For about four years, I have been writing biographical sketches of residents of Naperville for publication in Positively Naperville. For those of you who read my sketches regularly, you know that my research has involved those residents who were members of the Masonic Lodge in Naperville. Recently, I received my first request for an individual.
This sketch features for Jacob F. Lehman, the Great Great-Grandfather of Patti Girard, who still lives in Naperville. Although Jacob was not a member of the Lodge, one of his sons-in-law, Clair Alonzo Newton, and Clair’s son-in-law, Anthony Nicholas Sebastian, were members of the Masonic Lodge. It is an honor to be asked to write this sketch and I hope that the readers enjoy it.
Jacob F. Lehman was born October 5, 1846, in Wheeling, Cook County, Illinois, the son of Jacob Lehman and Elizabeth Graff. His parents died when he was just a baby and he was raised by his aunt, Mrs. John J. Peters.
Jacob enlisted in Company H of the 12th Illinois Cavalry on January 2, 1864, at Chicago and served as a private. Company H was consolidated with Company A shortly after his enlistment. The company was on an expedition down the Mississippi River and they captured 5,000 Confederate troops which they escorted to New Orleans. Jacob served under General Custer during the expedition through Texas and became sick from drinking stagnant water. He was taken to a hospital in Galveston, Texas, to recuperate and was honorably discharged due to physical disability on December 31, 1865.
He married Sophia Kailer on April 24, 1870, in Illinois. She was the daughter of Jacob Kailer and Dorothea Degen. Jacob and Sophia went to live in Chicago where Jacob was employed as a tinsmith. They had the following children: Cora Nellie, who married Clair Alonzo Hemenway Newton; George T., who died at the age of three; Julius Walter, who married Elizabeth A. Zentmyer; and Jennie Louise, who married Alonzo A. Hoffman.
According to the 1880 U.S. Census, Jacob was employed as a painter in Chicago.
Sometime between 1880 and 1900, Jacob and his family moved to Naperville from Chicago.
By 1900, Jacob had returned to the occupation of tinsmith.
In 1910, Jacob was employed by the Naperville Lounge factory as a finisher and was still employed at the factory, then named the Kroehler Furniture Manufacturing Company, at the time of his death. He died December 7, 1920, in Naperville.
Funeral services were conducted at Grace Church by the Rev. L. C. Schmidt. Mrs. Alexander W. Dewar and Mrs. Walter M. Givler sang comforting selections. Mr. A. B. Ackley was the pianist. Burial services were in charge of the Grand Army of the Republic at the grave in the Naperville Cemetery. His grave marker proudly displays his service during the Civil War.
