Queer Places:
Green Ridge Cemetery, 6604 7th Ave, Kenosha, WI 53143, United States
Franklin Harvey Head (January 24, 1835 - June 28, 1914) was born on January 24, 1832, in Paris, Oneida County, New York, to parents Harvey Livermore Head
and Calista Simmons Head. He grew up alongside a large family of siblings, including Cassander, Lyman, Orson, Sarah, Clara, and Mary, while tragically
losing an infant brother named Edwin early in life. After studying law, Head moved west during the development of the Utah Territory before ultimately
settling in Illinois and establishing himself as a prominent Chicago manufacturer, industrialist, rancher, and banker. On June 14, 1860, he married
Catherine Putnam Durkee in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Together, they raised a family that included daughters Elizabeth Palmer, Katharine Putnam, and Margaret
Dana, alongside an infant daughter, Medora, who passed away young. His wife Catherine later passed away in 1890.
Beyond his business pursuits, Head emerged as an influential civic leader and cultural figure in Chicago. He held prestigious leadership roles, serving
as the president of the Chicago Historical Society, a trustee of the Newberry Library, president of the Bush Temple Conservatory, and an officer of several
insurance companies. Furthermore, he served as a director of the World's Columbian Exposition, a member of the jury of awards of the Paris exposition, and
twice as president of the Union League Club. Deeply engaged in the city's intellectual circles, he was a member of elite literary groups such as the
Chicago Literary Club and the Little Room, a celebrated mixed-gender creative salon hosted in the top-floor studios of the Fine Arts Building. An
accomplished writer as well, Head authored various essays and a well-known scholarly parody titled Shakespeare's Insomnia and the Causes Thereof in 1886.
Head passed away at the age of 82 on June 27/28, 1914, in Maplewood, Grafton County, New Hampshire, and was laid to rest at Green Ridge Cemetery in
Kenosha, Wisconsin, leaving behind a rich legacy in American industry, literature, and civic institution-building.
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Franklin Harvey Head was deeply integrated into Chicago's prominent artistic and intellectual
communities. Fostered by novelists Hamlin Garland and
Henry Blake Fuller, a group of artists occupying the coveted top-floor studios of the Fine Arts
Building—prized for their capacious skylights—formed a mixed-gender social club called the Little Room. Meeting on Friday afternoons and occasional
evenings, the Little Room served as a creative salon for painters, writers, and other cultural figures, many of whom were gay, including notable artists
like J.C. Leyendecker and his brother
Frank Xavier Leyendecker. Franklin Harvey Head participated actively in this vibrant circle alongside
other esteemed members such as George Ade, Alice Gerstenberg,
James T. Hatfield, H.C. Chatfield-Taylor,
John T. McCutcheon, Anna Morgan,
Allen Bartlit Pond, Henry Kitchell Webster,
Lorado Taft, Lou Wall Moore,
Jane Addams, Harriet Monroe, and
Edith Wyatt.
- General encyclopedic summaries detailing his roles as an American industrialist, banker, writer, civic leader, president of the Chicago Historical Society, and trustee of the Newberry Library.
- Documentation concerning his early life in Paris, Oneida County, New York, legal studies, and relocation west into the Utah Territory prior to settling in Illinois.
- Records of his literary output, including his 1886 scholarly parody Shakespeare's Insomnia and the Causes Thereof.
- Documentation of his memberships in elite literary circles, specifically the Chicago Literary Club and the Little Room salon based in the Fine Arts Building.
- Birth and family records detailing his parents (Harvey Livermore Head and Calista Simmons Head) and siblings (Cassander, Lyman, Edwin, Orson, Sarah, Clara, and Mary).
- Marriage records documenting his union to Catherine Putnam Durkee on June 14, 1860, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and records of their children (Medora, Elizabeth, Katharine, and Margaret).
- Death and burial records documenting his passing on June 27, 1914, in Maplewood, Grafton County, New Hampshire, and his interment at Green Ridge Cemetery in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
- The Weekly Pantagraph (Bloomington, Illinois, July 3, 1914, page 5), featuring the obituary report ("Franklin H. Head Is Dead") detailing his career as a Chicago resident, banker, lawyer, author, and manufacturer, his leadership of the Bush Temple Conservatory and the Chicago Historical Society, his role as a director of the World's Columbian Exposition and jury member of the Paris exposition, and his two-time presidency of the Union League Club.
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