Gates, John Warne (08 May 1855–09 August 1911), businessman, was born in Turner Junction, Illinois, the son of Asel Avery Gates and Mary Warne. His parents’ occupations are unknown. Gates was educated in local public schools and at North-Western College in Naperville and received a degree from a six-month commercial course in 1873. He then worked a number of odd jobs and saved his money. In 1876 he married Dellora Baker of St. Charles, Illinois; they had one child. A few years later Gates invested in a local hardware store, where he noticed that barbed wire for fencing had attained a sudden popularity. As wire fencing, it did not demand much wood, which was scarce on the range. The wire was perfect for containing western-range cattle, and it was inexpensive enough so that farmers could purchase it in large lots for the more sizable western ranches....
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Leonard F. Ralston
Glidden, Joseph Farwell (18 January 1813–09 October 1906), farmer, inventor, and capitalist, was born in Charlestown, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, the son of David Glidden and Polly Hurd, farmers. His family moved west to Orleans County, New York, when he was an infant. After attending local district schools, he studied at Middlebury Academy in Genesee County and at the seminary in Lima, New York. He taught school in the area for several years, but farming was always his first love. In 1837 he married Clarissa Foster in Clarendon, New York. Lacking funds to buy land in New York, he headed west in about 1840 with two crude threshing machines, doing custom threshing and general farm work. In 1842 he settled in De Kalb County, Illinois, where he purchased 600 acres of prairie land on the edge of De Kalb village. The death of the Gliddens’ three young children, followed by the death of his wife in 1843, left Glidden alone until 1851, when he married Lucinda Warne of De Kalb. They had one daughter....
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James D. Norris
Haish, Jacob (09 March 1826–19 February 1916), inventor and businessman, was born in Consul Baden, Bavaria, Germany, the son of Christian Haish and Christina Layman, farmers. In 1836 the Haish family immigrated to the United States and took up farming, first in Pennsylvania and then in Crawford County, Ohio. In 1846 the young Jacob Haish moved to Kane County, Illinois, where he worked as an agricultural laborer. In 1847 he married Sophia Ann Brown, the daughter of the farmer for whom he worked. In 1848 Haish bought a farm in DeKalb County, Illinois, and tried farming on his own. In 1851 he sold the farm and worked as a carpenter. In 1853 Haish moved to DeKalb, Illinois, where he lived the rest of his life. Four years later, in 1857, Haish opened a successful building contractor and lumber business....
