavily be comforted with the reflection that the husband, the father, never failed in the discharge of a duty.
The remains of the deceased will be interred this afternoon at 1:30 o'clock, in Oak Ridge cemetery, under the auspices of the Odd Fellows.

Joseph married Mary Ann McKinney on 12 Jun 1832 in Piqua, Miami, Ohio, USA. Mary was born on 24 Sep 1814 in Piqua, Miami, Ohio, USA; died on 13 Feb 1864 in Goshen, Elkhart, Indiana, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
1850 census USA
Goshen, Elkhart, Indiana, United States
J. H. Defrees M 38 Tennessee
Mary A Defrees F 36 Ohio
James Mc Defrees M 17 Indiana
Harriet A Defrees F 11 Indiana
Franklin B Defrees M 7 Indiana
Sarah C Defrees F 3 Indiana
Mary E Defrees F 5 Indiana

1860 census USA
residence: , Elkhart, Indiana
ward: Elkhart Township
Joseph H Defrees 48 born Tennessee
Mary A Defrees 45 born Ohio
Frank B Defrees 17 born Indiana
Mary C Defrees 15 born Indiana
Sarah C Defrees 13 born Indiana
Victoria H. Defrees 21 born Kentucky
Joseph H Defrees 2 born Indiana

Other Events:

• Alias: Daniel
• Alias: McNaught

Donald married Jean Mathieson on 3 Mar 1812 in Southend, Argyll, Scotland, UK. Jean (daughter of Neill Mathieson and Mary McShenoig) was born about 1784 in Southend, Argyll, Scotland, UK; died on 7 Jun 1835 in Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland, UK; was buried in Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland, UK. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died:
Erected by DONALD McNAUGHTON farmer Killeownan in memory of JEAN MATHESON his spouse who died 7 Jun 1835 aged 51 years

Notes:

Married:
Donald McNaught of Lepenstraw to Jane McMath of Glenahanty

Notes:

Birth:
name: Pliny Flint Barton
gender: Male
birth date: 28 Apr 1807
birthplace: CIVIL, DIXFIELD, OXFORD, MAINE
father's name: Aaron S. Barton
mother's name: Matilda


Died:
died age 58

Pliny married Emma S.. Emma was born about 1798; died on 11 Aug 1860 in Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died:
died age 62