Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 66, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1910 — PHILANTHROPIST PEARSONS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PHILANTHROPIST PEARSONS.

Daniel K. Pearsons, who says that the joy of giving is the most satisfying joy that a human being can know, has given away more than 14,000,000. Forty-seven colleges in twenty-four States have been the recipients of his bounty. His boast is that he will glva

away his entire fortune before he dies. Dr. Pearsons was born in Bradford, Vt., April 14, 1820, and grew up among the granite hills in poverty. He became a school teacher and then a physician, but not being able to make money rapidly In the East he moved ,to Ogle County, 111., where he engaged in farming. In 1860, at the age of 40, he came with his wife, whp was Miss Marietta Chapin of Massachusetts, to Chicago.. He had >5,000 in cash and began business as a real estate dealer. His first commission was to sell 14,000 acres in Champaign County. He went out among the farmers of the State and when he found one dissatisfied, induced him to move. .He made it a rule never to misrepresent his properties, and the result was that in a few years he gained a tremendous'following throughout the Mid-

die West. His commissions sometimes amounted to $3,000 a week. Living economically he soon amassed a fortune. In 1875 he Was elected aiderman from the First Ward. The city’s finances were at a low ebb and repudiation of bonds was seriously considered. Dr. Pearsons went to New York and appeared before the Chicago bondholders’ meeting, offered to pledge his personal fortune to the redemption t>f the bonds and saved the credit of the city. Mrs. Pearsons died recently and since then Dr. Pearsons has lived quietly at Hinsdale looking after the colleges in which he is Interested through his gifts. At 90 years of age he is still young and vigorous. He says he intends to live until he is 100. —Chicago Record-Herald,

DANIEL K. PEARSONS.