Excerpt from Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle County, Illinois, Vol. 2: Illustrated Remarkably successful in all of his undertakings, no man was more inti mately associated with the development and upbuilding of Peru. He was the first mayor of the city, elected in 1851, and re-elected in 1852 and again in 1854. As early as 1838 he held the office of town trustee and for several years served as a member of the board of education. He was a prime mover in securing to Peru the Chicago, Rock Island Pacific Railroad, and served as one of its first directors. He was an organizer of the First National Bank of Peru and served as its president during its existence of some twenty years. Beginning the battle of life empty - handed, he amassed a fortune by his excellent business methods, pluck and enterprise. Politically he was a strong Republican after the organization of that party. Though not a member of any religious body, he was most in sympathy with the Congregational de nomination, and was liberal in its support. Mr. Brewster was twice married, the wife of his youth being Miss Phoebe Mann, a native of Pennsylvania. Their union was solemnized in 1844, and five years later she died, leaving a son and a daughter. For his second wife Mr. Brewster chose Miss Margaret Jones, of Pittsburg, Penn sylvania, and four of their children - two sons and two daughters - survive. Mourned by the friends and associates of a life-time, Mr. Brewster passed away at his home in Peru, March 2, 1897. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.