HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
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JOSEPH TBPFT (deceased), physician and surgeon, Elgin, Ill., was born at Lebanon, N. Y., Aug. 29, 1812, and died in Elgin, Ill., Aug. 26, 1888. He obtained a good academic education, and studied medicine at Great Harrington, Vt.; came west with his father's family, Jonathan Teffit, who settled on a farm in Cook County, near Elgin, in 1826. Later the elder Teffit removed to a farm in Elgin Township, where he died in 1866. Dr. Tefft was the first resident physician in Elgin, and was also the owner of a farm, part of which is now in Lord's Park in Elgin. He continued in practice in Elgin until 1875, and during this time was interested in many important business and social enterprises in this city, and especially was active in developing its growth as a great dairy center. He was the first Mayor of Elgin, and for five terms in succession held that office.
LESLIE E. TEFFT (deceased), physician and surgeon, Elgin, Ill., was born in Elgin, Aug. 26, 1848, the son of Dr. Joseph Tefft, whose home was then located on what is now the site of the City Hall. His education was obtained at the Elgin Academy, and Notre Dame University, of South Bend, Ind. In 1887 he graduated from Rush Medical College, of Chicago, and opened an office for the practice of his profession in Elgin. Here he continued until within a few years prior to his death, when failing health compelled him to curtail his professional labors. He was a member of the American Medical Association, the Fox River Valley Association, and the Chicago Medical Society, and stood high as a practitioner. An active interest was taken by him in the development of the Elgin Park- system, and he served four years as a member of the Elgin Park Board. In Masonic matters he stood high, being a Knight Templar and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. He died Dec. 29. 1899. In 1872 he was married to Miss Susan Belyea, who was born and reared in St. Charles, Ill. Mrs. Teffit still resides at the old homestead in Elgin. Their children are Mrs. Sherman C. Spitzer, of Oak Park, a graduate of the University of Chicago, and Leslie J., who graduated from the University of Michigan in 1902.
EDWIN L. TENNY, Aurora, Ill.; born near Rochester, N. Y., in 1829; reared on a farm and educated in the public schools; came west in 1863 and established his home in Ottawa, Ill., where he opened a photograph gallery; came to Aurora in 1874, where he resided until his death, Jan. 3, 1903. He was married in 1886 to Miss Ellen McAlpine, of Aurora.
THE AURORA HOSPITAL is an institution founded in 1886 by an association composed of fifteen public-spirited men and women of Aurora. The following were the incorporators and first Board of Trustees for the management and control of the hospital: G. W. Quereau, Mary S. Holbrook, J. B. Arnold, Eliza S. Brigham, G. W. Rhodes, C. L. Hoyt, Holmes Miller, Fred O. White, L. E. Johnson, A. Somarindyck, A. K. Perry, H. H. Evans, George F. Ruggles, C. M. Liew, Nellie E. Higgins, Eb. Denny, William McKinney, Joseph Rising and Thomas O'Donnel. The institution was opened for the reception of patients in a rented building on Fourth Street, in October, 1886. Two years later the present building on Lincoln Avenue was erected, and greatly enlarged in 1903. The Hospital was founded to afford medical aid for the sick and injured, and it was expressly provided in the charter that no person should be refused aid on account of inability to pay the usual fees. The sick and injured received into the hospital are cared for by a corps of physicians drawn from the ranks of the practicing physicians of Aurora. Its seventeen years of history are creditable as a record of unselfish good, and it is a model institution of the kind. A school for the practical instruction and training of nurses is conducted in connection with the hospital.
THE CARPENTERSVILLE LITERARY AND LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.-In 1871, while serving as a member of the Illinois Legislature, the Hon. J. A. Carpenter secured a charter for the above-named organization, the incorporators being George Marshall, W. W. Norton, William G. Sawyer, Henry G. Sawyer, Delos Dun-ton and others. The charter set forth the purposes of the organization, as the establishment of a library and reading room, and the formation of a society for mutual improvement in Carpentersville. Some time later a pioneer organization known as the "Hand in Hand Division," transferred a few books which it had secured to the new organization, and this was the foundation of its large and well-selected library. The first home of the library was the old school house in Carpentersville, which
