Colonel John Mason Loomis (1825-1900)
Most intrepid among his siblings, John Mason Loomis joined the crew of a merchant vessel, traveling to India and China on the East India trade routes while he was still a teenager. In 1846, he took a clerk's job in a Wisconsin lumber business. Two years later, he bought the company, beginning a career that spanned five decades and three states. John raised the 26th Illinois Volunteer Infantry in 1861, became its colonel, and led the regiment in 57 skirmishes. His life after the Civil War was devoted to rebuilding his once successful Chicago-based business; he accomplished this with the great acumen that he also brought to community and veterans' associations. John helped to administer relief funds to victims of the 1871 Great Fire of Chicago and financially revived the Illinois National Guard.
