James Vantine MINK

Notes:

The following is part of a letter from James Vantine Mink III dated June 1996. 'My father was born in Elgin, IL, the son of James Vantine Mink and Grace Todd Mink. He attended Elgin Public Schools and was graduated from Elgin High School. (class of 1910) After graduation he spent time in Michigan and adjoining areas working on pipe line construction projects. He responded to an advertizement placed in the Elgin Courier News by my mother, Harriet Burlingame, who had recently divorced Henry Dakin and was searching for a foreman to help her run the ranch she had received from Mr. Dakin. The ranch was located near Miles City Montana, and my father went there to help manage this cattle ranch. He also filed a homestead claim on a parcel of neighboring property which he had intended to improve with a dwelling, well, etc. During the earlier period of U.S. involvement in World War I, he had an agricultural deferment. However, in 1917 he joined the U.S. Army and was married to my Mother Harriet Burlingame Mink. When my father left the Army, they sold the ranch and purchased a farm near Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Their son James Vantine Mink III was born there in 1923 and in 1924 they sold the farm and moved to South Pasadena, California, where my mother's mother, Amelia Winchester Burlingame was living with my mother's sister, Anna Mary Burlingame, and Richard Burlingame Dakin, my mother's son by her first husband, Henry Dakin. Richard had remained on the ranch in Montana until of high school age and then went to Elgin for his high school years. After finishing high school he came to South Pasadena with Ameila and Anna Burlingame and obtained a position with the South Pasadena Branch of the Security First National Bank at Fair Oaks Ave. and Mission Street. Also living in South Pasadena at that time were Dale Tussing and Hattie-Belle (Vale) Tussing, her mother, Grandma Vale, and her husband, Dale Tussing, together with three of Dale Tussing's nieces, Frances, Virginia and Shirley Tussing. Dale Tussing was a Vice President of the Security First National Bank and worked in the Los Angeles offices. He was able to get a position in the bank for Richard Dakin, as mentioned, and for my father at the Broadway & Colorado Branch in Pasadena. During this period, family and social life was centered around these people. Hattie-Belle was a childhood friend of my mother's and of the Burlingame family in Elgin. Also at this time my father's parents and his sister, Gladys M. Mink visited the family during the winters and staid at the Burlington Hotel Apartments in Los Angeles. James Vantine Mink II, dad's youngest brother, came out (c.1933) and staid near him in an apartment on Fair Oaks Ave. and Foothill Blvd. Shortly he married Azalea Presley and Richard B. Dankin married Frances S. Tussing. They had one son, Richard Bryant Dakin. During the Great Depression, the Security First National Bank foreclosed on a great amount of property all over Southern California and it was necessary to create Real Estate Offices at the main offices and at certain branches. Dad became Assistant, and subsequently, Manager of the Pasadena office, Marengo and Colorado Streets. In the early 30's there was a great deal of vacant property, buildings, houses, offices, etc. Dad's job was to manage these properties which were scatered throughout Pasadena, South Pasadena, Arcadia, Monrovia, Baldwin Park, etc. I recall he was able to get vacant offices in the buildings on Colorado Street the bank owned, so the family, including Dad's mother and sister Gladys, were able to see a number of the Tournament of Roses New Year's Parades in grand style durning the early 30's. Another relative that was living in an apartment hotel in Los Angeles area was Jenny McPherson. I believe she was my father's aunt, my great aunt, Grace Todd Mink's sister. Aunt Jenny had a son Malcolm McPherson. At the time I was taken to see aunt Jane (Jenny) she was blind and had a nurse by the name of Dora. As the Depression eased off and the bank sold off a great deal of its foreclosures, all its property was administered from the head office in Los Angeles and Dad was put in charge. He obtained a California Real Estate Broker's License and went into the real estate business for the rest of his career. The exception was during World War II when Dad took a defense job with the Jet Propulsion Labratories in Pasadena. While in the real estate business in Pasadena, Dad was affiliated with the firm of C.J. McCormmack & Company. In 1936, Anna M. Burlingame built a home at 361 South Greenwood Ave., Pasadena, near the Huntington Library. At this time Harriet Mink's great aunt Phoebe Ann Burlingame of Adams, MA, passed on, and Harriet and her sister Anna shared in the estate. They brought back to Pasadena a great amount of fine antique furniture which was used to furnish the new home and to this was added furnishings from the house of James Vantine Mink, 521 Douglas Ave., Elgin, Illinois, when Grace Todd Mink passed away in 1945. During these years the family and social life revolved around Elgin friends who came to live in Southern California. The annual Elgin Picnic, held in one of the region's parks, was a very special social event not to be missed. In 1949 the residence in Pasadena was sold and another purchased in Saratoga, CA. Dad entered the real estate in Los Gatos, CA. In 1952 Anna M. Burlingame died and the residence in Saratoga was sold. Mother and Dad continued to live in Los Gatos until they moved to Glendale. Richard B. Dankin divorced Frances (Tussing), his first wife about 1952 and in that year married Colette Johnson. Harriet B. Mink died in 1967. For the first year after her death Dad lived with his sister. Anne Springer in Carlsbad, CA, but returned to Glendale where he lived until 1975 when he moved to 8070 Selma Ave. to live with his son, James Vantine Mink III. He lived there until his death in 1980 at 87 years. Arthur Clyde Mink and Harriet Burlingame Mink are burried in the Winchester Lot, Bluff City Cemetery, Elgin, Illinois. Clyde Mink was very active in the American Institute of Banking and was for a time President of the Pasadena, CA, Chapter. As such he attended the 1932 AIB Convention in Chicago. While there he went to the 1932 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago and visited in Elgin.

Notes:

James V. Mink - Prominent among the energetic, far-seeing and successful business men of Elgin is the subject of this sketch, who is a well-known real estate dealer, with office in room 7, Town's Block. He was born in that city June 26, 1852, a son of Robert and Sarah Jane (Van Tine) Mink, natives of New York. His paternal grandfather, John Mink, was also born in New York, of Holland Dutch descent, and was a farmer by occupation. At an early day he came west and took up his residence in Kane county, Illinois, but died two years later, when nearly ninety years of age. He reared a small family. Our subject's maternal grandfather was born in this country and died in middle life. In 1842 Robert Mink, our subject's father, came to Kane county and purchased a fine farm of two hundred acres two miles northeast of Elgin, which he transformed into one of the most highly-cultivated tracts in the locality. After engaging in agricultural pursuits for many years, he laid aside business cares a few years before his death, which occured in 1880, when he was sixty-seven years of age. His wife had passed away three years previous at the age of sixty-five. Both were earnest, consistent Christians, the mother belonging to the Baptist Church, while the father was Presbyterian in faith. Four children were born to them, of whom three are still living: John W., Leander F., and James V. Upon the home farm James V. Mink was reared, and, after attending the district schools for a time, he entered the Elgin Academy, where he completed his education. For five or six years after starting out in life for himself, he engaged in the grocery trade in Elgin, but for the past twenty years has been interested in real estate, doing a large and profitable business along that line. Besides his property in Elgin, he owns an excellent farm of three hundred acres five miles east of that place, and also city property in Chicago. On the 18th of May, 1878, Mr. Mink was united in marriage with Miss Gracie Todd, a daughter of Thomas and Anna (McNeil) Todd, and to them have been born seven children, three sons and four daughters, namely: Edna J., Royal J., Clyde, Annie, Gladys, Mamie, and one who died in infancy. Only three are now living - Annie, Gladys and Clyde. The family have a beautiful home at No. 554 Douglas avenue, which was erected in 1885. Mrs. Mink holds membership in the Congregational church. Politically Mr. Mink is identified with the Republican party, and for four years he most efficiently served as alderman for the First ward. Integrity, activity and energy have been the crowning points of his success, and his connection with different business enterprises has been a decided advantage to the city. He is public-spirited and progressive, giving his support to all measures which he believes calculated to advance the general welfare. HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY, ILLINOIS Published in 1908

James married Grace Hamilton TODD on 18 May 1878. Grace was born on 28 Aug 1857 in Dundee Twp., Kane Co., IL; died on 15 Jan 1945 in Pasadena, CA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

From 'Old Elgin Tales' by Hazel Belle Perry - Free Press 2/14/1968 Jane Crichton McNeil, then a widow, trained her three children, Malcolm, Anna and John McNeil, in the career of merchandising by having them help her manage a general store at their home in Airdrie, Scottland. Jane married again in 1847 and she and her new husband, Abraham Archibald, and the children sailed for America in 1848 and settled on a farm they bought in Dundee Township. Soon they and all the mother's brothers who had come with them were busy turning the land into dairy farms which they felt was the best way to make money in the new land. Most pioneer women in those days were content to be good homemakers and mothers and to leave business success for their husbands to accomplish. But Jane not only was a loving mother and a shrewd and capable storekeeper, but she became so successful in managing the dairy farm that she was listed at the top of a column of Dundee Township tax payers in an old Kane County book as 'Jane Archibald, farmer.' Jane's daughter, Anna, married a farmer, Thomas Todd, in 1853 and Anna soon was following in her mother's footsteps as an exceedingly clever business women as well as a good wife and mother. By 1858, Anna and her husband had three small children; Jennie, James M. and Gracie. That should have been enough responsibility to absorb the attention of most young mothers, but Anna's active mind had been busy planning how she and her husband and her two brothers might establish in Elgin a family grocery like that which her mother had in Airdrie, Scotland. Before long, Anna had infected her husband and brothers with her enthusiasm and the firm of Todd and McNeil was erecting, with some help from Mother Archibald, a two-story building on the south west corner of Chicago Street and what is now Grove Ave. A grocery store was established on the first floor and up over this were rooms in which Anna and Thomas Todd and their children were to live. The grocery store was a success from the start, even though it was close to the Knott grocery on the northwest corner of Chicago and North Grove where the Elgin National Bank now stands. By 1866 Mr. Knott decided to retire from the grocery business because of his health and so he sold out his business to Todd and the McNeils. After 1866, the store expanded fast and soon became both a grocery and a dry goods store. Before long, it was necessary to have more help and at Anna's suggestion the dry goods added more merchandise that would appeal to women. It then seemed best to have some women on the sales staff and since Malcolm McNeil had married Catherine Dempster in 1859 and John McNeil had married Janet Crichton in 1864, by the late 1860's both Catherine and Janet McNeil were listed as saleswomen in the store. We do also know that Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Todd at one time had a dry goods store on the south side of Chicago Street, east of the Square.

Notes:

b: ST PETER'S LUTH #3134 spons: PARENTS. Marriage listed in: 'NEW YORK CITY METHODIST MARRIAGES, 1785 - 1893' (page 672). List marriage date as 6/18/1835. DEATH'S HARVEST Robert Mink departed this life at 1 o'clock this morning at the home of his son, J.V. Mink, on Douglas Avenue. Death came after months of suffering had prepared the way and made known to all that it was near. Mr. Mink would have reached the age of 70 years had he lived a few days longer. Five months ago he was stricken with paralysis, his brain softened, and his nervous system gradually gave way until the end came. At the beginning of his illness he was at the home of his son, L.W. Mink, three miles northeast of the city, but as it became apparent that he could not rally he was brought to Elgin that he might be more easily reached by medical assistance. At one time last fall his death was almost hourly expected, and he was scarcely conscious of passing events from the time of paralysis touched him. He came from Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, NY, about forty years ago, and was therefore one of the pioneer residents of this section of the country, following the occupation of farmer. His wife died comparatively recently, but he leaves three sons, James V., the Douglas Avenue grocer, John and L.W. Mink. The funeral will occur on Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the residence of James Mink. ELGIN DAILY NEWS - FEBRUARY 1883

ROBERT RUSSELL MINK

Robert R. was baptized at St. Peter's Lutheran Church at Rhinebeck, NY, Jan. 19, 1814. He married Sarah Jane Vantine June 17, 1835 in New York City. The couple migrated to Kane County along with other family members. After arriving in Kane County, Robert's family and his brother, John, who never married, settled on a farm in Elgin. The property later became the fairgrounds of the Elgin Agricultural Society, located east of Hill St. and between what is now Enterprise Street and Columbia Ave. Selling the farm about ten years later, they bought one from Samuel Hammers, three miles northeast of Elgin in Hanover Twp., Cook County. They moved there in the fall of 1854. In later years, the farm was described as being 'one of the most highly-cultivated tracts in the locality.' Robert and Sarah had four children: John William; James V., born July 31, 1845, Hanover Twp., Cook Co., died May 10, 1846, Hanover Twp.; Leander F., born Aug. 20, 1850, Hanover Twp., married Marcia Woodward, March 11, 1874, died Dec.22, 1922, Elgin; and James Vantine, born June 26, 1852, Hanover Twp., married Grace Todd, May 18, 1878, died Nov. 17, 1931, Elgin. Both Robert and Sarah were credited with being 'earnest, consistent Christians,' according to the Biographical Record of Kane County. Sarah was an active member of the First Baptist Church, while her husband, Robert, was a Presbyterian. Sarah died Jan. 9, 1880, in Hanver Twp., Cook County, IL; and Robert died Feb. 23, 1883, in Elgin. - KANE COUNTY ILLINIS EARLY FAMILIES 1833 - 1885 - by the E.G.S. 1991

Robert married Sarah Jane FONTEYN on 18 Jun 1835 in New York City, N.Y., USA. Sarah (daughter of William FONTEYN) was born in 1815 in N.Y., USA; died on 9 Jan 1880 in Elgin, Kane, IL., USA; was buried on 12 Jan 1880 in Channing St. Cemetery, Elgin, Kane, IL., USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Not sure which wife was her mother

Marriage record found in 'NEW YORK CITY METHODIST MARRIAGES, 1785 - 1893', Vol I, Index of Brides. Compiled by William Scott Fisher. Picton Press, Comden, Maine. (US/CAN, 974.71, K2fn, V. 1) sent by Carol Yocom. Obituary of Jane (Vantine) Mink - Mrs. Jane Mink, mother of James and L.F. Mink of this city, died yesterday of heart disease, aged sixty-five years. She had been quite ill for a week or two. THE ELGIN ADVOCATE, SATURDAY, JANUARY 10,1880.