John D. Caton

His father died when he was 3 years old and his mother then brought the family to her brother's farm near Utica, New York.

[3] In 1833, Caton moved to Chicago, then a small town, and opened the first law office there with his partner, Giles Spring.

Caton was elected one of the directors of the new company and played an active role in getting the right of way for the erection of telegraph poles across the state.

Eventually, Caton and his friends sold the telegraph lines to Western Union, and later, Caton sold his telegraph instrument manufacturing company located in Ottawa, Illinois, to Western Electric Company, which consolidated their Cleveland, Ohio manufacturing into the larger and more advance facility in Ottawa after the Civil War in 1868.

The Ottawa telegraph instrument designs, patents, and production methods were eventually consolidated into the post-1872 Chicago Western Electric facilities on Kinzie Avenue.