Lorenzo Dow BRADY

1810 - 1892  (82 years)

• Name	Lorenzo Dow BRADY
  Birth	19 Jan 1810	New Castle, Westchester, NY   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Census	1850	Aurora, Kane, IL
  	1850 census at Aurora, Kane, IL shows: L. D. Brady, 42, merchant, b. NY; Caroline, 32, b. NY; Susan, 4, b. IL; Julia, 2, b. IL; Lorenzo, 3/12, b. IL. Also in the household is a domestic, Phoebe Jones, 19, b. NY.
  Census	15 Jun 1860	Aurora, Kane, IL   [2]
  	1860 census at Aurora, Kane, IL shows: L.D. Brady, 50, merchant, b. NY; Caroline, 40, b. NY; children, all b. IL: Sue, 14, Julia, 11; Lorenzo, 7; Caroline, 5; Marian, 1/12. Also listed is Phoebe Jones, 29, b. NY, domestic."L.B. Brady" Note: In this census Lorenzo is listed as 7 years old - it is possible that the Lorenzo listed as 3/12 yrs in 1850 died and that Lorenzo Sr. and Caroline had another son. This "later" Lorenzo is referred to as John in subsequent census data.
  Census	24 Jul 1870	Aurora, Kane, IL   [3]
  	1870 census at Aurora, Kane, IL shows: || L. D. Brady, 60, merchant, b. NY; Caroline, 50, b. NY; children all b. IL: Sue, 24; Julia, 22; John, 17; L.K., 14; Marian, 11. (Note: In this census, Lorenzo becomes John and Caroline becomes L.K.) Also enumerated is a Thomas Tousley, age 25, born in New York. Given the last name he could be a relative of Caroline's.
  Census	2 Jun 1880	Aurora, Kane, IL   [4]
  	1880 census at Aurora, Kane, IL shows: L. D. Brady, 70, mayor, b. NY, parents b. NY/NY; Caroline, 60, b. NY, parents b. NY/NY; children, all b. IL: John, 28, painter; Kittia, 25; Haring, C. H., 29, son-in-law, b. NY, parents b. NY/NY, dry goods dealer; Marian Haring, 21; Etta Brady, 22, daughter-in-law. Also enuerated is a boarder, Ada Bird, 21,b. WI, parents b. NY/NY, music teacher.
  Note	LORENZO D. BRADY Imagine standing on your front porch at North Lincoln Avenue and Spring Street in Aurora, watching puffing steam engines come and go at the foot of the Spring Street hill--and saying to yourself, " Well, I did the spade work that made all of this possible." For a long time, Lorenzo D. Brady could do just that as he looked down the Spring Street hill, 30 and more years before the railroad elevation was put in and even before the Spring Street viaduct was built. For years he could look down the hill from his big frame house, gone now but imposing on its corner for more than 75 years, and see the railroad shops just north of Spring Street and the red brick passenger and freight station south of Spring Street. Lorenzo D. Brady was the Kendall County storekeeper-turned-state-legislature who authored the charter for a railroad to run from Aurora to Turner Junction, now called West Chicago, and he persuaded his fellow state legislators to pass the charter so some hopeful railroad builders could get going. Brady introduced a bill to charter the Aurora Branch Railroad on Jan. 25, 1849, and Gov. Augustus French signed it Feb. 12, 1849. Brady was born in New Castle, N.Y., on Jan. 19, 1810. The family moved to New York City and by the time Lorenzo was 19 (in that day of young men) he had bought a grocery store. In 1837, the year McCarty's Mill, Ill., was getting its new name of Aurora, Brady and his wife of a year, Susannah, sold out and came west. They bought 700 acres of farmland in Big Rock Township, Kane County, and lived business beckoned again. Brady formed a partnership with George E. Peck to run a general store in Little Rock, Kendall County. After Peck's death, Brady carried on the business until 1848 when Aurora beckoned. In the fall of the same year he moved to Aurora, Brady ran for a seat in the Illinois Legislature and was elected. The stockholders of the new little railroad- to-be made Brady a director of their company for his work in getting a charter. Like many a new business, the Aurora Branch Railroad had to make do with some shortcuts and compromises. For lack of cash, the new little railroad bought some obsolete flat strap rails from the Buffalo and Niagara Railroad. The directors and ordered a locomotive and some cars but neither arrived by the time the rails were down between Batavia and Turner Junction, so the owners had to borrow a wood-burning locomotive, "The Pioneer," and some cars to meet their kick-off date of Sept. 2, l850. The first train out of Aurora sounded its whisle at 7 a.m. on Oct. 21, 1850, and sped to Batavia (top speed 25 mph), then to Turner Junction and on in to Chicago over the rails of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, arriving at 11 a.m. Aurora railroad historian Carl O. Hendricksen, who worked for the "Q" for 49 years, said the new little railroad had it first strike on May 1, 1850, before the junkyard-salvaged rails ever even got to Aurora. The track-laying crew said the 75 cents a day they were getting wasn't enough, but settled their differences when the company came up with a 12 and half cents-a-day raise. (By the way, the last time I visited the Chicago Historical Museum, there was "The Pioneer," bright and shiny and just as exciting as it must have been to the Aurorans of 1850.) Brady entered into a partnership with E.R. Allen and opened a store at the north east corner of Broadway and Main Street (now East Galena Boulevard). The partnership ended a few years later and Brady sold his store business in 1871. Brady turned to other interests like the Aurora Fire Insurance Co. which lost heavily in the Great Chicago Fire of that same year but paid its liabilities at the rate 47 cents on the dollar. He was a stockholder and director of the First National Bank when it was organized, a director of the Aurora national for a time and is credited with being the first to suggest the erection of Aurora's Civil War memorial building. He served for many years as an East Side school trustee, which resulted in the L.D. Brady School 600 Columbia St. being named in his honor. He was a mover and in civic things in lots of directions. He served Aurora as president of its board of trustees before it was chartered as a city in 1857, was chairman of the first Congressional Republican convention held in Illinois in 1854 (where many claimed the Republican Party was first named) and 1880 was elected mayor for one term. Brady's wife, Susannah, died in 1844, leaving no children. He married Caroline Kennon on Feb. 20, 1845, and raised a family of five children. Caroline died in l883 and Lorenzo died Feb. 27, l892, with a list of accomplishments few could match. Brady, Lorenzo D., is a descendant from the earliest American settlers; was born Jan. 19, 1810, in Westchester Co., N.Y.; his parents were John B. and Lydia C. (Kipp) Brady; at the age of 12 they removed to New York city to live; here Mr. B. obtained a situation at a grocery store, as clerk, remaining for six years in that position; having saved enough money, he commenced business for himself in a small way, which he carried on until 1837, when he emigrated West and settled in Big Rock, Kane Co., Ill., where he was engaged in the general mercantile business until 1848, at which time he was elected a member of the Legislature. One of the leading questions agitating the country then was the acquisition of additional slave territory, to which measure he was conscientiously and firmly opposed. During his term in the Legislature, an election was held for United States Senator, and Mr. B. recorded the first and only vote cast that session in favor of a Free-Soil candidate. Mr. B. is the author of a charter for a railroad from Aurora to Turner Junction to connect with the Chicago and Galena line, now a branch of the Chicago & Northwester R.R.; he afterwards assisted to complete and equip said road. In the meantime, in the year 1848, he removed to Aurora and commenced the mercantile business in partnership with the Hon. E. R. Allen, and afterward as warehousemen under the firm name of Brady & Allen. In 1862 he was one of the firm of Brady, Hawkins & Allen in the banking business until the same was merged into the First National Bank of Aurora, which he assisted to establish; he was President of the Aurora Fire Insurance Company, which company was ruined by the great Chicago fire in 1871. Of the late rebellion he contributed liberally of his means; was the first to suggest a monument in Aurora in honor of its defenders; is President of the Aurora Monument Association, the building now nearly completed at a cost of $10,000; was one of the first to suggest the establishment of free schools in Aurora. For the interest he has manifested in free schools, the Brady School, one of the public schools of the city, was named after him. He was twice married – in 1836 to S. B. Fowler, who died in 1844, and in the following year was married to Caroline Kennon, of Plattsburgh, N.Y., by whom he has one son and four daughters living. (Past and Present of Kane County, Illinois, 1878)
  Death	27 Feb 1892  [1, 6]
  Burial	Spring Lake Cemetery, Aurora, Kane, IL   [7]
  	Find A Grave e-Memorial
  Person ID	I1328	MM
  Last Modified	26 Jun 2023

  
  

  Father	John B. BRADY
  Mother	Lydia C. KIPP
  Family ID	F3227	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Susannah B. FOWLER,   b. 1808   d. 1844 (Age 36 years)
  Marriage	Abt 1836  [1]
  	Lorenzo and Susannah had no issue.
  Family ID	F2702	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	23 Jul 2023

  
  

  Family 2	Caroline KENNON,   b. 1819, Plattsburgh, Clinton, NY d. 21 Jul 1883 (Age 64 years)
  Marriage	20 Feb 1845	Aurora, Kane, IL   [1, 8]
  Family ID	F581	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	23 Jul 2023

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 19 Jan 1810 - New Castle, Westchester, NY Marriage - 20 Feb 1845 - Aurora, Kane, IL Census - 1850 - Aurora, Kane, IL Census - 15 Jun 1860 - Aurora, Kane, IL Census - 24 Jul 1870 - Aurora, Kane, IL Census - 2 Jun 1880 - Aurora, Kane, IL Burial - - Spring Lake Cemetery, Aurora, Kane, IL  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Sources

  [S288] Giddings, Anne Roede, Brady Web Page, 288. [S1860] 1860 United States Federal Census, (National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D. C., 1860), 1860. [S1870] 1870 United States Federal Census, (National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D. C., 1870), 1870. [S1880] 1880 United States Federal Census, (National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D. C., 1880), 1880. [S355] LeBaron Jr., Wm., Kane Co., IL History, (1878), 355. [S1155] Newpaper Articles and Obituaries, Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL) February 28, 1892, page 3., 1155. [S500] Find A Grave, 500. [S1037] NYS Historic Newspapers, Plattsburgh Republican, March 22, 1845, page 3., 1037.