1. Matthew Laflin was an American manufacturer of gunpowder, businessman, philanthropist, and an early pioneer of Chicago, Illinois.
26 Facts About Matthew Laflin
1. 2.
Matthew Laflin was born on December 16,1803, an American of Ulster Scots and early New England ancestry, at the Laflin-Phelps Homestead in Southwick, Hampden County, Massachusetts.
3.
Matthew Laflin was the son of Matthew Laflin, a gunpowder manufacturer and Lydia Rising, the daughter of Amos Rising.
4.
Matthew Laflin was the grandson of Matthew Laflin and Lucy Loomis and his great-grandfather, Charles Laflin, migrated to the US in 1740 from Ulster, Ireland settling at Oxford, Worcester County, Massachusetts.
5.
Matthew Laflin married in 1827 at Canton, Connecticut, Henrietta Armenia Hinman, the daughter of Ransom Hinman and Mary Battele.
6.
Matthew Laflin was born in Lee, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, on June 20,1805, and died on February 12,1834, in Canton, Hartford County, Connecticut.
7.
Matthew Laflin married secondly, before 1837, Catherine King of Westfield, Massachusetts.
8.
Matthew Laflin died on July 24,1904, at Pittsfield, Berkshire, Massachusetts.
9.
Matthew Laflin married on September 3,1851, at Pittsfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Mary Minerva Brewster, who born at Lenox, Massachusetts on January 24,1832, and died at Chicago, Illinois on January 10,1902.
10.
Matthew Laflin was the daughter of Dr John Milton Brewster and Philena Higley.
11.
Matthew Laflin was born June 2,1832, in Canton, Connecticut.
12.
Matthew Laflin died on February 25,1900, in Old Pt Comfort, Elizabeth Cty County, Virginia.
13.
Matthew Laflin learned the trade from his father, named Matthew Laflin, a manufacturer of gunpowder.
14.
Matthew Laflin was attracted to Chicago because of the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal and hoped to sell gunpowder to the construction company.
15.
Matthew Laflin relocated his family to Chicago in 1837 and his first home in Chicago was at Fort Dearborn, because no other shelter could be found in the young city.
16.
Matthew Laflin bought the land for $300 and lived to see it worth millions.
17.
The Matthew Laflin family sat on Elgin's board of directors for more than 70 years.
18.
Matthew Laflin built one of the first plank roads, known in those days as the Blue Island toll road.
19.
Matthew Laflin operated the first omnibus line to carry his hotel patrons to his stock yards and the State Street markets.
20.
Matthew Laflin established the first water works system in Chicago by building a pine-log reservoir at Lake Street and the lake shore.
21.
Matthew Laflin was a founding member of the Chicago Board of Trade.
22.
Matthew Laflin died in Chicago on May 20,1897, and was buried at Rosehill Cemetery.
23.
In 1892, Matthew Laflin made a lasting contribution to Chicago by donating $75,000 toward the building of a structure to house the Chicago Academy of Sciences, a scholarly society formed to promote the scientific investigation of natural history.
24.
Matthew Laflin Rockwell was an American architect and director of planning for the US Army Corps of Engineers and responsible for the site selection, plan and design of O'Hare International Airport.
25.
Matthew Laflin is a cousin of Sylvester "Pat" Laflin Weaver, actress Sigourney Weaver and comedian and actor Doodles Weaver.
26.
Matthew Laflin is the grandson of Francis Williams Rockwell, a United States representative from Massachusetts and the great-grandson of Julius Rockwell, a United States politician from Massachusetts.