herst-and her ancestors were among the early settlers of that state. She was married to Mr. Sheppard in 1840,

in Chicago, where she became acquainted with him while serving as one of the pioneer teachers of the city.

IN his boyhood days Anson S. Piper, ambitious and energetic as he undoubtedly was, probably never dreamed of amassing so large a fortune as that which came to him as the result of thirty years of business activity among the pioneers of Chicago. And yet his success was by no means a matter of chance. He was in no sense an especial favorite of fortune, and when he started out in life he began at the very lowest round of the ladder. In his case fortune smiled on him because of his untiring efforts, his close and intelligent application to an ordinary business vocation, and his thrift and enterprise, which were of a character to merit success under any circumstances and in any field of

of an old New England family. Sylvester Piper was a carpenter, in very moderate circumstances, who was able to support his family comfortably, but they never counted on being supplied with many of the luxuries of life. When not engaged in some kind of manual labor, to which he was called upon, very early in his boyhood to give his attention, Anson Piper attended the public schools of Sackett's Harbor, up to the time he entered his sixteenth year.

At that time his father removed from New York State to Canada, and his education was completed as far as attendance at school was concerned. In Canada, the family located at Dickinson Landing, on the St. Lawrence River, where Anson Piper began clerking in a country store. Here he served a thorough apprenticeship in merchandising, and broadened his knowledge of business affairs, but did not succeed in saving any considerable sum of money, or in making great headway toward the accumulation of a fortune.

In 1854, his father was attracted to Chicago by the opportunity which was offered at that time for obtaining employment at his trade, on the Illinois.

and Michigan Canal. He was pleased with Chicago and its prospects, and in 1855, his family followed him to the city, of which they became permanent residents. It was at this time that Anson Piper made his entrée into Chicago. Just before coming here he visited New York State, where he was married to Miss Julia E. Pratt, a daughter of Alvin A. Pratt of that State. Alvin Pratt, was a descendant of the pilgrim Phinehas Pratt, who came to Massachusetts with Captain Thomas Weston's colony in June of 1622, and settled at Weymouth. When the settlers there were driven from their homes by the Indians, he fled to Plymouth Colony where he resided for many years, removing at a later date. to Charlestown, where he died in 1680. Ephraim Pratt, a descendant not more than four or five generations removed from the pilgrim founder of the family in America, was born in New Hampshire, but removed in early life to the town of Lewis, Essex County, New York State. He was one of the pioneer settlers of that region and an officer of the colonial forces during the Revoluthe Revolutionary struggle. His son Samuel, and grandson, Alvin Pratt, were both born and brought up in Essex County.

he brought with him his young wife,

a

woman of superior business and executive ability and great force of character. Without any very considerable resources, the two young people settled down to the business of making the best of their opportunities, and getting ahead in the world as rapidly as possible. Before leaving Canada Mr. Piper had abandoned merchandising, and engaged for a time in conducting a meat market. This business had proven fairly remunerative, and when he found himself in a new city, looking about for something which would afford profitable employment both for himself and his limited capital, he reached the conclusion that he could not do better than open a meat market, with the special object in view of supplying the canal trade. The business at that time was one which required close watching, and the exercise of strict economy in the regulation of expenditures, to leave a comfortable margin of profit, but the frugal and industrious young couple managed each month to lay by something either for investment or for the expansion of their business, and within a few years they were on the high road to prosperity. The second year Mr. Piper added to his business a new feature, in which he became recognized as one of the pioneers of the city. He built a small ice house on the river near Ashland Boulevard, at what was then, and is still known as Bridgeport, and began